Yo, Josh, I'm-a let you finish with your Best of 2009 list, but some group called Grand Atlantic had one of the best covers of that Beyonce song all year...
Hey Theo Epstein, I was just looking at an article on ESPN.com and, I'm not sure if you realize this about Red Sox Nation, but:
WE WANT A PITCHER! NOT A BELLY ITCHER!
Watch this stunningly beautiful, breath-taking vision of Picasso's anti-war masterpiece Guernica animated by Lena Gieseke.
I'm pretty sure it's been a while since I put a rap song in one of my Best Songs lists, but this year some DJ named Tor put together an incredible set of songs using Sufjan Stevens music for the beats and mixing top-notch MCs (including Grand Puba, Big Daddy Kane, and Outkast) rapping over them. He called the set "Illinoize" and he offered it free on his Web site. It will definitely be making my Best Albums list, as well.
Here's a great one with a heartwarming message, "Make You Feel That Way" featuring Gift of Gab doing the rapping...
Ohgosh, I just have to show this to those in my 'hood who may have missed this when Kirk posted this yesterday.
Unbeaaaaaarable cutenesses!!! -
A few years ago, I saw this guy Meric Long opening for my friend's band, who were opening for another band, at a club, in front of about 15 people. He made guitar and vocal loops live, then added more guitar and vocals on top of them, and he blew me away. I watched his Web site. He (and his drummer) changed their name to The Dodos and pretty quickly started getting a lot of buzz on various indie rock blogs. Their album Visiter was well reviewed and their latest album, Time To Die, came out this year. And who knows -- maybe they'll actually make it big...
The new CD is great. Lots of good folk music, my favorites being the songs that showcase Long's outstanding fingerstyle guitar skills. Here is, I think, the single off the album, Fables...
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
“This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted.”
The Love Language are from North Carolina, and these days that's almost enough for me. Seems like I love all the music coming out of North Carolina.
Somehow I missed these guys when they came to town, can't remember why. Too bad, because this song Lalita (from their debut album "The Love Language") must be great live. I can imagine the singer really hitting the "LA-li-ta" to start the chorus.
Unfortunately, this is one of many horribly lo-fi indie recordings this year (definitely a bad side effect of the ease of creating and releasing music these days -- badly engineered & mixed recordings). Still a great rocker...
