Friday, February 27, 2009

Mark Ronson Remixes Nickel Eye's "Brandy of the Damned"

I posted on Strokes bassist's side project Nickel Eye's song "Brandy of the Damned" sometime last spring, and likened it to a less bro-y Sublime jam. Here, Mark Ronson takes a stab at it, and turns it into a less soulful Dap Kings type number. Not too shabby.


- S'gum

New Live Tokyo Police Club (ft. Born Ruffians)

Both of these songs are pretty boss.





- BV

New Cold War Kids Video: "I've Seen Enough"

This song was one of the real highlights for me from their somewhat lukewarm sophomore release.


Thursday, February 26, 2009

Largest Freshwater Fish Caught?


National Geographic is reporting that fishers and scientists have caught what is likely the largest known freshwater giant stingray. The body is 6.6 feet wide by 6.9 feet long. Crazy awesome.

Nard Dawg Goes Back In Time


/Film is reporting that Ed Helms (The Office's Andrew Bernard) is writing and starring in an untitled comedy about a highly dedicated Civil War re-enactor who travels back in time to the actual event. The Nard Dawg in highly sensitive racial-situational comedy...smiling just thinking about it.

What Was Willie Like As A Child...

This is a new segment I'm trying out. It's where I see some video of a little kid and I think that it is probably what Willie was like as a child.




-V'gum

Monday, February 23, 2009

New Ambient/Art: Riceboy Sleeps

I heard about Riceboy Sleeps from the EXCELLENT Dark Was The Night compilation, but I unfortunately haven't been able to find out anything about them. From THEIR WEBSITE, I have deduced that they are some sort of Icelandic art/music/hybrid/collective, and their "show" is more of an art exhibition than a concert...I guess. Whatever they are, I like them. I guess they sound like if Sigur Ros was Stars of the Lid? Check out these two videos, which, aside from their DWTK contribution, is the only musical output I can find by them. 


The Features - "Lions"

For the life of me I can't figure out why these guys haven't become more popular. They write such catchy pop songs.

New Phoenix Song!!

Phoenix are giving out the song "1901" from their upcoming album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix for FREE. The album is due out May 25, and the song is really quite great. Very triumphant. If you liked anything off their last album, you'll probably really like this. GRAB IT HERE.

Best Part of the Oscars

This is probably the kewtest thing I've ever seen. I love that he thanks his pencil. This type of humility and earnestness was absent from just about all the other acceptance speeches.



I just really truly love this album art and thought it worth sharing. It's for the sophomore effort, Everybody, Come Outside! by Cincinnati band The Pomegranates (check out the jangly and pretty [and Chin Up Chin Up-esque] songs at their myspace HERE). 

Black Lips Video: "Short Fuse"

The video for the new single from 200 Million Thousand.

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Stream The Entire New U2 Album

U2's MySpace page

Sunday, February 22, 2009

New Kanye ft. T-Pain: "Flight School"


Kanye is giving away this track at his blog (although it isn't CD/album quality). A mellow little number with some Auto-tune (both T-Pain AND Ye) as well as a bit of racism ("I close my eyes tighter than Asian eyes get"). However, it does see Kanye rapping again, which is nice. GRAB IT HERE.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Danceoff: Conan v. Colbert



- V'gum

Wolverine TV Spots: III of III

This is more like it. Guns, explosions, jokes, claws. Comics.

LOTR Geeks Unite!

This is preeeetty impressive for a fan made online movie. It gets me all riled up for the upcoming Hobbit movie.

THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM - FULL Trailer 1 from Independent Online Cinema on Vimeo.

New Kanye Video: "Welcome To Heartbreak"

Video's decent. Most excited by the fact that the mullet seems to be gone.


KANYE WEST "Welcome To Heartbreak" Directed by Nabil from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

J.Tillman Video: "Firstborn"

Been a big fan of the album (by current Fleet Foxes drummer) from which the song is pulled for quite a few months now. The video fits the song well.



- p4k

Bottled Water = Bad

TAKE A LOOK.

Wolverine TV Spots: II of III

Better than the first, but still leaves a bit to be desired. Don't get me wrong, though, I'm still super-psyched to see it.

A Lil' Gospel

Sometimes we all need to feel a little bit of that higher love.


Also, this...

White Lies

White Lies is a new, hotly touted band from West London, England. They've generated quite a bit of buzz, but every new band in England does, so it's tough to tell what's worth your time. These guys might be. They've got a sort of 80s-goth-U2 thing going on. This is the video for the song "Farewell To The Fairground," which didn't really do much for me at first, but was firmly lodged in my head by the end. They'll be playing at the Double Door in Chicago on April 3.

BBWH...swing and a miss

Amid a flurry of consolatory e-mails I received this morning from my legions of devoted readers (whom I've affectionately dubbed "brown cubs"), I have learned that Time Magazine has overlooked BBWH on its list of top 25 blogs of 2009. Don't fret, y'all. We'll get 'em next year. It is, however, a nice little rundown of blogs running the gamut from movies to business to politics to music (Said the Gramophone was included, which is probably the most awesome thing ever). It also includes the 5 most overrated blogs, including Perez Hilton (suck it!). You can read it HERE.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Dan Auerbach (of the Black Keys) On Conan

Thus far I haven't been feeling too much for the Keep It Hid tracks I'v heard, but I like this one a lot. Feels a little Van Morrison-y to me. 

- S'gum

New Transformers 2 Trailer

Alec Baldwin On SNL: 3 Minutes of Masturbation Humor

Wolverine TV Spots: I of III

Not a huge fan of the little kid version of Wolvie.

I'm Not Gonna Write You A Love Blog

I resisted posting anything remotely Valentine's Day-related, because I think it is a bit of a miserable holiday. The only people that really benefit from it are those in a brand new relationship (three weeks to two months in), as it increases their chances of getting some sort of freaky/intense sexual encounter. For those not in relationships, it is a reminder of how lonely they are. And for those in extended relationships, well you shouldn't need a "special" day to do something special for your significant other. You also shouldn't need a "special" day to get freaknasty in the sack...that should be happening on a regular basis (ladies, take note).

HOWEVER, I did just read a pretty interesting article about the science of kissing. It provides some scientific insight into why men and women kiss. As for the former, the answer is probably what you'd expect: sex.


Sunday, February 15, 2009

Amazon's Daily Deal

For today only No Doubt's The Singles Collection is available for under 2 bones at Amazon's mp3 site. I'm telling you, buying mp3s from itunes just doesn't make any sense when you've got DRM-free mp3 deals like this.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Friday, February 13, 2009

New U2

You can stream the song "No Line On The Horizon" from the album of the same name over at SPIN. It's better than "Get On Your Boots," which wasn't really a difficult hurdle to clear. The verses are actually pretty awesome, but they really stumble at the chorus. 

2008's Money Makers

A list of the musicians who had the highest revenue in 2008 (via Brooklyn Vegan).

1. Madonna: $242,176,466
2. Bon Jovi: $157,177,766
3. Bruce Springsteen: $156,327,964
4. The Police: $109,976,894
5. Celine Dion: $99,171,237
6. Kenny Chesney: $90,823,990
7. Neil Diamond: $82,174,000
8. Rascall Flatts: $63,522,160
9. Jonas Brothers: $62,638,814
10. Coldplay: $62,175,555
11. The Eagles: $61,132,213
12. Lil Wayne: $57,441,334
13. AC/DC: $56,505,296
14. Michael Buble: $50,257,364
15. Miley Cyrus: $48,920,806
16. Taylor Swift: $45,588,730
17. Journey: $44,787,328
18. Billy Joel: $44,581,010
19. Mary J. Blige: $43,472,850
20. Kanye West: $42,552,402

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Lost Blogging = Llogging

So, per Theo's request, here are some musings on last night's Lost. Don't read if you haven't seen it yet.

1. Jin was in Spiderman 2.

2. When Sun says goodbye to her child on the phone, she says "Annyong," which was LOL funny if you ever watched Arrested Development.

3. A few episodes ago, during one of the time warps, when Daniel Faraday was going to look at the hydrogen bomb, and that young British gal with the gun escorted him there, and Faraday kept looking at her and saying she looked so familiar...it seems pretty clear that, after Charlotte the ginger's confession, that that was Charlotte's mother. Now I don't really remember whether or not she said she was born there or not, but I guess the big followup question is where was Charlotte conceived? If on the island, her mother must have left the island to give birth and then come back. If off the island, then it's all gravy. Either way, craziness.

4. Question: does Locke really need to bring anyone back now? I may be off on this one, but it seemed like the only reason the island was jumping back and forth in time was because that big wheel was knocked off of its axis. So, when Locke realigned it, won't the island stop jumping through time and won't the nosebleeds stop and won't everyone be okay? Or is there ANOTHER danger coming?

5. AND Smokey the smoke monster returned, and a dude lost his arm because of it. We also saw about that "sickness" that Rousseau kept jibber jabbering to Sayid about in the first season. However, after Smokey had taken him into that cave, and then the people could hear him saying "Please help, I'm really badly hurt," I couldn't stop thinking of this scene (at 50 seconds in)...


Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Awesome News: White Stripes Playing Conan's Last "Late Night"

This will be the White Stripes' first live performance since summer of 2007. The show's air date is February 20.



- p4k

Lily Allen's New Album For $3.99 @ Amazon.com

For those of you that are digital downloaders, I implore to abandon itunes for Amazon. Exactly like itunes except fast-ass download times and absolutely ZERO DRMs (which means you can e-mail them to as many people as you like or burn them onto CDs as many times as you want)! They open up and play in your itunes just as if you had bought it from the itunes store itself. PLUS they have deals all the time for full albums...like THIS ONE.

Conan, Norm MacDonald, and the guy from Hell's Kitchen Cook and Swear Together

This was pretty darn entertaining.


- V'gum

"Heroes" Flub

So, in an effort to liven up this blog, I think I'm occasionally going to include some musings on some of the television shows I watch. I doubt any of y'all are dorky enough to watch "Heroes," but I'm exactly that dorky. And, even if y'all are that dorky enough, I doubt y'all are dorky enough to have noticed a tiny little plot hole. Or maybe they'll acknowledge it next week. Not sure. But here's what my extremely acute geek senses alerted me to the other night. 

So we all know that Nathan Patrelli is an in-the-closet hero trying to round up all the other heroes. We also know that Hunter, Patrelli's little hero-rounding-squad leader reads up on all the heroes he's trying to catch (as evidenced in the scene where he confronts Claire and says he knows all about her powers and how to kill her etc.). One would assume that the goon squad also should know that now Peter Patrelli can only hold on to one power at a time (as evidenced by Nathan and Peter's conversation from two episodes ago), and as soon as he absorbs a new one, the old one is gone. NOW, in the final scene of last night's episode, Peter has a gun to Nathan, and then escapes via his newly gained power of flight. Hunter is there as well. It seems to me that a smart guy like Hunter would be able to deduce the fact that Peter's flying ability must have been taken from the last person he touched with that ability (Nathan). 

I dunno, "Heroes" writers. I've found everything about your "ordinary people with superpowers" story thoroughly believable until now. Shape up or ship up.

See any flaws in my reasoning? Want to add anything? Want to express how douchey you think this was? You know where the comments section is.

New Thermals: "Now We Can See"

This song has been on just about every blog in blogsville today, but a free song is a free song. It's purty good. Sounds like The Thermals are moving a little closer to Ted Leo territory, which can never be a bad thing. The album of the same name will be out on 4/7.

The Thermals - "Now We Can See"

Thieves Like Us Video: "Drugs In My Body"

Played this on the show yesterday. Really quite enjoy it.

Bat For Lashes "Moon And Moon" Live



- S'gum

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Trees Are Migrating North

National Geographic is reporting that some tree species may be heading north at an average of 62 miles a century (yes, like the Ents of LOTR). That's crazy. As with all the dramatic ecological and biological changes as of late, one of the prime suspects is global warming. Among the species heading north are the northern white cedar, American basswood, sugar maple, black ash, bigtooth aspen, and yellow birch.

Well played, Canada. Well played.

TV On The Radio Interview and Performance on The Colbert Report

Really funny interview and great performance. Colbert strokes a beard.


- YANP

Monday, February 9, 2009

Weezy's NOLA Tribute at the Grammys

I totally forgot to post this one. Along with Radiohead's performance, this was one of the highlights of Grammy performances.

Beirut Does Letterman

"Sunday Smile"


- S'gum

New Lonely Island Video: "I'm On A Boat" ft. T-Pain

"This boat is real."

TV On The Radio - SNL

These are two of my least favorite songs on the album, but they still rocked it. Horns and all.
"Dancing Choose"
"Golden Age"

Diversifying

I've been told I need to diversify on this site a bit. 

So, if you go HERE, you can see a picture of two lizards making whoopi, and read an accompanying article about the tuatara lizard, which can live for up to 250 years.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Blink-182 Reunite

Tom, Mark, and Travis announced at the Grammys that they will be making music together again. Straight from the horseses mouths. 

The Kings Snag A Grammy


So, in general, I sometimes feel like the Grammys are sort of an industry-wide circle-jerk, where the major category awards are primarily given to albums/artists with strong sales and popular recognition rather than to albums/artists that show strong musical innovation and integrity. And, when the latter actually gets some recognition with a nomination, it feels like a hollow victory, because you know in the end they're destined to lose. That's sort of why I love Johnny Depp's "fuck the academy" attitude. I feel like he realizes that winning the award, which is voted on by a bunch of old farts, often has little relation to the quality of the performance.

HOWEVER, it always feels good when one of your guys is able to sneak out with a win. The Followills were up for three awards this year, and were beat out by Coldplay and the Boss for two, but managed to walk away with a "Best Rock Performance" Grammy for Only By The Night's lead single "Sex On Fire."

Saturday, February 7, 2009

New Lily Allen's "It's Not Me It's You" Streaming At Her Myspace


This has probably been up for a tic, but I'm just getting around to giving it a listen, and kappy likey. "Not Fair" and "22" are my personal favorites so far. Nothing that quite grabs you as much as "LDN" or "Smile" did, but overall this seems like a more well-rounded album than the last. You can listen to it HERE.

Also, f#@! you Perez Hilton! Leave Lily alone. You're a miserable little human. Go back to writing about Twilight and kissing Katy Perry's ignorant obnoxious ass.

New Seth Rogen Trailer "Observe and Report"

Blink-182 Reunion Rumors Continue

ARTICLE.




- thanks to icky b for the tip

Michael Cera Flips Out

From devout reader Allison...


Thursday, February 5, 2009

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Brown Bear Endorses: Horse Feathers

Props to Whilden for forcing these guys on me over the past couple radio shows we've done. Horse Feathers specialize in being awesome. The songs come out like some sort of beautiful hybrid of William Fitzsimmons, Iron & Wine, and Ray LaMontagne. Sparse and deliberate guitar and banjo, hushed harmonies, and gorgeous strings, sometimes a well orchestrated swell of them, and sometimes just a single fiddle dancing and playing in the folk tradition. The new album, House With No Home, is great. Grab the lead track below.

Wish This Was My Band's Name


So I was just cruizin' hype machine, and stumbled upon one of the best band names ever: Roy G And The Biv. How sweet is that? Just in case any of y'all don't get it, ROY G BIV is a mnemonic for the sequence of colors in the visible spectrum. Sooo...yeah, pretty sweet. And maybe I'm just giving it the benefit of the doubt because the band name is sooooo freakin' sweet, but I'm kinda digging the electro-soul-disco-funk of the song. "I can be your nicotine, baby, heaven when your smoking me." Feels kind of like if the Darkness was writing disco tunes.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Air France: "The Sweetness of Air France"


This is a jam that slipped under my radar this summer, probably because that is just about when I was first hearing about this excellent duo. Soooo good. You can download it HERE.



Singer of Fleet Foxes = White Antelope

Robin Pecknold is sporting a new haircut and a new solo musical outfit. White Antelope has a myspace that has some simple, sparse, beautiful songs (the first of which is a cover). You can listen to them HERE.

- S'gum

Wavves Live: "To The Dregs"

So here's some live fuzz-rock from an artist that has been making quite a few...wavves...in the blogopolis.

Wavves - Part 3 by Yours Truly from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

- GvB

Monday, February 2, 2009

You Rock My World, Michael Jackson

While I was in L.A., Ryan Gosling and I decided to go to PinkBerry a couple times, and every time we were there the employees were blasting MJ. It was totally awesome. I grew up on Michael. Those were the first cassettes I owned and probably informed a lot of my current musical tastes. So here is the last new MJ song that really felt like classic Michael. And while it's a little sad to see what he's done to his face with all that surgery, this long version of the video to Michael Jackson's "You Rock My World," over three decades into his career, is proof that Michael Jackson is absolutely and unequivocally the King of Pop. Britney, Usher, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Christina, Madonna...I can't blame y'all for trying.

Ja'mon!

Transformers 2 Trailer

First Wolverine, now this. 2k9's gonna rock my face.


Morning Benders Cover The Submarines

Love love love the Morning Benders.


Remember, the band's cover album, which posted a link to earlier, is still available for FREE from the band. Grab it HERE.

New Bishop Allen

For Tommy.


- MBV

New Air France Video: "No Excuses"

Video for one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite releases of 2008. 

- p4k.tv

Arctic Monkeys live video: "Crying Lightning"

I pointed y'all to some audio of a couple new AM jams. Here's a youtubes of "Crying Lightning," which I'm still pretty fond of.

Spin interviews KOL HERE.

Flight Of The Conchords Announce Tour

Tix on sale NOW. Check dates HERE.

- Spin

TV On The Radio On SNL, Saturday, February 7

SNL is getting preeeety indie, these days.

-p4k

P.S. Sorry for the lack of posts this past week, but I was TCB in California. As a result, there will be a few "old news" posts going up today.