I have been absolutely addicted to Pepper lately. They're fuckin awesome in a Sublime kinda way.

My favorite song of 2010 is "Forget You" by Cee Lo. That song fucking rules.

This one goes out to Sean Avery



Everywhere you never go
My swagger impeccable
Your swagger is skeptical
Belong in a receptacle

Do you Mean "Fuck You" Or the made for TV Censored version?

We really need to have a talk, you and I.

Cee Lo's song was nominated for a bunch of Grammys, only none one knew how to say it because the proper title contains a word not suitable for public consumption. I was (albeit weakly) making light of this. Actually, I think this is somewhat disturbing, because a creative industry wants to both reward creativity and at the same time, sanitize and stiffle it.

Tigers love Pepper.

Are you going to show him on the doll?

"Tawny Kitain was writhing on the hood of the car -- what was David Coverdale to do?!"

A previously unreleased Slayer song called Atrocity Vendor, it was a brave artistic choice to not mix the song beforehand. My god I forgot how bad the production was on the last album until just now.

Acoustic Foo Fighters

I fell in love with this song, though, after I saw it performed live and it wasn't an acoustic version.

Impossible not to love.

Brian May is also the greatest guitarist/astrophysicist there is. At least under Derek gets his degree!

I can't decide if I like or hate Pomplamoose.

Upside: Their covers change enough to sound unique and interesting and her voice is amazing.
Downside: Their main skills are looking cute and covering other people's songs on Youtube. So basically they're in the same arena as home camera videos of babies singing Beatles songs.

You've probably seen their Hyundai commercials...

Personally I can't stand that style of singing (see She and Him, Twin Sister, Feist, etc). It's like nails on a chalkboard to me, only more annoying.

Oh God, there's a THIRD one?? ARGH.

GRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!

The collab they did for the Ben Folds/Nick Hornby album was pretty good:

I swear to God, I will snap you like a fucking twig.

THAT's the girl you all keep complaining about? She's cute. You guys are jerks.

Pomplamoose? Jesus Christ, even their name is douchetastic.

Cute? Nah. On her best day, she's a really, really poor man's Zooey Deschanel. Most of the time she reminds me of Maggie Gyllenhaal. That's not a good thing.

She looks like Beck with breasts.

I'm sure it's spelled entirely in lowercase, too, or they got their friend from RISD to make a really cute little logo that goes with the name. Simply having a really annoying name isn't enough for these pricks.

Old Blue Eyes himself and some Christmas music

I know someone who describes Scarlet Johansson in exactly those terms.

I'd go out on a limb and say that Scarlett is significantly more attractive than this broad.

I will cut you.

You have a thing for sad, cartoon turtles?

The Avett Brothers' older material:

Not only is this, arguably, the most important song of the past 50 years, but this could also serve as a hint for whomever got me in that Secret Santa pool! (A Gigantic, sequined Stars and Bars cape would really help me set the tone for my students on the first day of class.)

Well seeing as I'm clearly a hipster it makes sense that I finally listened to Matt & Kim's new album. I love them, and got to meet them after they played Emory last year!





Also dusted off the Wombats debut album. They're releasing a new album (finally!!!) next year, and need to check out the singles, but still its nice to rediscover a record you love.

Caught the New Pornographers at Terminal 5 last night, where I met up with Ms. bloodorange. They sounded great, much better than when I saw them in June, and seemed to be enjoying themselves a lot more. Neko, Carl Newman, and Kathryn Calder just sound so perfect together, really great vocals. I also really like the way the electric guitar and cello parts sound together, which seems like it's a sound they've tried more on their most recent album than in the past. The show wasn't sold out, and was way less crowded than it had been in the past, which was strange, but also great. Nice to be able to move around on the floor and have a little space to myself.

Ted Leo opened, but I got there late, so only caught a song or two. Bummer, because they sounded great.

Oh, and also, in honor of Tom Waits' birthday, two clips from Swordfishtrombones, which I've been listening to a lot lately.

Ted Leo/Pharmacists (or "+ Pharmacists" or "and the Pharmacists" or whatever they're called now) is one of my favorite bands to see live. First time I saw them was in 2000 or 2001; they started the show with "Timorous Me," just Ted on stage by himself, and as other instruments come in other band members come on stage. I was blown away the moment the drums came in.

At the risk of being labeled a hipster (although I think I'm too old and fat to fit the stereotype), been listening to this Brit pop. Haters gonna hate. Checking them out live later this week.

That's so strange because I was randomly listening to the new New Pornographer's album last night and it's finally starting to clikc with me. (I've been luke warm on it.) Then, this morning when I got into work, I put on the new Ted Leo. (Which I'm still luke warm on.)

Anyway, 'jealous. Though it sucks you missed most of Ted Leo's set.

Out of the 11 or 12 songs, there are 3 or 4 that I actively dislike (the Dan Bejar songs in particular), a few that I'm ambivalent on, and 4-5 that I love. Especially "Crash Years" and "Sweet Talk" for the latter. "Moves" is great, love the opening cello bit. I skip around a lot whenever I put that CD in.

I confess that I only started listening to it while washing dishes and, yes, it's Crash Years that sucks me in everytime. I'm a big fan of Destroyer and some of Bejar's earlier NP songs but I agree that his songs on this album are among those that disappoint.

I'm falling behind with new music while I rebuild my iTunes collection post-computer crash but so far, with a few notable exceptions (The National, Wolf Parade, The Gaslight Anthem), this has largely been a year of mediocre albums from bands I love. (New Pornographers, Arcade Fire, The Hold Steady, Spoon, Ted Leo, Massive Attack, Menomena, etc.)

Lacrimas Profundere, a "German gothic metal band," somehow snuck onto my fucking Pandora mix. Honestly their music was sweet, but I cannot stand Cookie Monster vocals. FUCK. OFF. COOKIE MONSTER. Stick to eating goddamn cookies and stop sneaking around in the woods with guitar-laden Vikings.

The only thing worse than Cookie Monster vocals was that fucking battle Mirrors that The Internet spewed its pants over a year or two ago. The lead singer sounded like a fucking dwarf on helium. Am I seriously supposed to listen to that shit with a straight face? You may have put out the greatest album ever but if your vocals sound like the motherfucking Lollipop Guild, I am not listening to it!

I'm not sure which is more annoying - muppet vocalists or the people who complain about them.

It's ironic. I'm not sure if that makes you a hipster though, or me.

We're moving toward hipster singularity - which of course, was better back when it was on vinyl.

Jesus Christmas, I love most of ben fold's solo stuff but i couldn't get through more than two and a half minutes of this. sounds like a pre-school song or something.

The rest of the album is really good too just saying. That would be the weakest song.

Hipster Singularity is a good thing, keeps them from breeding.