TNSFF

Tech, music, sports, and other stuff.

30 Dec 2010

Top Songs of 2010: #2 Turn Off This Song and Go Outside -- The Lonely Forest

Turn Off This Song and Go Outside -- The Lonely Forest

The first (and only) band signed to Death Cab for Cutie member Chris Walla's label, this song snuck up on me. I'd heard another of their tracks ("I Don't Want to Live There") on KEXP's Music That Matters podcast, so I grabbed their EP on iTunes because it was super cheap. This is the first track, and it's just supremely awesome. If you're jaded and don't dig just awesome sugary sweet power pop, well, this isn't for you. But then, if that's the case, I hate you.

28 Dec 2010

Top Songs of 2010: #4 Echoes -- Klaxons

Echoes -- Klaxons

2010 saw Klaxons release their long-awaited second album, a harsher, more guitar driven album than their debut from a few years ago. It is still the same dense, hard to process, somewhere between-rave-and-rock sound, though this time around it's a bit more rock than rave.

The album also has one of the great album covers of all time:
klaxons-cat-astronaut-album.jpeg

Echoes is the best song that Muse never wrote. Given that Muse gets all the hype for creating "sci-fi rock", and rock stations spent about a thousand hours hyping Muse's rip-off of Blondie's "Call Me" (which was possibly the worst song of 2009), it's horrifically unfair that I've only heard Echoes played on the radio a handful of times (and it was on one of the XM indie rock stations at that).

28 Dec 2010

Twitter Updates for 2010-12-28

  • I guess this is a storm. Kinda weak so far http://twitpic.com/3k321e
    http://twitpic.com/3k325b #
  • Top Songs of 2010: #6 Written in Reverse -- Spoon http://www.ryantoohil.com/2010/12/top-songs-of-2010-6-written-in-reverse-spoon.php #
  • I love minor bowl games. Going for 2 to win -- awesome. Now maybe we'll get a kickoff return td. #
  • Hook and lateral to convert a 4th and 17, that will be overturned on review to end the game. Minor bowls! #
  • The play stands! FIU lives for 42 more seconds. #
  • FIU has a 40ish yard FG to win the game. I'm rooting for a fake. #
  • It's good and FIU beats Toledo to win the Callahan Tire Bowl. #
  • Top Songs of 2010: #5 World Sick -- Broken Social Scene http://bit.ly/hgc5Hj #
  • Might be time to go start digging out from this mess. #
  • First round of shoveling is done. Sidewalks, porch, and part of driveway are clear. Back out in a bit to shovel out my car. #
  • Shoveling done. My car can get out and drive now. I'll probably just leave it there so no one ganks my spot. #
27 Dec 2010

Top Songs of 2010: #5 World Sick -- Broken Social Scene

World Sick -- Broken Social Scene

This song should not work. It's close to 7 minutes long. I think it has 14 bridges, 7 outros, and 8 or 9 times when you say "wow, great song!" and then it starts up again and keeps going. It's the kitchen sink of songs, with big crashing cymbals, a nice little "do-doot-do-doot" rhythm that runs under the whole song keeping it together, some lyrics that probably have some greater meaning but are lost inside the cacophony that is Broken Social Scene. Yeah, it's really good.

27 Dec 2010

Twitter Updates for 2010-12-27

  • Played some basketball, grabbed some pre-blizzard groceries, cleaned, and watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special. Bring on football! #
27 Dec 2010

Top Songs of 2010: #6 Written in Reverse -- Spoon

Written in Reverse -- Spoon

Spoon just keeps putting out albums that slightly move the target for what good rock music is. Each album they put out lands slightly askew from where they'd taken rock music with their previous album. The songs on Transference are more anarchic than anything they'd done before. "Written in Reverse" shows that anarchy at its peak, with the slightly out of tune piano hitting over sharp guitars, and then the disembodied voice of Britt Daniel pops in with a half a lyric layered a few beats off of the lyric proper (and a "whoo!). It is just enough to make you wonder if they've lost their minds. And then you realize that you've been tapping your foot for three minutes and you shake your fist and yell "Darn you Spoon!"