Aw Man....

J.D. Salinger Dies. Most of us have read "The Catcher in the Rye" at some point or another. Sadly, it's author J.D. Salinger passed away and left this world of "phonies". His work lives on, but he will be missed...

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She and Him

As if Zoey Deschanel needed anything to make her any hotter. The girl can sing!!

Deschanel an M Ward met on the set of a movie called the Go Getter (which I have personally never heard of), when they were asked to sing a duet. Ward then learned that the super-hot Deschanel had in fact written some of her own songs, but was hesitant to record and release them. He later called her and convinced her to put her art into a recording, and "She & Him" was formed.

The two corresponded by email from Portland, OR and Los Angeles, CA. Deschanel finally went to Ward's studio in Portland and their debut album, "Volume One", was recorded in late 2006 and early 2007.

The duo was influenced by the likes of artists produced by George Martin and Phil Spector, and groups like the Carter Family, and their collaboration ends up being an amalgamation of 60's singer songwriters with a dash of cowgirl crooners like Patsy Cline topped of with elements of California soul.

When their album was released, it was declared to be the #1 album of the year by Paste Magazine

They have toured sporadically, and have plans for a follow up album.

Please enjoy the following musical gem...

here's another version...

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Nuts About Nutini!!

Continuing my trend of featuring artists who's names don't sound like where they are from, I proudly present Paolo Nutini. Sounds Italian, right. Wrong. This guy is Scottish. Nutini began paying his dues at the age of 17 when he played the role of supporting act for Amy Winehouse and KT Tunstall. In 2006 he released his debut album "These Streets", and subsequently found himself playing most of the music festivals in the UK, even a performance on the legendary pyramid stage at the Glastonbury Festival. Stateside, his songs were featured on television programs such as "Scrubs", "Grey's Anatomy", "CSI Miami", and "One Tree Hill". In 2009 he released his sophomore effort "Sunny Side Up".

Here's the single "New Shoes". If it doesn't get your feet tapping, you might want to check to see if you're still alive...

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Pick 'Em Up ... Silversun Pickups

I stumbled across this band recently and they seem to have promise. They released an EP in 2005, an album in 2006, and they have a scheduled release of a new album on April 14, 2009. They opened for Foo Fighters, Kaiser Chiefs, and Snow Patrol.

their sound drips with fuzzy sounding distorted guitars, and it hints at the shoe-gazer genre. Oh and by the way, they have a girl in the band so they must be cool!!

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Murmur Remastered

This album had a major impact on my life. It was the first time that I heard music that was not in heavy rotation on the radio and liked what I heard. Loved what I heard. I played this cassette in the 80's so much that it wore out and I had to get a second copy. Now R.E.M. have remastered and re-issued what I consider to be one of the finest albums ever recorded.

Murmur was arguably the first album to start the college radio music scene. Any band who calls themselves alternative has R.E.M. to thank for blazing that trail through the music landscape.

This album is a mix of Stipe's garbled lyrics, Peter Buck's jangling guitar, and Mike Mills driving Rickenbacker basslines in the backdrop. The songs were like nothing else at the time, and were largely ignored by the public being lost in the storm of vanhalen, heart, and 80's one hit wonders.

Check out this interview with Peter Buck to get his take on the reissue.

Of course nobody could understand Michael Stipe's lyrics back in the day. Maybe the remastering will make it all clear. Hope not.

Here's a few samples of this masterpiece

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Your Hip-Hop Got In My Alternative. Your Alternative Got In My Hip-Hop

First off let me say that the title of this post was inspired by a recent post by losbastardosunidos, but it just seemed appropriate for this post.

Gorillaz. When I first saw/heard this band in the late 90's I didn't give it a second thought. However, a few years ago I was in desperate need of something new to stimulate my tympanic membranes and this fit the bill.

Gorillaz is the brain child of former Blur front man Damon Albarn, and Jamie Hewlett who created the comic book Tank Girl. Their collaboration produced the world's first virtual band. In the spirit of bands like Alvin and the Chipmunks and that band from the 80's that wore giant eyeballs over their heads, the musicians in Gorillaz have an alternate corporeal form.

The band "members" include 2D, the front-tooth-missing lead singer, Russel, the periodically possed rapping drummer, Noodle, the child guitar prodigy from Japan, and Murdoc, the demonic bass player.

Musically Albarn is the only constant in Gorillaz, but he has collaborated with artists such as Danger Mouse, De La Soul, and DJ Shadow to produce the studio albums and help with live performances.

Check out some of their tunes ...

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... best play ever, man.

Wes Anderson seems to have cornered the market on quirky films. This 1998 follow up to his film "Bottle rocket" seemed to establish him as the new king of slightly off-center films.

"Rushmore" is a Holden Caufield-esque coming of age story of a very precocious high school student at a prestigious academy who spends more of his time in extra-curricular activities than his academic pursuits. This story finds the main character, Max Fischer (played by Jason Schwartzman), involved in a love triangle of sorts with an eccentric and bored and burned-out steel tycoon Herman Blume (played by Bill Murray) and a recently widowed 1st grade teacher Rosemary Cross (played by Olivia Williams)

Max and Blume strike up a friendship based on the two seeing aspects of their "ideal self" in each other. Max then falls for Ms. Cross and upon sharing this with Blume, he promptly follows suit. Friendship takes a competitive turn and Max and Blume engage in a series of personal attacks which prove to be hysterical. ...

Despite the fact that Ms. Cross sees qualities of her deceased husband in Max, she is obviously too old for him, but still holds a special place in her heart for Max. Blume also fails to win her affection as he is married, and too old.

The subversive humor of this film is not delivered nicely on a silver platter. The quirky and endearing characters that Anderson presents to us are a refreshing alternative to the watered-down trite ones so often seen in blockbuster comedies.

If you are looking for a great story with slightly different characters, check out Rushmore. It doesn't disappoint.

By the way the soundtrack is fantastic... (listen to the Kinks song in this scene!!)

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