1. “Patiently” — Rilo Kiley:

2. “The Daylight” — Michael Runion & Z Berg:

3. “In Too Deep” by Sum 41 — Deryck Whibley on the verses & Avril Lavigne on the choruses

4. “Since U Been Gone” — Kelly Clarkson & Reba McEntire. Warning: Reba’s performance is ridiculous and embarrassing to watch.

5. “Portions for Foxes” — by Rilo Kiley, turned into a duet by Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst

To celebrate Thanksgiving, here are three songs for which After The Show is thankful:

1. “Love Me Like the World is Ending” by Ben Lee:

2. “Air Mattress” by Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band:

3. “Breakin’ Up” by Rilo Kiley:

I’m hosting a wedding reception at my parents’ house today and boy was that a tenacious/crazy offer on my part. My kitchen is full of food, music, and marital love. So on this wonderful 38 degree day, warm your cardiovascular region up with a little L-O-V-E…

Pete and The Pirates – I’ll Love

Iron & Wine – Kingdom of the Animals ♥♥

Peter Bjorn & John – I Want You! ♥♥♥

Rilo Kiley – Give a Little Love ♥♥

Sam Cooke – Try a Little Love

The title says it all. I’ve fixed some of the broken links in my first posts. You can now listen and download the songs from Rilo Kiley/Jenny Lewis/Postal Service, The Orion Experience, The Beatles/Chairlift, Tori Amos, Cake, and http://cookingonsale.com/2009/10/03/fruity-desserts/ in their respective posts. Again, sorry about the broken links! They’re all patched up.

Last week we told you how to download Jason Boesel’s new song “Hand of God” here. Now you can listen to two more songs, “French Kissing” and “Miracles” on his MySpace page here.

“French Kissing” features Blake Mills on guitar, Nik Freitas on keys and back-up vocals, and Jonathan Wilson on bass. ”Miracles” features Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) on piano, Blake Mills on guitar, and Jonathan Wilson on bass and back-up vocals. Jason sings and plays drums and guitar on both songs.

Jason’s debut album Hustler’s Son is out January 12, 2010 on Team Love Records.

This is just a delicious snack or you can eat it with pasta. It’s a twist on typical garlic bread involving a bit of lime zest and juice.

I’m a little obsessed with Panera’s sourdough bread. I need to have a loaf in my kitchen at all times. Most times I’ll just eat a slice with some butter, but when I want a change I make this. It takes a little time but it’s totally worth it.

Take one clove of garlic and mince it. For this piece I chopped it in slices, but I think I prefer this bread when I mince it. To really get all of the juices out of the garlic, sprinkle about half a teaspoon of salt on top of the minced garlic and using the side of your knife to turn it into a paste. Press down with the side of your knife and drag it across the garlic.

Zest a piece of lime if you have a zester. If not, you can use a knife to scrape off the green outer part of the lime and then chop the pieces of zest finely. If you opt for this method, try only to get the outer green layer and not the white. The white part is bitter; the green holds the oils that will give you the lime flavor.

Take some butter and fold the garlic paste and the zest. Add some pepper and a little salt (if you’re using unsalted butter or if you didn’t use salt as an abrasive to paste the garlic). Spread it on a slice of sourdough bread about 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick.

Pop the bread into a toaster oven (if you don’t have one, use a broiler) and toast as you would a normal slice of bread. A vertical toaster will let all of the butter, garlic and lime zest fall off the bread and it’ll burn in the bottom of the toaster.

When it comes out of the toaster, give it a squirt of lime to add some of the acidity and enjoy!

Currently Cooking To:

Katie Todd – The Polite
Katie Todd – Face Down

This girl is impossible to find on the internet. There are very few blog posts about her so I’ve had a lot of trouble tracking down her songs. I save up my iTunes credits to buy her songs because I just cannot find them anywhere else. Anyway, Katie Todd is just fantastic. I found her via Pandora on my Rilo Kiley radio station. She’s on par with Ingrid Michaelson, Jenny Lewis, and Mirah. A little rock, a little indie, a little piano-playing singer/songwrite. I’m hoping that you enjoy these songs as much as I do and that this makes finding her music online a little bit easier. Enjoy!!

Here’s a video of Rilo Kiley performing “I Never” at Coachella in 2008:

And here’s UCLA’s Random Voices Acapella group singing the song:

Dejalo – Rilo Kiley

1) CMAs were amazing. Go taylor for rocking them like the all star that she is. 4 for 4 on the awards! amazing. it was all the good things about country/reminded me why i love country music too.

2) Second cabin trip was fantastic. fail at cranium and scene it. completed awesome mosaic puzzle that i want to put on my wall in a future apartment. beds SO comfy. great food, a fire, movies, music, mini hike, fun people. amazing weekend getaway.

3) ruby makes me happy monday was my first day on phones by myself. nerve racking but i stumbled my way through it. its a great place to work and i even got a cookie from amanda and some rubies! still working on getting to know people but i’m really excited for the holiday party in december. had yesterday and today off. back to work tomorrow. hopefully i don’t screw anything up the rest of this week!

4) having dinner with my cousin kristine tonight. little nervous because i haven’t had much contact, especially recently, with my cousins (they live all over the place and are at least 10-15 yrs older than me) but it should still be fun.

5) on the hunt for an apartment. can’t really afford $600/month and trying to find something closer to work. probably end up sharing with people…and even though that’s not my ultimate choice because of all the roommate issues i’ve had in the past it’ll be ok for now. stressing me out. most places require your income to be 3 times your income. mine definitely falls short. i’ve never rented anything before so that might be a problem for some places. not sure how my student loans will effect the screening process. its just frustrating and stressful and i feel like my options are so limited. finally got the job situation figured out and am getting settled in…but finding a place to live is just…discouraging. much like trying to find a job was. hopefully it works out in the same way…but sooner so i can stop imposing.

6) excited for thanksgiving even though its still aways out. well, maybe not. only a week. i feel like time is just flying by. i still don’t feel like i’m all gradumacated with a degree. maybe because i know i’m going back to school eventually so things feel unfinished. or maybe because my entire life school has been looming in front of me whenever a break is over. i guess i just feel like i’m on an extra long break.

7) working on updating info on here. trying to add books—one page for my favorites, another for what i’m currently reading. we’ll see how that goes. need to add more pictures too.

off to dinner and burlington coat factory!

]]> http://halfhearteddude.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/albums-of-the-year-2004/ Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:17:59 +0000 halfhearteddude http://halfhearteddude.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/albums-of-the-year-2004/

My ten favourite albums of 2004 exclude — and here I fully expect to be shouted at — the rather overrated Arcade Fire debut (it will not feature in 2005 either, seeing as that’s when it came out in many regions). But, Canadians take heart, Ron Sexsmith does feature. As always, this is not intended to represent the ten best albums of the year, only those I have and like best, with some not making the cut much to my regret (Patty Griffin, Anna Ternheim, Sufjan Stevens, A.C. Newman, Joseph Arthur, Kings Of Leon, Laura Veirs). Looking at some contemporary “best of 2004” lists, I feel hopelessly out of touch. Have some of these people ever been heard of again? Did they ever exist, or were their inclusion some kind of critics’ practical joke (Dungen!)?

* * *

Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous

What is it about Rilo Kiley that puts the critics in such ambivalent mood? More Adventurous lives up to its title: it’s an eclectic album, even if there is not much that’s particularly experimental. The variety seems to have puzzled the critics; I like it. There’s the alt.country, folk-rock stuff with which the group has been mostly associated (such as on the lovely title track and The Absence Of God), power indie-pop (the fantastic Portions For Foxes and It’s A Hit), a 1920s throwback (Ripchord), a torchsong country number (I Never), and what might be described as electronica country (the dyslexic Accidntel Deth). Apart from Portions For Foxes, the dramatic Does He Love You (discussed HERE) is the stand-out track. Throughout the lyrics are sharp, and on this album Jenny Lewis found her sexy, expressive voice.
Rilo Kiley – I Never.mp3
Rilo Kiley – It’s A Hit.mp3

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Brian Wilson – SMiLE

When I first got SMiLE , I did not get it. In fact, I was so disappointed by Brian Wilson’s long-awaited and much-hyped collaboration with Van Dyke Parkes that I didn’t expect to ever play it again, just to file it away in a spot where the handsome packaging, with the rather good booklet, would look nice. Then circumstances conspired, making me play the thing four times over on loop. The penny dropped and I got it. There are moments I can live without, yet these moments are a part of the trip: a post-psychedelic trip, a melancholy yet buoyant trip, a trip to a place that doesn’t exist anymore, and probably never did. It’s an album as removed from reality as Brian Wilson is said to be today. The timing of its release, in the middle of the corporate, synthetic ’00s was fortuitous. Coinciding with an era when commercial realism tends to trump enterprising creativity, SMiLE appeared as a connection to a time when innovation was not scorned but rewarded — ironically by putting together the one ’60s masterpiece that never was.

Mike Love apparently described SMiLE as an insult to the Beach Boys’ legacy. To prove his point, Mike Love in 2006 recorded that instant classic Santa’s Going To Kokomo, thereby mercifully redeeming the Beach Boys’ reputation.
Brian Wilson – Roll Plymouth Rock.mp3
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Mindy Smith – One More Moment

Mindy Smith’s name evokes the image of plastic blondes in skimpy beachwear living it up at the Playboy Mansion, not the reality of a writer and singer of beautiful country-folk music. Smith was in her early 30s before she finally released this, her debut album. Occasional visitor to this parish Stay-At-Home Indie-Pop (whose periodically updated blog is always very readable) last week commented about One Moment More that it packs an “emotional punch”, referring to Smith’s “supreme songwriting”. Indie-Pop, a man of discerning musical judgment, got it right. Add to that Mindy Smith’s superb, clear voice and ability to invest the right amount of emotion into her songs. Her version of Dolly Parton’s Jolene is probably the best of the many I’ve heard.
Mindy Smith – Fighting For It All.mp3

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Jens Lekman – When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog

Time was when Sweden burdened us with the regrettable likes of Roxette and Ace Of Base who were hauling in the glorious slipstream of ABBA. This decade, Sweden is a hotbed of wonderful Indie-pop created by artists who can create a catchy hook and an incisive lyric, even a cappela style. The Cardigans set the scene, but the godfather may well be Jens Lekman. Indeed, he gets namechecked, alongside Townes van Zandt, in what may be the best Swedish song of the genre, Hello Saferide’s The Quiz. Lekman turns out some rather good melodies, but the charm of his songs exist in the idiosyncratic lyrics. Take the upbeat You Are The Light: the protagonist gets arrested for defacing his girlfriend’s father’s Mercedes Benz at her prompting, and uses his one phone call to ask the local radio station to dedicate a song to her. There are startling surprises in many of his wry lyrics, but they aren’t contrived, and at times they are casually profound. That is an art in an age when so many people discern depth in Coldplay’s lyrics. And unlike Coldplay and their fellow worthies, Lekman is frequently very funny indeed.
Jens Lekman – The Cold Swedish Winter.mp3

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The Weepies – Happiness

Deb Talan and Steve Tannen were solo performers on the folk circuit when they met. They decided to collaborate, chose a stupid name for their duo, fell in love, married, moved to Topanga, California, and had a child, and in the interim have released three albums. It’s a happy story, with the title of their debut album an opportune portent. The harmonies are, as one would expect, lovely (especially on closing track Keep It There); none of the songs are likely to jolt the listener out of their comfort zone. But it’s not all predictable introspective coffeehouse folk stuff, and when it is (such as on the lovely Somebody Loved or Simple Life), it’s of superior quality. On other tracks, there are jangly guitars on the suitably upbeat title track, snowbells on the Christmas-flavoured All That I Want, bluegrass guitar on Vegas Baby. Perhaps the most affecting song is Tannen’s Dating A Porn Star, as good a country a song as one might find in this decade.
The Weepies – Dating A Porn Star.mp3

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Dave Alvin – Ashgrove

Dave Alvin is a flexible musician, at home in country, folk, blues, rock and punk. He has been a member of rockabilly band The Blasters (with his brother Phil) and the influential punk band The Flesheaters, and he wrote Dwight Yoakam’s country classic Long White Cadillac. Ashgrove is a departure from his previous albums, which covered either country and folk or bluesy roots rock (a genre title I despise). Personally, I prefer the country stuff. I’m not a great roots rock fan, but I do like it when Alvin does it — his guitar work is terrific. As always with Dave Alvin, the lyrics are worth following; some of them are compelling. Two stand out: Out Of Control tells a hell of a story, and The Man In The Bed Isn’t Me is truly touching. The sequencing is a bit jarring, though, with the bluesy rock alternating with the country songs, preventing the set from settling into a coherent mood.
Dave Alvin – Sinful Daughter.mp3

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Ron Sexsmith – Retriever

Every male singer-songwriter who enjoys any amount of critical esteem is likely to be compared to the tragic Elliot Smith, the genre’s eternal poet laureate (whose posthumously assembled collection of demos was released in 2004). Flattering though such comparisons are, often they are inappropriate and lazy. Ron Sexsmith’s sound has little in common with Smith’s, and his lyrics are more hopeful. Sexsmith also gets compared to Paul McCartney (and Happiness from Retriever sounds much like a Macca song), who has championed him. I suppose that the comparisons to Smith do not relate to sound or mood, but to songwriting chops. Retriever, like almost all of Sexsmith’s works, is a beautifully written. It’s a warm, gorgeous album, it embraces the listener in a comforting auditory blanket, aided by Sexsmith’s engaging voice and thoughtful lyrics. It’s not the kind of album, and Sexsmith not the kind of artist, that one turns to for a fix of challenging music; there is enough depth here to remove it from vacant pop, but it will not test the listener. It’s more of an old friend, instantly familiar and great company one is happy to seek out again.
Ron Sexsmith – Not About To Lose.mp3

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Nouvelle Vague – Nouvelle Vague

This is one of those unexpected albums: loungey covers of Punk and New Wave classics, such as Love Will Tear Us Apart (here set on a beach), Teenage Kicks, Making Plans For Nigel, Too Drunk To Fuck, and Guns Of Brixton (the latter two of which sound like Gainsbourg songs here). It’s all very sincere and quite fabulous, rendered mostly in a bossa new wave nova groove. Nouvelle Vague, a project by Frenchmen Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux using a roster of female vocalists, does not aim for camp comedy or winks and nods. The exercise requires that the listener simultaneously forgets the originals, the better to understand them on Nouvelle Vague’s terms, and to remember them, so as to appreciate their imaginative reinventions. Some don’t quite work (such as The Undertone’s Teenage Kicks), others compare very well to the original, especially The Cure’s A Forest, The Specials’ Friday Night Saturday Morning And PiL’s This Is Not A Love Song.
Nouvelle Vague – Friday Night Saturday Morning.mp3

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Missy Higgins – The Sound Of White

I can’t profess to be a great fan of the Australian accent, mate. And yet, it is always satisfying when non-American singers resist the temptation of adapting their accent for the international market. Melissa Higgins retains her strong Aussie enunciation, which can be grating but also helps to invest in her lyrics unblemished authenticity. Much of the lyrics are, or seem, intensely personal. Some of them are standard singer-songwriter fare, but there is much here that moves the listener, particularly the title track, about her sister’s death in an accident (featured HERE) and the child-murder song The River. The hit on the album was the upbeat Scar, which was rather unrepresentative of this pensive, though appealingly arranged album which has few weak tracks. If the disagreeable This Is How It Goes is the price one has to pay to have Ten Days or Nightminds, than that’s not a bad deal.
Missy Higgins – Nightminds.mp3

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Wilco – A Ghost Is Born

Thank goodness for the technology of digital playlists. With this album, I’ll never need to hear the pointless noisy distortions on the 12-minute long Less Than You Think again, even as I applaud Tweedy and pals for their willingness to do something different (though that something almost rivals Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music album for unlistenability). And, depending on my mood, I may skip the 10min-plus Spiders Kidsmoke as well, because the guitar solo really annoys me, by which I am doing the song an injustice. But the rest of the album is very enjoyable. It includes some of Tweedy’s best songs, such as The Late Greats and Hell Is Chrome. But the absolute highlight is — and Wilco fans will have guessed it — the opener, At Least That’s What You Said, which plods along with Tweedy in pensive mood until it explodes in gloriously angry guitars.
Wilco – At Least That’s What You Said.mp3

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More Albums of the Year

As I reflect on my younger and gasoline-driven days, I realized I miss the sound of Los Angeles. Case in point: Rilo Kiley.

In my opinion, Rilo Kiley has to be one of the best Indie bands to come out of Los Angeles. Jenny Lewis has a soft, remarkable voice, but can turn passionate as she tells a story. One of my favorite Rilo Kiley songs has to be “Does He Love You,” where Lewis tells the story of love, an unhappy marriage, and an affair. Lewis and her bandmate Blake Sennett write the song in dramatic, melancholy fashion, with lyrics like:

Let’s not forget ourselves good friend

I am flawed if I’m not free

And your husband will never leave you

He will never leave you for me.

Such emotion. I love it.

Capturing Moods

Oh man, I love Execution era Rilo Kiley. Listen to that scream Jenny does! Amazing. I love that song so much.

I’ve been thinking about joining in with the whole ‘favourite albums of the DECADE’ thing but I think I might’ve missed some early decade gems as I was still 10/11/12/13 or whatever (I wasn’t as clued in to amazing music back in those days. I used to dig Travis – sadface). But atleast seeing other peoples’ lists will give me an opportunity to perhaps check out some records I don’t know. When I was 14/15 I was so in love with all the Saddle Creek bands like Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, Cursive, Neva Dinova and all that kind of thing. I’ve loved that stuff for ages now, so it holds a pretty dear place in my heart. So I suspect my list will be quite Saddle Creek heavy. It’s super hard. I was really, pretty obsessed with Elliott Smith when I was 16 so it’s cool he’ll be able to feature. And I love The Elected and Jenny Lewis, Emily Haines, Feist… so much goodness.

Here is a really cool concert recording of Rilo Kiley playing in 2003. There are 4 parts and it’s the whole show.

Here are two live videos of Rilo Kiley performing their song “Ripchord” from 2008:

Ben Gibbard, aka Zooey Deschanel’s husband, has some great songs outside of his work with Death Cab For Cutie.

Here are two of his songs for The Postal Service, “Such Great Heights” and “Nothing Better” live with Jenny Lewis:

Finally, here’s Ben doing an acoustic cover of “Silver Lining” by Rilo Kiley:

happy Friday the 13th! (:

today is also International Write Love On Her Arms Day; “In support of To Write Love on Her Arms, you should write “love” on your arm on November 13th, 2009, National To Write Love on Her Arms Day. This is not an event that you ATTEND, you just simply write “love” on your arm in support.”

i wrote “love” on my arm. (: write it on your arms too and snap a picture of it. haah.

omg i’m totally hooked on Rilo Kiley, The Generationals, She & Him, Freelance Whales, Ra Ra Riot, Total Babe  and Julian Casablancas. ♥ their music is like heaven.

I never felt so wicked as when I willed our love to die.

♥

Today Jason Boesel announced that his debut album will be released January 12, 2010.

Boesel, the drummer of Rilo Kiley, The Elected, and Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, collaborated on his new album with Nik Freitas, Blake Mills, Orenda Fink, Dave Rawlings, Taylor Goldsmith, Blake Sennett, and producer Jonathan Wilson (Elvis Costello and Jenny Lewis).

Team Love, Boesel’s label, describes the 11-song debut as an “Americana album” filled with country-folk, mid-’70s California rock, and alt-country.

For a free download of the second song on the album, called “Hand of God,” click here.

To celebrate hitting the 5,000 hit mark today on After The Show, here are some great number-related songs:

“Thirteen” by Ben Kweller:

“5 O’Clock in the Morning” by The Donnas:

“85″ by Rilo Kiley:

“Nineteen” by Tegan and Sara:

“Three Hopeful Thoughts” by Rilo Kiley:

“Four Winds” by Bright Eyes:

“I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that seems more important than something designed to raise money to keep something going that keeps IV drug users from dying.”
Elliott Smith

Check out the Yellow Bird Project tee designed by Rilo Kiley. All profits go to another charity Elliott Smith always wanted to create- one to help heal children who are abused through the arts called Free Arts for Abused Children

Due to the popularity of After The Show’s Best of…Band Fan Sites, here are the nominations for the 10 Best Tour/Concert Posters in recent years:

1. Rooney and The Bridges

2. Ben Kweller and Death Cab for Cutie

3. Avril Lavigne

4. Uh Huh Her

5. Rilo Kiley

6. Regina Spektor

7. Tegan and Sara

8. Ben Lee

9. Taylor Swift

10. Johnathan Rice and Maria Taylor

If you want, vote for your top 3 posters by leaving a comment.

of a movie. I’ve got it! I’ve been contemplating my obsession with the first 15 seconds of the title track of More Adventurous. At first I thought I just loved slide guitar, but that’s only part of it. The truth is that this song, or at least the sound in the intro, is perfect for the ending of that heartwarming indie flick. You know, all of Wes Anderson’s flicks (well his flicks aren’t really indie anymore, I don’t even know what classifies as indie anymore. Whatever); Eternal Sunshine; You, Me, and Everyone We Know; etc. I was thinking, “this is exactly the sound that describes home” except that made no sense since I don’t live on a farm. And then it finally clicked, and now I know why it makes me feel so good. Those damned movies.

Couldn’t find it on youtube, but it’s worth the illegal download, or purchase if you’re legit, or, in this case, one of your free plays on Rhapsody (just scroll down, click “More Adventurous”, ignore the popup, and then click play on the player above).

http://www.rhapsody.com/rilo-kiley/more-adventurous–brute-beaute-wbr

Recently I decided to turn on the radio in my car (my iPod was acting up.) The sound of Jack White’s voice immediately filled my speakers and flooded my car with noise. This was not the White Stripes. It was a side-act. I do not like side-projects. They are almost never as good as the genuine product, which is understandable, because their purpose is (mostly) experimental. Jack White is the perfect example for my thesis: Side projects are not good (or rather, not as good as the original act that they are replacing.)

Case-in-point: The White Stripes (a band consisting of Jack and Meg White.) They have released six (6) albums, which I will rank in order of best to worst (according to my opinion- not aggregate sales):

1. (Best): Elephant (Best Track: I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself)

2. Get Behind Me, Satan (Best Track: My Doorbell)

3. De Stijl (Best Track: Truth Doesn’t Make a Noise)

4. White Blood Cells (Best Track: Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground)

5. Icky Thump (Best Track: I’m Slowly Turning Into You)

6. (Worst): The White Stripes (Best Track: Do)

At some point, Jack White decided he wanted to make music with a full band, and not just his percussionist (Meg White.) Enter: The Raconteurs. The Raconteurs are the most commercially successful Jack White side-project, as well as the most critically acclaimed. I understand why Jack decided to make music with them (the universal desire to explore his range as a songwriter with the addition of a bassist, keyboardist, back-up vocalist and guitarist, and a banjo.) The Raconteurs are (arguably) better than the White Stripes in some schools of thought, as their hit singles have become just as popular (if not more) as most of the the White Stripes’ material.

For instance, the following songs kick (fucking) ass: Old Enough, Level, Steady as She Goes, Broken Boy Soldier, and Hands, among others.

My gripe is not with the Raconteurs.

In exploring his desire to create music with other artists, Jack White became addicted to side-projects (to the point where the White Stripes have almost become neglected and forgotten.) I should note that their seventh (7th) studio album is in production, however. So, at the expense of the White Stripes, Jack White decided to create music with the following acts:

The Dead Weather, The Upholsterers, The Go, Loretta Lynn, Beck, Holly Golightly, Soledad Brothers, Alicia Keys

The success of these side-projects is mixed, at best. As a fan, it’s hard to quantify the way I feel about this. Yes, I love Jack White as a musician, and was (at first) interested and pleased at this newfound musical endeavors, but as the side-projects and collaborations pile up, and the 7th White Stripes album gets delayed, I find myself growing increasingly frustrated and turned-off to all these distracting duets and bands Jack has been flirting with.

Swan Lake: Better Than Sunset Rubdown

I have had these same feelings with Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade, and his subsequent side-acts:

Sunset Rubdown
Atlas Strategic
Handsome Furs
Swan Lake
Frog Eyes
Johnny and the Moon
Hot Hot Heat
Fifths of Seven

I would much rather hear a new Wolf Parade album, then another bizarre Sunset Rubdown single.

Side projects are not always bad. Sometimes they are AMAZING, and better than the original act. The best example I can come up with off the top of my head is The Postal Service. Ben Gibbard’s by-mail collaboration with Jimmy Tamborello has held up over time, and is (arguably) better than any album ever released by Death Cab for Cutie.

The case can be made for and against side projects all day long, but at the end of the day, I think artists should go the route of Ben Gibbard. Make one, solitary album that completely knocks critics out of their chair(s), while also knowing when to call it quits. Because, ultimately, if an artists strays too far from his flock, he will alienate his fan base (and probably his band mates as well.) This is why the Postal Service remains so awesome. They released one (1) album (which was incredible, and loved by fans and critics alike), and then went right back to creating music with Death Cab. Despite the (overwhelming) demand for a follow-up album, Ben Gibbard hasn’t budged. This is what makes a great artist. He knows how to toy with his audience (without upsetting them.) Ultimately, will there be a follow-up to 2003’s Give Up? Probably, yes. But in making us (the fans) wait so long, and by focusing on his primary band, Ben Gibbard has succeeded where Jack White has not: He created something amazing, took a step back, and went back to doing what his fans wanted – creating more albums with Death Cab for Cutie. I should probably also mention that Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley joined Ben Gibbard on vocals for this album – another successful side-act.)

Bravo.

Now let’s just hope that Mr. White “gets it” and the White Stripes‘ 7th album is better than their last effort (the progressive, experimental, and mediocre Icky Thump.) Also, let’s hope that the side projects end. Because, let’s be honest, The Dead Weather sucks, and will probably motivate tired acts like the Kings of Leon (who are already far too commercial) to set out on the side-act expedition (something that no one [see: the real fans] want.)

Final Note: Some of the best side-acts come from Canada. Leslie Feist (of Feist and Kings of Convenience, and formerly of Broken Social Scene and Wilco) is incredible.

Hey there, long time no write! Most of these have been around for a while (if not all of them, the list isn’t quite set in stone right now) but I just discovered them, and so, yeah.

Dark at the End of the Tunnel — Oingo Boingo

[This album is just super classic eighties. And also Danny Elfman, so how can you go wrong. Oingo Boingo came up recently when Danny Elfman was being discussed, and I listened to the one album I had and loved it, so acquired the rest of their stuff. It's really good! Except for their live album, which has too much guitar.]

Tapestry — Carole King

[Well, I knew I was bound to love this when I heard it, given that it's one of the top-selling albums ever, and everyone else loves it. Now I know why. I actually just randomly came across this when someone returned it at the library where I work.]

More Adventurous — Rilo Kiley

[I have had Under the Blacklight for a while, and liked a few songs on it (especially "15" and "Breaking Up") so I figured I should check out the rest of the band's stuff. More Adventurous does not have a bad track, in my opinion. In researching what album to check out, I discovered that Rilo Kiley is the band, not a person. Who knew? Not me.]

Who Do You Think You Are — Dala

[I discovered Dala at the Newport Folk Festival, as I am sure I have written about. Oddly, I realized that, though their most recent album (Everyone is Someone) has some better songs, the better album is their earlier one. Weird.]

And, last but not least, but it doesn’t quite count as an album:

Live in London — Leonard Cohen

[This shouldn't count because it's live, but it's still really good. Great back-up people really make it work.]

So I’m only on the fifth track of More Adventurous and it’s badass. Again… Christgau determines my opinions and reasoning. Jenny Lewis is a wet dream. Okay well I can’t see her obviously when I’m listening to her, but her voice is crisp and her vocals clear. I can’t really say I’ve enjoyed female vocalists much in the past or maybe I just haven’t found an artist/band with a main female vocal lead that I enjoyed. Regardless I love this woman. It doesn’t matter that half of the songs have some repetitive hook because I don’t get tired of it. Also, some of the instrumental hooks are so corny that this is really just a way for me to enjoy them semi-guilt-free.

Also, I can actually relate to the ideas behind this album and I just don’t understand SMiLE at all (since I think a large part of its conception is musical progression and another large part is America, neither of which I have much knowledge of). So in comparison…

I wonder how bad it is that I don’t understand like any song lyrics at all, ever? I feel like that’s a semi-important skill when listening to music. Anyways we’ll see if I try and write a review for this one too. Perhaps I’ll be more ambitious this time and write something less than 90% bullshit.

*edit* See, the problem is that I’m not an English major. I interpret things rationally and logically or at least what appears to be rational and logical. Since I lack a certain sense of feeling or subtlety I just don’t think I could ever grasp anything right. So that’s why Christgau speaks for me, because I believe he’s gotta be at least more right than me. Look here for Pitchfork’s review. If Google succeeded, “Chris Dahlen” recently posted something about Google Wave. Needless to say he’s too knowledgeable about new tech to be much of a poet. It’s no surprise then that he has the exact opposite reaction as Christgau to “It’s A Hit”. As far as I can tell, Dahlen is right. There isn’t much hidden or insightful about those lyrics. But Christgau already covers this; he suggests that, “in a subculture where obscurantism is expected, that they have meanings at all suggests why they sound the way they do. It’s a formal commitment. Rilo Kiley want to be understood.” Okay let’s be clear, I don’t really know what he’s talking about. From what I can tell he’s concluded that their clarity is the result of a commitment… to something. And that “obscurantism” is a piece of crap. The point is that Christgau seems to be ahead of the curve on this Dahlen kid. Also it’s because he never makes any extreme claims that he seems reasonable. He’ll believe in clarity, he’ll believe in really obscure lyrics (which I imagine he can interpret since he’s been doing it for 40 years). I don’t really know what he values in music but he doesn’t rely on these hooks–these little silly signals that tell us how to judge music. It’s not just about the music but everything that surrounds it, that goes into it, that relates to it. It’s only with that information that he critiques an album (though I remember in English we talked about how it’s a style to take a work by itself when analyzing it. I was never comfortable doing that). And he demonstrates his intelligence in more than good quality criticism. He often makes “mistakes” and changes his mind, but he writes firmly. He doesn’t write with a hesitation in his ideas (I guess you can’t really if you are being paid for your opinion) and then with that same certainty he acknowledges that he might be wrong (in some later publication). I guess it’s just sort of admirable to be able to say things like that confidently, invest into that idea, and then drop it. Not quite sure what I’m saying. Oh this album is also boss because it’s about jaded love for like 8 of the tracks.

The week is finally over and I’m pretty confident that I got through it with passing marks. I’m pretty much exhausted right now but I’m not sure a nap would be a good idea. The econ test was a joke and it bothered me how stupid it was. That’s about all I have to say about it.

Okay so a couple months ago I was looking at Christgau’s review of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion (he doesn’t like it, but I still think it’s pretty catchy). All he said was “sunny down snuff”. I don’t know what those words mean, and I still don’t. This is why I’d never cut it in English. Anyways I looked them up and they are lyrics to a song “Heroes and Villains” by Brian Wilson (of The Beach Boys). So if you were to list famous bands that everyone should listen to, The Beach Boys would be pretty high up there. However, I never have (and I guess I still haven’t technically). The only thing I remembered of them is the comedic parodies where people would be surfing and their music would play in the background. It really just sounded comedic to me when I was 8 or 9 like some crappy old pop songs. “Good Vibrations”, for example. Now that song just scares the shit out of me. This stuff is like so heavily psychadelic that I just can’t comprehend it. Well, I didn’t decide to listen to Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys (er, “Good Vibrations” wasn’t on Pet Sounds, but it was by The Beach Boys) but rather SMiLE by Brian Wilson. Wikipedia is really what got me interested. The article on The Beach Boys paints a much different image than I initially perceived… which is sort of similar to The Beatles, I guess. I mention this because of how closely they seem to parallel each other. Apparently SMiLE was originally intended as a Beach Boys project but because of conflict/Brian Wilson becoming mentally ill (I really would like to summarize what I read about this, because it is pretty interesting. You know, with drugs, psychiatrists, and crazy conspiracy shit that keeps you reading a wiki article. Here’s the link) it was cancelled. It was suppose to be a hugeass legendary project of awesomeness but fell through… and then a few weeks after it was officially cancelled, Sgt. Pepper’s by The Beatles was released (which is the #1 record on Rolling Stone’s somewhat famous list of the 500 best albums of all time). Oh and the other parallel is just that like, they both wrote pop songs and then wrote psychadelic pop songs that stayed pop but are incredibly hazy. These songs frighten me but I’m going to learn to like this album or at least appreciate it slightly.

So to be honest I was listening to some Beach Boys tracks and the original versions of SMiLE tracks on youtube and was basically shitting my pants about how awful and painful this was going to be. I mean all of the damn voices are dubbed and it’s migraine inducing. And then he has these random sounds (wall of sound-refined, according to wikipedia) that I don’t like. I mean I don’t need all that goddamn sound at once, but apparently it was both acclaimed, then criticized, and then Wilson’s version (on SMiLE) was of course acclaimed. I don’t really know, I just know that it was really unpleasant.
But now I’m 2/3 way through the album and it’s not so bad. There’s a lot of little interesting ditties that keeps the album feeling light. Though I’ll be honest I have a slight headache (then again I’m pretty tired). It’s fun and I think Christgau was right and I definitely prefer Wilson’s old voice vs. his young voice. While Carl and Brian definitely had some amazing voices back then (they’re still good) they were just sort of awkwardly clean… serial killer clean.

Oh I forgot to mention that I remembered SMiLE because I saw something that convinced me to go onto metacritic which conveniently has a list of the top rated albums (since 2000 + some extra). And, well, SMiLE was right there staring me in the face. Anyways I also looked at some other music lists and saw that Christgau actually liked More Adventurous by Rilo Kiley in 2004. Since they are so easy to listen to, it should be a nice break after this.

Going back to the album apparently a very small, but considerable part of the concept of the album was to write ditties that are deceptively simple. You definitely heard child-like chord progression and then these random riffs (eh wrong word). Random noises, instruments, voices, it makes you go sort of crazy. Oh and the other part of it was that Brian Wilson and lyrical collaborator Van Dyke Parks (who worked on both the original and this actual release) are like spiritually enlightened and so their lyrics are amazing. I wish I could actually hear what they are saying but all I hear is this shit attacking my head. I think this is what happens when music “whooshes” you. Goddamn, he (most likely) didn’t use LSD when he finished this production so what the fuck must be going on in his mind to create compositions like this? On a related note I thought about how he must randomly hear shit and think, “Wow, this is perfect for such and such song” or “Maybe I should write an entire goddamn song about this 2 second sound.” Sort of like how art majors see random shit and make something pretty (or shitty looking for the hardcore depressing art majors). It’d be interesting to see/hear through the eyes/ears of gifted others (literally) I guess.

Whoo, just finished the album. It sound like one longass song which I guess it was sort of meant to sound like (I think “Heroes and Villains” is the main piece and then the rest is just a story of some journey… or something).

*edit* I forgot to mention that Christgau’s “review” of Merriweather Post Pavilion is pretty on par though. A lot of the sound and feeling in the former is found in the latter… and the latter came first.

I ran across this awhile ago, but for some reason I have kept this to myself. I think this is what I’m asking for at the office for the Christmas party, actually; I’m that intrigued by this.

First of all, I would like to say that the Indie Coloring Book is brought to you by the YellowBirdProject. I seriously love their site, and the idea behind it. Each Indie Rock band designs shirts to raise money for different charities. I have my eye on a Rilo Kiley shirt, personally.

But back to the coloring book, the designs in this thing are gorgeous, and a little strange. I’ve always been a fan of coloring books anyway, and not only does this support a great organization, but it has eccentric drawings.

Definitely check this out. Get one for your friends, and a couple for yourself.