Trying to feel "Lucky"; Nada Surf first listen

The "Popular" boys are back. But I'm pretty certain they don't care to be remembered as the band who did that song, way back when. It caused them to earn the one-hit-wonder title, be considered Weezer wannabes, and then to be dropped from their major label and forgotten about. Well, if you've been listening to them since they've been signed to Seattle's Barsuk [umm, anytime in the past, say.. nine-or-so years], you'd know they're none of those things.

Nada Surf have pumped out three very consistent and, plainly put, awesome records since High/Low. I still regularly listen to Let Go and The Weight is a Gift, and both contain some of my favorite warm fuzzy feelgood singalong songs [that don't feature Kelly Clarkson, Vanessa Carlton or Cat Stevens on the mic].

The latest Paste contains a pretty good little story on the guys, and I recommend reading it as they address dealing with people remembering them as the one-hit-wonders who did that one song and how they bailed on their major label only to become more successful [definition of success here] and, some like me may say, a better band. It also answers the questions I had about how lead singer Matthew Caws speaks French so damn well. Get to your closest newsstand, library or bookstore to check it out.

Ok, on with the new record. Lucky was pretty much my most-anticipated new record of early 2008. It comes out 5 February, and I was kinda surprised to have already heard it this early. I need a few more listens, but right now.. it's not quite hitting me like I hoped it would. It's pretty light, and there's a bit more twang to it than their previous records have had-- think they're getting old? Shit, I hope that's not the cause.

I actually just realized that the sound they're turning more to on this album is what turned me off Ambulance LTD when they tried to pawn off New English as a proper teaser for a new album-- two years later and there's still no new album.

Listen and decide for yourself. Download these tracks, from Lucky, out 5 February.

"See These Bones" [right-click save-as download]
"Whose Authority"
"Here Goes Something"
"Weightless"
"I Like What You Say"

My other NS favorites:
"Fruit Fly", from Let Go
"Do it Again", from The Weight is a Gift

And two of the greatest covers I've heard:
"If You Leave" [OMD cover]
"Friday I'm in Love" [The Cure cover]

Preorder Lucky from Insound.
Buy other Nada Surf material from iTunes.

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In totally unrelated news.. I neglected to inform y'all that I'm kicking 2008 off to a great start by seeing two awesome and one pretty good bands tonight. In less a couple hours I'll be rocking out first to White Denim, then to White Rabbits, and then finally to show headliners the Walkmen. I'm most excited to see White Denim, as I've been rocking their forthcoming album Workout Holiday and their 2007 EP Let's Talk About It for a while now, and I've also heard/read they're really good live. Holiday made my unofficial and never-quite-completed Fave Albums of 2007 list. White Rabbits' Fort Nightly did as well, as I rocked out to that album a great deal of last year, and also saw them rock it hard last summer before trying to show them the Madison midweek nightlife, and all the while one Rabbit hit on my British friend.. anyway.. The Walkmen.. eh.. excited to see them because they're a good band but I really don't listen to 'em much.

Find some White Denim and White Rabbits tracks that I previously posted on these pages.

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Last.. I failed to mention that in Friday's post, in the second photo drunking next to me is none other than infamous [or now famous] Madison blogger Chicken, aka the Lovechild, aka Rachel of The Life of a Lovechild, who I am happy to call my friend. She just told recently informed me that she is a bit under the weather, and so for some reason I feel obligated to publicly wish her well. I hope you feel better, Chicken.

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Back from the dead: me and Vampire Weekend

Wow! What a bum I've been. It's been, what.. three weeks since my last post? I had all intentions of writing some, first around the holidays and then after New Years, but the first truth of the matter is that I had no new stuff to share. The second truth? I've just plain been lazy as hell.

But to my defense, I was doin a little bit of this:


And a little bit of this:

Some of this:


And a little bit more of this:

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Also, thanks to a couple friends and a couple of hours on a Thursday night, I'm now solidly hooked on what many have been touting as the greatest show on HBO, now that Sopranos and Six Feet Under are done. I liken The Wire to a ghetto black Sopranos with a little more Law thrown in. It shows police corruption, police brutality, drugs, drugs, junkies, strippers, dealers, guns, Black gangstas, Greek gankstoirs, Polish gangsterskis, corrupt port authority, murders, beatings, strippers, lesbian cops, drugs, and every other word out of some idiot's mouth is fuck. It's got all the making of a great HBO show. And I've been known to sit in front of my large computer monitor for six hours, watching half a season's worth in one sitting. A clip here.

Download Tom Waits "Way Down in the Hole", The Wire theme from season two.

Now back to the music.


I don't know how Vampire Weekend [from where? Brooklyn, where else] slipped through the cracks in my world last year. I picked up a couple tracks late in the year, but somehow they managed to be swept away with a bunch of other stuff. "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" is catchy and different but not crazy. Every time I hear it, which has been a lot lately, I hear Simon & Garfunkel. I can't put my finger on that, but I can't shake it, either.

Their self-titled album, to come out on the 29th, is short and sweet. It's the first great release of 2008 [to actually be released in 2008 and not leaked months earlier, like the awesome Bodies of Water and White Denim albums]. And while the video for the first single, "A-Punk" may look like an Ok Go! video, but VP's sound goes way wider and deeper than the Chitown-bred JC Penney-fed popsters.



Download Vampire Weekend, from the forthcoming Vampire Weekend.
"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
"Mansard Roof"
"A-Punk"
"Oxford Comma"

And those are just the first four tracks of the album!
Go download four more VP tracks-- two non-album-- from the Daytrotter sessions.
Pre-order the album from Insound.
Get the "Mansard Roof" single + b-side from iTunes.

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Blu & Exile

Thanks to Passion of the Weiss [one of the funniest music blogs I regularly check in on] and his inclusion of Blu & Exile on his list of best LA-area albums of 2007, I now have some really good hip hop to listen to instead of the new Lupe album, which of course is great but I don't wanna get sick of it before the year is over.

Weiss likens Blu his hometown's Jurassic 5 [although maybe it's not so much a sonic comparison, Idunno] but I'm going with Mos Def. Or even Talib Kweli. But Weiss is a little more knowledgeable in the hip hop game, so.. whatever.

Listening to this album the first time really reminded me of Black on Both Sides, which probably stands as my favorite hip hop album ever, since I grew up listening to Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins and got into the hip hop game a little late. But that's not to discount Mos Def at all. He's one of the best.

The beats of Below the Heavens seem pretty Jay Dilla -influenced. Opener "My World Is..", with the female vocal samples sounds like it coulda been Blu's guest spot on a Kanye-produced track. And each time I listen to it I half-expect Mos or Talib to chime in with a few verses. Other beats sound like Primo. "Juicen' Dranks", with Detroit's Ta'raach is the most J5 -sounding tune, if not only for T's Chali 2na -like guest verses and the Jayou-esque flute.

All in all it's very good, and very.. indie. Yeah, good description, right? Just go download, listen, and purchase if you like it enough.

Blu & Exile - "My World Is..", from Below the Heavens
Blu & Exile - "Blu Colla Workers", from Below the Heavens
Blu & Exile feat Ta'raach - "Juicen' Dranks", from Below the Heavens
Mos Def - "Ms Fat Booty", from Black on Both Sides
Mos Def - "Speed Laws", from Black on Both Sides
Jurassic 5 -"Jayou", from Jurassic 5

Purchase Blu & Exile Below the Heavens from Amazon.
Purchase Blu & Exile Below the Heavens from iTunes.
Purchase Mos Def Black on Both Sides from Amazon.

BluSpace.

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Favorite Songs of 2007, Part Diez

Yesterday after my final exam I treated myself to one of the things I do best: anything but schoolwork. I didn't do anything too crazy, but I enjoyed it more than usual because I didn't have that nagging feeling that I usually do when I write this blog, which is that I should be studying. It was frickin awesome. And then I did like this lil gumper and chillaxed a little.

I uploaded these tunes a few days ago, anticipating some procrastinating digression from studying in the form of blogging, but it never happened. And then I took yesterday off. And I should be cleaning my house right now, because it's turning into Chez de McCormick this weekend as my roommie's family crashes it. But those songs are just sitting out there not being enjoyed, so go enjoy them already.

I'm considering this the 10th and perhaps final Favorite Songs of 2007 post. Some of these are songs I've enjoyed all year, but some are songs I just nabbed off Pitchfork's best of 2007 list last week and I liked immediately. It never ceases to amaze me-- and always bugs me-- that out of the 100 songs they post, there are always at least 30% which I've never ever ever heard of.

Most of the new favorites I pulled from there, however, were from bands like Nick Cave's Grinderman, avant tardesters the Liars, and the Tori Amos-esque Bat for Lashes. I never really felt like giving these bands a chance based on their previous material, hype surrounding them, or just because I don't like the way they look. Well, maybe I should have and maybe I still won't. In any event, before I take another swig of my IPA, I first raise it up and offer a toast for the sake of judging books by their covers [and almost always being right]. Without further..

Daniel Rossen [of Grizzly Bear, Department of Eagles] - "Too Little Too Late" [JoJo cover], from the Grizzly Bear blog
Kelly Clarkson - "Fading", bonus track from import version of My December
Grizzly Bear - "He Hit Me", from Friend
Menomena - "Shirt", unreleased
Liars - "Plaster Casts of Everything", from Liars
White Denim - "All Truckers Roll", from forthcoming Workout Holiday
Bat for Lashes - "Horse and I", from Fur and Gold
Grinderman - "No Pussy Blues", from Grinderman
Deerhunter - "Wash Off", from Flourescent Grey
Gogol Bordello - "Forces of Vistory", from Super Taranta

Check out the rest of my 2007 favorites here.

Gogol Bordello, by the way, is my new obsession. I dismissed them earlier this year as a novelty act, but WOW every song is like a gypsy dance party. I think that if Pale Young Gentlemen started drinking heavily and let themselves go a little, spent some time in a gypsy camp outside Budapesht, they may eventually turn into something like Gogol Bordello.

And holy balls, I just discovered that the lead singer is in fact Alex from Everything is Illuminated. How did I not know this?! I thought of Alex the first time I ever heard Gogol, but never thought they were one in the same. Wicked.

Haven't seen the movie? Go get it now. It's hilarious, touching and just simply all-around amazing.



The band actually appears in the movie in this clip.

Happy holidays to everyone. I truly hope you have a peaceful next few weeks with family and friends. I'll pop in and share stuff when I have the resources and time.

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Covers!, etc

Coke Machine Glow's recent podcast featured their Fantasy Covers Project, where they asked some of their favorite bands to go and cover some of this past year's best/favorite tunes. You can download the 45 min-long continuous podcast from their site, or else you can make me feel like some of my own hard work wasn't all for naught and go download a zip of all the songs, split and tagged by yours truly.

Downlizzle that shizzle, here.

My immediate favorites was The Blacks' cover of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black". Also worthy of note is The Hood Internet track, in which they take a different approach than usual and incorporate several tracks into one.. The Main Drag's "All My Friends" is good, too, if you weren't satisfied by neither John Cale's nor Franz Ferdinand's versions. Deer Tick's rendition of "Beautiful Girls" is refreshing for those who can't take any more of the original. Also, Menomena's leadman tries to do The National's "Fake Empire" justice, but it's pretty dam hard to top the original-- or even come close. But that's alright, Menomena boys-- I liked your album better than The National's anyway, so you're both still winners. And just to show how much, here's two cool videos.

The National "Fake Empire" live on Letterman


Menomena "Evil Bee"


If I had the ambition and resources, I'd re-direct this video using only clips from Bee Movie.

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They've got the wrong blog

Ha!

I know I sometimes use big words like spank, hipster, y'all, shizzle, heezy, teiam, hiphopopotamus, beaver, pitchfuck, scrabulous, and warfair, to mention a few examples of my apparent scholarly awesomeness. But, seriously-- postgrad college reading level? That's gonna steer away all the lowbrow audiences I'm trying to attract.

And because this is a music blog.. actually, I've been listening to nothing but Spank Rock and Vanessa Carlton the past few days, so I have nothing new to offer.

That's only partially true.. I'll have something later.

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WTF? Vanessa Carlton, that's WTF, B!

Yes. Seriously. This girl has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, but.. why should I feel guilty? Screw that, I'm embracing it. First it was "A Thousand Miles" which I heard a brasilian times on the radio but was always too embarrassed to ask about. Then when I was hit again with "White Houses", I recognized the voice and piano, and just had to know. That song remains to be the the best thing to come about a girl losing her virginity since this beautiful romantic masterpiece.


Anyway, Vanessa has a new album, Heroes & Thieves. I'm not going to tell you the whole album's amazing, because the sad truth of the matter is that it probably isn't. But she does once again deliver one quite awesome tune, the opener and first single "Nolita Fairytale". It's the whole point of this post, really. "This Time" ain't bad, either. Disappointing is the track which Stevie Nicks appears on. You decide for yourself. Parts of it remind me of "American Pie". Don McLean's, not the stupid movie.

Download [click song title], Buy [click album title]

"Nolita Fairytale", from Heroes & Thieves
"This Time", from Heroes & Thieves
"The One" feat Stevie Nicks, from Heroes & Thieves
"A Thousand Miles", from Be Not Nobody
"White Houses", from Harmonium

And look, she's hella cute, too.

In every single one of these pictures, she's looking right at me.

Except this one. I probably just said something stupid and she was trying to look mad.

In the one she's looking at my picture on the floor.

I think I'll make "WTF?" a recurring theme, where I tell you all of the wonderful things I listen to when no one else is around.

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