Effing In Their Cars

Once upon today, Ben Folds released Way To Normal.

Many are unimpressed.

The end.

It Blows My Mind

Oasis' new track Falling Down is now available on iTunes. They also recently announced upcoming US tour dates. Finally, starting tomorrow you'll be able to stream Dig Out Your Soul in its entirety on TheirSpace.

Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight

Paul McCartney is releasing another CD under his Youth-collaborative moniker Fireman. Honestly, despite how huge a Macca fan I am, I do not own the other two albums, which have been fairly difficult to find. The original Strawberry Oceans Ships Forest is now available on iTunes, though. The sophomore release Rushes - not so much. This new one called Electric Arguments - due for release on 11/17 - will be different; and I very much like where this is going:

The new album features more traditional songwriting, including classic rock and acoustic tracks, "yet is in keeping with the genre-hopping spirit of the first two the Fireman albums," according to a statement. One track, "Lifelong Passion," was donated to the charity Adopt-A-Minefield as download for those making donations.

Whereas the first two releases were ambient dance, this one seems to be a bit more in line with his other music. In other words, I feel as though I should treat this as a new legitimate McCartney release with the added bonus of some creative freedom to allow him to let loose a bit. Very interested in hearing it. Songs:

"Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight"
"Two Magpies"
"Sing the Changes"
"Travelling Light"
"Highway"
"Light From Your Lighthouse"
"Sun Is Shining"
"Dance 'Til We're High"
"Lifelong Passion"
"Is This Love?"
"Lovers in a Dream"
"Universal Here, Everlasting Now"
"Don't Stop Running"

More here.

It's Like You're Always Stuck in Second Gear

MySpace is going after iTunes. Gack. I can hardly spend more than two minutes on MySpace - and I only do so to mine for Too Poppy-worthy artist updates. What a terrible site stuck in the late 90s.

With that said, be my friend at myspace.com/toopoppy!

Always Looking for Ways to Love You

As previously reported, Paul McCartney performed in Israel last night more than 40 years after The Beatles were supposedly banned in what was deemed "probably the greatest cultural event in Israel's history." Despite the enthusiasm, I guess the crowd was expecting McCartney to perform songs that were around at the time of the ban:

As for the music, McCartney and his supremely professional band played a considerable number of post-Beatles songs, which the audience received with a certain amount of polite confusion.

Ok, sure, fans want to see and hear the big hits. But checking out the setlist, it's not like he played anything too wacky. Sure, a couple tunes from recent releases, but "polite confusion?" Really?

Hello Goodbye
Jet
Drive My Car
Only Mama Knows
All My Loving
Flaming Pie
Let Me Roll It
My Love
Let 'Em In
The Long and Winding Road
Dance Tonight
Blackbird
Calico Skies
I'll Follow the Sun
Mrs Vanderbilt
Here, There and Everywhere
Eleanor Rigby
Something
A Day In The Life
Give Peace A Chance
Band On The Run
Back In The USSR
I've Got A Feeling
Live and Let Die
Let it Be
Hey Jude
Lady Madonna
Get Back
I Saw Her Standing There
Yesterday
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Extraordinary Mistakes

The Flaming Lips are prepared to unleash their wacky pet project Christmas on Mars on us - just in time for, well, Christmas.

"Christmas on Mars," which stars Lips bandmates Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd and Michael Ivins, was shot on the cheap in and around the band's native Oklahoma City. It revolves around the first holiday season on the freshly colonized Red Planet; Drozd is Major Sytris, who aims to marshall Christmas cheer with a big pageant, but a series of events threaten the survival of the colonists, much less their holiday plans. Coyne plays a friendly Martian who offers his assistance.

DVD and CD hits stores 10/28. Their music has always had a cinematic feel to it. Let's see if the "original score" to their own movie is any good. Here are the songs:

"Once Beyond Hopelessness"
"The Distance Between Mars And The Earth -- Part One"
"The Horrors Of Isolation: The Celestial Dissolve, Triumphant Hallucination, Light Being Absorbed"
"In Excelsior Vaginalistic"
"Your Spaceship Comes From Within"
"Suicide And Extraordinary Mistakes"
"The Distance Between Mars And The Earth -- Part Two"
"The Secret Of Immortality: This Strange Feeling, This Impossible World"
"The Gleaming Armament Of Marching Genitalia"
"The Distress Signals Of Celestial Objects"
"Space Bible With Volume Lumps"
"Once Beyond Hopelessness"

Sounds like a classic.

Pre-order here. Note: Amazon.com lists the release date as 11/11.

Soft as a Pillow

It is quite rare for a band to meet let alone exceed expectations in a reunion show after not playing in the US for 16 years and virtually ceasing to exist over that time. From some accounts, though, it sounds like My Bloody Valentine absolutely blew concertgoers away the other night in NY:

They came, they played, they conquered. Actually, they destroyed. Or maybe they did something to us that we can't really even describe. Whatever happened, My Bloody Valentine's performance last night in New York is already going down as the most affecting thing that a lot of people have ever experienced.

More Billboard.com coverage here. AV Club was there too:

My Bloody Valentine was in fact the loudest band I've ever heard by several orders of magnitude. But what was interesting about the volume was the way it was so delicate, brittle, almost wan—like a weird gelatinous handshake from a huge dude whose presence is misleading. I mean that in the best possible way.

I have no doubt a MBV show would be insanely mind-blowing. Here's the rest of the short tour. Anybody up for a weekend getaway to Chicago? Anybody have tix they want to give me? Sigh.

09-25 Toronto, Ontario - Ricoh
09-27 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
09-30 San Francisco, CA - The Concourse
10-01 Los Angeles, CA - Santa Monica Civic
10-02 Los Angeles, CA - Santa Monica Civic

I gotta be in the right mood, but for shoegazing, MBV is the top choice. So loud but so grounded in melody - it seems impossible.

UPDATE: The whole impetus for this post was a New York Times article I read yesterday that I completely forgot to link to. Here you go. Kevin Shields talks about working on new music.