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Progress Report: Robyn
Marketers Think of New Reasons to Buy Giant Vehicles
E. W. sent in a three-page internet ad for the 2010 Chevy Traverse. The Traverse seats eight, but the ad campaign suggests that it is perfect for just four. E.W. offers the play-by-play:
The first image of the ad shows a young boy and girl in the first row of seats in an SUV. They are separated by at least a foot of space. The young boy is poking the girl (presumably his sister) in the shoulder.
The following images show the two kids in various seating arrangements where they are always separated by the seating rows (one in front and one in back).
The end tag (car-two) states “Finally, you can separate them.”
“To summarize the ad in my words,” said E.W., “Buy a car that can seat 6 kids because you can’t control your 2.”
Or, in my words, in the face of an economic crisis peppered with sky-high fuel prices, we are desperate for another way to try to convince Americans that they need giant cars.
(View original at http://contexts.org/socimages)
‘American Idol’: The Top 8 Girls Play It Safe
The warm reception that greeted the ladies’ performances last week must have led American Idol’s Top 8 females to the assumption that they could take this week off. Tsk, tsk ladies! Competing on AI is like dieting – more progress you make, the more you have to push yourself to see results.
Almost all the girls played it safe this week — they must have decided not to take on anything too ambitious for fear of blowing it all just when they felt certain of their arrival in the Top 12. But aversion to risks instead meant that they sacrificed any real chance at a powerhouse “moment” (such as last week’s note-heard-round-the-Web by Siobhan Magnus during “Think”). And instead, many of the girls appeared to be playing it too safe to be engaging. Two gals have to go, and we’re pretty sure to whom we’ll be waving buh-bye on Thursday night. Take the jump to read our recap of the Top 8 Girls, and find out which woman disappointed us the most.
Katie Stevens – “Breakaway” by Kelly Clarkson
With her wobbly take on Kelly’s smash single, Katie at least showed that she can follow some of the directions given by the judges. Yes, she finally picked a younger song, but she still didn’t make it her own. We have no hope for Katie in this competition anymore – much like the judges, we think she’s too young to know who she is as an artist. (This goes for Aaron Kelly, too. Sorry, not everyone can be Jordin Sparks or David Archuleta.) Hey, the 17-year old still has another 11 seasons where she can come back to audition — that is, if Idol isn’t canceled by then. But let’s not think of such scary possibilities.
Siobhan Magnus – “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals
Siobhan again showed terrific control, and displayed real courage by performing a capella. (If nothing else, she finally put to rest our what-if thoughts about both Andrew Fenlon and Janell Wheeler.) We do wish she had wailed a little more, as she did in her game-changing performance of Aretha Franklin’s “Think.” In fact, is there a song that’s all belting? She should just do that week after week. Still, there’s no doubt she’s sailing through to the Top 12, despite her being placed in the troublesome 2nd performance slot. What’s more interesting about Siobhan’s Idol journey is her wardrobe — the show’s stylists are putting her in heels and sexy frocks instead of the Mary Jane shoes and alterna-garb she sported when she first entered the competition. By the Top 5 (if she makes it that long, which we’re betting she will) we can expect that nose ring to be gone and her hair styled with extensions. Is that the real Siobhan? Probably not, but it’s the one that will probably get people to look at her as a sexy pop singer instead of a glass blower.
Lacey Brown – “The Story” by Brandi Carlile
Here’s the good news: Lacey finally isn’t a giant trainwreck. Yay! Her sweet, high-pitched country cooing reminds us of Dolly Parton, actually. Now the bad news: Too little too late, Lacey. A merely competent performance isn’t enough to get America to vote for you. We never invested too much in Lacey, anyway — must be because Idol producers barely edited her into the earlier segments of the show.
Katelyn Epperly – “I Feel The Earth Move” by Carole King
Oh, Katelyn. We like you and your big, bouncy hair, and your bright-and-shiny personality, and you did sing the song with all due care. But your take on this upbeat classic made us feel like we were watching a tiresome wedding band that had all but given up on getting people to actually shake it on the dancefloor. Basically, we were bored. Katelyn soared last week by singing an elegent, ethereal version of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” (a left-of-field choice that totally worked). So why take a step backwards now?
Didi Benami – “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac
Welcome back, Didi! Her acoustic arrangement of the Fleetwood Mac song was gorgeous, a huge improvement over last week’s “Lean On Me,” and Didi really shows off her distinct voice and unique phrasing. Well done. However — Didi really has to develop a more three-dimensional personality than that of ”The Crying Girl,” since that was totally Brooke White’s thing during Season 7, and the two blonde singer/musicians share enough of a resemblance to be considered doppelgangers as it is. Plus, crying every week, whether you’re pleased with your performance or not, gets really irritating.
Paige Miles – “Smile” by Charlie Chaplin
Paige, honey… is something going on at home? You okay? After confidently attempting to win over the crowd with Kelly Clarkson’s “Walk Away” last week, she tried to go torchy this week, and delivered a dreary, shaky performance of “Smile.” Paige looked terrified, as if a loony stage mom was holding a gun to her head and telling her to project. Beyond her streak of poor performances, Paige never fully developed a distinct personality on the show, so we feel like we’ll be saying goodbye to somebody we never really got to know. Her fault, or the producers’? Like Lacey, probably both factors are to blame.
Crystal Bowersox – “Give Me One Reason” by Tracy Chapman
The frontrunner of Season 9 didn’t disappoint anyone (particularly not #1 fan Simon) with her bluesy, electric-guitar-aided performance. Although Crystal is a shoe-in for the Top 12, we’re a little worried how she’ll fare once contestants are forced to adhere to a theme (what on Earth would she sing on Broadway night? Or Big Band night?). But it’s about time Idol had an indie rocker girl as a winner, since so many other genres on the musical spectrum have had their day(s) with past Idol champs. The best thing about Crystal is that her style is so understated, too – she doesn’t have to be dressed to the nines or change her look to sway people into rooting for her. Is it too late for her to be added to the Lilith Fair lineup?
Lilly Scott – “I Fall To Pieces” by Patsy Cline:
Lilly plays with a mandolin and gives an adequate performance. Not much else going on. Her unusual voice is the main selling point. We really want to see Lilly shake things up a bit in the following rounds, because the quirky-cute thing might get old. And as with Crystal, we’re curious to see how she handles themed nights.
Best of the Night: Crystal Bowersox
Worst of the Night: Paige Miles and Katelyn Epperly….though we think Paige and Lacey Brown are gonna be given the boot.
Final Thoughts: We were moderately satisfied with the girls tonight — besides Paige, no one was a complete disaster — but mostly it was a snooze of an evening. Can they bring out “The General” Larry Platt to “gong” contestants when we’re getting bored with their performances? It would certainly be more entertaining and straight-up funny than Ellen’s been the last few weeks.
Yes, it’s Ellen who was our biggest disappointment the past few rounds. We’re truly starting to tire of her cheesy little quips (did she really say “Didi, to that I say yes indeedy, Didi” with a straight face?) and where we at first welcomed some levity and a fresh voice to the show, we now find ourselves rolling our eyes whenever it’s the comedian’s turn to judge. Ellen, unless you’ve got something exceptionally clever to say, let’s just keep it to the critiques, ‘kay?
Liars – “Proud Evolution (Thom Yorke 500qd Remix)”
of Montreal Visit Yo Gabba Gabba! With “Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast!”
New Release: The Pipettes: Earth vs. the Pipettes
Artist: The Pipettes
Album: Earth vs. the Pipettes
Release Date: June 28 [UK]
Label: Fortuna POP!
Tracklist:
01 Call Me
02 Ain't No Talking
03 Thank You
04 I Need a Little Time
05 History
06 I Always Planned to Stay
07 Stop the Music
08 I Vibe You
09 Our Love Was Saved by Spacemen
10 Finding My Way
11 Captain Rhythm
12 From Today
Notes: Second album from this British girl group, now a duo after going through several lineup shakeups since 2006 debut We Are the Pipettes.
Media: Download "Our Love Was Saved by Spacemen" here (email address required). Watch the video here.
The Morning Mix: Amy Winehouse Doesn’t Look Like A Hot Mess For Once
:: Amy Winehouse was spotted on the streets of London clad in more than just a pair of bloody ballet flats and a bra. So basically, it was a good day for her. [Bossip]
:: Hilary Duff announced that she will pen a young adult book series. The first novel, Elixir, is said to follow “the worldwide adventures of young photojournalist Clea Raymond.” So… this won’t be a thinly veiled biography about the life of an actress/pop star engaged to a hockey player? Then why is Hill writing it? [Pop Crunch]
:: Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet tour DVD hits stores at the end of the month—catch a clip of Justin Timberlake and Timbaland performing “4 Minutes” on stage with the Material Girl (although chances are you already have, since it was the most successful tour by a solo artist ever). [Pop Eater]
:: T.I. announced his return with the track “I’m Back”. Guess what? 92 other rappers came up with the same song title. [The Awl, via Vulture]
:: Wayne Coyne wants to cast Justin Timberlake in a new Flaming Lips movie. Everybody, please: stop distracting the man from releasing a new album! [Rolling Stone]
After the jump: we dance through the decades with Alanis Morissette’s history-making music video.
Music on TV Today:
:: Late Show with David Letterman (CBS) – Alkaline Trio
:: Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC) – Ryan Bingham
:: Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC) – Manchester Orchestra
:: Late Show with Jimmy Fallon (NBC) – The National
:: Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS) – Temper Trap
VIDEO REWIND OF THE DAY: Everyone, including us, are waxing poetic about the new cast of Dancing with the Stars, but after rewatching Alanis Morissette’s 1999 video for “So Pure” (off her sophomore album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie) we have to wonder why she wasn’t asked to compete on the TV show. (Or maybe she was asked and turned down the offer?) The video incorporates various styles of dance—swing, tango, tap, modern dance, etc.—and hell, Alanis even plays a ballroom competition dancer in one of the vid’s segments! We think she could even blow Nicole Scherzinger out of the water if she signed on board.
Interesting trivia: “So Pure” was the first music video in history to have its official premiere on the web; AOL exclusively streamed it for its members on June 25, 1999. Eleven years later, music videos would pretty much live online now that MTV and VH1 have given all their airtime to reality shows.
Have a great day!
Allison Iraheta Gives Us “One More Reason” To Love Her With Bonus Track
Allison Iraheta is on her way to becoming one of the more successful fourth-place finishers of American Idol. Of course, it will take a lot (and we mean a lot) of album sales to stack up against Season 5’s Top 4 finalist Chris Daughtry. But from what we’ve heard on Allison’s debut album Just Like You, we wouldn’t rule out the possibility of the Magenta-haired, raspy-voiced teen taking over the pop charts. “One More Reason,” a bonus track on the Japanese edition of Just Like You, is more proof of this girl’s potential to be the next Kelly Clarkson (not that the old Kelly Clarkson is going anywhere). Listen to it below.
Allison Iraheta – “One More Reason”
Fun, catchy and perfect for a young talent like Allison, we’re not sure why this didn’t make the final cut of Just Like You, though it could be that it sounds much more bubblegum pop than the rest of Iraheta’s rock-heavy LP. Regardless, we think all of the Idol alum’s fans—and this one in particular—will dig any sort of song she generously drops into our laps.
MP3 | MGMT - Flash Delirium
Ihr Debüt "Oracular Spectacular" flashte die Musikwelt vor zwei Jahren außerordentlich. Nun melden sich MGMT mit dem spannungsvoll erwarteten Nachfolger zurück - und haben scheinbar alles anders gemacht, wenn man dem ersten Song von "Congratulations" Glauben schenken darf. Mehr
Rock
Band To Watch: Peepholes
CAPTION THIS: Enough With The Pics, Lady Gaga, Where’s The Darn “Telephone” Video Already?
Another Lady Gaga “Telephone” video still leak? Geez, will this video just come out already! The suspense is killing us! We’re fresh out of clever comments. We don’t even know what to make of this upcoming music vid behemoth anymore. We’ve decided to just call this one “Lady Gaga Phones Her Diet Coke Dealer” (get it?), but we think you can come up with something better. Leave your captions below. The best answer will get posted on our homepage this Friday.
Neu! Catalog Collected in Vinyl Box Set
Photo by Anton Corbijn
Michael Rother and the late Klaus Dinger formed the Düsseldorf duo Neu! in 1971, after both musicians left Kraftwerk. Over the next few years, they perfected a minimal, hypnotic pulse-groove that went on to have a seismic effect on krautrock and all the stuff that would be influenced by krautrock-- which is to say, a lot of stuff. (Take a look at the tracklist for this tribute album, for example.)
On May 10, Gronland will release a limited edition Neu! vinyl box set, offering a retrospective of the band's influential catalogue. This would be a pretty awesome thing to have in your possession.
The box includes all three of the duo's studio albums-- Neu!, Neu! 2, and Neu! '75-- as well as the previously unreleased LP Neu! '86, originally recorded in 1985 and 1986 and recently reworked by Rother, augmented by Rother and Dinger's most recent studio recordings. You'll also get Neu! '72, a previously unreleased 18-minute live maxi-single. There will also be a download code, so you'll get to listen to all this stuff on your morning commute.
A 36-page book includes Neu! photos from Anton Corbijn and Peter Lindbergh. And rounding out the package: A Neu! T-shirt and a stencil of the Neu! logo.
Win A #Trip To Stereogum Range Life 2010
Echo Chamber: Pavement's Bob Nastanovich
Photo by Marcus Roth
"I don't think I'm capable of getting a girlfriend unless she's a Pavement fan."
-- Pavement percussionist Bob Nastanovich, who happens to be married (sorry, ladies). (via Pitchfork contributor Matthew Perpetua's Fluxtumblr, via Rolling Stone)
Today In ‘Idol’: Crystal Bowersox Has Simon Cowell’s Vote
:: The Top 8 Girls perform on a one-hour Idol tonight. So you have an extra sixty minutes to get off your couch and get some exercise (or spend an extra hour perusing the contestants’ Facebook wall posts). [Buddy TV]
:: Alex Lambert, Lee Dewyze and Andrew Garcia recently posted a YouTube video to thank all their fans, and guess what! It was yanked down by Idol producers who don’t want their precious contestants interacting with the public off the show. Even bigger shock—somebody nabbed the vid and reposted it for our viewing pleasure. (Don’t get too excited though—the vid doesn’t showcase either Casey James or Tim Urban’s abs of steel, so you’re not missing much.) [Idol Chatter]
:: Ryan Seacrest’s stalker pleaded “no contest” to felony stalking and could face up to two years behind bars. So now Ryan only has to worry about all the short jokes made at his expense on The Soup. [TMZ]
:: Simon Cowell might seem like King of the World over here in the States, but the Cowell kingdom has been plagued with misfortune across the pond. [The Daily Beast]
:: Simon was all cute and giggly on The Tonight Show last night, kissing his fiance and endorsing Crystal Bowersox. Watch the big ole meanie blush after the jump.
Ted Leo, "Lazy Sunday" Hit "Fallon"
Say what you want about Jimmy Fallon's sometimes cringe-inducing and sycophantic interviewing style, but the dude's music booker has got the internet (or, at least, this particular web space) going nuts lately. Hot Chip, Beach House, Yeasayer, Neon Indian, Erykah Badu, and Joanna Newsom are some of the names to grace the "Light Night" stage recently. Now we can add Ted Leo and the Pharmacists to that list. Leo played "The Mighty Sparrow" from his great (and just-released) new LP, The Brutalist Bricks, last night, and you can watch it below.
Monday night's show also featured the first ever live version of Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell's YouTube classic "Lazy Sunday", backed by the Roots. That's after the jump, too:
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: "The Mighty Sparrow"
"Lazy Sunday"
Tunng Wants Your Remix in its Contest
London's purveyors of buoyant, electronic-tinged old-timey pop, Tunng, are set to release their fourth album April 6 via Thrill Jockey, entitled ...And Then We Saw Land. Before said album hits digital and physical shelves, the eclectic six-piece wants you to join in on a little contest they've devised along with Drowned in Sound.
Sub Pop Record Store Day Releases Include Anniversary Fest Comp
Record Store Day, your opportunity to cop tons of exclusive music from your local independent retailer, will arrive on April 17 this year. Sub Pop has announced a whole mess of RSD releases. We've already reported that about Beach House's Zebra EP, but that's just the beginning of what the label will offer.
Perhaps the most intriguing of Sub Pop's RSD releases is the live compilation Casual Nostalgia Fest. In 2008, the label celebrated its 20th anniversary with SP20, a festival in Seattle featuring performances from Sub Pop bands past and present. Casual Nostalgia Fest collects 19 songs taped live at the festival, including joints from Iron & Wine, Green River, Low, Flight of the Conchords, the Vaselines, Wolf Parade, and Blitzen Trapper. Proceeds from the CD go to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Check the tracklist below.
For Record Store Day, Sub Pop will also release CocoRosie's "Lemonade" 7", which includes one track from the band's forthcoming Sub Pop debut, as well as a cover of the Beach Boys' "Surfer Girl". The Album Leaf's There Is a Wind 12" features two new songs and two alternate takes of tracks from the band's last album. Dum Dum Girls and Male Bonding contribute one new song each to a split 7". Recent signing Happy Birthday include a couple of non-album tracks on their RSD 7". And the label will also reissue one of it's ancestral releases, Soundgarden's 1987 debut single "Hunted Down" b/w "Nothing to Say", on orange translucent vinyl.
A few Sub Pop bands will also play in-stores on Record Store Day. No Age will be at Miami's Sweat Records, Dum Dum Girls and Male Bonding will play L.A.'s Origami Records, and Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba will be on hand at Austin's Waterloo Records.
Casual Nostalgia Fest:
01 Green River: "Leech"
02 Wolf Parade: "Fine Young Cannibals"
03 The Vaselines: "Dying for It"
04 Obits: "Run"
05 Les Thugs: "Dirty White Race"
06 Eric's Trip: "Smother"
07 Beachwood Sparks: "You Take the Gold"
08 Blitzen Trapper: "Furr"
09 Flight of the Conchords: "Carol Brown"
10 Iron & Wine: "Woman King"
11 Constantines: "Why I Didn't Like August '93"
12 Seaweed "Baggage"
13 Grand Archives: "Dig That Crazy Grave"
14 Low: "Silver Rider"
15 The Helio Sequence: "Lately"
16 Kinski: "The Wives of Artie Shaw"
17 Pissed Jeans: "Caught Licking Leather"
18 Mudhoney: "The Open Mind"
19 Comets on Fire: "Dogwood Rust"
Sia: The Idolator Interview
Sia Furler knows full well that she can come off like an exuberant teenager. “There’s certainly one part that’s never grown up,” the 34-year-old singer declares one chilly day in late February. “There’s like the five-year-old, there’s the adolescent and then there’s the adult—and I’m really embarrassed, because the adolescent is the one I have to watch out for.”
We’ve been watching out for Sia for a long time—though, these days, you can’t really miss her. If you’ve flipped on the television in recent months, you’ve no doubt heard the Australian singer’s ubiquitous 2004 track “Breathe Me” in the Winter Olympics-themed Coca Cola ad, or her cover of The Church’s “Under The Milky Way” in a Lincoln car MKT commercial.
And now Sia—who penned four new tracks for Christina Aguilera’s upcoming album Bionic—has found herself in the midst of a major label bidding war ahead of the release of her own fourth studio LP We Are Born. It’s a record that contains guitar work from a Strokes member and production from The Bird And The Bee mastermind Greg Kurstin. And after the jump, you’ll catch Sia revealing new details about her Christina Aguilera songs, her plans for Coachella weekend, plus her charitable dalliances in the underworld.
I see from your Twitter that you were recently enjoying the snowy hills of Ohio.
SIA: Yeah, it was amazing. You know what Snuggies are? We went to visit my girlfriend’s sister and her kid and her husband, and we went out into the snow. We couldn’t fit in Avery’s—who is two-and-a-half—sled, so we brought a couple of black garbage bags and we made ourselves a “snowgie.” And so we stuck our legs through the bottom of then and used the tie as a halter net. Then we threw ourselves down the hills and it was so awesome! And literally no joke—because my girlfriend’s sister and husband are both lawyers, they were like, “I think we should patent that!” I swear they’ve spoken to their legal department and they’ve patented it.
You seem to possess that special kid-like quality—the one that comes across most beautifully in your “Soon We’ll Be Found” video.
Well, I’m glad you like that one because I’m going to make a new video with the same director, Claire Carre. And she’s really good. I guess she hadn’t done too much before “Soon We’ll Be Found,” but I trusted her because I met with her and she seemed really smart and clever, and her treatment was the most interesting. I just said I wanted to do something with sign language and she really expanded on it.
Tell us about the video you’re doing with Claire Carre now.
With this new song—it’s called “Clap Your Hands”— I was like, “I want to cut some feathers out of self help books and then I want to attach them to a large set of pneumatic wings. And that the end I want to do some Bollywood dancing.” And she expanded on that. There were a bunch of people that pitched for it, but, again, hers was the most interesting expansion.
The track you released a few months back, “You’ve Changed,” was produced by Greg Kurstin. Did you do more songs with him for the new album?
Actually, the whole album is produced by him.
Oh, I didn’t realize! That’s great!
Well, [the label is] being very secretive about everything, which is hilarious. They keep saying, “Don’t tell anybody anything!” And I accidentally tell everybody everything. I’m like, how do you not talk about an album? This is what we’re supposed to be talking about, but we’re not supposed to be talking about it? I don’t get it. But, yeah—Greg produced the whole album. It was my usual band, and then Greg played the piano and Nick Valensi from The Strokes played the guitar. We had scheduled four weeks for it but it took two-and-a-half, so that was awesome. It just came barfing out. Then Greg took it away. Sometimes he would play the piano during the recording, and sometimes he would just pay attention and then he would add the keys later. It’s my favorite album I’ve ever made—obviously every album should feel like that! [Laughs]
That’s a common thing to say. But this time you really mean it.
Thank God. Wouldn’t it suck to be like, “I think my last album was better.”
Or: “Actually, this is the worst album I’ve ever made. But please feel free to talk it up in your post.”
Oh my God.
And how did you arrive upon the album’s title, We Are Born?
That’s just one of the lyrics in a song. There’s a song called “The Fight,” and I wrote it with Dan Carey. It’s my favorite song on the record. [Le Tigre and MEN member] JD [Samson], my girlfriend, and I were sitting at a Chinese restaurant and we were trying to think of a good name for the album. Specifically, my only caveat was that it be a name that I really wouldn’t have to explain, because with the last album I must have explained that album title like 750 times while doing promo! [Laughs] So we decided to just choose a lyric from one of the songs.
Will JD be able to join you on the road for your upcoming We Meaning You tour?
No. I think she’s going to be in Europe on tour, which is kind of a bummer. She’s got her own project, MEN, and she’ll be on tour in Europe for the whole of April. So we’ll just be doing our own thing.
I hope you’ll allow me to slip in a Le Tigre question—any chance of new music from them?
I don’t reckon. I think they’re doing a DVD right now, so you will get that. It’s like a live DVD with lots of unseen footage. It’s like a documentary, I think. And it’s looking really good. But that’s the closest you’re going to get right now.
So the Christina Aguilera songs you wrote—for the record, how many will there be?
There are four of them. I think they’re called “I Am”—I called it “Lullaby” but she’s given it another name. But I think it’s called, um—[she starts singing]—oh, “All I Need”! And it’s “All I Need,” “You Lost Me,” “I Am” and something like “Stronger.” But I don’t think she called it “Stronger” in the end. That’s just what we called it. We just call it something while it’s in the working process and then she gives it it’s name. There are some where it totally lends itself to its name and there are others where it’s just like, “No, we had a song called ‘Fighter’ so we don’t want a song called ‘Stronger.’” But they’re all on there. She’s pretty awesome. It was pretty crazy when she sang at me for the first time.
Were there any songs you two recorded that didn’t make it on the album?
No, just those four songs. Then we did another one for her movie with Cher. So it’s been a really good collaboration, actually. We really got along great. We didn’t bin anything, which was good.
So, your album was originally set to come out in April.
That’s the thing. I’m about to sign a big record deal, so there’s been a bidding war and now they’re just finalizing the paperwork. I really think we need to put the record out before the tour. It would bum me out if people couldn’t hear it before the tour. I need to call my manger! [Note: Sia tweeted after this interview that the album has now been pushed to a June 8 release date.]
Are you all ready to perform at Coachella this year?
Yeah. I’ve performed there once with Zero 7 and once with myself. I do like it. I mean, it’s a bit of a scene but it’s fine. I plan to live on the bus on this trip because I’m taking my dogs and I don’t really like hotels. I’m a creature of comfort and habit and I like to be in one place for the whole time. The things I really dislike about touring is leaving my dogs and just all the changing of your environment. I’m just trying different things to make me want to keep doing this job. Basically we’re going to park the tour bus at the hotel and they have people who will takes us to the shows. So, yeah, we’re going to be there for the whole three days, actually.
You’re involved with Crafts For A Cause, which is raising money for Haiti earthquake relief efforts. I understand it’s been tricky to obtain pain medication to send to the victims.
We tried all the legitimate ways. But there were a lot of people trying to do the same thing at the same time. And all of these charities that have their paperwork in line were obviously at the head of the queue. And so we bought drugs off the black market and we sent them over there on a chartered airplane, and [our friend who went to Haiti] had them in two days. All the money that we collected we spent on pain medication. And when they sent us a video of the children who received the pain medication—whose limbs had been dislocated from having cement fall on them—they sent a video of them saying thank you, and it was really amazing. It just made us want to do more from here. So we asked all our famous friends to start making stuff for this website Crafts For A Cause. And then we’ll hold an auction and all the money will go to Artists For Peace And Justice. And then they will forward the money to relief efforts in Haiti. It was a very stressful time knowing that was happening, and that people were experiencing a lot of pain—but the Red Cross couldn’t get to them fast enough. And, you know, going full renegade—I don’t do drugs so I don’t know any drug dealers. It was really awkward. I had to ask one of my friends who’s in recovery if she still had her connection’s phone number. I shook all day long. I’ve never done a drug deal. And then some random, sweet-looking girl comes over and brings you a tiny amount of drugs for like $5,000—and you think, what the fuck is going on here? And then you realize that the system is even more fucked, and that people without health insurance have to resort to this bullshit. What’s even more insane is that the drug dealers donated $800 worth of drugs.
That’s truly a crazy story. So let’s uh, segue to the song “Never So Big” you contributed vocals to on the upcoming David Byrne and Fatboy Slim album Here Lies Love.
I haven’t even heard it! David played me some of the other stuff when I went in to do my vocals and I was seriously blown away. The Santigold track is so amazing. And the Roisin Murphy track is so amazing. I guess maybe [Fatboy Slim] made the beats. I seriously didn’t realize he was involved at all. It was like David just emailed me and asked me if I wanted to sing on a track. I was like, um, hi—you’re David Byrne. Yes, yes, yes. The answer is always yes!
