A recent reconnection with a friend of mine (and his love for the music of Glen Hansard) reminded me of how great songwriters are sometimes hard to find. I mean, Glen Hansard wrote a song about a metaphor for hopes and dreams from a movie which is a metaphor for hopes and dreams. Impressive. The Frames: Fitzcarraldo (live)
Believe it or not, the Jesus & Mary Chain song Psychocandy is not on the album Psychocandy. The song appeared one year later, on the Some Candy Talking EP. I have seen this happen before. On Elvis Costello's Imperial Bedroom, the title track is only available as a b-side. And in the case of the Kings of Convenience album Riot on an Empty Street, the title track actually appears on the new album coming out next month - a 4 year difference. The Jesus & Mary Chain: Psychocandy [...]
Conan, what is best in life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women! This quote is actually attributed to Genghis Khan: To crush your enemies, to see them fall at your feet - to take their horses and goods and hear the [...]
Great image that I found and always wanted to pair with the right song. Kings of Convenience: Riot on an Empty Street
Move over saucers! There's a new shape in town! The latest UFO reports from Paranormal News point out that a majority of the recent UFO sightings denote angular spaceships. Triangular flying objects have been spotted over Florida, Texas, and Washington-state. And, not to be outdone, rectangular objects have been spotted in Arizona and Vegas. It's only a matter of time before rhombus and dodecahedron shapes appear. Keep watching the skies! Mary Lou Lord: Martian Saints
I thought my search for anthropomorphic appliances in advertisements had ended when I found the saddest dryer ever . But 'twas not so. Here in the instructions for a GE, I find another unhappy appliance, this time a french dryer. Monsieur seems to be angry about someone standing on his hose. I think we've all felt that way at one time or another. Les Sans Culottes: Sa Sabine Plastic Bertrand: Ca Plane Pour Moi
Just 25 days until the new Editors album is released. And while the video for Papillion whets our appetite for more new songs, here are a few of my favorite b-sides from Racing Rats that I have not seen as available on any of the music blogs. Editors: A Thousand Pieces Editors: Banging Heads
Songs from the 80s will haunt your dreams. You'll wake up one morning singing a song in your head that you only heard once on MTVs 120 minutes or on some obscure compilation. Next, you're puzzling over the artist and the song. Finally, you're searching the web for misheard song lyrics, and searching bargain bins for old LPs. Hilly Michaels: Calling All Girls The Hitmen: Bates Motel
If you have something important to say, it doesn't matter if you say it in a whiny, nasal and shouty way. Also, just because someone who listens to Van Halen all day thinks that Level 42 is lame, doesn't mean that they are - I mean what the hell do they know anyway, right? The Outfield: Your Love Level 42: Something About You
To quote the late (and great) comedian Bill Hicks, "The Beatles were so high, they even let Ringo sing a few." By the way, which Beatles remaster did you get? The Beatles: Yellow Submarine
David Bowie draws, paints, sculpts and writes in his spare time. David got just one O Level, in art (of course). David Bowie: Station To Station (from the Stage album)
Last year, a few Razorfish colleagues and I were flown via a Gulfstream 4 to California to visit a company's science lab. We had a chance to see how raw organic materials are made into vitamin supplements and other various testing techniques. However, what I remember most, after being a bit punchy from jetlag and booze, is me and my friend Sundy obnoxiously yelling "Science!" every 30 seconds. We were just very excited about learning, I guess. Science! They Might Be Giants: Meet the Elements [...]
And here we have some boondoggle keychains. A must-have for this season's fashion... The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Side Ponytail Natalie Portman's Shaved Head: Sophisticated Side Ponytail
Happy Birthday, Neko Case! Neko Case: Honky Tonk Hiccups
It has been far too long since I've made a mix CD. Just so tough to find the time to do it these days. So I encourage each and every one of you with the time to do so to make a mix CD for yourself, your friends, that special someone, your pets, etc. Here are some of the snippets that I like to use to introduce my mix CDs, or break up the middle or end with a nice closer. The Mighty Boosh: Love Games [...]
I remember first hearing the Voodoo Trombone Quartet via the B3ta.com website. It enabled the paradox of sounding very new and very retro at the same time. The one-off "singles" gave way to an amazing album. Several years later, the follow up to VTQ's eponymous first album is okay, but not quite as profound. While the first album inspired repeated listens all the way through, 2nd album ...Again has a few amazing songs, but lacks the cohesive whole, more of a compilation album than a complete experience. Voodoo Trombone Quartet: [...]
In this picture, John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats regales a humungous wombat with information about his exciting new album, The Life of the World to Come , due in October 2009. The Mountain Goats: Psalms 40:2
Some days, the 3-minute pop song is just what you need to get through the day. But for those days when you are feeling more thoughtful and complex, I recommend Secret Machines. There's something about the song structure - motorik beat, serious vocals, spacey guitar effects - that truly takes you out there. And when Secret Machines dabble in short-sharp pop, they take the genre into a new direction as well. Secret Machines: Solar Bloodlines Secret Machines: Underneath The Concrete
What a "life" for the undead. You can take your time. You're not picky about food. And everyday is casual friday. Zombie Zombie: Warm Leatherette Zombie Zombie: Nightclubbing
Novel as philosophical treatise? In reading Rene Daumal's unfinished Mount Analogue, he paints the mountain to heaven in broad but poetic strokes. The characters feature names that describe their traits (Lapse, Beaver, Pancake?) as they embrace their inner/outer alpinism in the quest to reach the mythological (or is it analogical?) mountain. An amazing and inspiring read - and the fact that it is unfinished truly adds to an impossible quest. I could have done without the translator intro and outro, though. School of Seven Bells: Device Fuer M School of [...]
Thee Mightee Kittens
No Church In The Wild
Nas - Daughters
The Rains of Castamere by The National
CHROMATICS "THESE STREETS WILL NEVER LOOK THE SAME"
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
iamamiwhoami: kin - Teaser
Album Review: alt-J – An Awesome Wave
Azealia Banks – ’1991′ & ‘Van Vouge’
Big Boi & Theophilus London (feat. TRE LUCE) - 'She Said OK'
