Appetite For Distraction

Billy Corgan

2009-10-25T13:23:00.002-04:00

So, I was watching my DVD of Smashing Pumpkins videos yesterday while I was cleaning my room and I was thinking about Billy Corgan's ego.

I have a very special place in my heart for the Smashing Pumpkins. They were the band that I wrote lyrics for on my notebook in school. And the thing that's always kind of bugged me has been all the stories about BC's control-freak, egotistical attitude.

And then I realized that I feel the exact same way about Kanye West. I think he is so talented, but his actions in the media always make me SO embarrassed.

And I guess the thing is that there can be a difference between an artist's personality and the music they make.

Which, I suppose is what I'm always saying about Michael Jackson. He made some really great music, regardless of what he was doing in his personal life. It doesn't excuse anything he did, but I feel like I can enjoy the songs....

Anyways, back to Billy and Kanye. I'm thinking that maybe I like music that comes from egotistical Chicagoans. Which brings me to my question: Is Jeff Tweedy egotistical? If he is, then I may need to get a hold of some Wilco, ASAP.

In other news, Billy Corgan (as Smashing Pumpkins) is going to release 44 songs for free as 11 4-song EP's. FOR FREE. And it starts around Halloween. Then I guess they're going to release the whole thing as a box set. The album is going to be called Teargarden by Kaleidyscope.

Which is SUCH a Billy Corgan title. :)

Silence!!!!; or The Return of My Desperately and Hysterically Laughing Until I Cry

2009-09-21T21:33:00.003-04:00

So, "How I Met Your Mother" started again tonight. This season it's an hour earlier (Mondays at 8 on CBS), so we watched half of it live, having caught up to it on the DVR by skipping commercials. And it's just as good as ever. I love this freaking show and I would heartily recommend it to you. It is consistently original in how the episodes unfold and that is something I have loved from the very first episode.

We also watched the series premieres of Bored to Death (Sundays at 9:30 on HBO) and Accidentally on Purpose (Mondays at 8:30 on CBS).

Bored to Death could be a very hilarious and wonderful show. It was a very good premiere with lots of good lines and a compelling and almost believable plot. Jason Schwartzmann is really good as he usually tends to be. We'll see how it goes next week.

Accidentally on Purpose was only ok. This is kind of the caliber I expect from a Series Premiere. The jokes are ALMOST there, but not quite. The one complaint I had was with Ashley Jensen. She's a Scottish actress who should have been really funny, but her delivery was just awful. It was like "setup setup setup JOOOOOOOOKE" constantly. Every time she had a line. And so I'm ready to wish her off the show. But then I remember another actor who delivered his lines in a similar manner at the start of the series. Matthew Perry from Friends. And he went on to revolutionize, for me at least, the idea of how a joke could be delivered. So who knows? Maybe I'll pull for Ms. Jensen to get her act together (I was going to laugh at my own little joke, but then I realized that that's exactly what that phrase is ABOUT).

Phew!

In conclusion, really excited about TV starting this season! HIMYM is back! Woohoo!!!!

Hold on to your hats; or, 20 minutes of Distraction

2009-09-14T22:48:00.002-04:00

Alright everyone. Here's my first go at a podcast. I'm not going to fuss with doing the whole iTunes thing yet, but I do have another episode in mind and I hope that you will send any suggestions about what I could improve upon, what you like, or what you'd like to hear in the future!

My First Podcast

Heard This on the Radio Tonight

2009-09-05T00:16:00.002-04:00

Our Lady Peace - All You Did Was Save My Life

I thought it was pretty good!

Podcast

2009-09-03T21:02:00.002-04:00

So, I have this microphone. And this software program named Audacity. Well, I suppose the program isn't NAMED Audacity. That's like saying my name is "Human".....

Anyways.

If I record my voice and have some songs in between stretches of me talking about things, and then I save it to a file sharing site and post it on here, is that a podcast?

How do you get it to show up on iTunes?

What are the legalities involved with playing songs on a podcast (What can I get away with?)

I think I would be interested in doing something like this, but I need more info...

Why I Bought a LOT of Apple Shampoo when I was slightly younger than I am now....

2009-08-30T00:10:00.003-04:00

So. Here we are. Nearing the end of August. Still no new computer for me, but I did go back to my old job. For 150% more money, and at an hourly rate (which means OVERTIME counts again! woo!). It's a "Temporary" employment status, which means that either the company or I can say "Hey, um, tomorrow, James isn't going to be working here anymore." It would be weird for me to speak about myself in the third-person like that, but not beyond the realm of possibility....

And yeah, I'm still looking for jobs, though it is decidedly harder to do when it's not the ONLY thing I'm doing. But I'm still relatively optimistic.

Now. Apple Shampoo. Are you dying of curiosity at such an idiosyncratic post title!??! Well, here comes the answer all up in your face!

I'm going to go see Blink-182 with my sister in October. She'll be 15 1/2ish then and so, you might be saying "Aw, what a good big brother, indulging his kid sister's whimsical pop-punk fluff." But you would be wrong to say something like that. Dead wrong. This was my idea. I've seen Blink something like 4 or 5 times in my life and was fairly saddened to learn that they were going on indefinite hiatus. But that also means I was fairly pleased, excited, even, to learn that they were getting back together, putting out a new single, going on tour, and releasing an album. I got into Blink when I was 15 or 16 and I still really enjoy listening to the inappropriate jokes and fast, simple pop-punk.

"But James," you're probably saying, "what the HELL does that have to do with Apple Shampoo? And why do you keep capitalizing the A and the S in Apple Shampoo? It's probably a Blink-182 song, right? A favorite song of theirs that you've never gotten to hear them play live? If that's it, then I don't know if I can continue reading this 'blog' of yours."

If you're saying that, then....well, I'd like to thank you for stopping by and I hope you'll check out my list of blogs that are a lot better than mine :)

Yes, Apple Shampoo is Track 9 on Dude Ranch and it is one of my favorite songs that they have released and I've NEVER seen them perform it live....well, that, I know of. See, the first time I saw them, I wasn't familiar with any of their stuff. Which worries me, because that would have been the time when they were MOST likely to play it. I don't anticipate that they'll bust it out this tour, either, but hey, Less Than Jake played "Scott Farcas" this summer. Anything could happen.

There's a lot more that I could say about Blink-182 and the show that's coming up, and maybe I will sometime soon, but not tonight. If you're still reading, you've already read enough about this topic for tonight. I'm not going to get greedy.

But I do have some more stuff I want to talk about. And that's all I want to say tonight. I still need to talk about Alan Wilkis's new EP which is funky and danceable and just fantastic. And I still need to talk about The Dimes who are so chill I can hardly believe it, AND they have a John Lennon cover on their EP, but both of those will have to wait.

Goodnight, or good morning.....or good afternoon.....or.......Happy Noon.

Where Have I Been?

2009-07-09T12:54:00.002-04:00

Well, I haven't been getting much exercise in since I last posted.

That's mostly because I lost my job. They called me in, said there was not enough work and that they were letting me go. Seems kind of fishy that, as far as I have been able to ascertain, I was one of only three people let go. But regardless of any unspoken motives, I have a paper saying that I'm awesome and that I was leaving in good standing. So I've been trying not to dwell on any paranoia that comes with this sort of thing.

I'm trying to treat this as an opportunity to get a better-paying, less-frustrating job that doesn't feel like a sinking ship. (I did get to dodge the bullet of having to be present for the apparently excruciating audit that they went through a week after I left. They knew it was coming and everything, it's just that only a couple of people were actually preparing for it. So I'm glad that I didn't have to go through that!)

(Perhaps that last parenthetical bit should have gotten its own un-parenthetical paragraph...)

So, yeah. If you know of any jobs in the DC/Metro area that a chemist with laboratory experience would be good at, let me know!

Also, if you are in the music industry and you want to pay someone, like, $50,000 a year to go to shows and write about them, let me know, too. I can do that. If you need a writing sample, I'm going to Warped Tour on the 14th, so I could whip something up about that.

I have a couple of songs that bands have sent me that I want to post, but I'm going to save that for another post when we can all focus on the sheer funkiness of the one and the quiet reflection of the other. Intrigued? Stay tuned.

Exercise. Who needs it?

2009-05-20T23:08:00.002-04:00

I do. I just went out in my exercise shorts (which were purchased about 5 or 6 years ago and got about 2 wearings), new shoes, and Less Than Jake t-shirt to run/walk to get some much needed exercise. It was mostly walking though. I tried to kep the pace brisk even when I was walking, but man, I am tired and sore and just pathetic!

Why the sudden interest in exercise? Well, we've ordered ourselves a treadmill and it comes on Friday and I am ten pounds over the weight limit. Now, I'm not a HUGE guy, but I'm very tall and I'm certainly not skinny. And well, yeah, I need to lose some weight before I can start using the exercise equipment. Sigh. I'm trying to make the best of it, but I'm WAY out of shape. I was one of those guys who relied on his metabolism to stay on the skinnier side, but then the metabolism slowed down, but the habits didn't. So that's happening.

And so is this! I got a track from this Maryland band McTwist. I gave it a listen and I was VERY impressed. They're touring around the area right now and I would suggest you check them out. If you want an inadequate comparison, this song reminded me at first of Jimmie's Chicken Shack (specifically "Do Right") if it was sung by the lead singer of Better Than Ezra. Take a listen for yourself! If you like it, go to their Myspace and listen to more and check out their tour dates!

McTwist - Prizefighter from Amateur Hour

McTwist's Myspace Page

You know, when I get around to making a playlist to exercise to, I bet this song will be on it.

Yet another reason I love Radiohead.

2009-05-04T21:44:00.002-04:00

So, I'm listening to my songs that begin with L in alphabetical order (as part of my quest to do my entire library that way) and Radiohead's "Like Spinning Plates" comes on. Now, I know that it's composed from the song "I Will" which would be released later on Hail to the Thief being played backwards, but I couldn't think of that at the time. So I'm looking at the information about it and well, let me paste in what I read that gave me goosebumps of thrilledness!

[There's a line in the song about "living in Cloud-Cuckoo-land]
"The hidden booklet found underneath the CD tray of Kid A has a page that references the above lyrics, 'Cloud cuckoo land'."

WHAT HIDDEN BOOKLET?!

Sure enough, I go to my copy of Kid A (which conveniently happens to be within arm's reach of where I sit) and pry open the CD tray. There it is. Lying there like a hidden treasure that has been waiting nine years for me to discover it. It's a booklet full of weird Radiohead-y goodness and I am just so happy :)

Three things!

2009-03-22T22:36:00.003-04:00

1. There are still several spots left on the mix CD I'm making. Don't be shy :) It's going to be fun! I've used my random integer generator (well it's not mine, but I use it when I need random numbers) to generate my two letters. Should I tell you what they are? ;-)

2. So, apparently, Bob Dylan is going to be releasing an album on April 28th (in America) called Together Through Life. Awesome :) Modern Times was so good and I'm hoping this is just as awesome. It seems like it just randomly showed up, though. I kind of like that though, it's like a nice little surprise.

3. Warped Tour this year. I'm pretty sure my sister doesn't read this (or know about it), so I feel confident that I won't be giving anything away if I spill the beans on here. It's my sister's 15th birthday on 4/1 and I thought it would be a fun gift to give her tickets to her first Warped Tour (and really first concert). So that's the plan. So, here is a list of the bands scheduled to play that I'm excited to see (of course the list of dates that these bands are playing hasn't been posted yet, so it might be that some of the following won't be there at our venue.

*Anti-Flag
*Bad Religion
*Big D and the Kids Table (I've actually only heard a couple of songs by these guys, but I like what I hear and hey, it's a nice Boston ska band, what more can you ask for?)
*Bouncing Souls
*Escape the Fate (a buddy of mine just turned me on to these guys. The song "We Won't Back Down" is one of my current jams (and I would post it here, but I'm typing from my bedroom and the portable hard drive is in my office. If you can't find it, email me and I'll see that you get it)
*Flogging Molly
*Less than Jake (they WILL play "Scott Farcas Takes it On the Chin" this time or I swear to God, they'll regret it. No, I'm not making a threat. It's just that this will be like the 5th or 6th time seeing them and they've NEVER played it and I REALLY want them to!)
*NOFX
*Streetlight Manifesto
*The Ataris
*Thrice

The other thing is, unless they've changed the way they do it, they pick the schedule for each venue the morning of the show, so it could be that there are conflicts that will prevent me from seeing some of those. Also, my sister has bands that she wants to see that aren't listed above. So I'm hoping to get a good post out of this. And some good sibling bonding :)

Still Plenty of Room on the Mix...Plus a Moz Request!

2009-03-13T08:07:00.004-04:00

So two quick things and then I'm off to work.

1. There is still PLENTY of space on the mix cd if you were interested in contributing some letters (see the previous post if you're wondering what I'm talking about) so don't be shy! Email me some letters :)

2. If anyone is in possession of the Morrissey songs "Tommorrow" and/or "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get," and would let me have them, I think we could make some sort of quid pro quo arrangement. Email me if you're interested. This is for that collection I'm making of #1 Billboard Hot Modern Rock Songs that I mentioned a while back.

UPDATE: I have now gotten the Morrissey songs that I needed :)

Thanks!

Actually, I have one more thing. What concerts are people excited about this summer? I had planned on taking my sister (15) to her first Warped Tour, but it may be that the scheduling isn't going to work out. Any cool tours going around the U.S.? Any Festival type events in the Virginia/Maryland area this summer? Let me know :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Mix CD Idea (A contest of sorts...)

2009-03-08T22:12:00.002-04:00

Hi. It's been a while. Do I always start my posts that way? It seems so.

I've been thinking about something that one of my best friends did like 2.5 years ago over on LiveJournal. He basically asked people for a random pair of letters and he took that pair of letters and sent them a song that he thought they would like. I sent him TS and he sent me a great Carbon Leaf song called "Texas Stars"! Get it?

So what I propose is something like that. With a few slight twists. I'm going to make a mix CD. Based entirely on reader letter submissions. Ok, I might contribute my own, or I might not. I don't know yet. But anyways, then I'd send you the mix CD as a thank you for contributing! Here's what I'd like you to do:

Email me at aodblog@gmail.com with the following things:

1. Your name (I might already know you, but I might not!)
2. A letter or two or three that you want your song to start with
3. A mailing address for where you'd like your copy sent

Using the first 15 submissions I get, I'll make a mix!

I think this could be really fun! Let's see what we can come up with!

When I win the Lottery

2009-02-01T22:27:00.002-05:00

1. I will quit the job that I have tolerated because it provides a paycheck and experience that I can hopefully use elsewhere. Screw that. I'm going to live off my luck for a little bit.

2. I will tell my wife that she absolutely has the option to also quit her job. She may not take me up on it, though. I think she gets a lot more intangible rewards from her job.

3. Give some of the money to my Father-in-Law to invest. I know that lottery money isn't there forever. I understand that. So maybe he can help me perpetuate it a little.

4. Travel. I'm going to do some extensive travelling. Both inside and outside America. There are lots of places I've never been to and there are lots of places that I want to go back to. Maybe I can also do a CP Nation visiting trip! It could be like The Muppet Movie. Whoever wanted to join the journey would be more than welcome. All they'd need to bring would be a good Road Trip Mix. Because, let's face it, even the wealthiest person in the world can't hear everything. Some things are beyond wealth and I think musical exploration is one of those. Ok. So maybe The CP Nation Muppet-Movie-Style Visitation Road Trip should be #5

5. The CP Nation Muppet-Movie-Style Visitation Road Trip.

6. After I've gotten my fill of travel, we'll settle down and get started on having little ADD babies running around un-alphabetizing my CD's. And while we do that...

7. I'M GONNA START A RADIO STATION. This would be an absolute dream come true. I don't think I'd mess with the FCC so it would be an Internet Radio station. That means all you beautiful people could do some DJ work if you wanted. :) Who's in? What's your show on the radio station gonna be? Also, on the radio station, I'm going to buy the broadcast rights to the Casey Kasem American Top 40 countdowns and maybe the Festive Fifties. I think it would be so fun to broadcast some old countdowns like that.

I know that winning the lottery is basically impossible and that "the lottery is a tax for people who are bad at math" but it's fun sometimes to fantasize. :)

Discovered this Poem tonight

2009-01-17T23:20:00.002-05:00

I really like this. It's dark, but really really beautiful.

IN BED WITH A BOOK
by Mona Van Duyn
transcribed from Near Changes (Knopf 1990)

In police procedurals they are dying all over town,
the life ripped out of them, by gun, bumper, knife,
hammer, dope, etcetera, and no clues at all.
All through the book the calls come in: body found
in bed, car, street, lake, park, garage, library,
and someone goes out to look and write it down.
Death begins life's whole routine to-do
in these stories of our fellow citizens.

Nobody saw it happen, or everyone saw,
but can't remember the car. What difference does it make
when the child will never fall in love, the girl will never
have a child, the man will never see a grandchild, the old maid
will never have another cup of hot cocoa at bedtime?
Like life, the dead are dead, their conciousness,
as dear to them as mine to me, snuffed out.
What has mind to do with this, when the earth is bereaved?

I lie, with my dear ones, holding a fictive umbrella,
while around us falls the real and acid rain.
The handle grows heavier and heavier in my hand.
Unlike life, tomorrow night under the bedlamp
by a quick link of thought someone will find out why,
and the policemen and their wives and I will feel better.
But all that's toward the end of the book. Meantime, tonight,
without a clue I enter sleeep's little rehearsal.

For more info about this poet: go here
Oh, and I should say, I put the poem in italics because Greer does it. Go visit her website where she has lots of great poetry and stuff. :)

Two things you can help me figure out

2009-01-17T10:47:00.005-05:00

Alright, so two quick things:

1.) I was looking at some stuff on Facebook last night and I ran across this site. And now the purpose of this post is different. I want to tell you all about this cool Ticket site I found, but I can't find it again. Basically, people posted concerts that were happening in their area and this site compiled them. Someone please let me know what that site is so I can talk about it. I'm sure it's not unique, but the design was pretty good.

2.) So this is going to be two things that I want my readers to answer for me. The second is this: If you blog, how do you blog with regularity. It seems to me that there are two options: The first, and this is what I try to do (with limited success), is to always be trying to come up with things to blog about and then sit down and blog about them. But the second, which I've attempted (with NO success whatsoever), would be to think of a bunch of things at once, and then write up all the blogs while the inspiration is there, but then have them post on a delay. Which works best for you? It's hard not to feel like a huge blog slacker when you see people updating with awesomem posts day after day. For examples of such blogs, see the "Better Blogs Than Mine" section on the left side of your screen.

Have a great day, everyone!

Happy New Year, or, What I Didn't Talk About in 2008, (but I should have)

2009-01-03T22:35:00.003-05:00

Hi There Everyone!

I hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday season! I trust everyone checked out the Contrast Podcast 2008 Festive Fifty (or that they will now...hehe)

It's been a while since I've posted and I've really wanted to talk about a couple of bands that sent me their stuff and I never talked about them!

The first is Six Red Carpets. These guys hail from Italy and they're making music that makes me think of maybe like Coheed and Cambria or something that Maynard James Keenan would be involved with. Very trippy and very energetic. And it's your lucky day, because you can download the WHOLE ALBUM for free! Go on over to www.sixredcarpets.com and get you some! It comes with the album and a whole bunch of extras!

Six Red Carpets - Here's To the Nightmare

And the second band is from MY area. Detox Retox is from DC and they rock. Seriously it's like Arctic Monkeys and The Hives and Talking Heads all rolled into one. They released their Hard to Swallow EP in July and I just love it. It's chock full of energy and I hope I get to see them live soon. (They'll be playing The Velvet Lounge in DC on 2/5/09 and Connies Ric-Rac in Philly on 2/27/09 if you would like to see them too!) To learn more about this band and say you knew about them right before they blew up, go here

You can get your own copy of Hard to Swallow at the following places:

A hard copy can be found here
and you can download a copy at any of your usual online markets (iTunes, eMusic, Amazon).

Detox Retox - Resurrection

So, again, I'd like to apologize to these two fine groups for the delay in getting the word out about the awesome music they're putting out and I'd also like to apologize to anyone who has come here looking for some of my silliness and been disappointed to not find anything new.

Oh, hey. If you want to get a chuckle, go here (even though you probably already know about it...)

Keep checking back here. I have some fun stuff planned for 2009.

Bye!

Gun Shy

2008-11-22T16:15:00.002-05:00

So I think I haven't really been posting lately for two reasons:

1. We're hosting Thanksgiving for 75% of our parental groups. So we've been focusing on pulling the house together for that.

2. But more importantly, I feel like I haven't ben posting for the same reason that I always drive WAY to slow right after I get a speeding ticket. So, I hope you'll forgive me if it take some time to get back into it, but don't worry. I'm not gone forever!

In the meantime, go to Tim's Blog and vote for the 2008 Festive Fifty countdown. I think it's going to be a great one. Then listen to it at the end of December here. It's going to be THREE episodes. In fact, you should be listening to the Contrast Podcast every week.

Breakin' the Law?

2008-11-03T22:33:00.002-05:00

Ok, so Round 1H was taken down by blogger.com because one of the songs I posted in that post was flagged for copyright infringment. I'm not sure which one and I received no prior notification before they deleted it. Sigh. So, of Smashing Pumpkins, Rise Against, R.EM., Thrice, Lauryn Hill, and The Beatles, who would be most likely to shoot their shotgun at my flea of a blog? Any ideas?

I'm a little disconcerted right now. I'm woking on some posts about some up-and-coming bands that apprciate the exposure that blogs like this give them. So look out for them soon. I guess I had it coming, but it feels dirty because I really meant no harm. You know?

A Really Quick, Secret Post From Work Re: Of Montreal and Brackets

2008-10-22T09:50:00.003-04:00

Ok, so last things first. Voting has closed for Round 1G. Thank you so much to everyone who voted! I'll be posting the final sub-round of the first round of match-ups and then I think I will be doing the 2nd round in its entirety in one (or possibly two) posts. So look out for that.

Now on to the real reason I called you here today. So, Of Montreal is getting bigger and bigger, right? Why don't I have anything from them past 2000, when, by all accounts, they really started to hone the craft in around 2001. I got a couple of their albums from my friend Kasey in college and, while I enjoy listening to the cute, Beatle-y tunes when they come up on shuffle, I never really considered them a "real" band.

But I was reading the cover story in the new Paste magazine and I was realizing that I hadn't heard the main work that probably got Kasey into them in the first place. I would compare it to only listening to Nirvana's Bleach album and writing them off as not your cup of tea. It may be that I listen to the newer Of Montreal stuff and they're STILL not my cup of tea, but I didn't even realize that I might be missing something!

Has this happened to anyone else? With any band?

Roung 1g!

2008-10-05T08:25:00.003-04:00

Ok Folks, quick entry today. We have one more first round match-up after this one and then it's on to the thrills and chills and spills of Round 2!!! So without any further ado:

Round 1G:

1. Radiohead vs. Counting Crows

Radiohead - Videotape from In Rainbows
Counting Crows - Anyone But You from Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

2. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes vs. Bright Eyes

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Goodbye Earl from Love Their Country
Bright Eyes - No One Would Riot For Less from Cassadaga

Happy Voting Everyone! Even though it's taking a long time to get this done, I'm having fun with it, aren't you? :)

I'm still here!

2008-09-28T08:38:00.004-04:00

I'm totally still here, I've just been busy recently. And my computer has been rather narcoleptic recently. Well, I guess not narcoleptic. Isn't there like a chronic fatigue syndrome? Checking...Ha! Everything's something these days! Basically it's going fine, going fine, going fine, then UNBEARABLY slow. It's a lot easier if I put it on standby when I'm done with it, though. So that's what I've been doing. But enough about me. What do YOU think about me? Hehe.

I've been listening to my iPod in alphabetical order. Skipping duplicate songs and live songs if I have the studio recording, but listening to covers. A took me a week. B appears to be an even bigger letter. Maybe that's why "bigger" starts with B! At this exact moment, I'm on this song:

Lagwagon - Billy Club from Blaze

Which isn't my favorite song on the album. That might very well be this:

Lagwagon - Never Stops from Blaze

Lagwagon is funny because sometimes you're listening and thinking, "This is run-of-the-mill Fat Wreck Chords pop-punk" and then other times you wake up 2 hours later after having been knocked off your feet by the brilliance of a verse or turn of phrase. Here's my favorite part of that latter song:

Hands across America, let's catch contact hysteria
Our flag erects from broken homes
July 4 for evermore
Colors of democracy
Fly from every SUV
The Misspelled bumper sticker's here
Where did all the honor students go?

So anyways, all that and Ben Folds has an album coming out on Tuesday. We're feeling good.

My First Earthquake and Bob Dylan

2008-08-29T23:09:00.006-04:00

So on this past week's Contrast Podcast, we had our ninth Musicians Introduce Their Own Songs episode (you can find them grouped together here) which had a band on it called My First Earthquake, based in San Francisco. First of all, the intro cracked me up. Rebecca, the singer comes on with this robot voice and, well I'm not going to make it sound cool enough. Go listen to it yourself! They just seemed like such a fun-loving group of people, based on a 30 second intro (some intro times claimed in this blog may not be completely accurate or double-checked at all) and so I was very pleased when their song "Teleprompt" was really catchy and had an interesting story. So I went on their website and looked around and they ARE a really, fun, fun-loving group of people. Maybe that's just the San Franciscan air (isn't Greer from SF? She's a fun-loving gal, am I right?)

Anywho, here's a couple of tunes that I've been digging by them! And all of these are available at places like iTunes except the remix, which I believe is only available through their website.

My First Earthquake - Teleprompt from Tremors EP (the song that started the craze)
My First Earthquake - Teleprompt (Poles & Zeros Remix) (for maximum contrast)
My First Earthquake - Cradle the Ladle from Tremors EP (It's about soup. Mmm mmm good!)

Also, Bob Dylan is going to be releasing another CD in the Bootleg Series. It's going to cover the period of time between Oh Mercy! and Modern Times (aka the present). And I'm pretty excited! So his website was giving away this free song which is an released song that he recorded when he was recording Time Out of Mind. I think it's pretty clear why it wasn't included on the album. It's just too damn upbeat!

Bob Dylan - Dreamin' of You

Happy Labor Day everyone! And I'll try to update more often! That seems to be something of an epidemic 'round the blogs I've been reading. I think school's starting for a bunch of people and people are maybe trying to get in some hardcore relaxation in during these last days of summer.

I'm excited about autumn! I can't wait until all the music geeks that I love to read hunker down for the winter and pontificate on all my future favorite songs!

Shout outs and 1988!

2008-08-10T23:18:00.005-04:00

Ok, so I often assign myself epic projects. I've assigned myself the task of listening to, watching, and reading all of the Albums of the Year, Best Pictures, and Pultizer Prize for Fiction winners, respectively from the year I was born on, for instance.

Well the most recent epic project I've assigned myself is to collect all of the songs that have reached Number One on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks Chart. When I started, I had about half, and I'm well on my way, through the use of iTunes and friends and family.

But the Internet is a wonderful wonderful place where you can, with a little effort, find almost anything. I couldn't find a particular song (posted below) on iTunes and I didn't know anyone that would have it. So I went on The Hype Machine and searched the track and I saw a blog that I've seen many places before on various blogs I read: The Vinyl District. Not only is this a fantastic blog where the merits and wonders of Vinyl Music are shouted from the rooftops, but they also happen to be based out of Washington D.C., a short drive from where I live! Please check them out. You won't be disappointed! So, I'd like to whole-heartedly thank Jon from The Vinyl District for his generous and speedy aid in my randomly assigned, all-consuming, epic project! There may be other songs that I just can't find. And you can bet that I'll be scouring the Internet to find them. In fact, does anyone have "Dirty Blvd." by Lou Reed? iTunes only has live versions.

Julian Cope - Charlotte Anne from My Nation Underground (It's from 1988. That's why the title.)

Passenger + Ruut in Annapolis with Andy! (8/3/08)

2008-08-04T22:20:00.006-04:00

Ok, so while you are all losing sleep trying to decide which votes to cast on the current round of the BOTB (see previous post's first section), I'll tell you a little story.

Last night, Andy and I went to Annapolis, where I lived when I was in 5th and 6th grades. We were going there to see a band called Passenger. Passenger are from the UK. Andy tells me that they're from Brighton and after a little confusion involving a perceived mispronunciation of the word "Britain", I understand that he means a specific place in the UK. But everyone isn't from Brighton, because the lead singer said the lead guitarist is Irish. Which I suppose doesn't mean he isn't from Brighton. And I'm rambling.

So anyways, after almost making it to the club and finding that the very street we're looking for is blocked off for some reason, and then realizing that two pre-driving years of residence don't make for a very good mental layout of a town, we found parking and made our way to the Ram's Head Tavern. This place is far bigger than it looks and it has lots and lots of routes to get from point A to point B. Only our point B seems to not be there. What we didn't realize is that the Tavern had a seperate part of it that was a stage area. So then we waited around for the doors to open. Andy was on the list. It was so cool. Except for the ticket guy immediately said "Um, there is no guest list." After talking to the aforementioned Irish/Brightish lead guitar player and Passenger's manager, we were in and sitting. I had a Diet Coke and Andy had a Yuengling. Is this too detailed? (We were at table 304.)

The first act was Ruut, a local. She played piano and was backed by cello and electric guitar. She was absolutely gorgeous and then she started singing and it didn't even matter. She has, in my opinion, a very distinct voice and the band's sound had sort of a soulful country folky sound. You know that Ben Folds Five song "Lullaby"?

Ben Folds Five - Lullaby from The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner

You do? Ok, so I kept thinking of that during their set. It was absolutely breathtaking and I bought the ep, which you can also purchase at iTunes, and she signed it for me and I was all flustered and speechless like I always am in the presence of great talent.

Here are two songs that they played that I really loved

Ruut - Nothing is Right from Ruut EP
Ruut - Sweetest Thing from Ruut EP

And then Passenger came on. Andy gives a really great description of the show (with a lot less rambling) here. When they were playing, I felt like I was a part of the beginning of something. Whenever I'm reading people's blogs and they're like "Yeah, I was at the first Smiths show" (I think that was JC, but I could be mistaken. Maybe Dirk? Same difference, really ;-)), I'm always envious and want to know what that feels like. And I really felt like that last night. Passenger are so passionate about what they do and Mike (lead singer) has a great voice. They played songs I knew of their album Wicked Man's Rest which Andy gave me for Christmas. The US version is in stores tomorrow. You can get it at amazon. And they also played other songs that were just fantastic. I think my favorite was The Stupidest Song which Mike played as an encore. Despite the name, it's freakin' brilliant.
Here were two highlights:

Passenger - Walk You Home aka Night Vision Binoculars (UK title changed for US release) from Wicked Man's Rest
Passenger - Stray Dog from Wicked Man's Rest

It was a great night.

A More Creative Title Perhaps? (More Voting, Random Thoughts, Mixes)

2008-07-28T23:17:00.008-04:00

Perhaps not.

I've reached another point in my blogging where I am a bit behind and so I have all these things that I want to talk about and they're just overloading me and then I don't blog so they build up more and more and more. So I'm going to attempt to get them all down. Or at least most of them.

Round 1F!!!

1.The Beatles vs. Taking Back Sunday

The Beatles - I've Got a Feeling from Let It Be

Taking Back Sunday - Spin from Louder Now

2. Lagwagon vs. The Ataris

Lagwagon - Automatic from Resolve
The Ataris - Not Capable of Love from Welcome the Night

In other news, I've been making and receiving lots of mixes from all over the world. I guess this salvo began with Andy coming up for a visit bearing the latest installment in a series of mixes we've been doing for a year or so.

Here's a song from that:

The Decemberists - Oceanside

I also received a mix from Wayne as part of Anna's Mix CD exchange. The theme this time was "Sub 3-minute songs" and Wayne's mix was eclectic and yet it fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Here's a song from that:

The Housemartins - Happy Hour

and here's a song that quotes that song and I never knew it!

Barenaked Ladies - Hello City from Gordon

And then I received not one, but TWO mixes from Anna which are both based on Lost (one a little more than the other) which is just amazing and it made me want to skip out on work and just go home and watch Lost DVD's

A song for waking up in the hatch. :)
Mama Cass Elliot - Make Your Own Kind of Music

Oh, also, I got a USB record player and have, so far, ripped two LP's and I'm fairly pleased. The second album, Sly and the Family Stone's Fresh was rather frustrating because it has all these little hops in it that I didn't notice when it was recording (because I was in the other room...)

But here's a song that isn't bad.

Sly and the Family Stone - In Time from Fresh

And finally, you should go check out The Hold Steady and My Morning Jacket's new albums:

The Hold Steady - Ask Her For Adderall from Stay Positive
My Morning Jacket - Aluminum Park from Evil Urges