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Friday, December 30, 2005

THE IPOD MIX CHALLENGE

Putting the "I" back in iPod!

This was sent to me and I thought it was kind of fun in a dorky kind of way, but then again, what do I do that isn't fun in that sort of way? Exactly.

here are the rules.

Concede victory, just this once to your iPod by
making a mix (or, more aptly an 80-minute playlist,
if you desire) of the Top 20 or so tracks in your
iPod by play count.

2 rules to pass your way with this challenge:

1. Only one song per artist, so if your top 20
plays happen to all be Loverboy (that means you, Canada)
you only get to use the most played track. If
there's a tie, pick which one you like best and run
with it.

2. Songs must be in sequence according to play
count, with your #1 track coming last. You can play
with the order only if songs have equal counts.

This is the list that I put together.

1. Meantime - The Futureheads
2. Bohemian Rhapsody - The Flaming Lips
3. So Here We Are - Bloc Party
4. Heavy Lifting - Ambulance Ltd.
5. The Importance of Being Idle - Oasis
6. Sky Stars Falling - Doves
7. Backyards - Broken Social Scene
8. Howl - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
9. Capitalism Stole My Virginity - The (International) Noise Conspiracy
10. Coma Girl - Joe Strummer
11. Feel Good, INC - Gorillaz
12. Moonage Daydream - David Bowie
13. Neighborhood 1 (Tunnels) - The Arcade Fire
14. Whatever Happened - The Strokes
15. Holland, 1945 - Neutral Milk Hotel
16. Patio Song - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
17. Slow Night, So Long - Kings of Leon
18. Dakota - Stereophonics
19. In this Home on Ice - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Worlds Apart - ... And You Will Know us by the Trail of the Dead

Not a bad list, but you can tell I got my new iPod this summer as most of the songs are from this year.

How I did this was by plugging in my ipod and highlighting the playlist column on iTunes. I then entered my most played song at 20 and second most played at 19 and so on and so on...

Feel free to share your lists, I would love to see what everyone else has.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Top 20 Albums of 2005

Top 20 Albums of 2005

In my opinion, this was a pretty lean year as far as music goes. There were some great albums, but it seems more than ever, mediocrity makes the list.

Here are my picks for the year’s best.


1) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl


2) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah


3) And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead - Worlds Apart


4) Raveonettes - Pretty In Black


5) Oasis - Don't Believe the Truth


6) Gorillaz - Demon Days


7) Doves - Some Cities


8) Beck - Guero


9) Decemberists - Picaresque


10) Coral - Invisible Invasion


11) Soundtrack of Our Lives - Origin Vol. 1


12) Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene


13) Magic Numbers - Magic Numbers


14) Sufjan Stevens - Illinois


15) Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth


16) Feist - Let It Die


17) Sunshine Fix - Green Imagination


18) Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins


19) Kaiser Chiefs - Employment


20) Pernice Brothers - Discover a Lovelier You

Top 20 Albums from Years Past

For some reason, I cannot find the list for 2003, but here you go. Here were my favorite albums from 2004 and 2002.

If I ever find 2003, I will post it. There were some great albums that year.

--------Best 20 Albums of 2004--------

1) Kings Of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
2) Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill
3) The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives
4) The Libertines - The Libertines
5) The Polyphonic Spree - Together We're Heavy
6) Hope Of The States - The Lost Riots
7) The Thrills - Let's Bottle Bohemia
8) Black Keys - Rubber Factory
9) Ambulance Ltd. - Ambulance Ltd.
10) Of Montreal - Satanic Panic In The Attic
11) Beastie Boys - To The 5 Burroughs
12) Elf Power - Walking With The Beggar Boys
13) The Cure - The Cure
14) Ed Harcourt - Strangers
15) Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Origin Vol. 1
16) Badly Drawn Boy - One Plus One Is One
17) Graham Coxon - Happiness In Magazines
18) Sunshine Fix - Green Imagination
19) Charlatans Uk - Up At The Lake
20) Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - Shake The Streets





--------Best 20 Albums of 2002--------

1) Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
2) Badly Drawn Boy - Have You Fed The Fish
3) Doves - Last Broadcast
4) Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
5) Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
6) Elf Power - Creatures
7) Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World
8) Clinic - Walking With Thee
9) Oasis - Heathen Chemistry
10) Badly Drawn Boy - About A Boy
11) The Polyphonic Spree - Beginning Stages Of...
12) Beck - Sea Change
13) South - From Here On In
14) The Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Behind The Music
15) The Sunshine Fix - Age Of The Sun
16) David Bowie - Heathen
17) Of Montreal - Aldhils Arboretum
18) The Mooney Suzuki - Electric Sweat
19) Neal Halstead - Sleeping On Roads
20) Richard Ashcroft - Human Conditions

Monday, December 12, 2005

Name this hot jam and win a prize

The first person to name this hot jam will receive a nice holiday prize.

Yes, this is one hot jam!

Girl, close your eyes
Let that rhythm get into you
Don't try to fight it
There ain't nothin' that you can do
Relax your mind
Lay back and groove with mine
You got to feel the heat
And we can ride the boogie
Share that beat of love

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

2 LIVE JEW!!!

This just had to shared with the world


Jewish hip-hop artists rap on Torah, Chanukah




NEW YORK (Reuters) - They have baggy clothing, backward baseball caps, the "bling bling" and racy lyrics. And these days, rappers sometimes wear yarmulkes too.

Hip-hop music, which grew out of black inner cities, isn't typically associated with Jews, but as the genre has grown more popular, some Jewish artists have embraced it as their own, while transcending theological and ethnic differences.

New York-based Hip Hop Hoodios, whose name is a play on the Spanish word for Jews, is a Latino-Jewish group that has recorded in English, Spanish and Hebrew. Their lyrics include such sardonic lines as: "My nose is large, and you know I'm in charge."

A popular 26-year-old Hasidic singer, Matisyahu, raps in a brimmed hat and dark suit over reggae beats. "Torah food for my brain let it rain till I drown, Thunder! Let the blessings come down," he says in "King Without a Crown."

The growing genre has also seen artists like Remedy collaborate with mainstream acts like Wu-Tang Clan.

"It's very much a representation of the cooperative state of Jewish and black relations today," said Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which is chaired by hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons. "I view cooperation, not conflict, as the defining element."

While some commentators still see rifts between American blacks and Jews, many agree that relations have improved greatly. At the same time, hip-hop has gone mainstream.

Experts said hip-hop can appeal to audiences of diverse backgrounds, including Jews, while still maintaining its authenticity.

"It's impossible to separate this phenomenon from a move by Jews in their late teens to late 30s to explicitly identify themselves as Jews in American popular culture," said Joel Schalit, managing editor of Tikkun magazine, who personally likes two Israeli Hebrew-language artists -- Sagol 59 and HaDag Nahash.

"What might be new is that more artists are emphasizing their Jewishness in their content and marketing."

An example: Chutzpah, comprised of two suburban New York natives and a Los Angeles actor, whose first single from a self-titled CD and accompanying DVD is "Chanukah's Da Bomb."

50 SHEKEL, MESHUGGE KNIGHT

"A lot of people think because 'Chanukah's Da Bomb' is the single, it's for Jewish people," said the group's 44-year-old dreadlocked member, David Scharff. "It's like saying Woody Allen is for Jewish people. It's for everybody."

Formed by music producer Tor Hyams, Chutzpah even enlisted 71-year-old veteran actor George Segal as "Dr. Dreck," its "coordinator."

"The lyrics are quite solid and informative, as well as witty, sharp and funny," Segal said in a phone interview. "That's what makes it work."

Chutzpah treads the line between seriousness and satire. Parody acts in Jewish hip-hop have been common. Among them, 50 Shekel was a takeoff on 50 Cent. M.O.T. was managed by Meshugge Knight, a takeoff on Suge Knight. And 2 Live Jews featured Dr. Dreidle and Ice Berg.

"If you're looking for a tale of 'gangsta' life, Jewish hip-hop might not be the place to start," said Alana Newhouse, arts and culture editor at the Forward newspaper.

"The best Jewish hip-hop artists plumb serious elements of Jewish history, but all are creating a new way to tell the story of Jewish experience."

Beastie Boys are the most commercially successful Jewish rap act, and the only one to achieve mainstream success. But it was only recently that their Jewish backgrounds began to be reflected in their lyrics.

Rabbi Schneier said Jewish hip-hop can resonate with non-Jewish listeners, including many with similar views in other areas.

"Jews view themselves as a minority when it comes to issues of race and changing demographics, and on many questions their responses are identical to those of African-American and Latino respondents," Schneier said. "Hip-hop is a unifying force that resonates with young people."

In the video for "Chanukah's Da Bomb," Chutzpah cruises town in a Volvo with a roof-mounted menorah and raps that Chanukah, "whichever way you spell it," is better than Christmas because it lasts seven days longer.

"Humor (is) one of the only things the Jews had when they were being oppressed for century after century," Hyams said.

"The only difference between us and any other hip-hop group is that they don't say their religions before they say they're a hip-hop group," he continued. "We say it because we're proud of it."

© Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Reuters Ltd.

12/07/2005 08:16
RTR

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Albums of 2005

Here is a list of albums that were released this year. Actually, this is just a list of albums I own from this year. The tricky part is to put them into a top 20 list.

Any suggestions? Am I missing anything?

Well, here they are, in no particular order

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead – Worlds Apart
Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
Mercury Rev – The Secret Migration
Ed Harcourt – Strangers
Doves – Some Cities
Kaiser Chiefs – Employment
Soundtrack of our Lives – Origin Vol. 1
Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
The Decemberists – Picaresque
Beck – Guero
Bravery – Bravery
New Order – Waiting for the Sirens to Call
Stereophonics – Language, Sex, Violence, Other?
Of Montreal – The Sunlandic Twins
Feist – Let it Die
The Raveonettes – Pretty in Black
Magic Numbers – Magic Numbers
The Coral – Invisible Invasion
Stephen Malkmus – Face the Truth
Gorillaz – Demon Days
Oasis – Don’t Believe the Truth
Coldplay – X&Y
Teenage Fanclub – Man-Made
White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan
Dressy Bessy – Electrified
Pernice Brothers – Discover a Lovelier You
Brakes – Give Blood
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Howl
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
Super Furry Animals – Love Kraft
Echo & the Bunnymen – Siberia
Supergrass – Road to Rouen
Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene
Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have it so Much Better
International Noise Conspiracy – Armed Love
Depeche Mode – Playing the Angel