This is the part of the blog where I discuss all things that I am currently finding awesome.

First off is Noah and the Whale’s new album Peaceful The World Lets Me Down.  To regular readers of this blog, Noah and the Whale should be a familiar name, I first learned of the band almost a year ago through their single “Five Years Time” and I’ve began talking them up ever since.  The band has done pretty well for themselves booking a main stage spot at Lollapalooza (which unfortunately they had to cancel) and having “Five Years Time” appear on a national car commercial for Saturn.

The new album is a mixture of previously released songs (like the previously mentioned hit single, “Five Years Time” and “Rocks and Daggers” which I reviewed here) and new tracks.  Unlike some bands who make their name on fantastic singles, the band’s new songs are just as strong as the old ones making for an extremely satisfying listen.  I’m sure that once their debut album is officially released they will continue to win fans over with their charming and infectious folk-pop  sound.

MP3 Noah and the Whale - Jocasta
MP3 Noah and the Whale - Rocks and Daggers

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In local/festival news, the Pygmalion Fest schedule has been recently released and I’m getting pretty excited for the upcoming fest.  The line-up is scheduled so that you can catch all the big acts that you’d like to such as Yo La Tengo, Asobi Seksu, Dan Deacon, and Black Mountain and still have tons of time to catch the lesser-known bands.

Other than the four mentioned above I’m getting really excited for Titus Androcius, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, Oxford Collapse, Pattern is Movement, and PWRFL Power.  It will also be nice to see Evangelicals, Headlights, Catfish Haven, and The M’s again.  If you live in the midwest and haven’t been fully informed yet, click here for festival information.

MP3 Yo La Tengo - You Can Have It All
MP3 Asobi Seksu - Thursday

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I don’t know about all of you, but I get really excited when critics and moviegoers just tear into a really horrible movie.  I don’t think there’s been a better example than the blatant hatred exhibited for “Disaster Movie“, the latest and perhaps the worst entry into the god-awful “___ Movie” series.  It has a well-deserved 0% at rottentomatoes, is rated the worst movie of all time at IMDB.com, and opened 6th on a slow weekend at the box office, all of which means humanity might still have a chance.   Here’s a couple of my favorite quotes from reviewers:

“there’s probably enough suicide-inducing material here to make a send-up of The Happening redundant. ” - Jam! Movies

“As so-called writer-directors, (Friedberg and Seltzer) are cretins whose sensibilities never rise above that of a messily overflowing sewer and whose intelligence borders between that of a three-eyed inbred sheep’s and a human vegetable”  …   “‘Disaster Movie,’ which only half-heartedly recalls literal disaster movies but is a pure disaster all the same, is as depressing and empty a cinematic experience as any other picture this year or last (or maybe the whole decade). To label it as simply unfunny or vacuous or ugly or boring would be a compliment. ” -The Movie Boy

“Embarrassment. It’s a feeling you should get used to, Freidberg and Seltzer. You should feel it deeply and painfully. You should be ashamed to tell anyone your names. May you never befoul another cinema with your grotesque comic abortions. ” - Film.com

Also, there was, at one point, a detailed blow-by-blow of the plot (if you can call what it had a plot) at wikipedia, that completey trashed the movie, but it was taken down because it was “biased”.  Luckily you can still read it here, if you really want to know excactly how bad “Disaster Movie” is, without going to see it.

MP3 The Futureheads - Stupid and Shallow

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For those of you LOST addicts like myself, there is finally something noteworthy to talk about (I don’t consider Michelle Rodriguez returning for one episode to be anything too exciting personally).  There’s a new cast member on board for season 5 for a character named Illana, a dangerous and intelligent female fatale.

The actress playing Illana is Zuleikha Robinson, who has previously starred in New Amsterdam, Rome, The X-Files and that movie where Aragorn had to enter a horse race.  Obviously, the above character description could fit just about any LOST female (except Claire, I guess), but EW is suspecting that this could another one of Sayid’s lady friends.  Only time will tell the role that Illana plays in the LOST creator’s plans for the ever-anticipated season 5.

MP3 Tilly and the Wall - Lost Girls

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Has anyone tried out that new Chrome browser everyones talking about?  Personally, I don’t see myself leaving Firefox any time soon, but once Google gets around to making a mac-compatible version, I’m planning on giving it a spin.

Occassionally, I like to take group of songs with a interesting similarity and make a mix about them (previously songs with bagpipe, hidden tracks).   Today’s mix is about songs where the title is a different language than the lyrics (just as you may have noticed that the title of this post is in French, and the post itself is written in English).  I think this technique can say something interesting about the song itself or maybe it just says that the band trying to show off how cultured and artistic they are.  Either way, I picked 8 songs that I love for this un mélange de chansons (translation: mix of songs). Enjoy!

Of Montreal - Du Og Meg MP3
What it means: The phrase is Norwegian for “You and Me”.  Kevin’s wife Nina is Norwegian and the song is about how the two met and fell in love.

Shearwater - La Dame et la Licorne MP3
What It Means: French for “The Lady and the Unicorn”.  Its title refers to a medeviel tapastry which shows a taming of a unicorn, that can only be done by a virgin woman. The lyrics itself seem to be from the perspective of a young woman, traveling to visit her lover during a war.

Arcade Fire - Une Annee Sans Lumiere MP3
What it means: The title is French for “A Year Without Lights” and the lyrics uses allusions to light and sparks to describe the the romance between two lovers which they hide from the girl’s father.  To be fair, I should point out that the song is sung in both English and French.

Islands - J’aime vous voir quitter MP3
What It Means: The meaning of the title is “I love to see you leave” and it’s about the former Islands band member, J’aime Tambeur.  In a no-doubt purposeful jab at him , the French phrase contains his name and the word “quitter”, further hinting at J’aime’s departure.

Arizona - Te Amo Tanto MP3
What it means: The phrase is Spanish for “I love you very much”.  Adorable, right?.

Belle and Sebastian - Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie MP3
What it means: “la Bourgeoisie” is French for the middle class or “the new rich” but le Pastie doesn’t have any French meaning.  The phrase could be a clumsily translated to “the apathy of the middle class” or just some nonsense that the band invented.

Ted Leo - La Costa Brava MP3
What It Means: Costa Brava is a beach in northern Spain where the subject of the song plans a vacation from the troubles of the world.  In English, La Costa Brava means The Brave (or Wild) Coast.

Flaming Lips - Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung MP3
What it means: Pompeii is the old roman city that got destroyed by a volcano and was discovered some 1500 years later.  Gotterdammerung is a german word meaning “the beginning of the end”.  The song fits both those ideas together about a couple who decide to end their lives by hurling themselves into a volcano.

Note: Much of this information was gathered from infromation found at at songmeanings.net.

It’s been exactly one month since Lollapalooza started and I’m finally finishing up my coverage with one of my favorite shows of the weekend.  Kanye West had a lot to live up to for in his Sunday headlining coming off of the Bonaroo incident (not to mention Chicago being his hometown), and I walked away very impressed at his performance and uncanny ability to energize and involve the crowd.  Kanye really is a true showman at heart, and I think it would be hard to find anyone, regardless of their personal views on the man, to deny his stage presence.  It was also great to see the music being performed on stage (by a suspiciously Daft Punk-looking band no less) as opposed to off-stage during the Glow in the Dark tour.

It was undoubedtly a greatest hits show as Kanye showered the crowd with hit after hit, from his early jams “Through The Wire” and “Jesus Walks” to “Golddigger” and “Heard Em Say” from Late Registration to his newest songs like “Good Morning”. “Flashing Lights” and “Homecoming”. There was even a few surprises in the set such as an impassioned performance of “Put On For My City”, a Young Jeezy track that Kanye colloborated on, and a cover of “Don’t Stop Believin” which came after a heartfelt performance of “Hey Mama”.

A big early highlight was “Diamonds of Sierra Leone” which was accompanied by a live camera shot of the Diamond-shaped Smurfit Stone Building and thousands of hands raised in the shape of a diamond. “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” and “Touch the Sky” were both expectedly awesome.  “Good Life” is probably my favorite song from Kanye, and he put on a fantastic performance that had an extended stripped down ending with just the audiences voices and the drum beat of the song.

In addition to the music there was a couple interesting moments where Kanye decided to put on his motivational speaker shoes. The first was a speech comparing the innovations he’s made in music to taking computers that used to fill rooms and putting that technology in the phone (could that be an iPhone promo?), all while urging the audience to tell their grandchildren about him.  He did make a valid point about how artists idolize older music and don’t try to innovate music today, but otherwise it was a pretty laughable speech.

The next was much more admirable, and took place an interlude during the Young Jeezy cover.  He told the crowd the story of how his mother brought him to Chicago which transitioned into a freestyle rap about his love for his mother and his hometown.  The impromptu moment was further proof of what a talented and fascinating individual Kanye is.  And from the reaction of the audience, it was obvious that the Chicago crowd was just as smitten with Kanye, as he was with them.  The show ended with a visully spectactular performance of ”Stronger”, which was a wonderful way to end an amazing Lollapalooza weekend.

MP3 Kanye West ft. T-Pain - Good Life
MP3 Kanye West ft. Jay-Z - Diamonds of Sierra Leone (Remix)

Follow the jump below to see some more of my Kanye West pictures.

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It’s been a while since I saw a music video that really caught my interest, but the colorful construction paper world shown here mixed with the gorgeous acoustic folk-pop of the Austin band, The Lovely Sparrows song is really exceptional.  Created through use of paper machete backgrounds and stop-motion animation, the video provides beautiful images of nature, changing seasons and some truly organic instruments.  The song pulls you in with its lovely finger-picked guitar and a peppy chorus that features handclaps and a flute.  I got to hand it to the videoographers because they made a wonderful video for the song.

MP3 The Lovely Sparrows - Year of the Dog

Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse, the duo who make up Gnarles Barkley, were the definition of style and class at the Lollapalooza.   Sharply attired in matching khaki suits (that were complete with striped bow ties) and featuring a very youthful band in equally snazzy get-up, they won the best dressed contest hands down. 

The music wasn’t half bad either though (actually quite good). Gnarles charged through songs like “Run”, “Smiley Faces” and “Going On” and laid it down real smooth for “Who’s Gonna Save Your Soul” and their mega-hit “Crazy”.  Their was even a cover of Radiohead’s “Reckoner” which showed of Cee-Lo’s vocal prowess.  Overall very fun set, I’m glad I finally got to see these guys.

MP3 Going On 

Click the link below to check out some more of my Gnarles Barkley pictures.

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A musical journey through the four-movements of of Montreal’s latest opus, “Nonpareil of Favor”.  The first track off of the utterly incredible Skeletal Lamping.

00:00 - 1:09
Bouncy, melodic glam-funk with a harpischord.  Like the second half of Hissing Fauna, just more urgency and in-your-face-ness (and catchier).

1:10 - 1:43
A druggy, Revolver-esque segue way from twangy muted guitars to loud, power chords. Features the line, “Now I’m so bugged out by your paradigm kisses.”

1:44 - 3:29
2 minutes of the brashest, noisiest thing that Of Montreal has ever done.   For a second you’ll think it’s No Age meets Queen, but then it just becomes an orgy of uncontrolled sound.  It’s pretty thrilling.

3:30 - 5:49
The feedback from the noise rock craziness is still present, but the huge drums have been replaced with tribal sounds and layered Beach Boys harmonies a la Panda Bear.  Finishes with a precious sounding xylophone solo with guitar feedback still looming in the background, a fitting bookend to a surreal musical experience.

MP3 of Montreal - Nonpareil of Favor

About the Prize:

In 1972, David Bowie released the landmark album, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and embarked on his first US tour. Bowie was at his creative peak and his performance in Southern California, which was recorded for a FM broadcast and bootlegged years before being released, is considered to be the best has ever been captured by Bowie (even more than the officially released David Live! and the Ziggy Stardust soundtrack).  The recording was so legendary among fans that a David Bowie biographer went as far to say that possessing a copy was the test of a true Bowie fan. 

After listening myself, I can attest that the songs truly come alive on this recording.  Tracks like “Width of a Circle” and “Andy Warhol” that I paid little attention to before now stand out and songs I’ve heard hundreds of times like “Changes” and “Ziggy Stardust” are played with an increased intensity of a young, passionate group trying to earn their place in rock and roll history.

Reviews:

Rolling Stone Review (5 out of 5)
Pitchfork Review (7.7)
NME Review (8 out of 10)

Contest Rules:

So the million dollar question is how do you win the double vinyl set?  To enter you have to reply to this post and tell me what your favorite David Bowie song is and why.  I’ll choose what I think is the best, most convincing response and then contact you to get your mailing address.  This means that you have to supply me an email address as well in order to be eligible to win.  This is a fabulous prize, especially for the vinyl collectors and David Bowie fans out there who consider this the holy grail of David Bowie performances.  Not to mention the fact (as you can see by checking amazon) that purchasing the album would set you back a pretty penny, you’re getting quite a good deal here.  The contest will be open for two weeks which should give you plenty of time to write your entry.

MP3s:

MP3 David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
MP3 David Bowie - Life on Mars

and just for fun:

MP3 Flight of the Conchords - Bowie

Click “Talk to Me” at the bottom of this post to reply.

I realize that most people are trying to get far, far away from “I Kissed A Girl” at this point, but I think it’s worth risking the song being stuck in your head to listen to this awesome cover by up-and-coming artist, Max Vernon.  I got a hold of this track after I got an email from Max promising me that his music isn’t the same unremarkable, boring crap I am normally sent all the time, and he was absolutely right.  He has a unique style that is something like Regina Spektor’s music mixed with Patrick Wolf’s vocals.  All of his songs are piano-based and his Katy Perry cover is no exception.

Not only is there the novelty of hearing a guy singing the psuedo-lesbian lyrics, but the song is improved on in the first half by stripping the sound down to classical piano and Max’s striking vocals.  The second half of the cover transitions into a electro/jazz/doo-wop hybrid that actually works much better than it has any right to.  The true artistry of Max though, lies in his original compositions such as on the uplifting and enchanting “When Your Body Breaks”.  The track shows that beyond a great voice and some impressive musical ability, Max Vernon has some songwriting genius in him.  Further proof, of Max’s skill to create a memorable melody can be seen in the bouncy, playful “Hypochondriac Blues”.

MP3 Max Vernon - I Kissed A Girl (cover) (link removed by request, listen here)

If you like the cover (or even if you didn’t), I highly recommend you check out these songs:

MP3 Max Vernon - When Your Body Breaks
MP3 Max Vernon - Hypochondriac Blues

Iron & Wine’s music isn’t perfect for a festival setting, I would much prefer watch the band in a small club or theatre where I could sit and examine every part of their intricate sound being created and be able to admire Sam Beam’s angelic vocals.  The band did their best though to engage the crowd, by playing a majority of songs from their most recent (and most upbeat album) The Shepherd’s Dog.  The highlight was seeing complex songs like “House By The Sea” and “Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car” being performed live, as well as an updated version of personal favorite, “Love and Some Verses”.  I’m hoping next time I see the band, though it’s in a environment more suitable to their lovely sound.

MP3 Love and Some Verses

Click the link below to see some more Iron & Wine @ Lolla pictures.

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