Directed by Kenny Ortega

There’s no mention of Michael Jackson’s death in This Is It — not even dates under his photo in the closing-credits dedication. But even if director Kenny Ortega had chosen to acknowledge the King of Pop’s passing, it’d still be easy to forget the fact while watching this extraordinary and eye-opening cobble of footage shot during rehearsals for Jackson’s fatefully named tour.

The last decade or so has framed Michael as an alleged pedophile and frail freak, the butt of jokes and scorn whose decision to perform 50 shows in London this year seemed a desperate attempt to dig himself out of bankruptcy. The truth of his past, however, feels irrelevant in light of the truth shown in this film: By the time the tour was gelling, the Weird One had left the building. Read More “Reviewed: This Is It” »

Former Black and White Jacksons guitarist Tim George formed Dizzy Spells with Kelela Mizanekristos, and the group’s songs can be ethereal and deeply felt or playful and jagged. The band describes itself as “Rock/Americana/Neo-Soul,” which is pretty apt, but it ignores the woozy trip-hop sound that’s all over “Laser Light.” You can stream that song and others at Dizzy Spells’ MySpace page. The District-based group, now a four-piece, performs tonight at 9 p.m. at the Velvet Lounge. Tickets are $8.

More soulful, minimalistic indie bands after the jump: gothy bawlers, Brits lip-syncing to R&B, and a poorly timed Michael Jackson cover!

Read More “Clip Job: Five Minimalistic Indie Bands with Soul” »

Charlotte Gainsbourg: “IRM”
Having exhausted pop music’s reserve of rakish Euros—Jarvis Cocker, Air, Neil Hannon—on her last record, 5:55, Charlotte Gainsbourg has hopped over the pond and tapped Beck to produce her new one, IRM. Unsurprisingly, it’s weirder than her last. At least the title track—a Silver Apples-cribbing 2 minutes of metallic bonging and electronic squiggles—suggests that’s the case. “Leave my head to magnetize/ Tell me where the trouble lies,” she sings.

Michael Jackson: “This Is It”
The title track from Michael Jackson’s upcoming concert film, This Is It, basically gives fans what they wanted most of all: the Jackson of 20 years ago. Rumored to be a demo recorded during the sessions for either Off The Wall or Dangerous, the song has been posthumously polished a la “Free As A Bird”—adding syrupy strings, and maybe even a few extra Jackson bros to make it fully closing-credits-worthy.

On Fillmore: “Master Moon”
Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche and Dazzling Killmen bassist Darin Gray—working together under the name On Fillmore—conjure up the ghosts of Martin Denny and Les Baxter on this exotica-tinged tune from the duo’s upcoming record, Extended Vacation. If Disneyland is looking for a fresh tune to blast through the Haunted Mansion’s PA, they may want to consider licensing this.

Lightning Bolt: “Flooded Chamber”
Lightning Bolt’s upcoming record Earthly Delights will be the duo’s first new release in four years. What have they been up to in the interim? “Flooded Chamber,” a track leaked from the album, suggests that drummer Brian Gibson and bassist Brian Chippendale were actually cryogenically frozen for most of that time, along with their zeal for repetition, blast beats, and distorted howls. In other words, not a lot has changed.

Today, soothing WAMU radio host Kojo Nnamdi prefaced a call-in hour by going off on all things Michael Jackson. He sorta boasted to listeners that his show had been a Michael Jackson Free Zone this past week. He then explained his confusion as to why African American leaders and African American Professor types would debase themselves on cable chat shows extolling the King of Pop’s Black Power credentials and deep ties to the African-American community. He said that anyone under 30 would have only known Jackson as Wacko—an alleged child molesting freak with a damaged nose. For a generation, Jackson’s talents were seen only in montage clips.

The man didn’t want to look like me, Nnamdi argued. And he went out of his way to not look like me. One of several callers took the bait and argued on MJ’s behalf citing psychological and biological trauma as the cause of the singer’s skin whitening and plastic surgery obsession. Nnamdi just argued back: “I can’t embrace him.”

When another caller chimed to bash WMATA on its failed safety proceedures and the metro crash, Nnamdi admitted to having no expertise on the subject. The metro crash was a mystery to him. Jackson was another matter.

*photo courtesy of WAMU.

And by buying Thriller off iTunes last week, I am! I so am!

It will be sadder next paycheck when I buy Off the Wall and hope my wife doesn’t notice. But for now, success! Blanket, this one is for you.

One of the Post’s best blogs reminds us that Farrah Fawcett wasn’t the only person whose demise was blocked out by Michael Jackson’s—Sky Saxon, singer of the Seeds, died last Thursday as well. I’ll say—the publicist who emailed me on June 15 about a garage-rock tour featuring Love, the Electric Prunes, and Saxon, hasn’t uttered a peep about Saxon’s death. (Though considering that Arthur Lee, Love’s singer, died three years ago, that may not impact plans much.)

Here’s Saxon and the Seeds doing their best-known song, “Pushin’ Too Hard.” He’s on bass and singing.

And here’s how things ended up.

CNN, Associated Press, and the Los Angeles Times have confirmed that Michael Jackson has died. He was 50 years old. Damn.

The King of Pop is back! The Guardian reports that Michael Jackson has begun rehearsal for his marathon of London performances—50 crotch-grabbing moonwalks in 50 nights, beginning July 9. According to the UK broadsheet, Jackson spends “four days a week at a rehearsal space near Los Angeles’s Burbank airport. The show will be called This Is It, with a projected budget ‘north of $20m.’”

Considering the team Jackson’s assembled, $20 mill seems a conservative estimate. Along with the requisite army of pelvic-thrusting backup dancers and purported 22 set changes, Jackson chose High School Musical director and choreographer Kenny Ortega to direct this epic comeback effort. According to the Guardian:

Read More “Michael Jackson Plots Comeback, Practices New Dance Move” »