The Last Drop

San Francisco summer is in full swell – clouds, cold, and rain. Horrible for marathon training. Perfect for staying cozy in bed and finding new music. And find I have! A brief rundown of what to do if you too are stuck at home on a rainy day:

Love: Still Fighting
My newest (soon to be reviewed) music crushes, Thao & Mirah, do a rather convincing cover of Pat Benetar’s Love is a Battlefield right here in the Bay Area.  Peep the video. And listen to the rest of their recording session on The Bay Bridged.

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Rooftop parties with Spike Jonze directing a collaboration between YoYo Ma and hip hop dancers? Please, God let this be true?! And it is.

Lil Buck looks down right ethereal. Matched with the cello, it’s hard not to watch again and again. So enjoy, multiple times. And please do invite me to the next one of these fundraising events. I will gladly eat your cheese tray.

Day 2. Much better. And a lot longer. 11 more bands. A star sighting (or two). And my first breakfast taco.  Let’s get to the rundown.

Who Did I See
Diamond Rings (1 song , but that was enough)
Doomtree
Das Racist
The Cults
James Blake
tUne yArDs
Matt & Kim (ne Odd Future in the background…)
Who Made Who
The Chain Gang of 1974
French Horn Rebellion
Miami Horrors
Flosstradamus

I know. It WAS a lot. It felt like a lot. And there were definitely highlights (and lowlights) to the day.

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And so I did it. I finally fulfilled the life dream (my dreams are pretty attainable, I know…) of going to Austin and seeing lots and lots and lots of music in a impossibly short time span otherwise known as South by Southwest. Day 1 was filled with set up and planning. Didn’t see as many artists as I would have liked, but set myself up for a grand old weekend. The recap as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

That ugly, nasty rumor is true. My most recent Top Drop of 2010 is calling it quits. Figures. When you finally hit your peak (in my eyes) why not quit?

In spite of the disasterous bad news for good music, LCD Soundsystem is leaving us nice gifts on the way out. Since most of the nation cannot make it to MSG for the final show (but The Strokes can…), we can take solace in their last on air performance on the Nation.

Peep the videos:

Colbert Interview

“I Can Change” performance

While the world was going Gaga over Arcade Fire, Radiohead was scheming. Scheming on the best way to dwarf the already unimportant but funner than usual Grammys. Surprise! They succeeded. This Saturday, we get another crack at alternative distribution models and multiple mediums for Radiohead’s latest full album release, The King of Limbs.

The deluxe version promises a “newspaper release” including vinyl, CD, download, visual art, puppies, double rainbows, and a chance to play with them live at the next Superbowl*.  All for the low, low price of 50 clams. Quite the opposite of that pay what you want model, right? Have no fear, there is the digital only release. Much more economical, but lacks all the wow factor to be sure.

Stop on by to put in your  pre-order. Super size at your discretion.

*slightly exaggerated. But not without sincere hope.

Robyn. Yeah. It’s getting out of control. But hey, she’s had a stellar year. And she puts on a show like no other.

Just saw these photos from her Radio City Music Hall performance via Brooklyn Vegan and had to pay it forward.

R$ – please come back to the bay soon! Oh, Diamond Rings, it would be cool to have you back too.

Robyn killing it in NYC…again

Leave it to socialism to spend taxpayers dollars on figuring out if you can tap to a beat. The BBC’s Lab UK has just released a comprehensive experiment to test How Musical You Are.  Well, wouldn’t you know I scored high on all aspects of musicality. I knew those trumpet lessons would finally pay off.

Spoiler alet: after you find your results, the BBC matches you with the best type of (their own) programming to fit your musicality. I guess this is one big elaborate advertising platform for music junkies.

The BBC: Telling you what you already know better than anyone else.