pulling no punches.

what can I say? it was a good year for popular blogworthy music.

10. Girls, ALBUM
9. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
8. Built to Spill, There Is No Enemy
7. Om, God is Good
6. A.C. Newman, Get Guilty
5. The Brother Kite, Isolation
4. Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3. Japandroids, Post-Nothing
2. Antlers, Hospice


1. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavillion


HONORABLE MENTIONS: Dinosaur Jr, Farm; the xx, the xx; Bear In Heaven, Beast Rest Forth Mouth; Bon Iver, Blood Bank ep; Cass McCombs, Catacombs; Cursive, Mama I'm Swollen

luff

you're not my dream girl

you're not my reality girl

you're my dreams come true girl

it's that time of year again! YEAR END LISTS! get 'em done.

bor. rowed. time.

love shitty things? check out the David Bowie bootleg Dallas Moonlight. on April 27, 1983, Stevie Ray Vaughan joined Bowie on a soundstage in Texas to personally destroy 29 of Bowie's greatest hits. wherever you stand on the Bowie fence, I defy you to make it all the way through this “bluesified” version of TVC15 without shuddering your headphones off.

and before any of you try to deflect the trauma by making jokes about cocaine descisions (we've all been there), remember that Bowie’s coke phase was in the mid-70s and was more or less excellent. this has nothing to do with white lines and everything to do with smoking white grooves. if the breathy jazz version of Jean Genie doesn’t give you chills just wait for the monumental jizz-off at the end of Star.

I only care about matieral things

I know I'm on your christmas list.

Buy For Me Lovers



'cause life sucks kids: all up and down the dial

now it's time for.......

INAPPROPZ CRUSH ALERT!

you like what you like, but some things are just wrong to be attracted to. today's inappropriate crush: the blonde one from savage garden

 

these guys both give major 'gay face', in fact I remember reading that at least 50% of savage garden is gay, although it easily could be 100%. but despite the later gross facial hair and hoop earrings, I think he's cute. I don't even know his name, carrie underwood steez. actually I think only Darren Hayes has a name, and he in fact goes by 'blonde guy from savage garden'. remember that 'Animals' song or whatever, ugh, GROSS.

sidenote:

thinking about possible karaoke songs if I go tonight, I gots to thinking about indie rock crossover songs, like indie songs by established indie artists that the karaoke czar is actually likely to have. I think a few major indie crossovers are:

Modest Mouse - Float On

The Smiths - How Soon Is Now

Pavement - Cut Your Hair

Stone Roses - Love Spreads

Beck - Loser

Folk Implosion - Natural One

******************

Current Clothing Wishlist:

you know, basically my usual combo of secretarial stuff and things Cher would've worn in Clueless. bone zone! sigh.....

I am so out of tune with you, I am so out of tune with you

first and foremost: I realize that I will never fully understand the millions of bizarre ways that music brings people together.

secondly, and in the background: I am made of hard rock and blue sky and I will live this way forever.

thirdly, and way far way: there are a few things that are definitely next-level right now.

* the fact that my crazytown hilarious beautiful depressed younger sister has taken the 'failed child' label away from me by moving in with her unemployed, drop out boyfriend halfway thru her senior year of high school. The H is O! this actually really sucks, but it's nice to call home and have my father speak to me like a human versus a cylon for once. roswell that end's well!

* finding someone to do a Wear Dare with. A Wear Dare is when you take a friend/lover/mortal enemy to the thrift store, and you each pick out five of the ugliest, most chronicles of ridic outfits you can find, $50 total maximum. obvs you can reuse items, or set a lower budget. now for the week, you and your friend have to wear the 5 outfits: no wussing out, no explaining what you're doing if people ask. no matter what the event. we're talking button-down LAN party flame shirts people. denim overalls, Life Is Good tshirts, SHORTS. on your mark, get set, CLOTHES! so, any takers? trust me: I will find someone.





* I watched I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, the Wilco documentary last night. shit was too hot! I was diggin' on the fonts, the editing, the tuneage, and of course I was lovin' me some Jeff Tweedy! he is soooo00000oooooo dreamy ladiez. I hadn't heard any screamage from him like some of what was featured in the doc. TMI alert: I had a dream of sexual nature about him last night. we were marrieds and in love and he wrote a song about me that Rolling Stone cited as extra good in their review. now, Rolling Stone suxors so why I fantasized about this is super gross and pretentious. hey kinda like me! next on the movie plate is either Palindromes by Todd Solondz (also on my list of Most Dangerous Movies to review) or Helvetica, a documentary about the font, graphic design, and culture.


*******************************************************************************
Got a box full of letters
Think you might like to read
Some things that you might like to see
But they're all addressed to me

Wish I had a lotta answers
Cause that's the way it should be
For all these questions
Being directed at me

I just can't find the time
To write my mind
The way I want it to read

You'll come back again
And I'll still be your friend

I got a lot of your records
In a separate stack
Some things that I might like to hear
But I guess I'll give 'em back

I wish I had a lotta answers
Cause that's the way it should be
All these questions
Being directed at me

Just can't find the time
To write my mind
The way I want it to read

You'll come back again
And I'll still be your friend

I can't find the time
To write my mind
The way I want it to read

Just can't find the time
To write my mind
The way I want it to read

read music speak spanish

I suppose normally my posts have some sort of rhyme or reason, but the rain has seeped into my brain and I am just going to write some random junk, which is really all this blog is anyway. that'll do pig, that'll do.

lez start with this band I like. okay with you? on kanine records (grizzly bear, chairlift) Drink Up Buttercup "build you up with the post-Beatles harmonies of the La's and the post-Beatles surrealism of Electric Light Orchestra or Super Furry Animals." okay nothing could ever be that awesome, but I can dig it! their single 'Mr. Pie Eyes' is certainly worth a listen if any of that strikes your fancy. you won't get burned. okay you might get burned if you're one of those folks who 'knows' about 'music'.

the widget may or may not show up below, because this computer 'belows' heh, but if not google the bitch.

bold statement alert:
I like Ricky Gervais' 'Extras' more than 'The Office' (uk). wowza! credit to Mark D for letting me borrow the series. it will be rewatched many times.

** Thom Yorke recently said something super cool. duh. Miley Cyrus publicly (on Ryan Seacrest or something) was complaining about how at the Grammys she tried to meet Radiohead but they ignored or said no to her request for a private meeting. Miley said 'they will pay', and I assume she didn't mean for any of her shitty walmart merchandise. after the public bemoaning, Yorke replied that "Maybe after a few more years of life Miley will learn not to have such a sense of entitlement".

I love this. I feel with my generation as a whole (although I guess Miley is not considered my generation) there is a HUGE sense of entitlement that only gets worse as we go along. what exactly are we entitled to, I don't know. nothing.


also, if you love me, buy me old issues of sassy from ebay. kthx.

new musicccccc

if you are not a fan of The Thermals, please be advised you are MISSING OUT. they are from portland, oregon, plus one right? they're all fun pop-punk tinged indie rock on Sub Pop, you could kinda maybe put them with Guided By Voices/The Hold Steady/Ted Leo? I don't know; comparisons like that are fucking useless. all I know is their last album, The Body, The Blood, The Machine is all killer and no filler. it's the type of album that explains why 50% of the crowd at any Hold Steady show is bro dudes in funny saying tshirts. meaning: they appeal across the board. I know at least 3 awesome people who like them: Mark D, his friend Dave, and Michael. nuff said.

the new album drops April 7th, but until then click here to download their new single, courtesy of the A.V. Club. propz. this band is seriously funny, like pitchfork being credited with 'breaking' broken social scene. reference reference reference link band reference fashion.

new musicccccccc

Amazing Baby was one of the best bands out of Brooklyn that I got into in 2008; dog knows there were a lot of them. barf.  if I said they sounded like semi-fuzzy hipstery glam-rock, you probably wouldn't listen to them, so that is why you don't listen to me. instead, you go to here and download their EP, Infinite Fucking Cross for free. 

then, you click below and listen to their new song, 'Bayonets', off of the forthcoming full length, to be out this summer. get in on the ground floor with these guys. 

'an interesting intersection' or, 'how I can still be eco-friendly while selling my art to an insurance company'

so here's a semi-interesting modern tale:

about a month ago I got hip to this new esurance commersh (the ones with the gross animated ads featuring people who look like tackier bratz dolls and a bizarre super-hero backstory) prominently featuring a song by a band, Cloud Cult. the ad is basically just a mini animated music video and doesn't even really mention insurance. the song, 'Lucky' is pretty tacky too, and the band's name is splashed on the bottom of the screen, labelled as an 'Esurance Favorite', like the cats at their offices fancy themselves indie rock connoseurs. 

fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I was in Mark D's car, cd's typically strewn everywhere, on the way to nowhere in particular. mid-sentence, I exclaim 'omg, you have the cloud cult cd!', and then he asks me not to change the subject. but c'mon it was really weird to me that he had that cd. admittedly, my pal has a very very eclectic music taste, and he has a great time going back and forth with his friends about the hilariously bad music they used to listen to, or rediscovering old gems from high school. I knew nothing of Cloud Cult other than that ad, and immediately thought they were one of those throw-away type bands and I wasn't sure why he was listening to it, except maybe as research for a future conversation at Tortilla Flats. 

on the excruciating 2 hour long ride home from Frightened Rabbit, the truth was uncovered: Cloud Cult is actually an experimental, extremely eco-conscious indie rock group from Minnesota, one that his band The Brother Kite saw at SXSW and is revered by a few of the guys. fittingly enough for a band with a song in an insurance ad, these guys have a bunch of sincere gimmicks, if such a thing is possible: they feature people within this collective painting onstage along with the music, producing a finished painting at the end of each show. the lead dude also has his own record label, embarassingly called Earthology Records, which he runs on his organic farm. they tour in a biodiesel van, keep track of their carbon footprint, and everything having to do with the band is recycled, etc. basically Cloud Cult makes us all look like assholes. 

I really wanted to know how and why the Esurance commercial came to pass. according to an interview with aforementioned lead dude, they've gotten tons of offers over the year to liscense their music out, but because of the stringent eco-ethos they have, they had to turn it all down, despite the much needed money. Esurance apparently asked them, dude did some research, and felt like he could support the company. Esurance had helped make a fest the band played earlier 'green', and also became the green-sponsor for the band's current tour, paying for the bio-diesel and picking up the tab for the carbon offset. 

I guess my cynical self can suck it, and we can all ethically jerk off to Erin Esurance now. I mean, there is really nothing negative I can say about this, and I look forward to seeing the Cloud Cult documentary coming out later this year. 

if this blog was tv guide, the song would get a jeers for being kind of lame, but the story in general would get a cheers. here's to next levs.

sharp dressed man, the indie rock edition

there is not necessarily a way a man should dress to look sexy, but those who know me certainly know my predilection for shaggy, sometimes flanneled, quirky styled musicians. it's to the point that Mark D can point out boys on the street that I am hardwired to get it up for. so as this is partially a style blog, although one in its infancy, I present part one of the ultimate indie rock boy style, as evidenced by my favorite indie rock boys:

Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse: the shirt, the tattoos, the guitar, the voice that proves he is bat shit crazy....

Stephen Malkmus of Pavement: Courtney Love called him the Grace Kelly of indie rock, OK GIRL, no but really let's talk about his slacker style one more time

Tim Kasher of Cursive/The Good Life: my personal saviour wears western shirts and old man by the sea caps with his constant beard and shaggy hair, so basically I text him whenever I'm ovulating

the men of Fleet Foxes: having the number one record on my top ten list + weirdo grunge style from Seattle

Scott of Frightened Rabbit: Mark D got me into these guys and also mentioned the lead singer was hot, so true, boy is killing it in those shirts and beards

Mark D of the Brother Kite: alright so he may be my boyfriend (swoon), but the boy can dress. like the other men on the list, he's got the epic combo of amazing thrift finds and mainstream (levis/american apparel/nikes) brands that makes my heart beat that much faster. this man is not afraid to wear anything (as evidenced by the pictures of him online in a santa hat/beard and santa boxer shorts). whether he is dressed as a neo-scarface for a pizza party or a latter day beck for a friend's wedding, Mark Howard is always next level.

any other suggestions?