Here’s a couple songs about the biggest par-tay day of the year (or is it #2 behind the Super Bowl?). No explanation needed – here they are:
MP3 Death Cab for Cutie – The New Year
MP3 U2 – New Year’s Day (Live at Red Rocks)
Month: December 2005
The Pipettes
The Pipettes are a female-lead Indie British band, which is about all you need to tell me to spark my interest. The fact that they’re very attractive and wear polka dots seals the deal. And their music is good too, which although by this time is irrelevant – is always a plus. They have a pretty cool music video called Dirty Mind which you can access here.
Here’s a few sample tracks for you to listen to till they come out with a full album:
MP3 It Hurts To See you Dance So Well
MP3 Dirty Mind
MP3 Really That Bad
Christmas Present Round-Up
Imagine this picture of Celeste and Me in a really cool black frame… this was the coolest gift.
I also got a fantastic book – The Cult of iPod and a personalized Shutterfly calender from Celeste.
From the others – My parents were smart and are letting me buy my own gift with some money. They threw in a cool Rolling Stones t-shirt and some post-it notes also. My sisters got me The Simpsons – Season 7, which is my personal favorite season. Other gifts include cards to Hollister Co and Texas Roadhouse, and more $$$. Very enjoyable Christmas this year!
Review of iTunes Celebrity Playlists – Steve Perry
This is a section where I talk about the iTunes Celebrity Playlists feature and review one of the artists selections, today I am doing Steve Perry’s (which you can access here). Steve Perry prefaces his selection here by saying:
“These are some of my favorite tunes. There are so many more that it was TUFF to cut it down to 25. As you can see, I love all kinds of music…”
Just reading that selection one would already assume that Steve Perry is a pre-teenage girl. Most of his list readily confirms this, especially the the opening of TLC and Coldplay. Perry says about Waterfalls – “When I first heard this tune, I knew it was going to be a hit”, when I first heard Hoobastank’s The Reason, I knew it would be a hit, but that doesn’t make it a good song, does it?
It actually seems, from reading further, that Steve Perry only likes songs that he immediately likes. Song 2 – “I liked it immediately”. Hollaback Girl – “I loved it right away” – Hey Ya – “Loved it from the very first moment I heard it” – Hot in Herre – “When I first heard this on the radio, I really like the, It’s getting hot in here, I think I’ll take my clothes off chorus.” Thanks for specifying the chorus you liked there, I was really confused for a second.
Another way of judging these playlists is seeing if an artist “pimps” themselves on it. Perry does do this a grand total of THREE TIMES, saying about Don’t Stop Believin’ – “this was always one of my favorite J-tunes”. He calls Journey songs J-tunes – please kill me now. About Go Away he says “this continues to be one of my hidden faves.” Well it can’t really continue to be a hidden fave after you tell the whole world can it? Also he apparantly wrote Stay Awhile (one of his “fave Journey tracks”) in Lake Tahoe. I can die happy now knowing that information.
Does Steve Perry’s list have some redeeming qualitites? Well you can’t argue with his variety, putting Four Tops and Nelly on the same list is quite a feat. And he picks a couple of good songs (anyone can do that really). But his pathetic attempts to be cool are… well… pathetic. He calls Eels “real Ball-Z”. I almost expected him to say about Gwen Stefani – like LOL, OMG she is so HAWt&##$*@!#! – Steve Perry’s playlist gets a D
Here’s the full list with three of them available for download:
TLC – Waterfalls
Coldplay – Clocks
Sam Cooke – Cupid
Four Tops – I Need Your Loving
Blur – Song 2
U2 – Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
Blind Faith – Can’t Find My Way Home
Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
The System – Don’t Disturb This Groove
Eels – In the Yard, Behind the Church
Kasbian – Club Foot
Outkast – Hey Ya!
Journey – Stay Awhile (Live)
Filter – Take a Picture
Simon & Garfunkel – The Dangling Conversation
Sarah McLachlan – Angel
Steve Perry – Go Away
Eels – It’s a M************r
Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’ (Live)
Nelly – Hot in Herre
Images of Christmas
Instead of sharing all of my Christmas Day thoughts with you, I’m leaving you with a few pictures that will hopefully bring you a warm feeling of Christmas Joy.
And as some random Stereogum reader noted: “a merry, merry, secular-humanist-non-denominational-winter giving season to EVERYONE!!”
I love those cupcakes like McAdams loves Gosling
One of the funniest things floating around the web now is Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell’s Old-Schoo Rap video “Lazy Sunday”, where they go see Chronic(what)cles of Narnia. I have to admit, SNL has been alot funnier this season thanks to the Lonely Island Crew (who is also behind Awesometown and the We Are Scientists videos).
I first saw the video on the blog Everbody Cares, Everbody Understands, where you can still download the MP3, but the video just now got put up for a free download on iTunes. Thanks NBC and Apple!
Download the video here. (Must have iTunes)
Venice Is Sinking
I get alot of emails from different bands, some good, some bad. Venice Is Sinking is defintely on the good side of that spectrum. From the song I’ve heard they have a very expanisive dreamy sound filled with multi-layered vocals and strings. They seem to have alot of creativity. Here’s the sample track they sent me:
Colorful 80's Songs
It’s theme day at Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good, which really is any day I can’t think of anything better to post. Today the theme is 80’s songs that have do with a color, because who doesn’t love 80’s songs, seriously.
MP3 Billy Idol – White Wedding
White Wedding is a great way to kick off any mix.
MP3 R.E.M. – Orange Crush
Not only does this song have to do with color but it’s on an album called Green.
MP3 New Order – Blue Monday
This song is a must-have at dance parties.
MP3 Yello – Oh Yea
Absolute classic Ferris Buehler song.
MP3 Rush – Red Barchetta
This song showcases Neil Peart’s amazing drumming skills!
MP3 Culture Club – Karma Chameleon
The perfect song to end this mix – “Lovin’ would be easy if your colors were like my dreams – red, gold, and green; red, gold, and green.” What does that mean?
Put this mix in when your feeling the holiday blues (no pun intended), because there’s nothing like cheesy 80’s songs to make you feel good.
Kashmir – They're huge in Denmark!
Kashmir is a Danish band that was formed in 1991 under the name Nirvana, they quickly changed to Kashmir though for obvious reasons. Over the years they’ve become one of the biggest acts in Denmark and have had three of their albums go Platinum and have won 6 Danish music awards. They’re almost completely unheard of in America, though, which is a shame because they are really good.
On their latest CD, No Balance Please, David Bowie offered to sing on one of the songs and Lou Reed offered to write a song for them, (it’s no small feat to feature two legends on a CD). Kashmir can be easily compared to Bends-era Radiohead, Muse, and even the Doves. I’m going to give you a couple of tracks from their two latest CD’s (which are both available as an imports on Amazon).
from Zitilites
Mp3 Kashmir – Rocket Brothers
Mp3 Kashmir – Melpomene
from No Balance Palace
Mp3 Kashmir – The Cynic (Feat. David Bowie)
Mp3 Kashmir – The Curse Of Being A Girl
This is where they got their name:
Mp3 Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
The Simpsons MP3's
I have to leave for work soon so this will be a short post, but a few days ago, I found www.simpsoncrazy.com, which features a very complete Simpsons MP3 database at their downloads section. It has every song played or sang on The Simpsons ever from the Itchy and Scratchy Theme Song to Flaming Moes to the B-52’s Glove Slap. Here are three classics that made me laugh out loud:
MP3 Troy McClure – Stop The Planet I Want To Get Off
MP3 Lyle Lanley – Monorail
MP3 Springfield Elementary – We Are The Mediocre Presidents
Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good 