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  • Oh yeah, and there’s a bonus track too!

    The Gang of Four Is More Deluxe Than You
    Now this is what I call deluxe! With the CD in decline and digital downloads ascendant, a lot of artists and record companies have been going to strange lengths lately to get people to buy actual physical product. But, as evidenced by this blurb about their latest album, British aggro-dance-punk elder statesmen Gang of Four have taken the notion of deluxe (not to mention the notion of physical media – at least in a “pop” context) to a whole new level:

    As pictured on the cover of the all-new Gang of Four album C O N T E N T , The Ultimate C O N T E N T Can will contain, a CD copy of the album and, in the band’s own words, “an art piece Jon and Andy have done on ceramic tiles depicting the last 40 years of world history, a book of lyrics, a book of Rotoscoped photographs of the band’s emotions, vials of band members’ blood and a scratch and sniff booklet which reflects the key areas of human activity.” Also included is the exclusive bonus track “2nd Life.”

    Now, how much would you pay? ($49.99)

  • SonicClash Radio – The Outrageous Year End Music Podcast

    Over the weekend, Big Money Mike (popblerd on Twitter) from Popblerd! and I talked the year in pop music. While we do this from time to time, including on his show’s podcast, we decided to record it as a year end music podcast for this site.

    We discussed some of the big themes in pop music for the year, such as Eminem’s big comeback, Justin Bieber’s success and what we think happens to him when the pop idol status goes away, and why it was a good year for hip hop.

    We also bring on Matt Bjorke (roughstock on Twitter) from Rough Stock to talk the year in country music. Matt talks a bit about Taylor Swift’s history and we go into small detail about black country music artists. Then he gives us his favorite album of the year.

    Mike and I finish by going over a bunch of albums and we give quick thoughts about them.

    Right click to download or stream below.

    [powerpress]

  • Kobe Bryant Owes His Mentality To Michael Jackson

    You have to read it to believe it. And even after reading it, I’m not quite sure I believe all of it, but according to Kobe Bryant, his mentality mentor wasn’t his father, Joe “Jelly Bean” Bryant, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, or even Michael Jordan. Instead, it was The King Of Pop.

    It sounds weird, I guess, but it’s true: I was really mentored by the preparation of Michael Jackson.

    Take a read of Yahoo! Sports NBA writer Adrian Wojnarowski’s fantastic interview with the NBA’s best player. Kobe still doesn’t seem too open or even all that casual, but the interview is well done.

    I wonder who MJ’s all-time favorite player was; Kobe or Magic?

    Photo shared via Wikipedia