Its awesome. Needed some new music. WOO

I like their old album better so far. Still some very good tracks on it, though.

I'm really freakin torn on that damn We Are Young song.

I had never heard it until December, in this form:



Which of course lead to the wife singing it over and over again.

Yeah it's catchy, but listen to:

So let's set the world on fiiIIREE

We can burn brigHTEEEEER!

over and over again and try to still enjoy it.

Anyway, I heard the actual version and really liked it, but I can't get Glee and "fiiiiiIIIREEE" out of my head.

Is that Fun song in commercials? I swear I've heard it before, a thousand times, and it has to be in commercials, right?

It just sounds like a song written for commercials. Hooks in the right spot, lyrics in the right way...

Hey, look, I'm capable of answering my own questions!
"the original version later went on to top the chart in February 2012 after being featured in the Chevy Sonic commercial aired during Super Bowl XLVI."

Fun. is good stuff for sure - when two or more of the regular contributors to this thread like something, it's usually a good sign.

Happy to say that after a slow 4-6 weeks to start the year, I am back to panicking that I won't be able to absorb all the new music that I want to listen to. Huzzah!

In case anyone is interested, We Are Augustines are playing Letterman tomorrow night.

Tricky - "Black Steel"

Matthew Sweet - "Sick of Myself"

Tyga - "Rack City"

Corner Shop - "Brim Full of Asha"

Listened to this today, "Pumped Up Kicks" is a killer track, but the rest of the album was somewhat awful and generic. Doesn't help that they look like a bunch of wanna be GQ douches, either.

The Fiona Apple shows sold out in about 0.1 seconds. I could not have gotten on any earlier. I wonder whether there's any way to rig your connection so that you jump the line quicker.

I may break a long-standing personal rule against buying scalped tickets for one of these shows. I would really love to see her in a small venue like this. Hopefully she adds more shows or comes back around.

EDIT: Yikes, $175 minimum on StubHub. Wow.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2012/02/24/1...sc=fb&cc=fp

Thought this was kind of an interesting take on people's reactions to new music.

Definitely interesting. Would explain why I haven't really embraced Adele - I certainly appreciate the talent, but I don't find her music original enough. Why would I listen to neo soul, when I can pull up the originals so easily? I feel the same way about a lot of contemporary jazz artists.

Meanwhile, I am floored by the Perfume Genius album. It's pretty new, don't think too many YouTube clips are up yet.

http://open.spotify.com/album/5hjlzVCJCePW4DmMJVryla

http://open.spotify.com/track/4C7F5zCFfppYauKHjKpC34

Man, Fun.'s first album is so good. Soooooo good.

Listen, she's beyond defending -- she's totally fucked up. But ...



It almost makes you believe in higher powers, because she's done everything in her power to ruin herself, yet her voice hasn't changed in 20 years. I have Irish bias, but she still kills me. Whitney died last week, yet she's still singing like this? Lord works in mysterious ways, blah blah blah.

And just for memories sake ...



Seriously, what would happen if this chick wandered onto American Idol? It would be Jeremy Lin level national news, right? Then she released arguably the greatest female album of the 90s, went batshit crazy, and medicated/self-medicated herself and lost her angry fastball. But for the kids out there, her first two albums are unbelievably amazing.

Yep - complete mental patient, but she is one of the few singers that actually gives me chills when I hear her perform. Absolutely love Sinead. Oh, and with St. Patrick's day on the way, I'll have to roll out Paddy's Lament again. Haunting.

Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell

Descendants - Everything Sucks

I can't stop listening to the Fun. album.

For metal nerds: http://www.amazon.com/Mosh-Potatoes-Recipe.../dp/B005EP23GU/

Did anyone happen to see the MSG Network special of the Z100 Jingle Ball? They played that gig because I guess an accidental hit song in that format like Pumped Up Kicks will get you that show, but rather than being the cool real band among Kelly Clarkson and Hot Chilly Rae or whatever the fuck they are called, they played literally a 12 minute rendition of Pumped Up Kicks that basically turned into a live, electronic, "club banger" remix to get the guidos moving.

Foster The People, you're fired. Fired like Kings of Leon. Because now you have to make your next record for those people. Not me. And I'm better than those people.

/elitestprickhipstermusicsnob

Man, I've already spent a ton of money for Bonnaroo, but seeing this line up makes me giddy.

http://governorsballmusicfestival.com/

I probably won't go, since I can't justify spending that much money for 2 music festivals, but it look awesome.

Looks like I may be seeing M83 in France in 2 and a half weeks. Fuck yeah.

Nice!

(Or wherever they happen to be playing)

Giving the new Lampchop album a spin - does anyone here like them? It seemed a little too Stephin-Merritt-ish for me the first time I listened, but I'm starting to like it a lot.

http://open.spotify.com/track/76LqdJi48Hlzpthde7sSLD

This is an acoustic version:



This is one of the reasons why Pitchfork is great, BTW. I had never heard of these guys at all before perusing the reviews section the other day. The only Lambchop I knew before that was a sock puppet.

Lambchop is cool. I like the mellow vibe so far.

The shine is really coming off the new Fun. album for me. It Gets Better is just unlistenable for me, and when I put on the album, I find myself mostly listening to Some Nights through Carry On and then shutting it off.

I keep going back and forth on that one. Some of the songs are great but, the danger in an album of this sort is that every once in a while you stop and say to yourself, "This is basically bad easy listening."

I'm having similar issues with the most recent Shearwater album. This is their first album without Will Sheff and it's at its best when it is breaking new ground for Shearwater. The opening track, for example, is fantastic:



About halfway through, though, the album becomes more hit or miss and when it falls back into Shearwater auto-pilot it becomes a bit of a slog. Where it reminds me of the Lampchop album, however, is on the last track, Star Of The Age, a track that is so bad that all of a sudden you become embarrassingly self-aware of what you are listening to. It makes you call the whole album into question. "Holy shit -- This is some bad, goofy crap. Have I been listening to this all along?"



There's a fine line between brilliant and crap and both of these albums seem to be wavering back and forth across that line.

I understand what you mean. Even on Mr. M - Gar - is an example of the latter - an instrumental easy listening song, and it sucks. Seriously, like elevator music. And a few songs later, "The Good Life" is beautiful. I think artists like this can straddle the line you speak of multiple times within the same recording. We've also discussed a similar phenomenon with the "new folk" scene.

The Good Life is definitely the standout track on that album and, yes, Gar is, I think, the track that made me stop and go, "Ugh."

I've been listening to Fun. all day and this album seems to flirt with that line a lot more successfully. I feel like I should be embarrassed by some of these songs and yet they work but it's like a terrifying high wire act.

And meanwhile, I knew there was a reason why I should have been more familiar with Shearwater. Jonathan Meiburg did the secondary lead vocals on "Lost Coastlines", right? That is probably my favorite Okkervil River song.

Yeah, Shearwater was originally Meiburg and Sheff releasing songs that didn't quite fit with the Okkervil River sound but now I guess it's Meiburg's gig alone. I always feel like I should like Shearwater more than I do but I always admire the albums without ever loving them. I do love this song though:



(Though that's a terrible recording. Check it out on Spotify.)

I boo you. I can see why It Gets better can be grating but it always gets my foot tapping. If you really stop it after that, you're missing out on some good songs. I just checked the playlist and quickly played each song and I pretty much dig each one.

I'll put one foot in front of the other one
I don't need a new love, or a new life
Just a better place to die

Maybe I should learn to shut my mouth
I am over twenty-five
And I can't make a name for myself
Some nights I break down and cry
Lucky that my father's still alive
He's been fighting all his life
And if this is all I've ever known
May son live on forever
In my song

Nothing this year has been standing out.

Fun...some decent tracks but once I heard the auto-tuning on 'Stars', I went limp.

Lambchop...some good tracks but as a whole, it was too bland and drawn out for me. But I only gave it one listen.

For some decent dream pop, here's a track off a new album. Reminds me a little of the Sundays and the Cranberries.

Agreed. Really disappointing year so far.

Craig Finn's solo album is worth a listen and there are no bad songs on it but, at the same time, I'm not exacly burning to listen to it again.

Andrew Bird's new album, though, is growing on me. Everything he puts out lives in the shadow of Armchair Apocrypha but the new one gets better with every listen and that's kind of how Armchair Apocrypha snuck up on me when it came out.

I like the First Aid kit album, also Sharon van Etten. The Cloud Nothings album was cool, and the Gonjasufi album was so weird that I think it will take a while to sink in. Just gave the new Heartless Bastards CD a spin, liked it. Supposedly they are tearing shit up on their tour right now. But yeah, overall, nothing that has grabbed me to the point of obsession, unlike last year.

Ugh. Boo you. Here, I'll play along.
It Gets Better is beyond grating. Why they're auto-tuning an excellent voice is beyond me. That song is a disaster.
Why Am I Always The One is fine-to-very-good depending on my mood, it's strong enough lyrically, but it's a little slow at times.
All Alone and All Alright, take it or leave it. Snooze.
Stars has the AutoTune disease.

Pass.

I'm not exactly a guy who likes auto tune, but I find it interesting when bands like this who have people who can sing use it. I don't think it's the devil others perceive it to be.

It's just irritating. Fantastic voices shouldn't need it. I can deal with it in Some Nights because it's sparing.

Nothing on that album excluding We Are Young reaches the heights of songs like Be Calm, All The Pretty Girls, The Gambler or At Least I'm Not As Sad As I Used To Be.

Hoping my computer gets fixed just in time for Fiona Apple to reverse this trend. But yeah.

Fun has been fun, but overall its not wowing.

album is hitting the spot right now.

Liking this Heartless Bastards album more and more. "Parted Ways" is a great track. Not sure how different it is than what, say, Patti Smith and Joan Jett were doing 30-35 years ago, but it's still good rock n' roll.

Speaking of Fun., tix for their show at Terminal 5 on June 16th went on sale at noon today, and sold out in 10 minutes. They announced another show for June 17th.

A couple of interesting songs, I haven't been able to listen to the full albums yet:





Also, a song off that Andrew Bird album I was raving about last night:

Funny you should mention Grimes, because I have been listening to her all day and trying to get into it. I like a few tracks, but overall I'm not feeling it. I may try again later on.

derp

The new Grimes album is pretty phenomenal. Been listening to it a lot.

Don't nobody look like that!
Nobody even look like that!

Public Enemy sampling Slayer. Musical Peanut Butter and chocolate.

DAS RAYCESS