End of the Month Music Bitchfest - June 2012

Nine Inch Nails
Balls.
Sweaty balls.

Beck
Aside from stunning the world by releasing TWO BRAND NEW ORIGINAL SONGS, Beck also did some old school rapping on a track called "Silk Pillow" with some guy named Childish Gambino.
I like Beck's part, but Mr. Gambino left me feeling unimpressed.
Probably because he wasn't Beck.
Beck has started his summer festivaling and, sadly, crushingly, there has been no...new...music nor any mention of any new music.
And my heart...BURNS...

They Might Be Giants
So, while Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Cake, Eels and TMBG are my favorite bands (despite John Flansburgh calling me a hipster on Twitter yesterday...although we resolved things eventually) and I tend not to really put them in order (although it's usually TMBG vs. NIN when I get down to brass tacks); let this serve as a warning to Nine Inch Nails...at this particular moment...They Might Be Giants has got you beat.
Now, how could that possibly happen?
Well...technically, I can't tell you, as I've been sworn to Fight-Club-esque secrecy as a member of the 2012 Instant Fan Club...but, seeing as there are three people that read this and none of them are in They Might Be Giants, I'll tell you...and only you.
A few weeks ago, Flans sent out an e-mail to all the IFC members telling them a surprise would be showing up in our Inboxes. A day or so later, he told us what it was: the complete demo sessions for John Henry*.
This is probably my favorite TMBG album, and, simply for being a member of the IFC, I was to receive alternate versions of the whole thing?
This, THIS is how one does a fan club.
To the casual listener, there's not a whole lot of difference between this demo album and the released version, but to sick people like myself, it's a completely different experience. Different instrument types, additional notes, alternate endings...Jesus what a brilliant surprise for us psychos.
Along with this unexpected boon, Flans tells us that our July IFC package, which contains, among other stuff, an unreleased live CD from their 2011 tour and two new exclusive 7" vinyls, one with versions of music from the new album and one with old and new covers, is almost complete.
Plus, the custom ringtones should be arriving as well.
Folks, please don't let me complain about They Might Be Giants ever again, 'kay (except for when they call me a hipster)? These guys are performing above and beyond what can be asked of a band.
And, on top of all this awesome, Flans is still tirelessly responding to practically EVERY question put to him on the IFC Tumblr site.
I'm actually running out of stuff to ask them.
Anyone have any questions they'd like to ask They Might Be Giants?


A while back, St. Vincent mentioned that she was working on an album with David Byrne of Talking Heads. At the time I thought, "that's probably going to sound pretty awesome." Well, early in June, Annie Clark sent out an e-mail formally announcing Love This Giant**, the aforementioned Clark/Byrne joint. She said they started by sending things back and forth; music without words, words without music etc. and that the whole thing was centered around working with a brass band. She also released a track from the project called "Who" (which is super funky), announced the release date (September 11th) AND an upcoming St. Vincent/David Byrne tour launching fall of 2012...which I won't be seeing because A. the Beacon blows cockass and B. I'm not going to a place that blows cockass for $125, thanks though.
To be honest, I don't know a lot of Talking Heads but this is definitely going to get me to check them out. I know they're supposed to be amazing and ground breaking and all that, so this should be pretty fun.
Hear the track, read about the concept and see the tour schedule as well as a creepy picture of the two of them over at the official site: Love This Giant

I also remembered this month that Mickey Avalon (co-creator of "My Dick") existed. I did a little looky looky at the clicky box box and, holy shit, as it turns out, he released a new album, Loaded, a few months ago. I immediately stuck my face in and, at first, was very unimpressed; only one of two of the eighteen tracks (kudos for making a full length album though) really got my attention, but, after going back to his first album and then returning to the new one, I began to dig some more stuff off it.
While this guy is never going to replace Eminem as the most talented white rapper in the world, he has some pretty catchy stuff.
Also, the manner in which he talks about how rich he is at the start of a sentence and how broke he is at the end of it is pretty amusing...sadly though, I think that may have more to do with lingering brain problems brought on by years of drug abuse and rough living.
If one were so inclined, one should feel good about checking out the following tracks for the following reasons:

• "Girlfriend" - Catchy chorus and a good beat. Fun, strong single.
• "On The..." - Great melody and a solid rap from Mr. Avalon.
• "California Crack Cocaine" - Despite the...less than radio friendly subject matter and maybe a few too many homages to other summer type songs, this could be your next summer jam. The only person standing in your way is YOU. Asshole.
• "Mickey's Girl" - You ever wonder what Mickey Avalon and Lou Reed would come up with? It's this. This song. The acoustic guitar is a delightful surprise.
• "Making Love" - I love the laughter in Avalon's voice on this one, it's infectious...like Avalon himself.
• "Take Me Home" - An excellent anthem with just enough cock rock guitar to make one almost pump their fist...but not quite.
• "Party In My Pants" - See the title? Good. We're done here.

Again, it isn't as strong as the first album, but there's a lot more to this, although I do miss Dirt Nasty AKA MTV VJ Simon Rex. If this album had its own "My Dick", it would be much better, but, alas, a "My Dick" comes once every generation or so...

Aside from that, I've just recently listened to the Inverse Phase project, Pretty Eight Machine.
It's...pretty niche, so I'll feel completely all right if you skip over this one.
Basically, this dude recreated all of Nine Inch Nails' debut album, Pretty Hate Machine, using eight different 8-bit systems.
If you don't know what that means, think of any music from the Nintendo Entertainment System...that's 8-bit. There is some pretty awesome stuff on there and it's worth a listen if you're A. into chiptune and/or B. into Nine Inch Nails...although, after I finished listening to it, I really just wanted to listen to Pretty Hate Machine...which I did.

And, finally, some great news on the Tweaker front: the new album is totally finished and has been turned in to their label for mastering! They have yet to announce a release date or album title or anything, but, judging by the old model of releasing records, I'd say we're looking at a pretty big Q2 2013 for Tweaker.****

That's all for now.
Screw.









*Almost complete, apparently the song "Stomp Box" didn't actually have a demo version.

**Which, for the LAST TIME is NOT ABOUT ME.***

***It's totally about me.

****Prove me wrong, Future Artists, prove me wrong.