I remember being pretty shocked when I read that the RIAA was now going after their own promoters on Nah Right, but The New York Times gave the whole episode a full write-up in a lengthy article on Sunday. Now, I’ve only occasionally listened to hip-hop mix CDs (mostly when I was living in Brooklyn near the Fulton Ave mall and they were just there to try out). I’m not in to the acts that Drama pushes, but I thought it was funny in the way that the article described what they do:
The CDs made in The Aphilliates’ studio are called mixtapes — album-length compilations of 20 or so songs, often connected by a theme; they are produced and mixed by a D.J. and usually “hosted” by a rapper
Modest Mouse has put up the official version of “Dashboard” from the forthcoming record, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, due early this year. Check it out on their myspace page.
Well folks, the boys of Interpol have announced that they still arn’t any closer to releasing a new album. Most anticipated ‘08, anyone?
happy new year!
01. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank {3.20.2007}
02. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible {3.6.2007}
03. Radiohead - LP7
04. Les Savy Fav - New Album {03.2007}
05. MF Doom & Ghostface - Swift and Changeable {02.2007}
06. Zykos - Zykos
07. Jose Gonzalez - New Album on Mute
08. Justus League LPs: Chaundon, […]
01. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
02. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
03. French Kicks - Two Thousand
04. Cold War Kids - Robbers and Cowards
05. Wilderness - Vessel States
06. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
07. Destroyer - Destroyer’s Rubies
08. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
09. Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
10. Film School - Film School
topomodesto:
01. Two Gallants - Waves of Grain
02. Band of Horses - Funeral
03. TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me
04. I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness - Today / We Choose Faces
05. Zykos - Keep It Light
06. Cold War Kids - Hospital Beds
07. French Kicks - Keep It Amazed
08. Frightened Rabbit - Modern Leper
09. […]
topomodesto: (LA)
01. Jose Gonzalez : Hotel Cafe : 20 March
02. Jose Gonzalez/Death Vessel : Vista Theater : 5 October
03. Band of Horses/Earlimart/Josh Ritter : King King : 22 March
04. French Kicks/Matt & Kim : Troubadour : 21 August
05. Modest Mouse : Avalon : 5 Novemeber
06. Cold War Kids : Troubadour : 8 September
07. TV On […]
I wish I could sum up this year in a phrase as succinctly as, say, “Youtube killed the video star.” But the truth is MTV canned the video star long ago in favor of shows like Remote Control and Elimidate. Here are my favorites music videos from the year. I don’t especially seek these things out, so I’m sure I’m missing some good ones.
01. Bloc Party Girl - Banquet
I hope that this is either the beginning or the end of fan-syncing videos, because this girl is too cute, and life is too short to watch videos of people mouthing the lyrics to N-Sync songs.
02. Wolf Parade - I’ll Believe In Anything, You’ll Believe in Anything
From the moment that the gunshots go off in time with the drums, I was sold on this video. I’ve been adding my own gunfire to the song ever since.
03. Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up To Dry
The Kids playing to kids at a school. Next to Kool-Aid in the drinking fountains and no homework, this is pretty much every child’s dream come true.
04. The Boy Least Likely To - Be Gentle With Me
Proving the song to be adorable in more ways than 2, while also teaching an important lesson about not trusting cute stuffed animals around girlfriends.
05. I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkenss - The Owl
Artsy-fartsy goodness.
06. Gnarls Barkley - Smiling Faces
Dennis Hopper has made Gnarls Barkley his life’s work. The least you could do would be to watch this video.
07. Matt and Kim - 5K
Matt and Kim are cute even when they are hacking each other to bits. I need to have a house party like that.
08. Beck - Clap Hands (live on SNL)
Call it a gimmick if you want, but it is a well choreographed gimmick. The fact that they played the song live sitting at a dinner table was cool enough. The puppets just put it over the top.
09. Peter, Bjorn & John - Young Folks
The animation reminds me of Royksopp’s “Remind Me.” Add in cartoon whistling, and you’ve got all the elements necessary for an awesome video.
10. The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy
If The Hold Steady are destined to be a mainstream rock band, they are the kind of mainstream act that I like: Craig is straight out of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, the girls are hot, the pizza is cold. Make it count.
01. Little Miss Sunshine (dir. Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris)
02. Quinceañera (dir. Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland)
03. The Departed (dir. Martin Scorsese)
04. Fearless (dir. Ronny Yu)
05. Children of Men (dir. Alfonso Cuarón)
If I had any involvement in Pitchfork, I would (again) be embarrassed by their tracks of the year list. In a way their lists carry the same expected disappointment for me that new Nas albums have; you know how they will end up but you hold out a glimmer of hope that something will happen. I know the difficulty of pulling together such a list, but if I were to go off of their recommendations, I’d end up listening to some straight up kaka-poo-poo. For the past few years I’ve noticed their leanings towards the mainstream, but the makeup of the individual staff lists pretty much highlights up the problem. I think their writing is top notch and the layout of the site strong enough that they will continue to be a fixture for many years, but if they were ever to be eclipsed by another site, it will be due to the lack of personality you get from the staff in general. I think at some point somebody is going to either put a site together made up of the blogging ‘all-stars,’ or emulate the way that you get to know their personalities.