Whoah, brah. It has been way too long since we’ve done a proper Heady Links post on the blog. For some reason, I tend to go back and forth on the name of this here column (if we can even call it that). I’m in a phase right now where I think this sounds pretty killer, especially considering another minor project that I’m taking part in, so let’s run with it today. I’m leaving for SXSW tomorrow and then the bloggin’ turns geographically based for about a week or so. I’ll also be Twittering a bunch from the festival — assuming the network doesn’t go down, which it still will — so keep up with me there.
This was possibly my favorite blog post from the past week or so. I really hope I run into Carrie down at SXSW so I can get a picture with her as music blogger friends (with the assumption that I’m dreaming about us together as music blogger friends with benefits). [Monitor Mix]
But then there are a handful of bands that are so vehemently abhorred that the mere mention of them might ruin, say, a perfectly relaxing road trip or a dinner with friends. These are bands or artists for whom the haters can find no good reason for them to have ever existed. (Yet they have to have been big enough to be worth arguing over. No one is going to get literally or figuratively punched out over a band like Bush or Marcy Playground).
The Doors fall into this latter category. And if I were pressed to give a few more examples of artists in the same contentious vein, I would add: the Eagles, Joni Mitchell, the genre known as Riot Grrl, Phish, Metallica, Hole/Courtney Love, Moby, Sting, and to a lesser degree (because most everyone realizes their importance eventually) the Grateful Dead.
Read on for the rest.
Greg Kot sure knows how to write one helluva show review. I had a similar experience at a Dave Matthews Band concert at Deer Creek in 2001. It was f***ing insane the way the storm rolled in — right as “Two Step” was starting and getting the crowd riled up — and the entire crowd was bathed in storm, lightning, and absolute euphoria. Then everyone got a little cold. It was the storm the next night that was the craziest. [Turn It Up]
Lolz-apalooza. [Idolator]
Slacker and Spin have teamed up to create a SXSW 2008 radio player where you can sample a bunch of stuff from some bands playing there. [Slacker.com]
Bjork called for Tibet to “Declare Independence” at a concert in Shanghai, China. That takes balls. Then we she went to Japan and spoke out about the Kosovo independence issue. Wild. Stereogum has the full roundup. [Stereogum]
And finally, big news right here in Chicago yesterday when the Metro announced that they’re going into ticket sales and distribution alone without Ticketmaster. This is just the first step in a huge shift of power in the music industry back to the content creators, not the contract holders. We’re eager to see how this forces other venues to follow suit. [Chicagoist]
That’s all for now, duders.