FAC 251 | The Factory

I hadn’t heard about this, so I thought I’d make sure that you had; the Factory Records One Charles Street office has been reopened as FAC 251, a three-story venue that’s jointly operated by x-New Order bassist Peter Hook and club operators Tokyo Industries. The space is managed by old Hacienda regular & DJ Aaron Mellor, is and designed by the original Factory architect Ben Kelly.

(via fuckyeahbluemonday!) (more here)

xoxo, michaela

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The unkindest crop of all. (via) —Lucas

The unkindest crop of all.

(via)

—Lucas

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There is no music anywhere better at this trick [ed note: “Holding apparent incommensurabilities in your mind-body continuum is a spiritual discipline available to anyone capable of both compassion and pleasure.”] than Afropop, and often without apparent cogitation. One of the blithest-sounding records I know is _Electric Highlife: Sessions From the Bokoor Studios_, in which a bunch of obscure Ghanaians, working in an early-’80s period of rampant inflation, sing soulfully but ebulliently about their poverty, their enemies, their faith in God. Their bravery is something to marvel at even if you worry that it’s really escapism. There’s no way any American pop band could equal it. But try to emulate it? Really, why the hell not?

Robert Christgau, Vampire Weekend apologist.

Sorry, Dean. If not liking VW makes me a shallow thinker in your opinion, so be it. You wouldn’t be the first person to accuse me of it, nor the last.

I have felt, more often than not, in the past few years that though Christgau can certainly still write a hell of a review — and I have to give him some love for getting me through the horrors driving a 24-foot U-haul through rush hour in Memphis, TN — there are times, like when I read a piece such as the one quoted and linked above, that I can’t help but feel that his once-lauded sharp tongue and blistering barbs have been seriously blunted by the inevitability of Getting Old and being slightly Out Of Touch.

You can’t have it both ways — does VW write sunny, lightweight pop, or secretly meaningful and weighty pop? Pick one.

Which is to say, though I’m all for globalization (really, don’t get me started on that topic, you’ll be bored), I’m not sure that I’m down with this particular international culture mashup. If VW were writing songs about being underemployed and living paycheck to paycheck and having no health insurance, I might be able to see your point.

xoxo, michaela

ps — I know we’re not supposed to talk about VW anymore, but I just couldn’t pass this up.

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Originally Posted By maura

I’m out this bitch. To all my fans, my real fans, I really, really, really truly love you. I love you with all of me, for real. I’ll probably be loving everything else because I love you so much. Thank you from the bottom [of my heart]. Do not forget about me ’cause I will forever think about you, and I cannot wait for you to see me again. I’m out.

lil wayne says goodbye (via maura)
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Entitlement Watch 2k10!

Folks, it’s festival announcement season, which means it’s time for the blogosphere to alight with the sounds of a serious lack of priorities.  This annual horse race to irrelevance will feature such deep discussions as “2007 was totally better” and “The Flaming Lips AGAIN…way to go, Grandpa” and “100 bucks for 50 bands that would charge 10 bucks apiece by themselves…*SIGH*”…all while people in Haiti struggle to find running water!  Delight in the fact that every single festival features 75% congruence in lineup!  Astound at how everything “sucks” or “is a disappointment”!  Listen to the youngsters trash bands featuring members over 40 that might actually be good at playing music in a live setting!  Watch them feign excitement at each festival’s token hip-hop/international/electronic acts! What will be this year’s Band Name Buzzword?  Bear?  Crystal?  Wolf?  The future is an exciting place!

—Lucas

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"Taylor Swift Is A Feminist's Nightmare"

Jezebel’s Dodai uses YET ANOTHER “Lady Gaga wuz robbed by Taylor Swift” article (this time on the strangely ad-heavy, ideologically scattered lesbian blog Autostraddle) as a jumping-off point to remind us yet again that Taylor Swift is EVIL and FAKE and how TERRIBLE it is that she panders to dorky unpopular teenage girls who love Jesus and wish they could date popular boy next door.  And how her high school experience wasn’t about that at all, and therefore Taylor is, again, EVIL and FAKE and repressing girls from um, reading Anais Nin. Or something like that.

You guys, this is seriously getting out of hand. The complete short-sightedness of the people who write these pieces is so frustrating. Can’t they see that they’re not helping the state of the world by belittling the experiences of the dorky unpopular small-town Jesus-loving girl? Not to be a total cunt about this, but I wish these smug bitches would just shut the fuck up already, because this is what makes me dread feminism in all its current forms. To whit: Liking Lady Gaga more than Taylor Swift doesn’t make you spokesperson for what’s best for all women everywhere.

xoxo, michaela

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Zebra finches shred.  Why am I just now seeing this?

[Insert birds are better than *BAND X* jokes here]

—Lucas

(HT: Jeff Griggs)

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Originally Posted By biggray
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Plays: 32

Yvonne Gage—“Doin’ It In A Haunted House”

Musical doppelganger, anyone?

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Originally Posted By biggray

Dolph Lundgren wears many hats: Elvis impersonator, drummer, insane person. (via CHUD)

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Despite divergent opinions on That Indie Rock Band That May Or May Not Represent Musical Colonialism Or Racism Or Sweaters Or The Ivy League Or Something That Shall Not Be Named, we can all get behind this, right?

—Lucas

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