15 of your favourite people … as ZOMBIES!

I don’t give much of a crap what Kim Kardashian looks like as a zombie, but Sarah Michelle Gellar is another matter. Those nice people at The Walking Dead have put online an app that allows you to to turn yourself into a shambling flesh-eater. Buzzfeed had a little fun with your mainstream celebrities, but I figured it would be much more fun to put the likes of Grimes and Bat For Lashes and the cast of Doctor Who through the zombie-making machine …

Top 50 songs of 2012: 20-11

20. Lanie Lane – Oh Well, That’s What You Get Falling In Love With A Cowboy

This was released in some places last year, but is listed on Wikipedia as 2012 so I’ll claim it as one of this year’s best. Lanie’s Australian, but this is America as a Wild West theme park, as curated by David Lynch.

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Lamenting the impossibility of narrowing down the best tracks of the year

If I’ve gone quiet, it’s because I’m trying to create a Spotify playlist of my top 50 tracks of the year. Trouble is, there have been so many songs in 2012 that I’ve enjoyed that narrowing it down is simply impossible. Just to take the acts I’m really struggling with, which is the best Bat For Lashes song out of this 

MØ: Denmark’s Grimes-meets-Lana-Del-Rey?

I just happened on this over at Line of Best Fit, where they interviewed this intriguing Dane, Karen Marie Ørsted. Part glitchy electronica, part earnest warbling, she’s certainly someone to keep an ear out for. 

Why artists shouldn’t stick to art

Written for Collapse Board

Everett True reckons that Artists Should Stick To Art instead of making mixtapes of obvious dad rock. If mixtapes made by artists are so disappointing in real life, I think we should invent some fantasy selections.

For example: 

What is Grimes doing? Plus 6 more what-the-f*** videos

Grimes has a new video out. It made me think of some other bafflingly weird music videos.

Grimes – Genesis

Is this supposed to be some sort of Mad Max thing? Why is there a cybergimp (Brooke Candy) prancing about looking high? You’re not going all goth on us, now, are you, Claire?

The best blog post I’ve ever read

Like most bloggers, I find myself repeating myself on certain pet issues because I’m not doing my job well enough – I can’t fully articulate in a single post the highly important information I’m trying to convey. This is as frustrating for me the writer as it is for you the reader. Thankfully, sometimes another blogger steps in with something that perfectly sums up the arguments in a witty, entertaining and informative post.

First impressions: Grimes – Visions

I’m with Wallace Wylie on this: Visions is a very frustrating album. It has some great songs – Symphonia IX and Oblivion for two – but it does tend towards the K-Pop. It’s that kind of saccharine, twee kitsch that sounds like a musical incarnation of that new My Little Pony TV series: everyone says it’s “awesome” when really it’s just “not bad”. 

6 of the best from SXSW 2012

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“That isn’t smog, it’s smug! You can have smug in the atmosphere, and you know what that leads to? Global laming! … The perfect storm of self-satisfaction.” – South Park

Yes, there’s something unspeakably smug about SXSW, and all the hipster-haters out there are fantasising about nuking the site from orbit (“it’s the only way to be sure”) – but there are also some fine tunes to be heard this year. Whether you’re an eager trend-chaser trying to find the “hottest new tips for 2012”, or just a bit bored of what’s on your MP3 player, some of these bands are actually any good, including these.