DYNAMIC

Death Cab for Cutie's New Music Video

2011-04-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

"You Are a Tourist" music video from the band's upcoming album CODES and KEYS due May 31st. According to DCFC's website, "'You Are a Tourist' music video [was] the first ever LIVE, scripted, one-take music video broadcast to the world as it was filmed."

Ark Music Factory Exclusive Interview

2011-03-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

As promised, here's the vid:

Musicians finally take action to aid Japan

2011-03-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

Clockwise: Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna

Nearly two weeks after an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Universal Music musicians are working to create a digital album to benefit the disaster relief efforts. While some American rock and pop stars such as Blink 182's Mark Hoppus, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry have stepped up to personally donate funds and rally their fans to donate, the celebrity involvement in the relief efforts has been minimal. It's not as if celebrities have an obligation to open their wallets whenever a natural disaster strikes a country, but they do have the power and funds to make a significant impact. Recently, CNN reported that four days after the 7.0 magnitude Haiti earthquake occurred $150 million was raised to help victims of the disaster. In contrast, four days after Japan's 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami a mere $12 million was raised.

Sure, Japan is a richer and much more politically stable country than Haiti. Nevertheless, American celebrities are making millions of dollars hawking their CDs, movies, clothing and cosmetic lines in the Japanese market. The lack of response from the celebrity community in Japan's time of need is highly disappointing. After the Japanese have helped make American celebrities international superstars, it's now time to give back to those in need. Over 9,000 deaths have been confirmed, and death tolls are likely to top 18,000. Additionally, the country is still being affected by tremors and an unstable nuclear plant.

Fortunately, Universal Music is working with some of pop's biggest artists to create a digital album in which all proceeds will go towards the Japanese Red Cross. So far, it has been confirmed that Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj will be in the album. Other rumored musicians include Lady Gaga, U2 and Bon Jovi. Hopefully, this is just the start to other music projects aimed at helping victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

What's up with Ark Music Factory?

2011-03-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

Rebecca Black and Pato

By now, you've probably seen eighth-grader Rebecca Black's viral video "Friday." If you haven't you can view it here. While the video has been seen over 30 million times, the majority of viewers have bashed the video, writing comments like, "this. is. bad. The WORST song I've ever heard" and "if this is what is considered music i want to shoot myself." Unfortunately, the aforementioned comments are pretty tame compared to what other viewers are saying. While I agree that "Friday" isn't the best song out there, I also feel that there is an incredibly strong force behind Rebecca Black in the form of independent record label, Ark Music Factory.

Ark's been quick to cash in on Rebecca Black ever since "Friday" went viral. In the past week Black's appeared on Good Morning America in a five-minute segment titled "Worst Song Ever?", garnered a spot on iTunes top 100 downloads list and organized a mini-tour across America. While there may be few sincere Rebecca Black fans, this hasn't prevented Ark from making presumably thousands of dollars off of her. And they're not only making money from Black; other Ark artists have received hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube since "Friday" blew up all over the internet. For instance, fellow Ark artist Alana Lee's "Butterflies" music video had about a quarter of a million views last week; now, it has nearly two and a half million.

After poking around Ark's YouTube channel and website, I found that Ark's mission is to, "Make it possible for emerging independent artists from a variety of popular genres to be discovered, defined, and delivered, to advance in their chosen career and be successful." However, Ark's artists are all preteen and teen girls that fall primarily within the pop music genre... and, they all pretty much sound alike. At least, lyrically speaking, the content of Ark's artists is mainly about having crushes on boys and partying on the weekends. (As if middle school students really party.)

By scanning Ark's online sites, I had hoped to find out who the black rapper was in all of Ark's music videos (affectionately named "Fat Usher" by some bloggers). I was curious as to what a 30-something-year-old rapper was doing in all of these teen girls' videos. In all honesty, I found it a little, errr, creepy. Unfortunately, I never got an answer, except that the guy's name is Pato. But, today when I checked Ark's site I saw a post which announced that an exclusive Ark interview would be coming to YouTube. To my relief, the first question that would be answered is "Who is the black guy in all the videos?" WIN! The informational video is set to air this Friday, March 25th. I'll be posting it on DYNAMIC as soon as it airs, just in case any of you are also wondering who Fat Usher really is.

Good Music from NPR

2011-03-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

Clockwise: Starfucker, Fleet Foxes, Typhoon, Ivan & Alyosha, Adele

Obviously, it's been awhile since I've updated this site. For the one or two people who check this page regularly and for the handful of folks who stumble upon this site, I'm sorry. Mainly, I've been busy with other work and haven't been keeping up with what's new in the music world. BUT, now that I'm on a short break from work and back in Seattle, I've had a chance to catch up on some new music and music news. To my surprise, a lot has happened in the music world since I last checked in. Noah and the Whale released a new album earlier this month, Fleet Foxes have released a song from their upcoming album Helplessness Blues and one of my favorite bands, The Nextdoor Neighbors disbanded.

Fortunately, I've also had the opportunity to listen to the hundreds of NPR All Songs Considered and Tiny Desk Concerts podcasts that have gone un-played in my iTunes library over the past several months. In these podcasts I've found some gems from old and new bands alike. Here are some of my favorites:

Starfucker, "Julius"

Electronic

Fleet Foxes, "Helplessness Blues"

Folk

Typhoon, "Honest Truth" (3:40 mark)

Indie-pop

Ivan & Aloysha, Tiny Desk Concert

Folk-indie-pop

Adele, "Rumor Has It"

Pop

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Macklemore, "Irish Celebration"

2011 Sasquatch! Lineup

2011-02-06T23:27:00.001-08:00

It's going to be one great weekend at the Gorge. This year's Sasquatch! Music Fest features the following artists:

Foo Fighters
Death Cab For Cutie
The Flaming Lips
Modest Mouse
Wilco
Sleigh Bells
Bassnectar
Beach House
Matt & Kim
Local Natives
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Rodrigo y Gabriela
The Decemberists & more...

2011 Coachella Lineup

2011-01-18T23:37:00.001-08:00

The wait is over; the 2011 Coachella Lineup just went public, and it looks like it's gonna be a great weekend of music (April 15-17).

Mashup of Top 25 Billboard Hits of 2010

2010-12-29T19:44:00.000-08:00

DJ Earworm's mashup of the top 25 Billboard hits of 2010 doesn't quite flow as well as his 2009 mashup, but it's still a good effort.

2010

2009

20 Best Songs of 2010 According to Spin

2010-12-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

We're not sure how Spin compiled this list of the best songs of 2010, but we feel like it's missing some big tracks (i.e. Mumford and Sons' "White Blank Page," Beach House's "Zebra," Sleigh Bells' "Tell 'Em"). What are your thoughts?

Cee Lo Green, "Fuck You"
Arcade Fire, "Ready to Start"
Kanye West, feat. Dwele, "Power"
LCD Soundsystem, "All I Want"
Neil Young, "Hitchhiker"
Deerhunter, "Helicopter"
Kanye West, "Runaway"
Robyn, "Cry When You Get Older"
Janelle Monae, feat. Big Boi, "Tightrope"
Gucci Mane, "Lemonade"
Dom, "Living in America"
The-Dream, feat. T.I., "Make Up Bag"
Superchunk, "Digging for Something"
Chiddy Band, "Opposite of Adults"
Tracey Thorn, "Hormones"
Das Racist, "hahahaha jk?"
The Black Keys, "Tighten Up"
Tame Impala, "Solitude is Bliss"
Yeasayer, "Ambling Alp"
Les Savy Fav, "Let's Get Out of Here"

Hottest 25 Songs of 2010

2010-12-22T17:06:00.002-08:00

Ke$ha

That's right America, we let a song about "waking up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy" top the Billboard charts in 2010. The following list of the "hottest" or most popular 25 songs of the year was ranked according to radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and streaming activity data provided by online music sources.

Ke$ha, "Tik Tok"
Lady Antebellum, "Need You Now"
Train, "Hey, Soul Sister"
Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg, "California Gurls"
Usher feat. will.i.am., "OMG"
B.o.B. feat. Hayley Williams, "Airplanes"
Eminem feat. Rihanna, "Love the Way You Lie"
Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"
Taio Cruz, "Dynamite"
Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris, "Break Your Heart"
B.o.B. feat. Bruno Mars, "Nothin' On You"
Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull
Young Money feat. Lloyd, "Bedrock"
Jason Derulo, "In My Head"
Rihanna, "Rude Boy"
Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce, "Telephone"
Katy Perry, "Teenage Dream"
Bruno Mars, "Just the Way You Are"
Mike Posner, "Cooler Than Me"
The Black Eyed Peas, "Imma Be"
Jay Z + Alicia Keys, "Empire State of Mind"
Usher feat. Pitbull, "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love"
Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars, "Billionaire"
Eminem, "Not Afraid"
Iyaz, "Replay"

NPR Listeners Pick Top 100 Albums of 2010

2010-12-19T22:16:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, we haven't listened to nearly enough albums from 2010 to compile a "legitimate" ranking of the year's best albums. However, NPR's "All Songs Considers" fans cast tens of thousands of votes of their favorite albums to create a list of the 100 best albums of the year. We've bolded our personal favorites.

1 Arcade Fire: The Suburbs

2 The Black Keys: Brothers

3 The National: High Violet

4 Mumford & Sons: Sigh No More

5 Broken Bells: Broken Bells

6 LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening

7 Vampire Weekend: Contra

8 Sufjan Stevens: The Age Of Adz

9 Beach House: Teen Dream

10 Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

11 Gorillaz: Plastic Beach

12 Sleigh Bells: Treats

13 Jonsi: Go

14 Local Natives: Gorilla Manor

15 Band Of Horses: Infinite Arms

16 The Tallest Man On Earth: The Wild Hunt

17 Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest

18 Spoon: Transference

19 Janelle Monae: The ArchAndroid

20 Yeasayer: Odd Blood

21 Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs: God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise

22 New Pornographers: Together

23 Broken Social Scene: Forgiveness Rock Record

24 Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me

25 Cee Lo: The Ladykiller

26 MGMT: Congratulations

27 Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings: I Learned The Hard Way

28 Massive Attack: Heligoland

29 Josh Ritter: So Runs The World Away

30 Girl Talk: All Day

31 She And Him: Volume II

32 Bruce Springsteen: The Promise

33 Belle And Sebastian: Write About Love

34 Big Boi: Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Dusty Chico

35 Best Coast: Crazy For You

36 The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights

37 Danger Mouse And Sparklehorse: Dark Night Of The Soul

38 Caribou:Swim

39 The Roots: How I Got Over

40 Kings Of Leon: Come Around Sundown

41 Frightened Rabbit: The Winter Of Mixed Drinks

42 Neil Young: Le Noise

43 Drive By Truckers: The Big To-Do

44 Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma

45 Carolina Chocolate Drops: Genuine Negro Jig

46 Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards

47 Laura Veirs: July Flame

48 The Walkmen: Lisbon

49 Dr. Dog: Shame Shame

50 The Gaslight Anthem: American Slang

51 Surfer Blood: Astro Coast

52 Bob Dylan: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 (The Bootleg Series Vol. 9)

53 Grinderman: Grinderman 2

54 Gogol Bordello: TransPContinental Hustle

55 Trampled By Turtles: Palomino

56 Robert Plant: Band Of Joy

57 Johnny Cash: American VI: Ain't No Grave

58 Titus Andronicus: The Monitor

59 Eminem: Recovery

60 Robyn: Body Talk

61 The Hold Steady: Heaven Is Whenever

62 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Beat The Devil's Tattoo

63 Freelance Whales: Weathervanes

64 Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles (II)

65 Hot Chip: One Life Stand

66 M.I.A.: Maya

67 Los Lobos: Tin Can Trust

68 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Mojo

69 Tame Impala: Innerspeaker

70 Interpol: Interpol

71 Four Tet: There Is Love In You

72 Mavis Staples: You Are Not Alone

73 Charlotte Gainsbourg: IRM

74 Elvis Costello: National Ransom

75 Richard Thompson: Dream Attic

76 Ra Ra Riot: The Orchard

77 Justin Townes Earle: Harlem River Blues

78 John Legend & The Roots: Wake Up

79 Blitzen Trapper: Destroyer of the Void

80 Trent Reznor And Atticus Ross: The Social Network Soundtrack

81 Laura Marling: I Speak Because I Can

82 Goldfrapp: Head First

83 Jakob Dylan: Women And Country

84 Of Montreal: False Priest

85 Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part Two (Return Of The Ankh)

86 Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: Before Today

87 Ben Folds & Nick Hornby: Lonely Avenue

88 Jimi Hendrix: Valleys Of Neptune

89 SharonVan Etten: Epic

90 Elton John and Leon Russell: The Union

91 Owen Pallett: Heartland

92 Leonard Cohen: Songs From The Road

93 OK Go: Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky

94 The Books: The Way Out

95 Junip: Field

96 Gayngs: Relayted

97 Deer Tick: Black Dirt Sessions

98 The Black Angels: Phosphene Dream

99 Sade: Soldier Of Love

100 Gil Scott Heron: I'm New Here

On the Rocks' Performances on NBC's "The Sing Off"

2010-12-16T13:00:00.001-08:00

The University of Oregon's male A Capella group, On the Rocks, was eliminated last night on NBC's "The Sing Off." The group placed fifth overall and narrowly missed making it into Monday night's finale. Here are the guys' performances from the show:

"Bad Romance"

"Live Your Life"

"Pour Some Sugar on Me"

"Kyrie"

Elton John Medley

"Final Countdown"

Also, please be sure to check out our Eugene Concert Calendar to see what bands will be performing in the area!

Under Construction

2010-12-16T12:10:00.001-08:00

Hey Folks,

I'm reformatting DYNAMIC right now, so please excuse the mess. In the meantime, have fun poking around!

Free Album Download: Smoosh's Withershins

2010-10-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

Preview Withhershins here and then download the whole album for free from Smoosh's bandcamp.

Elmo Plays with Katy Perry

2010-09-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

Katy Perry recently stopped by Sesame Street, but her segment was cut out of the show because her dress was too revealing. Should Perry have been edited out?

Florence + the Machine Rock the VMAs

2010-09-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

Florence + the Machine was an unusual performance pick for MTV's hip-hop and pop filled VMA's, but the band ended up being the highlight of the night. The act was both visually and sonically appealing. Unlike some of the other acts (cough cough, Justin Bieber) Florence seemed to be actually singing, not lip syncing. Check out the eye-popping performance for yourself below.

2010 MTV Video Music Awards - More VMA Video

Twin Track Tuesdays: Kitten and Cat Power

2010-09-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday, DYNAMIC features a pair of “twin” tracks. These tracks could sound similar vocally, instrumentally, rhythmically, lyrically or melodically. This week we’ve selected Kitten's “Don't Kill the Light” and Cat Power's “The Greatest.”

Taylor Swift Falls Flat at VMAs

2010-09-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

I'm seldom critical of Taylor Swift. I quickly defended Swift when critics hounded her performance at last year's Grammys; however, Swift's performance at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards was definitely off-key. After Kanye West embarrassed Swift in front of millions at last year's VMAs, this was Swift's opportunity to show audiences how great of an entertainer she is.

2010 MTV Video Music Awards - More VMA Video

A video of Kanye interrupting Swift's 2009 Best Female Video acceptance speech was shown before Swift began her first televised performance of "Innocent" which was apparently composed as a reflection of the incident. Sure, Swift probably felt like she had to address the fiasco, but this song just wasn't right for the VMAs. The song was a downer, the lyrics sophomoric and not catchy at all. But, it wasn't just the song itself that was a disappointment, the performance was boring and forgettable.

When I pointed out Swift's flat vocals my friend added "And nothing else [was] going on to make it less noticeable." Swift started off singing while sitting down and strumming her guitar. Afterward she walked across stage while a black screen highlighted her "Innocent" lyrics. About a minute into the song I started wishing that Kanye would come on stage and rap a verse.

Kanye did make it up to the stage by the end of the night, performing a new song off his upcoming album to be released in the fall. With flashy visuals and catchy beats, audience members will most likely remember the VMAs for West's performance, not Swift's-- which is something both singers should be happy about.

The Lonely Forest's First Music Video

2010-09-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

The Lonely Forest's music video for "Turn Off This Song and Go Outside" can now be viewed online. Remember, their new EP comes out this Tuesday, September 14th and will be available on iTunes

The Lonely Forest
Tags:
The Lonely Forest, MTV Music

Teacher on Paid Leave for Distributing Blue Scholars Lyrics

2010-09-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

This week, a Shadle Park High School Teacher in Spokane was placed on administrative leave for handing out Blue Scholars' "Commencement Day" lyrics to his senior class. Yesterday the Spokane Public School district posted a statement on its website reading:

Rumors about a Shadle Park High School teacher put on paid administrative leave for distributing song lyrics with profanity on the first day of school have resulted in misleading information.

The leave is in effect until completion of the investigation. The length of the investigation depends on how much information we need to gather in order to make a decision.

The teacher is on paid administrative leave, not suspension.

The profanity in the song is the issue, not the song's criticism of the educational system. Supplemental materials, such as lyrics to songs, are subject to the district's approval process. That process looks at profanity in terms of context. This song did not go through the approval process.

All this hubbub over a couple of curse words is absurd, especially considering that the students receiving the lyrics were all likely seventeen or eighteen-year-olds. At this age, most students can go see rated R movies, smoke, buy lotto tickets and have undoubtedly heard and used "fuck" and "shit" before, so what's all the commotion about?

Hopefully, the teacher will be able to return to the classroom soon because he seems like one hell of an instructor. We'll update you on the teacher's standing once more information is released.

B.O.B. and River Cuomo's "Magic" Music Video

2010-09-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

Northwest Wednesdays: Why I Decided Not to Go to Bumbershoot

2010-09-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

Generally, I always look forward to Labor Day weekend in Seattle because of one of the city's finest music fests; Bumbershoot. But this year I decided not to attend because I was less than impressed with the festival for several reasons:

1) Lineup: Sure, there were great acts like Bob Dylan, Weezer and Mary J. Blige headlining, but the festival lacked some big name rock bands such as last year's Metric, Franz Ferdinand and Modest Mouse.

2) Price: The folks at Bumbershoot restructured their pricing system and tried to sell it back to us as if we were getting a good deal. Bottom line; ticket prices increased a lot.

3) Other Music Fests: This July's Capitol Hill Block Party and the upcoming Seattle City Arts Fest featuring acts like She & Him, Cat Power and Belle and Sebastian offered Bumbershoot some competition.

4) The Weather: OK, we can't blame the guys and gals at Bumbershoot for this one, but last weekend's rainy weather didn't help bring in a crowd either.

Twin Track Tuesdays: Neon Trees and Head Automatica

2010-09-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday, DYNAMIC features a pair of “twin” tracks. These tracks could sound similar vocally, instrumentally, rhythmically, lyrically or melodically. This week we’ve selected Neon Tree’s “Animal” and Head Automatica's “Graduation Day.”

Kanye Writes Song for T. Swift

2010-09-04T18:31:00.000-07:00

Nearly a year after Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards, the rapper has announced that he's written a song for Ms. Swift. West's intention is for Swift to perform the song, but if she's not willing, West will happily perform the song himself. Yesterday Kanye had this to say about the song:

"I wrote a song for Taylor Swift that's so beautiful and I want her to have it. If she won't take it then I'll perform it for her. ... She had nothing to do with my issues with award shows. She had no idea what hit her. She's just a lil girl with dreams like the rest of us. She deserves the apology more than anyone. ... We're both artist (sic) and the media and managers are trying to get between us. Everyone wants to capitalize off this (in) some way. I'm ready to get out of my own way. The ego is overdone... it's like hoodies."