This track from their new album, Observator, is pretty mind-blowing. They seem to have replaced black-and-white B-movie noir for witchy post-hippie Hotel California noir. It’s only fitting that it was recorded at L.A.’s Sunset Sound, where The Rolling Stones mixed Let It Bleed given that this song has all the satanic majesty of “Gimme Shelter.” It makes the ghost of electricity howl in the bones of your face. You have been warned. We have a pair of tickets to see The Raveonettes @UnionTransfer tomorrow night to give away to the 20th reader to sign up for our mailing list. […]
SIDEWALKING: Under The Bridge
Ben Franklin Bridge, 11:46 AM, today by JONATHAN VALANIA RELATED: Aleister Crowley (/?kro?li/ KROH-lee; 12 October 1875–1 December 1947), born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast 666, was an English occultist, mystic, ceremonial magician, poet and mountaineer, who was responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. In his role as the founder of the Thelemite philosophy, he came to see himself as the prophet who was entrusted with informing humanity that it was entering the new Aeon of Horus in the early 20th century. Born into a wealthy upper-class family, as […]
‘Nate Silver Is The Kurt Cobain Of Statistics’
Artwork by JUAN OSBORNE BOSTON GLOBE: Nate Silver is the Kurt Cobain of statistics. Wait, bear with me! On Election Night 2008, Nate Silver went from just another political prognosticator – albeit one whose blog, Fivethirtyeight, was drawing million of page views a week – to a rock star. Many other analysts had, like Silver, predicted a big win for Obama; but Silver’s data-driven system had correctly called every state but Indiana, and had gotten all the Senate races right to boot. Taking the analogy further–both Cobain and Silver were devoted to cultural practices that had previously been confined to […]
RAWK TAWK: Q&A With Polica
Photograph by NIKKI BENSON BY MEREDITH KLEIBER Polica is one of those bands that defies categorization. Their freshman album, Give You the Ghost, falls stylistically somewhere between the synthesizer-driven music of their contemporary, Yeasayer, and the seminal trip-hop of Portishead. The live band includes two drummers and a bass player, which showcase frontwoman Channy Leaneagh’s haunting effects-driven vocals over a minimalistic drum-and-bass backing. The project began as a collaboration between producer Ryan Olson and Leaneagh, who met while working as part of the alternative supergroup Gayngs (which included Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Dessa and P.O.S. of Doomtree, among […]
TOO BIG, TOO FAIL: Senate Report Blasts The Monumental Waste & Ineptitude Of Homeland Security’s Nationwide Network Of Domestic Spying Outposts
Artwork by SHEPHERD FAIREY WASHINGTON POST: An initiative aimed at improving intelligence sharing has done little to make the country more secure, despite as much as $1.4 billion in federal spending, according to a two-year examination by Senate investigators. The nationwide network of offices known as “fusion centers” was launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to address concerns that local, state and federal authorities were not sharing information effectively about potential terrorist threats. But after nine years — and regular praise from officials at the Department of Homeland Security — the 77 fusion centers have become pools of ineptitude, […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See Animal Collective
Artwork by BALDERDASH Because we love, you we have a pair of tickets to see Animal Collective tomorrow night at The Mann to give away to the 20th lucky Phawker reader to sign up for our mailing list. The sign up window is just to the right of this post at the bottom of the masthead. (Don’t worry, we will never share or sell your email address, unless you do something really bad on national television and the cops make us eat saltines under hot lights until we crack, because, we must admit, we would not hold up long under […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR For Paul Thomas Anderson, moviemaking is not just an art; it’s also about time management. “At its best, a film set is when everybody knows what’s going on and everybody’s working together,” he tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. “At its worst, [it’s] when something’s been lost in communication and an actor’s not sure how many shots are left or what’s going on, and the makeup department’s confused.” Anderson wrote and directed the new film The Master, which stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a cult leader and Joaquin Phoenix as a troubled World War II veteran who makes his […]
JUDGE: On Second Thought, Maybe Ramming Through A Voter I.D. Law Just Months Before A Presidential Election Is NOT Good For Democracy
NBC NEWS: A Pennsylvania judge has blocked enforcement of the key section of a voter identification law which the state legislature enacted and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signed last March, meaning that the law will not be in effect for the Nov. 6 election. Judge Robert Simpson said that even with the streamlined procedures that state officials proposed to make it easier for voters without ID cards to obtain them, “the proposed changes are to occur about five weeks before the general election, and I question whether sufficient time now remains to attain the goal of liberal access” to ID […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Alabama Shakes
Alabama Shakes exploded onto the music scene in 2011 with the release their first single “Hold On” and followed up the single with their highly anticipated debut album, Boys and Girls. Last night at the Electric Factory, the Shakes delivered everything the album promised and more. Launching into their set with “Party” and “Hang Loose,” they had the audience hooked from the get-go. Frontwoman Brittany Howard shifted effortlessly from a shy croon to a bombastic crescendo that made the hairs on the back of your neck sit up and take notice. Setting down her guitar for “Be Mine,” she stomped […]
EARLY WORD: There Will Be Blood
Alpha Beta house is the oldest and most elite sorority in the world. Some of the most influential politicians, celebrities and scientists are Alpha Girl alumnae. After performing long hidden rituals, some of the sisters suspect that their good fortune is tainted by demonic evil. They quickly realize firsthand that the consequences of their curiosity are much more gruesome than any of them could have possibly imagined. Welcome to Alpha Girls, the new horror movie written and directed by Tony Trov & director Johnny Zito, a pair of South Philly natives who still live in the neighborhood they grew up […]
Win Tix To See Godspeed You Black Emperor!
MXDWN: Sunday night’s headliners, Canadian ensemble Godspeed You! Black Emperor, pretty much have ATP to thank for renewed interest in their work, and their own interest in making new work. GY!BE were dormant until they played and curated ATP’s Nightmare Before Christmas in 2010; full tours and studio rumors blossomed afterwards. It’s easy to plant the post-rock label on them, but GY!BE aren’t just about the jam. Twenty minutes of music at a time aren’t jams, they’re damn near statements. Lit by their signature projection loops and surrounded by an ocean of amps, pedals, picks and other sound modifiers, they […]
Cop Supervisor Brings Knuckle Sandwich To Squirt Gun Fight: Punches Unarmed Woman In The Face Then Sucker Punches Her When She’s Down
PHILLY CONFIDENTIAL: A Philadelphia police supervisor hit a Puerto Rican Day reveler twice in the head so hard yesterday that the blows sent the woman to the ground and then she was charged in the incident, according to police and a video posted on YouTube Sunday. When the video begins, it appears several revelers are spraying water on the street and on the police officers. It is unclear if the woman is one of them, but she does have what appears to be a water bottle in her hand. A police supervisor in a white shirt seems to zero in […]
TSA Hired Father McTouchyFeely For Patdowns
INQUIRER: About four months after being defrocked by the Diocese of Camden in 2002, Thomas Harkins had a new job as a security officer, including patting down passengers, with the Transportation Security Administration at Philadelphia International Airport. The TSA hired the former priest before completing a background check, the agency recently confirmed. According to a church document, the diocese revealed to the TSA in 2003 as part of the background check that Harkins had been removed from ministry because of allegations he had molested two grade-school girls. Harkins was never criminally prosecuted, but the diocese settled civil lawsuits for $195,000. […]