Asylum Street Spankers

Art Brut, Asylum Street Spankers, Ben Vaughn, Besh O Drom, Cass McCombs, Five-Eight, Fountains Of Wayne, French Kicks, Gachupín, Gary Numan/Tubeway Army, Hissanol, Igmo, Illinois, Irving, Jarvis Cocker, Kraftwerk, Micachu & The Shapes, Snuff, Super Furry Animals, Syd Dale, The Cops, The Determinations, The Go, The Low Frequency In Stereo, The Plugz, The Starlight Mints, The Thermals, Vells, We Barbarians, a.k.a:RUDIE, aMiniature
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Kev is smelling none too sweet.

I’ve been sucked into the story of Alice and Kev, two characters in The Sims 3 which their creator has deemed shall be homeless. Alice is on the cusp of being a teenager, while Kev is her dad, an irascible, irredeemable lout. They sleep on benches in the park, where Kev raids nearby trash cans and Alice cadges the occasional meal from the kindly older folks nearby (who seem to be losing their patience with the whole arrangement).

It’s fascinating because, given only a handful of basic human traits and preferences, what we see play out is disturbingly lifelike. I’m linking to somewhere in the middle of the story, where things are coming to a head, but if you’d like to start from the beginning, here you go: Alice and Kev: Genesis.

What exactly is The Sims 3 saying about human nature? Are things really not that complicated? Can all this misery really be explained by the fact that some people aren’t, well, nice?

Illinois

Blue Skies For Black Hearts, Brave Combo, Brother Bean, DJ Dolores, Discovery, Fort Lauderdale, Frente!, Ghostbeat, Illinois, Mastretta, Micachu & The Shapes, Nick Lowe, P. Hux, Robyn Hitchcock, Seaweed, Sheila Nicholls, Super Furry Animals, Switches, The Capes, The Forty-Fives, The Z Kamp Express, Tony Allen, Ween
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16 Horsepower, 1990s, Carl Henry Brueggen, French Kicks, Friends Of Dean Martinez, Greg Laswell, MC 900 Foot Jesus, Madness, Mano Negra, Maow, Maximilian Hecker, Monte Video, Mosquitos, Mr. T Experience, Muchachito Bombo Infierno, Muffulletta, Nico, Os Mutantes, Paleface, Paul McCartney, Peggen, Pepe Deluxe, Rondelles, Sex Clark Five, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, Shonen Knife, The Cardiacs, The Fratellis, The Grates, The Green Goblyn Project, The Magnetic Fields, The Mattoid, The Moore Brothers, The Starlight Mints
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1990s, Asylum Street Spankers, Boogie Balagan, Brainiac, Butthole Surfers, Cream, Daft Punk, Drink Me, Elvis Costello, Herb Remington, Hot Chip, Jascha Ephraim, Kraftwerk, Lemon Jelly, Les Hommes, Manfred Hubler & Siegfried Schwab, P.P.Roy, Perez Prado & His Orchestra, Pixies, Quintron, Sourdough Slim, Squarepusher, The Cook Trio, The Cramps, The Gentle People, The Hold Steady, The Starlight Mints, These Animal Men, Trio, Vulgar Boatmen
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Akakage’s Happy Set, Arling + Cameron, Ben Vaughn, Brave Combo, Countdown Quartet, Damn, Davíd Garza, Devo, Drink Me, Dusminguet, El Flaco, Evolution Control Comittee, Fishbone, King Harvest, Lisa Germano, Madness, Maldita Vecindad & Los Hijos Del Quinto Patio, Neutral Milk Hotel, Nose, Owsley, Primus, Sir Millard Mulch, The Beatles, The Cardiacs, The Continental Cousins, The Folksmen, They Might Be Giants, Toots + The Maytalls, Venice Shoreline Chris, Ween
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1990s, Badawi, Barcelona, Billy Childish & Holly Golightly, Boredoms, Buffalo Daughter, Butter 08, Camper Van Beethoven, Commercial, DJ Shadow, Deke Dickerson & The Eccofonics, Diamanda Galas with John Paul Jones, Jellyfish, Jennyanykind, Leonard Nimoy, Manfred Hubler & Siegfried Schwab, Mazzy Star, Os Mutantes, Parker And Lily, Ruins, Solex, Stubborn Allstars, The Dust Brothers, The Fall, The Holy Modal Rounders, The Mercury Program, Volumen, Ween, X, Yohimbe Brothers, Young Fresh Fellows
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1990s, Daikaiju, Dan Deacon, David Lindley, Eddi Reader, Evil Wiener, Golden Shoulders, Graham Coxon, Guv’ner, Hello The Band, Jan, Jean Michel Jarre, Jimi Hendrix, Kinky, Little Jack Melody & His Young Turks, Los Lobos, Metal Molly, Micachu & The Shapes, Ministry, Polysics, St. Vincent, Ten Years After, That Petrol Emotion, The Capes, The Daktaris, The Dissociatives, The Pontiac Brothers, The Toasters, Thee Oh Sees, This Mortal Coil, White Williams, Willy DeVille
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1990s, Boards of Canada, Dr. Frank, Drool Brothers, Enon, Green Goblyn Project, Johnny Socko, Laurel Aitken, Mach Kung-Fu, Morphine, Oranger, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Robyn Hitchcock, Skatalites, Stan Getz avec Astrud et Joao Gilberto, Steve Hancoff, The Mommyheads, The Moog Cookbook, The Moore Brothers, The Presidents of The United States of America, The Rezillos, The Undertones, The Unicorns, This Mortal Coil, X, Young Fresh Fellows
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It’s a whirlwind tour of who knows what. I love the overdone dramatics in that Ophelias song, kinda like a clean Ween riffing on T-Rex.

In this episode: 10cc, Architecture In Helsinki, Breeders, Busdriver, Dr. Octagon, Electric Cokernut, Glass Eye, Hefner, His Name Is Alive, Laptop, The Dylan Group, The Ophelias, Ursula 1000, White Hassle

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