Video Pick of the Day/Week: "All My Friends"

No news I care about today. So I give you a music video I love. Utterly simple, but utterly beautiful. LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends"

Today's News: Dicks, Chicks, and more.

Ugh. I hate the Emmy's. Every year they just serve to piss me off. A Heroes nomination, but no Lost? Grey's Anatomy but no Friday Night Lights? C'mon, now.

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Hypocritically, I'll follow that by praising them for nominating the now-classic SNL Sketch "Dick In A Box" for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. This is one of my favorite songs/video clips of the year.

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I didn't even know there was a Hard Rock Park being built in Myrtle Beach, much less that it featured a Led Zeppelin roller coaster that's now apparently finished. I want to go back, play some more par-3 golf, some more putt putt, and rock out to A Whole Lotta Love.

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Watch Amy Winehouse build her beehive haircut. How much do you think that makes her head weigh?

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I Guess I'm Floating has an mp3 cover of Avril Lavigne trying to sing Coldplay's The Scientist. I don't like it, so I'm not linking to it. You can go over there if you really want to hear it.

Musing: "Weak Become Heroes"/"Stay Positive"

then the girl in the cafe taps me on the shoulder
i realize 5 years went by and i'm older
memories smoulder, winter's colder
but that same piano loops over and over

I heard this song at work today, and I flashed back hardcore to 7 months ago. Winter break, '06/'07. Walking my dog in the freezing cold, looking at the neighbors' houses, which looked emptier than they ever did when I was 15. Driving my parents' Sebring around, a newish car on the same old streets, driving back from Silvano's house or Georgetown or wherever. I actually started to feel cold again.

I never think of this song in terms of the story it's telling - hard drugs aren't really something I can relate to - but rather just the way it makes me feel; the emotion and nostalgia and triumphant feeling it can give. It's a chill-cool song, something you can dance to or sit in a bar and drink to or lay on your bed and relax to. This past winter, it was something I walked and drove to.

I remember so many nights when I'd go out after dark - which I guess was around 5:30, but it feels later in my memory - walking my dog around, wishing it would snow, thinking about people at school, and sizing my life up. Getting home and deciding to do the loop one more time because I wanted a little more time to listen to this song and think about shit. Driving back from the movie theatre at Potomac Mills or a party at Brian's. Driving home from Steve's house, thinking about all the memories I've made in that house, and wondering how many more I'll have.

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cos' you're the same as i am
we all need our fellow man, we all need our samaritan
maybe i'm better looking than you though
maybe i've got more dough
but am I happier? no
get the love of a good girl
and your world will be much richer than my world
and your happiness will uncurl

Here's a song I more explicitly listened to. Not just the vibe, not just the feelings, but every single word. It was an emo-tastic winter break, yeah. This song was somewhat cathartic. It was around the fourth or fifth night of staying up til 6am thinking about school that I finally discovered it.

It was a nice reminder that everything in life has ups and downs. No matter how you feel tomorrow, you could feel better tomorrow. Or worse, for that matter. But somehow, this song just reminded me of something I'd lost sight of somewhere along the line: everything in life works itself out, one way or another. I couldn't see how it would happen then, but somehow, I felt better about life. Just believe that and act on the assumption that everything will work out, and it usually does. Don't believe it, act with the assumption that things don't work out, and they probably won't.

respect to bc. positivity. positivity. just trying to stay positive.

DOWNLOAD: The Streets - Weak Become Heroes
DOWNLOAD: The Streets - Stay Positive

Today's News: Don't Read

Ooh, two days in a row. Here we go!

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Pras says the Fugees ain't reuniting. “Me and ‘Clef, we on the same page, but Lauryn is in her zone, and I’m fed up with that shit. Here she is, blessed with a gift, with the opportunity to rock and give and she’s running on some bullshit? I’m a fan of Lauryn’s but I can’t respect that.”

I'd be fed up with that shit, too.

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In the most recent issue of XXL, 50 Cent blames reading too much for Nas's dropoff in sales. "You have people that are extremely book smart that lack common sense so they don’t know what’s going to affect their audience."

In other news, I'm still dying to hear Nas's Hip Hop is Dead

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The White Stripes played a one-note show in Canada yesterday. Yup. One note. This, after playing on boats and buses and all sorts of wacky places.

The News, Finally: Lots of Pumpkins

Yeah, I'm starting to slip on the blogging. I need to get my mojo back.

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Apparently, Dispatch reunited at Madison Square Garden in New York this weekend. They're officially the first independent band in history to sell out the arena. Comparatively, the White Stripes' show there next week still has tickets available.

I guess not all that surprising, since their, until-yesterday, final show brought 110,000 people to Massachussetts.

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Billy Corgan continues to reveal himself as Rock Music's biggest ass. His open letter is the most arrogant thing I've ever read, which does make it pretty funny, but also makes it sad and irritating.

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Doesn't help that apparently the band's not backing up his cockiness with their poorly-paced live show...

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Keeping the Pumpkins news coming, their new album includes an insert featuring Paris Hilton photographs taken by Billy Corgan. Weird.

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Okay, this is it, I swear. Explosions in the Sky are opening for the Pumpkins for 11 dates. That's really cool, but I have this weird thing with Explosions, where I really think I'd rather watch them in some sort of outdoor arena. Something like Wolftrap. Explosions in the Sky under the stars, that's what I want.

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The Mercury Prize finalists, aka a list of british artists worth looking into, have been announced. I for one am pulling for an Arctic Monkeys two-peat. I simply love Favourite Worst Nightmare

Musing: "All My Friends"

I've been wanting to do a write-up on LCD Soundsystem's stunning song, "All My Friends." Then today, I notice in Slate, they've got an article praising the song.

They say almost everything I'd want to say, though I'll add this: not only are the lyrics wonderful, it's the way Murphy twists and rolls his phrases throughout the song that give it its ebb and flow, that give it changing energy, that keep it fresh every moment. His voice is almost like a sung percussion. I love it.

Click Here to read the article.
DOWNLOAD: LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends

Today's News: Blank

Honestly, not much happening in the music world that I care all that much about.

But there is this. Bruce Springsteen may be releasing a new album with the E Street Band soon? Given that The Rising, their last album together, is one of my all-time favs, I couldn't be more thrilled. And a Bruce + E Street show might be the show I most want to see these days.

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This isn't music news, but given that there's nothing happening in the music world that I care about, I'll comment that Bush is a shameless liar.

And is it just me, or does every week seem to bring a new Republican caught in acts of sexual misconduct? These are the same people that screamed for Bill Clinton's head. How ironic.

My Bad

SMBL apologizes for the lengthy break in entertaining news and musings. The last two weeks have been spent in Chicago, Indiana, Lake Tahoe, and Wine Country, and I'm a bit mentally exhausted from all of my blog-catching-up.

Tomorrow, we will return in full force. I promise.

In the mean time, Stereogum's got a compilation album up celebrating Radiohead's OK Computer, with covers from a variety of indie rock bands. Check it out if you're interested in Radiohead. Which I'm aware, most of my readership isn't.