Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Party In The USA


Miley Cyrus's Party In The USA is my new favorite song. First off, I did not think that I would like a Miley Cyrus song because I just have this instant thought of Billy and his mullet and his disgustingly-phrased heartbreak. But whoever is creating Miley and her image has got me hooked... It is sick how much I am loving the video right now. She looks so fun and her teeth are so perfect and white... I like it so much that the American flag wagging in the background doesn't even bug me... It makes me want to party in the USA with teenage girls in denim mini-skirts and hot pants... and I like how digitized her voice sounds.

Thanks John

Watch the high quality version on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M11SvDtPBhA

Something about the video is very campy and almost tongue-in-cheek... and it makes me think about how people who work in very commercial media fields have to cheese everything up to simplify it for public consumption... and that must be kind of fun, because a lot of the artwork created becomes very nonsensical (with all the hilarious back-up dancers, flag flashing, and confetti) and not so much to the consumers or promoters or distributors... of course, I've never been in this sort of position so I don't really know.. but that's how I would feel if I was the director of a Miley Cyrus video. It's kind of sick that the song was made to promote her Wal-Mart clothing line... and the CD is only available at Wal-Mart.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Lori & The Chameleons

Love love love this song: Lori & The Chameleons - "The Lonely Spy", 1980... it's just creepy and quirky enough to please most every bone in my body. Upon further research, I have found that this band only released two singles, both of which feature a desirable amount of male oohs and aahs... something I feel is lacking in the world of pop music. Below is a fabulously surreal video clip of 1908 Moscow that somebody geniusly paired with this song.... cuz there's no way out of Russia for the Lonely Spy and Me.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Health and Pale Saints


I love the new Health album: Get Color. It's very dark and beautiful, and almost sounds as if it could have been a Curve album, however, this song appears to draw some inspiration from another very worthy source... especially in the intro.

Health - "Nice Girls", 2009


Pale Saints - "Way The World Is", 1990

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Best Coast


I am really appreciating this new crop of musicians (Wavves, Vivian Girls, etc) that are drawing inspiration from the early 90s music scenes by combining shoegaze with grunge, which is interesting because those two genres were so separate from each other in the 90s. Like shoegaze, there is also a lot of Phil Spector/60s girl group influence in the sound of these new bands. Here's a song by Best Coast, a former/current member of Pocahaunted, that I'm really enjoying at the moment:

Best Coast - "When I'm With You", 2009

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Mazzy Star


I was at an open studio event and someone was playing this familiar and beautiful song: "Into Dust"... and I just had to stop and listen. Mazzy Star is one of those very important bands that I feel had a huge influence on music and people in general. They were always doing their own thing. Very dream-poppy, but American, with a slight country tinge, and always beautiful. I think someday they will be one of those classic bands that all of the hip young folks talk about... in a Velvet Underground, My Bloody Valentine sort of way. There is a reason why the vinyl format of "So Tonight That I Might See" rarely goes for less than $500 on ebay.

Mazzy Star - "Into Dust", 1993
Mazzy Star - "Roseblood", 1996

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Poppy Family


I love this band consisting of a married Canadian couple: Terry and Susan Jacks. They only released two albums, "Which Way You Goin' Billy" in 1969 and "Poppy Seeds" in 1971. The title track from their debut was a big hit. I really enjoy their simple melodies and lyrics with airy background vocals. There are certainly some Carpenters comparisons to be made. I first discovered them through Saint Etienne's "The Trip" compilation, one of the most consistently rewarding purchases of my life.

I am currently addicted to the following songs:

The Poppy Family - "Good Friends?", 1971
The Poppy Family - "Free From The City", 1969
The Poppy Family - "What Can The Matter Be?", 1969
The Poppy Family - "Where Evil Grows", 1971
Terry Jacks - "Concrete Sea", 1972

Monday, October 5, 2009

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Fanfarlo


This band sounds a lot like Beirut, using the same vocal inflections as Zachary Condon. Fanfarlo is a bit more upbeat though. I'm not sure who is copying who... or if the similarities are merely coincidental.

I really like this song with its flowing vocals and bursts of excitement. Also, the album cover is nice, at first glance, but then I noticed the crow mask thing, which seems like a "The Knife" rip-off and a bit overly dramatic. I'm such a bitch. The fact that their name possesses my name scores some points.

Fanfarlo - "Ghosts", 2009

Dodie Stevens


This song rocks. A nice little wholesome pre-gay-realization ditty.

Dodie Stevens - "Pink Shoelaces", 1959

Friday, September 25, 2009

Ninotchka


Ninotchka - "I've Got Wings", 1997

This is one of my most favorite songs ever. The song is very upbeat and shoegazey in a very poppy yet noisy way. The sound is different from other Shoegaze bands, and it was released at a time when sounding dream poppy was not very hip. The guitars or whatever that noise is is mesmerizing. This band only released one single and this link is the only other information I can find on them: http://www.grimsey.com/ninotchka.html

There is another band named Ninotchka that appears to be still together. I appreciate them also as they explore many genres with their music. There are many free downloads on their website: ninotchka.co.uk Cinderella, One Girl Rumba, and Capricorn are my favorites.
Ninotchka - "One Girl Rumba", 2004

Miranda Lee Richards





Miranda Lee Richards released an album this year, featuring "Early November" and its dreamy video.

Here's another dreamy, beautifully shot, 70s style video from her previous album. This song was big in Japan, according to wikipedia.



I really appreciate it when a performer has a consistent look and feel to all of the promotional materials and artwork that coincides with their albums. This cover artwork and video shoot are similar in thought. There is a really cohesive feel to her music and visual artwork, showing that they/she really cared about the presentation of her artform.

Miranda Lee Richards - "The Long Goodbye", 2001
Miranda Lee Richards - "Ella", 2001

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Rainbow Toy Poodles


I kept on seeing this Rainbow Poodle picture on friends' facebook pages and I didn't know where the picture was from or what it meant... and I still don't... so I googled "rainbow poodles" and found this equally hilarious photo. This website is real. note the american flag background in the picture. http://www.rainbowtoypoodles.com/

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Big Pink - Dominos


The big single of the month. It's being heralded as the equivalent to 2009 as what MGMT's "Time to Pretend" was to 2008. This one is a bit more catchy though. I like this band.

see also The Big Pink - Too Young To Love

Monday, September 14, 2009

We Have Band

We Have Band - You Came Out (Official Music Video) from We Have Band on Vimeo.


Great video for a great song. However, as expected, I still like the demo version better. This is my favorite new band... all of their songs are good (that I've heard). Their first ep is released this week on itunes only.
We Have Band - "You Came Out (demo)", 2008

Zalatnay Sarolta


Hungarian Popstar with longevity. It's unclear to me whether she is Sarolta Zalatnay or Zalatnay Sarolta, as I cannot tell which is her first and last name and she seems to be mentioned in both manners without consistency all over the internet.

This song is a live version, and it's the only one I seem to be able to find. Really great hand claps. There's a pretty good video of it on youtube.
Zalatnay Sarolta - "Boogie Woogie Láz", 1982

To show her versatility, here's another one, from the 60s.
Zalatnay Sarolta - "Hol Jar Ás Ezem", 1966

...and one from the 70s, a bit more aggressive
Sarolta Zalatnay - "Sracok Oh Sracok", 1971

Thoughts for today. Glee, Education, and Myspace


I just watched the season premiere episode of Glee. It's a good show. I would recommend it. It doesn't bury itself within the stigmas of either drama or comedy... so I guess it's a "dramedy". The show takes place at an American High School and the main character is a foxy Glee Club and Spanish teacher. There are many personal dilemmas amongst the cast of well-rounded characters. The best thing about the show is that it presumes intelligence upon the audience. The jokes are good and sometimes subtle and they made me laugh out loud. Hopefully, if the show is successful, there will be renewed interest in the Glee Clubs that seem to be dwindling from the curriculums of High Schools in this country.

Earlier today, my roommate informed me that she was the only art teacher at her high school, and she only teaches seniors... so there is absolutely no art education for any students from grades 9-11... and in grade 12 it is an elective. That's fucked up. The public school systems need to realize that art education is a core value and should be treated that way. I believe it should be mandatory at all schools. What is the purpose for people to go to school? To learn. Why do we have different courses? Because human brains are expansive and individual and in order to expand, they need to be shown a variety of ways of thinking. Math, Science, English, History, and the Arts are simply different ways of seeing the world. Art & Music lets people express themselves... it lets shine the basic, most important, lights of humanity. All of the answers are in art... and it's just a different way of thinking from math or science or english and should not be downplayed in our society. By shortening the level of art's priority in the educational system, people are being denied their rights to think the way that they think. It's as if we are being told that art is not important because it's already there in our heads. It's already in everyone's life. True. However, with the mind being clouded by all the other ways of thinking in schools, it is easy to forgot the core of human existence. We were created by formulas.. but people created the names and titles for them. We were created by cells but people created names. History is important, but once again, we, people, created our history. We need to bring it back to the center... and realize that art has the answers to human existence also... we just don't have the names for it. Art brings out the unexplainable. All courses are important in letting the mind explore the different realms of human existence and the means of explaining why we are here and how the world works.

Unrelated thoughts: Myspace has become a great historical archive for everyone's lives approximately 1 year ago when facebook somehow took over the social networking phenomenon. It's like a ghost town with all these unchanged remnants of what people were doing then: who they were talking to, who their "top friends" were, and their daily lives.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Furslide


I have always liked Furslide and have found myself listening to these two songs in particular lately:

Furslide - "Hawaii", 1998
Furslide - "Faith", 1998

This band is a bit more lyrically based than what I listen to usually, but I really love the string arrangements and the quiet, beautiful, yet slightly disturbing, undertones. Jennifer Turner also sings unlike anyone I can think of. Her style is clear and emotive but distant and restrained at the same time. Although these two songs are similar, their one album is really quite diverse and good... and its cd case is like a hardcover book... and it's produced by Nellee Hooper.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The Tears of A Clown


Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - "The Tears of A Clown", 1967

This song was in my head for the past three days and I could only remember the instrumental part... and it was driving me nuts... but now I've found it, so I'm ok.

Co-written by Stevie Wonder, The Tears of A Clown was released in 1967, but was not successful as a single until 1970 when it was released in the UK and it went to #1. The same year it was a #1 hit in the US on both Billboard's "Hot 100" and "Black Singles Chart".

Monday, August 24, 2009

Sealed With a Kiss


I have been listening to this song quite consistently the past few weeks. It's a good one. I really enjoy the echoey production of his vocals. The video features some pretty bad lip-synching and some oddly mesmerizing choreography.

Brian Hyland - "Sealed With a Kiss", 1962