Day (30) of GOOD

One of the best movies of the year also had one of the best soundtracks of the year, 500 Days of Summer, and one of its stars happens to have an amazing voice. Zooey Deschanel covers Morrisey's classic tune with her group She and Him. And since there is so much to cram in your getting a few bonus tracks.

She & Him
"Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want", 500 Days of Summer Soundtrack


Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
"40 Day Dream", Up From Below


Nurses
"Caterpillar Playground", Single


Fever Ray
"When I Grow Up", Self Titled

Day (29) of GOOD

More GOOD...As we get closer to the end.

White Lies
"Death", To Lose My Life


Jay-Z
"Real As it Gets", The Blueprint 3


Enjoy.

Day (28)

Taylor Swift
"You Belong to Me", Fearless

Phoenix
"Lisztomania", Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

And yes, that was the third Phoenix track this month, that record is that GOOD.

Day (27)

More GOOD...

Bon Iver
"Woods", Blood Bank

Wale
"TV in the Radio", Attention Deficit

...and if you like Bon Iver, watch this

Enjoy.

Day (26)

Is anyone else tired? The Holidays are almost over, and I'm exhausted. Time to relax, here are some mellow tunes from '09, we are getting close to the end.

Karen O and The Kids
"Worried Shoes", Where the Wild Things Are



Matt & Kim
"Daylight", Green Label Sound

Day (25) Merry Christmas

Some Rock-n-Roll amongst your Nat King Cole

The first is an old song from The Killers, and the second is their brand new XMAS single...it will not be available for download because the proceeds go to Project Red. Give and Enjoy.

The Killers
"Don't Shoot Me Santa", Single

This is the new one and I've attached a link to buy it for charity.

The Killers
"Happy Birthday Guadalupe", Single


Also, if you in Northern California during the Holiday Season, check out The Yule Logs. They are a collection of Chico musicians that come together every season with favorites like "Sleigh Bells Ringing", and originals like the "Hanukkah Mambo". They are not to be missed, and you can even book them for your own party. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Day (23) & (24) of GOOD

More from The Orphan Factory, and more GOOD from '09

The Orphan Factory
"Song For a Suicide Bomber", Self Titled EP

"Night Shift", Self Titled EP


Keri Hilson Ft. Kanye West and Ne-Yo
"Knock You Down", In a Perfect World



Sara Bareilles
"In Your Eyes" (stripped version), Little Voice

Day (22) of GOOD

MORE GOOD, sorry for the delay...I'm back from vacation, and it's on.

M. Ward
"Never Had Nobody Like You" Ft. Zooey Deschanel, Hold Time



Jack White
"Fly Farm Blues", Single (From the 'It Might Get Loud' Soundtrack)



If you have a chance to see this movie, do so. Jack White, Jimmy Page, and some guy from U2 talking about guitar. I saw it at Sundance, Jack came out and spoke with director, Davis Guggenhiem. Good Flick..Good tunes. Enjoy

Day (21) of GOOD

Sorry for the delay, I'm on vacation in SB, and it's way to nice hear to play around on the computer. I had a lil help from the man at CONCRETEOPINIONS Tomorrow I will be back home and the posts will come at my normal night-owl time of 1AM. These bands are faves of Billy's and they both have a cool sound.

Asobi Seksu
"In the Sky", Hush

Royksopp
"The Girl and the Robot", Junior

Day (20) of GOOD

Twenty days strong, and I've started to notice a lot of best of the decade lists. When I first conjured up this idea without realizing the timing and the end of our first decade of the 00's. So tonight we're gonna take a break from the tunes and do a best movies of the decade list, in no particular order.

Best Films of the Decade:

The Royal Tenenbaums

No Country for Old Men

Pans Labyrinth

Thank You For Smoking

The Darjeeling Limited

The Life Aquatic

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

The Departed

Donnie Darko

High Fedelity

Everything is Illuminated

28 Days Later

Kill Bill 1 & 2

Inglorious Basterds

The Hurt Locker

Oldboy

Once

O Brother, Where Art Though?

Traffic

Memento

The Dark Knight

Wall E

Lost in Translation

Big Fish

Garden State

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Lord of the Rings 1, 2, & 3

City of God

Amelie

Almost Famous

Sin Nombre

Towelhead

In America

Snatch

Adaptation

and I'm sure I'm forgetting some...refresh my memory

go to www.apple.com/trailers to watch any of these trailers

Day (19) of GOOD

I'm feelin lazy today, sorry no pics. I just finished driving 8 hours with my fam down to the best city in CA, Santa Barbara. What's good State St? I'll see you tonight. And one more thing, Happy Birthday Benny, so we couldn't be there tonight.

Mos Def
"Quiet Dog", The Ecstatic

Stellastar
"Freak Out", Civilized

Day (18) of GOOD

Warning about yesterdays post: Maxwell's smooth sounds might get you pregnant. That is some baby makin music.

More pop, sorry music snobs but these songs were undeniable this last year and unless you live under a rock, you've probably even enjoyed them on the dance floor or at least on SNL. Don't hate. I don't really like Gaga outside of the dancefloor but it's good to see a performance artist back in the spotlight, like 1980's Madonna, Prince, or MJ. Enjoy

Beyonce
"Single Ladies", I Am...Sasha Fierce (yes that actually is the title)


Lady Gaga
"Pokerface", The Fame

Day (17) of GOOD

A lil bit of Soul for your soul...I know that not too many share my love for the "slow jams", but I just got this record and it has to be shared. I've been a fan of this artist for some time, since junior high even, and this is a long awaited return for all neo-soul fans. If you like Erykah Badu, D' Angelo, and Anthony Hamilton, you will love these tracks. Enjoy...I added a bonus from an old Maxwell record, just because it's one of my favorite RnB tunes of all time.


Maxwell
"Bad Habits", Black Summer's Night

"Pretty Wings", Black Summer's Night

Bonus
"Ascension", Urban Hang Suite

Day (16) of GOOD

I was waiting anxiously for Muse's latest effort, The Resistance, and enjoyed this record a lot. It's not quite as good as their first or even their second effort, but they set a high bar with those two records. It's definitely worth it. Enjoy.

Mr Hudson is Kanye's newest protege from across the pond. This track is cool, I always like Kanye's beats and Hudson's vocals are smooth and soulful. Kanye's verse is debatable, almost bad, but the rest of the track is dope and it makes up for the producer guest spot.

Muse
"I Belong To You", The Resistance



Mr Hudson
"Supernova", Single

Day (15)

Shot out to Billy from CONCRETEOPINIONS because it's Dec 15, and it's his birthday. Happy Birthday man, and also another birthday in fam, my sister-in-law, Jaione.

Today's music are selections from artists that have appeared on this list earlier in the month. The first is Jay-Z's first single off his latest record, The Blueprint, entitled D.O.A., or Death of Autotune. And I know I had Kanye's Heartltess on this list earlier, but D.O.A. represents one of the biggest figures in music calling out the industry. Autotune plagued the airwaves, and I love that Jay-Z did this.

The second is from the French band Phoenix, and it is my favorite cut off their record.

Jay-Z
"D.O.A.", The Blueprint 3



Phoenix
"If I Ever Feel Better", Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Day (14) some hipster shit

Some bands that are somewhat new to me, a little help from Billy from CONCRETEOPINIONS, I should say that Grizzly Bear is a cool band, but they are not nearly as cool as everyone says they are. Any band from Brooklyn has a small amount of pretense. Brooklyn is the new Silverlake-meaning it's the hipster mecca. So get your organic greens, vinatage 45's, and your prius and saddle up.I actually had a chance to see Grizzly Bear in SF when they opened up for Fiest, but i got stuck in traffic and couldn't find parking...bummer, maybe they could have changed my opinion. The other selection is from Islands, one of Billy's favorite new bands. Enjoy.

Grizzly Bear
"Two Weeks", The Morning Found Me Miles Away




Islands
"Tender Torture", Vapours

Day (13) of GOOD

So much GOOD stuff...

So I'm going to bend the rules yet again with today's post. I discovered and rediscovered some amazing artists and songs this past year but after doing a little research I discovered that all this wonderful music I've been listening to was released in 2008. But a lot of these singles played well into 2009, so its justifiable. Here we go. Enjoy.

MGMT had one of the most eclectic and unique records I've heard in awhile. And you can assume what my favorite track was...
Kings of Leon finally really blew up, deservedly so. I saw them open for The Strokes in 2002ish and they were the first opening band I had ever seen that i liked and didnt want hurried off stage. This entire record is amazing. It's road trip music, just put it on, drive, and sing at the top of your lungs.

MGMT
"Electric Feel", Oracular Spectacular


Kings of Leon
"Revelry", Only By the Night


Kanye West
"Heartless", 808's and Heartbreak



Coldplay
"Viva La Vida", Viva La Vida



T.I.
"I'm Illy", Paper Trail (one of the hardest hip-hop tracks in the last decade)



The Lonely Island
"Like a Boss", Incredibad




Crystal Castles
"Crimewave", Self Titled



M83
"We Own the Sky", Saturdays=Youth


Sorry, not all are currently available for download...soon, be patient

Day (12) of GOOD

Two of the best tracks of '09, bar none. Enjoy

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Heads Will Roll". It's Blitz



Passion Pit
"Sleepyhead", Manners

Day (11) of GOOD

The first track is from one of the most intriguing collaborations in music in a long time. The brainchild of former Rock-a-fella Records co-founder, Damon Dash, who put Ohio blues rock masters alongside a wide array of hip-hop MC's including Mos Def, Jim Jones, RZA, Q-Tip, etc. Check out the BlakRoc website and Hypebeast for more info on the collaboration.

BlakRoc
"On the Vista", BlakRoc


The second track is from a band that is new to me, thank you Billy, Mew. I recently gained more interest in Mew because they are currently touring and in each new city Mew is having local bands open up for them. Which is a cool idea and more bands should try harder to help showcase the "little guy", and Mew selected Chico local band (one of my favorites) Surrogate to join them in SF this weekend. So support local music. Enjoy.

Mew
"New Terrain", No More Stories Are Told Today I'm Sorry They Washed Away

The Tenth Day of GOOD

So this Jay-Z track is '08, but it's December '08, and I don't care because it's dope. And the second is from the hardest twins in the rap game, Virginia's own The Clipse. I wanted a picture of them until I realized their album cover was a KAWS original piece. Enjoy

Jay-Z ft. Santogold
"Brooklyn Go Hard", Notorious Soundtrack



Clipse
"Kinda Like a Big Deal", Til the Casket Drops

Sorry, more ranting

Media...leave Tiger alone. He screwed up, he tarnished his sqeakey clean image, and he will probably lose millions in endorsements...which is all deserved if he cheated and lied. But leave him alone. ESPN, especially, he has been your bread and butter; and even replaced Jordan (another cheater) and now your lambasting him 24 hours a day. I know it's your "responsibility" to cover these stories, but you have Rick Reiley's pompous ass on their giving Tiger advice...c'mon guys, lets give it a rest.

Tiger, keep ignoring the media, I appreciate the self control. It has to be hard to avoid all the frenzy for someone in your position. Just keep your dick in your pants and prove to your family that your not an asshole.

The Other Woman in My Life

Barefoot Contessa, An Original Gangsta


I'm a food network dork, and Barefoot does it best. No one on food tv knows how to entertain and enjoy company around a dinner table better than Ina Garten. She is an interesting woman, with a more interesting path of success, on her way to Food Network stardom. Barefoot was once a researcher for the Pentagon, and she later opened a store, "Barefoot Contessa", in East Hampton, New York, before becoming a star on the Food Network.

Check her out weekdays on the Food Network at 1PM and learn some down home cooking and great entertaining tips.
If I can find the USB cord to my wife's camera i will add some pics from my thanksgiving along with some other recipes that I have learned from the Food Network and my chef friends. Go to FoodNetwork.com and look up recipes and use the cool feature "Recipe Box" to save your favorite recipes.

Because I like to Complain

The Worst of '09


Just ask my wife, I'm good at it, complaining that is. So the other side of the coin of 31 days of good...is of course the bad. I could make a laundry list of horrible music but I'm gonna keep it simple and stick to the "popular" bands that sell millions on itunes that I would like to deem bad, maybe even horrible.

U2, enough said...another aging, bloated rock band...thanks for the charity Bono, maybe you should focus on The Global Fund and not another crappy record.

Green Day, there even worse than U2. What happened to the band that sang about pleasuring yourself? I don't care about your politics, your views on Bush, health care, the war, etc. You can't be punk when you live in a mansion in the Hollywood hills.

The Black Eyed Peas, thank you for another commercial pop anthem that got stuck in our heads and annoyed my coworkers.

Anything that came out from bands like Nickelback, Rob Thomas, and any other ass-pop-rock band. I don't want to look if any of these bands released anything in '09, but I'm sure at least Nickelback did.

And of course, none of these will be available for download and I'm not even going to take the time to get any more pictures. Don't enjoy.

Day 9...Back to your regularly scheduled program

Three more for ya folks, I couldn't make a decision so there's 3. Billy and Andrew helped me with these, because up until a few weeks ago I didn't know these first two bands existed, and I had almost forgotten about the third band...Jeff Tweedy and the Wilco crew. Enjoy

Sea Wolf
"Wicked Blood", White Water, White Bloom



Telekinesis
"Coast of Carolina", Self Titled



Wilco
"Country Disappeared", Wilco (The Album)

Dick Cherry....and some good 'ol rock-n-roll

Here are some of my friend Lee's paintings, you may have seen some of his work on The Orphan Factory EP post a few days back. Under the name Dick Cherry, Lee does some great work reminiscent of classic punk rock/garage band posters. Check out his site, he has a gallery and some awesome merch.

Here are some examples of Dick's work







Tommy Peacock and the Gas was an amazing L.A. band and one of the better live shows I've ever seen. I'm not sure if they are even still together but I hadn't seen that much energy to come out of a front-man ever. Google them, hopefully they are still playing music.

Check out more art at Dick Cherry

Day 8...guilty pleasures...POP music

Everyone has guilty pleasures, sometimes I feel like mine are guiltier or even more embarrassing than most i.e. Justin Timberlake; but these are my guilty pleasures '09.
Put them on your ipod and listen on high volume or use them at your next dance party. I won't even tell you how I discovered La Roux, and everyone has gotten down to a lil Shakira at some point in time.

La Roux
"Bulletproof", Self Titled



Shakira
"She Wolf", She Wolf

And on the 7th Day...

I saw The Killers a couple months back and was bummed that M83 wasn't touring as their opening act on the West Coast leg of the tour, but was pleasantly surprised by the L.A. band Mariachi El Bronx. They had a cool blend of folk, rock, and of course mariachi horns and outfits.

Mariachi El Bronx
"Cell Mates", Self Titled


The second song is from a cool band that Billy from CONCRETE OPINIONS told me about. Mellow, kind of like a girl version of M83, reminiscent of Zero 7 and

School of Seven Bells
"Prince of Peace", Alpinisms