I've found a handful of records so far this year that I've really wanted to turn people onto, but I guess I've just been too lazy or caught up in this Facebook thing I finally caved into. So I decided after I got ahold of this record that it's interesting and unknown enough to write about.


artist: Joker's Daughter
record: "The Last Laugh"

Joker's Daughter is a project between psychedelic-folk artist Helena Costas and Danger Mouse, a producer whose preference for doing entire albums with artists over just singles I have always admired in a time where the single is everything. Their record "The Last Laugh" was released last week.

After first hearing about the project and attempting to find out more about them, I stumbled across the video for the album's first track and current single, "Worm's Head"... and it was this track that wet the appetite and made me pick the whole package up. Lasting only two minutes, it starts out as a strange folk rhythm and quickly blossoms into a rather pretty, epic piece of folk. The video itself is pretty interesting in itself, you can view it here:

The rest of the album that follows "Worm's Head" can be rather hit or miss depending on how the album's psychedelic taste sits in your gullet. Other stand-out tracks include "Go Walking", which is a dreamy little tale; "Nothing is Ever What it Seems", which sounds like it would fit perfectly behind a sad scene in a medieval movie; and "The Bull Bites Back", a rather quirky tale of a bull fight with a not-so-ordinary bull.

You can preview these tracks and even download "Worm's Head" for free here at AmazonMP3:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Laugh/dp/B0021QZFVA/ref=sr_f3_2?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1239412244&sr=103-2

Thoughts?

Looks like you may need more blogs...

read more | digg story

Official video for the first single from 'Junior'! Directed by Reuben Sutherland



read more | digg story

Dismantling Bill O'Reilly's arguments is like shooting fish in a barrel. But when a crazy fish is the most-watched fish in the barrel and wields an inordinate amount of influence with the other fish, even fish in other barrels (what?), then it’s time to reexamine the gun-control laws in your barrels.
read more | digg story

The previous 3 posts have included albums that could be easily switched into various orders based whatever mood I'm in. I try to minimize this, but I tend to change my mind on these things a lot. While ironing out the order for the last 4 spots was rough, I like to think this post is less likely to change then the others.

04) Gnarls Barkley "The Odd Couple"
[stream not available]
There is probably no getting around this... these guys are probably destined to be one-hit-wonders. "Crazy" was popular in a way not seen in a long time, and will completely overshadow everything else they will ever do. This is unfortunate, as their follow-up to "St. Elsewhere" is just as solid, if not better. While there is no song on it that will hit the level of popularity of "Crazy", overall the music is better throughout. The music is (once again) all over the place, but in a good way... and features a handful of my favorite tracks of the year. It does seem to drag towards the middle, but it's forgivable since a drag for these guys is better than most peoples' best stuff.
Key Tracks: Going On - Who's Gonna Save My Soul - Run - A Little Better

03) The Raconteurs "Consolers of the Lonely"
[stream not available]
The public and press knew about the existence of this album for about a week before it was actually released, with the goal that people would listen to it without hearing the opinions of critics on it first. This is a method commonly used when you're expecting the worst in terms of critical consensus, which had me worried when I picked this up. If you happened to catch their first release, "Broken Boy Soldiers", you'll be glad to hear this release is better in every way. It's as if the first record was trying something new, and this is where we get to see them truly realize their potential. It rocks harder, is solid all the way through, and ends on a the great story track "Carolina Drama".
Key Tracks: Consoler of the Lonely - Old Enough - Many Shades of Black - Carolina Drama

02) TV on the Radio "Dear Science,"
[stream the album]
The first thing I thought when I heard this beautiful album was "if there is a TV on the Radio album that anyone can get into, this is it". This is as close to mainstream as you will ever see these guys, as most of the album is rather upbeat (as long as you don't read the lyrics, which are anything but) and features less of the "artsy flourishes" that made their last record "Return to Cookie Mountain" so amazing. The work contained here is still awesome though, and hopefully now I can find at least one other person out there that likes these guys.
Key Tracks: Halfway Home - Dancing Choose - Golden Age - Family Tree

01) The Black Keys "Attack & Release"
[stream not available]
I had never heard of The Black Keys before this album, in fact the only reason I even gave the album a shot was because I heard it was produced by Danger Mouse. But I was hooked on the first listen, once "All You Ever Wanted" finally kicked in, that was it... the equivalent of "you had me at hello". Their older stuff tends to be more lo-fi and fast, this album has them doing a lot more interesting things... most notably adding instruments other than guitar and drums, allowing the songs to be much more rich and pack more of a punch.
The top slot could've easily gone to the previous two, but I chose this record because it simply wowed me on the first listen, something that almost never happens anymore... and after listening to it for the past 9 months off and on, my opinion on it never really changed. If there is one album I could recommend to you for you to try, it would be this one.
Key Tracks: All You Ever Wanted - I Got Mine - Strange Times - Remember When (Side B)

Thoughts? Suggestions? Flames?

Now that the year is officially over, on with the pointless list!

07) Weezer "Weezer (Red Album) [Deluxe Edition]"
[stream the album]
There are two types of Weezer fans, those who think they haven't released any good material since Pinkerton and those who think those people are crazy. I'm in the latter group, which means every time Rivers and the guys get set to drop a new record I can't help but hope that it might live up to their first two albums, and while this one doesn't, I couldn't get the thought out of my head that it could have!
Which brings me to why I specifically listed the Deluxe Edition of the record: if they would've switched out the 3 really lame tracks on the standard edition with the 3 really good bonus tracks (Pig, King and Miss Sweeney) it could have been their best work since Pinkerton. But the good stuff is there, if only in a really weird order.
Key Tracks: Automatic - Pig - The Greatest Man That Ever Lived

06) Kanye West "808s and Heartbreak"
[stream the album]
There comes a time in your life when you hear a record by an artist you like that you just want to hate. You want to make it through that first listen and think "I have survived that which I would not wish on anybody" and go around finding which of your friends feel the same way so you can talk about how much you both hate this piece.
This is how I felt going into this album, I kept giving myself excuses to hate it... the Autotune, the depressing tone, the really terrible freestyle at the end... but, well, it just grew on me. I got over the fact that he used Autotune rather quickly, since what he does here is actually really creative... unlike everything T-Pain has done to completely bitter everyone's opinion on the use of it. The depressing lyrics make sense in context, since the album was clearly written after he broke up with his girlfriend and lost his mom. The freestyle is still terrible though.
Key Tracks: Love Lockdown - See You in My Nightmares - RoboCop

05) Flight of the Conchords "Flight of the Conchords"
[stream not available]
...and now for the token comedy album!
If for some reason you haven't caught these guys' program on HBO, do yourself a favor and either check out the DVD or nab this record. It features most of the best tracks from the series, while a few gems are missing, most of the meaty goodness is right here. Easily the best acoustic-based-comedy-duo since Tenacious D.
Key Tracks: The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room) - Business Time - Robots - Bowie

Plan is to wrap this up next post, see you then ;)

I originally did not intend for there to be a two week gap between these but whatever... trimming this down to just 10 records was strangely more difficult than last year. This is evident in the first blurb originally going to be about the newest Metallica album, which I decided to change it for something a little easier to rant on and maybe a bit less popular.

10) N*E*R*D "Seeing Sounds"
[stream the album]
NERD are responsible for one of my favorite albums ever, 2001's "In Search Of...", which they followed up with a rather disappointing record called "Fly or Die" and then decided to call it quits. This didn't last long, as we now have a new album 4 years later called "Seeing Sounds" which actually sounds like a mixture of their two previous efforts. While it is a bit shallow in terms of its lyrics, the beats are great and often pretty unique (see "Spaz"). It was a great summer record you could drive or dance to. Only real problem with the record is that it starts really good, and runs out of steam by the end.
Key Tracks: Everybody Nose - Everybody Nose Remix - Spaz - Anti Matter - You Know What

09) Beck "Modern Guilt"
[stream the album]
Ever since his "Sea Change" record a few years back, Beck's music has become rather apocalyptic. This hasn't been more evident then here on "Modern Guilt"... but you'd never know it on the first listen. The tunes are more heavy and layered then his last couple of efforts, thanks to this being produced by everyone's favorite producer Danger Mouse. The latter half isn't as memorable as the first few tracks, and the whole album in general seems to be a "grower" for those who at best only have "Loser" and "Devil's Haircut" in their iTunes.
Key Tracks: Gamma Ray - Chemtrails

08) Jenny Lewis "Acid Tongue"
[stream not available]
You might know Jenny from her work in Rilo Kiley and Postal Service, but on her solo work Jenny likes make what is called "alt-country". When, in reality, it is closer to actual country then most things played on country radio. I do miss the Watson Twins, who were with her on her last solo record "Rabbit Fur Coat", but there are plenty of guests here (like Elvis Costello, among others) which do great jobs on their respective tracks. Country is dead, for now it seems, who knows what would happen if this kind of stuff became popular.
Key Tracks: Next Messiah - Carpetbaggers (live) - Jack Killed Mom

To be continued ;)

You knew it was coming... you know I get a kick out of doing corny shit like this. So the time is finally here, 2008 is finally ending so I can make another pointless list of all the junk I listened to the past 12 months. Look for links throughout to videos and (if applicable) the album's page on Last.fm where you can stream it for free.

Honorable Mentions

Ben Folds "Way to Normal (Fake Leak)"

[stream (the real version)]
About a week or two before the real version of "Way to Normal" was set to drop, a "leaked" version showed-up on all the major torrent websites claiming to be the real thing. What people were treated to was a collection of songs with misspelled titles, hardly any mixing, and a couple of actual tracks from the album. Fans quickly went to their various message boards and quickly slammed the record thinking it was real. This persisted until the sham was revealed and the real thing came out, wherein people realized after paying for the real songs that the free stuff was actually better then what they paid for.
Key Tracks: Hiroshima - Bitch Went NutZ (live)

Monkey "Journey to the West"

[stream not available]
"Monkey: Journey to the West" is a Broadway musical from the guys who gave us Gorillaz based a Chinese folktale. The soundtrack (thankfully) isn't just a straight recording of the show itself, it is more of a studio version then anything. It features some really great tracks, problem is they are in between tracks that are clearly transitional pieces for the play or would only make sense if you actually could see what was going on (mostly the songs with heavy dialog). "Heavenly Peach Banquet" is the clear stand-out, it is easily one of my favorite songs of the year.
Key Tracks: Monkey Bee - Heavenly Peach Banquet (live) - Monkey's World (live)

The Black Mages "The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight"

[streaming not available]
TBM have always been a guilty pleasure of mine, and while their third outing isn't as much of a leap forward as their last record, this one still has plenty of juicy tracks to sink your teeth into. Sadly, the album features a couple rather lame tracks which will only have people new to the group scratching their heads and wondering what all the fuss was about. The rest is nice and epic, every time I hear "Opening - Bombing Mission" I almost whip out my copy of FF7... almost.
Key Tracks: Opening - Bombing Mission - NeoEXDEATH - Darkness and Starlight (Part 1) (Part 2)

More later.

He's been accused of refusing to review Ben Stein's documentary "Expelled," a defense of Creationism, because of his Darwinian agenda. Here is his review.

read more | digg story

Probably going to be making one of those big favorite lists I like to make here in a day or two, and I figured I'd check what all I have been listening to the past year before I actually go ahead and rank it.

Taken from my last.fm charts (this will change based on when you are looking at this, so the list below is accurate as of this posting).

# Artist (Number of plays)

1. Weezer (622)
2. Gnarls Barkley (577)
3. TV on the Radio (557)
4. The Raconteurs (545)
5. Justice (518)
5. Ben Folds (518)
7. Arcade Fire (489)
8. N*E*R*D (444)
9. The Black Keys (378)
10. Flight of the Conchords (372)

Now this spoils several of the albums that will be on my list, but note this is inflated by older albums and includes a couple that wont be on the list due to their lack of a record released this year.

Statistics are fun, yes?

Rick Astley himself shows up for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

read more | digg story

If you haven't downloaded Justice's epic "Planisphere" from a previous post of mine here's a chance for all you lazy people to try it out without downloading any mp3s:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lodWFJJIOkg

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8dmytVgbCU

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0LA34W4cfU

Final: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW11wER285Y

;)

PlanetDiablo shares the improved Diablo 3/III logo due to people's complaints of the lack of colors and darkness.
(This is a joke, btw)

read more | digg story

LittleBigPlanet may still be in beta, but if you're willing to sort through some boring bits, you can find a ton of great levels. Take, for instance, this monster that showed up on YouTube: the user has created a working electronic calculator using the game's level editor. If you don't think that's impressive, be sure to watch the entire video.

read more | digg story

New RE5 trailer from TGS:
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/adventure/residentevil5/video/6198892/tgs-2008-resident-evil-5-trailer?hd=1

:O

"Sarah Palin's debate performance, reduced to its essence."

read more | digg story

This is pretty sweet right here:
"Ableton Live looped cover of 'Something About Us' by Daft Punk, performed on Nintendo DS Ubisoft Jam Sessions, Midi controlled software electric bass, drums, synth, vocoded vocals, and solo theremin, recorded in a single pass, with a single camera."

A friggin' theremin! Really cool!

Wow.

Quite possibly the album of the year.
TV On the Radio's "Dear Science,"
Give it a good stream here:
http://www.last.fm/music/TV+on+the+Radio/Dear+Science

Indie-rock bliss here peoples!

Holy crap people, give this shit a listen!

http://iguessimfloating.blogspot.com/2008/09/mp3-new-justice-planisphre.html

It's an epic new track from Justice, recorded a few months ago for a fashion show, only previously available to the public in the form of a crappy bootleg. BUT now a good quality version has finally hit the net with an extra final part! It's friggin' massive, clocking in at over 17 minutes combined... so grab an extra pair of pants and give this one a shot!