Why I Oughtta

1. Travis Morrison talks about his day job.
2. There’s going to be a Smashing Pumpkins tribute album — but the only tracks I’m really interested in are the ones by Ben Kweller and The New Amsterdams.
3. I recently saw Kristin Hersh at IOTA where she performed with The McCarricks — a married duo from London who play violin and cello. You can download their entire New York show (at the Bowery Ballroom) here.
4. A list of 25 underappreciated artists from Rolling Stone — with Ekrobi’s boyfriend coming in at number one.
5. New MIA.
6. Maria Bamford acts cute on YouTube.
7. There’s a new JoS. A. Bank sale going on. You know what that means. Or how about this?
8. Domestic partnerships for Oregon?

Three old men review songs by The Thermals, The Decemberists and Joanna Newsom.

1. Maria Bamford is interviewed for an article originally published in the Washington Post. It’s about how much it sucks to be a female stand-up. Also, if you haven’t clicked on the Maria Bamford Superdeluxe link from a couple days ago, you really should. A lot of it is recycled, as usual, but there’s a moment at the very end that is super.
2. Pitchfork seems to really like The Noisettes, despite their low number grade. Meanwhile, they give Idlewild a higher number grade, but a worse review.
3. Here’s Joanna Newsom doing a live Scottish folk song. Pretty good quality.  She’s going to tour with Bjork.  Well, two dates.
4. The guy from Right Said Fred (”I’m Too Sexy”) is running for mayor of London.
5. I kind of forgot this thing has been running on my work computer this whole time — but my Audioscrobbler plug-in for iTunes tracks what I listen to. I don’t know if it’s 100% accurate, because certain things are overrepresented — like Idlewild’s song “Not Just Sometimes But Always” and the band Stars as a whole. But it’s kind of interesting. And I think you’ll find it interesting too, if you are interested in me as I am in myself.
6. Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys are real life bands.
7. Use this coupon to get 20% off shirts on this Web site.  American Apparel stuff is already marked down by like half.

I’ve just gotten into this band from Australia called Love of Diagrams — particularly their first album called The Target is You. It’s mostly instrumental and reminded me a little bit of Sleater-Kinney with their distorted, sinewy guitar lines and angsty energy.

I guess they just released a new one on Matador and there’s some singing on it. I don’t know if I care for it as much as the early stuff, but maybe it’ll just take some getting used to. Jared has Pace or the Patience available for download (off the new one). I couldn’t find an mp3 of my favorite track, but it’s called Tiger Pancakes.

And I’m sorry that I can’t make this an interesting post, but I’m sort of tired. And hungry, even though I just had a huge lunch.

1. My article on Doubt, now playing at the National Theatre, is up on the WP Express Web site.
2. Stickles found an awesome picture of Jon Stewart. Three guesses as to why she was doing that.
3. Barbara Boxer is my new girlfriend. And how big of a dick is Inhofe?
4. Weeee!!!! You can download the SXSW performance by The Pipettes here.
5. I linked to this a long time ago, but it’s been updated a bunch. Kori from Mates of State is keeping this baby tour blog on babble.com. It’s pretty insightful as to what life on the road is like when you’ve got a wee blonde babe in tow.

1. Sub Pop is awarding a scholarship to a music loser.
2. The Grand Canyon Skywalk looks awesome, but absolutely terrifying.
3. A New York Times article on Amy Poehler.
4. I wrote a TiFaux post on this shitty (read: AWESOME) show called Playing it Straight.
5. Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse is out of his mind. Self mutilation in South Dakota.
6. I’ve been neglecting Sam Brown’s Exploding Dog site for a long time.  I love his pictures. When I grow up and live in a real house, I will definitely consider decorating with his stuff.
7. Jared gives me and Idlewild a sweet, if slightly misinformed, shout-out on 5 Acts.
8. I went to the Oh No! Oh My! show last night and I have to admit, they way exceeded my expectations.  Their debut is an album I listen to every once in a while, but not a whole hell of a lot, but they really made all the songs come alive and I’m glad I went.  They did play a lot of new stuff, but they played my two favorite songs of theirs “Lisa! Make Love” and “I Love You All The Time” (the latter of which you can listen to on their MySpace page).  One of my favorite moments was when the drummer got up to sing a song and he danced has lanky frame around all over the place.  The song was called “If I Was a Monster” — which was exactly like you would imagine it to be (in a Muppety way). The headliner was a band called Mew, which I hadn’t really even heard of, but seemed to inspire a lot of loyalty among the crowd.  They were Dutch, slight and weird.  I could take ‘em or leave ‘em frankly — with their progginess.  They eschewed traditional lighting in favor of a projector that shot up warp speed star graphics and disturbing shots of dead-eyed monkey dolls playing the cello. The singer was this high-voiced waify dude who looked kind of terrified half the time, like he would much rather be back on his asteroid tending to his rose.

1. The Seedy Seeds have a new song for download on their MySpace page. It’s called “And Everyone.”
2. So, Garrison Keillor wrote this weird essay on gay marriage that mentions, in one of its more controversial passages, “fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers.” Joe My God and I thought he was being tongue-in-cheek, albeit sloppy. Dan Savage took him oh-so-literally. Yesterday, Keillor apologized. Regardless, I think he’s off a lot of people’s Christmas Card lists.
3. Speaking of Christmas cards — or Christmas card substitutes — if you think I don’t have your mailing address, send it to me via e-mail. You should know my e-mail address.
4. The Pipettes! Look how pretty.
5. Free iced coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts tomorrow.
6. I really love my octopus shirt from Animals Have Problems Too. If you want one, today’s your last chance to get one.

I’m taking a stab at embedding YouTube stuff.

But while I’m at it, I’ll take the chance to share a cool acoustic version of the song Orpheus by Ash. The song’s a little cheesy, but it’s catchy as hell. It features some surprisingly fantastic harmony vocals from guitar player Charlotte Hatherley (even Pitchfork liked her solo album — I really need to get my hands on it).

To keep you abreast of all of my concert goings-on, on Saturday I went to see Matt and Kim at the Rock and Roll Hotel.

You may remember them as the she-drums-he-sings-and-plays-keyboard duo from a month or so ago.

I have to admit, in my never-ending quest to find the cutest bands in the business, this pair gave the rest a run for their money. The crowd was small, but doting, and the band clearly seemed just happy to be there, with perma-grins glued on their faces.

The opener was the Max Levine Ensemble. Given the name, I thought it would be a sort of band campy jazz group, but it turned out to be a pleasantly rip-roaring pop punk band that sang songs about riding the Metro. I appreciated the band’s roar, mostly due to the fact that the singer was — by all appearances — 15.

I ended up standing next to Kim (of Matt and Kim) for the whole opening act. But I’ve kind of instituted a policy of not talking to bands I like, even if the opportunity is right there. Matt and Kim couldn’t have been more approachable — but I cling to my belief that I’ll just stutter like a fool and then be judged by everyone around me.

Site Map But the band was lots of fun to watch when they made it on stage. Matt strains his neck like he’s trying to hang onto the keyboard for dear life. He also does this hand gesture where he is sort of air-holding-Yorick’s-skull (see pic below). Some of his facial expressions were reminiscent of Macauley Culkin in his day — that is, before Mac got married, divorced and started playing gay serial killers.

I went to the show with Andy, and before the show we were hatching a plan to have a twee party. We’d play Tilly and the Wall, Matt and Kim, Belle and Sebastian at their most dainty, and serve parfaits (parfaits — that’s a separate entry, right there). Everyone has to bring a wand. Together, we’d push the boundaries of cute until it’s way into creepy territory.

I took a bunch of pictures and they all turned out pretty crappy, so here are a bunch of them in one. Hopefully four mediocre pictures will synergize into something nice.

1. First of all, listen you! You need to listen to the new Idlewild album, Make Another World, which is STREAMING FOR FREE on the VH1 Web site. It rocks quite hard. Certainly harder than its predecessor: Warnings/Promises.
2. Starbucks will be giving away free coffee on the 15th.
3. Baby gorilla in the Congo.
4. Laura Veirs has a video for Cast a Hook (and the song is re-worked for her new album).
5. Dinner with the Band is an online TV show that mixes food and indie rock.
6. Mp3s for Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos appearance on Sirius radio.
7. Threadless is having a sale. Use my link.