Media craziness.

It’s Tuesday, and it’s a new media day. New releases from Ra Ra Riot and Sufjan Stevens (and the requisite price drops for early adopters), and also the release of the FINAL TWELVE MINUTES OF LOST! Check it out!

• Ra Ra Riot‘s 2008 release The Rhumb Line is one of my favorite albums of all time. This sophomore release is almost as good, especially tracks like Boy, Too Dramatic and Shadowcasting. Currently you can get the album for $3.99 from Amazon MP3. Here’s a preview of the song “Too Dramatic”:
  
• Sufjan Steven’s just released the All Delighted People EP. It’s a little light on the bombastic orchestral and jazz fluorishes that I loved on Greetings From Michigan, The Great Lakes State and Come On! Feel the Illinoise! but it’s still pretty good. You can listen to the whole thing and buy the album for $5 at BandCamp.
• And holy polar bear fish biscuits, Batman! With the release of the final LOST season sets, there’s a new 12 minutes of epilogue, wrapping up a lot of the unanswered questions. Check it out here!

And thus marks my return to the world of blogging. Perhaps one day I will be like Jhonen Vasquez, or maybe not.

Mae is darned good.

So, I saw Mae last night at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. Good times. I remember that’s where I saw The Jealous Sound with Sarah and Matt one weekend morning.

Anyhow, here’s a Lala playlist:

de Blob

One of the most surprising video games I’ve played in the last year is THQ’s de Blob for the Wii. Click the link for it’s description on Wikipedia.

One of the most innovative portions of the game is it’s soundtrack, which is a funky, upbeat jazz odyssey, and is completely governed by the way you play. As you paint buildings, you build the soundtrack. If you use red, a sassy saxophone will flare up and green is a blues guitar. Eventually, as you paint more and more, the tracks crescendo and you’re grooving, literally.

Well, after a couple of weeks of looking for the soundtrack, I found it at Amazon MP3. You can get it here. Below is one of it’s tracks, a little selection called “Euphoric” in the game. Get the entire soundtrack if you like it. I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Jimmy Eat World – Beautiful Day

From Yo Gabba Gabba.

Jimmy Eat World-Beautiful Day-Yo Gabba Gabba

I think if I were in a band, I’d want to make a video just like this one.

The new Jealous Sound album

Seriously, this makes me feel like I’m back in the early years of college. Thank heavens they’re still making music.

I purchased this off of lala this morning… supposedly they might not actually release this EP in physical form.

The Jealous Sound – Got Friends, off their EP of the same name.

Stop everything right now and listen to this:

• Moby’s album masher mix from his new album “Last Night” – moby.rcrdlbl.com
• Dan Wilson – ‘Junior‘ and then ‘Closing Time‘ – a live show in Dallas, TX on Nov 15 ’07
• Shout Out Louds – Very Loud (Live @ SXSW 2008) – hypem.com

Music recently purchased through AmazonMP3:

• Jon Foreman – Fall and Winter EPs
• Something Corporate – Leaving Through the Window
• A few songs from the original Ghostbusters soundtrack, especially Mick Smiley’s “Magic”
• Grab bag of songs from the Sound of Superman soundtrack, including
  • Paramore covering “My Hero,” originally by the Foo Fighters
  • Jack’s Mannequin – “Meet Me At My Window” (sooo good)

We’ll fight for your music halls and dying cities.

I have to hand it to my friend Dave McFadyen, he makes my musical taste feel so utterly pedestrian. In the last few months he has introduced me to three of my favorite albums ever. And it’s stuff that makes me feel so damn smart, like after listening to it I have a license to walk around being indier than thou. Let’s rattle off the list:

1. The Long Winters – Putting the Days to Bed.  Best song off this album is “Teaspoon.” I really don’t know what it’s about, something to do with being in love with a woman who loves a pilot, and all you can do is turn to a life of robbing banks… it really doesn’t matter. Those horns buffet my soul.
2. Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha. One listen to “Plasticities” (which is where they title of this post comes from) makes me feel like falling in love in autumn. But really, it’s one stand out track in an album of stand out tracks. He used to be the violinist for the Squirrel Nut Zippers, and has released plenty of albums over the years as Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire, and most recently as just Andrew Bird. His “Bowl of Fire” discography is a lot like the Squirrel Nut Zippers, with him borrowing many of the conventions of early 20th century music. Check out this show on archive.org at Mad City in 1998 for a listen to his previous stylings. He’s pretty dang slick.
3. Radiohead – In Rainbows. I have to admit, I just haven’t “got” the last several Radiohead albums, but this one is truly stellar. It’s easily the most accessible album they’ve released in a decade. “Reckoner” reminds me of my favorite songs off of Moby’s Play, but far more beautiful.

All of those links above you should be able to play the songs right off the page. Thank heavens for Hype Machine and the Live Music Archive at archive.org.

Kevin Toqe – Love Is

I can’t believe I haven’t yet written about this, but my good friend Kevin Toqe recorded a magnificent E.P. this summer, and it’s exciting to me for three reasons:

1. It’s really quite good.
2. He’s released it for free on his website.
3. I designed the packaging and liner notes for it.

So, whatever you do, I highly recommend you at least stop by his site (KevinToqe.com) and give it a listen. There’s a media player at the top of every page that plays the songs in their entirety, or you can download the entire album, including a PDF of the liner notes.

It’s interesting to note, though, that neither the digital booklet nor the actual physical cd (when it’s produced) will have the complete packaging. The digital download has all the lyrics, while, in the interests of space, the physical cd has no lyrics, but does have the tray art, of which you’ll see the inside of the tray card above.

I highly recommend the song “Keep the Faith” which is track numero uno. It’s super catchy; I find myself singing it in the shower almost on a daily basis.

Dog Problems, Beautiful Dog Problems

I cannot express my glee. One of my favorite albums of the last year, The Format’s Dog Problems is now free for download until July 16th, no strings attached. All you have to do is sign up for their mail list (which you can opt out of at any time). It’s infectious, wonderful, indie happy pop and you need to download it and listen to at least Time Bomb or Dog Problems or Pick Me Up or The Compromise, because if you don’t and tell me I’ll probably cry. And if you don’t and don’t tell me, shame on you.

The greatest part about The Format is that they self-released this album. I think I heard that after their first (fantastic) album was released with Atlantic Records, the record deal went horribly south. Well, self-releasing has its perks. Actually, the greatest part about The Format is that they’re awesome. All that other stuff is just really cool.

Check here for some rare tracks by The Format, including a cover of The Kink’s Apeman. I know my mom will like that.

And I’m seriously thinking about going to see them Wednesday, August 1st at 7:00 pm at Avalon Hollywood. It’s $17. Anybody wanna come?