In Paris, I fell [more] in love with three things:
1. My husband
2. Lady Gaga
In regard to the latter… I don’t even know how else to say it, but it is the sexiest rock ‘n roll music, like, ever.
(Yes, the videos are good, too. “He smells like ranch dressing,” will forever make me laugh. This one is hilarious, too. While we’re watching, go ahead and add their recent SNL performance of Howlin’ For You to the queue.)
There are a couple of bands and artists I got into way late in the game. Like Wilco and Jeff Tweedy. I sorta bypassed all that in college. Then I saw Jeff Tweedy at the Lincoln Theater last month and felt like the biggest idiot ever. WTF was I thinking on that one? Who knows.
Anyway, over the weekend I was doing some work in our room with Pandora and the Wailin’ Jennys‘ “Long Time Traveller” came on… and my eyes and heart filled up the second the harmony started.
The song was on their 2006 album, Firecracker. Again, I asked myself, WTF?
Can I stick with it in 2011? We’ll see. For now, The Avalanches, “Since I Left You.”
More about the band and the track from The Atlantic, who named it their jam of the day. They mention Girl Talk (ubiquitous mix masters, they are), which is sort of an obvious comparison.
But if you think about Girl Talk and Jens Lekman‘s love child, I think you’d be in the right ballpark.
Posted in jams
Anyone else hearing the similarities between the Black Keys’ “Things Aren’t Like They Used To Be” and the Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down?”
So we’re back and trying to get acclimated to normal life without the wedding. I’ll have a lot to say about the latter at some point, but for the moment, I’m coming with a couple of things, one of which is not like the others.
1. It has surprisingly been noticeable to go from drinking great wine with dinner every night to not drinking wine at all. While standing in line at Whole Foods tonight, I kept gazing at the wine, imagining how awesome it would taste with dinner. Am I going half on an alcoholic?
2. Toward the end of our honeymoon, D and I somehow came out of the closet with our shared love for Lady Gaga. When we got home, we learned that two of our close [guy] friends (they were in the wedding party) were also hiding their love for Gaga. What this means is that I’ve watched the video for “Bad Romance” more than a dozen times in the last four days. I’ll be honest, she kind of scares me. On the other hand, anyone who gets wasted and naked at a Yankees game is pretty harmless. Not that I speak from experience, but tequila’s a hell of a drug.
3. My adoration for the Gentle Barn has been growing for weeks, and it’s gotten to the point that I’m mentally planning future vacations with our non-existent kids around it. I love what they’re doing and think it’s so important to rehabilitate abused animals and teach kids how to be compassionate for living things. (Side note: my future kids will also never step foot in a pet store, a petting zoo or a circus.)
So let’s go ahead and watch “Bad Romance” for the third fourth time today.
Posted in If you like stuff, you'll love:, jams
Last Spring, I may have attended a party in Steamboat Springs, Colo. after a few days wrecking my body on a snowboard. At said party, I may have imbibed a bit too much and surprised my now-fiancé by getting lyrical with “Lodi Dodi” in the middle of the kitchen.
I might have repeated the performance at a karaoke bar last summer. What can I say? I love old-school hip hop but stopped listening to new R&B and hip hop when I left college. I still enjoy a Jay-Z track from time to time, but for the most part new tracks strike me as repetitive, and the new players strike me as too aggressive. (Here’s looking at you, Chris Brown.)
It has to be the retro sound that has me playing Onra’s “High Hopes” on repeat. Which makes it my NMT pick. So go on. Add a little funk to your afternoon.
Posted in jams, new music tuesday
Stuff has gotten a bit crazy around here the last couple of weeks, and I’m looking forward to a couple days away from the grind.
D has been working more than he’s worked in awhile, but we’re still hoping to catch up with each other this weekend, which will include attending a Capitals’ playoff game. Admittedly, I wasn’t a big hockey fan prior to living in DC, but man. It’s really exciting. (I know; helps to have a good home team.)
I’m also meeting up with D and some of his friends from Korea tonight, for Korean food, no less. (I told D I wanted to try kimchi. He said, “It will come with the meal.” Then I told him he’d have to tell me what to get. “You’re having beef,” he said. “We’re all having beef.” Then I asked how I’d know it was beef and not dog, to which he replied: “You won’t.”) So it sounds like I’ll be trying lots of new things and getting out of my meat comfort zone.
I counted this morning, and I have a mere 10 free weekends before the wedding. So I’ll be spending the rest of my time shipping some materials back to Iowa and continuing various projects. Lately, it’s been keeping track of RSVPs and creating menus. Sometimes Ella tries to help. I wish someone besides me could have seen her drag this thing up the stairs and deposit it gingerly on my cutting mat.
But the weekend isn’t here just yet, so I’m filling out the rest of the afternoon working on an article (digital budgets. Zzzz.) and spinning my own soundtrack, which includes “Home,” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. I’m a sucker for a good energetic and conversational love song (See: Holy Moly).
I also find this live performance on David Letterman endlessly enchanting.
Now all I need is D, some kimchi and a glass of this Mexican sangria to get the party started. Happy weekend, friends.
Posted in D + M, jams, work, your general rigmarole
Um, you guys? Something happened to the Insane Clown Posse. They’re like…deep and sh*t.
Admittedly, I listened to ICP for fun in high school. I could slap myself for thinking “The Neden Game” was hilarious. But it’s also why I’m so completely befuddled by this.
Favorite lines include:
You don’t have to be high to look in the sky / Look at the mountains, trees, the seven seas / And everything chillin’ under water— please.
Hot lava, snow, rain and fog / long-necked giraffes / I’ve pet cats and dogs.
And of course: F*ckin magnets / How do they work?
I’m at a loss. Are they mocking themselves? Have they actually gone insane?
[via]
OK, just kidding. But Wolf Parade has chosen a working title for their upcoming album, and it is Expo 86. D sent me to Pitchfork for the scoop; here are the important details.
Pitchfork: Do you have a title for the album yet?
DB: The title for the record, as far as we know now, is– unless we get sued for using it– Expo 86.
Expo 86 was a World’s Fair that happened in Vancouver in 1986. It’s been this thing we all talked about as a band. We all grew up in British Columbia, and we were all at Expo, which lasted about three or four days. It’s a weird little thought experiment– basically, we were all young children at the same big event. I remember Expo 86 was as big as the Olympics were this year in Vancouver. They completely reorganized part of the downtown core, and they built this giant geodesic dome called “Science World”. Now it looks completely, totally dated and a product of its time. They built monuments, built rides. It was something I don’t think we’re going to see in Canada ever again because World’s Fairs have fallen out of favor, at least for the Western World.
Pitchfork: Do you have any particular memories of going to Expo 86?
DB: I remember going to the German Pavilion, which was totally terrifying. Each country had a pavilion showing off their prime exports or a little bit of the culture, and the German Pavilion was this super austere, really cold Bauhaus-style minimalist building. It freaked me out as a child.
Does this mean we’ll be seeing more traffic to a blog I’ve tried to keep anonymous and under the radar for seven years? Probably not. But maybe should start writing cooler stuff just in case.
Jam of the Day: Wolf Parade, I’ll Believe in Anything
Posted in jams
I’m a pile of goo over Beach House’s performance of “Used to Be” on Soiree de poche.
Victoria Legrand’s voice is flat out f*cking beautiful and if you think otherwise, I’ll be forced to take up the rosary and say a hundred Hail Marys on your behalf.
I can’t embed the entire performance, but do yourself a Friday favor, click here, and listen to the first song.
Does one take up a rosary? I don’t know. I’m Presbyterian-Methodist hybrid.
Posted in jams
