Radio Survivor

Each week I’m posting audio links to a few bands, songs, and music videos that have caught my eye at some point. Enjoy!

Bands

1) The Redwalls: My best friend actually bought one of their albums because he liked that all of the band members were wearing fedoras on the front cover. Imagine his (and my) surprise when their music turned out to be really good! I know that this is quite a strong statement, but their music as a whole somewhat reminds of me of a mix between the Beatles and Bob Dylan. Because this is relatively difficult for me to explain, it’s probably easier to just listen to them here. I’m personally a fan of “Falling Down” and “Love Her” from their De Nova album.

2) Soulmate: If you enjoy listening to jazz music (especially with a female vocalist), I strongly suggest looking into this amazing band from India. They somewhat recently finished a brief US tour, so it might be a while before you get a chance to see them play live. In the meantime, you can find some of their music and more information about the band here and here.

Songs

1) Radiohead’s “Let Down“: This is one of my favorite Radiohead tracks and is off of their OK Computer album. Unfortunately, this song, along with some other great tracks (like “No Surprises,” High and Dry,” and “Fake Plastic Trees“), tends to get overshadowed by “Karma Police” (and often “Creep“) which is a poor representation of their “awesomeness” as a band.

2) The Postal Service’s “Sleeping In“: This band forever won a place in my heart when they were actually sued by the United States Postal Service. Anyway, this is one of my favorite tracks off of their Give Up album.

3) Dire Straits’ “Sultans of Swing“: Another one of my favorite rock tracks of all time. I hope that you’re at least somewhat familiar with this song. If not, you should probably listen to it now.

4) Nirvana’s “The Man Who Sold The World“: OK, so David Bowie did the original track, but I’m definitely more of a fan of Cobain’s cover. This track (along with the entire MTV Unplugged In New York album) is a must have for anyone who claims to enjoy Nirvana’s music.

Music Videos

1) Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb“: This is easily one of my favorite rock tracks of all time. If you haven’t heard it before, you should probably fix that now. Also, The Wall (the film based around the album) is worth watching at some point. I don’t exactly remember the entire film, but, compared to what I do remember, this is relatively tame.

2) Gigi D’Agostino’s “Bla bla bla“: A catchy track with a great beat accompanied by a well-drawn video. What more do you need?

Interested in seeing older entries? Click here.

Each week I’m posting audio links to a few bands, songs, and music videos that have caught my eye at some point. Enjoy!

Bands

1) Placebo: I was lucky enough to have been introduced to this band’s music as early as middle school. Without You I’m Nothing, the band’s second full album, is probably one of my favorite albums of all time. To list a few favorite tracks from the album, check out Every You, Every Me, which was featured on the Cruel Intentions soundtrack, and Burger Queen (they also have an amazing French version of the track). Sleeping With Ghosts is  pretty well-balanced (I don’t have a favorite track), although I like their Meds album (the most recent) a little more. In the very least, I suggest listening to Follow the Cops Back Home and Post Blue from Meds.

2) Melee: I saw these guys open at Slim’s in San Francisco back in high school and was almost instantly attracted to their music and performance style. Although Everyday Behavior was pretty good, I’m definitely a huge fan of their Devils & Angels album, which features tracks like Rhythm of Rain (couldn’t find a good quality clip), Can’t Hold On, Built to Last (cute music video), and She’s Gonna Find Me Here. Check them out!

Songs

1) The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black“: This is easily one of my favorite songs ever. If you haven’t heard it before, I suggest that you listen to it now.

2) Joydrop’s “Sometimes Wanna Die“: I think that I stumbled across this track while channel-surfing, and it’s admittedly quite catchy. If you like alternative, mellow bands with a female vocalist, you’ll probably enjoy this.

3) Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody“: From their recent “Only by the Night” album, this is arguably Kings of Leon’s most popular track. The song has a melodic, borderline lonely vibe, which makes the actual message of the song somewhat hard to discern. See if you can figure it out. Also, Paramore did a fantastic cover of this track for BBC, which you can find here.

4) This Providence’s “Certain Words In Uncertain Time“: A cute, acoustic track from a solid band, although the vocalist can sound a tad emo at times. This song made it to my “Top 25 Most Played” list in iTunes, which says quite a bit.

Music Videos

1) Hellogoodbye’s “Here In Your Arms“: Although I’m generally opposed to any songs about love, this song is simply cute with a music video to match. Regardless, it still has a great pop/electronic beat, and I suggest at least listening for a bit to see if it’s up your alley.

2) Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice“: Have an unhealthy obsession with Christopher Walken? Interested in watching that glorious, talented man dance around an empty hotel? Like DJ-mixed tracks with a decent beat? If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you should probably watch this. Actually, you should watch it anyway. Also, if you answered “Yes” to either of the first questions, you should probably also see this.

Interested in seeing older entries? Click here.

Each week I’m posting a few bands, songs, and music videos that have caught my eye at some point.  Enjoy!

Bands

1) Gatsby’s American Dream: I can’t even remember how long I’ve loved this band, but I’ve seen them play on multiple occasions and have never been disappointed. Feel free to scope out both their purevolume and myspace pages as they both feature different content. I’m personally a fan of their slightly older material off of their Ribbons and Sugar and Volcano albums, such as “Fable,” “Theatre,” and “Snicker at the Swine.” They clearly enjoy plays on literature, which is apparent if you’ve encountered Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby or Golding’s Lord of the Flies (referenced in “Fable”) and gives educated listeners another reason to love them.

2) Metric: Although I’m not a huge fan of their latest album (Sick Muse is becoming a bit overplayed), this band is easily one of my favorite bands of all time. If you’re a fan of female vocalists and a general mellow sound, I strongly suggest checking these guys out. Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? is probably my favorite album because it contains Succexy, Combat Baby, and a number of other good tracks, although Too Little Too Late is probably one of my favorite tracks EVER.

Music Videos

1) Kings of Convenience’s “I’d Rather Dance With You“: The lead singer of the band decides to teach a ballet class of little girls how to dance in easily one of the dorkiest ways possible, making for an absolutely adorable music video. The song is also quite good.

2) Owl City’s “Fireflies“: Ever reminisce about your childhood? Miss being able to play with all of your old toys? Enjoy listening to slightly electronic, mellow music? If you answered “Yes” to these questions, you should probably check out this music video. Owl City is pretty awesome in general. If you like what you hear, I also suggest looking into a band called “PlayRadioPlay!”.

Songs

1) Abandoned Pool’s “Goodbye Song“:

2) The Academy Is…’s “About A Girl“:

3) The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black“:

4) Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang“:

Interested in seeing older entries? Click here.

Each week I’m posting a few bands, songs, music videos, and websites that have caught my eye at some point. I should mention that many of the links to songs will probably be on youtube (aka they may include videos that I don’t consider to be particularly good) and that I’ve chosen the music videos based more on the music video than the audio track, although I will try to pick catchy and/or good music. Enjoy!

Bands

1) Scissors For Lefty: If I remember correctly, I saw these guys open for The Bravery a few years ago. Their vocalist reminds me a bit of Hot Hot Heat, but SFL’s music (in my opinion) is much better. I definitely suggest looking into these guys, particularly if you find The Bravery or Hot Hot Heat appealing or if you like indie music with a solid dancing beat.

2) Copeland: These guys are, unfortunately, on their farewell tour. I’ve admittedly been a fan of Copeland since my sophomore year of high school and have been happy to see their music evolve over the years. They have a very mellow sound, and their lyrics can occasionally be relatively “emo,” although I definitely wouldn’t classify them as an “emo” band.

Music Videos

1) The Morning Benders “Excuses“: This video is really cool in that the band managed to recruit a bunch of their musically-inclined friends from the San Francisco Bay Area to contribute. The song is also quite good.
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Each week I’m going to post a few songs, music videos and websites that  have caught my eye at some point. I should mention that many of the links to “songs” will probably be on youtube (aka they may include videos that I don’t consider to be particularly good) and that I’ve chosen the “music videos” based more on the music video than the audio track, although I will try to pick catchy and/or relatively “good” music. Enjoy!

Songs

1) Patsy Cline’s “Crazy“: I know that music like this tends to elude my generation, but Patsy Cline is, in my opinion, simply amazing.

2) Boys Like Girls’ “Love Drunk“: Just another pop/emo catchy track. I don’t know how mainstream these guys are now, but their self-titled album was pretty good.

3) 3Oh!3’s “Don’t Trust Me“: This song is admittedly pretty catchy, although I have to say that the thing that caught my attention was the phrase “Do the Helen Keller.” Intrigued (I normally am by new “hip” phrases), I decided to run a search on Urban Dictionary which managed to spit out a few definitions that I’d rather not retype. Feel free to check it out here.

Music Videos

1) OK Go’s “This Too Shall Pass“: I honestly can’t think of a better way to describe this video than the word “awesome.”

2) MGMT’s “Kids“: Having listened to this song LONG before seeing the music video, I became quickly surprised by how disturbing the video was. Regardless, it’s a song that I enjoy.

3) Saturday Night Live’s “I’m On A Boat” featuring T-Pain: This is almost a year old, so it’s sort of fallen out of popularity, but I still find it amusing.

4) Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance“: If you haven’t seen this yet, you might as well do it now. I doubt that it will be going away anytime soon. I’ve actually read some very in-depth articles on this video, like this, which have actually somewhat improved my opinion of her.

Websites

1) xkcd: This is easily one of my favorite webcomics. I particularly enjoy the strip’s physics comics, such as this and this, but all of the comics tend to be consistently humorous.

2) One of my friend’s posted this on facebook a while back (I think that it might have been Nigel?), and I found the video to be quite interesting. The video is a recording of a lecture given at Yale University by Professor Shelly Kagan titled “How to Live Given the Certainty of Death.” It’s admittedly somewhat morbid (it IS a discussion of death), but I strongly suggest taking the time to watch it.