Hearing that Alex Chilton died is a total stop-everything moment. I should be going to bed right now, but I can’t stop thinking about how much he meant to me as a musician and a songwriter. How I teared up the first time I went to see Big Star — at the Metro in Chicago in 1999, because I was negative-2 years old when #1 Record came out. How I’ve heard something like 178 cover versions of “Thirteen” over the last twenty years and how none of them sucked because the song was that perfect. I never considered a world without Alex Chilton, and it’s going to take me some time to process this.

GPOYW — which this week stands for Gorilla Pictures on Your Website — is all about the Bronx Zoo this week, mostly because I needed to give New Yorkers (and potential tourists) an invaluable tip: Going to the zoo in the pouring rain is like being given your own private zoo for the day. No one was there. Literally. Just do whatever you want. Like this gorilla, who ran up to the window and took a seat next to me so that he could eat some celery with a friend. For the record, I usually only have awww! moments like these with puppies.

• DOWNLOAD | ROBYN “Fembot” (Edit) 2010

I am a self-proclaimed “fanboy” of very few artists, but Robyn inspires that kind of devotion from me. She is — much more so than other, umm, more gregarious pop stars — a realized artist who understands that smart pop music should never sound like “smart pop music.” It takes time and thought to prepare, but once you’re at the party, you’ve got to leave your coat at the door; we can talk about it in the morning.

Robyn spoke with Pitchfork this morning to talk about some of the influences she’s tapped into for the three albums she plans to release this year:

I went back to a lot of things I grew up with, like Technotronic and early acid music. I like a lot of the minimal stuff that’s out now like Booka Shade and Gui Boratto, too, even though it’s a lot slicker than stuff from the 80s or the 90s. And I’ve been listening to Giorgio Moroder and early Prince records where he was doing a lot of disco-sounding music. I feel like the dance world is like the last genre to be really be exploited or commercialized in the right way. It’s really going to have its time now and not just be looked upon as kitsch.

There isn’t another pop star on the planet that knows who Gui Boratto and Booka Shade are — much less understand what it means to be into “early acid” and then produce a single like “Fembot” which could have very well been produced by Juan Atkins back in the day. Which is all only part of the reason this girl is just staggering to me.

utnereader:

Whoa. The release of the new Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy record commemorated with Will Oldham bottle stoppers.

Indie rock merchandising has finally reached its saturation point, and yet somehow, an emo band is not responsible. This is probably the subject of a fully fleshed-out essay I need to write, but I’m going all microcommentary today.

I came across this meta-photo by accident and it kept me up for a while last night. I cannot for the life of me figure out why Diplo is hanging out with James Cameron, and the only explanation I could come up with — that Cameron is using Diplo to meet Robyn — seems highly unlikely. In other news, if you ever find a picture of me throwing gang signs with Diplo, I’m totally trying to meet Robyn.

I was checking my Facebook e-mail this afternoon when a chat window opened up from an old friend that I hadn’t spoken to in some time. The following is an actual transcript of our chat, punctuationally cleaned up for readability, and injected with editorial wherever necessary.

Mark: Hey.

Norman: Oh snap. What’s up?

Mark: Actually, am in a mess right now.

Norman: How come?

Mark: I came to the UK this morning to visit someone. Unfortunately, I took the wrong cab, the driver was a robber at the airport. He robbed me of all my belongings. I’m in Heathrow now and need to buy a ticket back.

Norman: Holy shit. I have no idea what to say to that. That’s insane! Do you have your passport?

Mark: No.

Norman: Do you need help from a local in any way?

Mark: I will need you to send me at least 800 pounds through Western Union so I can buy a ticket back quick.

Norman: (This is where I start getting suspicious.) Why me?

Mark: I dont have a phone or anything, just internet here, and you are the only available person am talking to. I’m going to return it when I get back.

Norman: How about Jim and Darren? (There is no Jim and Darren.)

Mark: Couldn’t get hold of them too.

Norman: Damn. Can my wife send it? (I learned something from watching To Catch A Predator’s Nigerian scam special!)

Mark: Yes.

Norman: How?

Mark: If she has a credit card available, visit westernunion.com and make money transfer online. Use my name and last name as the receive and use the Heathrow Airport as my address cause that’s where I am now.

Norman: I could get my friend in London to meet you?

Mark: Sure, but am depressed right now and need to buy a ticket back home immediately.

Norman: How will you get back without a passport though? They’re brutal about that there.

Mark: I reported it immediately and they said I only need a transit paper.

Norman: OK, then one last thing.

Mark: What.

Norman: I’m gay and I dont have a wife and the real Mark would know that. So stop hacking his account, OK?

Earlier today I mentioned that I was bothered by the editorial decision to draw a Doom logo on Lady Gaga’s leather jacket in her latest music video, but now, I’m pretty sure I’ve closed in on the mystery over whose idea it was to do such a thing:

Jonas Åkerlund was a Masonic member of the Swedish black metal band Bathory from 1983 through 1984 and openly worships Satan.

So, okay, the co-writer of the new Lady Gaga video actually used to play in a band with a legendary dude named Quorthon, pictured above. That’ll teach me to critique pop videos directed by Satan-worshiping fire-breathers within spitting distance of Norway.