Category Archives: Music

March 12, 2013 · 2:25 pm

A Rusko Giveaway; a tale of music and high school crushes; and a history of my relationship with the 9:30 Club (worth the read trust meeeeee)

I interrupt this regularly scheduled programming to offer you my first, ever, giveaway. In honor of my 27th birthday, I decided to give YOU a present.

If you’ve been following my blog since all along, you know that music is an obsession of mine. There was a 3-year period after college where I spent all of my disposable income on concert tickets to the 9:30 club, because it is the single best venue I have *ever* been to and music is my life/makes the world go ’round.

Me with head phones on jamming out at age 2:

And a legitimately NON -posed, CANDID photo my bff took of me at a bar a few years ago because while other humans talk to each other and have conversations (see left) I am in my own world dancing to the music. As Nate Dogg put it, “Music and Me.”

I’ve seen concerts at a lot of the places where you see concerts in other cities- Roseland Ballroom in NYC, House of Blues in Boston, various places in Miami- and every time I’m kind of just embarrassed at how much LESS awesome the concert is because it’s not at the 9:30 club.

I was born and raised in DC and one of the first times I ever went to the 9:30 Club for a concert, I was like 17 and going to see– get this– YELLOW CARD!!!!!!!!! Haha I still love them and that nostalgic first album of theirs so f*cking much. OCEAN AVENUE? SO GOOD. SO GOOD. The harmony when they sing “we would walk on the beach in OUR. BARE. FEET”– so classic. Reminds me of the scene in Step Brothers where the family is harmonizing to Sweet Child of Mine in the car.

I was going there to meet up with my crush, this dude that I had met in Shakespeare class. HAHAHAH I literally sound like the biggest loser EVER, but it was actually the opposite, obviously. Literally we were the only 2 cool humans in our Folger Shakespeare Library Fellowship and he was super emo and introduced me to Brand New and Yellowcard and Taking Back Sunday and Dashboard Confessional. Holy facccccccccccck I listened to the Brand New Album on repeat non stop- IT’S SO CREEPY AND AMAZING AND WEIRD AND HAUNTING AND PSYCHO. Sic Transit Gloria was like my favorite song ever. “SO DIE YOUNG AND SAVE YOURSELF!!!” Classic anti-life angry youth screaming in a girly voice. So hot.

So anyways, he was going to the Yellowcard concert, and me, Ellie, Kate, and Cait were at Cait’s house in Kensington Maryland. I couldn’t drive yet because I didn’t get my license till I was like 18 years old out of sheer laziness; and at this point in time, AKA TEN YEARS AGO, the area where the 9:30 club is was still an area where our parents were like, ‘you’ll get murdered if you go there!’ hahaha I mean not really but as parents they would gasp and be like, “THE 9:30 CLUB?! YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY NOT GOING THERE WITHOUT AN ESCORT.”Oooobbbbviously we had no fear, and lied to all parents involved, and packed into Ellie’s explorer and like….probably printed out Map Quest directions since at the time no body had smart phones or Google Maps so we definitely were still in the era of legitimately PRINTING MAP QUEST hahahhaha I’m laughing just thinking about that. HOW ANCIENT.

What’s so funny is like, I have butterflies just typing this because I remember how CONFUSED we all were getting down there. We had no. idea. where we were. None. It felt like we were driving 2 hours into nowhere’s-ville because everyone lived in the suburbs (even though it’s actually about a 15 minute drive). And thinking about, it’s almost unfathomable to me how far that car ride felt and how little we knew about where we were; because now, I live about 3 blocks from the 9:30 Club and it’s my regular jaunt and of course now the area where it is is like the most desirable area in DC and homes are like 5 million dollars to buy and the Hiltons (as in Hilton hotels) have 2 of the coolest venues sitting right there (in fact one is IN the 9:30 Club– Satellite Room).

Needless to say the Yellow Card concert was epic. I stayed out ’till like 2 am; got a ride home from one of my crush’s friends; snuck INTO my house undetected; and took a math final exam the next day and got an A. Don’t worry about it, I WAS A #LEGEND in high school. It was the night before a final exam (it was December, the semester was ending) and I just straight went to a ragey Yellowcard concert on a Tuesday night. And that is why I’m never having children.

All of that is part of my sheer memory, but I just looked it up for fun confirmation and the concert indeed took place in December– on the 10th of the month in the year 2 thousand and 3, to be exact. The Fall of my senior year of high school. Exactly 21 days later, I would stay up at a Kinkos finishing and sending college applications via The Standard Application on the very last day they were allowed. And 3 weeks earlier, December 10th, 2003, age 17, I attended a mosh-pitting concert with my crush and then crushed a mathematical final exam the next day in the year when I needed to get into college. I take back what I said– I am having kids because I want them to be exactly like that. Sorry I party.

I will never forget that night, and the way it epitomized friendship– all my girls piling into the car for this thrilling adventure down to the club in the ‘bad part of town’ to support me in my romantic endeavor to win my crush over. (We only ended up making out once– not that night either, and he blatantly ended up being in love with Cait because she is gorgeous and has piercing blue eyes and every guy would always fall in love with her so I’d tell her to look ugly around my crushes and she would because that’s what friends do except it never worked. I’d literally be like “you’re not allowed to shower, don’t put on any make-up, and wear a fugly outfit” and she’d be like “obbbbbbviously.”)

Throughout the rest of high school, I would go back to the 9:30 Club constantly– especially for O.A.R. concerts. That’s cause homeboys were…literally our homeboys, because they were from the area. This was back when their shit wasn’t over-produced and toolish and Game of Poker was the greatest song EVERRRRRR. God damn I had good times at those O.A.R. concerts.

Post college, from age 22-25 my social life was basically going to concerts at 9:30. See this post for an example http://thehyperbalist.com/2011/02/03/ohdeargod/

In that time span, I saw…..

Florence and The Machine when nobody knew who she was
Wiz Khalifa- pretty much still when no one knew who he was
Ratatat (one of Alex and I’s first dates together!)
Miike Snow
ADELE (I die)
Cold War Kids
Santigold
Lykke Li
Little Dragon
The XX
SBTRKT
Girl Talk
CSS
Beach House
Crystal Castles
And one million others

Crystal Castles brings me to where this story is coming full circle.

One of the single best shows I’ve ever seen was that concert– where their opening act was someone or something (I didn’t know yet) that I’d never heard of.

It was THREE years ago.

And his name was Rusko.

And when he began performing,

MY WORLD WAS SHATTERED. My mind was blown.

It was the most fun I have ever had. It was this DIRTY-ASS, HEADY, HYPNOTIC, POUNDING, SICK, GARAGE DUBSTEP.

And he was completely, pathologically insane.

He actually takes the energy that someone like Macklemore has and quadRUPLES it. He is natural crack. The way he jumps on stage, and moves, and dances, and gets the crowd going…he has this aura and energy about him like he’s an excited 16 year old boy except the beats he is creating and jamming to are nastttttty. And he always performs in socks. Hahhaa white athletic ankle socks, with his muscular shapely calves (because all he does is jump up and down), and jean shorts that go down to mid calf. It’s hilarious.

I can honestly say that going to a Rusko show is an experience I wish upon every human being before their death. I really mean that. I am not being hyperbolic. I think a bucket list of life, regardless of musical taste, is being AT a Rusko show–at 9:30 club specifically–and experiencing his energy and music. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had. His stage set is SO FUCKING COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s these giaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant Hollywood Starlet-type letter-lights that spell Rusko and BOUNCE up and down on hydraulics doing different amazing things depending on the beat.

As he was performing, I was looking around, and there were all these club-chicks totally zoned out and ROCKING out to him, and I asked one of them about him and realized he had legit GROUPIES. Like I was discovering him for the first time in 2010 but this chick said she’d been following him around London and THE WORLD and had been to every single one of his shows. And then we danced together for the rest of the night even though she was definitely on like 9 Mollys and I had to google what a Molly was after hearing every rapper ever mention it in every song ever. For a while I legit thought Rick Ross was saying “Pop a Miley”, referencing Miley Cyrus because she did Salvia and other drugs.

From that point onward, I was a Rusko addict. I went to 2 more of his shows at 9:30 Club, and then last May, Alex and I went to Miami to visit my family. Upon walking in the door to my aunt’s house at 2 am on a Friday, my 13 year old cousin goes “Alina, I’m going to Rusko tomorrow, want to go?” And I was like “IS THE POPE CATHOLIC YEAH I WANT TO FUCKING GO TO A RUSKO SHOW IT WILL BE MY 5TH” (I looked so cool to my 13 year old cousin, JK he didn’t give a fuckkkkkk and probably thought I was less cool for saying that, it was so Amy Poehler as the mom in Mean Girls of me); and at 2 in the morning Alex and I signed on to live nation and bought tickets to a Rusko show occurring less than 24 hours later in a city we were visiting for 3 days total.

But guess what, IT PALED IN COMPARISON TO WHAT RUSKO IS LIKE AT 9:30 CLUB BECAUSE 9:30 CLUB IS THE BEST VENUE IN THE COUNTRY, SORRY EVERYONE ELSE.

My love for 9:30 and for Rusko has been welllll-documented on this blog, and now, I am giving away TWO TICKETS to the Rusko Show at 9:30 Club this coming April. It’s Thursday, April 18th at 10:00 p.m, and the tickets are $40 eachhhh which is expensive for 9:30 Club aka indicative of how legit he is. You really just need to take my enthusiastic word for it that a Rusko concert is LEGENDARY. IT’S THE MOST UNIQUE SHOW YOU’LL EVER GO TO. YOU HAVE TO GO.

So if you live in DC, and want TWO FREE TICKETS to see Rusko at this epic venue in our nation’s capital, you need to:

Follow me on twitter: @TheHyperbalist;

and simply leave a comment on this here post with your name! (and email, so I can email you if you win!)

You get an extra entry into the pot if you tweet about the giveaway with hashtag #Rusko930. I’m not going to give you any toolish parameters about what you need to say in the tweet, like “I JUST ENTERED THIS GIVEAWAY with The Hyperbalist!” (I would never make you do that). Just be a human and say anything you feel like saying about it.

I have never once done a giveaway. I would only ever do one about something I feel this passionately about.

RUSKO

THE

SHIT

And honestly you’ll look really cool. Rusko is like…cool, and still, unfathomably so, relatively ‘off the radar’. It’s not like going to see like….Will.I.Am. HAHAHAH who has ever bought a ticket to see Will.I.Am? I hope no one that’s reading this blog. Or even a band that’s legitimately good but known by all. Like Mumford & Sons- amazing, but everyone knows them so it’s not news if you go to their concert. RUSKO? NO BODY EVEN KNOWS WHAT THE WORD IS. PEOPLE DON’T EVEN REALIZE HE’S A HUMAN. THEY DON’T SAY ‘WHO IS RUSKO,’THEY SAY “WHAT’S RUSKO?” So you’re cool if you know who he is.

GOOD LUCK WITH THE GIVEAWAY I SINCERELY HOPE YOU WIN.

And if you don’t win and/or want to buy tickets, here the link! http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/eventV2/220063?utm_source=hyperbalist&wrKey=61FD2C11DB68F1080A129DC216B25CE9

HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY TO ME AND YOU!!!

I’d probably wear this:

*PS. You guys….I just listened to Ocean Avenue again, and like….what the fuck YELLOW CARD IS SO GOOD! IT’S SO HIGH SCHOOL. “There’s a place off Ocean Avennue, where I used to sit and TAWK with you, we were both 16 and it FELTSORIGHT, sleepin’ all day and stayin up all………..NIII-HIGHHHHHT.” And the violin at the end?! I remember at the show, the violinist was SO SICK, he stood on a cube and just like……played his violin but would get all acrobatic and gymnastic and do back flips and shit with the violin. He was the hot one of the group. WHERE ARE YOU THESE DAYS YELLOWCARD?!?!?!

17 Comments

Filed under Concerts, Good Shit You Should Know About, Music

October 7, 2011 · 2:43 am

Super Bass by British Child

Um.

You’ve seen this right???

This is the most incredible thing I have ever seen.

#1–she sings the entire song with a darling little British accent. Rap done in British is the CUTEST. All of her words have their hard edge taken off by the fact that they’re said in a British accent which makes them seem polite and proper, even when she’s saying “somebody please tell them who the EFF I IS.”

#2 SHE HAS A HYPE MAN. This like, 4 year old girl, legit has a hypeman. And didn’t even realize it. In her mind, she wasn’t like “I need a hypeman for this performance,” because a toddler can’t understand the concept of what a hypeman is, but yet she has this bitch on the side, who doesn’t say a single word the whole performance, and just, hypes her up and jams out and riles up the crowd. Like, she knows her role. She doesn’t try to upstage the real star, she doesn’t even speak. She just busts moves and silently mouths the words. She mimes the action of beating the ‘superbass’ drum, she pops and locks it, and she’s just the sidekick, and it’s AMAZING. If she talked, she would be doing what Diddy did in every single one of Biggie’s songs for like 5 years: grunting “yeah.” “yeah.” over and over again in between rap pauses. And she’d fucking KILL IT.

#3 She introduces herself in the sweetest, most darling British voice, “Hello! I’m Sophia Grace Brown Lee, LET’S HIT IT NOW!” And then starts rapping obscene lyrics. She is dressed in a fucking princess costume, with a British accent. And then starts rapping “he might sell coke.”

SHE HITS EVERY SINGLE BEAT. THE GIRL DOESN’T MISS A FUCKING THING IN THAT SONG. She OWNS it. My favorite part is towards the beginning of the song when she lowers her voice kind of sexily and goes “That’s the kind of dude I was lookin’ for.” I have watched this 11 times.

Everything aboutt his is utterly and completely REMARKABLE. I am not like, trying to be funny…this girl is a ONE IN A MILLION star. She is a female, 5 year old version of Justin Bieber. SHE HAS SO MUCH FUCKING SWAG. The attitude she gives in this performance!!!! Her HIP pops!The way she ends the video!!! she is a STAR. She was born a star. This is un.fucking.believable. I want you to look back on your childhood, and weep at how pathetic and ordinary you were compared to this. Look back in your life, think of your cousins and nieces and nephews and everyone you’ve ever known or babysat for– and zero out of any of them have this kind of swag and talent. Imagine doing this at that age. She is a star.

AND I HAVE NOT YET MENTIONED HER ACTUAL VOICE!!!!!!!!!!!! RAPPING ASIDE, when the first verse of rap breaks, and the actual song-song chorus comes in, she is so passionate and dedicated and just BELTS it out, and the quality of her voice is insane!! At times, she sounds like a legitimate adult singing. SURE, there a few “notes” she could hit better, but notes at that age are irrelevant, the actual QUALITY of her voice is like…husky and amazing. She BELTTTTS that shit!! Such passion!

Look, if you have seen Justin Bieber’s biopic, “Never Say Never,” you know what I’m talking about. Every record producer, talent scout, songwriter, etc. EVER in the history of the music world has said that when they met Justin Bieber, or Britney Spears, or Usher, or Justin Timberlake at age like 5, they just KNEW. Because you can tell when a kid has that special thing that is not measurable or explicable in words. Something extraordinary, beyond the realm of what 99.9 percent of most people have. It’s just IT. Justin Bieber was pounding drums and being a star, with confidence of a level wayyy beyond what a kid his age should have had, at like age 3. That is this girl. The way she ends the video with that OOMPH, it’s like “take THAT BITCHHHH.”

I’m just in shock. Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun is calling this chick up AT: NOW. The video’s already gotten a million and a half hits and it’s going to get millions and millions more. She’s probably going to end up on Ellen and with a record contract. With the right management, this girl could be DYNAMITE.

And now I will go watch it 14 more times. We’re all so talentless compared to this.

Bye.

Oh and I forgot one thing:

THERE’S A FUCKING KEY CHANGE.

1 Comment

Filed under Good Shit You Should Know About, LOLz, Music

September 20, 2011 · 4:28 pm

SBTRKT Wildfire

This song is the hottest, sexiest, sickest song I’ve heard in MAYBE five years. It’s so dirty with that chopped dubstep beat. SO HOT. This is a song that people have sex to. Sorry that it is. This is a song people do weird ass drugs to. Haha SBTRKT is this dope dj/producer who refuses to let his human face be part of the picture because he says it distracts people. He doesn’t want himself to be associated with the beats and music/for people to think of his personal human side when they hear his beats so he WEARS A CREEPY TRIBAL MASK DURING ALL PERFORMANCES. Okay, truth be told, it’s really not that creepy. But I betttt if you were in a dark night club on drugs watching a dude in a tribal mask spin intense drum beats, you’d be creeped out. Maybe. Whatever. And I don’t mean that I or you should do drugs, but there is zero chance that 99.9 percent of SBTRKT’s audience at a given show is not on another level.

Apurrrrently this is the official video for the track. How creepy is this? This is some next level shit.

The girl who sings the vocals is the lead singer of Little Dragon, a swedish/japanese chick who, if you didn’t notice from the track has an INSANELY awesome sexy voice, like Lykke Li combined with Sia or something. I bought my boyfriend and I tickets to see her in a few months at the 9:30 club. It’s going to be sick..

Also I’ve added a category to my blog called “Good Shit You Should Know About.” For the record, I posted about Kreayshawn Gucci Gucci 3.5 months before it blew up and became a radio single and was on Entourage soooo you should probably follow my “good shit you should know about” blog posts because it is guaranteed that you will hear about the stuff I’m posting about between 4 months-3 years after I’ve posted about it. It’s just how I do. I found Lady Gaga. hahaha it’s a WELL documented claim to fame within my friend group. 14 months before Just Dance was hot. ASK. MY. FRIENDS. I emailed them about her and then made them watch the Just Dance music video with me and everyone was like who the FUCK is Lady Gaga. I AM JUST SAYING.

4 Comments

Filed under Concerts, Good Shit You Should Know About, Music

May 23, 2011 · 9:50 pm

Kreayshawn Gucci Gucci

Hooooooly shit. Haven’t been this stoked on something in a long time. This is so hot. I have listened to it on repeat like 7 times in the past 10 minutes. So much swag. The beat…her rhymes….and the entire fucking video start to finish. I am obsessed. Her STYLE.

“Gucci Gucci Louis Louis Fendi Fendi Prada, them basic bitches wear that shit so I don’t even bother. ”

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh I love you, Kreayshawn. I would marry this music video if that were something that is possible.

I think it’s so hot when girls are just like, dirty, swagging, bitches. She’s in whackass shit with whackass eyeliner, looking like a chola with her chunky gold earrings and her hoodrat attitude and dirty lyrics and it WERKS. ”I’m rollin up my catnip and shittin’ in your litter. Why you lookin’ bitter?” Haha like whattt.

“I’m snatching all yah bitchez at my LEISUURREEE.” That’s my favorite part. I love how she trails it off.

My other favorite part is– I got the swag and it’s pumpin out my ovaries.

haha this is SO CATCHY. THE HOOK, THE LOOP, HER LOOK, HER STYLE, HER MINNIEMOUSE EARS. I think I might be a lesbian afterall. Like latently. Because I’m legitimately in love with her. Her voice is so sexy. <3

2 Comments

Filed under Music

May 2, 2011 · 2:55 pm

In my ears right now

No explanation needed. Good music speaks for itself. This is just…..so…so….GOOD. Pretty Lights– Finally Moving. It gives me chills.

And if you haven’t heard of/aren’t listening to Bass Nectar, get your shit together.

The 808 Track has such sick beats….wait until 0:45 and the dirty dubstep garage beat drops…it does it again at 2:38 and it blows my mind each time. The dude rapping kinda sounds like Bubba Sparx.

And this track is just….dirty. Wait till 0:55. BassNectar–Timestretch. Gets really good at 1:24 too.

Oh my god

In my ears right now

[*Due to annoying music rights & shit, you can't play the first two videos ON my blog, just click "Watch on Youtube" and it'll take you right there. IT'S WORTH the one extra click, I promise. The last two, you can]

Peter Bjorn and John– Second Chance. Just…..indescribably good.

Oh Land– We Turn It Up….I mean……just listen for yourself. If you don’t like this song, then we probably can’t be friends because we just don’t have the same values and don’t appreciate the same things. :/ sry.

The quality of her voice and the beat of the song is so 1950′s/60′s ‘dulang dulang’ duwop style. So in love. APPARENTLY this song was played on Gossip Girl a few months ago. It would be. Those Gossip Girl and OC creators always think they are exposing the masses to cool new music. Gossip Girl also played the most mainstream Crystal Castles song, “Crimewave” and got a bunch of 16-year-old girls thinking they were fans of Crystal Castles. I was listening to them before Serena Vander Woodson was born, and trust me, Crystal Castles concerts are frightening and demonic, and their music is far too mature to be played as the background to a teen drama on the CW!!! Sorry but true. I am a music snob. I am. It’s no secret. Because I spend my free time reading Pitchfork, PrettyMuchAmazing, Stereogum, Rolling Stone, and pretty much shazaming the shit out of anything I hear/like in any obscure coffee shop or restaurant or store in any city I’m ever in. Musicismylife. That’s why Nate Dogg’s song “Music and Me” like, touches my soul. I am a music freak. I spend more of my disposable income on concerts than I even do on clothes, and definitely than I do on food. I discovered Lady Gaga a legitimate year before people ever heard the song ‘Just Dance.’ HAHA SORRY BUT I DID! Now there are people who knew of her FIVE years before Just Dance, and that’s even cooler. I am never one of those people, but I’m ahead of the game simply because I care enough about music TO be. My friends always recall the email I sent them in like 2007 saying “GUYS—There is this amazing new artist– her name is Lady Gaga and her major single that is going to be a hit is called Just Dance.” And everyone was like ‘lady whaaa?” I kinda get chills thinking about it. I was listenting to Lil Wayne when he was a 14-year-old member of “The 504 boys” in 1997. , and Timbaland when he was Timbaland&Magoo, A DECADE before he began producing Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado songs. I can pretend I wasn’t doing that but I was.

hehehe don’t worry, ANY time I say anything about myself on this blog that is a self-call, my friends make fun of me for it. Ellie always gives me her verbal interpretations of what I’ve written and then we laugh so hard it hurts. Tonight, when I ask her about this post, she’ll use the voice she uses to make fun of me and go, “I’m the coolest, I know everything about music ever, no one knows more about music than me, I invented music, I’m the shit.” And then we laugh and my boyfriend gives her a standing ovation and I’m like ‘Okay, it’s not my fault I know everything about music, sorry you’re jealous that you don’t” And then we laugh more and she and my boyfriend bond over making fun of my blog posts. They’re def just jealous they’re not as musically intelligent as I am.

OHHHHH and I just realized that the Oh Land song gives me the same feeeling this one does. It’s called Marathon, by Tennis (which I give credit to my friend Michael for introducing me to.). I love the first line. Coc-co-nut grove, is a very small cove.

UPDATE: hahhaaha since posting this post, my friends Ellie and Kate commented on it, under the names “E$” [E-MONEY], and K8. Kate said this:

K8- March 31, 2011 at 6:04 pm (Edit)
i will give you credit for “discovering” the following acts:
-the XX
-florence and the machine
-mike posner
-miike snow
-lady gagz
-kid cudi
-wiz khalifa
-amanda blank
-drake (when you commented at the lil wayne concert 3 years ago that his opening act would be famous one day)
-girl talk? i think?
-white panda

but you have also taken credit for some ridiculous “discoveries,” like lil wayne himself.

I immediately flipped out [jokingly], blood boiling and I gchatted her, “you bitch. You leave this long list of all these amazing acts that I’ve discovered before anyone, and then take away the one I care most about in the world– Lil Wayne. you know I discovered Lil Wayne in 6th grade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHERE THE F WERE YOU IN SIXTH GRADE!!!!!!!!!!

And her EXACT diabolical response, copied and pasted, was this:

Kate: HAHAHA
I KNEW IT WOULD GET YOU WORKED UP
I KNEW IT
THATS WHY I DID IT
me: hahlajdslkfjdalkfjalkfjlsafjljdsalfjlajajajlsafjslofjalfjdslfkja
Kate: THATS WHY I’M MORE GENIUS THAN ANYONE WHO MAKES FUN OF YOU.
i know how to bug you properly
BECAUSE OF ALL THOSE ACTS,
HE’S THE ONE YOU WANT TO CLAIM THE MOST
me: alfalkfjdsaflfjljlsfjldsajfldsjfsalkflsa
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I HATE YOU
IM LITERALLY LAUGHING
SO HARD.
Kate: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
I LOVE LIFE
me: YOU NAME 15 OF THE MOST AMAZING ARTISTS, AND YOU GIVE ME CREDIT FOR DISCOVERING THEM ALL– LIKE A HUGE LONG LAUNDRY LIST– BUT THEN TAKE AWAY LIL WAYNE, THE ONE THAT I KNOW IS THE MOST LEGITIMATE CLAIM TO MY MUSIC CREDIT THERE IS. He is the ONE I want credit for the most.
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHHA
Kate: YEP!!!!!!!!
THATS WHAT HAPPENED
i fucking love you
FOR PICKING UP ON IT

10 Comments

Filed under Music

· 4:05 pm

My f-ing JAM right now

Cut Copy: Take Me Over. First heard this song in November in a Free People store and had to shazam that shit cause shazam-ing is what I do. It gets me int such a good mood and reminds me of that vintage-y pop feel-good feel that the Talking Heads’ ‘This Must Be the Place’ has to it…the ‘naieve melody’ version of that song. Same with CSS’s ‘Move’ and Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere.’ Those are all some of my favorite songs in the world. And they all make my heart/stomach a little lighter, like I’m at the peak of a roller coastr and about we’re about to go over the edge. Songs can do that. I had a ticket to Cut Copy’s show here in DC two nights ago but no one would go with me and I JUST wasn’t in the mood to dance around to a techno electro pop group completely by myself. It’s one thing to go to a Florence and the Machine concert alone, where you can just listen to the beauty of her voice and stand there in awe. But at Cut Copy, you gotta be drunkenly dancing with your friends. Couldn’t do it alone. When I hear this song, I’m sick to my stomach that I could have seen them live and….didn’t. Devastating.

[*The Fleetwood Mac and Talking Heads songs will play right from my blog, the CSS song will take you to youtube.]

Fleetwood Mac- Everywhere- after listening to this again, I realized that the two are so similar, Cut Copy may have actually sampled this track. See what I mean…

CSS- Move- if you don’t want to ‘move’ when you hear this song, legit there’s something wrong with you.

Talking Heads- This Must Be the Place- naieve melody PS I WORSHIP–WOR.SHIP–David Byrne. He is my religion.

UPDATE: I played both the Cut Copy and Fleetwood Mac songs for my boyfriend, who had never heard EITHER, and he said ‘they are so similar that the cut copy one is pRACTICALLY a cover.” He also thinks that Men at Work’s Land Down Under could be thrown into the mix here. hmm………

3 Comments

Filed under Music

March 18, 2011 · 4:12 pm

Pretty Cool

Have you ever seen such hipsters in your life?

3 bros in skinny pants and tees, awkwardly skinny and hunched, a chick in a floral print dress and faded denim over-shirt, sitting in an empty room singing Ke$ha a cappella.

I’m obsessed though. I love the harmonies and who knew this song could be so perfect done this way. I love it.

I love the part where it breaks down and she kind of rap-talks the ‘go insane go insane get some glitter make it rain” part.

I am in love with a cappella. I sang in a chorus/a cappella group from 5th grade – senior year of highschool, and did big shows at Carnegie Hall [for the chorus] and like, highschool events [for the a cappella group, which was called 'Heartfelt."] Believe it or not, I sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow for my audition song. How corny. I also went to “gifted+talented” musical theater camps where you had to audition to get in, and like, sang and danced 12 hours a day and put on Guys and Dolls and South Pacific and Bye Bye Birdie. I was such a nerd it’s not even funny.

These days, I just practice potential a cappella songs in my car alone, like a total loser. My favorite one to do is Maroon 5′s “This Love.” It’s sad how into I get. I pretend like I’m going to one day audition for an adult a cappella group. Like Jennifer Anniston’s brother’s in the movie “The Break-Up.” “Come come on the kick-drum, come.” Whatever, maybe I will okay?

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Filed under Music

March 16, 2011 · 1:35 pm

Nate Dogg– Rest in Beats

I was in the car this morning, almost at work, when I heard one of my all time favorite songs in the world, Nate Dogg & Dr. Dre’s “Xxplosive.” [To the extent that it was my cell phone ring for 2 years.] I blasted it, smiling, loving and reveling in the sick beat, Nate Dogg’s sexyass voice, the ridiculous lyrics, and just the whole aura of the song. It’s one of the most famous hooks ever– who doesn’t recognize those first few chords? And then I got even happier when another Nate Dogg song came on, and then another, and then another. I was ECSTATIC because Nate Dogg has truly been one of my favorite rappers for over a decade. Hearing this amazing mash-up of all of his greatest hits is like, the greatest way I could ever imagine starting a morning, and I COULD. NOT. GET. OUT. OF. THE. CAR. until the whole thing was over. I sat in the car for 20 minutes in the parking lot at the FDA, just JAMMING out and waiting for the Nate Dogg amazingness to end. And then I heard the radio announcer say that it was in honor of Nate Dogg, who passed away yesterday at age 41. I am depressed.

Nate Dogg is an absolute LEGEND, and he has sung the vocals to some of the best, most smile-inducing, most popular hits of the last 20 years. You may not ‘know’ who Nate Dogg is, because you may not be a hood rat like me, but you have danced, and drank, and partied, and smiled, to dozens of his songs. Nate Dogg’s voice and style was like butter and honey and just…SMOOOOTH goodness. So damn smooth. His hooks were GOOD. They make you fall in love with the moment. There is no one like Nate Dogg. He had one of those rare voices and styles that was so distinct, you could spot it INSTANTLY. You could hear a brand new song, and hear him sing two words and go- yep, that’s Nate Dogg. If a song sucked, and you wanted to make it GOLD, you got Nate Dogg to do the hook. His songs from the 90′s and 00′s are EPIC, and it makes me legitimately sad to realize that the collection of Nate Dogg songs we have to-date, is the only stuff we’ll ever have, because he will never make anything new again. But lucky for us, what we’ve got is so fucking good, it can last forever. He did collaborations with TUPAC (one of the best songs of Tupac’s career), Warren G (REGULATE? HELLO what? One of the best songs ever? That song ALONE makes him a legend), Dr. Dre, Luda, 50 Cent, Exzibit, Fabolos, Eminem, and sang the vocals on nearly every single one of Snoop Dogg’s most well-known songs– including and especially, “Next Episode.” He helped define the West Coast brand of hip-hop, along with Tupac and Snoop. Snoop actually found Nate, and Nate named himself Nate Dogg in honor of him. I am so sad. As Luda said today “There is a certain void in hip-hop’s heart that can never be filled.” Erykah Badu’s tweet made me feel better though, because it’s so perfect for him: “Nate Dogg, Rest in beats.” Eryka sampled “Xxplosive” for a song “Bag Lady”, which is also one of my favorites.

I just wrote a legitimate tribute to Nate Dogg, and the fact that it was so easy for me to write and took me 3 minutes should indicate how obsessed I was with Nate Dogg. His solo song “Music and Me” is haunting and means SO much to me because it perfectly describes my personal relationship with music and what it does for my soul. I listened to this song on repeat for my entire sophomore spring at Dartmouth. Like the people down the hall eventually came in and asked me what song it was because they had grown to love it from my incessant playing. I never set out to like Nate Dogg; it just happened that every song I ever liked– Nate Dogg was on the track. No coincidence, just talent. Now scroll to realize how many songs Nate Dogg turned into gold: [*PS- a lot of the songs you can't play from my blog directly but just click the part that says "play from youtube" and it will take you right there.]

Warren G & Nate, “Regulate”–