Culture Brats

We're Looking For Writers

2012-02-23T13:00:00.000-05:00

Are you a child of the '80s or '90s? Culture Brats is looking for writers!

Do you have:

Excellent grammar and writing skills
A passion for pop culture: music, movies, books, TV, video games, fashion, etc.
Blogging and social networking experience
A good sense of humor?

Then you sound like the perfect Brat! We are looking for writers interested in doing concert, music, movie, and television reviews; conducting interviews with musicians and actors via phone and email; and writing general pop culture articles.

Compensation is unpaid for now, with potential ad-revenue sharing in the future.

If you are interested, please shoot us an email and include your location (or nearest metropolitan area) along with writing samples and/or URLs. Writing samples need not be pop culture-focused; we just want to get a sense of your voice.

Revisiting The 21 Jump Street Pilot

2012-02-23T11:00:00.000-05:00

As the world prepares for the upcoming 21 Jump Street movie, I thought I'd revisit the groundbreaking series that started it all. Sometimes watching something you loved in childhood can completely ruin the memory. I have a feeling it's still going to be awesome. So let's do this.

Fade in on a lovely middle class white family having dinner. It's all there: father in a suit and tie, the ditsy daughter, the good china. BLAMOW! Two young black guys bust in through the window dressed like extras from the Captain EO tour.

Mother screams in horror. Her real estate agent told her this was a safe neighborhood!

CONTINUE READING >>

First Look/Listen: fun., "Some Nights Intro"

2012-02-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

So... have you purchased fun.'s Some Nights yet? Well, if our glowing review didn't make you want to get it, maybe a new video will get you moving:

CONTINUE READING >>

Great White, "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"

2012-02-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

From 1989, here's Great White with "Once Bitten, Twice Shy."

Enjoy!

Seven Questions In Heaven With Surf Club

2012-02-22T13:00:00.000-05:00

These guys are practically in my backyard and the sound is so Californian I actually got a bit nostalgic. If you can be nostalgic while, you know, still living here and jumping around to infectious, fast-paced tunes. From Stockton, CA, the guys of Surf Club spent Seven Questions In Heaven with us. Let's go to the beach, bitches!

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
Frankie Soto: We play fast, fun, pop music.

Eddie Zepeda: It's just pop.

Jose Medina: Jangly.

Alfonso Robles: It's hella noisy.

Who are your musical influences and idols?
FS: There's so much. A lot of friends influence me. I like a lot of current artists and a lot of old. A lot of Sarah Records stuff and also a lot of Slumberland stuff from the '90s and now. I'm also a huge fan of that band Abe Vigoda. Have been for so long.

EZ: The first bands Frankie and I ever bro'd out over were Modest Mouse and Algernon Cadwallader. I also grew up on a lot of Motown stuff because of my parents. Tons of new stuff too, though.

JM: I've always been a sucker for jazz drumming. Some that I admire are those like Dave Weckl, Buddy Rich, Steve Gadd, Steve Smith. All great drummers.

AR: it's hard to narrow it down. We basically listen to everything. A lot of local bands when we first started writing music were a big influence on me. My idols are probably The Beach Boys, though.

CONTINUE READING >>

Free Download: Snatches Of Pink

2012-02-22T11:00:00.000-05:00

Snatches Of Pink were Chapel Hill's only true rock stars. While Chapel Hill may have produced bigger bands, no one embodied rock 'n' roll like Snatches Of Pink. Yesterday, I discovered that SOP front man Michael Rank had started a new band (Michael Rank And Stag) and to celebrate had posted most of Snatches Of Pink's back catalog on Bandcamp. For free.

So get ready to rock on the cheap.

Send In The Clowns

I hadn't listened to the band's first album, Send In The Clowns, for years. Why? It was only released on tape and vinyl and my tape had long since warped. So I've been listening to this pretty much all night long.
Favorite tracks: "Time Done Gone," "Cowboys And Injuns," and "Clementine."

SEND IN THE CLOWNS by SNATCHES OF PINK

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Calm Down, Community Is Coming Back

2012-02-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

After a hiatus of several months, NBC's Community will return to Thursday nights on NBC. Can something be called a "cult classic" while it's still airing? Fans of the show certainly think so. Community fans are hardcore.

When NBC announced the show was going on hiatus, there was fandom uproar. Look, I know how it is when a great show nears cancellation. Don't even get me started on the cancellation of Roswell. But something about the reactions from fans about the hiatus rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe organizing a flash mob seems too gimmicky and self-important to me.

CONTINUE READING >>

Michael Rank And Stag, "On The Bleed"

2012-02-22T07:00:00.001-05:00

From 2012, here's Michael Rank And Stag with "On The Bleed."

Enjoy!

Concert Review: Mona, Rock & Roll Hotel

2012-02-21T11:00:00.001-05:00

When it comes to concerts, it's no secret that I've been to hundreds and that almost all of them prove enjoyable in thousands of tiny ways. And yet with all the recent buzz surrounding Mona, I still found myself resolving to walk through the doors with objectivity firmly in my grasp and a reviewer's righteous levity and wary eye to aid in my impartial observation of the show.

After all, this was a band whose lead singer once claimed they were going to be able to unseat Bono and his very massive cranium from the throne in the ultimate number one frontman ivory tower. Not that I'd be upset if that toppled over and crashed to the ground. Ahem. But still, perhaps this group could use a clinical dressing down from someone who has been around the block a few times.

Right.

Well all that crap melted away the second Mona took the stage at the ol' Rock & Roll Hotel, where they proceeded to wow me with their varying degrees of greatness.

Airtight execution, rock god stage presence, great songs: this was like watching a band who'd been playing together for forty years. I was blown away.

Lead singer Nick Brown has an easy way with his infectious energy and I couldn't help but make mental notes that he kept alternating between channeling Joe Strummer, Brian Setzer and Paul McCartney at different points during the night. Guitarist Jordan Young (who looks like a James Dean/Chris Isaak hybrid) , Vince Gard (drums), and Zach Lindsey (bass) all brought fistfulls of their own mojo and as a tight knit powerhouse they kept the very loving and rapt audience satisfied.

These are big explosive powerful tunes meant to be played loud at stadiums so I admit to being worried about how they would translate in a mid-sized venue like the Rock & Roll Hotel, but all doubts vanished as soon as the especially impressive sound system proved worthy of the task.

They ran through their list of well-loved songs, waiting until the end to unleash the newly-minted alt-rock darling (just ask Sirius XMU's Jake Fogelnest) "Lean Into The Fall," thereby leaving the danced- and sung-out audience spent on the floor from sheer exhaustive joy.

While I'll usually point out some of the more memorable highlights of a show that impressed me, this honestly rates in the top five performances I've ever seen musically. Take that as you will, but keep in mind that in the last year alone I've seen The Cure, The Pixies, Guided By Voices, Jeff Mangum, and The Pogues to name a few, so I don't award that kind of praise lightly.

This is a live band you should not miss and I cannot stress enough that if you have the chance to see them at a venue near you, YOU MUST RUN, NOT WALK to the box office. For the next time they come around you may find yourself hard pressed to find a ticket.

MORE IMAGES AFTER THE JUMP

CONTINUE READING >>

Somewhere Weird Al Smiles

2012-02-21T09:00:00.000-05:00

Why? We've got five accordionists performing a-ha's "Take On Me:"

The Zabalas, "Take It Away"

2012-02-21T07:00:00.001-05:00

From 2011, here's The Zabalas with "Take It Away." (Warning: video NSFW)

Enjoy!

Seven Questions In Heaven With Planet Booty

2012-02-20T13:00:00.000-05:00

Clear the decks and get your mind out of the gutter, folks. This isn't a Q&A on the home world of Captain Kirk, the undisputed king of gettin' some in space. It's Seven Questions In Heaven with Bay Area band Planet Booty, whose fun-loving outlook and infectious grooves may inspire some ass-shaking of your own.

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
2 Live Crew and Talking Heads have a baby in outer space.

Who are your musical influences and idols?
James Brown, Prince, Marvin Gaye, Parliament, Al Green, Fela Kuti, Ween.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Outkast, Aquemini.

CONTINUE READING >>

Richard Marx Does Katy Perry

2012-02-20T11:00:00.001-05:00

And quite well, actually.

Here's Richard Marx covering Katy Perry's "The One That Got Away:"

CD Review: fun., "Some Nights"

2012-02-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Long before we reach Nate Ruess's mush-mouthed, Kanye Westish vocoder outro You're always holding onto stars in "Stars," the album's closing track, it's evident that Some Nights is fun.'s ascension to stardom. While the quirkiness, uniqueness, and flair for the dramatic that were found on the band's debut, Aim And Ignite, are still present, they've been paired with grand sing-along anthems and the end result is a truly phenomenal album.

Some Nights begins with four songs that totally engulf the listener. Things pick up right where Aim And Ignite left off with "Some Nights Intro," a piano-and-strings-driven Broadwayesque number that sets the tone for the disc. After the applause dies, "Some Nights" kicks in with its layered Freddy Mercury vocals and "Cecilia" drums. After that comes the standout anthem, "We Are Young," a song that's been featured everywhere from Glee to Super Bowl Chevy commercials to Billboard's Top 10. "Carry On," with its message of perseverance, is another anthemic tune, enticing the crowd to sing along at the top of its lungs. The album ends with the one-two punch of "One Foot," with its brash horns and emotional break, and the aforementioned "Stars," an up-tempo number that decelerates and fabulously disintegrates into nearly five minutes of Ruess and the vocoder.

CONTINUE READING >>

Mos Def, "Sex, Love & Money"

2012-02-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

From 2004, here's Mos Def with "Sex, Love & Money."

Enjoy!

First Look/Listen: Sleigh Bells On SNL

2012-02-19T07:18:00.000-05:00

Sleigh Bells were on Saturday Night Live last night and they killed it!

"Comeback Kid"

"End Of The Line"

Revisiting Cool As Ice

2012-02-17T11:00:00.000-05:00

In 1991, I had a huge poster of Vanilla Ice in my bedroom, and I had BOTH his cassettes (one was a remix album, remember?). Although I don't remember actually liking him that much. My best friend at the time was like, so in love with him, so I guess I was too in solidarity. I actually found him much too aggressive, thuggish, and mean-looking. I much preferred the soft-spoken, polite androgynous Nelson brothers (that's a whole other story).

These days, Vanilla (we're on a first name basis) seems to have more of a sense of humor about himself. He appeared on The Surreal Life, a reality show for has-been celebrities, and has even emerged making fun of indie rock. Good for him! If we can't laugh at ourselves, everyone else wins! His website glaringly informed me that he is now taking a foray into home makeover shows. And that he has not changed his website since 1997. Geocities much?

One thing he was DEAD serious about was parlaying his rapping fame into a movie career with the epic love story Cool As Ice. Vanilla plays, well, himself, a nomadic rapper/dancer who falls for a rich Daddy's Girl in a Romeo and Juliet scenario. Oh, and he sings the title song, which features NAOMI CAMPBELL. This is when people still loved her and she wasn't attacking her assistants.

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First Look: The Pretty Reckless, "You"

2012-02-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

The Pretty Reckless released a new video yesterday. It's for "You," a ballad off of last April's Light Me Up:

En Vogue, "Free Your Mind"

2012-02-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

From 1992, here's En Vogue with "Free Your Mind."

Enjoy!

Seven Questions In Heaven With Belle Histoire

2012-02-16T13:26:00.000-05:00

Beautiful history, indeed!

Frankly, there just isn't enough time in the day to listen to all the great new music that floods through my speakers. And while I'd like to suggest that each of us set aside a block of hours each day to check out all the breaking artists that deserve some attention and recognition, I am nothing if not practical. That is why I am here to spoon feed you and make sure you are exposed to the music of bands like Belle Histoire, the talented quartet whose lead singer, Jane Smith, lived to rock another day after fielding our hard-hitting Seven Questions In Heaven.

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
It's definitely simply fun music! I like to write songs that everyone can relate to and enjoy.

Who are your musical influences and idols?
Our biggest music influence is definitely Jimmy Eat World! They are such an amazing band. My personal biggest idol is Imogen Heap. She's such a talented artist.

What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
This is a good one, ha ha ha. It was Britney Spears.

CONTINUE READING >>

First Look/Listen: Hoodoo Gurus, "Use-By Date"

2012-02-16T11:00:00.000-05:00

God, I used to love these guys. Here's a new track and video from Hoodoo Gurus:

Hat tip: Slicing Up Eyeballs

8-Bit Lana Del Ray

2012-02-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

Leeni has done a chiptune version of Lana del Ray's "Video Games" and it's pretty freaking cool:

Charlene, "I've Never Been To Me"

2012-02-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

From 1977 and 1982, here's Charlene's "I've Never Been To Me."

Enjoy!

When Woody Met Kanye

2012-02-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

It's the mashup we didn't know we needed: Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Niggas In Paris" set to scenes from Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris!

First Look: Meital Dohan, "Yummy"

2012-02-15T10:00:00.000-05:00

Not to be confused with her earlier single "Yummy Boyz," here's Meital's new video and single, "Yummy:"

Now, does someone have a kickass eraser I can borrow? There are some pink blocks on my computer screen I want to remove.