30 Day Song Challege, Day 11 - A Song From Your Favorite Band

I'm calling bullshit on this one, just like I did on Day 1 (Your Favorite Song). Just like I don't have a favorite song, I don't have a favorite band. There are bands I'm really into at the moment (e.g Raconteurs & The Mountain Goats), there are bands I haven't listened to in a long time but would leave on if they came up on shuffle (The Welcome Wagon, Violent Femmes) and there are bands I listened to obsessively for a long time, but then stopped for some reason (Pink Floyd, The Velvet Underground).

So, what constitutes my favorite band? I have no idea, so I'm gonna bend the rules and do a song from all three categories. Take that!

11a - A Song From a Band You're Really Into Right Now: The Crystal Method, "I Know It's You," from Legion of Boom.



I first started listening to The Crystal Method in 1998, during a month-long stay in Greenville, SC. (That's a story for some other time.) Vegas was in heavy rotation, for a year, especially in the car as it makes excellent driving music. But they fell off my playlist for a few years. A friend recently turned me on to Legion of Boom recently though, and it gets played a good bit on my computer at work. "I Know It's You" is one of my favorite tracks, very much reminiscent of their work on Vegas, and Milla Jovovich's spooky vocals work perfectly with their distorted bassline and drums. I am amazed that track hasn't yet been appropriated for an action-movie chase sequence or television commercial, like pretty much every track on Vegas was.

11b - A Song From A Band I Haven't Listened To In A Long Time But Would Leave On If They Came Up On Shuffle: The Cure, "Pictures of You," from Disintegration.



I guess The Cure might also fall into the category of "bands I listened to obsessively." It's hard to tell, really, because I listened to them a lot mostly because people I was around listened to them a lot. I really do like their music, at least everything up to Disintegration, but they haven't made it onto a playlist in a long time.

"Pictures of You," is probably one of my favorite songs; it has great instrumentation and clean, if mopey, vocals from Robert Smith. The video is only so-so, sadly, but stands out as yet another example of the director doing everything he can to make the band miserable. (This was sort of a theme in their videos. For another example, check out the video for "Close To Me.")

11c - A Song From A Band I Listened To Obsessively For A Long Time, But Then Stopped For Some Reason: The Velvet Underground and Nico, "Femme Fatale," from The Velvet Underground and Nico (aka: "the banana album," "peel slowly and see")


velvet underground - femme fatale by erioluk

My friend AJ introduced me to the Velvet Underground in my Junior year of high school. He loaned me his vinyl copy of The Velvet Underground and Nico and by the time I handed it back a week later I'd already made two cassette copies. (I needed one for home and one to live in the Chevette, you see.) From then until 1995 or so I pretty much listened to anything by The Velvets or Lou Reed that I could get my hands on.

And then, I sort of, stopped. I don't know what happened. I know I started getting back into techno around that time, so that might have had something to do with it. Or maybe it was Lou's later albums that put me off. Whatever the reason, I haven't listened to anything by the Velvets in a long time; the closest I've come, in fact, was a brief stint listening to a cover of that first album by Beck's Record Club - something I blogged about here a while ago.

So, there we are. Another "day" finished in this interminable challenge. Look forward to my next entry, when I'll most likely call bullshit on the topic again and then spend entirely too long writing about it. Excelsior!

Green Screen Tech Comes Home

I just saw the commercial for Yoostar(tm), which is basically a home green-screen video set-up with software that puts you into a movie or television scene.

It looks like a great concept, but right now there's only a limited catalog of scenes available. You only get 14 scenes when you purchase the system; the rest are available to download for a few bucks each. It's also pretty constraining; you can only upload your scenes to the Yoostar site or view them using on your computer using the proprietary Yoostar application. If you were hoping to YouTube your best Elwood Blues impression or burn Gramma's role as Blacula to DVD, you're out of luck.

Still, I'm excited to see yet another tool of video professionals being made affordable enough ($169.99 at Best Buy) for amateurs, and I can't wait to see what the hackers do with it. In the meantime, enjoy this clip, with Snoop Dogg whoring himself out at Tommy Chong, Marlon Brando & others.

The Cars That Go Boom

Somebody actually took the time to make a video for one of my favorite mashups ever. And it's pretty well edited, too! (If you don't like mashups at least hang in there for the vintage Beatles cartoon.)

The Tallest Man on Earth

I've told you about The Tallest Man on Earth, right? I haven't?! Quick! Watch this video! No no no! There's no time to thank me now! Do it later! Click! Hurry!

Vampire Weekend

I snagged a few tracks from Vampire Weekend's debut album this wee...a day or so ago, and some of their stuff is pretty okay. I'm just not crazy about everything I've heard. I realize that I'm no longer part of the modern music scene but I just don't dig "Oxford Comma" or "Mansard Roof" - two of the more popular singles according to the blogs I've been reading. "A-Punk," and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," however, are fun little pop songs that I'm happy to have with me during my morning commute.

I'll leave serious commentary to folks dedicated to music blogging. Here! Look at this video!