Praying for Pavement to get back together

I'll be upfront. Franz Ferdinand's new album, Tonight is a little tedious for me. Everything sounds so choppy. & It sounds like Franz Ferdinand which should sound good, but this album is not as good as its predecessors. Nothing on the album seems to flow like an album should. Each song is just like... *typical FF guitar riff* I suppose it's enjoyable enough, but I'm disappointed. Though I should mention, they DID write a song about me ;)


However, surprisingly, I find Coldplay's Prospekt's March to be much more enjoyable. It's continuation of "Life In Technicolor" is extremely satisfying. "Now My Feet Won't Touch The Ground" is a purely acoustic song, reminiscent of the Parachute days. The song is without any complex string arrangements and lacks the warbling vocals that Chris Martin loves to pull. If you listen to the first minute or so of "Rainy Day" you can almost forget that you're listening to Coldplay and that someone put a Beck album on instead. When I heard Coldplay was releasing this EP just months after their album, I was all like lolz, just what we need, another Coldplay album. But srsly guys this is good stuff.

If you haven't bought, stolen, ripped, downloaded, WHATEVER, to Dark Was The Night, yet, WTF are you waiting for?? The album whose proceeds go to AIDS research, features gems from Arcade Fire, Beirut, and my personal fav, The National. The Arcade Fire goes for a kind of bluesy sound that is thoroughly adorable. The National's song however, is by far the best. "So Far Around The Bend" has no words for me to describe. Just listen to it! & The Yo La Tengo song is so beautifulllll. However all 31 songs on the album I'm afraid to say, isn't quite up to snuff. The 10 minute Sufjan Stevens electronica song is a jumbled mess & reminds me of a more disorganized Animal Collective. Which if you're me, is a bad thing. But the album contains so much goodness, I'm willing to overlook Sufjan's temporarily fit of deafness & give the album five out of five Hello Kitties!


Instead of listening to Sufjan's less-than-melodic song, you can enjoy these pictures of him looking mighty handsome with Bell Orchestre, My Brightest Diamond, & Clogs. He lures you in~*~*~ [Source]

Byyyy the way, Yeah Yeah Yeah's new single "Zero" is pretty great. Listen.

So who's the girl wearing my dress

The Killers have released their video for "Spaceman." I like the song but the video not so much. It's really really really weird. You have been warned. [Source]

Speaking of music videos, Franz Ferdinand released their video for "Ulysses!" It's so good! I love everything about the song & the video is pretty swell. Srsly though, FF is just so cool.



In other FF news, hottie drummer, Paul Thompson impressed Cheryl Cole with his neck tattoos. She is apparently a singer in a British chick band (Girl's Aloud?). I'm sure his bamf drumming skillz add to the "sexy" of the neck tattoo. [Source]

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have enlisted the help of some fuzzy ducklings in a bowl of popcorn & a rabid raccoon to name their new album. The animals have deemed it Blitz. [Source] for the picture.

Seventeen & half-alive...

So the A.P. Lit teacher at my school likes Girl Talk & pretty much every band I blog about & it's pretty B.A. Okay so a few years ago I feel in love the Stars' Set Yourself On Fire & I freaking loved that album to death. Then I got a new computer & I wasn't able to keep my music & I had to re-build my library from my brother who DELETED Stars for some unknown asinine reason. SO ONLY UNTIL NOW (just because I made a big deal about it my bro never d/l-ed it for me & I've never bought a CD in my entire life except for The Strokes' First Impressions) HAVE I BEEN REUNITED WITH MY BELOVED STARS. Thanks to this A.P. Lit teacher who also gave me some weird shiz I've never heard about. I don't know why I told you this. Moving on.

Chromeo has remixed Vampire Weekend's "The Kids Don't Stand A Chance." It's pretty mediocre. Download it here. [Source]

New Franz Ferdinand song! Sgum said it has like a Spoon undertone/beat & I definitely feel that. It seems more synth-ed together than their previous stuff & it seems like they've tried to progress. It still remains solidly Franz Ferdinand though. Listen, it's called "Ulysses." While it may not be superfantastiche (ha) it is still satisfying. [Source]

Fleeeeeeet Foxes interview with Pfork! Read.

Adjust your eyes to the state of things

Omg new Sigur Ros vid for "Við spilum endalaust!" It's all vintage-y & cool. Watch hurrr. [Source]

However I must say if you really wanna see an awesome super cool music video, check out Coldplay's "Lovers In Japan." This is one of the better music videos I have seen in a while.

They added this weird "oooahhh" part in between "One day we're gonna get out" & "Tonight maybe we're gonna run" right around 1:46 that I am not particularly fond of.

Franz to the Ferdinand have named the first single off their new album. It's called "Ulysses" & will be out the second of December. (Why haven't we heard a leak yet!!??) [Source]

So a new uber-band has been formed. Beirut+LCD Soundsystem+The Arcade Fire. I know right. They've joined together under the name Team B. Sgum has a d/l available. The song's pretty mellow but has like funk undertones. I really like it. Download! [Source]

Listen to~
The Sea and Cake & Deerhunter & The Main Drag!
The Main Drag has this cover of LCD Sound's "All My Friends" & it's pretty good. It's better than the Franz Ferdinand one at least ("All Ma Pals") & Cokemachineglow goes so far as to even say it's better than the original. I don't agree with it, but it gives the Main Drag more cred. Anyways. Listen!

Into this long month of Sundays

So it's good to know Julian Casablancas is opening up Korean BBQ restaurants with his time off. I mean I'm all for Korean BBQ (represent!) but srsly. Get it together. Or at least get a haircut. [Source]

As for myself, I have not been opening up Korean BBQs but of course getting sick & accumulating into one big stressball. Whee.

Anyways, this made me lol irl a lot. It's so funny. It's a vid of Katy Perry falling. & then she does it again.... & again. Lolz x10. [Source]

Franz Ferdinand is releasing their new album on January 27th! YAY. By then, I'll actually have a life, seeing as how college apps will be out of my life. But yeah, the album's called Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. I have high hopesss. Check the source for some tour dates! [Source]

Also soon-to-be-released, is Pitchfork's FIRST EVER BOOK. Prettyyyyyy excited. It's going to be a guide of the 500 greatest songs, from "punk to the present." Can't wait. Pre-order the book (comes out Nov 11) hurrrr. [Source]

Check out this new vid for Island's song, "Creeper." I never heard the song, but I'm a big fan of Islands/The Unicorns & I'm a huge creeper myself (I have small stalker-like tendencies but I like to file them under my "cute little quirks") WHATEVER, LONG STORY SHORT: go watch the video. [Source]

So just to let you know, I've been listening to a lot of Patrick Wolf (future husband) & Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Check them both out if you don't already listen to them!

Tension is high under sea & over sky

Oasis kind of sucks now & Liam Gallagher is trying desperately to keep the band relevant. Not by producing any new music or stuff like that, but on calling Radiohead & Coldplay fans "boring & ugly." Pshhh how ridiculous, at least Radiohead & Coldplay have fans. Source for more.

Pfork TV has an interview with Cut Copy. Watch them be cute with their Australian accents! 

Another dance-able band that makes your feet move~ Pfork sits down & talks with Justice. Reaaaad.

Omg if you absolutely hurrrry, for a limited time, Franz Ferdinand is streaming a new song "Lucid Dreams" on their website. The song seems to lack a climax but it's a lazy, catchy alternative pop song; it definitely sounds like Franz Ferdinand. I've missed them! [Source] Whoaa, also I just visited their Myspace, & apparently they did a cover of LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends." I never knew about this. Take a listen, FF called it "All Ma Pals" instead though. 

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! 

Yeah, can I take your digits?

I don't know about you but I love Lily Allen. & not gonna lie, I read her Myspace blog. In light of recent events, you should too. Basically, Perez Hilton (click for his Wiki entry), is doing is normal job of being a d-bag. Even more so than usual bc he bashed Lily & said a buncha slanderous retarded things. Read Lily's blog for what he said, & then her retort: Part 1 & Part 2. & who the heck is this Katy Perry person I keep incessantly hearing about? Prob someone NOT better than Lily Allen in any way, & definitely a person of no consequence as she doesn't even have a Pfork entry? TEAM LILY FTW! Also I came across this interview (courtesy of someone at ONTD) between Lily & Mark Ronson (oooh!) that is yes, I know over a year old, but a very cute/funny read. 

It's been a while since we've heard anything from Franz Ferdinand but a murky peep has emerged! Behold! 

If you wanna see some weird pics of Jack White with The Raconteurs (& by weird I mean his pasty makeup/bruised looking eyeshadow) you can do just that at ONTD.

Right now, my brother is at a Cure concert. Why am I not sitting 10 feet away from The Cure with him you ask? Well it's bc I have the stupid ACT tomorrow. He should get some good pics hopefully, which I'll post. & actually, he just left me a voicemail of a horrible sound quality of "Just Like Heaven" (my fav Cure song as well as one of my all time fav songs).

...& you're like, no not in a million years, you're nasty please leave me alone.

I'm alot like you so please, hello I'm here

If you head over to weezer.com, you can see they've revamped the website to make it match the "red" theme of their new album. Also you can stream the full length version of a new song, Pork & Beans. I don't know what to think. It's definitely not Pinkerton material but it's hands down better than Beverly Hills. The riffing sounds familiar, more like a mix of Maladroit & Green with the comical, slightly "self-deprecating" (as Stereogum described it) lyrics reminiscent of Blue Album: "Timbaland knows the way to reach the top of the chart/ maybe if i work with him I can perfect the art I'ma do the things I wanna do I ain't got a thing to prove to you." We'll see though.

Speaking of new songs, Franz Ferdinand has been under the radar for a while until now! They have emerged from a basement it seems, tantalizing us with a small taste, rather a lick, of one of their new songs. News/video from Stereogum:

I rooted around Google & found these two interviews at Billboard.com & The Tripwire where Alex Kapranos describes the album as "the opposite of punk/pop" & also how Paul Thompson was listening to a lot of African stuff which would come through as well. 

I must say, I am thoroughly excited!

Also, I seriously recommend listening to Seabear. Their song, I Sing I Swim, kinda reminds me of Belle & Sebastian. They just have that overall Sufjan Stevens/Islands quality. I mentioned them in this Sunday Selections, a while back.