Best Records of 2011 - #3 "Bedroom Eyes"

I keep coming back to this song as it takes me back to the '80s when I listened to vinyl of The Bangles, Go-Go's, Divinyls and The Pretenders in my bedroom: The Dum Dum Girls "Bedroom Eyes" Makes me want to Manic Panic my bangs and sleep in my fishnet stockings. And the packaging aside, Dee Dee's songwriting is adroit and sophisticated.

Best Records of 2011 - #4 "Countdown"

Beyonce channeling Audrey Hepburn is an absolute surefire way to make the "countdown" at number 4:

Best Records of 2011 - #5 "Video Games"

This song is the stickiest and Lana Del Ray looks gorgeous and troubled. It's a great combination:

Best Records of 2011 - #6 "Cruel"

St. Vincent's "Cruel" is the number 6 best song of 2011 but since I've posted the video quite recently, I thought I'd share a live version of "She is Beyond Good and Evil" cover of the Pop Group that St. Vincent did. Love the sparkley top, leather shorts and guitar shredding:

Best Records of 2011 - #7 "Sante Fe"

The first time I heard this song I instantly thought of my top ten list for the year. It's Beirut's "Sante Fe." Catchy and lush.

Best Records of 2011 - #8 "If I Had a Gun"

"If I Had a Gun" from Noel Gallagher. A pretty amazing live rendition as well if you get the chance to see Noel and the High Flying Birds in concert:

Best Records of 2011 - #9 "Super Bass"

Nicki Minja is bad-ass and Super Bass does not disappoint. There is undoubtedly a super-freaky (Rick James-style) strong, female artist under the record-industry packaging:

Best Records of 2011 - #10

I'm getting a jump on it this year. One of the best records of 2011 is Washed Out "Within and Without."  There is a subtle Magnetic Fields influence which I love.  The sound is lush and utterly enjoyable:

Florence + the Machine - "Shake it Out"

I really love the aesthetics in this video. I've always thought Florence is the spitting image of Jane Morris, the premiere model of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

St. Vincent - "Cruel"

Obsessed with St. Vincent's new album Strange Mercy, especially the single "Cruel"



Love Annie Clark's achingly sweet vocals.

Popped Music Festival

The Popped Music Festival features international music acts like The Shins, Elbow and Foster the People, plus local Philadelphia restaurants, markets, and food trucks with reasonably priced food (including vegetarian/vegan options), curated by Citypaper’s Meal Ticket and Philly Homegrown.  I may go on the Friday if babysitter/logistics pan out (children under 5 are admitted free however!).  The festival dates are Sept. 23 and Sept 24.

  

Fall Excitement

Five Things I'm Excited About for Fall:

1. Coats. And boots too. But mostly jackets and coats. I like Top Shop, J.Crew, Banana Republic, Land's Ends selections right now. This little guy looks stylish in his coat:

2. New Music.  Lots of albums drop in Fall, 2011 including St. Vincent, Evanescence, Feist, Tori Amos, Wilco.  Andrew and I are going to see Noah Gallagher's High Flying Birds in November at the Philadelphia Academy of Music.

3. Guild Wars 2 and The Secret History - two lush new massively-multi-player games that will give WOW a run for its money (reported to release in 2011 but no official BETA dates yet):

4. Halloween - candy, costume, Zombie Proms?  Who doesn't love Halloween?

5. Collective Sleeping - between Andrew, Holly and three cats, I'm sure our bed will be at full capacity more than a few nights this winter.  Cozy!

From the Archives - Big Louise

Here's a picture from the archives: Big Louise with me, Lisa Jenio, Spike Priggen, my sis, Robert Vickers from The Go-Betweens and Doug Wygal.

700 Club in Philadelphia

Yesterday Andy and I went to The 700 in Northern Liberties to watch the FA Cup Semi-Final. This intimate bar specializes in football on the telly and DJ dance nights. The bar manager was friendly and personable. The bartender later not so much. But either way, we felt right at home with the crowd, music and beer. I will definitely go again for one of the dance nights because I hear it's like a house party in someone's living room with cool music and people. This is Stella who was tending bar at the time.

Wild Flag

The debut album from Wild Flag is a much anticipated release for me. This indie rock super-group features Carrie Brownstein and drummer Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney!), former Helium guitarist and singer Mary Timony (!!!!), and Rebecca Cole of The Minders(? - seriously, not as familiar but she must be good because she's in great company). Don't know when it will come out but when it does, it's mine! The last girl group I was this excited about was The Breeders.

Blank City

"In the end, I felt like this was going to be some kind of Warhol thing and that someone was going to come up and shoot me." - quote from Blank City, an acclaimed documentary about No-Wave Cinema in the '80s.

Also I watched Sid & Nancy last night for the first time in about 10 years and the soundtrack still holds up. Excellent film score and songs in the movie.

tUnE-yArDs’ - "Bizness"

Great video by the tUnE-yArDs.  They have such a unique sound and fierce vocals, mixing the primitive with the experimental but never losing their pop-ness.  Merrill Garbus reminds me of a more throaty Laurie Anderson.  Truly outstanding music and performance:

Imogen Heap embraces social media for new song material

If anyone can pull this off, it's Imogen Heap. During the month of March she encourages her fans to upload audio, video and visual material to assist her in the song-writing process of her new album. She will release the finished product, #heapsong1 on March 28th.

Social media as song-writing tool of the future?  I believe so as it's a perfect delivery method for collaboration.

The Cat Library

Corentin Dombrecht, an industrial designer from Belgium, has created a bookshelf for both human and cat. Dombrecht is a definite cat lover and has done his research stating, "The modules are not painted, not oiled, which after observation seems to seduce cats more. Paint has a tendency to make "the stairs" slippery for cat paws." I especially like the large width and height of the foundation boxes which can hold LPs for those with an old school record collection.




Dombrecht's photos from 2001 featuring mock advertisements for luxury branded oxygen are very clever as well.

Craig Wedren - "Are We"

First of all, I adore Shudder to Think and have for a long time. Craig Wedren's smooth, occasionally operatic voice is very pleasant to listen to. Second, Craig Wedren has a new single out for "Are We" which you can download on iTunes. Lastly, the video is downright amazing. Not sure how they do it but it's a lot of fun to play around with and certainly the future of music videos. Check it out here:

Classic '90s video: Fiona Apple - "Criminal"

I heard this song today and thought of how seminal this video was a decade ago - how it embodied so many good and bad hallmarks of the '90s like strong female singer-songwriters (good) and heroin chic (bad). Great cinematography, lighting, storytelling and mood.

British Chip Shop

So glad there's a real English chippie in my NJ nabe!  The British Chip Shop is located in Haddonfield, NJ and features authentic British cuisine like fish 'n chips, bangers and mash, mushy peas, and Sunday Suppers which feature curries and pies.  We are trying it for the first time today as we attend a British Meet-up (I've read that it's kid-friendly which is a plus!).  We're going to take Holly to Happy Hippo Toys afterwards.

"Stylish and Cool" is the "Mother" of Invention

I have to admit that I didn't watch the Superbowl - therefore I didn't see any of the big-budget advertising that is often discussed and debated in my field during February. However, I googled the Superbowl Ads so if I was stuck by the water cooler I could intelligently nod and say, "Wieden & Kennedy," right?

In my search I found the independent ad agency, Mother. And me being not that cool, it was the first time I had heard of them. But I was struck by their humble, blog-like web site that lets their work shine without a bunch of over-reaching philosophical mumbo jumbo. They also developed those uber-stylish Stella Artois '60s, French-inspired spots and the X-Box Dance Central takeover of Times Square (love Dance Central - great workout!). I'm not sure Mother will inspire a cultural revolution but they make advertising cool and fun, and at the end of the day, isn't that why we buy products - to be cool and fun?

Wonderful Strangeness from the Musical Archives

This clip from the late 80s US show Night Music, which featured jazz and experimental music legends like Brandford Marsalis and Yoko Ono features a fabulous cast of musical characters. Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Bongwater and the Pussywillows perform "You Don't Love Me Yet" by Roky Erickson. Doesn't get any better or weirder than this!



PS: I auditioned for the Pussywillows but they chose another singer and then the Pussywillows broke up and the founding member Elinor became April March. Even though they were short-lived the 'Willows had great potential. This is one of my favorite songs by this precursor to punky girl-groups like Best Coast and the Dum Dum Girls:

Great Song for a Snowy Day

We have a few inches of snow on the ground and more on the way (could be up to 10 inches). So here's a warm, comfortable and somewhat melancholy song for a snowy day from the lovely and talented Bonnie Raitt, the John Prine cover of "Angel from Montgomery,"

Troll Hunter

This Norwegian film is getting great reviews and was screened at this year's Sundance to much acclaim. It looks like a cross between Cloverfield and Lord of the Rings (with of course some Blair Witch, the mama of the genre, thrown in for good measure). I especially like the religious sub-text that if you do not believe in God, the trolls will not find you, which makes this movie less of a contemporary horror flick and more of a modern day fairy tale:

Best Records of 2010 - #1

I realize that I never added the final song in my list of the Best Records of 2010 (in no particular order I might add).  Number one is Brandon Flowers - "Crossfire" which has commercial appeal, a soul-aching chorus and a gorgeous Hollywood-style video.  It's cinematic quality makes it a great soundtrack for film so I'm not surprised that HBO has picked it up for use in it's advertisements.

New Album for Kate Bush

Very exciting news indeed!  Kate Bush is set to release her ninth studio album in 2011.  Let's hope this is not just a rumor.

Archival Punk Videos Resurface

This looks like a fantastic and important exhibition:

The Fales Collection at New York University will shortly begin the process of preserving and cataloging an extraordinary video archive of punk and new wave performances known as “Gonightclubbing, Ltd.,” mainly recorded in the nineteen seventies at East Village clubs like CBGB using reel-to-reel video.

The archive is the work of video artists Emily Armstrong and Pat Ivers, and until collected by a team from Fales last week it occupied significant cupboard space in Ms. Armstrong’s apartment. Although the material has been presented at museum and theater shows, it has never been commercially available. Almost 200 live shows by acts like the Dead Boys, the Heartbreakers, Iggy Pop and Suicide have remained largely unseen since the two young cable TV employees hauled their gear around downtown clubs more than 30 years ago. Read more from The Local East Village story here.

RIP - Mick Karn, ex-bassist for UK pop band Japan loses battle with cancer

My sister and I listened to Japan as teenagers and were influenced by their sultry synth pop well into our adult years. We were even members of the Amercian fan club for the band and would get monthly magazines filled wih band tidbits just for the super-fans. Mick Karn and his music will be missed.  Sadly, he died at only 52 years of age.