Arabic music!

I love that Abd Al Halim Hafiz comes after ABBA in my itunes library.

I've never posted any Arabic music on here even though I really do love the stuff. especially old Egyptian folk music like Abd Al Halim with really really long songs. in retrospect, 14 minutes is actually quite short...

let me just say that the one downside to learning languages is that you can no longer listen to music sung in that language and enjoy the sounds of the words without associations with meaning. a small downside, but I will acknowledge it nonetheless. but whatever, it's not really an issue for me, because Arabic was my first language (I didn't actually realize this fact until Professor Bishop pointed this out to me last semester).

Abd Al Halim is my mum's favourite male singer, and he rocks

maybe I'll start posting Arabic music on a weekly basis...

Abd Al Halim Hafiz - Sawah [mp3]


isn't he a cutie?

concert review: Antony and the Johnsons

Antony Hegarty and co. played at San Francisco's beautiful Nob Hill Masonic Center last Tuesday night (24 February 2009).

Antony was on the piano with a backing band composed of 2 guitars, 2 violins, a cello, a sax, and a bass guitar.



The performance was nearly flawless except for a couple of slips when Antony's voice faltered, but both times he stopped, excused himself, and began once again. His falsettos were delivered beautifully, and he thrilled the audience with his signature cover of Beyonce's "Crazy in Love".



I was quite surprised at Antony's demeanour throughout the set, which was humourous and lighthearted. I don't know very much about the musician past his music, but I had assumed that he would be solemn, because that is what his music is like. On the contrary, he managed to captivate and entertain the audience, making them laugh in between his songs, which had everyone holding their breath in awe. The lady in front of me was silently tearing up the entire time, and while I didn't have the same reaction, I had goosebumps throughout the night, especially during the gorgeous violin sections of "Kiss My Name" and the beautiful guitars in "Fistful of Love".



In short, it was a great performance true to the three well crafted records which Antony and the Johnsons have released. Most of the set list was derived from their latest, The Crying Light. I managed to record the show, and I have included mp3s below. I've listened to the entire concert 3 or 4 times since Tuesday night.

I would only recommend that you go and see Antony and the Johnsons in concert if you are VERY familiar with the music and are a devoted fan. While some bands can awe and inspire first time listeners, I feel like Antony's performance can only truly be enjoyed by people who understand his art.



set list:

1. where is my power
2. her eyes are underneath the ground
3. epilepsy is dancing
4. one dove
5. for today I am a buoy
6. kiss my name + Antony talking about his ass
7. everglade (never detox before show)
8. another world
9. shake that devil + talk about opening artist William Basinski
10. the crying light
11. crazy in love (Beyonce cover) + “Beyonce is amazing!” + “you share” sustained note
12. fistful of love
13. you are my sister
14. twilight
15. aeon

encore:
16. cripple and the starfish + makeup story
17. hope there’s someone

ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS ON AMAZON

Saturday Music Definitions: Michael

Lately, I've been listening to Franz Ferdinand like nobody's business. I've rediscovered how much I love their first two records, and have composed my ideal set list, starting with my all time favourite Franz song:

The Fallen
Ulysses
The Dark of the Matinee
Michael
Live Alone
You Could Have It So Much Better
No You Girls
Jacqueline
Darts of Pleasure
Take Me Out
Eleanor Put Your Boots on
Katherine Kiss Me

I am SO excited about seeing them in concert.

but, anyways, as I'm currently obsessed with their song "Michael", I realized that another one of my favourite songs was about a certain "Michael", and the band singing the latter song had a song about a certain "Andy" which paralleled the homoeroticism found in the Franz tune.

so, without further ado, here are the three songs:

Franz Ferdinand - Michael [mp3]

The Killers - The Ballad of Michael Valentine [mp3]

The Killers - Andy You're a Star [mp3]


how awesome is that performance?

happy listening and happy weekend!

The Strokes Post #9

I love how you can never really tell if they're on drugs or not.

according to Fab, Beck is a cannibal hahahahahahha.

record review: Dead Confederate - Wrecking Ball

Do you remember your first experiences of listening to heavy metal bands as a young teenager, and the deliciousness of that initial rebellion? It didn’t matter which band you were listening to, as long as their music was simultaneously deafening and quiet. Give me some soaring guitars and some slow vocals and I’ll be happy. Well, now that you’re all grown up, are you nostalgic for that kind of music? Because listening to Wrecking Ball is like taking a trip down memory lane. The 2008 release evokes memories of how freeing music used to be, and still is, if we allow it. Dead Confederate has been compared to Nirvana and other grunge bands of the 90’s, which is somewhat valid, but know that those comparisons are attempting to simplify a sound that is definitely not simple. Their debut record is anything but boring, even though eclecticism is not their forte. Their songs are drawn out, assuring you that each note, each lyric is deliberate and closely crafted. “The News Underneath” will fare well with Zeppelin fans and their first single “The Rat” is sure to garner people’s attention to this talented band. It sure worked for me. Damn fine record.

3.5/5

Visit the Athens, GA based band on MYSPACE for tour dates and other fun stuff.

Dead Confederate – The Rat [mp3]

Dead Confederate – The News Underneath [mp3]

Dead Confederate – Wrecking Ball [mp3]

I highly recommend that you watch the following performance, it's ace.


(I had previously posted about it HERE)

DEAD CONFEDERATE ON AMAZON

Kings of Leon already planning new "grungier" album

to be released in 2010.

NME has the dirty details.

I liked Only By The Night but really wish they would return to form. Their debut is gold. Let's hope this will be a great comeback album, to truly satisfy us Youth and Young Manhood fans.

tour dates can be found on their WEBSITE

Kings of Leon - Use Somebody (live on SNL) [mp3]

Neko Case - don't bother

Last week, I came across an interview with Neko Case when reading the new issue of SPIN. It was a touching piece, showing how much she's had to overcome to get where she is now, with fame from The New Pornographers and all.

I put it in the back of my head to look up her music. Then I forgot about the matter until I was cleaning out my inbox, and I came across my Paste newsletter, featuring her on the cover. I headed to hype machine and looked her up. After the first song ("I'm an Animal"), I stuck it out for the next, "Don't Forget Me", which only affirmed that she sounds like a poor man's Jenny Lewis. I couldn't even get through listening to the third song, "Prison Girls" before angrily closing the browser in disgust.

Sadly enough, not all side/solo projects go well. Steer clear of this mess.

just look what she's done to Bob Dylan:

Neko Case - Buckets of Rain (Bob Dylan cover) [mp3]

pitiful, just pitiful.

The Libertines will be back next year!

let me just say that Carl Barat and Pete Doherty are two of my favourite musicians ever. thank goodness for this news.

head on over to NME to read the article

The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now [mp3]

Pete Doherty is known to say hilariously awesome things like "I've been trying to get inside the minds of cats, but they just piss on the carpet. They don't care."

The Strokes Post #8

Julian "explaining" the lyric "don't be a coconut, G-d is trying to talk to you"
hahahah classic.

Band of the Week: Cold War Kids

with a debut album that shook the world in 2006 (Robbers & Cowards), this Fullerton, CA based band quickly established themselves as a force to be reckoned with.

I had heard from various people that I'd love them, and once, I was waiting in line to have my records rung up and I saw Robbers & Cowards on the display shelf. never having heard them, I invested 12 bucks in a new copy of their CD. best decision on a whim I've ever made. I love that album to death.

their second record Loyalty to Loyalty dropped last year and recieved mixed reviews, but it definitely didn't show signs of sophomore slump. I reviewed it, but that post got deleted and I hadn't backed it up. the verDict was positive though.

Cold War Kids make music that is simultaneously thrashing and pretty, and I hear they're pretty rad in concert too. I'll find out in April.

tour dates:

Miami, FL Bicentennial Park – Langerado (March 7)
San Diego, CA 4th & B Concert Theatre^ (26)
Los Angeles, CA Orpheum Theatre^ (27)
Boston, MA Wilbur Theatre* (April 2)
New York, NY Terminal 5* (3)
Rochester, NY Water Street Music Hall* (4)
Denver, CO Gothic Theatre^ (20)
Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom^ (21)
Seattle, WA The Showbox at The Market^ (22)
Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge^ (23)
San Francisco, CA The Fillmore^ (28)

Cold War Kids - G-d, Make up Your Mind [mp3]
from Robbers & Cowards

Cold War Kids - Every Man I Fall For [mp3]
from Loyalty to Loyalty

visit the boys on MYSPACE

COLD WAR KIDS ON AMAZON

Music Induced Euphoria turns ONE today!

it's been a year since I started this blog. well, a year and a few hours, as I opened my account at 3 in the morning in the midst of writer's block (I was writing a paper on Chaucer's Wife of Bath and her hypocricy).

anyhow, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of the people who read this blog, faithfully or sporadically. I really appreciate it.

I'm open to any suggestions to improve the ol' blog. do you guys want me to start doing anything I'm not doing already? and no, I don't mean being a trapeze artist.

The Strokes Post #7

I watched this early on in my Strokes obsession. it made me realize immediately how amazing they are live. I can watch it over and over and over again and never bore of it.

Audrye Sessions on tour with Manchester Orchestra

4/21 Nashville, TN - Exit In
4/22 Athens, GA - 40 Watt
4/23 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
4/24 Richmond, VA - The National
4/25 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
4/26 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
4/29 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
4/30 Cambridge, MA - Middle East
5/01 Rochester, NY - Water Street
5/02 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Small' s
5/03 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
5/05 Pontiac, MI - Eagle Theatre
5/06 Columbus, OH - Skully's
5/07 Covington, KY - Mad Hatter
5/08 Chicago, IL - Subterranean
5/09 Minneapolis, MN - Station 4
5/12 Denver, CO - Marquis Theatre
5/13 Salt Lake City, UT - Avalon
5/15 Seattle, WA - El Corazon
5/16 Vancouver, BC - Biltmore
5/17 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
5/21 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
5/22 San Diego, CA - Voodoo Stage @ HOB
5/23 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
5/24 Tempe, AZ - Clubhouse
5/26 Austin, TX - Emo's
5/27 Dallas, TX - The Loft
5/28 Houston, TX - Walter's
5/29 New Orleans, LA - Spanish Moon
5/30 Oxford, MS - Proud Larry's
5/31 Atlanta, GA - Bottletree
6/02 St. Petersburg, FL - State Theatre
6/03 Orlando, FL - The Social
6/04 Orlando, FL - The Social

AUDRYE SESSIONS ON AMAZON

The Strokes Post #6

their cover of Mercy Mercy Me (a collaboration with Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Josh Homme of QOTSA). Julian's voice is mesmerizing, as usual. need I say more?

The Strokes - Mercy Mercy Me (Marvin Gaye cover) [mp3]

Patti Smith - Horses

ah, glorious.

I've heard LOADS about this album but only just bought it a couple of weeks ago from half price books (for like 2 bucks!) I JUST got around to spinning it this morning. and it has affirmed for me, yet again, that vinyl is the ultimate way to experience music.

I mean, don't get me wrong, as a music lover, I appreciate the convenience of cds and mp3s, but I usually will proceed to meticulously listening to records. most people don't. my theory is, this is why most people don't listen to good music anymore.

Patti Smith - Gloria [mp3]
now you've had a taste, go forth, follow my example and listen to Horses in its entirety! you won't be sorry.

The Strokes Post #5

yeah, it's annoying that they mixed up their names but it's hilarious how Fab has the uncanny ability to make everyone in the room want his babies.

MUST WATCH VIDEO: Franz Ferdinand - Darts of Pleasure

incredible. youtube directed me there after I watched "The Fallen" (my absolute favourite Franz Ferdinand song) of the same show (a reaaally good live version of that song, which is rare):

Deerhunter to play FREE all ages SECRET SHOW on WEDNESDAY night

with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at RICKSHAW STOP in San Francisco (it's on Fell and Van Ness). great venue.

it's first come, first served

I'll be at GAMH seeing Stephen Malkmus but if you go, let me know how it went!

The Strokes Post #4

Nick's fantastic guitar solo in "Alone, Together" which makes me melt every single time I hear it

the following perfomance is especially orgasmic:



2:38-3:14

wow.

interview: The Dashing Suns

who? The Dashing Suns
what? an awesome band you should listen to
where? they are based in Oakland, CA
when? December 7th 2007 - present
why? because their music rocks

The Dashing Suns' self titled EP is great. Do you remember when critics insisted that The Strokes sounded like The Velvet Underground, The Clash and Television but you weren't completely convinced because to you, they just sounded like The Strokes? Well if were disheartened in the least that The Strokes didn't satisfy your expectations for an excellent mesh of those awesome bands, look no further than The Dashing Suns. "I Wanna Run" is sung much in the same vein as "Marquee Moon" by Television with a steady drum beat and great guitars to match. "Just A Moment" sounds like the song that new band The Soft Pack have been trying to write. In short, it's a great EP and makes me hopeful for a full length release.

According to Jeffrey, "We're going on a tour soon to SXSW from March 16th to 22nd. It will be our first tour and we are all very excited. We've also a song in a commercial that's going to come out sometime after."

You guys sound like a band straight out of the early seventies/late sixties. are you trying to bring back that sound or did it just happen that the songs you wrote ended up sounding like that?

We are influenced by many bands. We're not trying to bring back any "sound" we just want to play what we like to hear. We all were in high school during the 90's so bands like Nirvana, The Breeders, Red Kross, Weezer, Sonic Youth, Pavement, etc. were what we grew up listening to. Now we probably listen more to what they probably listened to like the Vaselines, Swell Maps and stuff like that.

If you could describe your music as an animal/natural phenomenon, what would you deem it?

We are like that video game Altered Beast. A praire dog that may have ingested an entire bottle of coolant.

Mick Jagger: genius or arsehole?

Matt: Both...no, he's not a genius fuck Mick Jagger.
David: Neither.
Jeff: He is very smart.
Kevin: Yes!

The state of mainstream music right now is dismal. Long gone are the days when Led Zeppelin and The Doors dominated the radio. What band(s) do you wish kids nowadays listened to?

Firstly, The Dashing Suns. Besides that Television Personalities, My Bloody Valentine, The Clean, Wire, Buzzer, Vivian Girls, Deer Hunter and The Ramones.

The Dashing Suns are distinctly American. What I mean isn't that you guys sound like Springsteen or Johnny Cash but that you take after the Ramones rather than the Sex Pistols. There's always been the American/British struggle for the rock crown. Are you guys vying to be a part of that?

We are not into rivalries, we are in it for ourselves.

You guys are based in Oakland. Did you all grow up in the bay area? Any crazy stories (like a bassist from Auckland or something of that nature?)

None of us grew up here. Kevin is a southern fried cracker, Matt is a kiwi, David is tequila, and Jeff is miracle whip. We have many funny stories, you should come to one of our shows and take part in becoming part of one.

If you could open up for any band, past or present, which would you choose?

Jesus' second coming. 2012.

What song do you (collectively as a band or you individually) love playing the most?

"I Really Like You". We will record it soon and everyone will be really happy.

Are any of you guys classically trained? Any music theory background? Or do you guys just play in the key of rock?

We just [play] poorly.

What are your road trip tunes?

We listen Wire, The Clean and My Bloody Valentine, Magazine, The Sound, Deer Hunter, Watch Children and many other songs that are too embarrassing to state.

The Dashing Suns- Your Line [mp3]

The Dashing Suns - Out of Your Head [mp3]

visit them on MYSPACE

catch em in concert:

Feb 25 2009 8:00P
El Rio, with Sister Grizzly, and Wild Things San Francisco, California

Mar 16 2009 9:00P
Bordello Los Angeles, California

Mar 17 2009 9:00P
The Ruby Room Phoenix, Arizona

Mar 21 2009 8:00P
SXSW Halcyon Lounge - ReadyMade Magazine Party Austin, Texas

Mar 23 2009 2:00P
Tylers Austin, Texas

Mar 28 2009 9:00P
Warehouse Party w/ The Have Mercys Oakland, California

Apr 5 2009 9:00P
The Uptown. Slash 30th Anniversary Party! Oakland, California

Apr 10 2009 8:00P
The Uptown w/Grand Lake Oakland, California

The Strokes Post #3

"I know you hate to be impressed with someone else (other than yourself).
But you know, trying to hold back on being an asshole helps."

-Fear of Sleep

Sunday Morning Covers

now I can't decide which of the following two I like the best. at first, I greatly preferred The Morning Benders' rendition of The Submarines' song, but the cover of "Waiting for a War" is really growing on me. regardless, I think the idea of two bands covering each other is adorable.

The Submarines - Waiting for a War (The Morning Benders cover) [mp3]

The Morning Benders - 1940 (The Submarines cover) [mp3]

----
Radiohead- Unravel (Bjork Cover) [mp3]

Elliott Smith - When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob Dylan cover) [mp3]
not the best sound quality but it's Elliott Smith, so who cares?

Michael Buble - What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong cover) [mp3]

Dead Confederate - Theresa's Sound (Sonic Youth cover) [mp3]

Editors - Road to Nowhere (Talking Heads cover) [mp3, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!]

Kevin Barnes (of Montreal) - I Will (The Beatles cover) [mp3]

BONUS:
The Beatles Ain't She Sweet (Ben Bernie cover, originally composed by Yellen/Ager) [mp3]