Foxygen :: Take The Kids Off Broadway

Foxygen is Sam France and Jonathan Rado: two 22-year-olds channeling early Stones records as if played by a vibrato-slinging lounge singer riding on a heavy dose of uppers and hallucinogenics. The influences here are purposefully audible and playfully collaged together in a thoroughly modern and hyper tapestry of psychedelia, blues, and pop music. Foxygen's debut Take The Kids Off Broadway is masterful because of its members' complete lack of inhibition on tracks like "Make It Known" and "Abandon My Toys." France and Rado aren't afraid to play with their voices, sound like fools, or become unhinged—the record is a confident and brave declaration of all things whacky, egocentric, and creatively daring about rock 'n' roll. The music is the result of a pair of crate-digging record collectors with deep-seeded musical talent joyously cannonballing off their first cliff—and to hear it is an absolute blast.

Buy digitally or on vinyl from Jagjaguwar.

Foxygen - "Make It Known" (from Take The Kids Off Broadway)

Scenes That Pop :: Bottle Rocket :: The Rolling Stones - "2000 Man"

Today, I'm introducing a new series: 'Scenes That Pop,' where Everybody Taste highlights moments in cinema where pop music and film seemingly converge into one perfect art form.

Anthony: "Dignan, you know what's going to happen if you go back there."
Dignan: "No, I don't. They'll never catch me, man… because I'm fucking innocent."

The penultimate scene in Wes Anderson's 1996 debut film Bottle Rocket is soundtracked by "2000 Man," a track taken from The Rolling Stones' divisive 1967 psychedelic outing, Their Satanic Majesties Request. As the Stones only self-produced record, critics often dismiss the LP's experimental leanings as drug-fueled self-indulgence. However, if you stick The Rolling Stones in a studio for 8 months—especially a young almost in their prime version—the band will inevitably churn out a few memorable and perhaps even classic songs. "She's A Rainbow" was one. And "2000 Man" was another. With its off-kilter backbone of drumming, acoustic picked verse, and incredible organ-blasted shifts in mood and tempo, "2000 Man" is as unpredictable a track as it is a wildly creative and exciting one. In other words, it's the perfect fit for Dignan's (played by Owen Wilson) haphazard, erratic, and inevitably doomed attempt at post-robbery escape.

Andrew Oldham Orchestra: The Rolling Stones Songbook

Rolling Stones or the Beatles? It's the age-old rock and roll question. For me, aside from a brief affair with The White Album, it's always been The Stones. Everything prior to and including 1981's Tattoo You is a classic and essential part of rock and roll's history. And just last week I learned I was missing a piece of that puzzle when a friend passed on the Andrew Oldham Orchestra's Rolling Stones Songbook. Oldham, the manager for the Stones in the 60s, helped put together this instrumental compilation of early hits in 1966. The production style could easily fit onto a Tarantino set—it's dated in a specific era, but nevertheless achieves a timeless quality due to its complete air of cool.

Andrew Oldham Orchestra - "Heart of Stone" (from The Rolling Stones Songbook)