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11-16-12 Footnotes
Show 364: 2012 Turkey Shoot, The Coup Review, Greg's DIJ
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1 Cassette tapes aren’t just for boutique indie labels anymore. At least that’s what IBM is betting. The company has developed a tiny cassette tape that can store up to 35 terabytes of data, and it’s touting it as the “new” green technology. Unlike server farms, researchers point out, tape at rest consumes zero energy. Need more proof the cassette’s not dead? Greg suggests taking a gander at the rare Radiohead cassette currently up on eBay for 50 grand.
2 Well it’s official: ‘90s nostalgia has arrived. CBS just announced the development of new sitcom, Smells Like Teen Spirit. The show follows a young entrepreneur as he tries to launch an internet startup with help from his “1990’s indie rock parents.” Which got us thinking – what other alt-era hits could be re-purposed as TV pilots? Coming to a station near you, the hilarious rom com Black Hole Sun? Or the detective show Losing My Religion?
3 Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which means it’s time for Sound Opinions’ annual Turkey Shoot. These aren’t just bad records, they’re bad records from artists that are capable of better. Nothing stings like disappointment, and these were the biggest musical disappointments of 2012:
Greg
WZRD, WZRD
Dead Can Dance, Anastasis
Gary Clark, Jr., Blak and Blu
Jim
Damon Albarn, Dr Dee
Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
Green Day, ¡Uno!
3b Everyone’s a critic, so Jim and Greg turn the rifle over to the listeners:
Yann in Paris, France: The Shins, Port of Morrow
Brandon in Cuba, New York: Smashing Pumpkins, Oceania
Jon in Madison, Wisconsin: Kiss, Monster
4 Jim and Greg have their fingers crossed that Sorry to Bother You, the sixth album from Oakland-based hip-hop group The Coup, isn’t a turkey. This band has been making consistently good agit-rap records since 1991, Greg says, but they remain best known for an unfortunate incident involving their cover art. Does the band deliver on Sorry to Bother You? Jim says yes. He wouldn’t blame you for mistaking “The Magic Clap” for a new OutKast party anthem. The Coup has verged dangerously close to Rage Against the Machine self-righteousness in the past, he says, but on Sorry to Bother You, the band’s got the “party to politics” ratio just right. Greg agrees and calls it the best Coup album yet. Sorry to Bother You gets a double Buy it.
5 Soul singer Cody Chesnutt has a new album out, reminding Greg that he’s often left off the list of masterful vocalists. This is clearly evident on his 2002 album The Headphone Masterpiece. In fact, The Roots were such fans they re-worked his song “The Seed” into “The Seed (2.0).” and released it as part of their album Phrenology. Greg takes it with him to the desert island this week.
Songs Featured in Show #364
Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Nevermind, DGC, 1991
Ohio Players, “Jive Turkey,” Skin Tight, Mercury, 1974
WZRD, “Dr. Pill,” WZRD, Universal Republic, 2012
Damon Albarn, “A Man of England,” Dr Dee, Parlophone, 2012
Dead Can Dance, “Towards the Within,” Into the Labyrinth, 4AD, 1993
Dead Can Dance, “Children of the Sun,” Anastasis, PIAS Recordings, 2012
Johnny Cash, “Thanks a Lot,” single, Sun Records, 1959
Wilco, “The Thanks I Get,” single, self-released, 2007
Kiss, “All for the Love of Rock and Roll,” Monster, Universal Music Group, 2012
The Smashing Pumpkins, “One Diamond, One Heart,” Oceania, EMI, 2012
The Shins, “No Way Down,” Port of Morrow, Aural Apothecary/Columbia Records, 2012
Fiona Apple, “Periphery,” The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, Epic, 2012
Gary Clark Jr., “Things Are Changin’,” Blak and Blu, Warner Bros. Records, 2012
Green Day, “Troublemaker,” ¡Uno!, Reprise, 2012
Thelonius Monk, “Stuffy Turkey,” It’s Monk’s Time, Columbia, 1964
The Coup, “Strange Arithmetic,” Sorry to Bother You, ANTI-, 2012
The Coup, “The Magic Clap,” Sorry to Bother You, ANTI-, 2012
The Coup, “Your Parents’ Cocaine,” Sorry to Bother You, ANTI-, 2012
The Roots, “The Seed (2.0),” Phrenology, MCA/Geffen, 2002
Lou Reed, “New York Telephone Conversation,” Transformer, RCA, 1972
James Brown, “(Call Me) Super Bad,” Revolution of the Mind, Polydor, 1971
Kendrick Lamar, “The Art of Peer Pressure,” good kid, m.A.A.d. city, Aftermath, 2012
U2, “Gloria,” Under a Blood Red Sky, Island, 1983
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