I’m considering a move to Memphis.

No, not really. I’ve never been to Tennessee actually. Most of the states all around it, but somehow I’ve missed that one.

What I am considering is a move from wordpress.com to somewhere else, probably my own hosted wordpress blog, just not at wordpress.com. I am still researching my options and weighing the pros and cons of moving away from the warm safe but restrictive bosom of wordpress.com. This is all very uncomfortable for me but staying within wordpress.com will not grant me the control I would like to have (ever it would appear). So be it. I must spread my wings and take flight.

This song has been my theme song as I sit here scouring the web for information and “how to’s” on the subject. As part of the move I am also reviewing my registered domain options. The dot-com for MSotD appears to be taken by some proxy registrar. In other words, it might as well not be available, ever. So I may have to go with something else entirely. I may have to give my blog a new name to match too.

As always, I am open to any suggestions you may have on the topic OR any suggestions of what you would like my blog to include too! I am here for myself, but I also want all you peeps out there to be happy campers too with my “song a day” and “album a week” services. As a “DJ” or sorts I will drive the musical bus, but I am am flexible to requests and your thoughts.

PS: Up to this point I have only referred to myself as being in the Northeastern USA, but this song and the band is from my hometown so I’d like to pay tribute to my home town, Rochester, NY, where Chuck Cuminale and his band “Colorblind James Experience” created this song.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Cake
• Joeyess
• They Might Be Giants

I also suggest the music genre:

• College Rock

Click here for more info on Colorblind James Experience – The Colorblind James Experience – “Considering a Move to Memphis”.

I have no idea where you can buy the CD or MP3, but you can always listen to the song here:

Colorblind James Experience - The Colorblind James Experience

Ed Robertson, Canadian guitarist for Barenaked Ladies

Jonathan Coulton is the best thing to come along in geek music in ages.  Coulton is a Yale educated, ex computer programer turned geek rocker who play about a dozen instruments and has mastered the art of self-promotion.  His entire catalog is available online (many for free and everything comes with creative commons liscenses), his tour dates are partially based upon fans who have contacted him through his website, and he’s joined Daily Show regular John Hodgman on a book tour and on the show (twice I believe).

His music borrows from all aspects of geek culture.  He’s written songs about zombies, mad scientists, Flickr, engineering, math, and astronomy.  As if that didn’t cement the claim enough he also writes music for Popular Science and wrote the best piece of video game music in history, the ending credits song to Portal, “Still Alive”.

Oh, and lest it go unsaid he’s also really really good.  A lot of geek music gets by on the gimmick at worst, or clever lyrics without much musical talent at best.  But Coulton is a real musician who constantly pushes himself.  His Thing A Week Project was a particular standout, in which he tried to write a new song each week for a year, and managed to produce some of his best work in the process (I’m Your Moon, Code Monkey, Shop Vac).  And the live shows are pretty great too.

Ok, so Weezer are back with another hilariously misjudged take on the geek-rock/punk-pop formula they once had down to a t, and you can see it HERE.

The video is pretty much what you might expect here…femme fatale type lures band members towards certain harm…Rivers comes along, sweeps her off her feet and then, in a somewhat surprising move for Cuomo, rejects her in favour of his injured hombres. It’s all set in quite a kooky 1950s style, think Pleasantville, only with more nerds…

‘(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To’ is yet another disappointing return from what seems to be a career that is failing. Rivers can, and does, write brilliant pop songs but it seems that ‘The Green Album’ provided the last coherent move of the bands career. But to believe this seems…wrong. Despite the complete lack of consistency for the past decade it seems that Weezer somehow cling to affections in a manner that the likes of Ash, The Futureheads and The Darkness could only have dreamed of.

Does Rivers Cuomo have any taste?

My hopes for the new record are low, and that is being fairly generous. ‘The Green Album‘ was in hindsight not as glorious as it first seemed, ‘Maladroit‘ was patchy and ‘Make Believe‘ so bad that the biggest Weezer fans I know listened once and have vowed never to go back. ‘The Red Album‘ was Cuomo’s chance to prove his worth and he flunked it, the question is despite the saccharine sweet desperation of the latest single will people still give a fuck about this lot after what promises to be yet another ropey album?

I’m beginning to doubt it.

Jonathan Coulton makes geek rock sexy (photo by Dale May)

Jonathan Coulton is not your average folk singer, aside from being a very talented singer/songwriter (and damn sexy), he also has an incredibly smart brain I want to eat with a spoon.

Known affectionately as JoCo to his fans, he first achieved Internet fame with his Thing a Week project, where he released a new song every week for a year where he solidified his Geek Rock King for Life with Code Monkey, a song that explores the life of an externally grumpy software engineer with a “big warm fuzzy secret heart”. Geek girls around the globe exclaimed in unison “YES! Geeks ARE sexy!”

All of the songs he’s written are licensed Creative Commons by-nc and many are available to download for free. I’ve been to a few of his live shows and the crowd rapidly degenerates into a geeky sing-along with robots, monkeys and evil scientists. Plus he wrote a catchy song about the Mandelbrot Set.

Math songs that are sexy? JoCo, you can explain badass fractals to me anyday.

algo del G.R que deben conocer…

prontamente subire 2 discos de Weezer…

          Mr. Spock – Nerf Herder.

   Getting by – The Rentals

   Baby It’s Fact-   HelloGoodbye

   Always love – Nada surf

     Someone to love – Fountains Of Wayne 

I Feel Weird – steel train

Buddy Holly – Weezer

y por último un clásico…Peggy sue- Buddy Holly

saludos!

Matt Sharp, (center) American musician (Weezer, The Rentals)

Tracklist:

1. Cannibal Resource
2. Temecula Sunrise
3. The Bride
4. Stillness Is The Move
5. Two Doves
6. Useful Chamber
7. No Intention
8. Remade Horizon
9. Fluorescent Half Dome

Link

Shorthand Phonetics ‘09-09-09 [21, you will be fine]’ MP3 single (Tsefula/Tsefuelha Records, 2009)

Single terbaru dari Shorthand Phonetics. Setelah bulan Juli kemarin baru merilis Errors…, albumnya yang ke-tiga. One man band ini memang tergolong produktif dalam merilis rekaman. Tema lagu-lagunya juga konseptual (dari album pertama, hingga single teranyarnya ini), yakni tentang seorang gadis! Hahaha…

Single 21, You Will Be Fine ini dirilis pada tanggal 9 September 2009 kemarin (09-09-09). Tanggal yang mana dianggap sebagai angka keberuntungan. Tanggal yang juga (mungkin) adalah hari ulang tahun dari sang gadis pujaan hati Ya, rekaman ini terasa personal, karena lagunya-lagunya adalah ‘birthday gift’ buat someone special dari Ababil Ashari. Hehe…

Kalau di rilisan-rilisan sebelumnya, musik dari SP kental pengaruh 90’s indie-rock, power-pop, lo-fi, dll. maka di rilisan terbarunya ini lebih kental pengaruh musik pop-punk (ket: bukan melodic-punk ataupun skate-punk) California era awal 90-an. Era ketika punk-rock mulai menambahkan unsur melodi pop yang ringan. Musik punk-rock dengan sensibilitas pop ringan a la indie-rock, sloppy, quacky-vocal (bindeng/cempreng), geeky-lyrics, dan dibalut dengan kualitas rekaman yang lo-fi. Beda dengan melodic-punk/skate-punk yang merupakan perpanjangan dari hardcore-punk yang mulai menambahkan bagian melodius/harmonis di musiknya, sehingga terdengar lebih ramah (meskipun beat drums-nya tetap agresif dan cepat). Tidak, saya tidak akan membahas panjang lebar mengenai sejarah musik pop-punk di sini!…

Single-album ini berisi dua buah lagu, yakni: “21, You Will Be Fine” dan “3/4^th of Me Wants This to Happen”. Saya suka sekali dengan track kedua (it’s so early 90’s pop-punk!). Bagi yang menggemari musik-musik pop-punk California era 80-an akhir / 90-an awal, saya rasa single ini patut untuk kalian dengar!… – Dede

(kontak: www.myspace.com/shorthandphonetics dan unduh single-nya di: http://archive.org/details/tse-records )

Genre musik: (early 90’s) California Pop-Punk, Geek-Rock, Indie-Rock

Untuk penggemar: Screetching Weasel, The Descendents, Iconoclasts, (1993 era) Blink-182.

Money quote from Carnap opening They Might Be Giants‘ “Science is Real“:

The song is cute, though. And, of course, science is real

[Via PZ Myers]

Dopo avervi fatto sentire la cara Maria, eccoci con un’altra splendida canzone, ecco una corredata da un video che tanto ricorda la pubblicità della Scottex.
Island in the Sun è della band rock alternativa degli Weezer è il secondo video fatto per la canzone ed è diretto da quel mito assoluto di Spike Jonze. Se non sapete chi è, cercate i suoi video musicali su YouTube ha diretto perle che prima o poi diventeranno Commatunes quali Sabotage dei Beastie Boys, Weapon of Choice di Fatboy Slim, It’s In Our Hands di Björk … solo per dirne alcuni. Per la band più amata dai geek d’America ha già diretto il geek anthem Buddy Holly che manco a dirlo ha un video MAGNIFICO, ma non temete prima o poi diventerà anche lei Commatune. Bene, questo è il secondo video girato a Los Angeles ed ecco che tre dei quattro membri del gruppo (il bassista Mikey Walsh era stato mandato via dalla band) il frontman Rivers Cuomo, il batterista Pat Wilson e il chitarrista Brian Bell giocano con un gruppo di animali, un’idea geniale per un video e una canzone magnifica. Su Mtv la passavano mentre una della due commari si era appena trasferita a Roma e non si sa perché questa canzone le ricorda la sua amata Calabria.
Amiamo questa canzone perché entrambe da bambine sognavamo di prendere il tè con una scimmia vestita come noi e poi ma lo vedete com’è tenero????

Hip, hip, hip

Sentitamente vostra,
Maria (Rivers) Cuomo

Video: http://www.vimeo.com/2559553

This is not my week. My iPod has stopped working. It appears to be so low on power it cannot make it all the way through the boot up process (at least that is what my research tells me) and the best way to fix it is to charge it in an outlet charger instead of the USB cable. Unfortunately I don’t have one of those, and so now I am waiting for it to be shipped to me.

Then G’s laptop stopped charging entirely because it is a Dell and the adapter has a special wire that tells the computer it is a Dell adapter and it is probably either borken or fried due to our insufficient use of surge protectors (or at least that is what my research tells me, once again) and so we are awaiting a new adapter too, though she can use her laptop still, just the batter refuses to charge unless the adapter is Dell. Annoying as hell and the adapter is stupidly expensive but it gets better.

Then last night between 6 and 8 PM my computer’s hard drive dies. I spend all the remaining hours that any electronics store is open trying to see if I can get it to come back to life, but no. (My research tells me) I am screwed and my best bet if I care about anything on the drive is to go buy a new drive and set up the old one a a slave. I’ve done that before, but now it just seems like maybe I should not be touching any computers for a while.

I am fearful of what computer or electronics component will fail next. I did nothing to cause any of these (except perhaps the iPod… I let it get too low.) Perhaps the router will die next? The DVD player? Our TV?

As the saying goes “when it rains it pours”. “When It Rains It Snows” seems like a nice twist to it though. Because I don’t even feel like I have time to deal with this because I already had a weekend full of plans. Excuse me now as I go and scream! (And then go to the store to buy a new drive!)

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Gorillaz
• The Pixies
• R.E.M.

I also suggest the music genre:

• College Rock

Click here for more info on They Might Be Giants – Miscellaneous T – “When It Rains It Snows”.

The CD may be purchased here:

They Might Be Giants - Miscellaneous T

Track 2: Birdhouse in Your Soul: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=52033958

This was the second album I bought. Ever. Crazy that I remember, but I stand by my purchase to this day. They Might Be Giants’ is definitely a favorite of mine to this day. I have seen them in concert enough times I’ve lost count.

Their songs are clever, funny, fun, quippy, and easy to sing along to. They are musical geeks and as a geek I appreciate them immensely. They are arguably one of the fathers (if not THE fathers) of “Geek Rock”. Over the years they have solidified their geekiness by producing songs, and entire albums, packed with facts and trivia. On top of that they wear their quirkiness on their sleeves and show it in their dancing (just watch the “Birdhouse in Your Soul” video) like geek heroes!

This, their third album, is the one to start with. You’ll be singing it in the car in no time, just like Olive Snook and Aunt Vivian Charles in the show “Pushing Daisies”.

Here are my 5 favorites from the album, with “Birdhouse in Your Soul” being my favorite. Definitely check out the “Tiny Toons” videos for “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” and “Particle Man”.

Track 2: Birdhouse in Your Soul
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=52033958

Track 4: Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2213270

Track 7: Particle Man
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2213366

Track 10: Someone Keeps Moving My Chair
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kU7ifODMnU

Track 12: Minimum Wage
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/730860/minimum_wage/

I admit, I’ve been holding out on by not posting any TMBG up until now. More to come for sure! And yes I chose the 47 seconds long “Minimum Wage”. It is just brilliant. Nay… genius! I’m still geeking out about it.

Click here for other album suggestions!

Click here for more info on They Might Be Giants – “Flood”.

The MP3 album may be purchased here:

They Might Be Giants - Flood

Hittade till detta band pga min och Kyle Divine’s crush on cheese. Han var med i LA ink och fick en memorial tattoo dedicated to cheese.

Cheese…mmmm.

Iallafall är Dusty Rhodes and the river band catch-y och folk rock-y och när jag ser på bilder av bandet så får jag så starka Dengue Fever känslor.

Gillr verkligen deras sound, folk rock är alltid välkommet i mina hörlurar. Heck, allt med folk som prefix/suffix/i-fix funkar för mig. Neutral Milk Hotel’s låtar är på repeat och Jonathan Coulton tillsammans med Ben Folds med beloved geek rock hörs också rätt så ofta.

Palace and stage är en favorit.Lyssna här!

I Fight Dragons is a Chicago-based band that incorporates traditional rock insturments with 8/16-bit video games sounds from the NES and SNES. Using controllers, guitars and drums to make a sound like very few others have tried in the rock/indie/are they emo? catagory.

I Fight Dragons- They also beat up Bowser reguarly

For me, its always cool to see a band rock out with the superhero tee’s. But It’s also nice to see them incorporate “new” sounds. 8-bit music has been around for a while now but no one has gone as far as to use the actual controllers to make these sweet melodies.  I Fight Dragon’s debut album is on their Myspace (digital or hard copy, but who buys CD’s these days?).

Check em out if you like rock mixed with your NES classics.

~Sean

Vuelvo a escribir sin muchas novedades, pero con más letras de canciones que no se pueden encontrar en otro lado. Aunque hace algún tiempo que no los escucho (por es simple hecho de que hace un tiempo que no escucho nada), no dejan de gustarme, así que acá van las letras de otra linda canción.

 
In English:
Finally I got down to write a new post, without anything new to tell, but with more lyrics that can’t be found elsewhere. Although I haven’t listened to them in a while (because of the simple fact that I haven’t listened to anything in a while), I still love them, so here go the lyrics of another nice song.

 

Missing Piece


Just when I thought
that there was no one else,
that we’d run into a wall
and we’d have to start again


I really thought that
that was all there was
that I’d shoot up my gun
and they take up running


I’m searching for the perfect time
shouldn’t be that hard to find
[they want you to pass the time]
and then we found a perfect time
that wasn’t so hard to find
that missing piece of us


I’m not exactly sure just how or why
that it came to be this way
and what follows every day


I’m not unsure about the choice we made
cause i know it’s for the best,
wouldn’t change it for a thing


I’m searching for the perfect time
shouldn’t be that hard to find
[they want you to pass the time]
and then we found a perfect time
that wasn’t so hard to find
that missing piece of us


Don’t think I overlooked,
it’s not that hard to see
that you’re a major part
of what we’ve come to be


waiting for that time
for [missing word] and saying goodbye,
it won’t happen
it won’t happen


I’m searching for the perfect time
shouldn’t be that hard to find
[they want you to pass the time]
and then we found a perfect time
that wasn’t so hard to find
that missing piece of us

As I was looking for something to post on today I stumbled upon Geek/Nerd Rock which seems to be the only genre that I can think of that is based soley on how the artist or performers appear rather then the actual type of music they play. There are some general lyrical themes that are associated with this genre such as isolation, lonliness, and a failed love life but the last time I checked most songs were about at least one if not all three of those subjects.

There is a debate on Wikipedia’s Talk: Geek Rock page as to whether Geek Rock should be included as a genre on the site or not. For the most part the contributors seem to agree that it is not an official genre as it has no defining sound, there are no reliable sources and all the bands listed under this genre on Wikipedia are categorized into a well established genres already.

Categorizing a band within a genre is already a much debated topic even with genres that have specific, albeit unwritten, rules for what type of music would fall into a certain genre. But having a genre that has no sound assigned to it at all, that’s just insanity.  How would the decision be made? If this bands lead singer wears penny loafers with black socks they are Alternative Rock while if this guy wears penny loafers with white socks they are Geek Rock? Who makes that call?

Do me a favor and stop making up genres.

Overview:

Two years ago, TV On The Radio was on the verge of becoming one of my favorite bands. Then came the night of March 8, 2007. I purchased a ticket to see them perform at The Vogue Theater in Indianapolis (aka: the Sodom and Gomorra of the Midwest). The Vogue is a 21+ venue, which shouldn’t have been a problem because I was 22 at the time. However, my driver’s license had expired, making me ineligible to get in, even though I had documented proof I was old enough to enter the putrid venue. So the evening ended with my “friends” watching the show while leaving me to sit alone in the car for over three hours.

Since then, I had been reluctant to listen to this band. While it was in no way their fault (in fact, I met two band members while waiting for my “friends” to exit) listening to them just brought back memories of that cruddy night. This reason, mixed with my non-existent cash flow, made me reluctant to purchase their new album “Dear Science.” After several months, I finally bit the bullet and bought it. After a few listens, I can officially say that all is forgiven.

Review:

“Dear Science” is an eclectic celebration of everything art rock is supposed to be. The band fuses together elements of rock, jazz, hip-hop, ska and damn near every other genre under the sun making it virtually impossible to predict what’s going to happen next. While such an experimental take on music making came sometimes have messy and disastrous results, TVOTR balances all these elements perfectly, making the album every bit as enjoyable as it is unpredictable.

While the music is outstanding, the lyrical content is where the album shines brightest. Singer Tunde Adebimpe’s vocals paint a disturbingly accurate portrait of living in America’s current state of unrest. “This is beginning to feel like it’s curling up slowly and finding a throat to choke,” Adebimpe sings on “DLZ,” the albums strongest track. And on “Red Dress” when he belts out “I’m scared to death that I’m living a life not worth dying for,” only an asshole (ie: a successful person) cannot relate.

It’s not all gloom a doom, however, which give the album a great balance. “Golden Age” gives hope that a, well, Golden Age, is fast approaching, placing this optimistic view over a groove so boogeylicious it wouldn’t be out of place if played at a roller rink dance circle (if such a practice still exists). The album closes with “Lover’s Day,” an anthem celebrating the art of performing sexual intercourse so vibrate and vivacious the police have to be called. And while it will make several people (me especially included) feel inadequate about our own love-making abilities, it’s a good final break from the albums more serious topics.

It took a lot for me to get over that grave March evening of 2007, and while I still would not hesitate to dance on the ashes of The Vogue if it were ever to burn to the ground, my hostility no longer spills over towards TV On The Radio. “Dear Science” is a firm reminder as to why I was forming such affection for them in the first place and it may be their best work to date.

Track List:
1. Halfway Home
2. Crying
3. Dancing Choose
4. Stork & Owl
5. Golden Age
6. Family Tree
7. Red Dress
8. Love Dog
9. Shout Me Out
10. DLZ
11. Lover’s Day

Final Words:

Pros
• Brilliant and poignant lyrics
• Musically diverse
• Smart and most importantly, just pleasing to the ear

Cons
• The band came back to The Vogue last fall even though I implored them not to. Oh well, I guess if I made music this good I wouldn’t take career advice from a Kroger cashier either.

Score:

Overall: 9/10

Lyrics: 9.5/10
Music: 9/10
Originality: 9/10

This album, as well as their also excellent 2006 work “Return To Cookie Mountain” can be streamed for free at myspace.com/tvotr.

img via

On the 7th Day of Geekmas at Wired.com, blogger GeekDad is giving away Uncle Monsterface’s entire discography, some sweet stickers, and three limited-edition sock-puppet portraits made by Monsterface frontman Marty Allen.

Here are the albums you can win:

You can view all of the sock-puppet portaits here.

And you can sign up for the contest here!

Good luck and be sure to check out Uncle Monsterface’s music here! If you’re a fan of They Might Be Giants, Oingo Boingo, The Residents, Primus, and the rest of those crazy-weird bands, you’ll love these guys (they’re also very friendly too)!

Brian Bell, American guitarist (Weezer)