Duck & Cover :: Indie rock music writing from Arcade Fire to the Zygotic Minci

It's Christmas time all over the world, and even here at Duck and Cover Headquarters... Even though Jamie is enjoying a gorgeous summer in the Southern Hemisphere while Dakin is oppressed by cloud cover in the Northwest (though soon to be supplanted by the biting cold and irksome provincialism of the American Midwest). To celebrate this glorious time of year, and the birth of the little baby jesus (as well as to good naturedly poke fun at our Jewish reader(s) [Hi, Katie!]), we present to you the first ever D&C holiday mix! Well, first ever, because this is Duck and Cover's first Christmas (collective "aaaah!"). We hope to have many more, and we shall, unless of course, Dakin and Jamie cannot get along, which, truth be told, is always a very distinct possibility. However, if we do end up doing several more holiday mixes, wtf will we play? I mean, we're kinda blowing our load here, so we hope that you appreciate it. Also, shame on Seeqpod for having NO versions...

...just...whoah... this isn't typically our schtick, but...whoah. (Please also note the bunnies holding/comforting each other... eeeeeew.) source: http://www.lvrj.com/columnists/normclarke ('cuz i'm all lazy with da html.)

Britain's Liberal Democrat party just hired Brian Eno as its youth advisor. The attempt, according to The Guardian , is to "engage more young people in politics." While well-intentioned, it may serve to engage more musos than youths. Roxy Music was going in the 70s, Eno was making (arguably) his best stuff then and in the 80s. And while it's true he's worked production for the likes of U2 and Coldplay, how many British "youths" read the liner notes? Altogether, however, it looks like a genuine attempt to bridge the age gap in politics. Yet Britain isn't the only country hearing the music. Bringing musicians into mainstream government is all the fad: Australia's new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has decided to try to answer the question, How can we dance while our beds are buring?" Answer: we don't dance on our beds. Duh. So way to jump on the big ship, Brian. Good luck, and all the best.

My first exposure to The B-52s was Love Shack, so for years I wrote them off as a one-hit blunder. That was until I heard their early, self-titled album. Rock Lobster became an instant favorite. Maybe I wrote them off too early, I thought. So when I stumbled upon this collection of B-52s videos from a gig in 1978, I was only further convinced that, once upon a time, The B-52s were very fucking cool. Unfortunately, embedding has been disabled on this one, so you just have to jump over to see it. Jump!

Some of you have written to say the mix tape (the playlist on the left. No, the left. Yeah, that one) isn't working properly. It seems that if you double click on a track, it won't play. However, if you click on a track and press "play," it will work fine. I've written to SeeqPod to see if they can fix this. In the mean time, sorry for being so analog. Enjoy!

Dem come turn-us to suffer head to Every once in awhile you come across an artist you wish you had found years ago. Fela Anikulapo Kuti is one of those artists. If only I had been more receptive to Nigerian jazz funk back in the early 70s . . . when I was embryonic. Oh, well. Lesson learned. Lucky for me, Fela was one prolific mutha. So there is plenty of choice. From his first recorded album in 1970, he continued making music right up until his death in 1992 to rack up a total of 40 unique albums--that is, not including EP singles or best-of collections. I'm sure awareness of his early work is necessary to fully understand his style, but I've only listened to Original Sufferhead, produced in 1981. So keep this in mind while you read the following prescription. My exposure to Fela is limited to four tracks. Here are a few scenarios which would benefit from a dose of Fela: You have invited a group of friends or colleagues to your home. On your table you have an eclectic spread i...

Lightly though you drop, you are still falling This particular mix tape, compiled by yours truly, is a bit like being lowered into a mine shaft. From the upbeat pacings of Foals and The Constantines, you slowly descend into Lighting Dust, Yo La Tengo's darker side, and Cat Power's bleak meander through the rigor of surviving winter. However, please don't quit after The Colors and the Kids --see it through. I would never let you fall so far you couldn't return. You will find redemption in the form of Architecture in Helsinki and Neutral Milk Hotel's Ghost . That, I promise. Mix tape on the left, as always

Oh, the sun is shining! Birds are chirp chirping! And Okkervil river is giving away free mp3s! Oh, happy day, happy day! The Golden Opportunities Mixtape is a collection of cover songs the band has performed live over the past few months. They cover such greats as Serge Gainsbourg, John Cale, and Joni Mitchell. Speaking of Joni Mitchell, if you're hanging around Dakin's house, happen to be on his computer, and see a folder titled "Joni Mitchell," don't open it. Because what's inside has nothing to do with Joni Mitchell. It's full of . . . something else entirely. The Okkervil River tracks, on the other hand, are full of excellent music. You can download them from the Okkervil River website here , or in .zip form here (zip file courtesy of Pitchfork)

'Ol Mr. Cent has some wise words While not one of the favorites here at Duck & Cover, 50 Cent has some poignant words on file sharing and the recording industry. In short, P2P file sharing is not the devil, and the major labels of the RIAA need to suck it up and adapt. Personally, I've always thought the term "illegal" in reference to downloading music was ridiculous. Or should I say wack. And now I got fiddy to back me up. Don't front, kid. From TorrentFreak: “What is important for the music industry to understand is that this really doesn’t hurt the artists.” Thats quite a statement. Organizations like the RIAA are always talking about how the artists get hurt by file-sharing but 50 Cent clearly doesn’t agree. In fact, he appears to appreciate the value of a good fan, whether he buys or file-shares his music, as he explains: “A young fan may be just as devout and dedicated no matter if he bought it or stole it.” The rest of fiddy's wise words after the b...

Enjoy the latest Duck & Cover mix take, a generous helping of uber cool tunes arranged in a most pleasing manner. Tell your friends! And if you don't have friends, tell that guy behind you! He looks nice. Maybe you two should go out for a coffee. There's a great place down on 13th street. You two could discuss how well the Duck & Cover mix tape transitioned from The Black Heart Procession to Man Man. Look to the left for the latest playlist. It's the one with all the buttons.

Nothing is good if other people like it. Oh, how true. How very true. Remember when They Might Be Giants were awesome? Then suddenly they were on Tiny Toons and everyone knew the words to Particle Man. And Remember when you saw The Shins at that basement VFW in Norman, Oklahoma? And there were 25 people there? Yeah, before the McDonald's ad. Actually, remember when all the bands you liked were cool? Before everybody else found out about them. Because once other people have heard of your bands, they're suddenly not as cool as they were. And now you have to fill your playlists with music so ungodly awful that it makes people in vegetated states actually come out of their coma to pull the plug on themselves. I mean come on--there's only so much free form jazz the human psyche can handle. If you feel this way, then you are probably 22, male, and suffer from low self esteem . . . did I mention that we identify with this t-shirt? All except for the 22 part--but we were there once...

Music in a format worth paying for We at D&C love our free music. In fact, we don't even care where it comes from: KEXP , SeeqPod , imeem , that girl the sushi bar who looks like Satomi from Deerhoof; Blanket Man . You know, where ever. But every once in awhile, we have to part with our hard earned blogging cash (which is nonexistent, so it becomes our hard-earned blackmail cash) on music in a non-digital format. When we do, we like to make it count. So when Pitchfork announced that Constantines were going to release their first limited edition 7" we collected all our incriminating pictures of Prince and hit the black market. Hopefully, by 15 January when the single is out, we'll have enough cheese to buy the vinyl. And if we don't have the money, then maybe we'll just keep the pics of Prince oiling his beer belly . . . considering all offers, kids.