Untouchable

I am finally back to the reviewing game, and hopefully I can finish it off. I think my temporary stall came from the fact that these next few albums are serious business. Not to be taken on a whim or last minute. Anyway, I am back and ready to go on the top 10 albums.

But first I have to repost this video I got from Dooce. I love it too watch it over and over again. I think I am just obsessed with HD slow mo, but watch this whole video, its great the whole way through, and I really like the song. I would totally think this was the most awesome thing in the universe at age 10. In the age of discovery channel and animal planet, it can be easy to forget that the human being is the most graceful animal on the planet, hands down.



NUMBER 10: Radiohead "In Rainbows"- There are few absolutes in my music world. U2 is the best live band ever. Metal will never die. Hip Hop has the most terrible artists in all of the genre's of music. Country is boring unless you are in a truck or working outside. Rock music always sounds better when you are driving. Headphone listiens are mandatory to get a full acoustic experience. Led Zeppelin was better than the Beatles. Finally, Radiohead is the most under and over appreciated band in the last 20 years of music.

If you are a fan of indie music, then Radiohead is your Beatles. They created what is considered by most to be THE album of the 90's in 1998 with "OK Computer" (I liked "The Bends" just as much) and created a following of epic proportions while barely creating a blip on the landscape of pop music. Most people know the name Radiohead, but could not name a single song off the album. This only strengthened their fan base behind the camara shy band, who they themselves appeared to be happy in having the most talented band in the world all to themselves.

They still fly under the radar to this day, even though they created quite a stir in the industry by initially offering a lower quality version of the album for free off of the internet, and once again do not have a song on the top 40 charts even though their album is. And this is why they are over appreciated and under appreciated. They have some songs that are legends in the history of rock and roll and no one knows them. However, because they have a legend that is not widely recognized, they get away with duds that people refuse to criticize unless you also appreciate all the greatness that is Radiohead. They almost hold us all hostage with their talent because they are so good, that when their stuff doesn't sound pleasing to you, you question whether you really know music instead of just saying the song isn't good.

"In Rainbows" is a fine album, albeit a little short at only 10 tracks. The music world seems to be happy that Radiohead settled back down into a more Radiohead style rather than the experimental phases they went through on the past 2 albums. The tracks are all good and its always easy to slip into Thom's world of depression and longing. Clean quick soft electro drum taps, extended guitar strums, and light background howls of voice mark the return to Radiohead of old. Faust Arp and Reckoner are not terribly impressive for me, but then there's Bodysnatchers, All I Need, Jigsaw Falling into Place, and Weird Fishes to make up for those songs.

No one can quite spin a lyrical tale like Thom Yorke with his mix of fantacisim and aggression, he is the face of the band with his very common voice stretched into a beautiful voice of the ignored and misunderstood. "I'm in the middle of your picture, lying in the reeds" "Has the light gone out for you, cause the lights gone out for me, its the 21st century". His presence live and on video is always something that adds more to the great sound of Radiohead's music.

This album isn't The Bends or OK Computer, but its very good and its much more 1st listen enjoyable than the previous albums. Welcome back Radiohead or maybe goodbye.....I don't really know anymore who they are cause they keep changing except for the fact that they are probably the most influential band of the past 15 years. If you don't own OK Computer, you might as well not own any music.

Song Samples: Jigsaw Falling into Place, Bodysnatchers, All I Need
Amazon Page
Radiohead Website

PoVegas in the Movies

There has been a lot of hub-bub about a new movie coming out soon based on a serial killer in the area that I reside over as mayor. I have had to field plenty of questions from non-locals as to the truthfulness of said movie, and I can officially say that the only similarity this movie has with Poughkeepsie is that we did have a serial killer in our midst. He did not tape his murders, he didn't torture his victims, it did not take place in 2001, and it did not take place on the corner of Dutchess Ave and North Water St. There appears to be some outside shots of his house, but thats about it.

But people in this area are scarier than your average psycho's, so back off or else some seriously bad stuff can happen to you. We don't carry sticks of re-bar in our car for decoration. However, it appears that this movie is more a mix of the tendencies of different real serial killers across the country and blended into one and uses Poughkeepsie as the title.

Newest Trailer:

I'm a turd

I am going to get back to the reviews soon I swear. I know you don't really care cause I have gotten zero feedback on it, but it is a quest and I will finish.....eventually.

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Story time!

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So I am off to the movies last night with my much heralded "free movie pass" that I got after months of use on my Regal Cinemas Card. Which is free to sign up for, but you need to pay for like 3000 movies before you get a free movie pass. Anyways, I was excited to go see Cloverfield after the good job they did hyping the mysterious monster.

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I was told that there would "no monster for you!, NEXT!" because for some reason, you could not use a free movie pass on Cloverfield. Of course, I wanted to get into this issue further with the ticket girl, but with a line of peeps behind me that was 20 deep, I refuse to be the guy that hold up a line for a complaint that won't get changed anyway. So I then quickly picked Juno, because that was the next best movie I would be willing to see. I was on my way to the designated Juno theatre when all of a sudden it dawned on me that I didn't have to see Juno if I didn't want to, I could just walk in to Cloverfield and no one would know! Way to go Einstein!

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I was actually upset with myself for being such a consumer drone to let "The Man" stick it to me like that. What happened to my rebellious youth!? I used to I didn't even give anything other than Juno a second thought!

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Anyway, I prevailed, and for the entire previews, I was actually nervous an usher was going to come in and ask to see my ticket. It was weird. I had no reason to feel guilty or in the wrong. I paid for the movie (with my hard earned coupon, but non-the-less paid) and I was old enough for the PG-13 rating, so there was no reason for them to deny me seeing this movie.

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Unfourtunatly, God must have had some problem with me doing what I did, for he smited me. He smited me with a movie in which the creative team decided it would be a good idea to shoot in entirety from the point of view of a character with a hand-held camcorder. I broke out into a cold sweat and started to feel extremely nauseus at the one hour mark. I had to leave before I tossed my chicken all over the theatre.

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Thankfully, I am not the only one God chose to smite because apparently a bunch of people have felt the same effects. I bet they used their coupon on Juno too.

courtesy post

This is just a courtesy post to inform you that I will not be writing my Number 10 album review today. I am too sore and exhausted to effectively write words or listen to music. This probably also explains my 2.9 GPA in college.

How about that Heath Ledger death huh? That one came outta nowhere. Can we make a trade with God and send him Jake Gylenhall instead and get back Heath? No? okay, just asking.....

Does anyone get upset when the UPS man comes? I think everyone in the world loves when the brown truck pulls into your driveway. I honestly can't think of anything in which you would not be totally psyched to see him. I will also tell you that the name of my UPS man is David Drop. Seriously. The only way that could be more ironic is if his name was Tom Smash.

No stampede's allowed

Before we get going on the number 11 artist, we need to discuss what I did over new years. I went down to philly to hang out with a questionable member of civilized society, mr. Andrew Grzybowski. We did sushi (more or less yuck for my texture loving palate), and then pretty much hung around philly for a very tame evening. In the morning there was fun to be had with a hearty breakfast of the biggest french toast andrew has ever seen, and off to the Mummers Day parade. Composed of "comedians" "fancies" and "string bands", the Mummers Day parade is essentially a mix of drunkenness and art. So it's very appropriate for the statue laden philly working class scene. There, we were accosted by a lawyer who was quite proud of his photography skills, and even invited our group up to see his pictures while we got warm. I think he may have been hoping to get andrew alone in a dark corner of the building to "read him his rights", but that's beside the point. He took good pictures of our group and of the parade and vowed to send them to us if we wanted. Stating he was going to stay till the end of the parade to catch the fancies and strings. Of course considering the blogging implications of such a technological opportunity, I grabbed his card. That way, andrew wouldn't have to show how giddy he was to phone call the lawyer, to discuss photo's over candlelight and fondue.
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Anyway, he wasn't overbearing, but I felt like we had accommodated him by listening to his stories of grandeur involving his photographic prowess and his stories of parades gone by. So I emailed him, anxious to get a mixture of pics of our group and hopefully of the latter half of the parade (the best part), since we couldn't stay any longer, and I would have quite a nice New Years Eve blog to hang my hat on.
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True to his word, and after 2 weeks of anticipation, the lawyer sent the photos..........The are (A)none of us, (B)none of the latter half of the parade, and (C)the ones he did take.....sucked.
So thanks for nothing you rat fink son of biscuit eating bulldog!
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NUMBER 11: Band of Horses "Cease to Begin"- I am not sure where I picked up Band of Horses. During their initial release of the "Everything All the Time" I heard good things from iTunes and the indie music web scene. Intrigued, I iquired with my right hand music man, A.Grzylle who told me he liked them so far, but hadn't gotten super high on them yet. I twisted his arm to send it to me, which he did.
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I liked the "Everything All the Time" album a lot. It definitly grew on me during a time when I wasn't downloading too many things and work was crazy. Comfortable indie music. So I picked up "Cease to Begin" right when it came out and it didn't dissappoint. A strong album from start to finish, it still has the signature Band of Horses sound, but mostly without the enormous swells that occured on their first album. "Is there a Ghost" and "Islands on the Coast"is the only one that has that BIG sound to it.
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The fact is, these guys don't blow you away. Their albums are more of a jam session variety. They are fashioned after the slow down in the Seattle music scene and split up to create this album between the Pacific Northwest and South Carolina. You can almost sense a little more country on this album then the previous. Country guitars drawls and slight background banjo. This album is more introspective album than the first, focusing on elements like loss of sleep, yearning for small town security, nervousness about small town gossip, and questions about the innerworkings of fate.
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The biggest thing holding Band of Horses back is that their sounds sound like a mix of other bands. Unfourtunatly, they kind of blend in with the less talented crowd even though they are the real deal. They use the echo microphone and it sounds like My Morning Jacket. Some of their melodies sound like the Flaming Lips. And for some reason, I think the way they compose sounds a lot like Rogue Wave, but I am usually wrong in this department. Somehow, I get the feeling that this often duplicated coastal echoey indie sound is like 80's hair metal in that they all kind of sound the same, but great in their own way. Anyway, you are sure to like this album if you like any of those bands I just mentioned. There is something both unimpressive and impressive about Band of Horses. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but I like this album a great deal because they make it work and stay consistently creative within their medium. Plus, now they all have sick lumberjack beards!
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Song Samples: Is there a Ghost?, No Ones Gonna Love You
Amazon Page
Myspace Page

Yes Virginia, Eli is in the Super Bowl

I still can't believe that the Giants are going to the super bowl. I was confident that they were going to beat Tampa Bay, I was textbook hopeful about their chances against Dallas (you look on paper, see that if everything works out right, they could win) but thought that they were 50-50 at best. When it came to "A Disney Story: Brett Favre and the Packers" however, I was almost sure that they could not overcome all that was stacked against them. So I planned on cheering the good plays, getting somewhat upset over the mistakes, shaking my head in respect once Green Bay made the right plays to win. Then saying, "well that was a good season" and moving onto to baseball season. But then Brett Favre started throwing interceptions, which only come in bunches for him, and I got my hopes up till I saw Tynes, 2/4 on the day lining up for his longest field goal of the night. I had zero hope in him making that kick. So when he did bang it home, I was shocked. I didn't even cheer, I just sat saying "huh, how about that?" over and over. I still can't believe they are going, but the NY Post says they are, so Lets go Big Blue! To keep from jinxing them, I will say that the Pats are going to kill the Giants in the super bowl.

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It's Martin Luther King day today. The bank is closed, the post office is closed, town and city hall are closed, the colleges are closed, and the public schools are closed. My office is open and apparently, so is every telemarketer in the United States. In the spirit of Martin Luther King I have been staging a protest in a passive non-violent way and gently placing the handset down in the cradle without criticizing, belittling, or chastising the person on the other end of the phone.

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We are getting down to the nitty gritty here on our albums list. From this point on, it's increasingly hard to decide which album goes where because I like them all so much. They can probably all switch up or down one place and I would be okay with it, except for the much anticipated #1. That said, I stand strongly behind all of these albums as being enjoyable to anyone reading this blog with a modern and cultured brain in their head (i.e. people who don't listien to the hip hop station on the radio or watch MTV except for the Rob and Big show which is awesome)

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NUMBER 12: Spoon "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" - Another band that is based out of Austin, Texas. Spoon has actually been around since 1993 working on their signature sound. It was only recently that they've found themselves a large following. I got on the Spoon train with the album "Gimme Fiction" which was the album they released in 2005 after those satin worshipers at Apple who eat all my money with their damn "Just for You!" feature, recommended it based on my past purchases. They aren't always right, but Spoon was right up my alley.
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Now heard nationwide in a variety of commercials, movie soundtracks, and coffee houses; Spoon's signature sound is a modern theme for todays Gap shopper. All part of corperate America distancing itself from high cost pop stars in their advertising. However, much like Feist, there is more to Spoon than simple hooks. In fact, most times you wouldn't know you are even listening to a Spoon song if you haden't listened to thier music before, because Spoon's song aren't snappy in short 30 second spurts. They grow and grow due to their excellent studio work. Spoon, like many indie artists, are a band that grows on you more and more.

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I read that Spoon's sound is best decribed as Gentlemen's rock, and I think that is a very accurate description. Nothing is over-stressed, nothing too loud, just good music that flows with precision. Each strum is perfect and their is a bounce beat with the short stokes on both the drums, guitar, and piano that extend longer then back to short again. There's a lot of rythem to their work that makes your head bounce a little when you listen to it. The foundation of the songs repeat the sound then they break that rythem into a longer more extensive version of the same sound. It's so simple, but its the little tiny details that are added that make the songs so good. There are not many, but they are perfect when mixed with the vocal stylings of Britt Daniel. Echoy background voices are one of the signature extras that Spoon adds, which work sometimes concurrently and sometimes opposite of his sharp precise singing methods.

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Although the sound is very modern upper middle class. The lyrics are usually vague indie ideas about women, being an underdog, and social struggles. "Thugs and sticks and bats and balls for nuclear dicks with dialect drawls. They come from a parking lot town where nothing lives in the sun"

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If you like this album, then you will also love the "Gimme Fiction" album. They sound similar and yet different, but both are strong spoon albums. Spoon is unmistakeable and truly an original sound. Once a Spoon fan, always a Spoon fan. My personal favorite songs on this album are "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb", "The Underdog", and "Finer Feelings" which has a Beastie Boys sounding segment in the beginning.

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Song Samples: The Underdog, the Ghost of You Lingers, you got yr cherry bomb

Amazon Page

MySpace Page

I'm not gay, I swear, you can ask all the girls I've dated that hate me.....

........but it's strange even to me that I want a Sven in 2008, not a smart phone. Stupid of AT&T to show me both options, knowing that Sven is way cooler than a stupid phone.



Album reviews continue tomorrow.

It's gonna get weird in here......

I am feeling a little sick today. Stuffy head and nose annoy me. Short sentences occur in this condition. Due to the rythem of my breathing. I will stop doing that, however.
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I wonder if the hour of 10pm is ever going to pass without me wanting to have junk food? I rarely act on it, usually only once every 2 months or so, but 10pm is when my dinner wears off and I am still awake, watching TV and definitly hungry. Ice cream, cookies, candy, you name it, but its gotta be sweet. This happens every....single.....night. Did I say every night? Cause I mean, every night
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NUMBER 13: Of Montreal "Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer?" - I am not sure if starting a band name with a preposition is allowed by my 5th grade teacher, but "Of Montreal" has never been a band that follows rules. Like when you name your band after a city, that usually means you are from it, but Of Montreal is actually based out of Athens, Georgia.
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Kevin Barnes is the lead creator of what can only be described by me as psychadelic electronic indie cartoon rock band. Their style is jarring, and all over the map of styles mixed in a sharp blend that bounces from sound to sound. In person, he looks like he sounds, delicate face tatoos made with makeup, a mix of mens and womens clothes, and funky hair create some sort of extra-terrestrial cartoon man.

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When I orginally read the review to this album, it said that Kevin Barnes had gone through a breakup with his current girlfriend before writing this album. I immediately begin to think of my pleasant memories of Beck's Sea Change album. I was startled out of that impression immediately by a mix of crazy sounds. Upset at first, this album sat on my shelf for about 2 months till I read that Pitchfork had put it in its top 20 albums of the year. I felt rededicated to give it another try. I quickly quietly respected the album as an elegant mix of sounds that I wouldn't understand, and stuck it at number 20. But the more times I listened to it, the more it grew on me, as these complex albums usually do. Every day that passed, it moved up. There is another album that I picked up just before making the list that I didn't even plan on putting on the list, but has stormed it's way to the top 10. I dislike the middle song "The Past is a Grotesque Animal", which is long and repetitive electonica that usually irks me, but there are all good songs stacked around it, with crazy crazy titles....of course.
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Thanks to Pans Labrynth, I knew that a Fauna was in no relation to a baby dear, but to a mythical creature that is responsible for all forest spirits. I would not want to meet a hissing one, thats for sure. So I love the name of this album for one thing. The word "destroyer" is also one of my top 10 favorite words. Not sure what the other 9 would be, but destroyer would definitly be in there.
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The lyrics laid down on this album are fantastic crazy stammerings. Things like "physics makes us all it's bitches" and "Chemicals, don't strangle my pen. Chemicals don't make me sick again. I'm always so dubious of your intent" along with many other gems that reveal themselves the more you listen. It's the lyrics which convey the dark thoughts of the depressed state that Kevin Barnes is in, not the music. However, this is a statement album in the life of Of Montreal. Definitly the best album of their career, and probably their life. Using all kinds of crazy samples and moving all over the vocal range like a slightly more unraveled David Bowie. This album eventually charms you into a smile. The songs get stuck in my head for hours at a time. They are almost the perfect mix of silly and sad and interesting. And I want nothing to do with knowing what kind of bill a psychiatrist would charge to fix whatever wires are wrong in Barnes' head, but I don't think he wants them fixed and neither does anyone else.

Samples: heimdalsgate like a promethian curse, gronlandic edit
Amazon Page
MySpace Page

Her moon, Her man.

NUMBER 14: Feist "The Reminder" Usually a full blown advertising campaign is bad for an artists whose songs are featured in conjunction with a product. Especially when you are dealing with a mega-company who has the money and desire to put their name everywhere like Apple Computers. Bad for everyone but an artist as talented as Feist.
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Achieving notoriety as one of the founding members of the juggernaut Broken Social Scene and with a mildy succesfull previous album of half covers/half original songs called "Let it Die", Feist commanded at least a sample listen on her latest 2007 album. Fully written by her this time around, Feist opened up a Joni Mitchell-esque heart felt powerhouse album. It also doesn't hurt that her voice is as good as anyone's out there too. Norah Jones and Alicia Keys wish they had her musical chops.
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The best I can describe it is a jazzy-folk album that heavily features her voice and what I think must be a marraca or brush stick on a cymbal on nearly every track. Why this hiss-shake noise works so well in conjunction with her voice, I don't know. There is also plenty of simplistic acuoustic guitar melodies and piano that provide a solid path for Feist to flit and fly her voice over, along with a hearty dose of soft clapping rythems. The marraca and clapping makes this perfect travelling music as these noises sound kind of like a train that happily chugs through country side. There is also surprising brass jazz thrown in that gives a happy sense of life. I always picture a smiling louis armstrong on the hit "1-2-3-4"
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Unlike the Voxtrot album that sits at number 15 that I wish I had put at number 19, I think I wish I had put this album a little closer to number 1 and definitly ahead of the next album I am going to talk about. With its mix of happy songs, sad songs, and break the mold songs, this album is good the whole way through and is diverse in its sound. I could probably be easily talked into a top 5 for it as a matter of fact . But then again, if I put this years Joni Mitchell up too high on my personal list, people will start to ask what I do with my spare time when no one is looking. So....my manliness puts it at number 14. But for all the girls out there with an appreciation for real music, this album could be one of the best albums you have ever bought.
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Unfourtunatly, you always feel a sense of betrayel when an album gets discovered by the public when you are in on the ground floor. Those Apple and Verizon bastards. But in fairness to Feist, her music is not the type to be exposed for its sugar-pop that soon goes sour after a lot of listens. This is a hearty album full of great songs that are diverse and feel fresh with each listien. Lyrics that are insightful into Feist's journey's as a travelling artist and the love and issues involved with always being on the move and the lessons she has learned. "My Moon, My Man" is a song about how the man in the moon is the only man she can seem to keep. A very depressing song that seems so personal to you when you hear it.
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"Take it slow. Take it easy on me. And shed some light, shed some light on me. please. Take it slow, and shed some light. Shed some light on me, please"

Samples: My Moon, My Man, I feel it all, 1-2-3-4,
Amazon Page
MySpace Page

Wimbledon Arm

I have never played a serious game of tennis before. I have tried, but the fact that there are in/out lines that I have to direct the ball around makes my head explode. However, despite my lack of experience, I managed to succomb to pretty serious case of tennis elbow. It started out as, "my arm hurts, ow" to "MY ARM HURTS........RIGHT.......HERE OWWWWW!" So after a month of saying that, I decided to investigate the issue using the fabulous interweb.
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As soon as I saw the picture, I knew I nailed the diagnosis, cause the pain is right where it shows. If I close my eyes I can see the tendons being frayed and torn like that. And kind of red and aggravated too. The only difference that picture and my actual is that my muscle are 5x bigger than the ones in the picture. Oh.....and I have skin too. Sexy, chocolatey skin
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Apparently, its a pretty serious thing according to the interweb, but knowing a few tennis players in my day, I am convinced that its not. I think that aristocratic tennis players need something to whine about when they miss a shot. So it's lots of ice, advil, and a freddie kruegar colored arm sleeve to keep it warm while I work out.
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NUMBER 15: Voxtrot - Pitchfork would roll over in its cyber-grave if they saw me put this album ahead of both Burial and Panda Bear, but I am doing it. I am a little tentative myself about it, now that I really think about it. This is kind of a puff-pop type album and is slightly disappointing considering the quality of their EP's, and it is not soaked with musical genius. However, this got slightly kicked around considering they didn't live up to thier own hype, and it also has a lot more for real people to identify with, in that you are not left deciphering every pop hiss and layer. It is enjoyable to listien to and has an easy british indie sound to it. They remind me of a faster moving Travis.
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Straight outta of the former Beamer habitat of Austin, Texas; Voxtrot released some fantastic EP's all over the internet and scoured the stage and YouTube to get thier name out, which got them the money to do this full length album. Faced with the challenge of over 12 songs, some of them are a little weak, but certain songs shine with an eased down and crystal clear punk sound. Quick snare and cymbal taps, rolling violins and guitar riffs, and light on the bass drum and guitar make this album feel energetic. Combined with the snappy angsty lyrics that drive lines like "I had to lose my idols to find my voice" and "dead weight alright, I know your no good for me" the first half of this album shows plenty of potential, but it loses inspiration after the Every Day track, which sounds very similar to the Kid Gloves track. There's a nice slow track in "Real live version" where lead singer Ramesh Srivastava slows himself down to sing a meloncholoy jam.
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If I could do this list over again, I would probably put this album at number 19, but its here for now. Out of the 15-20 list, this is probably the album that will appeal to the most people cause it's comfy and doesn't throw too many indie snob sounds at you. So if you need an album from this list to hang your hat on and play with your friends in the car and not get weird looks and questions about your sexuality, then this one is it. Their EP's are definitly worth a listien if you like Voxtrot's sound

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Samples: steven, firecracker,
amazon page
myspace page

Endangered Asian Animals

I don't have much to talk about today, so lets cut right to the punch shall we?

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NUMBER 16: Panda Bear "Person Pitch" Noah Lennox is the drummer of Animal Collective (get it? he calls himself panda bear and plays in a band with other animal named artists) and the sole artist behind this critical success. Named the number one album by many artist and critics, especially the omnipotent Pitch Fork, Panda Bear can rest on his laurels and eat bamboo for a little while without being disturbed.

Is this album a peice of mastery? Probably. You don't get wide spread acclaim like this without doing something right, but it loses the feeble minded S.Vincent from time to time. The harmonies are fantastic and the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" inspiration is never a bad idea. But the repitition is what kills me on some of this 7 song album. The critics love this about "Person Pitch", and they probably are very experienced as to why this is fantastic, but it drives me nuts. The songs "comfy in nautica" "Bros" and "take pills" are all great tracks to start off the album. Noah sounds a lot like Brian Wilson, and the train noises at the beginning of "comfy in nautica" have to be a tribute to the inspiration behind this album. But "I'm not" annoys me with its rolling arabian style whines over and over and over again and the Good girl section of "Good girl/carrots" is the same repetitive african drums trance over and over again. Noah rounds it off with 2 great efforts in "search for delicious" and "pony tail", but that hole in the middle makes the album almost unlistienable straight through for me. When this album is good, it's good. Smooth electronic transitions of sound mixed with noah's enhanced beach voice make it you feel as though you are wandering through a sea of both water and sunshine. Maybe on a empty board walk, bare foot, or plunging into a pleasantly cool pool. Not so much fun and surfing as the beach boys are, but reflective on your time spent vacationing in stress free rest. It's definitly a headphones type album, if only to absorb all the intricate sounds, but also because you will likely be distracted from it if you can't only hear the music. It's a meditation type album and requires your sole attention.

I feel like I need to have reasons to bash this album because I am putting it so low on my list despite the wide spread acclaim, but honestly this a great album with songs that annoy, what appears to be, me only. So if you consider yourself a music snob, I suggest giving this album, out of all the albums on my list, a hearty listien. The Panda Bear has earned it.

Samples: bros, take pills (both videos are bad, close your eyes)

Amazon link

Astro.....but not the turf

I don't know much about astrology or astronomy for that matter, but its the best title I can come up with regarding the album that is going to sit at number 17 on the list. But before we get there........

A trip to NYC this weekend. Promises of blood and luxurious workout facilities are like the crack to my ____________ .(insert your favorite drug abusing celebrity, perhaps Steven Baldwin?)

"There will be Blood" was not showing in any local theatres yet, and I could just feel that this is movie that I will love and was getting very anxious at all the days going by without me seeing it. That said, it was all I thought it would be. Great story of obsession, loneliness, and greed and the psychosis that comes from it. Daniel Day Lewis lays the smack down and definitly has oscar written all over him, but he's always been great and recieved nothing for it....so i wouldn't be surprised if he again finds himself on the outside looking in. I think Hollywood doesn't like him cause he doesn't have veneer quality teeth.

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I also got to workout in a facility that didn't smell like sewage and wasn't so packed that I could actually move 5 feet without running into a douche. Although there was an unprecidented act of douchery that I had not seen before. A guy reading the newspaper as he was doing weight exercises. He would put the paper down on the floor and read as he lifted. Despite this act of d-baggery, I wish I could train there all the time though, but at 6 times the rate for what I am paying at a gym now, I am quite sure that I couldn't afford it.

NUMBER 17: Stars "In Our Bedroom After the War" The album that follows a critical success like "Set Yourself on Fire" is always going to be a tough sell. It also doesn't help when your lead singer gets in a fight with one of the most successful online music review pages and calls them responsible for the death of art.

From Canada, to NYC, then back to Canada; Stars is made up of 2 members of the Canadian Indie superpower Broken Social Scene (Torquill Campbell and Amy Millan) and a keyboardist named Chris Seligman.

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Their sound is very similar to Broken Social Scene without the dense and thick instumentation that is BSS's signature. Stars uses more vocals and capitalizes on the focused vocal abilities of Millan and Campbell Their voices which are great, are the highlight of the albums much more so than BSS does on their albums. Torquill definitly sings like a wannabe crooner of indie emotion. Maybe thats where the animosity comes towards him and why he is so defensive of his work. He tries too hard.

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This album is not as musically creative as Set Yourself on Fire was, but it's lyrics cry with more passion than the previous. They are probably running out of musical inspiration after a years cranking out creativity across both BSS and Stars, but their ability to create great lyrics and sing them well and more importantly match them well with the music is what makes this album a triumph for Stars. This 8 out of 10 album and it does not dissappoint the Stars' fans, but it's tracks are similar in style to Set Yourself on Fire, and if you were looking for some sort of break the mold album, this was not it. In Our Bedrooms is simply a continuation of the format of Set Yourself on fire with a little more lyracissim and a little less ground breaking harmonies.

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Well, this review sucks and I can't really come up with great things to say about this album, probably cause its simply just a good album and theres not much else to say. The music is sweeping and rolling pianos,violins, and vocals and the lyrics are good. So....number 17 everybody, woo hoo.

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Samples: The night starts here

Amazon Page:

Anonymous U.K. electronica

As I was brushing my teeth this morning, I began to think that toothpaste may be the most over marketed item in personal hygiene. Gotta give to those marketing guru's for coming up with some great idea's on how to take soap for your teeth and create all kinds of ways to encourage buying it with new vigor. Toothpaste is still the same as it was a hundred years ago. I think it used to be just a powder, so now they add a little water and mint flavor and stick it in a tube for you. But you wouldn't know that due to marketing genius' at Colgate, Crest, Aquafresh, etc.... If you believe what they say, toothpaste is as sophisticated as a BMW 5-series instead of basically edible/pleasant tasting soap

Now Toothpaste "whitens!" oh really? Cause usually when I clean something I don't expect it to be the color it started out as. "Tarter Control" fantastic! I am glad that the extra tough dirt on my teeth will be cleaned off too. "Fresh Burst!" Great! the product that looks and tastes like mint, actually smells like mint too! Thank you so much! "Plaque Formula" Get out of here! you mean that using this actually gets rid of the old stuck on dirt as well?

Back to the reviews......



NUMBER 18: Burial "Untrue"-- It figures that the day I have to write about this album is the day when it is lightly raining, dark, cloudy and 35 degrees. It must be fate that it belongs here. Burial is an electronic artist that chooses to remain anonymous in the U.K. Very mysterious, Dr. Watson if I do say so. Mystery aside, this is Burial's second smash album and he is finding his anonymity harder to keep, but still keeps up. His first self titled album was just as much of a success as this one using his electronic styling of "UK two step".

I am new to the electronic music. I always considered most of it to be the awful techno that I see "feminine cleaning product" type individuals dancing to with lots of gel and oil and pedophilia. However, since getting more involved in music, electronic might be the ultimate music format with its no rules style. Unfortunately, when I read reviews on electronic music, most of its description requires a knowledge with the vocabulary as to how its produced by the artist. I know nothing outside of guitars, drums, and keyboards, so electronic vocab is like an alien language to me, but I am quickly falling for it thanks to the likes of Daft Punk, Goldfrapp, LCD Soundsystem, and now Burial.

Now let me see, what can I tell you about this album? I love the album artwork and it's soft and understated sounds. The music makes you feel as though you are watching a movie about a lonely man wandering in a tunnel or dark abandoned building. There's lots of noises that sound like rain or wetness and most of the beats sound like soft footbeats of boots on metal or hard granite. There's also what sounds to me like bullet shell casings on concrete and clinking chains. The vocals are far off voices which describe despair and need. Like a narration of the lonely mans thoughts or perhaps the voices of the people he left behind. It's solid from start to finish too, which is rare, and the songs almost seemingly pass from one to the other, but don't sound repetitive, like a LOT of electronic can.

This is great headphones music, travelling alone or for falling to sleep to. You shouldn't buy this album to share with your friends or to work with. This is music for reading or pondering far away places or perhaps places that are very close by? This album came across with great ratings for all the major music review sources, but since I am not educated enough to really appreciate its subtleties, here is where I put it. If you are person who loves ambient music, you will love this album, but as much as I like this album and listen to it, the other albums on this list gave me more to get excited about. I am an excitable person, obviously!!!!!!! (notice my exclamation points?)

Music Samples: Archangel, etched headplate
Myspace page
Amazon link

normally, I don't do this.....

I put the videos in this blog as tasty little extra's but I try not to force them down your throat because I feel that everyone has their own taste in online videos.

But this was real TV and it was GREAT. Remember when Norm McDonald used to be awesome? Watch him destroy Conan's guest, Courtney Thorne Smith for no good reason. I also think he is quite drunk.

here is the link for the big version of the video

you may resume ignoring my album list below if you choose. That is all for now, good night and good luck.

Gladiators Ready?

The return of American Gladiators premeired with a dual night showing on Sunday and Monday nights on NBC. Always loved this show, and I am very glad its back for another run. The void of this show was slightly filled with the zaney MXC and The Ninja Warrior challenge show, both of japanease origin, but featured no gladiators. Thus, the return of theatrical macho is a much appreciated and its on Monday nights when nothing else is on since football is over. Muchos Gracias NBC. Now, just find a way to end the writers strike and bring back The Office and I'll never even glance at CBS ever again, I promise. No matter how sexy Gil Grissom is.


NUMBER 19: A Place to Bury Strangers: A band out of Brooklyn, NY that is most definitly the loudest indie performers on the market today. A warning goes out that this album is not for the common music fan, it's a jet engine of noise in your face. This album deserves heavy metal discription because it can probably damage your brain, but it is certainly not metal. Terms like "face melting" "decimating" "soul-shattering" "thunderous" and "brutal" apply to the guitar work in this album and upon the first listien I was stunned in probably a poor way. I like to listien to my music loud and when it first punched me in the head through the headphones, I was a little angry. Like I had been sold some un-talented garage band seeing how much distortion they could lay down. I turned the volume down and plowed through the noise to find something truly interesting. Noise that was organized into a peice of weird beauty. It takes a few listiens, but if you can appreciate a master of the craft, you will like this album. This album reminds me of a mix of My Bloody Valentine and The Cure played with 100lbs of force. If you need a hint as to what kind of expert is behind the band, it's leader Oliver Ackermann 2nd business is making his own pedals that are hand wired and used exclusively by U2, Wilco, Spoon, and TV on the Radio. He also reads Aliester Crowley, one of the inspirations for Jimi Page.


The album artwork portrays exactly what you are about to hear, an ear grabbing guitar thrash by a 140lb guy in some Vans, Levis 501's, and a license to jump up and slam his strings. But there is a definitive control here. A master on the pedals that he named "Interstellar Overdriver" "supersonic fuzz gun" and "total sonic annihilation". He will take you to the edge and hold you over by your hair. He'll let you look down and remember how scary it is, and if you are nice and don't squirm too much, you'll survive and see some things that mere mortals will never see.


This is probably the farthest reach on the list. I am certain that no one who reads this blog will like "A Place to Bury Strangers". I am already thinking about how Animal Collective and this album should maybe switch. But I sense something here, a profit that this album went by unnoticed and unfairly so, something that I can't describe. If you like My Bloody Valentine, you have a good chance of liking this album. Their lyrics are easier to decipher than MBV, so thats working for them, but the essence of controlled noise is what makes them similar. As for the rest of you pansies out there, move back to your plinky plunky indie world. This is a high voltage area!


Song Samples: Fix the Gash in your Head, I know I'll see You
Bands Web Page
Amazon buy page with song samples

Cue the frog rain....

It's 60 degrees in January and I am a little scared. But then I remembered that I am not bored enough with life to be irrational and decided to come up with my top 20 albums of 2007 instead. My goal is to do one album a day in reverse order, review what the music is like and why I like it. I will try to do a good job, but I am not vocabularily inclined in auditory expression, so you may have to bear with me, and hopefully I won't be finding new ways to repeat "I like this album because it sounds good" over and over again. This also gives me 20 days to edit the order of the list, which I am sure I will do 50000 times. 20 posts in 20 (week)days in a row is an unheard of frequency for me, so hopefully it can be accomplished. Cross your rabbits feet and rub your fingers.

I will also try to introduce each album with some kind of tidbits about what I find interesting that is going on here in the good ol' PoVegas community and end each post with a links to song/video samples (if there are any) and amazon.com buy page for those who want to buy instantly. You lazy f-words.

ALBUMS JUST OUTSIDE THE CUT: today I worked on the list, but most of today was spent working around the # 20 and selecting which albums were going to be left off the list. I started out with about 30 albums in mind and then removed 8 because I found out they weren't released in 2007 like I thought they were. Ooops! But that still left me with 2 that I had to leave out.

Number 22: Tegan and Sarah "The Con" I really enjoy their sound, their attitude and a number of thier songs, especially the signature track. I explored more of their work and found them very talented and their use of harmony is great and their lyrics are very very good. They use the soft electro beats very well while showcasing their great vocal work. They should be more popular than they are, and thats probably why I left them off. They are almost pop music, but not quite. Their highs didn't leave me high enough. I could be biased because I got this album early in the summer and they fell off the back burner to my latest music, but each time I listiened to it, I got less and less excited to hear it. So my gut left them off. Sorry guys.

Number 21: Animal Collective "Strawberry Jam" This is a highly regarded album by the indie music scene, most put it in the top 5 of the year. I am just starting to see why, but I have only had this album for a few weeks. Most albums like this take a few weeks to absorb, but I have to do this now. Sorry Animal Collective. This album is PACKED full of sounds and unusual rythems. Thats probably why it is so amazing to so many and maybe the reason for the title. To me it sounds over done and the lyrics are usual haphazzard indie lyrics that you have to know more about the members and band to fully understand why they write the words they do. I am a very open-minded person, raised on simple pop and rock and try hard to listien for the highly regarded beauty, and I think maybe by this summer I will understand it, but for now #21 is the best I can do.

NUMBER 20: Rogue Wave "Asleep at Heaven's Gate": It's hard to live up to past success. Ask Rogue Wave, the Cali-indie rock machine. Still mostly unknown, thier sound is very unique and carries a certain fan base, which tripled recently after the release of 2005's Descended like Vultures Album. DLV was fantastic album start to finish, taking the unique melodies of their first album and adding more intensity to a perfect balance of new perfectly smooth music. I highly suggest picking that one up as it would be one of my top 4 2005 albums. Now with more attention, Rogue Wave had to please the fans of the past and of the present which is nearly impossible . Zach Rogue, lead singer and the bands creative force, almost pulled it off. He has a great and unique voice and he layers it uniquely which creates what I think to be a very west coast sound. He sounds blonde to me, fair and soft in delivery, but is actually afro-y brown. Maybe a son of art garfunkle? HaHa This album falls off towards the end, but the first half is a fantastic direction for this band. He probably wanted to give the audience even more sound and moved out of the comfort zone with bigger and more aggressive instruments and studio work that may have been the downfall for the second half since the songs show a lack of consistency start to finish. But the first half shows promise that it wasn't a complete waste for what I feel are some of the bands best songs in its 3 full-length album history. I must say though, a good sign is that I like the last half more and more each time I listien to it, especially the last 3 songs "Fantasies" "Phonytown" and "Cheaper than therapy" which is more of a throw back to Descended..My favorite song is "Harmonium" a powerhouse of a song mixing a melody of Zach's voice in what may be the climax of the Rogue Wave sound thus far. I could not find any full length samples of it for free though, boo hoo.

Song Samples: Lake Michigan youtube video, MySpace Page

Amazon Page with song samples of each song at the bottom.

reality check

Sagittarius - January 8, 2008
November 22 - December 20

"Reward yourself for all the great things you have done for yourself and other people, dear Sagittarius. You deserve to be treated like a queen, so make sure that you treat yourself as such. There are many times when you get so critical of the things you do that you end up punishing yourself unnecessarily. Give yourself a treat for being good instead of chastising yourself for being bad. At all times, however, you must remember that you are perfect just the way you are"

So apparently, not only am I very concerned about the welfare of others, I am a massochist and a woman.

Lesson learned for today: I am the only person with a penis that reads his horoscope.

-will post again soon, here's some new tunes as a treat for hanging in there: Okkervil River "Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe"