Is your mama for Obama?

Hey, 

Nothing is all that new for me musically, but I thought that I'd mention a couple of albums that came out today that would probably be worth checking out.  First, there's the one that I mentioned a few posts back, Nada Surf's "Lucky" and then there's Hot Chip's "Made in the Dark" which has gotten four stars from Rollingstone.  Sometimes Rollingstone misses the mark, but I know that I liked Hot Chip's last album "The Warning."  I'm using a lot of "quotes" today.  What's up with that?

Did you vote today?

I don't think soft porn is involved

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - if you haven't seen it, you should. It's the true story of a guy who has an accident, ends up communicating only in blinks, and has a vivid imagination (and even writes books).  Anyway, it's a good flick and the main reason why I'm writing about it at the moment is because there's a song that I keep going back to listen to from its soundtrack.  And that song would be Don't Kiss Me Goodbye from Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle.  If you want to buy just the song, you're SOL because Amazon (more likely the music label) won't sell it by itself (you have to buy the whole soundtrack).  While the whole soundtrack is pretty good and has some cool stuff by The Dirtbombs and U2, I don't know if it's worth the dough.  I think this is why Limewire is alive and well. Since I don't know the legality of posting mp3s on this blog (I don't know how other blogs get away with it), I'll post a youtube video which features the song.  The video ain't the great, but neither is this blog.  :-P

Kid Tested, Dracula Approved

Go Giantriots!

Yeah, I don't care who wins the big game.  On one hand it would be cool to see the Giants win, but on the other hand, it would be cool to witness a team go 19-0.  So yeah, whatever.

Anyway, musically, I'm listening to Vampire Weekend at the moment (currently the song Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa) and while I haven't listened to all of the digital download (via Amazon's super easy mp3 store - Sorry iTunes, but I want DRM-free music damn it! - and yes, I know that it's the music companies who are keeping Apple from having DRM-free tracks, which is a bunch of crap) so far so good.  I've seen the Vampire Weekend album around but never really thought about them until I caught them on Letterman the other day.  I'm digging the album because the songs don't all sound the same and some of the lyrics are really catchy.  

By the way, if you want to get the new MGMT album, it's also now available as a digital download for less than $6.  If they would have had it on the Amazon sooner, it would have saved me $6.  Grrrrr    

Hut hut hike!

(holy shit, I hope that Tom Petty doesn't have a wardrobe malfunction)

Make Football Bets (just in time for the Super Bowl!)

As much as I hate to admit that myspace is a good way to stay in the know with music (at least mainstream stuff), I have to admit that it's not too shabby.  My example of this is their promotion of the forthcoming album "Lucky" by Nada Surf.  Not only do they have videos they have a bunch of tunes as well.  Even though it's the usual comment when someone mentions Nada Surf, they really are underrated and underheard.  I still love the song Killian's Red from their 2002 release, "Let Go."  Check it out if you get the chance.  

Nada Surf - I Like What You Say

Add to My Profile | More Videos

The better side of public access television

Howdy,

OK, I can't say that I really have anything overly interesting to write about at the moment, but hey, writing something is better than nothing, I guess.  I ended up buying the MGMT album (Oracular Spectacular) and it's pretty much all I've been listening to the last couple of days.  Every now and then I'll check out another recent purchase - Ghostland Observatory's "Paparazzi Lightning" which is hard to categorize, but iTunes labels it as "Rock."  It's funkier than a rock label would indicate.  I've read online that they are great live and they say (according to their myspace page) that they are influenced by Daft Punk, James Brown, The Beatles, Prince and "ANYONE WITH BALLS."  I'd say that's pretty accurate considering the keyboardist likes to wear a cape.  There's no cape in the video below, but there is a Tone Loc t-shirt and a pretty cool piano solo.  

I'm Hooked (part 2)

Hey,

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Radiohead.  While they aren't obscure I still want to take this moment to remind you of how kickass they really are.  I just found a bunch of videos on-line for their recent album "In Rainbows" and they are posted below.  A few of my favorites are Reckoner, Jigsaw, and Weird Fishes.  Check 'em out!

I'm hooked

Hey!  

Just a quick note.  I've been totally hooked on this band and I can't stop playing their tunes.  I'm sure I'd play them even more if I could get a DRM-free download from Amazon, but they don't seem to be down with that.  I guess I'll have to go to the store or something.  Anyway, check out their video for "Time To Pretend."

Creeper Lagoon Where Are You?!

Yo yo yo,

I've been hunting for new good tunes lately, and I started to think back about groups that I used to dig that I haven't heard anything from recently (Toadies, For Squirrels, Helium, anyone?).  This thinking led me to look up Creeper Lagoon, a band that I accidently "discovered" ten or so years ago by winning a radio contest.  I don't remember what the contest was, probably something to do with being the 10th caller or something along those lines, and while I don't remember what I won (a Green Day CD?) I do remember that a Creeper Lagoon EP was part of the deal.  The five or so tracks didn't have a lot of production value however I was hooked and ended up buying later albums.  I remember thinking that these guys would hit it big.  Sometimes quirky but always catchy, what more could you want.  

Anyway, they don't appear to be up to much these days and last put out an album (Long Dry Cold) in 2006 according to their myspace page.  The samples on the page are worth checking out, and you can buy the entire album for a whopping $1.19.  According to Creeper Lagoon, this pricing is meant to show "...solidarity with Jammie Thomas who was charged $9250 per song by the RIAA..."  If you don't know, Jammie Thomas was the only person to fight the recording industry in court because of their questionable tactics of suing file-sharing people, even when the person is only identified by their IP address.  She lost her suit and ended up owing the recording industry more than $200,000.  While I don't know how selling an album for 9 cents a track helps anything, I do know that I enjoy great music (and not paying a lot for it).  Anyway, check them out on myspace or at their label site, www.neglectra.com  (By the way, I really like the Sly Doc material that can be found at the neglectra site.  Good background/soundtrack music!)

If you want to read a somewhat depressing interview (I'm guessing from 2002?) with the main guy of Creeper Lagoon, you can find one at inmusicwetrust.com/articles/57h01.html

A write-up of Long Dry Cold is linked below.

Party On     

Check it out!

Long time, no write,

Hey there, I don't have anyone I want to write about specifically at the moment, but I thought that I'd mention a fairly cool resource for checking out new tunes.  I'm not (yet) getting a kick back or anything, but I have to recommend checking out rhapsody.com for new tunes.  There's some player thing that you have to download, but it looks like you get to hear 25 songs for free and I have found it to be a good way to determine what to buy and what to avoid when it comes to albums.  They appear to have a pretty extensive selection, and I've been able to check out Ingrid Michaelson, They Might Be Giants, MGMT, and The Cool Kids to name a few.  Besides the selection, I also dig that rhapsody has Apple support, which is nice compared to a few of the other places that continue to ignore the die hard (and growing) Apple-user population.  Anyway, I have no idea if it would be worth upgrading to the pay version of the rhapsody service, and if any of you have it, please chime in.

By the way, Radiohead is on the lastest Rolling Stone, woo hoo!

Later!   

Have a cigarette?

(Insert dirty joke here)

Yo!

OK, I suck at the whole posting daily thing.  Blah.  I'll work on that.

So, I don't have a whole lot to say about new tunes at the moment.  Picked up a few CDs today (Drive-By Truckers, Magnetic Fields, and Matt Costa) and haven't listened to much of them yet.  Anyway, here's a singer (Laura Veirs, above) who puts on a pretty good show and you can still catch her for less than $15 (at least the times I've seen her).  Caught her in Tucson and in Phoenix and discovered other great bands (Great Lake Swimmers in Tucson, and Young Galaxy in Phoenix) in the process.  Woo hoo.  You should check out her myspace page for more tunes and see her live (only in Europe at the moment) if you get the chance.  (Recommended albums: Year of Meteors, Saltbreakers)