Take the poison of your age

Coolest vid ever! It's of The Arcade Fire in an elevator. With MAGAZINE PERCUSSION! Yeah that's right, magazine percussion. Don't believe me? Watch!

Compliments of someone at ONTD. Source is La Blogotheque. 

Here's a little survey I found but I'm putting two choices for each because one is too hard. Do it, it's fun!

1. Musician/Band you most would want to meet?

Gregg Gillis (Girl Talk) & Vampire Weekend. Both would be ridiculously chill.

2. Song that you wish was written for/about you?

"I Will Follow You Into The Dark" by Death Cab & "Brand New Colony" by The Postal Service. What can I say, Ben Gibbard has a way with words. 

3. Band you'd most want to be in?

The Arcade Fire! & oooh... it's between The Decemberists or Vampire Weekend. I'm gonna say The Decemberists. (Haha, & yes all three do have violinists). 

4. Musician you would want to actually be?

Regina Spektor, obvs. & Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead haha. 

5. You wish you could kill the writer/singer of _________

"The Reason" by Hoobastank (aka HoobaSUX) & "Girlfriend" by Avril. Ughhh.

6. If you could only listen to one CD ever, what would it be?

Again, I'm doing two so... Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Spoon) & ahh this is hard.. um probably. Ah. I can't do it. I don't know.

7. Musician/band member you would want to date?

Sufjan Stevens! & any member of Bloc Party. Actually scratch that, Patrick Wolf.

8. Song that you wish you could take credit for writing?

"Inní mér syngur vitleysingur" by Sigur Ros & "Let It Be" by THE BEATLES. Hopefully you new who that was by before I even wrote it. 

9. Concert you would kill to see, even if the band is dead?

The Strokes & Sigur Ros!!!!!!

10. If you were a DJ, what would you play the most?

LCD Soundsystem & Cut Copy. Or Hot Chip or Daft Punk. But I'll stick with my original two answers.

Don't you realize I wouldn't pause

I bring to you..... Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"~~

Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

... it's weird. [Source]

I didn't even know Thom Yorke had a brother. Much less a brother named Andy who is trying to be a musician as well. It would suck to be Thom Yorke's bro bc anything you do would be like EPIC FAIL compared to it. Especially if you wanted to be a musician & your brother was the singer of Radiohead? Yikes. Well give him a try if you want. ONTD gave the heads up!

Some other lols for you, The Rolling Stones, you may have heard of them, are leaving EMI for Universal. From one record label of the Big Four, to another. I don't get it? In the words of Tiny Mix Tapes, maybe they think they'll finally "make it big." Haha, right. 

Coldplay- Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends

With the arrival of Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends, Coldplay has revealed to its listeners, essentially, nothing new. They've retained the same shimmery sounds present on X&Y, kept a lot of their acoustic bases from Parachutes, and surprise, Chris Martin's voice sounds exactly the same. Depending on where you stand, this can be good or bad. Bad because Coldplay might as well release a compilation CD & call it A Rush Of Parachutes To X&Y & All His Friends for their next album & be done with it. Good because, well, Coldplay as is, is very likable. Just as long as you're not looking for a constantly evolving band (see Sigur Ros) or the new Indie "it" band of next year (see Vampire Weekend). The most experimental Coldplay gets on Viva, is on the track "Yes" & I can't say I'm a fan. A weird key & Chris Martin's low dipping vocals & awkward mix & match of Middle Eastern sounding violins & acoustic guitar; no thanks. I'd rather stick to "Viva La Vida" because of it's accessibility. Not because I'm not open to change, but because it just doesn't suit the material they've been putting out for years. "Lovers In Japan/Reign of Love" is easily the best song on the album, followed closely followed by "Death & All His Friends." Maybe it's the fact that both songs offer a two part breakdown. Maybe Coldplay should follow this format for future success. Which in their case, doesn't necessarily equate to change. Personally, I say good for Coldplay. Look what happened to The Strokes. The hype for their debut, Is This It, was ridiculous. In a good way. They put out Room On Fire, a safe album without much change. But still good. Then the critics got to them or whatever it was, & bam, Julian's voice filter was gone, the homey, genuine guitar riffing was gone & we got First Impressions of Earth. Which no one really liked. But I digress. Moral of the story is, sometimes a band can't be like Sigur Ros or Vampire Weekend. Coldplay is aware of this fact, & it's good to know they aren't pretending to be something they aren't. Viva contains no surprises & that's precisely why, believe it or not,  it doesn't suck. Unless you work at Pitchfork or Urban Outfitters, there's nothing wrong with liking pure alternative pop. & who better to turn to than Coldplay?

I know I said I'd write a review like a month ago. But better late than never, right? Right. If you're so inclined to lend me your thoughts & time for a minute, lemme know what you think of this. 

Alsooo, I'd like just like to say that MGMT, that's what's up. Fourth CD down on the left-menu. Check it! Besides, their website is like the shiz. 

Songs Selected By The Shuffle Feature On My iTunes

So I admit.. this is pretty pansy & boring of me. But I seriously couldn't think of a good topic for Sunday Selections. So I decided to let shuffle pick 10 songs out of my 7,809 songs. I'm a little wary as to what comes up, but I pinky promise that these are the first 10 songs on the first shuffle. Here goes!

1. We Tigers- Animal Collective

2. I'm Slowly Turning Into You- The White Stripes

3. Brass Monkey- Beastie Boys 

4. Race : Out- Battles

5. Obstacle 2- Interpol

6. That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate- Mission Of Burma

7. She's Lost Control- Joy Division

8. The Pot- Tool 

9. Rrrrrrright- Deerhoof 

10. Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby- Islands

Interesting. Speaking of interesting, ever wonder what Nirvana's Nevermind cover would look like in Legos? Click to find out here. ALSO, where in the world is Interpol? I miss them. I hope their next album is better. & I hope Paul Banks isn't too busy cavorting around with Helena Christensen. & also, lol @ Beastie Boys being on this playlist. 

In a town where blood ties are only blood

In reference to yesterday's post about Pitchfork's review of the Black Kids, apparently it was done on purpose. & to be insulting as well. Black Kids' leading vocals & guitarist, Reggie Youngblood had this to say about it. I personally think that while Mr. Youngblood tries to play it cool by saying nonchalantly, "I think it's the most awesome review ever" the embarrassment is hard to keep off his face. & why not? Even Weezer's Make Believe which got a whopping .4, if you forgot, got a review. [Source]

I'm trying to think of an awesome new Muxtape for tomorrow, but nothing is coming to me. Leave me suggestions? 

We will free up to the beats of science

So Pitchfork had a festival & I'm sure it was the shiz, as these pictures from day 1, day 2, & day 3 only prove. Speaking of other fun Pfork antics, they gave the new Black Kids album, Partie Traumatic, a 3.3 but in place of a review, therein lies a graphic with two pugs looking very "sorry" indeed. I wonder if the album was that bad or a review hasn't been written up yet. Look.

Nikolai Fraiture, bassist of The Strokes, has decided, Albert did it, Fab did it, why can't I? That's why he's started his own side project called Nickel Eye (ha.ha.) & will feature appearances from Regina Spektor & Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs). What is it with all of these side projects???? Just focus on your next album, PLZ. There aren't any songs up yet on Nickel Eye's Myspace, but click to friend him. (Source). Seriously, next thing, Nick & Julian will have their own bands. I'm very sadddd. :(

Also, sorry to say, but Rolling Stone, you are officially dead to me:

Dark green enough to be blue

Happy Bloc Party Day! Not really, but I have two important news from the Bloc. 

Bad news first. Kele Okereke got in a fight with John Lydon/Sex Pistols entourage over a racist remark aimed at Okereke. How lame, srsly. Okereke > anything to do with Sex Pistols. Apparently some members of the Kaiser Chiefs & the Foals got into the fight to on Okereke's behalf. & of all the places to be hurt on a singer, of course Okereke's lip got split. Read allll about it.

Now for the good news! Bloc Party's bassist Gordon Moakes is going to be a papa! & a thumpin' good one at that. He writes a little note on their website & advises us "young 'uns" to "keep on rockin'." Will do Gordon, will do. 

Speaking of rocking, Stereogum has some pictures from the Pfork festival. It's a happy array of Fleet Foxes & Vampire Weekend so clicking can't hurt you. 

Blame it on the weekends

Hey! Look who's reppin' the Korean pride! None other than Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She has a new solo project called Native Korean Rock. Cool huh? ONTD has the details. Click to listen on her Myspace. All the songs are very love-y & wistful sounding? Very slow songs featuring mellow acoustic guitar.

Okay, guess who?

If you guessed Robert Smith of the Cure, surprisingly you're wrong. It's none other than Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend! He's dressed like that for the video to "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa." Maybe this time the running joke isn't The Royal Tenenbaums, but The Cure. Stereogum knows whats up.

One hundred telephones shake & ring

Lemme just say this before we begin: I am absolutely obsessed with Girl Talk. Gregg Gillis is just so freakingggg good. Omg. 

Lily Allen put a new song on her Myspace called "Who'd of Known." It's a simple love ballad. But nothing special. Allen says it won't make it on the new album. Listen here & read here. 

The Hold Steady stay positive! At least in Pfork's eyes. Their new album received an 8.4, click to read the full review. 

While The Hold Steady boys seem to stay positive, Coldplay seems to stay obsessed with death. Along with kicking off their tour (I need to get tickets, who wants to go with!) they released a new song for their fans called "Death Will Never Conquer." No, I guess it won't for Coldplay; that's why they keep writing songs about it. You can download the song here & read Sgum's witty commentary about the song's single/double/tripe twists here.

Leslie Feist counts to four in her song "1234" so why not replace some words & sing it on Sesame Street? Exactlyyy. Vidgum has her spesh TV appearance. I wish I could have learned counting with Feist when I was little!

So what is it with bands putting out ugly ugly UGLY album covers of late? Wolf Parade, Coldplay, Weezer, & now Of Montreal? Let's get it together, pleaseeee.

Surprise surprise, yet again Radiohead has done some awesome never before done shiz. They made their video for "House of Cards" without any cameras. Check it.

Songs To Show The World I Don't Let Pfork Control Everything I Listen To

1. Checkmarks- The Academy Is

Besides his lyrics for this song is so contemptuous & sultry. Just imagine him singing this while swinging a microphone around onstage. Anyways, just one word: Williambeckett.

2. Umbrella (Rihanna Cover)- All Time Low

The dude's vocals sound like any other punk or alt band who half relies on their good looks & girl pants to make it big. But it's just even catchier than the real song!

3. Dirty Little Secret- The All American Rejects

SO FREAKING CATCHY AHHHH. I couldn't stop listening to it if the MisShapes themselves came & smacked me.

4. Stolen- Dashboard Confessional

Chris Carrabba delivers his feelings with such emotion/passion... This song is sappy though. I wonder how Conor Oberst manages to do the same thing, without being overly sappy/emo?

5. Nobody's Perfect- Hannah Montana 

I may be pushing the limit here with this one. 

6. This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race- Fall Out Boy

I have a good excuse for this one. I dislike Patrick Stump's voice, but I do enjoy the instruments in this one; RockBand hooked me.

7. Guilty Pleasure- Cobra Starship

Um.... William Beckett sings on this one?

8. Touchdown Turnaround- Hellogoodbye

I'm a sucker for powerpop. I'll even admit, I once went to one of their concerts. 

9. See You Again- Miley Cyrus

I plead the fifth.

10. Misery Business- Paramore

Hey, I'm just supporting girl vocal bands. & Bjork/Blondie doesn't really capture the angry riffing about the bitch in high school we all know about. 

Okay so for the next post, expect lots of news from Pfork, Sgum, the usual. Hope this 3 day departure from the norm of tight indie constrictions, hasn't bunched your panties too much. 

You never meant a word of it

Picturesss!

Jack's Mannequin. I served Andrew McMahon cream of asparagus soup!

Us & the other girls on our way to serve dinner!

William Beckett!

Watching Say Anything backstage from William Beckett's shoulder!

William Beckett's lower half/picture ID haha.

Our view of Say Anything.

Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship.

                 

Us wandering around at the backstage/afterhours BBQ. Tour buses/cute boys galore!

Kyle Burns from FTSK riding around on his bike!

I'M NOT SURE EXACTLY WHO THIS IS WITH UYEN, ALL I KNOW IS THAT THE ASIAN BOY IN THE BACKGROUND IS THE CUTEST ASIAN BOY IN ALL OF MY LIFE.

Right after Caleb Turman asked me how old we were & I said "good" thinking he said how were we & I should have said "we're all legal, take us now" haha.

& those are a few highlights of Warped. Hope you liked le pictures :)

Take back everything you ever said

I feel like a negligent mother. My kids being the four/five of you who actually read my blog. I know I haven't updated in a while & my apologiez. But today I have lots to write about. So besides liking what I call are "Pitchfork Pleasers" (meaning, Pfork approved bands) I also like a few bands like The Academy Is, Say Anything, & Jack's Mannequin. Not saying that those bands suck, they absolutely do not; they're just different from what I usually listen to. & contrary to sneering Pfork reviewers, music is not about snobbery or hipster cred; it's about feeling.

So you may have heard of a little tour called Warped Tour. Yesterday was my second time attending & if I go again next year, it'll be hard to top. There's live music, free stuff everywhere, cute boys galore, all in all just good times. So my friends & I had just sucked up FREE Monster slurpees (delish!) when we were approached by a lady who asked us if we wanted to help serve dinner to the 600 Warped Tour members, in exchange for backstage passes. Obvs, we were in. The lady brought us behind the fences of one of the stages & there were like lots & lots of tour buses & the pavilion where we served food & used the private bathrooms to wash our hands (here we saw the all-Asian girl ska band, ORESKABAND, waiting to take showers). It was Meg, Uyen, & I & 6 other girls who stood at a buffet line, serving out our respective dishes (cream of asparagus soup for me) to people like Parker Case (Say Anything), Andrew McMahon (Jack's Mannequin),  Matt Thiessen (Relient K), & Aaron Barrett of Reel Big Fish. EPIC. So for only two hours of our time, we were allowed to go backstage to where ever we wanted, escorted by this cute hipster boy who Meg fell in love with. He gave us a tour of the tour bus area & pointed out Tom Delonge's tour bus (it was purple-ish) & we saw all of Gym Class Heroes walking out of their tour bus. We then went to see Say Anything, & as we were waiting for them to go on, who should we see but William Beckett of The Academy Is! We took pictures & shiz & I showed him the back of my shirt (Uyen & I had made sweet shirts) which was of a wordsearch featuring the names of the bands I wanted to see, & obvs, The Academy Is was on it. Later, on the stage, Uyen said she saw William pointing out my shirt to the guitarist & bassist of Jack's Mannequin, Matt from Relient K, & I think Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship was there too. The best part though, is yet to come. After the last set, the volunteers were asked back for a backstage BBQ which of course we went. We took some more pictures, saw Katy Perry (HAHA) met some more people, I saw THE CUTEST Asian boy ever (Kevin, who hangs with Forever The Sickest Kids) & it was just cool to see a whole different side of the bands just chilling with each other & riding around on bikes & stuff. Plus, some cute boy from Forever The Sickest Kids kind of hit on us.... haha basically, Warped was superfantastiche... I was lucky to meet a lot of cool & genuine people. I promise to post pictures later!

Los Angeles, I'm yours

Sup guys. Hope everyone had a fab 4th 'o' July, filled with fireworks & BBQ & the like. Today, you guys are gonna get the Cliff Notes version of things:

Stereogum has a new Mogwai song available for free download. I took a quick listen to it & it's pretty shweeet. 

Pitchfork has compiled a list probably filled with more than you ever need to know about upcoming albums & such. Nevertheless, it is very informative. They also have an interview with The Notwist! There's some pretty deep stuff in it.

Tinymixtapes claims Conor Oberst goes in EVERY SINGLE country. Be that as it may, he fails to visit Florida. If you happen to be anywhere in the world besides Florida or the Middle East, chances are you get to see bright-eyed (haha) Conor. Check itttt.

I saved the best for last! (Elizabeth, you'll appreciate this one). Some Youtuber gave a (deservedly so) bad review of Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl" & she actually responded to it! Very lame, very funny, & the dude is pretty cute. Click for the lolz.

Shakedown 1979

This post is basically a "things I love" post. It's about.... well it's rather self-explanatory.

First off, my twin (in looks & thoughts & everything), Elizabeth has started a blog. She's relatively intelligent (haha jkz, she's the smartest person I know) & has good taste in music. So you should visit- Say Parcheezie! Oh & she makes fun of Katy Perry which is a plus! Haha. 

In her most recent post, she made a list of her current 10 fav songs. I'm gonna be a copyKat (lolz) & do the same except just 5 because.... just because.

1. Let Me See You- Girl Talk 

Greg Gillis, youz the man! The Fleetwood Mac with the Trina sample goes over like silk for the ears!

2. Gobbledigook- Sigur Ros

I like this new driven direction Sigur Ros has found in guitar riffs & shorter songs.

3. Lovers In Japan/Reign of Love- Coldplay 

While you don't get any hipster cred for listening to Coldplay, & while they still sound the same, & the new album is very predictable, they don't suck. Take Coldplay for what it's worth & you'll find it's better than most the stuff on the radio. Actually I don't listen to the radio but I'm sure my statement is fairly accurate. Care to confirm anyone?

4. The Kids Don't Stand A Chance- Vampire Weekend

Yeah you already know. I love 'em.

5. Let It Be- The Beatles

Classic. Yes. Cliche? Only made such by those who only know about "Yellow Submarine" & wear peace signs like they're the new trendy accessory. 

Next order of biz, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN WALL-E YOU NEED TO DROP EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE & GO SEE IT. SO GOOD. Srsly, WALL-E is everything I'm looking for in a boy. Not afraid to commit, quirky (funny), cute, hard-working, loyal... <3!

Also I'm reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. I love it so far & I'm only 75 pages in! While reading, I spotted this gem of a passage that I couldn't wait to show you guys. It's the main character talking, Rob, who works in a record store:

"Have you got any soul?" a woman asks the next afternoon. That depends, I feel like saying; some days yes, some days no. A few days ago I was right out; now I've got loads, too much, more than I can handle. I wish I could spread it a bit more evenly, I want to tell her, get a better balance, but I can't seem to get it sorted. I can see she wouldn't be interested in my internal stock control problems though, so I simply point to where I keep the soul I have, right by the exit, just next to the blues.

I don't know, but whole thing just really struck a deep chord with me. Maybe it had the same effect on you, maybe not. 

& now I conclude with the Cure pictures (compliments of my brother) I promised you like two weeks ago. :)

doesn't that last picture make you wish you were at that concert instead of studying at home for the ACT the next day which turns out you epic failed anyways? Yeah, me too. 

Horse shapen fire, dragging stereo wire

Guess what? Franz Ferdinand wrote a song about me! It's called "Katherine Kiss Me" & let me tell you, I would have no qualms about doing that. Lolz. Compliments of Stereogum & Youtube:

They still seem very much Franz Ferdinand-like with their tight, interlocking guitar parts, same vocals, & same dance-ablity, not to mention the same onstage charm!