Sean Prince and I had gone to seen her perform a couple of years prior as the opening act for LCD Soundsystem.  That show took place at the Showbox in Seattle, a venue that both acts have likely outgrown by this point in their individual careers.  The whole show was pretty amazing, but it was actually more of a back up plan for us, as her previous performance at Chop Suey had been canceled due to the usual problems surrounding the artist: Green Card issues and the fear of potential terrorism.  These days, it seems like LCD Soundsystem has gotten fairly huge and M.I.A. has, by all accounts, become a legitimate “superstar“.  The irony of someone like myself writing reviews about anything related to pop-culture is that I am pretty much oblivious to what is or is not popular these days.  I can go to a show thinking that an artist is “underground“, whatever that means, only to find out that the venue is completely sold out.  Then, I can go to a show with the fear that it will be packed and only find 6 people in the audience.  I didn’t realize that M.I.A . was so fucking huge until I saw her performing with Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, T.I. and Kanye West, while she was pregnant at last years Grammy Awards.  My frame of reference was coming from a time when both she and LCD had only just released their first albums.  LCD Soundsystem‘s 3rd studio album is set to drop next month in the UK and now, Arular herself is letting out some samples of what her own latest effort is going to sound like as well.

M.I.A.‘s still yet to be titled, third album is slated to drop on Tuesday June, 29th and will be released by N.E.E.T./XXL/Interscope.  The first single, entitled “Born Free“, has been bouncing around over the last week, but primarily in the form of a youtube video, which involved the track being stacked over a simple image from Arular‘s performance at last year’s Coachella Festival.  Now the song, which features a sample of “Ghost Rider” from 70‘s electronic-pioneering duo SUICIDE, has received it’s own official video, directed by Romain Gavras.

Before watching this video please be aware that it is HARDCORE AS FUCK and NSFW!
You’ve been warned…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Also featured today is a post on Pitchfork.com which exclaims, “M.I.A. Takes Over Pitchfork’s Twitter!”

Here’s an excerpt:

“It’s an exciting day here at Pitchfork. We’ve turned our Twitter over to Maya Arulpragasam herself!

That’s right, all day, M.I.A. will be Tweeting from Pitchfork’s account. So head over to http://twitter.com/pitchforkmedia to follow the madness. Who knows what she’ll post– we sure don’t! Every one of M.I.A.’s Tweets will be marked with the hashtag #miap4k, so you can more easily keep up.“

TWITTER is also the method in which she has chosen to release the following image, which includes the tracklist to her upcoming release

Before going to sleep last night, I heard that another great loss in the music world had taken place.  As reported by Rolling Stone, singer/songwriter/producer, Mark Linkous (aka: Sparklehorse) took his own life yesterday (March 6th, 2010).  According to the magazine, this has been confirmed by the late-artist’s publicist and the following statements have been officially released by Linkous‘ family.

“It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today,”

“We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There’s a heaven and there’s a star for you.”

I laid down with the assumption that I would wake up to endless posts and messages regarding Linkous‘ untimely death, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.  I generally wouldn’t put too much thought into reporting news such as this, but that’s not because I don’t feel that it’s important.  It’s usually because I don’t feel that it’s important for ME to report it, because sites swarm on to the stories of dead celebrities the way that buzzards swarm onto the bodies themselves.  They don’t even wait for them to get cold, “Breaking News is Breaking News!“  People will always get information like this, because it’s posted everywhere.  Today, however, I fear that the loss of  such a vital entity in the music world may risk being overshadowed by something as trivial and worthless as an award show.

Click here to view the embedded video.

When Darby Crash died, the story was buried under the news of the John Lennon shooting.  While I’m sure that Darby would have loved to be the main headline, I’m not as convinced that Linkous would have rather had it any other way than to disappear quietly.  One example to that is how, instead of focusing on his own name, he opted to release music under the moniker of Sparklehorse, which was essentially just a solo project.  He wasn’t the type of artist who came across as demanding attention.  He was the type of unassuming artist whose often subtle and beautiful compositions could make you feel like you noticed them on your own.  Like a 4-leaf clover or an angel sitting in a dimly lit corner during a house party.  He was one of the rare people that created something of such pure emotion that the tools that he was using to do it almost disappeared.  No mixing boards or guitars- it was like sound just sort of flowed out of his chest and head in clouds of antique light.

Click here to view the embedded video.

One of his final masterpieces was last years Dark Night of the Soul, which he created with David Lynch and Danger Mouse.  Next to the two other collaborative monsters, the name “Sparklehorse” was often  lost or even unmentioned in conjunction with them altogether.  I believe that his focus was always on the work and, as someone who has endured a suicide attempt of my own, I have to question if Linkous was even aware of his own worth or contributions to this world.  Whether he ever truly realized it or not, those around him definitely did and his name has popped up repeatedly during the various articles and subject matter that we’ve covered on the site over the last few years.  One of the first times that his name was brought up was during my 2008 interview with Daniel Johnston, when Daniel had mentioned that he had been working with Mark on a follow up to their 2003 collaboration, Fear Yourself.  Linkous was a huge supporter of Daniel‘s music and worked as the curator/producer on the tribute album The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered. That album featured a collaboration between Linkous and The Flaming Lips, which carried over from his work with Stephen Drozd (Flaming Lips) on the 2006, Sparklehorse album, Dreamt for Lightyears in the Belly of a Mountain.  Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton also worked on that release and last years DNOTS reunited The Lips, DM, and Linkous together for the last time.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s easy to posthumously examine the work of an artist after a tragedy such as this and, whether accurate or otherwise, it’s also very ease to make some assumptions about the hidden meanings in their work.  While touring in support of the first Sparklehorse album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, Linkous faced an experience which nearly ended his life back in 1996.  The songwriter, who was on tour with Radiohead, had overdosed in a London hotel room with pills and booze in his system.  While my mom was in nursing school, she had taught me about how too much potassium can actually create cardiac arrest.  From what I remember reading, this may have had something to with this previous situation.  The story goes that his legs were pinned under him for 14 hrs without circulation and, after having them straightened by paramedics, a release of potassium buildup caused his heart to stop.  Linkous has had several surgeries in relation to this incident and was confined to a wheelchair for a 6-month duration immediately following it.  It has even been reported that he had died for 2 whole minutes.  When his sophomore album Good Morning Spider was released in ’98, there was endless speculation that the album was largely written in reflection of that tragic scenario.  However, Linkous denied much of that, stating that a good deal of the album was already written before that incident ever even occurred.  Then there’s such things as the title of 2001 Sparklehorse album, It’s A Wonderful Life, that may imply the struggles and reassurance that the artist needed to keep him moving forward and to control his reoccurring depression.  Most likely, no one will ever know exactly what many of his work meant from an intellectual level.  Meanings can be found or lost in everything, even the fact that he had a song called “Saturday” (the die he died).  Not everything is a puzzle to be solved, some things are just there to be experienced and, if Linkous accomplished anything, it was to create music which held enough power and emotion to speak to people without the triviality or barriers of human language.

Sean Tillmann (Har Mar Superstar) has mentioned that he and friend/colleague, Adam Green often joke about they are destined to become like Harry Nilson; a prolific artist who was ultimately less famous than everyone that he ever worked with, but who left an amazing catalog of evidence to his accomplishments to be studied after his death.  Now Mark Linkous has left this world and, if you never caught onto his work while he was with us, he has left an amazing collection of gifts for everyone to experience now that he’s gone.

To hear/download Dark Night of the Soul in full, CLICK HERE

Sure, the thunder clap cannot raise the dead, but it can definitely raise awareness.  If we can all just look past the prejudices that divide us and into these beautiful gyrating lumps of liberty, I am more than confident that the reflection will be red, white and blue.  Not black and white.

This video was originally posted on Worldstarhiphop.com, a site that can boast an “Official Honeys” page, which features a collection of amateur, pornstar, and model ass shaking videos.  Below is the original caption that they posted on WSHH, along with the cemetery footage above (the caption is unedited for grammar…. clearly):

One of our viewers sent us this footage. They reports “Some kids shakin they ass on people graves. SMH what has this world come to?”

I’m pretty honest with myself about the likelihood of MonsterFresh.com ever generating any money;  It’s probably never going to happen.  Sure, we get press releases and scoops for new high profile projects and shit everyday, but they’re easy to get and most of them don’t interest me so we don’t post them.  If you want to generate traffic and make some loot, the formula is easy.  For a music focused blog, you can simply post a Youtube video from a band performing on a late night program the night before.  You can also make posts very simply by posting generic shit like, “Radiohead planning to do album with Justin Timberlake” etc.  Just add a photo and you’re done; instant journalist!  For art, you can just swipe an artist’s images from their page and post them without providing any links, credit, or information.  It will get picked up by a site like DIGG.com or Stumbleupon and people will eat that shit up like crazy.  People like to look at pictures…. it’s easier for everyone that way.  Let the mounds of shit bury everything worth reading.  Keep it superficial.  Put anything and everything up that people are remotely interested in, from Beyonce to Travis Barker, and use no discretion whatsoever.  Have no credibility either (you can’t have both).  The greatest news is that, in this day and age, you can even become a celebrity by talking about other celebrities enough.

Unfortunately, I’m sure that everyone has heard of  “celebrity blogger” Perez Hilton.  He became “famous” by slightly altering the name of another no talent “celebrity” and by crudely scrawling catty comments on pictures of the Hollywood cool kids.  He, along with the lol cats, epitomize what I despise about the internet and the instant gratification that so many have sought out and popularized.  After gaining enough notice, he was invited by the hip crowd to finally join in on their reindeer games.  If your job is to attack celebrities and you are kicking it with them as their tubby chum, then who do you speak for?  Who are you representing?  Hilton’s black eye [pictured above] was reported by the blogger to have been caused by Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas.  He recently twittered, or …sorry, “tweeted”,  a bunch of shit about being struck by manager of the Pop Star (notice, I didn’t say rapper) while they were getting their party on.  I got a call from a friend the other day begging for me to answer the question, “Didn’t the Black Eyed Peas used to be pretty good?  I’m serious, I’m trying to figure out if I’m imagining this.“  I confirmed that they used to collaborate with credible musicians like Mos Def and Posdnuous from De La Soul, before getting the ex-Kids Incorporated star to join their group.  It’s all bullshit.  These people are ridiculous, worthless, and, worst of all, they believe their own hype created from sucking each other’s dicks.

Today Perez Hilton has really proven how delusional he has actually become about his level of importance.  Sure, I hate “blogging” but I feel that it’s fitting considering my target today.  Hilton felt like he carried enough weight to publicly accuse, now deceased, Michael Jackson of faking his cardiac arrest.

[click photo to enlarge image and text]

This was the original post on PerezHilton.com when MJ‘s cardiac arrest information was original released to the press.  We just found the image and text above via Twitpic with the text, “This is what Perez originally wrote about Michael Jackson.”

Of course, it has evaporated from Hilton‘s site like a ghost.  It has been replaced with a new post about Jackson‘s death with a feigned sincerity of compassion, including the statement, “Such a sad loss, especially for his three young children.”

Personally, I’m all for talentless Hollywood dipshits tearing each other apart like jackals.  I’d even be willing to claim that this guy is pretty bold to attack someone who was so much more talented and has contributed so much more to the world.  By removing it from his site, however, it shows what a fucking tool he is; almost as much as it showed by posting it in the first place.  I just wanted to help flip the table upside down on this clown.  The internet age has, ironically, come back to bite this fool in the ass.  It’s not as easy to sweep anything under the carpet anymore.  I hope he feels like a damn fool and cries himself to sleep tonight with an empty tub of ice-cream and gravy.

Watch out buddy!  Maybe you should rent “Can’t Buy Me Love“  or bust our your copy of “Mean Girls” as little refreshers to how easy it is to lose your spot with the elite crowd.  You could be headed back to your simple status as “the fat kid” in no time.  Sorry, I don’t read his fucking blog…I hope that I was being catty enough.

It’s been a suspenseful news day as far as MJ is concerned.  In fact, it’s been a bit of a Thriller.  This afternoon Jackson went into cardiac arrest and was rushed to a hospital by fire dept. paramedics.  At 2:12pm today, the LA times updated their report as follows:

“Paramedics were called to a home on the 100 block of Carolwood Drive off Sunset Boulevard. Jackson rented the Bel Air home for $100,000 a month. It was described as a French chateau estate built in 2002 with seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, 12 fireplaces and a theater.”

It”s a miracle that they found him.  If he was still living on Neverland, it may have taken days to locate his body in a ferris wheel or petting zoo.

Their earlier report stated:

“Capt. Steve Ruda said paramedics responded to a call at Jackson’s home around 12:26 p.m. He was not breathing when they arrived. The parademics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told The Times.”

According to E! News, Jackson was delivered to the UCLA Medical Center just after 1 p.m.  UCLA is, apparently, only about 2.5 miles from his home and he was able to be transported within 2 minutes.

From what we understand, he was already in a coma when help arrived.  His father, who is currently is Las Vegas, was reportedly alerted of the hospitalization and his sister, Latoya, was on hand waiting in the hospital hoping for a revival that never came.

TMZ reports that .”..when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.  A source tells (them) Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived.  Once at the hospital, the staff tried to resuscitate him but he was completely unresponsive.”

MJ was preparing to relaunch his career by performing 50 sold out shows at the O2 Arena in London.  The LA Times article states that there were even plans that his return “could ultimately encompass a three-year world tour, a new album, movies, a Graceland-like museum, musical revues in Las Vegas and Macau, and even a “Thriller” casino.”

I was smoking cigarettes on my balcony last night, dancing around and singing “P.Y.T.“  I didn’t see this coming.  I listened to Off the Wall religiously when I was in high school and it would have been nice to see him get back on his game before going down so hard.  His influence is still huge, regardless of the punchline that he has become over the last decade.  In fact, Jonah Hill just posed in a Michael Jackson inspired spread for the most recent issue of Complex Magazine.

Although the news of MJ‘s death and poor health seemed to come out of nowhere, we here  at Monster Fresh suspect that there may have been some prior information to his condition.  On Jackson‘s official tour page, the lead off date of July 13th had already been marked as “Rescheduled“.  This is generally never a good sign.

His name lives on, if not metaphorically through his memory as one of the biggest musical phenomenons of all-time, it will be sure to do so literally, through his offspring:
Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr.
Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and
Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II

This is going to spawn endless monologue jokes and fucked up comments, but this is a goddam tragedy.  For those of you who have forgotten why MJ was so important in the first place, we’ve provided some video evidence through one of my favorite songs EVER.  He may have become more like a cartoon over time, but hopefully, this video will remind us all that he was a person, that the situation is unfortunate, and why everyone loved him so much.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I know how reckless you crazy kids are today, with your LSD and your magic mushrooms. You smoke your salvia divinorum, get “digital” with your delinquent adolescent cronies off that Dimethyltryptamine, and liquid dance all night to happy-hardcore beats while hopped up on synthetic mescaline and designer drugs likes 2C-I.

Nobody’s going to tell you what to do, with your teenage attitudes and misguided views of invincibility. I’m not even going to try to attempt it.  What I am going to do, however, is break a few things down for you as far as hallucinogens go.

1) The environment is possibly the most important factor in how your night is going to turn out.

2) There are some locations that will increase the likelihood of your experience going South fast.

3) The “best” places to trip out are also often the “worst” and vice-versa.

Here are some of the riskiest spots to get spun out and act-a-fool in the Seattle area.

10. The Space Needle

It’s common knowledge that the placing of this gigantic rig in the middle of the city has played a key role in subliminally forcing people into smack addiction and the growth of the black-tar problem here in Seattle.  But, how does it affect those who are simply spun out of their gourds and wandering around aimlessly in Seattle Center, you ask?

First off, it resembles a glowing UFO that is beaming you up inside of its futuristic lair.  It’s only a matter of time before you’re peeling your clothing off with the knowledge that human garb is unnecessary in the afterlife and that you cannot ascend to space/heaven with the rest of the chosen people, who are moving on to the next dimension, unless you’re naked and pure.

Not only do they serve overpriced swank meals to yuppies, that would be uncomfortable to be surrounded by, but they also have an observation deck that is very loosely barricaded by wiring.  Keep in mind that this is the view from the bottom, so you can only imagine what the view from the top would be like.

9. The Pacific Science Center

(imax & Laserdome)

You may be thinking, “What?! Laser shows are the perfect place to get all whacked out and trip!” Sorry, but I disagree.  Sure, I could probably do a Dark Side or maybe even the Radiohead shows that they’ve had going on there, but I couldn’t spend the night lying on my back forced to listen to Linkin Park or Korn.  It’s not that they are “spooky” or have dark lyrical content; it’s just because they are so fucking terrible and epitomize a bad trip waiting to happen.

What may be even worse, is that they host a highly educational bug exhibit.  Sound interesting?  Really?  It’s in IMAX and 3D.  It might sound like like a good idea to watch a giant, 3-dimensional praying mantis from Borneo crawl around, inches from your face, in the dirt and grime but…   How about this?  Why don’t you just let us know how it works out for you?

8. Teatro ZinZanni

ZinZanni includes a 3 hour show and a 5 course meal that you won’t be able to eat, while you’re swallowing excessively from your bony dehydration.  It’s not so much the chaotic circus like surroundings, because a Cirque De Soleil show wouldn’t be anywhere near as bad.  The issue is that the show is interactive and that they will actually pull your ass up on stage.

I was in there once, a long time ago, and will not soon forget it.  I was somewhat out of my mind for a different (powder related/sleep deprivation) reason.  They led me out into the middle of the restaurant and the floor raised up from the ground.  I had a spotlight shining in my eyes and I was encouraged to shadow box a Russian clown.  Two young Canadian twin sisters, dressed like French maids and holding number cards, took turns sitting on my lap in between fake rounds.  It had been “a while” for me and I was at my “rapiest”.  I had blinding spot-lights in my eyes in the center of a packed restaurant and I was so disoriented that I forgot where I was at.  I was unreasonably close to throwing a jab at that clown’s chops and grabbin’ a squeeze of a finely toned lady performers areas.  Later, when I was urinating in the Men’s room, there were adult businessmen patting me on the back, while congratulating me on my stage presence and involvement in the show.  For some reason shit like this unites impressionable people and their boundaries completely evaporate.  Not awesome.

Here’s an example of the chaos that is ZinZanni:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjGsEdTQjmc

7. COURT

Seriously, why would you even consider doing that to yourself?

6. Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

It’s a local establishment down by the waterfront that’s full of wacky and creepy shit.  If you want to see a jar with a fetus floating in it, a mummy, or a shrunken head, this is the spot.  You can even purchase an apple flavored sucker with a real worm inside.  This one is probably best described with images so….

…here’s a little example of what Ye Olde Curiosity Shop has to offer a psychedelic mind:

5. The Aurora Bridge

Rapidly climbing up the list of bridges for the highest suicide rates, behind front runners like The Golden Gate Bridge in SF.  Just having this type of knowledge in your head makes it that much more dangerous for you to be chillin’ out on it’s rails.

Added Note:  Watching The Lost Boys before hand, may heighten the risk factor.

4. Regrade Park

It’s an off-the-leash dog park on 3rd Ave.  This means that not only are you going to have to deal with Pit bulls running around and barking at you but, this is Cracksville pal.  It’s great if you plan to get a hit off some rock but, otherwise….. bad idea.  The fiends must not have gotten the memo that they were cleaning this place up.

Homeless crackheads swarm this area in groups like a zombie attack.  The last time that I was down there at dusk, was the first time in my life that I ever regretted not owning a chainsaw.

3. Harborview Burn Center

Being taken to the hospital on LSD is frightening enough.  If you are on your way to the burn center, the worst has probably already happened and it’s, most likely, for the best.  This list, however, is about places that you could go to voluntarily but that we would not recommend.  For that very reason, the burn center has made it toward the top.

The smell of sterilization and fear.  Screaming children and bright fluorescent lights.  Again…. why would you want to do that to yourself?

2. The Firing Range

You’ll spend your time wondering if it’s more dangerous for you to be holding a loaded weapon, or if you should be more worried about the fact that the other people have them.  You will inevitably find out that answer, one way or the other.

1. DUI Victims Impact Panel

So, you have received a form like the one above?  Maybe you can’t wait to show the man how little you give a fuck about his “laws”.  Maybe, just maybe, you decide that you are gonna do one better than roll the establishment’s subpoena into a fat spliff and take it to the dome.  Perhaps, you think the most rebellious angle to take is laying this legal document in a vat to soak up some of that sweet L25 and use it to dose up before attending the mandatory court-ordered lecture on the dangers of drunk driving.  If so, you are a goddamn fool.  Not only have you been reckless with the lives of others but, now you’re risking the future of your own psyche in the process.

This is much worse than attending a court date.     Now you get to sit at a Victims Panel where those affected by vehicular manslaughter tell the stories of their loved ones lost.  You may even get the chance to view some graphic images through photos and/or video?  If you think that this is the time to eat that sugar cube you’ve been saving in your freezer, then something is definitely wrong with you.  I’ve seen the traumatized look on a friend’s face who had to attend one of these and he was completely sober during it.   One thing is for sure, though; the message will definitely sink in.