2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. It is absolutely worth reading if you are interested in what percentage of my African readers are from Algeria (50%!!!) and ultimately for the amazing punchline at the end of the report. I won’t spoil it for you too much but I can’t stop laughing at it. I’m also impressed that by not blogging between April and October, we still managed to get a few hits a day. Here’s to continued sporadic blogging in 2012! Happy new year to all of you!
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,400 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.
Defiantly Festive
Well, I’ve finally taken a break from listening to Tune-yards to suggest that Michael and I wax philosophical about this song’s superiority to Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmas” but he refused. And, as I told our sister yesterday, “Step Into Christmas” is ingrained in my genetic code; I cannot objectively evaluate the song. I have distinct memories of our mother playing this song on repeat. For hours. In July. It’s as much a part of me as my toes. (Essential for balance!)In conclusion, make your Christmas a winning one with Elton John!
What’s your favorite Christmas song?
“Huntsman’s Back” Is My Favorite Thing Ever
This is why I have a blog people!
Jon Huntsman’s daughters have released the semi-political dance/parody track of the year! This makes Cain Train look like shit.
I . . . I just don’t understand who thought this was a good idea.
I am happy though that with Herman Cain’s campaign exploding more frequently than a fireworks factory with lax fire-safety, there’s somebody else here to pick up the insanely misguided reins.
Also, really Huntsman girls? You exclude Rick Santorum from your diss track? You didn’t have anything to say about the man who compares homosexuality to bestiality, and hates single mothers? Also, Herman Cain’s pizza? THAT is what you sing about. TIGHTEN IT UP, GIRLS!
Case of the Mondays: The Sound of One Man Dancing Edition
These titles are getting really long, I need to tone it down.
I’m pretty sure everybody has heard this song and seen this video, but it’s the Monday before Thanksgiving, so I think we all need a little pick-me-up to get through these last hellish days before vacation.
I gotta say, that guy’s got moves. If you mute the track, he’s a pretty good approximation of me when I get bored while standing around (but my moves are a little fly-er)
A Song from “The Muppets” Has Been Released, and Suddenly I am Less Excited for the Movie
Ever since I heard there was going to be a new Muppet movie, and it didn’t look nearly as shitty as say Muppets in Space, I got excited. Now that I’ve heard this song though, I don’t know. Granted, I will still see it, but I might not love it as much as I planned to.
Let’s look at this song objectively as we can, starting with the “pros”: It was written by Brett McKenzie, Jason Segel and Amy Adams have both proven in past roles that they’re not completely tone deaf. and apparently both Feist and Mickey Rooney sing on it.
and now the cons:
For what appears to the movie’s major theme (its the only song on the soundtrack to have a full cast reprisal), I just don’t think its all that great. It doesn’t feel like a Muppet song, it feels like an attempt at a shitty showtune, but everyone knows Book of Mormon did that way better. I will give the Mickey Rooney cameo a big plus though, I fucking love that guy, and if you don’t you’re a damn liar.
Now, granted, I could now set up a poll and be like “Which is better, this or ‘Rainbow Connection’” but that is a waste of everyone’s time, because Rainbow Connection would win hands down. Instead, I am gonna set up a poll between this song and the worst song from the original Muppet Movie.
Now, I’m sure I just started a whole new debate, but leave that for the comments.
Case of the Mondays: Greatest Fucking Concert Ever Edition
So last night, I had the privilege of seeing Blind Pilot rock the shit out of the 9:30 club.
For anyone who has never seen them live, you are missing out. Their live shows have so much enthusiasm it just makes the songs that much better. I feel like if it were possible to have a complaint, its that the songs flow so well into each other on their album that when they finished a song it almost felt like they were stopping each song part way through. I don’t think that’s really a complaint though.
Here’s a little taste for everyone who missed it:
(via chilixx)
Friday New To Me: Decemberists Scavenger Hunt Edition
As you may or may or man not know, The Decemberists have just put out a new EP, Long Live the King a collection of outtakes and demos from their not great for The Decemberists, but still good by every other standard release The King is Dead. As a lead-up of sorts, they released five of the EP’s six tracks across blogs the week before the album came out.
Always late to the party, here is my favorite track, “Foregone”
While I loved the whole EP, and I hope that their Demo “I 4 U and U 4 Me” makes its way onto a future album, if this were a reality competition, and I got to pick one eliminated challenger to participate in the finals (even I’m not following this metaphor anymore), it would be “Foregone,” it just does such a great job bridging the feel of this The King is Dead with the sound of some of their older tracks.
You can see the original posts on Paste, Vulture, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, and The Huffington Post.
Their cover of the far too long and not very good cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Row Jimmy” remains unreleased
First Peek at Rocket Juice and the Moon
by Michael
For those of you who don’t know, I love Damon Albarn. To me, the man can do no wrong, and I will listen to basically anything he puts his hands on. His new band, Rocket Juice and the Moon, is no exception. This time around he’s playing with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea and the man who created afrobeat, drummer Tony Allen. Name issues aside(he admitted he didn’t pick it, and doesn’t enough care to change it) this is yet another fantastic offering from Albarn. Its exactly what you would expect from him, in that you would never expect it.
You can listen to all the tracks from their live performance now on their YouTube page, but here is the perfect taste:
I’ll admit it, before I googled him, I had no clue who Tony Allen was, but my god is he a fantastic drummer, and definitely the driving force in the band’s sound. I’m also happy to see that despite the fact that The Red Hot Chili Peppers haven’t put out a good album since By The Way in 2002, Flea hasn’t lost his skill as a bassist.
Thoughts? Opinions? Leave ‘em in the comments.
The Blues Bonanza sure are a band that exists.
by Michael
Hey, remember me? I’m that guy who used to write on here sometimes, well now I’m back.
What draws me back you ask? Well, close personal friend/musician Lou “Retarded Baby” Guberti has asked me to review his band, The Blues Bonanza‘s new EP, Sludgehammer. At first, all I could think of was the last time Lou asked me to review something, but then I also remembered I love telling people my opinion.
SO HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!!!
To start things off, let’s listen to a track together:
There are definitely some hurdles for me when it comes to listening to Sludgehammer. The biggest by far is Lou’s voice. Now I’m not saying it’s a bad voice or anything, I just find myself giggling uncontrollably every time he starts singing. Unless you know Lou, you probably won’t experience this problem.
Another hurdle is, this isn’t my style of music. I don’t know what makes a . . . hard rock? (I dunno, its not metal) band good. What I can say is that there is definitely some Queens of the Stone Age flair in their songs, so if you like those guys, definitely check this EP out.
In the end, this album is definitely a freshman effort. It sounds like it was recorded in a basement, and while the band as a whole are technically proficient, everything is pretty formulaic. The solos sound more like scales or fingering exercises than real solos (which probably won’t be an issue if you see them live), and the songs get a bit repetitive at times.
THE FINAL VERDICT:
In no way is the album perfect, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t enjoyable. There’s a tongue-in-cheek quality to the whole album (probably most visible in their track “The Bro Song”) that really makes me smile. Also, the tracks are fucking catchy. If you were cool enough to listen to “Marty McFly” back when I told you to, its probably still stuck in your head, and will be for another hour or so. The Blues Bonanza may not be the voice of a generation, but I’ll take this over Katy Perry any day.
I was originally gonna develop a new ranking system based on Fonzie, but it would take too long explaining that there is only 1 Fonzie, and nobody can be as perfect as Fonize, so the best score a person could ever get is 0.99 Fonize, and the scale is exponential, but if I did do it, these guys would get 0.45 Fonzie. Make of that what you will.
Can’t get enough of my snark? Make sure to follow me on twitter @LetterstotheTV
Wanna talk about tUnE-yArDs?
You know when you hear something that hits so close to your softest innards that you feel like you’ve been suckerpunched and liked it? And like you kind of want to feel it again? Guys, I haven’t been this excited about an album in SO LONG. I think Merrill Garbus might be brilliant, but god is it hard to listen to a lot of her songs in a row. I promise you won’t hear another album so challenging but so rewarding for the rest of the year. Ready? Let’s go. Read more…
