Converse's Three Artists/One Song Campaign

I think that I still have a fondness for Chuck Taylor All-Stars because they scream rock'n'roll to me. They embody that spirit of "cool" from back when I wasn't. Converse has always had, I think, a connection to music.

So it made sense to me that Converse has been involved with a "Three Artists/One Song" campaign where they invite, well, three artists to collaborate on a song. There are two that dropped fairly recently that are both kickass in their own rights.

In February 2012, Converse debuted DoYaThing is a collaboration between Gorillaz, Andre3000, and James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem fame). It's this RapPop song that is as amazing as you might imagine. It's whimsical and booty-shaking fantasy, as you might imagine from arguably the three most...interesting artists of recent memory.

In April 2012, they debuted Warrior provides a more conventional counterpoint to DoYaThing's outlandish whimsy. It's a collaboration between Mark Foster (of Foster the People), Kimbra (featured on that Gotye song. You know the one.), and A-Trak (whose claim to fame seems to be developing a notation system for scratching). It's a really lovely pop song that features Kimbra on lead vocals and gets stuck in your head for days.

It looks like you can download both songs for free on the Converse website and, if you feel so inclined, buy a pair of kicks designed by Gorillaz. And they're both awesome so, you know, pick up some sweet new tunes.

Cabin Fever, ftw!

Erin McKeown, who is one of my favorite artists, has a series of webcasted live concerts called Cabin Fever.

The first four episodes of Cabin Fever were done in conjunction with the release of her latest album, Hundreds of Lions. She lives in a cabin and performed each of the episodes at various places on her property. My favorite was the episode where she performed acoustic covers of songs about water from the middle of her river. Seriously.

The thing that I admire most about McKeown is her fearless, DIY approach to making music. She self-released her first record, Monday Morning Cold, and toured to promote it without the help (financial and otherwise) of a major label. Hundreds of Lions, McKeown's sixth studio album, was released on Ani DiFranco's label, Righteous Babe records, and McKeown used Cabin Fever as a way to help pay for the record.

Fast forward to SuperBowl Sunday.

McKeown announced that she would be doing a fifth installment of Cabin Fever, this time with a sports theme. And it was awesome. She started with the National Anthem (done a billion times better than Xtina, btw) that was followed by a ridiculously awesome cover of Kurtis Blow's Basketball.

Cabin Fever V lasted for about 50 minutes and featured appearances by several guests including Carrie Rodriguez, Scott McCaughey, and Ryan Montbleau. Montbleau's song about the four most hated players in the NFL was both awesomely performed and seriously funny. You can watch it here. And you should.

McKeown closed the show with her own version of the hip hop hit Green and Yellow. It was about the most adorable thing I'd ever seen. You can see it on her blog. And you should.

All in all, Cabin Fever V was a great way to kickoff SuperBowl Sunday. All of the Cabin Fever episodes, including this one, are available for viewing.

ps--If you live in the StL, you can see Ms. McKeown along with Carrie Rodriguez and Mary Gauthier on Feburary 14th at the Old Rock House as part of the Acoustic Cafe Tour.

NPR's All Songs Considered and the Top Songs of Aught Nine...so far

I just finished listening to the All Songs Considered podcast from July (yes...July!) where they asked listeners to vote on their top songs and albums of 2009 at that point.

The top 5 songs were:
1. My girls by Animal Collective
2. Two weeks by Grizzly Bear
3. Blood bank by Bon Iver
4. The Rake's song by The Decemberists
5. Zero by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

If you want to see the whole list, go here. The blog also has clips from some of these songs.

I couldn't really argue with the list. I mean, I don't really dig on Animal Collective, but that song was pretty hot. I might've put the Bon Iver song closer to the top and I would've had a Phoenix track or something by Passion Pit in the Top 5 (on the podcast, Liztomania was no. 6 but on the blog it's no. 5).

Anyway...check it out if you're interested.

Best music of Aught Nine...so far?

For the past couple of years, The Dude and I have done a "best music of the year" list. And every year, December rolls around and I feel like there's so much music I haven't listened to.

So let me break it down for you.

So far, I've enjoyed:
Grand--Matt&Kim
Fantasies--Metric
Sad Man Happy Man--Mike Doughty
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix--Phoenix
It's frightening--White Rabbits
Manners--Passion Pit

October's new releases that I'm excited about:
Hundreds of Lions--Erin McKeown
Sainthood--Tegan and Sara

So here's the question: What have you loved that isn't on this list?

Leave a comment and fill me in.

Music for running

I am constantly trying to craft the best playlist to run to. See...I don't like running very much.

Well, that's not entirely true.

I do enjoy the feeling of accomplishment I feel when I finish and run. And I like how running makes the numbers on the scale get smaller.

But when I run, I get bored. I am not one of those people who goes to some blissful, zen place when they run. I don't think through problems. I don't think *anything* beyond how quickly I want to be done running.

So I need music that is both upbeat and lyrically interesting so that I distract myself from how bored I am and focus on being in the moment.

My newest playlist:
Lisztomania--Phoenix
Daylight--Matt&Kim
Absolutely Still--BTE
Little Secrets--Passion Pit
Yeah Yeah--Matt&Kim
Sick Muse--Metric
Satellite Skin--Modest Mouse
Lasso--Phoenix
Good Ol'Fashioned Nightmare--Matt&Kim
Gold Guns Girls--Metric
Golden Age--TV on the Radio
Off That--Jay-Z feat. Jimmy (well..Drake--I refuse to call him that, though)
All in--BTE

I am going to take this for a test drive tonight and see how it works.

A blog post in vignette-form

I haven't been reading enough, or listening to enough music, or doing anything crafty lately.

I have "hobby block," I guess. Like writer's block, but with hobbies.
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My blog would be significantly easier to write and much more interesting for you to read if it was written with fewer than 140 characters. Like Twitter. When I write my Tweets, the character limits force me to be so concise and so careful with my words.
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Going to the gym at 6:30 a.m. is much nicer than going at 6:30 p.m. It's quiet and I never have to wait for a treadmill. Probably because nobody really wants to work out that early in the morning.
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My musical tastes have changed over the past year. Over the past year I've grown to love female singers and alt-country.
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The Kanye West song 'Heartless' is almost sad enough to make me not hate him. Almost.

Good deals on digital music? Yes please...

If you're on Twitter, you should think about following the Amazon.com mp3 feed. It links to the Amazon mp3 store which has a "Deal of the Day."

Generally speaking, it looks like Amazon sells digital music for cheaper than iTunes. Not in every case, but generally.

I'm also not sure about DRM with files you get from Amazon.

I don't think that Amazon will replace the iTunes Store for me. I am lazy, and the iTunes store is right in front of me when I've got iTunes open. Still, the Daily Deal is enough to at least make me look at Amazon's mp3 store when I've got an album I want but am not willing to pay $10 for.

"I’m a roustabout/And I’m bound to roust you out "

It's been up for nearly two weeks, but this post on Mike Doughty's blog has some great You Tube videos of him singing some stuff off the newest record with Scrap Livingston accompanying him on bass.

They are made of awesome, so you should definitely go check them out.

"Electric feel" by MGMT

I hate to be so meta that I have to talk about a specific song.

But I do.

I love the song "Electric feel."

If you've ever heard of MGMT, you know that their first single off the album Oracular Spectacular was "Time to pretend." It's okay, but it isn't the best song from the album.

I don't know if I could pick one, I loved this album so much.

But I do know that I love "Electric feel."

The biggest thing it's got going for it is the fact that it's sung in falsetto. Every "pop" song sung in falsetto has this certain....feel...about it. They all seem to be seductive. Creepy, sometimes, but seductive.

This song oozes seduction. And it's lounge lizard vibe kills me every time.

I can't not love it.

Imogen Heap, or, Mrs. Dude doesn't like electronica

The Dude and I have notoriously different tastes in music sometimes. It's bizarre how much our tastes are either exactly the same or completely opposite.

It can, I think, be boiled down to the fact that The Dude is a music person and I am a lyrics person. Unfortunately, there are precious few times when those two aspects of an artist's work overlap.

My biggest complaint about electronica is that lyrics sometimes get tossed by the wayside in favor of cool musical flourishes. And, in my mind, that simply won't do. If, as an artist, you're more interested in music than lyrics, create instrumental music. No one will think less of you, I swear. Work it out, musically, and add some tracks with lyrics. At least, that way, you don't have to pretend that you care about creating something with lyrical integrity.

The Dude will tell you that sometime last summer, I went on a electronica buying-spree that consisted of me buying two of the albums that he's enjoyed immensely but that I haven't touched. One of them is Speak for yourself by Imogen Heap.

Two days ago, I was scrolling through Black Francis, my iPod, seeking out music that I haven't touched in a while. I wanted (nay, needed) to stop listening to the same three albums over and over again.

And then it happened.

I found Imogen Heap.

I like Speak for yourself. It's atmospheric and ethereal without veering off into the land of Bjork.

For the Bjork fans who might be offended by this statement, ask yourselves, is she not crazy musically-speaking? You know I'm right...

Heap seems to do the impossible--she blends interesting music with complex lyrics. I can listen to the entire album and not get grumpy that she's just mailing-it-in lyrically. And she gives me something interesting melodically.

Brilliant!

So, it turns out The Dude was right. Imogen Heap is something we can both agree on...

WOXY's Modern Rock 500

I am kind of in love with WOXY. The few times that The Dude and I made our way into Ohio, we longed to get into range of WOXY because it reminded us (well, him really....) of the days when college rock radio stations ruled the world.

WOXY used to be a radio station in Cincinnati. Well, it still is if you have HD Radio.

Mostly, though, it has reinvented itself as a web-based radio station that plays modern rock with the kind of panache and flair you don't see these days in most terrestrial-based radio stations. Music like the kind that WOXY plays is usually reserved for satellite radio.

You can get WOXY in the "radio" portion of iTunes. It's listed under the "alternative" stations, I think.

Anyway, WOXY is having a Modern Rock 500 this weekend to coincide with the running of the Indy 500.

As an aside...I'm from Indianapolis and I've never been to the Indy 500. We used to kind of hide out until it was over since the town is kind of over-run with over-zealous racing fans.

If you consider yourself a fan of modern rock, you should try to catch some of WOXY's Modern Rock 500. It's awesome to hear a song and go 'oh! yeah! I remember that!'

So far I've done that with Big Country, Tom's Diner, and a ton more. Right now? Portishead.

So yeah, check it out.

The Spares in concert

If you're near any of the places that The Spares are playing this summer, I urge you to check them out.

You simply will not be disappointed.

I'd give you a money-back guarantee, but you wouldn't need it, so it would certainly be a waste of my time and yours.

Just go.

You know you want to.

In which Mrs. Dude exposes her obsessive nature

When I find a band that I connect with, musically speaking, I get kind of obsessive. Okay...not kind of. Really.

Really obsessive.

It's just that I so rarely find music that I connect with. I like a particular song by this band or that artist, but I rarely find an artist or band whose music, as a whole, speaks to me.

When I find one, I obsess. I listen to the same songs over and over again.

It's like falling in love, I suppose. I want to surround myself with that music. I want to be enchanted, transported, rocked to the very core of my soul.

I want to find music that makes me never feel the same again.

I'm currently obsessing over Mike Doughty's music and also Tegan and Sara's music.

I have listened to Golden Delicious and If it was you so many times it's not even funny.

I am learning every word to every song. Not on purpose, to be one of those people who goes to a concert and sings every word of every song. I'm learning them as a side effect of immersing myself in the songs.

I can't explain why I'm drawn to either of these artists. I think it's their lyrical dexterity and earnestness.

Whatever the reason, I am a sad, lovesick fool.

Musically-speaking, that is.

Mrs. Dude's at-work playlist (4/24)

Tegan and Sara--It it was you
Jimmy Buffett--Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays
Soul Coughing--Irresistible bliss

Mrs. Dude's at-work playlist (Mon., April 21)

R.E.M.--Accelerate
Mike Doughty--Rockity roll
Mandy Moore--Wild hope
Indigo Girls--Despite out differences

Mrs. Dude's at-work playlist 3/27 and 28

March 27:
Modest Mouse: The Moon and Antarctica

March 28:
Mike Doughty: Golden Delicious
Regina Spektor: Begin to hope

Mike Doughty at The Gargoyle--3/27 **revised**

I was reading the paper yesterday evening and saw that Mike Doughty was going to be playing later that evening at The Gargoyle later that evening. The show was a reasonable $15 and I was desperate to see Doughty in concert. So, in a very un-Mrs. Dudelike turn of events, I decided to go.

I'm glad I did.

The Gargoyle was an awesome, though poorly ventilated, venue. It was small enough to be intimate but big enough to give everyone room to push toward the stage. But, after dancing for an hour, my legs hurt from the tile floor.

Doughty seemed genuinely into the crowd, putting out an awesome vibe. He could've copped an attitude since The Gargoyle is a student-run venue on a University campus and there were maybe 200 people there. Instead, he seemed genuinely interested in putting on a killer show. He had an ease on stage and mastered the art of between-song banter. For me, this was the best part of the show and Doughty interacted with an energy and interest like I've never seen before. A close second might be Steve Poltz.

Doughty played songs from all of his solo albums, hitting his Haughty Melodic stuff pretty hard. But he also played songs from his Soul Coughing days. Highlights for me were the songs:

Soft serve
Busting up a Starbucks
I hear the bells
Ft. Hood
I wrote a song about your car
Tremendous brunettes

and a rousing version of Firetruck at the audience's insistence.

I was amused at how many people weren't singing along until he got to "I hear the bells," at which point they broke into song. I attributed this to the fact that a large portion of the audience was college-aged (which makes sense, as The Gargoyle is a student-run club and the show was free for Washington University students) and probably knew the song from it's appearance in a pivotal scene in the television show Veronica Mars. The age of the audience also led to me overhearing a college-aged girl say "I can't believe there are so many people here who are my parents' age."

Man...I felt old.

Opening for Doughty was funky fresh rock band The Panderers. A band on Doughty's label, Snack Bar, the Panderers were a mix of alt-country and neo-soul and reminded me a lot of Better Than Ezra, Steve Poltz, and Doughty himself. Catchy and fun, the music was fabulous and the drummer, bass player, and keyboardist returned to the stage to back Doughty. They only have an EPs-worth of material, so their set was short but each song was carefully crafted and performed with energy.

We were provided with a bizarre treat before The Panderers came on. The drummer, bass player, and keyboardist for both The Panderers and Mike Doughty's backing band came out dressed in funny hats and fake facial hair. They played wordless prog-ish music, including a song where the bassist read from a Euclidean Geometry book. The audience wasn't sure if the performance was a joke or for real, but the music was good, so I wasn't sure it mattered.

Overall, the evening was well worth the money I paid.

P.S.--Go read Alex's review of the show. He was nice enough to show me some link love so I want to return the favor. Also? He had a lot of the same views on the evening that I did.

Mrs. Dude's at-work playlist--3/26

Mike Doughty: Haughty Melodic (I didn't make it all the way through the album yesterday, so it was what popped up when I turned on my iPod)

Glen Phillips: Mr. Lemons

Kay Hanley: Cherry Marmalade

Just 'cause

"Slain by the words I lack/My world is bursting sappy music"
--Madeline and Nine by Mike Doughty

Mrs. Dude's at-work playlist--3/25

Counting Crows: Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings
Dixie Chicks: Taking the Long Way
Mike Doughty: Haughty Melodic