Elvis Costello spoke with WNYC’s Leonard Lopate about his music and the upcoming season 2 of SPECTACLE: ELVIS COSTELLO WITH…

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A simple, but neat music video for their song “Sleep-walking” by Russian band Everything is Made in China, or EIMIC. One blogger saw this band at the Illosaarirock Festival in Finland and recently wrote:

EIMIC took the stage and absolutely mesmerized the entire crowd. 1000 people stood in perfect silence as the band fill the tent with lush synths, beautiful melodies and epic, Caspian style drums keeping everyone entranced.

Take a listen before they appear on the cover of Time Out for an article about breakout bands from Russia.

[Via]

Elvis Costello, host of SPECTACLE: ELVIS COSTELLO WITH… on Sundance Channel

Catch Elvis Costello on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report airing Thursday, November 19th and in a jam-out session with The Roots on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon airing on Friday, November 20th. Costello will be on to discuss the return of his music/talk Sundance Channel original series SPECTACLE: ELVIS COSTELLO WITH… premiering on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 10:00pm et/pt featuring U2’s Bono and The Edge. Among the confirmed guests for the seven-part season are: Bono, The Edge, Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Lyle Lovett, John Prine, Ron Sexsmith, Neko Case, Jesse Winchester, Ray LaMontagne, Nick Lowe, Levon Helm, Richard Thompson and Allen Toussaint.

The inaugural season of SPECTACLE featured an extraordinary and eclectic roster of legendary musicians and fascinating personalities including: Sir Elton John, Tony Bennett, Lou Reed, Julian Schnabel, Smokey Robinson, The Police (Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers), James Taylor, Herbie Hancock, Rufus Wainwright, Rosanne Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Diana Krall, John Mellencamp, Jakob Dylan, She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward), Norah Jones, Jenny Lewis, Renée Fleming and President Bill Clinton.

Season one of “Spectacle: Elvis Costello With…” will be available on DVD hitting shelves on December 9th.

LEARN MORE:

SPECTACLE on Sundance Channel

Elvis Costello Official Site

The Colbert Report

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

A friend of mine recently was explaining his obsession with Factory Records. The label was a Manchester-based independent record label in the influential in the late 70s and 80s and still today. Their roster included some groundbreaking artists: Joy Division, New Order, James, OMD, and Happy Mondays. And not only was the label focused on curating a beautiful, interesting collection of music, but they paid the same amount of detail to the packaging and artwork for each release.

The label not only cataloged its music, but also its artwork and various other items. As someone obsessed with typefaces, album packaging, techno-pop, and music in general I have become very interested in the concept of the label and the albums, artists, and artwork. There was a coffee table printed a few years back documenting the albums. I just ordered it.

You can also do what I’ve been doing to learn more. I’ve spent way too much time on this site examining the releases and the artwork.

Music Go Music’s sound echoes earlier pop acts, most notably ABBA, and in particular their song “Light of Love” seen performed live in this video evokes the style of that era.

They’ve exploded the formulas from the inside out, sounding like a hundred others and no one else. ‘Light of Love’ is a true celebration of pop music’s potential – laying a thin sheen of magic over the world around it, and making the tedious bits of the human experience a little less so.

Today we can enjoy Music Go Music’s new album Expressions and still maintain our hip street credentials by calling them “indie-pop.”

Quick: think of a hip hop song that addresses urban farming or vegetarianism. You might have a tough time… doesn’t most of the music associated with this style revolve around glorifying gangstas? Not according to the organizers of this weekend’s sixth annual Organic Hip-Hop conference: “Just as Hip Hop as a culture was birthed in activism with the goal of saving lives, we seek to continue in that tradition by providing an alternative lifestyle that will garner better physical as well mental and spiritual health.”

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The venerable NYC nightclub 1984 has been celebrating the 80s long before they became chic again. And it still offers a remarkable treat to those of us who spent our formative years in day-glo listening to Duran Duran. Resident DJ Chip Duckett, who also happens to be NYC’s biggest drag queen booker, curates a video show each week worthy of price of admission alone.

Last week he played 6 plus hours of all Kate Bush’s videos. Yes, Kate Bush is an acquired taste. And this week’s videos are even more so: Divine.

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If you were lucky enough to catch the still-going-strong Pet Shop Boys last tour then you undoubtedly remember their glorious cover of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida. It was mixed at the show with their Miami-inspired hit record Domino Dancing. Now word is out that the duo has recorded the mix-up with Madonna record producer Stuart Price. It will be included on their new EP, Christmas, released in December. You can hear the track here and see a live performance here.

It also brings to mind the Pet Shop Boys’ other covers. The band is masterful at recreating other’s song. They never try to interpret these songs traditionally. Instead, they bend the music and lyrics to fit the Pet Shop Boys’ sound. Examples: Elvis Presley’s You Were Always on My Mind, U2’s Where the Streets Have No Name, and the Village People’s Go West.

While most of their contemporaries fade away with 80s nostalgia the Pet Shop Boys remain relevant.

A far cry from those mandatory educational videos we all had to watch in middle school, KOYAANISQATSI (1982) is a film without narrative or plot that BAM is screening specially for students in grades 8-12. And with a new score composed by Philip Glass (who will moderate a post-screening discussion) it’s a shame the rest of us can’t come. Presented by Francis Ford Coppola, KOYAANISQATSI is the Hopi word for “life out of balance.” The film itself focuses on the relationship between humans, nature and technology and uses only techniques like slow motion and time lapse to tell the story.

It starts off big, with images of ancient cave paintings, deserted landscapes and impressive aerial photography of every imaginable environment. There are the requisite sunsets in fast forward and rapid moving clouds and people and cars. There are also slow moving clouds and people and cars and long shots on a single person’s face. There are tanks and planes and explosions, buildings full of people and buildings abandoned by them. There are moments when lava bursts from volcanoes and the music is epic and there are times when the music stops altogether. The effect is like a two-hour long meditation on whatever those images mean to each individual viewer. I hope the 8th-12th graders appreciate the experience.

I think I am the only queer in the universe who is not going nuts over Glee. It’s not that I have anything against Glee, I just don’t have the time to sit down and watch TV, unless of course, you’re Larry David. I always make time for Curb Your Enthusiasm. But I am always online and the specialness of Glee, and its gayness too, is captured on the above YouTube video that has been circulating. In it three men with beards mouth the words to the Glee girls’ rendition of “I Say a Little Prayer”, the classic Dionne Warwick song.

The men, called The Full Silkwood, mouth the words. They’re butch on the outside. Only. Lead by Jason Whipple, a former BUTT cover boy, they’re adorable.

I wrote an essay a few weeks back about Lady GaGa’s taking over from Madonna and becoming the numero uno gay pop icon. And any gay with a Facebook account can attest to this with a simple look at their status update bar from this week. The gays are going gaga over Bad Romance, the new video from Ms. G. Every homosexual I know, and I know a lot, are freaking out.

The video is epic. Costumes, pyrotechnics, McQueen shoes, and murder all combine with some fierce choreography (nods to MJ) and a dress train made from a white bear pelt.  A dress made from a bear! Watch and learn ladies. Watch and learn.