Create the soundtrack of your year.

Now THIS is more like it!  Though to be honest I feel like I talk about music to people so often I don’t know what to put here that’s worth reading.

It’s actually pretty easy for me to find what I’ve been listening to this past year because of Last.FM.  In fact here is my 12 month chart in detail. However, this year I haven’t really been “into” anything significantly like most years.  It’s certainly been a soundtrack of a year built of previous years and a couple new discoveries.  But unlike years where I can say “I was really into Daft Punk” or “I discovered the new pornographers this year” this year has been a pretty casual listening time.

Of course Nine Inch Nails has been a staple, but there’s nothing new there.  Though I really enjoy any live releases that happen to come out from shows, so there’s generally always been something new to listen to.

Ghostland Observatory came out with a new album this year, “Codename: Rondo” and I’ve given that a few e-rotations.  They ended up pretty high in my list with 119 plays.

Crystal Castles also came out with a new release this year, and I’ve played them a bit.  Well, only 85 times.

I went to see Lords of Acid this year, and around that time I was playing them quite a bit.

Blaqk Audio is an electronic dancey group that I never would have heard of if @andrea_joi didn’t suggest them to me.  They get a pretty constant play rate in my rotation.

If you organize my music by what tracks I listened to the most it gets even a little more broad.  Is that Semisonic’s 2001 hit “Chemistry” way up on the charts?  Yes it is.  And that, my friends, shows you that it’s been kind of a down year when it comes to tunes for me.  (Don’t get me wrong, I really like that song.)

For some reason “Shiny Toy Guns” was a staple this year as well.  But that’s some feel-good, fun time poppy dance tunes that I can’t go wrong with.  So who would blame me?

If you look at albums I’ve listened to the most, I think it’s a pretty good list.  We start with Blaqk Audio’s SexCells, as mentioned before.  A couple soundtracks, including Repo!  The Genetic Opera. And the awesome comedy album by The Lonely Island, Incredibad.

Also as far as albums we have that new album by Ghostland Obervatory I mentioned, The Dance Macbre Remix album by The Faint, Daft Punk’s Discovery, and Battles’ Mirrored.

I’ve heard Battles in previous years, but it was just this year I got their album “Mirrored”, and it’s really great stuff.  Highly recommended.

To close things out I’ll point you to songs that I’ve been recommending, as they are a great example of music I’ve loved at that point in time.  So seriously head over to http://gabekangas.com/musicrecommendations to hear some tunes.

I know this post wasn’t very deep or anything, but hey.  What do you expect?

Below I’ll embed a few sources of tunes probably mentioned above, and you can partake if you like.  Enjoy!

Create a MySpace Playlist at MixPod.com

Related posts:

1. Weekly Song Recommendation: BT – Circles I knew when I started this song recommendation column day...
2. BT and Tiesto on tour? OMG Just read this on www.btmusic.com – BT’s official web site....
3. BT and Tiesto on tour? OMG Just read this on www.btmusic.com – BT’s official web site....

Well fuck if I don’t feel inspired now.

I’ve always been a fan of Mark Mallman’s.  It started, like many of artists I enjoy do, seeing a show of theirs without knowing who they were beforehand.  This is a prime example of the Gabe Kangas music/movie introduction theory.  It is as follows:

Don’t miss the previews.  One of the new movies may be your new favorite movie ever.
Don’t miss the opening act.  You’re going to the show anyway and they may be your new favorite band.
Don’t just go for the opener.  The headliner may your new favorite band.  You’re there anyway.

Simple enough.

That was in Chicago.  Last fall I was in Seattle and Mallman happened to have a show at a club there a night I was free, so of course I went.  Loved it like the first time.  Grabbed the newest cd.

And then all was quiet until this weekend.  Mark Mallman presented Marathon 3: The 78 hour song.

Live from The Turf Club he played music 78 hours straight.  Him, along side his 400 page binder of lyrics he had prepared, rocked it.  The backing band would change every hour, and aside from ~1min bathroom breaks (while the song continued via the band) and the time a doctor pulled him off the stage (he sprained his ankle… and that whole not sleeping for 78hrs thing) he was on stage playing his song.

I can’t really recap it in all its glory, since I wasn’t physically there.  But through the magic of Twitter and the live video stream of the event I was pretty invested.  But if you’re at all interested check out the liveblog via CityPages.  Here’s a photo they took:

But I must say, watching this thing go down was a firsthand ticket to a man’s journey into madness.  While his first couple days of 24/7 rocking looked like they didn’t take a toll on him, this last day I could no longer decipher the genius from the madness.  His banter with the band started to consist of “I weigh 600 pounds, I think I’m going to die.  This isn’t healthy.”  He had a conversation with his dead grandmother.  He talked to his guitar player about going to Bennigan’s to eat, but realized they were out of business.  It just kept getting weirder.  His voice was going out as time went on and I wasn’t sure if he was going to make it the full 78 hours.  I mean, look at the guy.

But he did.  And it was awesome.

So in the honor of a man who when asked why he would do something so crazy replied with “because”, I recommend you check out this song from his “Live from First Avenue” album, the first album of his I got.  I like it because it has that live energy that I experienced this weekend remotely, but… you know, coherent.

If only everyone loved their craft so much they wanted to see what the extreme of it consisted of.

Mark Mallman – Mother Made Me Do It

Related posts:

1. Weekly Song Recommendation: Bang! Bang! Eche! – 4 to the Floor This week I feature a song by dance rock band...
2. Weekly Song Recommendation: BT – Circles I knew when I started this song recommendation column day...
3. Weekly Song Recommendation: !!! – Must Be the Moon From the first moment you come upon the band !!!...

Bang! Bang! Eche!

This week I feature a song by dance rock band Bang! Bang! Eche! called 4 to the Floor.

I always explain to people when going to a show that I don’t like missing the opening act.  Just like I don’t like missing the previews before a feature film, that preview could be for my next favorite movie, and that band I’m missing that I’ve never heard of could be my next favorite band.  A lot of people subscribe to the “if i’ve never heard of them, I don’t want to hear them” theory of concert going, but I’m just the opposite.  If i’ve never heard of them that’s more of a reason to hear them.  Maybe I’m missing something!

I recently saw Har Mar Superstar tear it up at The Waiting Room here in Omaha, and opening for him was Bang! Bang! Eche!  A band from New Zealand that I never had heard of previously.

They fit in the same genre of dance rock as VHS or Beta, CSS, and slightly less like a more organic Faint or LCD Soundsystem.  Personally I love this stuff.  Anything that makes a crowd dance is great in my book and this album delivers.  Plus it’s free.  So go download it from their web site.

Like other music I’m partial to it’s synth heavy with a prominent bass line and driving drums.  The vocals are energetic with just the right amount of effects.  It was nice to see him use a Kaos Pad live when performing as well to recreate those effects.  That’s rare and I really dig that.  There’s no reason just because you’re performing live that vocals should be raw and boring.  They should be just as screwed up as you intended them to be.  Though the group I was with wasn’t too impressed with them, saying the vocalist yelled too much, I dug the performance and the music.  But I understand it’s not for everyone.  It’s a highly effects driven, energy filled band.  It can be mistaken for distorted noise.

So if you like fun dance-rock, go grab this first EP for free.  The second album, Sonic Death Cuntttt is on iTunes and is just as good as the self-titled EP.

Bang! Bang! Eche! – 4 to the Floor

Related posts:

1. Weekly Song Recommendation: Does it Offend You, Yeah? – Doomed Now This week in my attempt to improve your music taste...
2. Weekly Song Recommendation: The New Pornographers – Failsafe Failsafe isn’t the best song by Canadian supergroup “The New...
3. Weekly Song Recommendation: BT – Circles I knew when I started this song recommendation column day...

Dark Touches

Dark Touches, released this past week, is the newest album from Har Mar Superstar.  It’s an album I was really looking forward to for a few reasons.

But the first step before talking about Har Mar is to have you watch a video of him.

He’s an artist that you can really watch grow with each album.  But with that, you never know what’s going to happen.  His last album, The Handler, while substancially more mature than his past releases, I thought was far too serious.  The persona of Har Mar is that where seriousness is the last thing you think of.  It’s about fun, parties, sex and enjoying everything around you.  So I was a bit worried that this new album would continue the trend of deep thoughts and seriousness.

Then I saw him perform his new material in concert here in Omaha.  And I found what I was in for.

Not only was he no longer following the trend of seriousness, but he took the ridiculous factor to the next level.  I saw him perform new songs such as “Almond Joy” (he explained as the male version of the Camel Toe),  Tall Boy (Who he originally wrote for Britney Spears), Creative Juices (with references to his ever growing IMDB profile), and this week’s recommendation “Girls Only”.

In typical Har Mar Superstar fashion it’s a party tune about women.  Along with the other songs from this album when he performed them live at The Slowdown a few months ago it lit up the place.  This guy with songs like this turns every venue into a an awesome party.  Girls are throwing themselves at him.  Guys are throwing themselves at him.

He’ll be back in Omaha next month and I can’t wait for the party that is Har Mar Superstar in concert.  I’m trying to convince friends to go, but people only give me weird looks.  But whatever.  They’re missing out on a hell of a show.

Har Mar Superstar – Girls Only

Related posts:

1. Weekly Song Recommendation: Does it Offend You, Yeah? – Doomed Now This week in my attempt to improve your music taste...
2. Weekly Song Recommendation: Ghostland Observatory – Piano Man Being that I just came back from Chicago and seeing...
3. Weekly Song Recommendation: Bang! Bang! Eche! – 4 to the Floor This week I feature a song by dance rock band...

The Go! Team is one of those bands that I should have discovered long before I did.  In fact, there were even opportunities to see them previous to checking them out that I missed out on.  But oh well, you can’t know all cool tunes all the time.  You can just get close.

They’re a band that mixes what I’d explain as cheerleaders with an indie synth pop band who are influenced by the 1970s.  It doesn’t make any sense, but the most interesting bands rarely do, right?

This song, “Bottle Rocket” is a horn sample-heavy rockin’ good time fronted by a female rapper and drum fills o’plenty.  It’s just such a good time listening to this tune.  You can’t help but notice the sun is just a little bit brighter and your coffee is a little bit stronger while it’s playing.

The album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, where you can find this song generally has a pretty similar feel throughout.  So if you like this song, you’d like the rest of the album.  Not too technical, not too deep, not too anything.  Just a really fun time.

The Go! Team – Bottle Rocket

Related posts:

1. Weekly Song Recommendation: Does it Offend You, Yeah? – Doomed Now This week in my attempt to improve your music taste...
2. Weekly Song Recommendation: !!! – Must Be the Moon From the first moment you come upon the band !!!...
3. Weekly Song Recommendation: Cut Copy – Feel The Love #MusicMonday! This week’s recommendation is Cut Copy’s “Feel the Love”...

He’s primarily known as an electronic artist.  And really that is what he is.  A talented DJ and producer.  But he’s written full orchestral compilations and directed orchestras.  So how do I pick a song that can really show off the depth of this musician?

I don’t.  It’s not possible.  So I just pick a song that I think both electronic, pop and rock fans alike would enjoy.

This track isn’t a single of his, never really been featured anywhere, but it’s one of the many amazing tunes from BT’s album “Emotional Technology“.

I can’t say enough about this album as a whole.  I can simply say It is one of the best albums I’ve ever heard.  But I understand it’s not for everyone, so if you don’t like electronica/dance/trance stuff you may not really like it.  And that’s ok.  But I think you’ll like this song regardless.  Besides, look at this tidbit from wikipedia:

The single “Somnabulist” holds the Guinness World Record for most vocal edits in a single track, with 6,178 in the album version.

Well holy crap.

BT – Circles

And if you’re interested, here’s what I listened to last week. (dynamic depending on when you read this post).

Related posts:

1. Weekly Song Recommendation: Does it Offend You, Yeah? – Doomed Now This week in my attempt to improve your music taste...
2. Weekly Song Recommendation: Quintron – Witch in the Club I really need to start putting more of my personality...
3. Weekly Song Recommendation: The New Pornographers – Failsafe Failsafe isn’t the best song by Canadian supergroup “The New...

The New Pornographers - Challengers

Failsafe isn’t the best song by Canadian supergroup “The New Pornographers” to be honest.  There are many I enjoy more.  But the history of this song is so cool that I’d be doing you a disservice by not sharing it with you.

I originally got into The New Pornographers via their 2005 album “Twin Cinema“.  I absolutely fell in love with the song “Stacked Crooked“.  It is this epic, long form masterpiece that totally resonated with me.  From then on I’ve enjoyed all of their albums and seen them perform live numerous times both in large and small venues and festivals.  High quality band of very talented musicians.

The first time I heard “Failsafe” was on The New Pornographers newest album “Challengers“.  I thought nothing of it until I was watching an episode of Moral Oral on Adult Swim and heard it playing in the background by a group and arrangement I’ve never heard before.  I waited until the episode was over and watched the credits to see it was a group called “The Choir Practice” performing it.  So I wondered “who are they?  Did they write the song and The Pornos covered it?”  So I went to the internet.

Luckily I stumbled onto a wealth of knowledge on this song due to a podcast done by CBC radio.  They gave a historical retrospective of the evolution of the song and its origins.  I have a link to this podcast in this post below that I recommend you listen to if you’re at all a song nerd like I am.

It turns out Carl Newman, lead man of The New Pornographers, originally wrote and performed the song as a part of his A.C. Newman solo project in 2004.  A member of the band who performed with him formed The Choir Practice, and then rearranged the song for that group.  After Carl Newman heard that version he decided to create another arrangement that would stand out from the other two and record it for the new “Challengers” album.  It’s actually a cover of a song that he originally wrote.

I love the story and the history behind songs like this.  But I’m a music nerd and totally get off on this stuff.

Oh, and @Maukingbird likes this song.  So hi to her.

The New Pornographers – Failsafe
CBC History of a Song: Failsafe
And if you’re interested, here’s what I listened to last week. (dynamic depending on when you read this post).

Related posts:

1. Weekly Song Recommendation: Does it Offend You, Yeah? – Doomed Now This week in my attempt to improve your music taste...
2. Weekly Song Recommendation: BT – Circles I knew when I started this song recommendation column day...
3. Weekly Song Recommendation: Bang! Bang! Eche! – 4 to the Floor This week I feature a song by dance rock band...

You end up telling your friends about this “great new band called three exclamation points” and that’s pretty much where it ends.

At least until you finally do some research and find out how the band’s name is really pronounced. Officially the band asks to be called ” repeating thrice any monosyllabic sound. Chk Chk Chk is the most common pronunciation, but they could just as easily be called Pow Pow Pow, Bam Bam Bam, Uh Uh Uh, etc.” So there you go. They don’t have a real name. But for standards sake let’s pronounce it “Chk Chk Chk.”

Once you get past the administrata of being a fan of the band It’s really easy to love these guys. It’s like a mix of a funk band, an electronic band, and a straight up indie dance rock band. When live they often perform with two drummers. Nic Offer, the front man of the group, is nothing short of a blast to watch. I can’t really explain it, so check out some videos.

This song, Must Be The Moon, is the first single from their most recent album “Myth Takes.” It presents a more polished, radio friendly version of the band compared to the previous album “Louden Up Now”. It’s less political, it’s less angry, and it’s just a great all around tune about meeting someone while being out at the club. A slightly different take than topics discussed in previous songs by the band that featured lyrics like “You can tell the president to suck my fucking dick.”

Hope you had a great labor day, and I hope you enjoy the song.

!!! – Must Be the Moon

Related posts:

1. Weekly Song Recommendation: The Go! Team – Bottle Rocket The Go! Team is one of those bands that I...
2. Weekly Song Recommendation: BT – Circles I knew when I started this song recommendation column day...
3. Weekly Song Recommendation: Does it Offend You, Yeah? – Doomed Now This week in my attempt to improve your music taste...

However the band “Mew” was awesome, and I’m going to be listening to them a lot here coming up.  You should do the same.

This week’s track is from an Austin, Texas band called “Ghostland Obervatory” on their 2000 release “Paparazzi Lightning“.  They’re one of the big wins in the past five or so years for me.  Each time I’ve seen them live it’s one really awesome experience.  Two guys just getting down.  Plus they added lasers

Paparazzi Lightning

to the stage show in the past year.  Lasers only make the good better.  But seriously, go see them live if you ever get a chance.  Really.

It’s electronic.  It’s rock.  It’s a lead singer who dances like a god.  A god who dances well.  It has synth leads.  And it’s really danceable.  And the rule in Omaha is “If it’s danceable, it sucks, unless it’s The Faint.”  Omaha is wrong.  I also like the rest of the album a lot. So go check it out if you like this track.

But anyway, I’m tired from the trip.  So I’m not really going to get into this song and try to be witty.  So just for this week if you could just listen to it and enjoy it without me explaining why, that’d probably be cool of you.  Hope you like it.

Ghostland Obervatory – Piano Man

Related posts:

1. Weekly Song Recommendation: Does it Offend You, Yeah? – Doomed Now This week in my attempt to improve your music taste...
2. Weekly Song Recommendation: !!! – Must Be the Moon From the first moment you come upon the band !!!...
3. Weekly Song Recommendation: Har Mar Superstar – Girls Only Dark Touches, released this past week, is the newest album...

Does it Offend You Yeah?

This week in my attempt to improve your music taste I’m making you listen to the awesome tune “Doomed Now” by the the band “Does it Offend You, Yeah?”

Start by realizing there are few songs better than this one and you’ll be on the right track.

I love this dance-rock tune.  It comes off as a well produced, tightly integrated almost artificial sounding song.  But then you realize it’s a drum kit, some guitars, vocals.  It’s just a rock band.  An awesome one.  Sure there’s some blips and beeps mixed in, but I love that.

Remember last week when I told you more songs need vocoder usage?  Well this song took that advice and went balls out with it.  All of the vocals are vocoded and therefore radified to the max, yo.

Now even though I think this song rocks, it doesn’t compare to the album as a whole.  The album “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into” by this band is honestly one of the best start to finish albums ever.  It mixes dance rock with full on electronic tracks.  You’re doing yourself a grave disservice if you don’t check out this album yesterday.  Someone on Last.FM tagged them as “like robots having sex”.  If you don’t like that, then I don’t want to know you.

Does it Offend You Yeah? – Doomed Now

Related posts:

1. Weekly Song Recommendation: Bang! Bang! Eche! – 4 to the Floor This week I feature a song by dance rock band...
2. Weekly Song Recommendation: !!! – Must Be the Moon From the first moment you come upon the band !!!...
3. Weekly Song Recommendation: Ghostland Observatory – Piano Man Being that I just came back from Chicago and seeing...