Reflection Eternal - Long, Hot Summer

Yeah, I guess I'm a little late with this one, but it has been a minute since I have posted anything. I've been slacking, no doubt. It's October, the heat in the air is gone, the short shorts have turned into long pants, and it's going to be a long time until we can sit at the beach drinking brews and enjoying a warm Summer breeze. Now it's time for the winter ales and we'll see the summer brews in a few months. I'm going to miss it, but Talib Kweli and DJ Hi- Tek made a video that should warm you up just a bit. The long, hot summer is gone, but let's reminisce on it for a second.

Reflection Eternal - Long Hot Summer [Directed by Joslyn Rose Lyons] from Joslyn Rose Lyons on Vimeo.

I was born in the Fall, but I love the damn summer. RIP summertime CHI 2010. Gone but not forgotten.

"I Can't Write Left Handed"

I'm not going to do a big write up with this one... Mainly because I'm about to leave work and start my holiday weekend. However, you know who the hell The Legendary Roots Crew is. You know who the hell John Legend is. If you don't, chances are you have been living in an Afghan cave with your boy Bin Laden for the last decade or so. Maybe you just don't appreciate good music... Then again, that makes me ask you why are you on this blog? I put this out here for music lovers. People who want to be exposed to the good shit. I troll the internets all day to find things for folks to appreciate. This right here, I appreciate. It's 11+ minutes of awesome. I learned that I couldn't write left handed when I destroyed my elbow 5 years ago. I could have wrote with my toes and you wouldn't have known the difference. So, this is John Legend singing and The Roots going the fuck off with the instruments. I don't know exactly what Black Thought is doing in this video. My guess is sitting around and looking cool. He can do that. I respect his gangster. He's an icon. Also, if you didn't know, The Roots and John Legend are coming out with an album together, and if this is any indication of how good it is going to be, Donnie Halfcourt is going to be one happy camper.

Enjoy the performance. Give me a shout in the comments and let me know what you thought about it.

It's Labor day weekend, bitches. Get drunk, have a blast, be safe. I'll see you sometime around Tuesday, or whenever my hangover decides to subside.
Cheers.

F**K YOU Official Video

I told you it was going to happen! Cee-Lo Green dropped an alternate video for his new song "Fuck You." As I'm sure you already know, the song is a huge swipe at a gold digging ex, and this particular version shows Cee-Lo dealing with said "heartbreaker" throughout his life, all based in a 50's styled diner. Sort of reminds me of the diner where Biff hung out in "Back to the Future," but that's showing my age a little bit. Hey, I'm still officially in my 20's, even if it is only for the next month and a half. I'm holding on to that shit. If I could rock a suit like Cee-Lo is wearing in this joint and not look like a super-hero monk or something, I totally would. That joint comes down to his knees. I wonder how many buttons are on that thing? My guess is about 38. Whatever the situation, this video is great. Check Cee-Lo out as a kid saying, "Fuck you" as he's walking by the counter. I always get a kick out of cursing children, and this little dude said it with such conviction! Enough talking, more watching.
Enjoy!



BTW, I've got a feeling that this new album is going to be nothing short of epic. It might surprise some of you. I'd even venture to say that it might be award worthy. Let's wait and see. It will be here very soon.

Update:

Oh, and as a bonus, I found this interview with Cee-lo about this song. Check it out.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100830/ap_en_mu/us_music_cee_lo

Impossible Germany, Unlikely Blog Entry

*Ed. note - Here's a guest post from my good friend Alex. He's a professional writer, so he's going to make my writing sound like horrible pointless drivel... But, I digress. Enjoy! - Halfcourt*



I’m sitting on my porch overlooking the courtyard in the apartment building on Emery. There’s a tree that is ready to topple over, and it’s hot as hell. I’m braving another Kansas summer night, the kind that produces a heavy sweat that engulfs your body and mind.

It’s another night of reflection, wondering how I could ever leave the hulking buildings, rusty bridges and swarm of humanity of Chicago for the plains of Kansas.

It’s another night of sighs, of questioning myself and pondering what I’ve gotten into.

In the background, there are dueling guitars.

“Impossible Germany/Unlikely Japan/Wherever you go, wherever you land”

As Wilco’s “Impossible Germany” leaks from my apartment, everything stops. For five minutes and 58 seconds, my worries subside.

It’s not because it’s a happy song. I really don’t think it is. It’s a song that just touches on moving from being single and scared to having someone to share your life and troubles with. It’s not a sappy ode to love. It’s two verses of pretty straightforward sentiment.

Of course, the song ends the same way it starts. Whether that’s musical metaphor or convenience, I’ll never know.

But that’s not why this song is brilliant.

It’s the precise guitarwork that follows. The dueling couplets and background riffs that make me close my eyes, tap my foot, shake my head and smile every time I hear the song. There’s passion in every note. Each note brings you through a relationship, starting slow and eventually ending in the up and down riff that ends on a high note (see what I did there?).

When Tweedy, Nels and Sansone play, you imagine them back to back, shaking their guitars like an 80s heavy metal band. Up and down the fretboard they go, deftly flicking off note after note. They capture a sense of freedom that embodies rock and roll, something I never felt in my self-imposed exile.

But for a few short minutes, everything that bothered me would disappear.

In May 2008, Wilco played in downtown Lawrence, Kan., the first outdoor show to take place in that area of town. I was so excited to go.

When they played “Impossible Germany,” again, it was like a heavy weight was lifted and I moved like a hippie at Woodstock.

The cheap Miller Lites probably helped.

They also played “Via Chicago,” which became a favorite of mine in the months leading up to my departure. Near the end of the song – which uses Chicago not as a final destination as it was for me, but as a point in a journey – Tweedy sings some nonsense:

“And crawling is screw faster lash
I blow it with kisses
I rest my head on a pillowy star
And a cracked-door moon
That says I haven't gone too far”

But when they play it live, he says “gone to faaaaaaaaaar,” his voice trailing off into another solo.

It’s just one of many Wilco songs that bring me back to a time and a place. “Via Chicago” takes me to Chicago – but also reminds of what I went through to get back here (mainly a tortuous graduate school program that taught me little except that academia is full of shit).

“Say You Miss Me” reminds me of winter commutes on the ‘L’, pining over a girl.

When I hear “Pieholden Suite,” I’m taken back to first kisses and the possibility of new love.

“Red-eyed and Blue” has whistling in it, and that’s just awesome. You’ve got to appreciate a song with whistling.

Somehow, somewhere along the line Wilco decided to play an important and defining role in my life. It’s more mature than the songs of my youth (the Offspring really were never good, and Travis has never evolved). But Wilco did evolve. And I guess, now that I’m 30, I have too.

While that’s still a bit of a scary thought, at least I know there’s always going to be a song that makes me forget my troubles.

Have a look at Wilco in Lawrence:


And two awesome covers:

This is a Runner's Appetite

I posted this about a year ago when I was training for the Rock 'n' Roll half marathon. Sorry it's not the most original post, but it illustrates how to take something awful (running) with make it suck a little bit less with music. I will have you know that I signed up for the half again this year but was unable to motivate myself to run more than 4 miles and ended up selling my bib on craigslist.

.......................................................................................

I get home, and I am not going to lie to you after about 30 seconds I am pouring myself a glass of wine, and then my thoughts immediately turn to what I can eat. I know nothing of portion control. It's not a half a cup of this or 10 morsels of that. I want to eat things by the box, bag, or pot full. Strap on the feedbag, let's get this shit done.

I bet the mere 30 minutes of lumbering around the park did little to whittle away at the overzealous use of sugar in my coffee, the jumbo nerds consumed at regular intervals, or the foraging around people's desks for unwanted snacks throughout the day. But at least I got out there and did it which is a vast improvement over last week when training just dropped out of my vocabulary altogether. After a wake up call in the form of a 5.7 mile run up the lake Saturday, I realized I need to take this shit seriously or I am going to end up trampled at the mile 4 marker on August 2nd.

Then came the motivation...now, realize I am motivated by few things in life. If it doesn't have to do with food, beer, sports or shoes, I am probably not very interested in it - nor am I willing to break into any sort of sweat for it, but give me some good music and it can have a truly amazing effect on me.

Today was different than most days. Usually I have an idea of what I want to hear, but I have been a little bored lately with my tunes and due to having a new computer, I don't have some of my key albums that get my ass in gear. So I placed my faith in the genius command on my iPod. I started with Josh Rouse 'Directions' from The Smooth Sounds of Josh Rouse and hit the symbol thingy that says 'pick some good shit that goes with this' and what I got was just too good to be true.

And not that any of you really care, but this is what came up. I mean, I spend a good amount of time channeling my inner Rob Gordon and compiling lists of music I think certain lucky people may enjoy and I think I could just burn this playlist and give it to almost anyone I know without having to change a song.....

Directions - Josh Rouse
Come and Find Me - Josh Ritter
Cruel - Calexico
Everything in its Right Place - Radiohead
Closer to Mercury - Wheat
First Night - The Hold Steady
Golden Days - The Damnwells
Late Night Conversation - Josh Rouse
Soldier's Grin - Wolf Parade
Monster Ballads - Josh Ritter
Ten Dead Dogs - Wild Sweet Orange
A History of Lovers - Iron and Wine
Blonde on Blonde - Nada Surf
Lord, I'm Discouragesd - The Hold Steady
The Comeback - The Shout Out Louds
Apartment Story - The National
To Go Home - M. Ward
Golden Age of Radio - Josh Ritter
Chicago x 12 - Rogue Wave
You Can Make Him Like You - The Hold Steady
I Never Want to go Home - The Whigs

All right, I am going to go eat an entire side of beef now....

Cee-Lo Green, The Lady Killer, says "F**k You"

There's something special about Cee-Lo Green. His unique brew of so many genres of music is something that is a welcome change in popular music whenever he decides to put out a new project. Brandon and I tried to put a label on Cee-Lo's style, but that isn't an easy task to accomplish. There are elements of hip-hop, soul, rock, doo-wop, trip, psychedelic... There's a little go-go influence in there as well, and as Brandon so eloquently put it, "A sprankle of pop." Every project he has done has been critically acclaimed, from Cee-Lo Green and the Perfect Imperfections, to Gnarls Barkley, to the new album he is prepping for release "The Lady Killer," due out in October. This is a single from the album that doesn't really need too much of an introduction because it speaks for itself. All words and music. Fuck you. And fuck her too. Gotta love this dude.



There might be another version of this video coming out before the album drops. I'll keep you posted.

Putting On The Ritz

Okay, this is not exactly the same kind of post that I usually put up, but damn it, this is one of the funniest song and dance numbers EVER! Gene Wilder's "Young Frankenstien" is old as shit, but this scene always cracks me the hell up. It's been a long day. Enjoy!

Bat For Lashes & Beck - Let's Get Lost

Twilight.
I hate it. I hate the phenomenon. I hate the emo fucking kids that go ape shit whenever a new installment comes out.



I hate the commercials. I hate everything about it, except for one thing... The soundtrack. Why the hell would you put such awesome tunes with movies that are decidedly un-awesome? And it's not just for one of them, they come with the straight dope for every single movie that drops out of that series. Who does that? I despise looking at the cover art in my ipod, but I love the music on it. They get AMAZING artists such as Thom Yorke, Grizzly Bear, Metric, The Black Keys and Dead Weather to drop new songs for it. Just look at this lineup for the Eclipse movie.

1."Eclipse (All Yours)" by Metric
2."Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)" by Muse
3."Ours" by The Bravery
4."Heavy in Your Arms" by Florence and the Machine
5."My Love" by Sia
6."Atlas" by Fanfarlo
7."Chop and Change" by The Black Keys
8."Rolling in on a Burning Tire" by The Dead Weather
9."Let's Get Lost" by Beck and Bat for Lashes
10."Jonathan Low" by Vampire Weekend
11."With You in My Head" by UNKLE featuring The Black Angels
12."A Million Miles an Hour" by Eastern Conference Champions
13."Life on Earth" by Band of Horses
14."What Part of Forever" by Cee-Lo Green
15."Jacob's Theme" by Howard Shore


Fuck. That's great. They must really shell out the dollars for the appearance fees. I was flipping around the Pitchfork website and found a stream for the Beck and Bat for Lashes song that appears on the soundtrack, and I freaking love this song. The only reasonable thing for me to do is to share it with you guys. Maybe you'll love it as much as I do. Oh, and I hope you hate Twilight as much as I do as well!

Let's Get Lost by Bat for Lashes

Brilliant way to make me give a flying fuck about this franchise. The marketing bastards at Atlantic Records deserve a high five and a kick in the wolverine for this one.
Cheers

Lollapalooza '10 in Review: Lessons in Ingenuity and Tolerance

There isn’t one person who goes to Lollapalooza who hasn't imagined being a rock star. It's just not possible to stand in a sweaty, undulating crowd of thousands and think to yourself "holy shit, I can't imagine how it feels to be the person on that stage with hoards of people who carved out a portion of their day to see me." This having been my 4th stint at the glorious festival, I think I have a pretty good grasp on what it is...and what it decidedly isn't. It's definitely not the kind of event you tell a coworker "you HAVE to go, I guarantee you will love it" because it's ungodly hot, sometimes it rains in buckets, and the entire south side of the festival smells like Bigfoot's dick. What I have learned about myself over the past 4 years of Lollapaloozas and Pitchforks is that I hate people, but I love music....and I love music more than I hate people because holy shit, your patience hasn't been truly tested until you stand in 100 degree heat in full sun smashed amongst various groups of drunk sweaty teenagers screaming the lyrics to songs you hold close to your heart. Lollapalooza offers a constant learning curve - be it that I am getting older, more irritable, or the crowds are changing faster than anticipated - but there is no set formula for enjoyment there. Sometimes you just have to make decisions on the fly to maximize the experience. Back story: Last year a number of us missed a time slot of music to nestle up to the Playstation stage to see Band of Horses. It proved to be one of the best decisions we ever made because a band we all adored did the perfect amount of face melting to overshadow the fact that it was ballz hot (as illustrated in a few choice pictures where we all have a major case of shiny face) and we were in some serious anxiety attack inducing close quarters. THIS year we thought, duh, let's do that again for Mumford & Sons. The stars seemed to have aligned in that they were at the same stage, across the field, Blitzen Trapper was playing and we figured we could still hear them. If not, I was okay with that since I had seen them the year before at Pitchfork. In fact we couldn't hear them because it was so blazing hot that we had to sit down - lest we fall down from heat exhaustion and heavily perspiring people block sound extremely effectively. At last the band walked out and for a few moments the sun graciously ducked behind a portion of the stage. Unfortunately the age of the fans around us hadn't been taken into consideration and we were soon in the midst of a teenage mosh pit, throwing elbows, screaming lyrics, and brandishing cameras and cell phones. I know this makes me sound old, but is it really too much to expect to be able to see a band without having to move out from behind the girl taking 78 photos of one song or hear over the girl who 'knows every word and is going to make sure everyone knows it?" God, they were so good, but the experience was tarnished greatly by heat and assholes.

One of my favorite parts of Lollapalooza is how varied performances are. It's so amazing to see how bands captivate crowds - how they take what you hear on an album which is, in essence faceless, and attach an experience to it when on stage for fans will carry with them from that point on. The fun part is to see what forms that takes - be it the whimsical bouncing antics of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, the heart-on-your-sleeve delivery of The Antlers, the fantastically choreographed experience of Empire of the Sun complete with Broadway-worthy costumes, the performance that is a symbiotic relationship with the crowd - a give and take of energy like Frightened Rabbit, and album seemingly best suited for sexy time transformed into a powerfully seducing rock performance as was The National, a gradual build up of intensity and volume like The Arcade Fire, or just simply spot-on renditions of your favorites as was the case for The Strokes. It's all there, spread over 8 stages and 3 days. Rain or Shine it goes on paying no mind to food poisoning (me, Saturday of Lolla '08), heat stroke, drug overdoses, extreme intoxication, horrific poison ivy (me, again, Lolla '07), or crippling hangovers. You live there...you eat, you sometimes nap, you hold your breath as long as humanly possible to brave the porta johns, you rack up hundreds of text messages attempting to find your friends, you make metal notes of how to make it all easier next year...you even exercise your mind. How does one do this? Well, I am going to tell you. The week leading up to Lollapalooza, Erin and I spend much of our time, actually our employers' time, scheming ways to smuggle booze into the venue. We aren't rolling on dough so $7 beers for two girls who have been known to throw a few back in our day just wasn't in the budget. Dig a hole and bury it out there? Booze in baggies under a sun hat? Then, Erin came up with possibly the best idea in the history of ideas. I will cut and paste the gchat so that you can read it exactly as it was presented to me:

9:47 AM Erin: So I'm thinking: tampon box, emptied of its original contents, filled with airplane sized bottles of booze, and picking a line with a dude searching bags

9:48 AM me: holy genius!!!!

9:51 AM Erin: If I get questioned? My response: I have a heavy flow

Goooo. Move along miss

9:53 AM me: well here is what you do

you put it in a bag from CVS with your water so that it looks like an emergency purchase

Erin: Oooooohh!

me: they have mini bottles at the 7-11 half a block from my place

Erin: Fuck YES

And that is the method we used, without fail, to get our sauce on. It became so popular, in fact, that by the end of the weekend all the females in the group were doing the same.

I am pretty sure Don asked me to write this as a review of bands seen and not so much to hear about tampon boxes and food poisoning. I actually kind of hate it when people ask me what the best show was or who was my favorite. We all like music for so many different reasons so who am I to say what was good and what was bad? I though Mumford and Sons was awesome, but the guy who looked like a fish among other people around us kind of ruined it. I love The Black Keys, but that stage struggled with some sound issues. Empire of the Sun was visually awesome, but it's not the most profound music I've ever heard. Sometimes you are so worn out that you miss a band you really want to see just because you don't feel like putting the effort into getting up and walking over there - SOMETIMES the band you see instead that just happens to be at the stage your lazily camping out at is a highlight of the weekend. I think you have to look at it more as a whole than a sum or parts. Was it fun? That's a resounding hell yes. Did the weather cooperate? For the most part which, was a welcome change from last year. If there was a day 4 could I have made it? Not without a wheelchair and an IV drip. Did I surround myself with the best group of assholes ever assembled? You're goddamn right I did.

New Writer on the Blog!

I just wanted to be the first to welcome our newest contributor, Lisa, to the blog. That's right, bitches, we're growing. We're like BeBe's kids. We don't die, we multiply! But seriously, Lisa is a HUGE music fan, and a talented drinker, so she fits right in with the rest of us degenerates. She will be dropping a new post today, and I couldn't be more excited. If there is anyone who loves music as much as I do (if not more), Lisa would be that person. She will be posting her review of Lollapalooza 2010, and I friggin' loved it.
So, welcome to the blog!
I'm cracking this beer for you... Too bad it's an Old Style!







Cheers

Kanye West's Power Portrait

So, I told you guys that I would bring you the video for "Power" as soon as I could get my hands on it, so here it is. If I had to pick one word to describe it, it would be stunning. Another one, okay, different. Kanye decided to change up the way he was going to bring this one to the masses, and did the moving portrait, as was told in the previous post. I think that post really described the thinking behind what was going on here far better than I could. Marco Brambilla (the director) did something that has never really been done before in the realm of music videos, and I was blown away when I got a chance to see it for the first time. People are talking about it, and all publicity is good publicity. I want to hang this thing in my house instead of watching it on a computer screen.
Cheers.

Kanye West - The Power Portrait from Rodney Curl on Vimeo.

Kanye West - The Making of "Power"

The name alone evokes strong emotion from the masses. Whether you love him or you hate him, most people have a very strong view of Kanye. How do I personally feel? I get a real kick out of his actions off the mic, and an even bigger kick out of his actions on the mic. Kanye hasn't let me down yet with any of his music. Even the "808's and Heartbreaks" album was quite dope, in my opinion. The man was in a dark place in his life, and I think that album perfectly illustrated where he was as a person and an artist. I've been there. We've all been there at one point or another. You had that relationship that you thought was going to be forever. It crumbled. You lost someone who you were close to. We all have our stories. We all have our ways that we respond to those situations. Some people go into recluse-mode. Buy a cabin in the woods. Live off the land. Grow a long nappy-ass beard. Other people wild the fuck out. Shit, I can recall ending a relationship in my early 20's (Not by my choice) and going bat-shit crazy for a couple of years. Truth be told, according to my sister, my wild behavior at times can be directly attributed to that one relationship going sour (Don't believe the hype). So, 'Ye, I get it. You gotta get that shit out of your system. If you need to express that pain through music, make a album expressing your loss. We all have our outlets.



Get it out of your system. Go to the VMA's and take a full bottle of Hennesey to the head with your chrome-domed ex-stripper girlfriend. Get it out of your system. Snatch the mic away from Taylor Swift and make yourself public enemy numbero uno. Get it out of your system. Do what you gotta do. JUST GET IT OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM!

OK. Fast forward to present day. Kanye took a little time out of the limelight to allow everything to die down and now he is back with a new album on the way. The first single is "Power" ft. Dwele... And it's some damn good summer music. I've been playing it quite a bit since it leaked a couple months ago. Hasn't gotten old to me yet, but to be fair, good music hardly ever does. I haven't heard any bad reviews for the song. From what I've heard, everybody loves it. Kanye is back! Couldn't be more excited. And how about this... It's a new and improved Kanye. A Kanye that is going to try to think before he speaks and relegate his behavior. I don't know how long it's going to last, but that's not for me to say. We'll see. Now, it's time to drop the video. You better believe that it's going to be on this blog as soon as it drops. Until then, I ran across the "Making of..." clip for the new video, and it really looks like it's going to be something special. Check it out...



Yeah, this one looks like it's going to be something special. It should be dropping soon. As soon as it does, I'm going to get it to you. Until then, salivate.
Cheers!

So, Lollapalooza is happening in three days.

Will try to check in with updates of what band I'm watching, if they're any good, the scene and how much I have drank.

Touch it.

And I'm back

For anyone following this blog, or checking it out occasionally, I plan on making more posts, hopefully making this a great blog one day. However, July was a crazy busy. The WHOLE time, I've been dying to do some entries. It's been a little over a month since I sent anything out, but this HAD to be published. Band of Horses is one of my favorite groups, and when I saw that Cee-Lo did a version of one of my favorite songs, I had to share it with you guys. Presenting "No One's Gonna Love You." The visuals tell a short story of a strong love that fizzles out. Please, leave some comments, and let me know what you guys think. My thoughts? Straight dope, homie.
Cheers

Cee-lo "No one's gonna love you" from Starr Whitesides on Vimeo.

Monday Hangover Recap

Real quick... Let me run down my Sunday night at my parents house. BBQ'd some ribs and chicken, started off drinking a case of Busch beer. Tastes horrible, but that's what my dad likes. His reasoning, "It's cheap and it gets you drunk!" Valid point. Chowed down on a ton of ribs and his famous "rib nuggets" and then started the real drinking. A glass or two of Jack Daniels turned into shots. Shots turned into double shots. Pretty soon, my brother and I started rolling dice and playing craps for shots, still downing the wateriest of beers the whole time. I was going to hit a bar afterwards, but it's probably a good thing that it was too late. I can get a bit inappropriate at times when I'm that hammered. THIS is why my Monday has sucked to this point. Let's hope it gets better now that my hangover has passed!
Cheers!

PS... I'm pretty sure I'll be drinking tonight as well. Gotta keep the party going! FML!

I like the electric guitar

These are the guitar players I saw in no particular order on Saturday:

Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top

Keb Mo

Benito Gil

G. Clark

Warren Haynes

Derek Trucks

Susan Tedeschi

Buddy Guy

Ron Wood
Jonny Lang

Jeff Beck

Jimmie Vaughn

Robert Cray

BB King

John Mayer (playing his awesome blues shit with Palladino and Jordan not the shit I hate that is played on the radio. You know, the stuff that Don is a big fan of)

Eric Clapton.

Needless to say, Funk, me and Lisa had a pretty darn good time on Saturday. I also payed $83 for a twelve pack of Modello Especial. Yipes.

Track by Track: LCD Soundsystem: "This is Happening"

Hey there Don, shut the fuck up as here is that first post you been looking for from me. I will be grabbing albums and going track by track doing reviews. Some will be new, some old but I'm just going to do ones as I listen.

Up first is one I just bought, LCD Soundsytem's newest, "This is Happening". Picked up Monday at Reckless and was frankly a little pissed because it was $30. This is crazy because I could have stole it months ago of the interwebs but I do love having the vinyl in hand. I asked the clerk, "what's with the price?" Apparently it's an import because the US label waits a year until they release the vinyl, so to that label I simply say get fucked. At least now it's a legit first edition and will clearly be worth $31 one day.

anyways, here we go:

"Get Yourself Clean"

-Why can't I hear anything? this is my thought on my couch because the record starts off all hushed. I'm talking to my roommate trying to listen to Murphy's lyrics but its so muted. Honestly thought my stereo was hooked up wrong. Then out of nowhere the Casio sounding keyboard rolls in with a hi hat/snare beat that is gnarly. Good opener that goes out hushed at the end but in the middle there is this line, "Wait until the weekend, make all your bad dreams come true." I love that.

"Drunk Girls"

-I think this might be the actual relationship history for Murphy. It's the dance single on the record that has made the easy crossover into the radio world. It's a good song that is dominated by the polysynth but there is this staccato type guitar that carries a portion of the back track. If it's not the relationship history it may just be the story of the fans of LCD.

Then the record stop signaling me to flip it over. Really? Two songs on one side? I understand why it's a double LP now.

"One Touch"'

-Murphy brings it in with a pretty simple synth riff until the drum machine comes in and takes over. As I listen to this it sounds like he was trying to incorporate the Talking Heads mixed with Roxy Music blended with a B-52's female backing track. Weird. Not sure what the staggered phrasing is all about but I did this tribute to New Wave.

"All I Want"

-Best song that LCD Soundsystem put on this record, maybe their best ever. As I listen to this I'm guessing that Albert Hammond Jr. is pissed because he didn't write this or he's pissed because he did and Murphy just took it and made it better (mind you I love the Strokes). My favorite line in this one "From now on, I'm someone different cuz it's no fun to be predictably lame." So true, I know this because I'm predictably lame.

"I Can Change"

-I'm guessing psychedelics and maybe some uppers were taken while listening to Thomas Dolby but thinking of Morrisey. James Murphy is not much of a singer but I'm thinking the substances told him he could hit the high notes. This song seems to be the story of a guy changing for someone. I'm willing to bet there was some hipster ecstasy freak in the middle of a ride screaming "DON'T YOU DARE EVER FUCKING CHANGE!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU NOW!!!!!!!" It happened.

Side three. Again 5 songs in two sides. I will say this, the gate fold and the artwork on the sleeves is pretty great but this could have been pressed on one disc I think.

"You Wanted a Hit"

-The indie band anthem maybe? This is the typical indie fable of "wanting to make great music, I don't care who hears the records...." You do care. So does Murphy. That's why he wrote the song. Another gem line in this one, "You wanted it smart, but honestly I'm not smart. We faked it." Brilliant. I fake smart every day.

"Pow-Pow"

-This started off awesome. I'm thinking that it's playing at some place where people are drinking either really good beer snobby beer or PBR. That's it. Maybe some moonshine. I was into it for a while but then it really dragged on. Kind of reminded me of Bjork's "There's More to Life than This" of of Debut. That's a compliment because Bjork is so fucking good I want to puke.

"Somebody's Calling Me"

-Somebody's hanging up if they hear this song. It's not good. If I were you I'd skip it.

"Home"

-I adore this line "Forget a terrible year, lets break the law until it gets weird." I'm not even sure what it means but this song is a great ender. It's upbeat, it's fun as hell and goes well with bourbon. I could dance to this, and I'm a radical dancer. Touch it.

Overall I'll give you this an 7 out of 10 which makes it really good. I'm guessing my reviews will probably mostly be rather high as I feel I listen to good music. Take of that one track about a phone call and reduce it to one record and it would have been an 8. Artwork and packaging though easily rolls a 9. Good work LCD Soundsystem, sorry I'll miss you at Pitchfork.

-P. Raindrops.

The Roots x Monsters Of Folk "Dear God 2.0"

Man oh man...

I remember when I first heard about Jimmy Fallon's late night talk show. I was geeked. I love Fallon. He was hilarious on SNL. And then I heard who was going to be the house band for the show...The legendary Roots crew. Probably my favorite hip-hop band of all time. I can remember back in 1995 when "Do You Want More?!!!??!" came out. ALL over it homie. I was a scrawny 14 year old who was just learning about hip-hop. I could consider this one of the albums that helped me fall in love with not only the music of hip-hop, but the culture in general. Pretty soon I was growing out dreadlocks, rocking a pair of huge "ear-goggle" headphones, wearing camo pants and unlaced Timberlands, freestyle rapping and tagging my name on every bus I rode with either a fat tip Magnum marker or a piece of sandpaper.

Fast-forward 16 years to present day. I still feel the same excitement for a new Roots album that I felt back then. I've been waiting patiently for "How I Got Over" since I started hearing tracks leak a while ago via twitter. The new album is going to be another classic, but I wouldn't expect anything less from these guys.

Just found a video of them performing "Dear God 2.0" with Monsters of Folk on Fallon. "Dear God" is my favorite song on the Monsters of Folk album, so the fact that they teamed up with The Roots for this single makes Don a very happy camper. If a dope song like this doesn't get you amped up for the album, I don't know what will. Check it out.

Hump Day Rock Post!

I was told that I can go home from work early today, and it made me so happy that I had to do a post on some great music. First up, Japandroids. 2 guys from Vancouver that just rock hard as hell. Funk is not a fan of their music, but Raindrops and I love 'em. We went to see them live at Lincoln Hall off a bottle of whiskey and some Bell's Oberon beers, and it was quite a good show. Loud, intense, and actually pretty funny at some points. Lincoln Hall, by the way, has some of the best acoustics in the city, so if you ever get a chance to get to a show there, I highly suggest going.




and this...



"Must get to France so we can french kiss some French girls"
That's a great idea. Let's do it.

Okay, one more group that Raindrops and I saw live at Schubas. Cymbals Eat Guitars. They're so good at moving from quiet, chill melodies and then exploding into loud, raucous choruses. So awesome. They will be appearing at Lollapalooza this year, so it's definitely a group worth checking out. Here is the first song from their debut album. Leave a comment, let me know what you think of my picks for some hump day listening!



Both of these groups get the Donnie Halfcourt approval stamp. 2 thumbs way up.

Aight, I'm outta here. I'll be listening to music and day drinking for the rest of the morning/afternoon. It's what I do best!
Cheers!

Mark Ronson is back...

And he's bringing Q-Tip with him! Okay, dope. I'm a huge fan. When Funk and I saw him perform at Lollapalooza '08, let's just say that I was more than impressed. One of the best shows I saw that year. I've just got one question. What the hell is up with Q-Tip's hair? Shit looks mad strange, son. He's been rocking it in that style for a while now, and me thinks it's just a little too throwback. It's not like he's going retro and doing the whole bring the late 80's and early 90's back... That hairdo looks more like the kind of box that your uncle used to rock after he cut his afro down in an attempt to look a little more "hip" or something. I kind of feel like when that style was popular he didn't rock it. Maybe a low fade or some short dreads. Maybe it's because I always seemed to remember him in a hat...

But, I digress. Guess I got a little off subject there. ANYWAY, check out this new video. It's called "Bang Bang Bang" featuring Q-Tip and MNDR (Strange name, if you ask me... How do you pronounce it? Like "Minder" or something?) It's off the "Record Collection" album that is coming out soon. I enjoyed it, even had a glass of Three Floyds Gumballhead with it.

Nothing douchier than...

An NFL player fighting in the strip club.
You want tips on proper strip club etiquette, holla at Halfcourt.
This bud's (vomit) for you Vince Young

-Funk

Oh, and here's the video

Blackhawks Rally

How awesome was it that the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup this year? I'll admit that I haven't been a hockey fan for a long time, but in the last couple years, I have become quite the hockey advocate. Actually went to my first game during the playoffs against Vancouver. It was an awesome time (Thanks Lisa!)

So now we win the Cup, and you know there is going to be a parade after. This freaking thing was epic. Hundreds of thousands of people lining Michigan Avenue and Wacker. Drinking beer. Vodka. Whiskey. Whatever the hell else. If I had to put a number on it, I would say at least 40% of the people there were HAMMERED. The only reason the number was so low was because there were a ton of kids in attendance. SO, obviously, there were quite a few interesting videos that came out of the rally. We'll start off with my favorite.

It's about to be a what? GIRL FIGHT! <---Pause that whole line.



This video was awesome for so many reasons. First off, those girls were young as shit.... And wasted. Drunk kids always make me laugh. The horn that goes off when this chick goes all Eddie Guererro off the top of the planter almost made me choke on my drink...TOO funny.

And don't forget this... Swiped from my favorite sports blog Deadspin.com here's what happens when you act like an ass and climb up on street sweepers in the middle of the rally... Pay attention to the .gif in the second comment. That is just classic.

http://deadspin.com/5561535/asshole-kids-try-their-best-to-ruin-blackhawks-victory-parade/gallery/

Yes. She took that shot to the grill like a champ!
I've got a video that I want to upload so you guys can check it out, but I haven't put it on Youtube or anything yet. It's coming. Gotta get on here, because it was my favorite part of the rally.
Ah well, until next time
Halfcourt out.

Finally!

Funk, Raindrops and I (Halfcourt) have been talking about putting a blog together for quite some time now. There have been a variety of reasons why it is just now coming to fruition, but let's just all celebrate and be glad that it is here. We knew the name of the blog had to be something that all three of us could jive to, and during some downtime at work, I came up with it. Simple. Perfect. Awesome. Beer with my Music. We all LOVE music. We all LOVE beer (and other assorted alcohol, Jameson shots anyone?). Our posts are obviously not going to stick to just those two themes, but I imagine that is a central idea that we can revolve around and go back and forth to with ease. They're both a huge part of all of our lives. So, here it is. Enjoy. Let's hope we can stay on top of this and make this blog something amazing. Glasses up.

Cheers!