hot chip "transmission"

i imagine there are a few readers of this blog who know and listen to hot chip. i'll also go out on a limb and assume that many of you read pictfork as well, which means that you may have already heard about hot chip's cover of joy division's "transmission." if you're cringing at the very thought of hot chip covering joy division, step back a second, because its good. way better than that lame killers cover of "shadowplay" (admittedly, i listened to it, but that was because of the source material...i promise). check it out, i don't think you'll dissappointed. it's part of yet another project to raise awareness, war child. the idea is that a classic artist nominates and up and comer to perform one of his/her songs. here it is.

Transmission (Cover Joy Division) - Hot Chip

also, because pitchfork posted this video on their hot chip post and it rocks...i will too. not that i have a problem with my lack of originality or anything. 

titus andronicus

do you ever need to hear screaming, ballistic music? if the answer is no, it's a safe assumption this post isn't for you. admittedly, i am easily overwhelmed with many of the punk-themed acts. but for my part, i need a fair amount of discord along with the harmonies. so i can still get excited about music like titus andronicus' indie punk.

titus andronicus manages to keep me listening for more than two songs because they have also a pop sensibility. listen to "arms against atrophy. " the beginning makes me think of the walkmen's "the rat." but where the walkmen focus on rage, titus andronicus is concerned with irony in the vein of catch-22 (hat tip to atkins for the book recommendation). check out "my time outside the womb" for some good lines. or how about the list of things that won't be around when you die: "no more cigarettes/no more having sex/no more drinking 'till you fall on the floor/no more indie rock..." on the song "titus andronicus?"

this makes the lyrics wryly funny (in the modern sense of the word, which of course means un-funny, but whatever) and the music fun (again, if you're into a little screaming and guitars, so that probably makes it in the modern sense of the word, too).  i hope you enjoy the screaming.

titus andronicus

u2 "get on your boots"

u2. here they go again. 

"get on your boots"

i must pay homage to the band that got me into music, in spite of themselves. and it's not bad, either. i like the drums. they remind me of pb&j's "young folks."  the guitar is classic edge with a bit of "vertigo." enjoy, or mock, whichever suits you best.

Get Excited

I'm so ready for Animal Collective's new album, Merriweather Post Pavilion. I'm sure plenty of you are excited as well. Just FYI, a bunch of music blogs revealed awhile ago that the Domino Recording Co. Australian Myspace page has the whole album up for streaming - in case you want a sneak peak. The CD comes out Jan. 20 (the vinyl has already been released).

Rosewood Thieves

These guys are pretty good. It is like an awesome mix of Sargent Peppers, Elliot Smith and Spoon. Hope you enjoy!!

rosewood thieves

dark was the night

according to pitchfork, there is a new aids-awareness benefit double album on its way. it's got all the typical trappings of such a project, except pretty much any indie band that's worth a damn is on there. and they all recorded new tracks...

wait, what? 

yes.

Dark Was the Night:

This Disc:

01 Dirty Projectors and David Byrne: "Knotty Pine" 
02 The Books [ft. Jose Gonzalez]: "Cello Song" (Nick Drake cover) 
03 Feist and Ben Gibbard: "Train Song" (Vashti Bunyan cover)
04 Bon Iver: "Brackett, WI"
05 Grizzly Bear: "Deep Blue Sea"
06 The National: "So Far Around the Bend" (arrangement by Nico Muhly)
07 Yeasayer: "Tightrope" 
08 My Brightest Diamond: "Feeling Good" (Nina Simone cover)
09 Kronos Quartet: "Dark Was the Night" (Blind Willie Johnson cover) 
10 Antony and Bryce Dessner: "I Was Young When I Left Home" (Bob Dylan cover)
11 Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner: "Big Red Machine"
12 The Decemberists: "Sleepless"
13 Iron and Wine: "Stolen Houses (Die)"
14 Grizzly Bear and Feist: "Service Bell"
15 Sufjan Stevens: "You Are the Blood"

That Disc:

01 Spoon: "Well-Alright"

02 Arcade Fire: "Lenin"

03 Beirut: "Mimizan"

04 My Morning Jacket: "El Caporal"

05 Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings: "Inspiration Information" (Shuggie Otis cover)

06 Dave Sitek: "With a Girl Like You" (The Troggs cover)

07 Buck 65 [ft. Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti]: "Blood Pt 2"  (based on "You are the Blood" by Castanets)

08 The New Pornographers: "Hey, Snow White" (Destroyer cover)

09 Yo La Tengo: "Gentle Hour" (Snapper cover)

10 Stuart Murdoch: "Another Saturday" (traditional)

11 Riceboy Sleeps: "Happiness"

12 Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues: "Amazing Grace" (traditional)

13 Andrew Bird: "The Giant of Illinois" (Handsome Family cover)

14 Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch: "Lua"

15 Blonde Redhead and Devestations: "When the Road Runs Out"

16 Kevin Drew: "Love vs. Porn"

http://www.darkwasthenight.com/

the album will be released on February 17th, 2009. and it gets better, aaron and bryce dessner of the national produced the album. you can stream one song a day on the album's myspace page. 

but one minor clarification: what do they mean by aids awarness? please tell me the sole purpose is not "raise awareness about the dangers of aids." didn't a bunch of televised melodrama do this for us in the 80's and 90's (i remember a character getting aids on life goes on)? and what was "live 8" about? i still don't undertand.

if it means aids prevention education, i guess that's something else. so please dismiss my caustic comments and get excited about the album and supporting aids awareness.

Jaydiohead

For those of you who liked "The Grey Album" from Danger Mouse and liked "Collision Course" (probably just me). Enjoy this!!

Radiohead+Jay-Z= good stuff and titles like "Dirt off your Android"

http://jaydiohead.com/

This album may be old news now...

apropos

how to waste $50

[i just posted this on my blog and thought is was appropriate here]

i got back in town last night to discover that the show i've been obsessing over the past month (to be my first proper concert since i got here) was about to begin in an hour and was sold out. i didn't think girl talk was playing until next thursday. fool that i am didn't think it necessary to buy tickets beforehand or double-check his dates.

as soon as i got off the train, megan met me to try and scalp tickets. we spent an hour in the cold, haggling with scalpers and generally being angry at every 16 year old boy dressed like a woman and every girl dressed like a 12 yr. old. finally we were able to get two tickets, one from a nice and intoxicated kid going to school at loyola in chicago. the other came from a guy who's other ticket for his wife was a phony (foreshadowing). for the both of them we paid about $50, which was only $20 more than face value.

when we went through the line to get in, it turned out that my ticket (from the intoxicated loyolan) had already been scanned. the kid went through, then came back out and sold us his ticket. i don't know if it was out of malevolence or drunkenness, but anger and frustration are not adequate words.

we sat in the lobby for about 15 minutes just stalling, hoping the ticket checker would have a heart and let us in. there was nothing he could do. either megan went to the show by herself (not an appealing proposition, espeically in light of one of the better conversation we'd had outside the venue earlier with a particularly wise 19 yr. old: "i had sex with a girl at the last show! the enitre crowd saw my ass." amazing. i'm sure that's how she would describe it as well), or neither of us went. we gave up and went home.

i guess the most disappointing thing about the whole evening was that by the time we got home, i wasn't that depressed. maybe i'm trying to be coyly jaded or just getting older, but sitting outside the theater last night seeing those kids didn't make me want to experience that crazy concert at all. i should've known before going to a concert like girl talk, but i guess i just ignored that quiet, prideful and judgmental voice in the back of my head until last night.

i still love going to shows. and i even truly appreciate the semi-counter culture that the indie music scene can be. i've just gotten very choosy about live music and what was once unique is now mainstream. there are still plenty of original artists (girl talk is one of them) and there are plenty of listeners who will enjoy them as art and not as consumption (maybe girl talk is intended to be more of the latter?). but i guess all things change, including my love for live music and what used to be considered independent. this sounds pretty trite and stuffy, i know, but there it is. in spite of everything, here's to hope for art...

forgive the two posts

I cant figure imeem out so I am using box and cant figure out how to have a player and put more than one track on one post. so... sorry.... deal with it.

06 Track 06.m4a

per Jason's request

here are a couple tracks from The Welcome Wagon.

02 Track 02.m4a