Category Archives: Obsessions

The Soundtrack of Our Lives (TSOOL)

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Waxing philosophical about the soundtrack of my life yesterday reminded me of one of my all time favorite – and little known – Swedish rock bands, The Soundtrack of Our Lives (a.k.a. TSOOL).  I had the good fortune of seeing them for the first time this year at SXSW and nearly fainted when the lead singer jumped off the stage and sang ‘21st Century Ripoff‘ right in front of me.  I at least had my wits about me to take this photo.

Turns out TSOOL has a new single, Utopia, streaming on their MySpace page. Unfortunately, they don’t have a widespread US following, so I’m resigned to adore them from afar.  I just love the Swedes and their fantastic music sensibilities. 

For those of you unacquainted with TSOOL, here’s a video for one of their more popular tracks, Sister Surround.

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The Littlest Duke Spirit Fan…

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…is my boy Judah.  And we were lucky enough to meet the band last night during rehearsals before their show at The Bottom of the Hill.  The band was so gracious and sweet; gave him a tour of their bus…invited him up on stage to play instruments and sing.  Pretty cool for a 3 year old, huh?

I know you’re probably thinking Mom’s projecting this on the kid.  But he’s truly passionate about this band and knows most of the words to their songs (as well as a 3 year old can interpret them). Good thing I like them too, because I have to listen to it over and over and over and over again.  Sure beats Barney though.

Here’s the video that started it all…

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Rock Band 2 – Drummer’s Delight

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I’m quite the Rock Band junkie and have pretty much appointed myself house drummer.  Play with me and you’re relegated to vocals or guitar, but drums are off limits.  Not that I don’t like to share and all; it’s just too painful to watch a newbie flail around on the drum pads, and only a matter of time before they inadvertently pause the game mid-song by whacking the XBox menu button instead of the pad.  Grrrrr.

I started to seriously drool when Adam forwarded me this post from Gizmodo about this new third party Ion Drum Kit available with the impending release of RockBand 2 in September. This isn’t the drum kit shipping with Rock Band 2, you’ll have to pay $300 for this one.  But my, isn’t it pretty?

There’s also a new crop of songs coming with Rock Band 2 to get excited about.  But until then, we’ll be rocking out to the best Rock Band song EVER!

Boston/Foreplay-Long Time

CASSETTE FROM MY EX – The Heart of the Mixtape

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“They were into you, so they made you a tape. Today you don’t have a cassette player, but you still can’t toss that mix. We share the stories and the soundtrack to your earliest loves.”  

–Manifesto from CASSETTE FROM MY EX

Now that’s what I’m talking about! This site is all about people who searched for the deeper meaning of the mixtape.  It features mixes and the stories behind them from random and notable people, like Claudia Gonson – the drummer of The Magnetic Fields (have I mentioned I have an obsession with female drummers?)  I love it.

the OCMD Mixtape – Best Covers

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Lately, I’ve been obsessed with cover songs.  And nostalgic for the mixtape.  I miss the mixtape, frankly, and wish it would come back. Mix CDs are great and all, but the ‘drag and drop’ medium doesn’t require the same amount of effort, thoughtfulness and dedication as making a mixtape did.  It’s one thing to find the right songs and arrange them…but to actually time the songs so you didn’t run out of tape?  That’s an art form.  

And in that sense, they seemed more meaningful too.  I just can’t recall anyone today being particularly impressed by a mix CD they were given.  But remember when someone gave you a mixtape in the day? That was…WOW.

It’s been far too long since I’ve made or have been given a mixtape.  But I’m changing that today with my first mixtape to you (albeit digital) – a collection of my favorite indie cover songs.  There will be more to come.  So if you like this and want more, you’ll have to subscribe to my Mixtape Podcast to receive them.

the OCMD – Best Covers Mixtape

1.  Cryptacize – Peg (Steely Dan cover)
2.  Johnathon Wilson – La Isla Bonita (Madonna cover)
3.  Midnight Movies – Mes Reves de Satin (Moody Blues cover)
4.  Japancakes – Only Shallow (MBV cover)
5.  Sonic Youth – Superstar (Carpenters cover)
6.  Grizzly Bear – Owner of a Lonely Hearts (Yes cover)
7.  We are Scientists – Hoppipolla (Sigur Ros cover)
8.  Jose Gonzalez – Teardrop (Massive Attack cover)
9.  Marissa Nadler – No Surprises (Radiohead cover)
10.  St. Vincent – These Days (Jackson Browne cover)
11. Cat Power – Ramblin’ (Wo)man (Hank Williams cover)
12. Vampire Weekend – Exit Music (for a Film) (Radiohead cover)
13. Sons and Daughters – Killer (Adamski cover)
14. The Cloud Room – Blue Monday (New Order cover)
15. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Another Satellite (XTC cover)
16. The Paper Scissors – I can’t Go for That (Hall & Oates cover)

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Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid

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Artist: Elbow
Album: The Seldom Seen Kid
File Under: Brit Rock
Recommended if You Like: Radiohead, Coldplay, Rob Dickinson, Peter Gabriel
Featured Track: Grounds for Divorce; The Bones of You

“I’ve been working on a cocktail called Grounds for Divorce…,” is the opening line from the rockin’ single, ‘Grounds for Divorce,’ off Elbow’s fourth and arguably best release to date, The Seldom Seen Kid.  The song is immense, snarling with emotion and emblematic of the theme of the album – the joys and sorrows of everyday life.

I’ve been obsessing over this album since it’s release in April.  Definitely one of my top albums for 2008.  I’m in love with Guy Garvey’s voice, which reminds me of Peter Gabriel at times and Rob Dickinson at others.  It’s beautiful and melodic, regardless. Especially the track, ‘The Fix’, in which Guy collaborates with another British crooner, Richard Hawley.

Elbow is one of those Radiohead-esque English bands that emerged from the wake of The Bends and OK Computer in the 90s.  For whatever reason, Coldplay was the band the masses glommed onto while Elbow remained in relative obscurity, despite their abundance of critical accolades.  Lucky for you, you now know better. 

Get this album free via eMusic’s 50 Free MP3 Promo

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Danger Mouse – The Arbiter of Cool, Indie Music

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I realized after obsessing this week over Beck’s new album, ‘Modern Guilt‘, that I was listening to yet another Danger Mouse production. What is this guy up to and what else is he working on? A lot, so it seems.

Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) is famously known for remixing Jay Z‘s ‘Black Album‘ over samples from The Beatles ‘White Album’ to create, ‘The Grey Album.’ From there he collaborated with Cee-Lo (as half of Gnarls Barkley) to release the hugely popular ‘St. Elsewhere’. He’s also produced the debut album from The Good, The Bad and The Queen, and the latest releases of Sparklehorse, The Rapture and Gorillaz.

This year he’s in top form with producer title for the following releases:

Martina Topley-Bird (from Tricky), ‘The Blue God’; Featured Track: Phoenix

The Black Keys, ‘Attack and Release’; Featured Track: Same Old Thing

The Shortwave Set, ‘Replica Sun Machine‘; Featured Track: Harmonia

Beck, ‘Modern Guilt’; Featured Track: Modern Guilt

With his influences firmly rooted in electronica/trip-hop, I’ll definitely be tracking his next move.

Get this album free via eMusic’s 50 Free MP3 Promo

buy it at insound!

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Sirius Left of Center Blog Radio

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Nothing makes me happier than to start my day with a cup of Peets and a session of Blog Radio on Sirius Satellite Radio’s Left of Center, channel 26.  Monday through Saturday at 9AM PT, Blog Radio is hosted by a different indie music blogger who gives their take on the music scene.  Here’s the current line up:

They rebroadcast it everyday at midnight as well.  It’s a great way to discover new music. And yet another good reason to get a Sonos player!

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Sonos Digital Music System

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Probably the most common question my friends ask me is how I have so much time to listen to all the music that I do. Well, here’s the answer: Sonos. It’s simply the best digital music system – period. It allows you to play any music, in any room, from anywhere, all over your house. (And it’s an excellent way to drown out the incessant whining of a 3 year old.) I can choose to listen to my own music library, any Internet radio station, Pandora, Sirius Satellite Radio or Rhapsody. You virtually have millions of songs at your fingertips.

I have this set up at home and in the office, so I’m constantly listening to and exploring new music without having to carve out a chunk of my day to sit down on my computer and ‘research’ the subject. Whenever I read a new album review, I simply queue it up in my playlist through my Rhapsody account (which costs you about $10/month to access to all the music you could possibly imagine) and play it in the background as I go on about my day.

It’s like having my own virtual radio station. But the best part is, if I hear something I like, all I have to do is pick up my wireless handheld remote (that I carry around like a newborn baby), check out the artist, click a button and add it to my library.

Voila. My music secrets are now revealed.

To learn more about how Sonos works, watch this demo. Do keep in mind that to listen to music in every room of your house, you do have to have speakers in every room in your house. Which is why I also highly recommend an in-wall speaker distributed audio system, which requires professional installation. But we’ll talk more about that in another post. Just wrap your head around Sonos for today.

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Goodbye iTunes, Helloooo Songbird

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I’ve been keeping an eye on Songbird for a while but was always a bit intimidated to try it out. A fractional (v 0.5) developer release with nightly builds? Come on, that’s a bit scary for the average bear. I finally installed it this weekend and can honestly say I have arrived at the pearly gates of music heaven.  

Developed by a group calling themselves ‘Pioneers of the Inevitable’ (love it), Songbird is a free open source media player and web browser rolled into one.  It’s like the power of iTunes and Firefox combined.  Not only can you manage and play your own music, now you can play the web too.  

For example, any media files stored on a website will show up as a playable file in the Songbird application that you can download or save to your library.  Even better, it has a built-in RSS subscription and MP3 file download so now you can subscribe to your favorite MP3 blogs as playlists!  Plus, it’s already integrated with HypeMachine, eMusic and InSound.  To get a better sense of all the features, watch their online demo here.

The potential of the application is mind boggling.  Just today I added the mashTape add-on that shows tour dates, photos, lyrics and videos of the artist currently playing and I thought my head was going to explode.  Now if they would only integrate with Sonos…..

Go get it now!

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