…photo by ME MONSTAH of course.

I found this little diddy in the great bloggearth, and I have been cranking it in my auto ever since.  I like this sound- dude with guitar…but wait??!! what’s that?  Some sort of oingy-boingy electronicy delicious sound?  Yes please…not too much mind you- but just right.

I hope you like it, too.  I was once lucky enough to live in SF- and I miss it!!!  WHY did I leave?? Not sure, but I get to go back with songs like this:

Barbara- San Francisco

SIDE NOTE! I also have a song by Steve Tannen, “San Francisco” (remember back when he wasn’t the Weepies and they weren’t putting out sub-par albums?)

It’s on O_otunes….It’s pretty good if you like the sing-y dude with guitar stuff.  I would share it, but mine is password ‘tected, so yeah.  99 cents buggars!

xx!

DanaMonstah

Yesterday good friend, fellow music blogger, and pimp / video director / marketing mastermind for the band The Pass, Zach over at We Listen For You released upon the world (and by world, I mean the blog and, consequently, the twitters) the new music video for The Pass called Vultures, which we featured yesterday as A) he’s a friend and B) the video is awesome in two respects, 1) house party, yay! and 2) it features 38 references to various music blogs in the bloggy blogosphericals!

So far, so good, right?

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:

Ouch.

Now, Zach and the boys are giving away real genuine moneys to whoever can name the 38 music site references in the video, $50 smackers to Insound plus The Pass CD, and as awesome as that is, this whole enlightening and traumatizing experience inspired me to do my very own contest.

YAY!

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…………………………….

$30 Gift Certificate To AmazonMP3 (or hell, even Insound or GEMM, why not?)!!!

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!

Cee Lo Green – Fuck You

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.

Cotton Jones – Somehow Keep It Going

I thought I did this one already?  Not sure.  Dark, atmospheric, bad ass.

Dead Confederate – Run From The Gun

Hot damn! 3 for 3 so far!!! Viddy for this one too!

Dominant Legs – About My Girls

Hmm… taking me back to the 80s-ish.  Not too shabby.  Something old, something new!  I’m in!

El Guincho – FM Tan Sexy

Meh.  Not my cup o’ tea.  Sounds….. played.

Glasser – Home

Hey, I remember this!  Still hot?  Nice… I still like it too!

Ra Ra Riot – Boy

Ra Ra Riot… makes me want to go jog!  That’s not a bad thing, but I rather be on my bike! Duh.

Starfucker – Julius

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!

Sufjan Stevens – I Walked

I KNOW I did this one already.  5 Stars. Beautiful. Stunning.  I’m finally a Sufjan fan.

The War On Drugs – Comin Through

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!

The Weepies much hyped (by me) 4th album release, Be My Thrill brings much disappointment to little miss me.

The first track, “Please Speak Well of Me” starts off the album with disappointing lyrics, especially to one who so fondly recalls gems off the band’s sophomore release, Say I Am You, such as “Painting by Chagall.” The peppy melody and handclapping does not seem to fit the melancholy tone of the short and disjointed lyrics. The second song, “When You Go Away” brings some hope to the fans the Weepies longer lyrical style, though the chorus is terribly cliche. However, next up, “Red Red Rose” is highly disappointing. Repeating the same word three times did not work for Fiona Apple (ie: “Red Red Red” or “Please Please Please”), and though it may work for teaching Deb Talen and Steve Tannen’s son Theo to speak, it does not work in the context of the Weepies body of work. Ix-nay the Ed-Ray.

The album’s first single, “I Was Made For Sunny Days,” still brightens my day. I have heard it umpteen times and I still love it. Melodically and lyrically, it is lovely. Though quite different from the musical style of the first two Weepies albums, it recalls the same spirit. And I love it. Thanks. “They’re In Love, Where Am I?” is a sweeping little ditty, that though very pretty, is far too repetitive to be worthy of the Weepies mantle that crowns my Top 5 list. How many times can you repeat the title of the song before it gets old? “Add My Effort” reeks of hooks. A two line chorus? Deb! Steve! No. Please no more of this. We’re only on track 6. You have time to make it up to me. “Be My Thrill” starts off with a rollicking tempo. The lyrics are almost obnoxiously rhyming, though cute. At least until we get to //be my what, my open and shut/my everything but, my little hot slut//??? Seriously? Whatever. The presence of an actual bridge is redeeming, though. Most of the songs on the album so far have been very bridge-less, which is unusual for my dear Weepies.

Whoever thought to put “Be My Honeypie” right after “Be My Thrill” was a practical joker. That’s just sad. “Honeypie” keeps up with the rhyming of every short line with the next. Honestly, kids, every short line doesn’t need to rhyme continuously, especially within each line. “Hummingbird” is a throwback to the Weepies old writing style. The music continues in the vein begun with 2008’s Hideaway, and is a redeeming song on this otherwise average album. “Hard to Please” is pretty good. I’m not really sure what I think about it. I like it but…it’s still not at all what I want from the Weepies. I was at first pretty adverse towards Hideaway, but finally came around to it this year. It was still a far more complex album than Be My Thrill is turning out to be. I dunno. It’s okay. “Not A Lullaby” is also just okay. I like the first two verses, but after the first chorus it kind of got old.

“How Do You Get High?” is just bizarre. The first few seconds instantly brought to mind Spoon’s “That’s The Way We Get By” only it’s not as good. Each line has the same melody as the line before. I expected so much more from you, Weepies. “Hope Tomorrow” brings back the melodic strains of “I Was Made For Sunny Days” but seems to speak against the plasticity of culture. “Empty Your Hands” tells parents to forget the woes of the world because their children are growing up faster than they think. It’s very political, with lines telling to “empty your hands [of] static from the big bang and dinosaur radio stations” and “genocides in foreign nations.”

Overall…I don’t like it. The music is okay for the first few songs, but after that it become repetitive. The lyrics are severely lacking. It feels like Be My Thrill must have been a very personal album for Deb and Steve, but I don’t really care to live their personal lives, I just want to hear good music. Unfortunately, this falls flat. The only standout track is the first single, “I Was Made For Sunny Days.” I suppose it’s a terribly peppy album, filled with ups and downs of life, but very little stands out as anything amazing. And remember, this is coming from someone who probably listens to the Weepies every day. Say I Am You is at the top of my Top 5. Maybe I just built them up too much in my mind, but I don’t think so.

5.5/10
Nettwerk, August 31, 2010.

1. Please Speak Well of Me
2. When You Go Away
3. Red Red Rose
4. I Was Made for Sunny Days
5. They’re In Love, Where Am I?
6. Add My Effort”
7. Be My Thrill
8. Be My Honeypie
9. Hummingbird
10. Hard to Please
11. Not a Lullaby
12. How Do You Get High?
13. Hope Tomorrow
14. Empty Your Hands

The Weepies Official Site
The Weepies on Myspace
The Weepies on Facebook

PS: I know you liked it, Aaron, but I just don’t dig it. :(

Happy hump day to you! We got a cool album going on between my eareums, something nice and rather depressing (considering it’s “their most optimistic record to date”) on a late & hot summer’s day, Tomorrow Morning by EELS!

This may be their most warm & happy and whatnot record of the trilogy or discography or whatever, but there’s still this undertone of melancholy, even when he’s barking out “MY BABY LOOOVES ME!” as he follows it up with “unlikely but true” or “and she’s smarter than you”, etc, yeah, real happy & optimistic there buddy!

Though “Spectacular Girl” is nearly uber-sweet & sugary bubble gum.

So, even though Mr. Eels seems to be finally pulling out of the slump of a broken relationship, getting laid, and what not, there’s still issues floating about. The result is a complicated emotional album that is quite relatable for all the less-than-arrogant misfits of the world. You know, the people who live under the umbrella of music obsessions that eventually lead to starting a music blog and stuff, etc, etc.

Oh wait.

DOWNLOAD TOMORROW MORNING… NOW!!!

1. “In Gratitude for This Magnificent Day”
2. “I’m a Hummingbird”
3. “The Morning”
4. “Baby Loves Me”
5. “Spectacular Girl”
6. “What I Have to Offer”
7. “This Is Where It Gets Good”
8. “After the Earthquake”
9. “Oh So Lovely”
10. “The Man”
11. “Looking Up”

12. “That’s Not Her Way”
13. “I Like the Way This Is Going”
14. “Mystery of Life”

Some Eel love: Myspace | Official | Label

Cheers!

New video from The Pass that not only aims to get your ass movin’, but also to get yer reference-catchin’ brain a-thinking! Check it from We Listen For You:

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.

*le sigh*

;)

HOORAY MONEY!

Cheers,
T.

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!

CYCLOCROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wanna see her?

Yep, it’s the cheapest decent cyclocross bike I could find (sold off the old 50lb mountain bike I put studs on and road last winter), and this weekend I spent a little time getter her all tuned and ready. The only missing piece is the studded tires — seriously… if you are doing some winter cycling on snow or ice, follow the link for the best & most affordable studded tires I’ve found, last year’s were amazing!

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!

Great & very very fun album!

The Hair Song
Old Fangs (video)

Radiant Hearts
Rollercoaster
Let Spirits Ride
Buried By The Blues
The Way To Gone
Wilderness Heart
The Space of Your Mind
Sadie

dd

Some Black Mountain love! Myspace | Official | Label

Cheers,
T.

So, in this spirit, we will re-blog the blog post on the blog post from that first blog on our very own blog!  Proving, once and again, BLOGGERIN’ AIN’T EASY!

Via Gorilla Vs. Bear:

More ethereal, eerily moving outerspace transmissions from Montreal’s amazing “cosmic-pop deity”Grimes, who’s firmly established herself as one of our favorite new artists of 2010. “Weregild” + “Devon” are a preview of her magical new album, Halfaxa, which will be officially released byArbutus Records on September 30th at the Pop Montreal festival. Much thanks to our friends to the north Weird Canada and Leaning Trees for the heads up.

mp3:
grimes :: weregild
grimes :: devon

Watch a short documentary about Grimes called Human Heart here, and you can still download her Geidi Primes tape for free courtesy of Arbutus here.

Via Altered Zones:

More ethereal, eerily moving outerspace transmissions from Montreal’s amazing “cosmic-pop deity” Grimes, who’s firmly established herself as one of our favorite new artists of 2010. “Weregild” is a preview of her magical new album, Halfaxa, which will be officially released byArbutus Records on September 30th at the Pop Montreal festival. (via Gorilla Vs Bear)

MP3: Grimes: “Weregild”

Our personal take on Grimes?  I’d have to go with….

More ethereal, eerily moving outerspace transmissions from Montreal’s amazing “cosmic-pop deity” Grimes, who’s firmly established herself as one of our favorite new artists of 2010. “Weregild” is a preview of her magical new album, Halfaxa, which will be officially released byArbutus Records on September 30th at the Pop Montreal festival. (via Altered Zones via Gorilla Vs Bear (when did GvB get so “blocky”?))

BLOGGERIN’ 4 LIFE!!!

Cheers,
Tsuru…

Photography by m0kaz…

Some albums make a bigger impression than others. It’s those albums that ‘Peanut’s Playground: Forgotten Classics’ is dedicated to.

First up in the series is:

Gentlemen by The Afghan Whigs (1993)

Some albums are permanent residents of your iTunes, and for me this is one of them.

From the first time I shoved this album down my cd-players’ front opening and heard the opening quartet of songs on Gentlemen, I knew that this was an album I’d probably love forever. And yeah, I’m aware of the fact that forever is a long time. But it’s been 17 years already so there is a pretty decent chance it will stick around for quite a while to say the least.

17 years on, having survived grunge, britpop, indie and whatnot, Gentlemen is still amazing! It literally hasn’t aged a day and would be received as excellent even when released today. Frontman Greg Dulli’s emotions are perfectly complemented by the frantic but melodic, and soulful music. Too bad that in 1993 the music was considered to be not-mainstream-enough and despite universal acclaim Gentlemen tanked commercially.

Even though subsequent releases like Black Love and 1966 were good in itself, looking back it’s clear to see that this was the Whigs defining moment.

DOWNLOAD GENTLEMEN HERE

1. If I Were Going

2. Gentlemen

3. Be Sweet

4. Debonair

5. When We Two Parted

6. Fountain and Fairfax

7. What Jail Is Like

8. My Curse

9. Now You Know

10. I Keep Coming Back

11. Brother Woodrow/Closing Prayer

Update your information on The Afghan Whigs here: Official | Myspace | Wiki

Tudels,

Peanut

Link up with me here: 

Oh dear, I’ve been gone too long. It’s been HALF A MONTH since I updated. So much has happened! I flew out to California, reunited with BFFs, move into and unpacked my room, bought an excessive amount of accent rugs and throw pillows, partied a bit, shmoozed a bit, walked a lot, led an orientation trip to at Dana Point beach for a week with 2 dozen freshmen, and most recently, BOUGHT A MATTRESS! WOO! NO MORE TWIN XL! #college.

I’m pretty pumped about these next few weeks. So much is going on that I’m super excited for! I have my first live show on kspc on Fri Sept 10th 4-6PM, I’ve got a press pass for FYF fest next weekend, Baths is playing a foot from my dorm room on Thursday (maybe an itty interview coming? perhaps?), I’m starting up as blog director of the kspc blog, I’m probably going to buy more throw pillows, and I’ve got a killer concert line up for the fall. Also my dorm has air conditioning. Living is easy.

UNFORTUNATELY, I’ve been whisked away by all this business (…I tried to type the noun form of busy and ended up with business, which I guess works too) and have neglected tsururadio, twitter, and all my other little connectszons. So. My apologies. Sincerely.

Now for a few little thangs, aiight?

This is a century old, but if you havent seen/heard Cee-Lo’s recent song (from 2 weeks ago) “Fuck You,” it’s one of the best things. The song is dynamite, the lyrics are clever, and that voice, OH THAT HIGH HUSKY VOICE!

Here is where I would also post the recent Sufjan single “I Walked,” which is … real’ grand… but it’s already posted as a tsuruloosie just two posts below!
Check that out!

This is some incredible shit that I’m strongly considering doing. I mean, it’s expensive, but funerals and gravestones and all that shit are ALWAYS expensive. So why WOULDN’T I pay to have my ashed compressed into a vinyl album and maybe have some beautiful sufjan song or some catchy-as-fuck of montreal track sent around to all my loved ones to they could remember me as the beautiful and catch0-as-fuck person that I am? I know right?
Death to Vinyl

And now time for a little shameless sibling-promotion! The Exposure just dropped a new video/track from his upcoming electronic E.P. and I think it’s pretty rad for something he made rather quickly. I like to think he was inspired by the Baths LP I gave him for his birthday… :) He’s also got another track up on bandcamp, so check that out also!

Okay want some mainstream culture right quick? NEW KANYE SONG! YAY KANYE. Real talk right now though: It’s pretty good. Mostly I’m just in love with Nicki Minaj, and obviously Jay-Z, Rick Ross, and Bon Iver don’t hurt anything. Like, is this even real life? What a star-studded line up! He posted it for free on zShare, so I’m going to risk it and post it here for you too. Shhhh.
Kanye West – “Monster” (feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver)

aaand that’s all for now! I need to go practice some French because all I can remember is … nope… cant remember anything.
LOVE YOU!