NO, THIS IS NOT THE NAME OF ANY BAND I KNOW OF
Me me me: Prom tickets went on sale this week at my school, which led to a lot of stereotypical high school drama. At the moment I have a group, a dress, and no date. Ahhhh...did I mention I'm going to Oberlin? I'm thinking my myspace profile might give it away, but...you know...
...So...to the post:

Shows I'd like to see if I had more time and an unlimited budget (I may make it to one or two):
May 15 – Pretty Girls Make Graves w/ Giant Drag @ black cat (I really want to go to this one)
May 25 – the Walkmen @ 9:30 club
May 31 – Snow Patrol @ 9:30 club
June 3 – the Stills @ 9:30 club
June 11 – magic numbers + devendra banhart @ the birchmere (this one could be a "take the Irish man" concert)
June 14 – Cat Power @ 9:30 Club (ditto)
June 27- We Are Scientists @ black cat

NPR is amazing - new All Songs Considered, interview with Belle and Sebastian, profile of the Stills with samples from their upcoming album, and profile of the Go Team!

Just a little more...
New Sufjan download from Pitchfork
How Islands differs from the Unicorns

A.F.I, the Lemonheads, Keane, and Evanescence all have new albums coming out...and chose to announce them today

• NEW Sufjan Stevens' b-side (I can never get enough of these)
• More downloads (here & here) from Scotland Yard Gospel Choir

Blender has a list of the 50 worst things to happen to music... (link courtesy of binky the doormat)

Amazingly true:

• 49 – the dude that yells freebird at every concert
• 38 – sting
• 22 – lists that reduce rock to a series of lists
• 14 – florida (home of the backstreet boys, N’SYNC, Limp Bizkit
• 8 – the age of 27
• 7 – finding god (think Bob Dylan)

What! are you talking about ?:

• 19 – electric violins
• 15 – cds
• I don’t like #1 either, but you’ll have to read the list to find that one out

SOLO EMILY HAINES (METRIC) ALBUM!!!!!

MUSICAL Blog Love

• I guess I'm floating's review of the Josh Ritter concert in Kentucky...the rest of his touring schedule (the DC concert @ the Birchmere is sold out)
• You Ain't No Picasso profiles the Essex Green and includes a download...(coming to the Black Cat May 16)
• Yes, I know the songs from this post have been all over the web for the past two days, but nonetheless the mash-ups are very very awesome (Looking At Them)
• Stereogum's review of the Islands playing live in NYC

Because I want to be Josh Lyman...

• How Ted Kennedy is most definitely NOT outdated
• Resurrect Reagan!
• Temporary suspension of environmental laws??? So close to earth day??? That scumbag

In honor of Dylan's lastest endeavor...my favorite covers of the greatest songwriter of our time

Avril Lavigne - Knockin' on Heaven's Door (I actually REALLY like her cover, I will admit)
Tracy Chapman – The Times They Are A-Changin’
Ryan Adams + Conor Oberst – One More Cup of Coffee
Pearl Jam – Masters of War
Johnny and Rosanne Cash – It Ain’t Me Babe (live)

Labels: Bob Dylan

It's undeniably true.

Grist has fun superlatives for earth day...my favorites:
Head of state whose big talk on climate is most likely to be muffled by Bush's bum affixed to his lips: Tony Blair
Best car of 2006: your bike
Grist's favorite source of angry letters to the editor: vegans
Law Least Able to Protect Itself: Endangered Species Act
Least impressive way to demonstrate your eco-consciousness: buying stuff
...and more

Old NPR Story...Voice of the Everglades

• Juanes campaigning against Land Mines
• NPR's review of the new Morrissey album - with samples

Best of the Blogs:

• Earth Day songs! (...good weather for airstrikes) I'd have to add Stereophonics - A Thousand Trees to the mix, though
• thanks to My Old Kentucky Blog I've fallen in love with the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir...check them out!
• Nicole Atkins & the Sea downloads...she's pretty amazing, I have to say.

...it's true
MAJOR WHITE HOUSE STAFF SHAKE-UP...I'm in shock. I never thought it would happen.
Tommorow being 420, Wikipedia and NPR tell-all...BROWNIES!

Less important stuff...

• "We're caught in a (graduation) trap / I can't walk out ...." No, Bill Clinton won't speak at just anyone's graduation...
• Oh No! Oh My! downloads...more downloads
• B-sides from the new Flaming Lips album
• Live Snow Patrol? Yes, I'd like some of that please.
• Pitchfork vs. Ten-year-olds...brought to you by stereogum
• Minikiss? owwwwww
• the Fiery Furnaces are coming to the 9:30 club! June 30th...
• Yo La Tengo - compiling a cover album to benefit WFMU
• the Onion AV Club reviews Return to the Sea (Islands)

I'm all about good bands with FREE, LEGAL downloads. Sharing the love:

• Army Navy - they toured recently with the New York Dolls and Youth Group...I kind of think they sound like Ted Leo, but that may just be me
• Dirty Little Secret - Q and Not U?, only the lead singer's voice is...special...unique...
• Johnathan Rice - who sounds like a non-pretentious Bright Eyes with a hang-over who can actually sing...I wonder what that would actually sound like. Josh Ritter?...but slower
• Icy Demons - who sound remarkably like Islands...only no electric violin...
• These Electric Lives - I feel like the name gives it away

Interviews: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Glen Kotche (Wilco)

Concerts: Bright Eyes canadian tour dates, another reason to make an early visit to Ohio this summer

Political Funniness: Luckovich gets a Pulitzer (my favorite of his this year), Bush staff shake-up...in the family

I meant to post most of these links yesterday, but the internet was being moody, and when I got up this morning I was too busy not goofing off (for once) that I didn't get around to posting. Somehow I was still late for lit mag...

• yet more Belle and Sebastian live covers...the sound quality varies... (Cable and Tweed)
• new live songs from Wolf Parade (I guess I'm floating)
• The Boy Least Likely To live on KCRW (So much silence)
• Yet another Raconteurs song: Intimate Secretary (when apes rule the earth!)
• the Decemberists' cover of Mr. Blue Sky? giggle-deserving (...good weather for airstrikes)

Due to the unwanted rainy weather this morning...
Simon and Garfunkel - Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall
Stars - Look Up (listen to the chorus and you'll understand)
Bright Eyes - Spent on Rainy Days
...obviously there are more rain-related songs out there, but these are my favorites

"I wish I saved up for rainy days
cause they're the hardest to be dry
I got no self control
I'm always begging into telephones..."

Labels: mixtape

...captured so perfectly. I hate suburban sprawl.

Thanks to the Washington Post Magazine, you can now discuss the Laws of Commercial Zoning and/or Eminent Domain as They Impact the Small Business Model to the tune of "London Bridge Is Falling Down" or examine Freud's "Civilization and Its Discontents," Emphasizing How, in Surrendering His Freedom for the Conformity of Society, Man Has Sublimated His Natural Aggression but Replaced It With Existential Guilt and Neurosis to the tune of "Yankee Doodle"

I also saw "Thank You For Smoking" this afternoon, which was very good without being propoganda...go see it. After seeing the previews I actually wanted to see the Da Vinci code, but that might have had something to do with Ian McClellan, who I worship as an actor.

Sadly, there's no foreseable way I'm going to get out to see Georgie James tonight. Go see it for me, please. I'll post reviews (other people's) tommorow and be really jealous if they're good (which they will be, inevitably).

Another reason to go see Pretty Girls Make Graves (May 15, the Black Cat): Giant Drag, who's playing with them, is pretty amazing. Check them out on myspace.
I'm also beginning to want to go see the 88 and Matt Costa the same week on Wednesday (May 17, Black Cat).

Meanwhile...to the title

• You Ain't No Picasso has an very perky and wonderful Springtime Mix - I liked basically every song on it.
• The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (Flaming Lips) music video is so good...and...I'm going to say it...HI-larious, which is really rare for indie groups. (Stereogum has it in some other formats)
• Good Weather For Airstrikes goes Album Leaf crazy - in terms of downloads.
• Belle and Sebastian live covers!!! (from Cable and Tweed)

I took down my counter because it was so depressing - still right around 1,000. I like pretending that people actually read this blog, when site meter is constantly telling me that no one really does. On a good day I get 10 people visiting, and most of them really weren't looking for anything related to the content matter.
In the off-chance someone takes the trouble of reading this post, here's my gifts of the day. Though there's a high chance of people just clicking on the link.

Distillers - Coral Fang
Funeral For A Friend - Your Revolution Is A Joke
Nick Drake - Parasite

@ the 9:30 Club...new dates
May 23 - The Subways
May 31 - Snow Patrol
(sample the new album: Snow Patrol - You're All I Have)
June 14 - Cat Power
June 27 - Panic! at the Disco
Additionally, the Magic Numbers are coming to the Birchmere on June 11.

Tilly and the Wall downloads...to feed my latest obsession

NPR Story about the Flaming Lips...which convinced me I should check out the new album more seriously

Funny-ness: Hypothetical Sufjan Albums/Tracklists, How To Fake It: Part 2 (music nerdiness, that is), MIT Fraternity accused of Robot Hazing

This Friday (April 14) Anti-Flag @ 9:30 Club - the early show 4:30??? pm
Yes, you should support Anti-Flag because it's an actual punk band, not "emo-punk" or "pop-punk" or any of that crap. And real punk bands are a dying breed.

Also this Friday (April 14)...Ladytron and the French Kicks @9:30
Ladytron = (not as cool as Metric) electronic-Metric / Yeah Yeah Yeahs with a techno hangover (their website has samples galore)
I really can't seem to describe the French Kicks...I wanted to compare them to some 90s band and I realized I had no idea which band that was (their myspace)

This Saturday (April 15) - GEORGIE JAMES @ the Black Cat! (myspace)

April 25 - ISLANDS @ the Black Cat (their myspace) - did I mention the electric violin? it's sooo awesome...
May 15 - Pretty Girls Make Graves @ the Black Cat
May 16 - The Essex Green (their myspace) @ the Black Cat
May 18 - The Fray w/ the Damnwells @ the 9:30 club. Enough Said.
May 19 - Elefant @ the Black Cat
June 27 - We Are Scientists @ the Black Cat

Cheney got booed! ...at the Nationals opening game. More from the Post.

New Bright Eyes album in the works!

The government's been monitoring Don't Ask, Don't Tell Protests? Creepy (link from Wonkette)

• Scatter O'Light posted an amazing Coldplay b-side from X&Y on Sunday, which I like better than basically every song on the album. Which also says something about how I feel about Coldplay.
• Michigan outtakes from I Guess I'm Floating (Sufjan Stevens, for the uninformed)

I discovered yesterday that my 10-year-old sister absolutely LOVES Carbon Leaf...but she had no idea what it was, she just knew I just listened to it and she liked it. So, in honor of small children having good taste in music, up go the downloads.

Carbon Leaf - Desperation Song

Carbon Leaf - The Boxer

Carbon Leaf - On Any Given Day

Carbon Leaf - Shine

If you follow the links, you will soon discover a whole new world of legal downloads, so I'll stop here.

Labels: Carbon Leaf

I'm slightly more awake than I was this morning (meaning 1:30 pm?), thank goodness

Sufjan's got a new album NOT a new baby. Thank goodness.
The samples I've compiled from other blogs so far (I think I'm floating is the only one I remember): Adlai Stevenson and The Avalanche

DCFC will be on Letterman on April 13th @ 11:30. Yep

Neko Case in concert! download NPR's recording

R.E.M. and Minus 5 members off on improv tour...and not coming to the east coast as far as I can tell. Fun, just not for us.

The post's review of the Raconteurs' first live show...and their main point is that Jack White doesn't have problems with needing to be the center of attention? Disgusting

NON-MUSIC NEWS

Good: Bush's approval ratings go down down down

Better: Who do Americans trust to protect the country??? Oh yeah - the answer to that question is now a tie. Go Mystery Pollster.

Funny: Homer Simpson's pre-historic ancestors (Satirical Veracity)

Funnier: Poor Eleanor Clift...being made fun of for a poorly worded part of an editorial...(Wonkette)

If you notice the theme, give yourself a big pat on the back. really.
Songs that put me to sleep - guaranteed. and not in the bad way, though maybe I'll do a post on that at some point.

Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining
I feel like I should start by telling you I got this song legally off amazon. Amazing, is it not? Back to the song - it starts with a cello...and then a french horn...and that lasts for a while...and then Damon Gough come in with his guitar and lovely voice...and it's about at this point that I'm thinking about fluffy pillows and comfortable beds...
You get the idea.

Next up...Belle and Sebastian - Piazza, New York Catcher. No list along these lines would be complete without a Belle and Sebastian song...even Thorpe would agree with me on this one, but for an entirely different reason.
The song is so beautifully simple - it's all about Stuart Murdoch's lovely scottish-accented voice and the acoustic guitar. Enjoy.

Another requirement on any list of songs involved in going to sleep would have to be an Iron and Wine song...so Jesus, the Mexican Boy will have to do.
Beyond being a typically pretty and slow Iron and Wine song, it tells an interesting (and not particularly religious, though you can interpret it that way) story about - you can guess it - a mexican boy names Jesus, the singer/narrator, and Jesus's sister. Sleep to it.

Casimir Pulaski Day, my favorite song off Illinoise, is also entirely suitable for going to sleep. I feel no urge to say anything else, but the guitar part is lovely, as is the trumpet solo.

Bob Dylan's Song to Woody (Guthrie, that is), the only non-cover off Bob Dylan, is another lovely one.
I've given up on descriptions, so here are the the rest:
Bright Eyes - June on the West Coast
Damien Rice - The Professor
Elliott Smith - Memory Lane
Say Hi To Your Mom - Let's Talk about Spaceships...or anything except you and me, ok? wonderful song
The Shins - Pink Bullets...I'm sure people have this one already, but...you know...it's good...
The Decemberists - Eli, the Barrowboy
Death Cab For Cutie - A Lack of Color
Listening to all these songs is making me tired, so I'm going to stop now. I'll come and do news updates later.

Yes, I am, and on so many levels. I have to submit several things for IB and visit 2 colleges in the next few days, so the posts are going to be scarse. I'm also supposed to be working on something right now, so this post is all about sharing the love and linking...which actually isn't that different from what I usually do.

So - download the Yeah Yeah Yeahs 9:30 club concert (courtesy of NPR)

Some songs off the new Raconteurs album (along with other information) from your head's not right. Link courtesy of My Old Kentucky Blog.

Review of Return to the Sea (Islands) from You Aint No Picasso, along with one download from the album.

Review of Magic Numbers, Neko Case, and The Elected in concert from My Old Kentucky Blog (again), with my accompanying downloads.

Due to the mood I was in this morning, here are several lovely songs about sleep:
Belle and Sebastian Sleep the Clock Around
Belle and Sebastian - We Are the Sleepyheads
The Postal Service - Sleeping In
The Beatles - I'm Only Sleeping (also, the Vines cover)

Eels - I Need Some Sleep
The Dandy Warhols - Sleep
The Wallflowers - Sleepwalker

Labels: mixtape

MUSIC

• Yet another review of Jenny Lewis + the Watson Twins from my old kentucky blog...with mp3s and photos
• Apple vs. Apple...those picky beatles...
• Reviews of the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album from NPR and Rolling Stone
• Sufjan wins the Pantheon, new Shins album! in October (links courtesy of largeheartedboy)

RANDOM LAUGHS: Making fun of tourists and hipsters