YOU! BUY REDEFINE! NOW!!!1!

the new issue of redefine is out. i contributed some interviews with 2*sweet and sleepercar for it, but there's also a really awesome feature about polaroid film and a great interview with one of my favorite bands of all time, saves the day. get one from the redefine webstore or one of the locations listed here.

TOMORROW NIGHT!!! MORE PROMOTION!!!1!

TOMORROW NIGHT!!! @ Chop Suey, 9 pm, $5, 21+
“Basement Sessions” Release Show featuring:

• Dawhud (my favorite emcee since Skee-Lo!)
  
• Nam (proprietor of 2-0-sick)
  
• Can U (kick it? yes, we can)
  
• The Let Go (like the Ultimates, but not…)
  
• Likeminded (Burien duo’s reunion performance. Bill Nye the Science Guy meets Styles of Beyond)
  
• Hosted by: Luvva J (best stage name since Mike Hunt)
  
• DJ’d by: Ryan Fresh (former ITF Contestant, mixtape fanatic and Gilmore Girls fan)
  

More Self-Promotion

I'm DJing this mother. I'll bring my new mixtape, if you bring da rukus.

Eisley > Feist

On his recap of the Grammys today, my favorite mudslinging writer, Bol, dusted this bit of knowledge god:

"In one of the essays that ran with this year's Pazz and Jop, one of those fruits took Feist to task for being, essentially, pretty much any guy's fantasy girlfriend. And not a whole lot else."

And even though the idea isn't completely his (but seeing how the internets isn't about accuracy and more about "substance"), I, too, am going to have to agree with this sentiment. As you may or may not recall, in a review I wrote about Leigh Nash's solo effor, "Blue On Blue," I pretty much said that she was better than Feist. And Jenny Lewis.

Oooh beef!

I think part of this feeling isn't entirely on Leslie Feist's petite shoulders. Her music has just been everywhere the past few years and at some point, you just need to call a moratorium on that shit. It's the same reason you don't hear "Macarena" unless you're at a wedding or a birthday party.

Feist is just overexposed to the point where every nerd bird sexless indie stereotype is just going to salivate over her and her overrated songs. It's the same reason I dislike Paramore so much (replacing indie archetypes with 15 to 25 year old Hot Topic shoppers).

As much flack as I'm going to catch for this, it' how I feel, but a band like Eisley is far more deserving of this kind of attention. And I don't mean the creepy, leering male fantasy kind. I mean, they deserve to be overexposed in TV commercials and on the Muzak channel at T.G.I.Friday's. Even though their last album, "Combinations," wasn't as immediate as "Room Noises," it eventually grew on me, and now it's my jam.

But in the end, the basis of this entire post is fairly sexist, so whatever. I just needed something to rant about.

Go be productive. I'm gonna get a pizza.

here it is: a groove slightly transformed

new Ryan Fresh song on Myspace. Dig IT!!!!

saddle creek presents kirkland signature indie rock

[like OMG, he's just WOW. i'd totally drop 9 hunny for this slab o' man]

This morning, Pitchfork and Absolute Whatever (who probably co-opted the story from Pitchfork) reported that Costco, the mega-giant corporate supplier of bulk food items and really awesome pizza, is selling a Conor Oberst guitar. Actually, I found out about this a few months ago when I was looking for a reasonably priced acoustic guitar (FYI, you can also get a Pete Wentz-signed Fender bass from Costco, too; or was it Sam's Club?) on Costco's website. Honestly, I wasn't at all surprised.

Despite the report that Oberst's lawyers are "investigating," I'm pretty sure that a huge company like Costco simply doesn't have the power to sell $900 autographed guitars without the signer knowing about it. Let's face it, Oberst's popularity has been moving more towards Middle and Suburban America. Yes, the scary big city folk love their Bright Eyes and whatnot, but the kid's been playing theaters and large scaled venues for some time now, so the notion of some chick who works at Forever 21 being an Oberst fan isn't completely out of the ordinary.

As much as the elite would like to dismiss this notion, Oberst is on the same level as Fall Out Boy's Wentz and G. Love (who also has an autographed guitar at Costco), maybe not topically -- since even I will admit that Oberst's rants are way more relevant than singing songs about how famous you are -- but in social sense. These three guys represent a certain sect of popular culture:

Wentz has taken the Billy Corgan route of being a self-aggrandizing, ego maniac, whose sole purpose is to write catchy tunes, get millions of teenage girls to love you and to crush their collective hopes and dreams by bar hopping with a former reality TV starlet.

G. Love is the frat guy who wants to be Dave Matthews, but not really. He is beloved by stoners and guys who got into gangsta rap in the early 90s and then discovered Ween.

Oberst, obviously, is a self-important hipster. He believes that he can take on the government, one folk song at a time. All the while, he revisits his previous loves of power-pop (Desaparacidos) and new wave ("Digital Ash in a Digital Urn") with either high praises or cheap jabs. He is, in essence, everything to love and hate about the music scene.

Which brings me back to this whole Costco debacle. Again, I'm not surprised that Oberst would shill for the man, I mean how many cool kids would shop at Costco anyway? [1] So it's not like they'd find out and revoke his coolness card, especially since he's done more for youth culture other than snorting rails in some dude's bathroom while people are puking Sparks all over the place. Is it really that big of deal? Because if Conor Oberst should be speaking to any one, it should probably be to the people who shop at Costco.

[1] I'm too broke to afford a Costco Membership, but that doesn't mean I can't tag along with my mom if I need new tires or bulk mac and cheese.

EDIT: Costco has removed the "Collectibles" page from their site, so you can't find any of these guitars for the time being.