Great Jam: "Oh My God"

Cults is a band that has been getting lots of attention from the blogosphere. They came out with their first three songs a few months ago, and "Go Outside" in particular became popular. Madeline Follin has a wonderfully innocent-sounding voice, a voice that goes well with their vintage aesthetic. They really opened things up though with their newest song, "Oh My God," a track that was released as part of the (LOL) Adult Swim Singles Program brought to you by the Kia Soul. Yes folks, effing Cartoon Network and Kia. Dumb TV channels and lousy motorcarriages aside, this song is freakin' rad, and it sounds like they have some unexpected tricks up their sleeve. The track has spacey electronics, heavenly strings, a catchy guitar line, and lyrics about wanting to not be bored. What else couldya ask for? Plz come out with a full-length soon, Cults. Somebody needs to save 2K10.

The World Cup: Top Ten Moments

This is the last time I'll write about the World Cup, I promise. It ended today with Spain beating The Netherlands 1-0, just like that funny octopus predicted. It was a pretty dull match with each side getting only a few quality chances, and most of those were near the end. There were some moments that weren't dull during this Cup however, and that's what I'm making a list of. Here goes:

10. The goals Japan scored vs. Denmark-This group match saw several nice goals. Keisuke Honda (pictured there on the right) scored a gorgeous goal off of a free kick and set up another at the end of the game with some fancy moves. Yasuhito Endo added another with an even nicer free kick, and Japan won 3-1. It was nice to see an underdog Asian side take out a pretty good Danish team.

09. Italy's loss to Slovakia-It's always nice to see a former champion go down in flames the next time out, and that's exactly what happened to the Italians. After lackluster performances against Paraguay and New Zealand, they still had a chance to advance if they beat the Slovaks and Robert Vittek, who's in that pic. That didn't happen, courtesy of a late goal from Slovaksupersub Kamil Kopunek. The Italians almost tied it at the end, but EHHHHHHH 3-2 loss. Watch them win it in 2014 though.

08. Tshabalala's goal vs. Mexico-What a strike this was for the home team! A perfect shot at the perfect time. Too bad S.A. got bombed by Uruguay in their next match.

07. North Korea getting a goal against Brazil-This was mad inspiring. These fellas played their hearts out and lost 2-1 to Brazil, the pre-tournament fav. I don't think they had anything left after this, considering the fact that they lost their other two matches by a combined score of 10-0.

06. The blocked penalties in the Paraguay-Spain match-This Round of 16 match saw heavily favored Spain taking on the tough dudes from Paraguay. It was 0-0 until about the 60th minute or so when Paraguay's Oscar Cardozo got pulled down and was awarded a penalty. As you can see above, Spanish keeper Iker Casillas didn't let it get by him. About a minute later, Spain got a penalty shot and Xabi Alonso put it away. But wait, a Spanish player ran into the area early. Redo. Oh crap, the keeper stopped it! That sucks!

Didn't suck too bad for Spain in the end though, David Villa bailed them out and they won 1-0.

05. Robert Green-"C'mmere ball, c'mmere. Wait, where ya goin'?"

04. Ghezzal's Red Card vs. Slovenia-Abdelkader Ghezzal had his 15 minutes of fame, literally. Dude came in as a sub in the 58th minute of Algeria's first match. He picked up a yellow card for a tough challenge a minute later, and in the 73rd got tossed for a handball. This handball was hilarious, as Ghezzal reached out and touched the ball like a wide receiver attempting to haul in a long pass with one hand. What was he thinking? Maybe that pajamaed Americans like me (The game started at 7:30 a.m.) were laughing at him.

03. Anytime Diego Forlan Touched The Ball-Uruguay's Diego Forlan got the got the Golden Ball for a reason. He scored five goals, and all of them were artistic achievements. This one pictured above is from the 3rd Place Match. A bouncing ball came his way and he blasted it by the German keeper. Even more than the nice goals though, he did something positive with the ball nearly every time he touched it. Players like him are why soccer's known as "The Beautiful Game."

02. The End of the Uruguay-Ghana Match-It seems like fifteen crazy things happened at the end of this match. Let me count:
1. Luis Suarez bats the ball out of his net like he's playing volleyball. Too bad he's not a goalie.
2. Asamoah Gyan puts the penalty off the crossbar just as extra time expired, forcing the game to be decided by a penalty shootout.
3. John Mensah takes the worst penalty of all time. M'man looked like Shaq at the foul line.
4. Maxi Pereira takes the second worst penalty of all time, sending the ball into the Indian Ocean.
5. Sebastian Abreu takes the greatest penalty of all time, winning it for Uruguay in style.

OK, it seemed like fifteen at the time.

01. DONOVAN

Anyone wanna go to Brazil in 2014? I'm down.

What Your Favorite Band Says About You

These have been done before, but I've decided to put my own spin on them. Hopefully some of them are funny.

Animal Collective-I go to art school, I rarely wear shoes, and my parents are loaded.

Belle and Sebastian/Camera Obscura-I'm either a beautiful girl, gay, or a straight dude who's never had a girlfriend.

Bob Dylan-I'm a Social Studies teacher.

Bon Iver-I love it when black dudes play guitar. He's black, right?

Built to Spill-I really liked classic rock growing up but when I went to college I felt that I needed to "break away."

The Clash-I'm a cliche.

Coldplay-I would've liked U2 if I grew up in the 80s.

Dave Matthews-I'm a person who has had to face zero adversity in my life.

The Decemberists-I read lots of fantasy books and still play RPGs.

Feist-See Belle and Seb.

Galaxie 500-I love "Pale Blue Eyes" by The Velvet Underground and no other songs by them.

The Hold Steady-I'm the only indie kid in suburbia.

Kanye West-I'm everyone.

Kid Cudi-I'm not very intelligent so to compensate I wear flashy threads.

The Killers-See Coldplay.

Kings of Leon-"Kid Rock" comes right before "Kings of Leon" on my iPod.

Lady Gaga-I use the word "brilliant" to a nauseating degree while describing her.

The National-I wear thick frames and I'm incredibly boring.

Neon Indian-My fav activities include jumping off cliffs, skateboarding, wearing bright colored tank tops, and having sex.

Pavement-See The Clash.

Pixies-I don't know that much about music but I know that Pixies are untouchable so I'll say I like them.

Radiohead-I'm a lonely dude who just wants to find a gal who appreciates Kid A.

The Replacements-See The Hold Steady.

The Roots-I'm a whiteboy who goes to the city for sporting events and Roots concerts.

Sage Francis-I'm an educated whiteboy and this is the only hip hop I listen to.

Tom Waits-I wear cool hats and vests and read obscure authors in public.

TV on the Radio-I'm a white dude who thinks it would be cool to be the only white dude in a band of black dudes.

Vampire Weekend-I'm the "cool indie gal" in my group of mainstream girlfriends.

Violent Femmes-I'm a compulsive masturbator.

Weezer-I also like to root for losing sports teams.

The Wrens-I'm a 40 year old dude who's had one long term relationship in my life.

I think a few of them might be funny.

5-10-15-20-25

I realize that this is pretty lame, but I feel like doing it anyways. The fact that I am aware of how lame it is makes it OK in my book. This makes me think about people in general, and how I wonder all the time whether or not people realize that the lame things they do are lame. Like do people who go to Dave Matthews concerts realize how lame it is to attend such an event? I feel as though many people live in a dream world, one where they don't realize that some people hate the things they like. Or maybe they're just really secure.

I digress...

If you've read this little website called Pitchfork, you'll know that they do this wittle thing where they interview artists and have them talk about the music they enjoyed at different points in their lives. If you don't read Pitchfork, I applaud you and wish I wasn't an addict. Anyway, here's what I listened to at ages 5, 10, 15, 20, and, er, 24.33.

Age 5-My mom played lots of Raffi songs back in the day, and I can even remember seeing him live. "This Little Light Of Mine" was my favorite song by him. "Baby Beluga" was also pretty rad. I think the first real song I liked though was "Roll With It" by Steve Winwood. I still have the cassette single of that song. I remember the music video where he played the song in a bar or something. I can also remember me and my mom driving in the car and rocking out to "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John. Still like that one. That's about it, I think. I was probably watching TV or running around outside instead of listening to music.

Age 10-I have some pretty clear memories here. It was around this time when I discovered U2, a band I still enjoy today despite the fact that they're pretty lame. I recall rooting through my Dad's box of tapes and seeing a picture of these four fellas in the desert. Seemed interesting. Turned out it was, and I listened to it A LOT. My favorite songs on it were/still are the ones on the B-side. "Red Hill Mining Town," "In God's Country," "Trip Through Your Wires," and "One Tree Hill." I always stopped it after "One Tree Hill," because the last two songs scared the crap out of me. "Exit" is about killing yourself and "Mothers of the Disappeared" sounded creepy. It wasn't until I was about 16 or so that I actually listened to the full album. Weird. Soon after The Joshua Tree it was Achtung Baby and then War. Love those ones too. Aside from U2, I liked many of the songs that they played on the now defunct Y-100. They played stuff like The Offspring, ("Self-Esteem!") Green Day, The Presidents of the U.S.A. ("Lump!") and Nirvana. Nirvana was weird for me because I was brought up Catholic and they had that video where they had fetuses and priests and all of these scary images. I didn't and still don't like them, and I don't really like the Catholic Church that much anymore either. Lastly, I remember sitting upstairs with my Dad listening to his old records. People always thought it was strange that the Wawrzyniaks had a record player, and I can even recall a few people coming over to play their records on our player because they didn't have one. I guess this is why I think it's silly that many people my age are obsessed with vinyl. It was something I always had, and maybe they didn't. Or maybe they did and they just really like vinyl. Anywho, Pops had stuff by dudes like Frank Zappa, The Band, Dire Straits, and John Prine. My fav of these was John Prine, and I really liked his song "Christmas in Prison." Frank Zappa scared me and I have a very vivid memory of my family on a car trip and my mom was telling my dad to turn off "The Torture Never Stops" and my Dad wouldn't do it. LOL. We also listened to Neil Young on car trips, and I really liked Freedom and Ragged Glory, especially the song "Farmer John."

Wait, one more. I liked Hootie and the Blowfish. Cracked Rear View.

"OnlyWannaBWitchuuuuuooouuuuuu."

Age 15-This would be freshman/sophomore year of high school, about 2001 or so. I was listening to cassettes until this point, and I think it was around this time that I got my first CD Walkman. I was pretty behind in many, many ways. Back to music though. Moby. F*****g Moby. I loved/still love his album Play. Every song. I remember seeing the "South Side" vid on MTV and being like "Yeah, you go bro. Go and date Gwen Stefani." My favorite songs on that album were/still are "Bodyrock" and "My Weakness." "Bodyrock" is such a sweet song, and I couldn't get enough of the guitar riff. "My Weakness" is just some sample of people chanting, but it's still great. Later I would be disappointed by 18, which I think came out in 2002. After that I bought Everything is Wrong. That album's pretty good, but the facts about how much the world sucks are a little much. U2 was still big for me at this time. They came out with All That You Can't Leave Behind, and I straight ate that album up. "Beautiful Day." 'Nuff said. And "Walk On." God, I used to listen to that song when I got bullied at school. It made me feel better. "Whatcha got they can't steal it, no they can't even feel it." So fucking good. I'm not even gonna sensor myself. One last thing for age 15. Michael Jackson. Don't know why, but I became obsessed with MJ. Bad, Dangerous, and Invincible, which was incredibly underrated. I think that's my fav one by him. Later I would come to appreciate Off The Wall, but I must admit that I've never actually listened to Thriller. I think I'm gonna change that in the near future.

Seems like I had pretty poor taste, something I'll attribute to several factors.
1. I didn't have any older sibs or any other cool older kids to introduce me to anything different.
2. Most of the kids in my high school were into Limp Bizkit, teen pop, or mainstream rap. I didn't like any of that stuff.
3. We didn't have the internet, and, once we got it, I'd use it to read stuff about U2 or Moby.
4. I was in the little dream world I described earlier. Nobody told me my music sucked, and if they did it was someone who liked Limp Bizkit so I simply ignored them.

Age 20-This was sophomore/junior year of college. By this time I was listening to what I would consider to be "pretty good music." When I was 18 and came to college all I really knew was U2, Moby, Coldplay, and Neil Young, a guy I had known about for years from my Dad but didn't get into until my last year of high school. My freshman year roomate was the one and only Andy Blaufarb, a dude who was really into metal and thought my music sucked. This was the first time someone other than a Limp Bizkit fan told me my music sucked, and, as a result, I started to really go on the interwebz and find new bands to like. I'd log onto the 'book and see what the cool kids (at least I thought they were cool kids) were listening to. Turns out most of them listened to crappy hardcore. This was also when my perception of a "cool kid" changed dramatically. My favorite way to find good bands to listen to was to simply type in something like "best albums of _____" on Google and go from there. Naturally this led me to Radiohead, the fav band of any music critic. The Bends was the first album by them that I heard. I guess this was like November of soph. year. I remember going into convulsions while listening to the title track. Soooo good. Then I got OK Computer and it was true love. I felt like I was ten and listening to The Joshua Tree. It was also then that I discovered the genius of Weezer's debut album for the first time. I would later learn that many people were obsessed with this one when they were fifteen, but that was OK. Better late than never. It was also around 20 when I began to comprehend the meaning of "indie rock," and I started to pay attention to record labels and what they stood for. I guess the first "indie rock" band (although I wouldn't call them that anymore) I got into was Spoon. I came across Gimme Fiction after I Googled "Best Albums of 2005" and clicked on Amazon's list. Also on that list were Z by My Morning Jacket and I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning by Bright Eyes. I loved both of those albums. From there, I developed a good sense of what was good vs. what was bad, and started listening to bands like Wilco, Built to Spill, The New Pornographers, Bloc Party et. al. I would also go back and listen to some older albums. I'd go to CD Warehouse and buy a newer CD and an older one each time I went. Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville was one I was really into at age 20. I thought she was pretty badass, and enjoyed hearing her perspective on dudes. And I can't forget about Pixies. I was rocking Doolittle a lot. "Debaser" is still one of my fav jams.

Age 24.33-I like to think I'm a pretty well-informed music fan these days. I read Pitchfork, Stereogum, Gorilla Vs. Bear, and other blogz. I watch all of the MTV networks and listen to the pop station on the radio sometimes to keep up on the mainstream tunes. I'll even listen to WXPN to see if there's any cool new Dad music. They also have a great show on Saturdays at 5 p.m., "The Many Moods of Ben Vaughn." Dude really knows his stuff and plays some nice old jauns.

I won't talk about what I've been listening to lately because it's all on my last.fm. Check that for up to the minute stats. I'm pretty deep into music, but not that deep. I know what Krautrock is, but I've only listened to Can and Neu!. Not a fan of either. I've only smoked weed once, so I'm pretty sure I'll never "get" noisy bands like Boredoms or any Post-Rock . That said, I do love the Explosions in the Sky album Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever. I like The Modern Lovers, but I've never listened to any of Jonathan Richman's solo stuff. I've only listened to one Sonic Youth album, Daydream Nation, and I didn't really "get" it because I was only 20. I always hear about how great Nick Cave is, but I've never listened to him. Joy Division goes waaaay over my head and I'm intimidated by people who "get" them. I think there might be something wrong with me because I don't "get" them. Wire as well. Tried listening to Pink Flag. Didn't "get it." I guess I'm just not a punk. Or even a post-punk. Daft Punk. I love Homework. I guess that's what I am.

A Daft Punk.

Pce, this has been fun. I'll update when I'm 30.

Passion Pit: *Sigh*

O, Passion Pit! What have you done with yourselves? Your falsettoly, electronic blippy selves? You were one of my favorite bands last year. Manners and Chunk of Change were wonderful releases. The time I saw you last August at the Unitarian Church was one of the best times I've ever had, evah. I made the fatal error of buying tickets to see you at the Mannly Center 1.5 weeks ago. I couldn't resist. I saw "Passion Pit at the Mannly Center" and it was CLICK-BUY before I could even think. And then, almost instantly, I thought. There was no way this show was going to be as good as last year. Why? Because it was at a larger venue and you are not as relevant as you were a year ago when your album came out. How would your show be different this time? Would you have new material? Would the crowd be THAT much bigger? Most importantly, would it be a sweaty dance orgy? I really wanted it to be an orgy.

From the moment I exited my motorcarriage, I knew it would be different. There were people tailgating. I mean real tailgating, people with lawn games and grills. Now don't get me wrong, I love lawn games and grills. I just love them at Phillies games and in my backyard and at the beach, not at a Passion Pit concert. As we walked into the Mannly Center, I was instantly reminded of Epcot, a far cry from the basement which housed your performance the last time you were in Philadelphia. There were stands that sold beer for $9 dollars. I would have been drunk for $9 dollars if you had played at the Church. The worst part of it all, though-ASSIGNED SEATS. How could you tolerate such a thing? As I previously stated, your music is enjoyed best when there is a sweaty dance orgy taking place. It's very difficult for me to pull off my whiteboy dance moves when I have to worry about stumbling and falling onto the concertgoers below.

Once you came on the stage, all of this would be erased, right? It would be like last summer, right? EHHHHH. It wasn't. There wasn't an orgy. People were just yelling for "Sleepyhead." EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Oh wait, you did play a new song though. Cool. Oh wait, nope, that was a Cranberries song.

Seriously fellas, you sort of lost a fan here. I realize it was me who made the mistake by buying the tickets. I should've been more careful. But you should've been more carefuller too. Why would you let your people book a venue like that? Are you really an outdoor, seated venue band? The Electric Factory or TLA would've been a better choice.

I hope you guys pull an MGMT and make your second album a weirdo one.

Oh, and one more thing. Angelakos, remember between songs when someone offered you $20 to sing "Your Love Is My Drug?" And you were like "You'd have to pay me top dollar for that." Didn't you guys remix the new Katy Perry song? You act like you're too cool for Ke$ha but not for Katy Perry? Huh?

Huh?

MGMT: Congratulations

It was the damn cover art that made me pick up MGMT's new album Congratulations today. Looks like something straight outta Sonic Two. MGMT are in an odd place, just like the Tails lookalike on the cover. They started out as an indie band, went mainstream, and have sort of retreated into weirdo-land with this album. I'll never forget the first time I heard them. I was at CD Warehouse in 2007, "Time to Pretend" was playing, and I wanted to start a conversation with the cool retro pinup gal who was hustlin' CDs. I was like "Who is this?" and she was like "It's this band called MGMT." I really hate when people insert the word "called" while saying a band's name. Seriously, she could have just said "It's MGMT." Anyway, I thought the song was pretty rad at the time. And then I heard it 100 times. And then Radio 104.5 spun it on the hour. And then "Electric Feel" and "Kids" came out as singles and, before ya knew it, fratboys were reaching between the Kings of Leon and Muse albums at Target to purchase Oracular Spectacular. I could never get into this album, mostly because they played the shit out of the best songs on the radio. Kind of like how I've never listened to a full album by Nirvana or Led Zeppelin. Thank you 93.3 WMMR and 102.9 MGK, the stations I turned my dial to during my formative years. Anyway, their new album is surprisingly good. It sounds all pastoral folky and psychadelicious. Andrew VanWhateverHisNameIs sings like Arthur Lee from this band called Love (See how f*****g annoying it is?!) and the music is very soft and breezy, making for a very nice summertime listen if I do say so myself. I think they have lots of balls for making an album like this. It's almost like they realize that fratboys are lame, so they made an album that is fratboy un-friendly. Ain't no hit on this jaun. And then folks like me can go to Main St. Music and buy the copies they sold back for $6.99. Superb! They're also really ballsy because they refused to play "Kids" at Coachella, an act that pissed off many of their fans. Do their fans realize that that song actually came out like five years ago? They could be tired of playing it. Just sayin'.

I guess I like them now.

My Opinion: Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga is like all great poptarts-ubiquitous and polarizing. I have no problem with her sexed up image and the fact that she toes the lines of censorship. We always need entertainers who push the envelope, lest we allow ourselves to be overcome by the Michael Bubles of the world. My problem with Lady Gaga isn't her image at all-it's with her music. She's challenging and it isn't. Her latest single "Alejandro" sounds exactly like "Don't Turn Around" by Ace of Base. Heck, most of The Fame Monster is straight up bubblegum pop devoid of any lyrical depth. Now I know what you're thinking. "She's a pop star. Her music should be accessible." My response to that is that her style isn't. She's often seen wearing unconventional outfits, so where's the unconventional music? It's like she wants to shock the world, but only on a surface level. "OOH look how different I am! Don't be too scared though, my music isn't so strange." Here's hoping that the tunes on her next LP are as creative as she thinks she is. Until then, I'm writing her off as being a pseudo-weirdo.

And I'll never discuss her again, because that's exactly what she wants.

*Yawn*: High Violet

I usually try to silence the hate around here, but once in a blue moon I think it's OK to take something behind the woodshed, especially when that something is an album that everyone seems to like. High Violet is the new album by The National, and while I don't think it's horrible, I fail to see what all the (blood) buzz is about. Matt Berninger's voice is good enough and the music is decent, but is it really the album of the year like some critics have made it out to be? How did this debut at number three on the billboard chart? Does it really have mass appeal? The lyrics are VERY depressing. Are this many people depressed? Just look at the titles of the first few songs: "Terrible Love." Hmm. "Sorrow." Hmmmmmm. "Anyone's Ghost." Not so bad. "Little Faith." Uh oh, we're back to that again. "Afraid of Everyone." Sweet Lord. The imagery is often disturbing, as Berninger moans about spiders, zombies, and brain eating. He also talks about drugs on several occasions. Should we have him committed? It seems like m'man is making a career out of taking his deepest personal problems and sharing them with the world. He claims in interviews that the songs aren't meant to be as sad as they sound, but I'm calling bullshit here. They wouldn't make sad songs if they weren't sad, would they? Or maybe they would. Maybe they fabricated their own sadness. If that's the case, I HATE The National.

Seriously, you're better than this, unless of course you're a masochist and like to listen to tunes that you know will make you sad. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having an emotional catharsis through listening to music. But that music needs to have some sort of upside, an "I'm down but not out" sort of notion if you will. High Violet is all down, musically and lyrically.