Gun Shy

So I think I haven't really been posting lately for two reasons:

1. We're hosting Thanksgiving for 75% of our parental groups. So we've been focusing on pulling the house together for that.

2. But more importantly, I feel like I haven't ben posting for the same reason that I always drive WAY to slow right after I get a speeding ticket. So, I hope you'll forgive me if it take some time to get back into it, but don't worry. I'm not gone forever!

In the meantime, go to Tim's Blog and vote for the 2008 Festive Fifty countdown. I think it's going to be a great one. Then listen to it at the end of December here. It's going to be THREE episodes. In fact, you should be listening to the Contrast Podcast every week.

Breakin' the Law?

Ok, so Round 1H was taken down by blogger.com because one of the songs I posted in that post was flagged for copyright infringment. I'm not sure which one and I received no prior notification before they deleted it. Sigh. So, of Smashing Pumpkins, Rise Against, R.EM., Thrice, Lauryn Hill, and The Beatles, who would be most likely to shoot their shotgun at my flea of a blog? Any ideas?

I'm a little disconcerted right now. I'm woking on some posts about some up-and-coming bands that apprciate the exposure that blogs like this give them. So look out for them soon. I guess I had it coming, but it feels dirty because I really meant no harm. You know?

A Really Quick, Secret Post From Work Re: Of Montreal and Brackets

Ok, so last things first. Voting has closed for Round 1G. Thank you so much to everyone who voted! I'll be posting the final sub-round of the first round of match-ups and then I think I will be doing the 2nd round in its entirety in one (or possibly two) posts. So look out for that.

Now on to the real reason I called you here today. So, Of Montreal is getting bigger and bigger, right? Why don't I have anything from them past 2000, when, by all accounts, they really started to hone the craft in around 2001. I got a couple of their albums from my friend Kasey in college and, while I enjoy listening to the cute, Beatle-y tunes when they come up on shuffle, I never really considered them a "real" band.

But I was reading the cover story in the new Paste magazine and I was realizing that I hadn't heard the main work that probably got Kasey into them in the first place. I would compare it to only listening to Nirvana's Bleach album and writing them off as not your cup of tea. It may be that I listen to the newer Of Montreal stuff and they're STILL not my cup of tea, but I didn't even realize that I might be missing something!

Has this happened to anyone else? With any band?

Roung 1g!

Ok Folks, quick entry today. We have one more first round match-up after this one and then it's on to the thrills and chills and spills of Round 2!!! So without any further ado:

Round 1G:

1. Radiohead vs. Counting Crows

Radiohead - Videotape from In Rainbows
Counting Crows - Anyone But You from Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

2. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes vs. Bright Eyes

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Goodbye Earl from Love Their Country
Bright Eyes - No One Would Riot For Less from Cassadaga

Happy Voting Everyone! Even though it's taking a long time to get this done, I'm having fun with it, aren't you? :)

I'm still here!

I'm totally still here, I've just been busy recently. And my computer has been rather narcoleptic recently. Well, I guess not narcoleptic. Isn't there like a chronic fatigue syndrome? Checking...Ha! Everything's something these days! Basically it's going fine, going fine, going fine, then UNBEARABLY slow. It's a lot easier if I put it on standby when I'm done with it, though. So that's what I've been doing. But enough about me. What do YOU think about me? Hehe.

I've been listening to my iPod in alphabetical order. Skipping duplicate songs and live songs if I have the studio recording, but listening to covers. A took me a week. B appears to be an even bigger letter. Maybe that's why "bigger" starts with B! At this exact moment, I'm on this song:

Lagwagon - Billy Club from Blaze

Which isn't my favorite song on the album. That might very well be this:

Lagwagon - Never Stops from Blaze

Lagwagon is funny because sometimes you're listening and thinking, "This is run-of-the-mill Fat Wreck Chords pop-punk" and then other times you wake up 2 hours later after having been knocked off your feet by the brilliance of a verse or turn of phrase. Here's my favorite part of that latter song:

Hands across America, let's catch contact hysteria
Our flag erects from broken homes
July 4 for evermore
Colors of democracy
Fly from every SUV
The Misspelled bumper sticker's here
Where did all the honor students go?


So anyways, all that and Ben Folds has an album coming out on Tuesday. We're feeling good.

My First Earthquake and Bob Dylan

So on this past week's Contrast Podcast, we had our ninth Musicians Introduce Their Own Songs episode (you can find them grouped together here) which had a band on it called My First Earthquake, based in San Francisco. First of all, the intro cracked me up. Rebecca, the singer comes on with this robot voice and, well I'm not going to make it sound cool enough. Go listen to it yourself! They just seemed like such a fun-loving group of people, based on a 30 second intro (some intro times claimed in this blog may not be completely accurate or double-checked at all) and so I was very pleased when their song "Teleprompt" was really catchy and had an interesting story. So I went on their website and looked around and they ARE a really, fun, fun-loving group of people. Maybe that's just the San Franciscan air (isn't Greer from SF? She's a fun-loving gal, am I right?)

Anywho, here's a couple of tunes that I've been digging by them! And all of these are available at places like iTunes except the remix, which I believe is only available through their website.

My First Earthquake - Teleprompt from Tremors EP (the song that started the craze)
My First Earthquake - Teleprompt (Poles & Zeros Remix) (for maximum contrast)
My First Earthquake - Cradle the Ladle from Tremors EP (It's about soup. Mmm mmm good!)


Also, Bob Dylan is going to be releasing another CD in the Bootleg Series. It's going to cover the period of time between Oh Mercy! and Modern Times (aka the present). And I'm pretty excited! So his website was giving away this free song which is an released song that he recorded when he was recording Time Out of Mind. I think it's pretty clear why it wasn't included on the album. It's just too damn upbeat!

Bob Dylan - Dreamin' of You

Happy Labor Day everyone! And I'll try to update more often! That seems to be something of an epidemic 'round the blogs I've been reading. I think school's starting for a bunch of people and people are maybe trying to get in some hardcore relaxation in during these last days of summer.

I'm excited about autumn! I can't wait until all the music geeks that I love to read hunker down for the winter and pontificate on all my future favorite songs!

Shout outs and 1988!

Ok, so I often assign myself epic projects. I've assigned myself the task of listening to, watching, and reading all of the Albums of the Year, Best Pictures, and Pultizer Prize for Fiction winners, respectively from the year I was born on, for instance.

Well the most recent epic project I've assigned myself is to collect all of the songs that have reached Number One on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks Chart. When I started, I had about half, and I'm well on my way, through the use of iTunes and friends and family.

But the Internet is a wonderful wonderful place where you can, with a little effort, find almost anything. I couldn't find a particular song (posted below) on iTunes and I didn't know anyone that would have it. So I went on The Hype Machine and searched the track and I saw a blog that I've seen many places before on various blogs I read: The Vinyl District. Not only is this a fantastic blog where the merits and wonders of Vinyl Music are shouted from the rooftops, but they also happen to be based out of Washington D.C., a short drive from where I live! Please check them out. You won't be disappointed! So, I'd like to whole-heartedly thank Jon from The Vinyl District for his generous and speedy aid in my randomly assigned, all-consuming, epic project! There may be other songs that I just can't find. And you can bet that I'll be scouring the Internet to find them. In fact, does anyone have "Dirty Blvd." by Lou Reed? iTunes only has live versions.

Julian Cope - Charlotte Anne from My Nation Underground (It's from 1988. That's why the title.)