Top 25 anticipated albums for 2010 and neat music videos

1. I'm excited that artists are making sweet music videos again. Here are three I found recently:
"Womanizer" (Sliimy covering Britney)
"Cousins" Vampire Weekend
"Bad Romance" Lady Gaga

More by the Frenchman Sliimy here. Make sure you listen to"Paint Your Face." He dresses like Prince and sings like Lily Allen. Pretty funny.

2. I wanted to share this list of highly anticipated 2010 album releases from Stereogum. It's gonna be a sick year for music, kids! I'm going to start saving my pennies for shows now. Of all the gems on the list, I'm personally most excited for Yeasayer (Check out this wild track "Ambling Alp"), Hot Chip, Beach House, The National, MGMT, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol and Panda Bear. OMG.

AND Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown) is going solo!

New Animal Collective EP

Animal Collective made a aggressive move this week by releasing a 28 minute EP called Fall Be Kind, in the same year that they put out their most successful album ever,

The EP's title is a play on "fall behind"- that phrase grandmas say when you turn the clocks back for daylight savings. Avey Tare was quoted in a Pitchfork interview saying that they typically like to put out albums according to the seasons and, though it came out in January, the last album was meant for a spring release. Don't worry Avey, I'm pretty sure people liked it so much they were still listening to "My Girls" on repeat this summer.

Fans who got hooked on AC with the super-accessible, almost poppy Merriweather Post Pavilion, may be disappointed by the EP. Where last year's EP Water Curses was a clear transition between the two full-length albums Strawberry Jam and MPP, Fall Be Kind has the ultra-mellow, airy feel of Panda Bear's solo album Person Pitch. Of course, that album was super successful too so it may not be an issue. While it is not going to make you yelp or jump up and down, Fall Be Kind is pretty, complete with the usual simple this-is-what-I'm-doing-and-feeling-and-thinking-lyrics sung through vocal harmonies so rich and smooth you could frost a cake with them.

Fun Fact: The second track, "What would I want? Sky" samples the Grateful Dead and maybe whale songs? Even with all the drugs he did, I doubt Jerry could have imagined such a repurposing of his work. Wikipedia says its the first ever liscensed Grateful Dead sample. It is Wikipedia, so take that as you like.

This Atlas Sound + Panda Bear collaboration is neat too.

Fur Coats Repurposed as Street Art

Read about it on the GOOD magazine website.

Hittin' the Spot All Night

Tuesday night Sam and I met at Paradise to see the sold out Dirty Projectors show. When they first took the stage it seemed like they really didn't want to be there but as they loosened up and rocked out it turned into a really solid show. They played almost every track off Bitte Orca (bonus!), some from Rise Above, some I wasn't sure about, and then they ended their encore with "Knotty Pine" off Dark Was the Night. Solid.

David Longstreth is brilliant for sharing his limelight with the vocal harmonies of three beautiful ladies. And, they are all really talented kiddos, making their signature mash up of vocal and musical styles really work. I haven't always felt that way. A lot of the band's pre- Rise Above music is a little too wild for me to listen too all the way through.

Sam just gave me a New Yorker article about the band in which pop-music blogger Sasha Frere-Jones shares her similar struggles with the old material and new-found excitement for the band, given the accessibility of the most recent album. His more technical description of the music was illuminating for me, especially this bit: "Longstreth employs a method of arranging voices knon at hocketing, which stretches back to the work of thirteenth century French monks. To hocket, you split up a melody or a chord and assign the notes to different voices." I saw that in action on stage and it had a little, "so that's how they do that!" moment. It was cool.

I also liked Frere-Jones' description of Bitte Orca's opening track, "Cannibal resource" :

"Unaccompanied, Longstreth plays a series of small, torqued-up chords through tremolo and a phaser. We could be anywhere at this point - there's no telling what continent we're going to land on when everyone else shows up."
Frere-Jones is good. He makes me want to step up my game in real reviews. I believe he was also named one of the top 30 critics in the world. Someday.

Opening for the Dirty Projectors, the Tune-Yards really blew the crowd away. I already sent a mass e-mail about how much I loved that band so I won't elaborate here but they may be my new favorite and I hope I get to see them again very soon.

I also wanted to mention that Sam, who hates Halloween because you have to dress up, got into the rock show spirit by Robert-Smithing his hair, donning tighter clothes and even dog tags for the occasion. Damn Sam, we should go to shows every week. And clearly Amy Parker is a good influence.


Wednesday, Wyatt and I saw his buddy Ross' band The Painted Lights, singer songwriter Drew O'Doherty and Canadian folk rock trio Elliott Brood. Ross' drumming was good but the rest of TPL needs work. Headliners Elliott Brood, with harmonica, banjo, growley singing and fast guitar, made me feel a bit like I was train hopping in a wild west adventure movie. I liked them a lot and they looked great, all dressed up in black suits, and the fedora-sporting drummer sat framed by a ghetto, ahem, DIY but endearing light show. They also handed out plates and wooden spoons so the audience could join in on the percussion. Wyatt and I also got our first picture together. Unfortunately it's much too dark to save for the future grandkids.

Emily and I watched "Trouble the Water" earlier in the week. A brutal account of Katrina, anchored on amatuer footage taken by a female wannabe rapper in the Ninth Ward, it is easily one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. I didn't see Spike Lee's Katrina series but I can't imagine it's as good as this piece. "Trouble the Water" rules because it masters the art of showing, not telling. Be ready for it when you watch it. The 911 calls in particular will twist a hole in your heart.

On the upside, its almost Thanksgiving! Mmmmm. Stayed tuned for epic food descriptions and reviews of Ula's pumpkin pie and quince tart.

Jason Derulo + Imogen Heap = SO hot right now

I'm really glad I heard this on the radio today. It's gonna make the rain so much more tolerable. I know I've hated on auto tune before but I think it really works here. You may have to watch a short ad before the video starts but it is worth waiting for.

Jason Derulo - New Music - More Music Videos

THE FUTURE

In an effort to premptively fight the winter blues I am embarking on three projects:

1. Making a winter mix for all my friends. I am borrowing the idea from my fair maiden of the North, Melanie Kowalski. Mel, I hope that's okay. You'll get one, promise!

2. Planning a big or at least significant 25th birthday for myself. Christmas babies always get screwed. Not me. Not this year, bitches!

3. Concocting a plan for making my long dreamed of epic cross country road trip a reality. I need a car and I've been brainstorming ways to get a sponsor. Most ideas revolve around food and having somekind of food blog that would be sponsor worthy, i.e. the Organic Potato Grower's Association sponsors me to travel around the country and write about good food made with organic potatoes. If you have good ideas for this kind of project, do let me know. I already started mapping out places I'd like to go on Google Maps. It is not complete yet but feel free to leave comments and suggest a stop.


View EPIC road trip in a larger map

Its Persimmon Season, Motherfuckers!

I stole that line from a great McSweeney's post on gourds.

We recently acquired a juicer in the Commune and it has been quite a treat. That and the new Lovewhip album Love Electric. The Jamaica Plain locals really own their version of the post-glam, Scissor Sisters, I-wanna-tear-my-clothes-off sound. You can listen to some of the new tracks here (I recommend "Automatic" and "Gimme That", or the more bluesy, aptly titled "Chaueffer Blues") but get the whole album if you can. It may not change your life but it is a solid booty-shaker.

But, I guess I was talking about juice. My favorite combination is by far ginger, apple, lime and carrot. Those flavors were made for each other. This week I got fancy and threw some persimmons in the mix, since they're in season and all. I find them a little too sweet but still neat and kind of exotic.

I'm liking the juicer for two big reasons:
1. drinking your vegetables is a fun alternative to steaming, roasting, boiling, etc. and
2. it's called the Juiceman Jr.
3. it's very good for using up sad-looking produce in the fridge. That saggy carrot? Wilty spinach? Bruised apple? Jump in the juicer, Baby! Then in my belly, mmm. Go vitamins, go! Fight the germs!


If juice doesn't keep the Swine Flu away, hopefully these two winter staples will.

1. Noley's Magic Sicky Face Tea- I was reluctant to share this recipe because I worry that, with knowledge of the secret ingredients, the people I make this tea for now won't need me anymore and I'll wither up and die like a grandmother with no one to dote on. Of course, when you've got the sniffles, or worse, its always better to have someone else make tea for you. And, I'll probably make it better, so don't forget me.

To start the healing, you will need:
- sliced fresh ginger (powder will get the job done but it doesn't taste as nice)
- whole cinnamon stick
- chamomile (you can get big bags of loose Cham for CHEAP at Latino grocery stores, FYI)
- 1 TBSP cayenne pepper (it's the best part, promise)

Pour hot water on all this business, leaving about an inch of room at the top of your mug. Cover and steep for 3 minutes. Fill the rest of your mug with OJ, stir, smile and enjoy. : )

2. Perfect lentils- they aren't a big deal but they are delicious.

Put dried lentils in a pot with some water and veggie stock, ideally homemade. If your veggie stock isn't very salty, salt that shit too. As the liquid reduces and the lentils start to soften, add a dab of concentrated tomato paste and a quarter cup of ketchup. We like the Nature's Promise organic variety in this household. I'm no ketchup connoisseur, but NP doesn't have high fructose corn syrup and Emily swears it's the best ketchup in the world. I recently added these lentils to a last minute shep pie. The scraped-together beauty included radishes, peppers, apples and onions with a mustard and cider vinegar sauce, topped by a carrot, potato, parsnip crust. We just threw the lentils on top after it came out of the oven and enjoyed some homemade apple sauce on the side. People were pleased.

I'm currently trying to learn more about food to fight pain and chronic illness so expect more on that soon.

The Color Men Choose When They Attack the Earth

This is a little belated, but I have a few things to say about my recent Halloween trip to Houston, where I was visiting Laura Richardson, an old partner in crime and now a PhD candidate in English Literature at Rice University. Not only did I have fun partying with a bunch of English nerd for 2.5 days, but I was pleasantly surprised by the city of Houston, especially Laura's Montrose-Westheimer neighborhood. Apparently it's known as the gay neighborhood and, like JP, gay = cool. Obvi. There were yummy eats- like the black bean burger at Ziggy's and the good breakfast Mexican food at Tacos-a-GoGo. I had some other yummy Mexican food too but the restaurant name escapes me. I especially enjoyed the peoplewatching at Anvil, a classy spot with specialty drinks and a popular stop along the annual Houston Halloween bar crawl. One guy was the karate kid, complete with a showerhead and shower curtain. In the small, crowded bar, he quickly became very annoying.


The Magritte and wooden sculpture below were from the Menil Collection, a small eclectic art gallery with unecessarily creaky floors. My favorite piece was a giant, bright yellow rectangle with a tiny stainless steel plate in the middle that read, "THE COLOR MEN CHOOSE WHEN THEY ATTACK THE EARTH." The artist is Walter de Maria. The pictures online suck and they wouldn't let me take one at the museum so I guess you'll have to see it for yourself.

All the houses surrounding the museum, the adjacent Rothko Chapel and the surrounding park are owned by the Menil endowment and are painted gray to match the museum. Laura, Lucy (the beast) and I spent some quality time hanging out in the park, playing frisbee and singing songs. It never gets colder than 50 degrees in Houston and, as a result, there are palm trees and the big gnarly trees you only see in other Southern cities like Savannah, New Orleans and Mobile. They might be Southern Live Oaks but I'm not sure.





Enjoying the warmth and sunshine in my hangover daze on Saturday morning, I almost forgot we were in Texas. Then we walked past Planned Parenthood. Six PP volunteers in flourescent yellow jackets were hanging out and chatting, presumably keeping tabs on the 40+ anti-abortion activists that lined both sides of the street in front of the clinic. Most of the protesters were young girls in pink shirts. It looked a lot like a sorority volunteer event. I suppose it could have been. Yay Texas!