The kings of viral videos, OK Go, have done it again. And with dogs! Love it.
Sep 202010
Sep 062010
This may sound like blasphemy to many a music-lover, but I’ve never really like the Arcade Fire.
Didn’t see what the big deal was.
Now, maybe I was just rejecting all of the praise heaped on them for their first album Funeral. Everyone and their dog loved that album — I enjoyed a few songs! — but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why they were so. Big. They’re just so hip and indie, with their accordions and whatnot.
They’re just so.
With their second album, Neon Bible, the praise continued, and I continued to go “meh.” Their song “Keep the Car Running” was good, but I also thought it was Bruce Springsteen at first, so that explains something …
Which is why I am so surprised to be in love with a song from their third album The Suburbs. It feels so strange to me, but I really enjoy the title track from that album. And from what I’ve heard, it’s not too terribly different from previous songs, so it’s very odd that I like it so much.
But I really do love it. Who knows, maybe I just need to give them more of a chance, and I’ll just become an Arcade Fire fan girl like everyone else in the world.
Sep 042010
One side: Guy with broken heart can’t get over girl who dumped him.
Other side: Girl is terrified by weirdo creepy stalker.
Whitney Avalon is the singer behind this answer song. It’s a little too obvious in places, but funny.
And, if you still haven’t seen the original, Amy posted it weeks ago as “the greatest song ever” and I replied a little later with my critique.
Oh, it has an actual video now, too.
(via tdw)
Aug 302010
I had never heard of Dr. Dog until they covered Architecture in Helsinki (a band I had heard of) and their song “Heart it Races.”
It was practically love at first listen. They took what I consider to be a pretty mediocre (and kind of odd and unpleasant) song and turned it into pop gold.
Isn’t that the perfect pop song? Maybe it’s so perfect because their music is so heavily influenced by pop music of the 60s, full of harmonies and pretty lo-fi sounds. Check out more of their music on myspace.
Aug 282010
Who remembers Groove Armada? You know, UK electronica band from the 90s? I came to know them when Fatboy Slim did a remix of their song “I see you Baby” with a really memorable video.
After that, they pretty much dropped off my radar. I don’t tend to listen to that kind of music, so I stopped paying attention, but they’ve been consistently making music for the last 12 years.
They’re just coming out with a new album, and I came across a fantastic video for their song “History.” The video was supposed to be thirty seconds, but the creators, the Dawson Bros. went a little out of hand.
From the youtube description:
Groove Armada’s people asked us to make a thirty second viral advert for their new album. But we got carried away and ended up making a street dance film instead. We f*cking love street dance.
We hope you like it, but above all… we hope Groove Armada’s accounts department will still pay us.
And here it is. Pure awesomeness. And a great song, too.
Aug 282010
I just love the absurdity of this video. It’s difficult to properly explain, but I laughed. As the Daily What says:
Need your daily fix of mustachioed babies rocking out to Balkan folk-inspired modern house music? Riva Starr has got you covered.
Aug 202010
Cee-Lo is awesome for making this song, the peppiest “fuck you” I’ve ever heard.
Aug 142010
I’m a bad blogger and missed this past Music Monday. But I’ll make up for it by posting now! And then again on Monday! (maybe)
Anyway, I usually listen to CBC radio in my car, but because it’s Brandon and I never really have to go very far, I often hear little snippets of songs and never the artists. And although I always tell myself to go to the playlists online (which I LOVE btw) I always forget.
Yesterday I was driving home and there was a song playing that I’d heard before, and always really liked for it’s 80s pop style and the familiarity of the singer. I knew it was someone particular, but I just couldn’t put my finger on who she was. It totally reminded me of the Eurythmics, but that wasn’t right.
Finally, I remembered to check the playlist, and lo and behold it was Tracey Thorn singing “Why Does the Wind.”
Wait, who?
See if you can put your finger on who this is:
Tracey Thorn – Why Does the Wind
SO familiar, right? I did a little more digging and it turns out she’s the singer from Everything But the Girl.
OF COURSE! It’s so obvious after the fact. No wonder every time I heard it I thought she sounded like someone I knew.
Aug 092010
So much so, in fact, that Cuomo put Garcia’s face on the cover of the new Weezer album.
If this is a joke, I might have to “say it ain’t so!”
Ahem.
Sorry, that was lame.
Anyway, although this seems like it must be fake, it appears to be very real:
We struggled super hard trying to come up with an album title, trying to find some kind of phrase that summed up the whole aesthetic behind the album: ‘Heavy Mental,’ ‘Smaller Than Life,’” Cuomo says. “I was coming up with all kinds of stuff, but ultimately, we just went with some random word that doesn’t really have anything to do with anything. I just loved this photo of Jorge Garcia — it just had this amazing vibe. We didn’t want to do a fourth self-titled record and we knew people would refer to it as ‘the Hurley record’ even if left it without that title, so we just called it ‘Hurley.’ No words are on the cover because all we wanted was his amazing face
Oooh kay. I say it’s way more likely that Weezer are capitalizing on the immense popularity of Lost, and the character of Hurley in particular, but I’m a pessimist like that.
(via)
Aug 032010
When I was at the Brandon Folk, Music and Art Festival last month, Amy and I were just lying back, enjoying the music and the clear blue skies, when I noticed that clouds were slowly forming and dissipating while I watched.
So I pulled out the ol’ camera and took a video:
The original is over six minutes long, and my arms hurt at the end of it, but I’ve timelapsed it down to about 45 seconds — it’s sped up just over 800%.
I’m just getting into video production stuff at work, and I’m still pretty amateurish, but I like the challenge.
The music is a selection from “My Heart Has Learned To Love You, Now Do Not Say Goodbye,” a 1910 recording by Henry Burr that I found at archive.org — a wonderful resource.
Aug 022010
The Bird and the Bee are a synth happy duo from Los Angeles consisting of singer Inara George and instrumentalist/producer Greg Kurstin. Their music is a wonderful mixture of 80s synth, and 60s jazz standards, which somehow manages to sound incredibly modern.
They have three albums under their belt so far, with their latest being, get this, an album of Hall and Oates covers. It’s called “Interpreting the Masters, Volume 1″ which I can only take mean they’ll be doing more.
I love this band.
And I love their song “Heard it on the Radio,” one of their only original songs on the Hall and Oates album. It is the perfect summer song, all about finding love in the hot months, and losing it by September. Plus, it’s a song about a song.
Meta.
Have a listen. I can’t help but want to get up and dance around when I hear it.
Jul 272010
I could blog about Inception all day — I think it’s a great movie, really I do, although it has a couple of fundamental flaws*.
This, though, blew my mind:
As the Onion Av Club points out:
The further the heroes dive into a person’s subconscious–into a dream within a dream within a dream, and so on–the more slowed-down time becomes. So if composer Hans Zimmer is playing us a super-slowed-down version of “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien,” then the implication is that we’re still submerged deep within the dream, far from the kick that will wake us up.
Whoa.
________
* The biggest problem is the flagrant breaking of Chekhov’s rule about guns in the first act having to go off by the third act. We get a huge, amazing set piece with Ariadne showing how architects can bend the dream cityscape to their will, but they never ever really use that ability — which could have come in handy during the whole third act.
Jun 302010
Presented without comment. I pinched this from my friend Travis’ Facebook feed, but the YouTube comments say that Katy Perry tweeted it. If this is the stuff she’s searching for, stay away from her concerts.
Jun 282010
I’m rather surprised I’ve never blogged about Florence + the Machine before. Grant introduced me to the English indie darling at least a year ago with the brilliantly feisty song “Girl with One Eye” from her album Lungs.
Florence is an absolute force to be reckoned with. She is fierce and bold in her style and musically fantastic. Stylistically, I guess she could be compared to Lady Gaga, but really she is just so. Much. Better.
Her song “Dog Days Are Over” is a catchy, fun, clap-your-hands sort of song, and totally showcases her incredible pipes. For more hand clappy, foot stompy songs, go to the fantastic blog I Am Fuel, You Are Friends for a mixtape of epic proportions.
But, in the meantime, here’s Florence.
Florence + the Machine on Myspace.
Jun 222010
The other day I was reading a post on Jezebel about the lack of dancing in music videos. It was bemoaning how most female artists seem to just spend their time in their videos posing, and don’t have much to offer in the way of dancing.
But at the end, they suggested there might be someone out there who breaks the mold. And her name is Janelle Monáe.
To give you an idea of Monáe’s style, her latest album, The ArchAndroid, is a concept album with influences such as Alfred Hithcock, Philip K. Dyck, and the classic film Metropolis.
Very cool.
Here’s her video for the song “Tightrope” that Jezebel referenced in their post. I’m kind of in love with this girl.