I know, I know... I'm late to the game, as per usual.
For the last few weeks, I've done nothing but soak in my final days (theoretically) of complete laziness and irresponsibility, before having to enter the world of working stiffs (read: adulthood). Despite the fact that spending extraordinary hours on the couch, TiVo'ing every episode of The Daily Show, is no small order, I decided that it was high time to challenge myself and pick up another TV show to begin and play catch-up. I guess if I wanted to do this and still maintain the semblance of a life, I probably should have picked something a notch below Battlestar Galactica. Because, now, I'm...so...obsessed (like, watched all 3.5 seasons in a week and a half obsessed). Though, really, I should have seen this coming, what with my love of J.J. Abrams dramas/yelling at the TV when I don't understand the latest "plot twists" (taking liberties, here) on Heroes/Lost. With BSG, it's like they decided to look at every good sci-fi show on television, ever, and go, "Hmm, these are good... but what if we took out the crap?" Turns out: it worked. Also, look how bad ass this "Last Supper"-esque photo is:
All things considered, I decided that a related music post (don't laugh, I was almost tempted to scrap the music altogether and just geek out on the show) would either have to be an extremely Pure Moods-y genre, or some shit about robots. Robots it is!
"Bulls on Parade" (Rage Against the Machine) ...maybe it's a pathetic excuse to have a Rage tag on the blog, maybe it's a poor connection between BSG cylons and a track that only has an allusion to robots in the band name - I say, what's the diff??
"One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21" (Flaming Lips) ...whether Yoshimi... is a concept album, or just a concept introductory four songs, the connection between Yoshimi and her face off against a bunch of futuristic robots is possibly the best conveyance of deep, philosophical thought I've ever heard in music.
"Robots" (TV on the Radio) ...apparently, robots are everywhere. And I guess they're trying to procreate.
Whether they're tried and true abbrevs. of our vernacular or specifically catered to online chatting, acronyms have made the ultimate crossover... to song titles. Here are several many clever song title acronyms (and yet another reason for me to assemble an incongruous mix).
"U.R.A.Q.T." - M.I.A. ...this is so acronym-tastic that it's the inspiration behind this post as a whole.
"F.U.S.S." - Christina Aguilera ...an acronym that has a significance to really only Xtina, alone, but it's one of the most clever ways to say "fuck you" to a well known, established record producer. Still waiting on Scott Storch's rebuttal, though...
"G.O.D." - Common feat. Cee-Lo ..."Gaining One's Definition" is one of the most existential rap songs I've ever heard. Leave it to Common, I guess.
"T.B.T.F." - Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew ...talk about T.M.I. about Drew and Feist! Though, I guess that's his prerogative, since - as far as I'm concerned - his solo efforts are 394839304x better than his girlfriend's.
"X.Y.U." - Smashing Pumpkins ...more to do with phonetics than an actual acronym, but "X.Y.U." ("Ex, Why You..." if you will) is one of the reasons why I ignore Billy Corgan's megalomania and still find the incredible talent behind the Pumpkins.
You can go ahead and blame it on the sweet combination of a barrage of reality dance shows and my overwhelming boredom, being stuck in my parents' house before my pending move to the Windy City (and adulthood), but I am straight up on the dance train. Mostly, I've been listening to a lot of RóisínMurphy... and subsequently experimenting with ways to butcher her name (see title of post).
It's possible that she really struck her widespread success with the zombie'rific "Rama Lama Bang Bang" number choregaphed for 'So You Think You Can Dance's second season (shown above), but I think a better show of her ability is with "Sow Into You."
I also really like Murphy because she's able to separate her solo work from the stuff she does with her band, Moloko. Way too often - *ahem* Emily Haines/Metric and, to some degree, Thom Yorke/Radiohead - band singers do solo attempts that are way too reminiscent of the band's sound. The nice thing about Murphy and Moloko is that the sound is different, but the connection is still audible (meaning, you can still get a good SYTYCD solo out of it)
Moons ago, when everyone was kvelling up and down about Lil Wayne being the greatest MC on the planet, I was reluctant. Because, let's face it, it's either complete genius or complete stupidity that leads a rapper to the following:
"When I was five, my favorite movie was The Gremlins... Ain't got shit to do with this, but I thought that I should mention."
As it turns out, it's the former and his lyrics and music have managed to actually get better with time -- a feat I thought was impossible for a rapper.
On his latest album, Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne manages to show versatility by assembling the motliest assortment of collaborators since the last Timbaland album. He's got the expected hitters (T-Pain, Robin Thicke, Bobby Valentino), because let's be real, who's album AREN'T those people on?! But he's also managed to bring in some unexpected guests like Babyface and Betty Wright, whose last collaboration (ignoring her guru'ship over Danity Kane) - I'm pretty sure - was with Angie Stone. Talk about transition. What's not surprising about these latter duos is that they're the far better tracks off the new album. So, whether or not he stepped his game up to impress some of the greatest minds and voices of R&B (music, in general, really) or it's just happenstance, I think this could only be the beginning of some of "Weezy"s best work to come. (You think he's got Gladys Knight's digits??)
Not gone... just resting! Normally, the 'hiatus' warning is done BEFORE the poster goes AWOL, unfortunately I didn't anticipate such an absence from here... finals turn into graduation, graduation turns into moving, moving turns into wallowing in my parents' basement. The good news is... I now have all the time in the world to listen to whatever/whomever.
The downside of all of this time away is I've missed lots of goodies. The major bits being the viral releases by both Coldplay and Nine Inch Nails... with a prospective release by Girl Talk on the way. As a result, I thought I'd just add a couple of miscellaneous items, here and there, in a little something I like to call: the Potpourri post. Basically, it's what I've been feeling/listening to in our time apart, and is in no way restricted to new releases. On to what will make for the motliest assortment of tags in blogger history...
"Corona Radiata" (NIИ) ...somehow, I always end up liking Reznor's songs better when they have no lyrics (with the exception of "Hurt").
"Viva La Vida" (Coldplay) ...normally, I try and refrain from liking the song AFTER it's a widely popular iTunes commercial, but this is cold(play) classic and is too good not to be mentioned.
"Rockferry" (Duffy) ...it's like just when I think the Brit singer/songwriter combo has been perfected, a less screwed up/more talented version comes along. I'm not sure if I can, in good conscience, admit to liking Duffy MORE THAN Adele... but she's definitely a newer Amy Winehouse model - with the kinks worked out.
"Say Goodbye to Love" (Kenna feat. Lupe Fiasco) ...this is the closest I've ever heard hip hop come to new wave.
"Evident Utensil" (Chairlift) ...singing along to this song might be the most fun a person can have while driving. Trust me.
"You Could Not Decide" (French Kicks) ...I actually heard this song on a 'Lite [insert high 90's radio frequency]' station the other day. I damn near swerved off the road. "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (Bob Dylan) ...there's nothing like a little Dylan when you're in a post-college graduation/pre-rest-of-your-life funk.
"California Dreaming" (Mamas and the Papas) ...I actually have no regional affiliation to California, especially LA, so I think the only explanation for my recent fascination is the fact that every other channel on TV now runs the 'TimeLife Flower Power' collection infomercial.
I like the idea of a spitfire-cockney lass Brit singer/songwriter, but I sure as hell don't feel like dealing with any of the illicit drug tapes/imprisoned husbands/clothing lines/erratic mudslinging/tabloid fodder/and career-in-crisis peroxide hair bleaching. Enter: Adele.
A few posts ago, I talked about Kate Nash and I think, in some ways, Adele trumps Nash. She still manages to sing with an accent - something that the anglophile in me LOVES about the new musical genre of these London tarts - and still gets in a curse word here or there - again, what's not to like?! - but she manages to do it with class and feeling. While many of these artists have a way of singing whimsically, I can actually take her songs seriously. And, apparently, Kanye loves her too...?
As much as I want to talk about her album as a whole, I honestly can't stop listening to "Hometown Glory" long enough to get in enough plays of the other songs (though I will say that there are several good remixes of "Chasing Pavements" out there). From the appropriately long piano intro, which only gets you revved for her voice... to the way she stretches out the word "hometown" in the chorus... to her 'fuck you' attitude during the bridge... the song has fairly earned its place on my "The Shit" playlist (no small feat).
Since it's not really prudent to go into the excess typing/gushing my 'love of Justin' proclamation requires (let's just say I'm too old to behave in the manner I do), I'll just dive right into the personal victory I felt when I first discovered that he was working with THE Madonna. I basically used that piece of knowledge as a big fat "boo-yah!" to everyone I knew who had spent the past *mutters embarrassingly large number* of years trying to dissuade me of his legitimacy. Also, after watching the video below - I can't help the warm, fuzzy feelings I get from seeing Madonna act like an annoyed babysitter to Justin's obnoxious three-year-old. It's endearing, I swear...
Now, I know there are several people who are not yet convinced that Madonna's latest album is worth the time/effort/hoopla befitting of anything she releases (there's probably a terrible joke embedded in there somewhere...). For a song featuring Justin, it even took ME a few listens to fully get behind "4 Minutes..." but I think that's largely attributable to the Timbaland/Beat Club charm (I vaguely remember feeling that way with "SexyBack"). I will admit that songs like "Candy Shop" had me on the fence about the new Madonna album, but after hearing some of the newly leaked tracks, I have to say... the melodies actually seems pretty reminiscent of her Immaculate Collection era stuff, especially songs like "She's Not Me" and "Give It 2 Me" - just with a Timbaland/Pharrell twist. "Miles Away" is a pretty fair indication of the direction of the album.
There's nothing like a (small) sea of overly-caffeinated ivy leaguers, strung out from too many hours of Facebooking at the library, doing awkward head bops to some good 'ol fashioned mellow indie rock. Last night was Columbia's spring concert, featuring Grizzly Bear and The National, and if I wasn't such a fan of the two bands, I would have been pretty damn amused by the fact that they were playing to a crowd of people who had no idea who they were.
To their credit, both bands played their material pretty well (though, I think there were times when Grizzly Bear got a little bored by their own songs) but The National definitely took the cake as the better band on stage. To be honest, once they got to "Squalor Victoria" on the set, I pretty much forgot to look at anyone besides Aaron and his guitar riffs.
What might have been even cooler was hanging out after the show and seeing just how completely normal they are. While on stage, the Dessner brothers addressed their sister, whose birthday it was, but to see them hanging out with her afterwards with their parents in tow was not only adorable, but oddly refreshing. It felt like the mingling hour after a school play, rather than the after-party of a legitimately established (touring with R.E.M. is an automatic catupult from obscurity) indie band. And if their incredibly endearing mixer with their parents hadn't won me over, the seductive combo. of crates of whiskey and pan-Asian takeout in their dressing room certainly did the trick.
So, spring is upon us, and as a lass on her way to getting her BS (pretty much in BS) in May, the spring holds one main value: get as much last-minute social interaction with this campus as humanly possible. That's why I became pleased as punch when I found out that, this year, our spring concert will be Grizzly Bear and the National (between this and the VW post, it shouldn't be hard to piece together my soon-to-be alma mater). Now, it's no Spring Weekend at Brown - but, as someone who is still listening to Boxer, you'll hear no complaints from me.
I like Grizzly Bear well enough, but it's really Daniel Rossen that gets me to listen to the group. The minute I heard his cover of Jojo's (yes, that Jojo) "Too Little Too Late," I was hooked. If I didn't have it plainly written before me that the song is, in fact, a Jojo cover, I'd never believe it. Too often a pop cover can turn into yet another acoustic "Umbrella" or "Toxic," but when it's done right - when it's done like this - you can actually separate the song from its genre and listen to the artist putting his new spin on it.
**note I refrained from the obvious "It's not 'Too Little Too Late'" pun...
I get... - about 39849048 covers of "Digital Love" (it goes without being mentioned that the original comes up, too) - the Girl Talk DP/Rick Ross mash-up ("Digital Hustlin") - "Digital Get Down" by *NSYNC ...I implore anyone to tell me that isn't a MUST for a proper music library - "Pogo" by Digitalism The last on the list is by far my recent favorite (of course I'm just waiting for the day that *NSYNC reclaims its lead). I remember during one late night tv session, I flipped to the nyctv channel. They were showing the video for "Pogo," and I remember (a) being dizzy... and, (b) thinking it was too good of a song to pass up. About 4 seconds after the song came on, the channel cut to an interview with Yeasayer, where they bashed the hell out of the spinning room video. If you can get a bunch of Williamsburg hipsters to talk shit about your video on the closest thing that New York City has to public access tv for a young demographic, then you've got to be worth a spin in my book.
Y'know, when I heard the first track that was by [Insert name of well-established rapper here] featuring Chris Martin, I got kind of annoyed. After all of the hullabaloo Martin made about NEVER veering from his band mates in order to do a collabo. with another artist, it seem kind of tired that someone who seemed to be such a genuine artist had proven himself to be a hypocrite. At least three such collaborations later, I'm finding that I don't care. Not if I get songs like Kanye West's "Homecoming."
Now, obviously the song is already pretty well-established, but I suppose it has an additional personal meaning to me: it's all about Chicago, where - in three months time - I'll be starting my new college-grad life. That being said, the recently released video for "Homecoming" is not only one of my more favorite videos from Kanye's arsenal (it helps that there are no over-the-top churches/Evil Knievel/bodies in car trunks/R&B superstars), but it's also a nice little tour for me to get acquainted to the city that I will soon be calling home. Apparently, I need to get a flatbed 18-wheeler.
Kate Nash's "Foundations" has one of the best detailed accounts of relationship dysfunction:
"then i'll use that voice what you find annoying, and say something like, "intelligent input, darlin', why don't you just have another beer then?" then you call me a bitch, and everyone we're with will be embarrassed ...and I won't give a shit."
I give you the video along with the normal mp3 link, because I especially like the "friends" in front of whom she's been humiliated.
Now, I refuse to believe that I'm the only 21-year-old who enjoys the occasional teen melodrama. If nothing else, it helps us relive our far less dramatic high school glory days, and we can all at least recognize what the likes of the O.C. did for indie music. That being said, I won't specifically mention WHICH particular teen melodrama led me to discover Grace Potter and the Nocturnals' track "Apologies," off the band's latest release, This Is Somewhere - I'll just be thankful for my slightly pathetic guilty pleasures. The song also managed to pass the test of standing out among all of the tears, slapping, and making out (likely during the same scene) - an impressive feat.
Incidentally, and I might be alone in this, the drawn out "craaazy" in the song somehow reminds me of the chorus of "Bette Davis Eyes" - and if that's not a good enough reason to like a song, I don't know what is.
I'll admit... my weekend starts a bit early, but it's actually never the wrong time to listen to Vampire Weekend.
Despite the fact that I'm still shocked by the fact that I saw these guys (place 3rd!) at my Engineering Student Council's Battle of the Bands (you can stop laughing, now), it's no surprise to me that VW has blown up all over the place. They're the latest and greatest thing to hit...well, pretty much anything/where. They opened for The Shins, they graced the cover of Spin, and they recently played SNL - with their recent success (and happy-time lyrics), it's kind of easy to forget that they're just a bunch of dorky 20-somethings looking to wear wool sweaters and, most likely, "rock."
While the most impressive feat, for many critics/reviewers, about the band is its ingenuity in incorporating African rhythms to what I've dubbed "Williamsburg alt rock," I think the really impressive feat they accomplish is making the music sound happy. Between Koenig's clean and simple guitar chords/riffs and his sunny falsetto that's sprinkled along the album (listen to "A Punk"), the endorphins evoked alone could get you hooked onto the band that is already being dubbed as the breakthrough of 2008.
It stands to be noted that I waged an internal war with myself over whether or not to link "Oxford Comma," because, while I think it does a good job of showcasing the band's abilities, its subject matter more or less goes against everything I believe in, grammatically. But, while I sit here with my MLA handbook, you enjoy some VW...
I used to hate the idea of making a cover for a song that had been released within the past 3 years. If it's well enough known to be covered by a greater-than-or-equal-to-B-list musician, I clearly still remember it and am likely sick of hearing it on my radio and/or iTunes, right? After checking out the all the Radio1 and 'Even Better Than the Real Thing' releases, I discover there is something to be heard there.
One of the best examples I can think of is with 30 Seconds to Mars' cover of Kanye West's "Stronger." Put aside your hatred for Jared Leto's shellacked and sheened asymmetrical hair and the fact that he reminds you of that creepy guy who sits in the corner of the bar and waits for the first girl to fall off her barstool. The band's cover of "The Song of 2007" helps somehow spin all of the annoyingly pompous similes/metaphors that Kanye wouldn't dream of sparing his prized singles into a fairly emotional ballad. There are times, even, when Leto sounds self-loathing and desperate - an impressive feat given the original intent of the lyrics. So, for making a Kanye/Daft Punk collabo sound humbly human (after all?), I'll ignore the involuntary shivers that their lead singer invokes and give props to 30 Seconds to Mars for giving everyone a reason to believe in covers again.
