White Rose Movement In NYC, MSTRKRFT Remixes, Bad Rap Battles, Heidi's Belly, Vintage DEVO, and Badassery from QOTSA

Brooklyn Vegan has news about a string of USA dates from the loud and highly touted White Rose Movement, which include these NYC shows:
Thu 01/12/06 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
Fri 01/13/06 New York, NY @ Don Hill's
Dreams Of Horses has a couple MP3's from the gothy combo here.

Vice Records has relaunched their website and blog and plan on offering a free different MP3 download at the blog every two weeks or so. Currently there for the taking is Bloc Party's "Two More Years" (MSTRKRFT Remix).

And while we're talking MSTRKRFT remixes, here's their killer take on Death From Above 1979's "Sexy Results".

Wanna hear goofy Midwestern wiggas bustin' mad skillz in live-audio freestyle battles while using their parents Power Mac G5's? Then Lets Beef is for you.

Speaking of goofy, I'm spellbound by the goofiness of a couple of the "designers" on the new season of Project Runway on Bravo. These characters couldn't be weirder if scripted, and I'm convinced that a couple of them are being kept around rather than booted just to keep the trainwreck factor high. And is Heidi Klum the hottest pregnant lady ever? Yes...yes she is.

If you are still short a Christmas gift or two, let me suggest a couple of DVD's that have tickled my fancy lately...

DEVO Live 1980 is a recently released 75 minute full concert from the Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma, CA. Though there's nothing really remarkable about the footage of this show, it's incredible how up-to-date these songs all sound, a full 25 years later. This show was pre-MTV, and before they totally broke into the mainstream with "Whip It", and proved why DEVO was known as one of the few bands of that New Wave era to be respected as a really great live act. The perfect gift for your favorite spud.

I'm also keen on the new Queens Of The Stone Age live DVD/CD, "Over The Years And Through The Woods". The DVD is an entire 20 song concert shot this year at London's Brixton Academy intercut with just-long-enough behind-the-scenes and backstage footage, and the CD is a more manageable 14 tracks from the same show. The DVD also features "bonus" rare tracks of the band in it's many configurations playing tracks from throughout it's back catalogue, a few with guests both obvious (Dave Grohl) and not so obvious (Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top). It's kind of strange to see so much of the candid footage involving ex-member Nick Oliveri (who was allegedly chucked from the band by Josh Homme for beating up his girlfriend), only to see his replacement on stage in concert in the next cut. Then again QOTSA have always been strange, and that's why we like 'em. For fifteen bucks, this package is a steal. And you have to love the sticker on the front that reads, "Witness the sheer menagerie of badassery that is NO OVERDUBS & NO FAKE LIVE RECORDINGS!"