Stanley Cup 3-Pack

Because sometimes half a sixer is all you need ...

The NHL Finals are well under way, and with their Game 3 overtime win there's hope for the San Jose Sharks (aka not Pittsburgh). Rooting interest or not, the NHL playoffs are always enjoyable. So too are these hockey related songs straight out of the great white north.

First up is Calgary, Alberta, Canada's own Belvedere with their tribute to former Flames center Joel Otto, "Two Minutes for Looking So Good." Next is The Tragically Hip with "Fifty Mission Cap," which offers a bit of history on the seemingly unrelated topics of former Toronto Maple Leaf Bill Barilko and WWII bomber pilot hats. Last is Propagandhi with "Resisting Tyrannical Government," off of arguably the greatest punk album of all time. If you don't get the Steve Smith reference, here ya go.

Enjoy, and remember to play the man, not the puck, kids.

Thanksgiving 3-Pack

Because sometimes half a sixer is all you need ...

Is the proper forum to call out Wawa for running out of hot turkey at the Jenkintown and Glenside locations simultaneously? That should never happen. I can only hope some regional supervisor got reamed out for that, but I digress.

Here are three tunes to rock during Turkey Day, whether you're 47th in line at your aunt's Thanksgiving dinner buffet, or going solo with an MTO from Wawa (assuming they haven't run out of hot turkey) or anywhere else. First up is "Thank You" by the Descendents, followed by "Gratitude" from the Beastie Boys, and then a cover of Andrew Gold's "Thank You for Being a Friend" by Cynthia Fee, AKA the theme to The Golden Girls.

NOTE: That last one, as interpreted by Fatal Farm, kinda needs to be seen more than heard.

Winter Solstice 3-Pack

Because sometimes half a sixer is all you need ...

Do you celebrate the Winter Solstice? Well, that's a little weird. But here's three tunes to help you celebrate anyway. First up is a cover of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, followed by Damnation A.D.'s "Another Day of Darkness" and then "Shame on the Night" by Dio.

Halloween 3-Pack

Because sometimes half a sixer is all you need, Orange Whip offers up the new 3-Pack feature. It's three songs, all related to a theme. First up: Halloween.

We've got The Distillers with "I Am a Revenant," Bluetip with "Haunted House," and the Ramones with "Pet Sematary."

No sleep 'till Glasgow

I remember watching this when it first aired in 1999, and I just watched it straight through again. Beastie Boys performing in Glasgow, right after Hello Nasty came out. Excellent. R.I.P. MCA. [H/T @KenTremendous on the vid.]

Looks Refn good

Drive has some things going for it that will require a viewing.

1) The film is about a criminal underworld driver which, as we all know, is the best job in the criminal underworld. Or at least the most entertaining. I guess "boss" would be better.

2) It's directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, who's done some good stuff, including Bronson and the awesome Pusher trilogy. He's not averse to getting weird, as well, which might account for this visual.

3) Hooded-out Hendricks.

4) A synth/80s-style soundtrack in the mode of Michael Mann and Tangerine Dream.

5) Albert Brooks in Scorpio mode.

Peep the trailer.

I can only hope Chainsaw Safety Records signs this guy

"Tiny Chainsaw" by rathergood.com, which is a Web site, not a guy. So there goes my headline.

Major Gale

From Sunday's Breaking Bad, Gale Boetticher crushing it on karaoke with "Major Tom (Coming Home)" by Peter Schilling or, if you prefer, Shiny Toy Guns.

In short, Gale rules.

Can't not be feelin' this

I could seriously listen to this all day.

The song is a snippet of "Feel It All Around" by
Washed Out, and while I like it just fine without lyrics on the opening of IFC's Portlandia, it's also quite snazzy with the lyrics.

Bonus review of Portlandia: I thought it looked insufferable in the commercials leading up to it, but I gave it a shot and thought it was pretty funny. A solid B, if I was grading Season 1. So if you avoided it for the same reasons I almost did, give it a shot. The first episode is strong like ox.

The opposites of dildos

New Soundgarden video for "Black Rain," the one previously unreleased track off their recent Telephantasm.

It's directed by Brendon Small of Metalocalypse, features a cameo by Dethklok and involves giant aliens fighting a Soundgarden-controlled mega-robot. So suffice it to say it's brutal. Song's pretty rockin' too. Watching it full-screen in HD recommended.

I can feeeel it

That new cop show Detroit 1-8-7 premiered last night. I have no interest in watching it, but it does provide a good excuse to hearken back to the golden age of West Coast gangsta rap, and another more significant premier. Dr. Dre introduces Snoop Dogg to the world on "Deep Cover," off the soundtrack to the Laurence Fishburne/Jeff Goldblum film.

I seem to recall the edited/MTV version of this song had Snoop saying "nickel-plated .22," which I actually prefer to the four-syllable phrase we get in the original version here. Seems like "nickel-plated" would be the more clever phrase to come up with. But who am I to deny Snoop his cuss words? Few have used them better.

Rated Vitamin D

"Lights" from Interpol's upcoming self-titled album, wherein we learn where milk comes from. I suppose it's better than Fat Tony's system.

\m/

R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio. Luckily for us, he did rock for a long, long time, and has now ascended to the higher realms to throw lightning down upon the evil wizards and demons.

This vid was actually shot in the Spectrum, also soon to be R.I.P. (which is a bunch of crap if you ask me, but no one did).

One of the best yet

R.I.P. Guru.

Below is "Full Clip" off of the best of Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr album, which I recommend you pick up.

Thanks for picking it

Above, Alkaline Trio does an acoustic cover of "Web in Front" as part of a new A.V. Club series. Below, the video of the original by Archers of Loaf.

When I watched the Alkaline Trio cover, I didn't realize it was the same song. Not because it wasn't a good cover (though it was acoustic this time), but because "Web in Front" is one of those '90s alternative videos I saw a hundred times, but now must be starting to forget.

Good song, silly video, good stuff.



While I dug that song, I never picked up any Archers albums. But the nice thing about music is while there might not be anything new out that you're liking, there's always something from back in the day to delve into for the first time.

For Jay

Jay Reatard was found dead today. While I'd heard a little about his non-musical antics — fights, firing his band, etc. — I never heard his music until seeing the below vid a while back. I dug the song and the vid, and I'll have to check out the rest of his stuff.

Warning: This vid contains a sort of evil looking clown. Not too bad, though, no need to call Maury Povich.

It must be said ...

... Alicia Keys kind of rules.



No I didn't watch the stupid VMAs, but I caught this end performance.

Oh, Jay-Z — I don't think you made the Yankees hat more famous than any Yankees did, holmes. (I think that's what he said.) Let's bring it back down to Earth. Alright then.

With animation, there's no limit to what we can ... imagine

Caught this animated Beatles Rock Band piece on MTV tonight. Pretty cool. (Hit the link to embiggen.)

You know what I can't find online, though? The scene from Beavis and Butthead where Butthead calmly asserts, "The Beatles ruined music." One of my favorite lines from the show.

For the greatest bit of Beatles animation — involving Dewey Cox, anyway — check this out. Or just watch Walk Hard, because it's awesome.

UPDATE: Some more Internet research leads me to now believe it was Beavis who said the above quote — it was his response to the query of whether England was near Britain. I may have been mixing it up with another quote from Butthead who, according to Wikipedia, said, "You know those asswipes The Beatles? Those guys ruined music," though I've seen that phrase in slightly different forms.

While I am a huge fan of B and B, it's been a while since I watched, folks. Perhaps Ron Wood knows the truth of it ...

I really like it, you know?

Sick video. "Happy Up Here" by Röyksopp, directed by Reuben Sutherland.

UPDATE: This one is pretty cool too. Reminds me of an early 80's MTV video.

Glastonbury? Who ever heard of a Glastonbury?

The Big Picture has some pretty cool photos from the Glastonbury festival, including the above by Joel Ryan/AP and the below by Leon Neal/Getty Images. Via.

Not sure what this is about. I can only hope the guy's carrying cases or a quarter-keg in his arms.