Email Author Nate Patrin

2008 Stories by Nate Patrin

• The Popstream: Jon Wurster with the Mountain Goats, "We Bite"

  published Dec 31, 2008

  Jon Wurster is the man I would most like to have a beer with. There's a number of reasons for this, including but not limited to the fact that he's played with just about everyone awesome in indie r... More >>

• The Popstream: The 1968 Ohio State Fair Talent Contest

  published Dec 30, 2008

  "OK, guys, we're doin' this. We've got the Rickenbackers all restringed, my voice is in top shape, I've memorized all the lyrics to 'Over Under Sideways Down', and we're gonna win that ten grand. So... More >>

• The Popstream: The Obligatory Replacements Post

  published Dec 29, 2008

  Let's face it: you don't need me to tell you the history of the Replacements, about how great they were and how they put Minneapolis rock on the map and all that, since we get some reminders about it... More >>

• A Popstream Public Service Announcement

  published Dec 22, 2008

  We here (well, OK, I here) at the Popstream will be taking a brief hiatus for Christmas week. I'd like to say it's because I'm going to be too busy basking in the family warmth and joyful wonders of... More >>

• Dr. Mambo's Combo

  published December 24, 2008

  1987 was a notable year for Minnesota: the Twins won the World Series, Prince released one of his best albums in Sign 'O' the Times, and... More >>

• Shelter: Derrick May

  published December 24, 2008

  Remember when Eminem dissed Moby with the line "nobody listens to techno"? (While we're at it -- remember Eminem?) Not the most reverent claim to... More >>

• The Lounge's First Annual XX-Mas Eve Extravaganza

  published December 24, 2008

  It's Christmas Eve, you're alone, you're bored, and you want to be entertained. This is a dangerous situation, and it's one that's best remedied... More >>

• The Popstream's Underrated '08: Codebreaker ft. Kathy Diamond, "Fire"

  published Dec 19, 2008

  I'm gonna keep this one short: I try not to bore you with audio-only YouTube clips where the only visual element is a static screenshot of a photo, but this one's worth it. Codebreaker are a disco/f... More >>

• The Popstream's Underrated '08: Valient Thorr

  published Dec 18, 2008

  I first heard of Valient Thorr back in 2006, when they opened for Gogol Bordello at First Avenue. And to say that I had expected a likely opening band for everyone's favorite gypsy punks to be a quin... More >>

• The Popstream's Underrated '08: Karl Hector & the Malcouns

  published Dec 17, 2008

  Forgive me for sounding suspicious, but whenever an obscure artist with little to no paper trail or resume shows up on the Stones Throw label (or, in this case, their retro imprint Now-Again), my fi... More >>

• The Popstream's Underrated '08: eLZhi

  published Dec 16, 2008

  You might look at me like I'm crazy now, but I'm calling it: people are going to look back on 2008 as a remarkably solid year for hip hop -- not legendary, like '88 or '94 or even 2001, but solid.... More >>

• The Knux

  published December 17, 2008

  The last couple years have seen a noticeable upswing in the popularity of "hipster rap" -- or, in layman's terms, "rap that doesn't sound like... More >>

• The Popstream's Underrated '08: Bad Dudes

  published Dec 15, 2008

  Listen, I like the Hold Steady and Cut Copy and Lil Wayne albums as much as the next person; probably more if that next person is one of those sooooo-totes-over-them music blog commenters. The probl... More >>

• The Popstream: Skiffle Time!

  published Dec 12, 2008

  Today's installation of the Popstream is going to be kind of different: I know I haven't gone too far back earlier than the '70s in most of my entries, so I decided to showcase a little something fr... More >>

• The Popstream: Masta Ace, ''Me and the Biz''

  published Dec 11, 2008

  "Goddammit. Where the fuck is Bizr We're makin' a video for a track with his name in the title, and he isn't even here for the shoot." "I dunno where he is. Did you check Kay-Beer I know dude collects... More >>

• The Popstream: Broadcast, "Come On Let's Go"

  published Dec 10, 2008

  They're not exactly forgotten, but more than a decade after one of their songs was used in an Austin Powers movie and eight years after their debut full-length The Noise Made By People dropped on Wa... More >>

• The Popstream: The Rickroll Must Die

  published Dec 09, 2008

  Maybe getting duped into watching the video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" was a special kind of mortifying for you back in 2007. Maybe you shared knowing chuckles with your friends when you went from... More >>

• The Popstream: ABBA, ''Eagle''

  published Dec 08, 2008

  I've heard ABBA get called everything from plastic Euro-cheese to camp icons to straight-up pop geniuses -- so maybe there's room in there to call 'em psychedelic, too. OK, I admit that there's noth... More >>

• DragonForce

  published December 10, 2008

  They've been called "speed metal", "Nintendo metal", "extreme power metal", and "those [expletive] [expletives] with their [expletive] impossible... More >>

• Illuminous 3

  published December 10, 2008

  You might've seen their logo on some ubiquitous sticker pasted to the back of a street sign -- silhouettes of the IDS Center, Wells Fargo Center... More >>

• The Hanson Brothers

  published December 10, 2008

  The Hanson Brothers almost seem like some odd, parodic conceptual distillation of two really obvious stereotypes: they're a punk band, so of... More >>

• Bun B

  published December 10, 2008

  It's been just over a year since Pimp C passed away, closing the door on the long, tumultuous and sadly underrated career of Port Arthur, Texas... More >>

• The Popstream: Minutemen, ''Ack Ack Ack''

  published Dec 05, 2008

  The Minutemen were top-notch agitators, and not just musically: around the same time the Dead Kennedys were shouting "MTV Get Off the Air", Mssrs. Boon, Watt & Hurley thought it might be worth a ... More >>

• The Popstream: Rahsaan Roland Kirk, ''I Say a Little Prayer''

  published Dec 04, 2008

  The original YouTube page for today's embedded clip features the following tags: "Rahsaan Roland Kirk", "jazz", "live", "1969", "saxophone" and "impossible". You may be wondering why that last one's... More >>

• The Popstream: Jay Reatard, ''See/Saw''

  published Dec 03, 2008

  There is no more boring argument among music geeks than the one dedicated to what is and isn't officially Punk Rock. Aside from the "not giving half a shit what anyone else thinks" aspect of it, whi... More >>