...and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.

I started working on this mix about an hour and I felt like I should post it because it really brightened my day and I hope it brightens yours as well. This was also just an excuse for me to put "Over the Rainbow," one of my favorite songs of all time, on a mix.

- Greg

Wilco Perform "Country Disappeared" for La Blogotheque

Last year's Wilco (The Album) by the veteran band Wilco was not their best - for me it might have been their worst, but I still thought it was one of the better albums to come out last year. I think this stands as a  testament to just how amazing Wilco is. The following is something I stumbled upon yesterday and immediately loved. "Country Disappeared" was not one of my favorite songs on Wilco (The Album). However, this stripped down version for La Blogotheque is fantastic.

- Greg

Fang Island - Fang Island

Like a great deal of people, I was first introduced to Fang Island through the recent Pitchfork review of the self-titled second release by the Brooklyn band, in which it received an 8.3. I often download too much music and find myself shuffling around an album or two to see whether or not I want to continue my listening. I immediately flipped through a couple cuts off this record and wrote it off as “not being up my alley,” which I am sure I can see a lot of music listeners doing. However, when I got a text from my friend Adri telling me to check it out, I figured I would give it another try. Since that text, I have listened to this album nonstop for the last week.

The first track on the album, “Dream of Dreams” starts with the crackling of what sounds like a backyard firework show. However, the album quickly erupts into the 4th of July on the Hudson. Fang Island's self-titled album is the most epic piece of music I have heard since last year’s Crack The Skye by metal group Mastodon. From “Daisy” to “Davy Crockett” this album is  larger-than-life in its textures and limitless in its parameter.

Looking back on why I initially did not like this band comes down to the fact that Fang Island occasionally reminds of some shitty emo band that you can hear on MTV. This album does not have the whining vocals, but a lot of the melodiousness on the record sounds similar to a band that would be trying too hard to show off. However, this band keeps it together. In particular, the drumming is phenomenal. Fang Island’s musicality on this album is really something to be admired. There are so many points where I thought the complex rhythms and riffs would be too much, but the band never lets down.

I think Fang Island is one of the first big cross genre albums of the year. Of course, one can argue that bands like Gorillaz have already done this with Plastic Beach, but I think this album is a little different. I feel like most indie listeners like a great deal of good rap, especially the rap that is featured on Plastic Beach, but if there is anything that indie listeners can’t stand, it is crappy emo bands. I can see both indie kids liking this record and their weirdo friends who have a taste for the more cliché emo rock giving this album a worthy listen. I highly recommend this album.

Rating: 87/100

- Greg

The New Pornagrophers Drop First Single From New Album

There are few albums that I am more looking forward to hear as much as The New Pornographers new album, Together, scheduled to be released on May 4^th. This is the first single off the highly anticipated new record, entitled “The Crash Years.”

Listen to it HERE

Classic of the Week: Big Star - #1 Record

For those of you who did not hear, last Wednesdays, March 17^th, Alex Chilton passed away. I am sure most people who follow the “music blogosphere” have most likely heard of Alex Chilton, but for those who have not heard of Alex Chilton, I will briefly explain that he was singer songwriter with The Box Tops and Big Star. He is certainly one of the most influential musicians of all time. I cannot think of a pop/rock band that was not influenced by Big Star. He will be missed dearly.

I first heard of the passing of Alex Chilton while listening to NPR’s coverage of South by South West and Carrie Brownstein, a musician and writer of NPR’s Monitor Mix Blog, later wrote on her blog that musicians and music lovers pass on Big Star records like a secret handshake. While reading this, I quickly thought back to first time I had heard Big Star. A friend of mine passed the Big Star discography along with a bunch of other album that he felt I should listen to (looking back on the transaction, it does not seem like a secret handshake, but rather a secret hug). The first time I heard Big Star’s #1 Record I instantly fell in love with it. I feel as if everybody who loves music should listen to this record. From start to finish it is just faultless. It is the perfect pop album.

Phoenix Release Live Album...... fo freeeeee

Live In Sydney is available at the link below.

http://wearephoenix.com/observer/

Ben Folds Does Chatroulette

My first musical love growing up as a child was not The Beatles, or The Rolling Stones, or even The Backstreet Boys. The first musician I fell in love with was Ben Folds, a goofy, fantastic piano player. Folds music with Ben Folds Five (which only had three members) was funny at points, touching at others, and just amazingly unique to pop music. He had balls in his songwriting. However, his albums have gotten progressively worse since the breakup of Ben Folds Five. No matter what though, I will always love Ben Folds. 

The video below is Ben Folds playing a show in his home state of North Carolina and improvising on Chatroulette. It is meant to be a tribute to Merton, a guy who has been made famous for playing piano on Chatroulette and who has often been believed to be Ben Folds. I think this is hysterical. Enjoy!

- Greg

Dwight K. Schrute vs. Weezy

I ran into this the other day and it instantly made me smile. I love The Office and the theme song, which will probably go down as one of the most memorable themes in history. As far as Lil Wayne goes, I love Tha Carter II and III, so I can enjoy my fix of Weezy here and there. I have to say that Weezy's "Hustler Music" with the infectious melody of The Office theme song is brilliant.  This is one of the best mashups I have heard in a long time.

- Greg

The Black Keys Release New Song, "Tighten Up" Off New Album

If the Black Keys' new song "Tighten Up" is any indication of how the rest of their sixth studio album Brothers sounds, we may have found a new definition to the phrase, "Creaming of the pants." The only Danger Mouse produced track on the album, "Tighten Up" sounds as if it could have been a B-side to the Keys' 2008 album, Attack and Release. At first listen, Danger Mouse's production and taste for classic R&B funk can be easily heard in the very first minute of the track. A catchy choir of western whistlers take aim and fire at the ear drums which are treated more as pleasure than pain. A distored organ sets the ambiance for the track further for the piss and vinegar attack of Dan Auerbach's sarcastic guitar lines and drummer Patrick Carney's ball breaking army of drums. Auerbach's voice still sounds like a reincarnation of some Mississippi backwoods blues singer turned soldout showstopper. Carney's comfort behind the kit is easily noticed; he may be a man of silence, but to tell you the truth, he really doesn't have to speak much. Watch any show of the Keys' live and you'll see why. One of the best parts that "Tighten Up" has to offer is the breakdown towards the end of the song. It could be one the heaviest, yet controlled breakdowns to ever suffice in the arena of garage blues rock. Could the Keys' score again with Brothers? It could be, but lets not jump the gun just yet. Vampire Weekend's "Cousins" proved to be one of their first major favorites among fans off of Contra, and personally, the rest of the album just sucked the life force out of me. But is it possible for the Keys' to write a bad song? We will soon find out.

--Mike

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks

It should come to no surprise that a guy from New Jersey like myself would love Ted Leo. In the last 10 or so years, the Bloomfield native has been near the forefront of the independent East Coast music scene. His music is consistently well crafted and rock-solid. There are rarely gaps in Leo’s music. His lyrics are as straightforward as his simple pop/rock song hooks, structures, and melodies. On March 9th Ted Leo & The Pharmacists returned with their sixth studio album, The Brutalist Bricks, and it seems as if Leo has gone back to the drawing board on this one. There are some excellent songs on this album that unquestionably deserve a listen, but this record is certainly not as great as 2003’s Hearts of Oak. However, if you are looking for a good, solid pop/rock record this is certainly recommended. 

The opener on the album, “The Mighty Sparrow,” returns with the Ted Leo we all have loved for years. If there is anything that Ted Leo does exceptionally well it is write great song structures. “The Mighty Sparrow” is an excellent example of this. The intro of the song with its single guitar and vocals builds up to the backing of the band that just explodes in your ears. It is a superb song structure that never lets down. Whenever I have listened to this record, as I have often heard some touches of other musicians of the past.  For example, the first verse of “The Mighty Sparrow” reminds me a great deal of the late great Jay Reatard with its jangling acoustic guitars. The second track on the album, “Mourning in America,” proceeds with an unlikely different sound. The reggae sounding chorus mixed with Leo’s hardest riff of the album combines to create the most unique song on Bricks.

Despite the quick flash bang that comes on the second track, the album is pretty consistent in sound, which is good to some, but is a letdown for me. If there is any major critiques of this record it is that one cannot listen to this record looking for a drastic change in sound from song to song. There are few songs that change their focal points or even simply change to different sounds on the instruments.

Besides this common problem that many artists encounter on records that come out later in one’s career, such as this, one of the things I really like about this album is that the last song is actually good. You won’t believe the amount of albums I have listened to this year where the last song is just so ehhh. The last song on the album is very important because obviously it is last song the artist is leaving the listener with. I also feel as if what my cross country coach in high school, Joe Suirano, said about racing could not be truer about an album, “it is not necessarily how you start a race, but rather how you end it.” “Last Days” is one of the best songs on the album. As I said previously, the album occasionally brings up ghosts of great records and artists of the past. “Last Days” briefly brings back remnants of Elvis Costello’s classic riff on, “Pump it Up.” There is nothing wrong with little hints of Costello to brighten up your album. 

Despite the few times where the album switches to a punkier thud, the album mostly remains pretty linear in effortless, well crafted rock and pop songs. “Ativan Eyes” and “Even Heroes Have to Die” or “Bottled In Cork” exemplify this notion quite well. Actually nearly every song on this album shows this well. The Brutalist Bricks is, for me, one of the most consistent Leo records to date and one of the most reliable albums of the year. 

Rating: 81/100
- Greg

Below is one of my favorite songs on the album:

Spring Into Action

Inspired by the gorgeous spring weather, the following is a mix full of springy songs that I put together for you kiddies.

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

What is it about music that we love so much? Will we ever pinpoint exactly the numinous characteristics that are summoned through our body that make it convulse into movements that we would never in our lives have pictured us performing? What triggers our brain to worship a set of silly notes or sing at the highest level our vocal chords allow? What causes our body to perform a function so natural as to the tapping of our foot or the bobbing of our head? We might as well ask ourselves what is God? Does God exist? What is his intention for our lives? Theologians as well as scientists have asked these questions for millennia, but even though our spiritual questions can sometimes go unanswered, our musical inquisition has always been met with more than satisfying answers. Gorillaz may have just discovered music's Ark of the Covenant.

Gorillaz' Plastic Beach is something special; it is the first of its kind this year, boasting a more than impressive, eclectic roster with artists like Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Paul Simon, Bobby Womack, De la Soul, and the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music. Now, I know that's a lot of styles to take in all at once, but you'll be surprised how well everything fits. Plastic Beach acts like a compact hotel, with artists from practically every genre paying visits to one another and jamming out in someone's hotel room, no matter whose there, how late it is, or what song is playing.

Albarn and Hewlett never intended for Plastic Beach to be a Gorillaz album. The duo grew tired of the cartoonish image that was cemented with the name Gorillaz and decided to conduct a new project entitled Carousel, where the pair would be behind the reigns of production of some of their favorite artists all contributing to one album. The result? A cacophony of groove tinged songs that radiate a new direction for Gorillaz.

But by no means should one get the impression that Albarn and Hewlett are taking all the glory for themselves from an album that was originally supposed to never be under the Gorillaz name. Both artists humble themselves throughout Plastic Beach, giving their guests comfortable room for the limelight, just as any good hotel concierge should. One can hear the new form of confidence in Albarn's voice as he pokes his head into various artists' arenas to add a nice personal touch. Albarn and Hewlett are the perfect ringmasters of their circle, knowing when and when not to talk.

Like Gorillaz' two previous albums, Plastic Beach continues to elude a single definition of what we exactly call Gorillaz music. Plastic Beach pushes and reaches out into upbeat directions that were faintly, if not at all, heard on their self-titled debut or Demon Days. The listener never hears a genre repeated, except for the backbone of hip-hop that traditionally carries over from the previous Gorillaz albums. Plastic Beach is a whirlwind of sounds that take you down the rabbit's hole once again but then lights a fire under your ass that makes you wanna get out of your chair and dance.

In regard to songs, the new album possesses more treats than a fat kid at recess. From the album opener of "Orchestral Intro" to the Saturday morning joy of "Superfast Jellyfish," your ears are never bored. "Empire Ants" featuring Little Dragon is an airy dream that satisfies the deepest abyss' of sleep. Lou Reed demands respect--but in a nice way--on one of the best tracks on the album, "Some Kind of Nature." Mos Def and Bobby Womack catch a De Lorean back to the past in "Stylo," a drenched, 80s synth tune that would make Prince wet his pants. Albarn naturally shines on solo tunes like "On Melancholy Hill,"Broken," and "Rhinestone Eyes," reminiscent of another one of his brilliant side projects The Good, The Bad, and The Queen.

Gorillaz are done hiding behind their animated monikers. They don't need them. The pieces have fallen into place on Plastic Beach. I'm not saying this is their best album to date because after all, this is only their third album. It's certainly their most fun and you can tell that from the songs. Any album where you can tell fun and pure enjoyment was shared is sure to have golden results. Just ask the cornucopia of guests; it's no accident that artists of that caliber can randomly come together. Albarn and Hewlett possess a certain musical charm. They have rediscovered a series of artifacts and made them beautiful once again. Next time someone wants to suggest another "We Are the World," call these guys please, not Justin Bieber.

Rating: 87/100

--Mike

Gorillaz--"Stylo" video featuring Bruce Willis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUXzm7uIUaI

Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM

In regards to reviews, Mike and I had planned to only review records that had just come out. For example, we were planning to do a review of an album the day it came out or within a week of when it had come out. However, I have realized that the abundance of work at Rutgers is quite intense and I have often missed records that I was planning on reviewing. If there was one album that I regret not yet doing a review of, it is Charlotte Gainsbourg’s IRM, released in mid January. IRM is mystifying in its textures, thrilling in song composition, lyrically stunning and easily one of the best records of the year.

The name of the record, which some of you have already guessed, is MRI backwards. In French, MRI is translated into IRM. This comes from the fact that Gainsbourg, a French singer/songwriter and actress, suffered a brain hemorrhage following a 2007 water-skiing accident. Gainbourg said, "I had to do so many [MRIs] and every time I was in that tube I was thinking it would make great music.” Well, you know what? She was right. The title track “IRM” creates a competition between the drowning drone of what sounds like a MRI machine and a funk drum groove. It is a perplexing formation of rhythm that works brilliantly.

I almost forgot to mention another reason why this album is fantastic; Beck wrote the music, co-wrote the lyrics, and produced the whole album. Mike has often said that “whatever Jim James touches turns to gold,” which I agree with wholeheartedly as a Jim James fan, but this also could not be truer about Beck. The man is just phenomenal. Beck joins Gainsbourg on the first single, “Heaven Can Wait,” which creates a beautiful song devoted not only to brilliant vocals, but rather this could-not-be-bothered, monotone appeal of Gainsbourgh and Beck’s vocals. It is really quite brilliant when this tone is brought to lyrics like “Heaven can wait and hell's too far to go.”

If you have read my previous post about Shugo Tokumaru’s Exit, you may recall that I explained the notion that I listen to a record for its musicality rather than its lyrics, however with this record I love the lyrics just as much as the musicality. The lyrics on IRM create marvelous imagery with such simple words. For example the first lines of “Me and Jane Doe”, my favorite song on IRM, are: “If I had my way I'd cross the desert to the sea.” The illustration created in your mind is simple, but complexly metaphoric. This combined with Gainsbourg’s languid vocals makes this one of my favorite songs of the year.

I have thought a great deal about MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art, when I have listened to IRM. This is likely because I feel like IRM is the first great “art-pop” album I have heard this year. “Art-pop” seems as a dim-witted way to describe a genre, but it can easily be just explained as belonging to more than just one sound, while still connecting to a rather high sophistication in imagery and basic song structure. There are songs on this record that are more rockin’ or bluesy than others (“Dandelion”), while there are songs that are highly elegant in sound (“Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes” – maybe it is only because French just sounds so seductive), like watching a weird French film. However, on IRM there is an underlying attachment between all the songs. It is hard to describe in words, but there are few albums that I view as great art and not just only great music. IRM is a great piece of art. I can see many people liking this album, but those who will adore IRM for years will be those “artsy” types. 

Rating: 89/100

- Greg

Song of the Day: Richard Swift - "Lady Luck"

Lo-fi indie pop singer/songwriter Richard Swift takes it to the stage with his retro-soul groove, "Lady Luck." With traditional songwriting reminiscent of 1960s R&B love songs, "Lady Luck" rediscovers the attractive element of grainy production and gives it new meaning. A basic and simple soul beat accompanied by Swift's high falsetto make for a mellow rhythm throughout the song. Listening to "Lady Luck" will leave you attempting to sing at the highest volume you possibly can while simultaneously snapping your cigarette filled fingers, "swiftly" swayin' your hips. Give a listen.

 -- Sean

This is the Shit!

Inspired by Matt Stryker's second episode of Stryke Up, entitled "Embarrassing Shit," the following is a quick mix I put together of what I like to call "This is the Shit!"

I plan to do this every other week or possibly just every week. I want them to be themed so that means I need help. If you have any suggestions you want to throw out there, post them as a comment below.  

 - Greg 

Artist to Watch: Best Coast

Phil Spector girl group harmonies

Ringo's drums

Charging, three chord power house of the Ramones

This is the equation that is Best Coast; sunny, washed-over garage pop that has been rung out, worn, re-washed, soiled once again, and finally said, "To hell with it." It's a garage sound that is all too familiar, yet, there is something ironically new and productive with Best Coast's sound. It's like when you're 19 years old and you finally discover your toy box full of action figures and realize that for some odd, pathetic reason, they're still incredibly fascinating as when you were five. Best Coast's lyrics are filled with exclamations, pronunciations, declarations, observations....and every other kind of --ation you can think. The words are more than stinging love letters to boyfriends of the past; they're diary entries from a teenage beach beauty who has had her heart broken for the first time. But she perseveres and looks to the shore towards her fellow beach bum; a tan, glossy, dirty, shirtless board rider who cares for nothing else besides his board and his girl. Best Coast is what the beach bingo movies of the 1960s wish they could have been like--nonchalant, hopeful, tired, and glazed. Gidget better watch her ass.

Best Coast was started in 2009 by former commercial child star Bethany Cosentino when she relocated from her home of California to New York for college. Cosentino eventually met up with Best Coast's future guitarist Bob Bruno and soon began creating demos. However, Cosentino wasn't entirely new to this; as a teen, she began writing and performing music at 15, uploading her earliest tracks to her MySpace under the name Bethany Sherayah. Fortunately for us, she turned down numerous record contracts for the chance to be the next Hannah Montana.

After realizing her unhappiness in the hustle and bustle of New York City, Cosentino dropped out of school and returned to the west coast, or in her opinion, "the best coast." Here, her musical influences further inspired her aim for the future of the band. 2009 proved to be a productive year for Best Coast, sporadically releasing minor glimpses of the band here and there, such as their self-titled 7'' single on indie label Art Fag, Make You Mine Ep, and Something in the Way 7'' single released on label PPM.

Presently, Best Coast has been touring with Vivian Girls and keeping busy on their debut full-length album ready for release sometime this year. In an interview with Pitchfork, Cosentino said:

It's all new, which is exciting but also nerve-wracking because I'm like, "Oh God, are people even going to like this or are they just going to wish it's the stuff they've already heard?" When we walked into the studio, we said: drums are Beatles-esque, guitars are like the Ramones-- really punky, messy, and sloppy-sounding-- and vocals like Phil Spector.

For more news on Best Coast and their upcoming album, Fell in Love with a Drummer will keep you posted on all this and more.

--Mike

The Cellar: Shugo Tokumaru - Exit

In terms of those who don’t study music, which I do not being a drummer, music listeners seem to be filtered into two camps: those who think more highly of the meaning of the lyrics than the sound of the music and those who think more highly of the sound of the music than what the lyrics are saying. I am a listener who cares more about the sound of music than the lyrics, which you can see in my reviews, where I rarely write of lyrics. Multi-instrumentalist and topic of today’s post, Shugo Tokumaru, does not speak English. Being that most people in the United States do not speak Japanese, Tokumaru’s Exit causes one to focus much more on the sound of the music because you can’t understand any of the lyrics. If you are a person like me, who does not care as much for lyrics than the musicality of a record, Exit is the ideal album for you.

I was first introduced to Exit by Metacritic, a site that displays new records and tabulates the average review of the album in a score out of a 100. This site is a godsend to me. According to Metacritic, Exit was one of the most critically acclaimed records of 2008 (the year it came out in the states), however very few music publications actually put the album in their top albums of the year. This I will never understand. I really don’t get it because the album is just unparalleled in musicality. Who cares if he doesn’t sing in English?

The musical risks taken on this album are overwhelming to take in. For example, the start of “Green Rain,” with a melodica playing in 7/8 is unrivaled in its uniqueness. How many songs do know start with a melodica that is being played in 7/8? The first time I put this album on in the car my Dad and I had a brief conversation:

Dad: “What the hell is this?”

Me: “Shugo Tokumaru. Do you like it? You normally say the music I listen to sucks.”

Dad: “I know... cause your music does suck (with a chuckle). But this is good. I really like it. I like it a lot. It’s different.”

This is the same reaction I got from everyone who I told to listen to Exit. It was ...“different.” Tokumaru’s music is highly melodic, catchy, but yet unbelievably complicated when stripped down. “La La Radio” is a great example of this concept. It has stunning melodies, but also has fantastic instrumentation. The bridge of the song, where the sound is building more mystifyingly beautiful by the beat, all of a sudden culminates down to a fast, repeated guitar riff. It is just remarkable the way this man constructs a song.

I find it funny that while I listen to this album, I start to sing as if I know the words, which I obviously do not. That is what a good song does to you. You feel like it is your obligation to sing the song because the melodies are so appealing, but yet you often have not a clue of what you’re singing about. I think this album needs to be heard by everyone… NOW! While writing this, I recall a time when I was singing a song from Exit in the car while with my Dad.

Me: (Butchering the beautiful vocal melody of “Parachute”)

Dad: “Who is that?”

Me: “Shugo Tokumaru.”

Dad: “Good. Let’s keep it that way.”

 

- Greg

The video posted below was just about the only video I could put up on the site of Shugo. The vocals are often tough to hear, but it doesn't matter because you won't understand anyway.

Song of the Day: Ok Go - "This Too Shall Pass"

Ok Go’s most recent release, Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky, was not their best. It wasn’t bad, but it was in no way as well crafted as their self-titled debut or 2005’s Oh No, which brought the world the GREATEST VIDEO EVER! Of course I am talking about “Here It Goes Again” and the ridiculously awesome dance moves on treadmills that set the world on fire. I saw them in November of 2006, at the age of nearly 16, and the average age in the room had to have been thirteen, which made me look like a creep. The smell of Beatlemania was lingering... or maybe that was smell of piss from the girls who peed their pants.

“This Too Shall Pass” has brought the world yet another amazing video. Without a doubt, I think this will be my favorite video of the year. I also just love this song. It is one of the few songs on the mediocre new album that is not Ok Go attempting to be Prince.

- Greg

The Black Keys Announce New Album, Brothers

Grimey garage-blues duo set to release their sixth studio album May 18th

For Black Keys' guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney, this past year was of the hectic, but productive sort; Auerbach released his first solo album to positive reviews, Carney's side project, Drummer, hit the nail on the head with garage pop at its finest, and last but not least, the emergence of BlakRoc, a hip hop collaboration headed and backed by the Keys as well as Mos Def and RZA. But what about the rumors of another Black Keys album? These various side projects left fans squirming for more while building up anticipation through the various side projects mentioned.

The Black Keys have announced their new album entitled Brothers to be released May 18th on Nonesuch Records. Unlike their fifth studio album produced by Danger Mouse, The Black Keys take matters into their own hands once again, reverting back to the old days of self production with albums such as Rubber Factory and The Big Come Up. However, Danger Mouse does make an appearance with the production of "Tighten Up," one of fifteen songs off the new album. As the date gets closer, more information will gradually be added in support of the new album. In the meantime, check out the awesome album cover as well as the tracklist:

Brothers:

01 Everlasting Light
02 Next Girl
03 Tighten Up
04 Howlin' for You
05 She's Long Gone
06 Black Mud
07 The Only One
08 Too Afraid to Love You
09 Ten Cent Pistol
10 Sinister Kid
11 The Go Getter
12 I'm Not the One
13 Unknown Brother
14 Never Gonna Give You Up
15 These Days

--Mike