I Want My Music Television vol. XXIX

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.



Cath... - Death Cab for Cutie

The more I listen to Narrow Stairs (see: And They Carried on Like Long Division) the more Cath… becomes my favorite song on the lattest Death Cab for Cutie album. The video is about as odd as the four and a half minute bass groove that started off I Will Possess Your Heart. Half, a fairly literal version of the song about a lady marrying someone she could have done better than with the other half with the whole band lip syncing in a backstage area with grass. Arighty then. Hero - Nas & Keri Hilson The latest album from Nas is no longer called the word I am not allowed to say without receiving a beatdown, indeed is now named, well, nothing. The song has to be in the running for beat of the year so far with it Neptunes meets Timbaland feel, granted the video itself just looks like another Hype Williams retread. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend In what could be the most profound question of the year, Vampire Weekend ponders, “Who gives a (expletive deleted) about an Oxford Comma”. Indeed. But my pretentiousness aside, you got to like any video that is all one shot. Just don’t ask me what the whole chapter thing is about. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) - Amanda Seyfried Yes that is Lily Kane singing… singing Abba from the theatrical version of Momma Mia, a movie there is no way anyone can get me to see unless Lily Kane herself invites me and involves some extracurricular activities afterwards.

And They Carried on Like Long Division

Much has been made of the eight and a half minute epic first single from Death Cab for Cutie, I Will Possess Your Heart and its four and a half minutes of a bass line on a constant loop before a single lyric is uttered. But ironically Narrow Stairs starts right off with the voice of Ben Gibbard. In fact Bixby Canyon Bridge sounds like it could have been an unheard track off of their last album Plans. That is until the track deconstructs around the two thirty mark into a fuzzy distortion for the last nearly singer-less three minutes. Which could explain why it takes the next track, I Will Possess Your Heart took almost as long to finally find its groove.

Aside from the extended outro and intro of the first two songs, Narrow Stairs really doesn’t deviate too far from the band’s previous sound. Sure you find some more feedback on Talking Bird and the organ bounce of You Can Do Better Than Me is reminiscent of the golden era of The Beach Boys as well as the abrupt end of Pity and Fear. While the track length ranges from under two minutes to over eight.

As the music of the band evolves, the songwriting really doesn’t deviate as Gibbard’s old stand bys of love, loss, and obsession are still preeminent. The latter of course show up in I Will Possess Your Heart (how disturbingly great is that title) which could be the best song written by a stalker since Crash into Me. The ode to California wildfires Grapevine Fires is beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.

And no one is better at making depressing things sound gloomy like when he asks what became of a girl “in a hand-me-down wedding dress” on Cath… Then there is something funny yet sad about the girl in Your New Twin Sized Bed who downgrades from a queen because she just doesn’t need the extra space after realizing no one was going to it take up. But Gibbard saved the most lovelorn story for himself when he declares on You Can Do Better than Me that he can’t do better than her.

Song to Download - I Will Possess Your Heart

Narrow Stairs gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

2008 Spring Music Preview

The first quarter for music is pretty boring but the past winter saw surprise releases from Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Gnarls Barkley and The Raconteurs that came out without the usual months long hoopla, instead coming out within days of their announcement. Hopefully that trend continues because there isn’t much on the docket for the spring that really piques my interest that much. Wait, apparently the trend has as you can expect an album from Foxboro Hot Tubs (i.e. Green Day’s garage band side project) “any day” now. Here is a list of the albums that at least caught my eye.

If you are interested in preordering the albums from Amazon, the link on the album name will take you their, the links on artists names will take you to their iTunes page. If I left one of your favorite artists off the list with an upcoming album feel free to drop me an e-mail or feel free to wax poetic in the comment section on which albums you are looking forward to. (Note: release dates subject to change):

May 6
Home Before Dark - Neil Diamond: Yet another round of songs from the Diamond created with the help of Rick Rubin. You can preorder Home Before Dark on iTunes and get a bonus preorder-only track.

Gavin DeGraw - Gavin DeGraw: His first album was listenable in an easy listing kind of way. But that was five years ago. DeGraw says the new batch is more rock as evident from the first single, In Love with a Girl. But how rocking can something be when working with Daughty’s producer? You can pre-order Gavin DeGraw on iTunes.

Snack Time - Barenaked Ladies: It has been a while since they have created a great song, but rarely do they put out anything bad.


May 13
Narrow Stairs - Death Cab for Cutie: If the eight minute opus of I Will Possess Your Heart is any indication, the new album will be a big departure from the breakthrough of their last album. You can preorder Narrow Stairs on iTunes and receive a bonus track.

Blame it on Gravity - Old 97’s: Maybe the best band no one outside of Texas has heard of is back for some more southern rock.

Rockferry - Duffy: The latest Bristish import who is like Amy Winehouse without the modern feel, potential drug overdose, or jail time. The more I listen to Mercy, the more I am looking forward to the whole album. You can pre-order Rockferry on iTunes.


May 20
3 Doors Down - 3 Doors Down: Third time wasn’t the charm for the band as Seventeen Days was a huge disappointment. Hopefully they can rebound. You can pre-order 3 Doors Down on iTunes and get a bonus pre-order only track.

Anywhere I Lay My Head - Scarlett Johansson; Julianne Hough - Julianne Hough: Julianne Hough is what I like to refer to as moderately attractive, but I couldn’t make it more than a minute into her video before I had to turn it off. Johansson’s stab at Tom Wait songs do not fair much better. Hopefully the two stick to their day jobs.


May 27
Lay it Down - Al Green: Hopefully ?uestlove of The Roots can do for Green what Rick Rubin was able to do for Johnny Cash. John Legend, Corinne Bailey Rae and Anthony Hamilton also guest on the album.

Same Old Man - John Hiatt: Simply one of the best songwriters of the past couple decades.


June 3
Perfectly Clear - Jewel: Her last album bombed now Jewel is trading in her van for a cowboy hat for a country album.

The Glass Passenger - Jack’s Mannequin: Shortly before the first album was released, Andrew McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Natually they were not able to promote the album since he was recieveing cancer treatments so the gem was widly unnoticed. Now that his treatments are over, hopefully the new disk will reach a larger audience.

Rock My World - Bret Michaels: No, seriously, that is the name of his album.


June 10
Seeing Things - Jakob Dylan: The Wallflowers are basically a one album wonder, a decade after that hit; Bob’s son has hooked up with Rick Rubin for a solo album.

Seeing Sounds - N.E.R.D.: When not producing for other people Pharrell William is pretty hit or miss with his solo outings and trio N.E.R.D. You can download the first single Everybody Nose for free over at Spinner.com.

Self Portrait - LaLah Hathaway: All I know is that her dad is named Donnie whom you may know best as the dude that was referenced by Amy Winehouse, “There’s nothing you can teach me that I can’t learn from Mr. Hathaway.”


June 17
Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay: There has been nothing more disappointing this decade that X&Y to the point where the album almost sounded like a Coldplay cover band. The band has said to have broadened their musical palette this time around with lead singer Chris Martin, taking a break from singing hooks for rappers, discovering lower register for his vocals this time around. This week only, you can download their first single, Violet Hill on their website, Coldplay.com.


June 24
Weezer - Weezer: Just start calling it The Red Album now to avoid confusion with their two other self titled albums. You can pre-order Weezer on iTunes and receive a pre-order only track and a unique password to purchase Weezer concert ticket on Ticketmaster.com before the general public.


July/August
(Expletive Deleted) - Nas
Life, Death, Love and Freedom - John Mellencamp
Everything Comes and Goes - Michelle Branch
TBA - Ben Folds
TBA - B.B. King
TBA - Ray LaMontagne

I Want My Music Television vol. XXIII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Homecoming - Kanye West



I believe Kanye West is now half way to making a video for each song off his new album. I always found it silly to have the dude from Coldplay sing the hook about Chicago. I don’t think he remembers fireworks on Lake Michigan. The effect are pretty cool anyways.


I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie



Yeah some die-hards are upset with this song but I have to give it up to anyone with the gall to go with an eight plus minute epic as their first single without any lyrics until half way through. Now if only Death Cab for Cutie had taken a page out of the Guns n’ Roses playbook and had an accompanying super epic video to go along with it. But the infectious bass line almost makes up for it.


Bottle it Up - Sara Bareilles



What I like about Sara Bareilles, and why I think she will outlast other potential one hit wonder of the moment Colbie Caillat, is that she has an underlying starkiness. If you thought Love Song was about some dude, take a closer listen to the lyrics (hint: its dircted at her record company). And I love the opening line of this song, “They’ll be girls across the nation that will eat this up.”


Madly - Tristan Prettyman



I should have a review of Tristan Prettyman’s album up sometime this week, but in short it is better than her debut, of course I think only a small handful ever heard it. To hold you over until I get that up, you can currently download this song for free as iTunes Free Single of the Week (as long as the below graphic is still of her).

100 Best Songs of 2006

Since 1996, long before I had a blog, I have made of my favorite songs from that year once it concluded. Sometimes songs near the top of those list haven’t stood the test of time while some songs near the bottom have over the years have become some of my favorites. This year I took a list of 162 songs that caught my ear the past twelve months and came back with my top 100 using a complex racking system that makes the BCS look like Middle School algebra. So here are the songs that you should have been listening to this past year:


1. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

2. God's Gonna Cut You Down - Johnny Cash

3. Waiting On the World to Change - John Mayer

4. Boston - Augustana

5. How to Save a Life - The Fray

6. One - Mary J. Blige and U2

7. Leave the Pieces - The Wreckers

8. Hurt - Christina Aguilera

9. I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie

10. When You Were Young - The Killers

11. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall

12. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield

13. Fidelity - Regina Spektor

14. Hips Don't Lie - Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean

15. Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks

16. Smile - Lily Allen

17. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol

18. Nothing Left to Lose - Mat Kearney

19. The Saints Are Coming - Green Day and U2

20. Save Room - John Legend

21. Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray

22. I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) - Sandi Thom

23. Cab - Train

24. Gone - Pearl Jam

25. Dynomite (Going Postal) - Rhymefest

26. Hip Hop Is Dead - Nas featuring Will.I.Am

27. Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood

28. White & Nerdy - “Weird Al” Yankovic

29. The Mixed Tape - Jack’s Mannequin

30. Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado & Timbaland

31. Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall

32. In the Rough - Anna Nalick

33. 9 Crimes - Damien Rice

34. I Gotcha - Lupe Fiasco

35. Wine Red - The Hush Sound

36. I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys

37. Hospital Food - David Gray

38. Here I Come - The Roots

39. Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae

40. Steady As She Goes - The Racontuers

41. Ever the Same - Rob Thomas

42. Black Sweat - Prince

43. Call Me When You're Sober - Evanescence

44. Bad Day - Daniel Powter

45. Crooked Teeth - Death Cab for Cutie

46. Original Fire - Audioslave

47. SOS - Rihanna

48. Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers

49. Three More Days - Ray LaMontagne

50. Streetcorner Symphony - Rob Thomas

51. For Us - Pete Yorn

52. Help Me - Johnny Cash

53. Cry Now - Obie Trice

54. Irreplaceable - Beyoncé

55. Not About Love - Fiona Apple

56. Where'd You Go - Fort Minor featuring Holly Brook and Jonah Matranga

57. Is It Any Wonder? - Keane

58. Temperature - Sean Paul

59. Touch the Sky - Kanye West featuring Lupe Fiasco

60. Memories - Eisley

61. Hands Open - Snow Patrol

62. Say It Right - Nelly Furtado

63. Remember the Name - Fort Minor featuring Styles of Beyond

64. Heaven - John Legend

65. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is - Jet

66. Move Along - The All-American Rejects

67. Mama's Room - Under the Influence of Giants

68. Brand New - Rhymefest featuring Kanye West

69. Can't Let Go - Anthony Hamilton

70. Be Without You - Mary J. Blige

71. I Call It Love - Lionel Richie

72. Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera

73. Ridin' - Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone

74. Rollin' W/ Saget - Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone

75. That's That (Explative Delteted) - Snoop Dogg featuring R. Kelly

76. Take It Back - Barenaked Ladies

77. Walk Away - Kelly Clarkson

78. Curious - Holly Brook

79. Easy - Barenaked Ladies

80. Drive Slow - Kanye West featuring Paul Wall & GLC

81. It Ends Tonight - The All-American Rejects

82. Too Little, Too Late - JoJo

83. Upside Down - Jack Johnson

84. World Wide Suicide - Pearl Jam

85. When Your Heart Stops Beating - (+44)

86. Gold Lion - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

87. Don't Download This Song - “Weird Al” Yankovic

88. Come Back to Me - Vanessa Hudgens

89. Get out of My Mind - Hootie and the Blowfish

90. Don't Forget to Remember Me - Carrie Underwood

91. No Hay Igual - Nelly Furtado

92. Snakes On a Plane (Bring It) - Cobra Starship

93. Vato - Snoop Dogg featuring B-Real

94. Bones - The Killers

95. Cash Machine - Hard-FI

96. Work It Out - Jurassic 5 and Dave Matthews Band

97. Under the Weather - KT Tunstall

98. Kick, Push - Lupe Fiasco

99. It's All Coming Back to Me Now - Meat Loaf featuring Marion Raven

100. Lithium - Evanescence

Am I Throwing You Off?

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. (If you want to buy the video, the title goes to iTunes if available, inside the description goes to the song where you can buy.)


Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado featuring Timberland



Before I talk about the video, let me say little word about the song first. It seems like every time someone mentions this song they make a My Humps or Hollaback Girl comparison, but I think that’s totally unwarranted. With the He Said/She Said back and forth, Promiscuous the song is actually an off shoot of the 90’s rap classic I Got a Man. Now about the video I could talk about how hot Nelly Furtado is or the inexplicable Justin Timberlake appearance, but instead I want to talk about Timberland. If rap had a drug policy, Timberland would be slapped with a 50 day suspension by now. Dude makes Big Head Barry look like Barry Bonds circa when I Got a Man was popular. Oh and Nelly: I’d repect that if you let me hit it (I love the wiggle she does when she says that line) and what’s with JT being in the video?


I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie



This video hasn’t made its way to YouTube yet, so you will have to click over to Yahoo’s video section to see it. I Will Follow You Into the Dark is quite possibly the most romantic song ever about death. As for the video, I’m sure there is some deep meaning into the hole in the floor, oh, wait, it’s the “dark” referred in the song. I get it now.


Boston - Augustana



There was some confusion when I added this song to my latest mixtape. Boston is the song name, not the group that brought us More Than a Feeling. The video is pretty cool too and I love how the tide coming in syncs up to the crescendo of the song.


Rollin' with Saget - Jamie Kennedy



I have been meaning to check out Blowin' Up, but I somehow always seem to miss it as MTV because they have been showing the least interesting chick from Laguna Beach new show ad nasium. But after see the video for Rollin' with Saget, I may have to hunt it down. I hope you caught cameos by Uncle Jesse, George Lucas, and Tara Reid as Paris Hilton (and no, I won’t be showing her horrible new video anytime soon).


Crazy - Gnarls Barkley




Yeah, I could have shown the uber-cool Rorschach Test version of Crazy, but c’mon, it’s Chewbacca on the drums.

And just a reminder, Lyrics Quiz tomorrow, and as a hint, have you lighters ready.

I Thought I Needed a Nia Long

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. I advise you to watch them first (the links to the video are the bold headers, inside the post will lead you to iTunes where you can buy the song and in some cases the video itself) before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things.

Kanye West - Touch the Sky

Say what you want about his music or outspokenness, but Kanye West is one of the most entertaining video artists today. His latest venture is a take off of Evil Knievel’s famous jump across the Grand Canyon with a nod to Kanye’s most famous line about leaving your chick for a white girl. The white girl in question in this video is Pamela Anderson; insert your own Hepatitis C joke here. Kanye even got Nia Long to appear in the video even though he rhymed her name with “sheets I skeeted on.” Maybe, Nia, much like my censor, doesn’t know what “skeeted” mean (and for you old people out there, it is very, very dirty). And not one to pass up beating a dead horse, Kanye even alludes to his Bush comments too. You can also check out my album review here - You Gotta Love it Though, Somebody Still Speaks From His Soul.


Death Cab for Cutie - Crooked Teeth

The main reason why this is entertaining is the obvious Sledgehammer comparison. Sadly there are no dancing chickens in Death Cab for Cutie’s update. You can also check out my album review here - A Melody Softly Souring Through My Atmosphere.


Santana - Just Feel Better

Now this one didn’t make too much sense and had to watch it a couple time to see if I missed something. The video almost seems like a reject idea from Aerosmith’s Alicia Silverstone era. So let me get this straight, chick gets groped by, meets dude in the principal’s office, goes with dude to a party, party gets busted, dude dies in car crash, chick flees back home and is welcomed with open arms from mom, then everything is back to normal at the end as chick is back in the class of the teacher that groped her. Did Steven Tyler tell Santana that as long as they put a token hot chick in as little amount of cloths as possible, no one will question the lunacy of the premise? Plus since he’s Steven Tyler, he makes out with a chick in a bar that has nothing to do with the other story. And I could be wrong, but I think the token hot chick is Nikki Reed. You can also check out my album review here - Your Fire Fills My Soul.


Cat Power - Living Proof

I have absolutely no comment on this video by Cat Power. In fact if you figure out what’s going on in this video, please pass that information onto me. I’m sure there’s some artsy undercover here, but it just went over my head. Oh, if you are a religious fanatic, you may want to skip this video. You can also check out my album review here - No Wind or Waterfall Could Stop Me.

Best Albums of 2005

Just before Christmas I handed out my worst albums of the year and now it’s time for the best ones. It was a dog fight for number one as there were only two albums that got the coveted Extreme Warning on my Terror Alert Scale. Both were worthy but I went with the one that always finds its way into my CD player while the other has a song or two that I will occasionally skip while listening to. For those that are interested to check these albums on the list out, the link on the album goes directly to iTunes while the links in the parentheses go to my original reviews. Feel free to leave some of your favorite albums of the past year in the comment section.


1. Wreck of the Day – Anna Nalick (These Words Are My Diary Singing Out Load)
2. Late Registration – Kanye West (You Gotta Love it Though Someone Still Speaks From His Soul)
3. Songs for Silverman – Ben Folds (If You Wrote Me Off I’d Understand It)
4. Room Noises – Eisley (You Humor Me Today)
5. Stand Up – Dave Matthews Band (Bring That Beat Back To Me Again)
6. Plans – Death Cab for Cutie (A Melody Softly Souring Through My Atmosphere)
7. In Between Dreams – Jack Johnson (We Drew Our Own Constellations)
8. Before the Robots – Better Than Ezra (3 ½ Minutes Felt Like a Lifetime)
9. Why Should the Fire Die? - Nickel Creek (You Came Along and Made Me Smile)
10. Get Lifted – John Legend (We’re Just Ordinary People)
11. Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple (I Promise You Everything Will Be Just Fine)
12. TwentythreePrettyman – Tristan Prettyman (I Wish You Couldn’t Take Your Eyes Off of Me)
13. The Breakthrough – Mary J. Blige (Anyone Who’s Ever Loved You Know Just What I Feel)
14. Hot Fuss: Limited Edition – The Killers ( I Got Soul But I’m Not a Soldier)
15. Everything in Transit – Jack’s Mannequin (I’ll Send This Message Through the Speakers)
16. Slow Motion – David Gray ( A Bucketful of Babylon)
17. Ain’t Nobody Worryin’ – Anthony Hamilton (If You Catch Me Dreaming, Please Don’t Wake Me Till I’m Done)
18. 29 – Ryan Adams (Can You Still Have Any Famous Last Words if You’re Somebody Nobody Knows)
19. A Time to Love – Stevie Wonder (We Can’t Sing a Song With No Melody)
20. Back Home – Eric Clapton (I Need to Hear That Song)
21. Try! – John Mayer Trio (Am I the One Who Plays the Quiet Songs?)
22. X&Y – Coldplay (All That Noise, All That Sound)
23. Out of Nothing – Embrace (Now Watch Me Rise Up and Leave)
24. The Sound of White – Missy Higgins (I See You’ve Painted Your Soul)
25. All That I Am – Santana (Your Fire Fills My Soul)
26. Oral Fixation vol. 2 – Shakira (What Language Do You Speak if You Speak at All)
27. Wikked Lil’ Grrrls – Esthro (We R in Need of a Musical Revolution)
28. On the Strength of All Convinced – Daphne Loves Derby (What We Have Been Waiting For)
29. Some Hearts – Carrie Underwood (Oh There’s Nothing like Oklahoma)
30. ¡Bastardos! – Blues Traveler (If Looks Could Kill I’d Die Today)


You can also download these albums DRM free at Amazon MP3 by checking out the widget below:

A Melody Softly Soaring Through My Atmosphere

Usually I’m on the cusp of what’s going on in music; the guy people come to find out what’s good. One band with a lot of buzz I missed out on so far is Death Cab for Cutie. I’ve had heard of the band before, but never took the time to check them out. Without listening, I pegged them a pretentious band with an unfortunate name. But with the release of their major label debut, I figured I should take a listen.

What I found on their latest album, Plans, were lush melodies and soft chords that wouldn’t be out of place on the Garden State Soundtrack. Except Plans, as a whole, is more polished and better put together than most of Zach Braff’s mixtape. You can easily get lost in the music without knowing where you’re time has gone. The lead song, Marching Bands of Manhattan, takes the signature crushing guitars of Coldplay and softens them up with great results. A drum cadence drives Summer Skin almost into a march. Different Names for the Same Place starts off with a bare bones piano track that turns into spacey song half way threw.

I Will Wait for You in the Dark is a stripped down love song with an acoustic guitar accompanying the singer. With lyrics like “If heaven and hell decide, That they both are satisfied, Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs, If there's no one beside you, When your soul embarks, Then I'll follow you into the dark,” This song will send every hopeless romantic to their guitar to try to learn this song so they can serenade a loved on with it. What Sarah Said is a sad song that deals with the unbearable task of sitting in a hospital knowing this is it, “And I'm thinking of what Sarah said, but love is watching someone die.”

The main strength of the album is the verdant lyrics such as: “Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole” (Marching Bands of Manhattan), “I've no words to share with anyone. The boundaries of language are quietly cursed” (Different Names for the Same Place), “Fall fades how it ages when you're away, Spring blooms and you find the love that's true” (Your Heart Is an Empty Room), and what college girl not get swept off her feet by a line like “You're so cute when you're slurring your speech” (Crooked Teeth).

Song to Download – I Will Follow You Into the Dark

Plans gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.