As a rule, we like the things Nick Cave does. So far that includes his new supergroup Grinderman, which apparently features ex-Triffids member Martyn Casey, ex-Cramps drummer Jim Sclavunos and Dirty Three member Warren Ellis. The band’s charmingly raunchy ode to sexual frustration, “No Pussy Blues,” has been amusing us all morning. Plus, now that Nick Cave is not 18 (he’s 49) he has the evolved wit of an adult to apply to this quintessentially adolescent problem. “I bought her a dozen snow white doves, I did her dishes in rubber gloves … but she still didn’t want to, she just never wants to” Cave seethes over a sick, throbbing bass. He reads her Eliot and Yeats, sucks in his gut, pats “her revolting little chihuahua,” and still this girl won’t put out? That’s cold. Isn’t it?

Mark our words: Murfreesbroro, Tennesee is about to be the new, like, Montreal. Translation: Assloads of rad bands are coming out of there every other second. (Perhaps it’s something in the red-eye gravy??) First we were all up on the Features. Now we’re totally sweating cutie-pie synth rockers How I Became the Bomb. Check out their song “Killing Machine,” a galloping, melodic dance-pop number that sounds like Aha with a sense of humor. (Thanks, Coolfer!)

We’ve already discussed the fact that we have a thing for Australian country goths Howling Bells. Their most well-known song (from their self-titled debut record out in the U.S. …sometime that is not now) is the sassy-yet-sorrowful elegy to bad men “Low Happening,” which has already made an impression on the band’s cadre of British fans. But the video for Howling Bell’s next single “Setting Sun” showcases the group’s more sentimental (but still dark) side. The Bells perform on a simple stage while flocks of blank-but-happy looking Indian belly dancers sway to the lilting, cavernous guitars. Not since Mazzy Star (to whom Howling Bells seem fated to be compared for all eternity) have we heard a voice that more perfectly personifies hipster romance and melancholy. Plus, via this video we learn that Howling Bells frontwoman Juanita Stein likes headbands and red guitars. We too enjoy headbands and shiny red guitars; true bonds are forming here.

As you may know, Karen O and Peaches co-wrote a song called “Backass” for the movie Jackass 2 even though (according to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Web site) “Johnny Knoxville explicitly warned them NOT to.” The joke seems to be that Johnny didn’t want the song exposed to the public because, “If you listen closely you can hear him crooning towards the very end of the song.” And that’s so much more embarrassing than consuming urine flavored snow cones or being involved in testicle staplings. Whatever. According to the Yeahs’ site the song is perfect to listen to “while doing doughnuts in a parking lot or throwing fruit against a wall.” (Scroll down in the news section for the mp3.)

We’d argue that the rhythm of the track wouldn’t actually work well for doughnut-doing (too choppy) but we like the (predictable, given the parties involved) mix of cavernous garage noise and dance-happy electro-clash beats. Johnny Knoxville’s crooning cameo sounds like what we should have imagined a Johnny Knoxville crooning cameo would sound like (a bad Tom Waits impersonation) but the track is charming. Find yourself some fruit, a wall and enjoy.

Ever since the Polyphonic Spree turned into the “Fragile Army,” abandoning their Technicolor robes for gothed-out military uniforms, we’ve been looking for that vaguely choral, hipster feel-good band to fill the hole in our hearts. That’s where I’m From Barcelona comes in. The celebratory jingle that is their (cleverly titled) track “We’re From Barcelona” made us remember that you don’t need to join a cult to feel like you belong, all that’s required is a flock of warm, musically inclined Swedes. It was the twenty-four-member-strong collective’s listen-to-us-right-now-and-be-happy sound that first caught our attention, but their wide Scandinavian smiles and dapper 70s science teacher fashion sense that kept us coming back for more.

The original version of this tart brag-track from pipsqueak emcee Lady Sov already pretty much rules with its glitchy Tetris beat and sassy “fuck you” vibe. But get Missy Elliott on the joint and what we have is a spliffed-out rap diva masterpiece. We’re all about the S-O-V but Missy’s verses on this bad-boy remind us that she’s still the ultimate. Who else can spit total nonsense like, “Riding like a Range Rover/Bitch move over/Wear more whites than the bears in the polar,” and make it sound like the shamanistic gospel of the future? Listen to it here (RealPlayer required).

When we read that actress Emma Watson might not reprise the role of Hermione Granger in the next two installments of the “Harry Potter” movies, we cried. Then, to cheer ourselves up, we rocked out to Harry and the Potters, who inspire us to embrace our inner geekiness with the songs “This Book is so Awesome” and “Save Ginny Weasley.” We’ve no doubt the band is composing an appropriate Hermione-centric song this very moment. Check out their stuff on MySpace and get your dork on.

It’s been a while since the phrase “George Michael is a genius” has passed through our brains…defiantly sleazy outdoor sex will do that to your rep. But the man’s redeemed himself all at once with this hilarious onstage balloon prop/skit scenario he served up live onstage in Barcelona. Beneath a towering George W. Bush, a British flag-cloaked bulldog…oh, hell, you just have to watch it. It’s the kind of thing anyone might think of doing while stoned and watching VH1 Classic with your friends, but would you actually go there? Even if you enjoyed blow jobs in the bushes? Nice work, Georgie.
[via Stereogum]

What is it about Sweden? Electro-rock outfit Teddybears are the latest Scandie export to make us hot. Get a load of “Automatic Lover,” a standout track on their sweet debut album, Soft Machine. With that roboto-voice spitting crazy come-ons like “You just have to push my button/Cause I can take it like no other” and a sick-ass four-hits-the-floor beat, it sorta reminds us of that weird Daft Punk song “Around the World” from 1996, only sexier and more breakdance-friendly. We heart it so much that we’ve been trying unsuccessfully to pop and lock all day in our little cubicle, much to our co-workers’ amusement.

Gregg Gillis, the Pittsburgh-based chemical engineer who performs as Girl Talk, has released basically the most ambitiously (potentially) illegal record we’ve ever come across. One Rolling Stone staffer likened Night Ripper to standing on Fifth Avenue smoking crack holding a sign that says, “I am smoking crack.”

At first we were like “Yeah yeah, another mash-up record.” But after we downloaded it on iTunes and got to the track “Smash Your Head,” which includes elements of X-Ray Spex’s “Oh Bondange, Up Yours” and the Pharcyde’s “Passing Me By,” plus this genius layering of Biggie’s “Juicy” over Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” It’s one of those “wow” moments in music where you get sort of clobbered by the perfection of the sound and start remembering all your favorite song-to-life-event moments, like what was playing at your eighth-grade dinner dance, and the song you first made out to. This. Record. Is. Awesome.

Listening to this collection of rarities from indie rock’s most prodigious It-boy is comforting because it feels like listening to any other Bright Eyes record. At first you’re like, “Hmmm, yet another warbling indie boy singing about being fucked up.” And then, out of no where, a line strikes you in that clear and perfect way, and you find yourself wondering how you’d ever lived without hearing it. This remarkable collection is full of those moments as Oberst dances from songs about longing and love (”Amy In the White Coat”) to songs about alcohol and love (”Drunk Kid Catholic”) to songs about drugs and love (”Spent on Rainy Days”). Many of the tracks on here are well-loved fan favorites — the devastating “Soon You Will Be Leaving Your Man,” for example — but there is lots here for even the most well-schooled Bright Eyes obsessive. Plus, as is typical with Conor, no song is sung the same way twice. These tracks will continue to haunt you a hundred listens in.

THE LATEST: A British judge has taken pity on poor Pete and held off sentencing him for various drug related charges until the rocker has had a chance to clean up a bit more. The sentencing will now take place on December 4th, and Doherty has been instructed to stay in rehab until then, which the singer tells the BBC he can’t afford. (Guess Parlophone hasn’t sent his check over yet?)

Meanwhile, Doherty’s collaboration with Mike Skinner on a remix of The Streets’ single “Prangin’ Out” (which Skinner wrote about his cocaine problems) is now up on the rapper’s MySpace page. We’re not in love with it, but that’s us. What do you think?

Get it here before you have to pay $438.95 on eBay for the deluxe bootlegged version: actual real live mp3s of all 28 songs (plus stage banter) from very last show of Sleater-Kinney’s career, held at Portland’s Crystal Ballroom on August 12th, and delivered with gusto. Or just wait for the reunion at Coachella in 2013.
[via ryspace]

Scouting for new bands used to be so much work. You had to actually appear at rock shows, you had to ponder their talent and think about the originality (or lack thereof) of their sound. Man. Those days sucked. Now that Thurston Moore’s label Ecstatic Peace is all over the young up-and-comers all we have to do is listen to the bands he signs and be done with it. Thanks Thurston!
Awesome Color, an Ecstatic Peace band originally from Michigan sound like a grimier version of Sonic Youth (go figure). We love their garagey, Guess Who-esque take on blues rock, especially on “Free Man.” Listening to that song makes us feel like we’re living in Easy Rider, sailing down the highway with Hopper and Fonda looking for an America that can’t be found.

A few weeks ago this track inspired us to launch the Best Summer Songs 2006 list. And we stand by it, especially now that everyone can hear it here. Bask with us in the self-consciously literary but still beautiful lyrics and sweet accordian hook. Then go make out with someone to this song so you can miss them every time you play it.