Brave New Decade

While it blows my mind that the first decade of the twenty-first century has already gone by, it is even more mind-bending how much more adept we become at adapting our surroundings to our aesthetic tastes (needs)? By which I mean that in an age of escapism through the filtering and sensationalizing of our reality, we start to demand more of art: it needs to be clever, the right mix of tongue-in-cheek irony and bold defiance to the bullshit coming in at us from all angles. It's been said before, and I will here say it again: anyone still thinking there is no Good new music coming out nowadays is sadly mistaken. Here is a list of awesome things recently brought to my attention that hopefully bring you as much comfort as it does me:

1. This band Witchcraft, from Sweden and around since 2000, who played at the Rock and Roll Hotel in 2006 but haven't had a new album since Alchemist came out in 2007. Incomparably badass and beautiful, the pillars of our great Valhalla!

2. This website DC Shows Dot Net where you can research upcoming local punk and hardcore shows. Definitely would have come in handy when I was a bored high schooler in the area, once upon a time...

3. A video of Phoenix playing a live, acoustic and seemingly impromptu version of "1901" on the streets of Paris...thanks to Tori for showing this to me at work!

Phoenix - 1901 - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

4. A very predatory Tiger graced the cover of Vanity Fair this month, suggesting suggestively that perhaps we were wrong, and golf is sexy after all.

...or maybe it's just jacked on cash and rep. (Rep!!!)

5. I broke down and bought an exquisite, oh-so-Edie-Sedgwick faux-fur coat at H&M for an impossible sale price I couldn't turn down, and apparently it makes the owner equally hard to miss...though, "better to be looked over than to be overlooked!" (Mae West). Photos to follow.

6. Other awesome and recent things include Paste Magazine, Kate Hudson, and Lady Gaga for making videos good for putting on mute.