Gnarles Barkley

I'm really enjoying Gnarles Barkley's (Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse) album "St Elswhere" I know that everyone is all about the single "Crazy" and it certainly is good, but I really love the song "Just a Thought."

I'm not generally one to focus on the lyrics in music, and I know that "I'm sad" is hardly an original message in a song but I really like the passive-aggressive/denying way that Cee-Lo goes about talking about it.

-Brandon

Arockalypse!

This song and video is so rediculous I cannot help but love it. I don't think anything sums up this video better then this comment underneath the video.

"with lyrics such as "Arockalypse" and "Day of Rockening"

how is it possible for that not to win?"

I'm gonna go watch it again.

-Brandon

Made out of Meat

I know this is a Boing Boing repost but everyone should watch this seven and a half minute short film on You Tube. Very cool.

Wish I knew who did the music, didn't see it in the credits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-NAvPzdjj0&search=made%20out%20of%20meat

-Brandon

Music

I cannot get enough of Rhymefest's song "Build me Up." There is something incredibly charming about Ol' Dirty Bastard singing "Build me Up Buttercup."

Still listening to Os Mutantes self titled album religiously.

I've also been re-getting into Madlib's "Shade of Blue." His remixes and remakes of classic Blue Note Record jazz recordings is so amazingly good. He released a newish beats album called "Beat Konducta" which I suppose is meant as a follow up to his 7 inch "The Beat Conductor." What a clever man.

Psapp has a new album out that is pretty similiar, and just as enjoyable as their first one. If you like mellow singing to chaotic yet relaxing electronic istrumentals, pick up "The only thing I ever Wanted."

I've gained some newfound appreciation of the newish Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, "Show Your Bones." At first I only really loved the Diplo remix of Gold Lion, but the rest is growing on my. It's good rock that's channeling a little early 90's pre-grunge and a little 80's new wave, just like their first album.

Spank Rock is amazing. His album YoYoYoYoYo is by no means lyrically brilliant. In fact, it's borderline sexist, incredibly dirty, and incredibly immature. It is also very well produced and very catchy. I don't even know if I can totally call this hip-hop. The beats are far from typical hip-hop stylings. This is club music with an MC.

J+J+J is an incredibly wierd band who sing juvenile songs about "people who wear headphones at work," and "staring at people's unborn children with a stolen ultrasound" to a techno beat. Very wierd, also incredibly entertaining. If you get the chance listen to "They Hump While We Go Nuts."

I've also been listening to a lot of Little Richard lately. His songs are pretty similiar to each other but they are still very fun to listen to. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know how to write about anything other then his sex life. And he doesn't seem to be able to write about that without adding in his own nonsensical words and phrases.

-Brandon

Pitchfork Music Fest 2006

I went to the Intonation fest last year and had a lot of fun. This year is has split into "The Intonation Fest" and "The Pitchfork Music Fest." I don't particularly want to go to Intonation. Besides Jon Brion and The Streets, there really isn't anyone I want to see performing. Plus I don't think taking two weekends off this summer is a good idea. But Pitchfork is offering a whol bunch I want to see.

7/29
Silver Jews
The Futureheads
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
Art Brut
Destroyer
Mountain Goats
Band of Horses
Man Man
Hot Machines

Biz3 Stage
Dominik Eulberg
Matmos
Ada
Ghislain Poirier
8 Bold Souls

Much More TBA...

7/30
Os Mutantes
Spoon
Yo La Tengo
Devendra Banhart
Mission of Burma
Aesop Rock
The National
Jens Lekman
Tapes 'n Tapes
Chin Up Chin Up

Biz3 Stage
Diplo
Tarantula A.D.
Tyondai Braxton
Bonde Do Role

Much More TBA...

I'll get to see Diplo again (which I am excited for). Spoon and Yo La Tengo should be a lot of fun. And I am really excited to see Man Man. Plus, it has been announced that legendary Tropicália band Os Mutantes is going to be playing as well. It's actually a pretty wierd coincidence as I have just started getting into them within the last two weeks. Guy I work with introduced me to the tropicália genre. He's been getting me turned onto a lot of different psychadelia stuff lately and this latest is one of my favorites.

Tropicália legends Os Mutantes sign on!
Friday April 14th. 2006
Well, it looks like the Pitchfork Music Festival isn't just going to be two days of happy people getting drunk and rocking out-- it's also going to be an historic event!

We are honored and delighted to announce that Brazilian Tropicália gods Os Mutantes, reunited and performing live for the first time since 1973, will play the second day of the Pitchfork Music Festival. The psych-rock pioneers have scheduled just a handful of shows this summer, and we've been lucky enough to score their only American festival appearance. As Os Mutantes themselves once said, everything is possible-- including getting to see a group of living legends play on the same bill as members of the younger musical generation they helped to inspire.
Tickets are on sale now... don't sleep!

-Brandon

I'm bored

So here is some time wasting stupidity.

I decided to take a quiz to decide what sort of girl I am. I'm not so sure the results are correct, but some of the questions didn't have answers I liked anyway.

http://www.cookingtohookup.com/girls/academic.php

I'm not sure why I posted this...-Brandon

Firefly Season 2 as pay-per-view. Possibly online. I would gladly pay a few dollars per episode to watch on my PC as long as it was re-watchable. If it's downloadble, thats fine. If it is streaming, it must be re-watchable as many times as you want, at least until the DVD set is released. If it is made unavailable after the DVD's are released, people who bought all of the individual episodes should be given a discount on the DVD set. They paid for the episodes and it seems only fair that removing the ability to watch them should come with some sort of reimbursment even if it is only a coupon of some sort.
http://www.fireflyseason2.com/index.asp

-Brandon

Spore: The Maxis Masterpiece?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-262774490184348066&q=spore
If you have an hour to blow you need to watch this video of Will Wright showing off Maxis's (the gaming-gods responsible for the entire sim genre) long in development game Spore. In spore you control the development of an organism from the cellular level game (a 2d arcade style game where you grab up food and avoid predators game(a 3d game where you wander around, eat, don't get eaten, and mate in order to upgrade your organism) to sentient village level game(where you manage a group of your organisms in a RTS/sims fashion and buy them technological upgrades) to city level game(where you manage the city's development in a sim-city style and upgrade structures and advanced technology) to a civilization style game (where you compete with other cities on your planet through war or diplomacy) to a colonization game (where you move on to other planets and build colonies and teraform planets with your mutlitool/UFO capable of earning more abilities as you do more) to a galaxy wide God's sandbox game (where you find other life in other solar systems, initiate first contact in warlike or peaceful manner and pretty much do whatever you want from the previous games). Sound huge? It is. And that run-on sentence doesn't touch on the incredible manipulation you can do with the creature/vehicle/building editor or the fact that all other creatures and civilizations you meet are based on other players creations on other computers that you automatically download when online.

This game looks absolutely amazing, and it is due to complex algorhthyms with a minimum of data. Rather then having pre-created creature designs (as most charecter editors in games do) they created a system where you can basically do what you want through stretching and molding. There is no need for presaved models when it is all generated on the spot. Plus, by allowing you to sync up with other player's creations automatically (completely bypassing the need for a browser when accessing player created content) ensures a large number of unique and constantly updating content. I have not been this impressed by a game in a long time.

-Brandon

Slobodan Milosevic is Dead

And oddly enough, this is a sad thing. The man was a monster. Arguably one of the worst human being to be alive during my lifetime. His death protects others involved in the genocide he contributed to and to make matters worse, it appears in might have been due to deliberate neglect on the part of those holding him. Death is to kind for this man, he should have been forced to live longer and see the world see him as a monster. He should have been put in a position where he had to betray his political allies. He should have had to live through decades of no allies and no friends before he was forced to die.

Slobodan Milosevic is dead, and his death is a sadness. The man deserved more pain before he went away.

-Brandon

What a stupid fucking video

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4313772690011721857

Someone apparently thought they were being clever by creating this "What if Microsoft made the IPod" video. However, all I can tell is that they are mocking Microsoft for providing information on the product on the outside of the box. What the hell is the problem here? Should companies cease providing important info on the product they are buying? "Oh gee, what ever shall we do now that sinister companies have stolen our unnecessary pretty pictures and replaced them with important product info." I hate stupid hipsters who value image over practicality.

-Brandon