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!