Crack Bones

Cecelia by Local Natives

2009-07-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

HI YALL HAPPY 4J!!!

What better way to get patriotic than playing your favorite American artists? This is a great cover. It makes me salute with both sides of my mouth! Listen to it, Love it, Eat a Hot Dog. Gawd Bless Amerikuh.

Whoa: Grizzly Bear is creepy, exploding?

2009-06-29T13:33:00.000-07:00

So Grizzly Bear's newest album Veckatimest, named after an uninhabited island in New York, has been making a bit of a hullabaloo on the Billboard charts. The indie elite is doing its (tiny awkward) happy dance because the bands we like never get their names up on that graph! Yippee! But honestly, I don't like the record that much. I listened to it a few times and never retained anything, so I can't even really tell you why I don't like it. It's just not... sticky enough I guess. And below here I am going to post the video for their single "Two Weeks", the only song I remember enjoying off the album. When I first watched this video, I was really busy being creeped out really hard by their staring, shiny, unflinching altar boy doll faces and constantly looking away from the screen, trying to avoid the jumpy screen trickery that seems bound to pop out at any moment. The heebie jeebies (read: bow ties, sweatiness, EYE TICS) go on and on and on... and then their faces start to glow and... then they... ignite. It's a weird, trainwrecky video, and I kinda like it, but I'm not sure if I am okay with that. Decide for yourself.

Phoenix 1901 acoustic "Live in France"

2009-06-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

Those darn adorable French boys of Phoenix released a new album lately called Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. It's not that inspired of a name, but the first few singles have been fun, so maybe their own catchiness got to their head and made them think they could have been hot shit back in the 1780's. One of the hot new tracks is "1901," which is relatively cute, but I was definitely suckered into this video. It presumably uses Mac Photo Booth's awful "green screen" function (which really barely functions at all) to drop a stream of the Eiffel Tower behind them. I am a sucker for a kind of "yeah, we know this looks awful, but that's the point!" aesthetic *coughhipstercough* and I love them playing with their own Frenchie identity. Here it is, with the original streaming below.

1901 - Phoenix

John Vanderslice Too Much Time with Magik*Magik Orchestra

2009-06-22T17:47:00.001-07:00

Here's another version of Too Much Time, off his new album Romanian Names, live with his studio orchestra. This one has crisper audio and some of his insights on album versions versus live incarnations. The stringed arrangements are far superior to the recording in my opinion, and I've been listening to it all day long.

John Vanderslice: "Too Much...

Shared via AddThis

It's not you, it's me.

2009-06-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry blandorexics, i fell out of love with you for a minute. But I've been missing you and I wanted to see if we could get back together again. If that's cool with you, keep reading.

THE MONSTERS OF FOLK.

When you read that, who do you think of? Bob Dylan? Maybe Woody Guthrie or Joan Baez? Or even (for us youngin's) Devendra Banhart?

Then you will be disappointed.

The M.O.F. is actually the synthesis of Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes), M. Ward, and Jim James (of My Morning Jacket). While I am an avid fan of all three of these guys, and I approved of their touring together a few years back, I don't know if collectively they really have the right to dub themselves the monsters of any genre.

Mr. Oberst has been dallying heavily into folkier territory, recording his last album in Mexico and forming the Mystic Valley Band to back his solo material, but his infamous emo voice will always remain. His video off his self-titled first album showed him and the band playing around, being silly, and *GASP* smiling a lot, which i would bet was an effort to try to shake off his weepy notoriety. He even wore a cowboy hat when he performed with the MVB on Conan a little while back, but he will never be able convince me to think of him as some kind of drawling, down-home boy.

M. Ward has recently shot to the front of the line with his fun collabo band with the VOMITOUSLY AWESOME AND CUTE ZOOEY DESCHANEL (all hail). He has since released Hold Time, a well-rounded folky-pop album that ties in well with the vibes from his albums Post-War and Transfiguration of Vincent. I would daresay M. probably has the most folk cred of the alleged MOF.

Never Had Nobody Like You (Featuring Zooey Deschanel) - M. Ward

Jim James was a big part of the rather rad album "Z" and it's rather sad follow up "Evil Urges" with MMJ, but if he has any folk chops at all, I've yet to hear about them.

So these "Monsters of Folk" seem to be releasing an album this September. I will no doubt get it and listen to it, maybe even obsessively. Despite my intense disapproval of their name, I do love all three of them, and this record has potential. It could go either way, but Mike Mogis (the silent second half of Bright Eyes) is producing it, and I have faith for now.

Bowie.

2009-03-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

Heroes in German is "Helden." And it sounds. so. good.

Dark Was The Night

2009-03-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

Last month the Red Hot Organization (dedicated to fighting Aids through pop culture) released a compilation featuring every awesome indie band known to man. Dark was the Night features great covers, unreleased songs, acoustic renditions, and interesting tag-teams working together to make one of the best (double) albums in recent history (exaggeration).

My absolute favorite track is "Knotty Pine," by The Dirty Projectors and David Byrne. I like to listen to this song and imagine Dave (DP) jittering with excitement, looking over at David (TH), and having one of those "oh my god, I'm really working with one of my heroes" moments. Their voices go insanely well together in a way that only psycho geniuses can orchestrate.

Check out the other two tracks, and consider this your intro course on the greatness of Dark was the Night.

Some other awesome bands on the comp: Andrew Bird, Arcade fire, Beirut, Bon Iver, The Decemberists, Kevin Drew (of Broken Social Scene), Feist, Ben Gibbard, Grizzly Bear, Iron & Wine, Jose Gonzales, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Stuart Murdoch (of Belle and Sebastian), My Morning Jackey, Conor Oberst, Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, Yeasayer, Yo La Tengo. And that ain't even all of em. Whew.

The 60's SO pwn the 80's.

2009-03-15T11:03:00.000-07:00

Speaking of covers you didn't know were covers, you know that awesome 80's song "Always Something There To Remind Me" that everybody loves to drunkenly scream along to?

Well, I was BLOWN AWAY to discover that it, too was a cover! Who knew!?! And the original is endlessly entertaining, like a drag queen Tom Jones with a pinch of young Michael Jackson, and apparently it's also written by Burt Bacharach. Here is Sandie Shaw belting out her 1964 #1 UK hit.

Valerie

2009-03-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

The first version I heard of this song was not the original, but a cover that I didn't even know was a cover. British musician/DJ Mark Ronson (brother of Lindsay Lohan's girlfriend) put out an record called Version, an album of covers. It's really fun and dancey, and most tracks have superstar guests and are backed by the horn section of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Two really awesome tracks are Oh My God which features Lily Allen, and Pretty Green with Santogold. But my first love off the album was Valerie, with vocals by Amy Winehouse. It's HELLA good with a jazzy motown brass heart and classy soulful American Bandstand beats. Lissen heeeya:

Once I found out it was a cover, I pictured the originator to be a slick early seventies James-Brown-esque character, only to be shocked to discover it was actually done by The Zutons, your average white indie rock band. While I am a bigger fan of Amy and Mark's souled-up version, I don't hate it. Compare for yourself!

MP3: Mark Ronson feat. Lily Allen - Oh My God
MP3: Mark Ronson feat. Santogold - Pretty Green
MP3: Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse - Valerie
MYSPACE: The Zutons - Valerie

Many

2009-03-03T21:20:00.001-08:00

yard
by allan kaprow

iron curtain
by christo

artist unknown

GODDAMN CUTE

2009-02-26T15:18:00.000-08:00

I am kinda in love with Noah and the Whale.

Their name isn't a combo of popular bible stories, but actually a splicing of "The Squid and the Whale" and it's director, Noah Baumbach. You might recognize their song Five Years Time from one car commercial and one Sunchips commercial, but thank gawd the song is so cute that it makes you not care that they're a bit sellouty. It's currently my favorite song to play on the ukulele and my favorite song to whistle (I'm not that good at either, but it's still fun!) Plus these boys are a bit ridiculously cute. And British. And colorful. Sigh.

Shape Of My Heart - Noah And The Whale

Noah and the Whale Myspace
MP3: Noah and the Whale - 2 Bodies 1 Heart
They also did a great Blogotheque set (check out about a minute into Episode 2 for a really fun bit on a train).

Starfucker: Portland's Best

2009-02-26T14:43:00.000-08:00

I first heard Starfucker when I made friends with some amazing Portland kids this summer through a craigslist rideshare connection. They were bike enthusiast hipsters, a fusion breed they called "bikesters." They took me to one night of PDX Pop Now!, the town's three day long free indie music extravaganza that was happening while I was couchsurfing with them. Starfucker was the most fun of the few bands I saw, and I found myself in an insanely sweaty hipster smosh-pit for their set, a trance-like quasi mosh pit that was more like drunk white scenesters trying to dance badly while smushed too close together in the sweltering west coast summer night. I enjoy these kids immensely, and this is my favorite song of theirs.

09 Pop Song.wma - starfucker

Starfucker Myspace

ZOO BORNS!!

2009-02-25T00:20:00.000-08:00

"The newest and cutest exotic animal babies from zoos and aquariums around the world!"

Zoo Borns dot com

If you can never get enough cute animals, there's also Cute Overload dot com and I Can Haz Cheezburger? dot com. Remember to breathe.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Fashionable

2009-02-24T23:43:00.001-08:00

by Philip Toledano

an exceptionally pretty picture

2009-02-24T06:16:00.000-08:00

2009-02-23T05:31:00.000-08:00

Whenever you're feeling down, just press play over there, and walk like the Bluths.

Lykke Li covers Kings of Leon

2009-02-21T15:25:00.001-08:00

I was a really huge fan of Kings of Leon's "Knocked Up," a slow building commitment to running away with your baby momma. It has a rolling beat, like rocks kicking down the road behind your blue Ford Charger as you drive away from your Alabama hometown, and echoing guitars like the pink-gray sunset behind you. Lykke Li covered it recently, and while I think her voice is uniquely great, it just doesn't compare because it lacks the fullness of KOL's original.

Exclusive Video of Lykke Li Covering Kings of Leon Live in KNRK studio from Dave Allen on Vimeo.

Abe Vigoda.

2009-02-20T17:33:00.000-08:00

Abe Vigoda. Abe Vigoda.

Star Wars Chic- SO Hot for Fall!

2009-02-20T10:29:00.000-08:00

THE TOWNE TITANIUMSMITH by Alexander McQueen

STREAMLINED KGB PATROL.FEMBOT by Marchesa
STAR TREK WINTERWEAR by Elie Tahari

INTERGALACTIC BUSINESS CASUAL by Christian Siriano

SAND PEOPLE EVENING DRESS by Carolina Herrera

plagiaribrium newflash

2009-02-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

betsey johnson steals fall 2009 line from the closets of east quad... or ann arbor is slowly turning into betsey johnson.

and i think i just invented plagiaribrium.

Ferocia Coutura: The Most Not Horrible of Fall 09

2009-02-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

BADASS FOR FALL by Vivienne Tam

JUST REALLY PRETTY by Dior Couture

CHROMEWEBS SASSY by Nicole Miller

THUNDERCLOUD FIERCE by Zac Posen

too quiet on the blogofront

2009-02-19T05:33:00.000-08:00

nothing mad interesting has transpired on the indie front in a few days, so hurr's some mo PASSION PIT. YOU GOTTA LOVE IT.

> Cuddle Fuddle Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!
> I've Got Your Number You're gonna drive me crazy, you're gonna drive me mad!

Also kinda sweet is the animation made by Ghost Robot announcing Bonnaroo 2009's lineup. It is a painstakingly mindblowing sequence of 1,336 hand cut frames. seriously.

and if that tickles your crafty animation fancy, you should fall in love with these meats. they're famed czech surrealist artist Jan Svankmajer's ode to carnal love. (plus, they look like michigan mittens. adorable.)

when american apparel just isn't cool enough...

2009-02-19T05:08:00.000-08:00

if you don't have enough time to graze every thrift shop in town looking for wolf t-shirts, interestingly plain dresses, or other unique beacons of ironic chic, check out Ruffeo Hearts Lil Snotty. despite their weird name, these kids make hipster wear easy! you might still have to troll around ebay for ugly-pretty accessories, but you can find some great kaleidoscope cotton staples in their Etsy store. all their stuff gives your daily allotment of color, geometry, and pizzazz while still looking like you're comfy and you didn't try too hard. plus, they can supply you with what might be the best underwear of your life: Rainbows Shooting From A Mystical Geoduck for dudes, or Rainbows Shooting From A Mystical Clam for the ladies (see figure A). oh yeah.

Henson for prez

2009-02-18T16:55:00.001-08:00

BLOG NOT PRETTY ENOUGH

2009-02-18T04:50:00.000-08:00

David LaChapelle

My Sister, the Asparagus

Shoes I would give both my kidneys for
(voz clothing & art @ etsy)

Fake French?

2009-02-18T04:34:00.000-08:00

Us No Forever!

Nous Non Plus are what Pitchfork phrases as "French-language New York indie-rockers," whatever that means. So, French? Not French? to be frank(ophile), i don't care. they're fun, catchy, sexy, and have cute, not-trying-too-hard animation. put on your heart shaped glasses and enjoy.

call me when you've had "mon petit Loli!" stuck in your head on loop all day and we can commiserate. cocelebrate?

A List of Songs I Can Kinda Play on the Ukulele

2009-02-18T04:28:00.000-08:00

~ Postcards from Italy - Beirut
~ Elephant Gun - Beirut
~ Five Years Time - Noah and the Whale
~ First Day of My Life - Bright Eyes
~ Amazing Grace

Just so you know, I don't want to "ROCK." I want to be "THOROUGHLY ABSURD."

IT'S NOT A SIMILE, EITHER!

2009-02-18T04:14:00.000-08:00

Everything, NOW! is the bees. as in bee's knees. that's old people jargon for "cool." here is a song of theirs that enlightens us that their home "is a spaceship!/It's not a metaphor!/It is a hell of a ride/it's a travelling house!" This song is best enjoyed at maximum volumes and with dancing shoes on call. watch out for ugly magic.

(bees= "Cursed be Everything, Now! and all that sail with it"
metaphor= "The Shelter")

this one goes out to schlomo, my bro forever and sheltermate. you're the bees.

Oh to be Vanderslice...

2009-02-11T13:28:00.000-08:00

Someday, I will radically uproot my life and move to the slums of San Francisco just to find John Vanderslice and tell him how amazing he is and beg on my knees (most likely weeping in earnest) to be absorbed into his JV/Tiny Telephone life, if only as an errand girl sweeping up soot in the vinyl factory. And then we'll become friends and at some point i'll tell him about this post, and he'll read it. So here's, to the present, FutureJohn, and thanks for being such a mad decent role model.

Here's JVan working some magic with the magik*magik orchestra @ the pequeno telefono aniversario de diez anos. melt.

John Vanderslice "Too Much Time" from AV on Vimeo.

some things you really should know

2009-02-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

PASSION PIT. I HAVE NO WORDS. Through the link is "Sleepyhead," but their whole album Chunk of Change is awesome as fuck. (Thanks I GIF.)

M. Ward covering Let's Dance by David Bowie. i just bought his Transfiguration of Vincent record on vinyl and its feels like we've been in love forever.

Black Hole Sun (that Soundgarden song from the glory days of the 90's) being blended with ice and drunk by a lounge singer who is then eaten by Moog aliens.

whoismgmt.com. if you're ever on acid/shrooms/high on life you must click around here for all your trippy technicolor needs. but you should definitely find your way to the video section and watch the new visual for "The Youth." It's the love child of MGMT and Sparkle Motion, featuring a kid who looks like the gelfling from the Dark Crystal.

Just thought you should know.

BHO=FDR

2009-01-25T12:18:00.000-08:00

g-d bless america.

fool's platinum

2009-01-25T02:24:00.000-08:00

if you're panning for gleams in a sequestered western backwoods tributary, its a good thing you finally bought that gol dang interwebs them cityfolk been tellin you about, cuz we got mad gold up here. let's assume that as a rural literal golddigger you also take acute interest in melodic indie pop, and in such a scenario, i present you gold:

harvest moon cover by kevin barnes of of Montreal
i would listen to this all day if i had to seive riverwater for minute glimmers of luxury.

stereosaccharine

2009-01-25T01:54:00.000-08:00

too obvi for some stretch of a pun, Women is kinda awesome. it's singular as a band name, despite the hard earned plurality of the noun. you should probably listen to this: black rice (from you ain't no picasso). it's kinda rad.

it's grizzly bear meets panda bear, with some vintage (daresay beachboysesque bear on bear) echo to taste. i find, that no matter how many times i listen to and enjoy this song, i can't remember what it sounds like. a testament to non-catchiness or my mental instability? i favor the latter because this is most reasonably a great song with some sort of secret amnesiac vacuum built in.

unnecessary attention

2009-01-25T01:33:00.000-08:00

this has no point. please do not pass go if you seek point. if you seek point, rent "the point" from your library or obtain it from some other capitalist regime and learn that sometimes things with no point have a point.

so hopefully, stripped of all expectation, yull enjoy some of these things.