Elton John vs. Billy Joel

Other then both of them playing piano in the 70's and touring together in the past 15 years or so, these two artists have little to do with one another. But needless to say many people see it as a competition for supremacy ala XTC vs Adam Ant. I am one of those and Elton John comes out on top, every single f'ing time. He is so much more talented then that southie hack that is Billy Joel. So submitted for your approval is Elton John 1971's masterpiece Madman Across the Water.

If anyone thinks Billy Joel is better then I dare them to prove me wrong.

Also I have posted an album and artist that owes a great deal of debt to Elton John. It is Ben Folds collaboration with novelist Nick Hornby, Lonely Avenue. Ben wrote the music and sings the songs, Nick wrote the lyrics. While it is ok, it is not the greatest Ben Folds Album.

Anyway enjoy!

Dylan and Deerhunter

Tossing up Bob Dylan's Witmark Demos 1962-1964 and Deerhunter's Halcyon Digest. Haven't listened to the latter that much, but it's mellow and nice. It's been reviewed well, which prompted me to pick it up. Let me know what you think.

Dylan's stuff is amazing for the fact that he was 22-24 when he wrote it. Give "A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall" a listen and don't tell me it's not simply brilliant. The quality is hit or miss. It's a good addition, but you've heard most of this stuff before.

Enjoy.

Eyedea – The Many Faces of Oliver Hart

The Minneapolis hip-hop scene unexpectedly lost an amazing talent on Sunday. Eyedea was the quickest MC I've ever seen in concert. Always interesting, he was a master of both lyrical delivery and wit. Without a doubt one of the best freestyle rappers to ever hold a mic. I've posted his second album, The Many Faces of Oliver Hart, for you to enjoy and remember this Saint Paul native.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/10/18/eyedea-remembered/

Max Richter--Infra

I heard this on All Songs Considered a few weeks ago and promptly ordered it. I've been on an ambient kick of late, and this new album is beautiful. It was written for a ballet based upon T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland," and it starts off with morse code. How can you not be intrigued. The whole album sets a mood. This isn't The XX, so it won't get you laid, but you can read to it or put your kid to bed to it. Enjoy.

Shank video game soundtrack

A bit of a left field entry here, but there's a new video game that came out this week that I've been playing called Shank. It's kind of a spaghetti-western-grindhouse Kill Bill kind of thing where you hack & slash your way through waves of bad guys. Whatever, that's beside the point, the reason for this entry is to share the surprisingly great soundtrack with you. The developers have made it available for free here. Sample some of the songs, and hit up the zip file if you dig it.

Mumford & Sons and Local Natives

I have uploaded Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons as well as Gorilla Manor by The Local Natives. -Jk

Arcade Fire - the Suburbs

Just downloaded the new A.F. record. If you play the songs in iTunes the lyrics scroll as the song plays by clicking the 2nd line of the centered window/screen at the top of iTunes. Enjoy

HarMar Superstar - Dark Touches

If you don't know Har Mar, this is all you need to know

He has the voice of Justin Timberlake, the R&B styling of Stevie Wonder, the lyrics of a Penthouse Letter, and the looks of Ron Jeremy.

Tall Boy might be the jam of the summer.

The National: High Violet

The National's High Violet can be found here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7225/TheNational.zip

Also, Crystal Castle's new one is up on the iDisk.

New Records

I added the new Broken Social Scene & the new New Pornographers records to the iDisk. Enjoy.

joe henry - blood from stars

Joe Henry's been around for a while, but has never really garnered much mainstream attention... perhaps following the same course as Tom Waits in that regard. He's mixed it up quite a bit in the past with elements of country, swing, jazz, folk. Blood From Stars continues with the genre-challenging theme. It took a few spins for it to soak in for me, but since taking hold has really stuck with me. Interesting note: Joe's married to Madonna's sister, Melanie Ciccone, and their son Levon Henry plays sax on the album.

White Rabbits - It's Frightening

I haven't listened to this much at all, I just got it for my birthday, but I wanted to get it up to you guys. It's produced by the lead singer of Spoon, so that gives you an indication of the genre of music it is. So far from what I've listened to, it's excellent alt-pop. Enjoy.

Broken Bells

Broken Bells is a collaboration between Danger Mouse & James Mercer (front guy for the Shins). After listening to an All Songs interview with them, its safe to say that Broken Bells is a band, not a Danger Mouse produced Shins record. It reminds me of Phoenix because its a slickly produced pop record for indie kids. Check out tracks 1, 5, 1o to start.

3.5 stars on Paul's iTunes

Dawes - North Hills

Dawes is a new roots rock group drawing a lot of comparisons to The Band. That was enough of an endorsement for me to catch them at the Triple Rock recently. While I was expecting something different with the aforementioned comparisons, I was still impressed enough with their energy and live sound to pickup their recent North Hills album, and share with ya'll. Here's a short review: http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/28688909/review/30455332/north_hills

Two Palate Cleansers: Fanfarlo and Mumford & Sons

Both of these albums are heavy rotation here. They're quite different. Fanfarlo was hailed as Arcade Fire lite, and on a few songs that assessment is pretty obvious. I wasn't sold on their high praises on the first three to four listens, but after a while they definitely rock with lots of energy. Give I'm a Pilot, Comets, and It is Growing. But everything but the bonus tracks really work.




Mumford & Sons has the same amount of energy, but it's more, I don't know, folky and bluegrassy. This one is definitely worth a download. Start at the start and listen through to the end. You won't be disappointed.

Flaming Lips cover Dark Side of the Moon

Information Button. Instead of a review I have directions.

1) Download The Flaming Lips cover of The Dark Side of the Moon.

2a) Listen to album.

2b) Shake your head in disgust.

3) Burn CD and place in your motor vehicle go for a drive.

4a) Roll down your driver's side window.

4b) Whip CD out the moving vehicle.

5) Mutter to yourself, "What the Fuck was that."

The Swell Season - Strict Joy

I just had to upload this one, it being Kyle's favorite music and all. This is the Academy Award winning duo's follow up to their first album & Once movie soundtrack...It's pretty good. Glen Hansard remains the stronger songwriter than his female counterpart, and you can tell which songs each one wrote. But her singing and piano playing more than make up for that. Overall, this one never hits the heights of their previous efforts, but it's worth a listen.

Charles Ives - Three Places in New England

It has been a long time since I posted. Years, in fact. I just haven't been listening to much rock music. Mostly old time country. But lately, I've been listening to 20th Century classical music.

I've been reading the book The Rest is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century by Alex Ross, trying to get a better handle on the century that produced Schoenberg, Bartok, John Cage, and Philip Glass. I'm only a about a fourth into the book after a month of reading, because when you read a book about music you spend a lot of time listening to what you're reading about.

I recently read a section about Charles Ives, an early 20th century American composer who worked at an insurance company by day and composed by night. He was an outsider in the American scene, but he was greatly admired in Europe. He composed using tonal and atonal techniques that predate their use in Europe, but no one really knew about it because he was so isolated. He was "modern" before the rest of the world know what "modern" was.

The piece that struck me the most were three tone poems called Three Places in New England. Read the Wikipedia entry to learn more about each piece. But if you choose to listen, you'll hear dissonant, haunting, disturbing, and beautiful music that will, if you're like me, stick with you for days. It's famous for it's use of quoting folk songs, spirituals, and patriotic melodies. The third piece, meant to evoke a river in Massachusetts, is a sung folk-sounding melody backed by a swirling, atonal dissonance of strings that curl around your ears like wisps of fog.

Away We Go - Motion Picture Soundtrack

This soundtrack is mostly Alexi Murdoch songs, and if you have Alexi Murdoch's Time Without Consequence album, then you have most of these songs. But there are a few new ones...though I'm not sure if they're available elsewhere, and there's also a smattering of other artists.

Here's the track list (songs by Alexi Murdoch unless otherwise stated):

All My Days
Blue Mind
What is Life - George Harrison
Song For You
Golden Brown - The Stranglers
Towards The Sun
Meet Me In The Morning - Bob Dylan
Breathe
Wait
The Ragged Sea
Oh! Sweet Nothin' - The Velvet Underground
Orange Sky
Crinan Wood

Vampire Weekend-Contra

I will preface this review with a quick point about Vampire Weekend (V.W.) I loved their first record. If I were to make a top 10 albums of the 00's, V.W. would be on the list.

After 1 distracted listen (hangin' with H), I am moderately impressed with V.W.'s sophomore record "Contra." I loved the first single Horchata and agree with the pitchfork review that Giving Up the Gun is the best song on the record. The rest of the record is a little less consistent then the debut. Pitchfork argued that the step forward a is positive; i'm not so sure. V.W. added some more quirky instrumental moments that deconstructs the songs more then I like. But, I like more driving instrumentation (this explains my distaste with The Dirty Projectors & love for Interpol) Overall, it's a very good followup and V.W. will not fall victim to the sophomore slump. V.W. is here to stay.

4 out 5 of P2's iTunes

PS-Greg and saw V.W. at the Triple Rock during their 1st tour. V.W. came across as genuine & happy to have success. I like supporting people that understand their privileged opportunities.

Tracks: 1, 8, 5, & 7 to start

The Dirty Projectors-Bitte Orca

I picked up the Dirty Projectors album "Bitte Orca" over the summer after Stereo Gum raved about its greatness. I don't hear it. I think its over produced, over busy, and without focus. They may be the point of the record and I just don't get it. Thats fine, I can't enjoy everything. For starters: I love the song "No Intention" and enjoy the songs "Cannibal Resource" & "Stillness is the Move." The rest of the album was filler. 2 out of 5 on P2's iTunes.