Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Dark Was the Night

I feel like I am hearing a great new song off this cd every day. Today it was "Service Bell" by Feist and Grizzly Bear. The tracklist is as follows:

1. Knotty Pine by David Byrne & Dirty Projectors [January 15, 2009]
2. Cello Song [January 16]
3. Train Song by Feist & Ben Gibbard [January 17]
4. Brackett, WI by Bon Iver [January 18]
5. Deep Blue Sea by Grizzly Bear [January 19]
6. So Far Around the Bend by The National (arrangement by Nico Muhly) [January 20]
7. Tightrope by Yeasayer [January 21]
8. Feeling Good by My Brightest Diamond [January 22]
9. Dark Was the Night by Kronos Quartet [January 23]
10. I Was Young When I Left Home by Antony + Bryce Dessner [January 24]
11. Big Red Machine by Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner [January 25]
12. Sleepless by The Decemberists [January 26]
13. Stolen Houses (Die) by Iron and Wine [January 27]
14. Service Bell by Grizzly Bear + Feist [January 28]
15. You Are the Blood by Sufjan Stevens [January 29]
16. Well-Alright by Spoon [January 30]
17. Lenin by Arcade Fire [January 31]
18. Mimizan by Beirut [February 1]
19. El Caporal by My Morning Jacket [February 2]
20. Inspiration Information by Sharon Jones [February 3]
21. With A Girl Like You by Dave Sitek [February 4]
22. Blood Pt. 2 by Buck 65 Remix (Featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti) [February 5]
23. Hey, Snow White by The New Pornographers [February 6]
24. Gentle Hour by Yo La Tengo [February 7]
25. Another Saturday by Stuart Murdoch [February 8]
26. Happiness by Riceboy Sleeps [February 9]
27. Amazing Grace by Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues [February 10]
28. The Giant of Illinois by Andrew Bird [February 11]
29. Lua by Conor Oberst + Gillian Welch [February 12]
30. When the Road Runs Out by Blonde Redhead + Devastations [February 13]
31. Love vs. Porn by Kevin Drew [February 14]

Here's a little blurb from the website: 
Dark Was The Night will be released on February 17th, 2009. Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National produced the album, and John Carlin, the founder of the Red Hot Organization was the executive producer. A total of 32 exclusive tracks have been recorded for the compilation. It will be available as a double cd/triple vinyl/download and will benefit the Red Hot Organization - an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS. Red Hot was founded on the premise that even without a cure, AIDS remains a preventable disease – and music is a great vehicle to raise money and awareness for it. This is the 20th year of Red Hot, and this is the 20th release!

It's cool to see great bands coming together for a good cause.

looking inward

(My blog looks more like a music blog right now and I had another music-related post in mind so to justify it I'm going to write this first.) 

This has been kind of an ongoing talk between my roommate and I. I've noticed that over the past few years I have begun to look inward more and more. Compared to when I was in high school I feel like I rarely did this. 

Is it weak to look inward? Is it weak to be unsure of oneself? Or is it completely the opposite? These are the sort of questions we have been throwing around. 

We've been noticing how people almost distinctly fall into categories based on this subject. 

I'm not firm in my stance but I'm leaning towards it being more healthy to look inward often and ask yourself why you do things. But maybe this leaning is simply to justify my own behavior. 

I read Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise over winter break and really enjoyed it. It is up there with my favorite books without a doubt. The main character looks inward frequently and despite being a wreck at times concludes with this at the novel's end:

There was no God in his heart, he knew; his ideas were still in riot; there was ever the pain of memory; the regret for his lost youthyet the waters of disillusion had left a deposit on his soul, responsibility and a love of life, the faint stirring of old ambitions and unrealized dreams. Butoh, Rosalind! Rosalind!...
"It's all a poor substitute at best," he said sadly. And he could not tell why the struggle was worth while, why he had determined to use to the utmost himself and his heritage from the personalities he had passed.... He stretched out his arms to the crystalline, radiant sky. "I know myself," he cried, "but that is all."


this could be the truth. 

Friday, January 23, 2009

O B A M A

one more. A remix of a daft punk song with lyrics that spell out our new president's last name. Ridiculous but great.

bon iver interview

I'm going to post about music again. I really like the band bon iver, as you may have already known. I have been enjoying the new ep that came out a few days ago but its not enough, I need a full album. Anyways, this interview is pretty funny and has a really nice feist cover (the park). you should check it out. Oh yeah and one thing I found really interesting was how Justin Vernon discussed his songwriting process. Rather than sitting down and writing lyrics first he came up with the vocal lines and sounds and then matched lyrics to this content. 

Good music in the new year


February is not even upon us and 2009 has already seen 2 amazing
albums. 




Animal Collective (i'm listening to a stream of one of their nyc shows right now) 

Andrew Bird (I listened to the cd 3 times in a row last night)

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Mike & Nate

Hey so my friend Nate and I are doing a radio show this quarter for KSDT. KSDT is UCSD's independent college radio station. You can listen here. Our show is every Wednesday from 4-6 pm.