Random Track(s) of the Day: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Last week, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs released a new EP that I completely forgot to post about. The tracks on the new EP, "Is Is", were originally recorded three years ago around the time "Fever to Tell" was being made. They've performed the songs live, but they've never recorded them until now. I don't know why, they're all good enough to be on "Fever to Tell", and some of them are even good enough to be singles. "Rockers to Swallow" and "10x10" both go nowhere and end before they ever really gets going, but the overall sound of the songs are great. "Down Boy" and "Kiss Kiss" sound like indie rock classics, and "Kiss Kiss" builds up to a great ending. "Isis" is just amazing. The EP has a very unique sound, so it's not for everybody. I know it took a few months foor me to "get" them. But if you're already a fan, you'll love this EP.

Covers: Daniel Merriweather covers The White Stripes

You've already heard Daniel Merriweather covering The Smiths on Mark Ronson's new album "Version", and now he's covered The White Stripes. Daniel was a guest on Ronson's show Authentic Shit a few weeks ago and performed an acoustic cover of the Stripes' "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)", a track from "Icky Thump". His cover is a very stripped-down acoustic R&B, which works really well with the song. Jack and Meg would be proud. Background info: Mark Ronson is playing the guitar in this song.

Live music: Arcade Fire

Here's the thing about Arcade Fire: I don't like their vocals, but I'm amazed at what they're able to do live. I could be off a little, but in this video (performing "No Cars Go") I count three guitars, one drumset, a keyboard, two violins, an accordian, and two main vocalists and somehow they make one good, cohesive sound live without fucking up once. The last three minutes are unbelievably amazing. The guy's voice still annoys the hell out of me, but what this band can do with their instruments is amazing. Best 8-person band out there.

Music Videos: Sia

Sia continues to prove the she's more than just "the girl who did that song at end of the Six Feet Under finale" with her new single/video "Buttons". The video and song are both totally weird, but the song's been stuck in my head for the last 24 hours, so she must have done something right. The video is fun to look at, but must have been a bitch to shoot.

Random Track of the Day: Pharoahe Monch

It took me about an hour to learn how to spell his name right, but that's okay. His music's amazing. He's been around since the 90s, but for some reason I forgot aboout him until a couple weeks ago. The title track from last month's album "Desire" is the best I've heard from him. Couldn't find it on iMeem or Odeo, but it's all over Youtube. Check it out.

Remixes: Absolute Garbage

Garbage's greatest hits album, called "Absolute Garbage" came out today. It's their 17 biggest singles, plus kinda boring new song "Tell Me Where It Hurts" and 13 surprisingly good remixes. The problem with this kind of album for Garbage is that their biggest-selling songs weren't always their best. If I was making a tracklisting for a Best of Garbage, I would have left out "Vow", "#1 Crush", "You Look So Fine", and "It's All Over But The Crying" and added "Supervixen", "Silence is Golden", "Bad Boyfriend", and "Happy Home". But anyway. My favorite remix was "Bad Boyfriend", my favorite song from their last album. It changes it up without completely destryoing it.

Live Cover: Hole bitchily covers GNR

It makes me happy when people make fun of Axl Rose. I can't help it. And watching Courtney Love completely destroy "Paradise City" brings me joy. One version of Hole's demented cover is now on Youtube. It's both horrible and hillarious. Underneath is an mp3 of another performance of their song where you hear Courtney's jabs and ramblings before and after, including her blaming losing her voice on the awful song. Good times.

Remixes: "The Way I Are" Rock Remix

I never really thought about what rock, pop, and hip hop forced into one song would sound like, but now I know. I know next to nothing about Danish rock band Nephew, but now there's a rock remix of "The Way I Are" with their instrumentals and some of their vocals. The remix is a mess at first, but the first chorus and everything after that is amazing. Nephew's vocals feel as out of place as Jay-Z on "Rehab", but Keri and Timbaland's vocals over the rock guitars is a little mind-blowing.

Random Track of the Day: Timbaland

I'm really getting sick of loving everything this guy does. "Shock Value" is one of my favorite albums of the year even though I hate 1/3 of it (He really does owe America an apology for that fucking Fall Out Boy track). The 2/3 that works is really good though, especially the first track, which samples Nina Simone's "Sinnerman", because... why not? And as I'm typing this I'm realizing that I can't remember if I already posted about this on the old blog last month, but whatever, this one is worth carrying over.


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Live Music: Ryan Adams and The Cardinals

Here's Ryan Adams and The Cardinals performing "What Sin Replaces Love" on The Henry Rollins Show. "WSRL" was only a bonus track on "Jackson City Nights", even though it was good enough to be a single. The video is 9.5 minutes long, but the best stuff is from 2.5 minutes to 7.5 minutes.

Covers: Razorlight covers Outkast

Here's another one I never really expected. Razorlight covered "Hey Ya" on British radio (Radio 1 Live Lounge) last year. It's actually really dumb, but I enjoyed it for some reason. Don't ask me why, because I don't know.

Rilo Kiley's new video: "The Moneymaker"

Rilo Kiley's back and their new single is here. It's a few thousand times more pop than their last three albums, so it's probably going to set off a backlash, but the song sounds amazing, so I don't care. Yeah, the lyrics are a lot simpler and dumber than what you would expect from Jenny Lewis, but RK's instrumentals have never sounded better. A lot of people (meaning Pitchfork Media and the other indie elitists of the world) are going to act like they're selling out, but I doubt that they actually are. To quote my favorite Youtube comment of the year: "Whiny little indie bitches need to shut their mouths."

Remixes: Erin McKeown

I never would have thought that Erin McKeown's indie acoustic music would remix well, but it really does. The Tri-Factor remix of "Cosmopolitans" (a.k.a. the song about "Pills and draperies") is surprisingly good. It adds a lot of cool electro production, but leaves Erin's vocals mostly intact and untouched instead of chopping and reverbing the shit out of them like most remixers do.

Live music: Nine Inch Nails

"Something I Can Never Have", live. It's great, but the audience needs to shut up. Screaming and shouting out the words is great for "The Hand That Feeds" and "Closer", but "Something I Can Never Have" is Quiet Time, dammit.

Live Cover: The Gossip and Mika cover Eurythmics

Here's a vid I would've posted five days ago if the old blog didn't collapse. In case you missed it, it's Beth Ditto and Mika performing "Sweet Dreams" live. It's way more entertaining than I expected.

Starting over

The old blog disappeared, and I've given up on figuring out why. Instead, I'm starting over with a new name and better blog. New content coming soon.