My Dinosaur Life - Motion City Soundtrack (Album)

OH NO I've decided to share an entire album again!
Anyway yes! My Dinosaur Life is the BRAND NEW album by Motion City Soundtrack who I'm sure you'll agree are basically The Best Band.

My Dinosaur Life is a bit of a diversion from the style of the previous two albums, becoming much more 'pop' and less 'punk rock' which I kinda don't enjoy because their older albums (mainly Commit This To Memory) were absolutely brilliant (See: Attractive Today, L.G. FUAD, Everything Is Alright) while the new one is only quite good. There are a few great songs from the new album though such as A Lifeless Ordinary, Delirium and Skin and Bones. Also I enjoy the intro to History Lesson greatly.

So basically, check out the album on iTunes! It's fairly great.

A Lifeless Ordinary (Need a Little Help)

Boat Behind - Kings of Convenience

FREQUENTLY I FIND MYSELF WONDERING whether there is a specific Genre of music which do I favour above all others. Those of you familiar with my views on Genre (without labouring the point, whilst convenient from the listener's point of view, I think Genre nicely exemplifies humanity's urge to place things into figurative boxes and make them conform to the 'rules of the box,' if you will) will note that I have less a favourite Genre of music, rather a particular favourite 'mood' of music. Boat Behind by the Norway-based "Kings of Convenience" is a brilliant ray of light into what was the quickly-becoming-stagnant favourite mood of mine, as I hadn't heard anything like this in some time.

Song notes:

• My favourite mood is, loosely, relaxed, acoustic music, sung sincerely and with a enjoyable sound and rhythm
• The double-bass and solo Viola in Boat Behind make it sound like you're in the basement of a tavern in Continental Europe some time before the second World War. But the singing is definitely modern, with close harmonies between the vocals of the two-piece group fulfilling the 'enjoyable sound' requirement of my favourite mood
• By a shocking burst of coincidence, this song makes me feel great, and puts me into my 'favourite mood'

Hope it does the same for you. (I'm rocking the Vimeo because frankly, I enjoy their work much more than YouTube)

But here's YT if you can't live without it.

Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield

Don't even start with me. That's how they spell it. I didn't decide that that would be the best way to spell it. They decided that. It's out of my hands. Just settle down.

Here is the song and video in all its 80's glory, replete with really intense bass guitar part. It's rad. It's seriously just amazing. This is everything that is good and right and perfect about the 80's, ladies and gentlemen. Protonostalgia is defined as the feeling you get when you miss a decade, time or experience that you were not a part of, and that is what I feel for the 80's when I listen to this song, because holy shit.

And if that wasn't badass enough, here is a barbershop quartet rendition, which is amazing and glorious even if they don't do the harmony over the chorus that the actual song does. Whatever, guys. No, you know what, I'm going to find one that does the proper one, because seriously.

There. It's kinda messy in the chorus but they do the harmonies Right. I don't know. I have an Attitude to this song I can't quite explain.

The Summer - Josh Pyke

This song, this song is pretty great... I don't even know, just, everything about it is sort of perfect.

Just listen to the lyrics and the melody and the harmonies and aaaallll of the violins and guitars and things...

He's Australian too, which is kind of awesome, and one of his songs is in a Vodafone ad or something? It's pretty great too, but it's not this one

Anyway, have a song

Home - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (Up from Below - 2009)

Oscar's Ridiculously Hyperlinked Post in honour of Australia Day and Triple J's Hottest 100 Countdown - don't get put off

Unlike Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons, which was the outright winner of Triple J's Hottest 100 competition, Home (link below), by the 11-piece "Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros," came 15th. To be honest, for all of Little Lion Man's diverse appeal, Home is more creative and daring, all the while sounding like it is the brainchild of the "summer of love."

Oscar's song notes:

• It features whistling from the beginning – this makes it +100 more appealing to me – cf. Young Folks by "Peter Bjorn and John"
• It also features spoken word to music, halfway through the song - excerpt: "While you were sitting in the back seat, smoking the cigarette that you thought would be your last, I was falling deep, deep in love with you. And I never told you until just then."
• It's taken the place of this song (OK it's Talk Show Host by Radiohead) in my mind - that is, it's had that kind of effect on me!
• It's fantastically acoustic. I really couldn't believe that this was made in 2009 as they've got such retro influences
• It has sincerity, musically and (gasp I listened to the lyrics!) lyrically. It's a nice change from the standard "I got my pecs, I got limos, I got bitches, and all my limo's powered by bitch juice, and my spare pecs are in the limo."~

I suppose it's time to actually link to this song!

Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - YouTube, iTunes [yes it's that good]

(Other highlights from the Hottest 100 (read: some songs that I actually knew) are:

Blood - "The Middle East," (my other pick for this post!)

Blood Bank - Bon Iver,

and the 'shit' songs that none of you will like

Animal - Miike Snow,

I'm Not Alone - Calvin Harris,

Sleepyhead - Passion Pit,

Pursuit of Happiness - Kid Cudi feat. MGMT and Ratatat [IKR!])

The Vatican Rag - Tom Lehrer

Tom Lehrer's an oldschool musical comedian whom you might recognize from that one time he sung all the chemical elements really, really fast. Most/all of his stuff is glorious, even if some of it's kinda dated, and he's a really good musician and just all-round rad. This video ain't exactly the copy of the song I wanted to post, but it's got the preamble (admittedly with less Comedy Gold - version I have he sasses the church a great deal harder, but whatever) which is necessary.

Anyway, I like it because I like ragtime and also because I like clever rhymes and also because I enjoy how subtly-gleeful and droll and sassy he is. I also recommend everything else he's ever done ever, because he's a rad dude.

So bow your head with great respect, and genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

Relient K - Must Have Done Something Right

WHAT?
THIS WAS ALWAYS HERE

IT IS DIFFICULT
WHEN YOUR LIFE IS REPLACED BY UNIVERSITY

IN A FREAK INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT

The Great Escape - We Are Scientists

Ok so, another day, another song!
And today's song... *drumroll*

The Great Escape by We Are Scientists! I'm pretty sure I found this on late-night Rage or something (I should just sleep at night or something wth) aaand the videoclip is pretty awesome which is the main attraction for me. APPARENTLY it's about the parts of the guy that he doesn't like intefering with his life! -enjoys-

Anyway, watch the videoclip because it's the best.
Youtube!

Let 'Em In - Beatles/McCartney

In the case that you hadn't already noted, I haven't been posting on this online journal thing. There are many reasons for this (viral infection, lack of regular internet connectivity, the beach [it's awesome!]) which I won't bore you wit- continue to bore you with right now. However; I reject the assertion that I am "THE WORST," and suggested it be amended to "THE BEST."

In any case, my song! My dad brought out a McCartney Music DVD at the beach, and since then, both he and I have been humming, singing or just saying the words to "Let 'Em In." Maybe it's just us, but, if you're easily overcome by riffs or melodies, don't listen to this song, because it will BE WITH YOU FOREVER.

Anyway, it's a fun tune and it has some symbolism I think somewhere; I say some pretty vague things sometimes maybe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r0ANbSVa9k LISTEN TO IT NOW PLEASE

Ex-Boyfriends - Soko

I don't even understand why I love this song. Something to do with the guitar and the fact that she is incredibly French and seems to be refusing to actually sing.

Here. I don't really have much else to say? Apparently I can only ramble like a sonofabitch some of the time. This might be valuable information.

Limp - Fiona Apple

Here is a song, it is by Fiona Apple
She is pretty great

It comes with 20% more drum solo

Enjoy

Defying Gravity - Idina Menzel / Kristin Chenoweth

I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY
I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY NOW- That  I have basically listened to nothing else for the last day or so!

Damnit this song is excellent, I don't even understand. Perhaps it is because it sounds remarkably similar to that one Mandy Moore song from that movie that I loved like three years ago! (A Walk To Remember, guys)
Also she sounds kinda like the lead girl from HSM. Except.. you know... good at singing and stuff.

Anyway yeah I've rediscovered the fact that I actually quite like musicals so uh... you guys can deal.
Also who wants to watch Once More With Feeling on Friday? Cause I do! Also My Musical!

Shut Up/Kiss Me - Paul McDermott and Fiona Horne

I have made no secret of my gigantic crush on Paul McDermott, and my even more gigantic crush on Paul McDermott's Voice. But this song in particular is just, so pretty. I'm fairly certain he wrote it (he writes a lot of songs, it's what he does, he also paints and writes and God knows what, the dude is Prolific) and his voice is just So Pretty and the song itself kicks a lot of ass and I just like violins, alright.


Listen to this and see if you can remain a person who is not in love with Paul McDermott. G'on, I dare you.

BASICALLY EVERYTHING SHE HAS EVER SUNG EVER - Florence + The Machine

You guys, I don't even care about introducing you to new music or whatever, I just want to write about awesome stuff and I don't care whether you've heard it before

So anyway:
THIS WOMAN
SHE IS SO GREAT

SO I WILL GIVE YOU FIFTY MILLION BUT PROBABLY MORE LIKE THREE SONGS TODAY
OKAY? OKAY

THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT SO SUCK IT

Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)
I wish I could live in this music video, everything is ten times more pretty inside this video... this song is basically the best okay

Howl
This song is about werewolves guys! How great is that?
It has become my favourite song from her album for some reason, probably because it's great I don't know
I just can't help singing along, it makes me happy

Cosmic Love
Oh my god this song
This song is so great

This is the song I made you guys listen to at the beach house
ISN'T IT GREAT YOU GUYS, LISTEN TO THIS SONG
LIIIIISSTTTEENNNNNN

Fader - The Temper Trap

"Woo this band!" is approximately my thoughts at the moment. I have just discovered that they supported Florence and The Machine at some point too! Also they're totally playing at BDO! -jealous of all the people who have tickets-

Anyway yes, not their most famous song (see: Sweet Disposition), but still probably my favourite. I don't even have a reason why! I just enjoy it as a thing. Sweet Disposition is pretty good too though.
Basically just listen to all of their music. Damn.

Don't Lose Touch - Against Me!

My research is limited to "I heard it on the radio one time and they kind of discussed it but I was playing Pokemon at the time so my attention was understandably elsewhere", but I suspect that this is a song by a band accused frequently by their fans of 'selling out'. The lyrics are certainly consistent with a general frustration with that exclusivist hipster bullshit where if the band makes more than two figures / a few beers on the house per gig and release an album under a record label that is larger than "Some Guy In His Basement Records, Produced By: Basement Guy (Now Featuring Witty, Obscure T-Shirt)" they're mindless slaves of the capitalist scum overlord corporations etc. "Is there something wrong with these songs? / Maybe there's something wrong with the audience". Compared to what I know of their back catalogue (ie, what I looked at on YouTube one time, maybe four songs at most, I did not like them) this is also quite a poppy number compared to their regular thing, so there might be Delicious Sass in that as well.

They may also have just jammed some words into a really cool rollicking backbeat / repetitive guitar riff. Who can say. I really like the dude's voice, even though he sounds like he's gonna sound like some raspy eighty-year-old lung cancer patient by the time he's 30. (Note: he may already be 30, or older. I do not do research. I also hope he doesn't have lung cancer, because I kind of just made a joke about lung cancer.)

You're coming off kinda contrived and pretentious. (Wow Ki I Wonder Why This Song Appeals To You Gosh Ki I Just Could Not Say It Just Speaks To Me On Some Deeper Level)

Bad Romance - Lady Gaga

HOLY SHIT IT'S LADY GAGA, WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?
THAT BITCH CRAZY
also, she's possibly a man

But you know what... I have just given in. I have GIVEN IN TO THE GAGA

Because by god this woman can make a catchy song.

Regardless, this video clips is worth watching just for the sheer insanity

Contra (Album) - Vampire Weekend

I decided to do an album today! Whatcha gonna do about it?!

Anyway yes this is the new Vampire Weekend album and it is made of fantastic and joy. The album is fairly typical of the band unlike /some/ newish releases that come to mind (coughMuse) and was released Today! according to iTunes.

While the entire album is brilliant, the song that I think you should be observing in particular is probably California English! I would know for sure but iTunes is still "processing" it because the iTunes Store is not particularly good.
I enjoy their properly original use of autotune which is neither "lets correct their voices because they're rubbish at singing" nor the T Pain massively over-done style (which really just annoys me as a thing)!

But yeah I have nothing else to say about this! Probably go observe it on the 'tube!

Waving My Dick In the Wind - Ween

(Posting this now 'cos I'm tired and probably won't wind up doing it tomorrow. Yeah. Posting early. What are you gonna do.)

Anyway, ain't much to say about this. The title basically sums it up. It's on my Makes Me Dance Like A Crazy list and I heard it one time on Triple J at a pretty silly hour of the morning and stalked it like a sonofabitch and that night I did not sleep for cackling laughter / listening to this song / rocking out.

Their other music is pretty entertaining as well I guess. I don't know. I've been writing nonsense for a good swathe of the day and I haven't really had enough sleep in like one hell of a while so you are going to need to just listen to this and leave me alone.

Know Better Learn Faster - Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

Song! So pretty! Observe!
Soccer -> tired -> no texts!
Enjoy!

Where's Your Head At - Basement Jaxx

In keeping with my poorly-established tradition of short and sweet blog posts, unlike Lucy's epic textwall which will go down in history for its considerable length and multiple links (I have only one link), I thought I'd remind everyone about a pretty awesome tune that I overheard when I was standing outside the fence at 'Summadayze' (no, I didn't come up with the title, Thank You.) Protip: Don't buy tickets, just pack some chairs and a bottle or two and sit outside; you get the full experience, less the significant ticket price and having to rub shoulders along side the best of Adelaide social scene, all the while nursing the mandatory New Year's Day hangover.

Anyway, picture me, standing outside Summadayze, cursing the loudness (which was the same at my house). A remix of Basement Jaxx's "Where's Your Head At" comes on the main DJ stage, and it almost totally made up for the sound-test of the subwoofers waking me up at half eight that day. I actually hadn't listened to it in full before, having just assumed it was a loop from some DJ disc of mixing material. Fun fact - I used 'Shazam' to get the artist (Basement Jaxx) while the DJ was 'mixing' the tune, expecting not to get any result. To my surprise, up pops "Where's Your Head At," complete with links to YouTube video and lyrics (somewhat unnecessary, I agree). Shazam is supposed to only be good for recordings, and not live performances, so I found it interesting that the DJ was doing so little mixing and pretty much just playing us (well, the people that bought tickets, whatever) some dance tunes, such that Shazam picked it up.

Anyway, listen to the two minutes of anxiety over the location of [his?] head. Also the music video isn't half-bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4hFwJm41h4

(Actually this is a better song! It features my two loves, Dominoes and Girls, and a favourite past time of mine, "falling!"

You'll find that these girls fall like Dominoes! THIS WAS ALWAYS HERE SHH)

El Capitan - Idlewild

I don't really have a textwall this week? There isn't a great deal to say about this song. It's lovely and it's sad and it's a little bit self-indulgent but that's true of most songs these days and ain't that the truth. I don't know a damn thing about the band other than I quite like the name and I think they're Scottish. Does it matter? I don't think it matters.

All I remember from the Wikipedia article I read about 'em a while back when I found this song is that their early sound has been described as reminiscent of "a flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs", and among their influences is listed a band simply known as "Gang of Four". I fail to see what else is to be said.

Here. (I still can't make the embed thing do what it's meant to do. The aforementioned button ain't here. This is not my problem.)

Paper Planes - The Da Vincis

Well! It's my day yet again and today, I present The Da Vincis' cover of the M.I.A song, Paper Planes.
I don't really know anything about the band or the video clip or anything because I'm capped at the moment and watching the Tubez is impossible!
I would have to say that I enjoy this cover far more than the original song, mainly because I just dislike M.I.A in general. Probably something to do with all of her other songs being annoying poppy hip-hop rubbish. Especially that one with the gratuitous deliberately obvious T-Pain style use of auto-tune that seems to be some kind of requirement for all new music at the moment.
But yes, The Da Vincis have fixed all that is wrong with M.I.A and made a good song! Check it out!

Under the Pavement, The Beach - Deportees

OK! So I, unlike Oscar, have chosen to respect the sacred tradition of the music blog for *the first time in 2010*! It is very exciting.

After literally /tens of minutes/ of genius-ing it up on iTunes I discovered this band / song (which genius likened to Miss You by Adiam Dymott)

Deportees are a fairly standard pop slash soul band from SWEDEN of all places. Apparently they are quite popular over there but haven't really broken in to any non-swedish charts.
This song was originally released as a single in March last year (2009!) but has also been released on their newest album which shares its title and reached number thirteen in the Swedish charts.

Anyway uh, enjoy the song or I come to your house and drink all of your alcohol. Then what would you do?!

Die Moritat von Mackie Messer - Various

KiThis turned into like, a textwalltastic “musical adventure” rather than a single song recommendation. I’m sorry. If you want you can just listen to the last one I linked, that’s the best. ANYWAY.

If you aren’t ‘theatrically inclined’ or you haven’t ‘listened to music in the last sixty years’, you may not be aware of Mack the Knife. It has become some kind of schmaltzy jazz standard because it sounds bouncy and cheerful, even though it’s about a dude cruising around murdering the shit out of everyone in increasingly nasty ways. I feel this proves once and for all that nobody gives a damn about words. The lyrical dissonance is deliberate, and was an effect very much favoured by Bertholt Brecht (who wrote the Threepenny Opera, from which this song was taken) and as interesting as I find the stylistic/thematic/theatrical connotations, I suspect I am alone in this so will shut up.

This is the original, sung by Brecht, which rules, because he’s a damn legend and he can’t sing. Here’s Bobby Darin’s jazzy English version, variations on which basically every damn singer has done at some point, but this is among the better ones. (Fuck off Robbie Williams. Honestly.)

Anyway, it was a badass song about a murderer, sung quite cheerfully. Now everyone reckons it’s a boring old jazz standard, so a bunch of bands who think they’re cool and edgy have done ‘darker’ covers of it, which actually suit the lyrics way better than the original music did. So, uh, way to fuck up what Brecht was trying to do here, bands, whatever. A band called SLUT does Mackie Messer. I wanted to link you to Udo Lindenberg’s because it’s the same idea but more interesting than this, but it’s not on the tubes and this one is pretty okay as well I guess, if only because Wikipedia tells me the band “lived and recorded in a castle near Ingolstadt” for a year. German Indie Rock Bands: Cooler Than You. It’s in German so uh deal w/ it. If you want a translation it’s basically “THERE’S THIS GUY WRECKING EVERYONE’S SHIT OK” for half a dozen verses. The first few lines translate literally as “The shark has teeth, and he wears them, in his face”, and damned if English can be that cool.

I also feel compelled to link you to Nick Cave’s version, because a) he doesn’t bother making the first verse more English-appropriate, he just sings that idiom literally ‘cos it’s badass, b) he manages to be truer to the original than anyone else in both lyric & tone & atmosphere while still making it his own deal, and c) he’s just a delightful dude to watch, check his dancing/performance/general existence out.