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MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Order it here for $9.99: MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Digitally released on October '07, released in retail January '08, it's safe to say I'm a little late to the party. Seeing as I just discovered it - to it's fullness - last week.
I had heard "Time to Pretend," the first track, when going out but had no idea it was MGMT. Anyway after listening to the whole record there more to say about it than they're just another trendy indie band.
Some of the tracks like "Weekend Wars," "The Youth," and "Pieces of What" remind of me Wes Anderson films. Maybe some scene where the meaning is significantly higher than the action on the screen - if you know what I mean. Dramatic, introspective, but still respectable sounds, including acoustic guitars, vocal cacophonies, and a soundscape soothing keyboard.
The singles are "Time to Pretend" and "Electric Feel." I had discarded both before my download last week. It was actually triggered by a discussion I was having with a coworker. He's 23 and I'm 29, and he had this - man you're too old and don't know whats good anymore attitude. So I decided to check it out and validate he or I, and I admit, he was right, this is pretty good stuff. The songs are a feel-good fun-time and are much less shallow than originally perceived to be.
Somehow this record also fits into this holiday time period. I recommend MGMT - Oracular Spectacular.
A good friend of mine, Tim McMahon, whom I met when I lived in Gainesville, FL, at UF, makes a Christmas music record every year. It's a compilation with music from different influences. Without fail he has come through with new tunes not used in previous records (to my knowledge). These are easy to listen with friends & family, or at a Christmas party and easlily allows you to engage in the mayhem that the holidays bring on. Here is the record. This is his fifth installment, that's five years of unique holiday records.
The Main Record
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The Playlist
The Sonics - Santa Claus
Deerhoof - Holy Night
John Maus - This IS the Beat
Troy Hess - Christmas on the Moon
Daniel Johnston - Rock Around the Christmas Tree
Asobi Seksu - Merry Christmas
Angry Johnny & The Killbillies - 6 Bullets for Christmas
Beat Happening - Christmas
Wild billy Childish & the Musicians of the British Empire - Christmas Hell
The Legendary Tigerman - Fuck Christmas, I Got the Blues
Beulah - Santa Kissed Me
The Legendary Pink Dots - Frosty
The Free Design - Close Your Mouth (It's Christmas)
Pizzicato 5 - From Party to Party
Sy Mann - Tijuana Christmas
Hasil Adkins - Santa Claus Boogie
Native Tongue - Do You Hear What I Hear?
The White Stripes - Candy Cane Children
Big Star - Jesus Christ
Jimi Hendrix - Auld Lang Syne
This year he also added a surprise disc which I haven't even checked out yet. This is the second time he implements this supplement. It's full of some really old songs best enjoyed on a dark and silent night.
The Surprise Supplement
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Enjoy!
(FYI people - for some reason Tim made the record in .m4a files)
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The Muslims - The Muslims
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Deerhunter - Microcastle
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Deerhunter - Microcastle
I enjoy this record. It's a new sound to me. I enjoy it and like a friend of mine on facebook simply stated, we should all find happiness through music. Or at a minimum, attempt to jam to it. This record is a part of that experience. I encourage anyone to download it.
Just a short history, the band started in 2001. They may be named after an old drama called "The Deer Hunter" with Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep or that may just be a coincidence. At this point I don't care enough to find validate this.
Tonight it's 62 degrees out. The Miami Heat lost to the Toronto Raptors. 2008 is close to it's death and so be it.
The title track surprised me around time stamp 2:25. The slowly vanishing heartbeat suddenly gets a kicky snare and suddenly your head ticks and tocks, left and right. Insert dance here.
Microcastle is either terribly boring or wicked awesome at a live show, the venue and the crowd would easily be variables in the enjoyment of the live experience. Sometimes when I listen to it I think I'm hearing noises from a vast hall. That's the experience for half the record. Not to be frowned upon anyway. There's some value in remembering childhood memories where something holds a holy or omnipotent awe. Like Notre Damn in Montreal for instance.
The other half has some trendy/catchy dance beats. Like Never Stops and Nothing Ever Happened - these are definitely upbeat bootyswaying tracks. I'm not mad at these tracks. They keep the gas in the car chugging. They keep the heartbeat alive and protect the sanctity of youth. The dance beats/lyrics reminded of something that Blur is likely to produce. Listening to Deerhunter made me write this post. The vocals can sound like Sonic Youth, Blur or Belle & Sebastian during some moments. I know they're all very different bands but those are the closest bands I could come up with.
Checkout the reviews from mtbr.com here.
Product Summary:
Dual-suspension bikes allow anyone to ride longer and stronger on the mountain, but they're more of a luxury than a necessity for the first-time rider. However, this year(1999) finds many dualies, like the SX, slumming at unimaginably low prices, which make them extremely attractive first-time buys.
Strengths: An RST 281 fork with two inches of travel in front, three inches of travel in back, a journeyman 24-speed Alivio drivetrain with fingertip shifters, toe clips and a stunning brushed-metal aluminum frame.
Weaknesses: As you improve, you'll wish you had an extra inch of travel up front to match the suspension in back.
Bottom line: The SX is a great buy for the serious first-timer. As a bonus, it's the world's most beautiful budget bouncer. Take it anywhere to bring out its ugly side ($679).
My Take:
I bought it for $449 in 2000 brand new. Since then I’ve barely used it. It’s seen the most use in the last two years where I’ve begun taking it to Oleta State River Park and Amelia Earhart Park for their single track trails. I also used it at the Bike Miami ride and used it to vote for change in the 2008 election.
It’s available for sale now for $250 or best offer.
I will probably be upgrading to a Trek Mountain Hardtail 6000, (hi-res pic here). What I would like to buy is a full-suspension Trek FUEL EX 8, (hi-res pic here in rootbeer/white). I decided on Trek because of their brand name, their designs, and quality components. If anyone has any suggestions otherwise, please send them my way. See you in the trails.
So friggin' cool. Alienware's first notebook with ATI CrossFireX™ graphics and Intel® quad core technology... the Alienware M17 Notebook. Way to kick off the post Halloween season. What can HP, Voodoo, or Apple do to compete? Maybe those brands are raising a white flag and admitting defeat in the mobile high-performance gaming segment. Which notebook would you get this holiday season?
This is also the first Alienware notebook with:
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Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
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The National - Alligator
The very first time I heard The National, I can't remember but, I dismissed them quick. They seemed like your typical '00s whinny band. Even after that experience when I saw them open up for Arcade Fire in Radio City Music Hall in New York City which I have to say is the venue where music sounds the best so far, in my experiences. (I'm obviously a fan of Arcade Fire)
Anyhow, now my best friend tells me, "...dude checkout All The Wine from Alligator..," so I gave it a spin and I was able to finish the track. I think he liked the lyrics where the guy says "I'm a perfect piece of ass," still I can't explain what he liked about that. Sometimes I think he's confused about his sexuality - but thats for another post. This is their third album of 4, and was released in 2005.
Anyhow I appreciated the monologue type story telling lyrics and the music itself was somewhat catchy and introspective - reminded me of memories from the early '00s and that I need to keep living. So I kept listening to see if there was more to have.
Then I gave this other song Karen a shot. Again, it was another introspective, sad, somewhat whinny song. Now, I know I keep using the word whinny but I honestly believe that after a few minutes of listening you can hear some real substance behind it all. This song could've been in "Garden State." Maybe you'll get it if you use that example and put it in that context.
Anyway, this weekend I enjoyed this album while driving. Some may call it blasphemous but some tracks like City Middle sound like something off a Lou Reed record, like Transformer.
The Fall is here. I live in Miami so I'm lucky if the temperature drops below 75° at night. Still, I haven't always been in Miami during the Fall, I'm familiar with changing seasons and different kinds of weather. It's actually 81° and mostly cloudy right now and as I drove from the bank I was just thinking how cool those ads for outdoor gear is where you see a bunch of kids standing near a pick-up truck wearing any combination of beanies, vests, boots, flannels, scarves with a cobalt mountain in the background and some kind of determined look in their face like they're about to multiply or turn into gremlins. I don't have any particular ad in mind, but most of you know the archetypes, scenery, and themes.
I don't want to be a gremlin but it'd be cool to see some snow this Winter.
Thought I'd rant a bit...It can be argued that this campaign has done nothing but focus on a theme about change. I mean that outside of the actual printed materials that say CHANGE. Like an excellent written essay or manuscript should do, all of the marketing channels being used really engulf the concept of change. This speech reinforces that and I believe that it successfully deposits that theme into people's minds when they think about Obama.
Whether he is successful or not in improving where we are challenged he would definitely put us in a direction that is 'different' and potentially open new opportunities and challenges we have not seen before; ultimately making for a new, modern, more interesting America.
I don't think he will be able to fix our problems during his term(s) if elected, but I do believe that he is capable of setting us off in a new direction. This concept does not frighten me very much. I think it can't really get worse.
McCain although a hero, a great American, seems to me that his methods would be extremely traditional and is less likely to think outside the box. I don't think this would drive sufficient success to improve the lives of the common joes and janes. I also don't believe that because a man serves in war that we should feel inclined to elect him as president, and many people whom I've spoken to use that as a point of argument.
Lastly, I truly hope that the concept of religion does not become a point of argument the people focus on. Whether Obama is Christian or Muslim should not be a deciding factor for anyone. In the months to come I do see this as a potential target for the McCain campaign. We should not be basing our decision for President on what faith our leaders follow. There is no correlation between that and what a Great American President is, in my opinion.
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