The Blurbs
So, remember when I talked about Gotye and the awesome, inventive cover that the group Walk Off the Earth pulled off?
Well the cover version already has its own parody. And it’s frickin’ hilarious. It’s crazy how fast people can turn around these ideas and make them into reality nowadays.
-Sam
It’s not often that music performances on late night shows really stop me in my tracks and leave my jaw hanging. Well, the Alabama Shakes took the stage on Conan last night and did exactly that. This girl has some serious fuckin’ soul – like so much that it’s practically seeping out of her pores. And the beardo bassist dude definitely approves – just look at that grin!
If you can’t tell, this song got me really jazzed up, and now that the Alabama Shakes have entered my musical radar, I will be awaiting the release of their debut album, Boys & Girls, on April 10th.
Turn your volume up:
And here’s the link to an extra track they played on the show:
Alabama Shakes – “I Ain’t The Same”
-Sam
White People’s Problems
If you make it your cause to attack things like M.I.A. flipping the bird to the camera during the Super Bowl Halftime Show, then you really deserve the message that one digit was sending.
-Sam
The D is back baby!
Tenacious D have a new album, Rize of the Fenix, coming out sometime in May, and they are teasing it with a little sound bite:
I cannot freakin’ wait, because the D rocks my socks off, and I really want to see them on tour again. Also, judging by the presumed cover art, you can tell Jack and Kyle still have their same hilarious sense of humor (don’t see it? look harder).
-Sam
A few weeks ago, up and coming pop singer Lana Del Rey appeared on Saturday Night Live and received a heaping pile of criticism following her performance. I asked why she was being scorned so much.
Then, when I saw Seth Myers announce Lana Del Rey, as played by Kristen Wiig, on this week’s Weekend Update segment, I thought, “Oh boy, they are about to lay into her.”
They certainly did poke fun – at her demeanor and “weirdness” – but in the end, the bit actually served as a kind of defense of Lana, which was surprising and nice to see. Take a look:
-Sam
That drumming is sick! (Though hopefully he didn’t bum out a whole trainload of people right before they headed off to work.)
-Sam
Bon Iver – Bon Iver Album Review
Justin Vernon, the mastermind behind the nebulous “band” Bon Iver, faced the truly challenging task of writing a sophomore album that could live up to the sudden and completely unexpected fame he achieved, or rather had heaped upon him, after his quiet little gem of a debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, demanded that we take notice.
This was more than just your ordinary sophomore slump-avoidance. For Emma was such a brilliant record because of its complete and unassuming honesty – just a lonely beardo alone with his thoughts out in the woods of Wisconsin, pouring his emotions out into a recorder. There was no pretense, and no expectation that it would ever blow up in the way that it did. Its brilliance was its preciousness.
What would a For Emma Part 2 have sounded like? Fans surely clamored for that, but it would have ultimately let them down. That original sound came from a very specific time and place, and having established himself on the musical map, it probably would have felt forced the second time around. Instead, Bon Iver sought out to fill in the spaces that defined the first album, maintaining the emotional honesty of the music whilst still seeking to expand sonically. Perhaps then, it is no mere coincidence or lack of imagination which led to this album being self-titled, but rather a bold declaration that this would be the sound which defines Bon Iver.
Got Gotye?
As I was driving home from work today, my ears perked up because the rock radio station that I listen to was actually playing something new! What a novel idea – play brand new songs instead of beating the same handful of hits into the ground so that they lose a part of the shimmer and shine that made them hits to begin with.
The freshness is what caught my attention, and the endearingly simple songwriting and sweetly simple lyrics are what reeled me in. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s just hearing this song by Belgian/Australian artist Gotye, so if you’re like me, give “Somebody That I Used To Know” a spin, and then continue mourning the drab uniformity of rock radio.
Also, bands have wasted no time turning out covers of this track, but no one is as good as what the band Walk Off the Earth pulled off. Four guys, a girl, and a single guitar. Sweet!
-Sam
I simultaneously love and hate this video. Hate it because there’s no way this little girl is in on the satire she’s executing, which is kinda the point of satire. So in that way, it feels like she’s just way overacting at the behest of whoever thought up the idea.
But then the 37 second mark hits and everything about this video becomes glorious. “Let’s open up this pit!!!!”
-Sam
And who knows what that simple, good-spirited gesture could inspire in that slow little dude…
-Sam
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