The Blues

so I was fooling around on Youtube and discovered something that in hindsight should have been obvious: a lot of the jams I like were covers of old blues songs. Some of the blues songs are better, I think, like "Going Up Country."

For example, "Black Betty" by Ram Jam. Or Leadbelly: vs

"House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals, and also Leadbelly vs

And "Going Up the Country" by Canned Heat and Henry Thomas vs

Funniest video I've seen in a long time: NSFW

so this is pretty great. It was related to some other video, God knows why.

Don't watch it at work, unless your work is very progressive.



I am glad these guys exist. They're like the Vengaboys crossed with Yin Yang Twins. Crazily, they're also Berry Gordy's son and grandson.

Music Jam: Lana Del Rey is awesome

so the other day I asked a friend what music she was listening to, and she suggested Lana del Rey:

hot chick
raspy voice
sings about whiskey
i love it
she's my spirit animal

To me, that is a pretty good recommendation. So I checked her out, and she is great (and also the hot chick part is accurate.)

"Video Games" is my favorite so far.




"Kinda Outta Luck" has a very 60s vibe to me.


Somebody on Youtube suggested that she should do a James Bond theme song, which is a great idea.
She also kind of reminds me of the National.

I am officially out of touch

so I think that time has finally arrived: I'm out of touch. This person who I've never heard of has a song I've never heard, and it has 135 million views on Youtube. One would assume that means she's a big star?



I don't see why. The song is pretty blah. But I wonder if there's something else? Does her 135 million views mean she's more popular than artists with fewer views? That seems impossible. Maybe Youtube is so popular that it's basically like listening to radio for people, especially since MTV doesn't play videos anymore. Maybe there's people who are on here watching her song over and over. Or is there some way to cheat the system? That would be a pretty clever thing to do if you're a record company.

In any case, I like this video better.

Awesome new Beastie Boys video

so here's a new video from the Beastie Boys; or really, more of a short film. It's for their new song "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win" from an upcoming album. I could watch a full movie of this. There's a bigger version on their site if you want to watch it in all its glory.

Music Jam: John Talabot - "Families"

so John Talabot is a Spanish techno guy, and I love this jam.Via Pitchfork.

JOHN TALABOT / Families (Ft Glasser) by Young Turks

Lots of what I've heard of him is good, it's sort of mellow, interesting electronic music. Great for putting on at work and cranking on stuff. Check out his Myspace too -- I like "Sunshine" and "Afrika" a lot.

New York City no wave and post-disco

so I'm getting into the New York no wave/post-disco stuff from the late 70s and early 80s: ESG, Liquid Liquid, Bush Tetras, Konk etc. I made a playlist on Youtube if you are so inclined, below.

Any other jams you'd suggest? I didn't put on anything like A Certain Ratio since they aren't from NYC, but still are awesome.

I tend to like the more up-tempo stuff that isn't so jazzy. I want to have a dance party and play it all.

Discovering samples: Pharoahe Monch = Destroy All Monsters

so I always think it's fun when I'm listening to music or watching something and I notice that it's sampled in another song: better so when I'm not expecting it. It's like putting together a puzzle. For example, the other day I was watching Destroy All Monsters, one of the Godzilla movies where aliens take control of Godzilla and his monster buddies. I noticed that the main, recurring theme from the movie is sampled in the Pharoahe Monch song "Simon Says." Check it out. (There are some bad words in the Pharoahe Monch song.)

Music Jam: Pomplamoose

so my friend Kate told me about this band, it's a unsigned duo from the Bay Area called Pomplamoose, a play on pamplemousse, the French word for grapefruit. They're kind of girly, but undeniably catchy and fun and stuff. And it helps that the lead singer has a great, jazzy voice and is pretty gorgeous. I bet so many dudes fell in love.

Here's one I like, and there a ton more on their Youtube page.



They do little stories after the songs too. Here's their Myspace, Twitter and Wikipedia page.

My new favorite record label: Turquoise Jeep

So my friend sent me this video, for "Lemme Smang It" by Yung Humma ft. Flynt Flossy. Amazing.



I like how the words appear on the screen in different fonts. One of the best Youtube comments is "dude's got permanent rapeface on." And the record label is called Turquoise Jeep Music. Amazing. (Flynt Flossy appears to be Charlie Murphy, Eddie's bro.)

They have a bunch of other awesome jams too. For example, "Sex Syrup" by Slick Mahony ft. Yung Humma:



"Cavities" by Flynt Flossy, Pretty Raheem, and Whatchyamacallit.



Love Pretty Raheem's hair.

"Fried or Fertiziled" is another good one, as is "Stretchy Pants." Here's the commercial for their album, which I will 100% buy.



Pretty much all the other songs are amazing too.

Carlos Allen: that's my jam

so this guy Carlos Allen is running for mayor of DC. He seems like a weird guy and he claims to be the "first Afro-Latino in history." Apparently his platform is that he stands near people:



Plus he crashed that White House party along with the Salahis:

Chromeo and Daryl Hall: "Tenderoni"

so I'm going to see Chromeo today at the the 9:30 Club. Hopefully Daryl Hall will be there too:

I am bad to the bone

so last night I went to live band karaoke at Wonderland (a cool bar in my neighborhood, if you're not familiar.) I sang George Thorogood and the Destroyers' "Bad to the Bone." Unfortunately it doesn't sound too good on this cameraphone recording, but it was a lot of fun and I think people enjoyed it.

The drummer asked if I rehearsed and some random person said it was a skillful version, which is probably the first time my singing and skill have ever been used in the same sentence. I am terrible at singing on Rock Band, for example.

Anyway, prepare to have your minds blown:

Music Jam: Discovery - "So Insane"

so I found this MP3 on my iPhone and have no idea where it came from, but I really liked it. It's sort of a combination of Junior Boys, Passion Pit, and Ladytron, but with no cute Bulgarian girls. I couldn't find a real video, so all I have is this homemade one.



The band is made up of Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend and Wes Miles from Ra Ra Riot. There's more good songs on their Myspace, and check out the weird/cool dance videos on there also:

Music Jam: Miike Snow - "Animal"

so it's been awhile since I was into new music (or new to me, at least) but here's a jam I'm really liking lately: it's Miike Snow's "Animal." The band, pronounced "Mike Snow" is from Sweden, and they have one self-titled album.

It's catchy indie rock with some electronic flourishes, some harmonies and falsettos -- nothing revolutionary, just good stuff. Apparently they were producers for pop songs like Britney Spears' "Toxic" of all things, but you wouldn't get that from these songs at all.

Nu Shooz - "I Can't Wait"

so in case you were wondering, and you probably weren't, it's impossible to find a (legal) MP3 of the 80s song "I Can't Wait" by Nu Shooz.

Nu Shooz are a duo from Portland, Oregon and had a few hits back in the day, including "I Can't Wait." As for the name, I guess spelling things with Z's back then was cool -- just ask Split Enz.

I heard the song on a commercial and remembered it from somewhere, maybe my childhood. Shazam for my iPhone didn't figure out what it was, but after some Googling I found it. It's kind of an awesome song -- super 80s but charmingly so, with tons of synthesizers, samples, and an electronic pseudo-voice going "oh oh oh ohohoh." Then I wanted to download it but had no luck at all.

The band recently put out an unplugged album with a bunch of different jazzy versions, and I can find tons of karaoke ones on Amazon, but not the real one. Stinks. Here's the video.


Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait
Uploaded by hushhush112. - See the latest featured music videos.

Music Jam: Beck - "Steve Threw Up"

so this is an old Beck song that which was released on vinyl in limited quantities in 1994, and had a limited vinyl re-release in 2000. My friend had the record in about sophomore year of high school and I was a big fan, but I had mostly forgotten about it until I was working on the Buzz Bin page on Wikipedia. The song is about one of Beck's friends who threw up after taking LSD. Pretty good stuff.

And the backing band is That Dog, who had some minor success in the mid 90s are had a couple members in The Rentals.

It's not actually a video, but hey, enjoy.

New Hot Chip video: "One Life Stand"

so there's a new Hot Chip video, for "One Life Stand" off an upcoming album of the same name. It's ok, but I do like their somewhat robotic dance moves. I'm going to copy them next time I'm in the tha club.

Hot Chip - One Life Stand (MySpace Exclusive)

Hot Chip | MySpace Music Videos

There's also another new song out, "Take It In."

Music Jam: Friendly Fires - "Jump in the Pool"

so this jam is "Jump in the Pool" by Friendly Fires, an English band that were on the shortlist for the Mercury Music Prize, a British music award.



The video has some cool parts and some weird parts, like the synchronized swimming and close-ups of the singer and band, respectively. I like the song a lot though, kind of ethereal like M83 with some good and busy drumming. Pitchfork mentioned the song sounding like 10cc in the beginning, which is a pretty funny comparison -- new electro indie stuff to 70s AM soft rock. And the chorus is kind of strange: it's about a pool? But still, good stuff. Their other single "Paris" is a good one too.

They only have one album out so far, and here's their Myspace.

Still Flyin' -- "The Hott Chord is Struck"

so I saw this Ford commercial the other day and was trying to figure out what the song at the end was -- it was good and sounded familiar. For whatever dumb reason, Ford doesn't list songs in their commercials on their website, so I emailed them. After getting a response to write my question again, I finally got an answer they said the name of the song, but not the band. Googling, I found out, it's Still Flyin', a San Francisco indie/jammy collective who I had actually seen twice before, and enjoyed a lot.

Here's the video for the song:



and the Ford commercial: