Deadmau5 – The Concordian

For the very, very patient vinyl enthusiasts

In celebration of his Third Man Records’ third anniversary, Jack White hosted a big soirée with an unusual party favour for the guests. Following in the label’s tradition of unusual vinyl creations, each person present was given a special 3 RPM record containing all 56 singles from the 28 bands that have taken part in the label’s Blue Series. The label has called the record “easy to play but impossible to hear […] we estimate it would take 333 days of 33 hours training per day for your finger, hand and arm muscles to spin at a continuous speed of 3 rpm for X hours and X minutes.”

More like Ultra Music Feudstival

Madonna irked a number of prominent electronic dance music icons at the Ultra Music Festival last week when she asked “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?” a slang term for the drug MDMA, which is similar to the name of the pop star’s latest album MDNA. Paul Van Dyk called the reference “the biggest mistake in her career” and prompted Deadmau5 to tweet “You’re a role model to 100’s of millions. You have a powerful voice, EDM [electronic dance music] could use your positive influence, not ‘molly’ talk.” Madonna claims she was unaware of the implications of her comment, and tweeted in reply “I don’t support drug use and I never have. I was referring to the song ‘Have You Seen Molly’ written by my friend Cedric Gervais who I almost worked with on my last album…” Deaudmau5 applauded her for clearing up the situation “personally,” but advised Madonna to “be a little more aware of what you should represent at EDM events.

Crashed and burned

Australian rockers Jet have officially called it quits, according to a post on the band’s official website. “After many successful years of writing, recording and touring we wish to announce our discontinuation as a group,” wrote the group. “From the many pubs, theatres, stadiums and festivals all across the world it was the fans that made our amazing story possible and we wish to thank them all.” Jet first came to prominence in 2003 with the release of their first album Get Born. It quickly went platinum in the U.S., U.K. and Australia and netted them their most recognizable song, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.” The band’s last album was Shaka Rock in 2009.

‘Ke$ha bled all over my record!’

The Flaming Lips have decided there’s just not enough bodily fluids in records these days and they’ve decided to do something about it with their new collaborative effort The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends. “What I’m going to try to do — and I’m collecting stuff for it as we speak — is I’m going to try to make a record that has every person’s blood in the record,” said frontman Wayne Coyne in an interview with MTV. “I don’t have everybody’s blood just yet, but I collected quite a few vials of blood and it’s actually sitting in my refrigerator as we speak.” The record itself will be a picture disk and be on a very limited run of five or six at the most. Though he wouldn’t divulge exactly whose blood he’d already taken, Coyne mentioned his favourite collaborators so far have been Bon Iver and Ke$ha, but with a long list of “fwends” helping out on the record, it’s anyone’s guess who will be bleeding for the band.

Because Deamau5+1 sounds stupid

In a post on his Tumblr account, dance music artist Deadmau5 revealed he’s not too keen on collaborations with other artists, and that he has refused many requests from big artists in the past. “All too often, there’s an influx of ‘big names’ that would get thrown around the label from time to time and of course, they fly off the table and out the fuckin’ door faster than they hit my desk,” wrote Deadmau5. “Do you want to do a track with big name X, remix huge pop act Y, etc. etc. No. I fucking don’t. I really REALLY don’t.”
He says his biggest problem with these artists is that, more often than not, the lyrics are too vapid for his taste and that he has no interest in songs that “have some fucking dipshit blab about lookin’ sexy, poppin’ bottles, ‘dropping bass,’ or ANYTHING club related.” The electronic music star did mention that his previous collaborations with bands like Cypress Hill and the Foo Fighters were “the results of stuff [I’m] totally into” and were not the target of his rant.

Black Keys sorry for shooting fish in a barrel

Those of you with long memories may recall the tiff between The Black Keys and Nickelback that occurred a while back. For those who don’t, the Keys’ Patrick Carney trashed Nickelback saying that rock music was dying because “people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world, so they became OK with the idea that the biggest rock band in the world is always going to be shit.” Now he’s recanted his previous statement, sort of: “I didn’t mean to single them out,” the drummer said in an interview with MTV News Canada. “It just came out. There are much worse bands than Nickelback, maybe.”

Don’t send in the clowns

This year’s inductees to the rock and roll hall of fame include Guns N’ Roses, the Beastie Boys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It does not, however, include KISS, and they’re not happy about the snub. “It’s become a joke,” said bassist Gene Simmons of the Hall of Fame. “We’ve been thinking about it and the answer is simply ‘We’ll just buy it and fire everybody’.” Simmons said the fact that Madonna and Blondie were inductees showed how far off the mark of ‘Rock and Roll’ the institution had gone. “They’re legitimate dance, disco artists. They don’t belong in rock and roll.” Simmons’ bandmate, Paul Stanley, added that “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has reached a point where they’re really scrounging and scratching to find someone left that they consider viable. With all due respect, when you get to Patti Smith you’re about two steps away from Pete Seeger.” KISS have been eligible for induction since 1999.

What will Meg do now?

Jack White has come out and said there is “absolutely no chance” that he will ever bring back The White Stripes. “I’m not the kind of person that would retire from baseball and come out of retirement the next year,” said White in an interview with NME magazine. “I mean, if we went to all the trouble of telling people we’re done, we meant it, you know?” He says the only reason he could possibly foresee a reunion would be if he “went bankrupt or really needed the cash, which would be a really sad thing.”