What I listened to in 2008

in no order and because i'm 1 of 3 people here at work today and i'm tipsy off my 2 hour lunch break...

here's what I listened to and actually gave a shit about this year:

Lil Wayne - The Carter 3

TVOTR - Dear Science

Lykke Li - Youth Novels

Outkast feat. Raekwon - Royal Flush... actually pretty much any song Three Stacks was on this year (with the exception of Green Light)

Arthur Russell - Love is Overtaking Me

Nina Simone - To Be Free

Mayer Hawthorne & The County - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out

HAPPY HOLIDAYS SNITCHES!

Our Very Own Amazian

For those of you who have never read the Disgrasian blog, do it now. It's okay, I'll wait.

So now that you have a taste of greatness, you'll probably feel almost as proud as I do for having our very own Bobby "The Biz'Ness"* Lin get a "Rock of Asian" music submission printed. On top of the usual "Thanks, [your name here]!" the boy got additional big ups in the story itself. Double proud!

And for the record, he did consider posting the David Choi thing for this site but felt it was a bit old and out of character, so it's okay.

*not a real nickname

Ted "the one that says bad motherfucker" Leo & the "hopefully won't mind getting compared to the roots" Pharmacists

On Wednesday, December 3, 2008, two things of note happened. The first, which is probably not so interesting to any of you, is that for the first time, I forgot to pay my credit card bill for the month. Shit.

The second, is that Ted Leo & the Pharmacists played a gig in Brooklyn called Indie Rock Karaoke, hosted by Andrew W.K.

THAT was a fucking trip. Featuring three hours of covers, sung by the audience and backed by Ted & the Pharmacists. Songs by the Stooges, the Ramones, the Misfits, AC/DC, the Cure, the Clash, Joy Division, David Bowie, Blondie, Minor Threat, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steely Dan, and others. They even let tons of people switch songs and do their songs: a Colleen from the audience perform their song Colleen and a dude successfully requested to sing Where Have all the Rudeboys Gone even though it was already played earlier in the night.

Coolest songs? Aretha Franklin's Respect (voted best performance of the night by Andrew W.K.) and the Outfield's Your Love:



In case you forgot how that song went... link

What a Crazy, Random Happenstance.

For those of you that missed it the first time around, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is now available for free on the Hulu site. Highly recommended.

The Billy Corgan Experience

Last night, as an early birthday gift, Connie took me to see the modern incarnation of the Smashing Pumpkins at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City. Before the show, I looked into several things:

1. Which venue sold out to Gibson, and subsequently read about the amphitheater's amazing acoustics.

2. What the Pumpkins' setlist was on their recent tour, and subsequently read about Corgan's ego being the fifth member.

3. What the traffic would be like to Connie's office, because it's always good to be prepared.

On to the show itself. First off, here's the setlist from the Pumpkins' site:
They also played "Eye," their marvelous inclusion on the Lost Highway soundtrack, pretty early into the set, maybe right before "Mayonaise." Combining this with the aforementioned sound quality of the venue, and I'd say about 90% of the show kicked ass. The hits were amazing, and songs like "Stand Inside Your Love" and "Tonight, Tonight" played live completely blow the album versions out the water. "Once Upon a Time," "The Crux," and "The Rose March" were played semi-acoustic, which was also great.

Personal highlight for Connie and me: Before going into "Once Upon a Time," Corgan intro'd it as a song on "Ado-ree" that was written for his mom. Two rows in front of us, some long-haired kid started jumping up and down gleefully, and called his friend to let him hear the song on the phone but hung up about 10 seconds into the song. Personally, I think he assumed it was gonna be "For Martha" and hung up when it turned out otherwise. Connie's highlight: the jumping. My highlight: the disappointment.

The other 10%: Twenty minute renditions of "United States" and "Heavy Metal Machine." Pretty much everybody around us zoned out, and at one point I turned to Connie to ask, "What the fuck is going on?" The linked Pumpkins setlist site probably had the best synopsis, which, in a nutshell, stated that Corgan has no sense of rapport with the audience, instead going into long, improvisational jam sessions that only serve to feed his ego. Miles Davis he thinks he is, but Miles Davis he ain't.

Still, overall, great show. Much obliged, Connie.

This is what Corgan wore. The bottom half is a dress. No lie.

They Only Look Like Dirty Hippies

I accidentally discovered this sweet little ditty through a live version I heard a few days ago, and I am now hooked.

A little background info on the band: The Magic Numbers are two brother-sister pairs who all met at a London Catholic School. The two pairs met there, I mean. I'm sure the siblings knew each other somewhat longer. Then they became a band.

Anyhoo, two personal points I'd like to make: 1. "Forever Lost" was from their 2005 debut album. I know I'm way late on this, but it's just so good I gotta share it. 2. I really think I need to get over whatever preconceptions I have of bands based on their grimey looks, crappy album covers, or... mainly their grimey looks. I almost missed out on My Morning Jacket, and the Magic Numbers have a very poppy, Carpenters-esque sound. Moral: don't judge a band by its B.O.



And the live version: The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost (Benicassim live)

Triple Threat

1. Is Q-tip done being pretentious? I'm not entirely sure, but Getting Up sounds miiiiighty nostalgic.

2. Anyone remember Common on Armand Van Helden's Full Moon joint? Well, the Universal Mind Control's electro groove is probably as close as dude will get to doing another house track (click through as embedding's been disabled).

3. Back when Black on Both Sides dropped, I remember listening to New World Water and thinking, shit, did Mos take ISF16 too? As supplementary material to my Cal course on technology and globalization, the track was totally on point. Mathematics is the new New World Water.

An 8bit Family Affair

Like many Asian males who never played intramural sports, the boy Fat Kids are avid video game fans. Jerome's Wii is his baby. Bobby's obsession with anything involving a controller stems partly from a console-less childhood. I'll pretty much go wide-eyed for any game that involves stealing cars or firing off rocket launchers. On several occasions, we've talked about doing a gaming blog, but the biggest obstacle is that I can't get games for free on Mininova.

However, we'll always have video game music to tide us over. Enter: Chiptune band, YMCK.

Good entrance.

I mentioned YMCK a few months ago, mistaking them for a Taiwanese band simply because the latest news item on their official website at the time was them playing a Taiwanese festival. Oops.

Anyway, a few days ago I finally got their 2008 release, Family Genesis, and it's Chip-tastic. To pay my respects to this album, I finally signed up for another file-hosting site and uploaded a couple select tracks:

YMCK - Sabita Tobira No Dai 8 Tengoku

YMCK - Starlight

Old habits are still hard to break, so here's a video for sake of blog consistency:

Hot Babes, Martinis, Licenses to Kill, and Bitchin' Songs

I read somewhere a long time ago that one of the greatest musical honors is to be asked to write a James Bond film theme. Alumni have included Nancy Sinatra, Shirley Bassey, Paul McCartney, and perennial favorite, Quiet Riot. Kidding.

Anyway, prepare the marble busts for the newest additions, Alicia Keys and Jack White, with "Another Way to Die" for Quantum of Solace:


And while we're at it, here are couple of my favorites:

Garbage's "The World is Not Enough":


And Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better":

Half-Assed Reunions

2 reunion stories to get you moderately amused:

1. Jackson 5

The good news: Janet's opening for the guys.

The bad news: Michael wants nothing to do with it.

The redeeming news: There were six brothers, so technically, they still could call themselves the Jackson 5.

Final take: Throw them a fucking bone, Mike. We're in the middle of a recession, and your sibs need to put food on the table.

2. Led Zeppelin

The good news: After an assload of reunion rumors, this one's finally kinda substantiated.

The bad news: Robert Plant wants nothing to do with it.

The redeeming news: Dee Snider of Twisted Sister claims the other guys are working with the singer from Alter Bridge.

Final take: It'll probably be better if they don't mention the Alter Bridge part.