Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson - Break Up

I am shocked and amazed at how much the collaborative album between Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson, Break Up, doesn't suck. If I would have known that it is as good as it is, I would have listened to it quite some time ago. You know, like in 2009 when it came out. Sorry for the late arrival, guys.

First of all, I didn't even know Johansson had an album (if you can really call it that). She apparently put out a debut album in 2008, Anywhere I Lay My Head, comprised of one original song and 10 Tom Waits covers, which is pretty freakin' weird. What's even weirder is that she's really not half bad. I can kind of see why Yorn picked her for the Serge Gainsbourg and Bridget Bardot-esque album. I mean, she's no Bardot, that's a given, but she's got an old school, gravelly voice in the best sense of the term. Sort of Karen Bergquist from Over the Rhine, but less mature. The duo hits the mark somewhere between Gainsbourg/Bardot and Ward/Deschanel.

The beginning of this album is utterly fantastic. Really. I'm not even being sarcastic here, so take it while you can get it. It opens with the "hit" of the album, "Relator", which is one of the few songs on here that seems to have a good balance of Johansson and Yorn. They're both quiet, and they play off of each other so well over an old-school guitar line and minimalistic, well, everything else. It's nothing fancy, it's good, old-fashioned rock music. Followed by the slightly 60's, somewhat island like, Jack Johnson sounding "Wear and Tear", the album really just sucks you in with awe. Perhaps that's just me, though, because I really expected this album to be terrible. "I Don't Know What to Do" blends ScarJo's smokey voice and Yorn's whisper-y vocals into a classic alt-country ballad, while "Search Your Heart" has Johansson perfecting those "whoa-ohs".

While I'm generally a lukewarm Pete Yorn fan (read: a musicforthemorningafter fan) I find myself anxiously awaiting Johansson's parts and wondering when she's going to get a song of her own on the album, and then it comes...

The ridiculous, pointless cover of Big Star Bell's "I Am the Cosmos". It's weak and bland, and generally just no good. After that, this album becomes a trainwreck. Thank god that song is 2/3 of the way into the album. After that, it's just three, uninspired songs that feel like they were just stuck at the end of the album to fill some space. Man, I hate that. At least if you know that some of those songs suck, mix it up a little bit, dammit.

As for Yorn, anything after musicforthemorningafter has been pretty, lame. Just your standard, run of the mill pop music that tends to get lost in the sea of mediocre pop albums produced every day, so I really wasn't expecting much from him. He sounds pretty much like he does on every album, but at least this time, he has someone else to shake things up a little bit. 

It's amazing how quickly this album turns around. With such a promising beginning, the rest of the album is such a sore let down. I can tell you one thing, though. The thing that I took away from this, is that I will definitely be watching out for the new Johansson album! It gets a B, minus, only because the beginning is so damn good. Such a shame about the end.

You can actually check out the whole album streaming on their Myspace, as well as a few tracks from both of them, separately. Check 'em out!

"Relator"



"Wear and Tear"


 "I Don't Know What to Do"

Ke$ha - Cannibal

In a posthumous movie about John Travolta's life, who would play him? Ke$ha.
Anyway, onto the music!

I never really listened to Ke$ha (or at least not that I was entirely aware of) until yesterday. I saw the episode of The Simpsons where they made fun of "Tik Tok" and apparently they play that "Take It Off" song at the bar that I frequent, but I never realized that it was her.

I have a soft spot for shitty pop music...I really do. I find it quite hard to believe that she has any real talent, but this album is downright entertaining. Autotune? Bring it on. Vocorder? There's enough of it on here to fill 50 million Brittany Spears albums. Ke$ha is the poor man's Lady Gaga. While Gaga's singing about "the Jag, the jet, and the mansion", Ke$ha is singing about how her and her friends are those girls who take your drink off the table at a bar when you leave. Okay, well...that part's kinda gross, but you get what I mean.

Cannibal is your standard, terrible pop album and I love it in that way that dogs love rolling in garbage. Yeah, it smells bad, but by god, it's fun. It's got such heartfelt lyrics as, "You should know that I love you a lot, but I just can't date a dude with a vaj" in the horrendously misspelled "Grow A Pear" and "Yup, I'll pull a Jeffrey Dahmer" in the eponymous single, "Cannibal". She's like a drunker (if you can even imagine that) Lily Allen.

Also, in "Cannibal", she tries to do this sexy, Christina Aguilera scale thing and fails so miserably you can't help but get a kick out of it. Every time I hear it I can imaging little Ke$ha on the short bus and it makes me smile inside. Imagine a mentally challenged kid just saying "Oh" over and over into a vocorder. That's what you get.

Even for all the humor of this album, there's not nearly as much funny shit as on her first album. I mean, Animal had such classics as "Blah Blah Blah" with the line "Cut to the chase kid, 'cause I know you don't care what my middle name is. I wanna get naked and you're wasted", and "Party at A Rich Dude's House", which is pretty self explainatory. She does include the mandatory pop-ballad per album with "The Harold Song", "They say that true love hurts, well this could almost kill me. Young love murder, that is what this must be." Ohhhhh, poor KeSha. Try not talking about boning half the population. That might help your whole "relationship issue" situation.

Long story short, this is not the album of the year. It's not even really that good, but I get a kick out of people talking about drinking, because I like drinking. This is a great album to put on while you're getting ready to go out, or you're drunk. Or you just wish you were drunk. It gets a solid C from me.

Check out the entire album, streaming on her Myspace, now.

Ke$ha - We R Who We R (Someone get this girl to a spelling class, STAT!)

Girl Talk - All Day

Three weeks in and I simply can't stop listening to Girl Talk's newest album, All Day. It's a little bit ridiculous actually. The fifth effort from Pittsburgh native, Gregg Gillis, is by far his best yet. At least in my opinion. I can't believe that there's actually been negative reviews on this album. A negative review of Girl talk is a negative review of almost 400 songs. If you can't find something to like on here, stop listening to music because your life is over.

It's amazing to see how far he's come since 2002's Secret Diary. This album is fitter, happier, and more productive. It's cleaner and so well produced. What's awesome about Girl Talk in general, is that no matter what, there's some part of a track that you're bound to like. Classic rock with hardcore rap with happy hardcore with 80's pop. And somehow...it just makes sense. Also, it makes it okay for me to rock out to songs that I would otherwise feel a little embarrassed to enjoy. Case in point: Beyonce's "Single Ladies" or Rhianna's "Rude Boy" (Note: this statement does not apply if I am in a three block vicinity of a gay bar. Then it simply can't be helped).

Also, Girl Talk has changed the way I feel about rap, in general. I always thoroughly enjoyed the beats in rap songs...if only the people singing in them would just shut the fuck UP, already. Girl Talk remedies this quite nicely. You get only the best parts of three hundred and seventy-some songs. It is the ultimately party playlist. The mashups on this album are the best of the best, though. One of my personal favorites has got to be the call and answer of The Beastie Boys' "Hey Ladies" to Lady Gaga's "Lovegame". Okay, OR Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" vs. Ludacris' "Move Bitch" ("I'm doin' a hundred on the highway so if you do the speed limit, get the fuck outta my way. I'm D.U.I., hardly ever caught sober, and you about to get ran the fuck over.") Classy. Okay, OR any one of the other 1000 incredible mashups on this album. The whole thing is simply fucking phenomenal.

Oh, and have you heard about this "Gregg Gillis Day" situation? Alright, let's get on a personal Girl Talk for a minute hear. As stated before, we attended the same high school and her grew up like, two towns over from me. I didn't know him, but it still give me a warm, fuzzy feeling that something awesome happened in my neck of the woods. Anyway, Pittsburgh has declared December 7th (also the day of the attacks on Pearl Harbor) Gregg Gillis Day. How 'bout that. Is there a Michael Jackson Day? No. Is there a Beatles Day? No. Is there a Lady Gaga Day? No. Suck it, other cities. We have Gregg Gillis and you don't. We like him so much, we made him his very own special day. I really want to make the most of this. Gregg Gillis Day party next year? Yes, please.We'll mash up some various alcoholic drinks? MOJITOS!!! I declare the official drink of Gregg Gillis Day mojitos.

I did miss his live show here recently, which was a bummer. It's incredible that it sold out as quickly as it did and hell, I'm happy for him. I hope the half-naked, hairy, maniac that he becomes live entertained a whole lot of people at Pittsburgh's new Stage AE. Perhaps one of these days, I'll have to catch him.

Okay, back to the album:

It's one of those albums that you can just put on repeat and walk away. You never hear the same song twice. There's always that new layer of that other track that you didn't hear last time and somehow, it's always a welcome addition. It's ridiculously awesome and like most of Girl Talk's work, absolutely free. Head on over to Illegal Art and download your copy now. It's well worth your time. You can also stream it from his Myspace. A!

Jupiter One - Sunshower

Woo hoo! Two great bands in two days! This is awesome.

The founding members of Jupiter One, K. Ishibashi and Zac Colwell, actually met as traveling, orchestral musicians with Barnum and Bailey. Freakin' weird right? But, also awesome. Add in Ishibashi's wife, Mocha, drummer David Heilman, and bass player Pat "Panda" Dougherty and you have Jupiter One. And yes, they ARE named after the spaceship in Lost In Space.


I can tell you one thing for sure about their sophomore album, Sunshower: I purchased it. I used real, American, dollars to buy music. That's a pretty rare occurrence in my life, but these guys are awesome.

It's been a long time since I've actually enjoyed every song on an album and this one really hits the mark. There's such a diverse array of music that it doesn't get boring. From the funky "Find Me A Place" to the indie rock "Lights Go Out" to the 80's new-wave "Anna" to the reggae inspired "Simple Stones" to the pop hit "Volcano", this album's got something for everyone.

They're also popping up everywhere, from video games (Madden NFL '08, NHL '08, Burnout Paradise, FIFA '08, and FIFA '09) to commercials (Payless and Mazda) to television (MLB Network, Heroes, and Kyle XY). They've also toured with Regina Spektor on her last two circuits, which is pretty sweet. That sounds like a lethal combo of AWESOME!

You can check out the new album, Sunshower, streaming on their Myspace now and read more about the band over at their site. Check 'em out! This album gets a resounding A from me!

"Volcano"



"Anna"



"Lights Go Out"

Things Behind the Sun

Well, look at that...Lancaster, PA has more to offer than Amish people, Magic the Gathering conventions, and farmer's markets. From their Myspace:

"Things Behind The Sun is a Lancaster-based Indie Rock band made up of four beardless men who had a dream. A dream of making great music, and of one day having beards that would rival those of kings. Giving up on the latter part, they decided to write some music - with unconventional instrumentation featuring the unique timbres of violin and cello, driving rhythms and catchy choruses, emotional melodies and climaxes, and mood-evoking lyrics. The debut EP "The Beards of Kings" will be released sometime in late 2010."

 This also prompted this drawing in an email:

Yes, my friends, this is an emo cello. Do not let said cello fool you, though, this indie-rock quartet is oh-so-much more than that. However, I AM a sucker for a good cello.


They're insanely infectious. In fact, I think I'll have to apologize to my friends and co-workers in advance, because they only have four tracks up on their Myspace and I've been consistently listening to them on repeat since the later hours of the morning. You can actually download one of their songs, "Captured in Colors" for free. Well, not free I guess, but in exchange for a simple Tweet or Facebook post. It's well worth it.

Falling into this new, "Baroque Rock", folk category with bands like the Fleet Foxes, Mumford & Sons, and Iron and Wine, Things Behind The Sun is a welcome addition to my music collection. While they are similar to other bands when it comes to the music, Jordan Taylor's voice owns. Imagine that Maynard Keenan and Serj Tankian had a baby. And that it's an angel. That's Jordan Taylor. Maybe the lack of beard helps. A lot of these singers are mumbling lyrics at you through the thickest of hipster beards, see?

 

Robin Pecknold from the Fleet Foxes

Sam Beam from Iron & Wine

Colin Meloy from The Decemberists

And that's just three examples! Look how delightfully beardless Things Behind the Sun are!

I think we can now make the informed decision that naked faces make better rockers. Wow, this blog went totally off tangent...

Long story short: Things Behind the Sun is an awesome, awesome band and you should check them out. Also: PA REPRESENT! Keep an eye out for their debut album, "The Beards of Kings" coming soon!