Ok, I know I'm supposed to be on holiday, but I haven't actually left for Vermont yet and my new company gave me no vacation days to take anyway, so I'm at the office and blogging before I leave to go to Mt. Snow for a weekend of Brew Fest. But until then, I just wanted to point out the amazing speech that Obama gave last night at the Democratic National Convention. I don't care if you are Republican, Democrat, independent, or hate politics and don't trust any politician. He addresses that. He addresses you. If you aren't a little bit inspired, you probably shouldn't be voting. For everyone else, you can see the full speech at Obama's You Tube site. The last 3 1/2 minutes are below. See you next week.
Bill's Last.fm Page
Top 10 Songs of the Week
NY Concerts via Last.fm
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August 2008
August 29, 2008
August 21, 2008
Vacation
I'm going on an end of summer blogging holiday for the next week or so, coinciding with my annual trip to Vermont and my annual running out of energy to keep posting every weekday. So hopefully I'll be back on Labor Day with some new posts, some new music, and the Phillies in first place. Don't hold your breath. Until then, I leave you with a bunch of songs. Most are new, some are a little older, and the one after the jump I posted a couple weeks ago, but I'm posting again because I just love this new Walkmen album.
New tracks:
- Said the Whale is from Vancouver. That's about all I know of them. This song's been playing regularly on CBC Radio 3 but I couldn't find it anywhere, so I got it from iTunes. It's a great track.
- The National debuted a new live song in Denmark last week. I don't know what it's called and the recording isn't that great, but the blog I got it from is calling it "A Thousand Black Cities". Enjoy.
- This Damien Jurado track is being given away for free on Emusic. I kind of, sort of got into Jurado some years ago but I don't have any tracks of his in my iTunes collection, so I must not have liked it too much. Regardless, this is a pretty great song.
Peter Bjorn & John's first release from their anticipated new album is... instrumental? And definitely different from the sound they made on their last album. Check it out.- New Los Campesinos!, but curiously not listed in the track listing for their upcoming October album. Their last album is already all over my top 10 albums of the year to date. Can they make it two?
Slightly Older tracks:
- Download Animal Collective - "Kids on Holiday".mp3
- Download Plants and Animals - "Bye Bye Bye".mp3
- #1 song of the year to date
- Download The Notwist - "Gone Gone Gone".mp3
- Download Lykke Li - "I'm Good, I'm Gone".mp3
- Download Conor Oberst - "NYC - Gone, Gone".mp3
- Download The Walkmen - "Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone".mp3
- Download Grandaddy - "Summer...It's Gone".mp3
- Download Belle & Sebastien - "I Know Where the Summer Goes".mp3
- Download Dirty Three - "Some Summers, They Drop Like Flys".mp3
- Download Okkervil River - "So Come Back, I'm Waiting".mp3
August 20, 2008
August 19, 2008
Superchunk
The story of my interest in Superchunk reaches back into the early '90s, which makes the band a rarity in my ongoing list of favorite artists of all-time. In fact, Superchunk, at #6 of all time, is one of only three bands in the top 10 who I discovered before our current decade began. So they've had lasting power. For a number of reasons. First of all, of course, is the awesomeness. From their initial self-titled release in 1990, with the "scandalous" first single "Slack Motherfucker" (which was not about what I initially thought it was about) through their wonderful apparent swan song, 2001's Here's to Shutting Up, they are a band that was nothing if not consistent. They may not have hit the great highs of other bands on this list (although they did capture a surprising six songs in my top 200 of all-time), but they had so many good songs and so many endlessly good albums that they may never fall too far, even if they never record again (which seems sadly likely at this point).
Superchunk's founders were instrumental in the creation of Merge Records, which to this day is one of the greatest indie rock labels in existence, having released both my #2 album of all-time (Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea) and Arcade Fire's entire catalog. They've also spawned side project Portastatic (which adds another song to the top 25 of all-time) and Mac doesn't seem to be slowing down, even as he ages into an indie rock elder statesman. So yes, I love me some Superchunk. Even if everyone I knew in the late '90s made fun of me relentlessly when I named them among my favorite bands. Suck it, haters. You don't know good music. And oh yeah, they have some great political views, too.
Superchunk's Discography: The only one I wouldn't highly recommend is Indoor Living. The rest of their albums are pretty much universally awesome. By the way, the entire Superchunk collection is available at Emusic (along with the entire Merge Records catalog). If you're not already a member and want to try, E-mail me -- you can get 50 Free mp3s as a trial member when "a friend" sends you the link.
Superchunk 1990
Matador
No Pocky for Kitty 1991 Matador
Tossing Seeds: Singles 89-91 1992 Merge On the Mouth 1993
Matador
Foolish 1994 Merge Incidental Music 1991-95 1995 Merge Here's Where the Strings Come In 1995 Merge Indoor Living 1997 Merge Come Pick Me Up 1999 Merge Here's to Shutting Up 2001 Merge
August 18, 2008
McCain Hearts Obama
I've never seen a more enlightening snapshot of this year's election that this graphic below, taken from the Boston Globe. It's a visual representation of the words that make up each campaign's online blog. In both, including McCain's, Obama is the #1 used word. For a country in need of a new direction (some 85% of poll respondents think we're on the "wrong track"), in desperate need of change (only about 25% of poll respondents approve of the job Bush is doing), and facing major economic and international hurdles in a world that is changing by the minute, are people seriously considering voting for the guy whose one and only message this election season has been "Don't vote for the other guy"? I mean, seriously. It's appalling to me that this election is within 20 points, let alone 10. McCain has openly admitted - on tape, no less - that he doesn't know much about economics, that he doesn't know how to use a computer, let alone the Internet, and that he gets grumpy if he doesn't get more than 6 hours sleep a night. Really. He has. And what exactly has Obama done that makes people not want to vote for him? I still can't find anything, unless you vote for the Republican candidate always or hate blacks. But that doesn't represent the 42-44% that keep picking McCain in national polls. Yes, Obama's been clearly ahead by around 5 points since the start of the summer and maybe things will spread when fall approaches. Maybe no one is really paying attention. But it still doesn't make any sense to me. I've yet to see any attack on Obama that addresses how he would actually govern. Yet McCain's entire campaign is based upon "Don't vote for the other guy". You'd think he would actually have come up with a substantive attack by now.
August 15, 2008
August 14, 2008
August 13, 2008
August 12, 2008
New Music Tuesday
It's been a while since I've done the new music thing, so let's jump right into it...
Okkervil River, my #10 favorite band on my continuing countdown, will be releasing a new album The Stand-Ins in September (9/9/08). They are referring to it as the second half of a double album that began with 2007's spectacular The Stage Names. While The Stand-Ins is not quite as immediately accessible as its predecessor (which exploded out of the gates with "Unless It's Kicks"), this album has grown on me as another in a never-ending line of wonderful releases from Will Sheff and the band. The album has 11 tracks, but 3 of them are throwaway interludes all less than a minute, so it's a very short album of 8 tracks. The notable misses ("Singer Songwriter" mostly) do detract from its strength, but there are a number of standout tracks, beginning with opener (track 2) "Lost Coastlines," a sprawling pseudo-dirge that brings to mind the early work of Okkervil, pre-Jagjaguwar. "Blue Tulip" fills the middle of the album and it's a bit over-the-top and dramatic, but it works pretty well, and then "Pop Lie" and "On Tour with Zykos" follow, two of the best tracks on the album. "Pop Lie" is certainly one of the best tracks of the year so far, a true pop song about crafting a pop song, and it's one of the catchier songs that Okkervil has ever created. All in all, this is an interesting album that requires multiple listens (and even more by me) before a fully formed judgment can be made. It's a bit of a departure from The Stage Names, and a dramatic departure from their singular Black Sheep Boy collection, but it has some definite merits. Take a listen to "Pop Lie" and tell me you don't want to buy the entire album. Oh, and then go pre-order the album. Thanks.
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