it's been one week, vol. 5

Happy longest day of the year! Last year it was sweltering, but this week has been beautiful and mild. I took a little coffee break in Madison Square park the other day on my way back down from midtown. Pretty perfect, I must say.

Aside from listening to Yeezus, and being inadvertently sucked into having an interest in the Stanley Cup Finals, this week brought us:

- There's now a super awesome mosaic of David Bowie outside of the Rag & Bone store on Elizabeth St. It's made up of the lyrics to Heroes and Fashion.

- CHVRCHES played The Mother We Share, which is my favorite song of theirs, live on Jimmy Fallon the other night. Maybe they've just been playing She's All That too much on tv lately, but she reminds me of a (doe-eyed elf version of) Rachel Leigh Cook.

- How did I not know about MØ before? I was catching up on some of my music blog reading, and I had skipped over all the coverage on them previously. For shame, because now I'm obsessed. Their first album will be out this fall! Check out their Yours Truly performance:

and, their new video for "Waste of Time" (which I enjoy, minus the snake...) :
- Pitchfork finally released the set times for the festival which is now less than a month away!! Of course, the things my friends and I want to see overlap and we'll have to make some annoying choices. The biggest being, do we want to have an R. Kelly dance party, or a crazy TNGHT dance party on Sunday night? Choices, gah! At least I'll be free to watch Foxygen...if I get there at the stupidly early time they're on.

- Finally, I'm a bit surprised by how sad I was about James Gandolfini's death. Not that it is unwarranted, but my connection to him was not even so deep -- I wasn't a big watcher of The Sopranos (though my dad was and would talk about it all the time), but it was very sudden and untimely.

it's been one week, vol. 2

Very soon I'm off to Googa Mooga (Yeah Yeah Yeahs play tonight!!!) to stuff my face with food and my ears with music. Before the weekend in the park, though, a wrap on some great things from this week:

- Opening today is the new film directed by Noah Baumbach, Frances Ha, co-written by its star, Greta Gerwig. Clare and I went to the screening earlier this week at BAM, where Baumbach, Gerwig, and co-star Mickey Sumner were there to answer some questions and talk about the film. A lot of it was very funny, particularly in ways that I'm not sure would entirely translate outside of a NYC audience. The chemistry between the actors was great, and though many of them were flailing through life, they were incredibly likeable and warm. I also loved the bits of dance throughout, as Frances tries to make it as a modern dancer. The film also has Adam Driver, who I barely recognized without the facial hair he sports on Girls. I liked him better this way.


- The Office finally ended last night. Despite its troubles and missteps following Steve Carrell's departure, I never entirely gave up on it and have enjoyed most of this past season. The last few weeks leading up to the finale have been great, and the final episode was pretty much perfect. I always get weirdly sentimental about the ends of long TV shows, but the hour-long retrospective that aired right before the episode really got me. The finale was a nice mix of all the characters, plenty of sentimentality, but also lots of solid laughs.

- A much shorter thing I loved was this:

how could you not? A real life astronaut. I mean, what else would you want to do if you were up in the space station, right?

- Lastly, the new album from The National, Trouble Will Find Me, is streaming on iTunes and against all odds, it's just as amazing as I wanted it to be.

it's been one week

Ways in which the internet won this week:

- Simultaneously making me feel better and worse about life in NY: http://theworstroom.tumblr.com/ (conclusion: I can never move apartments)
- The Celebrate Brooklyn lineup was released this week, and looks great!
- Parks and Rec was renewed!
- Adding nothing but amazingness to my week / making me want to go on a road trip with John Krasinski and sing Katy Perry songs (which he probably has some time for now that The Office is ending. Emily Blunt can totally come with.):

- I'm gearing up for GoogaMooga #2 next weekend and praying that it has worked out some of the kinks since last year. At the very least, I hope it isn't quite so hot and sweltering, because the temperatures + lack of shade + consuming allofthefood is what really did us in.

- But the real highlight is that my friends Alex and Kendall are visiting all of us from high school here in NY this weekend and I could not be more excited!!! It's gorgeous out today, so I'm going to go be a tourist this afternoon and soak up some sun.

doc music

Two music docs which looks particularly great, by particularly great acts:


Official Trailer (2:45) from Andrew Bird: Fever Year on Vimeo.



In exactly one month I'll be seeing The National play at the Barclay's Center (pretty close to the last place I saw them, BAM Opera House). So psyched.

resolve to resolve

Oh hey, 2013. 2012 went out like a lion, with 15+ people shoved into my apartment dancing up a storm and drinking a crazy amount of (mainly cheapo) champagne. So far I've made no resolutions, and am not sure that I ever will. My birthday is right before the New Year, and I make candle-blowing wishes which seem as about as effective as declaring that I'm going to completely change my life this year month. With the freedom of living resolution-free this past week I have managed to "accomplish" all sorts of things...like already messing up my sleep schedule, possibly having an ear infection (also haven't managed to drag myself to the doctor), and watching/streaming "Thrift Shop" so.many.times.

Sure, there are things I'd like to do this year, which are basically the same things I wanted to do last year and failed to do (like visiting my friends in DC or writing in this blog like, ever).  Plus, this year is 5 year college reunion -- how did that happen?? errr, maybe I do need resolutions... I'll get back to you on that.

I'm hiding out in the big city blinking

Happy 10th birthday, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. In honor of a landmark record from one of the best bands ever (and I'm not just saying this with my Chicago bias), let's indulge in a mutual love of Wilco today:

Their Tiny Desk concert from 2011, performing mostly things from The Whole Love, but also the YHF track "War on War":



What I'm pretty sure was my first Wilco song, which holds a special place in my heart - "A Shot in the Arm":



And, of course, the namesake track of the documentary about the making of YHF: "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart"

a fumbling play for your heart

A quick post to note that:
a) I've really been into this new single from The Shins' forthcoming album
b) I also love this video, and how it reminds me a bit of The Royal Tenenbaums (partially in how James Mercer is styled, and partially in the family's dysfunctional relationship to him)

12th night...er, day.

Twelve days into 2012, these are the things I've been amusing myself with:

...a (belated) New Year's mix:

Welcoming 2012 from thewarehousedream on 8tracks.

...anticipating the new album from my 2009 album list toppers, Fanfarlo, who have a slightly updated sound:


...and, reliving a highlight of 2011 (and possibly of my entire music-listening, concert-attending life):


Otherwise, I've sort of been hibernating and cooking a lot of things with my CSA vegetable share (still trying to find the best use for turnips... but I love this cauliflower soup!) and watching Downton Abbey and wondering when it will actually look/feel like winter around NY for more than 2 days.

cut the swag with a fuckin’ knife

The irony of yesterday's massively sold out Childish Gambino show at Terminal 5, was that everyone in attendance had to miss/DVR/download the (pretty hilarious and Donald Glover-heavy) episode of Community that aired last night. But of course, the concert is a non-repeatable experience and I can say pretty confidently now that Camp is going to be an awesome release of 2011. Full of everything you've come to expect from Donald Glover's rap alterego: lots of pop culture references, rapping about girls, and an insane number of asian girl references ("Asian girls everywhere. UCLA.")

This show differed quite a bit from his IAMDONALD tour, mostly in that it was a straight-up concert without any of the comedy bits or video clips. There was an hour-long DJ set by DJ Sosupersam that opened the show, which wasn't bad but also felt way too long. People were mostly into the sections with "Rolling in the Deep" and "Time After Time." Of course, though, Donald Glover stole the show and wove together a solid set of new songs from Camp, stuff from his EP, and some older things. He had seemingly endless amounts of energy and love for NYC.

DJ Sosupersam:

Childish Gambino:

And, a video of a crazy mix of songs he performed, kicking off with the infamous Bitch Look At Me Now (rapping over "Two Weeks"):

freak out, freak out, freak outttt

My Last.FM account informs me that my most listened to song in the past 12 months is "Freak Out" by Tapes 'N Tapes. That sounds about right. And I furthered my allegiance to this song on Friday night at their concert at Bowery Ballroom. Their opening bands were mostly agreeable: The Static Jacks had a very...enthusiastic group of (mostly) guys bouncing around up front as if it were some 2002 pop punk concert. Howler was calmer (at least in respect to the crowd), but really solid. 


The last time I saw Tapes 'N Tapes was at Coney Island back in 2006, instigating my love of them. I never got into their 2008 sophomore album Walk it Off, but I've been a strong proponent of Outside. The set felt very The Loon-heavy, which I didn't mind at all, as I still think it was Tapes 'N Tapes at their best. They sounded great on Friday, and had some good jams thrown in there. Pictures, and a disco-ball-filled rendition of On and On, below:

The Static Jacks:

Howler:

Tapes 'N Tapes:

welcome to the space jam

Saturday night I fit a seemingly impossible number of people into my one-bedroom apartment for a space themed housewarming party. It was overflowing with aluminum foil, pop rocks, and really awesome friends who dove head first into the theme. I also threw the party so it coincided with several friends visiting from out of town, which made the festivities extra fun. I'm having some party-planning withdrawal now, though - it was all pretty consuming! The various elements included:

An almost 4-hour-long mix of space-related songs. Highlights here:

The playlist was visually-aided by a (mute version) of this Youtube playlist.

It got pretty middle-school-dance-ish with silver stars hanging from the ceiling, alongside a homemade galaxy (lit with christmas lights). Plus, more tin foil made an appearance to decorate an unused Ikea lampshade I had lying around.

There was "rocket fuel" made of Jager and Dr. Pepper (which wound up being my undoing), plus some sweet treats: Blue Moon cupcakes, and adorable alien rice krispie treats made by my friends Ana and Tiffany.

My friends came as a wide variety of spacey things...almost every costume involved aluminum foil, as you can see:

 space test animals (an elephant and a cat...)

the satellite that recently crash-landed on Earth, and the solar system 

generic foil/space hipster

Now that I've fully recovered (and my apartment no longer looks like the apocalypse happened), I'm definitely in search of a new project. Thanks to all of you who came out - my apartment is nice and warm now :-)

what I want, what I need

Gauntlet Hair:

The Dodos:

After what feels like a long hiatus, I went to see a show on Friday night. We went to see The Dodos play at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and despite not getting there terribly early, I found myself breezing right up to the stage. Front row!

Gauntlet Hair opened, and while their name is a little silly, their sound was really good and the crowd seemed really into them (we were, too). When the Dodos took the stage, it was just as fantastic as I thought they would be. It was difficult to hear the vocals, probably due to being so close to the stage/the drums, but overall the experience being so close was amazing. The guy behind us realllly wanted them to play Jodi, and he finally got his wish during the encore. I hoped they might play Fables (which is my ringback tone!), but they left that one out. C'est la vie. I love all of their songs, so there was no wrong turn in my book.



Summer is more or less here now, though the weather is still pretty spastic, and the various concert series have kicked off around the city. It seems like the pickings for free shows are sparser than in years past, but I'm still excited for my favorite musical time of year in NYC.

so american

It's barely even spring, and lately all I can think about is summer. The free shows are being announced, I've got my ticket to Newport Folk Fest, and I've shoved all my boots and heavy coats into the back of the closet. Come on, sunshine and warm weather! Summer in America is bookended by two patriotic holidays, with the big one tucked in the middle. Everything gets all red, white, and blue and barbecued. Coachella makes the rest of the country jealous not only for having a stellar lineup, but also because it was basically a summer preview (90 degrees?! seriously??) Everywhere I turn, I see hints of summertime americana...

clockwise from top left: Kate Bosworth at Coachella, pants from Anthropologie, Sea of Shoes, Royal Tenenbaums

plus, now, a clip from the next Portugal. The Man album being released this summer, with an oh-so-appropriate tune:

you're so gullible but I don't mind

There are no words to adequately express the sheer joy and energy I felt seeing The Strokes again after all this time, in their hometown no less. In Julian's own words, they hadn't played a "legit show" here in "basically forever." They knew the significance of that show, to a sold out monster of Madison Square Garden, and they absolutely delivered. Sure, Julian apparently can't remember the lyrics/timing to some of their songs (no seriously, I Can't Win was a little weird. Last Night was kind of charming though).

Then of course, there was the major April Fools in the form of Elvis Costello joining in for Taken For a Fool, after already doing a 3-song opening set which everyone thought was the big surprise of the night. It was a definite shocker, and is the only thing that saved playing that song on April 1st from being exceedingly corny. Instead, it was sadly literal because we all got played.

Other highlights:

• opening with "Is This It," directly into "Reptilia" (felt like "these are the songs that say the names of our first albums!")
• "Under Control" was done really well - strikingly beautiful performance
• Julian referring to "I Can't Win" as the opposite of Charlie Sheen.

Here are some (horrible quality) photos and a couple videos that I think capture it all:

Elvis Costello's 3-song opening set

and in case you haven't seen the Taken for a Fool clip anywhere (I didn't get a good one):

sick days

I have consumed a gross amount of Netflix/Hulu/YouTube this week (as well as soup, ginger tea and dayquil) all as part of a massive effort to not be sick anymore! My first real fever-y sick day came at a very inopportune moment, as it meant that I had to skip the Noah & the Whale concert that I had been looking forward to for months :'( From the looks of things, it seems like it was a great show. What a shame. However, I'm feeling a lot better now, and thought I'd share a little audio-visual mix.

It all started off with the debut of the new video for the tUnE-yArDs song "Bizness", which heavily features a group of children:


Leading me to end up watching all these other similarly awesome videos that for a variety of reasons also cast kids in them:






Happy Friday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Things I love today:

Over the weekend my mom was here - we saw Iphigénie en Tauride at the Met Opera with Placido Domingo.  Also ate at one of my favorites, and bought a sweet new wallet that actually fits all my crap.  Win!

Festival of Gifts, Night 6

I was having a pretty Scrooge-y sort of day, and then PMA posted the new Noah and the Whale song "L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N."  It's bright and sunny and is bringing me out of my winter doldrums. Also, I may have already bought tickets to see them in March 2011.  Scarily, just over 3 months from now.

Noah And The Whale - L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N by ListenBeforeYouBuy

Speaking of songs that unnecessarily spell out words, this video is still amazing 3 years later:



Hope you're having a cheerful Monday!

Festival of Gifts, Night 2

Here we are, Chanukah night #2.  The first night of Chanukah ended up being not-so-great, as I found myself battling a minor round of food poisoning at around 2am.  But, I went to work and I'm feeling pretty good now.  Positivity for Chanukah!!

I feel like I'm just playing catchup on the last couple of months as I severely fell off the blog-wagon.  To touch briefly on two of the albums that dropped recently:

All Day, Girl Talk
aka, the 3rd installment in the easiest party mix ever.  I strongly feel that this album gets better as it goes on.  I'm not terribly attached to some of the earlier samples, which has a lot to do with it.  Also, I feel like "Wake Up" could have been used in a greater way.  Does it sound like I'm speaking gibberish because you haven't downloaded the album for free yet?  Well, why don't you go do that?  And, then you can also nerd-out and read the list of samples afterwards to test yourself.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West
I would like to take a brief moment of Chicago pride here, prior to talking about Kanye himself, and instead talk about how I *love* Top Chef All Stars w/ Anthony Bourdain joining the judges panel, and the Chicago season winning the quickfire??  And then how Mike Isabella got all snarky about them just making "sausage and mustard" but he made pasta.  
Ok, I'm done with that now.  Onto this epically insane Kanye album, post-TaylorSwift/Beyonce moment, and into the era when he like, makes movies and stuff*.  I do really like the album, though I've listened to it maybe 4 times now and I still feel like I don't really know any songs aside from Power and Runaway.  Maybe it will take some time to sink in, but so far I feel like it has much more of an impact as a whole album rather than carving it down into individual tracks.

*Speaking of bands making movies, Arcade Fire collaborated with Spike Jonze to make a really amazing music video.  At first seems really old school Spike Jonze with the kids riding around, but it becomes really powerful.  If you haven't watched it, you really should.

polar bear bear

So while I'm in the midst of writing up my post-CMJ thoughts, and pre-Halloween thoughts (and don't even get me started on the other things I've wanted to share), I just had to lead off the week with this gem:



The non-remixed version is on their Myspace page: I Wish I Was A Polar Bear by Ted & Francis

Ted & Francis are from Australia (win) and re-mixed my favorite Two Door Cinema Club song (win), and have this awesome song about my favorite animal that will probably cause the end of my life one day when I try to hug one.

I do like the song, but some part of me knows that if almost anyone made a song about wanting to be a polar bear and then made a youtube video of a polar bear walking around in the snow, I'd be bound to fall in love.

they heard me singing and they told me to stop

Sorry for my lack of blogging lately, but I'm back just in time to tell you in depth about how freaking amazing Arcade Fire, Spoon and Owen Pallett were at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.  Like, confetti-falling-from-the-sky amazing (which, it did).  Like, so amazing that David Byrne and Annie Clark (St. Vincent) were there to witness its amazingness, too.  Like, "Wake Up" still giving me chills when I see it performed live, even 5 years later.

The crowds were fairly sparse during Owen Pallett's set, but he was really great and a solid choice to open the show.  Spoon opened with Britt Daniel solo surrounded by a loop of white christmas lights.  Their whole set was pretty light on songs from Transference, but heavy on the enjoyment factor.  They had horns support, including a cameo by Owen Biddle of The Roots.

Arcade Fire brought the house down with each and every song.  The encore was incredible, including confetti during Tunnels, a drum machine failure-induced restart of Sprawl II, and closing a fantastic two-night-stand at MSG with Wake Up.  Regine was a sparkly disco ball, Will Butler was a manic whirl of plaid, and Richard Reed Parry was his usual amazing self but this time decked out in an embellished white jumpsuit.  I'm not sure I could have asked for anything else (oh, except that on Wednesday night they played Half Light II, and replaced it with Empty room on Thursday.  boo hoo.)

Stalker photo: the man in green is David Byrne, and you can see St. Vincent with her arms crossed...

Spoon

Arcade Fire's set list!!!!

Will Butler on his crazy trek around the stage w/ his drum

confetti raining down

* The whole show was broadcast simultaneously on youtube.  Here is their clip of Sprawl II (the re-start only).  

Seeing Arcade Fire live, is always what makes me connect with their albums - I'm glad I was able to see them so close to the album's release.  I was already really enjoying The Suburbs, but I have a much greater love for "Sprawl II" after the show.