Composed Elements

Last week in an interview with Associated Press, Kanye West said the following:

“I realize that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice,” he said in an interview on Wednesday. “It’s me settling into that position of just really accepting that it’s one thing to say you want to do it and it’s another thing to really end up being like Michael Jordan.”

He’s so damn arrogant, but I do like his new song “Street Lights” off of his upcoming 808s and Heartbreak album…  Dammit Kanye, you got me again!

Not me, silly.  I’m talking about the Teddy Bear’s song, “Punkrocker”, featuring Iggy Pop. 

This one time when I went into a mosh pit on purpose (about ten years ago – oh man I’m old), I almost lost my shoe.  And then this nice guy pulled me out of the pit and gave me a look that said, “Are you serious?  You’re like 90 pounds.”  He taught me right from wrong.  Oh, and here’s that song!

After a long hiatus, I’m back! Recently, I’ve been too busy at work to blog. And then I have to come home to my piece of crap laptop. One of the hinges that holds my screen is broken, so I need to prop it up against a wall for support. And then it always tells me that the “virtual memory is too low.” I may not be a computer expert, but I’ve watched the movie “Hackers” and that doesn’t sound good to me.

Anyhow, lately I’ve been really into bands that sound like they’re from the 80’s, but get this – they’re from the present. Ooohoooohhh. I’m digging this band, A Place to Bury Strangers. They sound like Joy Division to me.

A Place to Bury Strangers “I Know I’ll See You”

Sometimes I’ll get home from work and there will be all these things I need to get done (like start packing for my Las Vegas trip this weekend)…but I don’t get to them.  Do you know why?  Well, do you??? 

It’s actually not that grand. I’ll just stare at a music video for an hour or two and just keep looping it.  It’s weird, but I’ll zone out for about an hour and can’t move or refuse to move.  I wouldn’t do that just for any ol’ song.  It has to be special.

And here’s the song that occupied my time from 10:15pm to 11:20 pm today.

Santogold’s “L.E.S. Artistes”

My coworker showed me this video where this guy’s working in his cubicle and says, “Hold my calls, I’m blogging!” I wish I could say that at work! Seriously, when I’m really stressed at work, I dream about blogging. It’s like when I sit through L.A. traffic every day, I imagine my car flying over the other cars. Yes, I wish I had more time to blog and I’d really like a flying car.

Oh, so I also like this song from the band Black Kids called “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You.” The video is ridiculous though. I feel like this conversation took place between the band and the director:

DIRECTOR: So, what would you like in your video?
BAND: Hmm, something with a Victorian theme.
DIRECTOR: Okay, I guess I can do that…
BAND: And an 80s theme.
DIRECTOR: Like make you guys wear 80s clothing?
BAND: Not really. We already wear 80s clothing. Incorporate bright colors and lots of stripes and swirly lines. You know, the kind that hypnotize you.
DIRECTOR: Uhhhh…
BAND: And cheerleaders! And laser beams! And don’t forget the white-powdered wigs!
DIRECTOR: I’ll see what I can do.

And then voila!

You know that feeling when you’re parched and exhausted because you went out too late because you were dancing to an awesome 80s cover band and had to wake up too early the next day for work? Yea, I’m feeling like that right now.

Anyhow, good thing there are French female singers like Yelle (who used to be part of a Parisian hip hop group???) out there that brighten my day. The colors of the music video for “Je Veux Te Voir” are enough to blind me and make me crave Skittles at the same time. The song also builds up where I’m just tapping my feet in the beginning and by the end, I’m jumping on my desk and swinging my arms in the air like a helicoptor. Yes, good times. Please dance responsibly.

A few days ago, I posted a video of a song from Jason Schwartzman’s solo effort, Coconut Records. I later found out that he used to date his childhood friend, Zooey Deschanel (from such movies as Elf and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), who also happens to be a musician. Zooey and M. Ward joined forces to form She & Him and recently released a new album, Volume One, chock full of forlorn love songs (my guilty pleasure). Zooey’s vocal stylings switch between an old jazzy feel to a southern twang. I have no idea why she has a southern accent since she’s from LA, but I’ll let that slide since I like her music. It’s not as drastic as Shaggy’s fake Jamaican accent.

Listen to “Take It Back” by She & Him.

Listen to The Submarines – “You, Me, and the Bourgeoisie”