to celebrate halloween is a fun black metal band name generator that should entertain you for a good 30 seconds until it starts to dawn on you how completely ridiculous these names are. count elfnymous? i definitely call this one.

here's a good song that i haven't listened to in a long time. i saw play at a restaurant in san francisco's japan town in 2001 or so. they're from s.f. and feature former singer sooyoung park. this jam is slow, epic indie rock. not unlike tarentel or explosions in the sky.

ee "tinyspot" from for 100 we try harder. asian man records. 2002.

fast company reports on , who has been using mostly stock components in innovative ways to create diesel engines that are capable of achieving a combination of numbers never thought possible: huge horsepower, amazing acceleration, and planet-saving mpg.

it's a full article so if you're short on time, check out . they also link a clip of the video of goodwin's biodiesel musclecar smoking a lamborghini at the racetrack, from pimp my ride...

, but most of these lists are. it was "compiled by a panel of six experts in creativity and innovation from creators cynectics, a global consultants firm". number 1? 101 year-old swiss chemist , inventor of lsd. prince is tied for #32.

reminder: the meanest man contest over at gold robot is on until december 15. download the acapella of "they do" and turn it into something new! and have posted awesome bits about it. thanks, guys!!

yesterday, conrad keely of posted a funny and vitriolic blog post about leaving interscope, and he did it, ballsily enough, right there on the group's . it's since been taken down by the label, but i luckily kept the page open all day. here's the text of it (thanks, amy!):

Leaving the Label and the Future

So as has already been announced, ...Trail of Dead has once again made history, this time being the first band to drop Interscope. OK, we're not the first. Actually, Trent Reznor beat us to it. Let's just say we're the first rock band to do so... this year. Ever since label head Jimmy Iovine started dating the lead singer guy of the Pussycat Dolls it became impossible to get him on the phone, so that was a first bad sign. Then their idea of marketing became keeping it a secret that we'd released a record. The industry is in a strange place these days, and the only way they can make money is to sell urban pop music. Which is what I thought we were writing, but apparently I was wrong.

That's not saying the label didn't do great things for us. At the expense of a massive debt to them of half a million dollars, they really helped us to grow. They've taught us about the worthlessness of A&R people, how to yell at idiots running an art department, and how to shake hands with smiling retailers who have no idea who you are. And I love Jimmy Iovine for having worked with John Lennon and Phil Spector on the Rock and Roll sessions. I mean, that was thirty years ago, and the Rock and Roll sessions sound pretty bad over all, and John Lennon is now dead and Phil Spector has murdered people since then, but hey, that was really cool that Jimmy did that, thirty years ago, back then, and dated Stevie Nicks. He's had a great dating record, he just won't have the next TOD record.

As for the future, well that really depends on whether we can reduce fuel emissions, on whether we can conquer Iraq, and kill all the Muslims and Christians, using an army made up of legions of pacifist Buddhist monks. I have hopes that this can happen.

As for the short term future, I've been trying to write songs. It's hard because the back lounge of the bus is where people like to play the basketball video game, which I hate. In the front lounge Dylan Mackie, our sound manipulator, is playing Ratatat, which is like a great band where they accidentally erased all the vocal tracks. It's really frustrating, because I can hear all these amazing melodies and lyrics I'd love to sing over their songs, but then we'd get sued. Coupled with the desolate landscapes of New Mexico we are currently driving across, it sort of makes me feel like I'm at the beginning of a really dark comedy, like Fargo or Donny Darko. Did the bus just pull over at Starbucks? Excuse me for just a second.

A while later...
So I've decided to go ahead and write songs in the back lounge, whilst the guys are playing the basketball video game, whilst they're screaming at one-another's plays, and jumping up on their seats. I'm thinking that I want to recreate the atmosphere of a Roman coliseum, and I'm going to try imagining atrocities happening to scores of misfortunate victims on the dusty arena beneath me. I'm going to write a song around that. It will be a song with blood, gore, groaning and cheering, and smirks devoid of mercy from the leering spectators such as myself. Death arenas are harsh, would you agree? Basketball, not so much.

I did a recent email interview when I was asked a bunch of dumb questions so I gave a bunch of what I thought were even less relevant answers. I was then told it was for an important internet website called Yahoo.com. So Jason's going to do it instead. But it's a shame, I wonder how people would've reacted to questions like:

If I weren't a musician I'd probably be a (fill in the blank) because (fill in the blank).

-- Serial killer, because I love to kill people.

What's the strangest thing you've seen from the stage while performing?

-- I saw a black dog, with white skin. I saw a lioness without a cub, feeding the young of eagles, with grey talons from the sleek bark of the baobab tree.

We are now unloading onto the campus of University of New Mexico. We have officially christened the tour the "...Trail of Dead goes Back to School" tour. This will be our first show playing with a fictional cartoon metal band Dethklok, who's fictional guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf was recently in a guitar magazine. He and I will no doubt have many things to talk about.

More from me six months from now.

xlr8r is one of my favorite music magazines. they've been doing some great stuff online, like exclusive dj mix podcasts and an internet tv show featuring interviews, performances, and features on cool musicians and other artists. recently relaunched with new features like a daily mp3 download and free pdf downloads of the print magazine.

it's odd and even kind of sad, but also cool and fun in its own weird way. it's only five minutes long and i recommend checking it out.

sneakmove buddypal eric stoyer has a new session up on . the show's called "odd predicament." it's in the stream now along with sets from computer jay, jimmy tamborello, nobody, and frosty. eric's set is about an hour long, and the overall stream (with everyone's sets) is about 11 hours long. you can hear all 11 hours by going to dublab.com and following the directions there, and you can download an mp3 of just eric's set .

here's the playlist:

ODD PREDICAMENT - 10.17.07
Brian Protheroe - "Pinball" ("Pinball" / Chrysalis)
Arthur Russell - "Make 1, 2" ("Calling Out Of Context" / Audika)
Carly Simon - "Why" ("Soup For One" soundtrack / Mirage)
Judy Henske and Jerry Yester - "Farewell Aldebaran" ("Farewell Aldebaran" / Straight)
Breakout - "Warm Up My Lips" ("Blues" / Polskie Nagrania Muza)
Zero 7 f/ Jose Gonzalez - "Futures" ("The Garden" / Atlantic)
Fleetwood Mac - "Walk a Thin Line" ("Tusk" / Reprise)
Gil Scott-Heron - "Speed Kills" ("Free Will" / Flying Dutchman)
Zager and Evans - "In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)" ("2525 (Exordium & Terminus)" / RCA)
The Hombres - "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)" ("Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)" / Verve Forecast)
The Byrds - "Draft Morning" ("Notorious Byrd Brothers" / Columbia)
McDonald and Giles - "Flight Of The Ibis" ("McDonald and Giles" / Cotillion)
Giorgio Moroder - "Leopard Tree Dream" ("Cat People" soundtrack / Backstreet)
Ellen McIlwaine - "Higher Ground" ("The Real Ellen McIlwaine" / Kot’ai)
Shuggie Otis - "XL-30" ("Inspiration Information" / CBS)
Marcos Valle - "Crickets Sing For Anamaria" ("Samba ‘68" / Verve)
Tacks, The Boy Disaster - "Forget-Me-Not" ("Oh, Beatrice" / self-released)
Barbara Ruskin - "Where Are We" (single / President)
The Mighty Sparrow With Byron Lee & The Dragonaires - "Only A Fool" (single / Trojan)
23 Skidoo - "Coup" (single / Illuminated)

is a cool new t-shirt company with some really fun and geeky "wears." ;)

i especially like their and designs. imagine the real life LOLs you'll elicit with those phrases on your chest!





cottyn prints on shirts made by american apparel, which is a prominent practitioner of forward . in case you hadn't heard!

the guys who started cottyn are also responsible for and (btw, if you haven't checked out virb, please do. it out-awesomes myspace and facebook in some crucial ways.)

i'm very much enjoying dj u-tern's radio show on . last week, he posted the of a continuous mix of all the songs from the . if you don't know 'em, these comps collected all the classic breaks that were sampled by early rap producers. a simple and great idea for a mix. .

the nice folks over at paste magazine are offering a wonderful deal to its readers. pay what you want for a year subscription. i have a friend that asked "can i just pay a nickel?" which is an insult. one dollar minimum, please. c'mon though, you gotta admit, it's still an amazing deal, you gotta admit that at least. click

on npr recently posted an interview/guest dj set with crooner . here's a .

i'm really looking forward to the movie version of "no country for old men." in advance of its release, a between cormac mccarthy and the coen brothers was arranged by time magazine. it's way too short for my tastes (it would be awesome at like 5,000 words in "the believer" or something), but it's still pretty cool, especially since mccarthy's only given three interviews in his career.

this saturday is the big saturday before halloween. and will be playing music at in san francisco. come on by. it should be fun. maybe one of them will play thriller .

great noisy pop band from scotland. they have that trademark cherry red/creation label sound but with a little more angst. kinda like felt with louder guitars. anyway its good. this album apparently came out a year ago but is finally getting attention. they play on thursday and friday at bimbos with pinback.







(mp3)
from "sing the greys"

buy at
buy at
stream from

bummed out that skate decks have traditionally been the only canvas for skate artwork (and wheels, to a minor degree--i still love my , la-based skate company has announced a doing custom truck painting. the designs and artists are all quite hip and flashy--i love the skulls one pictured here. check for info on the launch party for the project, happening this november in la.

i talked to richard kelly (he directed "donnie darko") about his upcoming movie, "southland tales." the interview is in this month's issue of "wired." it's also online .

i got to see the first 15 minutes of the movie when i met up with him -- that's all that was completely finished at that point. i'm going with a friend to see a proper premiere of it next monday. i'm looking forward to it. the movie looks pretty weird and awesome.

here's the trailer:

check out the new video for 's "lost and found." it stars and was directed by . it's funny and cool, which are great qualities for a music video to have. it uses the same "dreaming of eating delicious food" visual gag that we used for which makes me like it even more than i otherwise would have!



oh yeah, ola podrida is signed to , the same wonderful label that put out the new ep, which you are invited to buy (or learn more about here).

don't get me wrong, i like the stuff i've heard from the black kids just fine, but jess harvell's essay about the perils of blog band hype (aka the dark side of the pitchfork effect) makes a lot of really good points. plus harvell's not talking so much specifically about the black kids as he is about the environment in which they can go from being a band with a myspace demo to the next big thing – but only for a few months, before they've been chewed up and spit out, and people stop caring.

What kind of madness is this? Blog-era indie fans are among the most promiscuous music listeners around, and it's precisely this insatiable need for new bands among both fans and blogs desperate for more content that's forced Black Kids into this position. For every major band that fits Pareles' description like the Arcade Fire, where fans tape their photos to their lockers like they were Soulja Boy, there is an endless progression of "important" next big things to be forgotten about with the next iPod cull. The genre maybe have always been crowded with nonentities, but now it feels overpopulated with "bands to watch" to the point of polluting its own ecosystem, with listeners acting like game wardens mercilessly thinning the herd once they become bored. Most of these bands, even the ones more technically accomplished or even "interesting" than Black Kids, are obviously less than deserving of the attention. And yet it's almost hard not to feel bad for them, considering that if they get written about in July, they'll be forgotten by Christmas. (This is not exactly restricted to new, unsigned, or unknown bands either. Just ask Bjork, who apparently released an album this year.) It's a "one chance to blow" kinda deal, with the idea of a band refining or improving or changing a distant memory from an era with, you know, albums and junk.

people seem real "jazzed" about . maybe because they're on the very cool dfa label. i wish i could be a naysayer, but yeah... the whole record is pretty darn great. if you can sound like a more messed version of new order, you got me as a fan. highly recommended.

shocking pinks "this aching deal" (mp3)

enjoy it? support the band (and sneakmove) by purchasing or .

this is from kimmel last night. very fun.

i saw a couple weeks ago that was up for the for her latest record . she's one of my faves so i was gonna post about it, but then i just sorta forgot. not cool, i know. she didn't win anyway.
she has this amazing soft voice and writes simple, delicate, intense songs. very good stuff for the beginning of fall weather like we've been having in the bay area. so it's still a timely post if you think about it. check a couple songs and a live vid.

julie doiron "faites de beaux reves"
julie doiron "dark horse"

you may have heard talk of "black bar mitzvahs" and phrases like "mazel tov" and "l'chaim" in the new jay-z track, "roc boys (and the winner is)." check out this funny video, which springboards off of jay's newfound love for the old testament. best line is "that's lyor's friend."

our nicest guy friend, , has finally seen fit to release a mixtape. it's an eclectic collection of beats, remixes, and blends. put it on and leave it on for a kinda continuously danceable (headnoddable for the too-cool) good time. it's called shock 'em dead and it borrows heavily from the themes set forth in the classic 1991 . traci lords is in the film, but it's not porn! you can grab the mixtape here. check this snippet mp3 for an idea of what's in store...

shock 'em dead snippets mp3

tracklist:

1. "how would you like to audition for a band?" (obligatory intro)
2. flaming beatdown - ultramagnetic mc's vs. the flaming lips
3. burning - fugazi vs. ian dury and the blockheads
4. swordsman - gza vs. ben and the platano
5. fm - junior boys vs. larry levan
6. tranny - quarterbar
7. promise (quarterbar's rock with you remix) - ciara
8. resonator - quarterbar
9. you're absolute dynamite - quarterbar
10. let the rhythm hit 'em (quarterbar remix) - eric b & rakim
11. whisper beef - quarterbar
12. follow the leader (quarterbar remix) - eric b & rakim
13. good girls (quarterbar remix) - wale
14. dream team is in the house (quarterbar remix) - the l.a. dream team
15. "hey shit-for-brains!"
16. like about 20 hot beats - quarterbar
17. make it rain (quarterbar remix) fat joe and lil wayne
18. stuntin' like my daddy (quarterbar remix) - birmand and lil wayne
19. "worst guitar player in the world!"

it's interesting to follow the new ways artists come up with to promote music projects through web video. the made-for-youtube clip for r kelly's is probably the best (and definitely the most hilarious) recent example. and here's a new mini-documentary that goes behind the scenes of the new interpol music video for "no i in threesome."

this article is nearly a month old, but i missed it when it first came out, so i thought i'd post it now: the chicago reader reports on with some sorta interesting stuff to say about how how the whole blogger-as-a&r thing might shake out over the next few years.

“Of all the sites out there,” Bonnell says, “Stereogum is most likely to have success as a label.” That’s a good guess, given the blog’s huge popularity among indie rockers, but as one of the genre’s leading providers of free songs it’d be rowing against its own current by trying to sell anything. “The types of people who frequent Stereogum are typically looking for free music to add to their already gigantic iTunes libraries. So converting those fans of free music to paying customers would be a challenge.”

major points taken off for not even mentioning us here at sneakmove (we're on our fifth physical release, people -- and we're releasing vinyl, to boot), but good stuff overall.

, one of the best music resources on the internet, is ready to launch it's newest version. but not unlike , the launch won't happen until the site has 10,000 simultaneous viewers. how to help: to open the captive page in a new tab and leave it open as more people trickle in. tell your friends (like we're doing now) to help things move along.

the refresh counter currently says 1833. it was 1650 an hour ago, so we've got a ways to go. and btw, these guys had a silly april fools joke, so hopefully this is another example of them just playing around.

sneakmove pal has a new limited edition, hand numbered cassette release on the label . with great songs, including cameos from , , and josiah wolf of ?, the 100 copies will surely sell fast. plus, it's only $5.50. check it out .

listen to a sample: conceptual crush (mp3)



and don't forget that clovis heald is one of the great artists on sneakmove's minicomp2.

i love . it's beyond me to fully describe the very interesting statement it makes. something about... aesthetic obsession, fanaticism, consumerism, and adherence to beliefs.


(via wooster collective.)

here's one of the few jams for people who like 90s indie rock but also wanna dance. san diego's had tons of good songs. this one is off their s/t 1998 e.p. the record to get by them though is another desert, another sea. their songs are generally mid tempo and bass or organ-driven.

three mile pilot "on a ship to bangladesh"

serj tankian from system of a down has a solo album coming out. the first single is called "empty walls" and i like it. check the video out:



and here's a pretty funny mini-documentary about the record in which tankian plays all of the roles, including the nerdy interviewer, cheeseball a&r director, greybeard label head, even a stoned pizza delivery guy.

the is acting crazy slow. i guess mad peeps are trying to cop that shit all at once and shit.

come on out to in tonight for a drink or two. and will be playing . it's free.

first of all, look at eazy-e's ridiculously rad shirt. secondly, dr. dre looked 40 years old even in 1988. third, no ren and no yella, but plennnnnty of arabian prince!

fourth: believe it or not, straight outta compton is now 20 years old. yowza!!!!! to celebrate, an is being released along with a new compilation of eazy-e's collaborations and guest appearances.

mp3: eazy e - "eazy duz it"

lolziez alert: "A wealthy patriarch has lost his son. Can the Insane High Detective find him? Can he find anything?"

seagate just came out with their . if you don't know, the concept is there's a small amount of flash memory that comes with the drive. this auxiliary memory stores frequently accessed data and reduces the amount of work the actual hard drive needs to do. on a laptop, this can save as much as half of your battery life and extends the overall life of the drive. radical.
(via , macnn.)

with the price of solid state (no moving parts, usually flash) storage going down and the capacity going up, it begs the question when would a fully solid state drive be a viable option. a 64gb flash drive is . probably not worth til you can get 128gb for $500.

meanest man contest has just released a new ep through the fantastic label. it's called and it features four brand new songs. it's a digital-only release and an itunes exclusive (for now).



the cover art for some people was made by the very awesome . you can see more of his work at .

we've put an mp3 of the ep's lead song online for you to check out. it's called "some people (just get off on breaking hearts)." the other tracks on the ep are "you and i," "working for the weak end," and a collaboration with called "i would leave."

in other exciting news, has just launched a meanest man contest in support of our new .



download the acapella for "they do" and email your remix to us at heymmc at gmail dot com by december 15, 2007. our favorite entries will be featured as part of a future mmc release.

and speaking of our new grr 7inch, "throwing away broken electronics" and all the other tracks from the single are now available digitally through retailers like and . if you're so from-the-future that you can't stand to even touch a physical music product, this is probably your best bet. but remember: if you of the 7inch, you'll get a download code that gets you the mp3s for free. awesome!

mp3: meanest man contest - "some people (just get off on breaking hearts)" from the ep

everytime i travel i have to wonder what it is that makes certain foreign music popular in some cultures, but totally unknown in others.



from on .

(thanks, pammy.)

"stop" by . directed by . short, sweet, and very cool.

gary t posted news last month of led zeppelin's reunion, well on the topic of unions and robert plant here is a video about the collaboration between robert plant and alison krauss for their upcoming album - raising sands which is due out october 23rd. it may sound a little osmond-esque but its actually pretty good.

couple of tracks from the album:

• download: fortune teller (or )
• download: sister rosetta goes before us (or )

(or support the artists-and sneakmove-by it's just $8.99!)

is great place to find music. it's older dancey stuff usually, but they posted this track by recently and it's relatively new. it's a floaty, ambient track with steady drumming. the vocals sound a lot like ian curtis. turns out maus is an and cohort. he sings, "someone's alone, someone's alone in the city tonight". beautiful stuff.

john maus "do your best"

bay area people have a wonderful opportunity this week. will be playing selections from their/his latest release at the good old this wednesday. and for an extra bonus, sneakmove's closest bro will be playing music files from his laptop. mochipet (daly city records) and mike boo (alphapup) will also be doing live sets and the pbr will be flowing. what more could you ever need?!?

roman ruins "mass appeal"
the go! team "grip like a vice (quarterbar remix)"