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. Watch the music video to "The Underdog" below that, one of my favorites from the band's last album.

- Joel

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

New Moon Soundtrack

A few more tracks from the New Moon Soundtrack.

- Joel

** It appears the tracks posted on YouTube have been removed due to copyright issues. So I've deleted those links and added this one to Twilight's Myspace page. You can stream the entire soundtrack there.

Death Cab For Cutie - "Meet Me On The Equinox"

Watch the music video for the new Death Cab For Cutie track "Meet Me On The Equinox". This track opens the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack released on October 20.

- Joel

Death Cab For Cutie |MTV Music

The Walkmen - Live

For the three of you who actually read this blog regularly, I thank you. You three may know that I love The Walkmen. Their album You & Me was my favorite of 2008. Last month, The Walkmen played the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks Ampitheatre near Denver, Colorado. Here are two songs from that set list as filmed by Laundromatinee. Watch the drummer bounce around like a marionette while playing "On the Water". You can also download an mp3 of each live performance below the video.

- Joel

The Walkmen - On The Water from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

The Walkmen - "On the Water" (Live) (right click to download)

The Walkmen - Four Provinces from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

The Walkmen - "Four Provinces" (Live) (right click to download)

Dead Man's Bones

Dead Man's Bones, the surprisingly talented gothic folk band led by actor Ryan Gosling, released their self-titled debut today. Though it's theme is apt for the month of Halloween, I will be playing these tunes long after October 31. Enjoy one of my favorite songs, which curiously did not make it onto the album, below. Also, stream the entire album from the band's myspace or at Pitchfork.

- Joel

Dead Man's Bones - "Name In Stone" (right click to download)

Photographer of the Day

Buffalo © Jeff Whetstone

Jeff Whetstone. A native of Tennessee, Whetstone uses photography to analyze the relationship between man and nature.

- Joel

Hampton Holler © Jeff Whetstone

Grizzly Bear - "Foreground"

Pitchfork added its fifth installment to the Cemetery Gates performance series. The latest addition features Grizzly Bear and the closing track from their album Veckatimest.

- Joel

Hear/download a new track from Contra, the upcoming release from Vampire Weekend (not due out until January 12 unfortunately), on the band's website. Ezra Koenig, the band's frontman, is as sharp as ever.

- Joel

Road Trip

Seeing a high school friend in real adult life is like picking up a TV show after missing a few seasons. You recognize the characters but aren't sure how they made it to where they are now. I stumbled across this video on Facebook. It documents a trip to the Rocky Mountains taken by Becca, an old high school friend of mine, and her husband. I haven't spoken with Becca since 2001, so hopefully she wouldn't be frightened to know that she landed on my blog. But I loved the video (and the song accompanying the footage is great too), so here it is. I want to take a trip like this!

- Joel

(Note: For some reason, Blogger cuts off the right quarter of the video. If you click on the title of the video it will open up in a separate window and give you the full effect.)