Protomen

No time for a proper post right now. Back tomorrow with something real. In the meantime, have an awesome song by an awesome band.

Dubstep? eww...

Dubstep gets a bad rap from a lot of people. Probably because it got so popular so quickly. All of a sudden you couldn't turn a corner without hearing someone talk about the latest dubstep mixtape they picked up or whatever. Then just as the genre began to define itself, it actually started to bleed together with other electronic music. Artists would use a dubstep-lite beat and suddenly draw ire from fans and opponents of the genre. DJ's throw dubstep songs in their playlists just because it's a dope song, and there's a backlash from one group of fans or another. I wasn't even fully aware of what the genre itself encompassed until recently. I was listening to some random track and my roommate came home and heard me listening to it. He acted as if he'd caught me looking at torture porn or something...


"Ugh, you seriously like DUBSTEP? That shit is so wack, man."
"I don't know... is this dubstep? Hm... I guess I do like it because this song is fresh as hell."

Maybe I just have a different viewpoint because I've always enjoyed so many different varieties of music. I'm not one to dismiss an entire genre from the outset just because it's popular to rag on it. Especially when it is somewhat new and the definition is still rather nebulous. But on the other hand, fans of the genre tend to be extremely zealous and protective if someone says "meh, [musician] is better than this". Too often I've seen forum threads spiral into pissing matches over OMG MY FAVORITE ARTIST IS BETTER THAN URS, and that always drives me nuts. Love it or hate it, just try to be reasonable of what other people like.

All that said, I really like this song.

soof ee yawn

No time for a big post today, but I thought I'd throw this out there real quick. NPR Music put up an article about Sufjan Stevens' new album, The Age of Adz, and you can stream the whole thing for free before it comes out in October. It's all right here, and it's all very very good. It sounds like he's pulling a lot of the elements from his early albums, but still working a crazy amount of varied instruments in there. I've only listened to it once through at this point, but I can tell it'll be in my rotation for a while. Sufjan just does not disappoint.

Hope is a bastard

This Tuesday, the 28th, Ben Folds' new album entitled Lonely Avenue comes out, and I'm here to tell you that it's really really good. After 2008's Way To Normal came out, I was a little let down. It just didn't sound like the Ben Folds I'd grew to know and love. So I guess it's a little odd that i like this new album so much, since Folds didn't write the songs this time around. Writer and novelist Nick Hornby penned all the lyrics, and Folds set them to music. And I think that might be the key. Without having to worry about writing the lyrics, he could concentrate on solid piano-driven arrangements that really fit the tone of each story that the Hornby is telling with his words. Be it the uptempo pop-sounding Your Dogs, or the slow ballad with massive building strings of the first single Picture Window, the whole album sounds like a return to form and I'm loving every minute of it. If the last album turned you off a bit, fear not because Lonely Avenue is as solid as you can get.

I'm known to eat a sandwich

I don't know what I can say about Das Racist. I can't tell if they're serious or not. After I heard Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell a while back, I thought it was just a silly hip-hop comedy act. But their new album Sit Down, Man sounds like they're actually artists. All the songs on it are pretty solid, mixing clever and witty rhymes with a crazy variety of beats. Maybe I should just leave the review to Pitchfork, because they pretty much nail it. But I'll at least say this much, All Tan Everything is the best song I've heard in months.

Harmony harmony...

Yeah, late to the party once again. I just can't get enough of Robot Unicorn Attack. It's probably mainly the song that gets me. It simply will not get out of my head! Go ahead and play it if you're like me and are always months behind the curve with stuff like this. But be warned, it'll grab ahold and never let go.

Alright, I promise tomorrow I'll get to some actual decent posts.

OCTOBERFEST

Just a quick post. Totally non-music-related. Cool Autumn weather + bonfire with friends + Sam Adams Octoberfest beer = the best way to spend a September evening.

Also, boobies.

Drink-hop.

An old friend of mine just reminded me of a weird underground hip-hop song we used to listen to. Celph Titled - Root Beers In Your Fridge. I haven't heard it in years but as soon as he mentioned it everything came rushing back to me. We used to put that song on every mix cd we ever made. It made driving to school every day a little less terrible. Now, I'm looking for it again and can't find it anywhere. Doesn't seem to have been uploaded to youtube or any streaming sites, and all I can find about it are old interviews and track listings of old mixtapes and such. I'm going to scour my stacks of old burned cds and an old hard drive or two, and see if I can't find it somewhere. I'm beginning to think I imagined it all...

Start fast, start strong.

Out on a walk today, skipping through the old mp3 player looking for something to motivate me to exercise more. Stumbled upon The Glitch Mob's album Drink The Sea. Haven't heard it in a while, but immediately felt at home again when it came on. It's not even that old, but it seemed like forever since I'd listened to Drive It Like You Stole It, definitely one of my favorite songs of the year so far. If you haven't heard it, here you go.
You're welcome

I don't want it unless it's BRAND NEW!

It's not every day that a new blog gets started! Well, probably millions of blogs pop up every day... but forget about those, this one will actually be good! If you want to know what's hot in music, this is where you should look first. I'll be using my superb taste and unsurpassed intellect to let everyone know what's worth your time. Trust me, it'll be great. Just you wait and see.