Livide
New on Popshifter this week: Reviews of Turing Machine’s latest release What is the Meaning of What, the remastered reissue of Hey Little Richard, and You and I in Heaven, the new EP from Tyburn Saints.
(more…)
By Matt Keeley
The Hub’s My Little Pony is one of the the best shows on television. I came to it rather late, despite having friends who were already fans, mainly because, well . . . who would ever think that statement could ever be true? But it is. And it’s all thanks to Lauren Faust.
(more…)
By Matt Keeley
Sometimes the redundant can be awesome. Shonen Knife‘s own music is quite Ramonesy, so some out there might not see the point of them doing a full album of Ramones covers. Those people who I may have just made up are stupid. Shonen Knife are awesome, as are the Ramones. How can you go wrong with an album of Shonen Knife—a band that was dubbed the “Osaka Ramones” by a Ramone himself—doing Ramones covers? You can’t. QED.
(more…)
By Matt Keeley
Look, you’re busy, I know that. If you don’t feel like reading this whole thing, just read the next sentence, and you’ll know the truth:
McLemore Avenue by Booker T & The MGs is a fucking amazing album.
(more…)
By Matt Keeley
Most of the Japanese bands I listen to seem to draw their inspiration from the late ’70s. Shonen Knife are heavily influenced by The Ramones and the Buzzcocks, while POLYSICS draw from DEVO, XTC and M. The Zoobombs on the other hand, while also influenced by the ’70s, draw inspiration from the earlier part of that decade. Their new collection, La Vie En Jupon, is much closer to Black Sabbath than punk. And, as far as Sabbath goes, they are less “Paranoid” and more “Electric Funeral.”
(more…)
By Matt Keeley
Anyone familiar with Pusswhip Banggang—the band which started as a sketch on Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and later became a real band in Tim & Eric live shows—should not be surprised by the ’70s vibe of Starting From Nowhere, the debut album from Tim Heidecker and Davin Wood (who is also a member of Pusswhip).
(more…)
By Matt Keeley
Man, the Grim Reaper sucks. I know, I know, he provides a valuable service and when he gets stuck up a tree, all sorts of bad stuff happens, but sometimes his aim sucks. Like seriously, Mister Rogers? Talk about all-time candidates for immortality. Anyway, here’s a list of the Ten Least-worthy Folks to have kicked the bucket this year.
Leslie Nielsen was awesome. Sure, he made a lot of crappy movies, but he also made ones so awesome that no one minded! Yeah, Mr. Magoo exists, but so does The Naked Gun. And, really, Spy Hard wasn’t that bad. But the cool thing is that Nielsen was also a renowned dramatic actor and even—in his youth—a heartthrob, which kinda messes with folks of the younger generation, just because we think of Lt. Frank Drebin. But, honestly, Frank Drebin was pretty hot.
(more…)
By Hanna and Matt Keeley
Kristian Hoffman is perhaps best known for working with the brilliant Klaus Nomi; he was Nomi’s musical director and the wordsmith behind Nomi’s original songs. If you’ve sat down with the records, you know how good those songs were and still are, both in performance (there’s a reason Nomi’s one of Rush Limbaugh’s favorites) and in songwriting. Nomi should have conquered the world; instead, he died too early.
Hoffman, on the other hand, didn’t sleep, and has been working with loads of cool people, including James White and the Contortions, Rufus Wainwright, Sparks, Lydia Lunch and. . . look, this’ll just be a laundry list of who’s who in good music, so just rest assured: if they’re talented, he’s probably worked with ‘em. He’s also done solo records, of which Fop is the newest. It’s such an event that Popshifter enlisted TWO, count ‘em TWO, reviewers to cover it.
(more…)
Idea by Matt Keeley
With Contributions By . . .
Everyone knows that psychos in movies are good at one thing: killing. But honestly, that’s unfair. So many of these “homicidal maniacs” as some might call them have other interests. After all, are YOU just one thing? It’s time we set the record straight and give credit where it’s due, so here’s Popshifter‘s list of top multi-faceted murderers in alphabetical order because we don’t want to play favorites and take chances incurring their wrath!
(more…)
By Matt Keeley
I have been listening to Shonen Knife for literally half my life. I’m 30 now, so do the math! That being said, I’ve only been able to see them live twice: once on the Gokigen Tour in 2005, and recently for the new album Free Time. There’ve been line-up changes since the first time, but the sound is the same and just as good as it always was.
I was so thrilled to interview Shonen Knife before their show at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle—the first stop on the new US tour. I got to talk to all of them and ask Naoko Yamano about her songwriting, finding records in Japan when she was growing up, Japanese vs. English, writing about animals and food, and more, including the band’s recent experience playing in China. She even tells a scary story, seeing as it is the Halloween issue and all!
(more…)