the oh so quiet show

Last week I became semi-obsessed with the music video for The Magic Position by Patrick Wolf:

Happy colors! Dancing! Smiles! Craziness! Basically the opposite of my world, which is full of earth tones, sitting, frowning, and normality! Or something! I love the continual movement of the camera in all the non-dancing scenes and every little step and pause taken by Patrick and all the twirls and claps in between. Is that weird? Choreographed walking? Strolling? I don’t know. I really like the pause at the 1:15 mark, but I have no idea why.

I thought that I wouldn’t like any of his other songs—I’ve listened to bits of his older albums before and never got into them—but then a friend kindly donated the album to “Robyn’s iTunes” and it turns out that I like it. A lot. At least until I get sick of it. It’s a weird mix of…stuff. Hell, I’m not writing an album review; there are no standards here. WEIRD MIX OF STUFF, THAT’S WHAT IT IS. Stuff that expands in your brain and fills in every squishy crevice with beeps and thumps and pianos and horns and maybe the screechings of soaring fireworks.

He’s playing at Bowery Ballroom on May 9th. Which I only just realized is the day before my (second) graduation ceremony. Crap. Stupid graduation. I’ll just be very tired that day.

Janet sent out a mass email asking if any of us wanted to see Peter Bjorn & John at Mercury Lounge on January 29th or 30th.

Um…hell yeah?

ow, my eyes

Annnnd thus I am inspired to write about the PB&J concert I went to nearly two weeks ago. (I’ve been a bit busy/lazy lately. It’s finals week and I somehow need to not fail things while say goodbye to people and eat as much in Paris as possible and buy a million gifts and blah blah blah, not that I’m complaining or anything considering that when I walk out of my apartment and turn left I have a full-on view of the Eiffel Tower.)

I disappointingly took very few trips for someone who is studying abroad for one semester, but I managed to plan a weekend trip to London that coincided with the concert. Which was great because there were no concerts I wanted to go to in Paris (or by the time I found out I wanted to go, it was too late).

twinkly

After wandering around under the depressingly early sun-less sky, I met up with my awesome host/longtime Internet friend Leanne, ate a burger for the first time in months, and we both made our way through the chilly weather to ULU.

Peter

Standing in the venue was the most New York City-esque experience I had since leaving NYC. Being squished up against the stage reminded me of the Bowery Ballroom, except…smaller. With additional legal cigarette smoke. And with everyone speaking English.

Bjorn, Peter

I was most struck by how differently they played their songs live as opposed to on the album. Not that they replaced their instruments with chainsaws or anything like that, but…ye know, more noticably different than live performances of other live artists. Either I was really tired, or they made some of their songs longer. Or maybe some songs just feel long, like one of my favorites:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Peter Bjorn & John – The Chills

It feels endless to me, but it’s only 3 minutes and 50 seconds long. Uh. Maybe it’s just my inherent lethargy.

Victoria, Peter

Victoria Bergsman came out in some ridiculously cute purple dress + vest outfit (you will rarely ever hear me comment on people’s clothing; I usually don’t give a crap) to sing her part for “Young Folks” while Peter did some furious shaker shaking. This song was obviously everyone’s favorite song.

Bjorn, John

Oh yeah, there are other members of the band; I just didn’t get good photos of them. Although Peter and Bjorn did the most talking, John did randomly get a few words in, which were somehow the only words that stuck in my head. He mentioned that the band usually ate Thai food, but went for Japanese food that night instead, consisting of some fish on rice thing. I didn’t get the impression from his nonchalant manner that he was trying to be funny; there was just…something funny about it. The randomness.

The setlist went something like:

* Let’s Call It Off
* See Through
* The Chills
* Paris 2004
* Far Away, By My Size
* Start to Melt
* Big Black Coffin
* Amsterdam
* Young Folks
* Objects of My Affection
* Up Against the Wall

…not including the possibly 4 songs during the encore.

I know this is one of the least enthusiastic reviews one could possibly write, but I really did enjoy the concert aside from the subsequent stench of smoke in my clothing. That night I ended up going to sleep much earlier than usual if it’s any testament to my tired-ness.

I think $15 is alright for their Mercury Lounge show. WHY MUST YOU WHINE? The London show was 10 pounds, aka almost $20. Yes, that exchange rate makes my eyes bleed too. The only souvenirs I brought back from London were four packs of biscuits and a Cadbury advent calendar.

— update-ish —

The Mercury Lounge shows seem to have sold out already. Oooops.

YouTube…what have you done to me?…

I’m not really into tea, but I do love scones. Plain scones. No tea.

[via the very tasty Becks & Posh]

I was looking through old crap on my computer and had no idea that I took this video of “Magnet”:http://www.homeofmagnet at “Summer Sundae”:http://www.summersundae.com/ in 2004:

(I couldn’t take hi-res videos, but the sound’s pretty good.)

Besides that most of us probably won’t see him with a full band, there’s also that outdoor stage …thing. Hm. For some reason I don’t remember much about the performance. I’m sure it was good. Yeah. It started raining by the end, which was a nice touch. THANKS, NATURE.

I like his solo shows the most, but it’d be cool to see another show like this again.

Listen to some new live Magnet songs on XFM.

Live Magnet doesn’t compare to anything else for me, but I’m usually dissatisfied with live recordings. It’s like maybe I happen to see him when everything goes perfectly…or they put something into the air. “The Pacemaker” sounds beautiful live, very different from the studio version, but I think “Hold On” and “Deadlock” lost something in the acoustic versions. I’d probably think differently about the songs if I had actually been there though.

The live version of Where Happiness Lives in minor key is one of my favorite live songs. I don’t know if he plays that version much anymore but I like it more than the original. Here’s one he played on WFMU from November 29, 2001 (a night I remember well because I left my radio on, enduring a crapload of brain curdling punk music to get to Even’s bit, and then I found out it was available online):

Magnet – Where Happiness Lives (WFMU) [removed]

I read Q magazine’s review of The Tourniquet, calling it dull and other stuff. I kind of agreed, if I had to compare it to On Your Side. …but then I listened to The Tourniquet a few times in it entirety and I still love it. Sooo. Hm.

I don’t know (m)any people who’d be happy with an onslaught of Magnet press, but it’s in ENGLISH this time. And there are tour dates. …in the UK. But that makes me happy too. If you’re interested in Magnet at all, I hope you read all this stuff because I’m the slowest website updater in the world and I’d like to believe my effort counts for a teeny tiny bit of your time.

On Tuesday 16th Magnet will appear on Tom Robinson’s show on BBC 6 Music for an acoustic session and interview & on the same day will also appear on Lauren Laverne’s XFM show playing a solo session. “Hold On” is Lauren Laverne’s Single of the Week on XFM this week.

Magnet will tour UK in October as main support to Engineers. The dates:

* Sun 9th Oct: SOUTHEND, CHINNERY’S – 01702 467 505
* Mon 10th Oct: BRIGHTON, KOMEDIA – 01275 647 100
* Tues 11th Oct: BRISTOL, THE FLEECE – 0117 929 9008
* Thurs 13th Oct: LONDON, THE SCALA – 020 7734 8932 or 020 7403 3331
* Fri 14th Oct: NORTHAMPTON, SOUNDHAUS – 01604 250 898
* Sat 15th Oct: NOTTINGHAM, RESCUE ROOMS – 0115 958 8484
* Sun 16th Oct: LEEDS, COCKPIT – 0113 245 5570
* Tues 18th Oct: GLASGOW, KING TUTS WAH-WAH HUT – 0870 169 0100
* Wed 19th Oct: MANCHESTER, ACADEMY 3 – 0161 832 1111
* Thurs 20th Oct: LIVERPOOL, BARFLY – 0870 907 0999

Tickets also available online via www.gigsandtours.com.

Check out the latest press from the UK:

* The Times: Bergen, Norway – it’s the new Seattle
* NME: “The Tourniquet” review
* Music Week: “The Tourniquet” review
* NME: “Hold On” single review
* Manchester Online: “Hold On” single review

Time Out and The Evening Standard recommend seeing Magnet perform in London next Wednesday at 93 Feet East. The show is sold out, so we hope you have your tickets!

From the Magnet newsletter:

Hello Magnet friends,

The new album from MAGNET “The Tourniquet” is released on Monday 22nd August in UK.

It’s preceeded by a very limited single “Hold On” the week before (15 August). This comes in a twin 7″ only format and the tracks will also be available for download via I-tunes. A limited number come with a hand-written note from Even, and all 7″ contain Magnet stickers. The single includes exclusive tracks “The Mute” and “Good Mourning”.

One of the 7″‘s will also contain a VIP Atlantic Gold Pass, the person who finds this gets a flight to Norway to see Magnet perform!

To celebrate these releases MAGNET makes a rare live appearance (with full band) in London.

Wednesday 17th August

LONDON 93Ft EAST, Brick Lane, EC1

Tickets are available here or by calling 020 7403 3331 or 020 7734 8932

We hope you’re all keeping well and hope to see you at this show.

We’ll be back in touch shortly with news of the Album and Single in more detail

Until then…

homeofmagnet.com

Oh. My god. I WANT A TICKET TO NORWAY! DAMMIT!

AGRHARGARH ARHA HHGAHGRHGAR!!! *spittle*

As far as I know, there isn’t a set US release date for “The Tourniquet”.

I’m not insane. Really! But I feel compelled to do a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-esque search for the ticket, which makes no sense (nono, I’m not crazy enough to do that…don’t worry). I hope that whoever gets the ticket deserves it muchly because come to think of it, I don’t deserve anything like that. I SPENT $6.25 ON A SHACK SHACK “CONCRETE” LAST NIGHT. I squander my money on tasty chocolate-filled calorically-dense dairy behemoths while in another country, $6.25 could feed a family of four for a month.

I just wondered why I updated this page before home of magnet. …because I can go insane here (ie, be myself) before having to pretend I am not insane. Or something.

Amusement Parks On Fire is Filter US Recordings’ second import of non-American music you may not have heard of. Or I haven’t heard of. As usual, I’d rather not describe the music or attempt to do it in a well thought out manner, so I’ll just say that I really like it to the point that it surprised me and I don’t know why. The album is a mix of loud layered guitar type stuff and then peaceful Sigur Ros-esque songs. Like a dark chocolate multi-layered cake with lots of soft, creamy vanilla icing in between. Mm, icing…oh crap, I talked about food. Someone has to keep me from doing that.

The nice thing about the album is that each song flows into the next. Kind of. Um. Listen to these songs in this order:

Amusement Parks On Fire – 23 Jewels [removed]
Amusement Parks On Fire – Venus In Cancer [removed]

…you better like it. Or deathy.

Check out this weird video for I Am Kloot’s new single “Over My Shoulder”. I like the crate stuck to the shoe. Oh, and the song is fun too.

Remember that Beck’s new album Guero comes out soon, as in next week, unless you live in Europe or someplace cooler than the US (NYT just reviewed it)! I haven’t even ordered a copy yet, but I’ll get my hands on that deluxe DVD + book thing at some point. I’ve been putting up news at beck beck beck but there’s loads of stuff at stewoo’s board (and Stewoo has emerged, which means he is ALIVE, which is a big thing for those of us who thought he was…dead).

Quickie that I’ll edit later or else I’ll forget, some songs that were played although not in this order:

• Twist
• To You
• Morning Rain
• Proof
• Strange Arrangement of Color
• Cuckoo
• No Fear of Falling
• Life in a Day

…oh crap, that didn’t really work. I can’t remember the other songs and I’m sure there were others that I knew. There were a few songs I didn’t know; I ought to get Natural History. I think they played a new one as well.

Anyhoo, it was cool. Diana and I stood right in front of John Bramwell, giving me a clear view of his guitar playing, which was pretty awesome because…because. No pick. I don’t like picks. The band played nearly perfectly as far as I could tell.

—– [returns much later to blab some more] —–

My ears didn’t ring this morning! It’s a miracle! The show was awesome and was a damn good way to spend $8. Also good was BC Camplight, which I found out stands for Brian Christinzio…Camplight. He had the flu but still sang well; I was impressed. Drinking like a fish, he apologized for sounding more manly than usual (he said he’s supposed to sound like a girl) and pounded out lovely tunes on the piano with a drummer, bassist, and acoustic guitarist in tow (and a few times, a female singer, as in the photo). I love his voice (if you didn’t download the mp3s, go download!) and it was a bit weird hearing it in all its…manliness. But he was funny and all was good. And stuff. And he’s playing at SXSW so if you’re going to that you should see him. I was feeling poopy all day but BC Camplight tunes cheered me up so I’d be ready for I Am Kloot.

I Am Kloot was great and seemed to enjoy themselves (they looked happy!). The show was sold out, the crowd was good, it was the first time I saw someone use a crate in lieu of a guitar strap, all the songs sounded solid, and…the end. If you can, see them during their tour. For more Kloot-ness, they’ve got a new album and single coming out! I LOVE the single “Over My Shoulder”, a version of which (I’m assuming it’s not the same?) you can download at epitonic.

On a completely unrelated note, pancakes are a very good thing.

I’ve been listening to M. Ward a lot lately so I finally bought his music. I’m currently listening to some not so legally downloaded MP3s, but I doubt I would’ve bought his music or tickets to see him at Bowery if someone hadn’t uploaded his album for some of us to leech off of. Mwahaha. Ha. I know there are people who burn as many CDs as humanly possible but I’ll buy a CD if I think it’s really good, and I’m quite happy with Transistor Radio. Here’s an online flash player for the album. Epitonic has some mp3s from a previous release. Check out Brooklyn Vegan for photos and a video from his recent Knitting Factory performance.

I haven’t gotten the new Doves album yet since I want the super deluxe package of fun-ness and I’m not sure when I’ll splurge for that. I used to buy domestic and imported versions of albums I really liked, mainly because I’d find out later that the import is much cooler, but then I realized I should just buy the import. I did that with Magnet’s On Your Side and, of course, it ended up being released in the US with the same three bonus tracks. But I did get the Japanese version of the liner notes and that’s pretty sweet. If I were really obsessed I’d try to get every version of the album; I have not. WOO! However, I’ve bought many copies of the US version and UK version for other people, so overall I may have bought seven or so copies of the album in some shape or form.

Oh, back to Doves: Pitchfork’s review of Some Cities amused me. Mainly the first and last line, for different reasons. Maybe I like the word “wheezing”…yes, that’s it.

Totally unrelated: my roommate sings pretty loudly in the shower. Not badly but…but. If you go your entire life never hearing anyone sing in the shower and then suddenly have to hear, “You’re a queer one, Julie Jordan” possibly every day you start to lose it. And when I say “you”, I mean myself. And when I say “lose it”, I mean you want to kill whoever wrote that song and when you try to forget the song all you can do is REMEMBER THE SONG EVEN MORE, which is bad.

Lee gave me some (okay, an album of) Feist (her French site seems better) mp3s as part of some holiday song swapping goodness. He just posted a review of her performance at The Glee Club and after reading it I really wish I could see her at Joe’s Pub. Doh. Having a class on Tuesday nights has really screwed me out of lots of concert opportunities, but I also have this food issue and mixing something I love (music) with something less loved (food) could end up in a cataclysmic explosion. Or not, but I’ll just tell myself that.

Her album “Let It Die” is supposed to come out in the US…soon. April or May? I’m sure I just read about it today yet I’ve already forgotten. I’m incredibly unhelpful, sorry. You can download some mp3s courtesy of Womenfolk.

I bought I Am Kloot’s album at Kim’s Video the other day (along with two other used CDs; it was in the “used electronic” section…o-kay) and have since then decided I love the album. So I dropped some more non-existent money on two tickets to their show at Pianos, figuring the age limit is non-existent. $8 is cheap, although it’s actually $10 on ticketweb, which is still cheap but …I get annoyed by those little charges. It’s still better than ticketmaster though. For the first few years of my life all concerts seemed to cost more than $35, which in ticketmaster-land was closer to $50.

I Am Kloot has a bunch of media things on their website, but mp3s are better. This song isn’t representative of the whole album, but I like it and I think that’s enough justification:

I Am Kloot – Proof [removed]

Since the “BUY TICKETS” link for Kaiser Chiefs at Bowery Ballroom isn’t working I’m going to assume it’s sold out. Which is for the best, I suppose. $15 more for me. Or not less.

I checked out BC Camplight since they’re scheduled to play with I Am Kloot at Pianos on March 10th and …it’s good stuff. Good stuff meaning I feel compelled to buy their 5-song EP with my meager earnings in my paypal account. You can download three songs from their website, so you may as well give them a listen. I’m not even sure which song I like the most. They’re all kind of similar in a happy and laid-back kind of way but not. But yes. Er. Yeah. Their music sounds different than most of the music I’ve been listening to lately; it’s not trying to sound like anything else. It’s carefree and weeee. Weee.

Also, you can download the new Doves album, Some Cities [via Chips & Cookies]. I did. It’s awesome. Of course I’ll buy it as well (unless I can get a free copy).

I first heard I Am Kloot a few years ago due to a friend’s recommendation but I never got around to buying their stuff, either because I could never find it in stores here or I was just lazy. The inability to find a CD in a store is a crap excuse for not getting it when the Internet exists…oh well.

I dug up some mp3s after hearing that their latest album (not necessarily that new; it came out in 2003 in the UK) was just released in the US. As usual, I don’t know how to describe the music but it’s Brit-pop-rock type stuff that I particularly like. Which means…I don’t know. You can download some of their songs at epitonic.com (I love “Over My Shoulder”) and listen to songs on their official site and their US site.

Both Kings of Convenience shows at Bowery Ballroom next week are sold out but they will be performing on Carson Daly on Monday, Feb 7th. You can reserve tickets at 1iota.com. Of course, if you really want to go to the shows you should just go to Bowery Ballroom since they usually have extra tickets. And by the way, I AM SO CRAZY EXCITED LOOK AT THIS CRAZINESS IT’S ALL IN CAPS!!! KOC I LOVES YOUUUU. And by the way, I still can’t really tell Erlend’s and Eirik’s voices apart but by seeing them play maybe I will learn…

Doves tickets that went on sale last week (I think?) for their show at Bowery Ballroom on March 15th are sold out too [via brooklyn vegan]. So yay! Unless you don’t have tickets. In which case…argh. Read On Louder’s overview of the new Doves album.

I made a page for Guero related news, which would be just about any new Beck news, but there ye go. Information page, not a blog. That’s the difference.

Here’s an example of a non-Guero related thing. Launch party hosted by Beck and Kirstin Dunst: wow, that’s random. Another one: The Secret Life of Beck Hansen. I’m not sure what to think about it. Should I change EVERYTHING I think I know about Beck based on this one article? I’d rather not. As I have no experience with Scientology nor do I know anyone who follows it, I don’t have much of an opinion about it. But I’ll look at it like I look at other religions/cults: people are nuts, or a few of them are nuts. I’m even more sure of this after being made to read the bible in school.

I won’t go into that. It has nothing to do with music. LALALA.

Lastly, as always, Magnet should come back to the US. If I keep saying this it’s bound to happen, even if it takes a few months/years. If he opened for Doves like he did in the UK some time ago that would be awesome, but I’m sure he won’t. I had the teeny tiny hope Magnet would tour with Doves the last time they were in the US but I think the Rapture opened, or maybe Elbow.

Oh, I got the new Beck EP on iTunes for free for signing up an account through paypal (because you get five free tracks). Sweeet.

I like the new Hot Hot Heat single, “Goodnight Goodnight”, and Pitchfork does too.

Doves are playing at Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday, March 15th! Holy crap, so much better than Hammerstein, which is where I thought they’d play if at all. Up until last summer there were never any shows I wanted to see at Bowery (or maybe I wasn’t old enough) and now that I live somewhat close to there, there…are. Whoa. Buy tickets at ticketweb tomorrow. $25 is not bad at all. And on an even happier note (for me), it happens to be during my spring break! Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to go and I’d be sitting in my food sanitation class on a Tuesday night feeling most craptacular. [via one louder]

Torr has some new Doves songs up.

I think I’m seeing Human Television tonight at Pianos unless Diana never gets out of work and/or I freeze to death. Was anyone walking outside in NYC today at 8:30 AM? I think I actually started crying.

Just another normal day in Iceland for Bjork

My favorite music videos are by Bjork (plus cool directors). I haven’t seen many music videos in my lifetime but I can’t imagine how anything else can compare. Matt pointed out the new video for “Triumph of the Heart” at bjork.com directed by Spike Jonze and it’s just enjoyingly bizarre. Whatever that means. I mean, you got a cat, and Bjork running around Iceland in pigtails and a pink dress-thing and a bunch of (drunk) people singing and Bjork falling over exposing golden boots and hearts floating about and Giant Cat…it’s something you want to see, trust me.

As for cats in videos, have you see Fatboy Slim’s “The Joker” video? I’m not a Fatboy Slim fan but, my god, the kittens. They’re everywhere. And so cute and cuddly you could eat em and be like “Oohh yeah, cute kittens, mm mm fluffy like marshmallows.” Or hug them, I don’t know. I’ve never had pets.

No kittens in this one, but it’s another music video: Feist – Inside and Out. [via Brooklyn Vegan via others] I didn’t know it was a Bee Gees cover but that makes me feel less guilty for not liking it as much as other songs on her album. It’s still a nice song though. My favorites are Gatekeeper, Mushaboom, Secret Heart, Tout Doucement, and Now At Least…which is about half of the album. I should probably buy an import before waiting for a domestic release (if that is ever to happen). On a related note, kingsofconvenience.org has KoC’s cover of Gatekeeper on their downloads page. If you like KoC you’ve probably downloaded it already, along with most/all of the stuff on the page.

I have no idea what’s going on.

Did the music/nyc music blogosphere explode today? I can’t even remember everything I read besides the news about the Kaiser Chiefs playing in NYC. And about the Kaiser Chiefs, check out their video, Oh My God [via yentell]. I’m not really into the song but the music video is likely to make you think “Oh my…god?” It’s a tad strange but cool too.

I guess my music tastes aren’t diverse enough because I’m not very interested in a lot of the bands that are buzzing about lately. I’d probably like Portishead if I had any of their music…which I don’t. However, two years ago I was stuffed in a haunted house to protect the hardware in my group’s room and I had to hear a Portishead song play over and over and over and…over…again…and it was mixed with screams and other Halloween type noises. I don’t remember the name of the song but it is permanently stuck in my brain. It wasn’t a bad song but it’s not associated with a very good memory (of sitting on a table by a bunch of machines emitting loads of heat behind a black tarp-thing).

Sleater-Kinney is playing some shows. I guess I like them more than not-like, but I haven’t liked their music enough to buy any albums. I’d gladly take stuff for free though. I know I’ve heard some good songs. Someone (maybe more than one person) has recommended them to me. I feel like there’s something wrong with me when people give me recommendations that I end up not getting into. I saw Sleater-Kinney perform for about 10 minutes last summer at a free Vassar show. I probably should’ve gotten there earlier if I wanted to see…um, stuff. It was only strange because of all the huge population of obviously non-Vassar students there and that I even said that shows that it was probably a good thing I transferred. It really is a bubble.

I’m terribly jump-out-of-my-skin excited about Kings of Convenience at Bowery very soon. KOC! KOC KOC KOC!!! These guys are awesome. If you can go but don’t (they’re playing two shows!) then I shall exclaim, HOLY CRAP WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU? …sorry, I didn’t mean to say it like that. They’re really good though. NRK.no has a video of them in the recording studio and footage of other things and it’s great (that link isn’t the one I was looking for but it’s still good). NRK is chock full of videos, you just have to look for them. If you want to watch stuff but don’t want to register, use the username/password evenmagnet/privatejinx. (Notice in the video the Magnet poster in the back in the beginning. Ohhh yeaaah.)

Today in my first class for “Writing the Essay” my professor talked about punctum. And something else. (Can you tell how great I am at learning? Neither can I.) Punctum is what makes something touch you in a certain way…er, mentally. Emotionally. As opposed to something you just like, punctum indicates something you freakishly love. Acutally, that’s not what she said at all but that’s how my brain cells have processed it. I was thinking about what artists fulfill that description for me and I could only come up with Magnet and The Innocence Mission (it only took me a second to figure that out though). Some live experiences can be life-changing (Flaming Lips!) but overall, I can’t think of anything else. How about you?

Doves Dropping In On the States [via One Louder]:

Jimi Goodwin tells Billboard.com the group is hoping to also squeeze in shows in New York and Los Angeles during the trip, and that it will also be back in the States later in the spring to play the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.

Seeing as I’m not going to California (although I would like to go to Coachella before I die and bacteria consume my organs) I hope they can do some of that squeezing and that the squeezing will not take place on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.

Having night classes is not cool. Tuesday and Wednesday = class until 9 PM. Yeah, I could still see shows getting out of class at that time but I’d really have to want to go to them. If you’re in NYC and have the time, check out Movable Hype 2.0 on February 16th. I haven’t been to any of the Movable Hype shows yet but they’re nice showcases of NYC bands and such. And it’s cheap! And if it’s at Knitting Factory all ages can go. That’s swell. I know there must be other people out there who are under 21 and annoyed at the places that are 21+. Those people have probable obtained fake IDs though. …[sigh]

It’s A Trap!, a website dedicated to Scandinavian music, has an mp3 playlist, one of which is currently Magnet’s cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line.” The song is taken from We Walk the Line, a recording of a benefit concert in Oslo where Norwegian artists played Johnny Cash covers to raise money for SOS Children’s Villages. This concert is from 2003 but I’ve been wondering how to get this Norway-only CD on and off for the past…while. Of course, I love Magnet’s version but I’m sure all the songs are fantastic.

If you like Beck then you probably know about the leaked album already. So I don’t need to recap the whole thing…because I already recapped it at beck beck beck, which got the most hits today than it has for the past many months. From the four songs I’ve heard I agree with what other people have been saying (or maybe they haven’t, I can’t remember) that it’s more like Odelay, but not entirely, and it’s not like Sea Change. Actually, none of his albums really sound like the other, so there isn’t much point in talking about that. It’s more upbeat, but not to crazy Midnite Vultures-like proportions.

Ah, talking about Beck is so notsalgic. For those who don’t know, I used to be very obsessed with Beck. I think it had something to do with being a young teenager as my obsessions present themselves differently these days, but millions of people would agree with me when I say that Beck is awesome. Beck has a gazillion songs but I somehow designated one as my favorite. If you haven’t heard it, I hope you like it:

Beck – Hollow Log [removed]

K Records also has the song “Forcefield” from the same album (One Foot in the Grave) in their audio/video section.