The 25 Best Singles of 2012 (15-11)

15. Deadmau5 f/Gerard Way -- Professional Griefers

This was the year that electronic dance music finally achieved its true potential in the states and came to dominate pop music and pop culture, with its stars transcending cult status to become musical icons. Yeah, Joel Zimmerman -- AKA Deadmau5 -- was huge before, but with the first single from his 2012 release, Album Title Goes Here, he struck with the authoritative might of somebody who knew he was on top of the world.



14. The xx -- Angels

It seemed impossible to pare down their late-night, post-coital sound any further, but the kids from the xx did just that, and turned out one of the simplest and most beautiful love songs of this or any other year.



13. fun. -- Some Nights

They were everywhere in 2012 -- and with good reason. This song was just impossible to resist.



12. Japandroids -- The House That Heaven Built

Their album was called Celebration Rock and never has there been a more fitting title. In 2012, this Canadian duo brought the joyous thunder back to alt rock.



11. The Gaslight Anthem -- National Anthem

Simple and stunning, word has it this song was written in less than a half-hour, which would prove that it came right from the place it sounds like: the heart. Melancholy permeates every note and the end result is something as wondrous as it is emotionally devastating.

Tomorrow: 10-6

Listening Post

As of right now this video has only 301 views. By this time tomorrow it'll likely have a million.

Here's the brand new video for the brand new single from Deadmau5, which features him and My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way facing off in a robot cage match in what's being called the most expensive dance music video ever made.

It's the premiere of Professional Griefers.

Listening Post

I'm not sure Deadmau5 actually has any spare time, because when he's not recording new material, being paid to remix other people's stuff, or getting into Twitter feuds with aging, irrelevant pop stars, he's creating remixes to throw out into the ether just for the hell of it.

Like this: a very cool and menacing reimagining of Nine Inch Nails's Survivalism.

Listening Post

I get the feeling that this will be one of those songs that's never be more than a click or two away on my iPod all summer long.

It's new Deadmau5, with Chris James.

This is The Veldt.

The Lying Game (Complete)

The Full Text of Yesterday's Piece at the Daily Banter

I’m always amazed at just how stupid and gullible the rarefied within our culture think the rest of us are. I’m talking specifically about those we’ve inexplicably elevated to the rank of “celebrity” -- although the definition could easily be broadened to include a good portion of the so-called 1%.

I know there are more important and personally detrimental examples of somebody standing far more than an arm’s reach away from the masses and lying to their collective face, expecting nobody to notice, but believe it or not I haven’t seen one as egregious in quite a while as the case of, well, Madonna-gate. Yeah, I know it’s kind of trifling in the big picture, but bear with me.

Over the weekend, Madonna made a “surprise appearance” at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami. For the uninitiated, Ultra is America’s largest showcase of electronic dance music, a three-day party featuring some of the best DJs and electronic acts in the world. And always eager for any opportunity to wrap her Crypt Keeping hands firmly around the brass ring of cultural relevance, Madonna was there -- because nothing excites a crowd of late teens and 20-somethings like the sight of a perimenopausal woman in fishnets pandering to its tastes. To wit, during her introduction of Swedish DJ Aviici just before his close-out set on Saturday night, Madonna shouted to the audience, “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?” Again for the unfamiliar, “Molly” is street slang for MDMA, or ecstasy. Translation: Madonna asked how many people were on drugs.

Granted the audience reaction was, shall we say, positive. But not everyone appreciated Madonna’s hackneyed attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator among the dance music fan base through a staggeringly obvious applause line -- among them, one of electronic’s biggest stars. Not long after the appearance, Deadmau5 — AKA Canadian DJ Joel Zimmerman -- took to Facebook to write: “That’s your big contribution to EDM? Thats your big message to ultra attendies? hipsterspeak for looking for drugs? fuck off you fucking IDIOT.” He followed it up with, “very classy there madonna. ‘HUR DUR HAS ANYONE SEEN MOLLY???’ such a great message for the young music lovers at ultra. quite the f’n philanthropist. but hey, at least yer HIP AND TRENDY! fucking cant smack my head hard enough right now,” as well as a few choice tweets aimed in Madonna’s direction. Mau5′s main contention throughout his social media fusillade was that the electronic dance scene had seen enough casualties from drugs and, while there’s no denying that they remain a major part of the lifestyle for many, it was irresponsible for Madonna to indirectly promote the use of them -- particularly not in a somewhat pathetic attempt to endear herself to “the kids” at a time when she’s also promoting an album.

But here’s where things get interesting. Rather than simply taking her online beating like a very grown woman and ignoring Deadmau5′s insults, Madonna, attuned to any attempt to generate publicity for herself, responded via Twitter -- posting a quarter-century-old picture of herself in mouse ears with a thought bubble over her head that read, “From one mouse to another, I don’t support drug use and never have. I was referring to the song called ‘Have You Seen Molly’ written by my friend Cedric Gervais who I almost worked with on my album.”

See? She wasn’t asking people if they were doing ecstasy. She was referring to a friend’s as-yet-unreleased song.

Well, that settles that then.

Except that it doesn’t -- because of course Madonna is lying her ass off. What’s more, she’s doing it with the expectation either that everyone will believe her or that no one will bother questioning it because we’ve all become so to used to being lied to from on-high like we we’re fucking idiots anyway. To recap, Madonna, whose new album -- the one she was presumably going to be working with Cedric Gervais on -- is called MDNA, again an obvious reference to MDMA, but she wasn’t talking about drugs and doesn’t support drug use. Actually, on that last point she’s probably right -- I don’t think Madonna supports the use of ecstasy so much as has no problem exploiting the youth culture’s fascination with it in an attempt to sell records; doing ecstasy would probably kill a 53-year-old. Throw into the mix -- if you’ll pardon the DJ metaphor — the fact that Cedric Gervais is stepping up to defend his friend Madge by claiming that, indeed, his song Have You Seen Molly? isn’t about drugs but is about a girl named Molly who “makes me want to dance” and you’ve got an almost astonishing amount of bullshit coming from one general direction -- and a more-than-insulting expectation that no one will bother to call it out.

Earlier this week, Lindsay Lohan once again claimed she was an unfairly put-upon, angelic homebody and was merely escaping paparazzi when she hit a guy with her car -- even though surveillance cameras showed no paparazzi anywhere near where the collision happened. Years ago, Bill Clinton looked America in the face and said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Mitt Romney does it in TV ads. Jon Kyl famously did it when talking about Planned Parenthood. In the immortal words of TV’s Dr. House -- everybody lies.

And we simply take it. Because we’ve apparently been trained to. Because these people think we’re too stupid to notice or too lazy to care.

Although I suppose an argument can be made that we made someone like Madonna a star. We gave her the authority to bullshit us. Maybe when you’re capable of that, you get what you deserve.

The Lying Game

As promised yesterday, my latest piece for the Daily Banter is now up. The subject: the amusing online attack on Madonna by Deadmau5, and Madonna's entirely predictable response to it.

Here's the opening salvo:

"I’m always amazed at just how stupid and gullible the rarefied within our culture think the rest of us are. I’m talking specifically about those we’ve inexplicably elevated to the rank of 'celebrity' -- although the definition could easily be broadened to include a good portion of the so-called 1%.

I know there are more important and personally detrimental examples of somebody standing far more than an arm’s reach away from the masses and lying to their collective face, expecting nobody to notice, but believe it or not I haven’t seen one as egregious in quite a while as the case of, well, Madonna-gate. Yeah, I know it’s kind of trifling in the big picture, but bear with me..."

Read the Rest at the Daily Banter

Listening Post: Bonus Mau5-Track Edition

One of these days Deadmau5 is going to do a full movie soundtrack and I'm gonna be a very happy lad. Here now, two atmospheric tracks from Joel Zimmerman. One is an instrumental cover of Radiohead's Codex, the other is a quickie piece of music that he's often used as an intro for other songs live -- Get in the Cart, Pig.

Listening Post

More from this past weekend's Ultra music festival in Miami. From one of Saturday night's headliners -- the great Deadmau5 -- here's Ghosts n' Stuff.

Note, by the way, how much fist-pumping has caught on as a dancefloor thing.

Listening Post: The 20 Best Singles of 2009 (8 & 7)

8. Deadmau5 and Kaskade -- I Remember

There are scant few DJs who can make the transition from the clubs to the singles charts: BT, Paul Oakenfold, DJ Shadow, the Crystal Method -- only a handful seem to know how to turn skills at the turntables into an ability to put together great songs of their own. In late 2008, Canadian DJ Deadmau5 (AKA Joel Zimmerman) teamed with Chicago-based American DJ Kaskade (AKA Ryan Raddon) and created one of those boundary-smashing singles that reminds even listeners who've never been into the rave/club scene what the draw is for so many. I Remember was gorgeous, intoxicating stuff -- a silky-smooth blast of warm air you wanted to close your eyes and drift away on, compliments of the two DJs' stylish and perfectly restrained beats and the lovely, hopeful voice of singer Haley Gibbby. It was the rare techno single that worked on every level, which is why it spent a good portion of 2009 on the UK Singles chart and Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay chart here in the United States.




7. Spinnerette -- Baptized by Fire

Most fans of punk rock loathe change. Like their metal and hardcore counterparts, they consider growth to be a sign of the dreaded (and completely ridiculous) notion of "selling out." With that in mind, you can imagine what greeted the Distillers' punk goddess Brody Dalle when she teamed with journeyman musical genius Alain Johannes -- and unofficially with husband Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age -- to create Spinnerette. One listen to the new direction Dalle was heading in and the battle lines were instantly drawn in the punk-alt community. As usual, though, the hold-outs and naysayers were letting juvenile prejudices get in the way of a hell of a listening experience, because Spinnerette's debut album sounded exactly like what it was: the perfectly natural evolution of a singer and songwriter who was always destined to be more than just punk's prettiest face. The record's first single, Baptized by Fire, showed a startling level of maturity. It still had an edge and a now-subtler sneer to it, but this tale of abandoning a bad relationship wasn't about smashing furniture and petulantly flipping off the one who's caused so much pain; it was about turning away and never looking back -- which any adult will tell you is the biggest "fuck you" of all.



Tomorrow: 6 & 5

The 20 Best Singles of 2009: 9. The Dead Weather -- Treat Me Like Your Mother; 10. My Chemical Romance -- Desolation Row

The 20 Best Singles of 2009: 11. Little Boots -- New In Town; 12. Miike Snow -- Silvia

The 20 Best Singles of 2009: 13. The Sounds -- No One Sleeps When I'm Awake; 14. Blue October -- Dirt Room

The 20 Best Singles of 2009: 15. Jay-Z (w/Alicia Keys) -- Empire State of Mind; 16. Company of Thieves -- Oscar Wilde

The 20 Best Singles of 2009: 17. Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Heads Will Roll; 18. Doves -- Jetstream

The 20 Best Singles of 2009: 19. Mos Def -- Quiet Dog; 20. Florence + the Machine -- Kiss With a Fist

Listening Post

This is one of those near-perfect, life-affirming songs you just want to close your eyes, bob your head and drift away on.

It's Deadmau5 and Kaskade, with I Remember.

(The extended video, featuring the full conversation between Stephen Graham and his real-life younger brother, can be seen here. It's one of the most oddly inspiring things you'll hear first thing on a Monday morning.)