Priory : Free 2 song download. Check this out.

Delicious.

priory.bandcamp.com

Chuck Klosterman dissects The Beatles.

Chuck Klosterman: pop culture critic and pseudo-musicologist unveils his thoughts on The Beatles eight year career. It's very good. Very good. Grab a coffee or a beer and scoot up your little computer desk chair. Or put your laptop - that white thing with an apple on it - on your lap.

Read RIGHT HERE.  Also, click RIGHT HERE.

L’ Osservatore Romano, the Holy See's official newspaper on the top 10 rock and pop albums of all time

The Vatican is full of surprises. This article dictates that the Holy See's official newspaper, L’ Osservatore Romano, just released a top 10 list of the greatest Rock and Pop albums of all time.


Within its lineup, we see listed such greats as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson, U2 and even the (un)verbose Oasis.


However, I must speculate. The very nature of some of these albums listed are, in my opinion, far outside the boundaries of Christian thought and doctrine. And while I may count myself as something of a liberal when it comes to music, and I may stray into the fringes of music, I cannot help but beg the question: Why?


I must take into account that I do not have a good understanding of the qualifications of this list, or how deep the authority of the Roman Catholic Church actually stretches. Obviously, the newspaper does not have the authority to write or produce encyclicals or papal allocutions. However, I must speculate.


Now, to my speculation.


Has anyone heard (What's the Story) Morning Glory? My gosh. The Gallagher brothers. We all know of their fighting, and we all know of their breakups and makeups. But how about the album itself? Drugs, drugs, drugs.


A bizarre collection. How culturally relevant of the Vatican.


Lastly, the paper's comment of Bob Dylan's omission from the list frustrated me:


"Dylan was excluded from the list despite his 'great poetic vein' because he paved the way for generations of unprofessional singer-songwriters who have 'harshly tested the ears and patience of listeners' with their tormented stories."


That is presuming that he had anything to do with said singer-songwriters' unprofessionalism, or even the content of their writing. Bizarre.

Cold War Kids : Audience Of One

They're back. As posted last month, the Cold War Kids are releasing an E.P. in January. This is the first leak from the coming E.P. and it is good to hear the Kids back in form.
The song is straight ahead soulful. The middle eight is especially good. I think this song more than makes up for their repetitive ramblings of something not being right [with them].

To those of you who are reading this and know what 'an audience of one' implies: good for you. And for those of you who don't, here is a list of comprehensive search engines that might help you figure it out before you decide to leave a smart-ass comment on my blog:

Ask.com

Google

Yahoo

Bing

And here's the track:

Cold War Kids : Audience of One

Owl City : Fireflies . . . Ha Ha

I stumbled across this great review of Owl City's hit single, Fireflies.

Reviewed by Pitchfork, the single received a gracious rating of 1. That's right, less than two and a bit more than nothing (though not much).

To summarize the review, I've selected this passage to highlight the essence of Fireflies:

"Like most 'brought to you by...' attempts to connect with the disaffected, it's delivered in an emasculated, cloying wheeze that serves as a cutesy defense mechanism for a guy who's trying so hard to be sincere, he forgets to say what he actually means"

Read the review in its entirety. It is intensely gratifying. I promise.

November 24

Moby : Wait For Me Deluxe Album/Version/Edition

I got pretty excited over the June 30th release of Moby's album, Wait For Me. However, this deluxe release has me ecstatic.

A three disc release.

The first disc is the entire original album, plus two unreleased bonus tracks.
The second disc is an ambient version of the original album, with new interpretations of each of the 16 tracks, re-recorded and re-interpreted by Moby himself. No funky remix album in sight.
And the third disc is a video DVD including live performances, music videos and of course, what we all know and love, more Little Idiot animated shorts for each of the tracks on Wait For Me.

Korg X3

I used to play one of these.

The Korg X3. I remember this thing having wonderful string and piano sounds. A nice cello patch. While it didn't have much to boast about in the way of knobs and tweaking cutting-edge sounds, its sound banks were huge.

January 19

The Cold War Kids are planning on releasing a 4 song EP entitled, "Behave Yourself," on January 19th. New material is currently being worked on for the upcoming album, following the release of the EP. Also, here's a little promo video they put together for the whole thing. LA bands. *Puh.*

Moby and his drum machines

Moby talks about his gear, shows us his drum machine collection and rants about the nerds in electronic music. This is a submersion into Moby's home studio in New York. This is SO COOL.

If the vid doesn't work, check out the interview HERE.

New Sea Wolf album

Released September 22.

How did I miss this?


Here's a free download (enter your email to acquire) of a bonus track off of the album, entitled Stanislaus. I've listened to it a few times now. It has that bohemian-gypsy-thing going again. It's melodramatic. However, it's tastefully melodramatic. Nonetheless, I am anticipating picking up White Water, White Bloom. It seems Alex Brown Church, lead singer of Sea Wolf, "couldn’t have known beforehand what the next record would sound like, but I did know I wanted it to be bigger, with a band feel, rather than another series of intimate confessionals.”

With this crisp Autumn weather at hand, Sea Wolf seems fitting to be listening to.

Beck's Record Club

Beck is exorcising his creativity in yet another way: a Record Club.

This group, composed of Devendra Banhart, both of the dudes of MGMT, legendary producer Nigel Godrich, actor Giovanni Ribisi, members of Little Joy, Wolfmother, and of course Beck himself, is going through choice classic albums and covering all of the tracks. This formula produces a track once a week. The site states, “There is no intention to ‘add to’ the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording. Only to play music and document what happens.”


So far, The Velvet Underground & Nico has been covered. The project at hand is the misty, clairvoyant, Songs of Leonard Cohen.

Check it out: Beck Record Club

October 20

Julian Casablancas : Phrazes for the Young

If you're not familiar with this name, you may know him better as the moppy-haired lead vocalist for super-group, The Strokes. If you're not familiar with that name, leave my blog. NOW.

Listen to the single HERE.

October 26

U2 : The Unforgettable Fire, REMASTERED

Completely and fully remastered. The Unforgettable Fire is U2's 1984 album; the first album to see collaboration with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. It is the most experimental of U2's albums, leaving pictures, abstractions, poetry, colors, and images in the mind of the listener. No waving of white flags here. Just, simple, beauty. The album also boasts the climbing number, "Bad," my favorite of U2's songs.

Oh October 26, come quickly.

"Dylan-kick"

You may be asking yourself what a "Dylan-kick" is. This would be especially true if you've read my latest blog entry, posted earlier this evening.



A Dylan-kick is when you start listening to the music of Bob Dylan, incessantly and without end. It's when you're at work, and you just can't get "Positively 4th Street" out of your head. It's when singing Bob Dylan songs becomes the most delightful thing you could possibly do with your time. It's when you find yourself dwelling upon the depth of Dylan's early work, considering its (more than) possibly, politically-charged themes. It's when you think about how cool it would have been to have liked Dylan when he went electric, even though everyone around you would have thought it was shite. (or shit, if you saw him in America) It's when you purchase two albums of his in less than a week. It's when you randomly ask the nice people at the record shop why there is a small box of Bob Dylan posters lying on the ground behind the counter, and they give you one for free because you bought a Bob Dylan record.



It's when you can't get enough of Bob Dylan. It's when you watch I'm Not There, and consider that perhaps Cate Blanchett plays Bob Dylan better than Bob Dylan plays Bob Dylan. It's when you start realizing you really, REALLY want to get your hands on Martin Scorsese's biopic of Dylan, No Direction Home. It's when you decide your wife rules, because two of the Dylan DVDs you do own, she bought for you, even though she can't stand him and his music. It's when you open your closet and consider putting on all black and wearing sunglasses indoors.

How does it feel? So good.

October 13

As a continuation of my Dylan-kick,

"This film traces the early career of Bob Dylan in a manner no other has ever attempted telling his tale from his birth in Duluth, Minnesota; through school and college; across his years as New York’s bright young star, through to his electric phase, culminating with the controversial 1966 world tour. Featuring interviews with a host of friends, colleagues and associates from that era, and numerous others, rare and often previously unseen footage, daring and outspoken contributions from the very finest Dylan writers [such as Derek Barker, CP Lee and Clinton Heylin] and a host of other features, this film is among the finest Bob Dylan documentaries yet to emerge."

Ooooohhh yes.

Proceeds from Modest Mouse's "King Rat" going to non-profit marine life organization

I am apparently, severly misinformed. The musical chronology of Modest Mouse is far less expansive than I was under the impression of. I am of course referring to their albums, not every thing else. They have under their belts five official studio albums (LPs), as well as six EPs.

However, though their collection of released albums is shorter than I was aware of, their strew of songs is longer than ever.

On a serious note, this video, entitled, "King Rat," is taken from the newly released EP, No One's First, and You're Next. It was directed by Heath Ledger, and was completed after his death by The Masses, an ambitious film and music company he was a partner in. Ledger's intent for making this video was to bring an "impassioned stance against the illegal commercial whale hunts taking place off the coast of Australia each year."

Proceeds from the video when purchased on iTunes go to the non-profit, marine life organization Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Be sure to check out their stance on wildlife conservation, as well as the many ways each of us can be involved in aiding this organization.

You can download the video HERE for a humble price.

Crocodiles sound like a girl group from the 60's

So I'm listening to this song called "I Wanna Kill," by this band called Crocodiles. They're rad. They have an old 60's quality to their guitar styling. As I'm enjoying every moment of being immersed in their sonic tapestry, my wife yells at me from the couch, "Hey! This has the same guitar part as the song "And Then He Kissed Me!"

I quickly googled this claim. My wife was right. The Crystals performed the song, which included said guitar part. And it is the same lick! I'm not surprised that she was correct. My wife is very intellgent, and has a great memory. I am just extremely surprised she plucked that obscure little detail right off the top of her head.

In the Arts Beat section of The New York Times, under the heading, SXSW: Four Word Reviews, Wednesday Afternoon, Crocodiles are described as:

Stylish wall of throb.

This is a perfect description. Listen to these guys.

Radiohead and Third Day set to release collaborative effort

I am just kidding.

I stumbled across this article, comparing christian act Third Day's newest album, to the artwork of Radiohead's 2003 release, Hail to the Thief.


Radiohead : Hail to the Thief





Third Day : Revelation



Since we all know what Radiohead was communicating through their title Hail to the Thief*, what was the source of "revelation" that took the name for Third Day's newest creation? Was it implicit of anything specifically? One would think it must be, to possess such a title as REVELATION. In fact, I would only assume the best from my fellow Christian brothers, whose insight into the salvation of humanity puts them ahead of the game of life. In fact, if I had a chance to talk with the men from Third Day, I would encourage them to look for truth in all places, and claim all truth as God's. Look to culture, look to other musicians, look to what's going on in the world; mimic that which inspires you. But come on guys, don't copy what someone else has already done.

You can read the full article HERE.

*Though Thom has stated that the album's content was heavily influenced by current events, he denies it having strictly political intent. However, the artwork of the album has been called a "roadmap," a reference by Radiohead to the Bush Administration's 2003 plan for peace in the Middle East.

Tracyanne's Idaho

I just stumbled across this blog post from lead singer of Camera Obscura, Tracyanne Campbell. I found her meandering thoughts to be quite entertaining, especially at the mention of our very own Idaho.
Also, I am delighted with the realization that Camera Obscura have made their way so far west in this tour of the United States. I have heard of some bands hitting up California alone (which is a mistake) and skipping the much more interesting entirety of the West Coast. NEXT TIME, eh Louis?

Here is the post:

This reminds me; I still don't have their new album.

September 1

David Bazan : Curse Your Branches