Re-mix this, Mash-up that

Leader of the mash-up world Greg Gillis, aka Girl Talk is back at it again with another full length album free for download here.

He tells you to download it as one file so the entire album can be listened to in full, as it was meant to be.  I recommend downloading it by track.  Mash-ups are fun but can quickly become too much, this 12 track album has 372 samples in it, that works out to about 31 sampled songs per track. Here is the quick lesson of the day for us parents.  mash-up = a song that consists entirely of portions of other artist's songs  with overlapping, ie. a rock guitar solo with with rap vocals on top.  Remix = taking another artist's song and adding your own music to it, not another artist's music, or a remix can be someone manipulating a song, ie. speeding up/slowing down the tempo, moving parts of the song around, repeating parts, etc.  Cover song = a previously recorded song rerecorded by a different artist than the original (but you already knew that one, didn't you?).  I listened to the first track without trying to solve all the music he had in it, I just wanted to kick back and let it soak in.  What I took away from that first track was Lucacris, Trina, Dorrough and the Ramones.  Don't let that scare you away though,  this album's songs are more "song-like" instead of just being a novelty mix of opposite ends of the musical spectrum portions of songs that oddly seem to work together because they have the same bpm.  (that last sentence sounded like a mash-up of words).  Any way you look at it, it's a lot of fun, just download it and take it for what it is.  I guarantee you that if you put this on at your next party full of "Parents (who lost touch with music)", everyone of them will ask you, "who is this? and where can I get it?".

In my next post I'll review the new Crystal Castles track featuring Robert Smith from The Cure.  It's a cover of a song from the 80's by a band that nobody has heard of from a new band who sounds like an old band with Roberts Smith's vocals sounding like he's at his best.  We may need a new name for this song since it's a cross b/w cover/remix/mash-up in sound.  Let me think it over, until next time...

Friday Shuffle vs. Summer

Every year I get pissed off at the notion of Labor Day being the "unofficial" end of summer.  Come on!  Lake Michigan is still getting warmer, we still have plenty of days left in the 80's, baseball is still being played...but I think I may finally be coming around.  Maybe it's the fact that I'm a father now and although my daughter is not of school attending age, kids going back to school is already feeling like the end of summer to me.  The park is empty, college bars look less full, new TV season has started, football is the lead in sports, better movies are in theaters and my windows are mostly closed, it's getting dark early and I haven't been swimming in the lake in a month so who cares what the water temp is.  I think the real reason I'm coming around though is music.  I really hit a dog days of summer musically this year, nothing grabbed my attention, I was just kind of in a bad music mood.  So I'm excited for Fall and more rock leaning music, this summer's fluff started to get old.
With that, my shuffle is against  radio's Top 40, Alternative and Triple A music formats songs of Summer.  I'll give you the top 5 at each for July, August and September.  I haven't run the numbers yet but my guess is that in retrospect it's going to look pretty crappy.  My shuffle on the other hand, I just have a feeling here, is going to have my ears pogo dancing all over the side of my head and your feet itching to spontaneously jig.
BTW - I'm over you Summer.

My shuffle first (don't forget you can download the songs that I have as listenable, right click pc, shift + apple mac):
Ride - "The Dawn Patrol" (oldie but a goodie)
Fugazi - "Waiting Room" (classic DIY punk, or harcore or rock, whatever you call it YES)
Janelle Monae - "Tightrope" feat. Big Boi (just watch, this chick will show up on a bunch of best of the year lists, maybe even at the top)
Janell Monae "Tightrope"

Winter Gloves - "Plastic Slides" (appropriate band name to flip off summer with)
The Tallest Man On Earth - King Of Spain"  (kind of coming around on this guy)
The 1900's - "Babies" (Chicago band, which means local for me)
The Thermals - "I Don't Believe You" (new album, new greatness)
The Corin Tucker Band - "Doubt" (I bet you didn't know that the girl from Sleater Kinney has a new album coming out next week, one of the most underrated rock bands ever, well now you do, get excited)
The Corin Tucker Band "Doubt"
Ra Ra Riot - "Boy" (RAC Remix) fellow blogger Michelle, this is the song you were "DJ-ing" to while looking all silly with your dance with headphones on.
Ra Ra Riot "Boy" (RAC Remix)
The Folk Implosion - "That's the Trick"
Boss Hog - "What the Fuck" (I'm not going to push my luck and just end it here)
Boss Hog "What the Fuck"

Nice job Shuffle!  any objections?

now radio's summer:
AAA September) (august) (July)

1) Ray Lamantagne & Paria Dogs "Beg Steal or Borrow" (2) (5)

2) Michael Franti and Spearhead - "The Sound of Sunshine" (1) (1)

3) Jack Johnson (7) (23)

4) Sheryl Crow - "Summer Day" (3) (6)

5) Robert Plant (10) (X)

John Mayer & Alpha Rev were in the top 5 in Aug but not Sept

John Mayer & Alpha Rev were in the top 5 in July also

Alternative September) (August) (July)

1) Neon Trees (2) (4)

2) Dirty Heads (3) (1)

3) Linkin Park (4) (x)

4) Mumford and Sons (12) (28)

5) Jimmy Eat World (26) (X)

Cage the Elephant & Phoenix were in the top 5 for August but not September

30 Seconds to Mars were in the top 5 in July but not Aug or Sept.

Top 40 September) (August) (July)

1) Taio Cruz (2) (12)

2) Katy Perry (4) (1)

3) Enrique Iglesias (5) (15)

4) Eminem (15) (7)

5) Bruno Mars (17) (X)

Mike Posner & B.O.B. were in the top 5 in August but not September

Travie McCoy & Usher were in the top 5 in July but not Aug or Sept


Yep, crummy summer if you listened to regular radio. 

Friday Shuffle vs. Aquarium Drunkard

Today I'm going to battle a pretty cool blog that I check out fairly regularly, http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/.  They also have a show on Sirius/XM every Friday that I catch once in a while.  They have this playlist available for download, I think it's a great mix, go get it.  After you download it as a zip every song is available for individual download.   Here's their description:
Sean Howe and Aquarium Drunkard are back with L.A. Burnout 2: Still Burnt. Continuing in the vein of last year’s L.A. Burnout, the 25 tracks compiled within exemplify the not-quite-there nature of the city, particularly what was being laid down in the 70s. Play this mix around dusk while driving through Topanga with the windows rolled down — it’s the next best thing to time travel.
And now the playlist that I will be battling...
Brian Wilson – Smog High
Shango – Day After Day
The Originals – California Sunset
Brewer & Shipley – Dreamin’ In The Shade
The Mamas & The Papas – Mansions
Hill Barbata Ethridge – L.A. Getaway
Terry Melcher – Rebecca
Terry Allen – There Oughta Be A Law Against Sunn…
The Everly Brothers – Ventura Boulevard
Boffalongo – Snow White Lady
Charles Lloyd – TM
New Riders Of The Purple Sage – High Rollers
The Main Ingredient – California My Way
Ned Doheny – Postcards From Hollywood
Orange Colored Sky – L.A. (Los Angeles)
Boz Scaggs – Hollywood
Johan Blomgren – California Sundown
Tim Buckley – Freeway Blues
Don Everly – Southern California
Terry Melcher – Beverly Hills
Bobby Womack – Daylight
Art Garfunkel – 99 Miles from L.A.
Ambulance LTD – Arbuckle’s Swan Song
Leon Ware – Why I Came to California
Gabor Szabo – Theme From Valley of the Doll
Don Everly – Southern California


and my shuffle from my Macbook iTunes:
The Beatles - "And I Love Her" (from Hard Days Night)
Antenna - "Blood Red" (John Strohm and Freda Love formed this band after the Blake Babies, the Blake Babies are better known as being the first band of Julianna Hatfield and Evan Dando (Lemonheads))
Citizens' Utilities - "A Tale of Good Living"
Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers - "13 Months of Sunshine"
bis - "Listen Up"
Clinic - "Earth Angel"
Louis Armstrong - "Indiana"
James Taylor - "Country Road" (man, this is turning out to be a kind of weird shuffle, get your act together iTunes!)
Franz Ferdinand - "Tell Her Tonight" (demo) (for all you aspiring artists this is what a band sounds like before they put some real money into the recording process)
Franz Ferdinand - "Tell Her Tonight" (demo)
The Pattern - "Finger Us"
Mates of State - "My Only Offer" (I've mentioned these guys as a song of the day, one of the 2 piece bands I've been talking about)
The Tragically Hip - "As Makeshift As We Are" (Did you know that Gordy  Downie has a new album?  I always hated the name Gordy for some reason, actually I know why, some guy in high school that bugged me was named Gordy.  But I love the hip's gordy, cool, distinct voice, great songwriter.  The album is called The Grand Bounce and was released a couple months ago)
Ben Lee - "Nighttime" (I've liked Ben Lee since I first heard him as a 14 year old recording artist, the songs were so raw and innocent, this song is from the album Breathing Tornadoes, which I didn't get at first because the over use of drum machine was a distraction, but now I love it for the song writing, great album)
Butterglory - "Fight Fight Fight" (one of the original indie pop bands, right up there with belle and sebastian but more lo-fi)
Red House Painters - "Between Days" (OK, it took a bit for the shuffle to warm up but now I'm in a good mood, 25 songs today since that's what Aquarium Drunkard threw out there, btw - the guy from this band, Mark Kozelek,  is now the lead in Sun Kil Moon)
Red House Painters "Between Days"
The Changes - "In the Dark"
Koko Taylor - "Wang Dang Doodle" (sneaking in some blues? um, nope take it back please, not today...although it is from World Cafe and a live version, kinda cool)
Sweater Girl - "Star" (sort of similar to Butterglory, unusual that these two bands would come up in the same shuffle)
Tracy Bonham - "Behind Every Good Woman" (is the song title the female version of Groucho Marx's quote "behind every good man is his wife...and behind her is his mistress"?)
The New Pornographers - "Letter from an Occupant" (Neko Case turned 40 this week, good for her, I'm not sure if she's a parent but if she is put her in the hall of fame of "parents who have not lost touch")
The New Pornographers "Letter From an Occupant"
Liz Phair - "Stuck on a Island" (this is from a Matador Records compilation CD, this song was an outtake from White Chocolate Spaceegg and never released)
Nada Surf - "Where is My Mind?" (this is from a Pixies tribute album, BAD DAD Scotty will like this!)  Saturday block party right? http://www.baddadband.com/
Nada Surf "Where is my Mind?"
Athlete - "Airport Disco" 
Badly Drawn Boy - "Bewilder" (not really a song, it's one of those interludes some bands like to use, so I'll put a real song from the album below, he has a new album coming out October 4th, It's What I'm Thinking)
Badly Drawn Boy "Once Around the Block"
They Might Be Giants - "Rabid Child"
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - "Calvin" 
"Calvin"

Belle & Sebastian Song of the Day

Belle & Sebastian "Write About Love"

This indie pop Scottish band has been around for almost 15 years now and apparently they haven't lost their sound or their creative edge.  I have a tendency to forget how much I like these guys, I think I have about 8 of their albums in my collection so they must be one of my favorites.  Yep, now that I think about it, they are.  It's kind of like a great restaurant that's been around for a long time, you get so caught up trying to keep up with the new places that you sometimes forget how great the old "great places" are and the next thing you know you haven't been there in a couple years.  Which reminds me, when I last saw them live they praised on stage, Hot Doug's. That was back when it was still on Roscoe and not the California Ave. line around the block hipster encased meat "in" restaurant/hot dog stand that it is now.  I think it's time for some duck fat fries this Friday, Hot Doug's has fallen off my radar, time to get it back on along with B&S.

So check out the new song from their album to be released October 12th.  They posted it on Twitter yesterday as a free download to the first 20k people.  I'm not sure how long that's going to last so you can either grab it from them or from this post.

It's an uptempo song, sounds pretty much like a lot of their stuff (which these days is refered to as twee) and features Carey Mulligan.  She's one of the it girls in Hollywood right now, I saw her in An Education and she was great.  I guess she can sing too.

Belle & Sebastian "Write About Love"


or you can download it "officially" from their site here

It's been four years since they've toured, so if you want to check them out live, tour dates after the jump

"F**K YOU!" song of the day

Cee-Lo Green "F**K YOU!"


I'm guessing you won't be hearing this on the radio any time soon.  But, wow what a great, catchy song!  I really hope they don't have a version for radio that says something like "screw you", it just wouldn't be as hummable.  I once worked a song from The Ying Yang Twins called "Wait (the whisper song)".  The song, unedited, was straight forward about how big his dick was and that girls wouldn't be able to handle it.  Not my proudest achievement.  We edited it so much that you would never know what he was singing/whispering about unless you heard the original dirty version.  It shot up the charts really, really fast and as soon as the people who would be offended by this sort of song (which is just about everybody) found out about the real version, it dropped off the charts just as fast.
This song is just a fun song that happens to use a dirty word in the hook. You probably know Cee-lo from Gnarls Barkley and the song "Crazy", which is his collaboration with Danger Mouse, who I recommended to you earlier for his new collabo with James Mercer from The Shins, called Broken Bells.  Anyway, check it out and make sure you only play it when the kids aren't around.
Cee-Lo - "F**k You!"

Friday Shuffle vs. The Loop (WLUP) & Classic Rock Radio

I know, it's Saturday, get off my back already!  That's my "I'm driving a pickup and blasting classic rock through my blown speakers" attitude.  Having just been in Montana and Wyoming I realized there are more truck drivers out there than car drivers, and I'm guessing more classic rock listeners than what you get from the sedan, minivan, mini/smart car driving listeners.

As a parent you probably feel a little weird that Nirvana is a classic rock band to your kids.  And if you have an infant like me, it's a little scary to think that someone like Wilco will be my daughter's classic rock.
So with that, let's see what the Loop and the classic rock format is up to these days.

WLUP/Chicago/97.9 The Loop
Friday 8/24
5:02 P.M. Kansas - "Carry on Wayward Son"
5:08 Scorpions - "Can't Live Without You"
5:12 Molly Hatchet - "Flirtin' with Disaster"
5:19 Break
5:25 Rolling Stones - "Bitch"
5:28 Alice in Chains - "Rooster"
5:35 Def Leppard - "Rock of Ages"
5:39 Guns n' Roses - "Paradise City"
5:47 Break
5:54 AC/DC - "Girls Got Rhythm"
5:58 Bon Jovi - "Runaway"

Usually I bring my satellite radio when I go on the road but for this last trip I decided to just go with the IPhone and use whatever I had in my itunes or i could just plug into Pandora, Accuradio, KEXP or Chirp.  Little did I know that Yellowstone has no cell signal anywhere and I had only 600 songs loaded on my IPhone at the time (I have close to 100K on my external hard drive).  So with that, I'm going to shuffle what I had on my trip.
9 songs (which is what the Loop put on during the 5p hour):
Hum - "Stars"
David Bazan - "Bearing Witness"
The Streets - "Fit, But You Know It"
Smith Westerns - "Dreams"
The Flaming Lips - "She Don't Use Jelly"
B.o.B. - "Nothin' On You" feat. Bruno Mars
Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc."
The Drums - "I Felt Stupid"
Kid Sister - "Right Hand Hi"

Assumption is Death...

"Be a sponge.  Curiosity is life.  Assumption is death.  Look around."

That's one of nine maxims that Mark Parker, the CEO of Nike, uses as a guiding principle for running the company.  I think that could be applied as the guiding principle for this blog as well, not to make this blog sound too serious or anything.  Half the time I'm writing this in a 3am haze or a 7am "my daughter is pulling on my leg with one hand while attempting to toss cheerios at me with the other all while loudly babbling out what sounds like an infant version of Fugazi's "waiting room", state of mind.  Still I think that maxim is a good reminder to keep looking for new music, avant art, new ideas, off the beaten path restaurants, indie movies, fringe theater...whatever, challenge your senses.  Don't settle for the "well I own 5 other U2 albums and I really feel like getting something new but I can't think of anything so I'll just buy the latest U2 album".  Or "I know everybody likes the White Stripes so whatever new Dead Weather/Raconteurs type band collaboration Jack White puts together I'm going to buy and just assume it's going to be great".  I think he's super overrated by the way, not bad just not deserving of being bullet proof critically.

So, with that in mind, be a sponge and check out the latest podcast from The Tripwire.  It's done by a guy who doesn't keep up on the latest music blogs, doesn't pay attention to radio, isn't being promoted to by record labels etc.  He's just doing his own thing and coming across some really great music, mostly new and mostly rock based.  I have found out about A LOT of great new music from him over the years.
You can steam or download it free here http://www.thetripwire.com/podcast/2010/08/05/the-tripwire-podcast-061/

Or you can search for it at Itunes under podcasts and subscribe to it free, that way it automatically downloads to your itunes playlist every couple months and you don't have to think about it, just pops up, free and easy.

So embrace your curiosity and be a sponge, lace up your Nikes, download the tripwire, clip on your shuffle, pop in the earphones and go for a run while getting lost in some great new music.

here is the latest playlist (after the jump):

Real Estate "Out of Tune"/Song of the Day

Real Estate - "Out of Tune"

Yes there is more to the Jersey Shore than those MTV embarrassments.  I just read that one of the guys from the show is expected to make around $5 million next year through endorsements, appearances, and salary from the show.  Yes I said million. Are you kidding me?  Real Estate is a Jersey Shore band who I've mentioned before as an artist that really surprised me at the Pitchfork Festival.  They were great.  This song is going to be a 7" release due out in October, they'll probably make about $500 from it, yes I said five hundred.  That's what you get for having real talent and for being a true Jersey Shore native. By the way, I can't believe that bands are still putting out 7" records (I love it!), that's what the cool kids call small vinyl 45's (singles) for those of you not cool.  I'm talking to you out of touch parents.

Anyway, this is like cool jazz for the rock world.  I just got back from Yellowstone National Park at it reminds me of the kind of music you want to hear when you're driving through Big Sky country with nothing but the horizon, rolling hills and bison to keep you company.  In other words beautiful serene music.

Pre-order it here

Out Of Tune by truepanther

The Ting Tings/Social Media/Song of the Day

The Ting Tings - "Hands"

The Ting Tings are another band in the recent trend of good two piece bands along with Mates of State, Matt and Kim, The Black Keys, The White Stripes, Captain and Tennille (just seeing if you're paying attention), Sleigh Bells, Local H and No Age.  I'm sure there are a bunch more, that's all I can think of off the top of my head.  This British duo consists of perpetual sunglass wearing Ivor Novello and Jules De Martino, they switch off between playing drums, guitar, bass, keyboards and cowbell.  They are definitely the most pop sounding of the bands I mentioned above.
I'm not featuring these guys today because I think it's a great song (it falls a little too much on the mainstream pop side of sound for my tastes), it's just an ok song.  Rather I want to show how bands and their labels (in this case Columbia) are getting a little carried away with using social media to promote.
If you want to download this song then click this http://bit.ly/tingtingshands, which will bring you to their facebook page, if you want to listen to the song you have to click on the "like" button, if you then decide you want to download the song you have to enter your email address, then they send you a confirmation email back, in which you have to click another link to go to another site where you then have to right click in order to download the song.  make sense?  I know, getting a little out of control, that's why you need "music for parents" to sift through all this for you.  If you want to then download a remix of the song, go back to the facebook page and click on the "share" button...I stopped at this point, not sure what other hoops you have to jump through after that.
Here is a remix of their excellent first single from their first album:
The Ting Tings - "That's not my Name" (LA Riots Remix)

Dean & Britta/Yo Gabba Gabba/Galaxy 500 tour

Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips better known as the band Dean & Britta, formerly Luna, formerly Galaxie 500 (at least Dean is), will be on an upcoming episode of Yo Gabba Gabba.  Galaxie 500 was one of my favorite bands in college. I still have the vinyl album of On Fire that I had in college in working order which can't be said of a lot of my albums that I either lost, broke, warped, whatever.  I don't say that to sound like I was cool in college either, I wasn't, when I was in college most people still had mostly vinyl, CD collections were just starting to be built.  It's kind of like now, it's not really cool to have an MP3 collection over CD, you just kind of do, except that now it's actually cool to have vinyl over anything else, I've also seen that cassette tapes are making a comeback but I don't really believe it, it's just something for people to write about.  Watch for 8 tracks to have about their third hipster revival in a couple years.
Anyway, Dean and Britta on Yo Gabba Gabba...

They also announced that they'll be touring as Galaxie 500, check out the dates and website HERE.  This is a can't miss "Call the Babysitter" event for sure!
Galaxie 500 "Change"


Luna "Anesthesia"

The Love Language "Heart to Tell"/Song of the Day

The Love Language - "Heart to Tell"


The Love Language "Heart to Tell"

Apparently I'm really digging this 60's sound revival that a few bands are coming at us with.  I've already told you to go out and buy Best Coast and Girls and now with their second album, Libraries, The Love Language have made an excellent summer album full of melodies, great songwriting, strumming guitars and even some strings thrown in to add a little wistfulness.  I can't believe I just used "wistfulness", that isn't going to make a parent buy into a band, that's sounds like I'm describing a cute lullaby CD...oh well, just trust me.  Hand claps can be used for adult rock music to great effect without making you feel like you have to clap along only when you're at a stop light with nobody next to you, so why not go with wistful and strings?  I remember one of the coolest guys I knew, who owned an indie label, had giant sideburns before people had giant sideburns again, crazy hair, bell bottoms, tennis pro on the side, great ears for not only new bands but new sounds, he was credited on an album under musicians for "handclaps".  So there you go, my weak argument for wistful strings.

Just Buy These

No reviews, no opinions, no email lists to sign up for, no illegal downloads


Songs:
Best Coast - "Boyfriend" (the single is free at amazon right now)
Sufjan Stevens - "Come on! Feel the Illinois!"
Avi Buffalo - "What's in it for?"
Japandroids - "Younger Us"
Janelle Monae - "Cold War"


Albums:
Frightened Rabbit - "The Winter of Mixed Drinks"
Radiohead - OK Computer (If you don't already own this you have no excuse now, the album mp3 is only $5 at amazon)

Friday Shuffle vs. Triple A (AAA) radio chart 8/8-8/12

Today I'm going to battle the AAA building radio chart from last Sunday at 12:01 a.m up to today.  "Triple A" stands for Album Adult Alternative, which used to mean they would play tracks deeper into an album than just the single and they kept it mostly rock based.  Now it means "grow old with your audience, play new stuff from old bands and very few new bands, and stick to the singer-songwriter type guys and gals".  In other words, boring.  In the radio world and in most of the advertising world the biggest demo that's targeted is 18-34 year olds.  AAA leans a little higher than that, which means it's the type of radio station that is going after us, the parents who have lost touch with music, no thanks to these radio stations.  I think they sell our desire for new music short.  What do you think?
There are 29 stations across the country whose playlist contributes to determining this chart, which is based on airplay of songs over a Sunday to Saturday  time period.  They include WXRT/Chicago, WRXP/NY, KFOG/San Fran, WZGC/Atlanta, WXRV/Boston, KMTT/Seattle, KTCZ/Minny, KBCO/Denver, KINK/Portland, WTTS/Indy, WMMM/Madison...a lot of these stations have names like "The River", or "The Mountain", or "Cities", you get the picture.

So here we go, you tell me.  Are these stations properly targeted to us?
1.  Michael Franti & Spearhead - "The Sound of Sunshine"  449 spins/ same # as last week/12 weeks on the chart
2.  John Mayer - "Half of my Heart" 354 plays at the 29 stations so far this week/+1spin compared to last week/12 weeks on chart
3.  Sheryl Crow - "Summer Day" 345 spins/+38x/9 weeks
4.  Ray Lamontagne - "Beg Steal or Borrow" 319x/+9/7wks
5.  Jack Johnson - "You and Your Heart" 287/-12/19
6.  Alpha Rev - "New Morning" 278/-35/22
7.  Brandon Flowers - "Crossfire" 250/+23/6wks
8.  Sara Bareilles - "Kind of Anything" 237/-4/11
9.  Greg Laswell - "Take Everything" 230/-21/17
10.  Avett Brothers - "Head full of Doubt" 213/+18/12
11.  Black Keys - "Tighten Up" 213/+2/14
12.  Dirty Heads - "Lay me Down" 198/+8/9
13.  Jack Johnson - "At or With Me" 196/+17/3
14.  Robert Plant - "Angel Dance" 195/+44/2
15.  Mumford and Sons - "Little Lion Man" 193/0/5

and my shuffle 11:15 a.m Friday the 13th:
Ryan Adams - "My Winding Wheel" (this is the kind of artist that should be on that chart above more often)
Butthole Surfers - "Ulcer Breakout"
Superchunk - "Burn Last Sunday"
Cupcake - "Darkness Surrounds You"
Arrested Development - "United Minds"
"United Minds"
Grizzly Bear - "On a Neck, On a Spit"
Blink 182 - "The Party Song"
Alkaline Trio - "Enjoy your Day"
Sunny Day Real Estate - "Rodeo Jones"
Blue Meanies - "Dilate"
Paul Westerberg - "Crackle and Drag" (alt. version)
"Crackle and Drag" (alt. version)
Miles Davis & Gil Evans - "The Pan Piper"
Kajagoogoo - "Too Shy"   (hahahahahaha)
Cloud Cult - "Take Your Medicine"
"Take Your Medicine"
Material Issue - "What Girls Want"
Rogue Wave - "Publish my Love"
"Publish My Love"

Indie Rock Alphabet/Parents & Kids

The last entry I gave you under this category was for They Might Be Giants, who make albums specifically for adults and specifically for children, but the kids can actuall enjoy the "grown up" albums as much as the adults and vice versa.
My new suggestion is a recently published book meant to teach kids the alphabet using some pretty cool artists as the letter titles.  Check it out, Indie Rock Alphabet book, you may even learn about some new bands in the process, plus I bet you can use a refresher on the alphabet.

They pretty much do a good job except I would have gone with Of Montreal, Oxford Collapse or Okkervil River on the "O" and Pavement, Pinback, Pogues, Pernice Brothers, Peter Bjorn and John, Phoenix...there are a million better "P"'s than Pearl Jam.
Animal Collective
Belle and Sebastian
Cat Power
Deerhunter
Elliot Smith
Fiery Furnaces
Gillian Welch
Hold Steady
Iron and Wine
Joy Division
Kings of Leon
Liars
Modest Mouse
Neutral Milk Hotel
Over the Rhine
Pearl Jam
?uestlove
Radiohead
Silver Jews
Tom Waits
Uncle Tupelo
Vampire Weekend
Weezer
X
Yo La Tengo
Zombies

Update: The Arcade Fire/MP3/Lumberjack song/Lolla/live video @MSG NYC

Last week I gave you Arcade Fire's The Suburbs as my album of the week and I said it would be the indie rock album of the summer.  I was wrong.  It's the rock album of the summer as it comes in at #1 on the Billboard charts after it's first week.  Nice job masses.

I also gave you the heads up a while ago from Twitter (@musicforparents) to check out their show at Madison Square Garden being streamed live on Youtube and Directed by Terry Gilliam.  I didn't want to watch it because I knew that I would be seeing them at Lollapolooza and I wanted to be surprised by their show.  The Lolla show was great, the sound was a little off but it still was amazing.  They aren't all wearing a suit and tie like the first time I saw them at Lolla in '05, and they don't have the elaborate stage production and antics like the last show I saw them perform at The Chicago Theater.  Instead they are more focused on the music, they still have a cool video happening behind them and they still move all over the stage but it really seems like they are "feeling" the music now more than ever.
Check out the MSG show here.  btw-the video looks amazing, at Lolla I was on the side up front and moved to the back center but missed a lot apparently after watching these videos.  I didn't know my computer screen could look so good.

Here is the song they started their set with, it's from the new album:
Arcade Fire - "Ready to Start"

If you want to watch the set in proper order here is the set list:
“Ready To Start”
“Neighborhood #2 (Laika)”
“No Cars Go”
“Haïti”
“Empty Room”
“The Suburbs”
“Crown Of Love”
“Rococo”
“Intervention”
“We Used To Wait”
“Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)”
“Rebellion (Lies)”
“Month Of May”
“Keep The Car Running”
//
“Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)”
“Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”
“Wake Up”


Also, I'm not sure how much influence Terry Gilliam had in the directing of the concert but it definitely was nothing like this video

"That Song from that Commercial..."

As mentioned above, it's not a good sign that you are on the road to musical bliss if the only new music you know comes from TV ads or a show like Gossip Girl.  That doesn't mean that all TV music used as "beds" (radio term for background music) is bad, a lot of it is really good and deserves some recognition here.

See if you can guess which Ad these songs are from.  Answers "after the jump" (silly blogging term for click on the "read more" link).

1)  "Home" (RAC Mix)

2)  "Janglin"
3) "Jacking the Ball"
4) "Psychic City" 

OK, that's all I have time for now, still catching up after a Lolla weekend...next time I promise I'll bring up the fact that Target used a band named Starfu*%#er for one of their ads.

Just Buy These

No reviews, no opinions, no email lists to sign up for, no illegal downloads
...
Songs: (5 new, 1 newish)
Arcade Fire - "Ready To Start" ($3.99 mp3 album from image below)
Rogue Wave - "I'll never leave you"
Yeasayer - "Ambling Alp"
The New Pornographers - "Crash Years" ($5.99 mp3 album below)
Rodrigo y Gabriela - "Hanuman" ($5 mp3 album from image below)

Cymbals Eat Guitars - "Wind Phoenix (Proper Name)"

Albums: (1 new, 1 not new)
Band of Horses - Infinite Arms

Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart

Friday Shuffle vs. Lollapalooza

Welcome to Lolla weekend.  I think this is a great event, you will read about people calling it "Wall-Mart" on the lake, or that it's "just one big corporate advertisement".  Who cares?  When you're standing there listening to the music and watching a band give it it's all on the big stage with the city skyline in the background do you really care about the fact that it's the Budweiser Stage they are playing on?  I hope not.  You probably took the L or a bus to get to the show, which has ads all over them, if you see a band at a small venue there's probably a neon sign lit up for whatever radio station is sponsoring it, or some sort of table tent with a beer ad on it, or a special drink of the night paid for by a distributor.  Lolla isn't any different than any of those, so get over it and enjoy the fact that you can see about 50 bands in 3 days, outside, in the heart of one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
There are some great headliners this year: Arcade Fire (guaranteed to put on an amazing show), Green Day (if you've never seen them they deliver!), Erykah Badu, Cypress Hill, Soundgarden (kind of whatever on this one), The Strokes, Jimmy Cliff, Lady Gaga, and Phoenix.
 For new upcoming type bands check out: Wavves, Cymbals eat Guitars, Matt and Kim, The Soft Pack, The xx, Metric, Cut Copy, Harlem, Deer Tick, Edward Sharp & the Magnetic Zeros, Rogue Wave, Yeasayer, Blitzen Trapper, Frightened Rabbit and The Cribs.
To check out some non-traditional bands see: Mavis Staples, Los Amigos Invisibles, Raphael Saadiq and Gogol Bordello.

And of course, the kids stage, Kidzapalooza, is loaded with great stuff everyday from 11:30am - 4:15pm.

So here we go, I'm going to shuffle a playlist of Lolla bands against my regular shuffle:
Lolla (it turns out I have 444 songs from Lolla artists to shuffle from) I'll take out any repeat artists, 15 songs...
Blitzen Trapper - "Heaven and Earth"
Green Day - "She"
The National - "American Mary"
Social Distortion - "Telling Them"
Rogue Wave - "Love's Lost Guarantee"
The Antlers - "Two"
Arcade Fire - "Empty Room"
The Cribs - "We Can No Longer Cheat You"
Frightened Rabbit - "Swim Until You Can't See Land"
Eryka Badu - "Otherside of the Game"
Company of Thieves - "Oscar Wilde"
Cypress Hill - "(Rock) Superstar"
Flosstradamus - "Act a Fool"
Deer Tick - "Easy"
Grizzly Bear - "Lullaby"

Vs. The Regular Shuffle...
La Rocca - "Sing Song Sung"
The Go-Betweens - "Heart and Home"
UNKLE - "Lonely Soul"
The Freddy Jones Band - "Take the Time"
Ween - "Japanese Cowboy"
Carlos Ortega and His Latin Combo (Casolando) - "Vals Del Idiota"
Closer - "Omnipotent"
Death Cab for Cutie - "State Street Residential"
Dianogah - "What is Your Land Mass"
Flight of the Conchords - "Business Time"
The Black Crowes - "Hotel Illness"
Air - "Once Upon a Time"
The Incredible Moses Leroy - It's a Sunday"
Blur - "Colin Zeal"
Pixies - "Head On" cool way to end it, Pixies doing Jesus and Mary Chain

Thanks to everyone who came out to the MFP event on Wednesday.  Huge showing, surprised me!
this is the song you requested guy with freakishly enlarged calves, I don't want to say who it is so I don't get a C&D on the blog, can't give away the big ones like this without possibly getting in trouble.  I will say it's from that bald vegan DJ whose real name is Richard Hall, who also runs a Tea shop in NYC.  right click to download.

secret song">First link

Tiny Lounge & MFP Tonight

Don't forget that tonight is the first MFP night out.  I'll be playing music at the Tiny Lounge in Lincoln Square from 9p - 1a.  Notice I didn't say "spinning" music?  Yeah, It's not going to be a 25 and under sweaty dance party so stop practicing your moonwalks, robots and worm on the floor dance moves.  You won't be hearing two turntables and a couple Macs mixing together 8 different songs and genres ironically like...
Girl Talk - "Hands in the Air"

OK, I may sneak a little bit of that in but I doubt you'll notice it, very subtle.
Instead I'll be playing a lot of music you're reading about and listening to here.  I'm not going to have any Lollapollooza tickets for this weekend to give away, but you will be hearing a lot of music from Lolla artists.  There aren't any drink specials. but you don't go to a place like Tiny to get a bucket of beers.  right? Instead you'll get some of the best cocktails in the city prepared by some of the best bartenders in Chicago, a well thought out wine list, a discerning taste beer selection and some really good food.  So head on out, say hello, bust up those dog days of Summer and enjoy some refreshingly new Summer music.

And yes, you can be a fan of this blog even if you aren't a parent.  Especially if you're a recently peg-legged Chicago ex-pat living in the middle of the Aegean Sea with an Afghani jewelry expert and working with foreign exchange students.  Yeah, I'm talking to you EN.