Sigur Rós have issued a challenge to their fans.  Reinterpret their gibberish anthem Gobbledigook  for a chance to win a signed copy of the Special Edition of Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (includes an exclusive documentary DVD, 200 page hardback photo book, immediate download of the album and more).  All we ask is that you supply your own rendition (it doesn’t have to be a copy-cat) of this free-spirited Sigur Rós song by October 15th.  Really no holds barred, be creative!  The only thing to fear is fear itself, yada, yada, yada.

So here is the backing track stripped of lead vocal and the lyrics in both (broken) English and Icelandic as an MP3 (download here).

Go to the Group page on YouTube for complete details and to upload your submission: http://www.youtube.com/group/Gobbledigook

Oh yeah and don’t forget that the boys will be in the States shortly for a coast to coast tour!

9/17   New York         United Palace

9/18   New York         United Palace

9/19   Boston              Bank of America Pavilion

9/20   Montreal           Old Port - Quay Jacques Cartier

9/22   Toronto              Massey Hall

9/23   Detroit                Fillmore

9/24   Chicago             Chicago Theatre

9/25   Minneapolis      Orpheum

9/27   Denver               Red Rocks

9/28   Salt Lake City   Saltair

9/30   Tempe               Marquee Theatre

10/1   San Diego         Copley Symphony

10/2   Los Angeles      The Greek Theatre

10/3   San Francisco   The Greek Theatre

10/5   Seattle               Benaroya Hall

10/6   Portland            Schnizter Concert Hall

10/7   Vancouver        Chan Centre for the Performing Arts

We thought we had gone deep with the upcoming "XL Recordings:  The Early Chapters", but when Dean and I stumbled onto YouTube user 88to92, it became clear that we didn’t understand the meaning of the word.

Apparently, home boy has painstakingly uploaded over 450 YouTube videos featuring classic techno jams from (you guessed it) 1988 - 1992.  His mantra:

 …tunes which might’ve been forgotten or maybe reminding some of you of them, & for those who(m) haven’t already heard might like. Trying not to upload duplicates already on youtube, though it’s not always possible to do so. Also, trying not upload the usual anthems of the day ie overplayed, obvious or piano tunes etc but a few will inevitably go up.

And the best part, he keeps the vids as real as can be - just 12" labels and big tunes. 

So tonite, I’m gonna jack a binky from Ella, bust out a red jumpsuit, sniff a popper and rave on my couch ’til dawn (or at least til McCain’s acceptance speech is over). 

The streets of NYC keep getting better and better.  The days of bikers being doored, pedestrianed and cabbed seem to be fading into some kind of distant, Beyond Thunderdome past.

This may seem sudden, but The Greenways plan has been around since before taxi medallions and is, in fact, 150 years in the making:

In 1866, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux conceived of a network of wide, tree-lined avenues that would cut across the grid of Brooklyn and link its open spaces. Modeled after the Avenue de L’Impératrice (now the Avenue Foch) in Paris, Olmsted and Vaux’s new roads differed from their French predecessors in that they stretched for several miles. They were intended to provide sumptuous green corridors along which citizens could live and take pleasure drives.

The most recent iteration of the Greenways (based on a plan that was originally published in 1993) is finally bearing more and more noticeable fruit — fruit of a mint green pathway variety. 

I spent my Labor Day taking myself a pleasure drive around a few of these choice pathways, the most choicest of which is the brand new stretch running from about 42nd Street to 23rd Street on Broadway.  You got pedestrian clowns far to the left of you, taxi jokers barricaded to the right, and here I am (cruising it). 

The National have teamed up with the Obama campaign and allowed for an instrumental version of "Fake Empire" to be used in a 2:40 minute spot that aired in Denver prior to Obama’s speech. It’s also on youtube for you to watch!

We talk a lot about films and licensing on this here blog, but we’ve never seen it so real as the Black Keys waxing on mayo commercials lost. Something tells me they just didn’t understand how weak the US dollar is.

(via SubT blog)

No band sounds better than the FF’s in a studio. And if you listen closely and you can hear "that dude from System of a Down" in the background.

A man was arrested in LA for blogging tracks from Guns and Roses long forgotten, overdue now un-anticipated album Chinese Democracy, prosecutors claimed that the band would suffer ’significant’ financial loss for this.  I would argue they had already achieved that by not releasing the thing.  For the full article click here.

While I would never propogate hearsay and un-corroborated stories about off-duty LA police officers drunk on power, there’s something about the alleged beating of F Yeah Fest organizer Sean Carlson by the security staff at The Hollywood Bowl that I can’t help but imagine is true.

As Ice Cube once said, "who got the camera." (or tape)

Reich and Carlson began to leave the premises, says Reich, certain he had captured the use of extreme force on tape. Hoelting, who had stayed behind, then overheard a guard say, "That shit’s going to be on YouTube. We gotta get that tape."

Carlson and Reich turned around to see the men running toward them. “Three giant security guards were barreling after me,” recalls Reich, so he and Carlson started to run along Highland. As the guards gave chase, Reich ran into traffic to try and elude the guards, who were grabbing at his backpack.

Click to read the LA Weekly’s summation.

Although the story appears to be a Christmas one, don’t let that word deter you there’s always time for a good story.  This was part of  a BBC Collective series.

Friendly Fires bring a carnival to Reading, Adam Green took the NME/Radio 1 stage after breaking his ankle in Nottingham and was upset that the audience ‘can’t grab his balls’.

Vampire Weekend

Future Of the Left