Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Look Out



I've been feeling reaallly lazy, but it's time for me to post something. This is a song that Chandler played for me last year, and I had forgotten about it for a while. Until now. The band is Grand Ole Party. Something about it hits the spot, somewhere in between Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Black Keys. I hope you enjoy.


Grand Ole Party - Look Out Young Son
Buy Album: iTunes

-Chris

Monday, March 30, 2009

Whirly Ball

Ben Gibbard is an interesting character. First, I believe there is a conspiracy that Gibbard and Colin Meloy of The Decemberists are one in the same, because come on, they look and sound the same. Second, Gibbard writes some of the most depressing lyrics out there today and yet he is always showcasing his wonderful sense of humor. Exhibit A. We now have more evidence of this sense of humor, but all of Death Cab is in on this one, and I must say, they all give stellar performances (especially Gibbard and Walla). This video is all about Whirly Ball and how it brings the band together, and it is hilarious. And thank you Hoge for showing us this.



-Bishop-

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Cruisin' Song of the Week #15

This week's cruisin' song marks the first recorded time an artist is repeated. However, it is my opinion that this repetition should be welcomed due to the cruisiness of the two songs in question. The song comes off Modest Mouse's debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, as the leading track. Even though Modest Mouse has gone on to have quite an illustrious career since then, and by no means do I think this is their best album, I would have to say I think this is their best song. There's something about the raw emotionality of it.

Modest Mouse - Dramamine
Buy Song:ITunes

-Donovan

Friday, March 27, 2009

Song o' the Week #16



The word on the streets is Micachu & The Shapes are gonna be huge. After giving them a listen, I think I might have to agree. They're incredibly young, and yet have created a somewhat unorthodox, yet undeniably fresh sound. Their debut LP Jewellery, a collection of short and twisted pop gems, drops in the U.S April 7th, so get ready for that. Each song needs a couple of listens, so try and let this one sink in.

Micachu MySpace

Micachu & The Shapes- Golden Phone

-Chandler

Album Review: Sgt. Dunbar


Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned is a band with musical talent bursting out of every moment of their music. The octuplet from Albany (is someone from Albany an "Albanian"?) released their latest EP, Charles Mingus' Garbage Pile, recently and it will be available to be shipped on March 30th, which is this upcoming Monday (according to their the band's MySpace). The tracks had been out on Sgt. Dunbar's MySpace for a while, but the EP is an all new recording, which serves to solidify the atmosphere of the EP. Sgt. Dunbar does great work, and this album is no different. The atmosphere is definitive and the songwriting is stylish and clever. The band utilizes its members, and it doesn't feel like they'd be able to do it with any less than eight, because of the array of different sounds that the listener hears every song. The song's have an improvisational feel, and while they don't technically appear to be largely impovised, they have a "sloppy" feel which makes them infintely more enjoyable to listen to. It can be difficult to listen to bands that take themselves too seriously, but Sgt. Dunbar is all about having fun while playing and that element really comes through. I've always envisioned the band dancing around having a ball listening to their recordings, and while I have no proof, I'll bet there's some dancing that takes place. The EP is short, clocking in at just over 16 minutes, but demands repeated listens. It's still getting heavy play time for me right now. We did an interview with Sgt. Dunbar, and gained some amazing insight to how they function as a band, and also discovered that they are hilarious. You can check out that interview here. Also check out their MySpace for buy links for the new album, and be sure to support them whenever possible. Seriously, if they are coming near you drop everything and go see them live. Thanks to Sgt. Dunbar for letting us know about the upcoming album.

Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned's MySpace

-Donovan

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Daytrotter Discovers Drink Up Buttercup

Photo Credit: Obsession Collection Music

It's pretty obvious that the boys over at Daytrotter are fans of fork/knife because they have just called in one of f/k's Bands to Watch, Drink Up Buttercup, to record a session. Looks like the boys from Philly are slowly growing [due to our coverage of them, obviously]. Ch-ch-check it out.

-Bishop-

Japanese Foot Acrobats

Because why do homework when you can watch videos like this instead? While you watch, take a listen to these mash-ups from Adrian Champion. His album, Stars & Stripes features hip hop layed on top of songs from The White Stripes, and can be downloaded for free here.

Adrian Champion - Turn It Up (The White Stripes + Kanye West)
Adrian Champion - Ms. Doorbell (The White Stripes + Mos Def)


-Chris

Where the Wild Things Are

I was just informed of a marvelous movie coming out in October that I am now thoroughly looking forward to. The movie is based on one of my favorite childhood books, Where the Wild Things Are.

Famed author David Eggers and movie genius Spike Jonze are doing most of the work on this movie from the direction to the production to the screenplay. And on top of that Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" is used in the trailer!!! Take a look!



-Bishop-

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Debut: Department of Eagles Video

The video for the song "No One Does It Like You" was released yesterday at MoMA by Department of Eagles. It's pretty great, I don't think I've seen such an artsy music video in years.



-Chris

New DCFC Streaming Free!



A few days ago we mentioned that Death Cab for Cutie is about to release a new EP called The Open Door EP. The music-blog-powerhouse known as Stereogum is streaming one song from the EP each day as an exclusive online release. So far they have posted two songs, and you can find them at the links below. What do you think?

Death Cab for Cutie - Little Bribes

Death Cab for Cutie - A Diamond And A Tether


-Chris

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Music Movies Monday #10

So once again, the MMM post is a day late. I attribute this one being late to the fact that I had to write a paper yesterday, so hopefully this kind of tardiness won't happen again. In any event, here are some Flying Circus videos.

One of the funniest things I've seen without the use of words, The Silly Walk:


The Argument Clinic:


The Man Who Talks in Anagrams:


Not Monty Python, but Merv Griffin. Audio rip below.


Merv Griffin- I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts (Live)
Buy Song: iTunes

-Chandler

Jazz!? Jazz? Jazz!

Although this is primarily an indie music blog, the four of us here also dabble in other genres of music. And seeing as I've been playing jazz since the 7th grade, I have always had a soft spot for top notch jazz including the likes of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Gordon Goodwin and Bob Mintzer.

Our high school jazz band has a great reputation and has won many awards throughout it's history, including two trips to the elite Essentially Ellington competition. I thought that I'd share a few of my favorite songs that we played over my high school career. I know people may not like to listen to jazz, but trust me, these songs are well worth it. Be sure to make it all the way through the songs because just like any other type of music you can't get the full picture unless you listen to the whole thing. Hope you enjoy!


-Bishop-

Remix 11: The Flaming Lips


The next remix in my weekly segment is from Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell, an EP from The Flaming Lips that I think has been completely overlooked. Back when fork/knife was but a tiny fetus, I posted The Postal Service remix of "Do You Realize??" which is from the same EP. Overall its a tiny release packed to the gills with wonderful songs, and I highly recommend it.

Anyways, back to this week's song. It's called "Ego Tripping (Ego In Acceleration)" and it's a remix by Jason Bentley. The keyboards and drums fit together perfectly to make a serene, cloud-like experience, and Wayne Coyne's vocals glide over the top, covered in shimmering reverb. Put on some headphones and turn up the volume, I hope you enjoy.
Buy Album: Amazon

-Chris

Monday, March 23, 2009

Sigur Ros Does Take Away Show

So as some of you may have noticed, I haven't posted in over a week. This is because I was on my spring break in Brussels with my lovely sister Allie and my bearded brother-in-law Charlie. But have no fear as I am back.

As I was browsing the music blogosphere today to catch myself up on the week's happenings, I saw that Sigur Ros recorded a Take Away Show in a quiet little restaurant in Paris. They played "Vi› spilum endalaust" from their latest and (almost) greatest album (of 2008), Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, and I must say that the two fools at the beginning of the video were, well, foolish for leaving.

Enjoy the video here.

-Bishop-

Why I'm Really Starting to Hate Pitchfork

The title of this post should illustrate what I'm writing about. It's not necessarily in my nature to hate on other blogs or sites, (except this one) but sometimes I start to get to annoyed with the musical influence that Pitchfork holds in the music community. Anyone reading this undoubtedly knows who and what Pitchfork is and what they do, so there's no need to really go into detail. Let me get one thing straight, I love the blogosphere. The blogosphere is made up of everyday, normal individuals, most of whom have jobs or go to school, and have not an ounce of pretentiousness about them. They are simply trying to further peoples' knowledge of the music community, and I think that's great. Enter the biggest, baddest music website of them all, and things start to change. First off, the materiality of a numerical review is saddening, and objectifies music in a way that is impossible and completely incorrect. Musical taste and preference cannot be objectified, much like art itself cannot. Obviously music is art, so I'm not exactly sure how they can manage that. Imagine a website that gave paintings a rank from 1 to 10, and seriously impacted the lives of the artists who painted them. The fact is, however, that there are many websites who rank music, and I'm not writing about them. So what separates Pitchfork from them? I'd say two main things single Pitchfork out from the pack and subject them to an amount of criticism. First, the scope of their influence is large, much larger than any other musical website. Second, their ratings involve a level of pigheadedness and pretentiousness absent in other music websites. They consider their ratings to be "fact," in a way that's difficult to explain without reading them. There's a level of separation from the number, the idea that it's not the opinion of the reviewer, but it's a fact as much as it's the year 2009. They are notorious for pandering to a certain audience, they tell people what they want to hear in a way that's hard to explain. I don't think it was their intention, I think they simple grew out of "blog natural selection" to be the one website that seemed to best represent the views of the indie community. I believe, however, as their scope has grown, their feel on the pulse of the indie community has weakened far past the point it once was. The fact is, I find very little correlation with the albums I enjoy and the rating Pitchfork gives it, as it is for every single person I talk about music with. My point is that I don't think it's just me who finds the ranking system perplexing. Also, a lot of music tends to intrinsically possess the quality of not being easily understood. Even artists can have certain albums that possess the "fungal creep," and other albums that don't. To give a quick example, I'm a pretty large Tori Amos fan (although in the world of Tori Amos fans, I'm actually considered quite small). Her second album, Under the Pink, was filled with pop hooks while still being essential Tori Amos material. As such, it's a really fantastic, fluid album. Her next album, Boys for Pele, was filled intensely played harpsichord and insanely crazy and difficult to comprehend lyrics. On first run though of that album I was perplexed and left stunned. I wasn't sure what I thought of it. Being forced to review it at the point and put it on a scale of 1 to 10 would've been completely unfair. And believe it or not, I wasn't particularly fond of Fleet Foxes on my first listen to them. Obviously I love them now, but my point is that first impressions are hardly worth ranking an album on. It just disappoints me to know that a Pitchfork rating is still very important to an artist, not because the artist gives a shit what a group of hipsters thinks about them, but because it will undoubtedly affect sales positively or negatively depending on the review. I guess at the end of the day, I'm asking people to keep their objectivity about music, and to not look at a record review and let it affect your opinion; go out and listen to something off the album. Believe me, our own blog is far from perfect, and our opinions are just those, opinions. There will certainly be music we don't like, such is the curse of this craft: no one person could ever hold the opinions of everybody. Our goal is just to introduce you to something you may never have heard before, and do our best to try and get people supporting artists we feel deserve it. That's all any music website should ever be about, and when one oversteps its fundamental bounds, I feel drawn to speak out against it. Sorry for being terribly boring, but I had to get it out.

-Donovan

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Cruisin' Song of the Week #14

This week's entry goes down as one of the most exhilarating cruisin' songs in the catalog, and while it doesn't quite have the head banging quality of some of the other songs, it definitely has the "group dance" quality to it. One of the many standouts from the unbelievably and unendingly brilliant "Funeral," it is the byproduct of an amazingly talented band with more energy than they know what to do with. Of course, Arcade Fire is made up of more than Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, but this picture is so brilliant I wanted to post it. Eerily reminiscent of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in Sweeney Todd. And I mean that in the best possible way.

Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade Fire
Buy Song:ITunes

-Donovan

For Those Who Party On Sundays

We just got this in our mailbox and thought we'd share it for a great one-two punch with our LCD song below. Don Diablo can't do anything wrong, so just find some people to take Monday off and press play...and then I guess do an instant replay.


Don Diablo- Instant Replay (ft. Example)
Double D's website / MySpace

-Chandler

Saturday, March 21, 2009

You Should Be Dancing

It looks and feels like spring, and it makes me want to dance. Well, maybe not dance, but listen to some great music. It's also the weekend, which means this music must be bumpin', and there's nothing that bumps quite like LCD Soundsystem. And with that, I give you "Freak Out / Starry Eyes" from the All My Friends EP, and perhaps a couple of dancing-related videos.




LCD Soundsystem- Freak Out / Starry Eyes
Buy Song: iTunes

-Chandler

Local Band: The Smyrk

My spring break is coming to a close, and tomorrow I'll get on a plane to head back to Minnesota from Connecticut. In an attempt to give some props to the two zip codes that I've been living, I'm posting a song that has connections to both. "That Ain't Lake Minnetonka" is a song by a fantastic band called The Smyrk. They're from New Haven, Connecticut, just outside the town where all the members of f/k grew up. Lake Minnetonka, coincidentally, is in Minnesota, a short drive from where I go to school (that's it in the picture). How rad is that? Pretty rad, dude. Look for more from The Smyrk coming soon.
Buy Song: iTunes

-Chris

Friday, March 20, 2009

Song o' the Week #15

For those of you that haven't heard this yet, here is a recording from Animal Collective's newest song that they're playing live. Whether it's "Blue Sky" or "What Would I Want Sky" or whatever else it's called, it is something great. Go see one of their shows and hear it live!


Mar 19 2009 8:00P
Aeronef w/ Pantha du Prince Lille
Mar 20 2009 8:00P
L’Olympic w/ Pantha du Prince Nantes
Mar 22 2009 8:00P
Trinity Centre w/ Dent May SOLD OUT Bristol
Mar 23 2009 8:00P
Rescue Rooms w/ Dent May Nottingham
Mar 24 2009 8:00P
The Forum w/ Dent May SOLD OUT London
Mar 25 2009 8:00P
TJ’s Woodhouse Club w/ Dent May SOLD OUT Leeds
Mar 26 2009 8:00P
Static Gallery w/ Dent May Liverpool
Mar 27 2009 8:00P
Tripod SOLD OUT Dublin
Mar 28 2009 8:00P
Stiff Kitten w/ Dent May Belfast
May 10 2009 8:00P
The Ottobar w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Baltimore, Maryland
May 11 2009 8:00P
9:30 Club w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Washington, Washington DC
May 12 2009 8:00P
Electric Factory w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 13 2009 8:00P
Terminal 5 w/ Grouper SOLD OUT New York, New York
May 14 2009 8:00P
House of Blues w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Boston, Massachusetts
May 15 2009 8:00P
Metropolis w/ Grouper Montreal, Quebec
May 16 2009 8:00P
Sound Academy w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Toronto, Ontario
May 18 2009 8:00P
Royal Oak Music Hall w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Royal Oak, Michigan
May 19 2009 8:00P
The Riverside Theatre w/ Grouper Milwaukee, Wisconsin
May 20 2009 8:00P
First Avenue w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 23 2009 8:00P
Sasquatch Festival Quincy, Washington
May 24 2009 8:00P
Commodore Ballroom w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Vancouver
May 25 2009 8:00P
Roseland Theatre w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Portland, Oregon
May 26 2009 8:00P
Fox Theatre w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Oakland, California
May 27 2009 8:00P
Henry Miller Memorial Library w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Big Sur, California
May 29 2009 8:00P
Wiltern w/ Grouper SOLD OUT Los Angeles, California
May 30 2009 8:00P
House of Blues Las Vegas, Nevada
May 31 2009 8:00P
Rialto Theatre w/ Black Dice Tucson, Arizona
Jun 1 2009 8:00P
Sunshine Theatre w/ Black Dice Albuquerque, New Mexico
Jun 2 2009 8:00P
Boulder Theatre w/ Black Dice Boulder, Colorado
Jun 4 2009 8:00P
House of Blues w/ Black Dice Dallas, Texas
Jun 5 2009 8:00P
Stubbs w/ Black Dice Austin, Texas
Jun 6 2009 8:00P
The Library w/ Black Dice Oxford, Mississippi
Jun 8 2009 8:00P
State Theatre w/ Black Dice St. Petersburg, Florida
Jun 9 2009 8:00P
Culture Room w/ Black Dice Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Jun 10 2009 8:00P
Firestone w/ Black Dice Orlando, Florida
Jun 12 2009 8:00P
Bonnaroo Festival Manchester, Tennessee
Jul 26 2009 8:00P
Fuji Rock Festival Nigata
Sep 12 2009 8:00P
All Tomorrow’s Parties Monticello, New York


Animal Collective- "Blue Sky/ What Would I Want Sky"

-Chandler

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Album Review: Fantasies

Metric is a Canadian indie rock group that finds its musical style somewhere in between the bubblegum pop of The Blow and the harder side of Broken Social Scene. After four years of absence, they're back with a full-length record called Fantasies. It will be released on April 7th, but we had the opportunity to hear the press copy early. Anyways, here goes-

To be totally honest, I had never listened to Metric before I listened to Fantasies this week. So for those Metric fans out there, you know more about their vibe than I do. From the perspective of a brand new listener, Fantasies is very pop-oriented. Every song has a great big glistening sheen of production on it, at times a little much so. But apart from that, I'm impressed. Metric knows what they're doing. Throughout the album, they take time-tested rock recipies and rehash them to make songs that are simple but satisfying. "Gimme Sympathy" and "Front Row" are two standouts, they're clean and polished with a real sense of direction to them.

Before you listen to Fantasies for the first time, take a few things into account. First of all, this is pop music. You need to accept this right off the bat and absorb it with that in mind. Secondly, there are moments during the album that feel familiar, lyrics that feel predictable. Take these spots as minor flaws within the larger piece. If you can do all these things, I think you'll agree that Metric has put a lot of effort into this album, and that overall it's really solid. Who knows, I think there may be a lot of people out there that will enjoy this much more than I did. All I know is that it's worth a listen.

-Chris

Throw Me The Statue


On this rainy day in the northeast, I've been stuck inside all day, which inevitably seems to mean a hunt through the interwebs for new bands. So far my favorite find of the day has been a song from the Seattle band Throw Me The Statue. It's called "Lolita," an upbeat song that somehow fits the rain, gloom, and all that. Take a listen, I hope you enjoy. In the meantime I'll continue to waddle around the web in search of more wonderful music for your ears.


Throw Me The Statue - Lolita
Buy Song: iTunes

-Chris

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

June, Month of Integrity

This June is shaping up to be something fantastic. We're looking at three very anticipated releases, and while each of these artists is still rumored for a June release, it's still very likely all these albums with be released sometime around June, if not a little later. Wilco, Regina Spektor, and Laura Veirs are all currently scheduled for June releases. We already know that Wilco is going to have a collaboration with Feist entitled "You and I." Sweet Mother Mcree. They've also said the album's going to be a return to the form of some of their previous work, which means more A Ghost is Born and less Sky Blue Sky. I personally preferred A Ghost is Born, so this makes me happy. Second, this is a very, very important album for Regina Spektor. Her first studio released album, Soviet Kitsch, remains one of the few masterpieces of this century thusfar. Her second album, while charming, wasn't quite as flooring as its predecessor. This album will tell the tale of whether or not she loses her anti-folk quirkiness within the major label or can establish her musical identidy independent of the label. The fact is, I see her risk taking decrease with every album. Listen to "Pavlov's Daughter" off her first self-released album 11:11 and you'll see what I'm talking about, she sings that song with reckless abandon, the kind of "nothing-to-lose" attitude an unsigned artist has. Nevertheless, I'm extremely excited (and nervous) to hear what she's created next. She's working with four different acclaimed producers, which is an odd move, but it's the kind of inventive thinking we've come to expect from Regina. I think ultimately that will help the album rather than hinder it. The album is named Far. Finally, Laura Veirs is releasing her 7th studio album, and with Tucker Martine producing again, it's bound to create the same amazing environments of her previous three albums, Carbon Glacier, Year of Meteors, and Saltbreakers. Laura is one of the most consistently great artists out there, and I have no doubt that her next outing, July Flame, will be as enthralling as her previous efforts. If you're not a Veirs fan, listen to her stuff, because she is the most definitively "indie" artist out there today. No matter what way you size it up, this is going to be an extraordinary summer for music, and having already received so many great albums in '09, we could be looking at the best year in music in recent memory.

-Donovan

Remix 10: MIA - Paper Planes

As the tenth installment of my Remix Posts, I've picked a remix of the world famous "Paper Planes" from M.I.A. This is a remix by DFA. Honestly I couldn't tell you who that is. It was featured in Slumdog Millionare, that movie that won basically every award it was nominated for. The song and movie are highly recommended.

M.I.A. - Paper Planes (DFA Remix)
Buy Artist: iTunes

M.I.A. Myspace Page


-Chris

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

New EP On the Way from Death Cab


Death Cab for Cutie has just announced that they'll be releasing a new EP on March 31st. It's titled The Open Door, and it will be available online only until April 14th, at which point you can buy it in record stores. The songs are likely B-sides from the band's recent album, Narrow Stairs, and here at f/k we're excited to see what Ben Gibbard and the crew have got in store. The tracklist includes four new songs and an unreleased demo version of "Talking Bird," one of my favorite tracks from Narrow Stairs. 

Tracklisting:
1. Little Bribes
2. A Diamond And A Tether
3. My Mirror Speaks
4. I Was Once A Loyal Lover
5. Talking Bird (Demo)

In preparation of the new EP, here's a song from the band's Crooked Teeth EP that came out just after Plans. The song's called "Talking Like Turnstiles," and it's classic Death Cab.
Buy Song: iTunes


-Chris

Music Movies Monday #9

This week's MMM, in addition to being a little late, is also going to be rather random. And with that, the random videos shall commence.

Passion Pit is supposed to release their debut full length later this year, after dropping one of the catchiest, if not best EP's of last year: Chunk of Change. Here's the video for "Sleepyhead," because both song and video are quite enjoyable.


Passion Pit MySpace

Voxtrot has recently released their next single from their upcoming release, so I thought I'd post a video from one of their previous ones. "The Start of Something" might indeed be my favorite Voxtrot song, but this is certainly up there. Courtesy of La Blogotheque Take Away Shows.


Voxtrot MySpace

For those not following Colin Meloy on Twitter, he proposed a challenge to everyone to write and videotape themselves performing a song about Linda Ronstadt. He announced the winners and runner up's today, but Donovan and I agree that this one was the most enjoyable.


The Decemberists MySpace
Colin Meloy's Twitter

The last video has nothing to do with music, but should get a laugh or two. Donovan showed me this a while ago after one of his friends showed it to him, and it's basically one of the best things Shatner has ever done. Though, the other reactions of the guy next to Shatner are golden as well. "D'oh, Mr. Crain!"


William Shatner

As a side note, we'd like to plug a website of a new friend following us on Twitter. He seems like a solid fellow, so check out the website of Ben Derico.

The White Stripes- We're Going to Be Friends
iTunes/amazon
The White Stripes MySpace

-Chandler

Strange Overtones In the Music


Simply out of laziness, I've never been a big listener of either David Byrne or Brian Eno. They're pretty huge names in the music biz, and I hear there names all the time, but to be honest I've never spent more than five minutes exploring their music in my library. Byrne is the man behing Talking Heads, and Brian Eno is generally noted as the father of ambient music. He has worked with Bowie, U2 (barf) and most recently, with Coldplay on Viva la Vida.
Bryne and Eno have worked together before, and reunited in 2008 to record Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Much like the album artwork, it's futuristic and also ridiculously 80's-like. However you'd like to describe it, it's got some bizarre hooks that make it a worthwhile listen that I highly recommend.
Buy Song: iTunes



-Chris

Your LOL Moment of the Week


In case you were unaware, this blog is run by four of us at three different colleges in the US. Those would be Macalester, Cornell, and the University of Connecticut. Now if you attended Cornell or Macalester, you'd have been serenaded by the likes of Andrew Bird, Fleet Foxes, The Decemberists, Delta Spirit, Blitzen Trapper, Stars, Neko Case, Dan Auerbach and some others. Even better, in April Macalester gets Andrew Bird, Dr. Dog, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, Bishop Allen, M. Ward, Dan Deacon, Noah and the Whale, Lily Allen, Blind Pilot, Wavves, Cloud Cult, The Cave Singers, Great Lake Swimmers, Peter Bjorn and John, Chairlift and the Junior Boys. That's an very impressive list of artists to have in such a short time. Now imagine you attended the University of Connecticut. You've already had your ears blown off by the disarming sounds of Eve 6. But nothing can prepare you for the horrors that is 50 cent. That's right, 50 is coming to my school, actually planning on playing a show. Now while I certainly don't plan on attending, it makes me sad to think of how many fantastic artists are out there, almost too many to count, and my school gets one of the few I really despise. Thus, this LOL moment of the week is solely for you readers, because it is my FML moment of the week.

FML

-Donovan

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Cruisin' Song of the Week #13

This week's cruisin' song is fresh out of the oven, having just been tested on the open road on the ride back to school. We came through a couple good cruisin' songs, (is disco really good for the open road?) but there wasn't anything that got the head pumping like this one (the answer to the previous question is "of course"). This one had me at the name, anything talking about being out on the streets is a definite winner in my book. And I actually have a book.

Bang Camaro - Out on the Streets
Buy Song:ITunes

-Donovan

Hey! You! Support Veckatimest.


There's no denying that in today's world, people are all about instant gratification and getting stuff done as quickly and efficiently as possible. For this reason, I wasn't surprised when Grizzly Bear's new record, Veckatimest, leaked through the interwebs two weeks ago. With an album as highly-anticipated as Veckatimest, it's almost assumed by everyone that it will leak before the release date. The album is set to be released May 26th. That's months away!


I'm here to encourage everyone to support Grizzly Bear by pre-ordering the album or buying a copy when it's released in May. The band's singer, Edward Droste, blogged about the leak, generally saying that the band is pretty bummed. Leaks as early as this one have the potential to ruin the record sales for the album, cause everybody has already heard the CD and doesn't feel like forkin' over fifteen bucks. Well, think twice about it. As Ed blogged, they've worked on this record for roughly a year and a half. Throw 'em some love and buy the album in May.


-Chris

Saturday, March 14, 2009

New Don Diablo

We just got this in our mailbox and thought we'd share because it's sure to get the kids a hoppin'.

Don Diablo- Stand Up For Me, Myself and I (Don Diablo vs De la Soul)

Don Diablo MySpace page

-Chandler

Friday, March 13, 2009

Song o' the Week #14


In addition to listening to The Hazards of Love more, one album has really controlled most of my listening opportunities. Blueberry Boat, the sophomore album from The Fiery Furnaces, has almost literally been on repeat for a few days now. It's such an amazing, yet polarizing release that manages to become more and more interesting with each listen for those that like it. This heavily layered concept album needs to be listened to all together to understand the story, so I'm not going to post a song from it. Instead, I strongly encourage you to pick up the entire cd (or vinyl, like me) to really experience this masterpiece in its entirety. Anyway, the song of the week is a Built to Spill song, because they're great and there's a chance we may go and see them at the Pitchfork Festival this summer. As a side note, we officially have a Twitter account, so feel free to follow us to catch more of our wild and zany antics!

Buy Blueberry Boat: itunes/amazon

Built to Spill- Distopian Dream Girl
itunes/amazon

-Chandler