Do you love Sosa? Have you been thinking about you? Are you concerned we might die young? Have we got a podcast for you! Live from Grantland's Los Angeles studio, Chris Ryan and I — along with special guest Rembert Browne — broke down the year in music, mourning the dead (albums, rock and roll) and toasting the living (R&B, Swedish Svengalis, Rihanna's travel agent). All your favorites (or at least ours) are included: Kendrick Lamar, Twin Shadow, Miguel, Japandroids, Fiona & Frank, not Mumford & Sons. It's been fun, 2012! But seriously: After next week, we are never, ever getting back together. (I'll see myself out, thanks.)
Two highly anticipated albums from two big indie acts are streaming this week, ahead of their July 10 due date. First we have Swing Lo Magellan, from the Dirty Projectors, their first release since 2009's adored Bitte Orca. Recorded in a secluded house in upstate New York, Magellan finds lead Projector David Longstreth pushing his military-precision band into bigger, brighter territory. And while I haven’t actually gotten a chance to listen to the whole thing yet, from the sound of the humming on explosive opening track "Offspring Are Blank," it would appear that a big influence on Longstreth during the recording process was Crash Test Dummies?
June has been a strange month in Los Angeles, with Lindsay Lohan crashing rented Porsches and the Kings winning the Stanley Cup. But nothing was as rare and fleeting as the situation the co-hosts of the Hollywood Prospectus Podcast found themselves in last week. Not only were we in the same place at the same time, but fellow cultural scribbler Rembert Browne was there to boot. So we did what any three able-bodied young men would do in a similar situation: We locked ourselves in a studio with David Jacoby and argued about the annual phenomenon known as the summer jam. As you'll hear, the qualifications are a little vague — something about car windows and barbecues and a deep sense of pre-nostalgia — but all three of us had strong opinions about our picks for the song of the summer of 2012. Was Chris right about Gaslight Anthem? Has Rembert tapped into the human condition with his love of Meek Mill and Justin Bieber? And is Andy trying to have it both ways by hyping both the mainstream The-Dream and the as-yet-unreleased Twin Shadow? (Answer: yes.) Only time — and the delicate passing of the seasons (tear!) — will tell.
After releasing four albums, receiving the sweaty embrace of their spiritual godfather Bruce Springsteen, and dropping about a million unabashed oh-whoa sing-along choruses, is Gaslight Anthem front man Brian Fallon not yet famous enough to warrant a parody Twitter account? People who like to make references to docks and switchblades and tattoos and convertibles and girls’ perfume and blue jeans and regret and difficult father-son relationships and the rain over New Jersey tonight, this is your big chance!
Nirvana, “Territorial Pissings”
Here is a professionally shot and edited video of Nirvana, playing “Territorial Pissings” at a show in Seattle on Halloween of 1991. It comes from the deluxe 20th anniversary reissue of Nevermind that’s out next week. It’s a tight, blistering version, but there’s nothing revelatory about it, and if you already feel inundated by the steady torrent of covers, tributes, and essays that have accompanied the album’s anniversary, we totally understand if you choose not to click. But just know this: You’ll be missing the opportunity to see Dave Grohl wearing white shorts over white long johns.
