Travis’ Two Cents (In Five Parts)

Hi, I’m Travis Holcombe. I’m a new DJ here at KCRW and my first show will be tomorrow (Tuesday) night at midnight. Check it out if you can.

Last week, I did my first Travis’ Two Cents (In Five Parts) column. As I said then, this is my forum to say a lot of stupid stuff that I’ll regret soon after I see it published on the blog, so take everything I say here with a grain of salt. Also, I’m still trying to think of a new name for this column. Please send your suggestions!

Without further ado…

1) If the first two tracks are any indication, the new Justice album forthcoming on October 25 is going to be a strong contender for many people’s end of year Top 10 lists. As you my remember, “Civilization” debuted in the Spring and was featured in the Adidas “All In” spot. Last week Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay unleashed the title track from Audio, Video, Disco and it is certain to be lighting up a dancefloor and radio frequency near you in the coming weeks. Check it out below:

It’ll be interesting to see how fans will react to Justice’s transformation from the progenitors of the heavy, grinding electro sound to a quasi-arena prog rock act.

2) Hey, have you heard that new Julian Casablancas song? No, unfortunately it’s not an unearthed b-side from The Strokes, but rather a track JC recorded in our great city of Los Angeles for a new French men’s fragrance (not that you have to be a French man to wear it, it’s just a company based in France) called Decibel. The track, entitled “I Like The Night” is kinda okay, I suppose. NY Magazine has the full ad along with a behind the scenes video on the making of the song.

3) In news that will certainly put a smile on the face of KCRW DJ, Eric J. Lawrence, last week The Fall announced that their (really, his) 29th studio album, to be called Ersatz G.B., will be released in November. As a side note, there is a homeless man I used to see in Eagle Rock who is a dead-ringer for Mark E. Smith. And no, it wasn’t really Mark E. Smith.

4) The Battles released a cool video last week for their latest single “My Machines”, featuring Gary Numan and a hapless escalator rider. Just a warning: it’s totally safe for work, but it could leave you feeling uneasy.

5) Can I just say how happy I am that the NFL season is back? Unlike baseball, basketball or the Olympics where I only care about the game/event if a team or player that I like is involved, with the NFL I have very strong (mostly unfounded) opinions about pretty much all of the teams. I don’t know why I always root against the Broncos, I’ve just always hated them for some reason and I can always get into a game if the Broncos are on TV by rooting against them.

I know a lot of KCRW blog readers probably aren’t into football, or maybe even sports in general, and that’s fine, but you missed out if you didn’t watch the Jets-Cowboys game last night. Aside from the fact that it was a great game, we found out the answer to one of television’s most enduring questions: Did Tony Soprano die in the series finale of The Sopranosor didn’t he? Let’s backtrack for a second; we’ve already established that Tony was a huge fan of the Jets. When Eric Mangini, the former coach of the Jets, was dining at Vesuvio’s, Tony made sure to excuse himself and introduce himself to the “Mangenius“. Let’s fast forward back to last night, and there he was in the flesh: Mr. Anthony John “Tony” Soprano himself, giddy as could be over the Jets’ blocked punt returned for a touchdown in the 4th quarter of their come-from-behind victory.

Now that we’ve solved the question of whether Tony made it out of the finale’s family dinner alive, the only question that remains is who was that kid he was with? An illegitimate child? A nephew we were never introduced to in the show? I’ll keep you posted as the season develops…

— Travis Holcombe