The Current Music Blog: September 25, 2006 Archive

Monday Morning Roundup: The Good, the Bad, the Biblical

Posted at 6:56 AM on September 25, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis

How long can the music festival season drag on? Virgin Festival aims to find out. [Spin]

Ross sez: First Avenue will soon be getting a facelift. 6,000 square feet of new billboard space? Uh, that's more like passing a kidney stone. [PiPress]

Psalm One. Can she survive the tour with Atmosphere? Will she feel like Psalm 127 when she gets back? [Strib]

Bad Brains reunite for shows in New York. We feel lightheaded, giddy. [CMJ]

The worst wax sculptures of rock stars ever. How many can there be, and at what point do you have to include the non-wax but still quite wax-like Panic At the Disco? [Idolator]

Separated At Birth... By A Time Machine?

Posted at 8:00 AM on September 25, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis (2 Comments)

The photo on the left is Ben Kweller.

The photo on the right is a computer-aided age progression of what Ben Kweller will look like in 50 years.

That, or it's a photo of Arlo Guthrie.

Ben Kweller photo courtesy of Ben Kweller; Arlo Guthrie photo courtesy of ICM Artists

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Fanfare For the Common Demographic

Posted at 10:00 AM on September 25, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis

A new study suggests that scientists can predict what kind of music you will like--from rap to rock to jazz to classical--based on your education, income, and other demographic information. Two British researchers surveyed 1,000 young people, and they confirmed not a few stereotypes:

"Those with the most education were also the main fans of opera, classical music, and jazz. For example, 8.5% of the classical music lovers had Ph.D.s, compared with 1.4% of those who favored disco music. And classical music lovers' incomes averaged $66,000 compared to $44,000 for lovers of popular dance music. Classical music buffs were also inclined toward intellectual fare, such as current-affairs magazines, whereas the rap/pop crowd favored magazines about cars, women, or celebrities.

Go on, we're listening.

One "clear pattern" to emerge was a clustering of antisocial tendencies among young fans of pop, rap, and rock. For example, 53% of hip-hop fans admitted to having committed a criminal act, compared to 18% of fans of musicals.

OK, we're going to go out on a limb here and suggest that bravado plays a role in the lives of serious hip-hop fans. Also this: We've often felt like committing a criminal act after seeing a musical.

(Not all survey results conformed easily to stereotypes: Opera buffs were least likely to take showers and wash their hair, for example, whereas fans of "DJ-based music" were frequent shampooers.)

Unfortunately, the survey did not prove that we were into country when country wasn't cool.

Schoolmarmish Reminder No. 1

Posted at 11:00 AM on September 25, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis

See any great shows this past weekend? Get picked on by any angry bouncers?

In short: What's new in your world that we can shamelessly leverage as awesome content in our world?

(Plus, we're just interested and curious!) Don't hide your light under a bushel!

Like Digging For Potatoes, No. 3: Of Montreal Sells Out!

Posted at 1:00 PM on September 25, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis (5 Comments)

You may recall hearing that Of Montreal--the sunny indie-pop group that is actually of Athens, Georgia--had licensed a song to the carnivorous restaurant chain Outback Steakhouse.

Well, it has arrived at your table. Medium-rare with hashbrowns, yes?

Warning! Viewer discretion is advised. Video includes footage of bizarre, self-slicing pineapples caroming all over the place.

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