Thursday, January 31, 2008

She and Him


A little while back, I heard my boy M. Ward was collaborating with Zooey Deschanel for an upcoming project. Sure, I love me some M. Ward as much—probably, even more so—as the next cat. But Zooey D.? Truthfully, I didn’t expect much. I’ve had a serious change of heart.

Once I heard this tune [posted below], I realized she wasn’t just the girl from Almost Famous and Weeds (love both), but she was also Buddy’s love interest in Elf! Say what you want, but that movie is fun as hell and if you hate it, you’re a cold, lifeless jerk. Anyway, as you may’ve noticed in Elf, Z.D. can sing.

Here's some more info on the collab.: M.W. + Z.D. = She and Him. Merge Records will release this one on March 18, 2008. It’s titled Volume One, so apparently we can expect more from this duo. Premium pop goodness!

She and Him - why stay here

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

"I've had sex 5 times."



Thank you Dan-R.N. for throwing this vid my way. Here's proof that no matter how many stints of rehab they go through; no matter how many members of Hanoi Rocks they accidentally kill; no matter how many bullshit reality shows they take part in... Motley Crue will NEVER lose their edge. Be sure to watch this one all the way through. You won't be disappointed.

Friday, January 25, 2008

WEEKEND MIX


Have a pleasant weekend folks. It's damn cold here in the Lou. Maybe these tunes will warm y'all up.

The National - fake empire
Flight of the Conchords - business time
Drive-By Truckers - tornadoes
The Drams - des moines
Bomb the Music Industry - 493 Ruth
Modest Mouse - float on (*alternate version)
New Pornographers - myriad harbour
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - oregon girl
Sonic Youth - teenage riot
The Strokes - mercy mercy me (m. gaye cover - ft. ed vedder)

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

I was passing out when you were passing out your rules.


I'm pretty jazzed about the fact that Jawbreaker -- easily one of my favorite bands, ever -- are back in action [sort of]. Not so fast though. Based on their own reports, they recently jammed together, "for old time's sake." I guess the main reason behind the recent sesh': they're piecing together a documentary. Sign me up for that one, please. More info on that can be found [via punknews] here.

Classics anyone?

Jawbreaker - want
Jawbreaker - do you still hate me?
Jawbreaker - save your generation

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Strictly Leakage


The always-electrifying Atmosphere has a dope new album available ... and it's FREE. You can swoop it up right here. It's way hot and I'd recommend it to anyone who's remotely interested in hip-hop.

As introduced by the dudes: "as a way to thank all of our supporters, ant and i have put together this party favor...it's called "strictly leakage." thirteen songs to chase away the winter doldrums." It's been chasin' mine away for the past few days...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"This is what it's like to drown out the psychos..."

Speaking of Rhymesayers Entertainment, here's a very awesome track by P.O.S., featuring none other than Craig Finn of the Hold Steady. Truly wicked stuff...

  • P.O.S. [ft. Craig Finn] - safety in numbers
  • Wednesday, January 09, 2008

    Things that Suck -- Things that Rule

    Quick rundown on things that've been revvin' my engine as of late. We'll start with the negatives.

    The things that make me want to put my fist through a wall:

  • Friggin' Roger Clemens. I know, innocent til proven guilty. Blah blah. He's an asshole and I hope Congress totally puts homeboy on blast come Febuary. GET OVER YOURSELF BRO. You're a cheater [probably].

  • The primaries. For some reason I'm way more cynical this go-around. Maybe it's because my grandma --who's a Dem, mind you-- has already sent me the same email twice about how Obama is a terrorist who wipes his ass with with the flag and will only say the National Anthem in Arabic. What bothers me even more is a) the silent majority won't back Obama, and b) Hillary Clinton can't carry the vote because, well, people don't like her. That being said, if Edwards can't take South Carolina, his prez bid may be doomed.

  • Studying. Some day, I will be able to say I don't have to study anymore. Unfortunately, I have to pass the Missouri Bar Exam before I'm able to do so. Ugghhh.

    And the things that distract me from the b.s. and make me happy and hopeful:


  • Drive-By Truckers - Brighter than Creation's Dark. The new Truckers album comes out in a couple weeks and I couldn't be more excited. Judging by the tunes I heard them road-test at their Austin Dirt Underneath Tour gig, this album's gonna rip. Dude, it's 19 tracks long and bassist Shonna Tucker steps up to the mic for the first time to debut 3 tunes she wrote for the album. Enough said.

  • Johnny Walker's Black Label. Man, I reeaally like scotch.

  • The Green Bay Packers. The mighty Pack will take on the Seattle Seahawks in the playoffs this Saturday. Could this be Favre's last game? I hope to hell it's not. Does anyone else remember when Hasslebeck [S'hawks QB] mistakenly predicted an OT win against the Pack back in 2004? That really blew up in his face, didn't it. Just to give you an idea as to how weak the S'hawks are: their kicker, Josh Brown, will apparently be wearing heated pants during Saturday's game in Green Bay. Soooo weak.

  • Bumper Pool. My neighbor gave me this wicked bumper pool table and we've been rocking the hell out of it. Not to mention, it really ties the basement together.

  • rbally. Dude over at rbally is constantly posting wicked live/rare bootlegs of all of your favorite artists. He went on a not-so-brief hiatus last year, but now he's finally back to regular, quality posting. Some highlights from the past few weeks: the Replacements @ CBGB's, 1984; Ryan Adams in Dublin, 2002; Radiohead in Berlin, 2000; Wilco in Oregon, 2007; Sonic Youth in Italy, 1992.
  • Tuesday, January 08, 2008

    Happy New Year

    I didn't intend on taking this much time off from bloggin'. I had a few different posts brewin' but I've been experiencing some technical difficulties that're preventing me from uploading songs. This will [hopefully] be resolved very soon.

    Anyway, you know what's pretty funny/pathetic about me? I randomly choose to ignore really popular bands that drum up alot of buzz. Maybe it's the jaded punker in me, or maybe it's one of my classic--albeit reasonable--excuses: "I can't listen to every friggin' band, ya know."

    Regardless, this mentality led me to ignore a really sweet album that was released this past year: The National's Boxer. A buddy back in TX gave me their two previous albums and, honestly, I don't even remember giving them much of a listen. After seeing this album pop up in virtually everyone's Top Ten of 2007, I caved and picked it up.

    Holy friggin' hell, this album's good. While I could go on and on about their drummer's insanely precise chops, or rant about the lush piano and string arrangements, it's singer Matt Berninger's lyrics and delivery that demand your attention. I picked this album up a couple weeks back and I'm pretty sure I've listened to at least once everyday since.

    Here's the video for "Apartment Story," one of my favs off of Boxer: