Hope

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

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

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

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

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

Video :: Sleepyhead by Passion Pit

Effeminate Monday

Video :: A Song For Ellie Greenwich by Parenthetical Girls


Song :: A Song For Ellie Greenwich by Parenthetical Girls

Retro Monday

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

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?

ReallyBadAlbumCover:

Toe Jam

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

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

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

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.

Hands down...

the Best Song for 22 consecutive years and counting...

There is a Light That Never Goes Out

Next

September Video Roundup

Halfway through this video I thought "love the Basia, love the music... crap video". But in the end everybody's actions mean something - not much - but something. And that's a good thing.
Video :: The Pilgriming Vine by Basia Bulat


Ambient dream music, AND the video increases your carbon credits. Mega!
Video :: Collapsing at your Doorstep by Air france


Oooh, still loving those 8-bit gameboy tunes. I'm From Barcelona collaborator Adventure Kid:
Video :: De Lorean Motor Company by Adventure Kid

We're half awake in a fake empire

Watched some really hideous looking/ tired/ old white people (and hockey moms) conventioneering tonight... that was good for a laugh. Surely its a lock for the good guys this time around, no?

Meanwhile, back on our planet...
Obama Ad (featuring "Fake Empire" by The National)

Song :: Fake Empire by The National

Everything else is just borrowed

Great new tune and vid from The Streets...

Song :: Everything is Borrowed by The Streets
Video :: Everything is Borrowed by The Streets


This recent video from The Streets is pretty clever too. The new album is out in two weeks.

David Byrne

I know he's been busy, but really, it does seem like David Byrne's been gone a long, long time. But from precisely the 38 second mark of "Life is Long", a track from his recent collaboration with Brian Eno, that familiar Talking Heads vocal is firmly back in place. Good stuff this:
Song :: Life is Long

Stream the entire new album, "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today"...


Download "Strange Overtures" from their website for, you know, sorta free.