Fascinated by miracles such as, er, magnets, Insane Clown Posse should be a laughing stock. But their fans â€' the Juggalos â€' symbolise a growing reactionary culture in America, in which ignorance is seen as a virtue

For nearly a decade now, the Juggalo is the dirty secret that mainstream America has tried to sweep under the carpet. Juggalos are fans of Detroit, Michigan's Insane Clown Posse, two former wrestlers turned rappers going by the names Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, who first applied face paint in the early 90s, and have since sold 6m albums, including 1994's Ringmaster and 2004's Hell's Pit.

Juggalo culture is what happens when hip-hop settles in the poverty-stricken cities and suburbs of America's rust belt. Fans, known to one another as "The Fam", mimic the band's clown face-paint, drink their favourite drink, the Detroit-produced soda Faygo, and attend their annual festival, the Gathering of the Juggalos.

Not everyone, however, is so keen. Authorities in states including Utah, Arizona and Pennsylvania reportedly classify the Juggalos as a gang, while in September 2003, the US music magazine Blender voted Insane Clown Posse as the worst band of all time.

In 2009, however, Blender closed its doors. Insane Clown Posse, meanwhile, have just released the DVD of their debut feature film, Big Money Rustlas. They are not leaving us anytime soon.

The Juggalos are back in the news thanks to reports from this year's Gathering, where the performer...

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The soundtrack and score to Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World-- which finally hits theaters this Friday, August 13-- features new music from Beck (who wrote songs for Michael Cera's character's band Sex Bomb-Omb), Broken Social Scene (who wrote songs for the film's punk band Crash and the Boys), and Nigel Godrich (who did the blippy, swoon-y score).

Both discs are out today and streaming in their entirety at Spinner. Especially noteworthy is a wispy new track played and sung by Beck called "Ramona" that sounds like a Sea Change outtake.

If that's not enough Scott Pilgrim for you, check out recent interviews we did about the soundtrack with both Beck and Broken Social Scene.

Pre-order and listen to songs Beck has written for Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World soundtrack on itunes

Singer/producer reveals he could 'just end up putting the songs on my website'

Front page photo by Danielle St. Laurent

When we talked to Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning about his band's contributions to the Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World soundtrack he said, "They're really short punk rock jams." He wasn't kidding. The song "I'm So Sad, So Very, Very Sad"-- played by fictional band Crash and the Boys in the film and featuring actor Erik Knudsen on vocals-- is five seconds long. Listen to it below (via Prefix):

Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World is out August 13. The film's star-studded soundtrack and score are out August 10.

Record Club is back for a new covers album

For his Record Club series, Beck gathers friends together to cover an entire album in a day, then posts the results to his website. So far, the Record Club choices have come from canonical or at least critically respected artists: the Velvet Underground, Skip Spence, INXS, Leonard Cohen.

But now Beck and friends have made their first batshit-ass crazy selection: Live at the Acropolis, the 1993 album from mustachioed Greek new age composer Yanni. As previously reported, Beck has enlisted Thurston Moore and Tortoise in his latest Record Club endeavor. (There's something weirdly appropriate about the idea of Tortoise covering Yanni.)

The first track, "Santorini", is up now, with a new track to be posted every week on Beck's website throughout the summer. Tortoise don't appear on "Santorini"; they won't show up until later in the album. Beck's website reports that "several studio musician heavyweights were brought in to read a heavily doctored score with interpolations of everything from Stravinsky to Shania Twain (look for others)."

While that's happening, Beck runs around making noise and Thurston improvises new lyrics that, per Beck's website, "give the track an added urgency and pathos." And since you asked, here's a sampling of those new lyrics: "Roasted pigs! Roasted pigs! Oinkin' oinkin'

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The ongoing project sees a group of artists rework an album in a day

Beck's Record Club project-- in which he enlists friends to cover an entire album in a day, then posts the results to his website-- stands as a consistently fascinating ongoing project. At the moment, we're almost done hearing the version of the INXS album Kick that Beck did with St. Vincent, Liars, and Os Mutantes. And now Time Out Chicago reports that Beck has lined up the collaborators for his next Record Club project: Tortoise and Thurston Moore.

According to Time Out, Tortoise visited Beck's studio last weekend, while they were touring the West Coast. The Sonic Youth leader also checked in. No word yet on what album they might've covered or when we'll get to hear it, but Tortoise bassist/guitarist Douglas McCombs tells Time Out that the assembled luminaries played a "broad spectrum of music that was sort of appropriate."

While you let this news percolate, check out St. Vincent's Annie Clark singing the INXS jam "Never Tear Us Apart" as part of the current Record Club project, because damn.

On the back of his sophomore album 'Maniac Meat', Tobacco gives Dazed an exclusive mixtape: 'Songs to Get Killed in the Woods To 2'



In the July issue of Dazed (out tomorrow), Beck's favourite beat butcher, Tobacco, talks about his insane second album, Maniac Meat, and his Mum's beef stroganoff. It's really rather good, you should check it out. The album that is, not the stroganoff. After the interview we asked if he'd like to make Dazed Digital an exclusive mixtape. A few days later he came back with this....

"I did one of these in 2008 for my last album, so I wanted to stick to the idea and make it a sequel. The title is 'Songs to Get Killed in the Woods To 2'"

Be scared. Be very scared....

01. Revelators "Serve the Man"
02. Gene Ween "Anything Quickly"
03. Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom "Rise"... article continues »


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