Monday, November 29, 2010

Celebrity Playlists

If you're ever searching around the iTunes store you've probably stumbled across their 'Celebrity Playlists' section. Apple gets a certain celebrity to give them a list of songs they listen to and they then give them to us. I guess people think it's cool to be listening to the music that a celebrity listens to. I for one find the celebrity culture in America to be ridiculous, and hate celebrity news more than anything. (I will never understand why people care about what celebrities are doing). The one thing I find neat about these playlists is that they tell us more about the person. You can understand a lot about a person by knowing the music they listen to.

But then again, the playlists include lists from great bands/musicians that most likely have music you would like (if you like that band that is).

Well here's a list of what I think celebrities would listen to. And by think, I mean I know. They told me.

Mel Gibson


When most people wake up, they like to greet the morning in a soothing manner. They might have a soft alarm clock, or one of those 'nature' sound things. When Mel Gibson wakes up, he takes a shot of everclear that he poured in advance when he went to sleep and blasts these angry ass songs. Maybe those crazy parents are right, if you listen to angry music, you'll end up punching women who are holding your baby.

Static X - Push It


Disturbed - Down With The Sickness


Eminem - Kim (Explicit Lyrics)


Christian Bale


Another very angry Celebrity. Christian actually released a song with Kid Cudi and Chip Tha Ripper recently. Check it out, I heard that Bale actually got the entire thing done in one take. What a pro. And yes, Christian Bale is a narcissist, so he only listens to songs that he's in.


Bill Murray

(Image From the film "Coffee and Cigarettes")

In case you didn't know, Bill Murray is a straight up thug. The definition of a 'G'. When he's not takin over bars with RZA and GZA, or drivin slow and sippin' on Hennessy in a golf cart, he's listening to these dope rhymes and fat beats.

Mac Miller - Knock Knock

(Like Mac says, both he and Bill are "white boy awesome")


Das Racist - All Tan Everything


Chip Tha Ripper - Feel Good


Immortal Technique - Industrial Revolution

Jedi Mind Tricks - I Against I


Humphrey Bogart


Most people my age haven't seen his films, and if they have they've probably only seen Casablanca. Humphrey was more than a great actor, his presence extended past the screen. He was the ideal 'man', meaning he was a badass. One of my favorite quotes by him is "The problem with the world is that it's three drinks behind". He did what he wanted, and he was cool for doing it.

Louie Armstrong - La Vie En Rose


Peggy Lee - Is That All There Is?

(This very simple video is chillingly strange. It's like a David Lynch film)

Glen Miller - In The Mood


Billie Holiday - Easy Living




Friday, November 26, 2010

Disney Remixes - Pogo Is A Golden God

When I was little I was the biggest Disney fan in the world. Ask any of my friends, it was probably really annoying. I knew everything there was to know about the parks and I absolutely loved the films. I still do and Pixar is probably the strongest film studio right now. They're movies and shorts never cease to amaze.

I stumbled across these Disney remixes by Pogo, and immediately had to share them with you. You will love them, and if you don't, then you suck. I was gonna try to order them from my least to most favorite, but thats impossible. They are all literally AMAZING. LISTEN TO EVERY ONE OF THEM RIGHT NOW. NO MATTER WHAT ELSE YOU ARE DOING. I'd start with Buzzwing or Wishery.

He uses only sounds from the films and maybe an occasional cymbal or drum beat and spins them into these amazing songs.

Bangarang - From Hook


UPular - From Up


Toyz Noize - From Toy Story

Expialidocious - From Mary Poppins


Buzzwing - From Toy Story


Wishery - From Snow White and the Seven Dwarves


Alice - From Alice in Wonderland


And just for something extra, Jeesh, a Pogo inspired fan, made this song from the amazing Robin Hood cartoon .

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The Undisputed Greatest Thanksgiving Movie Of All Time

I was thinking earlier today that this is the only category that I can do this in. That is, select a single film that is the 'greatest' without a doubt in a certain category. For example, 'Christmas' could go to Home Alone, Die Hard (yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie), It's A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, or Scrooged. But not Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is claimed by Steve Martin and John Candy.

Planes Trains and Automobiles. Done and done. The most heartfelt comedy there is. Every Thanksgiving, after I dominate my brothers in our eating competition, my family retires to the basement and watches Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and it never gets old.

Directed by John Hughes in 1987 (the best year of the 80s), it's got that classic and cozy 80s feeling that is simply gone from today's films. In PTA, Neal Page (Steve Martin) is trying to get home to his family for Thanksgiving when problems start to occur. After his flight gets diverted due to bad weather, he teams up with Del Griffith (John Candy), a talkative and unkempt Shower Curtain Ring Salesman and the two of them try all sorts of ways to get home.

I could go on and on about this film. About how John Candy deserves an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, about how everyone should respect the fact that John Hughes refused to appeal to the studio and kept one scene that makes the film R instead of PG (the word 'fucking' is used 18 times in 60 seconds), about the hundreds of quotable lines ("We'd have better luck playing pick up sticks with your buttcheeks than we will getting a flight out of here") (I just laughed reading that), about it's rumored three-hour cut which if released would make me crap my pants, or about how it's Steve Martin's favorite film of his own.

But all you have to do is watch it and you'd already understand all of that. It's a work of art. AND...the music is pretty dope.

Here's the trailer.


Which brings me to two great "Thanksgiving" songs in the film. They aren't really "Thanksgiving" in the traditional sense, but after watching this film every year at Thanksgiving, they just only feel right when played around the holiday.

Blue Room - Everytime You Go Away

Originally on a Hall & Oates Album, the song was covered by Blue Room (Who's lead singer is Paul Young) for PTA. This is kinda the 'theme' song of PTA. A classic 80s jam.


Ray Charles - The Mess Around

This song plays during a great scene when John Candy is driving. If you've seen the film you know what I'm talking about. It's just John Candy with a cheesy mustache puffin on a cig and jammin out, and what more could you ask for. The progression from Candy's 'oh this is a pretty good song' to full on dashboard jam sesh gets me everytime. His facial expressions could not be funnier. This is one of my favorite songs and John Candy is one of my favorite actors. I don't think anybody can think about him and not be a little happier. He's one of those people who you never heard anything bad about. Based on his film choices, he also seems like he cared deeply. About what, I don't know. But I do know that he was a great guy and that there's nobody else like him.


Sunday, November 14, 2010

10 Great Study/Thinking Songs

I've pulled three all nighters in the past two weeks. It seems like tonight I am going to make it four. I've come to accept the fact that this is simply how I work. For me, it is impossible to study/work more than one day before said work is due. But so far, it's worked out pretty well. Which leads me to the conclusion that work is best done between the hours of 1 and 6 am.

In light of that, I have been compiling a pretty amazing study playlist. During any all nighter, music is crucial. Especially when studying. The music needs to be enlightening without being too distracting. Sort of background music, but too good to be lumped in with that category. Without further adue, here are 10 of my favorite songs to listen to while studying.


10. Bob Dylan - Boots of Spanish Leather

Bob Dylan is the most influential musician of the past 100 years. No questions asked. In the future, I will have to do a full post exclusive to Bob; his music deserves it. It's the type of music you can listen to for 10 years (I would say longer but I'd be guessing) and it keeps on feeling brand new.

This song, Boots of Spanish Leather, is in my top 10 favorite Dylan songs. Released in 1964 on his The Times They Are A-Changin' album, this song is an old ballad you have heard many times. The classic tale of two-lovers separated from each other. Critics say that it is about Dylan's past girlfriend Suze Rotolo and when she left him to live in Italy. The song plays out as an incredibly heartfelt dialogue between the man and woman. It's relaxing as music gets. If you're not trying to listen to music to keep you awake, I'd assume that you would have other things like coffee for that ; ), than give this a listen. It blends in well with the background while you're trying to concentrate on something else.


9. John Cale - Big White Cloud

John Cale was part of the Velvet Underground, one of the greatest bands ever, in the 60s. After Lou Reed and Nico, Cale was the third most famous person in the band. Meaning he wasn't really 'that' famous. But his music is great. This song, Big White Cloud, is just great. I've been addicted to it for the past month now. From the music I've heard of Cale, it seems like he loves talking about being outside during a beautiful day, which is cool with me.


This popped up on youtube while I was searching, pretty cool, give it a listen. It's the 'trippy' version of Big White Cloud, which is already pretty trippy.


8. Nujabes - Feather (Featuring Cise Starr & Akin from CYNE), Aruarian Dance, and Counting Stars

Last week I found out that Japanese producer Nujabes, real name Jun Seba, died in a car accident earlier this year. I had no idea. A friend casually lamented his death while we were listening to one of his songs and I simply couldn't believe it. Seeing him live was up there in my list of things to do before I die. It sucks how something like that can one day just become impossible. He died in a traffic accident while getting off the Metro in Japan. It's so sad, and just seems to random to happen to such a genius. I guess that's just life being a bitch. He gets my vote for favorite hip-hop producer, if you can even call him that. His music is nothing short of amazing, incredible, spectacular. There are no words, which might be why he didn't use any either. Nujabes fused jazz and hip hop seemlessly and created his own style. A style I haven't heard anywhere else. It was something more than hip-hop. It's more than music, it's art. I'd go so far as to say that it's philosophical. At some point during my all nighters one Nujabes record always gets played through. Feather is the song that got me hooked, but it's not his best (though I'd still listen to it first if I were you). His music has an essence of redemption that you just can't understand until you listen to it.

On another note, I just saw under the 'Counting Stars' comments that one person said "Nujabes ain't dead, just push play". Amen to that.

RIP Nujabes, you will be missed.

Feather

Aruarian Dance

Counting Stars


7. Van Morrison - Sweet Thing

Van is my pick for greatest singer of all time. Sweet Thing, which is on his album Astral Weeks, definitely one of the ten greatest albums of all time, is one of my favorite Van songs. He's an Irish alcoholic with the most soulful voice I've ever heard. His music has feeling, and you can tell he's going through a rollercoaster of emotion when he's singing. If all you think of is Brown Eyed Girl when you think of Van Morrison, you need to give him a listen. I'll definitely have a Van post up in the future, don't worry.


6. Mayer Hawthorne - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out

Mayer Hawthorne is coming up and starting to get big. He just played at the Black Cat in DC and I'm really mad that I missed it. This song is probably my favorite of his. He's one of those musicians who stuns you after seeing a picture of what they look like. I'm also amazed at how recent his music is, it sounds like it was made in the 70s. This is also a really well shot video. The black and white fits well with Mayer's nostalgic sound. Give it a listen.


5. The Morning Benders - Mother and Child Reunion

I saw the Morning Benders open for Broken Bells, and even though we got there late, had a terrible spot, and were dead sober, it was a really great concert. This song is from there album The Bedroom Covers, which is obviously an album of covers. Mother and Child Reunion is originally a Paul Simon song, and it's probably my favorite of all the Simon and Garfunkel covers (even though it's not a Garfunkel song).

(sorry, there's no video on youtube of this song)

http://hypem.com/track/1110489/The+Morning+Benders+-+Mother+and+Child+Reunion+Paul+Simon+Cover+

4. Claude Debussy - Clair de Lune

I know that people don't listen to classical music these days, but some of it is really good. Like possibly best music ever good. There's something special about a song that holds your attention without any vocals. I'm partial to classical piano because my parents forced all of us to learn it on the piano, and I'm really glad that they did. Immediately after hearing this song I learned how to play it. After hearing this I started listening to a lot of Debussy and he's rediculous. Unless you're one of those people who's already decided that instrumental music sucks, it's pretty much impossible to not like this song.


3. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Drop Out Orchestra Dub)

Another instrumental song. This time to a beat that you already know and love. It's pretty awesome and further proves Rick Astley's awesomeness. I don't know much about Drop Out Orchestra but after hearing this they seem pretty good.


2. The Action - Brain

The Action were a 1960s Brit pop/rock band that started their career along with other similar British bands like The Beatles (the greatest band of all time). They were also signed to EMI, the Beatles label in the mid 60s, and were hoped to ride the British Music invasion wave that the Beatles dominated, except they never charted a single during the two years they were with EMI. Which amazes me, because Brain is one of my favorite Classic Rock songs. I love the lyrics

Hang your brain up in the sky
Hang it up, hang it high.

Remember me, remember me
'Cause I'm the one who made you see.

Grab your brain and give it a listen.


1. Bob Marley & The Wailers - African Herbsman

Bob Marley is great everything music. Great for partying, great for chilling, great for long drives, and especially great for studying or just thinking in general. I went to Jamaica for spring break my sophomore year and it was probably the best vacation I've ever been on. Bob Marley there is like George Washington here. He's the only musician like that in the world. His music is so good, that every other musician doesn't bother playing reggae cause they know that it would never even compare and that people would just go back to listening to Bob. This song is one of his lesser known ones, a hidden gem.