Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The Wire: 100 Greatest Quotes
My buddy Matty Rod put me onto this today. 100 great quotes from arguably the best television series ever produced. Oh that Omar...
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Accidental Bliss: Matt Damon Screaming at Adrien Grenier leads to TURKEY CHEESE FRIES!!!
I accidently came across this video:
While looking for this video:
While looking for this video:
10 Artists You Should Be Listening To
Consists of singer/songwriter Andrew Wyatt, and the producing team of Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, AKA Bloodshy & Avant, who have produced for Madonna, Kylie Minogue, and won a Grammy on Britney Spear's "Toxic". The debut album, "Miike Snow", is blowing up with a fresh sound and strong musical arrangements. The most complete and best album I've heard since Hot Chip's "Made in The Dark".
Essential Track: "Animal"
While some may be keen to these two already, they're still reasonably fresha nd had to be on the list. Discovery result of Vampire Weekend keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot singer Wes Miles. Bumping synths, auto-tune, and erratic drum machines make this by far one of the best and most original sounds of '09.
Essential Track: ALL...but if I had to choose one: "So Insane"
I wrote about these guys last week. Boston group breaking out with a true power synth pop sound sounding like Saved by The Bell meets DFA. Awesome.
Essential Track: Tuff n' Stuff
First Hip Hop act on the list. Rob Roy is a Florida native by way of L.A. Last year he was flipping frozen food at Trader Joe's. Now he's got Pharell on speed dial. Broke out with his sick video for "Fur in My Cap" and is only going to get bigger. Chunky yet minimal beats and a conversational drawl is his appeal, as well as the lighthearted and comedic themes of his rhymes.
Essential Track: "Fur in My Cap"
Remixer blowing UP. Has reworked the likes of Passion Pit, Lady Gaga, Little Boots and Digitalism. His remixes are all completely original sounding and with extremely tight production. Look for some work of his own being produced in the future, he's going to be major.
Essential Track: Sleepy Head (StarSmith Remix feat. Ellie Goulding)
Duke senior, and white boy extraordinaire Mike Posner defies pigeon holing. This kid is crazy. A rapper/R&B crooner with beautiful production skills and sound. This exceprt from his myspace bio says it all:
"In January 2009, Posner holed up in his dorm room and wrote, produced and recorded every track on his debut mixtape, A Matter of Time. The mixtape hit the Web in March, sparking a months-long label bidding war, where J Records emerged the victor. Even with all his musical accomplishments, Mike hasn’t abandoned his studies just yet, as evidenced by his hustle during finals week this semester. “Thursday and Friday I performed in Detroit. Saturday I performed at the University of Dayton. I had three finals on Tuesday, a show at Duke Wednesday, did a song with Wale and 9th Wonder Thursday, and Friday I had a meeting with Jay-Z.”
Essential Track: "Cooler Than Me"
Besides the disturbing name, these guys are the shit. Hailing from Brooklyn (what hot musical act isn't these days?) jumped onto the scene in a big way earlier this year. Post-punk electro rock. Shit is tight.
Essential Track: "Dressed to Digress" and "L'homme"
Now this band has an awesome name. Fucking Bear Hands. Awesome on several levels. Anyways, another Brooklyn outfit with a stripped down, bare bones Hifi sound. MGMT meets Flaming Lips and you have Bear Hands.
Essential Track: "High Society"
I've been singing this girls praises for about 2 years now, and with the drop of her fist full length LP "Ultraviolet", maybe she'll finally blow up to the expectations I had last year. The younger sister of one of the members of hard body DJ outfit "Flosstradamus", Kid is on A-Traks Fool's Gold record label, which nurtured and boosted the careers of Kid Cudi and the Cool Kids, and hopefully 2010 will be her year.
Essential (if old) Track: "Pro Nails"
First heard of this kid a few months back with his remix of Kid Cudi's "That New New" and was blown away by his technical proficiency in his remixes. Completely changes the sound from the original song, in my opinion the ultimate goal in a remix, and now has down re-works for acts like Amanda Blank, The Sounds, Schwayze, and Cut Copy among others. 2010's gonna be big for this Virginia (?) native.
Essential Track: Kid Cudi "Dat New New" (Viking Remix)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
I'm Just Sayin...
What is the deal with the national media's obsession with Sarah Palin? I understood when this woman was running for VP, but now she couldn't be more insignificant, or stupid for that matter. There must be more newsworthy items. How about the recent release of Bob Dylan's Christmas album?! I'm just sayin...
Sweet Voices Cover Hip Hop Staples
I'm always a fan of a good cover. Miles Fisher's cover of the Talking Head's "This Must Be The Place" brings a tear of joy to my eye. Phish covering "Rock & Roll" or "Loving Cup" is amazing. While these two recent covers by two beautifully voiced women (Emily Wells and Anya Marina) aren't necessarily breaking into my top 10, they're still very well done and extremely original takes on two classic tracks by a couple legends of rap music.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Song of the Day
Weeze(r)-Can't Stop Partying (feat. Lil Wayne)
When I was growing up, I fucking LOVED Weezer. I thought rivers Cuomo was a genius (well he kind of his, he went to Harvard, and wrote "El Scorcho" about his frustrating romances with all the Asian under grads) and they could do know wrong. To this day, "Say it Ain't So" is still one of my all time favorite tracks. So needless to say I was pretty pumped to hear the new album when it dropped a few back. The name is amazing, even thoug RATitude would've been better. However, the news a few months back that Weezy was doing a guest appearance on a track called "Can't Stop Partying" is what really got me excited to peep this album. The song is a somewhat satirical prod at the rock start lifestyle and party scene, and Weezy's only on here for a quick verse, however the collabo cannot be denied. "Party like tomorrow is my funeral/gotta stop mixing alcohol and pharmaceuticals" No matter how you feel about the song, you gotta respect the hustle. Also, the videos not too bad.
Up and Coming: Yes Giantess
Fan of Passion Pit? Phoenix? Well your in luck kiddies. Yes Giantess has arrived with more of that synth pop sound you cream over. Like Passion Pit, YG hails from Massachusetts, Boston to be exact, but don't let that deter all you NY haters. These 4 kids bring that futuristic throwback sound in a more mainstream indie/pop format that we've grown to love. Although "You Were Young" is really pushing the edge of Jonas Brother tween sound, I still love these guys, even if it's only to fill the void until the next great sound I come across. They released an EP with Neon Gold earlier this year of "Tuff n Stuff", a great track, with the "You Were Young" B side, but they have several other tight tracks available on their myspace, on which Neon Gold describes their sound as ""Ratatat-sized synths and huge pop choruses. [Yes Giantess] is pretty much the sonic equivalent of flying down the yellow brick road while its raining ecstasy and skittles, and yeah, you're gonna want to taste this rainbow." Also they have a downloadable mixtape up there thats a nice pre-gamer and also a nice late night banger remix they produced of Eric Hassles "Don't Bring Flowers". Peep them, and catch them live on the EC this fall. These guys are gonna blow up. Tracks after the jump.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Song of the Day
This isn't by any means just breaking, but it IS relatively new, and i haven't written in a while, PLUS it's a cover of Vampire Weekend by PETER GABRIEL and HOT CHIP. Stuff legends are made of. Great summer song (teardrop), but a nice mellow fall afternoon song as well.
Thursday Weekend Preview: A Music and Art Guide to the Upcoming Weekend
So once gain the cusp of the weekend is upon us. For many Thursday marks the unofficial start of the weekend, even though in NYC it basically starts Tuesday, well, Monday during football season. But I digress. I'm going to make this a weekly piece to inform you of what's poppin this weekend in the music and art world. There's a lot of good acts this weekend, so let's just get right into it:
Music:
FRIDAY 11/13
The Cool Kids @ Webster Hall. The throwback MC's Mickey Rocks & Chuck INglish, best known for their barebones production and light hearted rhymes about bikes and shit come to LES Friday, with XXXchange from Spank Rock. Best part: $1 entrance and drinks with rsvp before midnight through going.com. We up in this.
Bass Nectar @ The Fillmore Irving Plaza. This dude KILLS it. A little pricey for my current financial standing ($25, sad I know), but worth it. Lorin Ashton is a BEAST on the decks, with his 4 foot long main of hair swaying and
thrashing to the music, resembling some sort of oracle out of '300'. He mashes everything from electro to dub-step to Slayer, and make sit all sound good.
SATURDAY 11/14
Crooked Disco @ la Poisson Rouge. Join DJs Morsy and Kestar, aka the Crooked Disco DJs, for Play Date, their monthly party at the gallery at Le Poisson Rouge. Play Date is a unique, free, party featuring the Crooked Disco DJs all night long on the decks sharing their favorite new music, premiering their latest custom tracks and remixes, and digging out rediscovered dancefloor classics. PLUS a portion of Proceeds go to Movember, a Cancer research Charity.
Peaches & Amanda Blank @ Terminal 5. Peaches is a legend. Amanda Blank will be. Both are from the new school trip-hop sexy bitch scene (see: Santigold, MIA), of which Peaches basically started. I'll be in attendance with the other Amanda, more sexy, slightly less lyrically gifted.
Art:
A Few Frames: Photography and the Contact Sheet
Now through 1/3/10 @ the Whitney.
In this selection of works drawn principally from the Whitney’s permanent collection, the repetitive image of the proof sheet is the leitmotif in a variety of works spanning the range of the Whitney’s photography collection, including the works of Paul McCarthy, Robert Frank, Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol.
Robert Bergman
Now through 1/09 @ Yossi Milo Gallery
This 65 year old photographer is coming out of his shell in a big way. Having never formerly showed at a gallery or exhibition before, Bergman will be debuting his work not only in the Chelsea gallery, but also at PS1 Contemporary Art Center and the National Gallery of Art. Bergman's photos are mostly a result of a decade long road trip across the U.S., taking portraits of social misfits and just generally left of center characters. His work evokes a strong response, often from he haunting eyes and expressions of his subjects. Peep the work.
HighDEAS: Tween pot heads post between bong rips
As I was reading an article on NY Mag yesterday I came across a link to a website called highDEAS. The basic gist is stoners post these 'profound' ideas that they have while high. Yup. Genius I know. We've all been there. You're sitting around your college apartment (see: shit hole), after partaking in some elicit activities when one of your buddies, usually the the most intellectually challenged of the group, enlightens everyone on some great idea, like starting a company that manufactures pop-tart iPod cases. I'm guilty of a highDEA that I still think is genius: a site called Myface, which somehow melds myspace and facebook? No? Whatever. Anyhow, while many of these postings are lame and produced my overzealous, still weed enthralled teenagers, most of which probably own at least one black light poster and the mandatory Phish shirt, there are some GEMS to be found amongst the garbage. Here's a sample of some of my contenders:
Dinosaurs are fucking tight
Dinosaurs are so fucking tight to look at when your high.It's just fucking strange to think that there were these big ass animals walkin around and shit.
Those guys
Does anyone notice that we use the term "they" when ever we think things should be invented?
"I think they should make gushers cereal"
Aligator trampoline
......I actually forgot what i was going to write.
Vacum Cleaners
Whoever Thought of Vacums? I mean they just cruise around and suck stuff up. I think they're pretty fuckin sweet if you ask me.
We're (I'm) BACK!
It's been roughly six months since I last posted on this highly acclaimed blog of mine. There was no significant reason for my hiatus other than laziness, bad shot term memory, and a overwhelming sense of insignificance. Nonetheless (second time I've used that word in an hour?), I return triumphantly to bring you more news, boos, and reviews of all things relevant to me, NYC, and perhaps you. Got me a new layout, color scheme, and logo all to distract from the terrible and inconsequential spattering of words before you. So, yeah, we back in this bitch: Totes McGoats.
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