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Last night Beck did in L.A. what he loves to do in L.A., hitting the Echo (or, Echoplex) for a “secret show” and work through some rarities — in this case, stuff from the out-any-day-now Modern Guilt. According to LA Weekly (via TDS), it was a “not-quite-packed” affair which featured some reworkings, like a My Bloody Valentine-y (yes, they are everywhere) fuzzed-up take on Sea Change’s spare and broken ballad “Lost Cause,” as well as the debut of new tunes including “Gamma Ray,” “Replica,” and the title track from Mr. Hansen’s new Danger Mouse-stamped LP. So here, a first listen to “Modern Guilt,” thanks to our L.A.-based YouTube Samaritan:

We reported in September that Meg White got stressed out and therefore skipped ACL. Since then, Jack’s been seen around with Raconteurs (and Nick Zinner) quite a bit in support of Consolers Of The Lonely, but with no Meg in site. Last night at Detroit’s Fillmore that changed. Billboard had a report earlier today:

Coming back from the encore break of the Raconteurs’ concert at the Fillmore Detroit, Jack White was accompanied by ex-wife and White Stripes drummer Meg White, who sat at Patrick Keeler’s kit and tapped on a few of the drums.

With the audience going nuts, thinking it was about to see a surprise performance by the Stripes, Jack shouted, “Hey everybody, this is Meg White!” — after which she waved, got up and walked off the stage while the rest of the Raconteurs filed on for the encore.

That’s been updated and clarified a bit.

Ateaseweb.com’s been closely following all that’s going with Radiohead, because that is what they do. A few weeks ago the site reported the band’s been tinkering with a new tune during soundcheck, and yes now a new song’s in the setlist. It’s called “Super Collider.” Dublin got the first performance of it on Friday night: Thom solo, soulful vocal overtop a central, major-key piano figure (a quick flip to a descending minor thing and a bridge, too). Also, as for the Single Song Eliciting Multiple Instances Of Goosebumps award I just made up, this year’s big winner is Portishead’s “The Rip,” which did it upon premature evaluation and again in the desert and again in pencil-drawn form. Just the prospect of Thom and Jonny covering it backstage in St. Louis was enough for a fourth, Thom’s vocal swell where the band would enter a fifth, and so on. Two Heads are better than one. (Ugh shoot me I just did that.) So, there’s that little video waiting for you, too.

Bravo’s A-List Awards took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom Wednesday night and it sounded more like a dysfunctional family reunion than an actual awards show. The whole show was pretty much a circle jerk for D-listers.
Kathy Griffin hosted and being the “hip” and “with it” comedian that she is, told jokes about Miley Cyrus getting …

oh my word - i am so freakin’ excited to debut this exclusive mashup whipped up by my pal DJ paul v. and it features my brand new musical obsession - lady gaga - i’ve been hearing about her for the past few months - now her incredibly catchy kick-ass pop single just dance is making the rounds and if you haven’t seen the video yet - you must! just yesterday i did an interview via phone with lady gaga and she was so wicked cool - i’ll be posting that sometime next week - so stay tuned for more gaga! popbytes over & out for now…xxoo

† FROM DJ PAUL V.
Hey, hey Popbyters. This is a very special edition of the “Mashup Of The Week” feature, because you get treated to a world premiere exclusive track, created by yours truly! The very talented DJ Earworm also created one, and it’s all part of a mashup project presented by Bootie LA and Popbytes, from an exclusive promo CD we’ll be giving away at Bootie LA’s “3rd Anniversary & Pirate Ball” this Saturday! But more on that in a moment…






So ya see, we’re all absolutely ga ga over — Lady GaGa! This fierce New Yorker is wowin’ people with her funky, glamtastic tunes that stomp like a discoball dipped in mascara, zebra print and peroxide. Her debut jam is called ‘Just Dance’ - and with a name and call-to-arms like that, it was begging to be mashed up. I decided to use Stuart Price’s red-hot electro remix of ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ from Justice, with a little bit of David Bowie too (in honor of GaGa’s Ziggy Stardust-esque lightning imagery). And here it is for the first time anywhere!

† Listen to DJ Paul V. - Just D.A.N.C.E. [.mp3 7.3mb] †

And here’s the big news about Bootie LA, this Saturday night June 7th at The Echoplex. It’s our 3rd Anniversary & Pirate Ball and we’ll have free Bootie LA Anniversary CDs for the first 300 patrons! We’ve also got Smash-Up Derby playing at 11pm - the world’s only live, 6-piece mashup rock band. And, Lady GaGa herself will be joining us on stage at 10:45pm as we debut my mashup for her - and the dancefloor! Plus you can win your own copy of the Bootie/Popbytes/GaGa mashup CD. I’m DJing along with Bootie creators Adrian & Mysterious D, so don some pirate gear, matey, and get YOUR booty down to this shakin’, bakin’, bitchin’ dance party! Get there early for discount cover, free CD, and GaGa!

- DJ Paul V.

The Smash Mix | Indie 103.1FM | Bootie LA | Dragstrip 66

It’s been 40+ years since the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but my old couch-mate Paul McCartney only now gave “A Day In The Life” its live debut. It took place Sunday, 6/1, during his set at the Anfield Stadium in Liverpool during the Liverpool Sound Festival. As Rolling Stone reports:

Following a run through “Yesterday,” the opening chords of “A Day of the Life” were strummed, and McCartney launched into the verses previously sung by John Lennon while Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono watched from the crowd. The song’s long delay to the live stage was apparent as McCartney accidentally sang his own “Made the bus in seconds flat” line twice before segueing into Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance.”

See for yourself.

Along with Apes & Androids and Wire, this weekend’s barrage of live music in the city featured another year of the Bang On A Can marathon, stretching over twelve hours at the World Financial Center from 6PM Saturday to 6AM Sunday and including performances from Marnie Stern, Owen Pallett, and Dan Deacon. The good Deacon’s been making headlines away from the fest — for his Ultimate Reality DVD and for his impressive self-awareness in this interesting interview with P4K about the new, live-instrumentation and direction promised on his forthcoming Bromst album. His 4AM performance at the WFC Sunday morning has added a little more news to the cycle. Abbey sent an email soon after it was over:

Dan wasn’t even onstage, it was two (albeit amazing) drummers playing Ultimate Reality Part 3. The whole set couldn’t have been longer than 12 or 15 minutes. All the kids had waited til 4 AM and then poof it was over. They wouldn’t even let the audience up to the front of the stage and tried to keep people from dancing. Some good crowd surfing … though- can’t keep the fans down.

The commenters over at Brooklyn Vegan seemed to have loved every one of those fleeting minutes. From the look and sound of it, incorporating some Banging On A Can — or more specifically, on a set of skins — suits Dan well.

Gives us hope for the post-Spiderman Of The Banana/iPod Shuffle incarnation of the Deacon. Looking forward to Bromst, Dan.

Some people call Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt pathetic for staging candid photos such as these to publicize their sad, lonely lives and further their non-existent careers. And I wholeheartedly agree. Why can’t they be content to fade into obscurity like much of their cast mates from The Hills will in five years? Have some …

Australian Idol is bringing back one of their former contestants but she won’t be competing.  Instead, Ricki-Lee Coulter will serve as a third host alongside Andrew G and James Mathison.  She will be bringing audiences backstage as she interviews contestants.  I love that idea!
In a recent interview she said: “I’ve have been through what these […]

Will Sheff may have lost Jonathan Meiburg to the “Talk Talk” covering Shearwater. He’s the guy second to the right in the accompany photo. More fries for everyone else. But the show must go on. In this case, literally: Okkervil River’s new album, The Stand In is being described as narrative continuation of The Stage Names. We haven’t heard any of the 11 tracks, so we’ll just have to take their word for it. We do know, though, that “Lost Coastlines” is a duet with Sheff and Meiburg, that NJ Hall Of Fame contributor Charles Bissell adds guitar to the album, and that the cover features a drunken skeleton.