Crib Notes

I’ve always thought highly of Vinyl. I suppose that’s because of the sheer number of times I’ve heard it mentioned by friends and acquaintances. Figured it must be something special.

I had never actually been to Vinyl, though, until Friday, Aug. 3, when I went to check out Liquid Jungle celebrate the release of its first album, Tiny Heaven.

Vinyl was packed with the prettiest suburbanites around. It was as if class at Dawson Creek High had just let out. Sneering, turf-claiming blondes dressed in skimpy AE halter tops eyed my friends and I as we cruised through the front doors and made our way toward the bar. And this is where my opinion of Vinyl started to dwindle: $4 PBRs. (more…)

Bookmark to:

Smashing Pumpkins fans can’t help but be giddy about the band’s first release since 2000. Let’s just hope they don’t blow it with Bush, Bush and more Bush.

The new album’s first single, “Tarantula,” builds a bridge between new and old Pumpkins material, combining the psychedelic shred of Siamese Dream with sinister overtones prevalent in Machina. But the single’s cover art, although relevant, is a bit disconcerting. Paris Hilton dominates the foreground while a nuclear weapon explodes in the background. Billy Corgan has never been one to be too didactic, but clearly things have changed.

Musicians and celebrities who vote Republican are about as common as pigs with wings. If you want automatic publicity for your movie/album today, you slap “America” on the cover and WHAM! — someone’s listening. Widespread Panic’s 2006 release, Earth to America (the actual content offers no commentary on the country), Green Day’s 2004 American Idiot and Bad Religion’s 2000 The New America, for example, cloak their music with political agendas. We already know these guys hate Bush. Who doesn’t?

The new album Zeitgeist (German for “the spirit of the time”) features songs titled “United States” and “For God and Country” complete with hit-you-between-the-eyes Statue of Liberty cover art. I wonder if Billy’s trying to tell us something….

Hopefully the music on Zeitgeist (after all, music is what musicians create, right?) and not political packaging puts the Pumpkins back on the charts. Paris isn’t all that hot, anyway.

Bookmark to: