Hot Trax

A few fun new tracks to download for your listening pleasure.

- Joel

Future Islands - "Little Dreamer (Remix)" Featuring Victoria Legrand

Hot Chip - "Take It In" (New Hot Chip album drops February 9)

Warpaint - "Billie Holiday" (Great new band. Check them out.)

Photographer of the Day

the bathroom and hall closet doors © Kevin Miyazaki

Kevin Miyazaki. I've featured him on this blog a few times.

- Joel

Love This Photo

TeePee. Marfa, Texas. October 2009. © Allison V. Smith

As always, Allison Smith makes impressive photographs. The above photo was taken in Marfa, TX. Check out her blog or her website for her latest work.

- Joel

Spoon - "Mystery Zone"

A few posts ago I mentioned that Spoon is dropping a new album title Transference in January. Listen/download the track "Mystery Zone" from the aforementioned album below.

- Joel
Spoon - "Mystery Zone" (Update: Wow, who knew my blog garners any kind of attention. Merge Records emailed me and asked me to take the link down which I was happy to do.)

Photographer of the Day

Chicago Landscape #55 © Art Sinsabaugh

Art Sinsabaugh. An underappreciated photographer, Sinsabaugh gained notoriety for his "Midwest Landscapes" and "Chicago Landscapes" collections published in the 1960's. Many of Sinsabaugh's photographs are part of the Hallmark Photographic Collection which was donated to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.

- Joel

Utah Landscape #8 © Art Sinsabaugh

Photographer of the Day

© Steve Casimiro

Steve Casimiro. A National Geographic photographer. Check out his blog.

- Joel

© Steve Casimiro

"Empire State of Mind" Music Video

I wasn't a big fan of The Blueprint 3. In my opinion, Jay-Z's quality work ended after The Black Album. Still, "Empire State of Mind" with Alicia Keys is a banger. Enjoy the music video below.

- Joel

New Spoon Album

Speaking of Britt Daniel and Spoon...they just announced the release date for their forthcoming album. Transference will hit store here in North America on January 26. Considering that I have played their last album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga more than any album in the last two years, I am pretty excited about this news. Listen/download the a live version of the track "Written in Reverse" (which will be Track #5 on Transference) below. Also watch the music video to "The Underdog" below that, one of my favorites from the band's last album.

- Joel

Spoon - "Written In Reverse"

Britt Daniel Covers Sam Cooke

Tonight I came across Britt Daniel's (lead singer of Spoon) rendition of Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home to Me". It sounds a bit like The Beatles if you ask me. Download the track below. Find more mp3s of Spoon covering other bands here.

- Joel

Britt Daniel - "Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke cover)"

One Fast Move Or I'm Gone

One Fast Move Or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur is a documentary exploring the life and literature of Jack Kerouac through the lens of his semi-autobiographical novel Big Sur. The film features a soundtrack created by Jay Farrar, of Son Volt, and featuring Benjamin Gibbard, the indie superhero from Death Cab for Cutie. The lyrics for each song are taken directly from the Big Sur novel. For those fans familiar with the Home music series, these songs will remind them of Gibbard's solo additions to that series. I've added two tracks below for download.

- Joel

Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard - "One Fast Move Or I'm Gone"

Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard - "California Zephyr"

Photographer of the Day

© Annie Humphreys

Annie Humphreys, originally from Oklahoma City and currently a student at Baylor University. I don't know Annie, but she is a friend of a friend of mine. This photo was taken in Latvia.

- Joel

The 50 States Project

Girl With A Dollar Bill © Larry Schwarm (Kansas)

No, I'm not talking about Sufjan Stevens' red-white-and-blue inspired musical endeavor. I stumbled across The 50 States Project, a collection of 50 photographers (one from each state in the Union) assigned to capture fingerprints of their State while staying true to their style. Photographers involved in the project, which runs through the end of this year, are given a new assignment every two months. By December 31, the project website will have 300 photographs showcasing the majesty and diversity of the American people and landscape. Check it out. I've only just begun to look through these photos, but I added a few of my favorites below.

- Joel

Ice Fishing Hut on Devils Lake, North Dakota © Dan Koeck (North Dakota)

White Sands National Monument © Jesse Chehak (New Mexico)

Victoria and her dogs, Coldfoot, Alaska © Ben Huff (Alaska)

Harry Potter

It's not cool to admit this, but I just finished the Harry Potter book series. My girlfriend loves the books, and, back in September, I decided to commit to reading all seven books in the series as an act of love towards her. Six weeks later I have completed the entire series. In spite of the fact that I have never been interested in magic or wizardry, I found the Harry Potter series to be a compelling read, full of unexpected plot twists, extensive character development, and the timeless scenario of good versus evil. J.K. Rowling's storytelling ability evolves and improves as the series progresses. My favorite book was series finale Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Though I was skeptical and embarrassed to read these books, I found them throughly enjoyable. Take a few months to leisurely read through the series and you won't regret it.

- Joel

Live With Art

Great poster by Mikey Burton and a great lesson to live by as well. Burton has a lot of cool stuff over at his website. Check it out.

- Joel

New York

I love this illustration by Ben Chlapek. What a great way to encompass New York.

- Joel

Mat Kearney on Daytrotter

Fans of Mat Kearney will enjoy this live set he performed for Daytrotter.com. The set includes the songs "All I Have", "Chicago", "Nothing Left to Lose", and "Closer to Love". Go here to download free mp3s of the performance.

- Joel

12 Angry Men

This weekend I watched the cinematic classic 12 Angry Men starring Henry Fonda. The film offers an intricate study in personality differences and conflict negotiation styles. It also highlights one man's courage to stand up for what is right in the face of stiff opposition. Though I have seen this one before, I added to my list of favorite movies after this weekend. For all of you gift givers out there, I wouldn't mind finding this DVD in my stocking on Christmas morning.

- Joel

Throwback - The Flaming Lips

My brother Kyle actually introduced me to The Flaming Lips when he was living in Colorado. I credit Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots as an album influential in the evolution of my musical tastes. Here's an artsy video of the band performing the title track from that album in Del Mar, California this past summer.

- Joel

The Flaming Lips : Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Part 1 at Del Mar, CA from Charles Bergquist on Vimeo.

22 Tracks

Check out the website 22tracks.com - it highlights new music in 11 different genres (22 tracks for each genre which makes for 242 new songs!) to stream and enjoy on the website. All of these songs are hot out of the oven. Right now you can find new stuff from LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, Thom Yorke, The Flaming Lips, and many more. A great place to discover new music.

In other news, I'm going to see Mute Math tonight which will be very exciting (hence the picture to open this blog post).

- Joel

Bon Iver Show

As of four days ago, Bon Iver is taking a bit of a hiatus from touring. The last Bon Iver show for the foreseeable future happened at Riverside Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Justin Vernon's native state) on October 11. Click here to stream the show or right click here to download the entire show.

- Joel