Ani DiFranco, The Divine Comedy, Sambassadeur, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Helium

I haven't been getting many of the new albums from 2012 yet, but one of the ones that will be on the top of my favorites list is Which Side Are You On? by Ani DiFranco. Here is one of my favorites off the album, Amendment, which is up there with my all-time favorites of her work:



I discovered The Divine Comedy's Bang Goes the Knighthood album and found this charming and acerbic critique of the bankers that caused the Second Great Depression:



I am still really liking the Los Campesinos Hello Sadness album. Here's the title track. It's a great video and as to be expected from their work, it is about troubled relationships:



Remake That Caught My Attention Lately: Sambassadeur remake of "Small Parade" by Tobin Sprout of Guided By Voices:



and the original:



Some Old Songs That Caught My Attention Lately: Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeahs A friend of mine posted this on Facebook and reminded me how good the song and video are. I love the emotion on her face from 2:20 to 3:00:



I watched Wild Flag live streaming from Coachella, which inspired me to watch some old Mary Timony and Helium videos. Here's Honeycomb off the Dirt of Luck:

Los Campesinos! and Parenthetical Girls Concert at the Echoplex, Echo Park, Los Angeles, February 11, 2012

Los Campesinos! and Parenthetical Girls put on a great show at the Echoplex on Saturday night, February 11, 2012. Lead singer Gareth Campesinos! mentioned that one of their first gigs was at the Echo, a smaller venue located upstairs from the Echoplex. It must have been poignant that they had come so far since then, yet not so far at all. Zac Pennington from Parenthetical Girls said that those of us who take photos and videos of them should make sure they are flattering. Zac, since I know you might be looking at my footage, I hope that it meets with your approval. Gareth and Zac both came out into the audience multiple times, and there was even some crowd surfing. Zac even jumped up on the bar! So, it was an exciting show. This was the first concert for my new full HD camera, a PowerShot ELPH 300 HS. The bass was so loud, or the camera is so sensitive, there unfortunately is some audio distortion on the videos. I picked three songs from Los Campesinos! and one from Parenthetical Girls. I also have Romance is Boring and You! Me! Dancing! posted on my YouTube channel. Enjoy!



Los Campesinos! - Straight in at 101



Los Campesinos! - By Your Hand
See my interpretation of the lyrics here: http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858880873/


Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness
See my interpretation of the lyrics here:
http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858884213/


Parenthetical Girls - A Song for Ellie Greenwich

New Music from Los Campesinos!, The Mountain Goats, and John Wesley Harding

By Your Hand by Los Campesinos!



Birth of Serpents by The Mountain Goats



Queen of Hearts by F-ed Up



There's A Starbucks (Where The Starbucks Used To Be) by John Wesley Harding

Top Albums of 2011: The King in Yellow, Eureka, Secret Rituals, The Valley, Night of Hunters, Forever Today, The Belle Brigade, Mountaintops, Giving and Receiving, The People's Key, The Golem, Deerhoof vs. Evil, The Errant Charm, Moment Bends, and Join Us

Whether it is Pitchfork, Under the Radar, or KEXP, I am not liking most of what have been picked as the top albums of the year. So, to counter-act the poor choices of the hipster mainstream, here are my favorite albums of 2011:

1. The Dead Milkmen: The King in Yellow

Caitlin Childs



2. Mother Mother: Eureka

Baby Don’t Dance



3. The Grates: Secret Rituals

Sweet Dreams



4. Eisley: The Valley

Smarter



5. Tori Amos: Night of Hunters

Carry



6. I’m From Barcelona: Forever Today

Come On



7. The Belle Brigade: The Belle Brigade

Losers



8. Mates of State: Mountaintops

Sway

Mates Of State "Sway" from Barsuk Records on Vimeo.

9. Lake: Giving and Receiving

Within/Without



10. Bright Eyes: The People’s Key

Shell Games



11. Black Francis: The Golem

The Obedient Servant



12. Deerhoof: Deerhoof vs. Evil

Secret Mobilization



13. Vetiver: The Errant Charm

Wonder Why



14. Architecture in Helsinki: Moment Bends

W.O.W.



15. They Might Be Giants: Join Us

Cloisonné

Wild Flag, Cloud Nothings, and Gardens & Villa

This is "Romance," the first single off Wild Flag's new album. It is a fun video of the team causing havoc everywhere they go:



Here is another chaotic video, "Understand at All" from Cloud Nothings. What is it about? It almost goes without saying, you won't understand at all.



Instead of "more cowbell," you'll be screaming "more flute" after hearing "Orange Blossom" from Gardens & Villa:

Times New Viking and Yo La Tengo

This is the stop-motion video for "Ever Falling in Love" by Times New Viking off their album "Dancer Equired." Very nice:



Here is a fun video of Times New Viking pretending to be Yo La Tengo for Yo La Tengo's song "Something to Hide" off the album "Popular Songs":

That Dog Concert at the Troubadour, West Hollywood, August 28, 2011

Mime Crime opened. This troupe of mimes and a jester acted out performances of hard rock and heavy metal songs. Whenever anyone tried to sing along or clap, they shooshed the offenders. It was somewhat amusing. Let's leave it at that.

Next Maya Rudolph's Prince cover band Princess played a few songs.

That Dog (Anna Waronker, Petra Haden, Rachel Haden, and Tony Maxwell) played a mix of songs off all three of their albums. Here are a couple of favorites off their final album "Retreat From the Sun," one of the best albums of the 1990's in my humble opinion. Although it sounds like no widespread tour is planned, let's hope they work on some new material for the future!

"Never Say Never"



"Minneapolis"



Here are a couple of videos of Anna Waronker's solo work:

"Beautiful" off Anna from 2002:



"How Am I Doing" off California Fade from 2011:

Aimee Mann Concert at Burton Chace Park, Marina Del Rey, August 13, 2011

Aimee Mann put on a great show at Burton Chace Park for the Marina Del Rey Summer Concert Series on August 13, 2011. Here are a few of the highlights from the performance:

Aimee Mann performing a new song "Daisy" that is sure to make you cry:



Aimee Mann performing the beautiful song "Wise Up" off the Magnolia soundtrack:

Dead Milkmen and Art Brut

The new album "The King in Yellow" by the Dead Milkmen is probably going to be my favorite album of the year with catchy melodies, interesting instrumentation, and humorous lyrics. Here is a clip of them playing "Meaningless Upbeat Happy Song" off the new album along with "The Woman Who Was Also a Mongoose." You can get their new album at http://www.deadmilkmen.com/thekinginyellow/



I recently discovered Art Brut and I like what I am hearing. Black Francis from the Pixies has been producing their albums and the influence is clear. Here is "Alcoholics Unanimous" from their album Art Brut vs. Satan.

Wild Flag Concert at Spaceland in Silver Lake, Los Angeles on November 19, 2010

This was one of the first live performances by Wild Flag in November 2010 at Spaceland in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. They are Mary Timony, formerly of Helium and the Mary Timony Band, Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss, former members of Sleater-Kinney, and Rebecca Cole, formerly of the Minders.

Mary Timony and Carrie Brownstein worked together previously on an EP called "The Age of Backwards" in 1999 as The Spells. Their new material is a great mix of their musical styles. Fans of Helium and Sleater-Kinney will be pleased when their new album comes out September 13, 2011.

This was an exciting concert because it was a small venue (holds about 250 people) and you really had no idea what they would play. They had no recorded material available and had only played a couple of shows in the preceding days. They did not disappoint and put on a show filled with energy.

"Electric Band"



"Future Crimes"



"Arabesque"



Jam session from "Racehorse"



"Beast of Burden"

Wye Oak Covers Danzig, Björk and the Moomins, and Jay Reatard

This will be a dark week on the blog:

Wye Oak did a brillant cover of Danzig's "Mother" as a part of the A.V. Club's Undercover project:


Wye Oak covers Danzig

Björk recently made a song for the film "Moomins and the Comet Chase." This is beautiful, moving, and dark:



Lastly, "It Ain't Gonna Save Me" from Jay Reatard. Again, great music but depressing stuff, especially since it seems to foreshadow his death last year.



Now that some of the depressing stuff is out of the way, maybe we can have an upbeat rest of the week!

Arrah and the Ferns, Mates of State, Vetiver, and Rogue Wave

Arrah and the Ferns is a great, relatively unknown band. This is their video for "Slim 5" off their album "All the Bad in One Place." I just ordered their cd this week and am looking forward to it! I am wondering why I waited so long. Make sure you get to 2:54 in the video, when the build-up explodes. Good stuff!



Mates of State announced their new album "Mountaintops" will come out on September 13, 2011. After seeing an amazing concert put on by them at the Echo last July, I am looking forward to this album. Here is the video for their upcoming single, "Maracas":



Vetiver is sounding like Fleetwood Mac in the song "Wonder Why" off their album "The Errant Charm," which is a very good thing in my humble opinion. They also have a cute video to go along with the song's charm:



I came across this great cover of the Pixies' "Debaser" by Rogue Wave this week and wanted to share it with you.

Matt and Kim, The Go Team!, and Minutemen

I am liking Matt and Kim's high energy Sidewalks album. Check out the video for "Cameras" and while you are at it, please comment what you think the video is about. How does it mesh with the lyrics?



The album Rolling Blackouts by the Go Team is finally starting to sink in with me, after not feeling that strongly about it with the first couple of listens. One of my favorites is "Secretary Song" featuring Satomi Matsuzaki of Deerhoof:



"Punk Rock Changed Our Lives" I've been listening to Minutemen's 1984 classic Double Nickels on the Dime lately. Here is one of my favorites off the album, "History Lesson Part II":

6/17/2011: Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega, and Others

Here are a few of the albums I got this week that are new to me:

Paul Simon: Surprise, 2006

Wow! I forgot about what a genius Paul Simon was until I saw him perform on SNL in May. Those were some great performances. I don't have "So Beautiful or So What" yet but I got "Surprise," his previous album. It features one of his most beautiful songs, "Father and Daughter." So, Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! I love when he tears up at 2:06 in this performance of the song:



Suzanne Vega: Close-Up Vol.1, 2010

This album features a beautiful version of Gypsy, one of my favorite songs by Suzanne Vega:



Morrissey: You are the Quarry, 2004
Tori Amos: Scarlet's Walk, 2002
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Nocturama, 2003
Lisa Loeb: Cake and Pie, 2002
Dick Dale: Guitar Legend, 2011

Kaputt by Destroyer

The beginning to the video for "Kaputt" is hilarious. I laughed hard when I first saw it. The Destroyer album "Kaputt" is interesting to say the least. I didn't want to like it. The smooth jazz sound at first was bewildering but then it actually grew on me.

Always Spring by I'm From Barcelona

I'm enjoying the new album "Forever Today" by I'm From Barcelona. It features another set of upbeat songs that will keep you happy ... maybe too happy! Here is the video for their first single "Always Spring"

Super Duper Rescue Heads! by Deerhoof

I keep expecting Deerhoof to disappoint me for some reason, but they never do. "Super Duper Rescue Heads!" is a cute catchy song that is one of my favorites right now. Just try to get it out of your head ... it's infectious!

The Last Living Rose by PJ Harvey

I recently got "Let England Shake" by PJ Harvey. After watching a few of her songs at Coachella, I wasn't sure what I was going to think of the album. It is still growing on me, but "The Last Living Rose" is a stand-out on the album for me so far. It makes me both wish and not wish that I was from England! Watch her performance on Conan:

A blog for music!

I listen to a lot of music. This blog will be my way of keeping track of what I've been listening to and concerts I've been going to. I'll post interesting videos and info that I come across along the way. Hopefully you'll like it too. I have eclectic tastes so that will keep things interesting! Please follow my blog with the links on the right!