last.fm profile

this illustrates the top played bands in my listening history on last.fm. absolutely no surprises here, i suppose.

alphaville - song for no one

imagine falling to earth from your heavenly carousel, getting hauled across the land by a WWII fighter plane, only to scale metropolis staircases lined by corset bound leather daddies.

or, simply watch alphaville's new video for "song for no one", found only at their web site for now.

http://www.alphaville.info/

the second single from their album, catching rays on giant, which is fairly awesome.

2010 albums

mackintosh braun

album of the year: a song from "where we are" pops up in my shuffle, and i'm compelled to stop and listen. more than any other album this year, "where we are" snags me every time.

spacy, but never drab and static; highly atmospheric, yet "pop"; and the processed vocals are still forefront with interesting lyrics. every track a winner. (while looking them up, take a gander at their previous album, the sound, which is sadly, no longer available on CD, but really impressive.)

also rans:


alphaville:catching rays on giant
terrific new album came out this year, catching rays on giant. who knows what that title means, but every track fits well, somewhere in alphaville's history.




brandon flowers: flamingo
early track of the year: "on the floor 2.0", flamingo. i adore this song, really wraps up an album that nicely encapsulates a man coming to terms with his inherited "faith", and the many disappointments therein. interesting concept coming from mr flowers.

daft punk: TRON

for another track of the year: "son of flynn". a minute and a half of 70's electronic nostalgia, which, when watching the (very good) movie, made me want to buy the album from my seat. (why don't theaters carry more merchandising for the "blockbuster" movies?) this album has made me reconsider my apathy toward movie soundtracks lately. starts out all moody synthesizer, and builds into big drumming action stuff. really, really good.

devo: something for everybody
they do what they do, don't they? something for everybody, a new album, released this year, and i had the chance to see them live again, so good to have them back on the list.

"fresh" is a real good single, too. how'd they luck out and get the spot to play this on NBC's olympic coverage?

the drums: the drums

you know how you can instantly spot a new order song by the bass line? the drums have something like that going on, and not in a copycat way. this is a great summer album...at first listen, it sounds all one-pattern, but continued listenings really bring out the teen angst among a warm and friendly collection of songs.




findlay brown: love will find you
came across "holding back the night" on a blog here or there, and loved the song...then i saw the album was out, so i ordered the CD. first listen, i was a little disappointed, because the songs didn't match "holding back" so much...but as each song comes up in a shuffle these days, i find myself checking my ipod to see what track is playing and who this artist is, emulating great voices of the past. i'm growing to like this album more and more and more.

i highly recommend the above.


hockey: mind chaos
an album i sincerely love, but have somehow avoided posting. this was going to be my "album of the year", but then mackintosh braun came along and stole my heart. still, hockey's album is quite good, running through various music styles in a few tracks, all tied together with the lead vocalist's gravel pit delivery (meant as a compliment).

i can't recommend this one enough. really, really wonderful.

hurts: happiness
probably my most anticipated album that actually came out this year, and definitely one of the most fulfilling. take songs by a-ha, give them the sheen of spandau ballet, performed by a duo with the charisma of pet shop boys, but attitude of depeche mode, and you have HURTS. definitely a plus that the first video for "wonderful life" was shockingly goofy; the second version a little too polished, but retaining that odd choreography style.


OMD: the history of modern
the 80's strike again, with a pioneering duo releasing new material that sounds very classic. thank you, plink-plink gods.


scissor sisters: night work
missed their live show, but love the album. i started listening to it, appreciative of their 70's pop radio leanings...but wondering, what of the 80's? and then in pop nods to devo, giorgio moroder, and even george michael.

the lead single, "fire with fire", is pretty gorgeous.

fabulous.

catching rays

so much to listen to at the tail end of the year.

i've been going through alphaville's terrific new album, catching rays on giant, and for the moment, the standout track is "call me down".

not cliche alphaville-ish, but not unlike him/them, either. sort of a mellow glide...a criticism i've heard before regarding marian gold's solo albums (too adult contemporary). but i like the textures of this one.

fortunately, someone posted it on youtube:



alphaville - call me down

catching up

i'm seriously behind reporting all the movies and music and tv i've been consuming the past few weeks. so, with the end of the year popping up soon, let's get a few of these out of the way, shall we?

MOVIES

• harry potter and the deathly hallows: let it be known that i have only seen two other HP movies, and never read any of the books. with that out of the way, i liked deathly hallows enough, though i've come to understand from other reports that this one was somewhat slow and heavy on "character" rather than action. i didn't notice that.
  also, the elf guy? so much reminds me of our pet monster. really.
  
• burlesque: this one is taking a beating with the "critics", but i liked it. great moviemaking? not at all. was i expecting that? not at all. somehow, they made cher look like a football player, but otherwise, for a farmgirl-goes-to-hollywood story (quite literally), it was as much as i would have expected.
  why so little use of alan cumming, though?
  
• who is harry nilsson (and why is everybody talkin' about him?): i watched this one on netflix a couple of weeks ago, and it hasn't left my head, since. i've been a very casual fan of nilsson's since i was a little kid ("can't live" being the ultimate emo song, before it was destroyed by mariah carey), but never knew anything about him, personally. this documentary has plenty of archival footage and photos, and goes fairly deeply into his career ups and downs, his friendship with the beatles, and his own self-destruction.
  good overview of his music, as well. watch it, become a fan.

MUSIC

• mackintosh braun: can't say enough about this band, and the two albums i've been listening to non-stop for the past month. kinda electro-ambient, but more pop, and with vocals. great, great synth sounds...like cut copy, but dreamier, and without trying to be rock stars. and they're such nice fellas on facebook, too.
  might be a pick of the year.
  
• alphaville: catching rays on giant: okay, whatever that title means. the sound of the album is classic, classic, classic a'ville. no
  WTF surprises here, and that's just perfect. i haven't picked out my favorite tracks quite yet, but if i were to rate this with the other alphaville albums, i think it might be #2 or #3 for me...after afternoons in utopia, but ahead of, or tied with, salvation.
  i wasn't aware that marian gold (the only apparent permanent member of alphaville these days) was accused of being scientologist. in alphaville's homeland of germany, that's a fairly scandal-ridden charge. i wonder if that may have contributed to such a long time between these last two albums.
  
• bryan ferry: olympiai want to like it, but it's mostly more of the same. "heartbreak by numbers" is fairly gorgeous, though. maybe i'll crack open the album once again, give it another shot.

TV

• outsourced: not to be a negative nelly, but this show just isn't appealing. stupid cross-cultural setups that make no realistic sense. the first episode, one thinks of forgiving how racist the show is, because the characters might end up being endearing or whatever. by the fourth episode, it's time to throw a shoe at your tv and swear to never watch again.
  just awful. and to think we've been denied leslie nope in parks and recreation for this?
  (while i'm at it: couldn't hang onto the event, though the husband still watches. my breaking point: the first time the jetliner vanished above the president's reception. the effect for that was so bad, i just gave up on it right then and there. too bad...i like blair underwood.)
  
• the walking dead: how awesome is this show? zombie movies rarely (never?) actually frighten me, but the walkers in this show really stick in my head. if i watch this just before going to bed, i'm looking behind doors to make sure nobody blue is waiting to grab my face.
  it's kind of like LOST, in that we already have seen a party of "the others" come and go (maybe they'll be back), and as the husband noted last night, a "hatch" where the science is still happening against all odds. i hope this one continues to intrigue.
  
• community: still loving the show from last year, but i'm wondering how much "bigger" the show is going to allow itself to get? already this year, they've had an alien/zombie episode, an alice in wonderland ep, a lord of the flies (i guess) ep, and a claymation ep. for a sitcom, that's a lot of excessive ambition.
  the alien/zombie episode was pretty great, though. and troy and abed continue to be the most watchable couple-but-not-couple on tv.

old geographies

can anyone tell me why a U.S. shopper can't purchase an MP3 music file from the german amazon site? i mean, why this makes any good business sense to anyone: amazon, the music publisher, or the artist?

in what era are music industry decision-makers living?

because i'm a fan, i'm (impatiently) waiting to purchase the new alphaville single, which has been available in germany for a couple weeks now. in the meantime, i found a pirate copy online (with the acoustic b-side). this is the point any casual fan or impulse buyer would give up the wait.

congratulations, music distributor.

new alphaville!

found this on youtube:



do i find this to be disappointing, a weak attempt? absolutely not...this is brilliant classic alphaville, great big echo-y keyboards and all, and i think i'll be playing this over and over this weekend. this alien is thrilled.

the single will be released mid-october, with a whole big new album to follow in the weeks thereafter.

young forever young

dear project leader:

this alien is not friends with jay-z; never bought anything he's done, will gladly turn the channel if he comes on tv. BUT. when this alien heard he'd sampled and / or covered alphaville's "forever young", he had to pay attention.

so now, i finally find it. and on the very first listen, it's decent. better than decent, until...damn, there's jay-z's face on the video. oh wait, and now all of a sudden his voice comes on, and this alien is out the proverbial door.



fwiw, "forever young" was a great song way before napoleon dynamite used it (rather effectively). if jay-z and his crew chose to use it, why not go with the original record, instead of recreating an almost identical track to back his not-really-worth-listening-to rap?

clearly this alien does not rule the world.