tryin' to catch up with this girl like some 57 heinz

After being at home all week and not being on the internet at all I just got the new Wayne track, California Love.
Just like Lollipop before it, Wayne's on his autotune game. My initial reaction was worrisome. I was thinking that Wayne's going to get stuck in this sing-songy vocoder schtick that he's been riding for a while and The Carter III is just going to be a massive disappointment (if it ever drops).
But dammit if Wayne's autotune jams don't get stuck in my head after a few spins.
Now, after listening through a couple of times the only thing that's ruining the track is the weak Tyga guest verse, which Wayne thankfully relegates to the end of the track.
The track's slow burn is really clicking for me, even though Wayne's verses aren't really anything to get excited about. However, this is the first new rap song I've listened to more than once in a couple of weeks.
Here's to hoping The Carter III comes out before Wayne either A.) dies or B.) gets locked up.

i'm packin' up and i'm runnin' away

Charlie Wilson's War is a highly enjoyable film, with some pretty tame performances from some wonderful actors.
Word on the street is that director Mike Nichols strayed pretty far away from Aaron Sorkin's script. Having not read that original script myself, I find it quite disheartening that Nichols felt the need to chop this film to a speedy 97 minutes instead of including, what is by all accounts, a darker story.
Hanks and Hoffman are likable enough, but their characters just don't get fleshed out. Supposedly the real Charlie Wilson had quite the drinking problem, which caused the man some serious problems as he was fighting communism behind closed doors. The only evidence of this is Hanks constantly having a drink in his hand. We don't get to see the ramifications of his problem.
Also, around the time of the film's release there was some talk over how there was no mention as to how America supplying these weapons lead to 9/11 and the rise of intense fundamentalist groups. There is mention of this covert operation backfiring and the film ends with a quote from the real Wilson saying, "...we fucked up the end game." But it's a few scenes towards the end of the film were Hanks' eyes are just filled with guilt and despair over not getting to finish what he had started in Afghanistan.
Now I don't want to sit here and just crap on the film, I'm glad I took an hour and a half to watch it. It's a funny 90 minutes and doesn't do much pulling on the heart strings. Totally worth your $2.50 at Family Video or $9 at Blockbuster.

you give it a name and baby, that's how it stays.

I was watching The Insider tonight, probably my favorite Michale Mann film, and there's a scene between Pacino and Crowe that was particularly striking to me.
Crowe's character is a former scientist for a large tobacco company and is contemplating blowing the whistle and Pacino's character is a 60 Minutes producer hoping to facilitate the whistle blowing.
There's a piece of dialogue from a conversation they're having during dinner in the first half of the film, where Crowe is still on the fence about coming forward. Basically, Crowe's character is nervous about breaking a confidentiality agreement with his former employer and what that might do to his family's well being.
His nervousness has transformed into anger as he tries to belittle Pacino's chosen profession, journalism.

Jeffrey Wigand: I have to put my family's welfare on the line here, my friend! And what are you puttin' up? You're puttin' up words!
Lowell Bergman: Words? While you've been dickin' around at some fucking company golf tournaments, I've been out in the world, giving my word and backing it up with action.

This piece of dialogue hit home as I'm nearing the end of the year and am so busy with school work and writing up stories for the newspaper here at school.
I've certainly had moments where I contemplate if I'm doing the right thing, if I've chosen the right major, the right profession.
Now, I know this a line from a fictional character, but Pacino's line and overall aggressiveness at Crowe taking a shot at him merely "puttin' up words," made me feel good.
I know I'm not going to make any money as a journalist but I do feel that journalism and the news are important to our society.
Recently as I've been working the Campus desk for my school's paper, more and more I've begun to feel that I'm in the right place as I sit down to pound out a story or trek across campus to conduct an interview.
A friend recently said she would probably read this blog more if I included some more personal things and watching this film tonight, these thoughts started to pop up.
Expect more entertainment thoughts in the coming days though, the new Wolf Parade leaked and it's sounding real good.

she said those kids she's with were sellin' it

This is something to get excited about.
It comes out July 29th and features a new commentary by Roger Ebert, who had one on the original release.
Dark City is one of my favorite Sci-Fi films and it's a shame it got lost in the Matrix shuffle around the time of its release.

code of the ocean

If you went and saw that Jackie Chan/Jet Li movie instead of Forgetting Sarah Marshall this weekend you deserve a punch in the face.
What you missed out on was one helluva romantic comedy.
As we were leaving, my friend Chris was remarking that all of the scenes with Jason Segel after his breakup that were so awkward or painfully funny really hit close to home and I couldn't agree more.
What makes this film so totally enjoyable is a lot of what made Knocked Up great and that's the sense of reality that the film creates surrounding the relationships in them.
A lot has been made recently about this stable of actors that Apatow has been utilizing and how they aren't your normal Hollywood leading men. Most of them are chunky and unshaven and look like regular dudes.
I'd like to think that what makes these films (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Marshall) work is that watching these guys on screen you're getting the feeling that they've lived through this stuff that's happening to their characters.
Even though it's a bit hard to believe that Seth Rogen would sleep with Katherine Heigl in real life or Jason Segel would just jet off to Hawaii and Mila Kunis would fall in love with him, it's not the kind of "out there" premises of these relationships, the thing that makes them work is that a lot of this stuff has happened to most guys, and they get Paul Rudd in the movies which makes any film better actually.

The performances are all top notch also. Everyone I went with agreed that Russel Brand was seriously great and Mila Kunis was drop dead gorgeous and held her own with a cast of really funny men.
Going into it I was a bit worried that it wasn't going to live up to my favorite Apatow related projects, but this one is truly hilarious and deserves your 7 dollars. So go buy some candy and a soda at the gas station, hide them in your pockets and head to the theater.
(Even though Kunis was stunning I'm still sticking to my guns and saying that Kristen Bell is on another planet. I'm not buying that she looks "infantile" Darger)

in and out of homes like the orkin man

I haven't listened to anything else the past 24 hours.
Where No Age's first record was a collection of songs from a string of ep's they had released and sonically, was a definite grower, Nouns has grabbed me right away.
The sound is much more immediate and accessible, but still maintains that fuzzy DIY aesthetic of Weirdo Rippers.
A truly wonderful record that I'm enjoying more and more with each listen.

it's all relative

Wednesday was a good day.
Got some studying done, won our first softball game, new No Age record leaked (it's great) and I finally got to watch the new Lumet film Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.

It's nice to see Sidney Lumet, now in his 80s I do believe, crank out a wonderful crime drama in the twilight of his career.
The man is responsible for two of my all time favorite films, Dog Day Afternoon and Network. So when this film was getting talked up last year I was pretty excited.
A superb cast, Hoffman, Hawke and Albert Finney.
Finney's performance here is something to behold. It's full of heartache and confusion. The man can really do no wrong.

Hey Jason? Are you still waiting?

The new Jason Anderson record, The Hopeful and the Unafraid, is better than whatever singer-songwriter you're listening to right now.
Anderson's been around for a minute, doing his poor man's Springsteen for a few years now.
Now when I drop that Boss comparison, I'm talking Asbury Park and The Wild, The Innocent and The E-Street Shuffle Boss.
Anderson's vocal inflections don't do a bad job of aping early period Springsteen. The quick-fire vocals, the occasional harmonica and sax solo and stuck in your brain for days sing along choruses are making this one of my favorite releases of this short year.

Dylan's in town this weekend and we're going to make it one for the books.
Also, my Columbia, MO people, I'm coming down next weekend. Clear your schedules.

bang, bang, bang went frankie's gun

As I was walking to class today I realized I've been listening to the same playlist on my ipod for the last three weeks or so.
Everything on the playlist is "folk" related and relatively new.
(I throw quotes around the term folk because I'm using it pretty loosely. The playlist I mentioned contains Tallest Man on Earth and Bon Iver, but also some Loudon Wainwright,Andrew Osenga and Murder By Death and I wouldn't classify those guys as folk perse).
I started thinking about how my musical tastes are beginning to change.
The new Cut Copy leaked a couple of weeks ago and people on the internets were freaking about it and I snatched it up the moment it dropped.
It didn't click.
I've felt this way about most of the "electronic" music that's been getting positive press in the blogosphere lately and I think I've been so drawn to more stripped down, "folk" music because it just feels real to me right now. I'm connecting with it.
I don't want to sound pompous saying some type of music isn't "real" to me, but there's been a few new releases that have been getting serious burn and they all feel connected.
I think what's connecting these records (Bon Iver, Tallest Man..., The Felice Brothers, Langhorne Slim, Jonathan Richman) is the lyrical content on each.
Each artist has so much passion rooted in their music that it has been hard for me to give any long term play to other genres that I would usually be turning to.
The chorus to "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver slays me each time I listen to the song. I just want to give dude a hug when it kicks in.
Congrats if you made it through all of that, just a thought I had today

you're never far from my heart

The new Langhorne Slim record is mad fresh. It drops at the end of April but is floating around the internets now.
It's reminding me a great deal of Josh Ritter's Animal Years and that's one helluva record.

Other stuff I've been digging on,
Spiritualized- Songs in A&E
David Crosby- If I Could Only Remember My Name
Murder By Death- Red of Tooth and Claw

in your eyes babe

Bon Iver- Skinny love


Tallest Man on Earth- I Won't Be Found


There's some superb folk music coming out lately.
The full lengths put out this year by these two musicians have been in constant rotation for weeks now.

go ahead and analyze me. i bet you can't surprise me

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36097

Ain't It Cool is often times unreadable, mostly the readers who send in reviews from early screenings they just saw.
This one is for a screening of the new Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder.
Even though the review is laughable (the guy uses a "thin red line" metaphor) what he has to say excites me.
Just like the AICN guy wrote, I certainly hope the film retains its hard R rating.
If anything Robert Downey Jr. is in it and you can't go wrong with him. The guy says its his funniest performance but I'm sure that's just a knee-jerk reaction.
Also, Jay Baruchel is in it which is wonderful. That young man is seriously funny and needs to get on screen more.
Now I'm going to go pop in Wonder Boys after all this Downey Jr. talk.

Have a great weekend and a Happy Easter.




Also, I can't say enough about the new album from The Tallest Man On Earth, it's called Shallow Graves. I've been listening to it all week and it's been the perfect soundtrack to the 532 inches of rain we got this week.

those smug lovers, might as well just rub it in my face

Southland Tales was a bit too ambitious for Richard Kelly's own good.
Back in like freshman year of high school I rode pretty hard for Donnie Darko. Downloading all the songs from the movie off of soulseek, listening to the director's commentary and all that.
Where I still find that movie enjoyable, Kelly's latest was a mess.
The cast is quite interesting, as he made some risky choices with The Rock, Timberlake, Gellar, Mandy Moore, Sean William Scott.
I actually didn't mind The Rock for the most part, but I've never really seen any other movies he's done, so I don't have much to judge him on.
Timberlake and Scott were serviceable, neither had as much screen time as The Rock.
It was also nice seeing Wood Harris get a bit part, since it seems he's not around much after playing kingpin Avon Barksdale in The Wire.
As for the movie in whole, the premise is interesting. It's an apocalyptic film set in 2008 (?). I know it was delayed a bunch of times so the timeline would have been easier to digest if it came out in '06 or whenever it was originally slated to drop.
There is just so much going on and feels jam packed, even though it ran over two hours.
A director's commentary would have been nice to hear Kelly's vision for what he was really going for.
The kid's who love Donnie Darko are going to have a hard time digesting this one I do believe.

when's the last time

Big Mike and I hit up the jukebox at the Pub tonight and payed for Clipse- When's the Last Time.
It never got played...
Bummer.
I've been gone for a bit, but here's a quick run down of what I've been listening to...

Jamie Lidell- Jim
Tokyo Police Club- Elephant Shell
The Tallest Man on Earth- Shallow Graves


I have seen the last ep of the Wire, but Andrew hasn't yet, so I won't post my thoughts until he's got caught up.
It's wonderful, enough said.

tell me anything you want, any ol' lie will do

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was finally in when I hit up Family Video today. It came out on DVD like a month ago and has been out consistently since then.
I highly doubt that so many people enjoyed this movie. Probably renting it on Pitt's name being attached and being hit upside the head with a slow burning western is not what most were expecting one could assume.
The movie itself was quite wonderful.
It is quite long but does not really drag. The beautiful cinematography and the ace casting hold everything together. Surely one of the best films of 2007.
Pitt is remarkable, if even acting a bit understated at times.
The real cornerstone of the film is Casey Affleck however. He basically hit it out of the park twice last year with this and Gone Baby Gone.
I feel he deserved a best actor nod this year instead of a supporting nom for the role. The range of emotion he portrays throughout the film is something special.

bada bing

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/03/06/the-sopranos-the-movie-in-the-works/

I trust Chase to only make this if the material furthers what the series did.
If it does, well I can't wait.

so i do it over snares and bass

Always excited for new Roots material.
Game Theory was mad underrated.

ABC

I've decided to drop out and run to Hollywood and act. I blame this movie.

underrated

one of the best records of the new year

don't make me have to relapse on these hos

I shouldn't let the Oscars piss me off. I know the Academy is out of touch with reality and even though this year i was okay for the most part with the winners, I got some beef.
The one that got me was supporting actress.
Tilda Swinton won for her role in Michael Clayton, which Was a good performance.
However, Amy Ryan's turn in Gone Baby Gone was heads above the rest in the category.
I think it's a shame that she was overlooked, giving it to a more recognizable face like Swinton is a shame.
Also, Ryan plays Beadie on The Wire, so being involved with the greatest TV show of all time should warrant some kind of award.
Her speech to McNulty in ep. 8 (I think) of this season is priceless.

Also, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won for Best Song. When they accepted the award, Hansard did his piece and as Irglova stepped up to the mic the music started and she was ushered off.
I was sitting there thinking how nice it would be if Stewart gave his next time on the screen to her, so she can have her moment and make her thanks.
He did that exact thing and I'd like to think it was all his idea. He did seem pretty jacked to see them win.
High-five Jon Stewart.

my neighborhood's a sauna

I had a hard time keeping interest in tonight's Lost. The reason being I watched ep 8 of the fifth season of The Wire right before it.
Just in case one of the four people who check this blog is caught up with The Wire I won't reveal what happened, but a cornerstone of the show got got.
I've seriously just been sitting here for the past couple of hours wondering what the hell just happened in the episode.
This fifth season has been wonderful, even though it's not as slow burning as the others and might feel a bit rushed or in your face compared to the first four.
Simon is still doing a marvelous job.
Clark Johnson has been consistently wonderful all season as Gus, the city desk editor of The Baltimore Sun. This episode was no different as he truly shines.
Also, McNulty and Greggs at the FBI serial killer profile meeting was one of the best scenes of the series.
I can't stress enough, you need to start watching this show. Go get season 1 and hole up this weekend. You won't be disappointed.

must've been late afternoon

If she would have done this with Vampire Weekend the blogosphere would have imploded. Klaxons just don't carry the weight they did a year and a half ago.
It's still pretty interesting.


(yes, the post title is a dishwalla reference)

let fall your soft and swaying skirt

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117981202.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Fincher, Avary and Gaiman? There's three names I don't mind seeing attached to a film.
Fincher is always attached to so many projects let's just hope this one actually happens.
I really hope he does this one right and doesn't try and make a "hollywood" hit after the lackluster audience reception to last year's stellar Zodiac.
For reals, it's so good. Go watch it again, RIGHT NOW! I don't care that it's 2 a.m. You can stay up until 5, no big deal. You're in college, have a caffeinated soda while you're at it too. That's right, have one before bed!

quit being difficult

I watched Baumbach's latest tonight, Margot at the Wedding. I'm a big fan of The Squid and the Whale, so I had high expectations coming into this one, even though the cast didn't have me excited.
I knew it was a family drama and Baumbach knows his stuff when it comes to dysfunctional families.
I really struggled to enjoy Kidman in her leading role here. I'm not usually a large fan of her work and I know her character is supposed to be a calculating bitch, but I just didn't connect with the character the way I did with Jeff Daniels' in S&W.
I don't know if it's the way the character was written or just how she went about her portrayal.
Also, the kid in this one wasn't as affecting as the the two in S&W.
Oddly enough, Jack Black was probably the highlight of the movie for me, minus Turturro's quick role, I was glad to see him. Black was funny, but a subdued funny. He didn't have to make goofy faces or noises, he kept it pretty dry and had some good lines. His crying scenes were another thing though, dudes gotta work on that aspect of his craft.
I don't want to totally hate on this film, I did enjoy it. It's uncomfortable, funny and crass just like the rest of Baumbach's work. If you enjoyed The Squid and the Whale this one is worth your time.


I had kind of a slow week school-wise and watched a couple of other worthwhile films, so I'll try and throw up some posts on those tomorrow.

I'm coming home this weekend, so let's meet up.

<3<3<3

If I had a valentine today I woulda dropped this classic on her. I wouldn't sing it or anything, just que it up on my computer. Nothing like some serious harmonizing to let her know fellas.

wolves, oh wolves, oh can't you see

As I made my way across the frozen tundra that is Carbondale today, I switched up from my normal iPod playlist for walking to class. I was freezing and didn't want to end up hearing something too upbeat on my chilly walk. As I scrolled through the artists I stopped on this gem from a couple of years ago.



I'm sure I wrote about this way back in my xanga posting days, but it's the best work he's done yet. Having "Idaho" come on during my frigid walk today was just perfect.

breakin' hearts

I know I've been gone for a minute. We had that Polar Bear deal here over the weekend and it got mad rutty. Big ups to Lance and Alex for helping me out when my car got towed.
After not having much new tunes heading out the last few days have been plentiful. New Tindersticks, Constantines and Re-Up Gang (which I'll hopefully get around to having a full post on later).
This post is for something that's not really new but it's just so wonderful.
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are the two main characters in last years amazing film Once. To go along with the soundtrack for the film they also have released The Swell Season. It contains some songs used from the movie and some other tracks they have collaborated on.
Irglova is on the keys and vocals with Hansard handling the acoustic guitar and vocal duties as well. Irglova's voice is so beautiful and just hearing it makes me want to watch the film daily.
However, it's Hansard that makes these songs so gut wrenching. The way it builds up to the crashing crescendos in these choruses, makes me want to cry. Then I man up and listen to The Stooges or something and punch a wall.
But in all seriousness, these two are creating somes beautiful music together and you'd be doing yourself a favor by checking them out.


This is taken from the film and is also included on The Swell Season.

haterz everywhere

A good deal of Kings of Leon gets jammed at the house I've been hanging out at on the weekends in Carbondale so far. The record they put out last year got kind of passed over I feel. It's probably the best work they've done to date. Get familiar.

love's gonna live here again

This song comes from Yoakam's Owens covers record from last year, which sadly got looked over for the most part. I guess this video got directed by Fred Durst? These two in the same room is almost as jacked up as when Beanie Sigel decided it was a good idea to use a James Blunt sample on his album last year (Beans must've been on some serious weeds).

when you're drunk and the kids look impossibly tan

I bought this film for my dad over break as Christmas present because of the buzz it had and the wonderful single it had running around AAA radio.
I finally watched it one of my final nights at home before I made my way back to real college in Carbondale and I really loved it. It's almost perfect, in a minimal way. It's not your typical hollywood romance, with big name actors and actressess, but the cast feels so real, and as a viewer a connection is almost immediately made.
As I sat there watching this film alone in my basement, I was just looking forward to the next time I had an oppurtunity to share this wonderful romantic/musical with a lady of significance.

rock n roll,

Luke

ya gonna die charlie

Lost premiered tonight and I for one am happy to have something to look forward to on tv. Since I don't have HBO and have seen the first seven eps of this season of The Wire online (I'd watch them anyway if I had the channel) I'll be flipping on ABC every Thursday to get my Lost on.
The second half of last season was really great and I was pretty jacked for this new one. I am also glad that after an 8 month hiatus they had that replay of last season moments before the premiere tonight.
I felt good about this episode. It seemed to move pretty quickly and has me looking ahead to the flash forward sequences that are upcoming.
Some things that I was left pondering...
Whose face was it in the window when Hurley went up to Jacob's cabin?
I've been reading a couple of places that it was Jack's dad.
Also, when Jack visits Hurley in the mental hospital, was it really Jack or just another one of Hurley's hallucinations?

I'm going to try and hit the sack now and not read fan speculation all over the internet.

rock n roll,

Luke

i'm drivin' a stolen car

I was doing some youtube scouring tonight.
Since I've been down to Carbondale I haven't been using my car much. So when I do I'll listen to The Score if it's coming in that day, country radio or the one cd that's still in my car. I don't bring my ipod since when I do drive it's not going to be for more than ten minutes.
The one cd that's still in the car is a burnt copy of the Mountain Goats- Tallhassee with some Kristofferson, Waits and Wainwright to fill up the blank.
So, more often than not I'm listening to this album when I'm driving around and it's one of the band's best. Darnielle is a true lyricist.
The video I posted is one of my favorites from the album and probably one of the saddest songs currently occupying space on my hard drive.
I think what's so effecting about this song is that nothing about it sonically fits the lyrics. On the surface, it's almost got a feel-good vibe, until you take the time to listen to what Darnielle is singing. Every line is full of anger and heartbreak (but mostly anger).
Great song, great album, great band.
Get familiar.

rip my heart right out

Then I got mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote.
And for my nineteen birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat.
We went down to the courthouse and the judge put it all to rest.
No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle.
No flowers, no wedding dress
That night we went down to the river.
And into the river we'd dive.
On down to the river we did ride.

you'll be comin' down now baby

I finally got a chance to watch Danny Boyle's Sci-Fi film from last year, Sunshine. Taking advantage of my half price rentals for the next month at Family Video I got this and Shoot 'Em Up. The latter being a real fun action flick, nothing special.
Sunshine was a wonderful experience though. I know some people don't buy into the whole, having to see certain movies in theaters to get the full experience. However, while watching this one in my living room, I was just wishing I had seen it on the big screen.
The visuals are something to behold, especially any scene with the sun.
The scenes where the sunlight did come into the picture were especially wonderful because of the rest of the film being in such darkness. The rest of the ship having little light and no real starlight to speak of in shots.
Cillian Murphy is the lead and is wonderful as usual. I hope he continues to work with Boyle as he's two for two (28 Days Later being the first triumph).
I think it's a shame this got lost in the shuffle last year as it is a compelling piece of science fiction film and stands up with some of the better science ficiton fare of the past decade.

hella tubby

I don't think I've voiced my love for the online comic strip Achewood on here before. The current thread of strips with Ray Smuckles running for President of the USA is ace though. If you haven't started reading this yet, hit up www.achewood.com and start right now.

simpler times

This record came out last year. I feel like I'm in seventh grade listening to it. Might as well put it in the discman and listen to it on the bus on the way to school. Pop punk at its finest.

it comes back like karma

some clipse love after i've been listening all day to the new song off of we got it for cheap vol. 3.

cop bricks like sneakers

http://www.yumasun.com/articles/lil_39133___article.html/wayne_carter.html
(the quotes they got from Weezy "fans" are priceless in this article)


Wayne got popped again, this time by border patrol searching his bus.
They turned up 4 ounces of weed, an ounce of blow and 41 grams of ecstasy.
From the reading up on the arrest I've been doing, it seems that Dwayne wasn't holding and he is currently out on a $10,000 bond.
I'm going to assume that out of all the people on his tour bus, it won't be Weezy taking the rap for the bust.
I'm not saying he should be riding around with all this work, but I want me that Carter III !

cooler than a polar bear's toe nails

I never really watched The Food Network or got into chef shows over the past few years as they've gained popularity.
I have started watching No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain however, and it's wildly entertaining.
It's on the Travel Channel so it's strictly not him working at his restaraunt turning out dishes and yelling at staff. Instead he takes his culinary prowess around the world and tastes dishes from the locale he's filming at. All the while experiencing the sights and scenes.
Bourdain has a great sense of humor and wonderful ego that keeps him speaking his mind into each episode.
He drinks and smokes like it's the 1950's and despises Rachel Ray and chefs(if you can call her that) of her ilk, bonus points in my book.
It's one of tv's redeeming reality series and a bright spot in this year's writer's strike plagued tv viewing universe.

i love the way she move any time a song on

Remember Test Icicles?



I barely do either.
They had that blog buzz working a couple years back and then broke up. Nothing special and a godawful name.
Well, former testicle Devonte Hynes has a new band, Lightspeed Champion.
Gone are the Death From Above jams, they have been replaced by some seriously nice near-alt/country.
Now you might be opening up that google search and see that he recorded this with a bunch of Saddle Creek dudes. If that's not your bag, don't let it sway you from checking out this release.
Falling of the Lavender Bridge fits nicely in a Saddle Creek realm (Champion is signed to Domino Records) but this release is more exciting then the next Cursive output or something.
I have to believe that listening to the skills Hynes displays here, that he was just biding his time in his former group.

momma said there'd be days like this

I got this first season at Best Buy during one of their big HBO sales.
I had only seen a couple of eps before but picked it up because it was only 20$.
It's been quite an enjoyable watch so far. Very interesting and Nick Stahl is great as usual.
When I get through with it I'm moving onto Firefly which I got from my cousin Mark for Christmas. I've always meant to give this show a run through, especially after watching the wonderful film, Serenity(I'm a sucker for any Chiwetel Ejiofor performance), made after it was cancelled.

whoopsies

Here's some honorable mentions. An anonymous comment (hooray for comments) on my top 10 asked about Wilco getting snubbed and I thought of some others that probably should have got some love.

Wilco- Sky Blue Sky
Prodigy- Return of the Mac
Ted Leo- Living With the Living
Jens Lekman- night Falls Over Kortedala
Chris Brown- Exclusive
T-Pain - Epiphany
Yeasayer- All Hour Cymbals
Amerie- Because I Love It

finally

The fifth season is upon us.
The first two episodes are floating around and I'm so jacked to finish this one out.
Also, Clark Johnson from Homicide is in this season, playing the City desk editor at the Baltimore Sun and he's great.

wanna assassinate my character, but i ain't actin'

This was my new year's eve. You can almost see James and me in background behind Jeezy.
I'm moving into a new apartment on Wednesday. After I get all my ish settled I'll be frequenting this space more.
I need to post about the start of the final season of The Wire and the new Mountain Goats record.

So... I type a text to this girl I used to see

10. Spoon- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga


9. The National- Boxer


8. The White Stripes- Icky Thump


7. UGK- Underground Kingz

(best video of the year, banner's cameo is ace)

6. Jay-Z - American Gangster

(Freeway without a hat on!)

5. LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver


4. Band of Horses- Cease to Begin


3. Kanye West- Graduation


2. Lil' Wayne- Da Drought 3


1. Okkervil River- The Stage Names

It's me versus you in love

the greatest picture on the internet
I've been gone for too long. I'm transferring this semester and between finding an apartment and watching tv shows I got for Christmas I've neglected this here blog.
I'll hit you with my favorite albums from last year.

25. Maximo Park- Our Earthly Pleasures
24. Dwight Yoakam- Dwight Sings Buck
23. Arcade Fire- Neon Bible
22. Scarface- M.A.D.E.
21. Ryan Bingham- Mescalito
20. The Forms- The Forms
19. Andrew Osenga- Letters From the Editor Vol. 1
18. R. Kelly- Double Up
17. Miranda Lambert- Crazy-Ex Girlfriend
16. Dizzee Rascal- Maths & English
15. Vampire Weekend- Vampire Weekend
14. The New Pornographers- Challengers
13. Field Music- Tones of Town
12. Little Brother- Getback
11. Freeway- Free At Last

I'll post the top ten with some youtube links or something

what's your bank account say? Oh, that's all?

underrated

you're just a freak... like me

Three good things about the weekend.

1. Had a show at Second City that went really well.

2. Finally got to listen to the new Joe Budden today, Mood Muzik 3. It's really good. Hova lost when he never put Budden's sophomore record out, subsequently letting Joe out of his deal. Man's mad talented.

3. The Batman trailer hit the internet today, in HD (peep the picture). I'm so excited for this movie. Summer is just too far away.

Back on my grizzle like a bear skin rug

The Cool dropped the other day. It's streaming on MTV's website I think, so you can listen there if you don't have the means of getting the retail version before it hits stores.

When it comes to Lupe I've always been rooting for dude I guess. He's different than most rappers and he wants you to know that. He's a nerd basically, anime, skateboards, stuff Project Pat ain't messing with ya know. His flow is unique and he can ride a beat well.
When Food and Liquor was coming out a version leaked that Lupe ended up scrapping. That version is held above the eventual retail copy by most listeners (yours truly included). The retail had a Hova guest spot and the dude from Linkin Park. It just didn't have the soul(for lack of a better term) that the scrapped version had.
Now he's back with The Cool. It drops after the whole Fiascogate that went down earlier this year when Lupe flubbed a few lines in a Tribe verse he performed at Hip Hop Honors (it wasn't even that serious). That incident was blogged about to death. When it comes down to it, I don't really care if he doesn't have all of Midnight Marauders or De La Soul is Dead memorized, as long as he's putting out quality rap music.
The Cool IS quality. He keeps all the beats in-house (I think) and after the first few cursory listens I don't think that's a bad choice. I'd rather hear him over a FNF producer than say Jazze Pha.
Lyrically Lupe is on point, as usual. He raps about the usual money and hood life, but hearing him spout off about these things still feels different than your everyday emcee. I think his wordplay comes off as an almost breath of fresh air because of the things that interest him (Japanese culture, skating, etc...).
The Cool is by no means a classic or better than, say the releases from this year from the likes of Hov, Little Brother (never thought I'd type that), Ghostface and The Wu, but it's entirely enjoyable and will get repeated listens.
After having a day or so with The Cool I feel more confident about purchasing it than I did when I put down my hard earned money for Food and Liquor.

I could be wealthy. With nothing to stop me.

New Hot Chip hit the internets this week. I was glad to get this after I feel like I've been listening to nothing but hip hop for the past couple of weeks, save for Mountain Goats- Tallahassee on my way to Carbondale last weekend. I wish my fictional gf would fictionally dump me so I could listen to that record for a month straight.
Hot Chip- Made in the Dark. I wasn't even looking for this record to pop up because it doesn't come out until February I'm pretty sure. I was a big fan of their last one and had pretty serious expectations for new work from the band.
Made in the Dark is a bunch of fun. Shake A Fist was one of the first tracks to leak and is one of the highlights.
After the first couple of listens I think the second half of the album is stronger than the first. The first half seems to follow the blueprint for Over and Over from the last record, whereas the second half has more of the ballad-esque work that they do really well.
It will take a little more time with this release for me to make a concrete decision about how well it stacks up to the rest of their catalog.

Is there a ghost

I slept on this record and I shouldn't have. It's nearly as good as their debut. One of the finest indie rock records to come out this year. It's a shame critics seem to be ignoring it.

I'm A West Coast Vet

DOGG POUND- They Don't Want It

This new track has been floating around the internets for a couple of days. It's hotter than I expected. Kurupt is mad underrated, that joint album he put out with J. Wells had some serious bangers on it too. Hopefully dudes come this hard on a full album.

Fifty grand on Windex kid

Nothing out of the ordinary here. Ghost spits fire over soul beats. I wasn't mad anticipating this one, since it hasn't been too long since Fishscale, but it's not getting deleted off the harddrive anytime soon. Definitely grab it.

I wonder if there a Heaven up there for real Gs

http://www.hhnlive.com/news/more/2070
http://brandonsoderberg.blogspot.com/2007/12/pimp-c-1973-2007.html

A huge loss today for the hip hop community and music in general.

RIP PIMP C

Bein' poor is a disease. Gotta hustle up a cure.

Before I tackle my albums list, here's a bunch of my favorite songs from this year. If any look appetizing, let me know and I'll send 'em your way

Akon feat. Kardinal Offishal- Graveyard
Amerie- Take Control
Andrew Bird- Imitosis
Andrew Osenga- Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates
Animal Collective- Peacebone
Arcade Fire- (Antichrist Television Blues)
B.G.- For a Minute feat. TI
B.O.B.- Haterz Everywhere (Remix) feat. Juvenile & Rick Ross
Beanie Sigel- Rain feat. Scarface
Big Kuntry King- Porsche It Out feat. Young Dro & Slick Pulla
Bloc Party- I Still Remember
Bonnie Prince Billy- I'm Loving the Street
Calvin Harris- Acceptable in the 80's
Cam'ron- Just Us
Cassidy- My Drink & My 2 Step
Chamillionare- Won't Let You Down (Texas Takeover Remix) feat. Slim Thug, 'Lil Keke, Paul Wall, Mike Jones, Bun B, Pimp C, Trae, Z-Ro
Chris Brown- Hold Up feat. Big Boi
The Cool Kids- Black Mags
Crime Mob- Circles
CRS (Kanye, Lupe & Pharrel)- Us Placers
David Banner- So Special
Devin The Dude- Lil' Girl Gone feat. Lil' Wayne & Bun B
Dizzee Rascal- Where Da G's feat. UGK
DJ Drama- Da Art of Storytellin Part 4 feat. Outkast
DJ Khaled- We Takin' Over feat. TI, Akon, Lil' Wayne, Rick Ross, Baby & Fat Joe
Dolla- Who The Fuck Is That? feat. T-Pain & Akon
Dr. Dog- Weekend
The Dream- Shawty Is Da Shit
Dwight Yoakam- My Heart Skips A Beat
El-P- EMG
Fabolous- Joke's On You feat. Pusha T
Famlay- No Time 4 Nos
Feist- Brandy Alexander
Field Music- A House is Not a Home
Flo-Rida- Low feat. T-Pain
The Forms- Alpha
Freeway- When They Remember
Ghostface Killah- Yolanda's House feat. Raekwon & Method Man
Gorilla Zoe- Money Up
Grinderman- No Pussy Blues
Grit Boys- Ghetto Reality
Hi-Tek- Where It Started feat. Jadakiss, Raekwon, Talib Kweli & Papoose
Hot Chip- My Piano
I-15- Lost In Love feat. Polow Da Don
Iron & Wine- Boy With A Coin
Jay-Z- American Gangster
Jens Lekman- A Postcard to Nina
Josh Ritter- The Temptation of Ada
JR Writer- We Gettin' It Baby (Remix) feat. Lil' Wayne
Justice- DVNO
Kaiser Chiefs- Ruby
Kano- Buss It Up feat. Vybz Kartel
Kanye West- The Glory
Kanye West- Can't Tell Me Nothin'
Klaxons- Golden Skans
Kurupt & J Wells- Get It feat. Goodie Mob & Roscoe
LCD Soundsystem- All My Friends
LCD Soundsystem- Someone Great
Lil' Wayne- Gossip (Live at the BET Awards)
Lil' Wayne- I Feel Like I'm Dyin'
Lil' Wayne- Something You Forgot
Little Brother- Breakin' My Heart feat. Lil' Wayne
Ludacris- Down In Da Dirty feat. Rick Ross & Bun B
MIA- Paper Planes (Remix) feat. Bun B & Rich Boy
Maximo Park- Russian Literature
Mickey Factz- Talk Yo Shit
Miranda Lambert- Desperation
Modest Mouse- Dashboard
The National- Fake Empire
The New Pornographers- All The Old Showstoppers
Okkervil River- Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe
Panda Bear- Comfy in Nautica
Playaz Circle- Duffle Bag Boy feat. Lil' Wayne
Plies- Runnin' My Mama Crazy
Prodigy- Mac 10 Handle
Project Pat- Talkin' Smart feat. Pimp C
R. Kelly- Real Talk
R. Kelly- I'm A Flirt (Remix) feat. TI & T-Pain
Rich Boy- Let's Get This Paper
Rick Ross- Speedin' feat. R. Kelly
Rihanna- Breakin' Dishes
Rocky Votolato- Before You Were Born
Ryan Adams- Two
Ryan Bingham- Southside of Heaven
Saigon- Pain In My Life (Remix) feat. The Game & B.G.
Scarface- Boy Meets Girl
Spoon- You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb
Swizz Beats- It's Me Bitches (Remix) feat. R. Kelly, Lil' Wayne & Jadakiss
T-Pain- Bartender feat. Akon
TI- Tell 'em I Said That
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists- Bottle Of Buckie
The Thrills- The Midnight Choir
Timbaland- Way I Are feat. Kerri Hilson
Trap Starz- Get It Big
UGK- International Players Anthem feat. Outkast
Vampire Weekend- Walcott
The White Stripes- You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)
Wilco- What Light
Wu Tang Clan- Wolves feat. George Clinton
Yeasayer- Wait For the Summer
Young Buck- Get Buck
Young Jeezy- Straight Out the 'rarri feat. Rick ross

can't understand it? it's a thug thing

Meth is back baby. His verses on the new Wu and his bars on Ghost's new one are exceptional. It's wonderful to hear him hungry after years of mediocrity. He did hold it down as Cheese on The Wire though.

you talk about that bread, but ya bread ain't buttered

so gully


Who knew that 2007 would be the year that The Roc returned? Kanye releases the biggest album of the year, Hov comes back strong after last year's album which shall not be discussed and Freeway's much anticipated sophomore effort (I have to post on this later) has been circulating on the internet for a bit now. I mean, even Bleek has had some new tracks leaking out, I didn't know Jay still let him put rhymes to tape. I have this image in my head of Hovie coming out of the booth or watching Beans tear through some bars and then letting Bleek have like five minutes of fun time in the booth, pretending to be a rapper.
Then there's Beanie Sigel. He's Free's mentor, he stood behind Jay after Dame and Cam'ron jumped ship (while still letting his unhappiness with Hov be felt) and he has been dropping verses for years, the best ones have always been when he's on that nervous/introspective/nostalgia tip.
Beans' last record, The B. Coming came out my senior year of high school to some pretty heavy critical praise. My feeling's on that album haven't changed much. It's half Beanie playing to his strengths and half a record of the man trying to catch a hit. He's never had that top 40 hit and that's the man's problem. He still wants it.
One of my favorite things about the new Freeway album is that he veers away from the club bangers for the most part and keeps things pretty gutter, which is where he sounds best.
Not that I want to blast Beans for wanting that commercial appeal but dude is not exactly going to be going up on any girl's wall sometime soon. His flow on The Solution has crept even closer to that of Scarface (who drops by for his usual solid bars) and Scar's style has not exactly translated into commercial rap success.
My favorite Beans track is still probably, Feel It in the Air, from The B. Coming. After my initial listens to The Solution there isn't a track that's touching that one's greatness. Feel It was about as paranoid as rap gets aside from Mind Playin' Tricks (my favorite rap song) and The Solution just feels kind of cookie cutter for Beanie. He does a good deal of boasting how he's not to be messed with, smokes good weed, drinks Patron (Diddy's even on the Patron song) and guns, the usual rap game fare.
You could definitely do worse than The Solution so far this year concerning rap releases, but Beans is better than this. I can't wait until he drops a classic, but for now I'll just pick and choose the bright spots from his releases.

Also, James Blunt is sampled on a track, at least I hope he's sampled and didn't actually provide the vocals. The Broad Street Bully and that wiener in the same room is worse than hip hop's infatuation with John Mayer.

Having a Party

After the Springsteen Live Box Set, this is my favorite live album.
It's so much fun. Whenever I put it on I can't help but get in a good mood.

i yelled to the cabbie, "yo homes, smell ya later."

This flick was pretty okay. I was in Blockbuster the other day and nothing really grabbed me, so I picked this one up based on Cheadle and Ejiofor alone. Cheadle is solid as always, come a long ways from being Will's friend "Ice-Tray." You know that though, I was just thinking about that episode today. A google search told me the ep was titled, "Homeboy, Sweet Homeboy."

Chiwetel Ejiofor starts alongside Cheadle here and outshines him I felt. He's probably my favorite actor right now. It's good to see him getting some shine, his role in American Gangster will hopefully lead to some recognition.

flow sicka than a third floor in hospitals

I had the itunes on shuffle tonight after I got off work and Earthquake popped up. I decided to start The Carter from the beginning. I'm just about the end and I had forgot how much I really used to love this record. It was right before I left for my freshman year of college, so late summer '05. I'm pretty sure it came out earlier that year or even in '04, Go DJ had been out for awhile, but I just slept on it, more worried about Juelz mixtapes and Purple Haze at the time I think.
Listening to it just brought me back to that first semester and the highs and lows that came with it. I'm certain there were multiple albums I listened to more than this one, but some serious nostalgia was creeping in.
Weezy hadn't slipped into his drug addled flow that has accumulated on mixtapes over the past two years, and these Mannie Fresh and Jazze beats are a perfect home to the serious swagger that has only grown since this record's release.
It was also home to this much talked about line...
"Best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired."

Jay's back, but Wayne's got the crown.

head bussa

I've been neglecting new posts.
I'm going to try not to.

I saw Elvis Costello open for Bob Dylan a couple of weekends ago.
Costello played a strictly acoustic solo set. He sounded wonderful. He was funny between songs and his vocals were on point.

Dylan is old. His voice is cracked and grinds along the same vocal plane for every song. It was still Bob Dylan and definitely an event. He played for nearly two hours, a good mix of newer material and classics. His backing band was amazing. They were so tight, it sounded like you were listening to a studio recording. Someone told me the bassist was in G.E. Smith's band during their run on SNL back in the day. Glad he turned out better than G.E.

The next night I saw Springsteen. For those who know me, know my affinity for the man and his catalog. I've grown up hearing stories from my dad about seeing him throughout the eighties and his near four hour concerts and their complete awesomeness. Well he's a bit older now, the Boss and my dad, but he played close to three hours and he still brings it. A good deal of the new record was played and he brought it on the classics. Man, just thinking about this night is getting me excited. Hearing Born to Run in a sold out arena with thousands screaming the lyrics was one of the greatest things I've ever experienced.

I'm seeing Trail of Dead tomorrow night and hopefully The Mountain Goats on Wednesday, and it won't take me two weeks to post about these shows, I hope.

why won't you just tell me what's goin' on?

I really love this record.
Almost every song is perfect.
I'm tired, hopefully I can find a MASH rerun on before I get to bed.

rock n roll,

Luke

with nobody in your bed, the night's hard to get through

Gettin' my emo on and it feels so good. I've really been enjoying this record in all seriousness. I grabbed it when i came out last year based on some reviews and I listened maybe once and didn't come back. I put it on the other day when it was kind of crappy out and it sounded great. Pretty dark lyrically and they do the soft-scream-soft emo thing wonderfully. I hesitate to even throw them in with the rest of the Myspace/scene music because there just seems to be more substance here.

I'll throw up a post on my concert experiences from this past weekend soon.

Tony Starks just won a Oscar y'all

That bird on his wrist is worth more than four of my paychecks.


"Celebrate"

First track to hit off Ghost's December 4th release, Big Dough Rehab. It features Kid Capri and samples the Rare Earth track. It's as dope as you'd assume. Ghost rips through the jam spitting bars about, you guessed it, celebrating. Celebrating at parties, with women, things of that nature. I'm stoked for this one man, UGK was the only other hip hop release this year I was as excited for and December 4th is bringing Ghost's and the new WU, which is, by all accounts, as grimy as ever.

After the new Ghostface popped up on the internets this morning I put The Pretty Toney album in the car for my ride to and from class. I don't think this release gets as much shine as it deserves. There's basically no filler (minus some of the skits, Ghost loves his skits). Get familiar if you don't have this one.

I'm seeing Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello tomorrow night and Sunday night I'll be basking in the awesomeness that is Bruce Springsteen. Posts to come in a couple of days.

Also, I wonder how Curtis feels about Radiohead outselling him in their first week. I don't even think the announcement of a new G-Unit album can help save his sorry azz.

I ain't disrespeccin' you son

A certain special someone leaked the new Little Brother album. If you got it from Smoking Section you know what I'm talking about (read the tags). I haven't even listened to three songs but I know it will be solid. I just hopped on to post because I think at the end of the first track, Sirens, they sample a convo from Season 4 of The Wire. I could be totally wrong but it sounds like Marlo. I would think I'd have seen some posts about something like that by now so I might be way off.
I'd like to get more in depth on this release and the new Radiohead. Hopefully I'll get around to that before the weekend is gone. Stay classy.

rock n roll,

Luke

unhappy anniversary, it's ten years since we met

I've been gone for way too long. I've had school stuff and applying to real college and serious life things like those. I've gotten some new tunes and seen some good movies, along with some good new TV starting up. I'm at no shortage of things to post about and hopefully I'll be getting around to that soon.





Right now I just want to share about a criminally overlooked singer/songwriter. Loudon Wainwright's been doing it for years and he's truly great. His songs range from hillarity to tear jerking all in the scope of an album. He has a large enough catalog that I've had no shortage of hearing things from him that are new to me over the past few weeks. A few months ago I got a greatest hits and liked it well enough, but decided to dig a bit deeper after I bought the Knocked Up special edition and there were some live videos of Wainwright doing his thing. So, besides being one helluva artist he's also an Apatow standby which gets huge points in my book. He was the gynecologist they end up picking who's at the barmitzvah when Heigl goes into labor. He was also in Apatow's series, Undeclared, as a father and was real funny. Check him out.

rock n roll,

Luke

buy any jeans necessary

Snubbed for Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
James Spader? People really watch Boston Legal? I didn't know he kept working past 1988.