Well oh well oh well, this is a long time coming, it seems, but here we are, Septemberonis two-thousand and tens and we finally have the long hyped, long bloggerined, long We Listen For You obsessed album by The Pass called Burst.
I kinda feel like they’ve been part of our collective blog consciousness for the entire span of this blogs life, between the EP singles, the videos, more videos, and I think another video, more singles, and now the album, proving my theory once and once again…. I would not want to be in a band. It’s exhausting just being on the receiving in of hype-maintenance — coincidentally, the name of my new mp3 blog aggregator “Hype Maintenance: So many blogs, someone’s got push the jizz mop.
*NOTE: To all you internet kids out there, a jizz mop was the mop at this ancient and extinct place called “an adult theater” that the janitor used to use to, uh, clean up after the sceezy patrons. Eventually, they were replaced by a piece of Kleenex and an internet connection… WHICH, for all you environmentally aware “green” peeps who are watching Jesus’s footprints in the carbon sand, saves on gasoline!
*NOTE ON THE NOTE: Really, does anybody really rent “adult movies” from the back room anymore?
Anywhozaldoozals, today we aren’t hear to talk about jizz mops, believe it or not, nope we are here to discuss Burst by The Pass — but now that we have talk about jizz mops, the word “burst” takes on a whole new meaning, eh?
So………… How is the album? I’ve got three words for you: Eff You In!
For those not able to follow along, FUN!!!! Like, super fun! Like really super fun — there, three words again, jeez!! Electro-pop shake your booty good times. I know what you are thinking, “electropop” & “dance”, really T? Does it have the legs to stand the test of time? Who cares! Just turn it on, turn it up, shake your ass, maybe grind up a smidgen to the unfortunate soul standing nearest you.
Just don’t forget the jizz mop.
REMINDER: FOUR MORE DAYS TO ENTER OUR FAN-SIGN CONTEST! WIN MONEY!
Yeah, I’m late to the party on these viral meme video thingies (I usually am, unless I get caught up on Tosh.0 on amazon), but here they are & I’m larfing my arse off!
Rainbow Guy before…
Rainbow Guy after…
Antoine Dobson before…
Antoine Dobson after…
When life imitates art makes fun of life, we all win! Or lose? Or both!
Okay… happy Friday and all but… before we begin, we got to discuss this.
“Forget You” instead of “Fuck You”? Really? “Fah-get”? Yes, I know censoring for radio stations still occurs, but c’mon. Word change-outs are the worse form of music censorship, don’t you think? Chaning “fuck” to “forget” completely kills the fun & impact & the viralnicity of the song. Better would’ve been clever blanking or, I don’t know, how about get creative and do really bad dubbing of stupid words like “fletch” or something.
But…. and this is crazy, I know, how about you just don’t change it. How about you realize that people get their music via iTunes, Amazon, Youtube, etc, be true to what you created, and let the dinosaur radio stations deal with turning down the volume at the scary f-word, s-word, and variation on the n-word.
Where “Fuck You” is a solid 4 to 4 1/2 wheelies out of 5…. “Forget You” is a solid dud. Sorry my friends. Lyrics matter.
Speaking of tsuruloosies…
We gots a new Sufjan song out on the loose! On the lamb!!!
After a rather annoying start, it settles into a not quite as annoying song. Not too shabby, but feels…. transitional. I think that’s it on the Sufjan songs until the album rears it’s head!
So, with that, let’s get on with the reason for the season of the pleasin! Sunday Psalms by The Shivers!
Oh man, where the hell have these guys been all my life? Some kind of modern bluesy reincarnate of Lou Reed, with all the swagger you could hope for, bottled up into something called The Shivers? Why yes, you DO give me shivers, of awesomeness! I could almost see these guys setting up in an old abandoned church down in New Orleans, testifying their sweatiness for the few down-trodden parishioners that happen to wander by….. now THAT’S a revival I could believe in!
As you know, I like the occasional Killers song, already something that puts a dent in my “indie cred”, but I’m pretty sure today’s surprise obsession is going to wipe out any little bits of cred I had left. Yeah… I really like Flamingo by Brandon Flowers.
After the Weezer meh-fest yesterday and knowing that Flamingo was sitting on my iPod, I thought, for a second, that I might turn this weekend into TSURU’S GONE NEGATIVE week, but as I listened, at first I wasn’t offended or annoyed. I was pleasantly pleased. Surprised, I listened again, but harder, sure I would find some blemishes, some big sour pimples all primed for poppin’..
But all that happened was I liked it more. And then some more. Soon, my head started forming a connection, no not to the Killers and not to the holy Sufjan Stevens / Arcade Fire / Animal Collective trinity of Indie, but actually to Neil Diamond.
Yeah, “huh?” indeed.
Does he sound like Diamond? No. Does the music? No, well maybe on a few songs, after all Neil did cover quite a few genres in his career and so does this album, but that’s not what I’m referring to. Maybe it’s the “Vegas variety act” feeling of the album, the half-expectation of a group of hot & sweaty cougars and milfs and bachelorette party-goers throwing their panties on a small off-the-strip stage night after night as Brandon swaggers his collection of songs in a bedazzled blazer for a few bucks and free drinks.
Flamingo is the perfect name for this album. It’s the soundtrack for a low-budget film that takes place in shitty motels just outside the big money & gleem of mainstream Vegas, with maybe a trip or two to California to boot. Never quite in the spot light.
Am I doing a good job describing this? Probably not. Will you get the same feeling? Doubtful. Can I ask more questions that I answer myself? I sure hope not.
Anywhosals… that’s me and that’s how my brain heard this. It’s a simple pop album with flashes of dessert & country, but for some reason, in my odd little brain, it’s taken on a life much more interesting that that…
But… not sure what I can pull off today, may all have to go down on Monday or something. Lots going on with BBQs, bike rides, boobies, and photoshoots alllll starting tonight!!!
So. For now and for now, we’ll focus on one trippy ass album that’s been coating my ear canals for the past couple days. I’m talking about an album called Phosphene Dream by The Black Angels!!!
Somewhere on the intertubals someone said these guys sound like The Velvet Underground fronted by Neil Young. Though, yeah, I get a bit of that lo-fi VU vibe here and there, for me, this is total Jefferson Starship/Airplane, Grace Slick and all, i.e. this is some psychedelic awesomeness and it absolutely rocks my trippin’ balls off!
So, tell you what… let’s end that right here because that’s all you need to know!
2. Haunting At 1300 McKinley
3. Yellow Elevator #2
4. Sunday Afternoon
5. River of Blood
6. Entrance Song
7. Phosphene Dream
8. True Believers
9. Telephone
10. The Sniper
Well… mostly. You see… well actually, before we go further, quick related side note.
I’m often asked by people going into bloggerin’ for advice on “how to be a successful blogger”, the first thing I usually tell them is to NOT name your site something that people can neither spell or pronounce. Yeah, yeah, it’s unique, whoop-dee-fucking-doo. Hooray for you, you made a new thinger.
English 101: S’s come BEFORE T’s, when a word goes “Ts..” people have no idea what to do. This means that, outside a little word o’ mouth from people who have stumbled upon us via Hype Machine or Elbows or, now, Shuffler, the only other way to get here was by searching for Tennessee State University radio and accidentally coming here — man, you Tennesseers must’ve been coooorn-fused!
But… I expect more from my friends, more from my nose, but not more from my friend’s nose — which I do enjoy picking. So, you can imagine my excitement to see “my reference” in the Pass video and, when my .027 seconds of viral fame came up, I saw this:
T-U-R-S-U-RADIO… right at the 0:47 second mark. See for yourself:
Here’s how it goes……… All you have to do is send in a Fan Sign photo! Yep, a photo of you, or your boobs, or someone, or something, or you neighbor’s dog, or… well, you get the idea, holding up some sorta fan sign with “TSURURADIO” in it AND SPELLED CORRECTLY!!! Kinda like what Drew is doing up there at the top of this post. You have until FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 17th to enter by sending the photo (or hell, the video? why not?) to tsururadio (at) gmail (dot) com.
Then, we’ll pick our favourite and the winner will win…………………………….
WOOOOOOOT!! Right out of my pocket and into yours! So…. between ol’ Zach & myself, that’s a chance to win $80!!! Not too shabby. Can we get an applause?
Thank you.
So, get photographizin’!!!! BUT, before you run off to grab yer cameras, how about we check in on the intertubal interconnections of love potatos and see what’s going on out there in music land. That’s right, my friends, it’s time once again for………
TSURULOOSIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man, TSURURADIO (that’s T-S-U-R-U-R-A-D-I-O) is the gift that keeps on giving today! Looks like a lot has changed in hot & hyped land since our last tsuruloosie post, so lets check in and see what’s what. As always, I rate songs out of a possible 5 wheelies!!! Let’s pull up our front wheels and hop to it!
Just learned this is the guy from Gnarls Barkley. No kidding, eh? Nice song! Outside the fuck angle, it’s really just a sweet fun retro-goodness song. And I like that. here’s the vid that’s been floating around.
Yes, the “fuck” trend is getting old, wonder if they are regretting that name yet? Oh well. Song? Kinda reminds me of The Pass a smidge, actually…. That’s a good thing! YAY! Shake my booooo-tay!
Last one! Sufjan’s a tough act to follow… Ooo… I like this!! Sounds like Grant Lee Buffalo with a bit more push, more oomph! Nice!!!
Woo! That was fun!!! We haven’t had that much tsuruloosie success in a long time!!! Either I’m hip or you guys are just finally in my happy place — what took you? Let’s do it again sometimes? Until then, GO TAKE SOME FAN SIGN PHOTOS!!!!!
Cheers!
Tsuru
P.S. Zach, my friend, I know you were just making fun of the fact that no one can spell “tsururadio”…. I love you, man! I wish you nothing but success with WLFY and The Pass!
A few weeks ago the up and coming Louisville electro pop band The Pass told me their idea to create a found footage or unofficial video for each of their songs to act as way for people to stream their new album BURST (out Sept 21st). Instead of going on myspace and streaming the album, you would go to youtube and be able to watch eleven videos and hear the entire album (see the first track video stream HERE).
I immediately told them I wanted to take a crazy dream I had and put it into moving images. The dream consisted of me showing up at a crazy party to find that all the people are life like takes on the names of music blogs. As you know, there are a lot of clever names for music blogs and the goal of the video was to transform the name of music blogs into human/prop representations. An example of this would be the music blog “I Guess I’m Floating”…you would see a guy floating and then shrug with indifference.
To make this even more fun, I’m holding a contest to see who can identify the most music blog/music site references. We managed to reference over thirty sites. To prevent people from listing every blog they know, if you guess a blog that isn’t featured in the video you get –1 points….one right you get +1. The person with the most points win. E-mail to answers to guesstheblogs@gmail.com. Please don’t use the comment box to guess…they will not count.
The winner will receive a 50 dollar gift certificate to Insound and a cd copy of The Pass debut BURST. If someone manages to get a perfect score, I might throw in something extra. This was a lot of fun to make and I hope you have as much fun watching what has to be one of the craziest house parties ever.
WORD! So get your pen & paper ready & get watchin’ then go get winnin’!!! Hell, you already got one with the screen shot at the top of this post.
Interesting to note, even friends & fellow bloggers can’t spell TSURURADIO right.
I’ll tell ya, nothing cures an upset stomach like riding a bike through some gross heat & humidity! Pedal & sweat that shit OUT! WOO! Feeling nearly 100% as we kick into this sunny last-gas of summer Tuesday! Almost time to pull out the arm-warmers & time to make sure that winter bike is tuned up and ready to go!
I’m actually getting excited for the challenge! I rode all last winter, but I hope to really keep this mojo going…. I’ve crossed the 4,000 mile mark for the year and I’ve got 4 months left to get another 2K in to hit my 6,000 mile goal! Going to be tough if winter comes early! EXCELSIOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay… enough about bikes, most, if not all, of you could care less. What YOU care about is, more likely than not, los musica and my friends, we got the los musicas for you today!! Uh-huh! With Wilderness Heart by Black Mountain!
Ah, you see, THIS is how I like my classic rock, fresh, fun, ever-so-slightly proggy, and ass-KICKIN’! And, for the most part, this album rocks. Yeah, there’s your quieter tracks like “Radiant Heart” but just soon as you settle down, “Roller Coaster’s” fuzzy Detroit-style bass line kicks in and we are 70′s metal heads all over again!
My favourite track is actually the lead-off gem “The Hair Song”, there’s something awesomely familiar and refreshing about it at the same time. Like something Stone Temple Pilots would’ve recorded for Purple, mixed in with some Jethro Tull, and modernized for 2010! Yeah… take THAT music critics!
Allo & aloo! And how are you? I’m good, thank you for asking. It’s Tuesday, so there’s that. Started it off with a pretty sweet 30 miler bike ride today. Now I know the safety folks won’t like this but, when I’m alone I tend to (but not always) ride with headphones on. We won’t go into the debate of whether or not it’s safe, but know this… I ALWAYS assume there’s a car behind & I ALWAYS assume I’m invisible to the rest of the world. Between that in always knowing my surroundings, I feel confident that “hearing” a car behind me doesn’t make me safer.
Anywhosals, my point was/is that today, due to apparently all my headphones getting rather crappy, I put on the new Apple Earbuds that came with my replacement iPod classic (120gb! WOOT!). My friends, I forgot just how much those headphones suck. Suck balls. Suck monkey balls after a feces throwing fight with a 800lb gorilla!!! Dem’s big turds.
Windy, tinny, and generally blah. If you are listening to music on these things anywhere beyond your desk where you need to hear your boss bellow at you at a moment’s notice and you have a few bucks to spare, upgrade yer headphones. You will not regret it. AND, on the plus side, you won’t look like every. body. else. with. the. same. damn. headphones. hanging. out. their. head.
It’s critical! One listen to today’s gem, John Frum Alaska by Mexican Elvis on the earbuds & my normal noise-cancelin’ Shure bad boys and oh my. One might have thought the state of today’s music is in a sad state of affairs!
This is nice. Basically folkish, but not always, pop. A bit somber at times, but still fresh & engaging. Add in the nasally, slightly whiny “indie” vocal, and yeah, I’m in! Kinda matches the cloudy weather yesterday that seems to be back this afternoon — Oooo… maybe a rainy ride home? Been a while.
Trying to think of who’s voice this guy reminds me of… is it The Mountain Goats guy? Ugh. Going to drive me nuts. Oh well, c’est la vie, and what not!
But yeah, this is that slightly melancholy / Sunday at peace kinda music. Quite lovely…
01 he spent 3 years trying to enter the eurovision song contest 02 the washington dc
03 drop hawaii
04 friends
05 gore tex jacket
06 atonement cover
07 street lights
08 amongst us there‘s a cannibal
09 something overheard at the bavaria filmstadt
10 at 6.30 you come to me
11 say you‘re wrong
Oh man, this album couldn’t be anymore perfect for “hump day”, even if it tried. I wouldn’t call myself an of Montreal fan and yeah, I still think of Outback Steakhouse every time I hear that one song, but man oh man oh man, False Priest is booty shakin’ fun!
Okay, I know you “oM” fans are hardcore and shit, I’ll keep this short and please be gentle on me. I’m not going to break this album down and compare it to anything else they have done because I’ve never really got into anything from them for more than a few seconds!
With that in mind, let me say, this album is fun, my booty can’t help but shake a little to the left and then a bit to the right, while my eyes remain a bit closed and my mutter “yeah, yeah” aloud while the poor shmoes around me wonder what I’m on.
It feels “cohesive” & very easy to bob your head like an idiot to, yet quirky enough and, with the wordiness of it, carrying a feeling of something “deeper” than the funky grooves might otherwise imply. Meaning, much like the lead guy, I think his name is Kevin, the album goes both ways! HA! It’s as deep or as vapid as you are feeling at the moment, which is fantastic because even though I love a little meat & potatoes, sometimes I just want to suck down some pixie sticks and bounce off the walls for a while!
01 I Feel Ya’ Strutter
02 Our Riotous Defects [ft. Janelle Monáe] — Anyone else getting a “Free Radical” by Flaming Lips vibe off this track???
03 Coquet Coquette or here
04 Godly Intersex
05 Enemy Gene [ft. Janelle Monáe]
06 Hydra Fancies
07 Like a Tourist
08 Sex Karma [ft. Solange Knowles]
09 Girl Named Hello
10 Famine Affair
11 Casualty of You
12 Around the Way
13 You Do Mutilate?
Thought we’d start the day off right with a sweet little viddy vid of “You Wont Let Me Down Again” by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan that was premiered over on the pitchem-forks.
The video itself is pretty cool. Doesn’t really go anywhere unless there’s a story that’s going to be told in the next video? No clue. But the song is bad ass, so just sit back, sip yer coffee, and enjoy!
Howdy ho neighborinos! Is it really only Tuesday? Oh my. What a week it’s been in these not-even-two days. First up, had a meeting last night with the Crafty Cotillion and oh my oh my OH MY, making big plans, awesome plans, EPIC PLANS!!!
Who’s a little tease?
Me.
HA! So stay tuned soon for details to trickle out like a leaking Merge Records album!
Numero Two….. I just snagged us another writer! You see, when I say “TSURUNATION”, I mean it!!! Anybody wanna peanut? Yes. So, who is our newest member to our collective collection of collectible oddballeronis? Music lover, budding dessert chef, and bloggerin’ fool DanaMonstah! Here she is pictured after discovering the new Arcade Fire album went #1.
So.. there you go. Excited? Me too! One by one, taking over the bloggerin’ world. BUT… we can’t take over the world unless we are listening to and talking about music we are hearting like a tween with a qwerty keyboard and Justin Beaver’s phone number. Today’s little obsession? Boys Outside by post-Beta Band feller Steve Mason.
I like this album. I didn’t really get into it the first few times I heard it last month, but yesterday I re-stumbled upon it and it just kinda clicked. The silky smooth beats, the Pink Floyd-esque sounding vocals, it’s just… Smooooooooth. Didn’t realize until I was looking up linkies that this was the dude from Beta Band, which I totally hearted back in the day, but re-listening, I can hear it. Overall, the album is pretty chill and considering how excited I am about all things TSURUNATION, that’s probably for the best!
06 I Let Her In
07 Stress Position
08 All Come Down
09 Boys Outside
10 Hound on My Heel
Notes: The first album former Beta Band frontman and King Biscuit Time mastermind has released under his own name. Produced by Richard X and Mason himself. Mason wrote the album entirely on acoustic guitar.
What is “chillwave”? No clue… Who is “Lil Wayne”? I have no idea. But somehow the two found each other thanks to the match-making of POP CLASH Productions.
The results of, what can only be called an unholy hybrid, can be seen and heard below. Will we ever be the same??
Oh boy oh boy looky looky what I got in my ears!!! One of Baby & I’s favourites from way back in our relationship, back when were basically “friends with benefits”.. Yep, it’s the 3rd release by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan called Hawk!
Personally, I’m a little tired of the Nancy Sinatra / Lee Hazelwood comparisons — and I LOVE Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood!!! — or the mention of Belle & Sebastian for that matter… At what point and after how many albums does a “muzakal journalist” get to forego the obligatory? How about we put it to rest now. Isobel & Mark are Isobel & Mark, they, like on their previous releases, have a bit of a retro vibe on all their songs and mix their completely opposite voices (her’s almost too shiny & sweet, his has seen maybe one or two too many floods of some unsavory whiskey) absolutely perfectly.
Sounds range from folk to soul to even a bit of horn-fused cacophonies complete with screaming (see the title track). The Horns Of Dilemna would be proud.
It’s Isobel & Mark, but it’s, just like their last album, moved on, moving forward, a slight evolution here and twist over there. But, no matter, they can play death metal, but once they open their mouths and utter syllables, it’s still and will always be a Isobel & Mark album… And, as Martha Stewart once said, “That’s a good thing..”
10/13/2010 Cambridge, MA – The Middle East Cafe
10/14/2010 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
10/15/2010 Washington, DC – Rock N Roll Hotel
10/16/2010 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
10/17/2010 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/19/2010 Montreal, Canada – Cabaret
10/20/2010 Toronto, Canada – Lee’s Palace 10/21/2010 Columbus, OH – Wexner Center!!!!! — Baby! Look!
10/22/2010 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
10/23/2010 Minneapolis, MN – Cedar Cultural Center
10/26/2010 Seattle, WA – Neumos
10/27/2010 Portland, OR – Doug Fir
10/28/2010 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
10/29/2010 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey
Happy Saturday to ya there! Just about to head out for a little bikey bike ride with my friend Tuck over at Tulibo, but thought I share two oddly similar videos that are just adooooorable……………
tsururadio. The musical obsessions, meanderings, and field observations of Aaron Tsuru most often presented in mixtape format, the way the good lard intended!
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