The Riff - December 2007

Red Velvet Goldmine, or, Christmas With Bowie

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| Thu Dec. 20, 2007 2:43 PM PST

If you're still singing to yourself, "I hurt myself today pa rum pum pum pum," then you might want to change your interior Muzak track with this gem. Here's what happened when David Bowie dropped by Bing Crosby's place for some Christmas cheer:

(Via The Poop)

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All I Want for Christmas, Part 3: Cassette Bag

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| Thu Dec. 20, 2007 1:41 PM PST

mojo-photo-cassettebag.jpgFrom the World Wide Fred website: "Time to unwind and rewind with this low-tech cassette tote bag. Full-color printed flexible plastic, complete with handles that look like the tape is unraveling (didn't you just hate it when that happened?). Casual and roomy, our Cassette Tote is the perfect way to pack your important stuff (like your leg warmers, mini skirt, and jelly shoes). What a feelin'!"

There's no price and I can't find anywhere to actually buy it, so maybe it's not real, but it sure does bring me back to the days when home taping was killing the music industry. You know, when it unravels you can fix it with scotch tape (the cassette, not the industry).

(Via AudioPorn Central)

Mashup Roundup: Tasteless Ike Turner Mashup, Tasteful Christmas Mashups, Obvious Jay-Z Mashup Album, Super Zep Mashup

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| Thu Dec. 20, 2007 1:18 PM PST

Santastic

  • First of all, let's get this out of the way: I can't even bring myself to say the name of the song that's been combined with an old Ike & Tina Turner number, but I bet you can guess it. (via Mashuptown.com)

  • Okay, clean your ears out with some lovely and innocent holiday-themed bootlegs: it's another "Santastic" compilation, edited by Boston's DJ BC and featuring the work of Go Home Productions, Freddy King of Pants, and a special "Dick In a Box" mix from A Plus D! Come to think of it, maybe this isn't so innocent. (Santastic3)

  • Not street enough for you? Well, SoCal's DJ Skee has put together a version of Jay-Z's latest album American Gangster using music from another well-known gangster movie: it's American Godfather, and while I'm a bit put off by Skee's ego ("often cited as the definitive DJ for the West Coast"?!) Radar seems to like it. (Download at SendSpace)

  • Now here's what mashups are really all about: actual musical craft. Lenlow's smooth combo of Led Zeppelin, Buffalo Springfield, and a bunch more stuff feels like a whole new song, so shut up about this being a "cringe-inducing fad," Radar. You're cringe-inducing. Nyah! (Via Lenlow's site)

    • Larry Flynt Doesn't Know Whether Rudolph Giuliani is Gay or Not

    —By

    | Thu Dec. 20, 2007 12:33 PM PST

    mojo-photo-flynt.JPGHustler publisher and aspiring political muckraker Larry Flynt has given an extensive interview to Vanity Fair in which he continues to promise the exposure of juicy tidbits about "hypocritical" politicians, although it's his comments about Rudy Giuliani that are raising eyebrows:

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    Party Ben's Top 10 (Plus!) Songs of 2007

    —By

    | Wed Dec. 19, 2007 6:22 PM PST

    mojo-photo-rifftoptenweek.jpgOr "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Feist." Things have moved around a bit since my half-year list back in July, but the idea is the same: 2007, if anything, was a year of Big Songs. Big triumphant chords, big tragic emotions, big sing-along choruses—this was not the year for quiet ballads. Take "Umbrella," a shoe-in at #1; its genre-crushing intensity and live-remix vocal indulgences made it inescapable, but it was its big-hearted spirit that made it an anthem. Oddly enough, as I look down my list, a lot of these songs have similar emotional landscapes, if not geneses: even LCD Soundsystem seems to be offering up an umbrella for his friends to stand under. There's a theory (maybe?) that pop music gets better as the government gets more right-wing and screwed-up (compare the brilliance of early-80s electro-pop to mid-90s 3rd-tier pseudo-grunge), and maybe you could say these songs all have a fighting spirit, whether the enemies are the boys who "start a war" or the ones who try and make you go to rehab.

    Also, three of my Top 11 are in triple-time. Now that's weird.

    Here's my Top Ten complete with videos, and then #s 11-20, just cause there were a lot of good runners-up.

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    A Little Holiday Cheer From... Nine Inch Nails?

    —By

    | Wed Dec. 19, 2007 2:35 PM PST

    Holy stocking stuffers, this is funny: Nine Inch Nails lyrics set to the tunes of classic Christmas carols, AKA Nine Inch Noëls. NSFW, needless to say.

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    First Look at Lily Allen and Ed Simons' Baby

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    | Wed Dec. 19, 2007 1:06 PM PST

    It's true, she's pregnant, it's in the NME! And Party Ben, using his Photoshop powers for evil, proudly gives you the first "if they mated"-style glimpse at what their offspring will probably look like. Is it the "Chemical Allen" or the "Lily Brother?" You decide, and then decide if it should maybe co-star on that Cavemen show. Prepare yourself, put the kids to bed, and then click the "continues inside" button to witness the carnage.

    Breaker of Music Industry Laments Breakage of Music Industry

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    | Wed Dec. 19, 2007 10:59 AM PST

    mojo-photo-mtv.jpgToday in the Riff's Head-Spinning Irony Department, it's the first part of MTV.com's 3-part series, "The Year the Music Industry Broke." Sure, lots of people have been saying it's been a tough year for record sales or for record company employees, but tell us, MTV, how bad is it?

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    Drudge Quotes The Enquirer on "Edwards Love Child"

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    | Tue Dec. 18, 2007 11:40 PM PST

    mojo-photo-drudge.JPGMatt Drudge, ladies and gentlemen: he's always had some iffy sources, but have we ever seen him scan The Enquirer and put it "above the fold"? What next, quoting blind items from Ted Casablanca's "Awful Truth" columns? One wonders, who in the Clinton camp is pushing Drudge to go after Edwards, and what sort of Obama-ignoring strategy is that? Okay, that's three questions in a row, and here's another one: why am I still checking this website?

    Top Ten Online Radio Streams

    —By

    | Tue Dec. 18, 2007 8:43 PM PST

    mojo-photo-rifftoptenweek.jpgYes, the exciting Week of Top Tens continues here on the Riff, this list suggested by an esteemed Mother Jones editor, who was like, "what the hell should I listen to online?!" Well, first, take a deep breath, and then direct your browser to one of these ten stations, networks, or random dudes in a basement. I'll admit it up front: this list is heavy on actual radio stations that you can listen to online, since low-budget online radio usually can't compete with the sound quality, production, and industry access that "real" stations have. I like things to sound good, what can I say.

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    Photo Essays + Slideshows

    Portraits of Addiction

    A Manhattan banker shoots portraits of drug abuse, sex work, and homelessness in the Bronx.

    Garry Winogrand, John F. Kennedy, Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles, 1

    Never Before Seen Photos From Legendary Street Photographer Garry Winogrand

    Fourteen amazing scenes of life in America—and hundreds more where that came from.

    CSI Desert: When Migrants Die, Who IDs Them?

    The Anime Within

    Fans of cosplay ask: Are you fact or fiction?

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