Stop Okay Go

Come Saturday

 

Collage-ist Robert Pollard plans to release 6(!) albums over the course of 2009.

And what have you been doing with YOUR life, hmmm?

I don't know. Ever since the lady with 6 kids had octoplets, 6 albums just seems like an underachievement.

Pollard's album Crawling Distance came out on the 20th.

I'm liking this almost-annoying looping guitar line. Somehow sounds as if the guitarist is doing it just to taunt the rest of the band. Or that the rest of the band decided to join in on his looping solo that was already in progress. And that he'll keep playing it after they leave. Alone in his room, as the world around him crumbles. I might be putting too much thought into this:

Energy Dome

Devo, along with the legendary Quincy Jones*, will be keynote speakers at this years SXSW. I don't really ever think about Devo because they've been around forever, explored enough, and I just assumed they were somewhere out there in the back of the top shelf of the closet of the world doing their thing in a way that doesn't really have an impact on me personally, much like John Grisham.

I guess not everyone feels the way I do because they have an awful lot of fans who express their "Devo-tion" through tatts. A whole. lotta. tatts.:

I seriously had no idea.

(* I think it's an unwritten law that Quincy Jones must be written about or addressed with the words "the legendary" affixed in front of his name. You see it everywhere. I wonder if he ever gets flack about the "legendary" thing. Like when he goes to the video store, if the cashier looks at him askance as he says: "Here's your copy of Deuce Bigalow, European Gigolo Mr. "Legendary.")

Hummingbird On Cocaine

-A soundbite of a review of Ben Kweller's album Changing Horses, due out on February the 3rd: "If Matthew Sweet and Ryan Adams were to have a bastard lovechild he would pen songs that sound like these."

-Wow, the Blackout remix of Metronomy's A Thing For Me is hummingbird heart fast, and is sure to make it's way on to one of those jogging BPM music blogs for sure.

Quickies

Time for a jogroll down the blogroll:

-More info of the Brighton Port Authority Project AKA Fatboy Slim: This time with Iggy Pop as a puppet and some remixes.

-Heads up East Coast, there's a warmfront of Tweedy comin' yer way!

-Fans of Seu Jorge might like this song by Jack Penate; an anthem of sorts for the insomniac.

-Charles Bissell of The Wrens has gotten in the business of making predictions. He looks into his indie crystal ball and sees a bright future for the band Cymbals Eat Guitars.

The Visitor

So I've been reading a little bit on frYars (yup that's how he spells it..) song Visitors on the Subterranean blog. Guy is only 18 years old and he (they?) managed to get Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode to do guest back-up vocals on this track. I like frYar's strange baritone and am a longtime admirer of Gahan and DM from way back but, eh, I don't know if I'm feeling the two voices paired together. Also, the video kinda reminds me of a certain recent Andy Samberg/Jorma Taccone SNL digital short.

Now this song, on the other hand, is quite nice:

Boucher On

I very much like the clean-Mentos commerc1al-Euro feel to this video by Australia's Lovers Electric (special thanks to Hardcandy for the tip and the mp3) for the song The Secret Society of Movement and Dance. I wasn't going to spoil the ending of this video but the title gives it away, anyway. It starts off with an introduction to people who seemingly have nothing in common. Nothing but *DANCE!* that is. I KNOW, I was duped, too.

It reminds me of the video for the Kaiser Chiefs' Never Miss A Beat, another group dance extravaganza that was posted here many months back, where there's all the markings of cinematic tension building up to some sort of standoff or Crash-like conflict/encounter. Nope. The only encounter here is with some Danskins (and maybe some chafing from the heat). (..Sawdust inhalation.)(...repetitive "gazelle leap" injuries.)

A lovely, short, catchy pop find. Download it!:

Quickies

-Royksopp is back, and they've brought a whole bunch of their Swedish and Norwegian friends with them. Their new album, Junior, comes out in March. Click on the link for an entertaining version of the song Happy Birthday. About time that song got a remake.

-Beyonce's little sister Solange has got a Twitter. I'm confused by some of the things she's talking about, but then again I'm also confused by how Evaporated Milk works and the pronunciation and spelling of JoDee Messina's name.

-Silversun Pickups also make a return.

Not The Same Old Spiel

So I've been reading up a little bit on N.A.S.A. in the latest issue of Spin Magazine. They're named one of the acts to watch in '09.

N.A.S.A., which stands for North America South America, is made up of Brazilian DJ Ze Gonzales and Squeak E. Clean who goes by the name of Sam Spiegel in "real life." Spiegel is the brother of famed director Spike Jonze and the Yeah Yeah Yeah's co-producer.

The Spirit of Apollo, N.A.S.A.'s new album, will be coming out on February 17th. The duo is known for putting together unusual collaborations (such as Tom Waits and Kool Keith) and spectacular live stage shows. N.A.S.A. will give Southern California a peek at their visual hijinx when they perform at Coachella in April.

The song "N.A.S.A. Music (LA Riots Remix)" below, is an older work of theirs is one of the first songs I've heard this year that has gotten me bouncing while I type..the sign of something good.

Attention Bird Watchers!

Just got this in the inbox:

Set those radio dials and web browsers to WFUV this evening, Friday, January 23rd at 8pm EST for a live performance by Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons along with Andrew Bird. WFUV's blog The Alternate Side will show video footage of the event in the days to come.

Here's a sneak-peekaroonie.

El Camino Take Me Home

Sweet and twangy songbird, renaissance woman and fine artist (she does woodwork and light boxes, too!) Marissa Nadler has a new album called Little Hells coming out on March the 3rd. She reminds me of a softer more feminine version of Lucinda Williams.  Here's a song from the album and tour dates after the jump...

Public Domain

I was reading last month's issue of Under the Radar Magazine (The one that has Fleet Foxes on the cover. Btw, Robin Pecknold has him some beautiful eyes. But that's a different post for a different day...).

Under the Radar is a font of info for any music lovers out there. In it, Jim Noir was talking up his favorites of last year including The Advisory Circle, AKA Jon Brooks (along with some help from George Vert and the King of Woolworth). It's all very trippy synth music and probably influenced by Brooks' fascination with public information films from the 1970's where "Everything's fine but there's something not quite right about it."

Tiny Bubbles

-Above a new video from Friendly Fires for the song Skeleton Boy that leaves the commenters at Current less than impressed. I was listening to FF's song 'Paris' this morning and have got to say that Friendly Fires are one of the lightest acts around. I don't mean that as a negative at all. Their stuff seems to float in the ether or at least somewhere up in the rafters. There are malt liquors and champagnes and they're definitely more bubbly than most bands.

-D'Angelo and Lionel Richie are both coming back with new albums. Audio of Richie's song, Just Go, a collaboration with Akon, streaming here.

-Wow this is fantastic, a TON of mp3's of Of Montreal doing popular covers such as Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith and Katrina and the Waves' Walking On Sunshine. And also a picture of Kevin Barnes doing his best Nosferatu.

Dictator Dictation

Another commercial! This har's a nicely done fan-made video for the newish song Move(If You Wanna) by the rapper MIMS. It's not the full version of the (Alvin and the Chipmunks-esque) song but I like it anyway. The song is plain enough to lend itself to all kinds of remixes.

The video is sort of Subterranean Homesick Blues meets Wordle cloud. More bands should lay out lyrics in visual form. It seems to me that it would help brand their messages and the memory of their songs into their fans' brains.

MIMS' new album Guilt comes out in March.  There seems to be some sort of 'dust-up' in the You Tube comment section about the beat sounding similar to Gillie Da Kid's Get Down On the Ground.  Then you go to Gillie's video and the commenters there are mad that he bit off Lil Wayne. Tracing the food chain on this one might make you dizzy.

Quickies

 

-The amusingly low-tech Dam-Funk (a friend of a friend!) has a new commercial, above. This info via Analog Giant who are also posting a re-edit of Steely Dan's Green Earrings. Much thanks to them.

-Jay Z at a live performance in DC last night. Maaayyyyyhem.

-Stream U2's new song "Get On Your Boots," produced by Eno and Lanois.

-Andre 3000's fashion line is reportedly in financial trubbs.

Where Decent Folks Don't Go

These songs are all from a book that you *must* pick up if you are a lover of old eclectic music. Lost in the Grooves was published in 2005 and edited by Kim Cooper and David Smay, from Scram and Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth magazines, respectively.

Cooper and Smay are both recreational crate-diggers and what I love about the book is its infectious non-snooty treasure hunt approach to reviewing. Each pick "too quirky, distinctive or demented to appeal to the masses.” 

There are all kinds of great tidbits and trivia to be found, such as profiles on David Allan Coe “an ex-con, Mormon, masked, Outlaw Country, ventriloquist, porno-music, biker poet (please watch him in the video above)” and Michael Mantler, who used Edward Gorey’s writings as libretto for his compositions on The Hapless Child and Other Inscrutable Stories.

Be sure to check out the Flesheaters, John Phillips (of Mamas and Papas fame) and of course, Kylie Minogue.

New JTims?

Via What?... I'm not sure what this song is for or who it will be used for. It's Justin Timberlake singing like a girl, or um, for a girl? What's here has the makings of something good.  Somebody master this and punch it up a little, pronto! Put some new rims on it, throw a little T-Pain or Lil Wayne in the middle. C'mon world, make it happen.

Chunk of My Lung

  (Frankly, she's tired of your nonsense.)(Or maybe Ryan Adams.)

A few weeks back I wrote about my admiration for Natalie Merchant's hearty, bassoon-like voice and how unique it sounds in a sea of wispy indie waif girls. Girl's whose voices couldn't take off the top layer of a coat of Flirty Feminity nail polish. Well, Mz. Merchant's got competition! It comes in the form of Erika Wennestrom, lead singer of Heartless Bastards:

Intense.

Top that, Merchant!

Those Heartless Bastards will be performing with comedy duo The Black Keys at Terminal 5 on the 6th of February.

Cup of Vampire Joe

So this song and video by The Volunteers is slightly NSFW. F--k My Ghost is so cheesy cute that it walks the fine novelty line between Drive By Truckers and Weird Al.

This a favorable portrait of the Grim Reaper, for a change. The Reaper is usually portrayed as foreboding, depressed, lonely and inept. I wonder if this isn't the first step in Death being made over in the media. What if Death hired a focus group and a team of imagemakers?

"Let's add some bling to your scythe!"

"Maybe earth tones for your hood."

"Less lurching, more strolling."

If you are in New York The Volunteers will be at the Highline on the 22nd. I'll see if I can get an mp3 of the song I like most off the album, Hoogabooga, up on here later.

Peep This

Wow, I got this in the mailbox today and it's really cute. It's worth a few seconds of your day, especially if you are as harried as I am of late. It makes for a nice tea break... a journey into a world where things move slowly, people take their time, and girls have time to brush their hair and wear dresses.

It is a video for the song Lille by Irish singer Lisa Hannigan, whose album Sea Sew comes out on February the 3rd. It features gorgeous pop-up books that bring to mind one of my favorite books based on the Wizard of Oz. Lisa Hannigan tourdates after the jump! (If you are in LA she will be at the Troub on 2/21!)

Quickies

-So I'm a little late on this...The Scenestar has shuttered its site for good. This is such sad news because there aren't that many Los Angeles based music blogs. Thanks for everything Scenestars.

-Speaking of SoCal, No Age, Flying Lotus and Peanut Butter Wolf are maybe possibly suppossably signed on to play Coachella.

-Twilight's Joshua Rathbone has a band called 100 Monkeys.

-Bollywood music sure does have a lot of vowels. I will be listening to this come the weekend.

- Here's the video for the A.C. Newman song Like A Hitman, Like a Dancer. As mentioned in an earlier post Newman's music is upbeat and cheerful and that's totally what we need these days.