The year still has lots of goodness yet to come in the world of music!
September 23rd is an especially big release day for little Willy!
Kings of Leon - "Only By the Night" - the Nashville boys (and the Sawyers and Lendale's neighbor) are back with album #4, and their doing it at Blackbird in Nashville (thank God). No more Ethan Johns producing (yea! - b/c he dumbs down their stuff and should stick to Counting Crows albums) He only got to where he is in life b/c of his father (that's called sarcasm, or is it irony......) Angelo Petraglia is back solely at the helm just like their 1st EP !!!
Blitzen Trapper - "Furr" - With a solid release last year on Sub Pop, these boys are channeling the Dead one mo' time!
Jenny Lewis - "Acid Tongue" - I'm gonna guess this one's gonna burn! Everybody's getting in on the action! Gone are Conor Oberst and Ben Gibbard in with Elvis Costello, Jonathan Rice (her beau), Zooey Deschanel, and M.Ward. This is already Whitney's album of the year....
(in NO particular order – b/c I generally love all of these)
Beck – Modern Guilt Vampire Weekend – (s/t) Fleet Foxes – (s/t) Black Keys – Attack and Release The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely The Virgins – (s/t) The Black Ghosts – (s/t) Foals – Antidotes Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges (oops! forgot Girl Talk - Feed the Animals)
*that I own – there is plenty great stuff out there that I still have not gotten around to buying….I’ll catch up by the end of the year maybe
Favorite Songs
(Chronological/Autobiographical for all the Rob Gordon/Fleming, Nick Hornby, John Cusack and High Fidelity kids out there)
Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma Beck – Inferno MGMT – Electric Feel The Black Hollies – Paisley Pattern Ground Jack Penate – Second, Minute, or Hour Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin – Glue Girls Frightened Rabbit – Head Rolls Off Tapes n Tapes – Hang Them All The Kooks – Always Where I Need to Be The Selmanaires – Broken Mirrors in the Mud She & Him – Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? The Black Ghosts – Anyway You Choose to Give It We Are Scientists – Lethal Enforcer Death Cab For Cutie – No Sunlight The Ting Tings – Great DJ Foals – Cassius Black Keys – Strange Times Jukebox the Ghosts – Hold It In Phantom Planet – Do the Panic The Raconteurs – Many Shades of Black Fleet Foxes – Your Protector M83 – Graveyard Girl The Kills – Getting Down French Kicks – Abandon The Dodos - Fools Cut Copy – Lights and Music The Futureheads – The Beginning of the Twist My Morning Jacket – Evil Uges & I’m Amazed Hercules & Love Affair – Hercules Theme N*E*R*D – Everybody Nose The Last Shadow Puppets – Standing Next to Me Mezzanine Owls – Snow Globe Nine Inch Nails – Discipline The Hold Steady – Sequestered in Memphis Beck – Gamma Ray Dr. Dog – The Old Days Mates of State – My Only Offer Chester French – She Loves Everybody Coldplay – Viva La Vida The Virgins – Rich Girls Albert Hammond Jr – Bargain of a Century The Dutchess and the Duke – Reservoir Park Throw Me the Statue – Lolita Blitzen Trapper – Furr Oxford Collapse – The Birthday Wars The Walkmen – The Blue Route Kings of Leon – Crawl
What did I miss? Plenty. I’ve been slacking….let me know what you loved?
Here are the songs I could find on Imeem (doesn't always have em all....)
Here are some videos of songs that Imeem didn't have the song alone
Here is one of my favs of the favs - Chester French (who I tipped earlier this year on here and their song Jimmy Choos - this song is better and makes me eager for their album which may never come out......pleased to know that Connor Farley is also a fan along with Pharell Williams who signed them to his label Star Trak with a Vulcan Nerve Pinch)
did I mention that these 2 are Harvard boys who recorded this in the basement studio at the school radio station....preppy!
Should I say, "Hidden Passports?". Whatever. The Chinese/Chianese scare me. They are the modern day USSR. OH! They are also massive cheaters. My favorite event in the Summer Olympics is women's gymnastics. This was secondary to my crush on Shannon Miller from 1992-1996 (yes, I know she is white trash - I was 12). The women's team came up short the other night pulling in the Silver medal. The Chinese won the Gold - period. They were great. Even if poor Alicia Sacs (Sacrimoni) hadn't had 2 major errors, the Chinese would have won. So, I don't want any tears shed by that poor girl. She is a champ. Regardless, the Chinese team was suspect and has been suspect from day one. Media outlets all over the place are reporting China team members Jiang Yuyuan, Yang Yilin, and He Kexin are 13/14 years old. When He (Kexin) was in competition last fall a Chinese AP report spoke of rising Chinese stars....like the 14 year old He.......this report came out yesterday. The link to that article is now gone along with the article......weird.......thanks Chinese government. The government has verified all their gov issued passports showing that the girls are over the 16 yo as of Jan 1, 2008 minimum. They're not suspicious at all though...............He Kexin's birthday............Jan 1, 1992. WOW! Way to not make it obvious. I know you people have seen these kids. Yes, kids. Bela Karolyi basically had to be cut off by Bob Costas the other night, b/c he kept slipping in, "Well, they ARE using 14 year old girls...". In a completely NON-dirty way, Karolyi with his 30 years of gymnastic coaching knows what 14 year olds look like. Tonight on NBC news, they ran a story on China's Project 119. This is their Hitler Youth camps for children training to be dominant in the Olympic games. That's it. It's SOLE purpose. WHO CARES??????? I love the Olympics, but it isn't everything. This project is insane and sad. If anything, those kids could be much better used sewing my new shirt from J.Crew (sic). Yippee! Hurray! Zoolander much?
The Chinese even cheated with the opening ceremonies. The fireworks were computer generated. The little girl singing was 7 years old and lip syncing for a 14 year old (again that age thing........).At the end of the day if these girls ARE of age, these girls must be kept in a box like veal, so they can't grow. They are let out the day of competition and see light for the 1st time. It's like Plato's allegory of the cave (what? not really).
ERHH!!! CHEATERS!!!!!!! *%^$!@*^%$#*^$!&^!!!!
(editors note/addendum 8/18/08) - wow, so now the judges are just morons from Turkmenistan, Grenada, Australia (insert random country here) - The Judges botched everything! Not one of the judges can be from a competing team's country. These yoyos are ALL from countries that have NOT ONE MEDAL IN GYMNASTICS EVER between them - BLURGGG!
Great Job, USA! Who didn't cheer their socks off for these two? Whitney sure did.....
Like the Packers were going to let another NFC team have Fav-ruh! Great move by them sending him to the AFC. The Pats' world in the AFC east just got interesting. I knew I stayed up late for something. Say bye-bye, Chad Pennington!
I am really ashamed that I watch this show. Equally, I'm ashamed that I have a blog. That makes this post a double-whammy....Well, Gossip Girl is one of many shows that I watch, b/c Whitney watches. She is a bit obsessed with Blake Lively and would probably join the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantolones if offered (her other fantasy friend is fellow pant-er Alexis Bledel of Gilmore Girls). While both are GG shows, I never would have watched without Whit. For the record, I am a Chuck Bass fan (Blake Sloan is too - yup he's a GG man also). And as far as Serena Van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf, I'm a Waldorf (this is crushing my wife's spirit as she reads this). I am also not a Dan fan. He's about as plain as his name (that was the writers intention I'm sure in a land of dutch names and hotel names - Waldorf/Astoria). Though I do like Dan's sister, Jenny, becoming a mini-Blair. I digress. Here is a good little song by The Virgins (that has been mentioned/posted before on this blog) put to some GG clips for your enjoyment (appropriately titled Rich Girls)
On the other end of the spectrum, there are others shows I endure that I have no taste for. Namely, Grey's Anatomy....talk about a show that has fallen far to the point of "who cares" when it comes to plot. No Interest! Another is One Tree Hill (as for "THE Hills" - I have no problem with that trash. I will eat it up). I never watched the show when it took place in high school. If you're not down with the Tree (or the Hill), they pulled an interesting maneuver that may have better served Zack and Slater back in the day. How do You avoid those "awkward" college years that would be awesome for plot lines? You FFwd in time to the mid-twenties! Ahhhh, way to overshoot your core audience age. Regardless, not interested. The final entry only mildly peaks my interest. Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Yikes! Thanks to producer Ryan Seacrest for dumping this in our laps. Talk about people with money for doing nothing. At least 2/3 daughters are quasi attractive. Kim, sorry you're not the most attractive, and yet you're the famous one (I use famous loosely). Trash!
Here are some fun side notes for these shows, too. Blake Lively...oh, she's soooo pretty blah blah. She clearly fell faaaaaar from the tree. You know who her brother is? Rusty from European Vacation. The ugliest of all Griswolds with the exception of his Euro sister Audrey - who was the worst Audrey also and least attractive (RIP, BTW). Family resemblance?
I immediately recognized this nerd one night when I looked up from my studies and saw ol' Minkus on "1 T-Hill" as some guy named Mouth who was moving in with a girl WAY out his league. I could no sooner yell holy Torkelson (or "Boy Meets World") than recognize that mug. I knew you when.
Grey's Anatomy....yeesh. What happened? Dr. Bailey is SO much cuter than she was when the show debuted (hell of an acceptance speech back in the day, too), but I can only think Gnarls Bailey when I see her....
As for the Kartrashians, their Step-Dad, Bruce Jenner (father of another worthless pile of reality tv garbage that collects money, Brodie), looks eerily similar to a certain creepy character....was that him in Hannibal??????????? NO, it was Gary Oldman (Lt Gordon, Dracula, Air Force One etc) in an uncredited role. But it sure looks like Jenner after all that plastic!
While everyone is on hiatus this summer, suck in all the fodder that is being thrown around. i.e. "I Survived a Japanese Gameshow"/"Wipeout" - you may remember it when it was Maximum Extreme Challenge on Spike (Martin's favorite back when). Labor Day can't come fast enough....come on new seasons!
Well, my original blog darlings Vampire Weekend have finally made a video for the song that charmed my pants off last year (and still continues to...). "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" has been given the Doc Brown treatment ("where we're going, we don't need roads...."). Instead of 1955, it appears the Delorean has taken us back in time to 1985. With no 80's reference left unturned, Ezra and the boys are straight outta Pretty In Pink with some Say Anything to boot coupled with a Cure/Emo/Thriller finale (was anyone else terrified of Thriller as a child when he went all wolfy?). The song is still chill, and the Prep gets the girl (sorry Duckie...). Speaking of Duckie, I have no respect for Jon Cryer. As Washout in Hot Shots, he was great. I even like his show with Chappelle, "Buddies", that never got off the ground. Regardless, "Two and a Half Men" (which re-teams him with Sheen from Hot Shots) is a travesty. It's pathetic that this is one of the few successful Sitcoms out there. Oh, the state of TV today. If you know anyone that watches and enjoys that show that is under the age of 55, you have my permission to punch them. Whew! Just had to get that out there. Anyways, check out the Kwassa, do your best white-boy noodle dance, boat it like you own it and enjoy the last days of Summer.
The year still has lots of goodness yet to come in the world of music!
