Vote for For Your Favorite Music of 2009

NPR's All Songs Considered is conducting their yearly poll.  I've started my own list on this blog, which gives you a pretty good indication of who I voted for, but don't be swayed.  Get in there and vote for what you like!

Yeasayer Follow-up

The new video for "Ambling Alp" on Pitchfork TV...

Glitter and Doom Live

Tom Waits has dazzled audiences with his musical talents, tall tales, and eclectic eccentricities for decades.  With his 60th birthday quickly approaching, the singer/songwriter/composer/actor has decided to release an almost unexpected live album.  Out today, Glitter and Doom Live will showcase songs and yarns selected from various shows throughout the wildly successful (and just plain wild) tour.  For those of us who missed it (Tom's general reluctance to tour made Glitter one of 2008's most of highly coveted tickets and sometimes selling a kidney just isn't an option), the live album reconstructs a night with the bourbon-soaked-woodhouse-smoked-off-beat-blues vocalist.  You can download a free preview to the album here.

For starving students and Tom Waits tenderfoots, NPR's live concert series has a fantastic recording of the Glitter and Doom show in Atlanta.

One last thing:  If you haven't seen Tom's gem of a press conference, watch it now.  From beginning to end. You will thank me later.

2min and 40sec of Awesomeness

Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck just earned themselves a spot on the Best Songs of 2009 list.  Their new duet "Heaven Can Wait" evokes a catchy kind of melancholy and a kitschy kind of awesomeness.  Their stream-of-consciousness-slow-motion video is filled with fruit baseball, old people knife fights, an astronaut with pancakes for a head, creepy animal-human hybrids, a slumber-party, one man bathing in cereal while another runs for his life from a flying axe, and of course, Charlotte and Beck... looking calm, collected, and as cool as ever.  Love it.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are playing in NYC this week- their shows sold out almost instantaneously.  If you're bummed about not getting to see this happy-hippy-dippy 10 piece folk-rock group, check out their Tiny Desk concert at the NPR studio.  Rollingstone has named these guys one of 2009's groups to watch. If you're unfamiliar with ESMZ, think hand-holding-while-dancing-barefoot-in-a-field feel good music.  It's certainly not for everyone, but Edward Sharpe seems to be on the rise to cosmic, spacy stardom.

Nick Cave and The Road

The film adaptation for Cormac McCarthy's 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning book "The Road" will be released  on November 25th.  The journey of a father and son through a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, "The Road" is heart-wrenchingly bleak.  If the film stacks up to the book, it will be painful but beautiful to watch.  This particular type of story-line calls for a uniquely sensitive score that will delicately enhance the emotions and aesthetics of the film.  Nick Cave has undertaken this task, and you can catch a snippet of the sounds here.  Get ready to be heart-broken.

Roma-roma-mamaa... Ga-ga-ooh-la-la...

It's finally out- Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance"video, and it is sick and twisted in all the right ways.  Murder, death, torture, sex, fashion, hairless cats.  We would expect nothing less from the Haus of Gaga, especially when collaborating with Francis Lawrence.  Some of her ensembles include razor blade sunglasses, a white bear skin coat (head included), spark spraying bra, protruding vertebrae, crowns galore, and Alexander McQueen's latest extraterrestrial-inspired 12-inch platform shoes.  White spandex clad dancers emerge from alien-pod-like coffins and pay homage to MJ's Thriller with plenty of writhing and jerking.  Models kidnap and force feed vodka to our protagonist, the double-jointed and pupil-dilated bathing beauty, before pawning her off to Russian mobsters.  Don't worry though; she gets her revenge.

As for the song.  Well, it's heavily produced pop with catchy hooks and solid beats, but Miss G sets herself apart vocally from other pop artists during the verses.  Her deep, almost husky voice captures the angst and agony that this song is all about.  This video is definitely worth 5 minutes of your time, but with theatrics like these, she'll have you coming back for more.

Discount Sasquatch Festival Tickets

Discount 3-day festival tickets for the George-at-the-gorge-located festival went on sale this Saturday, November 7th.  Returning for its 9th year, Sasquatch will announce its complete line-up on February 16th, but let's be honest:  you don't really need to know who will playing to know that you want to go.
Last year's line-up featured Kings of Leon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Decemberists, Animal Collective, Bon Iver, M. Ward, Doves, Sun Kil Moon, The Gaslight Anthem, Ra Ra Riot, Shearwater, Passion Pit, Blind Pilot, AA Bondy,  Mos Def, and many more awesome new acts.  As you brace yourself for the cold winter months, go get Sasquatch tickets to warm the cockles of your heart.  With such a hot festival insight, memorial day will be here before you know it.

Trust: Photographs of Jim Marshall

Rock and Roll photographer Jim Marshall has just released a new book of never before seen iconic rock snapshots.  "Trust: Photographs of Jim Marhsall" features the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison... you get the picture.  Marshall generally had unlimited access to his subjects, living with them 24-7 and enabling him to forge a level of trust and intimacy that other photographers weren't able to capture.

New Grizzly Bear Video

I am generally enamored with stop motion animation, but Grizzly Bear takes it to a whole new level with their melancholy psychedelic nightmare-inducing claymation video for "Ready, Able."  This is definitely a weird one, my friends.

I Want Bob Boilen's Job

Bob Boilen has the coolest job.  As current host and creator of NPR's online music show All Songs Considered, he gets to sift through new music, attend concerts and essentially review whatever he wants.  All Songs frequently posts live concert recordings from one of my favorite spots, DC's 9:30 Club.  If you're Bob Boilen, incredible, serendipitous things happen to you at the 9:30 Club.  In one of his latest blog entries, Bob talks about how he bumped into one of his "music-industry" friends who whisked him off to her car to hear Spoon's new album Transference.  He describes Spoon's latest endeavor as "surprisingly detailed"  and is eager for its release next year.  Me too.  I want sneak first listens...  and Bob Boilen's job.

Here's the track list:

Before Destruction
I Love Forever?
The Mystery Zone
Who Makes Your Money?
Written in Reverse
I Saw the Light
Trouble Comes Running
Goodnight Laura
Out Go the Lights
Got Nuffin
Nobody Get Me But You

New Yeasayer Single Remix

Brooklyn-based experimental Indie band, Yeasayer offered the first drop from their forthcoming Odd Blood LP on Friday.  The album will feature two remixes of "Ambling Alp," one by Memory Tapes and the other by NYC turntablist DJ /rupture.  Get a first listen at Stereogum.

The Unfortunate Demise of Whitley Rackham

The Decemberists' front man Colin Meloy will soon release his children's book "The Unfortunate Demise of Whitley Rackham." His wife Carson Ellis is doing the illustrations. She mentions the book and posts a picture on her blog. Ellis has drawn every Decemberists and Moloy solo album cover.

Empire State of Mind x2

The duo that brought you "Empire State of Mind," featued on Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 album, will be teaming up again for a sequel to the hit.  "Empire State of Mind Part 2" is a track on Alicia Keys' forthcoming album The Element of Freedom, due to hit stands on December 15th.  A rep for Keys confirmed to MTV News that the track will feature a new verse from Jay-Z. The pair performed "Empire State of Mind" at the Video Music Awards and more recently before game two of the World Series.  Looks like they can be proud of their home team... the Yankees just won the World Series for the 27th time in their history!

GG goes GaGa

Tune in to Gossip Girl on November 16th for Lady Gaga's specially-tailored rendition of her new single “Bad Romance." Word on the street is that GG's executive producers gave Gaga gushing reviews for her flexibility and cooperation while on set. There are no plans to release the revised version of "Bad Romance," so you'll just have to watch and listen carefully for the Gossip Girl-specific lyrics. Character Dan Humphrey's attendance at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts is a perfect segue to a Lady G performance, given that she is a Tisch graduate herself. Producer's featured "Paparazzi" last season. Listen to "Bad Romance" here, while anxiously awaiting the music video...

New Hot Chip Album

Hot Chip plans to release their new album in February! They're adding finishing touches to it now and gearing up for a UK tour offing in February.
You can sign up to pre-order the album, get tickets for the tour and receive a new track on their website.

In the meantime (and in the spirit of Halloween costumes), check out the video for their 2008 single "Ready for the Floor," which peaked at #6 on the UK charts.

The Boss to perform full albums

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND TO PERFORM FULL ALBUM SEQUENCES AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN IN NEW YORK CITY

On Saturday, November 7, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle in its entirety for the first time.
On Sunday, November 8, They will perform The River in its entirety for the first time.

Bruce and the band will continue to tour with full album performances this Fall.

Philadelphia concerts:
Born to Run on Tuesday, October 13
Darkness on the Edge of Town on Wednesday, October 14
Born to Run on Monday, October 19
Born in the USA on Tuesday, October 20

Sam Sparro does Brooklyn

Australian-born singer-song-writer stud, Sam Sparro rocked it out in Brooklyn this weekend for The Danger's Halloween Last Masquerade party. In keeping with the low-profile concept of The Danger, Sam sported a neon-green-hazmat-suit-style top, covering his face while he spun house beats. Only at the end of his set did he belt out one of his records- none other than his most popular single "Black and Gold"- and reveal his face.

His unmistakeable vocals were definitely on point; it's just too bad they weren't exercised sooner. While the lyric-less house music kept people moving, there's nothing like a great pop song to get them jumping. I was smashed at the front of the stage between Kiss-clad rockers and 1920s flapper dancers, squealing like a school girl with a pair of pre-pubescent-looking gay guys- some of Sam's only obvious fans. 3 minutes of Black and Gold was enough for me to channel my inner Sparro-meets-Lady-GaGa(<--my Halloween costume) for outrageous dance moves, but I think we all wished there'd been more. I prefer the 80s-tastic hits like Clingwrap and 21st Century Life to his latest collaboration with Basement Jaxx, but check it out for yourself...

At Last

I've finally done it.  My own music blog.  A classic rock aficionado from birth and new music obsessor, I had to find a way to pour these daydreams into something.  Let the blogging commence.  Let's D.A.N.C.E.