New Order is one of my favorite bands of all time. Well, slight caveat: New Order between the years 1981 and 1989. Anything post-1989 seemed to circle the drain pretty fast. It wasn’t all bad, though. There are a few post-Technique songs I don’t find abhorrent, and I genuinely enjoyed the first Electronic album, but, my God, Waiting for the Sirens Call was a disaster, wasn’t it? And Bad Lieutenant sounds like it’s born of the same lame, watered-down, streamlined pop schtick. I don’t find anything encouraging about this single. The full-length is called Never Cry Another Tear, which is such a bad title it makes me wonder what sort of anti-depressants Bernard Sumner is currently addicted to. Not even Alex James’ purported involvement can make me excited about this boondoggle.

The embedding from NME was a nightmare, so if you want to watch the video, go here.

Interesting. No comment on the choice of song.
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Odd new video from AIR. Gotta love the “embedding disabled” bullshit.

“ATP isn’t just a model for music festivals—it’s a business model for everybody in the arts. Keep your costs low, spend on what counts, keep major corporations out of it, treat everybody decently, and have the confidence and patience to let these strategies work.” – SFJ

So cool!

I so wish Kanye West had tried to pull his PR stunt with Pink instead of Taylor Swift. Pink would have beaten the shit out of him, citing her Alexander Mcqueen purse with brass knuckles as proof. In this brief interview with Matt Lauer on Today the day after the awards, she pulls no punches, calling Kanye “an idiot”, “a waste”, and “a toolbox” all in the same breath. Good times. Matt Lauer is almost scared of what Pink might say and delicately tries to interject whenever he thinks she’s about to curse. Then Pink sings some song from her newest album. [vi Jezebel]

I’m a big fan of gadgets, especially those that relate to music. So, when you combine a cool gadget idea with a slick design, my wallet is already halfway open. So, damn you, concept design blogs! K shared the link to this simple, slick, and extremely cool USB turntable idea on Google Reader, and I could find nary a link to purchase. Ugh. Well, if this ever reaches mass marketing, I will gladly test it out. It is admittedly not for audiophiles, as it is clearly heavy on the convenience and showy design while a bit light on the technological specifications. But, still, it’s very cool. I could play records at work with one of these. Ok, so playing vinyl at work is beyond impractical, but I would still really want to try it.