Blog: either/or

Today's tune comes to us courtesy of my friend (and former colleague) @nshady via Twitter , of all things. Look at little old either/or, all getting up in social media and stuff! Though I currently have the social presence and capabilities of a spoon, I'm not going to turn down a chance to listen to some tunes. And what tunes! A delectable collection of smooth, catchy electronic beats, with a bit of downtempo chucked in there for seasoning. From Australia too, which is awesome because I'm patriotic like that. Also, I don't usually hear a lot of [...]

I already wrote about Jimmy Gnecco , now I figured it is time to write about his dang band, Ours. I haven't listened to all their dang albums yet, but what I've gathered so far is that Mr. Gnecco has an amazing voice, especially in this song from their second album, Distorted Lullabies . If you could sing this to a lady as well as this fella can, she might become dizzy . See what I did there? So very clever. The post Ours - Dizzy appeared first on either/or .

Heck yeah, dirty blues! Sometimes, I need a break from all the delicate, sentimental indie music I listen to. At those times, I turn to tunes that I can put on my shades to, wind down a window and play quite loudly. Possibly while giving everyone the finger too, because I'm just rude like that. This is a suitably bitchin' tune, with vocals that sound like the unholy love child of Mark Lanegan and Billy Gibbons. Pure, unadultered, rockin' bliss. The post Kings of Lowertown - Shotgun Preacher appeared first on either/or .

I could've sworn I posted this already. Our search function says that I haven't, and if I can't trust that, who can I trust? No one, that's who. The Three Little Bops is a 1957 Looney Tunes animation of a jazzy retelling of the three little pigs story. In it, the three pigs are a successful jazz trio who are constantly interrupted by the ill-fitting, trumpet playing wolf. Hilarity and hi-jinx ensue! The cartoon was pretty much a music video for this song (you can watch it here , but not with the original [...]

Ah, Queen. A group I certainly don't listen enough to. This is one of those songs that constantly floated around my childhood, but one I had never actually connected to Queen. Don't judge me, I was just a child! Anyway, I dedicate this song to m'colleague, Hugh. Even though I've never met him. Jury is still out on whether or not he actually exists, or is just the fevered machinations of my alternate self. But whatever, bros for life, man! The post Queen - You're My Best Friend appeared first on either/or .

Here's another band that last.fm recommended to me some time ago, and surprisingly enough, their songs are thoroughly tasty. last.fm wants to tell me they're an indie-folk band, but most of their songs are catchier than that might imply. This one is a toe-tapper that'd fit right in in a Wes Anderson movie if it came out 50 years ago. Since the song's not older than that, it is resigned instead to these pages, so you can "oh dang, that's catchy." The post Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Janglin' appeared first on either/or [...]

I've never been entirely fond of comedic music, but I make exception for Tripod because, well, just look at them . A more upstanding and dapper collection of lads I have not yet seen! Plus, their musical chops are marvellously tasty, much like a good pork chop. Somehow, they've turned a snarky, comical protest song against jerks who complain about live music venues in Australia into something rather sweet and tender-hearted, featuring their superb three-part vocal harmonies. It's the kind of song you can laugh at, get ragey with, and snuggle up to a sweetie with. It's the [...]

When I first heard this, I was all "Dudes, we need to go on a roadtrip... IN THE FUTURE". I was all ready to bust out the 'ol "Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads" line, but soon realised that flying cars don't exist yet. Also, there weren't any dudes around. My point is, this feels like road-tripping material, despite a distinct lack of dreamy acoustic guitar plucking. I'm actually pleasantly surprised at this quite delightful and charming bit of electro-pop: it is far more endearing, sentimental and listen-able than most examples I come across these [...]

So, I never knew the name of the group that wrote this tune, and with good reason: it's friggin' ridiculous. Wikipedia informs me that it comes from the Fancy Cat name (what) of the manager's friend's cat. Man, the 60s were NUTS. Anyway, this is just one of those classic songs that will continue on and on as a bastion of superb song writing and performing. Consequently, it's also one of those songs that's going to be covered. Badly. But you certainly can't go past that sumptuous combination of organ, bass and wonderful vocals, can you? [...]

Science, guys. It's pretty much the best thing ever. How else would we get a performance of David Bowie's Space Oddity done by Chris Hadfield, the most recent commander of the International Space Station? Yes, that's right: one of the most wonderful tunes of Bowie's recording history was covered by a dude floating about 400kms away from earth. A class act, sir! The post Chris Hadfield - Space Oddity appeared first on either/or .

As my head is currently spinning in sheer mirth at the thought of Arrested Development finally making a return (and a good one at that), I thought it'd be nice to honour David Schwartz's wonderful music work on the show. It's a delectable assortment of comically charming ragtime shuffle that, on paper, seems to completely fly in the face of the show's settings and characters, but in reality works superbly. Inspired lunacy, I say! Taste the happy! The post David Schwartz - Arrested Development Opening Theme appeared first on either/or .

• Arrested Development (.18)

Stereophonics released a new album the other month, and they released this song late last year. I am totally on top of things, folks! I will eventually check out the entire album, but for now here is one of the singles from it. It is quite the tune too: a little darker than usual, but still quite befitting of the Stereophonics back catalogue. The post Stereophonics - In a Moment appeared first on either/or .

Like most of my weekends, I'm spending this one in a mostly chilled out fashion. Attempting to, anyway. Luckily, Nujabes is here to the rescue with some admittedly repetitive downtempo. But hey, it's perfectly relaxing and chilled, and it's certainly making my immediate area all the more swanky, so how can I say no? The post Nujabes - Aruarian Dance appeared first on either/or .

I promise I won't post any more QOTSA. At least, not for a little while. Maybe. But this was just too intriguing to pass up! While there are certainly a range of Elliott Smith songs that would be fodder for cover artists, I never expected one of them to be Christian Brothers : it is a tortured, haunting song (and full of naughty language). However, QOTSA have certainly done it justice here, and then some. Apparently, this cover appeared on some versions of Era Vulgaris , but it sure as hell didn't appear on mine. Would've [...]

This is kind of a blast to the past for me, even though it's just from 2006. Half of you weren't alive then though, so it still counts! Anyway, they have a Russian singer who keeps enough of her accent to make her voice awesome and not so much that you can't understand a damn thing she says! The music is catchy without being trite, and it's just a wonderful song to play now that the weather's starting to warm up (except in stupid 'ol Australia!) Plus, AJ missed out on the 609th post, so like... man. It really sucks [...]

My golden rule with Beatles covers is that the artist behind it has to put their own spin on it. There is entirely no point doing a direct cover of a Beatles song, because there's a band who did it better than you. They were called the Beatles. Acquiring the rights to use actual Beatles music in films is apparently incredibly hard, I learnt recently, so most films that want a Beatles song resort to cover versions. This marvellous version of With a Little Help From My Friends comes from the otherwise saccharine film Across [...]

Supergroups, man. How could they possibly represent the combined talents of their respective members? Most of them don't end up doing that, and they're mostly resigned to either sounding a lot like one of its member's songs, or just inherently simple. This song kind of skews to the latter, but it's so darn wonderful at the same time that I dare not judge it. In case you're unaware, this is probably the greatest supergroup in the history of supergroups: George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne. I'm not entirely sure how'd you'd [...]

Amazon decided to recommend this to me based on yesterday's post: good work, Amazon! I know absolutely nothing about this group, but they play some mean downtempo (a little reminscent of The Sleuthound Fiasko , actually), and they have a song called Eitheror so this is now just too serendipitous to pass up. The post Mickey Mouse Operation - Basique appeared first on either/or .

It's Sunday night, and any notion of coherent thoughts being written on this page will be met with disappointment. I sure hope the previous sentence made sense, because I can't be bothered re-reading it. Since we're all in a sloth-like stupor, here is some almost perfect downtempo. I say almost perfect because it does feature auto-tuned vocals: imagine how much sexier it would be with natural, female vocals behind it? Either way, this is plenty awesome, so good night m'dears and sleep tight. The post FC Kahuna - Hayling appeared first on either/or [...]

If this is the kind of stuff the band are producing now, imagine what they could've done when they were brand new? It's amazing what you can pick up in garage sales, I guess. Ok, now that comedy hour is done, here is some rock from Canada. It's a great, rip-roaring song, with just enough gruff in the vocals to make you feel like a bit of a bad ass, even when you're dancing around and miming to it. Which is what I assume happens. Not from experience or anything like that at all! The [...]