As 2008 ends and everyone is texting, Twittering and Yammering with New Year’s Eve plans, Uncensored Interview is already looking ahead to bands, booze and BBQ. That’s right, SXSW will be here before you know it–March 18 through the 22! What better way to look forward to spring than basking in the glow of freshly-announced performances?

While Quincy Jones will be delivering the music keynote, confirmed artists include Ra Ra Riot, Ben Harper and Relentless7, Friendly Fires, Wale, Arc Angels, Buraka Som Sistema and 8Ball and MJG, among a handful of others. Whew! So let the rumor mill begin. Who do you hope to see at SXSW 2009?

I’m certain The Pierces would put me to shame at a karaoke bar. In fact, I’d probably want to hide my tail between my legs and run off to one of those private karaoke rooms to expel my “singing” ability in private. Okay, maybe I’m over-exaggerating my shyness, but I did find my way into a private karaoke room over the holidays where I spent around $45 for about 90 minutes of self-deprecation.

Of course, these places somehow stay in business, so I’m apparently not the only one belting out Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” in a private karaoke room. Though I did spend some time lamenting the cost. After shelling out the dough, discussions of buying a karaoke machine popped up as the device would pay for itself after a visit or two.

Shortly after, we stumbled into a video game store and saw an Xbox game called Karaoke Revolution Party for $8. Figuring this would cut our karaoke costs down we grab the game and bring it home. Sadly, the game doesn’t work with the Xbox360, so it didn’t work! (Smooth move, Ex-Lax–I mean, Xbox.) However, could video games replace the karaoke room?

(CONTINUE READING KILLING THE KARAOKE MONSTER)

Seriously. Nobody likes a big ol’ sausage party, not even the ladies. So you can see why the girls of Tilly and the Wall were so psyched. According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2008 was the year of the rat, but in the world of indie music, it was the year of “Damn, who’s that?” Everywhere you looked there was a hot indie band with a totally hot woman up front, and Uncensored Interview was there to document this undeniable trend. We caught up with cuties like Alexandra from Ra Ra Riot and the no longer so rare sight of the all-female indie power house like The Donnas and Vivian Girls.

Hey, if you can rock a pair of stilettos, and you can rock the stage even harder, then you won’t hear any complaints from us. This trend doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, so stay tuned in 2009 for indie with even more estrogen and style. Oh, but for those of you out there who miss the bands of ugly dudes whom you could probably smell from 50 feet away and wouldn’t sleep with for 50 dollars or less, not to worry. I don’t think we’ll be experiencing a shortage of those for a long time to come.

Welcome to the second installment of Almost Famous, where we highlight an Uncensored Interview artist we feel is on the cusp of even more ubiquitous recognition.

As we enter 2009, can you imagine the Cocteau Twins with actual twins, or hear in your head a more ethereal Stereolab? If so, you’re well on your way to formulating a good mental picture of School of Seven Bells.

This three-piece, with its moniker inspired by a fictitious South American pickpocket training academy, features identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, along with Secret Machines’ Benjamin Curtis. The act’s debut, Alpinisms, released last October, combines dreamy familial harmonies with world music-inspired percussion, to create a wonderfully exotic sound that will pickpocket your heart.

Make sure to keep your eyes and ears out for our Uncensored Interview clips of the band this coming January.

Ever since the Pixies got back together, reunions have been in vogue. While The Lonely H connects with mid-aged Led Zeppelin fans about the hopes that the ’70s rock band may one day tour again, perhaps it’s time to compile the possibilities and test the odds about other rock reunions.

The Darkness
NME recently reported The Darkness are looking to get back together. I had no idea the band was broken up or that anyone would even care. Shows what I know sometimes. Though I don’t think I’d be going out on a limb by suggesting the reason for the reunion is due to a massive failure by the lead singer’s solo project, Hot Leg.

Creed
Perhaps the second scariest word in the indie rockers vocabulary (right below “Nickelback”) is Creed. The reports of a reunion seemed inevitable based on Idolator reports earlier this year. However, we may have dodged a bullet on this one, as Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti has no interested in the reunion. Though that didn’t stop Guns N’ Roses…

Guns N’ Roses
Though Chinese Democracy was finally released, does anyone consider this a true Guns N’ Roses reunion? I don’t think so.

Blur
Damon Albarn has been quite successful since Blur broke up (the other members, not so much), and a reunion without Albarn would be meaningless. However, breaking down the traditional reasons for getting back together (aka dismal solo careers), Blur will be reuniting for at least one gig in 2009. Here’s hoping for one or two stateside!

I don’t want to give away my girlfriend’s gift when she reads this blog, so let’s just say it’s entertainment-related-something you could find in any electronics store such as Circuit City, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I checked out the giant red box store to no success. Same with a few local stores. Nothing.

I’ve encountered this problem with specialty items before. I go to a store and they tell me while they don’t have it, they could order it on the internet for me. What’s the point of going to a store if you still have to wait for two days, go BACK to the store, and so on? Really, I can use the internet for myself…at home…in my underwear!

But this year I’m not purchasing a specialty item, I’m actually looking for something that should be fairly common. I sighed and checked online, fully expecting to pay some insanely high shipping fee. However, even Amazon didn’t have it available! I ordered it from Best Buy for in-store pickup, but received an e-mail shortly after ordering that their inventory had screwed up; it was not actually available at the aforementioned store.

I don’t mean to get on an Andy Rooney style rant here, but remember when stores would actually sell stuff? You could go to a store, find what you were looking for and bring it home. Heck, there’s even a store in New York where you can browse the items sold on a website, but you can’t BUY anything in the store; you have to go to their website. What’s the point of having a physical store at all?

(CONTINUE READING FOUR TO SIX WEEKS FOR CHRISTMAS)

Never before in most of our lifetimes has the need to maintain employment been so dire. People are literally clinging onto their jobs for dear life, hoping the bloody recession axe slices just above their heads and takes out some other unfortunate douchebag.

I was walking by the unemployment office the other day when I noticed three hookers and a coke dealer waiting in line. You know things are bad when hookers are being laid off! Now who will suck the dicks of all of those greedy, coked-up Wall Street execs who piloted their companies into the ground? Certainly not their wives! It’s a sad, sad situation for America.

Last month I propositioned that being Indie means having a crappy job, but what is an indie kid to do when employment is unavailable at even the crappiest of crappy jobs? Even in a recession, bills still have to be paid, debt still has to be taken care of and new tight pants and newspaper-boy hats have to be purchased: