"His smile is like a baby bunny sniffing a flower"

Hipster Kitty is right. The more we talk about it, the less stigma there is. That being said, I have nothing to say for myself. Quod Scripsi Scripsi.

Justin Bieber - Up.mp3

Record Store Day 2010

Just a reminder: today is Record Store Day 2010! Swing by your local independent record store and pick up some goodies, like the Mountain Goats' "Life of the World to Come" DVD which is also released today. Only 1,500 copies were made, and distributed throughout the U.S., so call and visit to snag a copy!

Here's my personal favorite track off the latest album by the same name:
the Mountain Goats - 1 John 4:16.mp3

Glee!

Ah yeah, it's that time again. Today is going to be an all-Glee mix at work. While you're Enjoying Sue Sylvester's spoof of Madonna's iconic "Vogue" video, check out some fantastic amateur tributes to the show. I present to you Seattle's Glee Flash Mob!

VK BFFs 4EVA

Not that this really has to do with music per se, but I stumbled upon this belt buckle that reminds me of this beloved blog:



Oh yes, it goes up to 11 as well!

an open letter to our beloved bands

Dear Music Artists,

As you may/may not know, the recession has hit those of us who do not have "touring" in our job description rather heavily.
The plus side is that all of your lovely VK ladies have since returned to graduate school and/or gotten recession-resistant jobs.
The bad news is that grad school + these jobs suck up almost all our time, and we're still broke.

It's a delight when you tour through town, but the exquisite dearth of disposable income has made it difficult to invest in new music or go to shows. (Spoon, with your $30+ tickets for crappy seats at the Moore Theatre in Seattle, I'm talking to you.)

Suggestion: instead of trying to impress the hipsters with vinyl 7" releases or putting on elaborate shows that are out of the average working woman's price range, do what everyone else is doing and scale back a bit.

The Dimes (@The Tractor Tavern) and The Morning Benders (@The Crocodile) both put on great shows for <$12 in the past fortnight. Maybe the rest of you should look into that sort of thing.

Sincerely,
the struggling music fans who are your bread & butter.

Live at the Burton Cummings Theatre

Of all the new music I got this week, the Weakerthans' Live at the Burton Cummings Theatre CD/DVD is by far my favorite. It would serve as a great introduction to the band, if you happen to need one, or a great rehash of all your old favorites, if you're already acquainted. For me, it serves to make me feel much, much better about the concert of theirs I missed a few years back.

And now, the obligatory video clip:



No, it's not the Weakerthans, but, seriously, how awesome was that?

Guilty on all charges

Via Flavorwire, it's music review bingo! And yes, it totally captures the vocab of VK. Well done, indeed.

RIP Alex Chilton

We are saddened to have to write this blog post about yet another super-talented song-writer dying. Alex Chilton, you know the guy from classic 70s band Big Star has passed at only 59. If the dude only sang "Thirteen" that would have been more than enough to solidify his immense talents. I mean that is THE purest, most innocent declaration of young love EVER. His trembling voice is the encapsulation of adolescent yearning. It was practically written for do-you-like-me?-circle-yes-or-no mixtapes.

BUT thankfully his output far exceeds just one song. Celebrate his life by revisiting his tremendous body of work.

Thirteen - Big Star
The Ballad of El Goodo - Big Star
It gets so hard in times like now to hold on

The cover is so crayon-y!

The best National songs make me want to punch holes in walls. Even when they're elegant restrained there is still such unbridled angst and anger amongst the beauty. And dear God is "Terrible Love" beautiful. The slow-boil crescendo percolates to such awesome heights, I get shivers. Shivers, I tell you! Mark your calendar's for May 11's release of High Violet. We sure have.

Terrible Love - The National

and another live stunner:

Runaway - The National

RIP Mark Linkous

Just Because

I have no timely reason to post this song, except because it's beautiful and got stuck in my head in the shower this morning:

The saddest PSA this side of the Sarah Mclachlan with the puppies one

You guys! The rabbits are sad! I know this because they are in cages and are listening to Morrissey! Factory farming never seemed so cruel.

Rap song! Rap song!

If you live in the northeast than you've probably survived a blizzard this weekend. But have you survived Blizzard Man??


Ok so that was parody, and um be forewarned this isn't. The lovely boyfriend and I are taking up a collection to get the Mountain Goats to sing this at the next Zoop:

Great band, great cause

Looking to get rid of your crappy old albums (not that any of our readers own crappy albums, no, of course not) and get something less-crappy in return? Oh and want to see some awesome bands AND help combat AIDS and homelessness? Well I sure do. Therefore this Thursday I be at Housing Works Bookstore.

I will plunk down my five bucks, a donation to the aforementioned causes of course, and a bushel of old CDs and pick one that is hopefully a lot better than those crappy promos I've accumulated over the past three years. (All albums that aren't claimed will be donated to the non-profit shop.) And I will see the Morning Benders!

ALL THE DETAILS ARE HERE

OH and did I mention I WILL SEE THE MORNING BENDERS! Their upcoming album Big Echo, out in March is pretty damn awesome and has lots of sha-la-las and ooh-ooh-ahhs and other monosyllabic sounds of delight. (It's also produced by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor and you can definitely hear a smidge of the Grizz in the moody atmospheric production.) This is a long rambly way of saying its occupying all of my ears' time lately. Take a listen:

Excuses - The Morning Benders

SO GO GO GO! All the cool kids will be there!

Sound through Sight

Looking for something to do tomorrow (it's a Friday in New York, so of course you are)


All proceeds go to help some cool kids write a pretty cool book. Basically they're take a road trip across America and Mexico next month in search of where music and the music industry stands in 2010, how we got here, and where we're going.

The book is called Sound through Sight. Here the deets.

Happy Valentine's Day y'all!

Valentine's Song - The Felice Brothers

SO many La, La, Las

Here's a beautiful way to start your weekend. In honor of a pre-murderous Phil Spector, The Morning Benders perform their song "Excuses" with choir of their friends. It's just that their friends all happen to be a who's who of the San Fran music scene. We got the Nicest Guy in Indie Rock (TM), John Vanderslice, plus the guy from last years breakout band of choice, Chris Owens' of GIRLS and the Mumlers. Together they call themselves the Big Echo Orchestra. Basically your ears will be in heaven for the next six minutes. Enjoy!

Yours Truly Presents: The Morning Benders "Excuses" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Everybody's favorite twitter topic becomes a song

You know what I did instead of watching the Superbowl last Sunday? I saw MC Frontalot rap his ass off. To the uninitiated he is the reigning king of nerdcore. That basically means he raps about Star Wars and internet and it is all sorts of awesome. Here is a video of a song on his upcoming album, the brilliantly entitled "First World Problems":

Two-headed comic

So I hung out in this adorable comic book shop last night. While perusing the shelves I stumbled upon this book entitled "Ballad of the Two-Headed Boy". That has got to a be a Neutral Milk Hotel reference, right? I mean it came out in 2000 and even the black and white sketches seem Aeroplane-esque.
Just thought I'd throw that out there and if anyone knows for sure, hit us up in the comments. Also I'll take any excuse I can get to post this song:

Two-Headed Boy - Neutral Milk Hotel
Two-Headed Boy - the Mountain Goats (Neutral Milk Hotel cover)

Yeah, that's right TRIPLE ALBUM

I'm probably the only one who likes Joanna Newsom but does not love Ys. Sure, it's alright I guess. I mean I dig the harp and even her girly sometimes overly affected vocals. But with the exception of maybe "Emily" I simply didn't enjoy the overly ornate orchestral arrangements and rambling song structures. It was a total 180 from the homespun charm of her debut album The Milk-Eyed Mender and I missed the folksy twang of it all.


BUT hope is not lost. This week Drag City unveiled two new tracks off her highly anticipated TRIPLE(!) album Have One on Me out February 23. And I like them both. One is long. One is short. Yet the production is definitely a return to the old and the melodies are tight. There's even some banjo thrown in for good measure. Check 'em out:

'81 - Joanna Newsom
Good Intentions Paving Company - Joanna Newsom