Reporters Baffled

Of interest to us former radio broadcasters:

RIP
Radio & Records
1973-2009

An excellent resource in my past life.

Twenty Plus Twenty Is Better Than Dead

Bleu has created his very own social networking site on the Ning platform and he really really wants us to join it. In one of the coolest promotions ever, joining his community will automatically make you eligible to win a very special prize, a custom birthday song written and performed by Bleu himself!

1. Make a personal profile at Bleu's new online community, the site is free!
2. Upload a picture of yourself
3. Add your birthday to your profile and make it viewable (you don't have to add the year!)
4. Do all of this before August 25, 2009 and you'll be entered!

Evidently he has a history of performing special birthday songs for friends. You can download an EP of those songs via iTunes. Here's hoping for inclusion of "A Too Poppy Birthday" on the next EP.

Just Repeat This Again and Again and Again

Blur is releasing a 25-track "career-spanning collection" called Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur on July 28. Don't let anyone tell you it's a greatest hits compilation. No sir, it's much more than that.

Disc 1
1. Beetlebum
2. Girls & Boys
3. For Tomorrow
4. Coffee & TV
5. Out of Time
6. Blue Jeans
7. Song 2
8. Bugman
9. He Thought of Cars
10. Death of a Party
11. The Universal
12. Sing
13. This Is A Low

Disc 2
1. Tender
2. She's So High
3. Chemical World
4. Good Song
5. Parklife
6. Advert
7. Popscene
8. Stereotypes
9. Trimm Trabb
10. Badhead
11. Strange News From Another Star
12. Battery In Your Leg

Way2Poppy will be thrilled. He's the biggest Blur fan I know.

The band will be hitting the European festival circuit this summer. Might as well make a few extra bucks selling another compilation. Blur has always been hit or miss for me. I liked their first three albums - the brit-poppiest of the bunch - but they never captured my interest much after that.

via Paste

I'm Stealing Your Songs Right Now

Napster turns 10.

Nappy, I miss the real you.

Let's Live the Cliché

Upon first listen of Broken Promise Keeper's Ice Cold Pop, it hit me instantly - this guy, dubbed Rob Stuart at birth, is a fan. His love for powerpop radiates from every hook, harmony, and guitar jangle giving the album a sense a pureness rarely found elsewhere.

BPK's ultimate goal is to write that sublimely perfect powerpop song, a candy-coated sonic grenade that will make you turn it up and sing along.

His heart is in it and you feel every beat.

What kept me listening, though, was his wit. I couldn't help but smile all through Once, a song ripe in over-the-top clichés yet self-aware enough to recognize their power (never mind that it eerily reminds me of the never-to-be-recorded-or-released Too Poppy classic Summer Cliché - kindred spirits). And the requisite song-about-girls Kristine taps into the universal reason why so many guys like Stuart get into pop music in the first place - chicks, man.

And the music is just right - tight enough to be professional yet loose enough to be fun. To think this was just recorded in February. Impressive. This is required listening in the powerpop universe.

Official Site
Not Lame
Amazon
iTunes

I Don't Care Where You Live

The Charlatans tour North America - sadly, not Iowa (click the image to actually be able to read it without a microscope):

Number 9, Number 9

Whoa - the screenshots and trailer for The Beatles Rockband were released today and they're better than I'd ever hope. The gameplay looks phenomenal. Play The Cavern, Shea Stadium, The Ed Sullivan Show and so much more. Wow. I can't wait to pick this up. Mine is pre-ordered - how about yours?

Update: It will include 45 songs on the disc. It will feature the ability to do 3-part harmonies. The first downloadable album is Abbey Road. If you're buying the Xbox version, you'll be able to download an exclusive "All You Need Is Love" with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. You'll be able to experience The Beatles'
musical career from the early days to the final performance on the Apple Corps rooftop. Freakin' awesome.

Trailer
Screenshots
Pre-Order