6 posts tagged “music”

Lots of people already know about Pandora. This Web casting service from the Music Genome Project lets you choose a song or artist as a starting point. Then, it plays a stream of similar music, much of which you've never heard before. I've been a big fan for quite some time, and I don't think there's a better way to discover new music that you'll actually enjoy.

Except maybe now there is.

I'll explain. Pandora's open API has given developers an opportunity to mix and match music services. For example, Pandora.fm is a mash-up of Last.fm and Pandora. You can listen to Pandora as you normally would, but if you input your Last.fm account information, the songs you hear are submitted to your Last.fm playlist. You can also "tag"  the songs as you submit them. Unfortunately, my experience with the site has been mixed. More often than not, my songs don't actually submit to Last.fm. Since that's kinda the point, it's tough to recommend the site. But try it out. It might work a little better for you than it did for me.

A Pandora mash-up I've had better luck with is the Emusic/Pandora hybrid. Again, Pandora works as it normally does: pick a song or band, and you hear similar tunes. In addition, Emusic runs a search for the artist, album, or song that's currently playing and finds it on Emusic. This is pretty useful if you find an unknown artist you like and they turn out to be on Emusic. It doesn't always work. Sometimes, there isn't a match. This is usually because the artist isn't on Emusic. But sometimes, the Artist is on Emusic and the search turns up something completely unrelated. For example, when Pandora played Sonic Youth, I got an album called "Dumbdown" by Idiotchild. That didn't make much sense because there's plenty of Sonic Youth on Emusic. Normally, though, it pulls up the appropriate artist.

Finally, Pandora has added some personal features that allow you to bookmark your favorite songs and artists as they play. You can even add your friends and see what radio stations, songs, and artists they've been listening to. It's not the fanciest thing you've ever seen, but it's supremely useful given Pandora's core purpose You can find my Pandora profile here. But don't get too attached. Royalty rates for Webcasters are going up dramatically, and Pandora is signaling that the new rates may be too much for the service to bear.

Virb is a new site that's competing with Myspace head on. That's right. They're not making widgets for you to put on Myspace. They're not giving you code to help you spruce up Myspace. Instead, they've built a new site from the ground up. Their ambition? To be a better Myspace (and Facebook and Last.fm). They don't just want to compete, they want to win.

They're not doing it piecemeal either. Today, they opened the site up to the public and nearly everything is working right now: fully customizable profile pages, video and photo sharing with generous upload limits, separate pages for bands (with beautiful flash players), interoperability with 3rd party widgets, blogs, and robust search functionality. A full list of features, including some that are coming soon, is available here.

I could write all day about this site, but I'll start small. Here are five things the company seems to have done right the first time, right out of the box. Note that I'm not going into much detail. That will have to come later, in future posts.

1. Perfect balance. Virb has managed to what many have thought impossible. Make a feature-rich, coherently-designed site that is also super customizable. They wanted to build a site that avoided much of the ugliness for which Myspace is notorious, and yet they knew people wouldn't accept a competitor that didn't let users tinker with their, uh, spaces. Well, Virb is gorgeous and "dripping with AJAX." It has a ton of features Myspace users have begged for, and yet it gives users considerable power and discretion in building their (much more) beautiful pages (e.g., here, here, here, & here).  That's not to say you can't still build an eyesore. But there's one more thing: Virb lets you "turn off customization" for individual pages when a pal has simply gone overboard in tricking out their page. Genius!
2. Plays well with others. First, you can sync with Flickr. Hallelujah on that alone. But that's not where it ends. They allow users to create custom modules, which retain the general size of the disparate modules on the site, but which also allow you to insert your own HTML code or third party widgets from approved sites (e.g., You Tube, Google, Brightcove, Revver, Vimeo, Odeo, Metacafe, Veoh). Like Myspace, they don't let users insert Javascript. But flash-based widgets seem to work okay. Finally, they're planning to let users import their own blogs via RSS. That feature isn't live yet, but it's hugely important if they want to attract new users weary of Myspace's "lock-in" mentality.
3. Not afraid to borrow ideas. Some of Virb's best features appear to be cribbed from other sites, and that's a very good thing. For example, Virbtunes is an iTunes plug-in that logs your tracks as you play them and posts them on your profile page. It works just like Last.fm. It doesn't have Last.fm's enormous feature set, but it's already smart enough to identify bands who have a Virb profile and provide an autolink to their page. Another useful feature comes from Facebook: after you log into Virb, your homepage displays your "recent friend activity." Whenever your friends add photos, videos, blogposts, or songs, a notification shows up on your homepage. It's very similar to Facebook's mini-feed, but it avoids some of the controversy that feature spawned. Virb doesn't tell you about interactions among friends.
   

   Recent Friend Activity
4. Media isn't an afterthought, it's Virb's central nervous system. Take a look at Virb's home page, and their pages for video and music. Everything about the site says it's built to run on media. That image transfers to the content and features on the site. Virb is going after Myspace's core competency in music. Hard. The site's founders, Unborn Media, previously brought you PureVolume, a kind of Web 2.0 version of MP3.com. Now, bands can get a Virb site that ports over a killer feature set from PureVolume. The resulting artist pages are so pretty, we're not sure PureVolume is even necessary anymore. Take a look at this page for Bloc Party, or this one for Finland's Day Eleven, and you'll see what I mean. A lot of bands are going to flock to Virb. Bands like The Decemberists, Mastodon, Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, and The Hold Steady are already on Virb at launch. Users don't get left out. They can add as many as 15 songs from different artists to create their own custom player. And as for Video, Virb is the first site I've seen to launch WIDESCREEN video that can be embedded anywhere. And with the click of a button, you can dim the rest of the screen for maximum enjoyment. Are you starting to get amazed?
5. Search and you shall find. Virb makes it easy to find what you're looking for. Myspace veterans know that's not a small thing. Virb has a speedy search function that crawls the whole site and returns results in discrete categories (e.g., people, blogs, music, video). Tagging is actively encouraged, and damn near everything can be tagged, including your friends. This fixes one of my biggest complaints about Myspace: once you had about 200 friends or more, it became impossible to find them again. While Virb doesn't let you search your friends (yet), you can tag them any way you wish, and then filter them accordingly (e.g., work, school, home, golfing buddies). This is made easier by the fact that Virb allows you to keep Organizations and Bands separate from your "People" friends. This is what social media is all about: finding people, sharing information, and staying in touch.

I'm not saying Virb is perfect. They're still adding features and tweaking the service. It's still in beta for chrissakes. A massive influx of users could still crash their servers. And even if everything goes right, they've still got to overcome the significant network effects advantage Myspace enjoys. Are people really going to bother with another social network, when they've invested so much into Myspace? Who knows. But I like Virb a lot. And they've got a good unofficial motto that I'm going to adopt.

I'm moving to Virb. Who's coming with me?

P.S., I'm starting a new Virb group on Vox. If you like Virb, join up!

This photo set comes from the Electric Eel Shock / Groceries / Woozyhelmet show on March 9, 2003. Electric Eel Shock (EES) have played Houston four or five times, but this show at the Rhythm Room was my favorite because hardly anyone was there. I think maybe 35 or 40 people made it out. Every show after this one was completely packed because people found out EES are insanely talented hard rock gods who should never, ever be missed.

By the way, I really miss the Rhythm Room. I saw a goodly number of shows there, and I think sound-wise, their room was probably the best small club in Houston. They had a nice open dance floor with cavernous booths on either side, and a bar at the back. It was basically a honkey tonk built for boot-scootin' & two stepping. But it had two things you won't find at Walter's or The Proletariat. First class sound equipment and a huge room. Even Rudyard's, which has superior sound, is cramped by comparison. Name just about any show other than maybe Low, and I woulda rather seen it at RR.

Audio: Show us cover art or share a track from the first band or solo artist you flipped for.
Submitted by Red Pen.

Because the first band to truly draw me into the worship of rock music was (I kid you not) The Eagles, I won't spend many words on them at all. I purchased The Eagles Greatest Hits Vol. II. On cassette tape! From Walmart! For $8.99!

Later, friends and acquaintances made sure my high school education included at least a few bands outside the scope of my classic rock fixation. One of my first exposures to indie rock / college rock was a Houston local band called de Schmog. They were a bit of a mix between Camper Van Beethoven and Talking Heads (though I certainly would not have recognized either reference at the time). Their secret weapon was their ability to trick you into moving your ass like a dirty hippie without actually imitating an idiotic jam band. Their songs were tightly constructed pop gems that nonetheless inspired the occasionalnoodle dance. They featured two singers: a tall, goofy white guy with an enormous Irish afro and a petit, smoking-hot redhead. Watching & hearing the two of them together was a bit like watching a music video and avant garde play mashed together. Their interplay was performance art you could dance to.

Indeed, their songs were nearly all tiny dramatic set pieces; little comedies revealed within the boundaries of a three-minute pop song. How obsessed with storytelling were they? It seemed like fully half their records were concept albums. And yet, de Schmog had none of the pretense you would associate with concept albums. No, de Schmog was a fantastic high school musical that had escaped to form a rock band.

Recently they reunited to play a show a Rudyard's. In 1992, when I first saw them play, I could barely work a guitar but I had dreams of being in a rock band and making records and playing huge shows. When I saw them again last month, I had a decade of experience playing in local bands myself. On the same stages de Schmog had played. Hell, de Schmog's old bass player plays bass in my band now. Sure, we haven't been nearly as successful, even on a local level. But I had followed in the footsteps of a band I looked up tp and now I was getting to see them for the first time in nearly a decade. Seeing all those old people (i.e. people who are my age) dancing around and mouthing the words to song after song it was clear that de Schmog was doing something most local bands never do. They had packed a house full of people to see a band that broke up 10 years ago. Why did they all show up? Because de Schmog has a songbook. A history of music and laughter and white boy grooves that people could still remember in their hips and hearts. There aren't many local bands who can boast that kind of staying power. Actually, there aren't many bands period as good as de Schmog.

To find out more about de Schmog and download lots of songs, visit their Web site. They have several entire albums available for download. Also check out their new MySpace page.

I've been an emusic.com subscriber since August 2001. Back then, you could download whatever you wanted, as much as you wanted for $9.95 per month. Unfortunately, there wasn't a ton of music on the site at the time. All you can eat isn't such a great deal if there's nothing on the buffet line. I kept hoping they'd add more labels, but the service was stagnating. Three or four years ago (I forget when) Emusic introduced the first version of their current tiered membership system. At the time, it was upsetting, and I briefly went on a subscription hiatus. For three or four months, perhaps longer, I didn't pay the monthly fee and didn't download anything. But I visited occasionally, to see if any more artists were being added. In fact, the new tiered system and more favorable revenue split invited an explosion of new Pitchfork-friendly indie labels (e.g., Merge, Matador, Kill Rock Stars).  Eventually I became an enthusiastic premium subscriber, greedily using my 90 downloads per month as soon as I got them. And each month there were more new artists than I could fit into my monthly allotment. Suffice it to say, I've purchased many a booster pack.

Late last year, Emusic changed their subscription plans once more, so that new users can only get 75 tracks for the premium subscription. Still only 19.95, it's an exceptional deal, with each song costing a bit more than 26 cents. Old subscribers were grandfathered in, so I still get 90 tracks for my 20 bux. But the difference is only about 4 1/2 cents per song. Cynics will point out Emusic's really trying to increase booster pack sales. I think that's probably true. The price of a "booster" track is now about double the price of subscription tracks: roughly 53 cents per track if you purchase the "best value" booster (30 tracks for $15.99). But that price is still favorable when you compare with iTunes (99 cents!).

The bottom line: I still think Emusic is an enormously good deal. But that doesn't mean it couldn't be better.

Emusic ignores social media

I've always been an huge evangelist for Emusic. I invite people to join and happily answer questions about the service. But it wasn't until recently that some of my good friends actually took me up on my offer to join. When they did, I came face to face with Emusic's most glaring flaw. "How do I add you as a friend?" they asked me. The answer is more complicated than it should be. Emusic doesn't allow users to search for other users or locate existing users by entering their email address (like Netflix). In order to "friend" someone, you have to actually encounter your pal somewhere on the site. For example, my friend Elissa created a list of Houston artists available on Emusic. Then she posted on the HandsUpHouston message board with instructions on how to find the list and add her. Because she was the author of the list, I clicked on her name and added her to my friends. It should not be that hard.

The difficulty of adding friends is symptomatic of Emusic's larger failure to fully embrace social media. Emusic was initially a pioneer in "social" networking. Their innovative "neighbor" feature, which identifies other users who have similar music tastes to your own, actually predated sites like MySpace and Friendster. Like Netflix, Emusic was also an early adopter of user-generated reviews and playlists (including the "star" rating system). Encouraging users to learn about new music by meeting strangers with similar music tastes isn't a bad idea. Sites like Mog.com and Last.fm have validated the approach. But both of those sites also allow users to network the old fashioned way, by using the connections they've already made in real life (IRL). Emusic, meanwhile, has simply ignored the features which are now required to build user loyalty in the new age of startups.

The Netflix Example

Again, Netflix (which was actually an early partner with Emusic) is a valuable example. Netflix users aren't simply customers waiting for their movies to arrive. Nor do they merely write reviews or create insular lists of their favorite movies. Netflix is built around a central wellspring of customer information: their queue. Not only does Netflix track every movie in your future, they track your past too. But the real innovation is sharing. You can see the movies in your pal's queue and they can see yours. And you have access to your friends' recent ratings and recommendations. In fact, Netflix actively encourages users to interact with one another. Every time you visit your personal page, Netflix is giving you information about your friends. They even quiz you about which user liked this movie or hated that movie.

So what does Netflix get out of all that complicated programming work? Two things. First, any marketer will tell you that user queues, recommendations, and reviews are incredibly valuable. Research using a data set this large used to be nearly impossible, even if you paid for a massive survey. Now, Netflix gets this information for free. Better yet, they get paid instead! But the second benefit is even greater. By encouraging users to build their own movie clubs, Netflix ensures that users will be reluctant to leave the service for competitors. Once you've rated 500 movies, written a few reviews and added 20 or so friends, Blockbuster's nearly identical service doesn't look so attractive. Who wants to do all that work over again? Network effects in the house.

Tips for Emusic

So here, finally, are a few suggestions for how Emusic might further embrace social networking.

1. Make it easy to add friends. This is head-thumpingly obvious, and every other suggestion here depends on it. That being said, I can name a couple of other successful sites that still make it frustratingly difficult to connect with your pals in the simplest way possible. Who are your iTunes pals? What about your Amazon friends? Yeah, Emusic isn't the only site ignoring social media. But they're going to have to change their tune soon. Because iTunes showing signs of incorporating more "social" functions. And Amazon may soon (as early as March) open their own digital music store (free of DRM, just like Emusic). 
   
2. Leverage user data and set it free. Emusic already allows users to build their own Netflix-style queue. The Save for Later list allows users to make a note of albums and artists they want to download in the future. Emusic also tracks each user's download history. In fact, you can access anyone's download history whether you know them or not. The problem is that this information isn't easily accessible or shareable. Not only should you be able to add your friends, you've got to be able to see what they're downloading (subject to some reasonable privacy controls, of course). I want to see what my friends are downloading this month, and what they're saving for later. And vice versa! And I don't want to have to go looking for it either. Like netflix, I want Emusic to shove that info in my face every time I visit. While they're at it, Emusic should encourage users to share their lists on Myspace and other blogs. An Emusic widget that could be pasted anywhere would absolutely rock. Finally, let users download their history in .xls or .xml (I know I'm dreaming now).
   
3. Give labels and artists their own pages. One of the best things about Emusic is that they invite prominent music critics and artists to write reviews and create their own playlists. The Emusic Dozens list is a goldmine of information for anyone who wants new music recommendations from trusted sources. They should follow the Myspace example and take it one step further. Give artists and labels a platform from which they can communicate with users about new releases, tours, and other information. Let users "friend" their favorite musicians and labels. Those kind of two-way interactions create exactly the kind of connections people can't easily abandon for the next new service.
4. Embrace the amateur musician. With recording equipment and software so cheap, people aren't just consumers anymore. They're making music and sharing it in all kinds of ways. Emusic should be one of those ways. Emusic should create a separate, but integrated community of amateur and small-ish musicians who can upload their own songs and promote their free downloads through the site. Again, why let sites like Last.fm, Mog.com and Myspace get all the traffic? Emusic is named for online, downloadable music. They're practically synonymous with high-quality, DRM-free tracks. They should use that respected brand to reach out for more of the market; to transform the market into a real community of invested users.

Well, those are my ideas for a site I truly love. With pundits predicting that the major labels will soon embrace DRM-free music, Emusic will be under pressure from increasingly sophisticated competition. As I pointed out above, Amazon is one of the heavyweights rumored to be preparing a digital download site. I don't think for a minute that Amazon, in building a new service from the ground up, is going to ignore the social media innovations of the last few Web 2.0 crazed years. Emusic has a limited window to put their house in order.

Yeah, it's a little late, but here are my favorite releases of 2006. 

No, it wasn't innovative or mindblowing. Actually, it sounds a lot like My Morning Jacket, with a little bit of Shins and Interpol thrown in. Even so, this record cobbled its recent influences into what is probably my favorite indie-pop record of this decade. I'm not sure how they did it, but every song on this record is perfect and perfectly sequenced. It's one of those records where the great songs (e.g., "Funeral," album closer "St. Augustine") are made even better because the band knows where to put them.

You know a band has thought a lot about how to sequence their songs when the first song on the record is called "The First Song." But sequencing is only one many things done right here. There's no clutter in the production. The songs are presented simply without a lot of Arcade Fire-style pomp and pretense. The focus is squarely on creating a solid framework in which singer Ben Bridwell's fluttering voice can shine. Yeah, he's going to remind a lot of people of My Morning Jacket with that aching tenor bathed in reverb. For me, though, this record is a lot more reminiscent of Coldplay's first record, Parachutes. Soaring, anthemic pop anchored by a killer voice and A-plus hooks. Like Parachutes, Band of Horses didn't blow me away, but in spite of their ordinary, derivative sound, I found myself listening again and again. Perfectly executed song-craft will do that to you.

Clipse - Hell Hath no Fury

I'm not even going to pretend to be a rap/hip-hop aficionado. I don't know nothing. Like legions of other noobs, it took Kanye West and Justin Timberlake to finally drag me out of my indie-rock centered listening rut. From there, I've proceeded pretty slowly. In my tentative early courtship with rap music I've learned two things. First, I agree with Kanye when he says it's all about cramming as many golden hooks as you can into a tight, tight space. Second, I still don'tdeal very well with that raw gangsta subject matter. I much prefer rappers who are focused on politics, parties, and girls. If, like Kanye, a rapper can present a nuanced deconstruction of thug life, the college boy in me can hang with that.

Clipse taught me something else. You throw enough brilliant hooks in there, and I will thoroughly enjoy your gruesome, fearsomely intelligent stories of crack hustling and casual murder. It took them forever to make this record. Apparently, the production consists of four-year old beats from the Neptunes at their peak. But it was worth the wait. There is not a single weak track. And there are no dumb ass skits to slow it down. So far, I don't think It's even sold 100k. But it's the best reviewed rap record of the year. Get it.

Justin Timberlake - Futuresex/Lovesounds

You can find a billion reviews written about this record, including my own written for my law school newspaper. I'm not going to rehash what's already been said. I'm only going to say this: the first five songs on this record are the best thing I heard all year. Were it not for a noticeable drop off in quality thereafter, FutureSex/Lovesounds would be my number one. From the gated rattlesnake snare that underpins the title-track opener to the Postal Service / Explosions in the Sky guitar coda that closes "Lovestoned", JT & Timbaland don't make a single false move. I danced by myself, people. In my car. While walking the dog. While surfing the interweb.

So, so good.

Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

Full disclosure: Yo La Tengo has been my favorite rock band since 1995, when I purchased Electr-o-pura on the day it came out and popped it into the cheap stereo of my '86 Pontiac Grand Prix. YLT has never made the same record twice. Their willingness to reinvent their sound with each new release is one reason they've managed to make so many records (I Am Not Afraid is their 12th full length in 20 years). But on the last two records, Yo La Tengo has been in a kind of mini-rut. Sure, the melancholy dance tunes on And Then Nothing Turned Itself Out were pretty different from the breezy folk songs on Summer Sun, but internally, the songs on those records were awfully similar to each other. And the music was soft. Damn near adult contemporary, and part of me missed the guitar-noise freakouts and the garage-rock stabs at which the band had been expert in their younger

days.

I think Yo La Tengo were also a bit worried, because Beat Your Ass is a return to form that rocks as hard as its aggressive title indicates. The record is bookended by 10-minute long psych rock jams, with plenty of Ira Kaplan's feedback and skronky guitar. In between, the band surprises with some tender Motown-flavored soul and British-invasion pop complete with horns. It's a record so diverse it sounds like a career-spanning greatest hits album. But these songs are all new, and all great. I've been hitting the repeat button a lot, trying to figure out which one's my favorite. Here's hoping you have the same problem.

Joanna Newsom - Ys

This is the second record from the world's most famous harpist/singer/songwriter. This time she explores several other avenues into the meaning of the word "unique." For example, no one else is writing elaborate gothic allegories to disguise her very real personal confessions. She has said that each of these five songs closely tracks things that actually happened to her. But none of us will ever unravel how the tale of a monkey and bear escaping from the circus bears upon Newsom's real life. Guess what? It doesn't matter. These songs are riveting, as stories—and as songcraft.

Even with each song averaging a run time of 11 minutes plus, you will hardly notice the time pass. Much of the credit is due to string arrangements by the esteemed Van Dyke Parks. But Newsom has said she convinced Parks to contribute when she visited him in a hotel and played all five songs for him using only her harp and her voice. If you can get used to her elfin yelp of a voice and overcome your attention deficit disorder, you're in for an experience to which no other indie rocker even comes close.

Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies

Dan Bejar is now more famous for the few songs he's done with the New Pornographers than for his own fine work in Destroyer. But Rubies is Destroyer's 6th record in 10 years, and his best since 2000's Thief. In fact, the insanely catchy Rubies shares its pop accessibility with Thief, as well as its layered acoustic and electric guitars and tumbling bar-room piano. Of course, Bejar always sounds like Bejar, matching dense, obtuse lyrics with radio-friendly pop bombast all sung in his trademarked nasal whine.

With Rubies, Bejar is revisiting all his earlier albums (not just Thief). The songs are all new, but some of the passages have been lifted from earlier tracks and re-contextualized. The whole project really does sound like a meta-greatest hits package. Since Bejar's old records can be difficult to find, it's definitely a good starting place. Oh, and I feel compelled to mention that if you're a big David Bowie fan, you should definitely check out Destroyer. I'm not saying the comparison is perfect. It's just that no one's making better David Bowie records right now than Destroyer.

Brightblack Morning Light - S/T

On paper, this record shouldn't be as good as it is. Ten slow, two-and-a-half cord jams built on guitar, Fender Rhodes organ, and spare percussion. Many of the songs are simple, repetitive blues hooks running more than five minutes long and crippled with Hippie-nonsense titles like "Star Blanket River Child." Sounds like a noodle-y jam band, right? Run away screaming, right? Nope. Instead of brainless guitar solos and idiotic lyrics, BML serves up some irresistible, and surprisingly substantial, minimalist grooves. I didn't get bored or restless, even when the running time ran past 6, or even 10 minutes. Instead, Brightblack lulled me into enjoying myself, by establishing a pleasant guitar/organ motif and then adding layers of ethereal vocals, hand percussion, flutes, clarinets, and a horn section. But don't get me wrong; it's not background music. No, this is music that lets you slip into the background. Is that hippie enough for ya?

The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

My rock band got to open for The Hold Steady at Walter's earlier this year. At the time I was unfamiliar with the band or their music, but I left the show completely sold. They've been pegged as a bit of a classic rock renaissance band, and I think that's fairly accurate. They certainly deserve all the obvious comparisons to Springsteen and Thin Lizzy. The combination of their soaring Born to Run piano and fist-pump-inducing dual guitars is intoxicating and nostalgic. Seeing them play, I wasn't quite as excited as the kids up front singing every word. But I had a smile on my face the whole time.

Like Springsteen in his prime, though, The Hold Steady are all about words. Frontman Craig Finn weaves wondrous tales of drugs, sex, rock n' roll, and horse betting that sound deliriously inspirational against the anthemic, bar-band backdrop. When those words start to sink in, the spirit sinks too. Because Finn is chronicling the post-manic phase of youth when John Cougar turns Mellencamp. Finn says, "It started recreational, it ended kinda medical." Sounds a lot like, "O yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of livin' is gone."

CSS - Cansei de Ser Sexy

Were I writing one of those sensational blurbs you see on the movie ads, I'd write "CSS is The Most FUN I've had on my iPod all year." Really, I think it's probably true. Many a dog walk has been kicked up a notch when "Music is My Hot, Hot Sex" jumps out of the Nano. CSS is the abbreviation of the album title, and it means "Tired of Being Sexy" in Portuguese. If that sounds similar to "I'm Too Sexy," I think that's appropriate. This debut album from the Brazilian sextet has a lot of same silliness and cheeky irony that made one hit wonders Right Said Fred and Chumbawumba so damn fun.

The difference is that CSS's concoction of art-punk, noise-pop, and disco is flying a little lower under the radar. The singer, Lovefoxxx, sounds like a Kim Gordon-influenced party girl, minus the self-serious art-damaged lyrics that sometimes causes Gordon to enter the unintentional comedy zone. The fun here all sounds purposeful and so do the hooks. There's very little filler, so it sounds like the six members of CSS might be aiming for a bit more staying power than your
average one-hit wonder. And because, realistically speaking, CSS actually have NO hits outside of college radio, and they're on the indie label Sub Pop, I'd look for the band to get stronger under the weight of modest expectations.

Something Fierce - Come For The Bastards

In Houston, it's been a good year for Pixies-inspired punk rock. Something Fierce and their pals, The Dimes (all with members who are either still teen-agers or barely in their twenties) have gained a ton of local admirers, and put out some incredible, really exciting music. The Dimes' self-released, homemade EP can be purchased at their show, and it's well worth the five bucks or whatever it costs. But Something Fierce makes this list with their full length debut. They haven't reinvented the wheel or anything. They've just banged out 10 insanely catchy pop-punk songs that MUST be played in a crappy car covered with all the best stickers: RAMONES, PIXIES, GREEN DAY, THE CURE, THE MISFITS…. er, you get the idea.

I have to be clear: this record doesn’t sound like some crappy local band that did a good job copying their heroes. It sounds likes some really talented kids who are figuring out how to write great music, and lucky for us, they know where to start.

I need a Something Fierce sticker for my car.
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Okay, so that's my list. You've probably noticed I'm posting this from my new Vox.com blog. Yes, I know I've moved around a lot lately, but I think I've finally found a non-Livejournal blog I can live with. As you know, I'm always trying out newfangled internet crap, and I've now moved my blog from Squarespace and Blogger. Part of that is just because I like to try out new internet crap. But another reason is that I just want something that works a little better than Livejournal. Well, for reasons I'll cover in a future post, I think Vox.com has a crapload of interesting features you don't get in Livejournal. But since Vox can crosspost to Livejournal, I can post on both blogs at once. More than all the other fancy bells and whistles, the ability post to LJ is what finally made me pull the trigger.