
Who is the target audience for Roadkill Rising, Shout! Factory‘s four-disc “official” Iggy Pop bootleg collection? Fans get excited about concert albums; diehards and lifers hoard bootlegs like those suffering from OCD. Certainly the latter will be thrilled by the improved quality of these remastered bootlegs.
However, trying to determine if Roadkill Rising will appeal to non-Iggy Pop fans is an exercise in futility. I can’t imagine not being a fan of Iggy Pop so I am incapable of thinking like one.
Reading the press release on Erland & The Carnival‘s latest video made me squirm: “Much like the terrifying conclusion of the film Creepshow, we find our hero, Erland Cooper, buried and overcome by roaches.”
Full disclosure: I am mortally terrified of roaches. Thankfully the ones in this video are the less grotesque “Palmetto bugs” and not the standard horrifying, flying cockroaches that are the state bird of Louisiana.
The song is wonderful and the video is perfectly creepy, especially for those of use who appreciate morbid delights. Enjoy . . . and check out Erland & The Carnival’s excellent Nightingale album (reviewed on Popshifter here) if you haven’t already.
By Christian Lipski
Photos by Deborah Lipski
Aladdin Theater, Portland OR
May 5, 2011
Portland’s Aladdin Theater was completely full, with people standing along the walls, pushing the boundaries of its 620-person capacity. The area in front of the stage was filled with chairs, but it was clear from looking at the audience that there wasn’t going to be any moshing anyway. A curious weighting on the older side for some reason, though the show was 21 and over due to alcohol sales. It’s possible that the people who grew up with the acoustic guitar-based singer-songrwiters of the ’70s find KT Tunstall‘s music to be familiar territory.
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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.
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By Jemiah Jefferson

Canadian four-piece Sloan is one of the world’s most enduring cult-item bands (for everyone living outside Canada, that is; in the wily north, Sloan has been a ubiquitous source of pride for a large part of their twenty-year history). There’s a reason for this continued affection, slavishly on display at any of their raucous, friendly live shows: Sloan is a known quantity, and all ten of their albums lie on the spectrum between pretty damn good and iconically brilliant.
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If you like Chiptunes, you should check out PASSWORD, the latest release from Oxvylu. It’s the perfect addition to your weekend . . . and beyond! Enjoy!
From the press release:
This is your PASSWORD to a lavish trip . . . just imagine endless lounge rooms decorated with plastic trees, poofy couches, cheap perfume and slot machines overlooking a wonderfully fake beach scenario. Fill your world with easy listening chiptune music featuring bossanova drumbeats, foxtrot basslines and shiney hihat taps any 5-star hotel elevator would envy. Please enjoy PASSWORD by Oxvylu. Yes please thank you.
Download the Oxvylu PASSWORD album at no cost http://oxvylu.com/password/
About Oxvylu:
Oxvylu is a chiptunes artist from the gritty streets of Toronto, Ontario. He has been making videogamesounding music since he realized he could hook his Intellivision up to a stereo system. Seldom seen but often heard, Oxvylu produces some of the brightest yet darkest chiptunes you’ll ever hear. His 4th album PASSWORD is dedicated to rock’n’roller ‘Sam I Am’.
By John Lane

One can expect the usual onslaught of products and merchandise to cash in on Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday on May 1. Just as we have become used to more Beatles product every time Ringo coughs or Paul sneezes, so too must we be inundated with Bob Dylan product when he reaches a significant birthday mark.
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By Magda Underdown-DuBois

For the most part, I tend to be attracted to bluesy lyrics that grip my gut and pull me involuntarily into sound and words. Instrumental jazz, like classical music, usually blends into background for me. Yet, I was introduced to the trumpeter/band leader Miles Davis by a dear ex-housemate, whose taste for adventure extends from Frank Zappa to Hot Chip. With that recommendation in mind, I committed to the experience of a two-disc set—The Definitive Miles Davis on Prestige.
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By Danny R. Phillips

Country music as a genre, in my self-deluded opinion, has been on a downward, pop-infused shit spiral since the 1990s Garth Brooks era, culminating in the current supremacy of Carrie “Screech” Underwood and Taylor “Let’s Go To The Mall” Swift.
I feared all was lost, that the world would be contented with pop songs passed off as country because they contain one of the following things: a fiddle, a steel guitar, or the word “y’all.” Then I heard Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs latest release No Help Coming. Rejoice traditionalists; this record is for you.
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By Paul Casey

Despite my trepidation that The Never Ending Narrative, which documents Dylan’s commercial and critical comeback, would be another super cheap cash-in akin to Bob Dylan World Tour 1966: The Home Movies, I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, it is still pretty cheap—the most direct interview subjects are a pair of engineers—but unlike that earlier movie, it actually has Dylan music! Although it is not exactly overflowing with it, there is just enough to hold things together. The majority of the film is taken up by a series of music journalists, most of who specialize in discussing Bob Dylan. Most of these are entertaining, clearly know their subject, and help disguise the film’s shortcomings.