new video: Arctic Monkeys - Cornerstone

I love it when people make mockeries of highly-sensitive works of art. so when I watched this video, the band's rendition of my favourite song from Humbug (and definitely its most heartfelt), I convulsed with laughter. seriously, genius.
my favourite bit was 1:14.
well done, Alex. this is the band that I fell in love with. I completely forgive him for his subpar energy at this year's concert.

The Strokes Post #241

I know I usually do belated posts, but in the spirit of keeping things fresh, I'm going the opposite route and posting tomorrow's post today. take THAT, predictability.

I just realized that I never scrambled to find an mp3 of "River of Brakelights" and then I realized that I hadn't checked my RSS feed (or the included subscription to hype machine either) or NME or anything else since Friday. so here is me being a responsible music blogger:

Julian Casablancas - River of Brakelights [mp3] (SOURCE)
I can't believe that I didn't like this when I first heard it. it must have been the fact that it was morning, I was tired and listening through on my brother's computer with his shitty speakers.
I love the countdown thing he has on his website.

The Strokes Post #240

there's a short but nice interview with Jules from GQ, nothing new or anything, although he does talk about drinking a bit.

I like the photo, though, it's my new desktop background

I've been listening to "River of Brakelights" on repeat, and I'm getting a tad addicted to it

I'm kind of ticked off because I just NOW realized that the tattoo artist who did my second baby on Sunday fucked up and I now have a grammatically incorrect tattoo. it's supposed to be ";" then "," then "."
that's how it was in Shelley's original manuscript, and that's how the obsessive English major/grammar freak in me wanted it. semi colons are my favourite punctuation marks, and now my tattoo makes me look like a daft person who can't use them properly. oh well. I guess that's what I get for trusting tattoo shops that reek of cannabis.

I only realized it because I took a photo of the thing for a friend of mine. if I were more vane and spent more time in front of mirrors, maybe it wouldn't have taken me 2 days to figure out. oh well, I still think that it looks badass.

The Strokes Post #239

there's a new song on Julian's website, "River of Brakelights"

it's interesting, I'll give him that. I liked 11th dimension a lot more but I'm happy just to hear him sing. it's almost like Nickel Eye meets Muse. what do you think?

Sunday Morning Covers

ZIP FILE

Calexico - Fourth Time Around (Bob Dylan cover) [mp3]

The Flaming Lips - Borderline (Madonna cover) [mp3]
she's on the cover of RS right now. you wanna know something funny? I never heard any of Madonna's songs until I heard Ryan Adams cover "Like a Virgin". I still haven't heard HER sing anything, I'm just familiar with a few covers of her songs. that goes to show you how vehemently I avoid pop music.

The Violent Femmes - Crazy (Gnarls Barkley cover) [mp3, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!]

Arcade Fire - Guns of Brixton (The Clash cover) [mp3, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!]
they just got this one right. I especially love the mandolins and Win Butler's "ohh"s

The Soft Pack - Fences (Phoenix cover) [mp3]

Dashboard Confessional - El Scorcho (Weezer cover) [mp3]

Jim James (of MMJ) - Rocket Man (Elton John cover) [mp3]

Arctic Monkeys - Diamonds are Forever (Shirley Bassey cover) [mp3]
this is very, very sexy (even though I hate diamonds)

The Magnetic Fields - Heroes (David Bowie cover) [mp3]

The Dead Weather - New Pony (Bob Dylan cover) [mp3]

Franz Ferdinand - Heisa-Ho (De Kift cover) [mp3]

The Strokes Post #238

this song is high on my fabricated-Strokes-set-list. it is so...stimulating.

Saturday Music Definitions: Nothing

this post is dedicated to Mr. Shakespeare, and his fabulous play Much Ado About Nothing, which I watched tonight. at this point, I am more or less acquainted with 80% of his plays, but I've still gotta tackle those histories.

I was surprised at how many songs turned up in my itunes search for "nothing" (tells you a lot about the optimism of musicians, eh?), so I limited the ones I posted to contemporary songs that I really liked.

The Wallflowers - God Says Nothing Back [mp3]

Maroon 5 - Nothing Lasts Forever [mp3]

Jimmy Eat World - Nothing Wrong [mp3]
Futures is so incredibly delectable.

Harlem Shakes - Nothing But Change Part II [mp3]
I really like this track, it's the opener to the now defunct band's debut LP, Technicolor Health.

Elliott Smith - Ballad of Big Nothing [mp3]

Audrye Sessions - Nothing Pure Can Stay [mp3]

Winston Audio - Nothing To Hide [mp3]
strange coincidence: when I went to see Winston Audio, they were opening for Audrye Sessions, a local band with a "nothing" song in their discography which I've posted above.

The Strokes Post #237

Band of the Week: The Raconteurs

Jack White is an incredibly talented man, I doubt anyone could argue otherwise. however, I do feel that his talents are not fully tapped in The White Stripes. for this reason, I regularly turn to The Raconteurs for a nice dose of Jack. even in his new project The Dead Weather, I feel like he is more of a behind-the-curtain voice of (sinister) reason rather than the heart and soul of the band. The Dead Weather will always sound more like what it is: a collaboration. The Raconteurs, on the other hand, is Jack's proper music baby. the one with the trust fund and well documented progression a la photo albums and/or banjo fascinations.

with two well rounded and highly listenable albums under their belt, The Raconteurs combine the very best elements of blues, folk, and good ol' rock, best expressed through Jack's unmistakably memorable vocal deliveries. the live shows are killer too.

here are a couple of their mellow tracks (which also happen to be two of my favourites)

The Raconteurs - Together [mp3]

from Broken Boy Soldiers

The Raconteurs - You Don't Understand Me [mp3]
from Consolers of the Lonely

and a crazier one, just for good measure:



PS Brendan Benson is incredibly attractive.

The Strokes Post #236

thanks to Allie for bringing this excellent photo to my attention!
happy weekend everyone.

Classic Track Thursday

I really like the Violent Femmes. if I listened to them more, I could claim that I loved them, but alas, they are one of those great bands that have (up until now) eluded my focus. one of those bands that really makes me wish that I worked in a record store and could spend all of my time listening to new music. because itunes will never replace that amazing feeling of coming across gems like this album in the clearance rack of your favourite record store, and that glorious feeling of recognition of being in the presence of greatness, in musical pioneer form. because all of that will make me listen to this band more, and I will inevitably become a better person in doing so.

this is the first track from their self titled 1983 debut, and it makes me smile just to imagine all of those alternative kids listening to this album while everyone else gushed over Duran Duran.

Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun [mp3]

The Strokes Post #235

thanks to everyone who emailed me about this,

you can now sample each and every track from Phrazes for the Young a la the Deutsch Amazon.

if I am going to be completely honest, I was actually really surprised to find out that the critics are spot fucking on: it sounds NOTHING like The Strokes. this troubles me a bit. tracks 1, 4 and 7 really intrigued me, but, I dunno, I had different things in mind. is it so bad that I really don't fare well with super experimental stuff? I'd much rather listen to Never Mind the Bollocks any day of the week.

I think at this point, I am just going to wait for the proper album release. what do you think?

White Denim - I Start to Run

this is track of the day from RCRD LBL (the website which first exposed me to the band!) and it commemorates the long-awaited US release of the band's sophomore album, Fits, next Tuesday

the song sounds like it's on drugs, which is a great thing. I will definitely be picking this album up.

head on over to download the song and read a review of the album, or you can download it below:

White Denim - I Start to Run [mp3]

visit the Texan boys on MYSPACE

The Strokes Post #234

y'all must have noticed that I repost things every now and then, especially things that I love.

today is no exception.



this post was came into existence because I watched this last night and it got me really excited about her concert at the Fox in a couple of weeks. I'm pretty sure Little Joy are opening. I love everything about Regina, down to the fact that she was "discovered" by my favourite band and then proceeded to make sexy videos with them (see above). and I mean "sexy" in the Holden Caulfield sense.

The Strokes Post #233

Connor from the UK was nice enough to send me a bootleg called Triple J and I was about to publish a post with all of the tracks until I realized that it was a bootleg I already had...labelled as "live at the wireless". the moment of realization was when I heard Jules call NYC Cops a love song. oh well, y'all might as well give the bootleg another listen, it's gold!

thanks anyways Connor! and if any of you ever stumble upon a live version of "Fear of Sleep", send it to me, because Connor is dying to hear it.

I am such a shameless Is This It junkie, these bootlegs make me salivate. the band clearly sounds young here (and in other similar 2001 performances): the cadence is faster, yet more deliberate. I love it.

The Strokes Post #232

I miss this Jules. the one who didn't let his record label fuck his fans over. I really am quite pissed over Phrazes, but I know for a fact that my anger will dissipate when I hear the album. alas, I am terrible at being patient.

The Strokes Post #231

I'm in a concert mood today.

The Strokes - Wireless Festival, 21 June 2006 [ZIP FILE, ENTIRE CONCERT]


I think I actually have all of the videos to this concert somewhere on my external harddrive. I'll upload them to youtube soon.

1. Heart in a Cage [mp3]
2. You Only Live Once [mp3]
Julian adds some interesting lyrics near the end =)
3. The End Has No End [mp3]
I was singing this song really loudly (alongside Jules in my headphones) after my run yesterday, and scared a couple of my elderly neighbors who were in their front yard
4. Red Light [mp3]
5. Juicebox [mp3]
6. Someday [mp3]
7. Electricityscape [mp3]
8. Hard to Explain [mp3]
introduced with Julian singing a snippet of a very famous Franz Ferdinand song...as if the song weren't epic enough already XD
9. Last Nite [mp3]
I thank the universe every day for The Strokes.
10. Ize of the World [mp3]
hear that crowd go. I am so very green with envy.
11. Reptilia [mp3]
12. Ask Me Anything [mp3]
13. Vision of Division
14. Barely Legal [mp3]
15. New York City Cops [mp3]
16. Walk on the Wildside (Lou Reed cover) [mp3]
17. Take It Or Leave It [mp3]

what a masterfully created setlist. I love that they played "Ask Me Anything" at a festival. personally, I think the song is genius, but I could see how a person not familiar with The Strokes might be put off by it. yet they have the audacity to play it in front of such a large crowd, despite Julian claiming "it's pretty much a guaranteed bad idea". I love that.

unfortunately, like most of their 2006 concerts, their are almost no songs from Room on Fire.

Sunday Morning Covers

ZIP FILE

1. metric - the end has no end (the strokes)
2. arcade fire - i'm so bored with the use (the clash)
3. john mayer - kid a (radiohead)
4. death cab - love song (the cure)
5. rufus wainwright - somewhere over the rainbow (judy garland)
6. nirvana - my sharona (the knack)
7. no age - it's so quiet (bjork)
8. the wombats - patience (nick lachey)
9. eels - i'm a loser (the beatles)

The Strokes Post #230

I just realized that I forgot to do a Strokes post yesterday. I had a chance to go online, but erm it must have slipped my mind.

Band of the Week: Arcade Fire

I love Arcade Fire, and their orchestral sound is especially electrifying while one is under the influence of mind altering substances. They have produced two perfect albums, and their live shows are said to be unparalleled. The band is currently working on their third album (which I am eagerly awaiting, especially because of the subsequent tour), while enjoying being featured on the trailer to Where The Wild Things Are

The thing I really like about Arcade Fire is that they don't try to be quirky or deliberately unique and nothing ever seems forced from them. Their perfectly balanced sound is a result of their naturalness; the smart way with which they approach music lets their craft speak for itself. They are dedicated to their musicianship, and leave the silliness to other bands.

Their music includes baroque elements without sounding sleepy, on the contrary, it's quite stimulating. They are one of a handful of bands that I am dying to see in concert. Arcade Fire consists of Win Butler, his wife Regine Chassagne, Richard Reed Perry, William Butler, Tim Kingsbury, Sarah Neufeld, Jeremy Gara and Owen Pallett, who play various instruments that get your blood tingling. They even did a cover of a Clash song, check it out in this week's Sunday Morning Covers.

Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) [mp3]
from Funeral

Arcade Fire - No Cars Go [mp3]
from Neon Bible

this is one of my favourite videos on youtube:


visit the band on MYSPACE