don't bug me

i'll be busy listening to mirrors - lights and offerings, available today on itunes and amazon. GET IT.

the vaccines - if you wanna

holy cow...the first twenty seconds of this song totally took me in. i think i have a new love.

pnau - the truth (official video)

new single by the guys behind empire of the sun, whose new album comes out in september?

franz ferdinand EP - record store day 2011

Record Store Day 2011 Announces Star-Studded Franz Ferdinand Covers EP

With just under two months until Record Story Day 2011, several notable releases have been planned for the April 16 event. One highlight out of these independent record store exclusives this year includes Franz Ferdinand’s Covers EP—a release that features the likes of LCD Soundsystem, the Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt, Blondie’s Debbie Harry, ESG and Peaches covering the group’s 2009 record Tonight.

 [emphasis mine]

mirrors - lights and offerings (stream)

not sure how much longer this will be streaming at myspace (UPDATE: for one week only), though the album comes out in two weeks:

mirrors - lights and offerings

hurts - sunday

from the graham norton show. i hope these guys live (and record) forever.

val emmich live

val emmich performed an acoustic set at a small venue in san diego, california, lestat's west. unfortunately, lestat's doesn't have much of a following in the city, so one has to know a performer will be there, in order not to miss it.

but emmich played well to the audience he had, with just a couple of missed lines in the set (he later said that he got thrown off mid-performance) which seemed only to draw in the girls-and-good-boys crowd...a "real" event for us all. at one point, val even dedicated a song ("E.S.T.") to a facebook follower who couldn't attend the show...tried to call her to play a song via cell phone, but there was no service, so we'll hope she caught that in spirit.



after the show (well, while the next act was onstage), i waited out front to grab an autograph. emmich came out, we chatted for several minutes, and attempted to engage lestat's resident dog (to no avail).

one gets the impression that emmich flunked rockstar school, he works hard to stay connected with his fans. he's very deserving of the devotion we give him.

trailer talk

have you seen the trailer to mars needs moms? how much do i love the robert zemeckis style of animation?

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/disney/marsneedsmoms/

NOT AT ALL.

Blue Tip (official) | The Cars

new cars, but sounds like a classic...the best way to make a comeback (if you ask me)

death of the music industry

http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-music-industry-sales-2011-2?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29

(thanks to pop in stereo)

1 mom

1 mom has more courage than that whole quorum. more moms, please...

OMD - history of modern (part 1)

here's the very charming video from OMD's latest single, "history of modern (part 1)". easily one of the best tracks on their new album, as well.



i love it when oldie bands reference their own past in records and videos, honestly. those record covers that shuffle in and out of the shelves...i've owned them all at one time or another. but i ebayed that stuff off a long, long time ago.

my new favorites, mackintosh braun, open for OMD on tour this year. not coming to san diego, though, unfortunately.

val emmich, san diego

val emmich will be performing in san diego wednesday night. i am really looking forward to this.

white apple tree - bombs

as the bombs blow up the world, all i choose to do is just sit and laugh with you...

white apple tree - bombs

men - who am i

sometimes i wonder if a song works independent of the video that promotes it. this is one of those times.



but, as a video, i really like it -- up to the glittery self-bukake, that is. i'll have to try the song without the video for a while, see if it grows on me.

(via: http://www.catch-fire.com/2011/02/video-men-who-am-i/)

david bowie - absolute beginners

one of those bowie singles that he won't necessarily be remembered for...but if it pops up in your head, you don't want to let it go.



from the tail end of his big band ("let's dance") era, attached to a movie of the same name (which was awful). the pairing of the lyrics with the dynamics of the song itself is actually memorable: ...if our love song could fly-y-y over mountains....

not wanting to let this go.

awkward

embarrassing ipod moment of the day: michael giacchimo's "end credits" from star trek OST comes up...it's based on the old star trek TV theme...and just sounds goofy. suddenly my coworkers are looking for phasers or something in my cubicle.

the sound of arrows - and beyond

here's the b-side from a favorite single last year (well, 2009): "and beyond" by the sound of arrows (from "into the clouds").

i'm going to go out on a limb here and answer for you: no. the question: does this track strike a "nostalgia" chord in anyone besides me?

that's what i thought. is it the hollow-ish keyboards perhaps? that sound always reminds me of a car trip i took with my uncle when i was 3 or 4 years old for some odd reason...though i remember nothing of the trip specifically.

or is it the anthemic, end-of-the-world quality this could be interpreted to have?


the sound of arrows - and beyond

how do our friends at #dietcoke fill cans beyond the rim?

Posted via email from this-alien's posterous

january mixtape

for those readers needing to catch up with january's posts:

freddie mercury / giorgio moroder - love kills

this popped up on my playlist today...really, the best of freddie mercury and the best of giorgio moroder all wrapped into one track.

as good, if not better than anything moroder did with donna summer (and that's saying something). and it's like mercury was born to record this, right?

dan black - madness mashup-ish

virgin media has a new spot using dan black's "symphonies" with madness's "our house" lyrics overtop. it's surprisingly good...

pet shop boys - the most incredible thing

the boys have written a ballet, which is premiering next month (already)! i love it when artists don't hint out about a project several months in advance, because the WAITING and the INEVITABLE DELAYS are so unbearable.

here's the deal:

press release

video of the project, with snippets of music that sound really, really good:

before paris hilton...

before paris hilton learned how to wash a car, there was this. in 1965... really?

pet shop boys: ballet album coming

this sounds intriguing...

http://thequietus.com/articles/05624-news-pet-shop-boys-to-release-ballet-album

Messrs Tennant and Lowe said: "This is a very exciting project to be part of. In the past we have written dance music so to write music for a ballet seems like a logical development. Also we have always been fascinated by giving our music a theatrical context."

 that last sentence is masterful in its understatement.

RIP john barry

this news makes me a little sad. john barry was like my third favorite movie soundtrack composer (after john williams, and jerry goldsmith [also recently deceased])…king kong (1976), midnight cowboy, several james bond movies, and movies i didn’t even like, but loved the scores: the betsy, somewhere in time, out of africa, dances with wolves…sad.

From Billboard Magazine:

Composer John Barry, who won five Oscars for his film work but was best known for his contributions to a dozen James Bond movies, has died. He was 77.
Barry died in New York on Sunday, his family said.
The English-born composer won two Oscars, for the score and the song, for “Born Free” in 1966, and he earned single statuettes for “The Lion in Winter” (1968), “Out of Africa” (1985) and “Dances with Wolves” (1990).
He was also nominated for his scores for “Mary, Queen of Scots” in 1971 and “Chaplin” in 1992.

Selections from John Barry’s scores here, including themes from his Oscar-winning or nominated scores for Out Of Africa and Chaplin.
Rest in peace, sir.

(via moviescore)