am/fm

K. This is from last summer, but it's still pretty mesmerizing.

And we've been talking a lot about Jose Gonzalez recently, who sings the song in the spot, "Heartbeats," which is originally by The Knife. The full Gonzalez version is here.

Oh, yeah, and the commercial itself is for some sort of TV, in case you didn't get that.

eh.www.amNY.com

My boy made fun of himself on SNL last night. I love the face "Dakota Fanning" makes as Kanye yells at her. Also, "I am the greatest show on earth, and I won't apologize for that." (Which he probably truly believes, to all of our benefit.) And, "Give a black man ... give a short black man a chance," is hilarious.

Actually, he does a good job of acting through out the skit. Maybe he should have hosted... The rest of the show was kinda meh.

Also, he has a blog.

eh.www.amNY.com

Some of these CDs are gonna be new, and some of them are gonna be old...

The Young Knives "Voices of Animals and Men"
My immediate impression is their explosive sound is derivative but good. As the disc plays, however, I am less impressed. The lead singer's yelping just isn't doing it for me, and the whole thing sounds done-before.

Meat Puppets "Rise to Your Knees"
I really like the cover art.

And, whoa! This takes me back. "The Brothers Meat" have still got it. After an 11-year estrangement, Curt and Cris Kirkwood are back together, making beautiful, slacker music.

Dr. Dog "We All Belong"
I think I've heard this album before, which is a little bit cheating. But, whatever, I like it. These guys sound like they'd be fun to party with, OR they'd be fun to have play at your party. Either one.

more after the jump...

Here's something that occurred to me last night: The time of arrival at a concert is directly related to how cool a given concertgoer is, with later being cooler. The distance from the stage is also directly related to coolness, with closer being cooler. BUT the later one arrives, the less karmically cool it is to then push one's way to the front.

Ideal solution: Be a VIP, come late, and flash your credentials as you make your way through the jealous crowd to the best seats in the house. Important corollary: If there is no VIP, do not take it upon yourself to create one, no matter how important you think you are — I will never forget the time Princess Coldstare and her retinue pushed me and my friends aside so that she could be two feet closer to the stage. That's a bitch move, and every time I see her sourpuss mug I will remember it.

Regular people solution: Get there halfway into the opening band's set. The venue will not yet be at capacity and you'll get to check out a new group, without having to commit to their entire set.

Alternate solution: Stop caring about coolness and get there five minutes after the doors open. This way you can grab a table and rest your weary feet while you wait an hour for the first band to come on.

eh.www.amNY.com

Thanks to LJ for the tip. I'll let her present this clip:

in the latest case of "what's that song in the commericial" -- i have become obessessed with that old navy song that's like "if you feel chilly, here take my sweater."

it's ingrid michaelson -- an NYC singer/songwriter chick -- here's her link: http://www.ingridmichaelson.com/music.html

The song is called "the way i am" off 2007 album called "girls and boys"

eh.www.amNY.com

• Spinner has the new Pinback video. I love these guys.
They also have a list of Rock's Hardest Partiers:

11. Sid Vicious
Sid was basically hired to be the world's biggest burnout. His antics generated so much press for the Sex Pistols that no one noticed he was the worst bassist on the planet.

I recently read Simon Reynolds' "Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984," which had a nice summation of the Sex Pistols' antics. I recommend it. The book, that is; although if you're feeling antics, go nuts.

• More videos over at Stereogum. Two marvels of stop-motion animation for videos by They Might Be Giants.

They also have an Of Montreal cover of the Zombies.

• Of Montreal is especially coverlicious today, as Pitchfork has the band's take on Love Is All's "Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up." It's a pretty, stripped down version that sounds nothing like the original:

• Gothamist has a Q&A with members of Beirut, an interview that they did over email that really could have been more informative. See, they thought they were getting Zach Condon, but instead they got answers back from Jason Poranski and Paul Collins. I really sympathize. I hate doing email interviews, because there's always the chance that whoever your emailing will just take three seconds to toss off really not-engaged answers. Which seems to be what happened to them. Although, some people are really more communicative over email than phone. It helps when their publicist knows this; I was hepped to that tip when I talked to writer Sarah Vowell and the Long Winters' John Roderick, and those were two of the best email interviews I ever did. The worst was probably with the notoriously reticent Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

• Tom Breihan, over at Status Ain't Hood, reviews a Black Lips appearance last week that was really more indie BS than anything good. It's an example of how blogs-gone-wild can create a monster.

eh.www.amNY.com

While doing some research on amazon.com, I found this documentary interview with The Stones talking to producer Don Was. It's pretty interesting.

Mostly made me think, however, of the Mike Myers SNL sketch "The Ron Wood Show."

I couldn't find any video online (those NBC suits are vigilant), but it's a funny bit. Anyone else remember it?

eh.www.amNY.com

My favorite quote: "The people have chosen. The people came out, bought the album ... I can't walk down the street, ' 'Ye, we love album!' [people say.] I say, 'Man, I know. It's great, isn't it. I love it too! I love it too! We agree!' "

(Via)

eh.www.amNY.com

I'm retiring the "Linkies" category, because I've kind of started hating that name. So, while I'm thinking of a new super name for link dump-type posts, we're calling it "On the blogs." Anywho...

• Pitchfork has a very process-oriented interview with Angus Andrew of Liars. It's a pretty deep look at how the band put the latest album together.

• Stereogum unearthed this gem of a fan made video for Beck's new single, "Timebomb." It's awesome, and definitely emphasizes the Dan Deacon-feel of the song that one commenter pointed out. I especially like the random hamsters. Also on the 'gum, there's a pretty interesting debate in the comments of this entry about rock bands licensing their music to commercials, and who actually is seeing that money.

• Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley talk toothbrushes with New York Mag.

• NPR's All Songs Considered featured Rotary Downs on their podcast a few weeks ago (scroll down to the last song). These kids rock! In case NPRs player doesn't work for you — it doesn't for me either — you can sample the band's wares on their MySpace page. The lead singer's voice and laid-back delivery really reminds me of They Might Be Giants, in a totally awesome way.

eMusic threw a party Wednesday night to celebrate the fact that they've started offering audiobooks on their site. Which sounds awesome in theory, but I have a giant stack of real page books to work through, so I don't think I'm going to be adding audiobooks to the mix anytime soon.

(via)

Vampire Weekend opened up the show, and they were so much fun. I'd read a lot about them (actually, I'd read that they're the second coming of Paul Simon's "Graceland" in four or 500 publications), but I hadn't heard them before. They were awesome. And, I'm not sure who first brought up the "Graceland" connection, but now I'm starting to think it was the band itself. Their music is nothing if not an homage to the great masterpiece of world-fusion music. But the sound is fresh and fun, and the boys have a ton of energy. Decked out in button-downs and sweaters these cuties (who look fresh out of high school) rocked the house.

And may I say a word about the house: Angel Orensanz Foundation is beautiful. The synagogue-turned-arts-venue on the Lower East is a magnificent place to see a concert, and if you get the chance to, go.

After a brief intermission, funk/afrobeat outfit Budos Band took the stage. These guys are from Staten Island, I have since learned, so you should have plenty of opportunities to see them. And you should. These guys are awesome. Captivating funk instrumentals exploded from the stage. "You should be dancing right now; it's an open bar," one of the guys greeted the crowd. But, sadly, the crowd wasn't really as into it as they should have been. I think that the vast majority of the attendees were expecting more networking and less concert from their party experience, so they were treating the band like background noise. Which is a shame. The only thing I wrote down about Budos Band was, "Funktastic." It was an open bar; I was dancing.

eh.www.amNY.com

Rilo Kiley "Under The Black Light"
Jenny Lewis kinda sounds like Annie Lenox on the first track. And pretty much sounds like everyone else but herself on the rest of the album. You know, it's alright, but it's missing the heartbreaking quality that made the group's earlier stuff so special.

(Apropos of nothing: "Between Christian Rock And A Hard Place" is the absolute best album name I have ever heard.)

Two Gallants s/t
I was in love with these guys for about two minutes in 2005. The angst-filled, hardscrabble, Dylan-esque sound really resonated strongly with me. Again, for about two minutes. Now I think these guys are talented kids with potential, but they're just too damn whiny.

Bell Hollow "Foxgloves"
The 15-billionth coming of The Smiths.

more after the jump...

I'm pretty sure that this is not Jack White singing, but this is "Conquest" off of the White Stripes' latest album.

ETA: Oops. I got told in the comments. "Conquest" is covered on the Stripes' latest, though.

And, if you go here, you can watch JC Penny's commercial that uses Regina Spektor's "Music Box," which is pretty crazy. She's the last voice I expected to hear shilling sensible clothes from my television.

eh.www.amNY.com

Last night was the premiere of the CW's trashy teen drama "Gossip Girl," and my oh my does it look addictive. Mysterious UES girl with a shady past trying to make good, in a fight with a bitchy best friend who she wronged a year ago, slumming it with her private school's token scholarship student whose ex-musician dad has a class-informed chip on his shoulder ... and that's to say nothing of the scummy manipulator, the cheating boyfriend, or token's freshman-playing-with-the-big-kids sister. DRA-MA!

But, the music. This is a Josh Schwartz creation, so the music is already a self-consciously hip part of the show. In the pilot last night, has-been musician dad even took a dig at the music blogs saying something like: "Maybe if the musicians got off their blogs, the music industry wouldn't be in such a sorry state." I was momentarily distracted, but I think that he was defending to his son his decision to publicize his latest concert via flyer instead of posting it on his blog. This argument makes no sense, and seems like a strained effort by the writers to say, "Look! We know about blogs! We're with it! We're cool!"

That feeling is further reinforced by the way they use music in the show. Last night I recognized Peter, Bjorn and John (I think "Young Folks" is the series' theme song), Amy Winehouse, Cold War Kids, Albert Hammond Jr. and Justin Timberlake. (The folks over at this fan site are keeping better track.) This just doesn't seem like the music that these kids would be listening to (although, to be fair, the only diegetic music — in the scene at the party — was all JT and Akon, and did seem age and stylistically appropriate). And, the music just doesn't seem to be mixed at the right volume level — it's never background, always front and center. It's like they spent all this money licensing all these tracks, so they want it to be clear when they use the music.

I don't think that there's anything wrong with using cool music — in fact I think everyone in life should be doing that — it's just that there's so much effort involved here in saying, "Our music is cool!" Other than that one complaint, I really like the show. It's my new Wednesday night guilty pleasure.

eh.www.amNY.com

Gawker's Intern Sheila crunches some numbers to find:

Pitchfork Has Way More Reviews Written By Guys Named Mark Than By Ladies With Any Name

On average, from their admittedly small four-month sample size, women writers make up about 5.5 percent of review authors (the number has increased slightly over time). Yeah, that's not so cool, but is it really that surprising? If they crunched the numbers for any other publication, would it come out any differently? (I honestly don't know and would be curious to see.) Rock and roll is stereotypically a man's game; full-blown music nerdery even more so. I know when I go to shows that I'm one of only a very few women there. (I'm also getting to be among some of the older people there, which is frightening.) I kind of think that caring obsessively about music is not something that most grown-up women do.

Then again, who's to say Pitchfork isn't one big boy's club? That's entirely possible, too. Even if a girl is lucky enough to be blessed with the inclination towards music-nerdiness, hanging out with (often femme-fearing/loathing) boy music nerds is not really that fun.

Anyway, something to think about. Bravo, Gawker. We want more.

eh.www.amNY.com

• (Via Gorilla vs. Bear) St. Vincent performs "Dig a Pony" in a black cab in London. Pretty good guitar work.

• Idolator has the news that Pop-up Video is back! Yay! But only for your mobile phone. Boo.

• WSJ has an interesting article on foreign artists and their visa woes. Its good to know Homeland Security is cracking down on Brit-pop and defending our shores from nu-rave.

• Pitchfork has a somewhat meandering interview with Lou Reed (I'll tell you, my editors would have cut that weird name thing, for sure). But Reed does have some interesting things to say about "Metal Machine Music." To wit:

Pitchfork: There's always been considerable chatter about whether or not Metal Machine Music was intended as a joke, or a stab at the record industry-- do you think the continuing conjecture about your intentions for the record is, now, as much a part of the art as the music?

Reed: The myth-- depends on how you look at it, but the myth is sort of better than the truth. The myth is that I made it to get out of a recording contract. OK, but the truth is that I wouldn't do that, because I wouldn't want you to buy a record that I didn't really like, that I was just trying to do a legal thing with. I wouldn't do something like that. The truth is that I really, really, really loved it. I was in a position where I could have it come out. I just didn't want it to come out and have the audience think it was more rock songs. It was only on the market for three weeks anyway. Then they took it away.

Pitchfork: Right, I read that it was the most returned record at that time...

Reed: It still may be the all-time champ.

eh.www.amNY.com

I skipped most of the Emmys last night, but my buddy Jon tipped me off to this bit starring my man Kanye AND my man Rainn Wilson. Awesome. (Also, I think I would kick ass at "The Singing Bee" or whichever show Wayne Brady actually hosts.)

From what I did see of the awards show, it seemed to be an altogether more coherent and entertaining affair than the VMAs. But this is not a TV blog...

eh.www.amNY.com

I absolutely love "America's Next Top Model," and the new season starts this Wednesday. In the commercials for Cycle 9, they've been using Rihanna's "Shut Up and Drive," which is not a bad song. Far less annoying than that one about the umbrella-ella-ella...

Although, the main bass riff, I think, bears a passing resemblance to New Order's "Blue Monday." Anybody else hear it? Anybody wanna mash the two tracks up for me? (Alright, mash-ups are SO 2005, but I still find 'em amusing. This guy does some cool ones.)

eh.www.amNY.com

UPDATE: D'oh! Rihanna is actually sampling "Blue Monday." So the resemblance is on purpose, and everyone else knew this. Well, at least I know my history.

• Brooklyn Vegan has tour dates up for Q-Tip. Q-Tip was my first celebrity sighting after moving to New York. My favorite celeb sighting? The Upper East Side's man who goes jogging in women's lingerie. I've seen him TWICE!

• Brit Brit may do a redo on tonight's Emmy Awards. "Gimme More" may quite possibly become a hit, says the analysts over at Entertainment Weekly. Idolator breaks it down.

• NY Mag has their top 10 Beatles covers. Good list, but missing Al Green's "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

• Stereogum reports that Marilyn Manson has created his own brand of 66.6% proof absinthe. According to this episode of public radio show Radio Lab, ancient documents recovered from a site in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt reveal the number of the beast is actually 616.

• Rolling Stone has the skinny on a Bing Crosby-David Bowie-style holiday special by Anthony Bourdain and Queens of the Stone Age.

eh.www.amNY.com

The sad clown sings "The Wheels on the Bus" in a new Volvo ad.

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• Um ... Dane cook sings. For real.

• It's a few days old, but still pretty funny, Trapped in a Men's Room on "The Daily Show."

• Devendra Banhart on "CRIBS"!

eh.www.amNY.com

So Beck released a new single last month, and I've finally gotten around to listening to it. You can buy it on iTunes, or ...

It kind of sounds like he teamed up with The Go! Team on this one. I love those guys, but it's an odd choice. I like more slacker in my Beck, and the peppy cheerleading going on in the song just isn't working for me. Yeah, the man's a chameleon, and it did take a while for his last two albums to grow on me (now I love them) ... so, we'll see. But, first reaction, it seems like kind of a nothing song.

And, unrelated, this video is insane.

... actually, upon further research, EVERY AiH video is insane.

eh.www.amNY.com

After all this MTV talk, it's refreshing to bring you this interview with someone working totally independently. Jesse Thorne of public radio show The Sound of Young America — I forget if I've pimped his show before, but he's awesome — talks with multimedia performance artist and author Cynthia Hopkins. It's a long interview (like an hour), but really interesting, if you've got the time. She talks about working as an artist in a corporate world, the sacrifices you make to be committed to your art (both financial and personal), and just has some all-around thoughtful things to say.

The Sound of Young America: Cynthia Hopkins

eh.www.amNY.com

Based on a discussion I was having with a friend over the weekend about Dave Brubeck's "Take Five," I boarded this little train of distraction this afternoon: Wikipedia's List of Works in Unusual Time Signatures. An incredibly dorky way to take a break, yes, but fascinating.

(2003) "2+2=5" by Radiohead – begins in 7/4 time and then switches to 4/4 1 minute and 22 seconds into the song (right after the words "two & two always makes five").

I think that's awesome. The theme that something doesn't quite add up is reflected in the actual time signature of the song. Math rock rules!

There's also a lot of classical works with odd time signatures, too. Also, Genesis seems to really be into the funky time changes.

eh.www.amNY.com

And these are the last words I'll say about the VMAs.

• Here's what happened with Kid Rock and Tommy Lee.

• Kanye did, in fact, flip his wig.

• NYT agrees that it was probably much more fun to be there than watch the ceremony on TV.

eh.www.amNY.com

Tonight is it! MTV is broadcasting the Video Music Awards once, and only once. Fortunately, I'll be here to liveblog it. Oh, and they'll find some way to get this footage back on the air twenty billion times later this week....

11:09pm: Now the MTV VMA afterparty is summing up what just happend in even more ADD-friendly chunks. I don't have to watch this again, though. Thank goodness. This was tough. I feel a little bit roughed up after all this. Expect a lot of ink tomorrow about The State of The Music Industry, and MTV's Failure to Make a Meaningful or Entertaining Statement. Not from me, though. That's enough mainstreaming for me for now. I know there's good music out there, and I already know that MTV is not the place to find it.

So, I got waylaid on Thursday, and didn't get to bring you my 10 snap judgments on 10 new CDs. No matter, we can do it on a Sunday. And keeping with the theme of belated assignments, I dug up 10 old as dirt albums that I have been sitting on, for quite literally years.

Paris Combo "Attraction" [Release date: April 16, 2002; How do I have this? amNewYork didn't even exist back then.]
French lounge music. Coooooooooool. I'm wearing a beret and smoking a Gauloise as I listen.

Stars of Track and Field "Centuries Before Love and War" [Release date: June 6, 2006]
The name is a Belle and Sebastian reference, but the sound has little in common with the Scottish twee pop outfit. It's kind of your basic Europop by way of Oregon.

Smoking Popes "At Metro" [Release date: February 28, 2006]
I gotta be honest, I've only ever heard of these guys because of their inclusion on the "Clueless" soundtrack. (I love that movie.) And that song, "I Need You Around," is here on this concert disc. And the rest of the album: Two very enthusiastic thumbs up! Fine mid-'90s rock fun!

Nelly Furtado "Promiscuous feat. Timbaland" single [Release date: June 29, 2006]

Here's a song that says a lot about the contemporary human experience.

more after the jump...

• I am currently working on a fall-themed mixtape for a friend, but over at The Rawking Refuses to Stop (which is an excellent blog, btw) has an "end of summer" (a subtle but important difference in tone) mixtape good to go. "Where's Summer B?" is an especially inspired choice. I love Ben Folds.

• The Onion AV club has an interesting roundup of stage banter-ers, complete with audio files.

• New York Mag's Vulture blog has a little bit of everything, from JT and Andy Samberg refusing to censor themselves at the Emmys, to a review of Against Me! and Matt & Kim at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (dude, that really is an unwieldy name).

eh.www.amNY.com

ChthoniC, a heavy metal goth band from Taiwan, is touring the U.S. with Ozzyfest, the first Asian band to do so. They hit Highline Ballroom Sept. 16. According to the band's press release:

They will be performing under the slogan “UNlimited Taiwan” to protest how the United Nations has limited Taiwan’s participation in the international community and to draw attention to Taiwan’s unique cultural history. For more information, visit www.chthonic.org.

eh.www.amNY.com

Multi-use art space Mo Pitkins will be closing soon, according to Page Six. I myself have never actually been there, but from doing the listings, it seems like they always had something cool going on.

And Gothamist is reporting that, before it even opens, The Amber Art and Music Space in Fort Greene has been seized by eminent domain. Sounds pretty sucky.

eh.www.amNY.com

I spoke with Matt of, duh, Matt & Kim last week via phone, and, like always, there were some delicious tidbits that I just couldn't, try as I might, fit into the resulting article, which should be up some time later today. But the beauty of the blog is that I can serve up these choice quotes raw for your reading enjoyment. Here ya are:

eh: And what made you decide to do a band?
Matt: I was playing some music. I was in some bands ... just for fun. And Kim never played drums before. I didn't play keyboards, I played guitar and bass in bands. And, um, we worked on all kinds of different shit together while I was still in school. She'd help ... she'd do my homework in some cases and, um, we just decided ... Kim really wanted to learn to play drums, she was trying to learn how to play drums in general, not even thinking that we were going to play music together. And then we ended up just, when she was trying to learn and I was like I'm going to figure out how to play keyboard... and then we were playing together and I don't know. I guess that's how it started.

Matt is really charming on the phone, although he doesn't quite speak in complete sentences. (Who does, really?) He's really self-effacing but as enthusiastic as you would expect.

More after the jump...

Soooooo cheesy, but there's something about the hook that I really like. Maybe they could excise the verses and have this be, like, a 30-second song. Actually, a lot of pop songs could benefit from this treatment.

eh. www.amNY.com

• Dave Matthews has a new single out. I recently made fun of someone for attending a DMB concert recently. Are these two events related? No, probably not. But it seems Matthews is trying to cool up his image a bit. As Stereogum put it, "you loved him high school but now he's totally not cool." So the wacky new video for unalbumed single "Eh Hee" is available for FREE on iTunes for the next week. It's typical Dave, with a little world-music spice thrown in for excitement.

• K, this is from a month ago, but Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo versions of the Simpsons theme song in the same place! Also there's Spider Pig.

• Prince Paul and David Byrne at Sit Down Stand Up. Awesome.

• Yesterday was a holiday, but the folks at Spinner still had albums to stream. Pinback, Liars, and, new amfm favorite,