Friday, February 17, 2006

The Skinny - Too/Severed Teen/Oh, Sicks

Just when you thought that this had completely turned into a skanky American Idol blog, I give you this week's Skinny.
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Great news in the music front, Maria Taylor is now on tour with Mates of State who incidentally will be making a pit stop at The Social here in Orlando. Should be an awesome show for that venue [I'm still up in the air on liking Mates of State and their reliance on "organ" playing].
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It is still over two months away but every day I catch myself screaming inside over this year's Coachella lineup. The best thing about the festival is the ability to discover new talent, it practically forces you to. So in that fashion, I am listening with my mind open wide. I'm really digging Audio Bullys album "Generation," discovering the beautiful art that Imogen Heap is creating and embracing the Canadian movement with Wolf Parade. The festival is taking on this wonderful electronic flavor this year with the likes of Paul Oakenfold, The Juan Maclean, Ladytron and of course Daft Punk. It is interesting to see my musical tastes change as I grow older. Anymore, I like a little electronic in my boogie.
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In that same vein, and just another reason to mention The Faint, I have also noticed I am once again gravitating toward being in love with a record label. Still beating close to my heart is the ever sturdy Saddle Creek Records but everyone say hello to my latest obsession: DFA Records. I don't know what it is but it just seems that every great band I am hearing comes from the DFA/Astralwerks family. The Juan Maclean, LCD Soundsystem, Black Dice....
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...& HOT CHIP! Let me tell you all what. As much as I am readying myself for Coachella by listening to only Coachella groups (it's like Rocky training for battle with Apollo Creed), I am having the darndest time getting Hot Chip's "Coming on Strong" out of my rotation. "Over and Over" is so infectious, it's got me banging like a monkey with a miniature cymbal! Check them out, you'll hopefully get the reference. I am beyond frustration that they failed to make the Coachella lineup and will only be making minor appearances in the U.S. but eventually they will come and it will be worth the wait. They are currently on tour with Goldfrapp and Stereolab if that tells you something.
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You all may recall my challenges with the fascist Coke machine at work, or maybe not. Well, the Man finally won out as Mr. Pibb has simply disappeared from the machine altogether. A new twist in the Vendo-O-Mental warfare, some genius changed the price of everything in the vending machine to 85 cents. This is the chips and carbs machine by the way. The machine when I tried it was not programmed to give change back from a dollar. Wha!? Then, a few days ago Lindy tried it and it promptly gave him 15 cents back from his buck. So basically, God hates me. And possibly Sacagawea, they still haven't fixed the machine so I can get rid of those worthless dollar coins.
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Okay, back to American Idol. With all of the focus being on AI5 this season, I have been neglecting my other pop culture fixation, Project Runway. Just like American Idol, these artists have true talent - they just work in a different medium... and bitch and moan a lot more. It's insane! Anyway, if Project Runway is good for anything, it knows how to kept a series vibrant and fast-paced. These days when I am mentally tapped and my fingers are raw from recap typing, it is nice to sit back and watch others work under the pressures of a deadline. Bless Tim Gunn and the guys of 35D (go Daniel V!). Caveat, please add "charmeuse" to my list of least liked. It's just not right.
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Hey! What do you do with your income tax refund? Burn through that shit! Of course I made sure that you know, all the incidentals were taken care of but after that? Yeah! Burn it baby! Burn it! I'm sure there are indie kids suffering in the world and all but I could not stand having a 2nd Gen. iPod any longer. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with it and I'm so damn meticulous, it doesn't even bear fingerprints but still....color iPod, with video, 60G, personalized, in BLACK!!! pant, pant, pant... Truly, if you've never suckled the teat of portable digital music.... [sigh], anyway....
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I leave you with yet another fantabulous cartoon from the "wish I would have thought of that" Perry Bible Fellowship.

2 comments:

stephanie said...

Hey Betamike, I was on i guess i'm floating today, and there's a piece about Hot Chip. As usual, you're right there on the pulse of the hip music scene. :)

On more disturbing news, I saw someone at MK the other day with one of those belt buckles that you can program, and it said (ick) "And you thought the Castle was big." I had to vomit.

Anonymous said...

Someone else listens to Wolf Parade besides me? Score!