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Live Music: Shauna Burns
2008-04-03 00:12:00
Shauna Burns is one of those artists that not many people know about even though they're so talented that it's ridiculous. Tori Amos is the most obvious comparison, but Shauna sets herself apart with almost flawlessly composed instrumentals that give her music an intensity that you don't find with most singer-songwriter types. Here's a video of her performing "Tumbleweed", the best-known song from her most recent album, where you can see for yourself what an incredible pianist she is. Below that is an MP3 of "Camelot's Waiting", a song that was born for a soundtrack to a brilliant movie.
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New Music: The Black Keys
2008-04-03 00:08:00
The new Black Keys album is out. It's nice. I don't really know what else to say about it. It's not a bad album at all; I actually didn't dislike any song on it. But at the same time, none of the songs sent me rushing to iTunes to put it on my iPod (except maybe "Psychotic Girl", which grows on me). I guess I just expected something more exciting with Danger Mouse producing. The album's on iMeem so you can decide for yourself.
More About: Music , The Black Keys

Music Videos: Elbow
2008-04-01 02:54:00
Welcome to the song that I'm currently obsessed with. "Grounds For Divorce" is the new single from Elbow and it's pure garage-soul paradise. The video adds a new layer of cool to the song, with the bar setting and cool flashes of special effects give this Black Keys-like song a Flogging Molly-type feel, an amazingly effective combination that no one thought possible.
More About: Videos , Music , Music Videos

Music Videos: "E-E-E-E-ECSTASY!!!"
2008-03-28 22:33:00
Brace yourself for the funniest semi-fake music video that you will ever see in your entire existence, in this lifetime, in previous lifetimes, and any lifetimes that you have yet to experience. "Summer Heights High" was a brilliant 8-part Australian comedy that will air on HBO in the near future, and you can watch it in its entirety on Dailymotion.com. One of the show's main plots is the story of a narcissistic drama teacher, Mr. G., and how he produces an obliviously tasteless high school musical based on the story of a Summer Heights High student who dies of a drug overdose in the third (or fourth?) episode. This musical that he writes and directs includes the hilarious song "Naughty Girl", about what a tragically slutty girl the ODer was. Since the show ended, a music video of "Naughty Girl" has shown up on Youtube and Myspace, and it's lolz all around. Mr G - Naughty Girl
More About: Videos , Music , Music Videos , Ecstasy

Covers: David Cook isn't that fucking original
2008-03-27 01:00:00
Last night on "American Idol", David Cook did a nice job of performing Chris Cornell's arrangement of "Billie Jean". Ryan Seacrest even introduced him by saying "Performing Chris Cornell's version of "Billie Jean"...", but the judges still went on and on raving about how brilliant, brave, and original it was, even though this idea has already been done before and was already proven to have worked. Chris Cornell put this cover on his last solo album, and several brilliant live performances of him doing the song have gone viral on Youtube. This performance from a cover in Sweden alone has 710,000+ hits. And yet, David still took credit for being the innovator behind the whole thing. By the way, David's version is completely soulless compared to Chris's live versions.
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New Music: The Raconteurs
2008-03-26 01:23:00
The Raconteurs ambushed us with a new album this week. As an experiment, Jack White and Co thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if they threw an album on the store shelves less than a month after the album was finished (With no warning). They just wanted to see how people would react to the album with zero marketing and zero hype. It's too soon to tell how well this worked out for them, but we can still talk about the album itself. It's called "Consolers of the Lonely". It's a couple notches below "Icky Thump" and "Broken Boy Soldiers", but still an enjoyable record that's more interesting than most of what's out there right now. Here's "Attention", which I promise you will grow to love after a few listens.
More About: Music , The Raconteurs

Remixes: Yael Naim kidnaps Feist's Video
2008-03-25 01:39:00
Someone smart re-edited Yael Naim 's "New Soul" to fit as the audio for Feist's "1234" music video. The jumps in audio are crazy-obvious, but the fluent parts are so entertaining that it doesn't matter. It's sychronized so that Feist's mouth moves as Yael sings, the shifts in the video align with shifts in the song, and the choreography is on beat with the track. It's a fun way to end anyone's Monday-from-hell:
More About: Video , Remixes , S Video

Live Covers: Damien Rice (Hallelujah cover 1443)
2008-03-22 01:53:00
Is it possible to have too many covers of "Hallelujah "? It's a brilliant song and all, but yes, it's definitely possible. We overdosed on post-Cohen artists wailing about how love is not a victory march years ago, but every once in a while a cover is good enough to make us reconsider. Witness Damien Rice 's amazing cover at Leonard Cohen's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. It's the best post-Buckley cover that we've heard so far (Rufus Wainwright's version being his only real competition for the title), because he understands the song so much better than most musicians that attempt it. Most singers try to pump up the big notes as much as possible and make the song sound forced, but people loved Buckley's because of the way he took his time and let the song flow organically. Damien Rice follows this approach as much as he can given his time restraints, and delivers one of the most genuine performances of the song to date.
More About: Live , Cover , Covers

Trainwreck Covers: Iggy Pop covers Madonna
2008-03-20 21:31:00
God, this is painful to watch, but I feel like I need to post it. I found some videos from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction a couple weeks ago, and my soul hurt when I saw the video title "Iggy Pop - Burning Up - Ray of Light". I knew there was no way that that was going to end well, but I watched it anyway, and now I'm sharing this trainwreck with all of you. The band sounds as good as ever, but Iggy looks and sounds so worn down that it's just depressing to watch. Picking Iggy to do Madonna 's tribute set seemed so random at first, but after watching this, it's clear that Iggy is the male punk version of Madonna-- he should have stopped a decade ago, but still insists on pretending to be 24 even though he's convincing no one.
More About: Covers

Remixes: DJ Emergency takes on Alicia Keys
2008-03-20 01:47:00
This is one of the best remixes I've heard in months. DJ Emergency remixed "No One" in a way that I would never have expected to work: he strips away all the acoustic instruments and replaces them with a synth-loaded beat more or less inspired by "The Way I Are", and then instead of speeding it up into a full-on dance track, he slows it down even further. The whole thing adds up to a surreal, euphoric effect that's possibly better than the original.
More About: Alicia Keys , Remixes , Alicia , Keys

New Music: Gnarls Barkley
2008-03-19 02:20:00
After weeks of leaks, the new Gnarls Barkley album is finally here. In my opinion, it's better than the first. It's more consistant, more experimental, more unpredictable, and more exciting all around. The clear standouts are "Run", "Who's Gonna Save My Soul", "Charity Case", and "Open Book", but we're just gonna link you to a stream of the whole album:
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Live Music: Dropkick Murphys
2008-03-18 00:12:00
Happy St Patrick's Day, yall. To celebrate, here's some Dropkick Murphys playing "Rocky Road to Dublin" live and kicking ass every step of the way. Phenomenal performance. Irish pride, bitches.
More About: Music , Live Music , Live

Playlist: Kill Rock Stars at SXSW
2008-03-14 02:37:00
Here's a playlist of artists playing at the Kill Rock Stars showcase tomorrow night. It's the most indie-sounding music you've heard in weeks, but it grows on you quickly. The playlist begins with a Jeff Hanson song that is still one of my all-time favorite indie tracks even five years after I first heard it. Also worth mentioning: "These Two Trees" and "Noise Won't Stop".
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Playlists: Sansa Playground at South by Southwest
2008-03-13 03:01:00
South by Southwest is finally here! Unfortunately, those of us stuck outside of Austin will have to settle for the camera phone videos of the shows that will inevitably surface in the next few weeks. Until those start to pop up, you can enjoy some of the iMeem playlists dedicated to the roster of talent playling at the show this year. Here's a playlist of artists playing at the Sansa Playground event, an eclectic set of music that ranges from indie electro to to indie rock to indie blues. Especially notable: "Please Please Man" by Von Bondies and "Lay Down the Law" by Switches.
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Covers: Brandi Carlile's "Hallelujah"
2008-03-12 01:40:00
Something strange is happening: On iTunes' Top 100 Downloads chart, a 14-year-old classic is kicking the ass of several shitty '08 Top 40 songs. Jeff Buckley's brilliant cover of "Hallelujah " has miraculously become the most downloaded song in all of iTunes, thanks to its recent exposure on American Idol. I personally think Jason Castro's version of the song was completely worthless (whispered, lifeless, breathless), so I decided to post a cover of the song that's actually awesome and hasn't had much exposure yet. It's one of Brandi Carlile's acoustic covers if the song, and it's one of the Top 5 best versions of "Hallelujah" you'll ever hear.
More About: Covers

Live Music: Rilo Kiley Boston Avalan show, Pt. 2
2008-03-11 03:00:00
The Rilo party continues..."It's A Hit":"With Arms Outstretched", which is a hug in indie pop form:"A Man/Then Me/Then Jim":"The Moneymaker":"Spectacular Views" ("IT'S SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL!"... One of my favorite lyrics of all time, and probably the best use of "fuck" ever in music:
More About: Music , Boston , Show , Live Music , Live

Live Music: Rilo Kiley's Boston Avalon show, Part 1
2008-03-08 00:36:00
This Boston Avalon show is the best that I've ever seen Rilo Kiley perform. The show was last September. Every video from the event is a gem at some point or another, so I'm just going to post a few thousand of them. By the way, it never occured to me how many RK songs that I know EVERY SINGLE WORD of until I watched this clips and heard the audience singing along."Close Call" and "Portions For Foxes":"15" ("She was OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONLY... only... 15!!!!"): "Does He Love You" (Great performance, but shut up audience, it's not that kind of song):"Breakin Up":"I Never":"Silver Lining":Part 2 one of the best live show bootleg collections that I've ever found on Youtube will be posted on Monday.
More About: Music , Show , Live Music , Live

Music Videos: Santogold
2008-03-07 02:28:00
New Santogold video! "L.E.S. Artistes" is one of my favorite alt-pop songs in months, and I couldn't have been more excited to see a video get released for it. The biggest concern about her when she first surfaced was that she was riding on M.I.A.'s coattails, but everything Santogold puts out proves that she's her own person. Her work is wild and crazy in it's own unique way, and hopefully we'll a lot more from her in '08.Santogold "L.E.S. Artistes"Uploaded by bluntedsoul
More About: Videos , Music , Music Videos

Music Videos: Gnarls Barkley
2008-03-06 01:20:00
I'm going to go ahead and declare this as my favorite music video of the year. I really don't care if there are still 10 months left in '08. I really can't imagine what could possibly top this. It's the video for "Run", the lead single from Gnarls Barkley 's upcoming second album ("The Odd Couple"). The song itself is fantastic; it's unmistakably Gnarls-sounding, but doesn't come close to mimicking "Crazy". It's wild, fun, different, and smart, and I would be shocked if this song doesn't explode on the radio. Yay for talent in the mainstream!By the way, in case you haven't heard the story yet, you won't be seeing this mindblowing video on TV. This edit got banned because it ran the risk of giving epileptics seisures. An edited version will air instead, but this crazy-ass "Seven Nation Army"-on-crack version will probably live on as a viral smash hit on Youtube for months and months to come.
More About: Videos , Music , Music Videos

New Music: Free Nine Inch Nails Instrumental Album
2008-03-04 03:49:00
Following Radiohead and Saul Williams, Nine Inch Nails is now the latest artist to digitally release an album for free. This case is much more interesting than the others, though, because Trent is using the platform to share his most experimental work ever. The full four-part album (entitiled "Ghosts I-IV") contains 36 avant-garde instrumentals (and, believe it or not, "avant-garde" is NOT a euphemism for nonsensical crap in this case) that were composed and produced by Trent and a few other collaborators over ten weeks. "Ghost I", the first nine tracks, is available for free download on NIN's website and the others are available for five dollars. I downloaded the first nine, it was glad I took the time to do it. Most of it's not at all recognizable as NIN, but fans of Saul Williams' Trent-produced last album will instantly recognize Trent's wild production style. He takes the craziest noises he can find and makes wild, complex beats out of them, and layers miles of noise-damage...
More About: Music , Instrumental , Free

Random Track of the Day: Angelfish
2008-03-01 01:05:00
If you're a fan of Garbage, then you need to have Angelfish in your life. A year before Shirley Manson joined Butch Vig and Co to form Garbage, she was the lead vocalist for Angelfish, an industrial-sounding rock band behind halfway between Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode. The music stands up alone without the usual goth-cliches that often go with this kind of music. It's not as good as Garbage at their best, but it's still damn good 90s rock.
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Remixes: Blursabian
2008-02-29 01:01:00
Mashup time! Today we're posting a mashup of Kasabian's vocals from "LSF (Lost Souls Forever)" mixed into an old Blur instrumental. It's an old remix from Party Ben, a DJ that's responsible for a lot of the most buzzworthy mashups that have popped up across the blogosphere in the last couple years.
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"Music Videos": "Feeling Good", "Six Feet Under"-style
2008-02-28 04:34:00
I just accidentally ran across one of the coolest TV ads to ever exist. I don't have HBO, so I had never seen the ad that they ran to promote the 4th season of "Six Feet Under". It's a dream-like music video set in a grocery store, and the song is Nina Simone's "Feeling Good". It's wickedly cool if you know the show and the characters, and still neat even if you don't. Below that, I decided to also include the music video of the Muse cover of the same song, just because it's the best old-school-soul-to-modern-alt-rock cover to ever live.
More About: Videos , Music , Music Videos , Style

New Music: Goldfrapp's "Seventh Tree"
2008-02-27 00:43:00
Goldfrapp's new album was released today, and it's not bad at all. It took me a little while to get used to their new down-tempo, semi-acoustic sound, but now I really like their evolution. They've mastered a new sound, which was the best move that they could have possibly made because "Ooh La La" and "Strict Machine" were about to trap them in a creative corner. Here's "Monster Love", the closing track and one of the few tracks left on the album that haven't been circulating the internet for weeks.Also, a playlist of samples from the album to get a sense of their new sound:
More About: Music , Tree

Live Music: Brit Awards '08 Recap
2008-02-21 19:48:00
Being from America and all, I didn't see the Brit awards last night, but I absorbed all the Youtubes from the show, and I'm officially ready to talk about them. This is gonna take a while, so let's hurry up and get started:Kaiser Chiefs. "Ruby". It's fine. I like them, but to completely honest, I think they need to stretch their boundaries a little more. They're starting to play it way too safe.Rihanna... FEATURING THE KLAXONS! The Klaxons are 98% of the reason why I care about this video, and they delivered. The performance plays like a really surreal mashup of "Umbrella" and the "Golden Skans" video, with the lasers and all. They play really well together, and the Klaxon's arrangement of the song makes it feel like a really cool studio remix. I just wish Rihanna had enough of a voice to really belt out the song. Amy Winehouse. "Love Is A Losing Game". Kinda a letdown-- some of her best live performances have been of this song, but she just didn't bring it for this. She soun...
More About: Music , Awards , Live Music , Live , Recap

Covers: Patrick Wolf version of "Running Up That Hill"
2008-02-21 00:45:00
Placebo's version of "Running Up That Hill " (Originally by Kate Bush) is one of my favorite covers of all time, and this afternoon I found a Patrick Wolf cover of the song that rivals Placebo's. He completely changed the track's arrangement and made the song unrecognizable, but the original's soul is still very present.
More About: Patrick Wolf , Covers

Covers: Sia makes "Gimme More" classy
2008-02-20 00:04:00
I have no idea why indie covers of Britney Spears songs fascinate me as much as they do. Maybe because it blows my mind the way that musicians can take a song that's an over-produced piece of trash and make it sound like something of substance. That's what Sia did with "Gimme More " a couple months ago (and if someone can tell me where this came from, that would be great). Here's Sia's super-indie take on the song that is the absolute polar opposite of the original.
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Classic remixes: Jay-Z vs The Verve
2008-02-19 00:18:00
Mashups are still very underground at this point, and get very, very limited distribution because of copyright issues. So, it's very rare for a mashup to become so renowned that it attains "classic" status among people who listen to them. Classic mashups include but are not limited to: Freelance Hellraiser's Strokes v Aguilera remix, the mashup that started it all; "Rapture Riders", the Blondie-Doors remix that was one of the first mashups to be distributed on an official album; "Smells Like Teen Spirit" vs "Billie Jean", required listening in Mashups 101; and Eminem's "My Name Is" vs "Back in Black". Here's another classic: "Bittersweet Symphony" vs "Dirt Off Your Shoulder". It's so seamless that it makes the original songs sound wrong the next time you hear them.
More About: Remixes , The Verve , Verve

Random Track of the Day: The Maginot Line
2008-02-16 19:15:00
Here's another unknown act that's better than 90% of mainstream radio right now. Today we're talking about the UK's Maginot Line , a band that specializes in mile-thick walls of sound and Oasis-y melodies, with some unknown factor that sets them apart from everyone else. You can't find them on iTunes, but Myspace has four of the songs available for streaming, and arguably the best of the four is "Tucked In Sleep", a song that effortless builds an epic, widescreen surround-sound quality carried by vocalist Jonny Galloway soulful vocals.
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Music videos: New Kanye ("Flashing Lights")
2008-02-15 00:14:00
My third-favorite song on "Graduation", "Flashing Lights ", is the new Kanye single. The new video is incredibly simple, but is making huge waves because at the end Kanye is stabbed to death with a shovel. Spoiler alert!By the way, the radio edit of the song is only 2:48, but the full version pushes 4 minutes and is far superior. So if you like the video but never bought/heard the full album, pick up the original cut of the song on iTunes.
More About: Videos , Music , Music Videos