New Year’s Eve Mix : Put Some Dance In Your Pants !

December 31, 2007 by · 3 Comments
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Hey’s it’s New Years Eve so here’s a funky little mini mix to put some dance in your pants as you party your way out of 2007 and on into 2008. Go ahead, shake it like a polaroid picture !

Mark Ronson – God Put A Smile On Your Face (w/The Daptone Horns)
Buy Version
MIA – Come Around
Buy Kala
James Brown – There It Is
Buy Star Time
Stevie Wonder – You Haven’t Done Nothin’
Buy Fulfillingness’ First Finale
Ryan Shaw – Do The 45
Buy This Is Ryan Shaw
Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings – Nobody’s Baby
Buy 100 Days, 100 Nights
Amy Winehouse – Rehab
Buy Back To Black
Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc
Buy Demon Days
LCD Soundsystem – North American Scum (Dunproofin’s Not From England Either Mix)
Get Sounds Like Silver – LCD Remixed
White Rabbits – Kid On My Shoulders
Buy Fort Nightly

[PHOTO]

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The Top 25 Albums Of 2007 – 1 to 10 And A Giveaway !

December 23, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Okay here it is the grand finale, my top ten of the year. The albums I listened to and enjoyed most this year. There was so much great music this year that a short list of twenty five doesn’t nearly it do it all justice. There’s obviously way more omitted than included.

And, as I promised I have giveaways. A copy of The Swimmers – Fighting Trees that most of you will need to wait until it’s March release to get your hands on, but I have it for you now, and a copy of The Broken West‘s I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On autographed by the whole band(Thanks Ross!)

Once again I’ll make it easy to win just leave a comment or send me an email to
bagofsongs@gmail.com with “Top 25 Contest” in the subject line.
You don’t have to, but feel free to get creative in the comments – your top albums, what I missed, etc. If you leave a comment make sure you leave an email or some way to get in touch if you win. I’ll pick 2 winners at random on New Year’s Day from all the entries. Good Luck !

1:The Swimmers – Fighting Trees
Back in January of this year when I received a rather unassuming email from Steve Yutzy-Burkey, not so unlike a lot of other emails I receive everyday from bands, letting me know they had shows upcoming and that their new album Fighting Trees was
streaming from their website if I wanted to give it a listen. What I found at the end of the link was a record I would unabashedly call one of the first truly important releases of 2007. Now nearly a year later, I’ve seen the band live more than a dozen times and there is no single album I listened to or enjoyed more this year. It’s the perfect balance of catchy hooks,vocal harmonies and intelligent lyrics that I just can’t seem to get enough of. The record saw a limited Philadelphia area CD release this fall on Mad Dragon Records, who signed the band and will officially release their record to the rest of the world in March 2008. Watch out for it.

MP3: The Swimmers – Pocketful Of Gold
[MYSPACE] [WEBSITE]

2:The Broken West – I Can’t Go On I’ll Go On
Guitar driven, smart, power pop. Reference points of Big Star,The Beatles,Cheap Trick and more come to mind but the sound ends up undeniably all The Broken West. A dozen songs here and each one could be a single in it’s own right, no filler here just great music.

MP3: The Broken West – Down In The Valley
Buy I Can’t Go On I’ll Go On

3:Julie Doiron – Woke Myself Up
The best overlooked album of the year. Emotional, ragged and real with a sound that falls somewhere between fellow Canadians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Forget Feist you need this.

MP3: Julie Doiron – I Woke Myself Up
Buy Woke Myself Up

4:The Clientele – God Save The Clientele
Alasdair Maclean describes the band’s sound on this record: “The band are setting free their inner Monkees; a lovely blend of Big Star twisted power-pop and country achin’, with flashes of the Beatles at their most joyful and upbeat.” He’s dead on, it’s a perfect Sunday morning record, filled with smooth sixties overtones but never sounding retro or dated.

MP3: The Clientele – Here Comes The Phantom
Buy God Save The Clientele

5:Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation
What Wilco could sound like if they didn’t sand all the edges off. The perfect mix of alt country and indie rock, they delivered one of the best live shows I saw all year.

MP3: Blitzen Trapper – Sci-Fi Kid
Buy Wild Mountain Nation

6:Josh Ritter – The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter
One of the best new songwriters of a generation, Josh amped it up a bit more than his earlier records for this one and created a new classic. And as good as this is, I somehow feel it’s still only hinting at the future greatness Josh has in him.

MP3: Josh Ritter – Right Moves
Buy The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter

7:Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
I’ll commit blogger heresy here and say other than a song or two,their debut Funeral did nothing for me. But with only one real clunker(Black Wave),this one is just shy of perfect. Anthmemic and engaging it grabs you right from the first listen. Openly embracing their Springsteen influences in their sound this time around didn’t hurt at all either.

MP3: Arcade Fire – Black Mirror
Buy Neon Bible

8:LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver
James Murphy obviously honed his ear for what works during his time as a bouncer at Trenton’s alternative rock club City Gardens all through the mid to late eighties and delivered an album that put all that knowledge together for something relevant right now. Their live show is phenomenal, hearing All My Friends live was one of most transcendent concert moments I’ve ever experienced.

Listen To The Whole Album Here
Buy Sound Of Silver

9:Creeping Weeds – We Are All Part Of A Dream You’re Having
One of Philadelphia’s most original sounding bands this manages to run the gamut from desolate spacey piano, to jagged edgy guitar rockers and all points in between, and it all works. And having seen them live like 8 or 9 times this past year I can tell you they’re an awesome live band as well.

MP3: The Creeping Weeds – Eternity Is A Long Time
Buy We Are All Part Of A Dream You’re Having

10:Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
Twelve solid midtempo pop songs filled with hooks,violin, whistling and more, from th eopening notes of Fiery Crash it creates an alternate world and holds you there right through to the final notes of Yawny at the Apocalypse. One of the best sequenced albums of the year, each song perfectly setting up the next, just like a great mix tape.

MP3: Andrew Bird – Fiery Crash
Buy Armchair Apocrypha

Previous 11-15 16-20 21-25

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Read All The Pamphlets ? Now Watch The Tapes

June 25, 2007 by · 3 Comments
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LCD Myspace Photo By James Hamilton

A couple weeks back I attended the LCD Soundsystem show In Philadelphia for Myspace’s “The List”. Well now you can get the groove on with five songs on video on the Myspace “The List” page or listen to the mp3’s below while you dance the night away.

LCD Soundsystem (Myspace “The List”)
6/6/07 at the TLA(Fillmore) Philadelphia PA

Us Vs Them
Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
Time To Get Away
North American Scum
All My Friends
Tribulations
Watch The Tapes
Movement
Yeah

Encore:
No Love Lost (Joy Division cover)
New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down

[THE LIST MYSPACE] [LCD MYSPACE]

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Were You On The List ?: LCD Soundsystem in Philly

June 7, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Sometimes it’s good to be on “The List“. Last night’s LCD Soundsystem show at The TLA(Fillmore) in Philadelphia was a freebie sponsored by myspace’s “The List“. All of the tickets were given away free via a myspace contest. Local radio station Y-Rock also gave some away. The free tickets insured the place was packed as Myspace was filming the entire concert to be placed on the web later. Considering it was a myspace giveaway the crowd was a good mix of all ages not overly skewed towards myspace’s younger demographic. Doors opened at 8:00 but LCD didn’t hit the stage until approximately 9:15 and they played until about 10:30. Just over an hour, but the energy level was insane through the whole thing. As electronic as they may sound there’s no drum machines, they play all of it with a full band and let me tell you they know how to rock. I’d say the highlights were the faster more rocking version Daft Punk Is Playing At My House, All My Friends, which was absolutely transcendent live far superior to the album version,and Yeah which had the entire crowd going nuts and singing along.
The Joy Division cover in the encore was also very cool to get All in all a great show, definitely worth catching if they come your way. Except for a handful of US shows most of their upcoming tour dates are in Europe and beyond.

LCD Soundsystem (Myspace “The List”)
6/6/07 at the TLA(Fillmore) Philadelphia PA

Us Vs Them
Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
Time To Get Away
North American Scum
All My Friends
Tribulations
Watch The Tapes
Movement
Yeah

Encore:
No Love Lost (Joy Division cover)
New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down

UPDATE 6/11/07 : Here’s aphoto from the show

Upcoming Tour Dates
Jun 8 2007 8:00P Mezzanine San Francisco, California
Jun 10 2007 8:00P The El Rey Los Angeles, California
Jun 11 2007 8:00P The El Rey Los Angeles, California
Jun 12 2007 8:00P El Rey Los Angeles, California
Jun 16 2007 8:00P Hyde Park Festival w/ DAFT PUNK London
Jun 17 2007 8:00P Wireless Festival Leeds
Jun 30 2007 8:00P Wertcher Festival Wertcher
Jul 1 2007 8:00P Heineken Opener Festival Gdynia
Jul 4 2007 8:00P Super Bock Super Rock Festival Lisbon
Jul 5 2007 8:00P Roskillde Festival Roskillde
Jul 8 2007 8:00P CALVI ON THE ROCKS FESTIVAL Corsica
Jul 12 2007 8:00P TRAFFIC FESTIVAL Turin
Jul 13 2007 8:00P Summercase Barcelona, Barcelona
Jul 14 2007 8:00P Summercase Madrid, undefined
Jul 18 2007 8:00P Ibiza Rocks Festival Ibiza
Jul 20 2007 8:00P Vieilles Charrues Vieilles Charrues
Jul 21 2007 8:00P ANGOULEME FESTIVAL ANGOULEME FESTIVAL
Aug 3 2007 8:00P lollapalooza Chicago, Illinois
Aug 4 2007 8:00P V festival Washington DC, Washington DC
Aug 11 2007 8:00P SUMMERSONIC Tokyo
Aug 12 2007 8:00P SUMMERSONIC Osaka
Aug 17 2007 8:00P ROUTE DU LA ROCK Saint Malo
Aug 19 2007 8:00P LOWLANDS Holland, Zuid-Holland
Aug 24 2007 8:00P Carling Festival Leeds
Aug 25 2007 8:00P Creamfields Festival Liverpool
Aug 26 2007 8:00P Carling Festival Reading
Aug 31 2007 8:00P ELECTRIC PICNIC .
Sep 1 2007 8:00P Mandela Hall Belfast
Sep 2 2007 8:00P Connect Inverary Castle, Scotland

[Myspace] [Website]

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5 On A Friday : Oooh that’s hot !

April 27, 2007 by · 1 Comment
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This week for 5 On A Friday, a a taste of what was “hot” this week.
(sorry no direct MP3 links today, all will direct you to another page where you can hear the song)

1:Sure, Amercian Idol wasted a lot of powerful technology to bring you Celene Dion singing with a virtual Elvis, but this was the one AI moment you truly needed to see.

2: Covering LCD Soundsystem‘s song All My Friends was one of the in things to do. Here are versions by by Franz Ferdinand and John Cale.

MP3: Franz Ferdinand – All My Friends (via Kwaya Na Kisser)
MP3: John Cale – All My Friends (via Let’s Sexy Fighting)

3: Icky Thump. For me Jack White’s been long past overkill, but he’s still back with more. Here’s the first single for the new White Stripes disc of the same name.

MP3: The White Stripes – Icky Thump (via Your Head’s Not Right)

4: iTunes UK springs a leak allowing an early return of Bjork from the planet Iceland with more of her trademark soundscaping.

MP3 : Bjork – Earth Intruders (via Who Killed The Mixtape)

5: A baby spoonful of information about the new Spoon disc. The cover art for Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

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Wrapping Up The Week

April 9, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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What I’ve been listening to most this week : LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver, The Fratellis – Costello Music, Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero, a lot of iPod shuffle time, and even some radio(WXPN).

K’nise Connections’ pick of the week is the indie alternacoustic sounds of London’s Grand Central. Think Midlake meets Coldplay and you’ll have an idea of what they sound like.

Some Things Coming Up This Week
The first Popped Festival takes place in Philadelphia this week. Although based on the numerous last minute venue and scheduling changes it hints at being a disorganized mess there’s still a lot of great music to check out, and almost all of it is all-ages events.
04/09/2007 08:00 PM – Make A Rising, Pattern is Movement,The Asteroid No.4, The Cobbs@ Johnny Brenda’s 1201 N. Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, 19125 – $10 21+ Event

04/10/2007 07:30 PM – StinkingLizaveta,Grandchildren,NormalLove,BearIsDriving,BarkingSpiders @ Avant Gentlemens Lodge 4028 Filbert St., Philadelphia, Oregon 19104 – $10

04/11/2007 07:30 PM – Notekillers, Low Budgets, Mtn.High,Northern Liberties, Bad News Bats @ Millcreek Tavern 4200 Chester Ave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19123 – $10

04/12/2007 08:00 PM – Golden Ball, King Kong Ding Dong, The War on Drugs, Fursaxa, Fan of Friends @ TheParlor 1170 s. broad st., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – $10

04/13/2007 08:00 PM – Dr. Dog, The Spinto Band, Bardo Pond, Illinois
Starlight Ballroom, Philadelphia, Oregon 19123 – $15

04/14/2007 02:00 PM – Hail Social, Phil Moore Brown, Feather Mills, Public Record, and Movable Type
1000 N. block of Hancock St. btwn Front and 2nd St. & Girard and Laurel St, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19123 – Free Philebrity Block Party

04/15/2007 06:00 PM – Pissed Jeans,Sharks With Wings,Birds Of Maya,Satanized,Affirmative Action Jackson, Drums Like Machine Guns – $10
originally at Red Warehouse, this show is now at the Firefighter’s Lounge. 415 N. 5th Street at Willow

Be sure to check their website or myspace for any last minute changes before you head out.

Amazing power pop band,The Celebrities start an ongoing Thursday Night residency at the 449 Room in Trenton NJ. From the bands myspace:
After performing all over the east coast with the likes of OKGO, Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes, The Pink Spiders, and even the legendary Beach Boys with their previous bands LUZER and Dr. Thunder, Timmy Sean (vocals/guitar/keys), Chris Volk (lead guitar/keys), Dan Seeth (drums) and Krishna “The Mania” Vasudevan (vocals/bass) officially formed The Celebrities ringing in the New Year on January 1. Since that time the band has written more than twenty songs, including the four tracks featured on “The Free Four All Demo”, a sampler EP available for free beginning April 7. The four songs can also be downloaded online from the band’s official MySpace page. “We’re really proud of our new music, and we just want as many people to hear it as possible…even if that means putting it out there for free,” says The Celebrities’ chief songwriter Timmy Sean.
MP3: The Celebrities – She’s Mine
MP3: The Celebrities – East Coast Girls

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Grab Bag : Recent Releases

February 28, 2007 by · 2 Comments
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Who Reads The Directions Anyway ?


Just a mix of a bunch of the newer songs that I’ve been into lately, plus a few from last year that had sort of slipped through the cracks.

First up a couple of the songs that were the main inspiration for my Brian Eno History Lesson post a couple weeks back. She’s A Rejector, a guitar laden new wave-ish hip shaker from the new Of Montreal disc, and Strange Lights, a reverb drenched fuzzed out dirgey rocker from Deerhunter. (antichrist television blues) is one of my favorites from Neon Bible, the soon to be released Arcade Fire disc. It’s a blistering rocker of a song thats owes as much to Springsteen as it is does to the Velvet Underground. The reunited Dinosaur Jr returns to form, although unless he’s singing I can’t say I really hear Lou Barlow‘s being back in the fold influencing these new tracks much. The Kaiser Chiefs second disc picks up right where Employment left off, Everything Is Average Nowadays is one of the catchier songs on the new one. The next two will have you up and dancing for sure LCD Soundsytem doing Watch The Tapes from the forthcoming Sound of Silver and the Macromantics new one which uses a formula similar to Lily Allen but cranks it up another notch.

Winding it up with a handful from last year that I just recently picked up, if Fleetwood Mac ever decided to go alternative you’d have Midlake. Roscoe is Rhiannon for Alterna-Rockers. Silversun Pickups shows what can happen if you take all of those 80’s and 90’s influences like Pixies and Sonic Youth and put them to good use. Lazy Eye is one catchy song. And last but not least Sparks show they can still pull it off when they want to, Perfume is a bouncy hypnotic fun little ditty that is classic Sparks.

MP3: Of Montreal – Shes A Rejector
buy Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer ?
MP3: Deerhunter – Strange Lights
buy Cryptograms
MP3: Arcade Fire – (antichrist television blues)
buy Neon Bible
MP3: Dinosaur Jr – Almost Ready
buy Beyond
MP3: Kaiser Chiefs – Everything Is Average Nowadays
buy Yours Truly, Angry Mob
LCD Soundsystem – Watch The Tapes (link removed by request of label)
buy Sound Of Silver
MP3: Macromantics – Scorch
buy Moments in Movement
MP3: Midlake – Roscoe
buy The Trials Of Van Occupanther
MP3: Silversun Pickups – Lazy Eye
buy Carnavas
MP3: Sparks – Perfume
buy Hello Young Lovers

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