Morning Music Notes – LOLcats and Fleet Foxes, Together at Last

Yes, This is True: Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold to Write Soundtrack for LOLcats Movie

The phenomenon known as LOLcats will be hitting the big screens – that’s the first weird part of this story. The movie, supposedly titled The Internet – A Blog Cats WTF Universe, will tell the tale of a crisis “experienced by “one of the best LOLCat caption writers in the world” (via Consequence of Sound).

The second weird thing is that fundraising is coming by a Kickstarter campaign. This in itself isn’t weird, but it’s a big website and part of a big network of websites – surely they can find some pocket change. Also noted on the Kickstarter page is ” It is mainly a live-action film but there are going to be animations that explore some of the themes and dialogue in the movie, as well as an epic animated God creature that really needs the love of a talented 3d animator. Sean’s brother and frequent collaborator Robin is on board to score the film, and we would love to be able to pay him for his time and talent.”

This leads to the third weird thing. The aforementioned Sean is Sean Pecknold, and his brother Robin is Robin Pecknold, lead singer of Fleet Foxes. This means that LOLcats is getting a score done by big indie band, Fleet Foxes (well, just their singer). I’m not sure how deep his lyrics and songs will be, but check out the promo video below to see how the film might look, and listen to what is presumably some snippets of Robin playing the guitar.

Saxophone Player for the Killers, Tommy Marth, Commits Suicide

We go from LOLcats to a rock suicide – a sentence I don’t write very often. Tommy Marth, who played sax on tour with the Killers and was also on their last two albums (Sam’s Town and Day & Age), has sadly committed suicide (via Hollywood Reporter).

“Last night we lost our friend Thomas Marth. Our prayers are with his family. There’s a light missing in Las Vegas tonight. Travel well, Tommy,” said a statement from The Killers.

Jack White is a Recording Monster, Has Enough Songs for Blunderbuss 2

I’ve said from the start that Blunderbuss reminds me of a whale or something, and writing “Blunderbuss 2” makes me think of a Disney sequel to the first (non-existent) Blunderbuss movie. Jack White has only just come out with his solo album Blunderbuss this past week, but he has revealed he is a warlock! that he has another 12 songs from the recording sessions that he hasn’t yet finished (via Rolling Stone). So not only does he have 12 unfinished solo songs, but he has also agreed to write the soundtrack for the movie the Lone Ranger. The man has 2 kids, and runs a record studio, leading me to believe he never ever sleeps.

Hologram Tupac Leads to Dead Tupac Having a Sales Increase

I’m ashamed to admit that it didn’t cross my mind that having Tupac Shakur show up at a huge California rock festival, 16 years after his death, would result in a bit of a sales increase. Sure, the week after you die you see a bump, or after you play an awards show, but it didn’t dawn on me that this would boost sales for him (well, his estate). In hindsight, yes, of course this makes sense, as people who are 25 or so might not have known Tupac when they were 10. Long running intro aside, Tupac’s 1998 album, Greatest Hits, is now #129 on the Billboard Top 200, up 571% from the previous week (via Billboard). The percentage may be big, but the number of units is still 4,000. His album All Eyez on Me sold 2,000 copies (up 95%) and Me Against The World sold 1,000 copies (up 53%).

Since we live in an age where you can just pick and choose songs instead of entire albums, this is where Tupac saw the biggest increases. His holographic opener, Hail Mary, sold 13,000 digital copies, which was a massive 1,530% increase from the previous week. California Love (which wasn’t performed by Hologram Tupac, but currently dead Tupac featured on) sold 11,000 copies, up 119%. The second song he “sung”, 2 of Americkaz Most Wanted sold 9,000 copies, up 881%.

So with all of this hologram revival talk (bring back Elvis, bring back Jimi Hendrix, etc.), will estates now see the added benefit of back catalogue sales and really push for this to happen? Did Tupac and Snoop just start a horrible trend for us all? Elvis impersonators are going to be pissed!

Another Day, Another Lana Del Rey Remix: Smims&Belle featuring Azealia Banks remix Blue Jeans

We’ve heard plenty of Lana Del Rey remixes, from the likes of Damon Albarn to Odd Future’s The Internet. Now, we have Smims&Belle, who is the the DJ group from Mark Foster and band member Isom Innis, both from Foster the People. They have roped in Azealia Banks to record a new verse and they have remixed Lana Del Rey’s Blue Jeans. Give a listen to the Foster the People’s side project remix featuring Azealia Banks.