Artists of 2008
Posted on December 11, 2008This was originally supposed to be albums of 2008, but there was no way to get that data out of iTunes without doing xml→sql conversions and all sorts of nasty work, so instead I took the lazy route and went with my most played artists of 2008, since Last.fm has that data stored for me. And rather than doing top artists that came out in 2008, or that released albums in 2008, but just the top artists that I listened to in 2008, regardless of all that. Cuz c’mon, new music is shit. There ain’t really been anything good recorded after around 1981. So let’s dig in.
- Los Amigos Invisibles- This one isn’t all that surprising. This Venezuelan acid jazz electro funk group has five albums out, all of them very good. Their newest album, 2005’s Super Pop Venezuela, has the fantastic tracks “Si Tu Te Vas” and “Yo Soy AsÔ, definitely worth checking out.
- David Bowie – No explanation needed. Bowie is legendary. I’ve been listening a lot to his most popular songs, but also been digging around for some of his lesser known songs. There’s always something good to be found with Bowie
- The Decemberists – Old-timey maritime indie folk rockers The Decemberists have an album coming out early next year. It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years since the lush, progressive The Crane Wife came out. Listen to The Island trilogy here:
- Rush – C’mon. It’s Rush. Good old hard progressive Canadian Ayn Rand-inspired Rush. Good stuff.
- Steroid Maximus – One of the many side projects of avant-garde composer J.G. Thirwell, Steroid Maximus contains elements of jazz, big band, avant-garde, soundtrack and exotica styles. Les Baxter on industrial-tinged drugs. Really out there instrumentals that make you feel like you’re in a spy movie. Worth checking out. Ecotopia is relatively easy to track down, his other albums are not so much.
- 16 Horsepower – This one kinda came out of left field. 16 Horsepower was a neo-gothic country group. One of the big reasons why I want a banjo. They’ve got the kind of songs that tell a story, about the dark side of the south. Here’s “Black Soul Choir”, off of Sack Cloth and Ashes:
That’s the top six. I don’t feel like writing any more, so good night.
Went to a Concert Last Night
Posted on October 10, 2008At Lincoln’s Zoo Bar, Tyler, Matt and I went to go see The Bellflowers, Little Brown Jug, and Black Squirrels. It was a great lineup, we drank too much, and we enjoyed the show.
First up was The Bellflowers (MySpace Link), a good old fashioned country band from here in Lincoln. Their pedal steel player is one of my wine reps, and so that’s how I found out about these guys in the first place. You may remember them from a concert I went to a while ago, where they played with Loup River Band. From that came this video of them performing. I didn’t get any video of them this time, unfortunately. Bonus awesomeness for this band: They have an honest to god singing saw. You never see singing saw players any more!
Little Brown Jug from Joshua on Vimeo.
Second act was Little Brown Jug. The only video I shot last night with the D90. It was really dark and I was really drunk, so the cinematography is pretty bad, and I’m still getting used to the controls. But it’s a good song. Go to the Vimeo page to see HD. You can kinda hear Tyler and Matt yammering in the background, but it adds to the bar vibe. They have the cutest fiddle player ever in this band, by the way.
The final act was from up in Omaha, Black Squirrels (MySpace link). They were a little less old-timey with their sound but were very good. They had an accordion player, so it was a night for unusual instruments I guess. Definitely worth checking out.
Be sure to check the Flickr for the rest of the pictures from the evening, there were some good ones.
iTunes Stats
Posted on April 12, 2008My Top Ten Played Songs in iTunes
4th Avenue Jones – Fabulous Dramatics (53)
Tiefschwarz & Matty Safer – Warning Siren (43)
RJD2 & Ric Ocasek – Through the Walls (42)
Buck 65 – 463 (37)
The Decemberists – 16 Military Wives (33)
Matthew Sweet – Girlfriend (32)
Berlin – Erotic City (30)
10cc – I’m Not in Love (30)
Miri Ben-Ari – Sunshine to the Rain (29)
David Bowie – Space Oddity (29)
Looking at my iTunes library, I notice a weird trend in my most played songs. A lot of them make sense (The Decemberists, Bowie, or RJD2, for example) but others are songs that I wouldn’t expect. 4th Avenue Jones, I haven’t listened to in months that I can recall. The same goes for Miri Ben-Ari. And I certainly wouldn’t have expected 10cc to make the list, catchy though they may be. It may be a matter of songs/sounds I once was really into have now fallen out of favor, or perhaps I was just in a mood then. Except for that Berlin track. I’m not sure what’s up with that.
Sunday Listening Post
Posted on March 9, 2008For today’s Listenin’ Post, I thought I would dig through YouTube for some great videos from The Old Grey Whistle Test, a classic BBC2 music show along the same lines as the Midnight Special (I will give guest post status to anybody who buys me that set of DVDs…) Anyway, here’s some good stuff here.
David Bowie’s Queen Bitch, a rollicking classic from The Life Aquatic soundtrack. If you poke around YouTube you can find an excellent duet with Lou Reed.
Roxy Music comes at you with Ladytron, and with some costuming so fruity, the BBC ordered that it could only be shown after ten pm. But still, it’s a good track, and it’s got a lot of vintage synth porn.
Concert Footage
Posted on March 6, 2008At the risk of becoming a video blog, here’s some video I recorded from the show at Duffy’s last night. The opening band was Amy Ana Huffman and the People’s Family Band. I’d never seen them before, but they were quite good. Here’s a video of them, uploaded to Viddler because I used up my Vimeo upload quota for the week.
Good stuff there. Then Weezil Skweezins took the stage. They are definitely a fun show. And once you hear “Up the Butt”, it will get stuck in your head for two days. I should mention, there’s some NSFW language, but you probably figured that out from the title.
Weezil Skweezins – Up Your Butt from Joshua on Vimeo.
There are a few more videos up over at my Vimeo. It was a fun show, and I drank nasty bar scotch. Good times.
Oh, and I should mention, I followed DB’s lead in incorporating video comments. (DB hat-tips me in that post, and now I’m hat-tipping directly back to him. It’s a blogging reacharound.) Iffin you have a webcam, and a Viddler account, you can record video comments directly in the browser window. It’s pretty keen. Thanks, Colin Devroe!
Filed Under I Made This, Music, Videos | 2 Comments
Free Music!
Posted on February 3, 2008Not from me, I ain’t made of money. But this is just a brief post to let you know that Rykodisc is doing five free downloads a month to celebrate their 25th anniversary. I found this out in an insert in the awesome new Joe Jackson album. It looks like they haven’t updated for February yet, but January’s free downloads are five songs by various African artists, including Ali Farka Toure, Taj Mahal, Toumani Diabate, and more. They’ve got some good artists on their roster, so the offerings should be pretty good throughout the year. Go get ‘em.
And soon… A real post. Probably about my new little camcorder. Or perhaps a guest column.
Filed Under Hurray!, King of Internets, Music | Leave a Comment
Supertramp Sunday
Posted on January 27, 2008It’s been a couple of weeks, so I thought I’d bring listenin’ Sundays back. This week: ’70s prog-group Supertramp. These may get a little repetitive ‘cuz there are only a few Supertramp songs I know (and like) but I scoured the YouTubes for some good stuff.
Here’s a classic video, “Breakfast in America”.
It’s true. You don’t have to be pretty to play prog rock.
This concert, which was the band’s last with vocalist/keyboardist Roger Hodgson, was recorded the same year I was born.
They didn’t get any handsomer in the ’80s. Though it seems kind of appropriate.
Read more
Filed Under Music, Videos | 3 Comments
2 in 1!
Posted on January 17, 2008
Yes that’s right two posts in one! Went to a concert at Duffy’s Tavern last night to see the famous Loup River Band & Street Choir, along with friends Patrick Bradley and The Sleepover. There was dangerously bad snow out, so turnout was low, but Beerorkid was there, along with pints of very tasty 2 Below ESB for $2, so it definitely was a good time. The opener was Patrick “Motherfuckin’” Bradley doing a one-man set, complete with a singalong. That was followed up by a newer band, The Sleepover, which produced a great set. Finally, Loup River took the stage, and was fully awesome. It was guitarist/vocalist Jeff’s birthday, so happy birthday was sung, and cake was ate. How many bands give you birthday cake? Kickin’ rad. Pictures are at the Flickr.
Whilst at the show, I noticed a poster advertising “Feckin’ Irish Whiskey”. With a name like that, I was too curious to not try it. The bartenders were surprised that somebody was willing to try it. They had to hunt for the bottle, and it was brand new and unopened. Nobody knew what to charge for it, so we got it for $3 a shot (thanks Esteban!) So here’s another tasting review, for Feckin’ Irish Whiskey.
Nose: Very sweet, a bit of vanilla, almost no whiskey scent. A very mellow nose.
Flavor: Still very sweet. It’s a spiced whiskey, so it tasted more like rum than whiskey. The closest I can compare it to would be Captain Morgan, but with a bit of whiskey floated on top. It’s not a very complex flavor if I’m honest, and as I said, not very whiskey like. There’s very little barrel taste, and some vanilla flavor to it.
Finish: The finish was smooth and uncomplex, with almost no burn to speak of. As Steve said, it tasted better than it smelled. A couple of ice cubes dropped in served to mellow it a little.
It wasn’t a bad whiskey, but it wasn’t a very great one either, at least for an unwhiskey-like whiskey. If I were feeling more generous, I might be pushed to give it a 3, but as it is I wasn’t so much impressed as not horrified, so I’ll give it 2.5 out of 5.
Filed Under Food 'n' Drink, Hurray!, Music, Nebraska, Tasting Notes | 1 Comment
Better Makeout Music: Roxy Music vs. Uriah Heep
Posted on January 8, 2008A question presents itself. What is better to make out to? The suave and smooth ’80s hit from Roxy Music, “More than This” or, the heavy and humble hard rocking “Gypsy” by Uriah Heep? After some scientific experimentation, I think I’ve come up with a fair comparison.
Romance
Lyrically, “Gypsy” is very romantic. “I was out for quite a time / Came back with her on my mind / Sweet little girl / She means all the world”, it’s the tale of a young man who falls in love with a gypsy girl but is unable to convince her father that he is worthy. She is torn between obeying her father and going with the man she loves. He is going to prove to the father that he can be the right kind of man. Very romantic stuff indeed.
“More than This” is a little more opaque in its meaning. However, lines like “It was fun for a while / There was no way of knowing / Like dream in the night / Who can say where we´re going” speak of a love that has passed. The relationship is coming to an end, that it’s not what it used to be.
Advantage: Uriah Heep
Rhythm
“Gypsy” is pounding, driving, thrusting, hard. Great for fucking, yes. However, the down and dirty 8th note organ stabs do not do well for soft love. This is music for making love the back of a ‘79 Ranchero. “More than This”, on the other hand, is smooth, soft, it gently caresses you. Even the smooth backbeat of the drums are mellow, saying “it’s okay baby, I just want to love you responsibly”. The airy synths and almost ethereal vocals are okay with taking it slow and waiting for when you’re ready.
Advantage: Roxy Music
Lead Singer
Everybody knows that a band’s success can live or die based on its frontman. That’s what gets the girls going crazy, the sexy man on stage. And, well, I think this chart says it all:
The Heep’s David Byron, shown on the left, is, well, poodle-haired and bewildered-looking. And this photo is of his good side. Not the best looking man. Whereas Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry, on the right, is suave. The ladies surely like him. Who wouldn’t?
Advantage: Roxy Music.
Judgement
I think, with a score of 2 to 1, I have no choice but to give it to Roxy Music. “More than This” is for sure the best track to have makeouts with pretty ladies to. So remember that next time you’re putting together your mixtape. Science says so.
Filed Under Humour, Music | 4 Comments
Daft Punk Sunday
Posted on January 6, 2008This week I decree that you listen to some Daft Punk, despite receiving suggestions of Manilow and Neil Diamond. Here’s some Youtube videos to put you in the mood.
We’ll start off with a classic, their breakthrough really, the Michael Gondry-directed “Around the World”, which was also the subject of Diesel Sweeties comic. Very catchy.
That got remade into this video of some fellas doing the Charleston. Pretty sweet.
When the album Discovery came out, Daft Punk released a series of videos for the songs on the album that all tie in together as a little anime short film, inspired by the late ’70s anime style too, back when it was good. Here is the fresh and funky “Voyager”
Far be it from me to make you watch an advertisement, and for the Gap at that, but this commercial using “Digital Love” is aight, and damned if Juliette Lewis isn’t cute in it.
This video details the origins of many of their samples:
Finally, this video, of two drunk girls paying tribute to this very well done rendtion of “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” which I probably should post instead, but these girls are too cute to not post.
I HAD A REALLY AWESOME VIDEO HERE BUT THEY DECIDED TO TAKE IT DOWN JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE EMBARRASSINGLY DRUNK AND IN THEIR UNDERWEARS BUT OH WELL GUYS SORRY.
Filed Under Music | Leave a Comment
