booking bands

Coudal Partners had a "Booking Bands" contest for the readers of its website -- combine the names of bands with book titles (e.g. Courtney Love in the Time of Cholera). The results make for interesting reading. Some good ones:

The Sun Also RZA
Life, The Universe and Everything But the Girl
Green Eggs and M.C. Hammer
Charlie and the C&C Music Factory

And my personal favorite:

Qur'an Duran

They have plenty more, so you should really check them out. Also, the entire Coudal Partners site is really cool, particularly the Swap Meat (check it out to get the details). I'm not exactly sure what they do except for a variety of creative things, but it's all interesting. Enjoy!

the rosebuds

Went to see The Rosebuds show last night at Bowery Ballroom. If you haven't heard them, you can check out some songs here. The band, consisting of Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp, are from Raleigh, NC, once again proving that the Research Triangle area is hotbed of cool indie bands.

They put on a great live show -- playing a number of fun danceable songs. (Although the crowd wasn't really dancing...or really moving. They mostly just stood and stared, which I thought was weird. Maybe they were mesmerized by Kelly Crisp's platinum blonde hair. Sorry boys, she's taken.) They're touring to promote their new album, "Night of the Furies," which they released on April 10th. If they're coming to a town near you, you should definitely check them out.

arcade fire...in an elevator

This is random, but here is the Arcade Fire performing "Neon Bible" in an elevator. I don't know if it's because it's an acoustic version, or if it's the acoustics of the elevator, but I like this version a lot better than the album version. Okay, I'll stop with the Arcade Fire posts for now...

This was filmed by La Blogotheque for Take Away Shows. I encourage you to see the entire short film which follows the Arcade Fire backstage, through a freight elevator (where they play "Neon Bible"), to the middle of the crowd at a show where they play "Wake Up." You can see the entire film here.

dice

This video by Fujiya and Miyagi for "Ankle Injuries" obviously bears some resemblance to the White Stripes' iconic video for "Fell in Love with a Girl", but I thought it was cool. Who knew you could use dice this way.

waiting for the national's new album, boxer, out may 22nd

I meant to write about The National earlier, but I'm just getting around to it now. I saw them open for the Arcade Fire at Radio City Music Hall last week, and they were amazing. If you have a chance to see them play, don't miss it. Like the Arcade Fire, The National is a band that puts on an incredible live show.

They ended their set with an breathtaking version of "About Today," which starts off slowly before building to a crescendo of violins and guitars. I defy anyone to listen to the entire song and not fall in love with the band immediately. Here's a grainy video of their performance of "About Today" at Radio City Music Hall. (Sorry for the video quality, but the audio is decent.)



I just purchased their album Alligator and I can't stop listening to it. Their new album, Boxer, sounds even better and is out on May 22nd. You can preview the entire album here. "Fake Empire" and "Squalor Victoria" are personal favorites (I fell in love with both songs during their live show).

Here is another version of "About Today" that has better video and sound quality:



And here is a version of "Start a War," another great song off of Boxer.

i don't think the staff was too happy with the arcade fire last night...

I went to the Arcade Fire show last night at the United Palace Theatre. I assume the staff wasn't too happy when Win Butler invited folks up on stage for the final song of the night, a rousing rendition of "Wake Up." It looked like a couple hundred people rushed the stage. The staff tried to prevent it at first but eventually gave up. I'm still trying to figure out how the band played given that the stage was packed with people. I wasn't able to participate since I was in the "Upper Loge," but it looked like fun -- although (and I think betraying my age here), I also thought it was a lawsuit waiting to happen since some of the stage pieces looked like they were about to fall on the crowd of people. (Damn you law school!!!) But it worked out in the end and everyone on stage seemed to be having a great time.


As for the concert itself, it was absolutely terrific. Especially a beautiful version of "In the Backseat," a high energy "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" that lead into Rebellion (Lies)," and of course, the amazing "Wake Up," which ended the show. Their new stuff from Neon Bible was great as well, including "Keep the Car Running," "Antichrist Television Blues" (which sounded Springsteen-esque), "Ocean of Noise," and "The Well and the Lighthouse."

UPDATE: Here is the inevitable grainy video of "Wake Up" on YouTube:

communique

I first heard Communique, a Bay Area band, when they opened up for Tegan and Sara almost two years ago. I immediately bought their album, Poison Arrows. Haven't really caught up with them since then, but I just found out that they released a new EP, Walk Into The Light, about six months ago. From what I've heard, it sounds terrific. You can download some songs here and here.

songs for a lazy afternoon

Here is just a playlist of songs that I've been listening to over the past couple of weeks. I've blogged about some of the artists. I hope to blog about the others later. Let me know what you think...

modena vox

A friend told me to check out "Modena Vox," a band from Columbus, Ohio. They're pretty good. Check them out here.

busdriver

I randomly found Busdriver on YouTube. I had never listened to his stuff before, but I like what I hear.

"Imaginary Places":


"Avantcore":

random music for the weekend

Here is some random music that I found over the past couple of days...


The North Atlantic Explorers are a down tempo indie rock band from British Columbia. They have lush, distinctive melodies -- most often described as dreamy. They're great. You can check out their music here and here. (Via the Hype Machine.)



Nuuro is a kid, Alejandro Ghersi, from Venezuela. If you believe the internets, he's only sixteen years old, but that's hard to believe once you've heard one of his songs. Think Postal Service or Death Cab. You can check out tracks from his second album, All Clear, here, here, and here. I love the song "Waiting." He's released a purely electronic album, In Transit, on the Poni Republic label, that's available for free here. But I don't think it's as good as the stuff on his second album. (Via Fat Planet.)

mattafix

My roommate has been raving about Mattafix, a hip hop/reggae/dancehall duo out of the UK. Mattafix consists of Marlon Roudette (an "Anglo/West Indian ... [who] is a steel pan virtuoso and was brought up in tropical St. Vincent") and Preetesh Hirji ("of Indian heritage, ... a self-confessed computer geek brought up on London’s Harrow Road"). Don't know how the two of them hooked up, but their diverse background leads to an eclectic mix of styles with an infectious sound. Their albums are a bit hard to track down in the U.S., but you should definitely check them out.

Their song "Big City Life":



"To & Fro":



"Cradle" (not an official video):

feist

Feist seems to be the current indie media darling. Last week, she had glowing profiles in the New York Times and the New Yorker, just in time for the release of her new album, The Remainder, which is out May 1st.

I'm not sure what to make of her new video "1 2 3 4." It looks like a G-rated American Apparel ad. It seems nothing like what I saw when she opened for Rilo Kiley in 2005 -- a stripped down set that featured her, a guitar, and her beautiful vocals on a sparse stage. But the song is catchy:



That was the first Feist video I had seen, but evidently she's no stranger to the group dance number. Here's her video for "Mushaboom."

yo gabba gabba

Next time I visit my sister, I'm going to make my niece and nephew watch this new show on Nick Jr. (I think) called "Yo Gabba Gabba." You gotta love a kid's show that has a segment on it called "Biz's Beat." That's right, Biz Markie teaches kids how to beatbox. Check it out:



I can't wait to turn my nephew into a beatboxing machine.

(via Your Daily Awesome)

deconstructing a hit song

Hilarious. The Village Voice uses Venn diagrams, flow charts, and logic to deconstruct Mims' #1 song, "This Is Why I'm Hot."

bloody mother fucking asshole

If you haven't fallen in love with Martha Wainwright yet, you must do so immediately. Try to track down her version of "Dis, Quand Reviendras Tu," which is one of my favorite songs ever.

Here is her heart-wrenching "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole," set to highlights of Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica because...well, Starbuck kicks ass. Simona, you can thank me later.

the connells

Earlier this week, a friend of mine introduced me to The Connells, a (now defunct?) North Carolina band. Maybe she reintroduced me to them because I'm sure she played them for me while she drove me around in her car while we were in college. I'm not sure how I missed out on them the first time since their music is great. I think they came around a decade too early because I think they'd be indie darlings today. Of course, because they're not putting out any new records, it's almost impossible to find their music online. What's that you say? I should just go to a record store? Ummm...that would actually require me to get off my lazy ass. In other news, I hear there's an obesity epidemic in this country.

Here's the video for their song '74-'75.

you can thank my postcolonial marxist history professors for the views in this post

I thought this piece in the Post was interesting. It struck me, however, that the author (and the Washington Post), was a bit elitist about the whole thing. I confess, I would never have stopped to hear the guy. Specifically, I would have been the guy with the iPod saying "violinist, what violinist?"

But even if I didn't have my iPod on, I don't think I would've stopped. Personally, I never really "got" classical music. It's nice, I like some pieces, but at the end of the day, I'm never going to run out and purchase an album. In fact, I wouldn't be able to tell that a world class musician is playing an incredibly difficult piece of music, even if I went to Carnegie Hall. As long as it's fairly proficient, it all sounds good to me. Maybe that means I have no ear for music. But I get the feeling that a whole bunch of old white dudes are really invested in convincing us that there is something inherently transformative and beautiful about classical music. It's the same Eurocentric bullshit we've been fed our entire lives. I'm not saying the music is bad; just that whether you like it or not may be about history, culture, and taste as much as anything inherent in the music. I'd probably find a raga more compelling than a piece of classical music. But I don't expect the rest of the world to necessarily understand.

That being said, I get the author's larger point -- that we should stop and enjoy life more often. I'd like to, but I'm too busy being the right's poster boy for the decline of western civilization. Really guys, maybe you should take a look at Britney Spears instead of me.

obsessively happy sunday music

explosions in the sky

I can't stop listening to Explosions in the Sky, an Austin band that is probably best known (at least outside of Texas) for providing the score for Friday Night Lights (the movie and the NBC TV show). I feel like their songs evoke a nostalgia for small town America (where I spent some formative years of my life), but I'm not sure that's because I associate it with the TV show or if the band is actually connecting with some essential piece of Americana. I'd be interested in what people who haven't seen the show thought. Take a listen:

Also, if you're interested in how the show uses the music, check out:



Actually, you should just watch the show. I don't want it to get cancelled.