John Darnielle Is My Hero

Of the Mountain Goats, of course. Nobody writes better songs. He's exactly the right mix of crazy and brilliant.

"The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton"
from All Hail West Texas

"Wild Sage"
from Get Lonely

"Dance Music"
from The Sunset Tree

"Sax Rohmer #1"
from Heretic Pride

Fun American Rock

Mid nineties garage stuff from a throwaway band called the Wrens. Great lyrics on this first one:

"I've Made Enough Friends" by the Wrens

These two are compelling and depressing. I like.

"Was There Ever"
"Happy"

Fun British Rock!

"Talk About It" by the Metros
Kooks-y.

LCD Soundsystem

Listen to the unstoppable build-up in these songs. It almost takes you by surprise. Also, the attention they give to production and recording is outstanding. Each instrument sounds exactly the way they want it to.

"Big Ideas"
off the 21 soundtrack

"New York, I Love You"
off Sound of Silver

"Tribulations (Shallow Version)"
off the Tribulations 7"

"Losing My Edge" and "Disco Infiltrator"
off LCD Soundsystem

But I'm losing my edge
To better-looking people
With better ideas and more talent
Who are actually really, really really nice

Summer in the City

by Styx
Awesome.

by Quincy Jones
Sampled in the Pharcyde's "Passing Me By".

by Incognito
Kinda weird.

by Regina Spektor
Completely different!

Also, comments are open!

One Two Three Four Five

"River Man" by Nick Drake

"When Your Mind's Made Up" by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
(Once soundtrack)

"15 Step" by Radiohead

"Take Five" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet

Songs from the School Year

"Le Bonheur" by Berry
N'ayez pas peur du bonheur
Il n'existe pas

"Ali in the Jungle" by the Hours
It's not about the things you've done,
it's what you're doing now

"Bullets" by Tunng
You whisper prayers into the dark
Up to a god in whom you've never believed

"In Our Talons" by Bowerbirds
And no, you're not alone
No, my cousins, you're not alone
You're in our talons now and we're never letting go

Funny

"Gay?" by Michael Ian Black

Can't Write a Chorus to Save His Life

Seriously. Slug's flow is ridiculous, but any time he says the same thing twice in a song it sounds terrible.

Off the new album, "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold":
"In Her Music Box" by Atmosphere
"Yesterday" (not a cover)

Classic:

"Pour Me Another"
"One of a Kind"

"I'm different because I respect my audience, and I don't yell at them... and I'm special because I respect my audience."
"Yeah!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Bands I Used to Swear were Terrible, Part 2

"Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois" by Sufjan Stevens
"Til the End of Time" by Devotchka
"Cleanse Song" by Bright Eyes

and if life seems absurd,
what you need is some laughter,
and a season to sleep,
and a place to get clean, maybe
los angeles, somewhere no one's expecting


Coldplay will not be joining this list. Chris Martin's voice just irks me.

bonus: "UFO" by MC DJ

I Seriously Don't Know Where He Comes Up With This Shit

God damn. At around 2:30, Jimi Hendrix to Yael Naim behind Eminem doing the beginning of Shake That.

"No Pause" by Girl Talk

Lil Mama and some fucking ridiculous metal shit.

"Give Me A Beat" by Girl Talk

Sheeeeeeeeit. This guy makes music just to make me happy.

(full album download)

Accordions!

"Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)" by Beirut
"Light the Match" by Mirah
"Domingo" by the Gotan Project

Files up later tonight. Work work work.

UPDATE: MP3s are up. Enjoy!

'Creep'

(inspiration)

"Creep" by Damien Rice
"Creep" by Richard Cheese

Bands I Used to Swear were Terrible

"Party Pit" by the Hold Steady
"Shankill Butchers" by the Decemberists
"Pioneers" by Bloc Party

And I'm pretty sure we kissed is such an epic line.

Coldplay might be added to this list. I'll give the new album half a chance.

What I'm Looking Forward To This Summer

7/17: Spoon at Lupo's

"Small Stakes" by Spoon

7/19: The Dodos, Annuals, and Broken Social Scene at Siren Music Festival
"Men" by the Dodos
"Bleary Eyed" by Annuals
"7/4 (Shoreline)" by Broken Social Scene

8/4: The National in Central Park
"Lit Up (Remix)" by the National

More to come!

Jazz It Up A Notch

"Take On Me (With a Martini)" by Minimatic
"Plus Dur, Meilleur, Plus Rapide, Plus Fort" by the Brassens

Le travaille nous, jamais finis.

My Mind is Made Up, There's Going to be Trouble

"America / Closing Time" by Tom Waits and Allen Ginsberg

Some nights I listen to this and just think.

Haunting Covers of Overplayed Pop Songs

"Toxic" by Yael Naim
"Umbrella" by Mechanical Bride

Mmmm.

Pandora Chicks

Pandora showed me new music! Here's some ladies who can sing pretty good.

"Gray or Blue" by Jaymay
"Sunny Road" by Emiliana Torrini
"New Soul" by Yael Naim

This is good! Also, my friends made it.

"Hurt Legs Walking" by Shake the Baron
Wearing the clothes you bought me last summer
'Cause it seems they're falling away

(source)

It's Summer, Baby

"Calabria" by Enur feat. Natasha
Oh, it's that song! Turn up the volume.

(source)

A Band with Bad Haircuts

"Young Love" by the Mystery Jets
Is that you on the bus, is that you on the train?
You wrote your number on my hand but it came off in the rain

(video)
(source)

Let's Get This Sucker Rolling Again

"Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse" by Minus the Bear
Hey, let's cross the sea, and get some culture.
Red wine with every meal, and absinthe after dinner.
We'd look good, side by side, walking back to the hotel.