​
In Waste Of Paint, our writer/artist team of Jamie Peck and Debbie Allen will review goings-on about town in words and images.

After the mildly terrifying journey that was Fashion's Night Out, Debbie and I wanted to return to more familiar territory, which for us means the holy trinity of punk, indie rock, and hip hop. Luckily, one of our favorite artists from each of those genres was playing this weekend, and none of them disappointed.

More >>

Girls/Real Estate
Bowery Ballroom
Friday, November 6

Cobain sweater. Check. Blonde, shoulder-length tangle. Check. "Let's all just have a good time," Girls' front man Christopher Owens said as he settled at the center of the stage at Bowery Ballroom. He said it flatly, no rocker pose or impishness. Like, you know, let's all just have a good time. It's the sort of phrase that might pop up in one of his songs--straightforward, hopeful, deceptively innocent. On Friday, Owens and bandmate J.R. White, along with touring drummer Garret Godard and guitarist Ryan Lynch, played nearly all of those songs. They did so before a crowded house, with the sort of calmness and restraint that belied the hysteria surrounding the band's first New York show since garnering a frenzy of acclaim for their debut, Album. Just another day in the sunshine for the San Francisco band.

More >>

Christopher Owens. Photo by Sandy Kim.

​Has Girls frontman Christopher Owens been honest about his own supposedly wild past? Early reviews and reportage laid out a story that seemed too literally incredible to be true: Owens was born into the Children of God/Family International cult, a circumstance unlucky enough to have (allegedly) cost his older brother his life and turned Owens' mother into a prostitute. When Owens ran away and fled to Texas, he was promptly adopted by a local multimillionaire, who encouraged his interest in the arts. Drugs were/are a constant. How much of this narrative could actually be true?

More >>

Even the embed code to this thing is slightly porno. Glad that they finally did this, in the least prurient way possible: this is the aesthetic, there was something confusing about the way the camera kept cutting away in the orginal cut, like what exactly are these guys trying to hide, exactly? OK. A dude using another dude's appendage as a microphone, is what they were trying to hide. May everyone involved in this live a long and happy life. [via Stereogum]

​Girls have a visual aesthetic--young, washed out, and topless--and they're sticking to it. As always, points to this band for making life seem like fun. Watch it at NME.

Proof that you can match pretty much any visual with Girls' "Lust for Life" and it will look sweet and nostalgic and like something you want to be a part of--the band's performance on Pitchfork's Don't Look Down, which is practically as evocative and washed out as the official (best of '09) video is. Did you know this song is a break-up ode to a girl named Liza Thorn, whom Girls leader Christopher Owens met in a San Francisco Park? This fun fact--"Eventually, Owens and Thorn broke up, prompting him to write his first song, 'Lust For Life,' an envious ode to Thorn's list of possessions (a boyfriend, a father, a suntan, a pizza, a bottle of wine)"--and more at the Fader feature on the group, which the magazine just posted online. And today also marks the debut of a new Girls b-side, "Life in San Francisco," streaming over at Gorilla Vs. Bear. All this in anticipation of the record's official release, which comes tomorrow, though it's been streaming at True Panther for some time now. Might want to cop those Bowery Ballroom tickets soon, world...

Nicole Leighton

​This new Girls record just stays being the anthem--it may be like listening to U2 or riding for Barack Obama or whatever at this point, but this is a hard one to let go, so please excuse us here. But Matador is just up and streaming the entire album, so don't take our word for it, etc. etc. We're on the verge of saying people should go ahead and also make sure to pre-order the record, for money, from a label that probably deserves that money, but this isn't really the day for categorical statements about how things should and shouldn't happen, now is it? Anyway, tickets go on sale Friday for the band's show at Bowery Ballroom on November 6th, where we imagine we'll run into a lot of people we know. In the meantime, the stream, right here:

More >>

​--If you somehow haven't heard Album, the sublime glazed-over debut by San Francisco's Girls, Impose and Insound are holding a listening party for the record--and for fellow Matador signees Times New Viking's Born Again Revisited--at Bruar Falls in Williamsburg next Wednesday, September 16th. It's free, and there will be tickets, giveaways, etc. RSVP here.

--More on Fashion's Night Out: Racked has helpfully compiled a Top Music Events of Fashion's Night Out guide, for those who don't know which DJ to see in which clothing store tonight. Warning: includes Matisyahu.

--The gay and proud Ellen DeGeneres will replace the crazy and proud Paula Abdul as the fourth (third really, right?) judge on the crazy and frequently covertly gay reality TV show American Idol. "I've watched since the beginning and I've always been a huge fan," DeGeneres said in a statement, adding that the gig is her "dream job."

More >>