já passou uma semana do ultimo post? acho que não. mesmo assim, taí!

bom final de semana!

Foram eleitas a melhores músicas da década, e sinceramente esperava mais…

Eis a lista

1. Beyoncé – “Crazy in love”  – como diria o kanye west: “Single Ladies é a melhor música da década”
2. MGMT – “Time to pretend”
3. The Strokes – “Hard to explain”  – existem músicas deles que são melhores – Reptilia, Someday, Electricityscape…
4. MIA – “Paper planes”  – também existem música melhores dela – Pull up the people, 10 dollar, bucky done gun
5. Outkast – “Hey ya!”  – ainda lembro do estardalhaço com essa música, mas depois de eles deram uma bela sumida
6. The Rapture – “House of jealous lovers’
7. Klaxons – “Golden skans”
8. Blur – “Out of time”
9. Arcade Fire – “Rebellion (lies)”
10. Arctic Monkeys – “A certain romance”
11. The Libertines – “Can’t stand me now”
12. The Streets – “Dry your eyes”
13. The Walkmen – “The rat”
14. The White Stripes – “Seven nation army”
15. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Bang”
16. Rihanna – “Umbrella”
17. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Maps”
18. Outkast – “Ms Jackson”
19. Radiohead – “Reckoner”
20. Hot Chip – “Over and over”

Sobre o resto, não comentarei muito… A lista foi produzida pelo seminário inglês “NME”, o que esclarece o motivo de não haver outro tipo de música, ao não ser aquela relacionada com o idioma inglês… e também a maioria dos músicos serem ingleses…quero um dia poder ver uma lista que também envolva músicas com outros idiomas, existem músicas muito boas por aí e que não são cantadas em inglês.

. 

I made this when I was thirteen. Gotta say I was pretty cool.

Let’s Push Things Forward- The Streets

Add It Up-The Violent Femmes

Voodoo Lady- Ween

Galang- MIA

The Safety Dance- Men Without Hats

Panda Panda Panda- Deerhoof

Sound is Vibration- Atmosphere

Sweet Troubled Soul- stellarstar*

Caring is Creepy- The Shins

Pink Bullets- The Shins

Daft Punk is Playing at my House- LCD Soundsystem

Dropout Boogie- The Kills

Last Resort- The Dead 60’s

Riot Radio- The Dead 60’s

The Quiet Things No One Ever Knows- Brand New

Say Yes- Elliot Smith

Yellow- Coldplay

The Crown of Love- Arcade Fire

Wake Up- Arcade Fire

Rebellion(Lies)- Arcade Fire

Who doesn’t love a good indie Christmas song?

1. Christmas Party – The Walkmen
2. It’s Only Christmas – As Tall As Lions
3. Happy Christmas (War is Over) – Damien Rice
4. Splitting up Christmas – Kevin Devine
5. Christmas Time is Here Again (Bring Out the Joy!) – My Morning Jacket
6. Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved it!) – Sufjan Stevens
7. Happy Christmas (War is Over) – Thrice
8. White Christmas – Bright Eyes
9. Jinglebell Rock – Arcade Fire
10. Happy Christmas (War is Over) – The Polyphonic Spree
11. It’s Christmas Time – Yo La Tengo
12. Holly Jolly Christmas – The Format
13. The First Noel – Bright Eyes
14. Get Behind Me, Santa! – Sufjan Stevens
15. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Death Cab for Cutie
16. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Daphne Loves Derby
17. The Christmas Song – The Raveonettes
18. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Bright Eyes

Download

Lo tenia rezagado entre mis bookmarks cual niño aban….va no…es demasiado temprano para abrirme las puertas del infierno un poco más.

Arcade Fire Presents

Neon Bible, Interactive Video

You’d be forgiven at the moment for thinking we were nearing the end of a decade. The interwebs have been awash of late with more countdowns, best ofs, top tens and general reminiscences of the 2000’s then you could poke a digital stick at. Suddenly everybody is a critic, and while some of the countdowns have been insightful and thought-provoking, others have been….well, like this one. For the nostalgic, these countdowns are practically memory-heaven. But for those who don’t buy into that sort of stuff, it gets a little tiring. So, what better than to list some of the best (and worst) ‘best-of’ lists currently clogging up cyber-space?

Pitchfork: P2K

Over the past months American music site Pitchfork have taken an in-depth look at the decade in music. Way back in the dark ages of 2001 the site barely existed, but since then has grown to be one of the most formidable online music news and reviews sites on the net. Not only does P2K count down the best albums, songs and music videos, it also features a series of essays detailing some of the more interesting developments in music over the past ten years. Of particular note is the ‘Decade in Indie’ and the social history of the mp3.

Highlights
Best Album: Radiohead- Kid A
Best Song: Outkast- B.O.B.

Paste Magazine: The 25 best Album Covers

Slightly more obscure is Paste magazine’s countdown of the best album covers. It has been argued that as digital sales boom and physical CD sales decline, the quality of modern album art is going steadily downhill (as this cover would seem to prove). Regardless, Paste have put together an interesting countdown, which includes the likes of The Flaming Lips, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire and Lil Wayne. Whoever decided to award Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone cover as number 1 though needs to go back and re-take primary school art classes.

Highlights
Number 1: Neko Case- Middle Cyclone
Number 2: Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion (and rightly so)

The A.V. Club: The 30 best TV Shows

The problem with critics is often that their views on what is ‘good’ differs from the majority of the viewing public. Which is a shame, but it’s also the reason why most of the shows on the A.V. Club’s list of best TV shows of the decade have either ended or been cancelled. Still, it’s a formidable list. The top 3 (The Wire, Arrested Development and the Sopranos) are undoubtedly some of the finest productions since television’s inception, let alone in this decade. Other notable shows include Mad Men, Lost and The West Wing, just scraping in at number 30. The best part of this countdown though is the shitfight in the comments as to what constitutes a ‘decade’. Hilarious.

Highlights
Number 1: The Wire
Number 15: Veronica Mars
Number 22: Six Feet Under

News.com.au: Moment of the Decade

Oh, News.com.au. Purveyor of fine, quality journalism. Not content with simply telling Middle Australia what the best bits of the noughties were, good old Rupert has gone and encouraged everyone to name their own favourites! For anyone that’s ever read the comments to any article on the site, that should be enough to click your way on over. In case you need any more incentive though, today’s category is ‘Killers, Haters, Tools: Choose the Villian of the decade’. Apparently Kyle Sandilands and John Mayer are in the same league as Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Who would have thought? The fun doesn’t stop there. Oh no siree, it doesn’t. For you creative types, you can even have a go at naming what the next decade should be called! An issue of utmost importance, of course. Seriously, the sooner this site becomes paid-only, the better.

Lowlights
Pop Culture
Money
Sex & Life
…actually, just spend a good 15 minutes trawling through the site. It’ll make your day.

Times Online: The 100 Best Movies of the Noughties

Slightly more classy news outlet Times Online went all out and counted down the top 100 cinematic releases of the decade. With everything from political drama Milk to Roman-epic Gladiator to comedy Knocked Up, the list does well to cater for everyone…up until the odd choice of The Bourne Supremacy/Ultimatum at number 2 (So really it should have been the best 101 movies). And Team America World Police in the top 5? You must be joking.

In Brief
Number 1: Hidden
Number 16: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Number 34: Finding Nemo
Number 64: Anchorman

Well that’s about it. Some of the best (and worst) countdowns of the best (and worst) things to happen in the noughties. Of course, a quick google search will reveal thousands more best-ofs then the ones here. But really, is there much point? When it comes down to it, who gets to decide that Franz Ferdinand is better than Hot Chip? Or that Monsters, Inc. deserves to place ahead of Pan’s Labyrinth?

Perhaps the best countdown of the decade should go to Hungry Beast. They look at the ten best years of the 2000’s. You can check that out here.

]]> http://ibzradikal.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/plutocracia/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:20:20 +0000 hook http://ibzradikal.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/plutocracia/

¡Despierta!…… Wake Up!

Ay ay these catch up posts of mine… probably too long. But it’s funny when I’m going through and realize I don’t even remember what I ate for breakfast two days ago without looking at pictures

That breakfast was the ever-glorious pumpkin oatmeal. With an extra-large scoop of Mighty Maple, because I woke up with extra-large hunger.

Then I got to some serious business and did some major cooking and prep for Thanksgiving. Let’s see… it started with cranberry sauce (which took all of the power within me to not eat with a spoon on the spot), then some delicious pumpkin dip (with this “cream cheese”), over 12 cups of vegetable broth (I will never buy boxed/canned broth again!), chopping up broccoli, carrots and celery for a veggie platter, chopping up kale and putting together a massaged kale salad for dinner, putting some black beans in the crock pot to soak, cooking up the last frozen chicken breast (for Chris’s lunch), and cooking tons of brown rice (for Chris’s lunch and a curry dish I’ll be making up tonight). Phew! By the time this was all finished I was more than ready for the lunch I had been dreaming about ever since I picked up avocados (10 for $10!) and tomatoes at the grocery store.

Smashed avocado and tomato on toast, sprinkled with salt and pepper. Plus some frozen cherry goodness on the side.

The avocado and tomato on toast combo is one of my favorite things. However, that 1/2 of an avocado did not keep me full for long. This led to lots of snacking… and no pictures. At first it was what I would call good snacking (legit hunger), but I have problems snacking because I don’t feel full and I just want to snack more. There was a dish with a soy yogurt, cranberry sauce and Grape-Nut mix (delicious!), but it led to blue corn chips and salsa which led to a chocolate bar dipped straight into the peanut butter jar. I really have a problem with afternoon snacking when I am home by myself all day Something I need to deal with though when I don’t make myself a filling enough lunch to hold me over until dinner!

Not surprisingly (for me), I was still plenty hungry for dinner. I had offered to pick Chris up from campus though after a long day, so it was divided up into two three parts. Probably an hour before picking him up I had the massaged kale salad (Gena, I have you to thank for my new-found love of kale) I prepped in the morning, then on the way to pick him up I had an Awake Glo bar (I could do an entire post about how much of a genius this lady is). Once we were home I opened the bag of Stacey’s Cinnamon-Sugar pita chips… somehow, we only ate half the bag.

But yesterday (Tuesday) was a new day. For breakfast I did some measuring to see if I was giving myself enough cereal or yogurt (no and no). And you know what? I was full and happy until lunch time (success #1)!

1 c. plain Whole Soy yogurt + 1/4 c. cranberry sauce + 1/2 c. Grape Nuts

I really wanted exactly what I had had the day before for Tuesday’s lunch, so I had it – but with a whole avocado (and frozen mango instead of cherry). Even yummier and it kept me full (and happy) until dinner (success #2)!

After reading blog post after blog post about the sweet potato + black bean combo, I finally used it in dinner’s Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas. As you’ll see from my plate the corn tortillas didn’t hold together very well, the “cheese” didn’t really melt and it was very messy. It WAS totally delicious though and I am keeping it in the recipe folder – although next time I’ll make it without any “cheese” because with all the other flavors going on neither Chris nor I could taste it.

The steam is covering up the guacamole on the side… oh the guacamole. As I’m sure you’ve been able to see, I LOVE avocado and in guacamole form… well, I would be happy if I could eat guacamole every day for the rest of my life. And this recipe is my absolute favorite recipe; although I’ve made it so many times that by now I don’t need to get it out to make it. And there are leftovers!

Are you all fans of avocado? Chris doesn’t like it at all but says that in guacamole it’s tolerable. He’s nuts weird cute.

A década está acabando e não param de surgir listas das melhores coisas destes últimos 10 anos, essa história já ta ficando um pouco chata. Mas a lista da vez é bem legal, novamente a revista britânica NME fez a votação, desta vez para escolha das 100 melhores músicas da década. Legal foi que os brasileiros do Cansei de Ser Sexy entraram na posição 91 da lista, com a música Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above. Ta certo que eu gostaria que algo mais Rock ficasse em primeiro lugar, mas não da pra negar que a Beyonce tocou muito nesses últimos anos e arrebatou uma porrada de prêmios, não faz a minha cabeça, mas a mina é foda. De qualquer forma, tem MUITA coisa boa na lista, escute TODAS!

Veja aqui o Top 10:

1 – Beyonce - Crazy In Love (2003)

2 – MGMT - Time To Pretend (2008)

3 – The Strokes - Hard To Explain (2001)

4 – MIA - Paper Planes (2008)

5 – Outkast - Hey Ya! (2003)

6 – The Rapture - House Of Jealous Lovers (2002)

7 – Klaxons - Golden Skans (2007)

8 – Blur - Out Of Time (2003)

9 – Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies) (2005)

10 – Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance (2006)

E a lista completa no link: http://www.nme.com/list/100-tracks-of-the-decade/158050/

Listas, listas, listas…

Oh, las listas, que absurdas son pero como mola hacerlas. Elegimos los 50 discos de la década, los 25 míos y los 25 de eldrsaleabailar (próximo miércoles). Ambos coincidimos en algunas referencias, pero sobre la mayoría estamos en radical desacuerdo, he aquí mis 25, con comentarios hirientes propios de eldrsaleabailar.

1. The Strokes – Is This It

Indiegnado: Indudablemente, el disco de la década. Once autenticos himnos que han inspirado tanto a músicos como a simples mortales durante los 9 años que esta maravilla lleva con nosotros.

Eldrsaleabailar: Indudablemente, unos pijos medianías de NY que tuvieron la suerte de vivir (artisticamente) en la década más medianía de la historia.

2. Arcade Fire – Funeral

Indiegnado: Con su instrumentación barroca, sus melodías completamente particulares y diferentes, hizo que, por primera vez, la palabra épica adquiriera un nuevo significado.

Eldrsaleabailar: Uno de los pocos descubrimientos de Pitchfork que me hicieron volver a creer en la música después de los 90

http://musicwebzine.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/morrissey-you-are-the-quarry/

3. Morrissey – You Are The Quarry

Indiegnado: Con este disco, Morrissey volvia tras siete años de silencio. Y lo hizo con el mejor disco que ha firmado en solitario.

Eldrsaleabailar: Grandísimo, guapísimo y con la mejor canción de la década. Un recuerdo para la organización del festival en el castillo de Sohail, espero que no hayan levantado cabeza desde aquel despropósito.

4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell

Indiegnado: “Fever To Tell” es un disco de rock hecho en los 00, y cuando digo hecho en los 00 me refiero a que suena de esta decada, no es un revival, ni intenta copiar a nada anterior. Solo ellos consiguieron hacer un disco de rock, aportando algo más en estos ultimos 10 años.

Eldrsaleabailar: Vamos de sobrada en sobrada. Perdonadle, es joven.

5. The GO! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike.

Indiegnado: Ian Parton es el ideologo de esta autentica joya. Creando a partir del mash up sobre discos de los 70 y aportando voces y matices, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento y que en cada corte crea melodias perfectas. Tremendamente fresco.

Eldrsaleabailar: Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento” ¿QUÉ NO QUÉ?

6.Los Planetas – La Leyenda Del Espacio

Indiegnado: Siempre en progresión, siempre dando un paso más en su música, Los Planetas consiguen en “La Leyenda del Espacio” fusionar el flamenco con el rock, algo que nos intentaron colocar erroneamente con “Omega“. Ellos lo consiguen firmando algunas de las mejores canciones de todo su repertorio, desde “Ya no me asomo a la reja” hasta “Si me diste la espalda“.

Eldrsaleabailar:Lo único erróneo es tu animadversión a “Omega“, pieza clave de la historia musical patria.

7. Death Cab For Cutie – Transanlanticism

Indiegnado: Death Cab For Cutie son uno de los grupos que más vende en america, juegan en la liga numero uno del mainstream americano, algo que empezaron a conseguir tras su “Transantlanticism“, un disco de pop preciosista simplemente perfecto.

Eldrsaleabailar: Me aburren un poco. Para mainstream americano me quedo con Britney Spears.

8.Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Indiegnado: Animal Collective hacen la música que se deberia hacer en el siglo XXI, música actual que aporta algo nuevo y se olvida de esa estupidez estendida del “todo esta inventado” ellos demuestran que no, que aun se puede hacer algo nuevo que no suene mal, algo nuevo, que de hecho suena como nada más suena actualmente.

Eldrsaleabailar: Estoy de acuerdo, lo que no sé es si gracias a dios, nada más suena a ellos.

9. Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare

Indiegnado: El debut de Arctic Monkeys fue un golpe de aire fresco en el panorama musical, y supuso un disco que llevo la musica a aquellos oidos que la relacionaban con horteradas varias sin sentido. Pero lo mejor llego con su segundo disco, un disco que no se centraba en el hit instantaneo, sino que buscaba nuevos matices y nuevos sonidos.

Eldrsaleabailar: Los caminos del myspace son inescrutables.

10.La Casa Azul – La Revolución Sexual

Indiegnado: “La Revolucion Sexual” es un disco perfecto, hit tras hit y estribillo coreable tras estribillo coreable, los intentos anteriores habian  dejado grandes canciones, pero no es hasta esta revolucion sexual cuando todo suena engranado y menos organico, pero a la vez, más profesional, un sonido que le va mucho mejor a La Casa Azul.

Eldrsaleabailar: Guille Milkyway es lo más importante que nos ha pasado, si señor.

11. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

Indiegnado: Soplo de aire fresco. Los lideres del afroindie, con un debut mas que interesante lleno de cambios pero sonando siempre a ellos mismos. Increible.

Eldrsaleabailar:Increible, de inicio a fin, yo también caigo rendido y espero que el nuevo trabajo me siga hechizando

12. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

Indiegnado: Grandes. Su primer disco es una coleccion de hit tras hit, y con canciones tan míticas ya como “Take Me Out” o “Michael“.

Eldrsaleabailar: Grandes no, gigantes.

13. TV On The Radio – Dear Science

Indiegnado: “Dear Science” es el disco que mejor suena de Tv On The Radio, aunque muchos prefieran el anterior, en “Dear Science” alcanza una variedad de estilos, sonidos y matices que pocos han conseguido en estos 10 años.

Eldrsaleabailar: No me acaban de llegar, pero no se puede negar que no sean buenos

14. The XX – XX

Indiegnado: El debut de 2010. Ellos han demostrado que se puede tener 20 años, un par de guitarras y una caja de ritmos para crear un disco redondo y con un sonido exquisito, 11 canciones llenas de magia.

Eldrsaleabailar: Buff, empezó sin gustarme y ahora me empieza a encandilar, en mi lista no llegarían a tiempo.

15. Capitán Melao – Lágrima

Indiegnado: Si tengo que elegir un descubrimiento personal del underground mas underground me quedo con Capitán Melao. Un disco injustamente olvidado hasta por su creador, que desde entonces no ha vuelto a dar señales de vida al proyecto y con canciones tremendamente buenas.

Eldrsaleabailar: Si es tu disco fetiche nada tengo que objetar, para que no me taches de inmaduro

16. Astrud – Tú No Existes

Indiegnado: “Tú No Existes” es el disco mas pop de Astrud, esa música tremendamente recordable llena de arreglos electronicos y acompañadas de esas letras tan divertidas. Ni que decir que “Noam Chomsky” o “El Vertedero De Sao Paulo” son de lo mejor que astrud han firmado.

Eldrsaleabailar: ¡Increíble!, va el tío y escoge el menor de todos los discos de Astrud de la década, en fin…

17. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black

Indiegnado: La drogada mas mal vista del mundillo rosa, ¡canta! y ademas lo hace de una forma absolutamente espectacular. “Back To Black” es un disco imprescindible dentro del revival soul que se creo, en parte, gracias a ella.

Eldrsaleabailar: Me aburre

18. Triángulo De Amor Bizarro – Triángulo De Amor Bizarro

Indiegnado: El noise patrio, las ganas y la furia de los gallegos, todo eso esta contenido en el debut de TAB, un debut que pronto tendra su esperadisima continuacion. y dentro de ese debut una de las mejores canciones de la decada a nivel nacional, “El Fantasma De La Transición“.

Eldrsaleabailar: ¿Son tan buenos como para estar entre los 25 mejores?

Indiegnado: Rotundo sí.

19. Coldplay – A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Indiegnado: Coldplay son los nuevos U2, los herederos de los estadios, lo llenan todo, incluso un año antes, de locura. Pero esa euforia que se ha desatado en los ultimos años poco tiene que ver con el pop pianistico de los inicios, lo verdaderamente bueno de Coldplay

Eldrsaleabailar: ¡Viva La Vida! , ¡Afroditaaaaa! (Prefiero a dana internacional)

20. Ellos – Lo Tuyo No Tiene Nombre

Indiegnado: El primer disco de Ellos es el mas fresco, y punto. LLeno de himnos bailables y un aire muy divertido

Eldrsaleabailar: Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, ¡por fin algo bueno!

21. Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin

Indiegnado: El primer disco fue un disco aclamado en todos los medios, pero no fue hasta el segundo “Cease To Begin” cuando Band Of Horses alcanzaron su exquisitez musical, canciones pop rock con un aire americano realmente exquisito.

Eldrsaleabailar: Apenas les conozco, será por algo.

22. El Guincho – Alegranza

Indiegnado: Si tuvieramos que el artista nacional con mas proyeccion y que mas fronteras ha conseguido romper, ese es sin duda, El Guincho, por primera vez, un artista nacional no es tratado como secundario, sino que se coloca en las privilegiadas primeras posiciones, y ademas con un discazo absoluto como es “Alegranza“.

Eldrsaleabailar: Absolutamente de acuerdo

23. The National – Boxer

Indiegnado: El post punk ha sido el estandarte mas copiado e irritante de la decada, que si interpoles, editores, y catpeoples insulsos todos, pues bien, The National escapan de esas connotaciones y colocan su “Boxer” como un disco lleno de matices y buenas canciones.

Eldrsaleabailar: Disco precioso, de verdad, para escuchar con alguno de M. Ward.

24. Ladytron – Velocifero

Indiegnado: Viva el electropop de los 00´s y claro, vivan Ladytron. Cuatro discazos en siete años, el mejor, el último, un disco impecable.

Eldrsaleabailar: A mi no me ponen.

25. Sigur Rós – Takk…

Indiegnado: ¿y que seria de la decada sin la bizarrez extrema de Sigur Rós? Pues nada, lo suyo si que es autentica epica, sin el significado negativo.

Eldrsaleabailar: ¿sin?

It’s been a busy month of November so far, celebrating one year in London, starting new campaigns, moving out of my flat, having friends over… One thing I had time for though (but which did make the month a bit busier) was concerts. I used to go to a lot of them and it had been a few quiet months on that front. But old habits came back with a bang with the colossal Resistance Tour by Muse which I attended twice (both in London at the O2 arena and in Paris at the POPB). We discussed this for hours with friends (beforehand and afterwards) dreaming of our favourite setlist (our favourite Muse setlist would probably involve a 5 hours set! not very do-able). On my way back to London it got me thinking and I started extending the concept, dreaming of my perfect festival.

And I remembered that a friend of mine, Mr Omneo recommended me the Sony Fantasy Festival a few days before.

The whole point of the Festival is to create your perfect festival line-up with virtual money. You then have to create buzz around it in order to win prizes. To be fair I don’t really care about the prizes and the buzz part of it. I did spent an interesting time creating the line-up though: loved choosing the artists, creating my stages with like-minded artists, customising the colours, getting frustrated that some artists/bands I like don’t really fit with my line-up or simply are just dead, discovering friends’ line-up etc…

I wish Sony Fantasy Festival had pushed the experience even further: why not give us the opportunity to choose our dream festival venue? or time? I don’t know about you but I’d love a festival which would see Muse playing on the first level of the Eiffel Tower one month and then Arcade Fire on a beach in Scotland 3 weeks later and the XX playing Tokyo at night two weeks later. If it’s fantasy let’s make it complete!

Anyway… go check it out for yourself and maybe you’ll have as much fun as me.

Dot Dot Dash

5. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
We start off the list with an album that was released this very year. Will it stand the test of time? I dunno. (If it doesn’t, welcome to the top 5, Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem!) What I know is that this album gripped me the first time I heard it, and it has not let go. I just listened to it yesterday while mowing the lawn. I’ve listened to it in the car. I’ve listened to it in my living room while playing with my daughter’s toys (she may have been there too). What I’m trying to say is: It’s versatile. I pick up on something new with every listen.

4. Sufjan Stevens: Come on Feel the Illinoise
How can you not like this album? Even my mom likes this album. Direct quote: “This is a really strange time signature!” Yes, mom. Yes it is. Confession: I have not retained any knowledge of music composition despite years upon years of saxophone and piano lessons. I can’t even really read music anymore. But Sufjan obviously can. And I’m grateful.

3. Arcade Fire: Funeral
It’s rare that I can remember both the first time I’d heard of a band and the first time I listened to their albums. The first time I heard of The Arcade Fire was when Pitchfork listed Funeral as the best album of 2004. I summarily dismissed Pitchfork and snooty and elitist for selecting this band I’d never heard of. Oops. When I did finally listen to it, I was in my office, and the “ooo ooo ooo”s in the back end of the first track gave me chills, as if I was experiencing some sort of catharsis. But I was at work on some random day, and it was 8 in the morning. Now that’s good music.

2. The Strokes: Is This It
When this album came out, I was heavily into softer fare (think Guster). It’s pretty safe to say this fuzzed-out, wrong-noted, bad-singing, imperfect gem of an album changed my whole outlook. I wondered who are these down-on-their-luck garage-based recording artists, who were born sans silver spoon and have not a dollar to their name because of their decadent rock-n-roll lifestyle? Well…

1. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
I had extremely high hopes for this album; I followed the drama of Wilco being dropped from their record label then being picked up again by a subsidiary of that same label, and my anticipation built and built. Then I listened to it and it wasn’t at all what I expected, so I summarily dismissed it as snooty and elitist. (Sensing a pattern here?) But then I listened again, and again, and again, and again, and it just sort of burrowed its way into me. I think at one time I read an interview where Jeff Tweedy said they tried to build “space” into the songs to allow the listener to fill in the missing parts. Maybe that’s what makes this album so great.

I just got back from a quick weekend trip to Pensacola Beach with some friends. Usually I like to drive when I go on roadtrips because… well, I like driving a lot. I love the freedom it gives me. I love the front seat view to the world as I pass by. And I guess I like being in control. I was planning to drive this weekend, but after compiling all of our luggage, we realized we’d need a much bigger car, so Aaron drove his 4Runner, and I took a backseat. It was really quite refreshing.

One afternoon in the winter of 2007 when I was living in Salt Lake, I took Claire to my friend Jenn’s house to make gingerbread houses. It had snowed all morning, and I was worried we wouldn’t make it from Salt Lake to Sandy, but Claire was so excited about the activity that I didn’t want to let her down. We decided to brave the snowy roads. While stopped at a red light, I looked through the rear view mirror to check on Claire. She was busy tracing hearts in the foggy windows, and it instantly reminded me of the years I sat in the backseat. All the long drives to Cache Valley or Montana where I would follow raindrops down the window or play tic-tac-toe in the fog. The hours I spent daydreaming from the backseat. And I remembered this song by the Arcade Fire.

The Arcade Fire: In the Backseat

I love reading embedded critiques of “hipsters” and this so-called movement you can’t avoid if you’re 20-something and in a major North American city. (For the record, I’m not discrediting the rest of the world, I’m just admitting solidarity with Portland, OR.) Hipsters have been called nihilists, shamelessly turning inward and backward and not creating anything new. I would like to argue with and support this at the same time by pointing out that the music hipsters love, Independant Rock, is doing something magnificently new! They’re writing love song after love song set during or after the apocalypse!

That’s kind of twisted, isn’t it? It seems like I might be exaggerating a little, doesn’t it? Well, I’m hardly an expert, but here are a few for the record. (Please feel free to link me to more examples or arguments in the comments, I do believe that’s what they’re for.)

I had to include the Postal Service to prove to you that it’s not just the Canadians falling in love with the apocalypse like this.

So what do we call this syndrome? Apocophilia? Erotipocalypse? Armageddiniton?

..I’m sorry for that last one, I had to. Any other suggestions?

“Wait, they don’t love you like I love you,” pretty much sums up how I feel about Arcade Fire.  I’m working on a few music related posts and in the course of “researching” I came across this AF cover of “Maps” that I had never heard.

I love it in all its discordant, warbly, earnest awesomeness.

Arcade Fire – Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs Cover) at Pretty Much Amazing!.

A few months ago, I read the ultimate graphic novel, Alan Moore’s Watchmen. It is indeed an amazingly good book. I don’t normally cross over other media into this music based blog, but Watchmen is a story I read and can see it cinematically as well as imagining a great soundtrack to accompany it. I’ve seen the film yet, read first though as I thought it would be sacrilege to see it before i had read the novel. Although good, I have to admit that I was disappointed by it as a whole. It misses out major parts of the novel, but it is visually an impressive like-for-like copy. I even wrote notation on what i liked and what I didn’t, the dislikes out weigh the likes by a strong margin.

The soundtrack though, was one of the best things about the film, it had some inspired choices, including Hendrix. But, here is an alternative soundtrack formed from ideas when I first read the novel. I’ve compiled a short playlist to go with each of the 12 chapters of Watchmen.

Chapter 1
The Futureheads – He Knows

Chapter 2
Joy Division – Dead Souls

Chapter 3
Blondie – Heart of Glass

Chapter 4
Arcade Fire – My Body Is A Cage

Chapter 5
Radiohead – Karma Police

Chapter 6
Thom Yorke – Skip Divided

Chapter 7
The Strokes – What Ever Happened?

Chapter 8
Fleet Foxes – Heard Them Stirring

Chapter 9
The Cribs – Ancient History

Chapter 10
AC/DC – Back in Black

Chapter 11
Elle Milano – This Is How It Ends

Chapter 12
Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon

Listen and you’ll hopefully enjoy.

Girls are both a band of the moment and a band of the 70s. They don’t so much sound like they’re trying to imitate the sound of that era though, more like they haven’t heard any music since. The result makes it seems authentic to a past generation while also sounding like it is something we should be listening to now. Their debut album has gotten rave reviews from anywhere that is covering it and they have been rightly compared to the Beach Boys and,vocally at least, Elvis Costello. There is something stirring about their sound despite it being quite melancholic and mid-tempo for the most part, and after listening to it I have a desire to create, almost like they’re immediately inspirational. ‘Hellhole Ratrace’ was the first song that I heard by them and is amongst my top songs of 2009.

I don’t normally like bands that sound like Girls. The lo-fi aspect normally grates and, while I like the odd track, the prospect of an entire Elvis Costello album has never sounded appealing. But you don’t even have to listen to the lyrics to understand what the song is about, the music is both optimistic and downbeat, a song about a broken heart that you desperately want to move on from. And then you listen to the lyrics and they really are beautiful, a fresh take on that emotional state where you want to go back to feeling okay but you understand that you must grieve, that a smile awaits you at the end of your sorrowful journey.

And as the song builds towards its end and the guitars start to shrill in the background it feels a little like if The Beach Boys tried to cover Arcade Fire, lazily epic. But it is at this point that I started to feel that the song was taking me on a journey; the beginning was tough and sad and weepy, but by the time the refrain of ‘I don’t wanna die…’ kicks in at the end and the whole band are playing it no longer feels as though he’s alone or it’s difficult. It suddenly sounds promising. And wow is that refrain catchy, repeated over and over just as I was doing for days after I first heard it.

At 6:56 this is a long song but it doesn’t really seem so. If you tune out and just allow it to seep into your subconscious then you won’t notice the time pass. I personally recommend listening to it first on headphones, preferably out somewhere. And having been lucky enough to see this band on their last tour I urge you to go see them when they’re back if you like this song. The album is also good but this is a stand-out moment, not just for the album but for music as a whole this year.

The new Buttermilk Board of Washington State album, “Wake,” will feature a groundbreaking Arcade Fire sound, according to the band’s MySpace page. “We’ve worked very hard to be one of the many, many Indie bands with an original Arcade Fire sound,” said frontman William Turpit, “and, with the addition of a chick who plays accordion, I think we’ve found it.” The new album will be out in December.

Thanks to everybody who commented on my last blog post! I really appreciate you sharing your playlists with everyone and introducing us to some great new music!

As I was responding to your comments, something hit me. You guys have shown us an incredible ammount of support over the last few years. You’ve called your local DJs to request our music. You’ve come to our shows and purchased our CDs. And your votes have caused us to win more contests and get onto more playlists than I could count. Each of you has helped make what we do possible.

Last week was really cool because we had twenty people contribute to our post! But, our anlaytics show that hundreds of people read it. Why is that? I’m not sure. But I feel that it is – at least in some part – due to the fact that so often the creation and delivery of art is a one way street. I want to change that; so I’d like to invite you to take a moment to do three things:

1. Visit atris.wordpress.com (This will be more fun if everyone goes to the same page.)
2. Scroll down to the comment box and introduce yourself. Write a few words about anything you’d like. How did you first hear our music? What city are you from? What are your favorite movies? Pretend we just met at a coffee shop. If you’d like share your blog address, Twitter ID or someplace where we and other people can learn more about you that would be great too!
3. Check the box that says Notify me of follow-up comments via email.

Please don’t do this for us, do this for yourself and for everyone. It takes a certain amount of bravery to put yourself out there; but it’s worth it. We love to get to know people with similar interests, ideas, and opinions. And it’s really cool when group discussions are started. If you have something in common with someone who posts, let him or her know! It makes me feel great to see people responding to my comments, and I love to chime back in to share my thoughts.

Looking forward to meeting you!

-Mason

Beirut’s Zach Condon announced today that he’s in a new band Volcan Flamingo with Tim Kingsbury of Arcade Fire, Josh Todd of Bark Cat Bark, and Julian Koster of Neutral Milk Hotel. The group is working on a new vinyl EP limited to 500 copies on the record label 4AD, set for summer 2010. Check out his message here.

“Keep your eyes open and ears…open?”

No, no hago listas.

Ya estoy viejo para agobiar con la romería de una lista interminable.

Pero si me llevo ciertas cosas de esta decada dificil de nombrar.

Para empezar, The Arcade Fire.

Canadienses, de Montreal, llevan sobre sus espaldas todo el empuje que la prensa especializada les otorgo, y cierran los 2000 figurando en todas las encuestas dentro del Top 10 por su disco debut, Funeral.

De ellos yo elijo las cuatro canciones suyas que mas me impactaron.

Dos son de Funeral, dos de su segundo disco, Neon Bible.

Pump up the volume and enjoy !

Like trying to make a gourmet PB&J Arcade Fire has taken one of the simplest songs (yet one of the greatest) and added grandeur to it. With Win Butler and Régine Chassagne on vocals and the remaining 30 some odd members of Arcade Fire providing the arrangement without overdoing it and killing the integrity of the original work.

I don’t know how old this cover is but either way it’s still a good find.

It’s that time of the decade again. Making lists of favourite things from the past ten years. 

So, I’ll start with my top songs… note this will be subject to change…

1. Doves – There Goes The Fear (2002)

2. Arcade Fire – Rebellion (Lies) (2005)

3. Modest Mouse – Float On (2004)

4. Ian Brown – F.E.A.R. (2001)

5. Elbow – Forgot Myself (2005)

6. Sigur Ros – Hoppipolla (2005)

7. Glasvegas – Geraldine (2008)

8.  Radiohead – There There (2003)

9. Interpol – Not Even Jail (2005)

10. Charlatans – Oh Vanity (2008)

11. Arcade Fire – Neighbourhood (Power Out) (2005)

12. Arctic Monkeys – A Certain Romance (2006)

13. The Coral – Goodbye (2002)

14. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Whatever Happened to my Rock n Roll (punk song) (2001)

15. Libertines – Don’t Look Back Into The Sun (2003)

16. The Strokes – The Modern Age (2001)

17. Sufjan Stevens – Chicago (2006)

18. The Shins – Mine’s Not A High Horse (2003)

19. The Delays – Long Time Coming (2004)

20. Arcade Fire – Wake Up (2005)

21. Doves – Pounding (2002)

22. Radiohead – Everything in it’s Right Place (2000)

21. Four Tet – Unspoken (2003)

22. Bon Iver – For Emma (2008)

23. Badly Drawn Boy – The Shining (2000)

24. Elbow – One Day Like This (2008)

25. TV on the Radio – Wolf Like Me (2006)

26. M.I.A. – Paper Planes (2008)

27. South – Paint The Silence (2001)

28. The Music – The People (2002)

29. Grandaddy – Now It’s On (2003)

30. Oasis – Falling Down (2008) 

31. The Cribs – The Wrong Way To Be (2005)

32. Justice vs Simian – We Are Your Friends (2006)

33. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero (2009)

34. New Order – Crystal (2001)

35. Ranconteurs – Steady As She Goes (2006)

36. Kasabian – LSF (2004)

37. Queens of the Stone Age – No One Knows (2002)

38. Kings of Leon – The Bucket (2003)

39. Portishead – The Rip (2008)

40. U.N.K.L.E. – In A State (2003)

41. U.N.K.L.E. and Ian Brown – Reign (2003)

42. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood (2005)

43. The Electric Soft Parade – Silent to the Dark (2002)

44. The Verve – Love is Noise (2008)

45. The Killers – Mr Brightside (2004)

46. The Courteeners – Not Nineteen Forever (2008)

47. Mansun – I Can Only Disappoint U (2000)

48. Lupe Fiasco – Kick Push (2007)

49. Richard Ashcroft – C’mon People (Making it Now) (2000)

50. The View – Wasted Little DJ’s (2006)