POS

I used to eat pizza at the Leaning Tower of Pizza on Lyndale and 24th. I digress before even beginning.

Reasons to enjoy POS:
1. He's thoughtful.
2. He does the rap/rock thing without being too annoying.
3. I met him once...actually I just saw him chillin' in the crowd of a Sage Francis show at First Ave.
4. He appears to live near my parents.

pretty lights

download the all of their albums directly off their website in a zip.

click here for the link

blaisdell booyakasha

here are two of there videos, awesome.

http://www.prettylightsmusic.com/#/media

Furthur

Because its been way too long since our last Grateful Dead post

The latest iteration of the post-Jerry Grateful Dead is on tour. Phil and Bob are on the road again, but the Rhythm Devils (Bill Kreutzman and Mickey Hart) stayed home for this one. Furthur is comprised of original Dead members Phil Lesh and Bob Weir along with long time collaborators Jeff Chimenti (keys) and Jay Lane (percussion), Joe Russo of Benevento-Russo duo fame (drums), and John Kadlecik on lead guitar.

Kadlecik is the fascinating guy in this lineup. He's known for his work as the lead guitarist in Dark Star Orchestra. For those who don't know, Dark Star Orchestra is a band that tours around the country playing old Grateful Dead concerts, in full, in as historically accurate a way as possible. The band's act is nearly performance art; at the end of each show they announce the date and location of the Dead show they just imitated. Each member of the band emulates a member of the Dead. They are good at what they do, and Kadlecik is Jerry.

So here's this guy who has dedicated his life to emulating Jerry Garcia on stage getting called up to the big leagues and living what must surely be his dream of playing with actual members of the band. It's something I never imagined could actually happen. The results with "fake Jerry" are understandably a little eerie. And awesome.

Each guitarist who has played with the Dead since the band returned to the road has played the songs in their own style. Kadlecik plays the songs in Jerry's style. His guitar sounds shockingly similar to Garcia, lending the band a historical sound that they haven't had in well over a decade. And because Kadlecik knows the songs so well he has the ability to LEAD a jam, something that was a rare occurrence with previous guitarists.

But don't take my word for it: check out the tracks below from their New Year's show at the legendary Bill Graham Civic Center in San Francisco. The voice isn't exactly the same and the guitar skills aren't truly comparable, but the sound, oh that good 'ole Grateful Dead sound!

Help on the Way
Slipknot!
Franklin's Tower

So Many Roads

Download Furthur's shows to your heart's content from the Internet Archive

Here's a video of the band playing Jack Straw at a ridiculously small venue in Mill Valley, CA


The band is coming through Chicago in March. I think some ticket scalping may be in order.

Stew

Blockhead

A track that I've been all about recently. Hope ya dig.

Farewell Milwaukee

It has been quite sometime since I have come across a new band in the alternative country genre, and it is clear to me that this sort of music's popularity has really trailed off since its peak in the middle 90's. However, alt-country remains one of my favorite types of music. For those of you who aren't quite sure what I'm talking about when I say "alt-country", I am talking about bands like Whiskeytown (featuring Ryan Adams who is probably the king of the genre), the Drive by Truckers, Uncle Tupelo, early Wilco, the Old 97's, Steve Earle, or the Gin Blossoms (there's one from the archives right?). All of these bands blend different amounts of traditional folk music, Americana, blues, bluegrass, and country with alternative and/or punk rock thus forming “alt-country”.

A couple weekends ago I was driving and thinking about all the alternative country bands I enjoy listening to and realized that some of those bands have been around for quite sometime and others have been gone for quite sometime. So who then are the new really good alt-country bands? For me, the answer to this question comes in two parts (like those multiple choice answers that a**hole professors gave you in college). The first half of the answer would be the Avett Brothers (my current favorite group far and away), who I’ve already written about; the second half might just be Farewell Milwaukee. *** let me note that these are two extremely different bands, both of which can be considered alt-country, although Farewell Milwaukee is alt-country in its more classic sense.

They haven’t been around for long, formed only about a year ago, but in that time Farewell Milwaukee has made a lot of noise. The musicians in the group are from different parts of the Midwest, but today call the Twin Cities their home. They pride themselves on their Midwestern roots, have no plans to leave for the coasts, and hope that their music will reflect their Midwestern ties (which it clearly does). Their debut album “Autumn Rest Easy” is nothing shot of stellar, the songs are just rock solid. The music gives one the warm yet sad feeling that all really good alternative country music elicits.

If you want to check them out I think the best way to do it is just by going to their website. They have a number of tracks from their new album that you can stream.

Enjoy, Ben.

Farewell Milwaukee

Here are a couple of vids that give you some insight on the band, as you can see things are just getting off the ground for them...

This is bad.

Wyclef

The word "Godforsaken" gets thrown around a lot these days. Haiti is certainly top 5 along with Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Canada. Wyclef Jean is undoubtedly the only Haitian export that people know or care about. According to The Onion, his Yele charity is being investigated. I certainly don't buy that any wrongdoing is intentional. My guess is that Wyclef simply hired some of his business friends who learned their non-profit accounting skills in Haiti, thus making them completely incapable of adhering to internationally accepted standards. Whatever we may eventually learn about the shenanigans of his charity, Mr. Jean is an awesome artist. The music is consistently unique and flavorful. See below for some soulful shit that Wyclef has written for our pleasure. Also included is a funky cover showcasing that laid-back style. Mmmm.

Ugly Duckling

Back in the day, a bunch of us were all about a hip hop group called Ugly Duckling. They pretty much debuted whatever they wanted, put out original cuts and for the most part were easy to associate with, a very Dilated Peoples feel.  They still continue to make music out of Southern Cali, which has gotta be tough at this point, but hey, I'm not poo poo-ing anyone's dreams.  Here's a recent song, has a solid old school feel:




And a classic if you're interested:

yellowman

a story of overcoming public opinion with music

i found this video after nate brought one of the coolest things ever to my attention

the you tube music discovery project

thanks nate

this song needs a translation or some accompanying lyrics but i could not find any




http://www.knowlton-family.co.uk/Albinism/film_atist/film_artist.htm

Big Music Announcement From YouTube

Some big news for music lovers today: YouTube has created a music archive/discovery tool called Disco. Check it out here.

Essentially, this is like relaunching MTV for a new generation, as you wont be looking through songs as much as you will music videos. Big, big stuff.

RJD2/Bonobo

work-friendly music
I've been putting a lot of hours in at the office lately, and these two new releases are currently helping me get through it.

RJD2 - The Colossus

Aside from the dope album art. RJD2 delivers again. The first two tracks get the disc rollin, and it only gets better from there. Also, if you havent given RJD2 a listen until now, his older stuff is equally as awesome. Enjoy the new album.





Bonobo - One Offs Remixes and B Sides

Another new release this week, Bonobo, also known as Simon Green, put out an excellent compilation disc including Bonobo remixes of other artist's songs and other artist's remixes of a few classic Bonobo tracks. The result? An excellent, drum-heavy ambient/electro disc. Bottom line: it's groovy. Enjoy it.




RJD2

The Colossus - RJD2

Bonobo

One Offs Remixes and B Sides -...

Thanks, and glad to hear so many of you dug Maritime from last thursday (I've been continually jamming to it for 2 weeks straight now).

bar kays

otis redding 1967 plus more



and for those who thought the road ended with parliament



and part of the 'Spies Like Us' with Chevy Chase and Dan Akroyd.

G T

the my space link is a good playlist

here is a video



guest post d mc clean

Happy Sunday

free the robots

electronica shiz genre

everybody needs a lil xylophone

New Music Friday - Spoon and Vampire Weekend

Spoon - Transference
The new Spoon album doesn't come out til next Tuesday, but thanks to NPR you can stream the whole thing right here:

To listen to each track individually and get more Spoon related info click here.

The guys in Spoon are just cool, and this album is classic Spoon. Frontman Britt Daniel brings his trademark voice and lyricism to the table, and the rest of the band fills in the blanks with solid arrangements. I'd consider this a back-loaded album; later tracks Got Nuffin' and Nobody Gets Me But You really stand out to me. Nothing drastic, just great rock and roll. 'Cause that's what Spoon does.

Vampire Weekend - Contra
It seems weird that a Vampire Weekend album would come out in January. Listening to this band makes me feel like I'm driving on Cape Cod in July. And I've never even been to Cape Cod. Preppy goodness. I'm not a massive fan of this band, but they certainly have their time and place, and this album is just as solid as their first, maybe better. Check it out. (I'm putting the track Horchata on here just for you, Prochnow)

Horchata
Diplomat's Son

Also out this week: Heartland by Final Fantasy. Owen Pallet, the brains behind Final Fantasy, might as well be Andrew Bird's little brother. And I mean that in a good way.

Stew

Maritime

It's amazing how good an above-freezing day and some sun feels

This is sad. It's only 40 degrees out. And yet it feels comfortable by comparison. Hell, I saw a fat guy wearing shorts. It's downright balmy here. So here's some music to match:

This is Maritime. I'd tell you to look them up on Lala, but the one album I like the best aint on derr. This disc is called We, The Vehicles...and I like it enough to blog about it.

Check some songs off that disc here (notice the warm color scheme):








Dope & thanks to whitmore for the reco.

Thanks Pandora

El-P is the man for my favorite Pandora station. It's a nice mix of hip-hop and weirdly awesome instrumental tracks. El barely beats out the Salsa station, which arouses within me an overwhelming desire for carnitas. A few selections I hadn't heard before:

JayZ

i got a million ways to get it

Favorite Concerts of 2009

I took an informal text message poll of my friends on New Years Day. The question was simple: what was your favorite concert of the year? I got a lot of great responses (and very few "who is this?" responses, which was nice). The results are as follows:


Phish won by a landslide. Not much of a surprise; when one of America's most beloved bands goes back on tour, people are gonna get excited. Especially people who I hang out with. See the video below for an explanation. I could have picked a higher quality vid, but this one best captures the live Phish experience.



Bands that received multiple votes:
STS9 (blog video here)
Phoenix (blog video here)
The Avett Brothers (blog videos here)
Metallica

Other interesting votes worth investigating further:
Shamarr Allen and the Underdogs - as chosen by Clayton Scherrer


Mew - as chosen by Kevin McAfee


Widespread Panic (on New Years Eve!) - as chosen by Mike Wadsworth


And a few more:
Mos Def, Depeche Mode, The Dead, Billy Joel and Elton John, Band of Horses, Gaslight Anthem, Shiny Toy Guns, Brand New, Lady GaGa, needtobreathe, Ray LaMontagne (acoustic show), Britney Spears, Cage the Elephant, The Pixies, Dr. Dog, Gary Allen, Jimmy Buffet, Pearl Jam, Ratatat, and Andrew Bird

My personal choice: Phish at Alpine Valley. Tight jams, unreal setlist. Nothing but the hits. I also greatly enjoyed Thievery Corporation, Jackie Greene, The Hold Steady, Fleet Foxes, Passion Pit, Portugal. The Man, Wilco, The Dead Weather, Grizzly Bear, several of the bands listed above, and some other shows that I know I'm forgetting. Rock on. I'm already looking forward to Muse and The Avett Brothers this year. Thanks to everyone who responded. Go see live music in 2010!

Stew

The Dream

AKA the first R&B on the blog
So toward the end of 2009 while sifting through everyone and their mom's 'best-of' lists I came across The Dream. And I gotta be honest, R&B is one of my least favorite musical genres, but when I kept seeing The Dream's Love vs Money pop up, I decided to give it a listen...

And yes, It's R&B, but it's produced at an absolutely masterful level. Every beat, every vocal accompaniment, everything. We all know about Dance music's comeback this past year with artists like Cut Copy and Passion Pit, and that's what this music reminds me of. Some of the songs are like R&B lyrics over Cut Copy music, and I dig it.

Give the record a listen, especially to Rockin That Shit, Put it Down, and both parts of Love vs Money. The tracks are hot. Hope ya dig.

Love Vs Money - The-Dream

Mark Farina

guest post > D MC lean



its a music video but i prefer the song with out video influence

Joe Cocker

guest post > Willy Frye



Joe Cocker, he goes absolutely ape shit at the end.

rey fresco