Friday, April 30, 2010

Best of 2010 (so far)

I compiled a "Best of 2010 (so far)" playlist and will be debuting it on my radio show this Monday, May 3rd.

FOR MP3 VERSION OF THIS PLAYLIST, SEE THE FOLLOWING POST.

In the meantime, you're welcome to get a sneak peak of some of the tracks on YouTube. You may browse the video playlist HERE or view them all in the embedded video, below.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

This is why I'm not a music journalist.

I'm half listening, half watching Sondre Lerche's Tiny Desk Concert at NPR, and all I can think to say is "Sondre Lerche is really cute!"

I can't help it. I like a man in plaid.

And... he's Norwegian. But that's the only thing I know about him. I liked one of his earlier albums when it came through KCPR a few years ago. At the time, I remember some reviewers knocking him for his ESL lyrics.

I wish I knew how to embed the video from NPR, but here's the official video from Youtube. This is the title track from his last album, released last September. (That seems like so long ago in terms of music.) I think I like the stripped-down acoustic version better.


I'm pretty sure he's singing about how much radio sucks.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

M.I.A.



A lot of people hate on her, but I like M.I.A. I like her music. I like her style. I like that she stirs things up. She's full of piss and vinegar and not afraid to be political. She's hating on Lady Gaga lately, which is awesome. If Lady Gaga and M.I.A. got in a fight, M.I.A. would drop that bitch in like 2 seconds.

The blogs are blowing up over M.I.A.'s new music video for "Born Free." It's NSFW because it shows fatties having sex (kind of) and then ginger kids getting rounded up and executed. I think it's hilarious! The sample she's using is from Suicide's "Ghost Rider," a great track off the bands first album in 1977.



Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Here's some new music

I'm really digging this Yeasayer song "Ambling Alp" off their latest album "Odd Blood."

This video is so weird!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Love and Death

I love Woody Allen. This movie cracks me up.



To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you're getting this down.
-- Woody Allen in "Love and Death" (1975)

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Spoon

Rode down to LA this week to see Spoon perform on the Jimmy Kimmel show. Wow, Jimmy Kimmel is not funny at all! But Spoon was great! I think this is my favorite song off their new album. The really skinny guy playing guitar is Bradford Cox‎ from Deerhunter.



Hipster Runoff called this performance boring. [shrug]

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Hipster Runoff

I get a big kick out of Hipster Runoff, a blog that examines and celebrates indie culture, in an over-the-top ironic way. I find it very clever. I love the use of 'air quotes' and text msg lingo, including the non-obvious ones like 'Am Appy' for American Apparel and 'AnCo' for Animal Collective.

In Zooey Deschanel has stage fright + crazy coke eyes on Letterman, Carles explains, "they did a 20 second zoom in on her wedding ring, representing the omniscient presence of Ben Gibbard in all mainstream indie music." And brings up several important questions like, "Should She & Him kick out the bro, and then market Zooey Deschanel as ‘the new Feist’?"



In I went 2 buy a new iPad and got back in touch with society & humanity [via technology], he asks, "Is the iPad the second coming of God / Jesus Christ? Are iPads for ass holes? Are Apple Store employees ‘ass holes’, ‘helpful’ or ’self-righteous, disgruntled liberal arts grads’? Do u wish u had an iPad when u were a tween?"

And finally, an oldie but goodie: U, Me, And Every Concert We Attend: How We Grow Older With Concerts.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Jónsi

"Jónsi" Birgisson, the lead singer of Sigur Ros, has a new solo album out called "Go" on Parlophone/XL Recordings. It's a bit different from Sigur Ros, much more upbeat, but his voice is definitely recognizable.

I can't embed the official video for his single, "Go Do" but you can watch it here. In the meantime, you can watch this beautiful trailer for a full length movie based on the album.



I'm always really pleasantly surprised when I come across a celebrity or musician who's openly gay. Jónsi and his boyfriend Alex have a very creative and collaborative relationship. They released an instrumental album together called Riceboy Sleeps. They also have an adorable website, that includes a recipe section and some raw/vegan cooking videos.


Jónsi & Alex Recipe Show - Raw Strawberry Pie from Jónsi & Alex on Vimeo.
In terms of celebrity personalities from my formative years during the 1990's, Jonsi reminds me of a cross between Bjork (for obvious reasons) and Billy Corgan (in that awkward, Addams family kind of way).

Broken Bells

Broken Bells is a collaboration between Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) and James Mercer, the lead vocalist and guitarist for The Shins.

NPR has been all over these guys lately...
- An entire show of All Songs Considered
- Segment from All Things Considered
- Live performance from SXSW

"The High Road" from their self-titled album, released last month on Columbia Records.
Mark my words: THIS IS A HIT.