You Heard it Here First, Edition VII

Apparently I now do these in Roman Numerals. I don' know. Just go with it. I'm not feeling that these need an intro. Life in portland is coming to a close. New things are becoming my focus. Life in seattle will be short, then I venture across the Atlantic. I am peeing my pants with excitement. But that does not distract me from obsessing about music. Here is my latest list.


1. I'm not sure HOW I did not know about this band before. Cause really, it screams hippie claire. They are called "neutral milk hotel". Yes. And they are pretty damn epic. Enjoy their "aeroplane over the sea", reccommended by Jonathan. Kind of reminds me of Kells. No wonder I like it.





2. M.I.A. I have always been intrigued, but got into her in the past two weeks after a tip from Jillian the magnificent lacrosse drunk. No, really, she's not a drunk. But the past few encounters with her, thats all we seem to get ourselves into. Back to the music, MIA, one of those semi-self-professed "retired" musicians. Whatever. She's punk, ska, indian, hip-hop etc etc. I can't put my finger on it. And despite the gun shots in this song, that rub me the wrong way, I think its superbly fun and catchy. She can really pull off those gold chains too, for some reason.





3. OK. ALERT THE PRESSES. The Cure has a new Album. Breathe. And then celebrate. Because anyone that came up with this song, this song, and my almost favorite song of all time, deserves some cred. Their new song. "The Perfect Boy". But what is WITH his hair? For reals, yo.





4. Everyone in my office is talking about this song. And by everyone I mean the most spastastic member of our staff, Elisa. And if I had my own office, I would be dancing around to this song too. It's by Lady Gaga, and called "Just Dance". We all need some of this techno-pop-dance lovelyness in our lives. And apparently she already remixed with Akon (cough scum), so theres that version as well. Go find it on Youtube.



5. Vampire Weekend. Thanks to Lauren (and their feature on mtv that I tried to resist since its mtv, right?), because these guys are pretty awesome. They classify themselves as Punk/NewWave/Classical. And they're pretty much just that. From the songs that I've been listening to allllll morning here at the coffee shop, my favorite is "APunk" which I think is their most popular, and is featured below. although other recomendations are "mansard roof" and "cape cod kwassa kwassa". My research shows they've had a few albums, but the one released in january of this year seems to be almost as good as grilled cheese sandwiches. Whoa. So to sum up, they channel the raconteurs at times, sample African-esque beats, and remind me a bit of the Arctic Monkeys. Enjoy!





6. Mmmm I love me some acoustic. Yes ma'am, I do. Fionn Regan (album titled 'End of History' released in 2007) is perfection. Although his uptempo stuff (protection racket demo) reminds me of bob dylan, his other slower, more acoustic repetoire is also along the lines of the late great folk singer. With that voice that is the hard to achieve balance between whiny and heartfelt, his song "Snowy Atlas Mountains" is freaking moving, damnit. A little bit of hillbilly, a little bit of eric miller, and a dash of postal service. Serve to Joshua Radin fans. Sounds good to me. (see alos "put a penny in the slot").





7. Apparently The Format has disbanded. Yes, we mourn appropriately. But Lauren told me that one of the dudes (main singer) from that amazing group is doing his own thing, with a couple other guys. Under the name of FUN. Oh man. His voice! It's back! Woo! And their page is kind of pink. Nice. He only has one song for now, since their album is set to be released in February 09, and it's called "Benson Hedges's Demo". It's everything great.





8. Time for another Hotel Cafe Tour shoutout. Their latest (formerly a waitress at the cafe in LA) is singer-songwriter Meiko. Along the lines of Tristan Prettyman, Jewel, The Watson Twins, other beautiful voiced women, etc etc. First discovered on my new cable series obsession called "The Cleaner". The song "said and done" (below) was featured recently. If I ever get myself to sit down with my unused guitar, I would learn some of her songs first.




She is so good, that it's worth TWO video plugs. The song is called "Boys with Girlfriends", and is a more catchy yet still beautiful pop song, with some very important advice for the whole "can boys and girls really be friends" pondery.





9. As a Sneak Peak into the 'old school hip hop' theme of my next Edition, I give you this favorite. Doesn't it just bring back the days of gradeschool, and lipsmackers, and breakfast club (st. joe's shoutout), and good ole kube 93? Yessssssss. (hint: wait for the chorus and then it will hit you)






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