lights playing trickz

I wish I knew how to whistle:

This is one of my favorite Black Cab Sessions.

If you don't know about them, Black Cab Sessions take musicians for a spinand ask them to play live in a cramped moving vehicle. It must take a lot of skill to do it well and here's one of the better ones in my opinion. Beach House singing "Heart Of Chambers"

Now compare it to this and the effect is totally different. Which one do you like better?


Also check these out The Cool Kids, Johnny Flynn, Lykke Li, and Death Cab for Cutie

Years music

Years (off the Canadian Arts and Crafts label) have some great songs just out in early 2009. Instrumental but still there are a lot of intense moments. Listen to "Are You Unloved?"

http://www.myspace.com/themusicofyears

Git Sum Burgers

Most of you know that I really like meat. This post pertains to meat. Last week I was in Northampton pretty late waiting with my friend Amber for some other friends and it was very cold. The only place open was Local Burger so I went in to warm up and see what it was all about. I'd seen the place a couple of times but had never been inside. It's fantastic in there and I'm kind of mad that last week was the first time I'd gone. It's amazing that the place is open until 3am on Fridays and Saturdays. Usually the only options that late are sports bars or the street.

Anyway, I got a burger with Applewood bacon and cheddar cheese with a side order of chili fries. The burger was great, nice and pink but not dry. It's also a good size, not too tall to bite but also not so big that you feel sick after. Also the fries had great texture and crunch. All that for under $10. The onion rings were kind of eh and had too much batter/ needed more salt but the fries are a better bang for your buck. I definitely recommend checking it out. The atmosphere was great, very informal but friendly. They also have sweet artwork of old school coke bottles and burgers on the wall. Definitely recommend checking it out. I went again today and the burger was even better than last time.

In case you don't believe me here's a NY times review of the place.

love em and keep em

I always come back to this song. It takes awhile to get going but it's good in a dreamy sort of way. It's the beats of Dntel (which is one of the guys from the Postal Service) with Ben Gibbard (from Death Cab For Cutie) singing. The vocals sound kind of breathy yet determined: a good combo. If you like this one then check out the Dntel song called "Rock My Boat"




Also, check out this song by Tarkio, one of Colin Meloy (from The Decemberists) first bands. I'm not a huge fan of Tarkio's other stuff but this one makes you want to sigh after hearing it. It has a similar feeling to the Dntel song although it's more twangy. But afterwards you're like damn. okay. now what? and then you listen to it again.

On a semi-related note, check out the artwork of Carson Ellis, Colin Meloy's wife. She used to do a lot of flyers for The Decemberists way back when and she did the artwork for a lot of their CDs including The Crane Wife and Castaways and Cutouts, two of my favorites. I'll also post one of my favorite songs from Castaways and Cutouts, which is called "Here I Dreamt I was An Architect." I just want to say that The Decemberists and Colin Meloy are really great live which is hard to come by since it seems like a lot of the songs now have auto tune and sound horrible live. I saw them at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA awhile back on Halloween(!) and it was amazing. And also the Colin Meloy Sings Live! CD is worth checking out. He has some good side commentary going in between songs. Enough chatter, here are the videos. Let me know what you think!