Jimmy Cliff @ The Hollywood Bowl - 7/25/10

BYOB at The Hollywood Bowl's annual summer Reggae Night is dangerous but FUN!

If 6 Was 9 by Jimi Hendrix

Easy Rider inspired... 

The Suburbs by Arcade Fire - The Title Track

For months now, I have been VERY eagerly awaiting Arcade Fire's new album The Suburbs & I finally just got my grubby little hands on a leaked copy less than 2 weeks before it's official release date of August 3rd. Although I'm already 100% obsessed with the entire album (it is INCREDIBLE), I'm just going to give you all a taste with this cool music video someone created for the opening title track The Suburbs. I'll respectfully wait until August 3rd to post a few more of my favorite songs. It'll be tough to choose which other songs to post though because every single song truly is fantastic. Arcade Fire has done it again. The Suburbs definitely has the potential to be the album of year...no doubt.

Björk

When I found out tonight that Stereogum was presenting Enjoyed: A Tribute to Björk's amazing album Post, I got on a big Björk kick. Enjoyed's Björk covers by artists like The Dirty Projectors, Liars & Atlas Sound are all extremely unique & cool in their own way but I couldn't help but feel more inspired to post a couple of my favorite Björk songs/videos. Björk has some of the greatest music videos I've ever seen. Director Michel Gondry is a genius.

P.S. I saw Björk perform at Coachella 2007 & she was BAD ASS...as usual.

Human Behaviour

Army of Me


Hyperballad

Tiger by Maximum Balloon

Lucky for us, Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio couldn't be the only member of TVOTR not to do a solo project this year. Maximum Balloon's debut album won't be officially released until August 24th but I'm hoping to get my grubby little hands on a bootleg copy much sooner than that. In the meantime, this awesome single Tiger along with its silly, balloon-filled video will have to tide us all over.

DJ Fergie @ King King in Hollywood - 7/16/10

Sometimes staying out until 4am is totally worth it...

Nikko Gray @ Zanzibar - 7/14/10

On the 2nd Wednesday of every month, a fabulously eclectic live music event called OM takes place at Zanzibar in Santa Monica. My buddy & KCRW DJ, Aaron Byrd, hosts this event along with his colleague DJ Itai. The line-up is different every month but it's always great & I have yet to be disappointed. If you want to broaden your musical horizons, I highly suggest you hit up the next OM on August 11th!

FYF Fest @ Los Angeles State Historic Park - Labor Day Weekend 2010

The PERFECT reason to stay in LA for Labor Day! I LOVE Panda Bear of Animal Collective! And Delorean, Wavves, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, !!! (pronounced "chick chick chick") & The Rapture will all be rad too! Early bird tickets are on sale now for only $20 & regular advanced tickets will be $25. A great deal no matter what!

The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monae

How cute is Janelle Monae?? This 25-year-old Kansas City native is a super talented performer with an incredible voice AND killer dance moves. Plus she's frickin GORGEOUS! No wonder P-Diddy & Big Boi like her so much! The ArchAndroid is a fantastic album & I have a feeling it's only the beginning. I am SO excited to see her at Outside Lands on August 15th!

Tightrope (featuring Big Boi)


Cold War

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti @ The Echoplex - 7/9/10

Bright Lit Blue Skies

Round & Round

Beck Loves Vampires

Vampires are so hot right now. Beck's been hot for decades. You can't blame the guy for jumping on the blood-sucking bandwagon by contributing to the latest True Blood soundtrack as well as the most recent Twilight movie soundtrack. Pretty much everything Beck touches turns to gold & these 2 tracks are no exception. The man is a genius.

And, just to clarify, I have never seen a Twilight movie & I swear I never will but I'm not the least bit embarrassed to admit I am 100% obsessed with True Blood. I've been watching the series since the very 1st episode premiered & it keeps getting better. If you've never seen the show or you've only caught a random episode somewhere along the way, you need to go back & start from the beginning. If you start with season 3, you'll just think it's ridiculous. Ease yourself into it. I guarantee you WILL get sucked in ;-)

Bad Blood - True Blood Soundtrack, Volume 2

Let's Get Lost - Beck & Bat for Lashes - Eclipse Soundtrack

The Boxer by Kele

The lead singer of Bloc Party sounds pretty damn good by himself too...

Rise (favorite moment = 3:26)

Tenderoni (not a Chromeo cover)

The Other Side

Freedom for the 4th (on the 5th)

Freedom Ain't Free - Brother Ali

Freedom - Rage Against the Machine

Freeheart Lover - Ghostland Observatory

Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd

I'm Set Free - The Velvet Underground

40 Oz to Freedom - Sublime

Turns Me On by Big Boi

Big Boi turns me on...

Tame Impala @ Silverlake Lounge - 6/29/10

It's a rare occasion when you get to see a new band play a small venue at the very beginning of their soon-to-be super successful career. It's an honor & a privilege...especially when the band turns out to be really awesome live. I was lucky enough to see Tame Impala (a band Grizzly Bear was recommending on their Facebook page only a few short weeks ago) play at Silverlake Lounge last night & I am certain they're going to become a pretty big deal. They were fantastic. 

Despite my height & view disadvantages (I couldn't get any decent footage of my own so I stole the below video off Youtube), I still enjoyed every second of Tame Impala's set. The band played 2 shows in the same evening (one at 7pm & one at 10pm) so, when I was unable to snag tickets to the 10 o'clock show because it was already sold out, I settled for the 7pm set. It was a little strange walking into a live music venue before it was even dark outside but, once I got inside, it didn't matter what time it was. I was too into the music to notice the difference! I can guarantee Tame Impala will be playing more shows in more places very soon so, if you ever get the chance to check them out, definitely do it!