bring your hips to me.

i have a problem. every time my emusic downloads are about to expire, i go on a downloading spree. this means, generally, that i download about 5 albums in a day. you think i'd learn to use my subscription a little more efficiently; unfortunately efficiency isn't my strong suit when it comes to all things personal. anyway... a lot of the time, albums go overlooked for months in my itunes library, or at least weeks. this situation happened with the artist i'm about to tell you about: Thao with The Get Down Stay Down.



so ignore what is so obviously wrong with this video (the bad hipster/elaine dancing and the mustache - yeah, you know which one i'm talking about) and admit that you almost wish you were there. weird, i know. either way, i love this track. it's totally a solo-bedroom-underwear-dance party track. infectious, to say the least. i'm a big fan of "when we swam." it's my favourite on the record.



"cool yourself" is another great track. it has a 90s vibe, especially in the guitars. it's fun and upbeat. it makes you want to sing along and skip down the sidewalk while you walk home. i love the juxtaposition of thao's nonchalant vocals with the quick pace of the track.

really, the more i listen to know better learn faster, the more i realize how beautiful this little record is. i don't think there's a song i'd skip. it's fresh and modern, but takes pieces from 60s pop, 90s rock and modern indie rock, and gives the listener something new, yet familiar. it's as sweet as fresh-baked cookies on a saturday afternoon.

if you pick it up, it will totally be one of those records you want to keep to yourself because you feel like you've got your own little secret. don't, though.

i forgot to add this to my movie posts

http://www.myvideo.de/watch/3041991/The_Big_Lebowski_Bob_Dylan_The_Man_In_Me

Best scene in the big lebowski. hands down.

i think i'm developing a pattern

instead of cleaning my bathroom on thursdays while i do laundry, i have solo-bedroom-dance parties in my underwear and eat fruit pastilles. it's true. i'm on a janet jackson kick right now. specifically janet.. one of the best albums of the 90s.

anyway, now that november is coming to a close, all these best-of lists keep popping up everywhere. well, seeing as a i blog once a month, you could take this years blogs, condense them, and call them my top-10 of 2009. so, instead i'm going to do something different. here's a selected list of some of my most listened to tracks of 2009 - minus the one's i've already talked about.

here goes:

marcus foster - 14 times
it's beautiful and simple, just the way a great song should be. watch out for this kid. apparently one of his tracks is on the new moon soundtrack. yeah. i'm going to hate on new moon. sorry.


fink - this is the thing
fink is one of those u.k. phenomenons. mercury prize winning phenomenon that's popular home but no one seems to care to market over here. i think he's great and both his albums are amazing.


the temper trap - sweet disposition
500 days of summer was one of my favourite films this year. not just because i have a massive crush on joseph gordon levitt (and a massive girl-crush on zooey deschanel) but also because it helped me make sense of the breakup i went through earlier this year. i had mostly made sense of it by the time august rolled around, hah, but it gave me that extra bit of clarity i needed. anyway, i love "sweet disposition." it's just one of those feel-good songs you dance around your room to in your underwear while eating fruit pastilles.



bowerbirds - northern lights
bowerbirds' upper air is one of those albums that's in my top-10 of the year that i unfortunately didn't get a chance to write about (ahem *lazy* ahem). "northern lights" is a beautiful love song. "all i want is your eyes - in the morning as we wake for a short while" ughhhh, make me melt.


the xx - vcr
i think we all know i was born about 15 years too late. i should have been a teen when joy division and new order, the psychedelic furs, and the replacements were still writing tunes. because of that, i think we all know i love a good throwback. the xx are just that. a solid throwback. "vcr" is that kind of song that just makes me want to makeout with someone. as i've said before, a good song should make you want to do that.


phoenix - liztomania
another dancing in my underwear kind of song. i think i like to dance in my underwear. though, i do pull out the molly ringwald snap/kick move from breakfast club and that's rare.


anni rossi - wheelpusher
if you get a chance to see this little firecracker, do it. don't ask me what it's about. i don't really know. it's just pretty. sorta like megan fox... if she were a song... and a little more indie.


a.a. bondy - the mightiest of guns
so apparently i've got a thing for dudes with guitars. what? a.a. bondy's a recent discovery, but i'm in love. if you're in toronto, check him out december 3rd at the el mo. in fact, i've got an extra ticket if anyone wants to go.


young galaxy - firestruck
you have to see young galaxy live. seriously. this album just keeps growing on me. so pretty. oh so pretty.


the outfield - your love
yeah. i just did that. i blame adventureland. she and him need to cover this shit.

i give up

i've spent the last hour and a half attempting to search out my favourite movie soundtrack clips and i've managed to round up four. goddamn copyright infringements. seriously? you think in this day and age we'd be past that. apparently not.


"kissing you" by des'ree - romeo & juliet

so i think i understand the whole twilight phenomenon. i'm pretty sure i went to see romeo & juliet three times at the cineplex in Guelph. romeo & juliet is ridiculously better than twilight, but, after re-watching this clip, i remembered how much i loved this movie and how great of an impact it had on my perpetually heartbroken 16-year-old self. needless to say, this scene (that kicks in at about the 1:40 mark) is simply beautiful. honorable mentions go out to "young hearts run free" too.


"born slippy" by underworld - trainspotting

even though this scene is only one minute long, it's the best minute in trainspotting, as far as i'm concerned. it fits the mood of the film perfectly. i wish the clip rolled into the credits but sadly it's all i can find. it's intense. it's urgent. it's trainspotting.


"try a little tenderness" by otis redding - pretty in pink

oh john hughes. the master of the soundtrack. i don't think there's anything i can say about john hughes that hasn't already been said since his passing so i'll just focus on the scene.

i don't know about you, but i didn't have some geek serenading me with otis redding tunes when i was in high school. but, if i did, i'd be all over it (as long as he wasn't as so obviously in the closet as duckie was). molly should have done him a favour. note to any potential bfs: serenade me with otis redding and i'll do you a favour.


"in your eyes" by peter gabriel - say anything

one: i can't find this fucking clip to save my life. ffwd to 1:45
two: i, and almost every other woman on the planet, will eternally crush on john cusack because of this scene, no matter how bad his films get.
three: cameron crowe is a close second behind hughes - honorable mentions go out to "secret garden" by springsteen in jerry maguire. couldn't find that clip either. oh, and all of almost famous - specifically "something in the air."


"hold me up" by live - zack and miri make a porno

okay, so this may seem a little weird and out of context. AND nsfw. i love this scene though and the song makes it. literally - wha wha. i feel like most people would find this choice odd, especially considering kevin smith's gift for picking extraordinary music for his films, but for me, it fits perfectly.


"all i want is you" by U2 - reality bites

okay, ignore the fact that the dialogue is in fucking spanish. i hate YouTube right now. HATE. anyway, i love this song. i love this scene. i love this movie. i now blame U2 for my desire to date dirty, greasy, asshole philosopher types. everything about this is beautiful.

and thus continues my love for all things u.k.

my coworker nelson has wicked taste, sometimes. our itunes collide when it comes to u.k. imports. it was nelson who introduced me to florence + the machine. we swapped a bunch of records about a month ago but i only got around to uploading them to itunes this weekend. disappointing, only because i wish i had listened to LUNGS a month ago. it was on repeat all turkey-weekend long.

"dog days are over" is clearly the stand-out track. check the video here. i have to say, it's totally amazing and weird, complete with creepy clowns, children and a tree fairy. however, the track shows off 22-year-old Florence Welch's impeccable, organic sounding vocals.

the video for "rabbit heart" is as equally creepy and weird - think jane austin on acid and a tea-party with entirely too much pork. i love wacky videos. but back to the song; it's the perfect indie-rock-dance-party-anthem. the chorus is soulful and powerful. the verses are pretty and ethereal - a great juxtaposition.

"between two lungs" was the first u.k. single. it's very pretty and quirky... and here's where the kate nash comparisons start. not because they sound the same, because on most tracks they don't. you could never confuse one artist for the other. the comparisons start because when kate nash released her debut you could argue she was trying to do the same thing: quirkify pop music.

florence and + the machine does it better and they're a better band too. not because her voice is amazing, which it is, but because florence + the machine do a better job of making their pop music legitimately different by taking bits and pieces of contemporary pop and indie rock and melding those pieces with dance, some r n' b and a healthy dose of 80s pop. (sidenote: i accidentally wrote poop and only caught it on my final read-through. i should have left it.)

the production is also totally brilliant. it sounds like the album was recorded in a big empty theatre with every instrument, synth and beat at their disposal. for an example of amazing production value, check out "cosmic love." you can check out the live video below, but do a little hunting for the mp3 to really get what i mean.



needless to say, this record will be the soundtrack to my solo-bedroom-dance-parties for months to come. if someone has an extra ticket to their sold-out toronto show, i will happily take it. please.

ohmygod

i love this too. why don't i work in england, i swear to christ.



alan pownall

it's bands like this

that make me so glad i work in the music business.

Mumford & Sons / Little Lion Man video


i just adore mumford & sons. please buy their album when it's released here - just so i can see this band live. i have a funny feeling they're capable of melting faces.

and band, if this pops up in your google alerts (and i know it very well might because i'm a publicist and i get google alerts for my artists all the time), please talk to that dude from toronto, cananda who keeps emailing you. his name is chad and he's totally rad.