To The Long Weekend

Songs I Recently Bought and Can’t Get Enough Of:

“212” by Azealia Banks (featuring Lazy Jay)

            I first heard this song in a clothing store in SoHo.  I wanted to track down what song it was by opening up the Shazam App and sticking my phone in the air but felt like I was in the company of too many young hipster girls that would totally judge me for not knowing what song it was.  I heard it later on the radio with someone who did not judge me for not knowing who it was and told me so I could download it later.  I initially had thought this song was 2 or 3 separate songs and later discovered it was just one song with lots of different crazy-awesome parts.

Sweeter by Gavin Degraw

            Great adult rock song that has a little soulful rock beat to it.  Best line: “You take that body to the other end/I really like you but I can’t be friends/not with these hands of mine.”

Shut Up and Swallow by Combichrist

            Perfection!  If you like Industrial techno metal about X-Rated bondage sex (and who doesn’t?).  Love this song because it is so outrageous and then the chorus is some automated-sounding woman repeating the instructions “shut up and swallow” in a pure and innocent tone.  I find myself often walking around the apartment or quietly at work reciting the lyrics nonchalantly . . . “shut up and swallow.”

You Know How I Know You’re [a Music Snob]—Because you like Coldplay

Music snobs are abundant.  I have noticed them ever since I bought my first Tool t-shirt and someone in a record store asked me if I liked their old stuff or new stuff which then dictated whether I was worthy of talking with or not. 

Music snobs are everywhere and you could be one of them.  Don’t let this happen to you.  Here are the 20 telltale signs you are a music snob.  We are all guilty of a few of these things, but if you are guilty of more than 6, tell your friends to run and save themselves!!!!

You Are a Music Snob If . . .

11.     You like the Black Keys

22.     You listen to college radio stations (of colleges you did not attend)

33.     You cannot like a band or artist unconditionally—you can only like particular albums, songs, or eras of the band

44.     You like Wilco

55.     You wear tour t-shirts of tours that happened before you were born

66.    You hate when bands “sell out” (and you conveniently think all bands have)

77.     You often need to make it clear that you liked [insert artist name here] before they became mainstream and/or popular

88.     When someone asks you “who is this,” you react either with a “You don’t know who this is?!?!” or a long essay-like explanation of who they are with lots of backstory

99.     You don’t pay for your music and you want everyone to know you do not pay for music and make fun of those who do

110.  You have never liked music that anyone else has suggested to you

111.   You are Trent Reznor

112. You are either pro-Glen Danzig or pro-Michael Graves (and you are willing to fight over it)

113. You hate U2

114. You own over-the-ear headphones

115. You hate Metallica’s St. Anger album

116. You hate Buckcherry, Daughtry, Hinder, Nickelback, Theory of a Deadman, Breaking Benjamin, Seether, Shinedown or Puddle of Mudd

117. You have anything to say about John Mayer—good or bad

118.   You liked The Shins before the Garden State soundtrack came out and you want everyone to know that

119. You have a tattoo that is in anyway related to a band from the 70s

220. You have a Weezer t-shirt

Mother Daughter Pitbull Lovers

On Friday morning, my mother alerted me to the fact that Pitbull had performed on the Today Show as the first concert in their summer concert series.

“Pitbull performed?” my mom said.  (The question mark references that she often says bands and artists in a questioning tone because she assumes she has probably pronounced their name wrong.

“Oh yah, Pitbull,” I replied.  “The new Men In Black movie probably came out today and he did a song for the soundtrack.  He is pretty good,” I explained.

“He was really good.  He was so energetic,” she said.

“Yah he puts on a good show I bet.”

“Yah, and the suit and the sunglasses . . . “

“Yah that is kind of his thing, he always dresses like that.”

“Not gonna lie, it works.”

“You like Pitbull, mom?”

“Yah, I think I do.”

Well this was a start to an interesting weekend.  Constantly tracking down radio stations that may play his songs, adding songs of his to a playlist so we could easily listen to him in the car.  This may perhaps the first mother-daughter duo to ever be looking for Pitbull tickets together.

P.S.--“Back in Time” is probably better than the movie it is on the soundtrack for.

Song I'm Obsessed With

I have not listened to Mat Kearney since the golden days of Grey’s Anatomy.  I have not watched the show since the season where “All I Need” by Mat Kearney was featured in one of the final episodes and coincidentally topped the music charts.

So I may be late in the game since Kearney’s most recent album, Young Love, was released almost a year ago in August 2011, but I happen to be obsessed with “Ships in the Night.”  Released as a single in November 2011, I totally ignored all his singles after not taking too warmly to “Hey Mama,” the first single off of the album.

Recently, as not to draw too much attention to my sometimes awkward music tastes at my new job, I have chosen Internet radio stations such as Lite Rock, Adult Alternative; stations you would hear at the dentist’s office.  And, it just so happens that “Ships in the Night” is a choice favorite on many of these stations.  I totally understand why.

“Ships in the Night” is one of the sweetest, most honest songs I have ever heard.  The song poetically documents the feelings and common actions during a typical couples fight.  It begins with the fight, then of course closing with the idea that he “is going to find [his] way/back to your side.”

Kearney was adorable in the Grey’s Anatomy days and he is adorable now.  Talking about “moms and pops” and when he “had to pack and you had cramps and [he] was late” I mean come on—relationships in their most raw sense—no sugar coating except for his super sweet tone. 

And it is true, we are constantly ships in the night . . . . ”we’re just wasting time/trying to prove who’s right.”  Most couples fights are a waste of time and one or the other is trying to prove their point rather than just trying to move forward.  And then they both become like ships in the night.

The melody is beautiful, the brief white-boy-rap he does between choruses, it is all-together “puppies and rainbows” and I cannot get enough of this song.  So, if you have not heard it, or think it might not be your thing, give it a chance.

Who is this Sia and why do we care?

Who is Sia?  Why is she everywhere?

“Hey I heard you were a wild one , oooooh . . .”  We have all heard it, whether it is in a store, bar, club, or radio.  “Wild Ones” by Flo Rida is a big hit, top of the charts, and part of the reason for its popularity is the female vocals featured on it.  The female artist is Sia.

Now, interestingly enough, the song, “Titanium” by David Guetta is also a big hit and features this same artist, Sia.

Sia?

Sia has apparently been around since the early 90s.  She is an Australian pop artist and even has a greatest hits album out now.  Her break through song that brought her popularity in the U.S. was “Breathe Me.”  It was featured on the season final of Six Feet Under and about 10-15 other television shows (so if you watch any television, you probably will recognize the song—I recognize it from The Hills, sad face).

She is a very eclectic pop artist.  All of her songs are different, some pop, some jazz, some singer/songwriter, and some like the ones she has been recently featured on.

Both “Titanium” and “Wild Ones” I like her contribution.  I do not really enjoy the songs on their own or enjoy the parts where Sia is not singing—I truly feel she makes the song.  I consider Sia the Australian version of Skylar Grey who changed hip hop songs like Dr. Dre’s “I Need a Doctor” and Diddy’s “Coming Home,” to something different than most rap/hip hop we hear.

So, though Sia is currently being recognized mostly as a featured artist right now—she may be someone to consider independently.

Topless Women, Boredom and AWOLNATION

Last night, I walked past a topless woman on my way to see AWOLNATION at Webster Hall. One thing has nothing to do with the other but now they will be in my memory as fused events.  She was wearing no shirt, no bra, no tube top, no pasties, no nothing.  Just walking down the street, wearing jeans, running errands with no shirt on whatsoever.

I turned the corner, after being thoroughly distracted by this woman's A-cups, and walked inside Webster Hall.  I was there a few minutes before 8 PM (doors opened at 7) and two hipster fellas were scanning tickets in front of the main stairwell.  One of them alerted me to the sign that AWOLNATION would not be performing until 10 PM.

"Fuck; that sucks," I told him.  He clearly did not care about my disappointment, nor was he shocked by my disappointment.  I would have two hours to kill.

I headed first to the bathroom and then straight to the bar (what else was I going to do?).  My initial plan was to drink and pee alternatingly until 10 PM.  It only took a half an hour for me to realize that was not going to be enough to entertain myself.

What else could I do in the interim? I felt like Raoul Duke walking amongst the other journalists at the Pink Flamingo hotel. 

“Humping the American dream.”

The first opening act was pretty good; a temporary distraction from my boredom.  The lead singer was trying to carry off Brandon Boyd's awkward hand gestures and dance moves and it was kind of working.  Good for him.

Bear Hands came on next and honestly, the band before them, who never even announced their name and had to put away their own equipment, was better.  The audience danced to Bear Hands like people driving cars off-road in slow motion.

Bored.

I went upstairs to see what the view was from up there.  There was a VIP section on the left side, a bar in the back, and open space to stand and mingle and enjoy the show.  I stood by myself, observing the crowd when I saw a girl taking her picture with a guy.  It looked fairly normal, friends take pictures with friends all the time.  However, the girl who was taking the picture handed her camera over to the girl being photographed and they switched places so that each could take a picture with this same guy.  No crowd was forming, no one else was watching this spectacle except me, but there was something odd about it.  The girls thanked the guy and he walked away from them, heading in my direction.  I saw his face, his hair, his clothes.

It was AWOLNATION.

We made eye contact as I gawked at him and rotated my body as he passed me and entered the VIP section, guarded by some secret service looking guy in a suit.  I Google-imaged AWOLNATION just to be sure and the photos online and the guy I had just ogled down looked the same.  I decided I was going to try to get an interview.  I chugged my drink (liquid courage was very necessary) and approached the guard.  

"Who do I speak to about getting an interview with the artist?"

"I don't know, you can make an appointment with the woman downstairs."

That made no sense--how do I make an appointment with someone who is only a few yards from my reach?

I walked downstairs as instructed and asked guard #2 the same question.

"Interview with who?" he asked.

"AWOLNATION."

"I don't know who that is."

Are you serious?  Why are you working here if you do not know who is even performing?  I continued my questioning to a small girl sitting in the corner with some sort of ID hanging around her neck that made her look important, but alas, she could not help me either.

I could sneak into VIP and maybe be carried out by the police . . .I could flirt with the massive security guard on the 1st floor who had been giving me the onceover all night.  But, I just couldn't risk it.  I headed back down and ignored the rest of Bear Hands performance and just stared at AWOLNATION and his posse from afar.  Did no one care that he was right there?

As I stared at him from below, all these great questions went through my head. And all these people just danced without a care, not realizing who was right there. I was stalking him with my eyes, trying to get in his business even though I couldn't.  Eventually he disappeared.

As was promised, AWOLNATION took the stage at 10 PM.  Throughout his performance, he reminded me of a marionette, jumpy and bouncy and excited just like a child’s toy. He and his 4 other band mates opened with "People."  They then played all the best songs: "Not Your Fault," "Jump On My Shoulders," "All I Need," "Burn it Down" and of course "Sail."  All the songs had something special about them: “Not Your Fault” had him crowd surfing, “Jump On My Shoulders” had numerous people literally climbing onto people’s shoulders and watching the performance from there, “All I Need” had the band requesting everyone in the audience to put their arms around the person to the left of them, even if we did not know them. 

He also performed “Kill Your Heroes,” and “Knights if Shame,” explaining in between that they did not consider themselves one genre of music and they assumed no one in the audience appeared to be that one dimensional either. 

How true . . .if only we could know what genre of music the topless woman liked?