Furrowed Brow Smile

I've always been a ladies man

2012-02-13T17:58:00.001-08:00

The Magnetic Fields return to their 69 Love Songs best - though for some reason it took me ten listens to realize this.

Fag Stag Bag Wag Brag Jag Shag Gag - it's... Andrew in Drag:

The Art of Beer Swilling Jian Sword Dancing

2011-12-14T20:29:00.000-08:00

Some Best Songs of 2011

2011-12-04T10:53:00.001-08:00

Air - Seven Stars
Alex Turner - Piledriver waltz
The Antlers - No Widows
Austra - Lose It
Author and Punisher - Terrorbird
The Bandana Splits - Sometimes
Beirut - Santa Fe
Best Coast - Sunny Adventure
The Black Keys - Lonely Boy
Casually Sunshine - Consequences of the Kill
Chad VanGaalen - Sara
The Chap - We'll See To Your Breakdown
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Same Mistake
Crystal Stilts - Sycamore Tree
Cults - You Know What I Mean
Death Cab For Cutie - Home is a fire
Decemberists - Down by the Water
Destroyer - Suicide Demo for Kara Walker
Die Antwoord - $0$
The Drums - Money
The Feelies - Nobody Knows
Genki Sudo World Order - Machine Civilization
Girls - Lawrence
The Go! Team - Voice Yr Choice
Jay-Z and Kanye West - Murder to Excellence
Jogger - Nephicide
Kate Bush - Wild Man
Lana Del Rey - Video Games
Lykke Li - Sadness Is A Blessing
Major Lazer - Original Don
M83 - Midnight City
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton)
Miike Snow - The Rabbit (Stuart Price GVNR Remix)
Mogwai - San Pedro
Noah and The Whale - L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
O'Death - Bugs
Octapus - Murman
Peter Bjorn and John - Second Chance
PJ Harvey - The Last Living Rose
R.E.M. - Walk It Back
The Rapture - In the Grace of Your Love
Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Adventures Of Raindance Maggie
Röyksopp - Keyboard Milk
Slow Magic - Corvette Cassette
Starfucker - Bury Us Alive
Summer Camp - Better Off Without You
Summer Fiction - Chandeliers
Tennis - Origins
They Might Be Giants - Electronic Istanbul Not Constantinople
TV Girl - Benny and the Jetts
Wild Beasts - Albatross
Wye Oak - Civilian
Young Galaxy - We Have Everything

I need nothing

2011-10-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

Lana Del Rey may be guilty of several things (faux mysteriousness, recycling videos, overly pouty lips...) but the music keeps on keeping on and is... terrific:Parenthetical Girls spend mucho $ on album covers...

Swallow The Rapture

2011-09-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

A Life Abandoned Midstream

2011-09-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

Coulda done much better with this - and I wouldn't have broken the law a half dozen times doing it (hey you damned kids, get off my lawn!).Nice excuse to hear this excellent song however. This is Vancouver...

Destroyer - Savage Night at the Opera from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Innovative

2011-08-14T08:56:00.003-07:00

Quad Time by Origamibiro and The Joy of Box - an audio-visual collective...

Quad Time from The Joy of Box on Vimeo.

Money

2011-08-14T08:56:00.001-07:00

Love those shorts and the Gareth Keenan haircut...

Soda Jerk

2011-08-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Happy video from The Bandana Splits...

The Bandana Splits - "Sometimes" from stereogum on Vimeo.

Looks Black To Me

2011-07-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Arab Strap's Aiden Moffat with Bill Wells :: The Copper Top...

Video Games

2011-07-07T15:00:00.001-07:00

Art Video

2011-04-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

Lucky Me by Project Jenny, Project Jan (music) and Hikmet Barutcugil (!) (marbling). Features a bunny cameo!!!

"Lucky Me" by Project Jenny, Project Jan from sammy rubin on Vimeo.

SingTel Runs Junos

2011-04-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

Nice Postal Service vibe going on here, although the auto-tune is on high (and auto-tune is all that separates sanity from the Rebecca Black hacks of the world). But never mind all that... witness the amazing moves that seem to get more amazing as the video progresses:

Machine Civilization by World Order...

Go Japan

2011-03-24T20:24:00.000-07:00

Secretary Song by The Go! Team and Satomi Matsuzaki...

I know it ain't 'ealthy

2011-03-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

New... (Turn me up some by Stanton Warriors & Messrs)

Old... (I say you say trousers and pull out):

Talk Talk - Dum Dum Girl (Trousers)

Spudbelly | Myspace Video

Pretty Wise

2011-03-04T19:47:00.001-08:00

Making South Africans proud the world over - it's Die Antwoord:

remove the 3D glasses when the Dark Side of the Moon appears....

God Damn Europeans

2011-02-23T16:37:00.000-08:00

Someone i've ignored for far too long (kinda like this place)... PJ Harvey:

Some nice Shinsy bass lines there, this from her great new album "Let England Shake".

Woot Woot. Gots me the mojo back!

Seduced by the luck of butterflies

2010-05-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

"Lemonade" by CocoRosie:

It was dirt and dirt is all the same

2010-05-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

81 by Joanna Newsom...

We are the swine

2010-04-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

Dieter!

2010-04-21T19:40:00.001-07:00

Islands by The xx

Drunk Girls by LCD Soundsystem

2010-04-19T17:36:00.001-07:00

Fireflies by Owl City

2010-04-16T19:56:00.001-07:00

Collector by Here We Go Magic

2010-04-15T19:56:00.001-07:00

Werewolf by Cocorosie

2010-04-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

In My Younger Days

2010-01-28T16:30:00.000-08:00

Zee Video Roundup...

The best music video of 2009:
Video :: All The King’s Men by Wild Beasts (Little Stolen Moments'' alternate video)

The one song on The Magnetic Fields’ new one, “Realism”, that doesn’t render me sleepy and long for the 69 Love Songs of yore...
Video :: We Are Having A Hootenanny by The Magnetic Fields

More dancing (da stanky leg variety)...
Video :: Sugarbaby by Crystal Stilts (perhaps not official)

The most anticipated album of the year is by Broken Bells (James Mercer and Danger Mouse):
Video :: The High Road by Broken Bells

The High Road

Broken Bells | MySpace Music Videos

For anyone who’s ever longed to see a guy drive to the store to get food for his dog...
Video :: In My Younger Days by eels

Scenic...
Video :: Modern Drift by Efterklang

Modern Drift by Efterklang from Rumraket on Vimeo.

From The First Days Of Spring film by Noah And The Whale, the excellent "My Broken Heart":
Video :: My Broken Heart by Noah And The Whale

Top 28 Moments in Music :: 2009

2009-12-19T14:53:00.000-08:00

... a countdown ::

28. Viral Videos: Staged Acts
Everyone’s trying to get their 9 minutes and 59 seconds of fame on the youtubes these days. And by the way, that wedding ceremony dance video thing was really lame. Also, I’m not a big fan of The Black Eyed Peas and I could care less about Oprah, but I have to admit this caught my attention. After all, I do like me some synchronized dance moves and seeing Chicagwegiens having fun.

27. Flight Of The Conchords...These guys continue to make me laugh and their songs are both catchy and hilarious. Too bad their show got cancelled.

26. Morrissey... What a year it was for Morrissey - his 50th. Sickness and bottles to the head meant a whole lot of shows were cancelled (or stopped suddenly), he released a new album - the average “Years of Refusal” - and dragged out a forgettable collection of recent b-side drivel. Mozzer also continues to shun Canada due to our apparent taste for seal products. As well, he is currently without a record label and is contemplating hanging up the gladiola for good. All this and I’m still not sure what to think - other than I know that if he finally found a decent set of musicians (who had at least one original idea between them) to back him up, then things would be back on track with my hero-worshipping. Hmmm, all four Smiths members are still alive!

25. Emmy The Great ... Her vocals on “Seattle” gave The BPA’s Fat Boy Slim renewed life. Meanwhile, Emma-Lee Moss has carved out for herself a fine little singer-songwriter career who’s best work is surely ahead of her.

24. Discovering/ Rediscovering the oldies... I may have been raised on early 70’s am radio, but the only Beatles music I ever really got into was Stars On 45’s medley take. As awesome as that is, hardly a primer. So it wasn’t until this year’s Beatles Rock Band that I got a new found appreciation, though I still think I prefer Wings. The Animals, The Kinks and even Pavement were other “oldies” I finally discovered.

23. Pixies reunited...

Maybe this time they’ll pump out some new tunes to go along with the reformation. Yeah they’re as “dull as butter knives” on stage but I like the fact that they toured the Doolittle songs on the occasion of that album’s 20th anniversary (and that Joey Santiago still looks like he’s 25).

22. Pet Shop Boys - Yes... “Love etc.” is a phenomenal song from a group that is not supposed to matter anymore. The remaining songs were... fine.

21. Dead Man’s Bones... Made up of actor Ryan Gossling and a friend, Dead Man’s Bones, through their daring amateurism, goes down as the band least likely to of 2009. More surprising than the storyline of an actor succeeding in music is that Gosling transformed his tween turn in the Mickey Mouse Club to that of baritone singer of ghoulish prose.

20. NSFW Music Videos... Others have pursued the NSFW/ nekidness type-video theme before, like Sigur Rós last year, but this sure was the year for pushing the envelope. Yeahsayer had naked running people, Girls showed off their own penises, Major Lazer peformed dance-based sex acts minus the nudity while Massive Attack recently released a video for Paradise Circus with clips from old porn flics. Matt and Kim were the most original with their Times Square clothes ripping FU for Lessons Learned, but the best of the bunch was The Flaming Lips’ Watching The Planets... as much as I didn’t need to see Wayne’s Coyne, it was a fairly decent video.

19. The Avett Brothers... I first heard these guys during a scene in Friday Night Lights and was blown away. Turns out they have quite the following in that southern belt of states. “I and Love and You”, released in September, is fairly conventional stuff (Starbucks sells it - yikes!) but there are enough original bits and pieces in there to hold my attention.

18. Miike Snow... This Swedish/ American band came out of nowhere to produce a handful of memorable, if slightly conventional, songs. Their videos were equally memorable.

17. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic... I have only listened to half of this album, but I like the direction these guys are going. These are not simple tunes that catch you right away - you have to work at them a bit.

16. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug... Again, for some reason I haven’t gotten around to listening to the entire thing, but I’m sure glad that the Arctic Monkeys still matter and have been able to translate all that hype and talent into high quality output. Nice lads too!

15. God Help The Girl... This film score to a non-existent (yet) movie by Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch contains all the great songwriting , hooks and necessary twee-factor of a proper B&S album but perhaps comes off a little too polished.

14. múm - Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know...
Iceland’s múm changed up their members and their sound this time around and while the vocals are a little more present, the minimalistic squeaks and blips that make their music so enduring remain. Perhaps not their best effort, but an intriguing departure from the ordinary.

13. Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light... This came out way back in January. This is Antony’s most complete album to date but given his warbley vocals, I think people still either love him or hate him.

12. Flotation Toy Warning - Bluffer’s Guide to The Flight Deck... This album was actually released in 2004, but I went five years without knowing the beauty that this thing contains. Mesmerizing stuff. New work is expected from Flotation Toy Warning next year.
Song :: Popstar Reaching Oblivion by Flotation Toy Warning

11. Hello Sweden (once again)... Discovering the music of Hello Saferide, Skatan, Air France and Anna Ternheim was enough to make this list but “old” Swedish standbys like Peter, Bjorn and John and Loney Dear also pumped out reasonably decent new material.

Song :: Collapsing At Your Doorstep by Air France

10. fun. - Aim and Ignite... Nate from The Format joins forces with his buddies to create happy songs with wide reaching arrangements and tempo changes all over the place. A beauty!

9. Karen O (Karen O and The Kids - Where The Wild Things Are OST; Yeah Yeah Yeah’s - It’s Blitz)... I have ignored the The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s over the years but Karen O’s handling of the Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack was so brilliant that I then went back to It’s Blitz, released earlier in the year, and enjoyed that too. Next thing you know, Karen O was popping up, via telephone line vocals, on a couple of tracks on Embryonic, the new Flaming Lips album.

8. Karin Dreijer Andersson... One half of Swedish electronic outfit The Knife, Karin continued her collaborative work with Röyksopp in 2009 on a couple of tracks and also branched out as a solo artist with Fever Ray – a collection of dark and eerie tunes strung together with THAT voice.

7. Music Go Music - Expressions... Disco revival at its finest! Actually, I only need one album in the “disco revival” category... and this is a whole heap of fun.

6. The xx - xx... xx stands for twenty - the age of all four members of the band at the time of recording this, their first album. Vulnerable, exquisite, measured... their music belies and confirms their accumulated experience. The xx combine boy-girl narration with a modern, low fi sound that results in creative works of art hailed by critics and fans alike. Believe the hype!

5. Animal Collective... The band’s 2009 album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, spawned two of the best videos of the year - both for the excellent “My Girls”. Later in the year, Animal Collective released one of the best songs of 2009, ”Graze” off of their EP, Fall Be Kind. Graze contains the most awesome sample of Zamfir’s pan flute that you’ll ever hear(!)... in the dancey bit of the song no less!

4. Röyksopp - Junior... The ultimate up-beat album; benefits from the diversity of all those guest singers (Lykke Li, Karin Dreijer Andersson, Robyn). Dance music you can listen to on your commute!
Video :: The Girl And The Robot by Röyksopp

3. The Antlers - Hospice... One would think that an album entirely dedicated to songs about watching your beloved die of cancer in hospital would not be well received (or even conceived). But with Hospice, which is equal parts moving, engaging and entertaining, The Antlers manage to achieve the impossible. A must! Note: Hospice was originally distributed by the band themselves - an indie group in the truest sense of the term.

Song :: Two by The Antlers

1. The Hidden Cameras - Origin:Orphan... This is one of the two best albums of the year. There was less singing about peeing on your fellow man and more attention to detail on this, Joel Gibbs’ fourth album proper. The hooks are still there and the songs are better than ever. I would say this represents a more mature approach but past Cameras songs detailing golden showers and enemas were oddly mature in their own right. Origin:Orphan is a brilliant album by a brilliant man and it goes well beyond the band’s self described “gay church folk music” moniker.

1. Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, The Commuter... The other best album of the year - this by the recently-gone-solo ex-Grandaddy leader. Any commentary on this album, positive or otherwise, has strangely been absent from 99.9% of interweb music blogs: proof of my continued uncoolness I suppose. However, “Yours Truly...” will one day be looked upon as a classic! Bonus: you can get Jason’s new seven track “Christmas” album of improvised piano pieces for free here.

MixTape :: 2009 Edition

2009-12-19T13:58:00.000-08:00

Top songs from the 76 best artists of 2009

Disk One
Bear - The Antlers
Pingvinvärmen - Tvärvägen
I Can Be A Frog - The Flaming Lips
We Almost Had A Baby - Emmy The Great (Video)
Epilepsy Is Dancing - Antony & The Johnsons
He Falls To Me - The Hidden Cameras
Brand New Sun - Jason Lytle
Arjeplog - Hello Saferide (Video)
My Timing Is Off - Eels
All The King's Men - Wild Beasts
The First Days Of Spring - Noah and The Whale
Surprises - Skatan
klass 6b - Rena Rama

Disk Two
Shot In The Back Of The Head - Moby
When I Grow Up (Version by Lissvik) - Fever Ray
The Girl and the Robot - Röyksopp
Graze - Animal Collective
Fot I Hose - Casiokids
Sleepy Head - Passion Pit
Love Etc. - Pet Shop Boys
Lisztomania - Phoenix (Video)
Paddling Ghost - Dan Deacon
Pon de floor' feat. VYBZ Kartel - Major Lazer
If I Know You - The Presets (Video)
Solid Gold - The Golden Filter

Disk Three
You Saved My Life - Cass McCombs
So Far Around The Bend - The National
Animal - Miike Snow
Sing Sang Sung - Air
Prophecies & Reversed Memories - múm
No Excuses - Air France
Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear
Heart Skipped A Beat - The xx
Electric Car - They Might Be Giants
Mary's Market - God Help The Girl
Pa Pa Power - Dead Man's Bones
All Is Love - Karen O and the Kids

Disk Four
Knotty Pine - Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
Seattle (Feat. Emmy The Great) - The BPA
The Rake's Song - The Decemberists
Lindsay Brohan - Javelin
Chase The Tear - Portishead
Paradise Circus - Massive Attack
Nothing To Worry About - Peter Bjorn & John
French Navy - Camera Obscura
Hysteric - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Dimmer - Bishop Allen
Shampoo - Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Summers - Loney Dear
Used To Be - Beach House

Disk Five
When I'm Gone - Vivian Girls
Crying Lightning - Arctic Monkeys
Uprising - Muse
Jackie Collins Existential Question Time - Manic Street Preachers (Video)
Think I Need It Too - Echo & The Bunnymen
Sink Or Swim - Bad Lieutenant
Angela - Jarvis Cocker
Let's Go Surfing - The Drums
Strictly Game - Harlem Shakes
Just Me - Music Go Music
Black Swan - Sunset Rubdown
Born On A Day The Sun Didn’t Rise - Black Moth Super Rainbow
Shame Is The Name - Morrissey

Disk Six
Nice to Come Home - Julie Doiron
Gentle Hour - Yo La Tengo
Roll Up Your Sleeves - We Were Promised Jetpacks
White Jetta - Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
Nice Trip - Monogold
Stillness Is the Move - Dirty Projectors
Tightrope - Yeahsayer
Lowiza - The Lovely Feathers
Modern Girl (...with scissors) - Alec Ounsworth
Slight Figure of Speech - The Avett Brothers
At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be) - fun.
When Life Gives Me Lemons... - The Boy Least Likely To (Video)
Uh huh - Munchausen By Proxy (Video)

Avett Brothers for $9.95

2009-11-25T20:39:00.000-08:00

Video :: Slight Figure of Speech by The Avett Brothers

The Avett Brothers - Slight Figure Of Speech - watch more funny videos

This one never really understood the 80s is over

2009-11-09T21:28:00.001-08:00

Video Roundup...

This is your standard video format here (though with a minor twist at the end) but nonetheless... the first official video from fun. Finally.
Video :: All the pretty girls by fun.

The Pixies are touring Doolittle and sounding pretty decent (four free new live tracks available here via the usual circuitous route.) Live last Friday on Conan:
Video :: Here comes your man (live, 2009) by The Pixies

Mozzer got hit with a plastic cup two nights ago in Liverpool, on song number two, and immediately abandoned the show. Fans were not amused:
Video :: (18 seconds of) Black Cloud by Morrissey

No words can describe the brilliance:
Video :: Beat it (MJ cover) by Pomplamoose

This wouldn’t happen at one of those boring (and unhygienic) American football matches... While watching this live, it all seemed rather surreal and bizarre. But having viewed it again since this clip has gone viral, it now appears somewhat normal:
Video :: Orally responsible lad at footie match

Commentator :: "So you're in the football stadium, you have had your pie, you brush your teeth. I mean where do you rinse, or gargle?"

Stillness is the move

2009-11-05T17:03:00.000-08:00

More music videos should involve llamas/alpacas!

Song :: Stillness is the move by Dirty Projectors

Dead Man's Bones

2009-10-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

In time for Halloween... it's Dead Man's Bones. Released a few weeks back, DMB's debut, self-titled album is a monster ghost love story - that works!?! Don't be put off by the fact that this is Ryan Gosling's band - he can sing, he has a purpose, and he is no mere actor looking for some interesting little side project (hello Scarlett Johansson!). The entire album is a collaboration with the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Children's Choir (inspired by the Langley Schools Music Project) as seen here in the clip:

Video :: In the room where you sleep by Dead Man's Bones

There's a link to the mp3 of "In the room where you sleep" from the youtube page. Also, this is excellent:
Song :: My body's a zombie for you by Dead Man's Bones

Best of the Decade

2009-10-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Albums of the 00's...

1. The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy (May, 2000)

2. Come on feel the Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens (July, 2005)

3. Takk... by Sigur Ros (September, 2005)

4. Chutes too narrow by The Shins (October, 2003)

5. Pleased to meet you by James (July, 2001)

6. Proof Of Youth by The Go! Team (September, 2007)

7. Waiting for the sirens’ call by New Order (March, 2005)

8. Oh, Inverted World by The Shins (June, 2001)

9. 23 by Blonde Redhead (April, 2007)

10. Talkie Walkie by Air (January, 2004)

I can be a frog

2009-09-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

Not the biggest Lips fan out there, but this new one is intriguing ::

The Flaming Lips "I Can Be A Frog"

The Avett Brothers

2009-09-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

The Avett Brothers performing and being good ol' boys in the just released video for the excellent "I and Love and You"...

Video :: I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers

All is love

2009-09-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

Three weeks to go until the long-anticipated "Where The Wild Things Are". This song is turning me into a Yeah Yeah Yeah's fan...

Video (unofficial) :: All is love by Karen O and The Kids

Brooklyn

2009-09-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn seems to be the place to be, and be from, these days. A cool lineup of hip Brooklyn born (or based) bands includes :: The Welcome Wagon, The National, Grizzly Bear, Vivian Girls, Vampire Weekend, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Au Revoir Simone, MGMT and Dirty Projectors.

The Hold Steady are also from Brooklyn but I don’t really care about The Hold Steady. On that note, Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond also hail from New York’s most populous borough.

Vivian Girls provide some pretty standard rock (but with a stellar bass groove):

Next month Sufjan Stevens comes out with his BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) multi-media effort, which will include a “stereoscopic 3D View-Master reel”. The tunes are grand, orchestral efforts developed as a musical expression of the much-maligned BQE thorough fare. Reviews, of the music at least, have found Sufjan much-maligned as well. As in: get on with making the sequel to Illinoise and stop farting around!! At least there are hula hoopers:

Interlude I—Dream Sequence in Subi Circumnavigation from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.

Not bad. Music to drive to? I've tried and.... well.... meh!

The Avett Brothers are from North Carolina but the title track from their forthcoming album (September 29) references Brooklyn and it sounds like they'd like to live there too... so there ya go!

Song :: I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers

"I and Love and You" featurette ::

I and Love and You, the album, will be out next Tuesday. And, yes, it will be awesome!

The xx

2009-09-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

They are brilliant. They are the current "it" band. They are from London. And, yes, they're frikin' young.
They are my band of the moment. I do like their style...

Video :: Crystalized by The xx

Video :: Crsytalized (acoustic/ playing to 3 people on a bridge in Amsterdam) by The xx

Song :: Basic Space by The xx
Song :: Crystalized by The xx

Very Good Film

2009-09-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

16: Moments... with music by Iceland's Parachutes (Alex from "Jónsi and Alex"... aka Riceboy Sleeps... Jonsi being the Jonsi from Sigur Rós)

More by William Hoffman: interesting takes on sitting, shooting and tanning here.

I think about this world a lot - and I cry

2009-09-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

Video :: You are the everything by REM for MoveOn (We Can’t Afford to Wait)

Why is this simply not a no brainer to all sane Americans who are not associated with any pharmaceutical or health insurance company?

Me Canadian. je ne comprends pas.

Do you know how much we love our universal public health care in this country? In 2004, we voted Tommy Douglas, the father of medicare, as the greatest Canadian ever. Gretzky came a lowly 10th!

Also, today when I noticed a headline that the Obama “you lie” heckler has raised over $200,000 I thought ,“what a splendid gesture, transforming your buffoon-based infamy into charitable donations... lovely”. Turns out, however, that the money raised is for himself. The dude aims to translate his new found glory status into cold, hard campaign financing. What, me apologize?

I told you I would stay

2009-09-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

The best of the new music...

One of the songs of the year, Grizzly Bear's Two Weeks, gets a video reworking courtesy one Gabe Askew. This "fan video" is absolutely incredible and blows the official, unwatchable head popping video out of the water ::

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

Six months of shuffling legos has resulted in this piece of art - 8 Bit Trip by Rymdreglage ::

Air are back with a wonderful return to form in Sing, Sang, Sung...

Sing Sang Sung from Colour Me In on Vimeo.

"we talk about dishwasher tablets"...

The usual creeposity from Fever Ray - the video for the excellent "Seven" ::
Via Pitchfork

The best damn tune TMBG have put out in a goodly long time. Perhaps its the female vocals (supplied by the wife of one of the Giants, Robin Goldwasser of "In the middle, In the middle, In the middle" fame)?

Two (cool) videos

2009-09-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

Flight Of The Conchords with a song about Brabaria (or was it Barbara?) and her lazy eye...

Buster Keaton comes to life (Wow - this guy was massive!) through the music of Radiohead...

Absence makes the heart lose weight, yeah

2009-08-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

Paddy “Tevye” McAloon :: outstanding in his field

As a huge fan of ~~ZZ Top~~ Prefab Sprout and someone who likes to think they’ve got their pinky planted firmly on the pulse of today’s pop music, I was both ecstatic to learn that a new album is due out very shortly and annoyed that, according to prefabsprout.net, I have “been living under a rock all year” since I’m only hearing about it now. In my defense, no one really talks about Prefab Sprout anymore. Of course, there was a time when they ruled, or at least visited, the indie airwaves (a little known pop trivia fact: in 1993, I named my outdoor volleyball team the Prefab Sprouts. Opponents thought we were a bunch of new-age granolas. No one else cared.).

2001 was the last time PS put out a new collection of songs. Paddy did offer up a solo, largely instrumental “I Trawl The Megahertz” in 2003 (at the height of his vision troubles... and prior to his ear troubles) but this is largely unlistenable and bears little relation to the output of Prefab Sprout. This time around, the band once again comprises Paddy and brother Martin - two fourths of the original, hit-making lineup. Sadly, the harmonizing Wendy Smith appears to be shut out yet again.

“Let's Change the World With Music” is due for release on the 7th September 2009. Lead single can be heard, via youtube, here:
Listen :: Let there be music by Prefab Sprout

Sounds pretty decent!!! But when will musicians realize that it isn't 1984 anymore and that a "music video" does not need be a huge monetary investment. Sit in front of a camera and film yourself mouthing the words if need be, but give us something (and help yourself out at the same time)!

Here’s Prefab Sprout in their heyday, back when Paddy’s whiskers were in their controlled infancy and you could see his ears...

Video :: When love breaks down by Prefab Sprout

The death of a disco dancer

2009-08-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

The new music...

This acoustic version of Anna Ternheim's "What have I done" is, I believe, far superior to the album version. Bjorn (Anna's producer/ the "Bjorn" in Peter, Bjorn and John) and his lovely peeano skills are to thank for this. The album version has violins, yes... but check this bit of awesomeness out (if only one could still find the MP3 ANYWHERE!):

Really into Swedish trio Miike Snow lately. Here's the not-too-shabby-at-all vid for "Animal":

Here's some more disco-infused pop wonder from the ever timeless Music Go Music...

Music Go Music - Live on Face Time - Just Me from music go music on Vimeo.

The video for Strictly Game by Harlem Shakes is pretty clever - upon close inspection it's a play on all those unofficial youtube vids where someone merely uploads the tune and mixes together a slide show:

Finally...
Video :: Born on a day the sun didn't rise by Black Moth Super Rainbow

Song :: What have I done by Anna Ternheim
Song :: Animal by Miike Snow
Song :: Strictly Game by Harlem Shakes
Song :: Born on a day the sun didn't rise by Black Moth Super Rainbow

The smell of today

2009-08-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

Two must-have albums are set for official release next week ::

Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know by múm
Aim and Ignite by fun.

múm‘s Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know is a nice sideways departure for the long running Icelandic band. Still with their dancing bleeps and interesting instrumentation, múm now, apparently, has something to sing about. Fun, joyous, upbeat (and often silly) stuff... this is what happens when all the strange instruments in the world get together and party. It turns out we will not see "Sing along..." released this side of the pond next week. We get to wait until September... or buy it from here (gogoyoko - a fair trade music site).

I only first heard of The Format a year after their final album was released when they gave it away online for free. I find them decent enough - good tunes when you’re feeling like something a little more straight and narrow. They appear to have a huge following. People wept at their demise. However, this was the best thing that could have happened because co-Format leader Nate Reuss has gone on to form fun.... and they’re a blast. They have been working on this project for a while and it shows. Each fun. song must take forever to write since there is so much going on. Like Queen for the indie set. Soon to take the world by storm... fun.!

Song :: The smell of today is sweet like breast milk in the wind by múm

Song :: All the pretty girls by fun.

Neither band has been all that diligent about posting videos, other than live shows (fun.) and life on the road (múm). So here's a video for one of my favorite songs of the summer ::

Yes it's a commercial. She should really get some spandex for that bicycle.

Song :: Fabric of my life (full song version) by Zooey Deschanel

You had a new dream, it was more like a nightmare

2009-08-19T18:19:00.001-07:00

It took me a while to get into The Antlers... their album "Hospice" came out in March and has received nothing but high praise. Well deserved high praise. They are now re-issuing the album and have a cool video for "two" now out...

Video Premiere: The Antlers: "Two"

Shared via AddThis

Song :: Two by The Antlers

"Hospice" is not just a fancy, trendy title. The album is a concept one in theme - detailing one's stay in a hospice as a loved on dies. Uplifting? Perhaps not. Powerful? Yup.

You had a new dream, it was more like a nightmare.
You were just a little kid, and they cut your hair,
then they stuck you in machines, you came so close to dying.
They should have listened, they thought that you were lying.
Daddy was an asshole, he fucked you up,
built the gears in your head, now he greases them up.
And no one paid attention when you just stopped eating.
"Eighty-seven pounds!" and this all bears repeating.

You saved my life

2009-08-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

...ooh, that was a nice sleep... The New Music ::

Burial by Miike Snow
A band from Sweden currently burning up the blogosphere. Did they really take a film crew and their jackalope to India to shoot this? A great video:

You saved my life by Cass McCombs
The dyi clip matches the pace of the tune as a slowed down McCombs passes many beer-pitcher swilling 20-somethings (including, I couldn't help but notice, mothers and mothers-to-be) in a Chi-town square.

Pon de floor by Major Lazer
An energetic dance floor number recorded in Jamaica and featuring the creative, explosive sounds of, yes, marching-band drummers. The video is a bit off-putting and Not-Suitable-For-Anything really. It contains repeated displays of a bizarre new-fangled Jamaican dance style known as “daggering” which, unfortunately, has to be seen to be believed. The fact it takes place in the Blues Clues house does little to make it a comfortable viewing.

Major Lazer "Pon De Floor" from Eric Wareheim on Vimeo.

In the NA by The Hidden Cameras
Their song titles may not be as convoluted and strange as Of Montreal but.... what the hell is a NA? New album "Origin:Orphan" to be released September 22, 2009.

Warm in the shadows by Music Go Music
There is a reason why pop songs average 3 and a half minutes in length - short attention spans of listeners. “Warm in the shadows”, by 70’s revivalists Music Go Music, pretty much defies this logic at nine plus minutes of goodness.

Song (link) :: Burial by Miike Snow
Song :: You saved my life by Cass McCombs
Song (link) :: Pon de floor by Major Lazer
Song :: Walk on by The Hidden Cameras
Song :: Warm in the shadows by Music Go Music

My concerns have been confirmed

2009-05-31T19:54:00.000-07:00

Jason Lytle’s debut solo album, Yours Truly, The Commuter, was described in one article as music that “simply crawls by in a maddeningly static mid-tempo blur, going about its melancholy business on the way to nowhere”. Less than favorable then. In fact, Yours Truly, The Commuter has, to date, an aggregate total of only 65% on Metacritic. I suppose if I was a slovenly, cheetos crunching critic who listened to it once and jotted down such “sounds like a continuation of Grandaddy” drivel, I might be inclined to simply dismiss it as well. But the truth is that the last two Grandaddy albums were mere continuations of Grandaddy and Commuter goes well beyond this. It is understated, sure, as realized through its minimal lyrics, but the album’s beauty lies in its subtlety. And subtle is the best vehicle for Lytle’s often hushed, whisper like vocals. At the same time, there is an awful lot going on here when you actually LISTEN. This is music to crawl into, to lay down and fall asleep to, to get up and jump around to, and yes, to commute to. This is an album that makes you ache for its follow-up. This is the best darn album released by anyone in a goodly long time! Not that I suppose anyone cares.

See Jason’s mastery of his instruments below!?!

Video :: It's The Weekend by Jason Lytle

Pure Pop Perfection

2009-05-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

New ones from Jason Lytle and God Help The Girl (fake movie soundtrack/ side project by Belle and Sebastian)

Video :: I am lost (and the moment cannot last) by Jason Lytle
I Am Lost (And the Moment Cannot Last)

Video :: Come Monday Night by God Help The Girl

Robyn gets her robot on

2009-05-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

Video :: The Girl and The Robot by Röyksopp (featuring Robyn/ live)...

Birds encouraged him

2009-04-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting a long time for this... new music from Jason Lytle, ex of Grandaddy. Since dissolving the best beardo band ever, Lytle has fled native California for nowheresville Montana, talent up the ying yang (and drummer) in tow.

Jason Lytle's first solo effort is out in three weeks (apparently).Lead off (and title) track, "Yours Truly, The Commuter" is a song about "getting out into the great and gnarly unknown, getting up to who knows what kind of trouble and eventually, gratefully, limping back home".

Song :: Yours Truly, The Commuter by Jason Lytle

New Video/ Old Song :: Campershell Dreams by Grandaddy

campershell dreams.......... (lost but not forgotten) from jason lytle on Vimeo.

Video :: Birds Encouraged Him (live in studio) by Jason Lytle

Matt + Kim

2009-04-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit that this video actually made me gasp out loud (*gasp*). I won't mention where though for fear of giving too much away...

Lessons Learned by Matt & Kim
Lessons Learned

Hey... STFUB

2009-04-07T17:50:00.000-07:00

Video :: Lay it down by Peter Bjorn and John

Song :: Lay it down by Peter, Bjorn and John

Through the hypnotic psychedelia, Daedelus plays some sort of lit up scrabble board...
Video :: LA Nocturn by Daedelus

New, mesmerizing alternate version of Animal Collective's My Girls...

Animal Collective - My Girls from Rob Chesnutt on Vimeo.

The obstacles we build for ourselves

2009-04-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been stuck in the upper BPM levels of electro-dance music through recently released and highly satisfying albums from both Pet Shop Boys and Röyksopp. I have come up for air occasionally via 60’s and 70’s AM radio classics (as part of my “research” for a future Top 25 Albums That Changed My Life post) but otherwise it has been a non-stop dance party around here. Thankfully, I found Hello Saferide and have been afforded a rest.

Swedish band Hello Saferide released their second album, “More Modern Stories From Hello Saferide”, this past September. Led by the heartfelt and just-quivering-enough-to-be-described-as-mildly-unique vocals of Annika Norlin, Hello Saferide is now, slowly perhaps, starting to gain some much deserved momentum outside of Scandinavia. Or maybe they’re already huge and I’ve just been oblivious. Out a week ago, Arjeplog is the new single off of “More Modern Stories…” and is a song about country vs. city, love, and spooning without one arm getting numb (so says Annika). The video was filmed at Vittjåkk for $0 and took five minutes (Vittjåkk would appear to be a rather wonderful looking - on a sunny day at least - ski resort). Never mind the DIY aspects and the shaky camera, sometimes simple is the most beautiful…

Video :: Arjeplog by Hello Saferide

Also check out Hello Saferide’s fantastic Detektivbyrån-backed performance of “Anna” at Sweden’s 2009 P3 Guld Awards show. Annika Norlin’s performance, through her sincere vulnerability and tenderness, yields an awkwardly effective stage persona. Meanwhile, a theremin is employed and Jon Nils of Detektivbyrån (now ex of Detektivbyrån - yikes!) plays the scissors!

Video :: Anna (live) by Hello Saferide w/ Detektivbyrån

The heartbreaking music video for Anna here.

Happy Up Here

2009-03-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

Norway’s electro-dance outfit/ modulation mongers Röyksopp continue their video-making dominance via a wonderfully executed Space Invaders type demolition of concrete landscape. Cool.

Video :: Happy Up Here by Röyksopp

Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo.

Song :: Happy Up Here by Röyksopp

“You know I really like it
I know I'll always be here
You know it makes my heart beat
You know I'm happy up here”

Röyksopp’s “Junior” out tomorrow! A reminder of the band's video brilliance is available at their website here.

She wanted to control it

2009-03-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

For many years Glasgow’s Camera Obscura languished in hometown heroes Belle and Sebastian’s long, twee shadow. Then came 2003’s aptly titled “Underachievers Please Try Harder” and they were off. Today, they’re churning out orchestra-tinged ditties with big-production vids. “French Navy”, off of the forthcoming “My Maudlin Career”, is a brilliant step forward for the band and it is good to see that they are fairing better than fellow one time B&S shadow dwellers Franz Ferdinand who continue to slide down the respect-o-meter mightily.

As the two characters in French Navy smooch their way through Paris and Rome, something ever so subtly happens to seemingly turn the girl off the boy. Or vis-a-versa. But I put my money on his tidy little beard forcing the rift.

French Navy by Camera Obscura:

My Maudlin Career (the album) is out in late April.

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As for Belle and Sebastian, they have been busy lately soundtracking a film, written by lead Stuart Murdoch, called “God Help The Girl”. “God Help The Girl”, coming (or not) to an art-house or university theatre near you sometime later this year.

Emmy The Great

2009-03-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

Putting the ok in folk...

Video :: First Love by Emmy The Great

Song :: We Almost Had A Baby by Emmy The Great
(automatic download)

Ukulele Sessions

2009-03-14T18:14:00.000-07:00

On a cold Brooklyn night, improvised magic happens:

Video :: "I will call you lover again" and "Now let it go" by Loney Dear (Ukulele Sessions)

Ukulélé Session Loney Dear
by cplesoir

love the plastic bag!

Olly Olly blah blah blah

2009-03-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

I imagine it is not easy to incorporate “olly olly oxen free” repeatedly into a song and, yes, it kinda feels forced and overused in Bishop Allen's “Dimmer”. This band had a cameo appearance in the underwhelming Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and I guess there is a market for underwhelming as Bishop Allen themselves can be described as such (a watered-down version of Vampire Weekend - if there is such a thing). Anyway, they are mildly worthy enough to spend a few minutes watching their video. I could not be more enthused!

Video :: Dimmer by Bishop Allen

"Olly olly oxen free" worked way better for Newman (though not so much for Ramon)…
Seinfeld - The Pool Guy

Ambient Wednesday

2009-03-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

No Excuses by Air France

Video Code by Musicvideolife.com

Do You Remember

2009-03-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

Progressive rock n [pruh-gres-iv roc] : music where songs either avoid common popular structures of verse-chorus-bridge, or blur the formal distinctions by extending sections or inserting musical interludes, often with exaggerated dynamics to heighten contrast between sections… sometimes yielding entire suites. Live shows often incorporate lasers and giant mirrors synchronized with the music.

In other words, A Recipe For Disaster.

Never one to easily relinquish my indie ~~bias~~ snobbery, I have always dissed the prog rock. Although God-like Rush is included in their numbers, prog rock musicians are people that I have always associated with over-the-top songs, misguided outfits, silly double-necked guitars and easy-to-mock place-name bands like Kansas, Boston, Chicago, Asia… Toto!

However, I am proud to say that I once purchased, and still own, an LP laden with neo-progressive rock: Marillion’s “Misplaced Childhood”. I am also willing to assert that that album’s hit single “Kaleigh” (#16 on the Dutch Top 40) may just be one of the finest power ballads ever constructed.

Admittedly, I have very little experience with the power ballad.

Video :: Kayleigh by Marillion (1985)

Brought to you by: 80's-Videos-That-Haven't-Aged-One-Single-Bit.com

We drove to the sea

2009-03-07T14:15:00.000-08:00

Was about to rant (again) about how the Coldplays, Elbows, Doves, Keanes and Snow Patrols of this world - while engineering some pop perfection over the years - rarely offer anything original or truly inspired, but then I watched the new Doves video for Kingdom of Rust and had to eat those thoughts. Sure on its own, Kingdom of Rust is simply an everyday pop song but the capacity that visuals, and a bit of a story, has to transform a song can be powerful. Not that this story - journey across country/ free a loved ones ashes/ cry - hasn't been told before... so maybe its the sweeping views of one of my favorite places on earth that captured me. "Distant sound of thunder, moving out on the moor..."

Video :: Kingdom of Rust by Doves

(This is not) a love song

2009-03-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

Love the Rom-Coms... love the Rom-Coms featuring "There is a light that never goes out" (membership limited!). (500) Days of Summer starring Zooey Deschanel and the kid from "10 Things I Hate About You". Trailer:

The Charleston lives

2009-03-03T22:24:00.000-08:00

Video :: Baby Come On by Elemeno P
Song :: Baby Come On by Elemeno P

Soldier on

2009-03-02T18:30:00.000-08:00

New vid from the annoyingly talented Andrew Bird. Apparently you're allowed to sling off flaming arrows in Chicago!

Andrew Bird with Mucca Pazza - "Fitz & The Dizzyspells”

Wrong

2009-03-01T13:23:00.000-08:00

Depeche Mode were once kings of the live circuit, breaking attendance records for their shows wherever they went. They're one of those bands that, back in the 80's, would have seemed unlikely to carry on through 2009. Their high point was 1990's Violator ("Personal Jesus", "Enjoy the Silence"), their low point: singer Dave Gahan's "clinically dead" overdose from the mid-90's. They are indeed survivors even if their music hasn't really shifted with the times - they continue to employ the same jarring electronics as in the past. Retro, and perhaps dated, for sure... and yet oddly comforting. New car wreck video from forthcoming "Sounds of the Universe" album (out in April)...

Depeche Mode - "Wrong" (official music video)

Quite possibly the best track from DM's career:
Video :: Blasphemous Rumours by Depeche Mode (also check out the Gregorian chant version linked to this video - cool!)

Song :: Blasphemous Rumours by Depeche Mode

Big in Japan

2009-02-28T23:08:00.000-08:00

Interesting video for new single from Sweden's Peter Bjorn & John. A children's choir and Japanese bikers/ b-boys (who also line dance and leap-frog!) join forces to create this ~~masterstroke of musical enjoyment~~ fine piece of art.

Video :: Nothing To Worry About by Peter Bjorn & John

Song :: Nothing To Worry About by Peter Bjorn & John

"Do this thing, this type of thing
Put a little money in this type of thing
I got nothing to worry about
I got nothing to worry about"

We Need Love

2009-02-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

A new one from Pet Shop Boys. This song is excellent - not sure PSB have ever done anything half-assed actually. Great bouncy video as well featuring some fine video-game themed choreography! Never mind youtube, this one needs to be seen in its highest quality (currently available on PSB's homepage):

Video :: Love etc. by Pet Shop Boys

New album, Yes, to be released in late March.

I need someone to set a pick for me at the free-throw line of life

2009-02-25T21:21:00.000-08:00

Never going out of style… from 1974:

Song :: Basketball Jones by Cheech and Chong w/ George Harrison (guitar) & Michelle "Mama" Phillips (backing vox)
Video :: Basketball Jones by Cheech and Chong

_____________________________________________________

Best observation of Obama’s Feb 23 address to Congress (Scott Feschuk):
9:44 “This is America - we don’t do what’s easy, we do what’s necessary to move this country forward.” Dear Mr. President: Your nation is home to a company that manufactures frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and markets them by claiming that their product “removes all the hassle” from making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. As though people previously seeking such a sandwich would first have had to toil for hours in the jelly mines. And people actually buy this product. Believe me, sir: sometimes your country does what’s easy.

Irish Step Dancing by Mozzer

2009-02-25T16:30:00.000-08:00

Song :: Lighten Up, Morrissey by Sparks
Video :: Lighten Up, Morrissey by Sparks

That’s How People Grow Up

2009-02-20T22:24:00.000-08:00

As if it is not obvious, no one single “celebrity” has had a greater influence on my life than Morrissey. I continue to wish for but two things in this world (you know, beyond health and untold riches, etc): a Stanley Cup championship for the Vancouver Canucks (not bloody likely) and a reformation of The Smiths (less bloody likely given Rourke and Joyce sued Moz and Marr for performance royalties - and won - over a decade ago… they are all still alive however so the slim hope of a reunion has that going for it at least)

“And as sure as my words are pure, I praised the day that brings you pain. So don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes. A man who slits throats has time on his hands and I'm gonna get you” Morrissey lyric directed at Smiths drummer Mike Joyce, from “Sorrow Will Come In The End”

Morrissey has been a solo artist since 1988 and has, for the most part, employed the same set of songwriters since 1991; Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte. There have been many gems in that 18 year period but still the overall quality does tend to pale in comparison to the output from Morrissey’s alliance with Johnny Marr in The Smiths - a time spanning a paltry 6 years. With a song writing style rooted in their first love (Rockabilly of all things), Boorer and Whyte obviously have limitations in what they are able to bring to the table. I’m continually surprised that Morrissey has lasted this long with them, especially given his penchant for firing pretty much everyone he has ever come into contact with (sounds like a bit of a bastard doesn’t he? quiet those thoughts!). Morrissey’s song-writing partnership with Johnny Marr was such that he was able to weave his words throughout the layered music in a way that produced wholly original songs contrary to the traditional song structure of verse-chorus-verse. He mostly abandoned this style as he shifted from young, gladiola-waving popstar to aging crooner… and for this I’ll blame the musicians.

So how much can we expect from a new Morrissey album when it contains songwriters who have proven to be capable, yet far from inspired to run (or even saunter) off in any new musical direction? As a singer who plays no instrument, Morrissey is highly reliant on his musicians. Add to this the fact that Morrissey, who turns an un-popstarish 50 in May, has long since narrowed his vocal range (or so they say) and reduced his sphere of lyrical influence from humdrum Manchester’s council estates to the not-so-humdrum surroundings of Beverley Hills and Roma and you have the makings of a (don’t say it too loud) washed-up artist.

Those of us who continue to purchase his records do so for Morrissey the brand - that being his voice, his biting, witty lyrics and that whole fey yet vicious persona he’s so shrewdly developed. We also hope that the music will improve slightly and have less conventional structure. Unfortunately Morrissey’s latter-day lyrics are mostly reduced to convenient sound bites in that there are no more earth-shattering songs filled with lyrical wonder. The song titles are often as witty as it gets these days. We all know this, but will take whatever we’re given nonetheless.

And, despite all this, what we’re given with Years Of Refusal - the new album that came out earlier this week - is actually quite good. The Moz continues to shine and somehow he pulls off a pretty darn good record out of nothing. Or at least this is what I think at the moment. I can’t tell if I like it because it’s good or I like it because I feel like I have to like it. Although Years Of Refusal is newly released, two of the tracks found here were available last year as part of an official Best Of album well in advance of YOR’s release. Other songs were leaked months ago. The title “Years Of Refusal” even sounds like a Best Of compilation or a possible title for Morrissey’s rumoured forthcoming biography. As confusing as all this may be, it has nothing on how confused and disoriented I felt when I happened upon “Years Of Refusal” the other day down yonder at the local WalMart. Morrissey at Wal-friken-Mart!?! One step up from the bargain bin, this still represents the horrific equivalent to finding your favourite radio-friendly band’s CD on display at a Truck Stop where the counter-top selection is generally limited to U2, Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty and all those other artists claiming to have “sold more records than Elvis!!!”

Morrissey has had a slight resurgence in popularity in recent years, not that the average joe would have noticed. His two “comeback albums”, 2004’s “…Quarry” and 2006’s “Ringleader…” were hailed as a return to form after seven years in new-material exile following 1997’s critically panned Maladjusted. And yes, his two newer albums were marked by improved vocals and the instrumentation appeared to be crisper and much more dynamic. Still, these are not the easiest albums to listen all the way through as the music is fairly uninspired and some songs tend to circle the wagons and feel like they go on forever.

What appears to make “Years Of Refusal” a success is that the songs have an increased energy, the lyrics are a bit more biting and quite simply his voice is in better form than in other recent work. His vocals are still too up front in the mix but unfortunately you can not expect anything less from singers with their names in lights. One of YOR’s more stellar tracks, “Shame Is The Name”, not only skips along at a decent pace, weaves in some lovely piano and harmonica AND features - though barely distinguishable - backing vox by Pretender Chrissie Hynde, but is also a bonus iTunes-only track and not available from WalMart.

Song :: Something Is Squeezing My Skull

Video :: That's How People Grow Up by Morrissey (live on Letterman) in June 2007 for chrisakes!

I was wasting my life
Always thinking about myself,
Someone on their deathbed said:
"There are other sorrows too."

I was driving my car,
I crashed and broke my spine,
So yes, there are things worse in life than
never being someone's sweetie.

That’s how people grow up

The Presets

2009-02-19T19:48:00.001-08:00

The excellent street-dancing video for "If I Know You" from Australian dance outfit The Presets...

Tonight, if we learn that the world's on fire
I guess I'll turn to you
I hope I never, I hope I never have to

Video :: If I Know You by The Presets

Who organized all my ex-girlfriends into a choir?

2009-02-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

Risking the chance that this site may be deemed an FOTC tribute blog, here's more genius from Flight Of The Conchords that lives out every guy's greatest fear (?)...
Video :: Carol Brown by Flight Of The Conchords

..............................................................................

And more from Fever Ray, sounding so The Knife-like that one wonders what the brother in the band actually did. The video for "When I Grow Up" is slightly on the opposite end of the spectrum from FOTC's offerings. Nice diving board gyrations however!

When I Grow Up from Fever Ray on Vimeo.

"When I Grow Up" song available here

I find you in everything that I do

2009-02-12T20:09:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to be a little more discerning, I have sat on most of these for a while now, rendering them true keepers under the somewhat lofty title of The Best Of The Past Few Months (Or So)… Video Roundup ::

Seattle - The BPA featuring Emmy The Great
Norman Cook, as The BPA, is doing that imported singer/ 808 State/ Chemical Brothers thing these days. Emmy The Great’s vocals work wonders here and the video is currently at number one on my kiddo’s video charts - though they do get freaked out every time Fat Boy’s features rotate into the frame. Cook produces nothing new here, in fact the album “I Think We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat” has been getting particularly bad reviews. But for all the stock beats and musical clichés, previous single “Toe Jam” is excellent and “Seattle” remains a catchy, happy tune… In America:
Video :: Seattle by The BPA feat. Emmy The Great

The Bpa Feat. Emmy The Great - Seattle (New) [HQ]
by wonderful-life1989

Song :: Seattle by The BPA feat. Emmy The Great

Fot i Hose – Casiokids
Another popular vid with the kiddos. Infectious, catchy tune and a (moderately) original video concept to boot. And now we know what makes that distinctive fuzzy slartibartfast sound: the mere flicking of a switch (puts my Triangle playing ambitions to shame!) There’s also a hint of surf-guitar. Casiokids are from Norway (the new Sweden).
Video :: Fot i Hose by Casiokids

If I Had A Heart - Fever Ray
Dark and strange, expertly shot offering from Karin Dreijer Andersson, the female half of the Swedish electronica brother-sister act The Knife. Very Knife'ish...
Video :: If I Had A Heart by Fever Ray

If I Had A Heart from Fever Ray on Vimeo.

Airport Surroundings - Loney Dear
Straight ahead pursuit-video from Emil Svanängen’s latest:
Video :: Airport Surroundings by Loney Dear

Hurt Feelings by Flight of the Conchords
New FOTC track continues their winning tradition:
Video :: Hurt Feelings by Flight of the Conchords

I don't want to have sex with you

2009-02-05T20:02:00.000-08:00

Belgian electro-indie-pop duo performing their shouty track starring my grandpa:

Video :: I don't want to have sex with you by Soldout

A reborn maggot

2009-02-04T22:07:00.000-08:00

Bye Bye Lux Interior... thanks for all the ghoul.

Video :: Human Fly by The Cramps

Nothing compares 2 u

2009-01-30T21:56:00.000-08:00

An updated, haunting version of Tonight by Lykke Li... I suggest she find Antony Hegarty and render us all senseless with a blistering duet!

Lykke Li - Tonight from Lykke Li on Vimeo.

Song :: Tonight (video version) by Lykke Li

WTF

2009-01-30T21:39:00.000-08:00

The WTF Blanket

Also, check out: FAIL blog

More Bourgeoisie and W

2009-01-30T19:23:00.001-08:00

You, Me & The Bourgeoisie by The Submarines

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For Frank: a delayed goodbye seemingly written just for you...

Video (lyrics n' music) :: Guess Who Batman by Lilly Allen

Guess Who Batman = GWB = George W Bush (fuck you very much)

And I can see through everybody's clothes with no reason

2009-01-30T18:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Kevin: a how-to on the proper etiquette of the stage invasion…

Video :: Sister I'm a Poet by Morrissey (live 12.22.88)

Uh oh... look who's turned his words on himself: media whore!

Ray and Sebastian

2009-01-29T19:48:00.001-08:00

I toddled into a record store (a record store!) the other day and vaguely recognized the music they were playing. Or rather, I recognized the sound but not the actual song. It was a dead ringer for Belle and Sebastian so I figured it must have been off of their recently released BBC Sessions, something I had not gotten to yet. So I held aloft the new B&S disk - confident in my knowledge of all things twee and Scottish - and asked of the staff, from across the store, if what they were playing was from that album. “Ah, no, it’s The Kinks” came the reply from the disaffected record chickie. To make matters worse I couldn’t hear her and had to ask that she shout out once again that I was, indeed, an idiot.

Turns out “Waterloo Sunset” by The Kinks is a rather popular track in the history of music. I downloaded it recently and can honestly say that I have never heard it before. Just like every single song by Bob Dylan (save for Subterranean Homesick Blues), Iron Maiden, Pavement and The Tragically Hip, this music had somehow escaped my ears all these years. A massive blow to my ego but, in my defence, it so happens that B&S did once cover “Waterloo Sunset” live. Take that, history!

For the first time ever, anywhere*, here are The Kinks** playing that obviously-never-before-released tune, Waterloo Sunset:

Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks

*not really
**check out them glasses!

a band highly influenced by the 60’s: le pastie de la bourgeoisie by Belle and Sebastian

Hide me

2009-01-29T19:16:00.000-08:00

Golden Filter present pure electro-pop perfection via sex, much clumsiness and a whole lot of coloured balls (and a riff reminiscent of New Order):

Video :: Hide me by Golden Filter

You really can’t trust much on youtube I guess - the video for this song also accompanies music from another band. I haven’t a clue which one is real and which one isn’t and could really care less...

Headless Heroes

2009-01-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

Keith Loutit is an amazing artist who works in tilt-shift and time-lapse. Here's a sample of his work shot in Sydney, Australia with music by Headless Heroes...

Video :: The North Wind Blew South by Headless Heroes

The North Wind Blew South from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Check out further depth of field altering/ minature world creating pieces like Bathtub III and Metal Heart here (thanks Schuyler!).

Also, Headless Heroes (a project moreso than a band) beautifully cover The Jesus and Mary Chain (with yet another great video):
Song :: Just like honey (The Jesus and Mary Chain cover) by Headless Heroes
Video :: Just like honey (The Jesus and Mary Chain cover) by Headless Heroes

This Land

2009-01-23T20:51:00.000-08:00

Pete Seeger is my hero. Not only has he overcome and accomplished so much (and is still going strong at nearly 90), he has somehow managed to get me to sit through five minutes of Bruce Springsteen:
Video :: This land is your land by Pete Seeger et al at Obama inauguration

(further hero alert at the 2 minute mark)

I'm pretty sure Pete and the choir weren't faking it to a backing track like Yo Yo and Itzhak. This is what us northerners grew up with. The Travellers were The Weavers of Canada:
Video :: This land is your land by The Travellers

New Soofyan

2009-01-23T20:33:00.000-08:00

From the to-be-released charity album "Dark was the night", here's a new 10 minute epic from the genius that is Sufjan...
Song :: You are the blood by Sufjan Stevens

Insanely good

2009-01-21T20:42:00.000-08:00

Video :: My Girls by Animal Collective

Is it much to admit I need
A solid soul and the blood I bleed
With a little girl, and by my spouse
I only want a proper house

I don't care for fancy things
Or to take part in a precious race
And children cry for the one who has
A real big heart and a father's grace

I don't mean to seem like I care about material things like a social status
I just want four walls and adobe slabs for my girls

Hope

2009-01-20T18:47:00.000-08:00

Today was a huge day what with Obama's inauguration AND the release of three massively anticipated records. The A-list day included new albums from Andrew Bird, Antony and the Johnsons and Animal Collective. Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective has got to be the most built up album in a goodly long time and so far it well exceeds the hype.

Video :: Brother Sport (live) by Animal Collective
Video :: Epilepsy is Dancing by Antony and the Johnsons

Also…

The Decemberists recently released a new single, The Rake Song, free to anyone with a pulse. The new tune is definitely meatier and is said to channel Black Sabbath. Realistically, it is more 54-40 than Sabbath. Good thing.
The Rake Song by The Decemberists

Add Dirty Projectors to the long line of David Byrne collaborators… this peppy tune from 4AD's soon to be released AIDS benefit disk, "Dark was the Night":
Song :: Knotty Pine by Dirty Projectors w/ David Byrne

Loney Dear is back with a new album. Still twinkly and Swedish but now with added propulsion…
Song :: Airport Surroundings by Loney Dear

Beirut has a couple of EP’s coming out soon. One of them is a collaboration with some Mexicans (and Greyfriars Bobby apparently!?!):
Video :: La Llorona by Beirut

And... just because these guys are my current fav band (and any band you suffer through Saturday Night Live for - you know is damn good!)... "He doesn't know why" by Fleet Foxes. Love the harmonies, love the hair, love the beards, love the goats...
Video :: He doesn't know why by Fleet Fozes

Song :: Mykonos by Fleet Foxes

Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before

2009-01-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

The new song and video from Morrissey’s soon to be released “Years of Refusal” record, “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris”, are all too familiar. The tune is surely good enough to get stuck in your head but the video is an uninspired, insipid performance complete with all-the-rage white background, standard PETA reference and bizarro drummer diving. Add to this the greying of the quiff, the widening of the girth and what appears to be the rotting of the front teeth (and resulting apparent shifts in enunciations), and you have a music video that really should not have been made. Worship-worthy legacy remains intact however.

Bad Video :: I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris by Morrissey

Good Video (good hair; good cycling) :: “Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before” by The Smiths

Pound

2009-01-08T22:46:00.000-08:00

Why not start your day with the relentless poundings of “Machine Gun” by Portishead? From the album “Third”, one of the best of 2008 (and a definite “grower”), “Machine Gun” is a song that is named for its sound not its lyric and is sure to drive any pesky headaches away. Treat a headache with a headache, that’s what I always say.
Video :: Machine Gun by Portishead

PORTISHEAD "MACHINE GUN"
Uploaded by portishead

Here's the original headache-chasing theme song “Close (To the Edit)” by Art of Noise. The little girl in the video, with her choppy, destructive attitude, still gives me nightmares 24 years later. Seriously.
Close (To the Edit)” by Art of Noise.

Embracing Winter

2009-01-07T22:07:00.000-08:00

One of the best songs from last year from Seattle's Fleet Foxes...

Video :: White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes

Song :: White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes
“I was following the pack
all swallowed in their coats
with scarves of red tied ’round their throats
to keep their little heads
from fallin’ in the snow
And I turned ’round and there you go
And, Michael, you would fall
and turn the white snow red as strawberries
in the summertime.”

If you put me to the test

2009-01-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

When ABBA first came on the scene in the 70’s, it was so totally uncool to like disco or ABBA that even uncool me and my rollerskating buddies wouldn’t be caught dead listening to it. Growing up, probably the only other artistic expression I despised more than ABBA was the musical. But I have come a long way. I now find ABBA tolerable and I am able to suspend reality long enough to enjoy musicals.

Mama Mia! (the film) has won many awards, is the highest grossing musical of all time and is the most successful British-made film ever. What does this tell us? Other than an obvious need to question the legitimacy of Wikipedia entries, these stats provide further evidence that the masses still have not got a frickin clue.

Mama Mia! Is the worst movie I’ve ever ~~seen~~ walked out on halfway through. In this sad sack farce, everyone appears to have their voices dubbed, the lush scenery is redundant, James Bond looks like he’d rather suffer multiple colonoscopies than sing or dance and Meryl Streep is so god dang annoying and airbrushed that you just want to shove some baklava down her throat and hoist her up by her dumbass suspenders. Sure, it is meant to be corny. I can do corny (“Hairspray” reference alert!). But there is a difference between fun corny and bad corny and that’s way too many times I’ve spelled out corny so I’ll stop there.

I’d rather sit through Keanu Reeves in “A Walk in the Clouds” or be subjected to Andie MacDowell butchering her lines in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” than watch Mama Mia! again. I owe my wife a new Christmas present.

Here’s the music of ABBA done right via reallyREALLYbadvideosfromtheearly90’sdotcalm:

Video :: Take A Chance On Me (ABBA cover) by Erasure

New Music

2009-01-06T18:58:00.000-08:00

Video :: Sleepyhead by Passion Pit

Effeminate Monday

2008-12-29T19:22:00.000-08:00

Video :: A Song For Ellie Greenwich by Parenthetical Girls

Song :: A Song For Ellie Greenwich by Parenthetical Girls

Retro Monday

2008-12-29T18:28:00.000-08:00

Song :: What For by James

"The sunset tonight is beyond all words
In the sky above the square, starlings spiral, dancing on air."

Something Good Remix

2008-12-29T15:26:00.000-08:00

Ooops - been caught getting me groove on down at the local again:

Video :: Something Good 08 by Utah Saints

Who's turn is it to carve the big round head?

2008-12-29T13:37:00.001-08:00

ReallyBadAlbumCover:

Toe Jam

2008-12-21T21:04:00.000-08:00

Best video of the year?

Video :: Toe Jam by BPA (Fatboy Slim)

THE BPA - THE BPA 'TOE JAM' FEAT. DAVID BYRNE & DIZZEE RASCAL from Fabio Resende on Vimeo.

Best Songs of 2008

2008-12-21T20:56:00.000-08:00

01. Slipped, Dissolved and Loosed by Lambchop
02. The Rip by Portishead
03. Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur by Sigur Ros
04. M79 by Vampire Weekend
05. Hey Ma by James
06. Untrust Us by Crystal Castles
07. Everything Is Borrowed by The Streets
08. Rocks and Daggers by Noah and the Whale
09. Gila by Beach House
10. Life if Long by David Byrne and Brian Eno
11. Sold! To The Nice Rich Man by The Welcome Wagon
12. Mermaids and Slaves by Paul Heaton
13. Good Morning by Sparks
14. The Sun Smells Too Loud by Mogwai
15. Going On by Gnarls Barkley
16. For Emma by Bon Iver
17. Happiness by Goldfrapp
18. Satisfied by Esser
19. Everybody Here is a Cloud by Cloud Cult
20. Collapsing At Your Doorstep by Air France
21. Id Engager by Of Montreal
22. Oh No by Andrew Bird
23. Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenocerous by Flight of the Conchords
24. Here’s The Thing by Girl Talk
25. Amazing by Kanye West
26. Water Curses by Animal Collective
27. Merry Happy by Kate Nash
28. I Will Possess Your Heart by Death Cab for Cutie
29. Call It A Ritual by Wolf Parade
30. Valerie Plame by The Decemberists

Down with Sweden... Up with People

2008-12-10T20:31:00.000-08:00

I have a secret… the real reason postings have lagged of late is that I have forsaken Indie Pop for Christian Folk. The light doth shine upon me and I’m a bit shy about it!!!

As stated on their folksy, needle-point-with-Grandma inspired sleeve, The Welcome Wagon is simply a pastor and his wife singing sacred folk songs for all ages. Only thing is, this particular pastor and wife combo happen to be friends with boy wonder Sufjan Stevens and he of the famed 50 States project has got his paws all over this. The Welcome Wagon’s worship-themed ditties and (Sufjan-inspired) horns, glocks, banjo strumming and layered vocals (gospel choir!?) combined with Sufjan’s over-the-top arrangements and masterful production credentials works amazingly well.

Only released yesterday, "Welcome to..." is surely a late entrant for the famed FBS album of the year top 10. But with a toddler and a congregation to tend to, don’t expect to see the Wagon rolling into a town near you anytime soon.

Song :: Sold! To The Nice Rich Man by The Welcome Wagon

Bonus :: Unbelievably, their version of “Half A Person” is the best Smiths cover I have ever heard. In fact, their original and clever take on the song puts all other bands who have tried to rekindle The Smiths to shame. And them’s fightin’ words!

Song :: Half A Person (The Smiths cover) by The Welcome Wagon

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

2008-12-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

New Morrissey sleeve design revealed:

“Ceiling shadows shimmy by/ And when the wardrobe towers like a beast of prey/ There's sadness in your beautiful eyes/ Oh, your untouched, unsoiled, wonderous eyes/ My life down I shall lie/ Should restless spirits try/ To play tricks on your sacred mind/ I once had a child, and it saved my life/ And I never even asked his name”

Album out February, 2009.