END OF THEE ROAD
After seven years of sonic exploration, experimental Seattle hip-hop duo THEESatisfaction[1] has reached its end. On Friday, Stasia “Stas” Irons and Catherine “Cat” Harris-White announced their decision to call it a day[2] and move on to other projects. Beyond just the group’s initial recordings and its two terrific Sub Pop LPs—awE naturalE and EarthEE[3]—THEESatisfaction left a mark on the Seattle cultural scene as part of the Black Constellation collective and the host of the Black Weirdo parties[4].
For the first taste of post-THEE life, check out the funky new SassyBlack (Harris-White) album No More Weak Dates[5],[6] which can be picked up via Bandcamp once it releases tomorrow (May 17).
Here’s to THEESatisfaction and all its Black Weirdo goodness.
WE HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE ISLAND
June 3 can’t come soon enough for comedy fans that loved the glory years of Saturday Night Live‘s Digital Shorts. That’s the day the Lonely Island’s movie Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping[7] hits theaters. The most exciting part about the film? It’s a musical mockumentary, which means new the Lonely Island songs.
To hype the impending release, the Lonely Island put out two new songs last week, both sung from the perspective of Popstar‘s protagonist, the egotistical Justin Bieber parody, Conor4Real. As per usual with the trio, the tunes are not only hilarious, but actually catchy too. First off, the group stopped by The Voice and teamed up with Adam Levine to perform “I’m So Humble,” which distills the pure, icky essence of the humblebrag[8] and puts it to song. In an even more uproariously funny turn, “Mona Lisa” finds Conor ruthlessly talking crap about the famed painting and the subject’s ugliness. It might not be the highest form art criticism in the world, but it’s certainly the most amusing.
PURE LUNACY, MY DEAR WATSON
On Wednesday, the comedy podcast subscription service Howl debuted Runaway Brains[9], a new serialized mini-series starring Seattle’s own Jeopardy king/Twitter expert Ken Jennings. The show features one of the best introductory descriptive blurbs of all-time…
Runaway Brains, a new Howl original comedy mini-series about man, machine, and everything in between. “Weird Al” Yankovic plays Watson, the Jeopardy-winning supercomputer who just wants to make new friends and find the answer to the clue “What is Love?” Watson must go on the lam with his old Jeopardy rival Ken Jennings searching for a clue to what else do I do with my life but answer trivia questions fast? In Episode 1, Ken Jennings & Watson are forced to flee the set of Jeopardy and go on the lam when military goon Corporal Jervis Jarvis and femme fatale Lady Saxpot both try to get their hands on a secret Watson contains.
If you don’t listen to the stupidity that follows after reading that introduction, then Monday Morning Pick-Me-Up may not be for you.
THE GLASS IS GREENER
Looking for some summer sounds that value sweet dissonance over sugar pop hooks? Then take an aural gander at Seattle noise punk trio Vats. The band’s first LP, Green Glass Room, arrives July 1 via End of Time Records[10], and Vats just put out a video for the album’s titular single. There’s just enough balance between the warmth of the song’s melodicism and coldness of the underlying, blaring feedback.
LEGITIMATELY FAKING IT
On The Late Show last week, writer/actor B.J. Novak shared the story of how he got a fake I.D. when he was 14. That may sound mundane. It is not mundane. Without giving anything away, it’s one of the best talk show panel stories in years and involves way more illegal activity than simply underage drinking.
References
- ^ THEESatisfaction (feedproxy.google.com)
- ^ announced their decision to call it a day (theesatisfaction.tumblr.com)
- ^ EarthEE (feedproxy.google.com)
- ^ Black Constellation collective and the host of the Black Weirdo parties (feedproxy.google.com)
- ^ No More Weak Dates (sassyblack.bandcamp.com)
- ^ , (sassyblack.bandcamp.com)
- ^ Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (www.youtube.com)
- ^ humblebrag (twitter.com)
- ^ Runaway Brains (howl.fm)
- ^ July 1 via End of Time Records (endoftimerecords.storenvy.com)
