Firstly, let me apologize for my absence. I've been braving the world of commerce and job-hunting, but my stress has been somewhat alleviated in that I've finally found a nice little temp job, making phone calls for the IRS. YES! But, aside from that, I've been a little out of the look in terms of listening in for music news. You should see my Google Reader, which contains 1000+ unread articles. Yeah...that's not good. But, I'm here and I'm ready to dig into some shit.
Firstly, The Shins have shared a new track, which is a b-side from their track, "Simple Song," which I posted some time ago, which is coming off of their new album, Port of Morrow. The album will come out on March 20th, but until then, you can feast your ears on the "Simple Song" single, which comes out on Valentine's day. You can listen to the new track, "September" below:
The Shins: “September” (b-side of “Simple Song” 7”) from Record Store Day on Vimeo.
In other news, Die Antwoord's new album, Ten$ion, comes out tomorrow. I've already shared my thoughts about my inability to fully jump on board with their entire vibe, and their representation of "zef," which you should look into if you really want to pick up what they put down. But, they've also shared another song/video off of the album, titled "I Fink U Freeky," which you can listen to below, and you can listen to their album in its entirety here.
Also, feminist singer Liz Phair has shared some thoughts about Lana Del Rey and her entire persona. The battle with Del Rey seems to be her authenticity, and while I don't argue for or against, I just don't care. When it comes to Del Rey, I just like "Born to Die" and "Video Games." I've never cared enough about her to delve into her personality, but a lot of people seem to be extremely pleased or extremely bothered. Phair seems to mainly appreciate the fact that she is another "female" singer doing her thing, and goes on to talk about the importance of women sharing their voices. You can read her thoughts here. I think that Phair goes a little too far into her own head with women being presidents and shit. I may have a lot of females hate on me, but all I'm saying is that if you want to piss and moan about the difficulty of being the "minority," welcome to the fucking club. I'm a gay, overweight Mexican man living in America. Don't whine to me. Life's too damn short.
Lastly, M.I.A. is currently under fire for flipping the bird at the Super Bowl. I could care less, and if people are seriously that offended by it, you should have somewhat expected something like this to happen after Janet Jackson's nipple saying hello in 2004. But besides that, a friend recently urged me to watch her new video for the track, "Bad Girls," which I first heard on her VickiLeeks mixtape. The track is so-so, but the video is what struck me. I've watched it about seven times, and each time, I'm finding something new to appreciate in it. You can view it below. I mean, visually it's got Romain Gavras' touches, which for reference purposes, you should watch "Born Free." But, I love the M.I.A. delves into sensitive territory, but gives a ballsey approach, showing Arab women holding guns, and getting down in the desert. While some think it may be taboo, I love that she's showing the humanity of Arab women, when people seem to think they are these complacent, silent beings that have no voice. Good job, M.I.A. And for those who wish to educate themselves, you can read about women in the Middle East here. You might learn a thing or two.
LISTENING: I don't really have anything to report in this area. I've been sort of recycling old stuff, but I did buy Joan Baez In Concert on vinyl, and I'm really excited to get into that. I also discovered another Kills b-side, which I'd never heard, so I was especially elated to discover that. You can watch that below:
That's all. PEACE.
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