November 2011
1 post
T (Tasha) (Yoon Mi Rae)
Someday we’ll live in a truly global world where everyone finds out about a brilliant, socially conscious, dancefloor diva, scene-leading, multilingual, multiracial, multitalented rapper/singer like Tasha Reid (aka Yoon Mi Rae, aka T) as soon as she releases her first single. Until then, we’ll all have to waste unexpected afternoons in the library discovering her dirty-synth, autotuned...
October 2011
1 post
September 2011
1 post
Music is good right now
1. M83 - Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
If all Coldplay songs sounded like “Wait” instead of like, well, all Coldplay songs, people would still like U2. On their new album, M83 lets their always-epic sound stretch out, drift, and flutter more than ever before. With an intro, an outro, and six sketches under 2 minutes in length, this is truly an album, not just a collection of songs....
March 2011
1 post
The Fucking Jam: SJ Boyz - "501 Levis" (feat. Jam...
I got sad a few weeks ago thinking how long it’s been since a new dance came up out of the South and ate my brain. I mean, it’s been a few years since the Stanky Legg, the Ricky Bobby, and Swagg Surfin’. Party Boyz tried last year with Daddy Stroke, but as awesome as just humping the air is, it’s a few steps short of Youtube tribute-worthy (it’s also, accordingly,...
January 2011
3 posts
Swag
“The Toyota Sienna spots have become a Web sensation. The original ad drew more than 7.8 million views on YouTube, and the term “swagger wagon” — coined by the actor playing the father, Brian Huskey — has been adopted by some parents as a generic term for minivans.” - NYTimes
BF: In the Toyota ad, the tone you take is a little harder than you might expect, and that seems to work....
Gucci Mane Is Going Back to Prison, and Waka...
I was hoping that 2011 would be the year Gucci stayed out of jail. I was wrong basically immediately. Waka Flocka Flame, too. Things aren’t looking good for 1017 Brick Squad.
This makes me really sad. Either OJ needs to really step it up or Frenchie and Whoo Da Kid need to start actually rapping. I’m kind of hoping that by the time Gucci and Waka’s sentences end, Young Juice...
In Media Res
I just got back from the Barnes & Noble on 86th Street, where I impulsively bought a copy of Jonathan Franzen’s basically-the-My-Beautiful-Dark-Twisted-Fantasy-of-year-end-book-lists novel Freedom and even more impulsively bought a copy of Christoph Niemann’s delightful children’s book Subway.
I bought the former because I’m pretty sure (and by that I mean pretty not...
August 2010
3 posts
April 2010
2 posts
Wolf Gang - "The King And All Of His Men"
I’m late on this, but it doesn’t matter. This song, by 23 year-old Brit Max McElligott, is the most joyous song about a troubled relationship I’ve heard in a long time. Scratch that, it’s the most joyous three or four songs about a troubled relationship I’ve heard in a long time.
Every piece of this song is a track-making hook on its own. Dig the wordless choral...
Really, Plies? - "She Got It Made"
I guess it was only a matter of time before a rapper sampled Jimmy Buffett (right? No). After all, hip-hop has pretty much everything in common with a privileged tropical country beach bum whose concerts are parties for irresponsibly drunk 50 year-olds and who makes millions off of cheesily-themed tourist trap restaurants.
It still hasn’t happened yet, but we’ve got the next best...
E-40 feat. Droop-E and Bjork - "Spend the Night"
Yes, you read that right. Droop-E’s totally bangin’ production for this track off the Bay Area legend’s upcoming double album “Revenue Retrievin’” samples Bjork’s a capella album “Medulla.” As a novelty thing alone, this track is worth at least, like, 1430 “loves” on Hypemachine, with some bonus points for being an official release...
March 2010
7 posts
Millionaires - "Stay the Night"
I love trash. Any music that’s dirty or dingy or dusty, ragged or rotten or rusty, or just devoid of any pleasures but the immediate, I tend to love - or rather, lust - with intense passion. Except Ke$ha. For some reason, her chart-topping blend of grrrl-power confidence, “Jack”-dropping hedonism, and texted-in valley girl vocalisms leave me feeling like that anonymous American...
the batcave: I Am Just a Rapper →
For fans of the fantastic new show, Community, the individual above will look very familiar. Donald Glover, who plays Troy on Community, is better know for his stand up, but has also been quietly recording tracks under the moniker, The Childish Gambino.
He has two mixtapes thus far, I Am…
Meet the "Wilco Tango Foxtrot" Beer →
Another reason to love Lagunitas.
Prediction
“When The War Ends” by Portugal. The Man is going to be big this spring/summer (and by big I mean blog big) when someone good remixes it. Wait for it.
Stream: Portugal. The Man's "American Ghetto"
The best thing to come out of Wasilla, Alaska since basically ever, Portugal. The Man are back with (yet) another album. “American Ghetto,” their fifth full-length since 2006 (that’s one a year) is up for instant download and pre-order on their website. I’ll admit: I don’t even think I’ve listened to all of their last album, “The Satanic Satanist.”...
February 2010
14 posts
Shane Macgowan and Friends 'I Put A Spell On You'...
Shane Macgowan and Johnny Depp have put together an alt-star lineup, including Nick Cave and Chrissie Hynde, for a cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s “I Put A Spell On You.” The proceeds to go Haiti relief, and it’s a hell of a lot better than that LL Cool J rap in “We Are the World 25.”
Cultural Lesson of the Day: Skepta - "English...
Skepta is part of Boy Better Know, the grime crew that also features Rolex-wearing chart-topper Wiley and some really awesome t-shirts. They’re best known for the clattering club anthem “Too Many Man,” which is basically the world’s best complaint about sausage fests.
Besides Wiley, Skepta is the best of the crew. In “English Breakfast,” he takes on...
After rave-rap, will it be grime time?
Sincere, a newcomer to the UK grime/hip-hop scene
Now that America’s rappers have all decided they want to sound like Freedom Williams, the “club” that has been so much a part of hip-hop consciousness and obsession for years has shown it can push its influence back in rap’s direction. While club bangers have long gotten people moving on hip-hop and Top 40 nights, the...
Dr. Dog - “Shadow People.”
oh yeah,...
Dr. Dog - "Shadow People"
I’ve never been one for Beatles revivalists. It’s not that I have anything against the Beatles, but they were a revolutionary band who continued to develop their songwriting, recording techniques, and on-record sound throughout the course of their career. Hell, they developed rock music’s songwriting, recording techniques, and on-record sound at an unprecedented pace throughout...
The Garry Shandling Movie Poster Project
timheidecker:
A few years ago (2006?) while we were deep in the midst of making Tom Goes to the Mayor, myself, Doug Lussenhop and the artists of TGTTM (Kevin Gallegly, Jordan Kim, Chris Shapan) created these movies posters with Gary Shandling puns. I don’t remember why. I was just a silly thing to do.
I have long forgotten who did which one, so if you’d like to claim owndership of them, let me...
Avatar web's most pirated movie
Because the best place to watch 3D Imax action is on your laptop, obvi.
Crisis of Conformity - "Fist Fight In The Parking...
Last night’s SNL was pretty awful: bad writing, bad use of cast members, and bad decision to bring Ashton Kutcher back for a fourth episode. That man is awful.
The “Band Reunion at the Wedding” sketch, however, was one of the best things SNL has done in years. They got early-80s hardcore down perfectly, from the “when Ronald Reagan comes around, he brings the fascists to...
New Boy Band Demo: "I'm On Fire"
http://grantdamon.bandcamp.com A few guys at work have thrown around the idea of starting a 90s-style boy band. Since I hear something like that and think “challenge” instead of “joke,” I set about writing and recording a demo of our first single last fall. The track was titled “Piece of My Heart,” and it was an “I Want It That Way”-aping slow jam...
Well, this is bizarre
Australian band Men At Work just lost a pretty major plagiarism lawsuit when the federal court in Sydney ruled that they lifted a flute riff (terrible-sounding term, no?) in their 1983 career- and Australia-defining hit “Down Under” from the 1934 song “Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8497433.stm
Men At Work now has to pay...
2009's Top 10, all together now
I had a lazy January. Somewhere between work turning into actual work and LSAT studying taking over the rest of my life, I managed to write about half of a Top Ten of 2009 songs list. Yesterday, I realized I would never finish the list, so I pressed “Create Post” and submitted it as I had last saved, incomplete sentence about Gucci Mane and all.
But I forgot to even finish posting the...
Breakbot - “Baby I’m Yours.”
Ed...
Finally! The ten (five) best songs of 2009...
Now that the 2000s are but a distant memory and the bright, shiny new decade that replaced the aughties (the 00’s? the two-thousands? have we decided on a name for the decade besides “the Internet meme shitty years” yet?) has wiped away all of the uncertainty, tension, hopelessness, powerlessness, joblessness, and Ugg boots of the past ten years, and now that we’ve all had...
January 2010
8 posts
Justin Vernon - Song for a Lover Long Ago →
bbonner:
If you like Bon Iver, Justin Vernon’s limited edition LP, Hazelton, is definitely worth the listen. Check out the track Song for a Lover Long ago. A little over 8 minutes but fantastic for a cold night and a cup of tea.
reading too much into technology?
To my mother: “I’m old!” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/weekinreview/10stone.html?em
Mother: “You are not! Very interesting and very scary. One of the achievements of kids during their toddler/preschool years is to learn the difference between fantasy and reality. Their job is so much harder now! And I guess parents need to be vigilant and be sure to balance virtual...
I would love to design billboards for a living
http://www.11points.com/Dating-Sex/11_Spectacular_Accidentally_Pornographic_Photos
New Song: "Tie On"
http://grantdamon.bandcamp.com/
I have a bandcamp account! It’s so clean and non-trashy!
About the song:
I was walking home from the subway on New Year’s Day in last night’s clothes - a dress shirt, plaid tie, and v-neck sweater with my jeans and sneakers - when I realized how obviously left-over my outfit was and briefly became embarrassed. Then I reminded myself that there...
Jesus, Justin Bieber's mom
“So when an Atlanta-based hip-hop manager named Scooter Braun called nearly two years ago, Ms. Mallette was confused. ‘I prayed, ‘God, you don’t want this Jewish kid to be Justin’s man, do you?’ she recalled.” - “Justin Bieber Is Living the Tween Idol Dream,” New York Times, 12/31/09
Really? It’s totally cool that you wanted your chipmunk of a son to be a...
December 2009
5 posts
North Bay
“This is our unique version of an ancient style. A style as old as the ocean trade routes of the last centuries Great Ships. Not as old as the equator they had to cross twice enroute, nor as old as the 10,000 or so miles of Di-Hydrogen Oxide and Sodium upon which they sailed, but ...
"Fox 8" - George Saunders
“If you want to feel as bad as we Foxes are feeling at this time: (1) Bare lee eat for weeks, (2) watch sevral of your beluvved frends die, and (3) notise that many other beluvved frends, including you, are getting skinnyer every day.”
Printed in The Panorama Book Review, Dec. 2009
Merry Christmas to me like so much
Daytrotter Session: Free Energy
Daytrotter has really been stepping it up for the close of the decade, featuring sessions from Fun (dig Nate Reuss’s totally on-point vocals and the imaginative, massively less massive arrangements), Hellogoodbye (don’t dig Forrest Kline’s about-as-on-point-as-any-AP.netter-could-be-expected-to-be vocals or the songs that suggest the new album won’t be as massive a...
November 2009
3 posts
I wanted to watch a movie tonight...
but instead I watched about five. They were all called “From Dusk Till Dawn.”
My brother is cooler than I am
Me, to my 16 year-old, American Apparelled brother: “Ben, I need new music to put on this CD. What should I listen to?”
Ben: “I don’t know. You know who I really don’t get, though? All those electronic rock dance bands. You know, like Justice and Passion Pit. I just don’t see how anyone likes them.”
Me: “I love Passion Pit! I totally forgot to put...
Totally futuristic new song: "Swag To Eleven"
Why so creepy, Shawty Lo?
www.myspace.com/grantmichaeldamon
I actually recorded this a few weeks ago, but I had some hare-brained idea that I would save it for an album or an e-album or an online-only group of songs released together or whatever you call it. Then I spent several weeks struggling with the lyrics to a new song, started studying for the LSAT, panicked about my book, and realized...
October 2009
4 posts
WTF, world: Owl City & Chamillionaire
I just checked the iTunes Top 20 Singles list in hopes of finding some new “workitout” playlist music and discovered a couple surprises. The first surprise is the first spot on the list: Owl City, a one-man, Christian, indie-poptronica band that really, really should have been on that Twilight: New Moon soundtrack instead of Death Cab for Cutie.
Listen to this song:...