Throwback 1988 || Iron Maiden: "Can I Play With Madness"

While it may be axiomatic that Iron Maiden are the shit today, back in 1988 they were primarily a cult band in the US: not even all US metal fans were on board.  Even at the time, though, they were a smash hit in the UK, where "Can I Play With Madness" went to #3 on the British charts.  Basically, the respect Maiden - and old school metal as a whole - have been getting Stateside over the past decade has been the birthright of groups like Maiden, Priest and Sabbath from time immemorial back in the UK.  Maybe we're not as progressive as we like think.

Stylus Rex: "Blatant Elephant"

Damn, where are the easily accessible artist bios/discogs when you're in a lazyfuck mood?  All I've been able to dig up about Stylus Rex is that it's some guy named Greg Marshall and he's on Ground Level Breaks, but ELEPHANTS ON TRAMPOLINES!  All you need to know.

If anyone knows what to call this shit leave it in the comments.  For now it's just "breakbeat".

Limewax: "WoOoOoOh"

Jesus Christ.  Just when you think you're starting to get your "electronica" (hate that fucking term) micro-genres down they hit you with another: apparently this Limewax cat invented a new offshoot of techstep - itself a sub-sub-genre of drum & bass - and I guess we've got this whole electronica macro-umbrella to fall back on if someone gets confused and just wants to hear anything with beats.  The wiki description is uselessly bloated and overcomplicated, but from what I can gather "skullstep" is just techstep with the heavier elements of breakcore implemented... because of course you need a whole 'nother genre when you experiment with any given element of the old one.  That's enough dashes for one article.

Superheavy: "Miracle Worker"

This is what it sounds like when Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian Marley, and Dave Stewart get together in 2011.  Is this the inevitable result of aging stars attempting to remain relevant in the MP3 era?  Getting together with younger stars (of questionable relevance themselves) and attempting to one up Santana at his own collabo game?  "Miracle Worker" is exactly the sort of studio-concocted, cookie cutter fluff you expect it to be.  Shit makes Chickenfoot look as authentic as Pavement.

Jay-Z & Kanye West: "Otis"

Decent tune, though I think Kanye lets the unadorned Otis Redding sample linger on a bit too long at the beginning.  Directed by Spike Jonze, he of the prior Kanye-slapping incident.

Get More: JAY Z and Kanye West, Music, More Music Videos

Craft: "Succumb to Sin"

Craft has been offline for a minute now.  Their previous slab of bar-raising misanthropy, Fuck the Universe, came out in 2005.  Since then the lads have apparently spent their time assembling a lineup that could stand to be in the same room as each other long enough to write and record an album.  Let's see how it turned out, shall we?  That's a helluva'n album cover, for starters.

White Denim: "Drug"

About time I repped one of my hometown bands.  White Denim have been bouncing around for three years now after debuting with the much hyped single, "Let's Talk About It".  The success predicted off the basis of that single hasn't entirely come to fruition, but that could well be because the band didn't milk that same psych garage sound in perpetuity.  "Drug" comes off their current album, D, and sees the lads kicking the tires on a Sloan / Flaming Lips hybrid model.

Turf War: "Cheers to the Years"

We have here a pretty green southern rock-tinged garage band from Atlanta, slugging it away and making a name for themselves opening for Black Lips/Vivian Girls.  "Cheers to the Years" was premiered recently on Aquarium Drunkard and is the first single off September's Years of Living Dangerously.  Holla.


Turf War-Cheers To The Years by Old Flame Records

Best Coast: "Our Deal"

I haven't always been on the Drew Barrymore bandwagon - sure, she was adorable in The Wedding Singer - but after Whip It and now this I'm starting to show a little appreciation... although, honestly, I think that has a lot more to do with her choosing more adventurous projects these days than it is that I just vastly under-appreciated Never Been Kissed.  Now she's directing this new vid from ever-trendy Best Coast, featuring Chloe Moretz and Donald Glover, amongst other upstart whippersnappers I've never heard of.

Get More: MTV Supervideo, Music, Best Coast

Danger Mouse (feat. Jack White): "Two Against One"

I generally have a fundamental disagreement with people who think music was a lot better back in the day.  If you look at it from a strictly commercial, easily accessible POV then sure, rock probably peaked in the 70s.  It's hard to compare many artists after punk with the relatively straight forward styles of rock that came before it, but that's mostly because there haven't been many artists that have even attempted to be that straight forward since at least 1980... unless they were corporate media whores to begin with, a la Three Doors Down, Bush, etc.  Even the inexplicably beloved Foo Fighters are mostly revered because a) they've gone this long without out-and-out sucking, and b) Dave Grohl seems like he'd be a cool guy to get shitfaced with.  Still: no one is ever going to mistake "Stacked Actors" for "Dead Flowers".

Which is what makes Jack White such an anomaly.  You really do have to go all the way back to the 70s to find someone that can parlay as many well established, accessible styles into as diverse a portfolio of hit songs (or songs that should have been hits) as Jack White.  I'd rather drink with Grohl, but if I was putting a band together Jack White would be my guy.  Even U2 don't have as many great songs as White does, and they've been at for almost twenty years longer.

This song comes off the new Danger Mouse album (on which Italian composer Daniele Luppi receives co-billing credit), which is only guest star-laden to the extent that Jack White and Norah Jones sing three songs apiece.  "Two Against One" in particular sounds like one where White almost certainly had a major hand in the songwriting... strip away the faintly audible string section and this could easily be a White Stripes or Raconteurs song.

[EDIT 1/9/12: replacing the fan made video with an official video for posterity's sake]: