lincredible

My Top 25 Songs of 2009

2009-12-11T11:49:00.000-08:00

These are the tracks that stood out to me the most in 2009. I cut this down from a list of over 100 songs. Many were from the same artist so to keep things simple I selected my favorite song from those artists. I am still working on my list of top albums of 2009 (as well as my top for the decade), so stay tuned.

01. “Unthought Known” - Pearl Jam

02. “Sleepyhead” - Passion Pit

03. “Wicked Blood” - Sea Wolf

04. “Just Impolite” - Plushgun

05. “Trouble Weighs a Ton” - Dan Auerbach

06. “Magpie To The Morning” - Neko Case

07. “I Will Possess Your Heart” - Death Cab For Cutie

08. “Moment Of Surrender” - U2

09. “I Hung My Harp Upon The Willows” - Trashcan Sinatras

10. “Simon Says” - Laleh

11. “Amblind Alp” - Yeasayer

12. “FIYA” - Tune-Yards

13. “Death” - White Lies

14. “Secrets and Lies” - Emmon

15. “Just The Past” - Peter Bjorn & John

16. “Game Over” - VV Brown

17. “Miss It So Much” - Röyksopp

18. “Don't Upset The Rhythm” - Noisettes

19. “We” - Felix Da Housecat

20. “The Golden Age” - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour

21. “Infinity” - The xx

22. “Tonight” - Yuksek

23. “The Tenure Itch” - The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

24. “Ghetto Love” - Spinnerette

25. “I Got You Dancing” - Lady Sovereign

Honorable Mention:

“Repose In Blue” - Eluvium [Life Through Bombardment Release]

“We Do What We Want To” - O+S

“Give Blood” - Rain Machine

“The People Tree (feat. David Byrne, Chali 2na, Gift Of Gab & Z-Trip)” - N.A.S.A.

“I Know What I Am” - Band Of Skulls

Losing My Edge, or why James Murphy will always be cooler than most of us.

2009-05-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

I understand that this is a similar post to what other music bloggers posted back in July of 2002, but I think this still serves as a great jumping point to so many under-appreciated artists.

One of my favorite tracks from the last decade is "Losing My Edge" by LCD Soundsystem (James Murphy). If you haven't heard it, stop reading my blog, click on this link to read along with the lyrics and then click here to listen to the track. Now since you're familiar with the track you might wonder why I think it's so great since Murphy can't sing to save his life and he sounds like he needs to blow his nose. But it's not about his voice, it's about what he's saying. Not only is there great humor in the song, but Murphy flexes his music snob muscle with this track, ascribing a certain level of music knowledge to the encroaching mass of DJ's that are "coming up from behind". I feel like I have a pretty decent knowledge of music and a quality music library, but the name-dropping list that Murphy throws out in this song forces music-snobs like myself to admit that we don't know as much as we think we do. I thought it would be fun to post some of the references from this track. I'm sure that some will be familiar, but I'm almost certain that few people are familiar with all the names he drops.

01. Can - “Moonshake”

02. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - “Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do”

03. Daft Punk - “Da Funk”

04. Larry Levan - "Bodyshine" (Remix)

05. Modern Lovers - “Roadrunner”

06. Yazoo - “Don't Go” + “Mr. Blue”

07. Black Dice - “Things Will Never Be The Same”

08. A-Ha - “The Living Daylights”

09. Pere Ubu - “Final Solution”

10. Bar-Kays - “Holy Ghost” (12" rip courtesy of Dollar Bin Jams)

11. Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - “Planet Rock”

12. Gil Scott-Heron - “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”

(to be continued!)

My Favorite Covers (Part 1)

2009-05-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

This is a list that every passionate music fan has. Maybe it's only in the back of their mind, or maybe they've already posted their list for the world to see, but this is always a fun topic. As i started looking into all my favorite covers I quickly realized that there was no way i could fit them all into one post. Let me know what you think of my top 5 and let me know who you think i should add in future posts.

01. Jeff Buckley - “Hallelujah”

It's hard to put anything else in the top slot. Leonord Cohen released the original version on the 1984 album "Various Positions” which was received well enough from Cohen fans and critics. Hallelujah didn't really make an impact until it reached #36 on the UK Single Chart in 1998. The delayed success for Cohen's came mostly because Jeff Buckley had released Grace in 1994 with modest success. Of course May 29th 1997 changed everything. There are little details of how Jeff drown that night in the Wolf River but this much is certain, the music world lost one of it's most talented artists. With the death of Buckley the last verse of this beautiful song becomes hauntingly poignant and moves this song into "legend" territory:

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you

And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

02. Jimi Hendrix & B.B. King - “Like A Rolling Stone”

On April 9th, 1968 at the Generation Club in New York two of the greatest guitarists (along with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band) got together for a jam session which is known as "The King's Jam". In my opinion this is one of the greatest live performances ever recorded. They start the show off with an 8 minute version of Dylans "Like a Rolling Stone", 2 minutes longer than the original (Paul McCartney said of the original that "It seemed to go on and on forever. It was just beautiful ... He showed all of us that it was possible to go a little further"). I Haven't seen a quote anywhere of Dylan commenting on the King & Hendrix version, but I would imagine that it would be rather supportive.

03. Creedence Clearwater Revival - “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”

Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote this classic in ’66 and it was first recorded by The Miracles (Smokey Robinson) in ’66 and released in ’68. There are rumors that The Isley Brothers recorded a version, but I've never heard it and from what I gather the story is that they had a session scheduled but it was cancelled (possibly because then CEO of Motown, Berry Gordy greatly disliked the song and felt it would never be a hit). The 2nd official artist to record a version was Marvin Gaye in April of 1967 only in to be released in September of ’68 in response to the great reception Gladys Knight & The Pips had received with their version which was released in November of ’67. Basically, Motown has a hit song that they had to craft for 3 different artists. Although Motown cashed in on it there was so much drama and confusion behind the production of this song that the 3 "originals" are missing what CCR was able to capture, soul. Cosmo's Factory was released in 1970, just 1 year after Gaye's version became the biggest Motown single of all time. CCR took a simple song that was roughly 3 minutes in length and turned it into an 11 minute jam session. Cosmo's Factory hit #11 on the Billboard Soul Albums Chart - which was nearly unheard of for a white southern rock band. What I think makes CCR's version so great is that it succeeds on a level that Motown couldn't. John Fogerty delves into the persona behind the lyrics and delivers a performance on par with Bad Moon Rising or Proud Mary, but then the band takes over and really tells the story. From the 5:00 mark to the 11th minute CCR sets the gold standard for "jamming". This is a fairly straight-forward song about betrayal. The singer learns from "the grapevine" that they have been cheated on. We don't get details, but we want them. Creedence Clearwater Revival gives us 6 solid minutes to explore what those details are. It's as if they sketch the outline and hand us the paint brush.

04. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - “I Love Rock & Roll”

How many people even know this is a cover? Joan took the Arrows track and make it her signature. Apparently the first version Joan recorded was with Steve Jones and Paul Cook, I don't know if it was ever released. I do know that her version with The Blackhearts stayed at #1 for seven weeks as a single and also went platinum. I also know that nearly every female rocker since has tried to recapture a shred of Joan's swagger from the classic black & white music video.

05. The Clash - “I Fought The Law”

Originally recorded by Sonny Curtis and The Crickets in 1959 this classic wasn't made famous until the Bobby Fuller Four recorded their version in 1965. Don't get me wrong, the Bobby Fuller version is great, but it's so squeaky and bubblegum that I have a hard time buying into Bobby Fuller being in any kind of trouble with the law. Joe Strummer on the other hand actually was arrested multiple times. In 1980 he was arrested for hitting a fan in the face with his guitar. Later he commented on the incident saying “I nearly murdered somebody, and it made me realize that you can't face violence with violence. It doesn't work.”. The law not only won, but also made him see the world differently. It's interesting to note that it was after this event that The Clash wrote "Should I Stay or Should I Go", which is the ultimate rock song about conscience. The Clash released "I Fought The Law" on their US Debut "The Clash" in 1977. The song as been a punk/rock staple ever since.

Music & Color

2009-05-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago at BL:ND we did a music video for the Raveonettes which was part of the GAP Sound of Color campaign. GAP was trying to get people to rethink color so they had a series of music videos done by different companies. I don't know how effective this was for selling clothes, but we had a great time making the video for Black/White. Since then I've thought of how color relates to music. These are some samples of tracks that I think do a good job conveying their title color.

Deep Forest - “Green & Blue”

Fiona Apple - “Red, Red, Red”

Hooverphonic - “Magenta”

The Ditty Bops - “Pale Yellow”

Ani Difranco - “Grey”

Birthday Massacre - “Violet”

Chemical Brothers - “Orange Wedge”

20:00 of music :: Part 1 :: Easy Going

2009-05-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

Anyone living in Los Angeles knows that it only takes 20 minutes to get anywhere. Of course we always add the qualifier "depending on traffic", as if somehow there might not be any traffic on the the 10 heading downtown at 5:30. I've started to put together playlists on my ipod that are roughly 20 minutes long that I play as i drive. Each playlist has a common theme (otherwise I'd just hit shuffle). I thought this would work well as a series of posts. Feel free to put these playlists to use, 20:00 at a time.

01. Neko Case - “Magpie To The Morning”

02. Nick Drake - “Road”

03. Sun Kil Moon - “Grey Ice Water”

04. The Choir Practice - “Failsafe”

05. Ane Brun - “True Colors”

06. Theresa Andersson - “God's Highway (feat. Tobias Fröberg)”

07. Ani Difranco - “Everest”

>>(20:00 Easy pt.1 - zipped)

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCH!

2008-07-09T00:17:00.001-07:00

Forgive me if this sounds like a sales pitch, I'm really excited.

I've been working on my site for a few months now and it's finally up! Not too long ago I noticed that there was a niche in the design/music world that didn't exist and I knew if I didn't act soon, someone else would jump on it. Basically the idea is this, bands don't have a ton of cash and those that are on Indie labels don't have a lot to spend on advertising. They usually have one guy that kind of knows photoshop who can whip up a quick flyer to promote their next gig. Usually the flyer is nothing but a photo of the band with 5 different massive fonts slapped on with the info. Gets the point across, but not exactly a polished piece. On the other hand bands will go to a professional to have Gig Posters printed in limited editions to sell at the show. The cost to get these made can be really steep. There is nothing in between!! Today for bands to promote their shows they have to have digital flyers up on their home page, Myspace, Facebook, Last.fm and every other corner of the web. What I am going to do is provide professionally designed digital flyers for a considerably reasonable price. The best part is it's all a matter of logging on, fill out a form, paying through paypal and getting an email a few days later with the finished work. No phone calls. No Agency taking cash out of anyones pocket.

So if you know anyone in a band, large or small, please pass this on to them. Even if you don't understand what I'm talking about, they will.

So here's the link (and it's easy to remember): http://www.linwilde.com

80's Synth Revisited, Tweexcore & More!

2008-04-07T14:23:00.000-07:00

01 crystal castles

remember the cartoon she-ra? she fought alongside he-man as a co-defender of the universe? yeah, you know the gal, champion of goodness and honor in the 80's cartoon world. well she lived in this place called the "crystal castle". so when i tell you that there is a band called crystal castles that named themselves after she-ra's home, what kind of music do you envision? if you said synthesizers then you are correct, and if you said it probably sounds like some drugs went into it then you're probably also correct (though i have no way of confirming that). i don't know who started this whole 80's throwback thing that's been going on, but there are some parts of it that are really good. this band is worth checking out (or at least these tracks).

>>Good Time
>>Vanished

02 architecture in helsinki

no, they're not a band singing about structures located in the largest city in finland. they are an avant-garde pop outfit from australia though. their album "places like this" isn't exactly brand new (released august 21, 2007), but i've been listening to it a lot lately and i think it fits with the other tracks that i'm posting. architecture in helsinki is one of the more carefree and playful bands that i've come across in the last 5 years.

>>Lazy (Lazy)
>>Underwater

03 The Eames Era

i came across this band on one of the music blogs that i visit often (stereoscope). they had a track by the eames era posted at #18 in their top 20 of 2007. i had never heard of them so i had to give them a spin. i can now see why the posted "dear gabby" in their top 20 for the year.

>>Dear Gabby
>>Fake Do-Gooders

04 los campesinos!

another band whose name is rather deceiving, though the name sounds rather spanish, they are actually from cardiff wales. the name is however spanish for "the farmers". they're filed under the indie pop category, but i think there's something a little more rambunctious and witty about their approach than most "indie" bands.

>>Drop It Doe Eyes
>>Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats

05 neon neon

this is another 80's synth revisit band that isn't as frantic as crystal castles. it's an odd sound to come out of a hip-hip producer (boom bip) and an indie rocker (gruff rhy's) but they've created a rather impressive and dancy debut "stainless style". the track "raquel" is getting quite a bit of buzz and lives up to the hype in my opinion.

>>raquel
>>i told her on aldernaan

songs you need to put on your ipod right now

2008-02-29T16:14:00.000-08:00

01 MGMT

I know the song "Time To Pretend" is being blasted all over the place right now, but there are 2 tracks off of the EP that i think are better tracks. "Kids" is on their full length "Oracular Spectacular" as well but "Love Always Remains" is only on the EP. I highly recommend going out and picking up this album, especially if you like these tracks:

>>Love Always Remains

>>Kids

02 Medeski Martin & Wood

MMW is a jazz trio with kind of a trip-hop twist. very cool stuff. their latest album "Let's Go Everywhere" reminds me a lot of They Might Be Giants somehow. The album is somewhat geared toward kids, and something you can play with youngsters in the car and still be hip if your windows are down.

>>Let's Go Everywhere

>>Pat A Cake

03 Melody Club

Yeah, they're another swedish pop band. but they're been around since 2002, so they aren't really new-comers. I've been really enjoying their 2006 album "Scream". Good, catchy pop music.

>>Feed On Me

>>Fever Fever

04 Novika

On last.fm I occasionally listen to radio stations of rather obscure genres. One day i happened to be listening to a Polish DJ station and I came across Novika. Apparently she's one of the most well known dj's in Poland and has rather large body of work and if you go to her site she has some really great live sets available. Worth checking out for sure.

>>Common Tear

>>California Dreaming

Music recommendations for a wednesday

2008-01-23T13:17:00.000-08:00

01. Yeasayer

If you haven't heard these guys yet, it's just a matter of time; might as well be here. Their sound isn't anything you haven't heard, it's in the same vein as Arcade Fire, Beruit, Wolf Parade and MGMT. Rock base with world sounds and electronic enhancements. I call it good music. here are two tracks that I think are standouts on the album "All Hours Cymbals".

>>2080

>>Forgiveness

02. edIT

Local L.A. DJ that's putting together some really impressive tracks. Great breaks and on this track he hooks up with underground rapper "The Grouch" for a pretty hilarious track. If you are getting frustrated with all these hipsters throwing their lifestyle in your face then you'll find this a bit therapeutic. The other is a good showcase of his work without any vocals.

>>Artsy Remix

>>Straight Heat

03. Sweet Thing

They only have an EP right now, but if their full-length ends up being as solid as this EP, then they'll end up being another darling on everyones top new artist lists.

>>Change of Seasons

04. Peter & The Wolf

Honestly I don't know too much about this band other than it's the work of Red Hunter. Some really beautiful and delicate tracks. Reminds me a little of Iron & Wine and Devendra Banhart.

>>Safe Travels

>>The Bonsai Tree

05. Gorillaz

I thought I'd throw this one in for fun. If you like the Gorillaz i recommend picking up the G-Sides and D-Sides albums.

>>Dirty Harry (Chinese New Year Remix)

Oh Great, another blog...

2008-01-19T09:48:00.000-08:00

I feel like i need to briefly explain the existence of this blog. Most people that are going to come across this blog already know that my wife started a blog this past year. It's basically the family blog (or "mom blog", whatever you want to call it). We find it a great way to stay current with friends and family (and if we get random passers-by that are interested in our weekly visits to disneyland, then I guess we welcome that too). In the past year I've come to appreciate a good web log. Mostly I am looking out for quality music blogs where people have posted or have links to great music that I haven't yet discovered, yet I've grown to enjoy the personal updates from friends and family. As I have started to visit more and more web logs I have felt the need to post a reply or a comment. Now when you post a comment on another blog it automatically enters your name & link to your own blog if you happen to be signed in already. What this means is I have left comments on other peoples blogs as "Melanie" because I have had no luck with the co-author option on Blogger. The only way I found where I could leave a comment with my own name was to start a blog of my own. So here I am. I've decided that this will be for posts that don't necessarily fall into the family blog category. In other words, I have no idea how often I will actually post here, but when I do I'll make it worth your time.