Podcast!!

Direct Link
RSS Feed

Opening music:

Don Lennon
"A Secret Band" (mp3)
from "Radical"
(Martin Philip Associates)

Buy at iTunes Music Store

Pale Young Gentlemen, "Fraulein" (downloaded from their Myspace)

Website

Chris Robley, "Culture Jammers"

Website
Myspace

White Williams, "New Violence"

Label Site
Myspace

*I was a little worried about a guy named White singing about new violence--I don't want to inadvertantly support racial supremism. I saw this picture, though, and I kinda figured this guy isn't a Nazi.

The Long Winters, "Sometimes You Have To Work On Christmas (Sometimes)" (part of this charity compilation)

Website
Myspace

Blood on the Wall, "Hibernation"

Myspace
Insound Page (the band's site is under construction)

Suffering and the Hideous Thieves, "I Will Always Find a Way" (this song is a few years old, but I'd never heard it, so...)

Label Site (the website listed redirects to a link farm)
Myspace

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By


Camphor, "Confidences Shattered" (Thanks to Fingertips for the link to the mp3)

Okay, stop giggling at the name. I know at least some of you are. I know I am. I'm also amused with the lyrics: "You cleaned us out while we were blind, stole our car and drank our wine. Fumbled around inside our drawers, crept in and kept us up until dawn." Oh, stop chiding me. I'm not a sadist. Not most of the time, anyway. I'm not laughing at someone getting robbed (though I did giggle a little when he said someone was fumbling inside his drawers). It only made me smile when I realized he's talking about someone he knows, not a random burglary: "Charm and grace with a devious style, a beautiful face and a dangerous smile..." I think of a beautiful siren from a 40's movie--upswept hair, red lip gloss, severe shoulder pads. Er, that's probably 'cause I just saw Blade Runner again. Anyway, once you get over giggling at the band's name, you'll notice that this song is a folk-flavored, rousin' country song, complete with "someone done me wrong" lyrics and a great sing-a-long opportunity.

Website
Myspace


One of the members of Camphor is named Whip. Hee hee.

Vandaveer, "However Many Takes It Takes"

Vandaveer is one guy: Mark Charles Heidinger. The name Vandaveer does roll off the tongue more easily, unless he wanted to shorten his name into one of those trendy McShort names, like: MkChuck. Cool, huh? No? You're right--he doesn't seem much like a MkChuck. There's nothing trendy or flippant about him. He makes me think of an American Alexi Murdoch. His voice is comforting--the sound of his humming burrows itself into my consciousness. His words make sense to me--I believe him when he says I have to take it as it comes, however many takes it takes. The part about doing it with a smile on my face can be difficult, but I understand the message of the song--it's a hard message, but one he dispenses with kindness. The fairy tales aren't real, and no amount of small comforts we grant ourselves will make us feel as solid as we once did. We have to make our own tales, accepting that they won't always go the way we want or intend.

Website
Myspace


This is Vandaveer

Chris Bathgate, "A Flash of Light Followed By" (Thanks to Songs Illinois)

This starts out soft and rather bare--the singer's warm, warbling voice rolls in and out of the starkly played guitar. Just when I've settled in for a beautiful melody so light it seems to skip over me, the reverb kicks in, horns (!) rear in and I feel like I'm listening to some of the cacophonic brilliance of the 80s and 90s 4AD label (with maybe a little less disorder than the great 4AD songs). A song like this shouldn't be heard on tiny headphones. It should be heard with huge stereo speakers--you know, the kind that don't come with your computer (I'm not chiding--I don't have any anymore, either).

Website
Myspace


Little do most people know that the hoodie is actually the key to Chris Bathgate's uncanny song-crafting ability.

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By


The Avett Brothers, "If It's the Beaches"

Lola's letting her folky side show today. What? You didn't know I had any other side? Okay, fair enough. Yeah, I like the folk music. I love music that sounds like it was ghost-written by heartbreak, in a wooded area, surrounded only by a creek and maybe a small wooden cabin. Of course this guy is offering every type of scenery available: the beach, the mountain--whatever his love wishes. I'd settle for the wooded area, the creek and the cabin.

Yeah, and now that I'm reading their website, I'm finding out they were here in Jacksonville a few weeks ago. Maybe he could get me a time machine too :)

Website
Myspace


The Avett Brothers are waiting for you to decide whether you want the beaches or the mountains. They're very patient like that.

Marla Hansen, "Wedding Day"

This is a little different than the folk music I usually listen to; the viola is downright Appalachian in its sparse pluckiness. A clarinet comes in to add a little bit of noir soul. Her voice has the tremulous wavering of the British singer Beth Orton. The song is an inventive mixture of contexts--befitting of a musician who has worked in so many different styles: classical, hip-hop (Jay-Z, Kanye West), modern folk (Sufjan Stevens), modern rock (The National) and modern enigmatic (My Brightest Diamond, whom I absolutely adore).

Website
Myspace


Marla Hansen is so pretty. I love the way the flower looks in her hair.

Alaska in Winter, "Close Your Eyes - We are Blind"

Before you say "This sounds like Beirut!", first know: This is partly Beirut. Also: Beirut's style is so awesome that I welcome it in as many songs as possible. Also: the first time I heard Beirut, I thought "That sounds like Devotchka!" Then I realized that I loved the Eastern European style so much that I welcomed it in any song. It's so grandly festive. It makes me feel like I'm part of some great gypsy caravan, stopping for a few hours' celebration, lighting a bonfire to ward off the dark and the snow on these well-travelled roads. Yes, I always make up stories for the songs I hear.

Website
Myspace


Alaska in Winter

from "Dance Party In The Balkans"
(Regular Beat Recording)
Buy at Amazon

Podcast!!

Direct Link
RSS Feed

Opening music:

Don Lennon
"A Secret Band" (mp3)
from "Radical"
(Martin Philip Associates)
Buy at iTunes Music Store

The Rumble Strips, "Alarm Clock" (Thanks to Fingertips for the tip)

Myspace
Website

The Raveonettes, "Aly Walk With Me"

Website
Myspace

The Winter Sounds, "Windy City Nights" (The original .mp3 from Last.Fm isn't working)

Website
Myspace

The Hourly Radio, "Not a Victim" (Gemini Remix)

Website
Myspace

The Octopus Project, "Truck" (Thanks again to Fingertips)

Website
Myspace

Seabear, "I Sing I Swim"

Website
Myspace

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

Cass McCombs, "That's That"

Never has anyone confessed in such a charming and smooth manner to having a job cleaning toilets. The soothing salve of his voice makes it sound mysterious and adventurous. Like a 007 theme song written for the average young American male. It very much reminds me of the way I felt when I heard the song "Might as Well" by Something For Rockets--like I was experiencing something immensely comforting and a little crude at the same time. I love the doo-wopness (?) of this song, too--a throwback to the 50s--a time when the public face of this country was all homespun goodness, but with an undertone of sinisterness and rawness.

Website
Myspace


Cass McCombs, not cleaning toilets at the moment

The Purrs, "She's Got Chemicals"

Hmm...he never comes outright and says what this song is about. She's got chemicals, but are they external chemicals or her own chemistry? Afterall, he says it was their "chemistry" that used to keep them together. Okay, so he says "he used to be a teenager drug digger"...but was it the drug of love or a drug of the brain? Aren't the two similar? I mean, they both impair your judgement and they both occasionally make you throw up. Regardless of whether the chemicals are of the external variety or the naturally occurring-in-human variety, this is a kicking song. It's got a cascading guitar intro and the sort of fuzzed out vocals I remember from the heady days of the 1990s. Yes, psychedelic rock. It never truly leaves us, and I am glad. This psychedelia is a clearer brand than its progeniters--the music doesn't completely overpower the vocals and the instruments are decipherable, unlike the psych power pop of my early days.

Website
Myspace


Shh...The Purrs hear something purring in the next room.

The Veils, "The Very Scary Trees"

I first heard The Veils 3 years ago with their excellent song "The Tide That Left and Never Came Back". This, along with a few others songs, is what made me realize that I really loved discovering music. I'd always loved music, but it had never occurred to me to actively go out and hunt for it (with my laptop and an RSS reader as my companions and weapons). This song is actually older than that, but since I've got a legal mp3, we're going to pretend it's brand new. Alot has happened to The Veils since this song came out. They changed labels (nearly losing rights to their back catalog) and dramatically changed members. This song shares a quality with the other songs I've heard from them--there's a lightness here, but that doesn't mean it's without gravity. It's grounded, but with a very strong pull--lulling me, yet similtaneously grabbing my hands and pulling, like a kid pulling another kid towards some imaginary wonder. Like the Cass McCombs song above, there's a slightly 50's doowop sound, but the song isn't a throwback--the sound works for this song. The song wears the 50s style like a stylish girl wears a vintage velvet jacket.

from "Vells"
(Luckyhorse Industries)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic


Myspace
Website


The Veils heard the purring also, and it was so strong it knocked them down

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By


Marco Mahler, "Design in Quick Rotation"

I'm just going to listen to this song over and over. Probably twenty times tonight. It's okay--I'm wearing headphones. I understand that though I revel in listening to the same song dozens of times, others don't. I don't want my boyfriend or my cats planning mutiny in this apartment. I will not be exiled. I will be enveloped by Marco Mahler's voice and I will be carried along by the current of this music. When I open my eyes it will be morning. If I have any candles lit, please someone blow them out for me. Thank you.

Website
Myspace


Marco Mahler looks humble (or like he's deciding whether to pick something off the floor)

Tulsa, "Shaker"

There's a haziness over this song--a gauziness that's probably the effect of modulation, but makes it sound like it was recorded from a distance. I like that out-of-placeness. Maybe I like it because my hearing is shot (what? what? My speakers are too loud?) and all sounds are filtered for me. Maybe it's because I always feel like there's a thin layer between me and the world. Maybe it's cause I like cool vocal effects. On the band's Myspace they label their music as Jungle and state that they're "Independent as a Hog". That makes me laugh. They're independent and kind of shoe-gazy in a non-whiny, non-pointless way. I love it.

Website
Myspace


Tulsa are also deciding whether to pick something.

Rebekah Higgs, "Parables" (Thanks to Fingertips for introducing me to this song)

Be prepared to be thrown off-kilter by this song and this musician. Be prepared to not be able to pinpoint her. If you're not mindful, you could lump her in with a number of whispy-voiced female singers. Yes, her voice skips on the wind, but there is so much more to her and her music. Just her list of influences on Myspace show a confluence of qualities in her personality. She lists Youtube, disgust and old Judy Garland movies, among other things, as her influences. This song is equally layered. A verse will end and suddenly you realize that her voice is almost imperceptably repeating the verse in the background, almost indistinguishable from the gorgeous violin. Many instances of her voice play and intermingle among the instruments. It's a challenge to parse the song.

Website
Myspace


Oh my God! Rebekah Higgs is totally a blonde Kate Bush! I'm not kidding! Wow, she's awesome.

Bonus!!!

Video:

Menomena, "Rotten Hell"

Letters to Cleo, "Awake" (Yes, these were the 90s. I miss them.)

Podcast!!

Episode 33, Not that song!

Direct Link
RSS Feed

*Of course, by "that song", I mean the very last song. No cheating! Listen to the whole podcast and find out what "that song" is!

Opening music:

Don Lennon
"A Secret Band" (mp3)
from "Radical"
(Martin Philip Associates)
Buy at iTunes Music Store

Ra Ra Riot, "Suspended in Gaffa" (Kate Bush cover) (Not a direct download)

Myspace
Website

Tunng, "Arms"

Label Website
Myspace

Foreign Born, "Into Your Dreams"

Myspace
Website

Siberian, "Paper Birds"

Website
Myspace

Luke Temple, "Medicine"

Website
Myspace

Orba Square, "Gravel"

and

Orba Square, "Perfect Timing (This Morning)"

Their Site
Myspace

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

Why?, "The Hollows"

It's not often that I listen to a song and think "Man, that singer sounds like a bad-ass". Let's be honest--with most of the music I listen to, I might be more likely to think something like "Man, that singer sounds like a light wind could blow him over" or "I wonder if the O.C. ever played this song." With this song, though, I really got a down-on-his-luck, been around the block too many times kind of feel. Though it does make me laugh when he says he's been hiding behind a mustache.

Website
Myspace


Due to the extreme gravitas of Why?, their hair is in a constant state of flux

Ravens and Chimes, "January"

I love the piano in this and the melody is absolutely habit-forming. The guy sounds a little like Win Butler from Arcade Fire, and a little like some dude from the 60's I think was named Tiny Tim (or was that a dream I had?) The singer wraps the song with a kind of carnivalesque vocal style that consciously punches each note, articulating each syllable so that every moment feels absolutely real, absolutely immediate, as if the song is being re-lived every time it's played.

Website
Myspace
Label Site


Ravens and Chimes look like a close-knit group


Di Johnston
"Epilogue"(mp3) from "Reimagined"


This song is so quiet, so slight that you might not hear it if you don't have the volume all the way up. You might barely detect the shimmering tones and think maybe your brain integrated the music you heard last time you were at the masseuse. Or, you may think that you died and this is the music you hear when you're crossing over. If you turn the volume up, though, you'll realize that this is a flesh-and-blood song, made by a (I presume) flesh-and-blood person who really knows how to have a calming influence. She reminds me of Enya in her most quietest moments--you know, when she's not blasting in Latin or Gaelic with the sound of a storm ripping the background apart (I love you, Enya).

(Undercover Culture Music)

Website
Myspace

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody



Di Johnston has eyes for you (or for herself, or really, I guess, for the mirror)

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

Fleet Foxes, "White Winter Hymnal"

A song that sounds like it's sung in the round even though it's not. The vocals wrap around the song so quickly that the verses (the same verse, really) feel seamless--the tail of the verse chases its own head. Confused? A little off-kilter? Yes, but totally enchanted with these short, chanting verses that sound like a fairy-tale in the making. The lyrics go by in this song so fast that I get dizzy listening to it--luckily someone has transcribed the lyrics.

Website (Under construction)
Myspace


Fleet Foxes look like such nice lads...not sneaky like foxes.

Rogue Wave, "Lake Michigan"

One of my favorite bands. It's nice to hear from them again, and really nice to know that, like Band of Horses, they have not lost any quality between Career-Exploding album and new album. This song is as assured and as unique as my favorites from their previous album ("Publish My Love", "California", "Salesman at the Day of the Parade", "Eyes"). In case you're wondering, here are the lyrics. I know--I don't understand, either. I don't listen to music expecting to understand the lyrics, though :)

Website
Myspace


Rogue Wave are rogue because they all play electric xylophone (or whatever those are)

Ida, "Lovers Prayers"

If you're expecting a shimmery, lilting female voice, then you'll be surprised to find out that Ida is a band, and not one person. The vocals are performed by a man and a woman, both voices perfectly entertwining in harmony. His voice is crackling, gliding along the expanse of music, reminiscent of Guy Garvey of Elbow. Her voice is as light and as vast as the sky they sing about. The lyrics are equally gracious, though the meaning is hard to pinpoint: "Looking over your shoulder as the clouds start to break...nothing left of these ancient tears, just a great salt lake". Stark, gorgeous imagery compliment the sparkling piano and vocals.

Website (Under construction)
Myspace
Interview with Ida, from Stereogum


Ida are cold

My favorite podcasts and videocasts

These are the podcasts of my life. I listen to them while I'm at work, while I'm walking, on the bus, in the grocery store, and sometimes just lying on the couch with my boyfriend. They are not mere time-fillers, though. They mean a lot more to me than that. They introduce me to new music, give me insight into issues that directly affect me, like how to podcast a novel, what Kaito Nakamura's power really was, whether Claire and Adam Monroe are really related, who is the best candidate for President. All very important subjects to me. I look forward to these podcasts; I know the upload schedule for most of them. Thursday? Another DL.TV. Wednesday? Cranky Geeks. Sunday or Monday? 9th Wonders Podcast (BTW, I've had letters of mine read on 9th Wonders, DL.TV--actually they played a video question of mine-- and East Meets West. Yes, I am that special.)

Sadly, the people I work with still don't know what a podcast is. Eh, but the only TV they watch is Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, and I doubt they're losing sleep over who to vote for. So, I'm not too chagrined that they don't know about this aspect of my life.

For each podcast, I listed the generic RSS feed (though in some cases it made more sense to link to the website itself). Please note, though, that in some cases other subscription feeds are available on each podcast's website, such as iTunes or other specific podcatchers. An RSS feed is a catch-all, though, and will work in any feed catcher. If you have any questions about how to subscribe to podcasts, please e-mail me and I'd be happy to help. Here's a pretty good video tutorial..

If any of these links don't work, please let me know.

Music

Cerulean's Love of Music (Hee hee--of course!)
Coverville
Indiefeed (Alternative/Modern Rock)
Indiefeed (Indie Pop)
Interface, The
Ioda Cast
KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic
KEXP Song of the Day
Well-Rounded Radio (Look to the right for several subscription options)
Woxy.com Lounge Acts

Technology

Buzz Out Loud
CNET Live
Command N (Video, look to the left of the page for several subscribing options)
Cranky Geeks (There are several feeds, including audio-only, on the left-hand side of this page)
Daily Giz Wiz, The
DL.TV (There are several feeds, including audio-only, on the left-hand side of this page)
The Gadgetboyz Podcast
Geek News Central Podcast
Net @ Nite
Real Deal, The
Systm (Video, Feed options are on the right)
Tekzilla (Video, Feed options are on the right)
This Week in Tech
Unwired (Videocast) (Mention also goes to their affiliated game videocast, Play:Digital)
WebbAlert (Video)

TV

2 Irish Geeks and a TV
9th Wonder
The 10th Wonder
Galactica Watercooler (There are many options for subscribing to this audio podcast on the right-side of the page)

Paranormal

Beyond Reality
Crossroads Paranormal Radio
Ghostology
KAPS Paranormal Radio


Political

KCRW's Left, Right & Center
Truthdig
Slate's Political Gabfest
NPR It's All Politics
Shields and Brooks, from the Newshour with Jim Lehrer

General Culture

The Dawn and Drew Show
Discus (DVD Review Videocast)
East Meets West
Geek Fu Morning Show
Geeks On
Mahalo Daily
The Onion Radio News
Random Signal
NPR's This American Life
Slice of Scifi

Podcast Novels (and probably non-fiction, too--if it doesn't involve aliens, I'm usually not interested)

Podiobooks (Lots and lots of books)
J.C. Hutchins' 7th Son
Scott Sigler

Writing

Adventures in Scifi Publishing
I Should Be Writing
The Survival Guide to Writing Fantasy

Podcast!!

Episode 32, Complete Meltdown!

Direct Link
RSS Feed

Opening music:

Don Lennon
"A Secret Band" (mp3)
from "Radical"
(Martin Philip Associates)
Buy at iTunes Music Store

Division Day, "Every Shining Time You Arrive"

Myspace
Website

Voom Blooms, "Nine Ships"

Website
Myspace

Cut Off Your Hands, "You and I"

Myspace
(Their website is down, at least it is at this time)

***I kind of accidentally say s**t during my part after this song. I got frustrated because I couldn't recount the months of the year backwards***

Love in October, "I Dream of Marie Antoinette"

Website
Myspace

Zookeeper, "Trumpet"

Website
Myspace

Southern Drama, "The Spoils" (From their Myspace)

Their Sonic Bids site
Myspace

Holy F**k, "Lovely Allen" (Warning: The song downloads with the actual band name in the title, so if you don't want to see that word, you might want to change the name and the ID tag immediately).

Website
Myspace

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

Southern Drama, "Sour is the Day"

This is one of many excellent songs offered on their Sonic Bids page (Sonic Bids has proven to be a wonderful resource). The electric violin and the piano are both subtle and well-suited accompaniments to the singer's rich, languid, drawling voice. While some of the other songs feature electrifying violin solos (which are absolutely glorious), it's good to have a few songs like this one where the vocals are in the forefront.

Sonic Site
Myspace


Knife fighting: Very southern and dramatic.

Hey Hey My My, "Merryland"

Through freak iPod placement, this song has been 2nd on my playlist for several weeks (three). I discovered in those three weeks that I really liked having this song 2nd on my playlist, and in fact even if my iPod didn't make the momentous decision to put it there, I probably would move it to that prestigious spot on my own. Number one has been Wayne Petti's "Moment by Moment" for about a month (I love that song) and I finally took Courtney Jones' "Ride" off after almost a month of it being in the top five (I'm using an iShuffle and it has a limited amount of space), but I miss it, so I may put it back on. But, I digress. Hey Hey My My's "Merryland" is a very memorable track, from the distinctively plucked guitar, to the drums keeping time in the background and to the coy, languishing vocals that could have a place in the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack (one of my favorite movie soundtracks).

Label Site (en Francais)
Myspace


Hey Hey, My My... look! Why are those people standing in a field? And why are those other people holding up knives and glasses of wine?

Holy F**k, "Lovely Allen" (Warning: The song downloads with the actual band name in the title, so if you don't want to see that word, you might want to change the name and the ID tag immediately).

This song has one of the most beautiful openings I've ever heard. Beautiful as in "Bittersweet Symphony" beautiful, but not as orchestral (though still plenty orchestral). It's loud, encompassing and aims to take music to the stars where it originates from. It's so equisite that I'm going to put it on my podcast, too.

Website
Myspace


Holy F**k! Where did we put the car? Why are we in a field?

PODCAST WILL BE UP BY TOMORROW NIGHT!!

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

Yoav, "Beautiful Lie"

Sigh...pretty, hypnotic and British. Yes, the song's nice too..(hee hee). The song's gorgeous...beautiful. The guitar is so light it seems to spring from the song. The song spirals around you until you're not sure how to get out of it's hold. Do you want to, though?

Website
Myspace


The music is just as gorgeous as Yoav.

West Indian Girl, "To Die In L.A."

I love how this song starts out with sort of an Indian sound then totally melts into psychedelia. I'm generally not much of a Polyphonic Spree type of person (which is the band I think of when I think of modern psychedelia) but I love the sonic overload of this song. It's enough to make me glad I have those really big headphones. Of course some of the sonic extravagance went away once I turned off the version also playing on Myspace. They're definitely deserving of the attention they're getting.

Website
Myspace


West Indian Girl, photo taken by Gregg Lewis and posted on KCRW's site.

Peter & The Wolf, "Where Summer Goes" (Link courtesy of Rock Insider which sponsored an event with the band).

I wrote about Peter & The Wolf recently (like three weeks ago), but this is such a lovely song I wanted to include it. It's a beautiful bookend of a song. I'm not sure what it's a bookend to, but it feels like a very wonderful ending to something great. It's not a sad ending, though--it's more like the kind of ending that makes you look forward to the next beginning.

Website
Myspace


Peter and the Wolf, traveling band.

Bonus:

Hee hee! I'm a little behind in reading my Myspace comments. I got a happy birthday coment from the band The English Beat! I love the internet. I know they probably have some program that tells them when it's a fan's birthday, but still--I feel very special right now. Watch this awesome mix of General Public's "Tenderness" with Rihanna.General Public was an offshoot of The English Beat.

Oopsie!! I just realized the song "Dancing With My Brother" features a significant abundance of a word that begins with M and has an F in the middle. It's the fifth song (not counting the opening music).

Sorry! I make it a practice to put a warning at the beginning if there's a song with any curse words, but I hadn't listened to the song all the way through since I first heard it a week before, and I didn't listen to it all the way through when I was making the podcast. I didn't realize it until I was listening to it at work.

I really, really apologize. I'll make sure in the future to listen to each song completely before posting it.

Podcast!!

Direct Link
RSS Feed

Opening music:

Don Lennon
"A Secret Band" (mp3)
from "Radical"
(Martin Philip Associates)
Buy at iTunes Music Store

Ze Frank, "Let's Join a Social Network"
Video Accompaniment

Website
(No Myspace found)

Mobius Band, "Hallie"

Website
Myspace

Rockfour, "Everyone" (Site is down for me tonight, so I can't find the exact webpage)

Website
Myspace

The Battle of Land and Sea, "Saltwater Queen"

Label Website
Myspace

Entire Cities, "Dancing With My Brothers"

Artist Information
Myspace

Something For Rockets, "Stuck In Neutral"
(I am having interwebs problems and can't pull up the actual site to get the .mp3)

Website
Myspace

Henry Morgans Solokarriar, "One Day Any Day"

Website
Myspace

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

British Sea Power, "Atom"

There's something very energizing about this song. It makes me want to sing along and perhaps pour beer on a crowd of people...preferably people I know who might be annoyed by my action, but won't beat me up and/or kill me. It makes me feel like people who really like sports must feel when their team wins a really big game. I feel really celebratory. Perhaps like Britain felt during the height of their sea power? Anyhow, I first heard about British Sea Power many many years ago when I became obsessed with their song "Childhood Memories" (video). Seriously, I played that song hundreds of times. I don't remember ever writing about it. I think it might've been one of the songs that was the impetus for me starting an mp3 blog.

Website
Myspace


The members of British Sea Power are proud, like their name would imply.

Henry Morgans Solokarriar, "Faces From My Hometown"

He sounds a little like Bright Eyes, but I can forgive it in this case. The song itself flows so well--I love the melody and the spry keyboards and guitar--the music is so clean and uncluttered. As someone who lives in clutter, I'm especially appreciative of this song's lack of incumberance.

Website
Myspace


The lone member of Henry Morgans Solokarriar

Pinback, "Walters"

Their name implies that they're death metal spawned from the depths of a horror film night, but they're not. This song is actually extremely laid back. It's folk music with a fuzzed-out guitar (my favorite kind of guitar). I guess you could call it Freak Folk without a whole lot of freak, and not really a whole lot of folk, either. It floats somewhere in between these descriptions, much like the title character floats 3 miles above in his lawn chair. Yes, that's what I typed.

Website
Myspace


I guess if the pins are in their back, we wouldn't see them in this picture.

Bonus!!

Victims of Science, "The Device Has Been Modified"

I don't really know where this song came from, but Jonathan Coulton linked to it on his blog. I can't find any information on the band (person?), but JoCo seems to imply that the person who made it is the same person who uploaded it, so I feel pretty safe linking to it, also.

PROJECT!!

Remember how I posted a Brad Sucks song last week? Yeah, I think he's awesome, too. Anyway, he's giving anyone who has a microphone and a computer the chance to sing backup on a new song of his. I should have time to do it tomorrow, and as most of you know, I'm not hesitant to try to get myself on podcasts/web blogs or anywhere I can feel sort of famous for a minute. To make it easier (I wouldn't be able to do it without these), he's provided the lyrics for us.

Podcast sometime tomorrow!!!

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

HALLOWEEN EDITION

Brad Sucks, "Fixing My Brain"

Okay, so it's not strictly a Halloween song, but every time I hear it I imagine Frankenstein singing it, and then I laugh, and laugh, and laugh. This is a great song, and what makes it greater is that the musician obviously isn't in it for the money. While you can buy his music (higher quality), you can also download it for no cost. How awesome is that?

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Brad doesn't suck, though his name says he does

Brobdingnagian Bards, "Monster Mash"

I absolutely love this band (despite the fact that I can't pronounce their name and I had to copy & paste it here). I first heard them at Dragon*Con two years ago--I didn't see them live, though. I just happened to see one of their CDs while I was looking for Emerald Rose (another excellent band) merchandise. I thought the CD Songs of the Muse looked promising, so I bought it, and got two free "Real Men Wear Kilts" bumper stickers. Since I have no car, I put the sticker on a notebook.

More information on the stickers here

I loved the CD so much I listened to it every day for months. I was quite psyched to see them this year at D*C, but little did I know I'd accidentally see them perform before I had a chance to actually go to one of their shows! I went to a live taping of The Signal, the world's premiere (it's true!) Firefly/Serenity podcast* . These two musicians were there just walking around taliking to people. I could tell they were musicians because they said they were, and they had instruments. I thought it was strange that they were at a podcast for a T.V. show, but more unusual things have happened at Dragon*Con. Anyhow, to make a long story no shorter, one of the musicians started talking about kilts. I excitedly started pointing at my notebook with the sticker on it that says "Real Men Where Kilts" (I get overly enthusiastic at Dragon*Con). The musician seemed happily surprised that I had that sticker-- I just thought "wow, that dude really likes kilts". It wasn't until they introduced themselves that I realized they were the Brogdingnagian Bards. How cool! I also didn't know they did filk songs, but I know now, and here's a cover of a filk song from before there was a name for filk songs.

The bards have licensed the song CC (Creative Commons). Please read here to see which CC license they're using. It's important that we abide by the CC licenses if we ever hope for it to become mainstream like the All Rights Reserved copyright. (By the by--I'm not making any money off this, so I consider myself to not be using this for commercial purposes).

*look at the last picture, 2nd row, but in the middle. That's me in the black shirt. Eric is the one looking trapped beside me. I don't see the Brobs in this picture.

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Andrew McKee and Marc Gunn of the wonderful Celtic/Scifi/Ren Faire musical collective Brobdingnagian Bards (I can spell it! At least for a moment...)

Ahhh...I have to add this picture..just because it's so cute!


Marc Gunn with a cat named Jasper

Hallelujah the Hills, "Monster Eyes" (thanks to Village Voice)

I've played Hallelujah the Hills before; in fact, I may have posted this very song. I love the concept. One of my favorite writers, Jonathan Lethem, made a call out to musicians to interpret a fictional song in his latest novel You Don't Love Me Yet. This song is a hybrid, made from the imagination of one of the most strange-prone novel writers we have today and a band whose members are masters at sounding oddly disinterested in their music but engaged at the same time. Like they're maybe stoned, but still very good at what they're doing. The vocalists and back-up singers have almost a yelling, declaration-style of singing--like Wayne Coyne had in "She Don't Use Jelly". So yeah, they kind of remind me of The Flaming Lips, without the bright red hair Mr. Coyne was sporting back then (I know I was sobriety-challenged back then, too, but man--that hair hurt the eyes).

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Hallelujah the...Water Fountain?

Honorary Mentions:

I wanted so badly to post Petra Haden's excellent version of "Thriller", but I realized I didn't have a copy that I could distribute "legally". So here's the stream of it. Listen to it with glee!

Same with Magnolia Electric Co.'s "Werewolves of London". I thought there was a version on Secretly Canadian's website, but I was wrong. Here's part of the song, streaming though. I know--it's like Christmas instead of Halloween! Actually, it's more like Halloween, where you keep getting the bite-sized candy bars instead of full-size. Meh.