am/fm

• Fluxblog is hot on Kate Nash. I think she sounds a little like Lily Allen, accent-wise. According to this random reviewer on Amazon, Kate did the accent first (both of them are playing up lower class London accents that don't come naturally to these middle class girls), but Lily and Kate were (and possibly still are) friends.

• I'm a fan of pretty much anything Amy Sedaris is involved in. She and Dolly Parton collaborated on a music video here.

• Even old punk rockers aren't punk rock any more, but John Lydon (the man formerly known as Johnny Rotten) curses up a storm at a recent Guitar Hero promotion. That's gotta count for something, right?

• If you've seen "Love, Actually," you're at least familiar with the concept of the "Christmas #1" on "Top of The Pops." (That's what Bill Nighy's character Billy Mack is striving for with his version of "Christmas Is All Around.") Well Stereogum has compiled a list of Christmas no. 1's since 1952. This one might be my favorite, for reasons of sheer absurdity.

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One of my Newsday colleagues made a video for Jam Master Jay.

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Yesterday's Christmas music post got me thinking. Here are some more tunes that don't suck.

"Christmas Time is Here" I think legitimately stands on its own as a song, but the cartoon was a big part of my childhood, so I love it.

The Alvin and the Chipmunks "Christmas Song" is a little more obnoxious, but that Alvin is just adorably inscrutable.

Of course you can't mention this song without bringing up Patton Oswalt's riff on it.

This guy did a pretty cool mash-up of the original with Oswalt's idea.

And, while searching for all this stuff, I found that there's a pretty active YouTube culture of speeding up contemporary pop songs to sound like the Chipmunks. Wacky!

Then, of course, there's "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." James Earl Jones doesn't mess around. When he tells it like it is in that basso voce, you listen!

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PS Yeah, I didn't mention "Rudolf" or any of the other Rankin/Bass classics. My previously discussed aversion to reindeer aside, I just hate these cartoons. I know that's tantamount to sacrilege in some circles, but I can't help how I feel.

As I admitted in a recent post, both "Fairytale of New York" and "All I Want For Christmas is You" rank among my faves.

Who's to say which is better? It's like comparing apples to rotted out teeth that can no longer eat apples. Well I have another confession.

I like this

as much as this.

In my life, I've done a lot of moaning about how much I do absolutely hate hate hate Christmas music. It's annoying and everywhere. I especially hate "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (it's a parable of conformity and kissing up to authority, and we let kids listen to it!) and "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (This was funny exactly once, when I was like seven years old). (Hypothesis: It's not Christmas songs I hate, but reindeer songs. Definitely worth looking into.)

But I've recently decided to make an effort to be a little more positive. No, not as a New Year's resolution (I think those are stupid and arbitrary. Surprise!), but as a general attitude readjustment: Things suck, but me sitting around saying they suck isn't going to make things stop sucking. So instead, inspired by this list, here's a few more songs that are awesome.

Follow me after the jump...

According to a report by the BBC, the Jackson Five are reuniting! With Michael!

"Michael will be involved," [Jermaine] the singer and guitarist confirmed. "We feel we have to do it one more time. We owe that to the fans and to the public. "

They are reportedly in the studio working on new material, and sister Janet is also rumored to be involved.

amNewYork has more.

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Yeah, yeah, "Don't Fear the Reaper." But the cowbell is a marvelous instrument, utilized by many a band. You can find a pretty freaking complete list here, but the following are some of my favorites that use the 'bell to best effect.

Hugh Masekela, "Grazin' in the Grass"

En Vogue "Free Your Mind"

Tone Loc "Funky Cold Medina"

Blood Sweat and Tears "Spinning Wheel" (That percussionist looks so happy!)

The Rapture "House of Jealous Lovers"

Hot Hot Heat "Talk To Me, Dance With Me"

Stealer's Wheel "Stuck in the Middle With You"

Motley Crue "Live Wire"

Santana "Oye Como Va"

Yup, I've left off a billion of 'em. The cowbell is a much more prevalent instrument than I thought when I started this quest about an hour ago. Which ones are your faves?

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Pretty funny.

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AP has more.

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Happy Thanksgiving, fools!

'Cause I'm phoning it in for the holiday, here's an old Yacht Rock video. Fans, take note: The gang is premiering a new episode at the Knitting Factory on December 27th. Sweet!

Fact: This blog's name was inspired by the Steely Dan song "FM."

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• I never watch "The Simpsons," so the fact that I caught this clip Sunday really must have been fate! Anyway, the yellow animated folk pay tribute to OK Go.

• A few weeks ago This American Life contributor Starlee Kine wrote her own break-up song in an attempt to soothe an aching heart. (And she discussed songwriting with Phil Collins!) This week, TAL posted remixes of her original song, and they're pretty awesome. I have to agree with the consensus and say that this one is one of my faves too.

• Dudes! A surprising amount of people have covered Peter, Bjorn and John's "Young Folks." Including James Blunt. Ugh!

• This is everything that's wrong with boomers, hipsters and cultural fetishization, all in one AP story.

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P.S. Like the new layout? I don't!

But I didn't cover it. Amelie Gillette over at The Hater has some more eloquent thoughts than I.

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More from "Other Emily":

Also at 169 Bar was a crowd-pleasing trio called Jagwire. Wow, did the crowd love them. Spitting lyrics that are easy and fun to sing along to, Eric and Josh on vocals were refreshingly dynamic. Thom, whose arms are probably the most pliable I’ve ever seen, rocked so hard on drums that he had to remove his shirt-and-tie ensemble halfway through the set.

Jagwire was alternative with just enough pop to appeal to the masses. I liken them to The White Stripes. Their sound is much more mature than that of Corduroy Days, and the tempos of their many songs were well varied.

My favorite song was “You Should Have Seen Her,” which was slow and witty. I can’t wait to see them again.

Emily Ngo, www.amNY.com

Special correspondent Emily Ngo was out and about last night. Here's what she saw:

I came across a great band completely by chance last night at 169 Bar on the Lower East Side.

Corduroy Days hails from Brooklyn. They harmonize quite well; I haven’t heard men and women’s voices blend that smoothly in a while. (But then again, I’m usually all about the solo artists.) Corduroy Days has a sensitive sound, slow in the right places and quirky when it needs to be. Romantic and folky, it seems inspired by early Bob Dylan or Woody Guthrie.

I liked “Donor” for its original lyrics. The band definitely isn’t afraid to try out the repetition, parallelism route. (“ ’Cause every part of you is such a part of me is such a part of you.”) “Walk Away” also won me over, but you have to put up with the first couple seconds of weird howling.

Props to the super, super energetic bass player. Their album is called “Lose the Map;” you’ll like it.

Emily Ngo, www.amNY.com

The Plug Award nominees were posted today. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, and it's entirely likely you don't, The Plug Awards is a ceremony honoring independent music. I think they aspire to the likes of the Mercury Prize or the Juno Awards (or the, I think, defunct Shortlist Awards), except there's no real prize beyond the glory.

Anyway, in recent years they've been throwing a fun concert/awards ceremony. This year's event will take place in March. Yeah, five months (four and a half, if you want to get technical) is kind of a long lead time, but these kids are having fun so let's indulge them.

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(From their Nov. 2 show, via Getty Images)

Duran Duran finished up their nine-night New York run last night, at Roseland Ballroom. The show was moved from their Broadway home at the Barrymore due to the strike.

The following occurred to me last night: Pop stars have to take themselves deadly seriously, even (especially) if what they're doing is the silliest thing imaginable (and it often is). If they don't sell it 100%, we're not going to buy it at all.

Also, don't sing with your hands in your pockets; you look bored.

The show was divided into two parts. During the first, they played stuff from their recent album, "Red Carpet Massacre." It wasn't awful. If it came on in a club, you'd probably think, "Hey, this sounds a lot like Duran Duran." But you wouldn't think much else about it. The thing is, their newer stuff manages to sound very "in the style of Duran Duran" without being too repetitive of what's come before. But there's nothing very special about it.

It didn't really help that the band wasn't doing much to sell it. Simon Le Bon seemed alternately bored of and impatient with the proceedings. The staging was blah; the guys all stood in their place, with Le Bon occasionally attempting perfunctory dance moves and a back up singer shunted off to the side, as if to make it perfectly clear, she's NOT part of the band, guys. She actually did seem, energy-wise, like she was performing with a different band, one that might have been having far more fun.

Transitions between songs were made with workman-like banter, one sentence introductions, and the whole thing had a very efficient feel about it. Le Bon called some song I didn't recognize, "one of the most renowned dance songs in the whole world."

The new stuff was very Eurotrash-pop clubby, which makes sense, as that's a sound they helped invent originally. They've gotten just about exactly the same with age.

I feel like I'm being harsh here, and the truth is, I did have a good time. It's just that the first half pales in comparison with the second.

Follow me after the jump...

By VINNEE TONG
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Social networking Web site Going.com said Wednesday its
users will be able to buy event tickets on the site, starting with a Moby
concert this week.
Going.com allows users to check who else plans to go to a concert or party
to help decide whether to attend, and they can see how many people are
interested in an event like the Moby concert.
The Web site features mostly user-organized events for the 20-something
crowd in Boston, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. It plans
to launch in Miami and Atlanta in the next couple weeks and 10 other cities
early next year.
The site seeks to tap the changing market for ticketing, which has been
largely dominated by sellers like Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster, currently
owned by Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp but soon to be spun off, signs
exclusive ticket distribution deals with artists and concert and sports
promoters.
In contrast, Going seeks to sell tickets not available through traditional
outlets. Thursday's Moby concert in New York is its first event as a ticket
seller.
"Ticketing was the last-mile solution for the 300,000 local monthly RSVPs
that occur on our site," Going.com CEO and founder Evan Schumacher said in a
statement. "Our goal was to connect the long tail of promoters with
event-seeking audiences."
Site users can find one another before, during and after events they plan to
attend, and they can see what events people in their networks plan to
attend.
Schumacher described it as a "people delivery" business. He has started two
others companies: online transportation logistics company Celarix Inc. and
Everypoint, a mobile entertainment business.

OK, one last MTVu-related post. I was really curious about this, so I got in touch with my college-age sister to ask: What the heck to college kids listen to? She and her roommate (alright, 2 is not the biggest sample size, but this isn't science, it's rock and roll) were nice enough to submit to some questioning.

Cate is my sister and Lauren is her roommate. To provide some context, I asked them to describe their music-listening styles.

Cate:

I am a music leech. I usually end up getting most of my music from friends or family who tell me something they like or the radio. I don't necessarily have great amounts of music from one artist. I tend to get a CD here or there. (Although I can't lie, I do have every Hanson CD...) I tend to favor music with guitars or electronic-based music. But this could mean a singer-songwriter like Lisa Loeb (If that's what you call it) or music like (I don't know how to describe it) Evanescence. I listen to music most days for at least three hours while on the Metro [they live in DC], but also while in my apartment doing homework.

I've heard of [MTVu], but I don't really watch it. It is the MTV channel that plays music videos still, but if I want to listen to music I would rather be doing something more active than watching TV. I don't really know who watches it.

Lauren:

I listen to a variety of music, from hip hop, R&B, pop, jazz, dance, electronic and oldies. I listen to music everyday, from my car radio, or on my iTunes when I drive to and from school.

I have gotten a taste for a lot of different genres because of moving around the world. In Europe, dance and electronic music is huge, so when I am on the internet at home, I listen to the radio stations from London and Paris. This way I have a contrast from listening to European music when I am sitting at home doing homework.

[To find new music] I usually watch MTV or VH1 because oddly enough, music videos seem to come out before the songs are released on the radio. (I am not sure if this is true, but I always seem to see the video first before hearing it on the radio [ED: I'm actually not sure if this is true either, but it's interesting that she perceives it that way].) I also listen for the artists that are played on the London and Paris radio stations, and usually download their music off of iTunes.

Sometimes, every once in a while, I hear a new song, and watch my car radio to see if it displays who the song is by so I can go home and download it to listen to it again. For example, I just recently found a new R&B artist, Raheem DeVaughn. I really like his new hit called "Woman" because the lyrics are really uplifting.

Yes, I have watched MTVu. I haven't watched it recently because Cate and I are no longer living on campus, but I did watch it. I really enjoy watching music videos, or just have them on in the backround, while I'm doing something else.

So these are the players. As you can see, Lauren is a far more active consumer of new music than Cate is, but both are into the current flavors. After the jump, I subject them both to a pop quiz.

Here's a video recap of the 2007 MTVu Woodie Awards:

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Amy Winehouse was supposed to headline, so I got myself credentialed right quick. Then she backed out for whatever visa, drug, life issues that she's having. So she wasn't performing.

Alright, let me back up here. MTVu is the Music Television's college rock channel. The Woodies are their annual award show giving out accolades like "Viral Woodie" and "Left Field Woodie." From what I can tell, the awards are voted on by anyone who chanced upon the MTVu website.

(via)

The staff totally wanted you (and by you, I mean the press, i.e. me) to have a good time, plying us with drink vouchers, which would be taken advantage of by the time the night was through. The press pit overlooked the talent pen, and we the press were way out cooled by the actual rock stars. I'd never seen that many cool 'dos so far uptown before.

The show opened explosively (to clarify, the event was an awards show with performances and commercial breaks interspersed — it was being live broadcast on MTVu) with a performance by Lupe Fiasco featuring "surprise guest Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy." (<- From the press release; I don't think I'd recognize a Patrick Stump if it lit my hair on fire.) Thus the stage was set for a night of anthropological observation.

I felt way out of place. The room was full of college kids — when presenter Keenan Thompson (yeah, random, right?) asked the crowd to make some noise "if you're in college right now," just about everyone did. And the music, oh the music. There were some good acts performing, but most of what was name-checked and about all the winners weren't so much cool, indie, college as over-produced, already-mainstream, corporate. Fall Out Boy? Gym Class Heroes? Plain White Ts?

But, after getting all prickly in my notebook — I actually wrote down "MTV makes me cranky" — I decided to dial it back and try give the show a fair shake.

I sound less old after the jump...

I did wonder how Mark Ronson's live show worked, and in browsing the YouTube this evening, I found this clip from a live performance last May. Apparently guest stars are key.

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• Stereogum takes a look at some songs that have been repurposed for commercials.

• BWE defines the Kraft Single.

• Rolling Stone has a pretty difficult trivia quiz. I did quite poorly.

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Let the games begin.

Laura Reed & Deep Pocket "Soul:Music"
I like an album that doesn't beat around the bush. It announces itself as soul, and that's what it is. With a little bit of funk thrown in for good measure. They sound like a good party band. People could get down to this music, but it's not so strong that it takes over the entire party. Laura is a good vocalist, but she has exactly the same kind of voice that, say, that nondescript kid with the amazing set of pipes has when she finally gets the chance to open her mouth at the end of the movie. That doesn't make it any less good, I'm just saying she fits a type.

Cass McCombs "Dropping The Writ"
I've listened to this album almost twice, and it has made no impression on me.

Gliss "Love The Virgins"
This trio's music is tortured and other worldly with a solid beat. The singer actually sounds a little like Robyn Hitchcock. I'm hard to please today, but I like it.

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals "Follow The Lights"
Holy crap! This man never sleeps. I haven't honestly been a fan of Mr. Adams', but that's more for lack of exposure (how did I miss him? I don't know) than anything else. Anyway, this time out, this famously prolific musician brings us a selection of downtempo ballads.

more after the jump...

I've been waxing pedantic for the past few days, but now I'm back with some quick reviews of recent music.

Kenna "Make Sure They See My Face"
So disappointing. I really liked the first album, "New Sacred Cow," which flopped ["Blink" reference here], but was a solid, unclassifiable melange of pop, rock, hip-hop and electro.

This is "Hell Bent," from "New Sacred Cow." (I would have posted "Freetime," but I've already sung the praises of that video.) Awesome, right?

The new album, "Make Sure They See My Face" — a bit of an identity politics joke on Kenna's part; since there was no imagery of him associated with the first album, everyone assumed he was some white dude, when in reality he's the son of Ethiopian immigrants — seems to take all the quirk and energy of "Cow" and throw it away.

(Mini commercial watch here: Sony PSP: "Out of Control"

)

It's like for this album, he hedged his bets by saying, "Let's make this sound more like The Rapture." I don't know. It's like all the heart is gone.

But do you know who does have heart? Adam and Darcie. The duo was on Open Mic the other day, and I just love them. The song they perform, "Take Them All Away," is about "eliminating the unnecessary from your life and simplifying." Deep harmonies and lush melodies over a simple acoustic guitar rhythm. It's heartbreakingly beautiful. It's a good song for if you need a, "Hey, everything's going to be alright,"-kind of boost. My only complaint is that it's too short. I want more.

You may be wondering why I reviewed these seemingly unrelated works back-to-back. Well, it's cause I listened to them back-to-back. There's some insight into the process. For free, even.

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• Oh, yeah. Pete Doherty is in a band sometimes, too. (via)

• BWE has some trenchant analysis of the new Eagles album.

• Gothamist has an interesting interview with one Matthew Houck of Phosphorescent.

I was talking to my sister the other day, and she mentioned that she had an idea for a blog post: "What about songs that sing about other songs. Like in Regina Spektor's 'On the Radio.', she sings about listening to 'November Rain.' It always seems a little jarring to hear her talk about another song."

I agreed and brought up Pavement. In "Range Life," they name check Stone Temple Pilots and the Smashing Pumpkins — which lyric, if you'll recall, allegedly upset Billy Corgan so much that he refused to take the stage at Lollapalooza if Pavement was allowed to perform.

What we're talking about, by the way, is not songs which quote or refer obliquely to music which has come before — that's how art is made. This is a straight up reference to the act of listening to another band. Maybe a subtle distinction, but a distinction nonetheless.

Why Regina talking about GNR is weird, we theorized together, is because a pop song is like it's own little world; the experience of listening to music is very in-the-moment, and to break that little bubble and refer to other moments in pop culture is unexpected. Or, like — and this may be more for storytelling reasons than anything else — people on TV don't often watch TV (or talk about other shows, unless its some kind of winking cross promotion), and people in books don't often read books (or watch TV ... although they do listen to music, especially if the book you're reading is by Nick Hornby). Each cultural construction is self-contained.

So, for the blog entry, my sister suggested a list of songs that name check other songs/bands. Turns out, sorry L, that this is not an original idea. Though the criteria is a little different for each list, it's the same basic idea.

But if you can think of any others, give a shout in the comments.

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Last week, the most underrated interviewer of our time Jesse Thorn spoke with Aussie musician (who, I learned, was actually born in Scotland, and not the Land Down Under) Colin Hay, who I've been mildly obsessed with for about a year. (He also was on Scrubs again last week, and for reasons we won't get into here, I was studying up on his Wikipedia entry last night.)

In the middle of the interview, they're talking about Hay's listening preferences a kid, and he talks about a music program that he used to enjoy.

Obviously they'd have The Beatles and The Kinks and The Rolling Stones and The Who. And then they'd have Freddy and the Dreamers and Gerry and The Pacemakers and Herman's Hermits. And when you're young, you think they're all kind of the same, you know, they're all just "beat groups." Then as I got a little bit older, I thought, "Oh, maybe they're not all the same." It was almost like they were all running in a race and The Beatles kind all the sudden of just went [whoosh]. They just took off and all the other groups just went, "Oh [tired breathing], I never realized that you were The Beatles."

It's at about 11:30 minutes, if you want to here it in context here.

Which just reminded me of the first time I heard The Beatles (and was conscious of who they were). I remember sitting in the car outside the A&P, and "Eight Days A Week" came on. And I hated it. I thought it was the dumbest song I ever heard. I hated the lyrics, the prissy harmonies, everything about the song. I was probably eight years old. I was a persnickety contrarian from a very early age. It wasn't until years later that I accepted John, Paul, George and Ringo as The Way.

(I gotta tell you, there are an unbelievable amount of kids singing/lip synching to pop songs on YouTube — a genre I discovered a few days ago. It is taking a large amount of restraint not to link to one here; I just think it would take us off topic.)

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As far as I can figure out, that's what new iPod app Phase is. From the press release:

Users only need iTunes, their iPod and Phase to enjoy this dynamic and multi-dimensional game. Phase players choose between 2 gameplay modes - QuickSpin and Marathon. Quickspin gameplay consists of choosing a single song at a time and utilizing the iPod click wheel to tap and glide using their iPod click wheel for moment-to-moment fun. Marathon lets users choose and engage in mini 5 song marathons that challenge players to get through a set of increasingly difficult songs. Phase is set against a hip animated backdrop of stylized journeys taking players to places like Neon Nights, Sonic City and Deep Sea, all created by up-and-coming artist Aaron Stewart. High scores for individual songs and marathons will be stored and viewable on players’ iPods.

The game, by GH creator Harmonix, will be available for 5 bucks on iTunes starting, I guess, today. By the way, Apple has so pervaded my life that it wasn't until right now that I realize how much of a shout out I give them all the freaking time. They have managed to make their brand synonymous with the item itself, in the same way Kleenex, Band-Aid and Chapstick have done.

But so anyway, this sounds interesting, if not confusing. And it brings up all kinds of issues about how we interact with our music -- I have music on in the background for probably about 10 hours a day, so for me, music is pretty much there all of the time as an aspect of environment to be passively experienced. But, given my mood, location, etc., sometimes the background becomes foreground and I'll sing along, or otherwise engage with the non-stop streaming soundtrack of my life. Sometimes its an active decision, like I'll seek out a song that I need to hear RIGHT NOW; but other times a certain song asserts itself in my consciousness, commanding my attention, triggering memories, feelings or just appreciation of a good riff.

And while playing Guitar Hero is different from playing actual guitar, it does make you feel like you're fully engaged in the music. There is some relationship between your physical movement and the sounds you're hearing. I wonder if this Phase will trigger the same reaction — and if anyone will actually sit down and play it. The presentation of GH is pretty primitive, but there's something about the physicality of holding a guitar-shaped object close to your body that I'm pretty sure you won't get out of the Nano et al.

There's supposedly a website, but when I went to www.phasegame.com, I got a loading error. If you try it (the game, not the site) out, let me know.

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Behind the Scenes: Dance Off! from Human Giant on Vimeo.

• Human Giant is a comedy program, yes, but it's on MTV, so it's fair game — also, I like those guys a lot and it's my blog. So above, Aziz gets schooled by a child extra in a dance competition. I've also decided we need more cute children on the blog. So deal with it.

• RZA talks to Wired about his love of Kung Fu movies.

• Spinner shows the Budos Band some love. As you may already know, I really hope these guys catch on.

• NY Magazine was at the weekend's Gogol Bordello show.

• I love Canada, and Canadians make some good music. I Heart Music shows our northern neighbors some love with their list of the 33 Hottest Canadian Bands of 2007. They show us some love with plenty of MP3s.

• Argh. Christmas music.

• Aww. We Are Scientists' drummer quits. But the show goes on.

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So I had been all excited about the Spice Girls reunion, but Stereogum has their new video, and I'm starting to reconsider my position.

Is this really necessary? Maybe we have enough Spice Girls material already.

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Oh, me!

While going all Hype Machine on the band's catalogue (my CDs are not yet loaded onto my work computer), I found this little gem: Cassettes Won't Listen cover "Cut Your Hair." Great song, great cover treatment of said song.

And, Aquarium Drunkard has some speculation on the next Matador re-issue.

The kid on the right really knows the words!

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