Friday, February 23, 2007

The Wombats. Dig It.

What's in a name? Apparently not much, considering the fact that a lot of the bands that are emerging today have absolutely ridiculous names. Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah!, anyone? How about Panic at the Disco (which I will admit would be a cool name for an album or a song)? Either way it seems as though bands are exerting themselves to exhaustion trying to come up with a name that oozes coolness, the kind of coolness that will make the indie-hipster kids salivate. The Wombats, are one of those bands you can't really put your finger on, were they trying to come up with a name totally abstract and nonsensical, or do they just not care? Whatever the case may be, this three-piece from Liverpool, England will most definitely have the indie-hipster kids clamoring for more. Their brand of catchy, bliss-induced pop is certainly difficult to not like, and I can almost guarantee that your toes will be tapping in no time. Don't believe me? Well, let your ears feast on the following mp3 nuggets of poppy joy.

The Wombats - My First Wedding
The Wombats - Lost in the Post
The Wombats - Backfire @ the Disco (mp3)
The Wombats - Patricia the Stripper (mp3)

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Singles Awareness (Valentine's) Day Mixtape

So here it is, the Valen-I mean, Singles Awareness Day Mixtape. Now I know what you're thinking, that there are tons of songs written about love, the loss of love, the pain caused by being in love, etcetera. How could I possibly narrow it down to a single mix? Well, for one, I'm not confining myself to a certain number of songs in order to fit it on a CD, if it happens to run over the allotted 80 minutes, so be it, it will be a double disc mix and you loyal readers can divvy the tracks as you see fit. And while this disc certainly has a theme, I'm just going to pick songs that hopefully aren't the painfully obvious, but rather ones that I enjoy. Deviating a bit, I'd like to point out the above picture that I have chosen to represent this mix, I thoroughly enjoy the image, but what struck me as relating specifically to this mix was the fact that in the foreground there are two (presumably) happy couples, yet in the background one can clearly see two lonely souls, including one that is nothing but a silhouette, shourded in the shadows. Interesting, huh? The pain of a holiday that is excludes the inept persons who are unable to find someone to send it with is equally depressing, take my friend Matt for example, who, just last night expressed this when recalling a recent romantic folly: (Keith Urban song begins to play in the bar) Matt: "Keith Urban! (the rest of us look at him quizzically) The last time I heard this song it was four in the morning and I was trying to kill myself!" YEA, THANKS FOR THE GOOD TIMES, LADIES.

1. Muse - Can't Take My Eyes Off You
2. Daft Punk - Digital Love
3. Head Automatica - Beating Heart Baby
4. Annie - Heartbeat
5. Bloc Party - This Modern Love
6. Finley Quaye - Dice
7. Nada Surf - If You Leave
8. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
9. Spoon - I Summon You (Demo, sorry!)
10. Placebo - Sleeping With Ghosts
11. The Church - Under the Milky Way Tonight
12. The Cardigans - I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need to be Nicer
13. Teddybears (feat. Annie) - Yours to Keep
14. Goldfrapp - Number 1
15. Oh No! Oh My! - I Love You All the Time
16. Muse - Endlessly
17. Blur - Tender
18. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
19. Cat Power - The Greatest
20. Nine Black Alps - Cosmopolitan
21. Oasis - Wonderwall (come on, you knew this was coming)
22. Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You
23. Radiohead - Exit Music (For a Film)
24. Blur - This Is A Low
25. Placebo - Song To Say Goodbye
26. Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space

Bonus: Justin Timberlake & Andy Samberg - Dick In A Box (for that special someone)

A Weekend In The City

So I just got the new Bloc Party disc and I have to say that it is really good, I may be biased a bit just because the opening track is based upon Less Than Zero, which just happens to be penned by my favorite author Bret Easton Ellis. But before you condemn me, let me just say that this is a worthy successor to Silent Alarm. Now granted they have moved a bit away from the sound of Silent Alarm, but this album is by no means a "sophomore slump". They have added guitars beyond your wildest dreams, let me tell you that this album rocks on every track, granted it will take you a bit to get to used to the new sound sound, but it is well worth it in the end. Bloc Party is probably one of the greatest bands to emerge in this decade, and you would be a fool to pass them up.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Lack of a title doesn't necessarily mean a lack of quality tunes

The above photo doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but I like posting pictures and I kind of like the little guy, what with his buggy eyes and bizarre black and white pigmentation. Anyway, I'm going to keep this post relatively short, seeing as how I am barely home anymore, what with the Spring semester starting last week and my mind-numbing sales job draining the life out of me. For the past few days I've been trying to think of a mixtape or something even borderline creative, but I'm completely fried, so I figured I'd just take the easy way out and offer up some mp3s of the albums that have been placed on heavy rotation in the last month or so. Given the fact that my Ipod is my saving grace at school, you know that these tracks are quality, so enjoy.

Maximo Park A Certain Trigger buy
Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure
Maximo Park - The Coast Is Always Changing

Rogue Wave Descended Like Vultures buy
Rogue Wave - California
Rogue Wave - Publish My Love

Snowden Anti Anti buy
Snowden - Black Eyes
Snowden - Victim Card
Snowden - Stop Your Bleeding
Snowden - Anti Anti

Guillemots Through the Windowpane buy
Guillemots - Trains to Brazil
Guillemots - Made Up Lovesong #43
Guillemots - Through the Windowpane

The Good, The Bad and The Queen The Good, The Bad and The Queen buy
The Good, The Bad and the Queen - Hurculean

The Album Leaf Into the Blue Again buy
The Album Leaf - Always For You
The Album Leaf - Shine
The Album Leaf - Into the Sea

The Stone Roses The Stone Roses buy
The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
The Stone Roses - Made of Stone
The Stone Roses - Elephant Stone

Muse Black Holes & Revelations buy
Muse - Invincible
Muse - Assassin
Muse - Starlight
Muse - Knights of Cydonia - the best video of the year by far

That's all for now, I have a lot of homework ahead of me, hope you enjoyed the post. Until next time.