I’ve been listening to “One Mic” by Nas on repeat for a while now. I’m amazed by the song – I certainly didn’t expect anything off of the new Nas record to be any good, much less as powerful as this. Like most everyone else, I’d counted him out; and was maybe a bit overeager to let Jay-Z’s assessment in “Takeover” be etched in stone.

Anyway, the song burns with this slow, quiet intensity, with a few bursts of drama as the narrative takes off… Nas never sounds angry in these parts of the song – he sounds strident. He sounds passionate, realistically so. If he’s faking it, then he’s a fabulous and understated actor. The music feels so perfect, so wee-hours-quiet, the dog and sirens sound effects aren’t cheesy, they work just right. It’s a very early 90’s east coast sound – and obviously, along with the Wu and Biggie, Nas defined that sound. I imagine some people could see him as reverting to formula, but I think it’s more like an artist recognizing his own strengths.

This song is probably the most subtle single I’ve heard on the radio or seen on MTV in ages.

For all the NXM geeks: Frank Quitely.com is up and running.

I’ve been watching a lot of music videos on Sputnik7 lately, there’s a number of good videos in their archives. I was immediately drawn to the Clinic video for “Distortions” – I’m very impressed by how it is made out of electronically distorted images, is mostly abstract, but does reflect some of the lyrics quite literally. Very nice. They also have “Walking With Thee” and “The Second Line”, both of which I’d already seen.

Other videos of note include Yo La Tengo‘s classic clips for “From A Hotel 6” and the hilarious “Sugar Cube” video featuring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, the incredibly cute video for “You’re No Rock N Roll Fun” by Sleater-Kinney, the Michel Gondry-directed video for “Fell In Love With A Girl” by The White Stripes, and the new video for “Cocoon” by Bjork.

Also, they’ve got “Spit On A Stranger”, “Cut Yr Hair”, and “Shady Lane” by the Pavemen. Too bad they don’t have “Carrot Rope” or “Gold Soundz”, though…

Langley Schools/outsider music, The Breeders, Mingus, The Jerry Springer Opera and fucking Moby are in this week’s New York Times Magazine.

I guess tonight’s SNL was okay… It seemed more “live” than usual, mostly due to Sir Ian McKellen radiating an enthusiasm that doesn’t show in many other hosts. He was obviously quite excited about Kylie Minogue – even sitting on the side of the stage and bopping around during “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”.

McKellen also intentionally put his homosexuality on spotlight in references throughout the show, which was nice, but I suspect he might have also been trying to let the American audience know that he was gay at all. I honestly wasn’t aware of that fact, and I suspect most of the country wasn’t either…

The best bit – during Weekend Update, McKellen did an impression of Dame Maggie Smith. At the end of that portion of the sketch, he kissed Jimmy Fallon full on the lips. Pausing for a moment after the kiss, Jimmy smirks, and boyishly exclaims “Maggie Smith should shave!” Another pause, and…”Does this mean I’ve just been knighted? Or have I been queened? (giggles)”. Jimmy Fallon is adorable. He just makes you want to pinch his cheeks and muss up his hair…

Also –

Frank Quitely : New X-Men as Will Ferrell : current season of SNL

Yo La Tengo’s WFMU call-in covers set just ended – it’s been really fun. A partial list of what they played – nearly everything is in here, save for the handful that I didn’t know, and didn’t catch the titles…

The Kinks “Johnny Thunder”

ESG “You’re No Good”

Patti Smith “Dancing Barefoot”

The Ramones “Rockaway Beach”

T-Rex “20th Century Boy”

w/ DJ Hova – Rod Stewart “Do You Think I’m Sexy?”

Three Dog Night “Old Fashioned Love Song”

The Monkees “Pleasant Valley Sunday”

The Stooges “Search and Destroy”

“Meet The Mets”

The Rutles “Cheese and Onions”

Tiffany “I Think We’re Alone Now”

w/ a little girl on vocals on the telephone – The Ramones “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You”

Big Star “September Gurls”

Prince “When Doves Cry”

Four Tops “Build Me Up Buttercup” (excellent!)

Bacchmann Turner Overdrive “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” (also excellent!)

Cheap Trick “I Want You To Want Me”

a big medley including a big chunk of Sonic Youth “Schizophrenia”

If I had the enough spare cash to offer up the $60 it would take to get YLT to play a song for me, I think I would choose one of these four songs – I’d probably just pick my choice out of a hat :

Pavement “Rattled By La Rush”

Jandek “European Jewel (Incomplete)”

Destiny’s Child “Bootylicious”

Michael Jackson “Man In The Mirror”

There’s always next year…

A review of Peter Milligan and Michael Allred’s X-Force is in today’s New York Times…

The heroes, as drawn by Mike Allred and inked by Laura Allred in bright, primary colors, are stiffly posed with few facial expressions (frowning anger, teary woundedness) — a parody of bad comic-book art whose ugliness becomes astute when combined with Milligan’s merciless view of humanity.

Yikes! I wonder how much his opinion of the art would change if the writer knew that the art was not meant to be a parody…

Nevertheless, it’s a very positive review, and will likely expose the comic to a lot of people who may really enjoy it and might not have otherwise know about it.

“Just because yr portly and balding and tend to offend people, that doesn’t mean you have to sit around at home every night. Get out there, meet some drunks!”

A new Jim Treacher comic is online…

Preview pages from New X-Men #124 are online. “What is this world of liars?!?” Classic! I want that slogan on a t-shirt…

I’ve been waiting, ant-ic-ip-ating for a Pavement bootleg mix, and I finally get it in the form of “Fateful Pavement” by Dsico. It’s “Silent Kid” with the vocals from “Bills, Bills, Bills” by Destiny’s Child – it almost works. The audio mix is a bit off, the vocals need to be higher in the mix. There’s a few sloppy transitions, and the ending is a bit rough; but the melody suits the riffs really well, even though it would be a lot better if they were sung live, a bit modified to match up more precisely. I’m happy – Beyonce harmonizing with SM!

The part with the lyric “you trifling, good for nothing type of brother/ oh silly me, why haven’t I found another/ a baller” is just fucking magical, I think…

On one hand, this site about defaced Britney Spears posters in the NYC subway system is really fabulous. On the other, I’m disappointed that the one that I contributed to (it was on the F line at 14th St) isn’t represented/immortalized. I wrote something to the effect of “Did you know that her body is made of a space-age super-resin?” on her breasts. Sigh. Oh well.

Russell has an excellent write-up about the first Alien film on his blog. My favorite part:

It’s harmonious, really, in a way that few mainstream films are now; no standout shots, no ridiculous music, nothing that has any aim but to immerse the viewer in that ship. I watched the new Star Wars trailer the morning before I saw Alien and the utter insignificance of Lucas’ current output aside, the contrast between the two is striking. Why spend eighty million dollars on crap digital sets, leaving your actors (good actors, some of them) in the lurch and you with a bagful of uninspired performaces when you could spend a little more and build sets like those in Alien, where your actors couldn’t help but act? If any of the cast of Alien ever forgot what they were supposed to be doing, all they have to do is look, and it’s right there. Sad. Think of all the craftsmen that built sets for Scott that are getting less and less work now. On the Titus DVD, there’s a behind-the-scenes bit where Julie Taymor talks about all the old Italian craftsmen who worked on her film, and the fact that no one is interested in learning those crafts anymore. These guys are masters – incredible artists, and they can’t get new apprentices because people like Lucas are hiring computer monkeys. Look at the sets in the new Star Wars films and look at those in Titus. There’s not an inch of goddamned comparison. It makes me so sad to think about it – doesn’t anyone ever fucking learn? When those crafts are gone, they are GONE. Knowledge dies, and when it does it goes quietly, right out the back door so softly that you never sense it. The ability to produce sets like those in Alien is a craft that’s dying; creating perfect little worlds out of wood and metal and plaster will be impossible at some point, and I just can’t believe that no one seems to notice.

Yo La Tengo will be performing their annual call-in covers show on WFMU tomorrow.

The annual Yo La Tengo covers-fest happens on Saturday, March 16th from 5-7pm, with Hova and Gaylord Fields. Once again, Ira, Georgia, James and their pal Bruce support the freeform radio cause by playing live on WFMU’s airwaves. Pledgers get to call in and put in their request for any cover song at all! Listen, pledge, view it on the webcam! (Not necessarilly in that order…)

Ooooh! A new Spoon LP is forthcoming. Sweet!

This bootleg mix of “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” is wonderful. You really should listen to it.

As seen last night on Conan O’Brien: Inspirational Jesus sports statues. And more are coming soon.

Anyone who wants to get me a gift should forget about the wishlist, and consider buying me the Jesus basketball statue instead.

Ladies and gentlemen – the all-new, all-different Boom Selection…

Watching The Osbournes, I feel a bit like how I imagine beings in distant galaxies might while watching the television signals we’ve been sending them all these years…

“…but Kelly, she shits aliens!”

More news courtesy of Pitchfork: Unwound is breaking up.

S+E Tenth Anniversary Edition news!

Plus, a dodgy interview with Spiral Stairs:

Pitchfork: Tell us about the 10th anniversary edition of Slanted And Enchanted.

1. When the interviewer compliments Spiral for his band’s ‘tightness’ while at the same time dissing The Jicks, he is just trying to impress him and get on his good side. I love you, Spiral, but yr band isn’t nearly as tight as The Jicks. At least not when I saw the Preston School live…

2. I can’t stand indie journalists who insist on calling Spiral “Scott Kannberg”. It’s totally unfair – I’ve never seen an interview with any given MC in which they are consistently referred to as “Clifford Smith” or something, this never happens to Bono and The Edge, on and on… Spiral Stairs is the only person I can think of that this happens to. He has the coolest name in rock and roll. Why people can’t just respect this is beyond me.