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Pick of the Week: When I Go - Slow Club My eighth grade self would hate me. In eighth grade I only...

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:35:13 -0500

Pick of the Week: When I Go - Slow Club

My eighth grade self would hate me. In eighth grade I only listened to bands like Minor Threat and spent a lot of time trying to perfect Sharpie drawings of the Dead Kennedys “DK” symbol on my desk. Now I find myself listening to “When I Go” by the cute and folksy duo Slow Club. I can just imagine younger-me stumbling upon modern-day-me and staring with mouth agape as modern-me sashays across the room to lyrics like “If we’re both not married by twenty three/Will you make my year and ask me?”

And I’m totally fine with that. Because Slow Club are damn good. And because every time I hear “When I Go” I find myself smiling. The song is catchy, the vocal interplay is gorgeous and fun and the words are reminiscent of a more pessimistic “When I’m 64.” And if you think I’m being an overly mushy mush-brain, then I dare you to listen to this song and not feel the same.

-DJ Bears!

Pick of the Week: Under Control - Good Shoes I want to give a hearty thanks to Good Shoes for...

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:46:44 -0500

Pick of the Week: Under Control - Good Shoes

I want to give a hearty thanks to Good Shoes for releasing the first single of 2010 meant to embarrass me. For the London based quartet, “Under Control” is just another tight and riff heavy post-punk jam that’s insanely catchy. It also happens to be about sex. The melody is so in-your-ears delicious that you’ll be forced to sing it wherever you are and it doesn’t discriminate based on age or sex or appropriateness of lyrical content.

Imagine for a moment that you are me and you’re sitting at work. Maybe you start by lightly humming the song. It may be annoying to the others in the office, but it’s still well within the realm of decency. But then imagine that you begin mouthing the words like “We’re side by side/with her legs between mine.” Perhaps a little unsettling, but so far security doesn’t have a need to remove you from the property. Then imagine that you start really feeling the song and without realizing it you’re full on American Idol-ing lyrics like “Lips on lips/Meet salty skin/And her muscles tense/As I tighten my grip.” When you snap back to reality, you realize you might have a sexual harrassment suit on your hands and it’s all thanks to the fine young gentlemen in Good Shoes.

And the video, which I linked to above but will do again here, is a perfect and hilarious fit to the song which should be viewed immediately. Unless you’re at work and they have a policy against women weightlifters in bikinis.

-DJ Bears!

Pick of the Week: You Must Be Out of Your Mind - The Magnetic Fields It’s a really great time...

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:06:10 -0500

Pick of the Week: You Must Be Out of Your Mind - The Magnetic Fields

It’s a really great time to be depressed and wallow in self pity. With the Eastern seaboard buried under two feet of snow, it’s the perfect time to get in bed, pull the blankets up and stare at the ceiling while mulling over every wrong decision you’ve ever made. Luckily, The Magnetic Fields have come out with a new album, Realism, to soundtrack these not-so-halcyon days.

If after listening to their last album Distortion, you’re worried Realism might not be calming enough—stop. The Magnetic Fields have returned to their poppy folk wheelhouse and opening song “You Must Be Out of Your Mind” highlights those strengths. It’s full of a plucking banjo, strings and Stephin Merritt’s distinctive drone. It’s also full of classic Merritt lyrics like, “I want you crawling back to me/Down on your knees, yeah/Like an appendectomy/Sans anesthesia.”

The Magnetic Fields are also touring, so if you can find the inner strength to get out of bed and possibly take a shower, you might end up having a great time with fellow Seasonally Affected music fans.

-DJ Bears!

Pick of the Week: Robot - The Futureheads Sometimes I feel like I’m a robot. I wake up, go to...

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:17:04 -0500

Pick of the Week: Robot - The Futureheads

Sometimes I feel like I’m a robot. I wake up, go to work, come home, make macaroni and cheese, and repeat. And just as robots use motor oil and Tesla coils to recharge their energy cells, I use Saturdays and root beer.

That’s why I love “Robot” by The Futureheads. With jagged, punchy guitars I get to stomp around the apartment shouting “I have no mind” in my best “Danger Will Robinson, Danger” robot voice. My neighbors would hate my little act, if it weren’t for The Futureheads being so damn irresistible. And just wait. Once the robots gain sentient thought and take over the world, “Robot” will be their marching song; blaring out of the speakers set into their chests. No one will be too upset though, because we’ll all be too busy dancing.

This little Bootsy Collins clip is so simple and I love its...

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:42:11 -0500

This little Bootsy Collins clip is so simple and I love its Sesame Street style and DIY ethos. Yet, it’s also perfect, and makes me very happy (almost as happy as Fever Ray’s acceptance speech did) — hope it does the same for you!

—DJ Yeti

Pick of the Week: These Old Shoes - Deer Tick My twenty minute commute took over an hour the other...

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:39:50 -0500

Pick of the Week: These Old Shoes - Deer Tick

My twenty minute commute took over an hour the other night. It was one of those nights when all I needed was to be back at home. I was starving, tired, stressed and I knew if I could just get to my apartment, there would be frozen pizza and pajamas waiting for me, begging to embrace me in their loving arms. But no, I was ass deep in traffic and every side street and shortcut I thought to use was just as blocked up. My Ipod, despite holding every album I’ve ever owned, seemed full of absolute garbage. And then my check engine light came on even though I had just taken the stupid thing in to the shop a week before. I lost it. I became one of those drivers who pounds the steering wheel and makes exaggerated hand motions at parked cars. I thought a heart attack was possible, and an aneurysm likely. But luckily God, or Fate, or Luck stepped in and “These Old Shoes” came on.

I paused and took a few deep breaths. I was calmed by the down home stylings of the Rhode Island based Deer Tick. In the song, the protagonist is desperately trying to get home to some mysterious lover. He takes a plane, and it crashes. He hops on a train and is kicked off. He buys a car and it breaks down. Eventually all he’s left with is his old shoes and that’s not stopping him. And here I was complaining about a little LA traffic? What right did I have to get upset? If I could just sit this out and not kill myself, I’d make it in time for the 7:30 rerun of Seinfeld. For the next two minutes and twenty four seconds, I was blissed out. Like how I imagine parents are when they go see Jimmy Buffet.

And when those two minutes were up and I was still stuck behind the same traffic light that I had been for seemingly forever, I didn’t blow my top or make a scene. I just swallowed all those feelings and let them simmer inside of me, waiting for the next night when no song, no matter how good, could bring me back from the brink.

-DJ Bears!

—Arcade Fire Haiti If you’re like me you’ve been spending...

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:09:00 -0500

—Arcade Fire Haiti

If you’re like me you’ve been spending the last few days with a specter lurking in the back of your mind- feeling sad about the current situation in Haiti, and confused about how to help. Many folks from the music community have stepped forward to offer some ideas, a few of which I’ve included here below:

Arcade Fire’s Regine Chassagne wrote a moving article published in British newspaper The Observer last Sunday asking the Western world to make better efforts to assist her ancestral country, and expressing despair at Haiti’s continued exploitation-some of which she recounts. The article gives a brief but solid picture of the situation, relating on a very human level. She recommends Partners in Health, an organization she interacted with at length during her trip to Haiti last year. Partners in Health focuses on offering quality, sustainable health care alongside other resources like education and sanitation and though started by a Floridian is comprised mostly of Haitians.

Wyclef Jean is offering an option to donate through text or online to his non-profit Yele Haiti, which uses music and media to reinforce community development projects and education for Haitians. According to Yele’s website, donations go completely to relief. He is also joining George Clooney to host a Hope for Haiti telethon, airing on major networks January 22nd, which features Bono, Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera and others.

Lastly Loudcrowd favorite Lady Gaga announced that she’ll be donating ticket sales and merchandise proceeds from her January 24th Radio City show in New York to Haitian relief. She also has added this $25 Lady Gaga Haitian Relief t-shirt to her line of swag, whose proceeds are also 100% to Haiti.

-Fucci

Mea Culpa There are times when I’m a really bad music fan and I want to apologize for that....

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:35:44 -0500

Mea Culpa

There are times when I’m a really bad music fan and I want to apologize for that. Sometimes I’m lazy and don’t want to give difficult, less catchy releases time to win me over. Sometimes when a band I like goes in a new direction, I don’t want to go with them. And then there are those “friends” (who are actually jerks) that recommend albums that I don’t listen to out of spite.

That’s what happened with Girls debut album “Album.” For months I refused to listen to them in an attempt to prove some self righteous point. Soon I had to start coming up with elaborate lies to cover for my stance. “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard a couple songs,” I’d tell people straight faced. “And it just didn’t do anything for me.” Or when that wasn’t enough I’d say “Naming your album ‘Album’? Seems like they’re just trying too hard.” Looking back, it’s embarrassing. I missed out on months of good music before I hit rock bottom. Thank god I did, because “Album” is gorgeous.

And now it’s a new year, a new decade. It’s time to put the mistakes of the past behind us and work on self-improvement. So from now on, when those friends of mine who I kind of hate give me an album recommendation, I’ll give it a chance. But if they’re wrong? I will rain a world of passive aggressive pain and torment down upon them.

-DJ Bears!

Wait. The Rakes Broke Up?: A Monologue Hold on a second, just—just wait a minute. You’re...

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 08:05:05 -0500

Wait. The Rakes Broke Up?: A Monologue

Hold on a second, just—just wait a minute. You’re telling me that the Rakes broke up? Over a month ago? And just when were you planning on letting me know?

You thought I knew? Yeah, right. You just didn’t want to be the one to break it to me. You let me walk around like an idiot thinking the Rakes were still together. How could you do this to me?

Yeah, I hope you’re sorry. Do you know how often I listened to Capture/Release on my walk to class? A lot, okay? I listened to it a lot. I used to laugh at “22 Grand Job“ and now? You know, I don’t even earn twenty-two grand. They can’t break up before I earn twenty two grand.

It was their time? It was their time? Bullshit. They had plenty of music left in them. Tons of songs!

Just give me a minute, alright? I need to collect my thoughts. Wow…just wow. It doesn’t matter that I hadn’t listened to them recently! There’s plenty of bands that I take breaks from. Doesn’t mean I can’t still have feelings for them.

I know I’m overreacting. And I’m sorry I yelled at you. It’s just, well, Drew Bledsoe retired a few years ago, Ken Griffey Jr has maybe one year left in him, Morrissey collapsed on stage last month and now this. Can’t anything stay awesome forever?

-DJ Bears!

If you like it when music and fun get mixed up together then you...

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 12:03:30 -0500

If you like it when music and fun get mixed up together then you should head over to Loudcrowd.com. We’ve got a sweet new jam from autoKratz’s generous remix record, which you can purchase for yourself right here.

Pick of the Week: Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) - The Darkness When I think of...

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:29:25 -0500

Pick of the Week: Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) - The Darkness

When I think of Christmas, I think of three things: family, presents and mind-melting guitar solos. Despite what your totally square grandparents think, Bing Crosby never had a mind-melting guitar solo on any of his Christmas albums. Luckily though, the Darkness left us this one golden Christmas nugget in their short existence. Say what you will, but until I get that Whitesnake Christmas album that I’ve been begging for, this is the Christmas song I’ll be listening to on repeat. Oh, and that Josh Groban one because he has the voice of an angel.

-DJ Bears!

PICK OF THE WEEK: Bumble Bee - Heavy Trash You probably don’t know this about me, but I love...

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:23:53 -0500

PICK OF THE WEEK: Bumble Bee - Heavy Trash

You probably don’t know this about me, but I love bumble bees. There is something that I find so wonderful about this animal that even though it has a stinger, it’s funny enough to be named “bumble.” While people are terrified of other members of the bee family like the yellow jacket, everyone loves a bumble bee! They’re the English bulldog of the insect kingdom with their soft, round body, but if you piss it off it will still sting the shit out of you.

And that’s why I love the song “Bumble Bee” by Heavy Trash. Heavy Trash plays that old school rock and roll that I love, but have enough sense of humor to write a song like “Bumble Bee.” It’s a heartbroken love song, but instead of claiming his ex has a “heart of ice” or some other such dreck, he compares her to a “a bumble bee, an evil bumble bee.” It’s a rock song, but it’s a rock song that doesn’t take itself too seriously. If bumble bees could play instruments, they would probably write a song like this.

-DJ Bears!

Win a hot axe for to shred with courtesy of the Bravery!!!

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:22:01 -0500

Do you want to rock as hard as the Bravery? Even if you think you can’t— it’s good to want things! But maybe if you could win a really cool guitar that’s been played by Sam Endicott from the Bravery, it would be like that movie where Lil Bow Wow finds Michael Jordan’s shoes and with them he becomes an amazing basketball player and then at the end he learns he doesn’t even really need the shoes at all. Learn the “Rock Out” dance to be entered to win an Epiphone SG Special played by Sam Endicott of the Bravery! That’s seriously a nice guitar (dude, Jerry Garcia used to play the Gibson SG).

DON’T FORGET TO ENTER over on the Facebook SuperDance game...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:15:09 -0500

DON’T FORGET TO ENTER over on the Facebook SuperDance game — To celebrate LADY GAGA’S forthcoming confessional album FAME MONSTER, we ask: When have you been your most tragically fabulous? Share your best/worst moments of drama and exhibition by posting right here. Best entries will be selected to win a copy of FAME MONSTER as well as live on for…ever in our SuperDance Hall of Infamy. (Accompanying pictures or video are strongly encouraged.)

To celebrate LADY GAGA’S forthcoming confessional album FAME MONSTER, SuperDance asks: When...

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:16:01 -0500

To celebrate LADY GAGA’S forthcoming confessional album FAME MONSTER, SuperDance asks: When have you been your most tragically fabulous?

Share your best/worst moments of drama and exhibition by posting on our Facebook wall — right here! Best entries will be selected to win a copy of FAME MONSTER as well as live on forever in our SuperDance Hall of Infamy. (Accompanying pictures or video are strongly encouraged.)

This is the Very Best Blog Post of 2009 Oh no. Here we go again. It’s time for everyone and...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:18:00 -0500

This is the Very Best Blog Post of 2009

Oh no. Here we go again. It’s time for everyone and their mother to start making their best of 2009 lists. I really don’t know how people do it. I have trouble remembering what I ate for breakfast, much less what my favorite albums were that came out this past year. It certainly doesn’t help that I spent half of 2009 catching up on the best music I had missed from 2008. It’s hard to keep up with all the good music that comes out! Whenever I am pressured into making a “Top Ten” list for myself, it is basically a compilation of other top ten lists that I found around the internet. I can’t remember what came out in the past year, so I find a few other lists, pick the albums that I really liked from their lists and apply it to my own. It ends up being wholly unsatisfying and I feel like a fraud.

To make matters worse this is 2009, the end of a decade. I’m supposed to remember the best albums of the past ten years? If you blind folded me and put on two albums from my collection and asked me which one was released in 1994 and which one in 2003, I’d probably shrug my shoulders. Unless you played the Spin Doctors. Then I’d have a fighting chance of getting it right.

That’s why I like making Picks of the Week; it’s pretty much the limit of what I can remember listening to. So I am making a vow: I will not give in to the pressure. I will buck the trend, be my own man and not make a best of 2009 list. But when we get to the middle of December and I post a Top Ten list of 2009 with Morrissey’s Years of Refusal at the top, don’t call me a hypocrite. Just remember that I am a very, very weak man.

-DJ Bears!

Get psyched for the PARTY ROCK TOUR featuring Shwayze plus...

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:15:28 -0500

Get psyched for the PARTY ROCK TOUR featuring Shwayze plus LMFAO, Paradiso Girls + Space Cowboy with our playlist on Buzzthrill. Get even more psyched by entering to win tickets to the New York Party rock show on December 4th!

Pick of the Week: No Static - Bottin If you are anything like me you probably spent most of last...

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:15:35 -0500

Pick of the Week: No Static - Bottin

If you are anything like me you probably spent most of last month in dark theaters watching B Grade Italian Horror films. If you’re also like me you’ve always wished someone would combine the on-screen chills with the 1970s rhythm of an European discotheque. Each time I dreamed this combo up, I assumed I had eaten too many movie theater hot dogs before bed because who in the world was going to make this music?

Imagine my shock when I stumbled across Bottin’s album Horror Disco. My two loves were now one: dancing like an idiot and scary movies. While my favorite is the fantastically over the top “Disco for the Devil,” most will probably gravitate towards lead single “No Static.” Now that horror movies and disco have teamed, what other unthinkable combos could be next? Hair metal and children’s cartoons? Prog-rock and commercial jingles? My mind is reeling from the possibilities. And if this really catches on, maybe I’ll gel up my hair, get a fake tan going and get out and see what I’ve been missing at some of these trendy nightclubs.

-DJ Bears!

Be There or Be Square: John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives This past week I went to see Lucero...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:24:55 -0500

Be There or Be Square: John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives

This past week I went to see Lucero play at the Echoplex. While their Southern Springsteen flavored rock was great, I was really blown away by their opener: John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives. John Paul Keith et al hail from Memphis, TN and they jumped onstage and tore it up. They may not be breaking new ground with their rockabilly and British invasion infused sound, but their energy, enthusiasm and technical prowess carried the day.

I was a little surprised to be honest. John Paul Keith looks like Andy Dick if he were a member of The Who, but man, could his fingers fly. JPK looks like one of those guys who between the ages of 15 and 25 locked himself in a bedroom practicing scales all day and it has paid off for him. Definitely give a listen to “Pure Cane Sugar,” or their cover of “Come On, Let’s Go”. They’ll be on the road for the next few weeks, so if you want to get out and have a good time seeing a band that’s also having a good time, check them out.

-DJ Bears!

The folks here at Loudcrowd want to express our condolences to...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:28:19 -0500

The folks here at Loudcrowd want to express our condolences to the family and friends of drummer Jerry Fuchs. Fuchs, who passed away on Nov. 8th in an elevator accident in New York City, worked with LCD Soundsystem, !!! and Juan MacLean. By all accounts, he was as awesome a person as he was a musician.