Archive for December, 2009

If there was ever a “charity compilation cover album” you NEEDED to buy this is it.  War Child – Heroes, Vol. 1

Here are 17 reasons why…

1.  Proceeds go to the humanitarian charity organization, War Child, who funds protection for children living in global war zones.

2. Beck covers Bob Dylan (Beck never ceases to amaze…)

3. The Kooks cover The Kinks

4. The Hold Steady covers Bruce Springsteen (Soooo Good!!!)

5. Hot Chip covers Joy Division (Hot!!!!)

6. Lily Allen covers The Clash

7. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover Ramones (Joey would be proud!! This from an all out Ramones Fanatic.  It does serious justice!!!)

8. Franz Ferdinand covers Blondie

9. Duffy covers Paul McCartney and Wings

10. Estelle covers Stevie Wonder (Wonder-ful Funk!!)

11. Rufus Wainwright covers Brian Wilson

12. Scissor Sisters covers Roxy Music (Somehow it becomes ABBA On Fire Disco Trash!!!!)

13. Peaches covers The Stooges (Peach Cobbler… I mean Peach “clobbers” The Stooges.  Amazing!!!)

14. Adam Cohen covers his father Leonard Cohen (In spanish no doubt.  Beautifully insane sick… and LIVE!!!)

15. Elbow covers U2 (Gorgeous!!)

16. The Like cover Elvis Costello

17. TV On the Radio covers David Bowie

Here are a couple of my favorites.  The whole album is absolutely amazing!!!  Well worth the $10 for a good cause.

Listen: Beck (Bob Dylan) – Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat

Listen: The Kooks (The Kinks) – Victoria

Listen: Hot Chip (Joy Division) -Transmission

Listen: Adam Cohen (Leonard Cohen) -Take This Waltz (Toma Este Waltz)

Listen: Elbow (U2) – Running to Stand Still

If you don’t have HBO you need to rethink your TV priorities or at least your Sunday night TV priorities.  OK, I will drop the melodramatic and just tell you this… there is no better TV than HBO on Sunday night hands down.  Between Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, Bored to Death, East Bound and Down, True Blood and a handful of others no longer on air such as The Saprano’s, Rome, Tales from the Crypt, The Larry Sanders Show, Sex and the City, 6 Feet Under, Flight of the Concords and Deadwood it is no argument HBO kills it.

Which brings me to Big Love.  Who else but HBO could make the life of a polygamist Mormon family in Utah so engaging.  I guess no one else would even take on the subject come to think of it.

Back to the music part of this post.  The trailer for the new season of Big Love just started hitting he air over the last few weeks.  As much as I love the show, I love the song they chose even better.  Interpol, Untitled from the Turn On The Bright Lights album.  The spot features the Big Love characters falling through the air of a black emptiness as if to represent the fall deeper into the life, lies and love they live on the show.  Untitled works so well with slow motion falling as the guitars pulse into a reverb that seems to fades away into a deep black well.

After seeing the ad I revisited the album and remembered just how good it was.  In the top 100 albums of all time if you ask me.  In my honest opinion, you can thank Interpol for influencing the sounds of Franz Ferdinand and The Killers to name a couple.  I added a couple additional tracks from the album to the post for good measure. Enjoy…

(Headphones recommended for but not needed by any means. The last 2:00 of PDA with good headphones will make your head explode!!!)

Listen: Interpol – Untitled

Listen: Interpol – PDA

Listen: Interpol – Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down

I always relate music to moments in time and what you do in those moments.  It is always cool for me to see how other people digest the same music and how their emotions connect the music to memories or moments in time.

The songs in this post have a very mellow vibe and fit just as nicely in a lounge while sipping martinis, driving on a lonely road with the radio at full volume or while chilling at home with your headphones on a cloudy winter day (which is what I am doing at the very moment).

Let me know how these songs connect to your moments in time…

Listen: Interpol – Public Pervert (Carlos D Remix)

Listen: Fever Ray – Triangle Walks (Tora Vinter)

Listen: Simian Mobile Disco – Bad Blood (feat. Alexis Taylor)

We are always looking for new sound and musical experiences here at cutbucket.  Thus, when I heard Black Keys were teaming up with some hip-hop heavy hitters we were all over it.  We went as far as setting Google Cal reminders for the release date, which by no coincidence was “Black” Friday.  Nice marketing nuance.

First impressions on a handful of tracks were slightly less enthusiastic than had been expected.  Some tracks leave me feeling like the last true good hip-hop/rock collaboration was the Judgment Night soundtrack.  As we listened on we were happy to find some serious sick cuts.

The tracks that still maintain and showcase the vintage Black Keys blues rock sound while fusing the flow of a fine selection of MC’s are wonderful.  Some tracks seem to lose the Keys signature and that is a shame.  That being said, well worth the wait for the few gems!!

By far our favorite cut is What You Do to Me.  Super swanky flow by Dan Auerbach on the chorus make you want light a smoke and sport a fedora.  Dan’s keyboard lick that echoes throughout kills!!  Nicole Wray’s sexy voice is the glue that binds the hard hitting verses by Billy Danze and Jim Jones.  As a total package, OUTSTANDING!!!

Note:  Make sure you check out the great video webisodes of the making of the album. www.blakroc.com/videos.html

Download: Blakroc – What You Do to Me (feat. Billy Danze, Jim Jones & Nicole Wray)

Download: Blakroc – Hope You’re Happy (feat. Billy Danze, Nicole Wray & Q-Tip)

Download: Blakroc – Ain’t Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) [feat. Jim Jones & Mos Def]