Baryshnikov, Eat Your Heart Out

Watch OK Go's "Here It Goes Again":



All in one take. Simply astounding. And if you think that's amazing, wait until they perform this live at the MTV Video Music Awards this Thursday night. What do you think will be the greater show: if they pull this off without a hitch, or if somebody eats it?

Bonus song: "Oh Lately It's So Quiet," one of my favorites from 2005.

Who Wants to Roll?

Details here.

The Title of This Photo: "If You Laugh You Are a Bad Person"

Of course, it had to be the funniest one.

Seriously, though, give it up for the guy who wrote one of the greatest ass-shaking tunes of all time: What'd I Say, Pts. 1 & 2.

Why The Pharcyde ruled the 90s:

It's Jiggaboo Time!!! Nobody drops social commentary like this anymore:



But on the real fuck the preachy:



Eesh this is like my second T.R.O.Y. post. Does hip hop suck that much lately? Depressio...color schemes...can't...snap...out...of...it. argh.

Thirty-Five, Forty, Forty-Five, Fifty, Sixty Thousand... It's Gonna Be a Good Summer.

iTunes de Nochy just hit sixty thousand songs, and the commemorative song is... The Bronx's "Dirty Leaves." Luckily, it wasn't Spank Rock's "Put That Pussy on Me," which made it pretty damn close.

Three things I want to share with y'all:

1. The moment. Just inhale the glory of this momentous occasion. Hold it in... there. Exhale.

2. The song. Here ya go.

3. The Bronx. Take a look at the cover to their 2003 debut album:
Doesn't that just make you wanna yak chunks all over the carpet?

You Know What I Think Of When I Hear "Pitchfork"? The Devil.

This morning, Pitchfork Media released the top 20 from their weeklong countdown of the 1960's top 200 songs. To save you some time, here's the top 10:

1. Beach Boys - God Only Knows
2. Jackson 5 - I Want You Back
3. Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come
4. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
5. Beatles - A Day in the Life
6. Ronettes - Be My Baby
7. Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice?
8. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues (Live at Folsom Prison)
9. The Who - I Can't Explain
10. Desmond Dekker & The Aces - Israelites

Ever since Annie's Anniemal made their top ten albums in 2005, I've always suspected Pitchfork of being closet pop fans. Filling their countdown with Beach Boys and Phil Spector songs only further perpetuates the whispers and behind-the-back shittalking from yours truly. How much you wanna make a bet: In 40 years, when Pitchfork, or whatever bastard offspring it hatches, decides to do a similar countdown for our current decade, Kelly Clarkson's gonna make the top 10.

I know lists are really subjective and mostly fun for the writers themselves, but Jesus, there are so many things wrong with this one, I don't even know where to begin. Bah.

"Don't forget us when y'all blow!"

where was I for this one?

Good god almighty!!! Listen to those monster horns on El Michels Affair backed live performance of "Criminology". Gza utterly murders his verse. But the Wu's banter at the end of the track alone is worth checkin out, right up there with the "Yo hol up Meth! Where my Killah tape at!?" times of old. But seriously, how is U God gonna go and beg folks "don't forget us when y'all blow"? All of a sudden, U God's appearance in the "Tiumph" video, on some apocalyptic vampire shit hangin from a tree and spittin his verse in hell, just doesn't do it for me anymore.

(more tracks here at The Mark Out)


Speaking of El Michels, highly recommend the brooknam funk revivalists' full length "Sounding Out the City". They've also recently released some vinyl where they interpret, yet again, old Wu classics like "C.R.E.A.M." sans verses.


And I guess Okayplayer does have more to offer than just The Boondocks strips. Came across this on the boards: D'angelo rarities (Voodoo outtakes and rare live covers).


How's that for nostalgia?

How to Torrent in 3 Simple Steps. Lots of Notes, Though, Huh?

Trying to figure out how to use BitTorrent or one of its many variants? Wanna know what a torrent is to begin with? Here are two ways to approaching this pimp weapon: 1. Read the BitTorrent Wiki article, or 2. Do exactly as I say below. Exactly.

1. Download a torrent client. This is analogous to the p2p software, and the same rules apply: safety and simplicity. You want a client that isn't bundled with adware, spyware, malware, or any other type of shitware. You also want it to be user-friendly.

Go with µTorrent.

2. Go to any torrent site and download the .torrent file for whichever album, show or other application you want.

The most popular sites, according to slyck.com, are:
1. Mininova
2. The Pirate Bay
3. My Bit Torrent
4. Torrentz
5. IsoHunt

It doesn't really matter which site you choose, since there's a lot of crossover in the listings. Use Torrent Spy.

When you click on a listing, for example, this one, take a look at the files you will be downloading. If it's a single .zip or .rar file, you want to view the files after you're done downloading to make sure they're legit. If it's a single .exe file, it's most likely a virus or other malicious software. Fucking haters, I know.

Once you've determined the files to be kosher, click on the "Download Torrent" button, and a .torrent file will be saved onto your computer.

3. Open the client, and drag the torrent file into the open window. It will ask you confirm the download, and if you click yes, all you have to do is wait for the thing to finish downloading.

Now a note on the terminology:
Seeders - people who have completed downloading the files but keep the torrent on so that others may finish grabbing whatever they need.
Leechers - everybody else who still need to finish downloading.
Your ratio = the amount you've uploaded for others divided by the amount you've downloaded from others.

For the most part, your ratio doesn't really matter since there are enough people who can cover the shiz, so you won't have to waste your bandwidth after downloading. However, there are some sites that specialize in live shows and require membership, such as Dime a Dozen and Pure Live Gigs. These contain private trackers that keep count of your ratio from personalized .torrents. As long as you keep the ratio above .25, you're gravy.

The other thing with those particular sites is that the people in there are super uppity about lossless files, so they work with .flac files, which are ridiculously huge, instead of .mp3s and will excommunicate you if they find out you've converted to .mp3. In the words of Beach Boy Mike Love, "Who's gonna listen to this shit, the ears of a dog?" I use All to MP3 Converter 1.6, and I can provide you with a registration code after the 30-day trial if you wanna hold on to it.

So there you go. Now use your new powers, young padawan, and go get the new Outkast album.

Is Taiwan in the House?

There are three artists from Taiwan whose CDs I am willing to purchase with my hard-earned New Taiwan Dollars: A-Yue (張震嶽), Wonfu (旺福), and Tizzy Bac. It's a ragtag group of artists, but still, a group that's at the forefront of listenable Taiwanese Rock.

A-Yue is best described as the black sheep of Taiwanese pop music. Ironically, he got his start as a "pop idol" singer (If you're unfamiliar with the concept, an idol is someone chosen by a record company for his looks, is paired with a succesful producer, and subsequently idolized by brain dead zombies teenaged schoolgirls, which leads to a crossover acting career, modeling, and later, talk show hosting). What saved him from being relegated to the bargain bin of pop music history were likely two skills: his inability to act like a normal, well-behaved, sweet-talking pop star, and his uncanny break-up-song-writing ability.

"Let's Break Up Then (分手吧)", "Freedom (自由)", and "Love Me, Don't go (愛我別走)" ensure that no teary-eyed parting of ways goes without a soundtrack.

Wonfu exists to counterbalance all the rock acts that take themselves way to fucking seriously. Encorporating kindergarten sing-song melodies and momentary lapses of sanity, their brand of cute-taiwanese-rock would likely be categorized as joke- rock. But with a guitar wiz at its core and two uber-cute girls providing bass and lead vocals in the wings, Wonfu work it (their drummer, while unremarkable, is at least a decent drummer). If you're down with google video, you can check out a bootlegged video of one song that I shot at one of their shows.

Their "hits" include "When I Was a Kid I Used to go to Spin (我小時後都去Spin)", "Miniskirt (迷你裙)", and "The Peach Song(水蜜桃輓歌)".

Tizzy Bac is one of those "we don't need no stinkin guitar" bands that substitute a keyboard for lead guitar and rely on the rhythm section to cover the rest. Works for me. As far as I'm concerned, Tizzy Bac rule as king of Taiwan's indie scene. Musically, Tizzy Bac is the freshest, and most mature band I've heard in the two years I've spent in Taiwan. I saw a review somewhere on in worldwideweb-ernet that described their latest album as a mix between jazz, electronica, and rock. That's rubbish. Plain and simple, this is indie Taiwanese rock at its finest - nothing anywhere as shit-disgusting as "electro-jazz-fusion".

Unbeatable: "Anthony (安東尼)", "Ashes (灰燼)", "Seven Years (七年)".

A Cheaper Ticket Means More Money for Beer

Here are some upcoming shows I plan on hitting up, and I've included links for the artists' respective tours in case you wanna catch them at a venue near you. There's a sample from each artists' most recent album so you can get a taste of the flava. I love you, too.

Nouvelle Vague - 9/8 at Henry Fonda Music Box in LA.
Blue Monday (from Bande A Part)

Ratatat - 9/23 at the Glass House in Pomona (because the LA date is a school night)
Tropicana (from Classics)

Art Brut/We Are Scientists w/ Spinto Band - 9/30 at the same Henry Fonda Music Box
Art Brut - Formed a Band (from Bang Bang Rock & Roll)
We Are Scientists - Textbook (from With Love and Squalor)
Spinto Band - Spy vs. Spy (from Nice and Nicely Done)


Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 10/1 at the Hollywood Palladium
Dudley (from Show Your Bones)

Here Comes the 99th Percentile to Lower the Bar

The one and only time I went to see Like a Fat Kid Loves Cake was maybe four years ago. They were playing at Bottom of the Hill and it was definitely not worth the $3 admission. Shit. That show sucked.

Yay, You Found It

So, wanna contribute? Email me at oinoch@gmail.com.