I Think U Are Great - Yellow Ostrich by jokerwoman
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8.26.2011
8.17.2011
infogram/fyf fest
I just wanted to make sure you all are aware that F*ck Yeah Fest Fest is coming up soon! Labor Day weekend! I've provided the site link HERE so you can buy tickets online, and they even list local record stores so that you can buy your tickets there instead and skip the (middle)-man. Get your tickets! Go to the show! If you haven't been, it's really fantastically fab. It's in downtown LA, it's $40, it's got an AMAZING lineup of bands including Death From Above 1979, Explosions in the Sky, Simian Mobile Disco, Girls, No Age, Cults... Just look at the pretty picture above and read the pretty words.
8.16.2011
lollapalooza withdrawals mix/ for you!!
8.13.2011
music find/ oh my rockness
8.11.2011
work in progress.
4.21.2011
tom vek: where have you been?
I recently came across this handsome gentleman and his equally handsome sound. Apparently he released a pretty dope album back in 2005 and then dropped off the audio map until now. I know a thing or two about dropping off the map though, so no hard feelings, Tom. I guess I lucked out on discovering him mid the second-coming. Please to be enjoying some electro rock goodness.
Music Video- Tom Vek: A Chore
3.09.2011
freebie- couldn't wait to share
ferocious few
I'm a fan of buskers, being that I know a few and have seen how much it means to them to even have a few onlookers toss a dollar their way. These buskers are a new discovery to me and soon to be discovered by many more people than the passers-by in their native city of San Francisco (especially since their appearance last year at SXSW). The Ferocious Few, a two man band a la The White Stripes or The Black Keys, have gained a following for their unique style of garage rock- subbing out the usual blues influence for a country/folk twang. The result is something like folk-punk. I'm not so good at naming genres...maybe because there are way too many already, so just listen and think happy thrash-punk-folk-rock thoughts.
Here's their music video for Loc'd Out, which chronicles a night of geurilla projections across the city set to their music. Rad.
2.03.2011
these are two of my favorite things
I knew that Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead) was working on a solo project, but what I didn't know was that his solo endeavor makes up the score to a film adaptation of Norwegian Wood, a novel by one of my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami. Oh joy of joys! This is a combination of wonderful that I haven't seen the likes of since Oreo decided to dip their cookies in mint chocolate. The soundtrack is set to be released in March, and you can check out the tracklist on Pitchfork until then, although it really is more of a tease than anything else. I really can't emphasize enough how great this collaboration is. Murakami is such an amazing story teller- his words are poetic and dark, twisted and invasive; and his novels are an experience. His words paired with the music of one of the greatest composers/ rock gods out there (and performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Emperor Quartet) is sure to result in an explosion of aesthetics. You can watch the trailer below, and get excited for whenever the movie hits (most likely selected) theaters in the U.S.
1.28.2011
dance music friday
1.12.2011
new year. new calendar.
A totally stripped down calendar focusing more than half of each month's page on musicians and their lyrics, rather than dates. Nice work. Too bad it's sold out. Too good I made my own...
Old Hollywood's got some really cool stuff to be had though, check out their website here: oldhollywoodmoxie.com
10.11.2010
music activity: click, print, draw, and send to matt and kim
beautiful mind, voice, documentary: william fitzsimmons
William Fitzsimmons - Finding Home
Uploaded by DowntownMusic. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.
9.08.2010
freebies: i love them freebies
8.24.2010
on repeat: bang bang bang
8.19.2010
music thought: memory and sound
ARCADE FIRE TICKETS deserve capital letters
8.12.2010
alarm clock: a/b machines
8.06.2010
newsflash: remixed gaga
7.28.2010
epic fail: cinespace
7.23.2010
gnarls barkley head
Have a rad weekend. Make those two days count.
7.22.2010
beirut > huffington post
7.21.2010
hard summer is on
in defense of neon bible
In response to the comment I had on my Arcade Fire posting from yesterday, I felt the need to sort of defend the album Neon Bible. It was a fantastic album that had the misfortune of following Funeral, one of the most lauded albums of the last decade. However, I would argue that while Arcade Fire's talents were presented in Funeral, they were confirmed in Neon Bible. Funeral presented listeners with a distinct, elegantly sublime sound, and Neon Bible's lofty, ecclesiastical contents continued in the same tradition. The album's sound is at times triumphant and jubilant, and at others, has the brooding, bittersweet sound of melancholia that forces you to pause in reflection. This, for me, has come to be Arcade Fire's signature- a sort of evocation of romantic gloom, sweet sadness, and pensive joy.
J'espere que vous aimez le concert a emporter...
7.20.2010
arcade fire: the suburbs
random music thought: doo-wop
I've been thinking a lot recently about what music genre is ready to make its comeback, and I've settled on doo-wop. It makes sense, and to be honest, I just really want to see it happen. It's so old school cool that it would be a shame if it didn't make its way onto albums again soon.
2.19.2010
the black belles
2.18.2010
happy birthday, yoko!
Today, the Imagine Peace Tower will light up Reykjavik to celebrate Yoko Ono’s 77th birthday. The tower, built in 2007 as a memorial to John Lennon, is a beautiful and loving tribute to both John and to the ideals he shared with Yoko.
Happy Birthday, crazy lady!
Check it out here: imaginepeace.com2.17.2010
anxiously awaiting mgmt's sophomore album
2.16.2010
decemberists side project
2.12.2010
grok music
I consider myself to be fairly internet-savvy, but I guess I missed the memo on this little site. Grok Music is a website akin to Pandora; it helps you discover new music based on your current favorites. However, Grok Music differs in that its function is primarily visual, presenting visitors to the site with a "music map" - kind of like a musical family tree. You just type in the name of a band you like, or maybe that you're curious about, and the site pops out a map of new artists that you might also like. Grok also provides short descriptions about each new musician, links to listen to tracks from a featured album, and of course, links to purchase the music from iTunes or Amazon.
Above is my sample music map for Björk, it's fairly bitchin...and surprisingly accurate. Not bad Grok. Not bad.
2.11.2010
new features to come
track 3: the polysics- "i my me mine"
It’s exciting to get to play home-town tourist every once in a while, especially when you live in L.A. Luckily for me, a friend of mine from France is hiding in California for a few months while she shirks the responsibilities of post-college job hunting, and I get to show her how amazing California is! On one of my recent trips to visit friends at UCLA, I brought my Frenchie with, and played tour guide like it was my job. She toured campus, went to a house party, dropped in on a class, drank cheap beer out of red cups, learned beer pong, ate at In-N-Out, saw a pseudo-celebrity (Kim Kardashian), bought some flip flops, frequented college dive bars, ventured through Venice Beach, and last but certainly not least, went to a show at the Roxy on Sunset.
The Roxy is a place I’ve always wanted to go, but never got the opportunity to when I was at UCLA. It’s a well known, Sunset strip venue; tiny- but a great little spot to intimately view your favorite bands or up-and-comers. It’s fun 'n' gritty: dark, no frills, sticky floor, sticky bathroom, but that’s kind of the best part: The Roxy doesn’t mess around, it serves its purpose as a music venue and that's about it.
was in C3PO mode the entire act. She even stayed robotic as she unplugged her synth and walked off stage: no smiles, no waves to the crowd or anything, just gone. It was like the Polysics had been on a mission from planet punk to rock our world from 11pm-1am and when they were done, they were gone… 1.25.2010
track 2: yeasayer: "i remember"
The loss of an ipod; the addition of a new favorite band. After much contemplation over posting missing signs for my poor lost ipod, the odds aren’t looking good, and sadly I am now in mourning my lovely, silver, 8-gigabyte pal. Thankfully, my pain was eased by the new album by Yeasayer, Odd Blood. Heralded (perhaps prematurely) as the album of 2010 by my roommate (with impeccable taste in music), I had to hear it.1.07.2010
track 1: "hey jude"
soundtrack of my life
7.29.2009
shuffling the songs to stumble to sufjan
Alright, hold up. Let me explain something that I just discovered. Summer+ homelessness+ everybody and their mother giving me new music every single day = me not being able to rediscover my iTunes library. This whole project began when I realized that I don’t think I’ve listened to all of the music I own, and today I go back on track. No more new stuff for a while. SO without further ado, I am going to hit shuffle on my iTunes library and whatever comes up is what I’m writing about. Druuuuuum roll please… Sufjan Stevens it is.
I was really hoping for Backstreet Boys or something embarrassing...nerds. 56 seconds into “Ya Leil” on Sufjan’s album A Sun Came! is good tunes. I’m digging whatever kind of music this is, it sounds like it belongs on a soundtrack for a Wes Anderson movie.
Listed among his many instruments are the lesser known stapler and stationary floor fan, but I’m down as long as he’s rocking it. 7.07.2009
plastic ono (sunglasses) band
Finals, graduation, introduction to the real world, and subsequent homelessness has made my mind a little more than muddled. Yoko Ono brought me back. Yes, that eccentric little Japanese woman who everyone likes to blame for the break up for the Beatles. Do some research, people. Yoko was and is a fabulous, mad, dizzyingly thought-provoking artist- not a destroyer of bands. Lennon loved her, and I have come to love her after studying Lennon’s life and his relationship with her. She was his muse, and for the purposes of this article, she is mine as well.
In Nylon magazine’s July issue, they did a spread on the women behind the men of rock royalty, and the iconic fashion accessories that made them more than just arm candy on the red carpet. Although I usually could care less about this sort of thing, the magazine tapped right into my love for John and Yoko- the very first page of the spread featured a waiflike, collagen injected, model version of the duo…and Yoko’s signature Carrera sunglasses. I wanted them. Needed them. Had to have them. I wanted nothing more than to run right out and buy them that instant, despite my mounting debt of post-collegedom. A week later, they were mine!!!!
Also…as a side note, the night I bought my beloved Carreras, I went out to see Public Enemies. I don’t know if any of you that have seen it noticed, but all of the men in the movie wore John Lennon’s round sunglasses. They are coming back. Get ready people- the sunglasses of John and Yoko are upon us.
Sunglasses (logically?) brought me back to music. After pondering the meaning of the sunglass phenomenon, I felt it necessary to revisit one of my favorite albums: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The first album Lennon released as a solo artist, it serves as a landmark of his separation from the Beatles and as a complete embodiment of his own musical style and personal philosophy on life. The album is intimate to such an extreme that it almost makes you feel nervous listening to it, like you’re reading his diary and he could burst in to the room at any second, leading to an awkward moment and eventually an agreement to never speak of it again. From start to finish, it is an audio journal of pain, self doubt, and attempts at reassurance and hope for something better to come.
One of the most notable characteristics of the album is the use of Primal Screaming. Everyone needs a little scream once and a while to let out what they’re feeling, but Lennon records his pain on the album. Plastic Ono Band served as therapy for Lennon, who conceived much of the album during his stay at the radical Primal Institute in
The album opens with “Mother”, a song serving as resignation, an attempt to come to terms with the death of his mother and the abandonment by his father. It’s sad, like you’re hearing a child’s pleading voice coming out of Lennon, this man, icon, famous figure of such seeming strength of opinion and message. The words he repeats until the end, “Mama don’t go/ Daddy come home” are saturated with emotional distress. He screams at the top of his lungs and the minimal accompaniment of piano, bass, and drums (by Ringo) tries to catch up with him as he drifts off into his complete and utter pain.
From there, the album demonstrates Lennon’s attempt to pass on what he has learned about reality by realizing his pain and stripping away all of the bullshit of life. In his songs “I Found Out” and “Working Class Hero”, he talks about the ills of society; citing religion, drugs, sex, and tv as the tools of the world to keep you doped up and crazy. He tries to warn people not to be sucked into the machine, bringing to mind similar plights by Pink Floyd in “The Wall”. The two songs, especially “Working Class Hero”, are anthems to the common man, the man who suffers his whole life, beaten down into submission yet ordered to succeed and triumph.
Lennon is calling to people to stand up for themselves, and to discover what life is truly about, which from his songs “Love”, “Well Well Well”, and “God” (which contains the central thesis of the whole album) is nothing other than love itself, and being in touch with reality which is knowing yourself and knowing love. In “Love”, Lennon states for the first time on the album exactly what he has discovered: “Love is real…love is feeling…love is touch…love is living”. The song is sweet and sad, sending the message of his complete belief in his love with Yoko, which is perhaps the reason that he left the Beatles and the spotlight to be with her- to live in love and therefore reality.
Finally, “God” is no doubt what Lennon builds to the entire time- a complete smack down on everything that he once believed in and now finds to be false. He starts on religion, calling out Jesus, the Bible, magic, God, tarot, Buddha; then moves on to historical figures like Hitler, Kennedy, and kings; then finally narrows his disbelief onto musicians- Elvis, Dylan, and last but not least The Beatles. What a slap in the face. I mean, I get it, I do, but it is still shocking to hear him sing that he doesn’t believe in Beatles. He lets his audience know that he has found himself: “I was the Walrus/ But now I’m John…The Dream is over”. Take that Beatles fans…man. It’s so sad but so understandable- he’s just a guy like any other who wants to be left alone to love and to simply be.
There are even points on the album when we can see his struggle in taking his own advice to just be real. In songs like the bluesy, piano heavy “Isolation” and “Look at Me”, Lennon is once again stripped down and afraid of facing the world. I love how in “Isolation” he even drags out the “I” and separates it from the rest of the word, further emphasizing his loneliness. Then in “Look at Me” he reflects upon himself, who he is, what he is supposed to be and do and desperately cries for “his love” to look at him and tell him what to do. The only completely reassuring songs on his rollercoaster of suffering and self-doubt are “Hold On” and “Remember”, in which he assures himself, Yoko, and the world that everything will be all right, and not to worry.
Finally, the albums ends right where it began, with a song about his mother. Entitled “My Mummy’s Dead”, the 59 second song is eerie, slow, exasperated, and tired (who wouldn’t be after all that screaming?). Thank god for the remastered edition that was put out in 2000. Supervised by Yoko, the tracks “Power to the People” and “Do the Oz” were added in to create some positivity after such a dreary ending track. “Power to the People” advocates action, revolution, activism and social change, and definitely serves as an appropriate concluding remark to the intimate album of loss and realism that Lennon initially created.
I am in love with this album, on a literary sense, as I am sure can be inferred by my primarily-lyrical analysis. But that is what this album is about- it is about Lennon’s words- his belief in stripping everything down to its rough, un-mastered core. It is about a struggle to understand the world, and Lennon’s ultimate faith in love only. On a musical level, the album is stripped. It is raw and unpolished, bluesy, folksy, rock-n-roll, and classic Lennon all at once. It is John and it is Yoko and it needs to be listened to. It contains the powerful message that originality, authenticity, and connections to the world and the self are all that truly matter.
So…I guess maybe I should rethink needing these Yoko sunglasses.
"All my concerts had no sounds in them; they were completely silent. People had to make up their own music in their minds"-- The one and only, Yoko Ono.
Listen to the Album: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
And! Listen to the John Lennon interview about the album with Jann Wenner from Rolling Stone.
And!! If you happen to listen to the interview, this Dave Edmunds version of "I Hear You Knocking" and Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" (please ignore the many religious references in this video version) are what Lennon refers to as the kind of simple rock he likes most.



























