You may be wondering

Sarah, how come you haven't talked about Blue Stone yet? The answer is simple: I'm holding out for the physical version. I want to hold that beloved jewel case in my hot little hands and then hug it to my chest in a spontaneous outpouring of love. So just wait, you harpies. Jeez Louise.

How are Paul Rudd and I not BFFs?

I was looking at the latest issue of GQ - purchased because of Zefron on the cover - when I saw an article on Paul Rudd. On the first page of the article there was this massive footnote. Here's what it said,

*Rudd’s conversation is littered with pop-music references. To be specific, while sitting in the diner today, he will introduce into the conversation the following artists, in order: the Style Council, the Boomtown Rats, Ultravox, Adam Ant, Nik Kershaw, Depeche Mode, Blancmange, Yaz, Alphaville, Aswad, the Adventures, Howard Jones, Limahl, Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, Seals & Croft, John Mellencamp, Squeeze, Boston, David Geddes, Neil Sedaka, Glen Campbell, the Bay City Rollers, Spandau Ballet, Visage, Fad Gadget, Feargal Sharkey, Erasure, Frank Zappa, Fiat Lux, Duran Duran, Ron Sexsmith, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wang Chung, Huang Chung, Go West, R.E.M., the Pogues, Hipsway, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Level 42, Haircut 100, Nick Heyward, Split Enz, Hunters & Collectors, Midnight Oil, the Hoodoo Gurus, the Proclaimers, Roman Holliday, the JoBoxers, Will Oldham, the Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, the Divine Comedy, the Magnetic Fields, Neutral Milk Hotel, Lambchop, Animal Collective, Television, James Taylor, Elton John, XTC, Sade, Status Quo, Marillion, Camper Van Beethoven, U2, Black, and the Housemartins.

He was a total Adam Ant fan and he mentioned every major Vince Clarke group (bonus points for mentioning them in chronological order). Now I imagine me brushing his hair while discussing New Romanticism.

Read the full article here

I'm totally lame

So I've been holding off on posting because I wanted to do something special for my 101st entry, but I haven't done anything in preparation for that. I should not let my blog go fallow.

Did you know Peaches is coming to Boise? She is and I'm going to be there. Wed, May 27th on the main stage. Doors open at seven, concert starts at eight.

Now for some Depeche-y goodness. Sounds of the Universe came out this last Tuesday and one of the packages is a box set with three CDs. The third CD is a bunch of demos so I thought I wouldn't have any interest in them. I WAS WRONG. Silly me, I should have realized that Martin records all the demos and so I would be able to immerse myself in that man's sexy, sexy voice. His version of "Peace" is love.

They also shut down busy city streets to perform for Kimmel. Wrong and Personal Jesus. The Leto bros. were there as they mentioned on Twitter.

In Morrissey news, the video for "Something is Squeezing My Skull" was released on MySpace. Video link.

I was a total assholio and didn't mention in a timely manner that last Saturday was Record Store Day. How lame of me. The Record Exchange had special deals on vinyl and there was live music and shit. Rachel picked up a whole mess of Depeche Mode singles and a single off of Bowie's 1.Outside.

SotD: "Cars" by Gary Numan

I love Gary Numan, for all that I don't know about him. I know that now he's gone a bit goth, I saw him on Graham Norton's show once, he appeared on The Mighty Boosh and he didn't smile in pictures for years because he was self-conscious about his teeth. OH! and he has a pilot's license, imagine that!

I've always loved the song Cars, which is probably familiar to most everyone. Numan is considered a pioneer in synth pop, forging a demand for synth-based music. His music included "themes of depersonalisation and alienation ", which helped drive critics' claims that synth music is inhuman and emotionless. Claims which, coincidentally enough, the band Rush refuted in the lines of "The Spirit of Radio"

All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
Its really just a question
Of your honesty

Included only because I like the band Rush and its vague relevance. "Cars" was a single taken from 1979's The Pleasure Principle. Enjoy!

Depeche Mode contest

Sirius Satellite Radio is giving away a pair of tickets to 17 different American concerts for Depeche Mode's Tour of the Universe. The contest is open to entrants who are both citizens of the US/District of Columbia and are 18 years or older. All entrants are automatically entered for a Grand Prize drawing: a trip for two to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, hotel for two nights, and a meet & greet with the band for Depeche Mode’s final stop in the US on September 5, 2009.

To enter: go here. Good luck!

SotD: "Tenderness" by General Public

When the touring lineup of the English Beat came to town in December, they performed this old favorite. "Tenderness" appears on the first General Public album All the Rage, released in 1984. The song was also part of two movie soundtracks: Weird Science (1985) and Clueless (1995). This song was more popular in North America where it cracked the Top 40. It failed to do so in the UK or Australia.

Spontaneous nostalgia post-cum-Song of the Day

My friend and I agree, the nineties were a golden age of pop music that we didn't fully appreciate until that decade closed. Now the standard FM airwaves are filled with what I term "urban pop", that hip hop-oriented sound that is chock full of all the urban and tough cliches: drinking, women, clubbing, guns. It is not a new observation when I point out that mainstream rap and hip hop has never been so concerned with the politics and social concerns of life. Chuck D of Public Enemy is famously quoted as saying that rap is the black CNN. There hardly seems to be any of that anymore, but all this is tangential to my first premise.

The 90s had this drive towards authenticity and vulnerability that was lost in the slick production of the 80s. Of course, I'm talking about a thin segment, but that segment drove mainstream radio at a time when we were all paying attention. I'm talking about the Gin Blossoms, Alanis Morrisette, the breakout of Lisa Loeb and Tori Amos, Eagle Eye Cherry. I still know all the words to "Save Tonight".

Undoubtedly, there are elements of nostalgia that leads me to overemphasize the authentic aspects of nineties pop. I mean, boy bands and pop starlets also had their heyday towards the latter half of the decade. It was our nostalgia that led my sister and I to host three 90s themed shows for our college radio program. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the majority of our childhood and adolescence took place in the nineties. Every hugely important event had its musical accompaniment.

Let's enjoy some balmy nostalgia with some Gin Blossoms. That video is a good collection of nineties, hair, clothes, makeup and ATTITUDE. On that note, damn, I want to watch Empire Records, king among soundtrack movies.

Popshifter

I have a friend who contributes to Popshifter, an analytically-minded pop culture magazine. I just enjoyed two articles from their latest issue. So I thought I'd share. Enjoy.

"Worst Ideas for Rock Photography" and a review of Morrissey's Years of Refusal.