Child psychology

It's been quite a slow week, no concerts, no parties... it's actually nice, considering that starting next week, i'm gonna have to buy a couple of tubes of under-eye concealer! i'm also hoping for some good reporting.

In the news though, Black Box Recorder's third album, Passionoia, is scheduled to come out on march 3rd (on import only for now, i presume)... first single These are the things is slated for february 17th. For those unfamiliar with this band, check out their first album England made me. it's a dark, disturbing and cynical record that you will want to listen to on gray depressive days. we expect no less than more depression from the third album.

Now that i've put you in this weird mood, you should really watch the new Johnny Cash video, not only his cover of Hurt is amazing, but the video for it is breathtaking... [link from Marco]

Good souls

So you may have heard about the arrest of Phil Spector by now... my question is, what happens to Starsailor's upcoming album? I remember when we heard that Spector signed on to produce at least one track with the band, it was such a big deal cause the man hasn't produced anyone in decades. Apparently the band had a great experience with him. Personally, i don't think they should retract from adding the Phil Spector-produced tracks on their record... unless the songs suck, of course.

Great Interpol interview over at Pitchfork - a bit dated, but long and very informative.

Good news is that all the melody nelson pins requested have been sent out... check your mailboxes!

your personal NME

One of our friends was lucky enough to get into the secret nyc Elliott Smith show last wednesday night, here's what he had to say about it:
"Between his really staggered and semi sensical rants he played some very raw music. He was extremely wasted. The room was of course bulging with people. He sat the entire show, so literally if you were not in the very front you couldn't see him. I was lucky enough to weasel my way about 10 feet back, through and through a few shoulders and armpits could catch a solid glimpe of the performer."
What is it about Elliott being wasted at his shows?

Tiswas last night was fun! Prior to the usual new wave/britpop/garage/electro dancing until the wee hours of the morning, we caught the three following bands:
Elefant, a group of guys surrounded by hype at the moment, was surprisingly good. The melodies were very Cure-inspired, the more upbeat of The Cure tunes that is. Songs were catchy, vocals were good, but the lead singer stage presence was a bit awkward, in a "i'm not that comfortable on stage yet" way. My feeling is that it will get better with time, and we'll most likely be there to witness the progress.
The inevitable breakups, whom i never heard about before, were good in a different way. We all kept looking at each other making "W" signs with our hands... not meaning "Whatever" but rather "Weezer".
The Stills... i've mentioned them so many times here already that i will take full responsibility for "Stills hype-machine british press style". They were very good last night, i realized that they can get quite heavy at times. My favorite was Killer bees and a couple of new songs whose titles are escaping my memory right now.

Also, let me announce that a newly redesigned Interpol web site with lots of goodies and a new message board is up, and it looks great!