Los Campesinos! at Turner Hall, Milwaukee

The show was great.  I'll post pictures as soon as I am able.

Los Campesinos! should have been on my best of '08.  I need to post an additional post because a few bands from '08 have leapt into my consciousness of late (ie Los Campesinos! and Ra Ra Riot).

There was much dancing at the show, which brought the energy level up, but beyond that it was cool to see the band's reaction to the crowds reaction.  You can tell that this band hasn't become calloused to the audience, or to put it differently, they haven't developed that hard-edged 'poker face' that surrounds most rockers I've seen.

You can tell they are enjoying themselves.  It almost seems as if they think they are getting away with something by playing in front of a ton of people.  Like, someone would suddenly stop the show and say, "Hey, you aren't really rock stars.  You are just normal like us."

And that adds a sincerity to the show.  It's like the person who becomes even more attractive because they don't realize they are attractive.

So...... Los Campesinos! is attractive?  Yes.

Here's a video for my favorite song by them:

"We are Beatiful / We are doomed"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyw-a81L9B0

"Death to Los Campesinos!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc4GethJnBg

"If you catch me with my hands in the till, I promise, SUGAR, I wasn't trying to steal..."

People Get Ready

The post title is People Get Ready.  That is an amazing song by the Frames.  So, I will post a link to that here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/hvzMSPzll4M&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

But bigger than that is the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are is out now:

http://www.youtube.com/v/n495Tn7jn-w&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Have a good day!

Newark

So, I was browsing a travel site today and came across a list of destination cities. I think Newark may have some things to discuss with the person writing ad copy for them:
Newark, NJ: It's not what you think.

Best 20 Albums of 2008: #1 Thrice - The Alchemy Index, Vols. III & IV: Air and Earth

So, here are my top 20 albums of 2008. I hope you enjoy them.

20 Beck - Modern Guilt
19 Oxford Collapse - Bits
18 As Tall As Lions - Into the Flood EP
17 Ratatat - LP3
16 Brazilian Girls - New York City
15 Kings of Leon - New York City
14 Fleet Foxes - New York City
13 F@!k Buttons - Street Horrrsing EP
12 Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
11 Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
10 Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue
Recommended Tracks: Bye Bye Bye, A Good Friend, À L'orée Des Bois, Mercy
9 Sigur Ros - Með suð I eyrum við spilum endalaust
Recommended Tracks: Gobbledigook, Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
8 hitide.lotide - The Forest
Recommended Tracks: The Owl, The Tortoise, The Loon, The Hare
7 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Recommended Tracks: Flume, Lump Sum, Skinny Love, The Wolves (Act I and II)
6 Death Cab - Narrow Stairs
Recommended Tracks: Long Division, The Ice is Getting Thinner, Talking Bird
5 Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Recommended Tracks: Play Your Part (Pt. 1), Like This, What's It All About, Shut the Club Down
4 Nada Surf - Lucky
Recommended Tracks: See These Bones, Weightless, Beautiful Beat
3 Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Recommended Tracks: Kissing the Beehive, Fine Young Cannibals, Language City
2 The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
Recommended Tracks: The Good Lies, Where in this World, Gloomy Planets

1 Thrice - The Alchemy Index, Vols. III and IV: Air and Earth
Recommended Tracks: Come All You Weary, Song for Milly Michaelson, Child of DustSteve, the drummer I work with frequently, talked about Thrice for a long time. I thought they were pop-punk wretchedness. How wrong I was. This band is moving, and you need to know them. Their songs carry a quality with the depth rarely seen in the music world these days. I'll try to let their stuff speak for itself, but this album definitely deserves the top spot this year. Here are a few videos from Thrice.
"Come All You Weary"
http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k2xkHZuunQjaOHBQao&related=18

"Song for Milly Michaelson" (Fan-made video):
http://www.youtube.com/v/-pXlIlShZA4&hl=en&fs=18

"Child of Dust" (Live)
http://www.youtube.com/v/HTAAO7oF9aI&hl=en&fs=18

Best 20 Albums of 2008: #2 The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me

3 The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
Recommended Tracks: The Good Lies, Where in This World, Gloomy PlanetsI first heard of the Notwist while I was doing pizza delivery as a night job in Seattle. They are a German band, and I never actually heard the radio announcer play them. He would say things like, "The new Notwist record is really great. I've been spinning it a lot lately. Now, here's a track from the new Death Cab album…" They are really good, easy-on-the-ears indie rock. It's like music you would put while you look out the window at gently falling rain. Their song "Good Lies" is very catchy. Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/v/u95mK19-VI4&hl=en&fs=18

Best 20 Albums of 2008: #3 Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

3 Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Recommended Tracks: Kissing the Beehive, Fine Young Cannibals, Language City
Wolf Parade's 2005 release didn't make my list then for some unknown and probably foolish reason, but that album quickly became an album that was in heavy rotation. This Montreal band has quickly become one of my top bands out there. Now, I know there are a lot of Wolf bands, but please make room for these guys. They have a Modest Mouse-ish sound and that's because someone from Modest Mouse produced them.
On to the new album. I was nervous about this release because I wanted it to be amazing. It was good at first, but then songs started jumping out at me and became amazing. For example, Kissing the Beehive is a 10-minute magnum opus that blows me out of the water. You don't even realize that it is a 10-minute song. There's a lot going on, but it's not the epic noise that is now normally associated with 10-minute songs. It's just a song that is so good that it carries on for 10-minutes. Lofty praise, I know, but the song is infectious. I found a really creepy fan-made video for "Kissing the Beehive". It was so creepy that I didn't link to it.

But here is a much less creepy fan-made video for "Soldier's Grin". Another great song from this album:

http://www.youtube.com/v/o-wywxbDcZA&hl=en&fs=18

Best 20 Albums of 2008: #4 Nada Surf - Lucky

20 Beck - Modern Guilt
19 Oxford Collapse - Bits
18 As Tall As Lions - Into the Flood EP
17 Ratatat - LP3
16 Brazilian Girls - New York City
15 Kings of Leon - New York City
14 Fleet Foxes - New York City
13 F@!k Buttons - Street Horrrsing EP
12 Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
11 Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
10 Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue
Recommended Tracks: Bye Bye Bye, A Good Friend, À L'orée Des Bois, Mercy
9 Sigur Ros - Með suð I eyrum við spilum endalaust
Recommended Tracks: Gobbledigook, Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
8 hitide.lotide - The Forest
Recommended Tracks: The Owl, The Tortoise, The Loon, The Hare
7 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Recommended Tracks: Flume, Lump Sum, Skinny Love, The Wolves (Act I and II)
6 Death Cab - Narrow Stairs
Recommended Tracks: Long Division, The Ice is Getting Thinner, Talking Bird
5 Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Recommended Tracks: Play Your Part (Pt. 1), Like This, What's It All About, Shut the Club Down

4 Nada Surf - Lucky
Recommended Tracks: See These Bones, Weightless, Beautiful BeatI've known about Nada Surf since 1996 when I got free tickets from Erica Linder to a show at the now defunct Modjeska Theater down in Bayview. They came on stage and Matt Caws said, "They are kicking us out of here at 11pm and we want to play you our entire album. So, were going to play really fast for you."

And they did. And it was a great show. Seeing them in Chicago this past Spring and in Minneapolis 2 months ago were equally as fun. After their Minneapolis set, the drummer stayed on stage while the stagehands were tearing down and played along with the house music. Awesome.

This album is great. Songs like "See These Bones" and "Weightless" don't get old to me. Weightless is a masterful song that plays in several movements. From it's driving beginning to the ending that leaves you floating away, Nada Surf knows how to write a good song. In fact, I usually describe them this way, "On first listen, you will think this is a band that makes good rock music." But it doesn't stop there because around 3 days later you say something to the effect of, "Dude, that Nada Surf song is really sticking with me. They are really good."

Here's the video for Weightless:


http://www.youtube.com/v/uAtsZwoT_pU&hl=en&fs=18