Archive for June, 2009

climax week day 7 – cursive

here we are at the conclusion of our first theme week. its the best theme week weve ever had, but also the worst. im glad that i can go back to picking any old song instead of trying to think of songs that have some common link between them. ive got some other ideas for some theme weeks though that will be a little easier because they will be more about the artists and not so much the individual songs. i like things that are easier. …read more and hear the song…

climax week day 6 – besnard lakes

the besnard lakes. is it the besnard lakes? or just besnard lakes? the name alone on a hot day like today conjures up thoughts of cold cold swimming and happiness. lets talk some more facts about this band. 1. another group created by a husband and wife. in this case, jace lasek and olga goreas (mmmm olga bread). i originally thought my wife just had to like the same music as me and as much as me, but now im thinking she has to want to start a band as well. preeeettttty sure this is why im single. 2. they are from montreal. tons of good bands are from montreal. this makes me want to go to montreal, which ive always wanted to do anyway. i drove past it once en route to vermont, and the downtown area from a distance with the mountains in the background looked pretty effing sweet and like a piece of the old world in the new world. no wonder the quebecois dont want to share it with the rest of canada. vive la resistance! …read more and hear the song…

climax week day 5 – bon iver

well, its officially summer here in michigan. a quick check of the weather tells me that its 90 degrees and feels like 108. kind of sad that i havent been swimming yet at all this summer since my sisters house with a pool is less than a mile away. this also means no wakeboarding yet either. i was hoping to land my double back flip this year but it doesnt seem to be in the cards unless i get some serious training in soon. you could say this is sort of the climax of the summer heat though, it really doesnt get much worse than this in michigan, so even the weather is staying on theme. well, i guess its worse when its this hot and 100% humidity. which reminds me of my favorite thing about the west. when you go to vegas, and its 110 degrees, and everyone from vegas reminds you, “yes, but its a dry heat!” people — dry or not, 110 degrees is effing hot any way you slice it. …read more and hear the song…

climax week day 4 – the shins

so let me start out this post by repeating what i said earlier in the week. im pretty sure most of you have heard most of these songs. but this isnt really about the hottest new music out there. while i want to bring you the hottest new music all the time, i just cant, so i bring the hottest new music whenever i can, and when i cant, i bring you a song thats been around that i like. maybe youve never heard it. maybe you forgot about it. maybe youve heard it a thousand times and hate it. either way, thats the story. on that note, todays song was really the inspiration for climax week. …read more and hear the song…

climax week day 3 – the new pornographers

we interrupt your regularly scheduled program so i can acknowledge the king of pop. alls im gonna do is mention how awesomely 70s the “dont stop til you get enough” video is, and how i still really really want to learn the thriller dance.

back to the task at hand….it just wouldnt be climax week without the new pornographers. get it?! i am hilarious. but seriously folks, im not. anyway id heard about the new pornographers for quite a while way back when before id ever heard them. they seemed to be yet another one of these canadian supergroups, except there are some americans too. but the group features tons of other people that have their own projects. there’s the unofficial leader of the group, ac newman, his partner in crime dan bejar of destroyer fame, the ever classy alt-country crooner neko case, and kathryn calder (who i believe is also a niece of someone in the band) of immaculate machine. and those are the ones i know off the top of my head, so im sure there are other side projects by these and the other members of the group. because of this, you never really know who will show up on stage when they tour. i was lucky enough to catch them last spring at my favorite new venue the crofoot and while dan bejar wasnt there, i was happy to see that neko case was. …read more and hear the song…

climax week day 2 – arcade fire

so what did everyone think of day 1 of climax week with dailybeatz? was it as good as you thought it would be, or even better? i sure hope so. if it wasnt, just tell me what i can do to make it better next time. im watching an hour long recap of bonnaroo on the fuse channel right now. why did nobody tell me about the fuse channel before? i think its basically what mtv was before it became 24/7 reality television, but much better. looks like they show tons of live shows, interviews, and exclusive performances. i will probably watch it at least a few more times in my day. …read more and hear the song…

climax week day 1 – sigur ros

after much waiting, here we are at our first theme week. why am i starting a theme week on a wednesday in the middle of the week you ask? mainly because i can. im hoping to do theme weeks from time to time so figured might as well start now. the next theme week i have planned is requests, but i still need a few more to complete the whole week (hint hint). but back to the week at hand. this weeks theme is…wait for it….the climax. this week will feature songs that start out quiet and innocent but build up into something much bigger. it will also probably gratuitous sexual innuendo. you probably have heard most of the songs that will be featured this week, but i dont really care, cuz i like them anyway. …read more and hear the song…

international travel with friendly fires

happy tuesday everyone. no really, i mean it. who doesnt love tuesdays? i mean, theyre only slightly more awful than mondays, which kinda blows. tuesdays are the equivalent of turning 20 years old. its the only year between 16 and 21 where you gain absolutely no benefit. likewise, theres nothing to look forward to on tuesday. too far from the previous weekend to still be in a good mood thinking about it, and too far to be excited about the upcoming weekend. the only good thing about tuesdays was that the biggest loser was on tuesday nights, but that became 2 hours and a tiny bit too much of a commitment, and its over for the summer anyway. so now we must look to the little things to brighten our spirits, like todays song, paris by english pop/dance/funk rockers friendly fires. …read more and hear the song…

quasi new tunes from dirty projectors

my history with dirty projectors is a short one, but they seem to be turning up everywhere i look. first i heard their duet with david byrne – knotty pine – which is the opening track of the red hot compilation “dark was the night”, and i liked it quite a bit. then i read about their show in new york with bjork. i guess they wrote some original music for five voices and performed at housing works bookstore in new york city with bjork. the show was to benefit housing works, which according to their site works to end the twin crises of aids and homelessness. i wonder if bjork approached them or vice versa. either way, maybe the coolest thing ever. then i heard todays track and loved it. then i was walking to fill up my water at bonnaroo and was lucky enough to walk by their show and catch a few minutes of it. i never really searched out any of these things, so i feel like they are following me, but in a really good way. …read more and hear the song…

my morning jacket > fake punk group

my morning jacket is one of those groups that sort of snuck up on me. id heard about them for a while but for some reason, i thought it was going to be some sort of mtv punk group that i hated, a la fallout boy. so imagine my surprise when i heard their album z for the first time. not even close to anything i thought it would be. then i discovered the rest of their catalog and was fortunate enough to see them at the state theater last fall, and that just sealed the deal for me. definitely a top show ever. we actually got really lucky that we even got to see them because just 3 days after our show, the group was performing another show in, i think, chicago? or somewhere around there, when singer jim james slipped and fell and had to cancel a bunch of shows in the next few weeks (i actually have no idea how many shows were cancelled). …read more and hear the song…

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