Peaking Lights

Milwaukee band. Joey, ever heard of these guys? They are pretty rad.

Upcoming Shows

I am interested in going to any and all of these shows. Let me know if you're interested.

10/01 Megafaun $10
10/12 Portugal The Man $15
10/28 Mason Jennings $17
10/31 Cold War Kids $16
11/16 Mates of State $13
12/04 Tramples By Turtles & William Elliot Whitmore $15

Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire

Listen to the new album in its entirety on NPR's First Listen.

Neighborhood On Rise Despite Recession - Video - KETV Omaha

Neighborhood On Rise Despite Recession - Video - KETV Omaha

Sheet yeah for Sigur Ros.

Guy gets way into the description.

Planet Rock - The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation

Get More: VH1 Rock Docs, Episode Sneak Peeks

Hipster Hitler is making Animated Shorts!

Episode 1 - Book from Hipster Hitler on Vimeo.

More Copyright/Cymbals Eat Guitars

Nice little video that goes into the history of copyright and remakes -



And, of course, in case no one wants to watch that I want to suggest everyone get Cymbals Eat Guitars new album, "Lenses Alien". It is absolutely fantastic and might be my favorite rockin' album of the year, and I just got it yesterday.

TV On The Radio - You

TV On The Radio - You from B CLAY on Vimeo.

Kind of a funny mockumentary/music video. Also, RIP Gerard Smith.

Link Dump

I'm just dropping off a bunch of links I found interesting in case ya'll are in the need for something to read at work. Political blogger, Matt Yglesias, set off a stupid firestorm of blogposts across the internet when he was interviewed about music. Apparently people still take issue with or just like to talk about guilty pleasures.

Yglesias -

I know it’s just a turn of phrase, but I think the whole conceptual framework of “guilty pleasures” speaks to some weird underlying puritanical elements in American life. Despite the whole “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” thing in the Declaration of Independence, our public culture is very resistant to the idea that people should try to spend more time doing things they enjoy or that producing enjoyment for others is a good thing to do in life.

I'm listening to the bonus disc to Beyonce's newest album right now while I'm writing this so I'll exclude myself from the "guilty pleasures" framework. In addition to Beyonce, I've been getting into a lot of Top 40, dance, house, J-Pop shit lately. If you haven't listened/watch this bonkers video you should -

Awesome!

Here is a crazy story demonstrating how Alan Lomax gets paid for Jay-Z's song "Takeover". It's some fascinating, disturbing stuff. I find it so hard to wrap my brain around the idea of music and copyright, or at least the way the two are tied together at present. On the same page, Dr. Luke gets sued often for stealing songs. Yeah, there are a lot of similarities between "Tik Tok" and "My Slushy" and all of the other songs mentioned, but this is one of the few instances where I find myself siding with the rich and successful guy -

A lot of things are similar. But you don’t get sued for being similar. It needs to be the same thing. Almost doesn’t count. Close but no cigar. People are suing for close. There are standard chord progressions that everyone uses. There are plenty of songs that are really similar and they never sued each other.

(I had to cut out the bullshit about being in an overly litigious society)

I really could care less if George Harrison ripped off The Chiffons with "My Sweet Lord". I wanna hear "My Sweet Lord" instead of "He's So Fine". The Rubinoos "I Want To Be Your Boyfriend" is a good song, but it's not gonna help me hook up with a 16 year old like Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend".

Alright, well, lest I leave you with just my opinions on my awful, guilty-pleasure music, you can download a new mix by Korallreven here. It is very pleasant!