Thanks Jimbo!

MGMT and Ratatat Collaboration with Kid Cudi

If you're in the mood for some hipping and hopping, check out this new song featuring MGMT, Ratatat, and some rapper guy.

Duck People Duck Man - Megapuss

Compliments of Mr. Gunthum, Devandra Banhart's side project.

Check them out at their site and on Myspace.

Pnuma Trio - Live at Red Rocks

Available for "name your price" download here.

RiP! A Remix Manifesto - Brett Gaylor

This "Trace That Tune!" portion of the film argues the first point (of four) advanced by the A Remix Manifesto, a progressive counterpart the more conservative view expressed in A Writer's Manifesto (Mark Helprin). The first point states:

1. Culture always builds on the past.

Though the film's legal discussions aren't necessarily accurate, RiP!'s social commentary is insightful and well supported (even if it leans a little too left sometimes). Check it out on Hulu.

I use this video to introduce a project of mine. I'm going to do my damndest to collect as many instances of this "Trace That Tune!" as possible. So if you have any instances to offer, please please PLEASE post them up here. Let's see how many are out there, and where they pop up the most.

The Office - New Episode Tonight!

Tonight, "The Meeting." NBC at 8.

Road Trippin' with Capt. Buffnstuff, Ch. 1

Always Sunny - New Episode Tonight!

Tonight at 9.

Wanted: Any and all pictures you may have taken this past weekend

Already started putting things together in a movie of some kind and I could use all the material that I can get my grimy little paws on. So send them this way (rusty.oc@gmail.com) and I'll be sure to include them in the up and coming "Road Tripping with Capt. Buffnstuff."

So I was dicking around on the internet and found this....

I think I am the guy taking the pictures on the left side of the screen. Wierd.

Man Fatally Shoots Self While Teaching Girlfriend Lesson on Gun Safety

The RFT provides the latest installment of our ongoing Irony Series, continuously trying to accurately identify that which is ironic (and that which isn't). I submit to you The Curious Case of Mr. Looney.

"According to witnesses, Looney was going to take his girlfriend to the shooting range the next day, but insisted on firearm safety the day prior."

Uffda. you all have been spoiled.

Friday, November 20th @ Slowdown - Pink Mountaintops

Raising Sand - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have a CD in stores, titled "Raising Sand." Grilling out one night a couple weeks ago Mien Vilif tried to introduce me to the disc.

He tells me, "Dude, you have to check this out. It's groundbreaking."

Groundbreaking? I'll be the first to admit that most if not all of the time the mere fact that a music reco comes from JMac's direction gives it near instant credibility. Aha Shake and Vetiver are just a couple of the countless examples. And the very mention of Robert Plant...

...well, the music speaks for itself. And I suppose Alison Krauss is no slouch either.

The album has just won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2009. Shortly thereafter, I won a Grammy for Understatement of the Year when I said, "I'm anxious to check it out."

But hell. As far as first listens go, the album started pretty weak for me. Technically speaking, everything seemed spot on. Even to my untrained ear, I could tell that I was listening to a couple of masters at work. But groundbreaking? Really? At first listen, they seemed just about as groundbreaking as country rock and protest band, Mason Proffit...

"Voice of Change" was recorded in 1969. Yea, groundbreaking like Mason Proffit and a dash of these guys...

And we know how that turned out. At first, I was a little disappointed. At first, at first, at first...

But after a while (yea, you knew that was coming), I put it in my car. I promised Jason that I'd give the disc the ol' college try and if I'm going to bond to a piece of music, it'll certainly happen in the car. I've turned the disc over a few times now and I've picked out a couple of real gems. Feast your ears on the following, Shanty Folk.

With "Nothin," any expectations raised by the mere mention of Robert Plant have been met. Period. Promise small, deliver big. I guess "Nothin" is about as small a promise as you can make (god dammit, I really hope the editors can cut the cheese out of that one) (ha! cut the cheese).

If you liked anything from O' Brother, Where Art Thou?, you'll like "Your Long Journey." Step back in time, friends. They bring a real relic back to life. And artfully so. "Through the Morning, Through the Night" follows along those same lines, even if it is kinda sappy.

"Please Read The Letter" is easily my favorite song on the album so far. Chances are it's going to stick. When I'm walking around outside one morning, this will be the song that pops into my head. Friggin' love it.

I still don't know if I'd call the disc groundbreaking. But there is something to be said on its behalf. I just wish I had the technical chops to say it. Like I said before, the talent in the disc is clear on the one hand but very understated on the other. Definitely leans closer to the Krauss side of the spectrum, but I'm not complaining (even if lamenting just a little). I've tried to pick out the hooks on the album. As for the rest, give it the ol' college try. It should pay off.

Just try to ignore the Family Guy comparison, even if for only a moment.

Happy Birthday Shlomo!

Some Cotton Jones iPhonage

As expected, the Cotton Jones show in Omaha last week was fantastic. A great set by Frontier Ruckus was followed by a few Cotton gems. I captured a few of the songs via my phone. Obviously, the quality is pretty shitty, but thought y'all might be interested in hearing what they played anyway.

Song One
Song Two
Song Three

Hope you enjoy.

A modern Cellist worthy of a listen

http://www.myspace.com/rufuscello

Alrighty, I feel like rufus does for the cello what the late alli farke toure did for the steel guitar. As you know, I am a fan of fusion. Call me postmodern, yeah, i don't make distinctions between high and low forms of art. that's why I'll listen to arvo part in the same breathe as mason bates. Or eat a little Cheese with the same bottle of vino that accompanies pete seeger. The point that Rusty and I always love to discuss, unfortunately usually exclusively when inebriated, is globalization; some fear, some distain, but we can all appreciate the progeny of its work.

Finding Emo

Finding Emo
by jeffhoferer

What Is And Isnt' Emo?

From revivl.com

Phish - Joy

New favorite on the album.

Yo La Tengo Headcount

The concert is October 9th, so you should decide soon in case it sells out. That is a Friday for all you squares and/or out-of-towners, so I don't want to hear any excuses. I will be buying tickets within the next week, so let me know if I should get one for you. Check out "Here to Fall" (again, loud as fuck) on the new and improved Grooveshark playlist if you need any additional convincing. Tick tock muthafucka.

Monkeys Don't Go For Music, Unless It's Made For Them

Don't know if Snowball totally buys it, but evidence suggests that emotive response to music may be species specific. Full story, as well as sample pieces of "fearful" and "happy" tamarin music at Wired Science.

Teie, a cellist in the National Symphony Orchestra, came up with the idea of composing music for monkeys because he wanted to test his theories about how certain basic elements of music can be used to manipulate emotions. But because most people have been listening to music for so long, and therefore have significant likes and dislikes that color their emotional responses, he decided to test his ideas on a totally different species....

Although the tamarin songs don’t sound much like music to us, Teie said he wasn’t just imitating the monkey’s calls. “The very nature of music itself is that it’s stylized, that it almost extracts the emotional parts of the sound and makes it impossible to identify.” Teie used the same patterns to create the monkey music as he uses when composing human music, and he wrote out each song for the cello so that other cellists could play it too.

What Children Think of The Beatles

From the mouths of babes...

There’s one last thing to find out: what these children think about the Beatles after such extended exposure to them. Unfortunately, the panel’s powers of speech have been exhausted. The most I can get out of them is that The Beatles are “very good”. But the following day Otto’s friend Willard, an articulate nine-year-old, comes over. I play Norwegian Wood, A Day in the Life, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds and Helter Skelter to the boys. After careful consideration, Willard explains the Beatles’ place in society today.

“Now it’s all about the pop and the urban,” he tells me. “This is the time for Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. The age of rock has gone, but you can still put on Helter Skelter for the old geezers and enjoy it. Actually, The Beatles’ songs are much better than the modern songs.”

“The Beatles are great,” concludes Otto, with the conviction of someone who knows about these things. “The modern songs are a pile of dog c**p.”

New Playlist - Week of 9/7

Reached back a little further in The Shanty, with some great finds. Kept some of the newer stuff. We'll need newer stuff still, so keep your ears to the ground Shanty folk.

"Joy" MP3 Download

In case you did not take advantage of the presale, here is a link to download Phish's new album. It's only $3.99 on Amazon. I'll probably download it later, unless of course one you kind souls already has it and will burn a copy for me. Let me know . . .

http://www.amazon.com/Joy/dp/B002NS1XXA?tag=slickdeals

Frontier Ruckus

Did all you guys planning on attending 'Ol Cotton check out the opener, Frontier Ruckus? I finally got around to taking a listen and they're awesome. I highly suggest checking them out on Lala or Myspace if you haven't already done so. I expect them to put on a great show. Just one more reason for me to get excited about this week of shows...

Pearl Jam - The Fixer

Reuters writes of the new Pearl Jam:

NEW YORK (Billboard) - "Super poppy." "Just plain fun." "Surprisingly optimistic." "Catchy as hell." These are not phrases often used to describe Pearl Jam, the 30 million-selling purveyor of angst-ridden guitar rock now approaching its 19th year of existence.

And yet these are the words being used on blogs to describe "The Fixer," the first song from the Seattle rock band's ninth album, "Backspacer."

Yea? Is Pearl Jam going the way of MMJ? Have they caught the "pop bug?"

Dylan To Voice GPS System

Jokes abound.

Pretty soon, with the help of the one and only Bob Dylan, you can find your direction home. No longer a complete unknown, no longer a rolling stone. You can find a dog that'll buy you tobacco and clean your bath. You can find a place to bathe your bird. But more than likely, you'll find yourself lost. Telegraph writes:

Motorists who follow Dylan’s directions, however, may take some time to reach their destination. “I think it would be good if you are looking for directions and you heard my voice saying something like, ‘Left at the next street.... No, right... You know what? Just go straight." He added: "I probably shouldn’t do it because whichever way I go, I always end up at one place - Lonely Avenue.”

It's Done - Grooveshark Widgets (WARNING TO ALL MANDERS, FUCKING LONG POST)

Grooveshark came through in stellar fashion. I think I was able to do almost exactly what we wanted. Check it out on the on the right, just under the rug. There's a playlist made from some of the more recent Shanty posts.

For those of you that have already checked out Grooveshark, you know that it lets you compile a playlist with a little more functionality than Pandora (you can skip back, forward and rearrange tracks). What's more is that I have yet to find that Grooveshark doesn't carry the music that I'm looking for. It's great. And they make it really easy to embed the playlist on The Shanty. Here's how.

Compile a playlist, you monkey. It's not that hard, but you have to create a free account. After you're done with the playlist, you'll want click the "embed" button. It's located on the bottom right, right of the playlist in the middle. Move your mouse over the button and it should read "embed."

After having clicked embed, you'll be taken to a different screen where you'll need to choose your widget. There appear to be only two available, the "chameleon" and the "single song." The choice shouldn't be too hard. Having chosen your widget you may or may not want to make some adjustments.

You can adjust the colors by choosing a color scheme or by choosing the "advanced" option. That will allow you to choose each color by yourself for each portion of the widget. You can also adjust size, which will end up being more important, depending on where you want to put the widget on The Shanty. See below.

Skipping ahead, having chosen your color and your size, you'll have a last minute opportunity to add or remove any songs on your list. After clicking "Finish," you'll asked where you'd like to post your widget. This is the important part. For the playlist that I've posted, I've chosen the "Blogger sidebar." You also have the option of choosing "Blogger." With this option, the playlist will appear as any other post, and will be bumped down the line as other posts are. Posting on the sidebar will prevent the playlist from being bumped down; it'll stay there just under the rug.

But the sidebar has some size constraints. If you want your entire playlist to appear in the sidebar, you need to be sure to adjust the size accordingly. See above. I've found that a width of about 200 pxls should be about right. The height can be whatever, but try to keep it under 500 or so. For aesthetic reasons.

So there you have it. The Shanty now has a playlist. And we can make new ones. Go nuts.