I'm sure by now that most of you who read this are aware our editor-in-chief, Will Swaim, has resigned. What you may not be aware of, however, is our boss's penchant for singing—constantly. Seriously. Dude sings more than Rebecca Schoenkopf does. Which is A LOT. Anyway. In memorium, I'm posting the official Will Swaim playlist. If Will owned (and could figure out how to operate) an iPod, here's what would be on it:
Elvis Costello, "What's So Funny (About Peace, Love and Understanding)?"
T
The bassist for The Good, the Bad and the Queen: Paul Simonon (of the Clash!), wielding his bass guitar like a tommy gun, seemed to pose for the cameras as much as possible. Even Damon Albarn might've been a little jealous.
The Stray Cats at the Pacific Amphitheater on July 22, 2008
Better Than: any other rockabilly band on the planet.
Download: "Stray Cat Strut" from the Stray Cats Myspace page [http://www.myspace.com/straycats]
Grease and Greasers were in abundance at the OC fair as the mighty Stray Cats played their only American date this year at the Pacific Amphitheatre. Brian Setzer, Slim Jim Phantom and Lee Rocker thoroughly rocked the town of Costa Mesa with their timeless tunes.
Hot Rod Lincoln from S
It's never too early to start raising your little anarchist. Baby Wit has been selling its unique range of baby and toddler clothing since 2003, with their offerings of Sonic Youth, Billy Bragg, Edgar Allan Poe, the Smiths, Hitchcock and the Clash onesies and even some pieces by artists Meomi and Neko-Chan. Ever wanted to find a Lizzie Borden, Bukowski or Basquiat—all great role models!—shirt for your kid? Look to Baby Wit.
But it's Baby Wit's political tees that have been receiving the mo
God, I hate the stupid fucking Grammy Awards, an annual music industry wank-off that I've seriously been railing against ever since I was 12 -- in 1980, the year wus-pop icon Christopher Cross swept all the big awards, beating out classic recordings like Pink Floyd's The Wall (which somehow flew under the radar of crotchity Grammy voters to score an Album of the Year nomination) and the Clash's London Calling (which wasn't nominated for a single damned thing. The Clash were finally given an hono
BY ANNIE ZALESKIPop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that's true. (Katy Perry, Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls, step right up!) But every year, a few irresistible bits of innovative ear candy rocket up the charts and seep into our subconscious. The following ten singles saturated the Top 40 -- or what passes for hit-oriented radio in this topsy-turvy musical climate -- while proving that accessibility doesn't necessarily preclude creativity.
Any knucklehead with DSL and a laptop can now make an electronic track. With a half hour of clicking and fiddling, you can sample enough cheesy beats and mashups to clog arteries from here to Berlin. Simple dropdown mouse maneuvers can transform electro tracks into progressive house tracks (from dry and synthetic to wet and gushy), rhythm tracks can be tempo-tweaked with an upward toggle to change a Timbaland beat into a Chromeo one. Add some T-Pain-esque pitch-correction vocals to your between
