Over the course of last weekend, Justin at Anti-Gravity Bunny complained about music blogs not posting on weekends, and my friend Matt at Sub Ubi teasingly gloated that he scooped me about z=z fave Freezepop being on NPR (and Matt alludes to why). If you’re actually interested in my non-z=z activities and why I don’t […]
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Video interview: Freezepop
December 12, 2008[embedded video; if you can’t watch it, click here] Speaking of Freezepop, the above is a short interview they did for WePC.com (it’s an Asus/Intel vaguely astroturf-y ‘community-building’ site). The video is pretty much worth watching just for the Duke’s barely-restrained sarcastic understatement as he explains the relationship between the band and music videogames and […]
Buy a Freezepop synth, for charity
May 27, 2008Kasson Crooker, of Freezepop, is selling a synth. The impetus for the sale is sad (our sympathies to his family): i’m selling my nord lead 1 synth and donating the proceeds to charity. my dad has cancer and my grandmother died of it so i’m donating the money from this auction to the american cancer […]
Best Music Poll Boston: Freezepop, whoo!
May 13, 2008Longtime zed equals zee fave Freezepop get the recognition they deserve, nabbing Best Act, Best Live Act, and Best Album (for Futurefuturefutureperfect) in the Boston Phoenix’s 2008 Best Music Poll. Archived copy of the print article here [pdf]. MP3: Freezepop – Less Talk More Rokk Previously: Listen local: Freezepop; Play local: Harmonix; Coverage, Liz Enthusiasm […]
Listen local: Freezepop
March 28, 2008Freezepop is the band that dragged synthpop out of the 80s and into the 21st century. Their third full-length release, Futurefuturefutureperfect, is as perfect a piece of danceable electronic songwriting as you’ve ever heard. But they are really at their best live; I saw them a few weeks ago, in front of a full house […]
More new models for music
March 5, 2009Adding to our collection of new models for music, here are a pair of subscription models for premium content: iTunes has finally figured out that they can do better than just give you a digital album for $10. Depeche Mode is the first band to offer the new iTunes pass: for $18.99, you get a […]
Coverage: Buffetlibre’s Rewinded and Rewind2
January 12, 2009Guest blogger Scott writes: Buffetlibre has just released the second half of their epic compilation of new artists (many of whom I’ve never heard of) covering 70s, 80s, and 90s (but mostly 80s) songs. I had a few tracks from the first half, but hadn’t sat down and dug through it carefully. This release gave […]
2008 roundup
January 1, 2009Now that 2008 is actually over, time for a quick round-up of some music highlights. This is a highly idiosyncratic list: it’s not comprehensive, it’s not definitive, and it’s not scientific. It’s really just about what I liked enough to spend a lot of time listening to this year. I hope that there’s some stuff […]
Threesome: Stalker-iffic love songs
December 12, 2008[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t watch it, click here] Here are three songs that are frequently construed as love songs, but are really creepy stalker anthems; this follows up on a conversation with Nick in this comment thread. The video above is for the Freezepop song “Stakeout,” which is actually a stalker song. But […]
Videogames and the music industry
November 18, 2008[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t see it, click here] Nice guest post in the Freakonomics blog by gaming maestro David Edery about the positive impact of music-based video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band on the music industry. He does have something of a vested interest, since he works for Microsoft’s Xbox Live […]
Threesome: Theme songs
November 13, 2008One of my friends tweeted something about how all bands should have theme songs, along the lines of “Hey Hey We’re the Monkees,” which got me thinking. The pure theme songs that came immediately to mind were “We Are The Pipettes,” and both “Freezepop Forever” and “Parlez-Vous Freezepop?” (the existence of both a French and […]
The forgotten pioneers of electronica
September 30, 2008I’ve been fairly obsessed with the Freezepop song “Melon Ball Bounce,” a cover version of the 1963 Sprite jingle by electronic music artist Raymond Scott. And after a childhood watching Doctor Who, I still think that its theme music, created by Delia Derbyshire (pictured above), remains the coolest, creepiest musical intro ever. It turns out […]
I sing the body parts electric
August 27, 2008It turns out that my perception of hip-hop lyrics—that they are all about butts and masculine self-aggrandizement—may not be entirely incorrect. Artists Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg analysed 10 000 songs, in a range of genres, and extracted all references to body parts. They then produced a nifty interactive graphic, “Fleshmap: Listen,” that lets you […]
zed equals zee goes west!
July 26, 2008zed equals zee is heading west! We’re relocating to Seattle for a year. This blog will still focus on local music – it’ll just be a different version of local. So you have a favourite Seattle band, or are in a Seattle band, please tell us about it in the comments! And if you are […]
Coverage: Liz Enthusiasm and Gordon Merrick, “Space Age Love Song”
April 4, 2008This is from an album of covers recorded by Liz Enthusiasm (of Freezepop) and her best friend Gordon Merrick, titled – a little transparently – Best Friends Forever. I’m glad I’m not the only person who thinks that A Flock of Seagulls should be remembered for more than a haircut. Download Best Friends Forever here. […]
Listen local: The Main Drag
March 8, 2008Boston-area’s The Main Drag played last night with Freezepop and The Information and they were phenomenal (actually, all the bands were terrific). They first impinged on my consciousness in late 2006, when they won the Salon Song Search with “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter.” (Boston was well represented, with another local band, Hallelujah the Hills, taking […]
Play local: Harmonix
January 20, 2008An excellent xkcd.com shoutout to Cambridge, MA game developers Harmonix, creators of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Scroll down to the ‘bonus songs’ in Rock Band to see songs by Harmonix employee ‘side projects,’ local bands like Bang Camaro and Freezepop.
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