11 posts tagged “we heart music”
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The structure I wanted to keep this: 1. The origin and definition of what Britpop was. 2. It's ultimate demise, our theories on why it went away. 3. Survivors of Britpop, bands that are still around today, including Blur, Radiohead, Oasis, etc. We ended with what song would best sum up what Britpop was. While we had a two-to-one Blur vote, I do think that Kristen's suggestion of "Common People" made a lot of sense.
While I would admit that based on repeated playing of this song, that I've gotten sick of it, it's hard to ignore that the song is a really great song. It's about meeting a rich student, and in typical Jarvis Cocker-reality/vengeful lyrics, tells the student that basically she would never understand what's it is like to be living in poverty like himself, like common people.
The song was king at the time of its release in 1995, and remain to be the band's most popular song. I'm pretty sure the song's been covered a few times, these are two popular ones: William Shatner and Libitina.
The actual show length is about 30 minutes, but I liked all the random topics, that I kept some of them in the first portion. If you like that randomness, stay after the "Common People" and you will be treated to some These Animal Men, Powder, Lush, and Salad. I'm sure none of these bands will be played at Sydney's Britpop Night, as I'm not sure enough people like them.
I'm hoping to have another Britpopcast in a month or so, let me know if you would like to join in on the discussion.
09/05/2009 20:12:16 ♥ vu (
) ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
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The show is long, split into two parts: the organized topics section and the random "just two guys talking" segment. The long run time also means extra large file size, so I had to compressed the file to just mono and at 64kps. It sounds OK to me - but if you want a higher stereo quality, send me an email and we'll have to do a file-transfer or a yousendit kind of thing. The stereo file is over 70mb, the mono file is 36mb.
Ryan compiled is a list of musicians/music-related websites on Twitter:
08/10/2009 09:16:30 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
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The talented Mister Graeme K (myspace.com/graemekmusic), stopped by on W♥M Radio to talk about his delightful mixey mashey collage EP is called Hidden Beast. I previously only briefly mentioned Graeme K in my birds article, you should check it out if you haven't seen it.
Once back from his upcoming tour, he'll settled down to record a new record, and hopefully we'll have him back on in 2009.
In the meantime, we had a wonderful time talking about music and such:
- The mysterious "K"
- Where all the music Graeme samples from
- His equipment and software used to make his music
- Childhood in Maine, being on radio, performances
- Not being in "the (music) know"
- Next record heavily influenced by The Wedding Present
- Upcoming tour (see details below)
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Tour Dates
12/19/08 SPACE Gallery Portland, Maine
01/16/09 Olympia, Washington
01/30/09 Sam Bonds Eugene, Oregon
02/08/09 The Hemlock Tavern w/ CITADELLE San Francisco, CA
02/12/09 The Beauty Bar San Diego, CA
02/13/09 The Echo Curio w/ DETHRO Los Angeles, CA
02/20/09 The Process Santa Fe, New Mexico
02/24/09 Kilby Court Salt Lake City, Utah
02/27/09 Visual Arts Collective Garden City, Idaho
02/28/09 The Badlander Missoula, Montana
Links:
www.weheartmusic.com
podcast.weheartmusic.com
news.weheartmusic.com
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I wanted to give you guys a November update, even though the month's nearly over. I'm looking over my pending music list right now and I have too many to cover before the year's over, but I'm going to give it the old college try and cover as much of it as I can before starting a fresh slate for 2009. I'm very excited about the new year, working with brand new exciting music companies that we haven't worked with before.
Also, I wanted to give a warm welcome to Jaklumen to the W♥M team, who I think will be handling most of the electronica/ambient stuff. I'm going to try and schedule to have all the active writers to appear on a future podcast (once everything is sorted out, I think our next writer appearance is Australian "Schnitzel" Sally). For those keeping track, previous appearances includes: Kate & Lara, Emelia, Brian, Alex, Derek, Dave, Ryan, and Christina. I would love to get a reoccuring co-host, but just getting someone to a commitment to a weekend recording session on a regular basis is harder than you think. Generally, I prefer taping on Sunday (daytime) so I can work on editing the show Sunday evening, whilst catching up on television I've missed via hulu.com.
Speaking of television shows, as I am writing this, I'm downloading the third season of Supernatural on iTunes for free. Technically, I have paid for it because I picked up the DVD. I'm starting to see more and more when you buy a DVD it comes with a digital copy of the movie for watching it on your computer or portable device. Since I have an iPod Touch, I have noticed I am starting to use its video feature a lot (especially when I'm sitting around with my cat and reading reference books).
Sure, I would love another browser on the iPod, like Opera, but Apple does not play nice. I just want the freedom to add whatever software I want to it, you know? Quake (with physical buttons add on) is available on a broken iPhone, so the potential is there! They can really turn this into a PSP or Nintendo DS competitor, but perhaps that's fourth or fifth generation down the line.
If Quake is your thing, the best free first-person shooter on the iPod is Cube. This is such a great-looking game on the platform, shame the accelerometer control and gamma is pretty bad. For the price (free), I would still give it a five-star rating.
As for music, I've been listening to Camera Obscura on my iPod and as a special bonus, here is our own Emelia with her ukulele rendition of "Tears for Affair". Apologize in advance for photography cover artwork, just so you feel better, here's a picture of me & photogirl. I do have a funny story about that picture, but for the long and short of it, the photograph was taken at a Camera Obscura concert on a velvet couch at the Varsity Theater.
Of course you protest, that's what you do best
And you're modest and shy to the end
You're watching them as they're looking at you
And you know it was money well spentShe told me you'd given up drinking to be with somebody you knew
And you tried to get into the bible but it never got into you
UPDATE 11/30/08: Normally we get one or two people who listens to W♥M exclusively through The Hype Machine, which is not a lot, but any new reader/listeners is cool in my book.
Well today I checked our page and there is a huge spike (36 as of this writing) on the Camera Obscura's "Tears for Affair" song!
Links:
www.weheartmusic.com
podcast.weheartmusic.com
news.weheartmusic.com
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It's been a while since I did a W♥M update, I am still working on site.weheartmusic.com, so please visit and let me know what you think. That website is just as an extension of W♥M, we're not moving.
What I'm planning on: find the latest press release from various PR and Record Labels, easier/faster search, view upcoming album reviews, full album details (track listing, release dates, etc), "Best Of" W♥M articles, plus whatever ideas we come up with.
As I've previously mentioned, other W♥M members can go in and edit/add/modify/create anything, and it's quite easy to do! You need to know very little html or css, but it does help a little when you do more advance editing.
Hey, what do you think of my W♥M Notes Logo?? If you look at it closely, it's a fictional music notes that looks like an W and an M.
Anyway, I've noticed lately that a few blogs and websites have started linking to us, which I'm returning the favor here. One of the links includes the prestigious MTV, so that's an honor. If you link to W♥M, let me know and I'll add your blog and/or website to site.weheartmusic.com.
As for the music of choice today, I have picked out Gossip's cover song "Careless Whisper" (originally by George Michael from Wham!). It's surprisingly soulful and dancey. I can only imagine Beth Ditto going super crazy singing this song. I believe "Careless Whisper" is a live song from the BBC Live Sessions.
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Also, I wanted to welcome Derek, Drew and Appples to the team. If you like (or dislike) what you read on here and would like to contribute articles to us, email me and I'll let you know what I'm looking for.
Links:
www.weheartmusic.com
site.weheartmusic.com
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caprandom wrote:
Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 6:49 AM |
[esto es genial] Took a quick look at the website and I was floored by the sheer amount of data you can cram. It's like tapping in pure adreanaline
Damn you! In a good way.
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Okay, so these were all going to be different articles was actually meant to go live on May 6th to today, but you know how it is when things don't go exactly according to plan.
I'm actually feeling a little under the weather (coughing/horrible throat issues and too much mucus build up). I just feel incredibly miserable right now.
Item #1: Christopher's Rollo Armstrong article is featured on vox.com/music - but the real conspiracy is that doesn't feature any The Crimea.
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Item #2: One of the PR company that sends us music to review did some promo for us and among the 20 tracks, these are my favorite: Phil Anastasia and David Yazbek, only because they really deviate from the standard "you're listening to We Heart Music" script that they were probably given. Phil Anastasia especially cracked me up and I had to play that back a few times when I first heard it.
I do have a note I wanted to mention about Yazbek, I was shopping at Cheapo Records in Uptown. Yes, I still buy CDs, although I have to admit, often used. Anyway, I was in the very end of the Jazz area when I happened to see that distinctive Evil Monkey Man cover! I had to smile to myself as if there was some kind of inside joke with the punchline of "I saw you on W♥M, dude".
Item #3: By the way, speaking of Jazz, one of my favorite shows that I listen to is NPR's Jazz Profiles, which I get as a podcast.
This is such a great program. It's often very detailed, and in fact, the last episode I listened to on Charles Mingus was so long and rich with interviews and history that it was split up in two parts.
Even if you don't love Jazz, I think you'll enjoy listening to host Nancy Wilson as she takes you on a journey of some of American's famous (and not-so-famous) Jazz musicians.
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05/08/08 New York, @ Bowery Ballroom
05/09/08 Boston, MA @ Middle East 05/10/08 Montreal, QUE @ Lambi 05/11/08 Toronto, ON @ Mod Club 05/12/08 Chicago, IL @ Shuba’s 05/14/08 Vancouver, BC @ Red Room 05/15/08 Seattle, WA @ Triple Door 05/16/08 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir 05/18/08 San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo’s 05/19/08 Los Ang, CA @ El Rey Theatre 05/31/08 Siesta Hässleholm 06/01/08 Blue Flowers London 06/02/08 Night & Day Manchester 06/03/08 Hi-Fi Club Leeds 06/04/08 Cargo London 06/06/08 Albert Brighton 06/07/08 Stealth Nottingham 06/08/08 King Tuts Glasgow 06/10/08 Jericho Tavern Oxford 06/11/08 ICA w/ El Perro del Mar London 06/12/08 Sugar Club Dublin 06/14/08 Hultsfred Festival Hultsfred 07/03/08 Quart Festival Norway 07/04/08 Arvika Festivalen Arvika 07/05/08 Roskilde Festival Roskilde 07/06/08 Eurockeennes Festival Belfort 07/31/08 Storsjöyran Ostersund 08/07/08 Öya Festival Oslo 08/08/08 Haldern Festival Lower Rhine 08/09/08 Way Out West Göteborg 09/05/08 Bestival Isle Of Wight |
Item #4: Lykke Li releases Little Bit EP on said Tuesday, and Buster called her album, Youth Novels:
Pretty much flawless. With a perfect balance of catchy sweet pop tunes, and depressing slow jams, it's going to be one of the best albums of 2008... if not the best.
Those are some pretty bold words.
Now, I actually listened to just one of her b-side, "Dance Dance Dance", and I'll have to say that it's actually pretty good. She has a very sweet voice, a little bit creepy, and I'm even going to refrain myself from saying "me lykke".
She's currently on tour with fellow Swedes, Anna Ternheim (read more) and headliner, El Perro Del Mar, who we've previously mentioned, many, many, times, throughout the US.
Item #5: Okay, I'm not even sure why this fascinate me, but apparently hot girl Scarlett Johansson has an album coming out called Anywhere I Lay My Head on May 20th. What probably saves her is that they're all Tom Waits cover songs!
There's not really too much I can add to this, except that I remember the first time I saw Johansson on Dan Clowes's "Ghost World", I thought she was going to go places. By the time "Lost in Translation" came out, she was already a star.
I don't know, maybe I see her differently now, but now I just group Johansson with other popstars and I can't really take her seriously.
That's all I can muster up, I'm heading back to bed now. Goodnight and thank you.
Links:
www.lykkeli.com
As you might have noticed, I'm going to a lot more concerts and shows, being that it's Spring and very soon to be Summer (sorry, driving in the thundra that is Minneapolis in the bleak of Winter is just not for me).
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I have a few updates for this month, but before I get to it, I wanted to mention about Robin Danar's comment on my Altered States article.
We hardly ever get (public) feedback on reviews from the band/musician, so I was excited to read this:
| Robin Danar wrote: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 12:29 PM |
[this is good] i LOVE that you dig my disk and that you get some of my inside jokes!
yes, I called a bunch of brits to work on my version of First of the Gang to Die because i thought they'd get it. Yes, i called Lisa Loeb to sing on my version of the Damned tune because i wanted her to sing the word "NASTY", with which she's not often associated.
but i'm also thrilled that you dig my version of Weirdo and get what i was doing. i love your "before and after" presentation and i hope you like 'em all. i definitely had a blast "painting these pictures" and having friends come in and get into character to help me complete them.
thanks!
robin
It is pretty awesome that the real reason why Danar had Loeb cover that song was so he can hear her sing "nasty". Nice one.
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The big update for this month is: I finally got my W♥M Business Cards printed. You might remember last November when I first mentioned the cards. I know that was ages ago, but as you have probably figured it out: I'm very, very busy.
I have started mailing a few cards out to W♥M writers, so you guys should be getting these in the mail in a few days. I'm still mailing them out, and if I don't have your address already, I will contact you shortly.
I am also
making these cards available to readers - so if you are at least
interested in getting some cards sent to you, email me (
) your address and I'll send some out to you. Please put "WHM Cards" in your subject title so I can set a filter.
If you also want a random CD, please let me know. I can't guarantee that you'll like the album, but at least you know that I've had to listen to it for review.
So, I eventually want to compile and print a book of W♥M articles. We have a lot of content that I would really like in printed form, perhaps to show someone or just to have it on my book shelf.
I don't think anyone else is actually interested, but I did some number crunching and each book will cost about $10+, so this is definitely a private project for myself. It will be perfectbound with a spine, in black and white, and about 100 pages.
Do you use Twitter? I personally don't understand it, but Ryan set up a weheartmusic account that automatically twitter our posts as soon as we post it. So follow us and I'll make sure to follow you.
I'm also a big fan of flickr, who isn't?
Er, yeah, there's also myspace.
05/03/2008 14:12:18
vu
my♥posts
weheartmusic.com
Band Members
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Polynya are from North Carolina... and that's pretty much all I know about this band! I thought they were a new band, but I was told that the recording of their debut album took about "4 fastidious years". Which only means that the band were together at least four years ago.
Judging from the photographs of their myspace that they seem like a really close-knit bunch of friends. Their debut self-titled album is only $10, see details on their official website.
So, it seems maybe Luke is the primary song writer and music arranger. It's also interesting to note that two of the band members also DJs at the college station in Chapel Hill (WXYC), so I think they're very well versed in the college music scene.
So the first thing that struck me is how much the singer's vocals (I think it's Amelia) sound like Rose Melberg (from Tiger Trap). Their sound like is a sweet indie pop, with some great harmonies. Sometime Luke jumps in and sings as well, so they have a great girl-boy sound that reminds me of Velocity Girl.
I like the opening song, "Old West", a lot. I think there's three layers of different vocals on this song. It's also best listened to with headphones because there's some music and noise that exists independently on either left or right headphones.
I also remember liking "Sweatshop" a lot. The sound on this song sounds a bit noisy and low-fi, which I liked. You can preview their whole album on their website.
Lastly, can someone explain to me why downloading the album costs much more than buying the physical CD? According to my calculations, if you download the album from Digstation (not to be confused with Diggnation), it will cost you $12.87 - while the physical CD with Shipping & Handling has a grand total of $10. If anything, because there's no cost of pressing the cd, printing the sleeve and shipment, digital sales should be much lower.
So, yes, buy the physical CD is my recommendation by sending an email to 
(image).
If you like what you heard, they are in the process of recording their next album, which I'm told will sound pretty similar to this album.
Watch my mispronouncing of their name on the second video:
Other bands mentioned: Finespun, more detail on their EP later, in the meantime, check out: finespunmusic.com.
12/06/2007 22:02:24
vu
my♥posts
www.polynya.info
myspace.com
I was inspired to shoot my first W♥M Video when I got Decomposure's Verical Line A in the mail. So this was a first look at the album, so join me as I unwrap and discover all amazing piece of artwork. The unique package costs $15 at Vertical Line A. Keep in mind that each CD/DVD is handmade by the musician. I'm very impressed with it. Full review in 2008 (sorry I have a TON of music to take out of my queue by the end of the month!)
Also, apologies for the misspelling of Decomposure's name and the audio-sync problem !! :(
I also discouraged you from buying the Bluray version of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, because of lack of features (or at least all the features were pretty boring/uninteresting). Plus night shots of the film is way too grainy and looks awful. However, the slipcase & packaging is very handsome.
Also Masters of Horror: Season One in completely useless oversized Mausoleum boxset (which I couldn't say for the life of me). I should mention that it comes with an extra bonus disc, featuring all the directors for the 2nd dinner and their panel at a horror convention. All really long and boring without chapter breaks. You really must be a hardcore fan to sit through these long conversations.
So enjoy the first episode of W♥M Video:
12/04/2007 02:59:03
vu
my♥posts
www.decomposure.com
