By Less Lee Moore
5. Weep is completely without marketing savvy and has no idea how to “make-it”. Therefore: your love of Weep will never be sullied. You can always enjoy your hip status of loving an underground band.
—From the Weep Manifesto
By Emily Carney
A review of 1 Top Class Manager can be found here.
“[Journalist] Paul Morley’s line of questioning was about a new underground forming outside the system – how do you see the role of the band? . . . Personally I would rather adopt a different role with regards to everything. . . ”
An excerpt from Rob Gretton’s notebooks, circa 1978
Continue reading ‘1 Top Class Manager—The Notebooks of Rob Gretton: Q & A With Lesley Gilbert’
By Less Lee Moore
Listening to these songs on Sebastien Grainger’s MySpace page and hearing them on CD is like the difference between reading about eating a crème caramel and actually eating one. Granted, the MySpace music player doesn’t have the greatest sound quality, but that does not adequately explain it. There’s something more, something that makes this album better than the sum of its parts.
Continue reading ‘Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains, S/T’
By Christian Lipski
Thanks to Hollywood, comic books (graphic novels) are more popular than ever among the general public, and a lot of people are interested in finding out what these things are all about. Comics have been around for a hundred years in one form or another, so it’s nearly impossible for the uninitiated to know where to begin. I’m no expert, but I can tell you what I’ve loved. My tastes run toward the superhero end of the spectrum; I’ve never delved into the world of Love and Rockets or American Splendor, two great examples of the “realistic” genre, so plan accordingly. This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive map of the best in “sequential art” (as comic books are sometimes loftily known), but rather some suggestions for places to start, based on my own forays.
Continue reading ‘Travel Advice for a Journey Into Comic Books’
By Emily Carney
A Q & A with Lesley Gilbert, Rob’s widow, can be found here.
Rob Gretton, Joy Division’s manager, has attained legendary status due to his massive presence in Manchester’s musical history, and due to his various depictions in cinema. He’s been portrayed in two major films: 24 Hour Party People (directed by Michael Winterbottom, 2002) and Control (directed by Anton Corbijn, 2007). He has been depicted as being brusque and pint-loving-yet-sympathetic by actor Paddy Considine in 24 Hour Party People; he is rendered as being somewhat harsh and expletive-using by actor Toby Kebbell in Control. A new book, entitled 1 Top Class Manager (referring to Rob referring, well, to himself), consists of Rob’s journals and notebooks from the period between 1978 and 1980, when Joy Division began to make their mark upon the world of popular music. These notebooks set out to “humanize” the myth of Joy Division while underscoring the enormous work it took to make the band successful.
Continue reading ‘Bands, Posters, Lights, Money: The Notebooks of Rob Gretton’
Interviewed by Christian Lipski
From the bouncy warning “Danger! High Voltage!”, through the metallic invitation to a “Gay Bar,” to the recent clarinet-laden declaration, “It’s Showtime,” Electric Six has been a band you can count on for high-energy music in a patchwork quilt of styles. Their new album, Flashy, is more of the same only in the sense that it’s utterly rocking. Lead singer Dick Valentine and band have put together a new collection of songs that span the gamut from the upstroke ska of “Your Heat Is Rising” to the electronic vocoder of “Making Progress.” Valentine took time out from the recording of E6’s new CD to talk with Popshifter‘s Christan Lipski about carbon footprints, the music industry, and the worst places in America.
Continue reading ‘Nothing Wrong With Liking A Flashy Man: An Interview With Dick Valentine’
By Lisa Anderson
In 2008, Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country For Old Men took home Oscars for best film, direction, supporting actor, and adaptation, as well as numerous other awards and critical accolades. This year, their follow-up caper comedy, Burn After Reading, garnered Golden Globe, BAFTA, and WGA nominations, before being passed up altogether by Oscar.
Speaking as a critic and a film fan, I appreciate the craft that went into both movies, but vastly prefer the first to the second. On the surface, both seem to have the characteristic Coen worldview, where nothing that happens has any meaning beyond itself. A closer look, however, reveals that the denizens of No Country For Old Men at least try to bring meaning to their own lives, even if they ultimately fail.
Continue reading ‘The Heart Of Darkness: Comedy And Drama From The Coen Brothers’
By Emily Carney
Wolfgang Flür is best known as being Kraftwerk’s drummer from 1974 to 1991, during their “golden years” when they turned out seminal albums such as Radioactivity (1975) and Trans-Europe Express (1977). This memoir by Flür details his various escapades within the workings of the “Düsseldorf Beatles.”
Flür’s liquored-up memories encompass shameless groupie-guzzling, getting surreally and seriously ill while on tour, and being sexually attacked by an aging alcoholic male German film actor. They climax when Flür is unceremoniously ousted from the band, who have become increasingly obsessed with cycling (to Flür’s utter dismay). Who would have believed the inner workings of Kraftwerk could be so scandalous and sex-soaked? The book was greeted with anger from Kraftwerk’s remaining members, who sued Flür; apparently Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider were not amused by photographs depicting the Kraftwerk robots in various homosexual activities.
Continue reading ‘Top Five Most Inadvertently Hilarious Rock Books’
Image from EquilibriumFans
John Preston: What’s the point of your existence?
Mary: To feel. ‘Cause you’ve never done it, you can never know it. But it’s as vital as breath. And without it, without love, without anger, without sorrow, breath is just a clock. . . ticking.
Continue reading ‘You Think You’ve Seen It All Except The Future*’
Pete Best
Most publications give you their “Best Of” and “Top Ten” lists in their December issues. But what about giving props to of all the great things you embraced in the penultimate month of the year?
That’s why Popshifter has decided to provide you with our favorites now, so that you can add them to your list of “Things To Check Out In 2009.”
In addition to the lists our staff compiled, we’ve also posted the lists from some very special guest contributors.