Month: June 2015

33 Things: June Edition

333sound

Every month, we will compile the best, weirdest, most interesting music and sound news from the past 30 days and serve it up to you in one handy, easy to digest list. May we present 33 Things that happened in June? This list is brought to you by our 33 1/3 intern, Katherine DeChant. 33 1/3 was featured on Pitchfork! Apple Music is launching today! Which of course brings to mind TSwift’s (possibly hypocritical) open letter to Apple, asking them to pay royalties to musicians during their three-month trial period.…

Video Vault Episode 73: Cayetana

333sound

It may not be the most high-brow thing to admit, but I’ll always have a place in my heart for some good-old-fashioned indie-pop/”pop-punk”/whatever-they-call-it to lift the mood.* Which is how I found myself a few Saturdays ago at an all-ages free show amidst a sea of 16-year-olds in the sweltering heat of McCarren Park to see Philly-based band Cayetana. Seriously, it was unbearably hot. Pre-show, all we could do was miserably down bottles of water while the sound system, for some bizarre reason, blasted System of a Down’s Toxicity (yes, they played multiple songs…

More Covers From Our Two New 33 1/3s Out in October!

333sound

Last week, we posted the covers for our two new 33 1/3s out in September, but things are far better than you thought because we will also be publishing two BRAND NEW books in October: Wally Holland‘s book on Phish’s A Live One and George Grella‘s book on Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew. Covers below! Get excited. Twenty years after its release, Phish’s double-CD collection A Live One has something rare and precious going for it: it still doesn’t sound like anybody else. Oversized, perverse, requiring an unusual amount of listener background knowledge? Yes…

Video Vault Episode 72: Genre-Hopping with Chris Thile

333sound

Hello everyone! Allow me to introduce myself as the new intern at 33 1/3. I’ll be doing the occasional video vault post and maybe some other work around the blog. Rather than aligning myself in this first post with one musical camp or another, I’m keeping my stance ambiguous by invoking as many genres as I can in one video. “Another New World” is a song by Americana guitarist Josh Ritter, performed here on mandolin by Chris Thile, that is loosely inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s “Annabel Lee.” I’m also…

Covers From Our Two NEW 33 1/3s out September!

333sound

In September, we will be publishing two BRAND NEW 33 1/3s: Bryan C. Parker’s book on Beat Happening and David Masciotra’s book on Metallica (The Black Album)! September is so far away, but console yourselves with a look at these two beautiful covers. What will it be in the ultimate battle of K Records v. Elektra?  Just kidding. You’re all obviously reading both. Happy Wednesday! This is the album that sent a shockwave of empowerment through the nation’s cultural underground. In 1985, Olympia, Washington band Beat Happening released their eponymous debut of lo-fi pop songs…

Pictures from the Devo Event at BookPeople, ATX!

333sound

Last Tuesday, June 9th, Evie Nagy traveled to the wonderful BookPeople bookstore in Austin, Texas to chat with Amy Gentry about her new 33 1/3 on Devo’s Freedom of Choice–-out just this past May. For those of us who couldn’t make it, Evie was kind enough to provide some pictures from the event, below. And if you happen to live in Austin/live around Austin/be traveling to Austin sometime in the near future, you can now also stop by BookPeople to pick up a signed copy!

Video Vault Episode 70: Just Like Honey

333sound

I’m halfway through editing Paula Mejia’s manuscript for The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy and I can’t help but think about the sweetest song from an album so varied: “Just Like Honey.” It always seemed too sweet and out of place on Psychocandy but is disgustingly perfect at the end of Lost In Translation. Also, Japan, Bill Murray, Scar Jo? What’s not to love? I’m crying into my iced coffee. -AJ [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOpXt30kZCw]

Useful? Useless? Reader Poll Results: What’s Missing from 33 1/3

333sound

We’re kicking it old school. And we clearly didn’t go to B-school.This useful/useless excel spreadsheet lists the results from a reader poll we conducted through this blog, the series twitter and facebook. The question was simply: What albums are missing from the 33 1/3 series? We received hundreds of replies. These are all of the albums that were suggested more than once. What can we learn from this? That someone should submit a proposal on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It was suggested 6 times. Also: The Cure, Sparks, Lauren Hill.  Also…the…