30.8.11

Everything looks like a giant cupcake

This song is so cute. It's from the upcoming M83 album, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. Part of the music reminds me of something by Jean Michel Jarre, but no matter. I really like this. I could listen to this kid all day.

M83 - Raconte-Moi Histoire

28.8.11

They cut out her heart when she was a little girl

Bat For Lashes' Sarah, from her stellar album, Fur and Gold, has a brooding sing-song kind of feel, with the bass line and the drums guiding the listener along. Other instruments and voices join in along the way for brief periods of time and then fade and show up again. It's sort of akin to driving on a lonely two-lane road in the black of night. The rhythm section is the highway, it's always there, twisting and turning. The other voices and instruments are like billboards, popping up every now and again. Natasha is the driver and her voice is the headlamps, illuminating what's in front of us. Shine on, Bat For Lashes, shine on.

Bat For Lashes - Sarah

21.8.11

If you need a friend

It's funny, the first time I saw Napoleon Dynamite, I hated it. I had flown to Denver to hang out with my friend, Rick. Neko Case was playing a couple nights at the Bluebird Theater and we were planning to go. So I get to Rick's in the evening, we chat and have a few beers, blah blah. Right? He's someone who goes to bed at a fairly "normal" hour, so he recommends ND to me as he's off to bed. I put it in and watch it. In the words of Napoleon himself, "This is pretty much the worst video ever made." I don't know if I was tired from the flight or whatever, but the movie didn't click with me at all.

Fast forward to a random weekend, ND is on Comedy Central, I believe, and I'm too lazy to change the channel. The movie is brilliant. Now, it's one of my favorites.

One of my favorite scenes is the tetherball scene with Deb at the end. It's just so perfect.


You wanna play me?

When In Rome - The Promise

I never knew what I had

I had a Bob Dylan evening yesterday. That dude, he sings about life. Somehow, he just knew about everything. This is one of my favorite songs.

Bob Dylan - I Threw It All Away

7.8.11

Dial up

A friend posted this on FB, it's really bizarre. It's the sound of a dial-up connection that's been slowed to a crawl. It sounds like a lost demo from Brian Eno and Robert Fripp's No Pussyfooting album.

It's like we've never met


Wilco's You and I features a guest vocal from Feist, and is one of the prettiest songs I've come across in recent years. I love the sentiment, it almost makes me wish I could fall in love.

Wilco - You and I


Also, make sure you check out the video of their performance on Letterman here, from which the above image is taken.

4.8.11

Today could be the end of me


I've been going through a Blondie phase this week. During the past few days, I listened to everything up to and including Autoamerican, and I must say that there's not too much reason to really own Autoamerican. Everything before it, though, is pretty damn good, to my ears. Reunion aside, it was too bad they went out the way they did. Autoamerican was okay at best. The Hunter was so awful, it was laughable. I actually used to have that one on vinyl and I didn't even bother purchasing it when the Blondie catalog was reissued. At least I still can get a lot of mileage out of those first four albums.

Blondie - 11:59