Okkervil River

I can't stop listening to the new album "The Stand Ins." In an attempt to impress a girl I had marked their concert on my calendar. As the show came closer the girl changed but the objective remained the same: impress girl with depth of indie knowledge.

She said she was into going to the show. Then I realized the only exposure i had to Okkervil River was a streaming concert I had listened to months ago on NPR. So I downloaded the most recent album from the band. It's great. This falls into a category of bands and music that is yet to be named but is best described in quoting my brother when he was telling me about Pavement 6 years ago. "I think I like the music because it's music that i feel we could make. It's toe tapping, not head banging and sloppy." The writing is clever and fun.

In short Okkervil River is fun, smart and OCDELICIOUS.

Los Campesinos

I origianlly got Los Campesinos' EP from my sister on a burned CD with half of Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga album. Seeing as how I didn't have a CD player at the time I left the CD in my mom's car in another state. But everytime i went to visit it was almost a treat know what my mom would have this CD in her car next to Steely Dan's greatest hits and the new indigo girls. So when I heard the new album by Los Campesinos was out I got it digitally and have been able to give it a proper listen.

As you all expected, I love it. Can't stop listening to this wonderful ironic exciteable dark happy music. They are pitchfork and NPR's darlings right now and they should be yours too.

I need human heat

(Originally written in July)

This week was my birthday and thank you NPR for a great present. Usually I'm not too impressed by Bob Boulin and NPR's All Songs Considered. Much like the rest of NPR arts and culure stories the ASC ends up taking themselves and artists they review a bit too seriously. But recently ASC had a poll on their website to find the best albums of 2008 so far. And the results were pretty interesting. The fist result was the new Panic at the Dicso. I know i know, Panic at the Disco was voted one of the top album by NPR listeners!! But as you most likely suspected Panic at the Disco had a link on their website asking people to vote for them. I'm imagining 17 year old youths with black hair and lip rings leaving the world of pittchforkmedia.com and hot topic to enter, if only for a strategic vote, the parellel universe of Nina Totenberg and Morning Edition. And what happens when dad walks in on that 17 year old son of whom he is so worried about because he doesn't get why he wears eyeliner and girls jeans, when that dad sees the familiar three color logo of NPR on the website? The dad goes through sock first then disbelief next comes a calming feeling of comfort, "he'll be alright, even though he may act oddly and be so aloof from the family Robert Seigel and Renee Montain will bring him back". But sorry dad you've got a few years until your 17 year old son comes around and realizes that


I had to cut myself off. the extended metaphor got away from me. But enjoy the Scottish goodness.

Bon Iver

I know some of you are sick of me talking about this guy, but I honestly have been obsessing since June, and I really can't get over it. Bon Iver. What a man. For Emma, Forever Ago is the best album that has come out since Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. I know, its a lofty claim, but hey, no one reads this blog anymore so I could say "SHIT-FIRE DAMNATION" and no one would even yell blasphemy. Seriously though,  I have a fever, and no, its not for more cowbell, its for more Bon Iver. 

http://www.emusic.com/album/Bon-Iver-For-Emma-Forever-Ago-MP3-Download/11161152.html

So Much Chips you can have a bag if you a snacker!

Alright. Some of you may know I work as a DJ. DJ Heartbroker (it's a bit ridiculous). I DJ parties with 200-1500 ppl usually. I'm not the biggest fan of Hip Hop but this work helped me get though college, really working weekend nights playing music to a bunch of sweaty 18- 20 somethings is better than washing dishes.

I was Dj'ing a party a few weeks ago and I got a text from a friend asking me to play lollipop by lil wayne. I had no idea what the song was and didn't play it... but turns out I love the song and have probably listened to it upwards of a hundred times in the past week. But not the original, the remix with Kanye. It's more polished and more clever... of course its more clever if Mr West is gracing us with his presence.

"I got so much chips man you can call me Hewlett_Packer, I got so much chips you can have a bag if you're a snacker"

Well done Lil Wayne, you're silly clever and I love you.
**Caution Un-EDITED**
Lil'" Wayne ft. KanYe West - Lollipop (Official Remix)

Hayden- Bass Song

If there was one song in the world I had to listen to for the rest of my life, this song might be on the top 10, because every single time I listen to it, I'm surprised by something I hadn't heard the previous time. Just listen to the little placements of sounds during the transitions. The small trickle of the piano, the orchestra in the background rolling like thick swells in the ocean, the low shuffle of the percussion and piano, in some parts the bass imitates the hollow sound of a marimba, even the little noises in the background that let you know the song is human, that someone is there in the room with you. And listen to his voice; the small swells and releases in his musicality is astonishing. If you hear it one time without really listening, and then you listen to it again, really paying attention, its like listening to two completely different songs. And the song is so diverse too. Its a perfect study song, a perfect driving song, even a good running song, but its mostly a nothing song. This song is simply beautiful.

a link to the song will be up shortly.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!

What can I say about Clap Your Hands Say Yeah that already hasn't been explained in the band's title? This refreshing group from Brooklyn recently celebrated the one year anniversary of their second album (which I bought and completely ate up)....but I still feel nostalgic about their first, self-titled album released in '05. It's probably one of the only albums I own where I completely love every single one of the songs...a true OCDelicious album. In a way they could be compared to Interpol and Arcade Fire, minus the grave themes and add fun-loving, shuffle-your-feet simplicity. Unlike others, however, Alec Ounsworth's voice (a voice my mom swears only a mother could love) rings refreshing tones in my ears, even at its whiniest. Their use of bells, chimes, accordion, harmonica and other toy-like sounds in a mature, melodic, and modern indie setting offers the world a new form of musical-bliss never experienced before. These two songs, Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth, and Is This Love? are quite enjoyable.

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