http://www.avclub.com/feed/MusicThe A.V. ClubFri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/music-to-work-by,35610/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music Welcome back to AVQ&A, where we throw out a question for discussion among the staff and readers. Consider this a prompt to compare notes on your interface with pop culture, to reveal your embarrassing tastes and experiences, and to ponder how our diverse lives all led us to convene here together. Got a question you’d like us and the readers to answer? E-mail us at <a href="mailto:avcqa@theonion.com">avcqa@theonion.com</a>. I have always needed to have some sort of music on while working. Generally, I listen to something I am familiar with that I can tune out, but still know ... Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/music-to-work-by,35610/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/adorable-internet-thing-of-the-day-jason-segel-the,35611/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music As a publicist at Shore Fire Media helpfully (and self-servingly, but what can you do) just informed us, The Swell Season (<em>Once</em> stars Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard) performed a concert in L.A. last night, and a buddy showed up to première a new song: actor Jason Segel, playing piano and singing a somewhat stream-of-consciousness song not unlike the songs he wrote and performed on <em>How I Met Your Mother</em> and in <em>Forgetting Sarah Marshall</em>. Naturally, someone in the audience videotaped it all and got it up on YouTube. In the clip, Segel claims Irglová told him ... Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:09:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/adorable-internet-thing-of-the-day-jason-segel-the,35611/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/win-anvil-the-story-of-anvil-tshirts-and-autograph,35607/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music Have you seen it yet? The documentary about the most kick-ass metal band that nobody's ever heard of? You probably should. And now you've got a chance to win an autographed DVD (ARV: $24.98) and/or an Anvil T-shirt, which says "METAL ON METAL" on the back. <a href="mailto:avcontests@theonion.com?subject=ANVIL">Just send us an e-mail </a>with your preference--T-shirt or DVD, and we'll pick some winners on or about November 30. (The T-shirts are mostly XXL, so keep that in mind.) Employees of Onion Inc. and their families are not eligible, so don't even try it, Mom. If you ... Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:03:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/win-anvil-the-story-of-anvil-tshirts-and-autograph,35607/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/best-music-the-orphans,35572/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music Our list of the decade’s best music naturally didn’t cover every album our music writers loved in the ’00s, so we’re giving them the chance to big-up their personal favorites here—these are the discs that didn’t make <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-music-of-the-decade,35540/">our big list,</a> but that nevertheless are worthy of your attention. Unless otherwise noted, these are presented in chronological order; the authors want you to love them all equally. JASON HELLER Botch, <i>We Are The Romans </i>(2000) <a href="http://www.lala.com/landing/album/2017894108056410866/Botch/We_Are_The_Romans_(Deluxe_Edition)_(2xCD)">10 tracks - We Are The Romans (Deluxe Edition) (2xCD) by Botch</a> Released on New Year’s Day, 2000, Botch’s full-length ... Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/best-music-the-orphans,35572/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-music-of-the-decade,35540/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music For our best-of-the-decade music list, it was more about the gut than the strict math we use to determine the best albums of each year. We took a general poll of our music writers, then whittled things down to a manageable number, then talked some more about what should go where. It probably doesn’t need saying that not everyone will agree with these choices, but that’s what the comments are for—let us know what your favorite records were from 2000-2009. (Try and make an intelligent case that doesn’t start with “You guys are retards!” if you ... Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-music-of-the-decade,35540/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-decades-best-metal,35509/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music Around this time every month, <i>The A.V. Club </i>forgets to lock its back door, and Texas-dwelling scumbag Leonard Pierce lets all of his disreputable longhair friends in to spike the water cooler with SoCo and listen to thrash until someone calls security. This month, however, is different. This month, as part of <i>The</i> <i>A.V. Club</i>’s wide-ranging end-of-year coverage of the best culture of the decade, Metal Box forsakes its usual barely coherent ramblings and focuses on the best metal releases of the 21st century. So grab a pen, look up your local record store (it’s a ... Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:45:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-decades-best-metal,35509/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/week-23-george-strait-the-exception,35474/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music <i>A.V. Club head writer and hip-hop writer Nathan Rabin recently decided to spend a year or two immersing himself in the canon of country music, a genre he knew little about, but was keen to explore. The result: “Nashville Or Bust,” a series of essays about seminal country artists. After 52 entries, Rabin plans to travel south and explore some of country music’s most hallowed landmarks and institutions.</i> There is a strange category of artists I like to call “the exceptions.” Lauryn Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy, Eminem, Digable Planets, and De La Soul all qualify ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:42:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/week-23-george-strait-the-exception,35474/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/who-doesnt-love-the-smell-of-dead-celebrity-dna,35466/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music Everyone who is or was at some point even remotely famous has a perfume—Carlos Santana, Avril Lavigne, Tim McGraw, Donald Trump, the cast of the <em>Bold & The Beautiful</em>, Alan Cumming, Raven Symone, Derek Jeter, that girl whose arm was bitten off by a shark, etc. If you're looking for something to make you smell like your favorite slightly-well-known personage, or if you're just looking for something with a famous name to swig Scarlett-O'Hara-style when you're secretly drinking in the bedroom and your abusive husband comes up the stairs, the celebrity perfume industrial complex has you ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:30:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/who-doesnt-love-the-smell-of-dead-celebrity-dna,35466/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/50-cent-to-make-more-terrible-movies,35460/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music You've got to hand it to 50 Cent: he hasn't let his complete lack of success in acting, writing or directing dim his enthusiasm for making movies. Terrible, terrible movies. Unwatchable movies. Movies that make you wonder what kind of a benevolent God would allow 50 to continue to make movies. <a href="http://www.sohh.com/2009/11/50_cent_seals_film_production_deal_re-li.html">According to SOHH.com</a>, 50 Cent intends to ramp up his production of terrible, terrible movies by financing a slate of films through his Cheetah Vision production company. Would a company named Cheetah Vision waste its time with anything other than great art? The production company's ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:19:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/50-cent-to-make-more-terrible-movies,35460/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/kid-sister-ultraviolet,35430/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music The title of Kid Sister’s long-gestating debut, <i>Ultraviolet, </i>nods to the black-light-saturated dance floors and basement parties that her music is designed to soundtrack. The album is an homage to Chicago house, with thudding, four-on-the-floor basslines and synths straight out of the scene’s late-’80s/early-’90s heyday. <i>Ultraviolet</i> does well by its inspiration in the beats department, thanks to hard-hitting production by collaborators like A-Trak, Sinden, and Gant-Man, the latter of whom also guests on the album’s standout ode to juke-house, “Switch Board.” But Kid Sister’s winking lyrics and charismatic flow elevate the album beyond ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/kid-sister-ultraviolet,35430/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/them-crooked-vultures-them-crooked-vultures,35431/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music What should be expected of Them Crooked Vultures? Put Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, and John Paul Jones in the same band, and it’s hard not to do some basic rock ’n’ roll algebra. Adding Queens Of The Stone Age’s catchy crunchiness to Nirvana’s relentlessly driving rhythms and Led Zeppelin’s flowing basslines and rich orchestral textures certainly sounds, well, super. But Them Crooked Vultures is not the sum of its members’ most famous bands. Thinking that it could be means overlooking an obvious fact about super-groups: Rock stars don’t form bands with other rock stars in ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/them-crooked-vultures-them-crooked-vultures,35431/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/real-estate-real-estate,35422/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music A selection of song titles from Real Estate’s self-titled debut: “Beach Comber,” “Atlantic City,” “Let’s Rock The Beach.” The seashore motif may be having a cultural moment, at least among the Brooklyn DIY scene in which the band cut its teeth. (See also acts like Boogie Boarder and Beach Fossils, not to mention associated out-of-towners like Surf City and Surfer Blood.) But Real Estate does the titles good, making dreamy, evocative indie-pop that’s swathed in echoes, relentlessly chill, and hazy as a summer day. Unfortunately, that’s also where the trouble starts. <i>Real Estate</i> is thin: light ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/real-estate-real-estate,35422/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/kam-moye-aka-supastition-splitting-image,35425/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music The North Carolina rapper formerly known as Supastition has never had much use for the role-playing, posturing, and wish-fulfillment endemic to hip-hop. His national profile rose alongside an up-and-coming Netherlands producer named Nicolay (of Foreign Exchange semi-fame) when they collaborated on “The Williams,” a funny, sad, wondrously alive exploration of the past-due credit-card blues that won a contest to appear on ?uestlove’s first <i>Okayplayer </i>compilation. So it isn’t surprising that he’s traded in his prance-about stage moniker for his government name on his new album, <i>Splitting Image.</i> Here, Kam Moye eschews the punchlines, braggadocio, and battle-raps of ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/kam-moye-aka-supastition-splitting-image,35425/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/wale-attention-deficit,35428/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music Underground hip-hop reveres A Tribe Called Quest, but in a post-Kanye West world, there’s no longer any shame in both blowing up and going pop. Take Washington D.C.’s Wale, for example. After building a serious buzz through mixtapes like <i>100 Miles & Running </i>and the vaguely <i>Seinfeld</i>-themed <i>The Mixtape About Nothing—</i>and after signing with Mark Ronson’s Allido label—Wale makes a power move from the underground to the mainstream with his major-label debut, <i>Attention Deficit. </i>Wale pays reverent homage to ATCQ with “World Tour,” then spends the rest of the album questing for radio spins ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/wale-attention-deficit,35428/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/say-anything-say-anything,35426/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music Formed as a high-school project, Say Anything quickly propelled frontman Max Bemis to semi-stardom, not to mention a certain dubious notoriety. After numerous breakdowns and über-sarcastic albums like 2007’s <i>In Defense Of The Genre</i>, Bemis is back—at the ripe old age of 25—with Say Anything's self-titled, third full-length. It's even better crafted than its sprawling, genre-hopping predecessor. Sadly, it’s also more obnoxiously solipsistic. With pop-punk as primer, Bemis madly splatters everything from horns to waltzes to power balladry across his songs—something he brags about in the sequenced pop jam “Crush’d.” But even ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/say-anything-say-anything,35426/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/norah-jones-the-fall,35427/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music Overwhelming popularity can do a number on an artist. Nirvana’s success resulted in what is arguably the band’s best album, <i>In Utero</i>, but also likely hastened Kurt Cobain’s downward spiral. Like Nirvana, jazz singer Norah Jones is the rare diamond-selling artist: Her 2002 debut, <i>Come Away With Me</i>, has sold more than 10 million copies. Unlike Cobain, Jones has found success liberating. She has been prolific, releasing two albums under her own name and forming two bands, the country-minded Little Willies and the more raucous El Madmo. She’s even tried acting. All of this speaks to ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/norah-jones-the-fall,35427/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-electronic-music-of-the-00s,35446/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music The past decade in electronic music has been fitful and fruitful, with slews of new sounds and progress both big and small. Here’s an attempt to take stock of some of the main movements and the albums that attended them. (Some of the biggest ones appear in our upcoming Top 50 Albums Of The ’00s list, so take this list as an addendum.) Various artists, <i>Clicks + Cuts </i>(Mille Plateaux, 2000) The prevalence of minimalism in sounds of all kinds was the biggest story in electronic music throughout the 2000s. It served as a specific distinction in various styles that ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-electronic-music-of-the-00s,35446/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/annie-dont-stop,35424/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music Annie is a distinctly Internet-age musical figure: the pop star who isn’t actually a pop star. At least, not outside her native Norway. But on 2005’s <i>Anniemal </i>and the new <i>Don’t Stop</i>,<i> </i>she carries herself as someone born to golden-age MTV—albeit with a wink, since that age has been gone for decades. “I Don’t Like Your Band” taunts, “Buy yourself a sequencer and then let the games begin,” and “The Breakfast Song” is a braying, affectionate parody/tribute to M.I.A. (“Wot do you want for BREAK-FAST?”) The music is high-grade, glossy electro-pop, heavily ... Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/annie-dont-stop,35424/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/mariah-carey-will-do-whatever-she-wants,35423/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music Career-wise, Mariah Carey is almost as powerful as she's ever been: She's established enough that people are going to buy her music, even if her first single is a response to an Eminem insult and it's 2009; She has her own perfume line that people actually buy (apparently some people want to smell like an 8-octave range and Sanrio); I'm pretty sure she owns the rights to all the butterfly images in North America; And she's getting good reviews for her light-mustache acting in <em>Precious</em>.  Basically, Mariah Carey can do whatever she wants. And now ... Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/mariah-carey-will-do-whatever-she-wants,35423/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_musichttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-comedy-albums-of-the-decade,35403/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music The ’00s will likely be remembered as the era “alternative comedy” broke. After the boom and bust of stand-up in the ’80s and the distinctly Seinfeld-ian ’90s, a new generation of smartasses arrived to stretch the limits and help redefine it. David Cross proved stand-up didn’t need to be performed in traditional two-drink-minimum comedy clubs. Neil Hamburger created comedy that’s funny because it’s so incredibly <i>not</i> funny. Mike Birbiglia went from traditional stand-up to a storytelling format that became one-man shows. Scharpling & Wurster reignited the radio comedy of days gone by. And Tenacious D and Flight Of ... Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:40:00 -0600http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-comedy-albums-of-the-decade,35403/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=channel_music