FYI | LCD Soundsystem is breaking up 0

If you’ve ever wanted Daft Punk to play at your house, time is running out. LCD Soundsystem announced today on their website that they will be playing their final show ever at Madison Square Garden on April 2nd. The band, fronted by James Murphy, have been rocking out since 2001. Tickets to this final show can be bought soon, see their official website for more details.

News Flash | The White Stripes Are Dead 0

The White Stripes are officially over, according their official website. After over thirteen years of collaboration and great music, the dynamic duo is finally calling it quits. In their open letter to their fans, Jack and Meg explained that they were breaking up “mostly to preserve What is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way.”

(Image courtesy of whitestripes.com) (more…)

Album Review | “Thank You Happy Birthday” by Cage the Elephant 1

by coxy, on Flickr

Cage the Elephant apparently got some albums from Cake and the Pixies for their birthday. This gaggle of Kentucky boys are back with their sophomore album, titled “Thank You Happy Birthday”, and seem to have ditched the simple rootsyness that permeated their first album in favor of a modern punk sound, keeping to the garage but turning up the volume to make fans pogo instead of sway. It’s a change that makes an attempt to evolve their music and give it a new bite, but as much as it succeeds in providing their audience with something new to chew on, it also fails to deliver the same consistency and brain-trappingly catchy numbers that their eponymous album delivered in spades. (more…)

Top Ten | Albums of 2010 1

Since year-end lists are all the rage on music site after music site — authored by any skinny white kid with a 32GB or higher iPod — it struck me as a surprise that there had been zero of these type of posts on the WMFO blog page. Although this may be a bit late, I’ve decided to post an obligatory year end top-ten list; hopefully at least one person may pick up an album they otherwise would’ve missed from a year of music that was superb.

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IMMHO (In My Musically Humble Opinion): The Music Taste Hierarchy 1

I’ve done it before, you’ve done it before, and you’ve probably seen your friends do it before, too. The situation looks something like this: you’re talking to someone new, or someone who you know as an acquaintance, and the topic turns to music. Now, there is an internal alarm that goes off, because you know that what band you mention listening to is going to define the rest of the conversation; one of you will claim musical superiority, the question is, who? The defining game is a musical elitist favorite: the one-up. You have a few options in band selection: 1.) Be honest about what music you like, 2.) Keep quiet about your taste until you find out what they like and then choose a band from that genre, or 3.) Talk about a band that they have probably never heard of. Now, you may really enjoy that new Taylor Swift album, or Nickelback, or something either deemed socially “lame” or only acceptable as an ironic fixation, but you want to impress, so you go with option two or three. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, we’ve all done it before!

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40th Anniversary Open House 0

Dear WMFO Community,

2010 marks WMFO’s 40th Anniversary! Join us to celebrate on Friday, December 3rd from 5 PM to 8 PM for our community open house. The event is free and open to the public. For more details, see our wiki here: https://wiki.wmfo.org/Events/40th_Anniversary_Open_House

Also, please note that wmfo.org will be down for scheduled maintenance and upgrades on Tuesday, 11-30-10 from 7 PM to 11 PM. We will be installing a new WMFO specific theme and fixing some of the bugs that are currently being experienced on newer browsers.

Hope to see you soon!

Cheers,
The WMFO Executive Board

CD Review | “All Day” by Girl Talk 0

Girl Talk came out with All Day on Monday, November 15, and the Internet shut down. All of Girl Talks albums are offered online for a free download, but his website is still struggling to keep up with the high demand; as of this morning, there were still difficulties in downloading the newest album, but procuring a copy is worth the wait and the online frustration.

(Courtesy of Illegal Art)

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In the Pursuit of Music | “3,000 LPs and Counting” 0

A constant source of contention between my parents stems from my father’s love of music memorabilia, and my mom sort of has a point. This is the man who has a three-foot square poster of R. Crumb’s artwork for Big Brother and the Holding Company’s ‘Cheap Thrills’ prominently placed above their bed. (I think my mom is most opposed to the image of Janis Joplin splayed out on a bed, nipples fully erect.) The most common debate in our household, however, has to do with my dad’s ever-expanding record collection. When you walk into our living room, you are greeted by bookcases teeming with vinyl, flanked by dozens of milk crates strategically placed to catch the spillover.

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IMMHO (In My Musically Humble Opinion): The Beatles on iTunes 0

From COG LOG LAB on Flickr

I don’t know about anyone else, but when I pulled up the iTunes store today, I just about spit out my coffee (or rather, I would have if I was drinking anything). Instead of the usual loud and colorful parade of album art that cycles itself before your eyes, the homepage was a strikingly monochrome sight, and only four men’s pictures graced the window. Their names are John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The Beatles, previously one of the only household-name bands in the world not to do so, are now in the iTunes store.

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News Flash | The Beatles Are (Finally) on iTunes 0

If you haven’t noticed, the Beatles finally made an agreement with Apple, and as of Tuesday morning, you can now find their entire collection on iTunes. This band has been the biggest hold-out on the music download front, so their appearance on iTunes solidifies the shift in the music industry from physical records and CDs to digital music.

If you already have all of the Beatles’ music or just don’t want to spend $149.00 on the box set, you should still check out some of the features on iTunes. There a short four-minute video entitled “The Beatles Through the Years,” along with a full concert video from their performance “Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964.”

(Photo from apple.com)