When will I give up? When will I stop being a sucker for Apple's marketing? How many iPods is too many? They've done it again. New iPod Shuffle. New Nano. 80GB iPod. This is getting bad. I've already decided to update my Shuffle. The new one is just way too cool. It's the size of a matchbook, it holds 1GB, and it's $79. Here it is: They also updated the Nano. The new [...]
Tokyo Police Club I've been listening to Tokyo Police Club 's EP, "A Lesson in Crime" the past few weeks. I got the cd to find out if I should go to their show at The Jackpot Saloon (which was Monday and I was out of town). After digging into these 7 tracks, I'm disappointed I didn't get to see their show. Tokyo Police Club is Toronto's most recent gift to music. They put themselves out there as a funny, sort of slapstick [...]
If you haven't heard Girl Talk's genre spanning mix-cd "Night Ripper" yet, you're missing out. Girl Talk is actually Gregg Gillis. He's a biomedical engineer by day and the most talked about DJ on the Internet by night (his co-workers have no idea of his double life). Some people will call his work "mash-up" but it goes WAY beyond that. It's more of a ADD fueled tour of top 40 music from the past 40 years. During this tour, he seamlessly mixes Nirvana with Young Jeezy; Michael McDonald with Warren G; Sophie B Hawkins with Punjabi MC. By his count, he [...]
A friend recently talked to me about Snow Patrol's beautiful song "Chasing Cars." It is one of the best songs on their most recent CD "Eyes Open." The song is going to put Snow Patrol back in everyone's mind and earn them heavy rotation on the radio.  It's a great song that I thought would be tough to improve.... then I heard The Hey Team Remix. The airy, ethereal atmosphere created on this remix compliments the lyrics perfectly. "If I lay here. If I just lay here..." This version of the song makes me want to stay in bed and just forget the world. [...]
If you're in the mood for a great hip-hop show tonight, head to the Granada and check out Jurassic 5. While Jurassic 5 is far from an "unknown", the fact that they have a new album might be. Check out " Feedback " for those end of the summer weekends and/or tailgate parties. [MP3] Radio - Jurassic 5 (right click - save as)
I can't get enough of Atlanta-based Snowden's "Anti-Anti." They became a band to watch after they released their first EP free on their website  - now their solidifying their place in the indie-rock scene. Well written tracks. Driving Beats. Fuzzy guitars. Shoegazer rock. It's all here. Recommended for fans of Interpol, French Kicks, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Wolf Parade, and good music. Oh, and they got their name from Joseph Heller's "Catch 22." Listen for yourself. [MP3] Snowden - Black Eyes
 Pete Yorn's new disc "Nightcrawler" comes out today. Get it. Preview it at his website .
Wolf Parade is coming to Lawrence, KS on Tuesday, August 29th and it's about time. Their cd "Apologies to the Queen Mary" was met with critical acclaim (Pitchfork gave it a 9.2) when it was released in September of 2005. The disc has been blogged about so much that there is nothing left to say other than - head to the Granada and listen to some good rock music on a Tuesday night. [MP3] Wolf Parade - Shine a Light [MP3] Wolf [...]
It's that time of year when summer fun gives way to school bells. The youth of America will soon be roaming the hallways amongst cliques of jocks, nerds, goths, smokers, and skaters. You can almost hear the synth pop of 80s high school movies playing in the background - only this year, Van She is providing the soundtrack. Van She is a new indie synth pop band from Sydney, Australia. Their song "Kelly" sounds like the entire soundtrack of Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles all at once. Their new wave sound with [...]
 From The Diggs' website :  "The Diggs coalesce guitar driven Mid-nineties indie rock and ethereal English pop with a touch of shoegaze: anthemic pop choruses and emotional vocals with huge crashing crescendo/decrescendo walls of sound." I can't think of a better way to describe them. Their CD "Commute" has been playing in my car for 2 weeks. The two songs below represent their range. "Everyone's Starting Over" has recently received the coveted 5-star [...]
Stay tuned though. Next week promises to be exciting!!!
It appears I made my first mistakes in months by uploading Arms' "Shitty Little Disco" in my "Tiger Tamer" post. Wow. That must have been terribly confusing. Never to fear - Here is the actual song.  [MP3] Arms - Tiger Tamer (Thanks to Lisa for pointing it out)
From the "I told you so" category:Â Arms' "Tiger Tamer" is the song of the day today at KEXP (Seattle).
The Longcut  is a Manchester based band that should perk up some ears when their album, "A Call and Response" is released in the US.  Their genre is difficult to define. I played their song, "A Tried and Tested Method" 10 times in a row today. It sounds like Postal Service got in a fight with Bloc Party and Doves broke it up. Why can't all music be this good? [MP3] The Longcut - A Tried and Tested Method  - Highly recommended (right click - save as)
G. Love is back! I don't mean "The Hustle" back. I mean "Cold Beverages" back. G. Love used to be one of my favorite artists to listen to in the summer, but recently he's been a little disappointing. His new disc " Lemonade ", released on August 1, is full of great summer tracks. I just wish it would've been released in late June when the heat wave kicked in. The track "Banger" (featuring Blackalicious and Lateef) is what I've been waiting for from G. Love. It's the kind of song you listen to while drinking on a hot Sunday [...]
 The first band I'd like to dedicate a post to is Arms. Bands like Arms are the reason I scour blogs and websites. I'm always looking for my fix of the kind music that makes me reach for the iPod first thing in the morning. Arms is that kind of music. From the Arms website : "arms is todd goldstein (vox, guitar, keyboards, songs). he makes music by himself sometimes, and sometimes with other people. the shitty little disco ep has his friends playing [...]
For those of you concerned with listening to "Pop" music that your hipster friends will make fun of you for, Flex Sleuthor has remixed Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous Girl" (not hip) with Ratatat's "Wildcat" (VERY hip). Enjoy it with pride. Promiscuous Wildcat 3.0 (Ratatat & Nelly Furtado Ft. Timbaland)
I've finally starting working on my blog, tentively named "Show Me Music". If you have ideas for names, I'd love some help. My plan for this blog is to keep people in the center of the United States up to date on the music available across the country. It will take me several weeks to get the blog just the way I want. Please bear with me in these early phases. Peter Bjorn and John Just to let you know - I [...]
Show Me Music
The Rains of Castamere by The National
Sleigh Bells - Demons (Official Music Video)
A-Trak & Dillon Francis - "Money Makin'" (Official Video)
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Nas - Daughters
Check Out: d’Eon – “Transparency pt. II”
the Weekender ::: New music from Catcall // the National // Summer Camp
KNIFE PARTY – RAGE VALLEY EP
