Win In The End

At the request of my brother Nick...

Mark Safan - Win In The End

Yeah, I know it's been a while and this is a weak post, but what else have you come to expect?

Best Albums of 2009 - Ten through One

More of my favorite albums of 2009. Here are numbers ten though one. They're listed in the following format:

Artist - Album Name

Name of Track I Like

Click the track name to listen.

I should say that I'm not trying to say these are "THE BEST" albums of the year. They're just albums I really like, respect and played often this year and I highly recommend them.

#10

Atlas Sound - Logos

Criminals

#9

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Rome

#8

Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You

The Fear

#7

Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care

The Animator

#6

School Of Seven Bells - Alpinisms

Half Asleep

#5

Kid Sister - Ultraviolet

Right Hand Hi

#4

John Vanderslice - Romanian Names

C & O Canal

#3

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

Dragon Queen

#2

Mastodon - Crack The Skye

Oblivion

#1

Sondre Lerche - Heartbeat Radio

Easy To Persuade

Even more lists coming soon.

Best Albums of 2009 - Twenty through Eleven

At work we made Best of 2009 lists. I broke mine down a bunch of ways, but I'll start with the old fashioned Best Albums. I chose twenty. Here are numbers twenty though eleven. They're listed in the following format:

Artist - Album Name

Name of Track I Like

Click the track name to listen.

#20

The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart - ST

Young Adult Friction

#19

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

The Sweetest Thing

#18

Jack Peñate - Everything Is New

Pull My Heart Away

#17

Royksopp - Junior

Vision One

#16

YACHT - See Mystery Lights

The Afterlife

#15

Julian Plenti - Julian Plenti is… Skyscraper

Only If You Run

#14

Miike Snow - ST

Burial

#13

Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3

Thank You

#12

Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

Deeper Down

#11

Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health

Sunlight

More lists coming soon.

Young Hearts

This weekend someone brought up the Karate Kid soundtrack and the song below. Turns out I had it sitting on my work computer. Thanks Bald E (formerly Bald Eagle)

Commuter - Young Hearts

On Hold

Yes, things have been slow around here. I promise to have some juicy music/travel related posts upon my return from South By Southwest.


Until then, here's track one from the Teen Wolf soundtrack

James House - Flesh On Fire

Slow Listening

This week in the Chicago Reader, music writer Miles Raymer discusses "MP3 fatigue" and the "slow listening" movement. A decidedly first world problem, MP3 fatigue is what happens when a person "breathes in more music than they can breathe out". Most people I know use a hard drive as the shelving of their musical library and, these days, hard drive space is cheap. Many of us are also very good at acquiring music for free. From simply importing friend's CDs to knowing the right search terms to find unreleased albums online, if you know how to use a computer and want free music, it's yours.

MP3 fatigue is something I "struggle" with often. In addition to being a computer savvy music fan with little disposable income and flexible morals, I work in a business involving advance promo CDs and downloads. Basically, if I don't watch out I could be importing a few albums every day. If I don't get to know the album I might as well not have it all.

Anyway, Miles is a much better writer than me and it's an interesting article and the first time I've heard this "problem" offically addressed. Give it a read here.

Personally I find the Party Shuffle feature on my iTunes to be one of the best tools for this issue. Sometimes I have the patience to sit and listen to a whole album from front to back, but when I'm feeling more A.D.D. Party Shuffle helps me get to know my library one track at a time. The context is totally different when a song is preceeded by a something of a totally different genre. On the other hand, if I find myself repeatedly skipping tracks from a certain artist or album, I should probably reevaluate it's presence in my library. The article mentions a former Reader writer who's developed his own, very reasonable, regimen...

For the first 11 months of 2009 he’s holding himself to strict rules: “I’m only allowing myself to download one MP3 at a time,” he writes at slowlisteningmovement.blogspot.com. The next MP3 can only be downloaded once he’s listened to the current one. If he buys a CD, he must listen to it all the way through before he buys another.

What world we live in when such a "problem" exists. Anyway, check out it out. I particularly liked to dialogue going on in the comments section at the end.

my new year's resolution for this year was MORE TIME WITH LESS RECORDS... sadly, it worked for like 2 weeks and then it was over.

another commenter...

I guess I'm the occasional freak. No ipod, never downloaded an mp3. Just buy two cds per month on average and listen to them obsessively in addition to lots of vinyl & mixes people make for me, or bands they recommend that I check out on myspace. I felt overwhelmed just reading about your process, which seems intense.

Ballade De Johnny-Jane

It's been a long work week for me. I've got the extra busy-ness that comes with preparing to go out of town and all the publications I need to make ads for want stuff early for the holidays. On top of that, we've got a festival coming up that's required lots of extra work. Oh, I also still need a tenant for my place. Anyway, I heard this song early in the week and I think it's a great way to end a busy day. I'm not done with today's work yet, but this will bring me closer.

Serge Gainsbourg - Ballade De Johnny-Jane - Final

Music I'm Diggin': Lake

Last week at work we got the promo copies for an upcoming show by a band called Lake. I was sold on the album two song in. Their new album, "Oh, The Places We'll Go" is out October 21 on K Records. They describe it, much better than I could, like this...

On their first K release, LAKE crafts up-beat, dance-able, psychedelic, uniquely sincere and unaffected pop songs, ranging from the jubilant, echoey, post-soul groove of Heaven to the sweet, polyrhythmic Green Arrows-inspired Bad Dream. Recorded at home, largely on cassette 8-track, this album, actually LAKE's third, has a slightly lo-fi, homemade feel as well showing evidence of their influence from prolific artists Karl Blau and R. Stevie Moore. Oh, the Places We’ll Go represents a new direction for LAKE – more synthesizers, more up-beat, rhythmically-based songwriting – but it is also in keeping with their aesthetic, with contributing horn players and percussionists, male and female singers, group harmonies, sweet melodies and homespun production.

I'll confess that I don't know Karl Blau and R. Stevie Moore, but this album is still a great listen. Very breezy, but not cheesy. I've listened to the whole thing at least once a day since I got my mitts on it last week. Below are two of my favorite tunes from the disc.

Lake - Blue Ocean Blue
Lake - Oh, The Places Two

Listen to more Lake here and check them out at Schubas on November 18 if you like it.

Overboard!

Early warning. Click the image for the details.


Saturday, September 6.
$40 bucks gets you 3 hours open bar at the Columbia Yacht Club, lots of entertainment and a great view of downtown Chicago. Here's a tune to get you in the spirit.

Michael McDonald & Kenny Loggins - Heart To Heart

Millennium Park Audio Picnic, Downtown Cheap Eats

Last Monday night Hannah and I went to Millennium Park for part of their summer concert series. Monday nights are the Audio Picnic shows and this one was DJ'd by three Chicago minimal/ambient DJs; Telefon Tel Aviv, Kate Simko and Miles Tilmann. It seemed like it might rain, but we packed up a blanket and a bottle of wine and headed down anyway. Good thing we did, because the night turned out to be a gorgeous one. We were there from 7 to 9 so we got to see the sky get darker and the city lights turn on with it. The Pritzker Pavilion is beautiful by day, but the color changing lights reflecting on the metal around the stage make it pretty amazing at night. Also the music was quite pleasant.


Even though it had rained about an hour before we got there, the grass was sittable because it's engineered to drain within 15 minutes of a shower.


This little girl and her brother were born to dance. Watching children at concerts is fascinating because it really shows that dancing is a thing people are naturally compelled to do when they hear a good beat. The kids were loving it and the mom and the other woman acted as if this is what always happens when the kids hear music. They were also soaked from having just run through the fountain.

I think I've started to figure out the best settings on my camera for night shots.



I think she took this one...



I know this might be the most photographed thing in America, but this might be the best picture I've ever taken. Please click on it for a closer look.



We decided to top off the lovely night with a trip to Billy Goat Tavern where I got a burger and Hannah yelled at the bartender for being a jerk to me. I guess I don't take shit from nobody or something. More out of curiosity than hunger, we then headed to Italian Village to spit a small entrée. It was easily the worst meat ravioli I've ever tasted (seriously, Chef Boyardee could show this place a thing or two), but our charming waiter and the kitschy decor made it worth the quick trip. This is the type of place you go before your ninth grade dance. Awful and amazing all at once. Please do yourself a favor and check out their website.



Here's a tune from the night's headliner.

Telefon Tel Aviv - My Week Beats Your Year

Lame Tech Gear, GPS, Dialogue: Incorporated

Wired reviews the "Lamest Fetish Items Ever: Gear Lust Gone Bad, 1993-1995". Here are a few favorites...

The Netsurfer ($4,869)
huh... reminds me of this thing designed 5 years later.

The Key ($400)

The Powerglove ($100)

+++++++++

Ok, so I know I'm kind of obsessed with Fareed Zakaria, but he's everywhere lately. I just discovered he has a show debuting Sunday at noon (central) on CNN called Fareed Zakaria GPS. Yes, yes, you're a man of the world, I get the point and love you for it. Anyway, his guest on this premier episode is Tony Blair. Nice get, as they say in the biz (I'm told). I'll try to limit my Fareed mentions from now on and maybe I should finally pony up for his book.

+++++++++

Here's a link to a great low key mix from my buddy Mr Joshua. He calls this mix project Dialogue: Incorporated. The current episode has treated me well on this night spent sipping beers with my laptop on the couch. It's around two hours long. He does a much more thorough job of explaining this mix than I ever could so just check out the section on his Myspace about Radio Show #3 if you want to know more about what you're hearing. Also, the Who I'd Like To Meet section is kind of deep.

Dialogue: Incorporated - Radio Show #3

Never Gonna Give You Up

Bad move by the Top Chef judges tonight. A great episode throughout except for the final choice at elimination. I don't want to give it away so here's a recap if you follow the show or don't mind spoiling it. I know I'm the guy that wore a nearly-pink velour sweatshirt and bought these shoes today (Mistake? Perhaps), but between the Crocs and his headband Richard Blaise is killing me with his lame style.

++++++++++

This song has been in my head for about a week now.

The Pointer Sisters - Automatic

++++++++++

Brian is hands down my favorite Family Guy member.



++++++++++

STV SLV sent me this gem. It's title on the Youtube post is Unspeakable Music Gear Douchebaggery.



++++++++++

The new Hood Internet mixtape drops Tuesday (free and on their site only, as usual). It's 100% full of Chicago artists "mashed-up". Until Tuesday, enjoy the excellent and hilarious photoshop artistry of it's tracklisting HERE.

++++++++++

Thanks to Shannon and Steve for the guest blog. It was a hit. If anyone else has something you think we might want to read or look at I'll set up a contributor account we'll make some magic.

My New Knickers

For the past couple years I've been progressively taking my bike nerdy-ness to higher levels. If you know me, you know I like accessories for my hobbies. That said, I make good use of these items. Such is the case with the pair of knickers I bought a few weeks ago from Wig.

The key feature of knickers is their length: good for floods and clam digging. This way I don't have to roll my pant legs up and down to prevents contact with my chain. So pesky, I tell ya! Anyway, this pair also has a reinforced crotch, a built in belt, little ties at the bottom of the legs, lots of pockets, and the company's logo. The rip-stop cotton material makes these knickers particularly tough and light as well. A couple in Albany Park, Chicago, makes these pants and a variety of messenger bags. I opted to pick the pants up myself so I could try them on since I'm in between two available sizes. In talking to the dude in charge I found out that his day job is building and fitting Kevlar vests and other bullet-proof items for Chicago cops. Because of this, he has access to bad-ass materials like those that make up my knickers. At $50, they're a bargain compared to the $100+ prices of other brands.

++++++++++

In the midst of a hungover Sunday spent online, I found a great mix by one of my favorite DJ teams: Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas. There's a show on BBC Radio 1 every week (I think) called Essential Mix. Basically two hours of a great DJ doing what they do. All the greats have done it. Anyway, if you feel like two hours of poppy 'space-disco', give this one a listen. I think it's pretty darn fun.

Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas - Essential Mix (5.6.2007)

Promoter's Ordinance Tabled, Sally Shapiro, Rise of the Rest

An online petition actually worked. Well, that was probably just part of what helped fend off the severely flawed Chicago promoter's ordinance. Chicago culture (and my job) remains safe for now.

++++++++++

Sally Shapiro is from Sweden so I like her already based on that (Stevie, are you with me on this?) She calls her work Disco House, I'd call it poppy techno, most call it Italo-Disco but I'm not so sure of that. Either way it's great production and this song is a happy way to get the day started.

Sally Shapiro - I Know

Side note: I bought this album (yes, I do buy music sometimes) on Beatport and it was my first purchase there. The site specializes in dance/electronic/DJ music and their selection is amazing if you're looking for anything remotely electronic. What also sets Beatport apart is that the tracks can be downloaded in various formats. I like MP3 and their's are 320 kbps as opposed to iTunes surprisingly low 128. Snobby perhaps, but it costs the same and sounds noticeably better.

++++++++++

I managed to get into the Fareed Zakaria lecture put on by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs last night. He's brilliant and my man crush for him carries on. Newsweek ran an excerpt from his new book last week and I think all American's should read it. It's full of unique incite and criticism, yet optimistic for our future.

++++++++++

Best of Both Worlds

As I've stated, I'm a big fan of Lykke Li. I'm also a big fan of my friend Steve's project, The Hood Internet. For lack of a better way to describe it, The Hood Internet is a mash-up duo. ABX (Aaron, Steve's partner in Hood) did this mini-mix comprised of vocals and music of Lykke Li's combined with tracks from artists like Booka Shade and Digitalism. HERE is a link with the download and all the other fun info. Personally I think this is great, but as a fan of The Hood Internet, Lykke Li and all of the artists used on this mix, I'm a bit biased.

Fareed Zakaria, Mystery Jets, Feist on Colbert, Frivolous Lawsuit

He's not flying under the radar or anything, but if you don't know about Fareed Zakaria you should. I'm a big fan. He's a journalist that writes a weekly column for Newsweek, he is the editor for Newsweek's international edition, he's essayed for just about every major publication, he just wrote a book called "The Post-American World", and he appears on tons of TV shows. He has a great interview in this month's Playboy and it reminded me how much I like him. He's an immigrant from India who went to Yale and Harvard. His perspective on world issues is refreshingly aware and he seems to have no allegiance to any particular parties or interests. Here's a quote from his Playboy interview that jumped out as me as a perspective that seems totally obvious, yet I've never heard until now. On the topic of a Iran's nuclear interests and motivation:

We have to come to terms with the fact that Iran is a real country and has legitimate security concerns. Look at the neighborhood: You have a nuclear India, a nuclear Pakistan, a nuclear China, a nuclear Russia and a nuclear Israel. The United States has 150,000 troops on one Iranian border, and 50,000 U.S. and NATO troops are on the other border. You have an American president who keeps saying this is an evil regime that has to be changed. Iran is not just being paranoid. If you were in that situation, you would buy some insurance, and in the world of international relations nuclear weapons are insurance.

++++++++++

I found this fun Mystery Jets remix on a mix tape sent to me by Shannon.

Mystery Jets - Young Love (Shoes remix)

++++++++++

Feist was on Colbert Report the other day and it was great. My love for her is strong. She signed a picture of herself that remains on the bulletin board by my desk as it has for years.






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Looks like Schubas is being sued, along with Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, by the douchebag that got his butt kicked mere feet from me at their private SPIN party last year. His lawsuit is full of holes.

Ghostly Swim, Stimulas Payment Dates, Foals

I'm at work now and feeling annoyed about things so I'll distract myself with a little blogging action. One thing helping me to deal with the annoying private party taking place in the room right next to my desk is a nice album at a loud volume. Music For Robots alerted me to this one. I do actually read a ton of other music blogs, but they've been on point for me lately.

The album is a compilation of tracks from artists on a label called Ghostly International and it's put together by them and the folks at Adult Swim (and Toyota, it seems). Like the Scion sponsored free show I attended at Smartbar last night, it's a smooth marketing tool. That said, it's a great compilation and it's free to stream or download. Frankly, I think Adult Swim and Toyota are cooler for it. The Smartbar show last night was just ok, so I now think Scion is less cool than I did at this time yesterday. That's marketing in action kids.

The album itself is all over since its a comp, but Matthew Dear is on the label so that should explain a little about where it's coming from.

++++++++++

Kelly alerted me to this page that helps you find out when our $300/$600 check is coming from Uncle Sam.

Stimulus Payment Schedule

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I've been digging the recent album by Foals. It's on Sub Pop and here's a video that premiered on Pitchfork TV today and it's called Red Socks Pugie. I may see them Saturday at Subterranean. MP3 below.

Foals - Balloons

Lumberjack Breakfast, Quiet Village

One of the many perks of my job is a flexible schedule. Today I have an intern that's not coming in until 4 and I'm staying in that neighborhood until 10 so I can hit the LA Riots free show at Smartbar (WOOO! DANCE PARTY).

Lately breakfast has been a lot of oatmeal or a bowl of cereal with some fruit put on either, but once or twice I week I go big. Today I fried two eggs over easy, put them on buttered toast and covered that with my favorite Trader Joes's find of late, hollandaise sauce. I also covered two blueberry waffles in maple syrup and fried an apple-chicken sausage which was halved. Add a tall glass of whole milk and a clementine and you've got a hearty breakfast that probably weighs in at almost 1000 calories. Good thing it's biking season again.


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Right this minute, I'm listening to this new Quiet Village album I found out from one of my favorite music blogs, Music For Robots. Here's another track I like and an excuse for me to learn how to host MP3s on Stiles Wolfmobile.

Quiet Village - Pacific Rhythm