Destroy Everything You Touch :: Ladytron

Ladytron - New Music - More Music Videos

The Monster Song :: Psapp

Last weekend I was at the MBLGTACC '09 conference in Bloomington Indiana. Aside from the excitement of hawking free temporary tattoos and stickers in the exhibit hall, doing a workshop at 8:30 in the morning for 3 to 5 people and getting to see some very dear friends, I got a new CD! Hurray for me!

During one of the workshop sessions, I ditched out with my friend T and he took me to this excellent record shop he had discovered earlier. It was in an old house that also had a coffee shop in it that made peanut butter cup coffee drinks. Very tasty. If you are ever in Bloomington, IN go check out Soma coffee shop and the record store in the basement.

Anyways. So my acquisition at the record store was Psapp's new album "The Camel's Back." My prior exposure was Krista's blog post last October about them. As was mentioned in the October Psapp post, their song "Cozy in the Rocket" is the Grey's Anatomy theme song. So there's the tie in for TV/Movie month.

This song is called the Monster Song and has a really excellent music video to go along with it. Psapp makes really quirky electronic music, and I really enjoy Galia Durant's voice. So. Enjoy the Monster Song. For an added bonus, check out their myspace page, where you can listen to lovely tracks like a cover of "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat" and how to pronounce "Psapp."

Earthling :: David Bowie

Building on the theme of albums we listened to in high school, my album for the week is David Bowie's Earthling. It came out in 1997, but I was 12 at that time and not cool enough to listen to David Bowie. I was introduced to this CD at a New Year's Eve party junior year, sometime after midnight when the music video for "Little Wonder" came on the TV. It was late, so I was loopy, but even so, this music video completely entranced me. It was directed by Floria Sigismondi, which explains how quirky beautiful it is.

The album's sound is clearly influenced by electronica, and was a favorite of mine for driving to school on cold winter mornings. In a broader sense when I started listening to more David Bowie, I appreciated this particular evolution of his music because I felt it sounds a little more focused than some of his other cds from the same decade. Either way. This music puts me in my happy place where I can just kind of zone out and enjoy the joy of David Bowie.

I've included a few videos from this cd, among them "Little Wonder," "I'm Afraid of Americans" and "Dead Man Walking."

Confines of Gravity :: PlayRadioPlay!

Happy Wednesday!

We are coming up on our 1st birthday/anniversary on November 18th! So stay tuned for something exciting. (We don't know yet what it is.. but I'm sure it'll be exciting) As of just a few seconds ago, we've had a total of 32,475 hits ever on the blog, which is pretty amazing. So thank you for continuing to stop by and check out our blogs.

On to the music! Today I'm blogging about PlayRadioPlay!, the creation of a young man from Texas named Daniel Hunter. He signed with Island Records as a senior in high school, which is really quite impressive. He's not with their label anymore apparently. He makes electro-pop music that covers a variety of topics, including his father's death, the end of relationships and drug abuse and rehabilitation. I think he sounds similar to The Postal Service.

This song is called Confines of Gravity and has a funny music video of Daniel running around in the snow on a "rocket" sled.. So enjoy! Happy Wednesday



As I exhale
I think of questions to ask myself
What’s your plan?
Do you think you're a man?
Has your small amount of success gone to your head yet?

I wanna be an astronaut
And get high
Break the barrier of sound into the sky
Just want to be free
From the confines of gravity

As I take it all in
The altitude has an effect on my skin
I grow a space suit in the blink of an eye
And shortly after,
The atmosphere comes to life.

I wanna be an astronaut
And get
I wanna be an astronaut
And get
I wanna be an astronaut
And get
I wanna be an astronaut
And get high
I wanna be an astronaut
And get high
Break the barrier of sound into the sky
Just want to be free
From the confines of gravity

Prepare for landing as we come back to earth
Prepare for landing as we come back to earth
Prepare for landing as we come back to earth
Prepare for landing as we come back to earth

I wanna be an astronaut
And get high
Break the barrier of sound into the sky
Just want to be free
From the confines of gravity
I wanna be an astronaut
And get high
Break the barrier of sound into the sky
Just want to be free
From the confines of gravity
From the confines of gravity
From the confines of gravity

Hi :: Psapp

If you watch Grey's Anatomy, you're already familiar with British electro-quirk duo Psapp. You know that kind of strange clinky music that they use for the theme song? That's "Cozy in the Rocket," and probably the band's most recognized song so far. Here's another good one that gives you a good taste of their sound: "Hi." I'm not really sure how to classify it, really. I guess it's electronic because they use computers a lot...but they also use a lot of different instruments like toy guitars to get that kind of bossa-nova percussiveness in the background. In other songs they use things like glass breaking, spoons, and cat meows. I love it!

There's also a song called "Part Like Waves" from their upcoming new album on their MySpace page that I really like a lot. Enjoy!



Hello

Get out the abacus and count this
A funny story with a dark twist
The target's so big that you can't miss
Me

You're compulsive
And every page I turn I want more
I never know the next thing in store
Cause you excite me like a locked door
Does

Like a limpet
I want to take your voice and drink it
There doesn't seem to be a limit
To all the things that I could do

I know how I want it to go
I know how I want it to be
Don't make me think before I speak
Or make me hold my horses

Hold tight
We saddled up if you can ride right
If you just think it then you'll be fine
Fingers crossed that it's the right time
This time

You're a fat swamp
We can visit for a fun romp
I really want to do the high jump
Taking a risk will do us all some good

I know how I want it to go
I know how I want it to be
Don't make me think before I speak
Or make me hold my horses

I've got my eye on the prize (look at their eyes)
My beady eyes are a light (are a light)
And though I don't know what comes next
I will not hold my horses

Hello
Get out the abacus and count me
A funny feeling says I won't leave
The target's so big that you can't miss
Me

I know how I want it to go
I know hot I want it to be
Don't make me think before I speak
Or make me hold my horses

I've got my eye on the prize (look at their eyes)
My beady eyes are a light (are a light)
And though I don't know what comes next
I will not hold my horses

I know what you're thinking
I know how you see me
Although it hurts
I'll never get it right

Playgirl :: Ladytron

Trivia: What "L Word" scene features this song???

Shake It :: Metro Station

This song goes out to all present (and past, and future I suppose) members of Luther College Pride in all it's incarnations (Aware, GLBTA Flag). If you were fortunate enough to either attend the MBLGTACC conference in a car of Luther kids, or if got to shake your booty at Drag Ball 2008 "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," you have probably heard this song before. Or you might just be really cool and on top of your music.

Metro Station are a myspace success story. Founding members Trace Cyrus and and Mason Musso actually recruited Blake Healy and Anthony Improgo through myspace, and then they quickly climbed to the top of the myspace unsigned band's charts. Columbia's Walking Eye program found them through myspace, and signed them shortly after. Since then they've toured with Cobra Starship, and opened for Panic at the Disco.

This particular track was an iTunes free song of the week back in October, and as anyone familiar with apple can figure out, any group that gets selected to have an iTunes free song of the day is probably going to hit it big shortly after that. (Feist, Yael Naim, countless other songs used in apple ads and given away as free tracks of the week).

As I mentioned earlier, it's been a big hit with certain Luther folk this semester, and has made it into the coveted top five of my "Getting Ready in the Morning" playlist. So without further ado, Metro Station's "Shake It"



Let's drop!
Yeah, come on

I'll take you home
If you don't leave me at the front door
(Leave me at the front door)
Your body's cold
But girl, we're gettin' so warm
And I was thinking of ways
That I could get inside
(Get inside)

Tonight you're falling in love
Let me go now
This feeling's tearing me up
Here we go now

Chorus
Now if she does it like this
Will you do it like that?
Now if she touches like this
Will you touch her like that?
Now if she moves like this
Will you move her like that?
Come on, shake, shake
Shake, shake, shake it

Shake, shake
Shake, shake, lets shake it

Shake, shake,
Shake, shake, lets shake it

Shake, shake,
Shake, shake, lets shake it

Shake, shake,
Shake, shake, lets shake it

Your lips tremble
But your eyes are in a straight stare
(In a straight stare)
We're on the bed
But your clothes are laying right there
And I was thinking of places
That I could hide
(I could hide)

Tonight you're falling in love
Let me go now
This feeling's tearing me up
Here we go now

Chorus

I saw you dancing
And I couldn't get you off my mind
I could tell that you could tell
That I was taking my time
But I was thinking of ways
To get you to stay tonight
Body's shaking
Tell me off so I can turn off the lights

Chorus

A&E :: Goldfrapp

Guest Blogger::Krista

I've liked Goldfrapp in the past for incredibly sultry dance music, especially Ooh La La and Ride a White Horse. It seems like no one can talk about the new Goldfrapp without contrasting it to the old Goldfrapp and making a big deal of "how different" Seventh Tree is, but I say it's not that big of a departure. Sure, it's not the same pulsing electro-pop that I crank before I go dancing and makes me wish I wasn't too scared to take Ecstasy, but the synth stuff is still there.

Let's talk about the video for a minute here. It's almost like the band is even acknowledging the new direction they've taken with a video motif that's less industrial or electronic than they've used in the past. Here we have Alison singing by herself in the middle of the woods in a flowy white tunic on a gorgeous fall day--the more natural and organic elements seem to be a visual recognition of the new toned-down and organic sound. Again, I would say there's more of a mixing of old and new here. It's not the kind of video we're used to seeing from them, but there's still that Goldfrapp quirkiness that we love so much. Alison doesn't come riding in a horse made from a mirrored disco ball like she does in Ooh La La, but she is being worshipped in the woods by a horde of leaf-people, for Chrissake.

What gets me about A & E is that it really gives Alison Goldfrapp a chance to show off her pretty impressive range. This is different from the band's earlier stuff, but I would say it's a welcome change. The classic Goldfrapp kind of kept her voice in one end of the scale for an entire song, probably because that kind of repetition lends itself well to decent dance pop. In A&E, she sings these warm low tones in the verses but still gets into the high-energy falsetto in the chorus and builds into a pretty powerful bridge and ending. The electronic junk even makes a good play at this point; but instead of pounding into your skull and forcing you to dance your ass off, it makes you lean forward and just listen a little harder.



A&E::Goldfrapp

It's a blue, bright blue Saturday, ay, ay
And the pain has started to slip away, ay, ay

I'm in a backless dress on a pastel ward, the shining.
Think I want you still
But it may be pills at work

Do you really wanna know how I was dancing on the floor?
I was trying to fool you when I'm crawling up the door
And theres a tune at things you say that you don't do
Why don't you ring?

I was feeling lonely, feeling low
Feeling like I needed you
Like I'm waking up surrounded by me
A&E

It's a blue, bright blue Saturday, ay, ay
And the pain has started to slip away, ay, ay

I'm in a backless dress on a pastel ward, the shining
Think I want you still
But it may be pills at work

How did I get to accident, emergency?
All I wanted was you to take me out high
I was feeling lonely, feeling low
Feeling like I needed you
Like I hoped you'd call and hoped you'd see me
A&E