Though the band technically still has four living, breathing members, Metallica has been dead and gone for years. Luckily, stepping in to fill that monstrous gap is Atlanta-based MASTODON whose hybrid hard rock/metal sound is every bit as heavy (and members as hairy) as the name. Released last week, the band’s fourth album (following 2006’s  incredibly epic “Blood Mountain”) “Crack The Skye” is a brutally gorgeous seven-track ticket to heaven via a long and twisted road through czarist Russian Hell. Continuing the band’s penchant for thematic content, the new disc focuses on they mythical life of Rasputin, whose existence the Mastodonians embellish with an array of compulsory metal mythology. The record’s story arc is perhaps best described by the band’s guitarist Bill Kelliher:

“There is a paraplegic and the only way that he can go anywhere is if he astral travels. He goes out of his body, into outer space and a bit like Icarus, he goes too close to the sun, burning off the golden umbilical cord that is attached to his solar plexus. So he is in outer space and he is lost, he gets sucked into a wormhole, he ends up in the spirit realm and he talks to spirits telling them that he is not really dead. So they send him to the Russian cult, they use him in a divination and they find out his problem. They decide they are going to help him. They put his soul inside Rasputin’s body. Rasputin goes to usurp the czar and he is murdered. The two souls fly out of Rasputin’s body through the crack in the sky(e) and Rasputin is the wise man that is trying to lead the child home to his body because his parents have discovered him by now and think that he is dead. Rasputin needs to get him back into his body before it’s too late. But they end up running into the Devil along the way and the Devil tries to steal their souls and bring them down…there are some obstacles along the way.”

When questioned about the archaic spelling of the word Skye in the disc’s title, Dailor went on to explain that “Crack the Skye” is also meant as an homage to his sister, Skye Dailor, who committed suicide at age 14: “My sister passed away when I was a teenager and it was awful, and there’s no better way to pay tribute to a lost loved one than having an opportunity to be in a group with my friends and we make art together. Her name was Skye, so Crack the Skye means a lot of different things. For me personally, it means the moment of being told you lost someone dear to you, [that moment] is enough to crack the sky.”

As a bonus for fans who still BUY music, the iTunes version of “Crack the Skye” comes with the to-die-for bonus of an instrumental version of the entire disc that plays like a full-fledged metal symphony in seven parts. Touring across the US now, and throughout Europe this summer with (unfortunately) Metallica, the prehistoric rockers should be considered a must-see for even the most jaded live music fan.

Read the NYTimes review of “Crack the Skye” HERE.

Mastodon were the first Western band to ever record the kazak national anthem…

We’ve said it many times before on ST: We don’t do streetwear collabs here, but this one’s bulletproof (and guaranteed to leave a nation of young sneakerhead zombies scratching their heads wondering who LOU REED is). Too bad the old man’s not still in his “Transformer” period…

Undoubtedly, a legion of young hipsters, streetwear fashionistas, and luxury goods junkies would be left scratching their heads in bewilderment if pressed to elaborate on the legacy of STEPHEN SPROUSE. Luckily, the legendary downtown art shrine known as DEITCH PROJECTS, in collaboration with Parisian luxury brand LOUIS VUITTON has provided an immersive introduction to the late artist’s indelible legacy in the form of their epic “Rock on Mars” retrospective exhibition that opened its doors to a cadre of NYC’s illuminati last nite. A pioneering designer who cut his teeth in the fertile late ’70s & early ’80s downtown scene (his earliest client was downstairs neighbor Debbie Harry), Sprouse daringly infused day-glo graphic elements of crucial counterculture scenes like graffiti, punk, and hippies into an array of groundbreaking and always rock-centric fashion statements over the course of his roughly 20 year career. Forever plagued by soaring highs and crushing financial lows, the designer was rescued from the brink of obscurity by Marc Jacobs when the designer tapped him to create a new line of instantly sold-out designs for Louis Vuitton in 2001, effectively revitalizing his name in the process. Unfortunately, lung cancer would claim the Sprouse’s life in 2004 exactly at the precipice of a major comeback that would never be. Funded by Louis Vuitton as a grand homage to the oft-underappreciated visionary, the Deitch exhibition collected previously unshown fine artworks originally created by Sprouse for an unrealized show called “Rock on Mars,” with vintage fashion drawings and iconic clothing designs to provide the most comprehensive overview of the artist’s prodigious oeuvre ever assembled. Opening to the public this weekend, the show is the first must-see event of the New Year, shining a much-needed light on an otherwise gloomy art scene still coping with the “morning after” of 2008’s crippling economic collapse. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

KAWS hits the big time with Kanye in Times Square… 

It seems KAWS has finally hit the big time with his artwork for the special edition packaging of KANYE WEST’s new “808s & Heartbreak” album hitting Times Square this week. Based on a painting featured in KAWS’ recent NY show at GERING & LOPEZ GALLERY, the cover is available for a limited time on physical copies of the CD at select retailers.

Kanye’s special edition “808s & Heartbreak” cover…

KAWS’ original painting as shown at Gering & Lopez Gallery in November 2008…

Ron Asheton (right) rips it up onstage with Iggy in 2007…

It may only be January 6th but 2009 has already claimed its first casualty of rock royalty. This morning the body of Supertouch friend and heretofore living legend of punk guitar RON ASHETON of Detroit supergroup, THE STOOGES was discovered in his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Suspected of dying several days ago of unknown causes, the 60-year-old was found by local police after a personal friend reported an inability to reach Ronnie for several days. Ironically, Asheton died in the same home where the first rehearsal with Iggy Pop and fellow Stooges Scott Asheton and Dave Alexander took place in 1967. His phone number was, until this day, the very same that a teenaged, trailer park-bound Jim “Iggy” Osterberg would call to arrange rehearsal times during the summer of love. Having effectively pioneered what would become the template for true punk rock guitar on the Stooges gorgeously ugly and iconoclastic debut “The Stooges” in 1969, Asheton went on to perfect the sound on the band’s subsequent masterpiece “Fun House” in 1970, an LP that remains one of rock’s high water marks to this day. At a time when the rest of Pop Culture was coming to grips with the imminent demise of an imaginary hippie wonderland, one only needed to listen to Read the rest of this entry »

Kanye is an accessory junkie…

Supertouch buddy and self-proclaimed “voice of a generation” KANYE WEST has upped the ante on his highly anticipated new album “808s & Heartbreak” by drafting fast-rising Pop Art star KAWS to design a custom cover available exclusively on the iTunes version of the album dropping Tuesday, November 25th, and in stores on December 16th as a sepcial Christmas edition of the record.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Untitled (Boxer),” 1982

The world economy might be on hold (much like Metallica’s creative streak post-”Master of Puppets”) but at CHRISTIE’S big contemporary art auction this week METALLICA drummer LARS ULRICH’s phenomenal 1982 JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT painting, “Untitled (Boxer),” changed hands for a very healthy $13,522,500 USD against a pre-sale estimate of $12 million. A standout amidst an otherwise lackluster sale overall, the auction proved that Basquiat’s finest work is indeed recession-proof. Meanwhile, we’re more than happy to see the rest of the fine art world’s prices readjusting for a new market after a ridiculously bullish escalation over that past few years. Without a doubt, for serious collectors 2009 & ‘10 are gonna be great years for headhunting masterpieces at bargain prices. The rest of us will just have to enjoy our canned beans in the company of our children’s refrigerator drawings…

No wonder Hetfield hates Lars…

Yeah, you read that correctly. Last week a newly reunited, totally OG lineup of legendary LA band JANE’S ADDITION played the hipster hotspot LA CITA as part of DANCERIGHT for a capacity crowd of 200 lucky fans. Joining the band for the first time since their breakup in 1991 was founding bassist Eric Avery whose role had been filled by Flea and Mike Watt in previous reunions. Playing a set that drew heavily on the band’s earliest material including several songs from the first live album “xxx,” including “Whores,” “Trip Away,” and “One Percent,” the quartet gave the kids a glimpse of the fury that was once the most formidable and influential band of its era. A straight-ahead Mexican cantina during the week, La Cita’s innate “Tijuana Modern” decor provided the perfect backdrop for the boys, with Christmas lights and religious iconography straight from the “Ritual de lo Habitual” aesthetic playbook. Of course Danceright mainstay SHEPARD FAIREY warmed up the crowd as “DJ Diabetic,” and provided the highly coveted poster art for the gig. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »