mashups
Okay, I've always been a reluctant listener to this "mashup" business. You know, the practice of playing two really different (usually) songs on top of each other, more or less, and fiddling a little with the timing. It may be the snob in me, but it seems a little adolescent. Or at least that's what I say in places like a music blog.
Secretly, I think I enjoy the shit out of a good "mashup". It's some meme-like attraction. Anyway, go HERE and listen to Overnight Star. I'm not kidding when I say it is Kanye West + Sigur Ros.
jammin’ at work
Streaming from archive.org, naturally...
Spoon, live at the Coney Island Siren Festival, 07/16/2005
Love it 
the national
The National is a pretty awesome band. I'm reminded very much of Nick Cave by the lead singer. Musically, they're somewhere between alt-country and shoegazer. Yeah, I know. Crazy...
I went hog-wild on eMusic and downloaded a bunch of their stuff. Check them out (free songs on their website). To get you started, here's one that I like:
sources, part 1(a)
I shared one source with my Jon Brion post earlier, so I figured that'd be a great way to start off something I've been meaning to do: share with you, gentle readers, some of my favorite music blogs on the web. These come in no particular order, and be aware a creative blogger can win me over with just a couple of awesome posts. In any event, DoCopenhagen finds some great tunes and videos. No pretense, no nonsense. Just fun to check out out now and again...
And, and a postscript: The "Tiger" portion of the "TigerPooh" blog promises to start the process of beginning to think about the process of thinking about setting up an account to learn how to post on this mess, so stay tuned for his more reflective and thoughtful brand of music exegesis.
a post for jpr
Just because I think you're tops.
I share a source. Oh, it's Jon Brion, by the way 
Ha!
Okay, I really hate to do this, but I haven't yet managed to get file hosting arranged. It's okay: should be by the end of the week. But I can't pass this up:
YouAintNoPicasso has posted a cover of Sigur Ros' Hoppipolla by none other than We Are Scientists. Make no mistake, I feel they should be beaten for even attempting to cover the greatness of Sigur Ros. But I give them props for trying. And for not making some parody out of it (intentionally)... WAS are known for their jokes.
Okay, so apologies to YANP for the theft. I'll fix it ASAP. Besides, I don't get any traffic here anyway...
UPDATE: Link now points to my own EZArchive...no longer am I a bandwidth bandit. Hark!
röyksopp
Röyksopp, this Norwegian trip-hop number, makes catchy music. But they also make f'ing awesome videos. Check this one out. (Sims, anyone?)
My favorite song is probably Melody A.M.'s "Eple". They have a clip available on their website, which you hear* if you click the title above.
The music, which I've enjoyed now for a couple of years I guess (JPR should recognize "Eple" from a mixed CD a while back) is pretty light-hearted. But it's the product of pretty impressive talent.
Perhaps I'll post another selection more closely approximating my mood in a bit.
*Yes, it's in Real Audio format, but you needn't install that wretched player. I use Media Player Classic to play all my "really aggravating format" media... It's free and OpenSource.
UPDATE: Now the link above will bring you the MP3. Go ahead and get MPC, though, for those other aggravating RealMedia streams that'll no doubt pop up...
Ehhhhh….?
Is it just me, or is Jose Gonzalez quite possibly Air...just really, really unplugged? (Especially here.)
Brookville on KCRW
If you're not familiar with Morning Becomes Eclectic, you should probably...I don't know...get the fuck off my blog. This is a fantastic show, wherein Nic Harcourt plays the American-imported, posthumous John Peel. I highly recommend that you subscribe to the podcast, visit the web site regularly, dream about it at night...whatever does your trick*. And yeah, you don't have to get the fuck off the blog. I kid, I kid.
I bring this up in order to announce - for JPR - the recent appearance of Brookville on the show. While it is particularly thrilling to watch or listen live, they do keep an archive of both the programs and the in-studio webcam feeds. I love these people. Seriously.
If you don't know of Brookville, it's really the side project of Andy Chase from Ivy, though I imagine most of us know more about Brookville than Ivy... Very chill, mildly funky, maybe tweedy, jazz. Belle & Sebastian for people without something to prove... Well, without Isobell Campbell, but who's counting...
Anyway, check them out, watch this show and the very many awesome other ones.
*Thank me in the comments
b-side folk union
So I have this habit of browsing the "Now Even Cheaper" used CD bins whenever I'm in a music store. There's nothing quite so satisfying as finding a little gem for $2.00 or something. I picked up an album some time ago that I got around to listening to yesterday on my drive across this absurdly large state.
B-Side Folk Union: The Simply Things
Sorry about the link - it's the only one I can find for the band at all. There are plenty of mentions of their live show schedule (they're from Arkansas) but it seems that the several domains they've gone through for their band website are all being parked by enterprising registrars. (A loathsome practice...)
Well, I was impressed by B-Side Folk Union, for the most part. Instrumentally, they sound exactly like (dare I say it?) Dave Matthews Band*. Really. No, I mean really. It's like they took Under The Table and Dreaming and replaced the vocalist. There's the rub, though. The vocals, while good in probably several other contexts, don't fit the music very well. Although it could just be that I'm expecting to hear Dave singing Dave. I'll post a track or two for your commentary once I'm home and have a satisfactory arrangement with these EZArchive people. Who ever thought about charging for services on the web??
*Admit it, you like DMB. No, you like them. All of us who don't like them don't like them for reasons beyond their music. Say, their fans... But you secretly enjoy listening to their (once-original) jazzy folk sound and playful instrumentation. Don't bother denying it, because I know better.