Showing posts with label Alan Wilkis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alan Wilkis. Show all posts

Sunday, July 13, 2014

New Countdown: Looking Forward to Remembering When


Bon Iver circa 2011
It's a big week around our household and so the air is crackling with excitement. Some of us are turning 1 and some of us are turning more than 1. It's all very confusing as to who's turning what.

I'll be doing the Birthday podcast again this year, so that means my birthday will be spent saving blog posts by people and then sorting through them and seeing which songs I like best and all of that. I love it, even if it can be a little daunting.

It's a good countdown this week and I really hope you enjoy it. These are always the episodes I love best. The ones in the middle of summer when the songs are the most nostalgia inducing. Someday we'll hear "Do I Wanna Know" and think "Ah, that takes me back to the summer of...was it 2014? Those were the days..." and it'll be great :)

Countdown #206

***Featuring***
Alan Wilkis
Arctic Monkeys
Bastille
Big Data featuring Joywave
The Black Keys
Bleachers
Bon Iver
Fitz & the Tantrums
Jack White
KONGOS
The Temper Trap
Vance Joy

Sunday, July 6, 2014

New Countdown: Missed Connection


Bleachers
Happy Birthday to America and my Dad!

It's a great countdown this week. New albums to look at. New songs to listen to. And a surprising connection between this blog and one of the bands on the countdown!!

Countdown #205

***Featuring***
Alan Wilkis
Arctic Monkeys
Bastille
Big Data featuring Joywave
The Black Keys
Bleachers
Bon Iver
Fitz & the Tantrums
Jack White
KONGOS
Vance Joy

Sunday, April 13, 2014

New Countdown: Gonna be sleeping in the podcast doghouse for a bit here...

The Black Keys
Well, once again, I've forgotten the anniversary of the podcast. Actually....now that I think of it, this is the first time that's happened. I was thinking of the anniversary of the blog itself, which i have missed, I believe, every single year. No, I usually remember the podcast's birthday. Hopefully, the 4th birthday isn't a big one.

It's a great show this week. A bunch of movement and surprises and bonus songs and stuff that I included without remembering that i could be playing bonus songs to celebrate, but rather just playing bonus songs because I like them! (Idea for t-shirt: "Live life like it's your podcast's birthday")

Countdown #193

***Featuring***
Alan Wilkis
Arctic Monkeys
Bastille
The Black Keys
Cage the Elephant
Fitz & the Tantrums
Foster the People
Jaydiohead
KONGOS
Lorde
Phantogram
Radiohead
Young the Giant

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Watching the Lost finale and posting to my blog...what an age we live in!!

I simply love this show. So much.

Anywho, on to some music. First, some bracket action!

Round 1d:

1. Kanye West vs The Suicide Machines

Kanye West - Champion from Graduation
The Suicide Machines - Did You Ever Get a Feeling of Dread? from A Match and Some Gasoline

2. Bad Religion vs No Use For a Name

Bad Religion - Requiem for Dissent from New Maps of Hell
No Use For a Name - Part Two from Keep Them Confused

Happy Voting! Please vote!

In other news, Weezer has released their Red album. And it's certainly an improvement from their recent efforts. Maladroit was ok. But the Red album almost makes a Blue Album/Pinkerton-esque showing. I'm going to post one track, but I'm saving my favorite track for the end of the year. The funny thing is that I've read some negative reviews of that very track...more on that later.

But here's the track.

Weezer - Troublemaker


Finally, I'm going to start a new feature on this crazy thing. I'm thinking of calling it CP B-sides!

Basically, I will use this feature to allay the anxiety of wanting to post more songs to the Contrast Podcast than I'm allowed to. For instance, this week was Babies. And I submitted this:

Alan Wilkis - Bad Mamma Jamma from Babies Dream Big

but I wanted to submit this, too!:

Barenaked Ladies - Baby Seat from Maroon

and now everyone can enjoy both of them! Hooray Internet!

OK everyone! Have a great week or so!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

I'm so excited!

Ok so I was super stoked when I received an email from the artist I'm about to talk about. One of the things I was hoping for when I started this blog was that bands and musicians would start to send me their stuff to listen to and talk about. Well, it's begun. I hope it doesn't end here.

The artist's name is Alan Wilkis and he's made an album called "Babies Dream Big". It's one of the few times in my life that I've pressed play at the beginning of an album and had almost no idea of what to expect. He described his album like this:

"The album does a fair amount of genre-hopping, but it's pretty firmly rooted in 70s - 80s soul, electronic, and soft rock music, and it features a few special guests: Jason Treuting of So Percussion and Eric Biondo of Antibalas."

So, I'm all about the genre hopping and he's very true to his word. You know the Beck album Midnite Vultures? Certain parts of this album feel like the lost sequel to that album. Other parts feel like Ben Folds when he's feeling particularly funky. Genre-hopping indeed. Oh, and this is pretty much specific to Nat from Mini-Obs. The song "Astronaut (Would You Be One?)" is something maybe you should check out. I'm no expert, but I think it's pretty psychedelic. "Far out", you might say. I don't recall your opinions on Pink Floyd, but this sounds like really early Pink Floyd stuff.

So you see? It's something for everyone on "Babies Dream Big"

Here's what I mean

Alan Wilkis - Bad Mamma Jamma
Alan Wlkis - In My Dreams
Alan Wilkis - Astronaut (Would You Be One?)

Here's the link to more info about the album
Here's his myspace