Players only love you when they're playing

Aviator recently put another track on their myspace page. It's called Waking, and they'll probably shoot a video for the song sometime in the near future.

Aviator- Waking

Also, here's an awesome cover of Fleetwood Mac's Dreams by Kill Peaches. Dreams of course appeared on the legendary Fleetwood record Rumours. And who doesn't love Fleetwood!

Kill Peaches- Dreams

Never heard of Kill Peaches? Go here.

And they shine like ashes

Remember when you used to go to shows and every single opening band was good? Yeah, me neither. When I go to see a headlining band, I'm quite surprised if I end up liking the opening bands enough to get a cd or a shirt at the merch table. Sometimes you look at the bill of a show and wonder who the hell decided that Oil should play with Water, 'cause they don't have anything in common. One of the few opening bands that I can remember really enjoying was Two if By Sea when they opened for Snowden at the Caledonia last year. Besides that the fact that it made great sense to have those two bands on the same bill, Two if By Sea put on a great performance.

Two if By Sea is a new wave post punk band from Baltimore Maryland. In their songs, you can definitely hear traces of their new wave and post punk forefathers. Their present day peers consist of bands like Editors and Franz Ferdinand. In 2004, they released their debut record Translations. On their site, the band has 2 minute clips of five songs from the album, and one entire song, so I just posted everything below. 100 Days is the full song.

(from Translations)

Two if by Sea- 100 Days *highly recommended*
Two if by Sea- Aspida *highly recommended*
Two if by Sea- Contract
Two if by Sea- Swords or Pistols
Two if by Sea- The Affair
Two if by Sea- This Will Hurt Someone

Two If By Sea on Myspace

Let's hope it's a good one

I had a very fun, and very busy thanksgiving holiday. My cousin Nerrissa visited from New York and we had a blast. But I definitely need this week to recover from all of the turkey eating, black Friday shopping, and Harry Potter movie watching (I got the 1st three Harry Potter movies at Target for $5.88 on Wednesday and saw the new Harry Potter movie on Friday with my cousins).

Not to be all Ebeneezer Scrooge about it, but I hate that some radio stations have already started playing Christmas music 24/7. Can we at least wait until December people? It'll be here on Thursday. That's a big part of the reason that people get burnt out on the holiday before it's even finished. I actually like Christmas songs. I've always loved Away in a Manger and O Holy Night. I quite enjoy Big Crosby's and David Bowie's Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth duet and of course the Band Aid single Do They Know It's Christmas. But after hearing Mariah Carey sing All I Want For Christmas Is You for the 23rd time in one day, I get a little aggravated. I think that we should only listen to great Christmas music from now on. I'll even get you started.

Here are the tracks from Snowden's Licorice EP. Three are covers and I think my favorite is the cover of John Lennon's Happy Christmas (War is Over).

Snowden- White Christmas
Snowden- Happy Christmas (War is Over)
Snowden- Christmas Time is Here
Snowden- China Light

Keep on Dancing

A few weeks ago, Clint left me this comment on my myspace page:

Just got back from the vegoose festival where I saw Beck and Sleater-Kinney. I thought about you because I saw a guy with a "Pretty Girls Make Graves" shirt. You got me addicted, I can't wait for a new album.

I think everyone has those bands that they love so much, that their name becomes synonymous with adoration for the band. Like if I see Duran Duran on tv, I think of my friend Melina who loves them. Or if I hear an Oasis song, I think of Michelle. To a lot of people, I'm that girl that LOVES Pretty Girls Make Graves.

You might not believe that I love Pretty Girls Make Graves more than Bloc Party or M.I.A. since I haven't gushed as much over PGMG as the other two. But that's because they haven't had a new album out in a while. But that will soon change.

Obviously, my blog is named after a PGMG song. I don't know what it is, but whenever I hear this band, I'm instantly happy. I don't really understand why this happens. It's not that their songs are especially upbeat or all happy go lucky. But whenever I listen to them, I immediately remember how I felt the first time I heard The Getaway. How excited I was to hear something so different from the stuff that I had been listening to. To me, there are few things better than the first day you discover an awesome band. And for me, there's never been a first day discovery better than the day I discovered Pretty Girls Make Graves.

PGMG was the first female fronted band that I really became infatuated with. I remember Andrea Zollo saying in an interview that a few girls have come up to her and said that they really never listened to female fronted bands before they heard PGMG. But after hearing PGMG, I guess I became more aware of other girl fronted bands like The Gits (who were also from Seattle) and The Gossip.

Earlier this week, the band updated their myspace blog and this is what they had to say:

We are finally going to have a new website up , I feel like we have been saying that forever..But yeah it's true...Until then, this is the only place we will be posting news and such..So here is some news...

Our new record, "ELAN VITAL" will be released on April 11th on Matador Records, and yes, that is a very long time from now..Here is the track listing for it..

1. The Nocturnal House
2. Pyrite Pedestal
3. The Number
4. Parade
5. Domino
6. Interlude
7. The Magic Hour
8. Selling the Wind
9. Pearls on a Plate
10. Pictures of a Night Scene
11. Wildcat
12. Bullet Charm

We are really excited for you to hear it, and will post a few of the songs up on this site in a little bit.

We are headed back to Australia for a bunch of shows with The Gossip, that tour is in late Feb. and the shows are all getting worked out now..There will be a limited tour only single released on Popfrenzy records for those shows.

In other band member news, J has been busy remixing some great songs. You should pick up the Bloc Party remix record and the Neon Blonde ep, J did awesome remixes on both of those..

Nick is busy working on the next Dutch Dub release, he is currently on an Island in a cupcake working like mad..Check out www.mistakemachine.com for more info..

Derek and Andrea have been working on songs for an upcoming film from our good friend Mike Ott (Sound-Virus records). You can see the trailer from the movie and hear one of those songs at www.inbetweendaysmovie.com The song is called "Endings" and is still a pretty rough demo.

Andrea also just got finished recording a song with local Hip Hop group Grayskul for there upcoming record...

More Later.

I'm SO excited about the new Pretty Girls Make Graves album. April is way too far away, but I guess I'll just have to wait for it. But I know this album is gonna to be amazing.

Here are some PGMG tracks. The first one is from the Matador at 15 compilation and the second one is from their self titled ep that was released on Dim Mak a few years ago. Liquid Courage is usually the only song from the EP that they tend to play live. The last song is a NEW song recorded at a Pretty Girls Make Graves show. I have no idea what this new song is called, but when I came across it the other day, I definitely remember hearing it the last time I saw Pretty Girls Make Graves in concert, which was in March of 2004. Man, that was AGES ago. If I had the means, I'd totally follow that band around on tour. Anyway, this new track is fucking awesome and I hope it's on the new record. The track is made even better because Mahjongg adds a little extra somethin somethin to the song. Enjoy and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Pretty Girls Make Graves- C-30 C-60 C-90 Go! (from Matador at 15)
Pretty Girls Make Graves- Liquid Courage (from Pretty Girls Make Graves)
Pretty Girls Make Graves- New song (live) *highly recommended*

Oh yeah, and the other girl in this picture is Leona Marrs. She's the newest member of the band.

No twista's gonna still your stuff away

About a week ago, I won a great auction on ebay, and this afternoon, I finally got my package in the mail. I won a very rare Nikka Costa single, Get Off My Sunshine. It's even one with the original cover (the single was released in 1997 with a different cover). And it was only $5 which is even better! I love ebay.

The song Get off My Sunshine is the first track from the album Butterfly Rocket, which was only released in Australia. I'm not much of a singles collector, even for the bands that I love. But when I saw this particular single up for grabs I had to get it because of one song: Nikka's cover of Miss Celie's Blues. Yes THAT Miss Celie's Blues. The one from the movie The Color Purple. I'd never heard Nikka's version before (and trust me, I was looking all over the place for it) but I know how awesome that song is, and I know how awesome Nikka's voice is, and so I figured that the two together would be pretty damn good. And of course it is.

So here are the songs from the Get Off My Sunshine cd single. See how much I love you guys?

(from Get Off My Sunshine)

Nikka Costa- Get off My Sunshine
Nikka Costa- Get off My Sunshine (Grits and Gumbo Mix)
Nikka Costa- Miss Celie's Blues
Nikka Costa- Master Blaster

One of these days, I'll get around to posting the other tracks from Butterfly Rocket. It's not as funked out as Everybody Got Their Something and Can'tneverdidnothin' but still a very good record. Enjoy! And one more hot picture of Nikka.

I don't believe my own two ears

I have to mention that April's newest shirt got noticed by Gawker today. It's pretty awesome and I totally want one.

If you don't know who Anderson Cooper is, SHAME ON YOU! He and Christiane Amanpour are the only reasons I watch CNN. Hopefully, April will whip up a few of these shirts and sell them at some point. But for now, visit her site Emotion Lotion. Now onto the tunes.

There's this band from Columbus, Ohio called The Terribly Empty Pockets. When I mentioned Daniel Radcliffe's Clap Your Hand Say Yeah adulation on TRL last week, Sean P said that Terribly Empty Pockets do what Clap Your Hands Say Yeah does, but much better. Could this be true? Of course it could be true, but is it true? It's all a matter of opinion I guess. However, I will say that you can definitely trust Sean's opinions on bands, as his mixed cds have been known to change lives (and of course music listening habits).

I can't find too much info on this band. Josh Holt met Sarah BB one day and together they formed the Terribly Empty Pockets. The two later met Justin Riley, Ryan Jewell, and Ben Colburn and the duo turned into a five piece. I found two TEP songs on their website, and three more songs at Columbus Discount Records. Was Sean P right yet again? I'll let you make up your own minds. But I will say that I think I'm in love Tiny View, Christine and A-Okay.

(from Go to Bed Early)
The Terribly Empty Pockets- Christine *highly recommended*
The Terribly Empty Pockets- Sweet When You Were Young
The Terribly Empty Pockets- A-Okay *highly recommended*

I don't know where these are from, but you'll definitely, definitely want to listen to these as well.
The Terribly Empty Pockets-Help is on the Way
The Terribly Empty Pockets-Tiny View *highly recommended*

But that's all she wrote

I was listening to my Outkast playlist on iTunes this morning, and Rosa Parks came on. Last month when Rosa died, it was of course very sad to see such an icon pass away. But it was really great seeing how people all over the country were honoring her, celebrating her life, and praising her courage and strength.

Most people know that that there was lawsuit involving Rosa Parks and Outkast in 1999. The lawsuit alleged defamation and trademark infringement because the group titled one of the songs from their 1998 Aquemini album Rosa Parks. You all know how the chorus goes:

Ah-ha, hush that fuss. Everybody move to the back of the bus

Outkast said that the song wasn't false advertising or a violation of Parks' publicity rights and that the use of her name was protected by the First Amendment. Even though Outkast was later dropped as defendants (the suit went on against their label), I wonder if what made this lawsuit legitimate was because her name was the actual title of the song. Because in the Outkast song song So Fresh, So Clean (from 2000's Stankonia), Andre has a line that goes:

I love who you are
Love you ya aint
You so Anne Franke
Let's hit the attic to hide out for 'bout two weeks

Is that defamantion against Anne Franke? I mean, she's probably just as important to the Jewish community as Rosa Parks is to the African American community. Can you imagine how many rappers would be in trouble if they weren't allowed to make lyrical mentions of public figures in their records? I mean, so many of them would be getting sued right about now.

I've noticed that a lot of people don't know that it wasn't Rosa who filed the lawsuit. Rosa's lawyer filed the lawsuit on Rosa's behalf. Last year, he filed a second $5 billion lawsuit against LaFace Records, Sony BMG Entertainment, Arista Records, and two other bookstore chains that sold Aquemini.

I remember hearing about some of Rosa's friends and relatives who thought that her lawyer was only filing the lawsuits for his own financial gain. But he probably would say that he was just looking out for the best interest of his client. Some people even said that Rosa was too ill to really even know what was going on and she also reportedly suffered from dementia. Rosa received a court appointed guardian in Dennis Archer to look out for her and make sure nothing sketchy was going on. But it still kind of sucks when you have to have someone look over your lawyer's shoulder.

The lawsuit was finally settled earlier this year and as a part of the settlement, a tribute CD and a TV broadcast special will be produced to inform young people about Rosa and her huge contribution to the civil rights movement in this country. I suppose, if anything good came out of the lawsuit, that would be it. And now that Rosa has died I think that there's going to be a renewed interested in her life and her importance in American history.

I think Outkast have all the respect in the world for Rosa Parks. Rosa did so much for black people in this country, and I know that Outkast are aware of that and appreciative of it. They've certainly benefited from her courageous stand against segregation, as have I, as has every other black person in this country. I sincerely believe that they wouldn't have named that song Rosa Parks if they felt it would be disrespectful in any way. I'm sure there were some people who didn't know who Rosa Parks was before they heard that song. You'd' be surprised what some people don't know in this country. And if seeing her name on the back of an Outkast cd made some kid in North Dakota pick up a book and find out who this Rosa Parks was, then I say it's all the better.

Outkast- Rosa Parks (from Aquemini)

If I could be anything I want to be, I would be you

First of all, Threadless is having one of their awesome $10 sales. It started yesterday afternoon, and the servers must've been overloaded because it took me forever just to get my order through. So I suggest you head on over there and get the shirts you want before it's too late.

You all probably remember hearing that Edwyn Collins suffered a brain hemorrhage back in February. He was able to leave the hospital in August and is still recovering. If you'd like to send him a card or a letter wishing him well, here's the address:

West Heath Studios,
West Heath Yard,
174 Mill Lane,
London, NW6 1TB

Yesterday, Between Thought and Expression posted the Ladytron cover of Tweet's Oops! Oh My from the Softcore Jukebox cd. Even though this cd has been out since 2003, I'd never heard it. This song is pretty rad though, so I had to post it for you guys.

Ladytron- Oops! Oh My (from Softcore Jukebox)

The Eames Era, everyone's favorite indie pop band from Baton Rouge, released a new album last month called Double Dutch. Ok maybe they're not everyone's favorite indie pop band from Baton Rouge, but they're mine! A few months ago a lot of bloggers were posting this amazing track by The Eames Era called Could Be Anything. I fell in love with that song last year when it was in rotation at WUOG. It's just one those really infectious songs that you just want to listen to over and over again. It's even featured on the Grey's Anatomy soundtrack. By the way, Grey's Anatomy is the only show you should be watching at 10 p.m. on Sundays. Patrick Dempsey has come a very long way from the dorky kid you saw in Can't Buy Me Love, Heaven Help Us, and Loverboy. By the way, I totally saw Can't Buy Me Love this weekend. Still a really great movie.

You can listen to two tracks from Double Dutch on The Eames Era's myspace page. They also have a non album track that you can download called A Scandal in Bohemia. If you're a fan of groups like Mates of State and Rilo Kiley, you'll love this band. And Ashlin Phillips is just as cute as Jenny Lewis. She even has red hair! (I totally saw Troop Beverly Hills this weekend too). Listen to the songs, would ya?

The Eames Era- Could Be Anything (from The Second EP)
The Eames Era- A Scandal in Bohemia

And if you fuck with me I gone dash my curry

The following is for the M.I.A. obsessed, which I'm proud to be a part of.

I FINALLY heard Dash the Curry Skit from the UK version of Arular. It's pretty easy to find URAQT, which is also on the UK version of Arular, but for some reason, I could never find Dash the Curry Skit. Maybe because it's not like an actual song. Although, that doesn't really matter does it? Ok, so yeah it's only 40 seconds long but you know you love every little bit of M.I.A. that you can get.

M.I.A.- Dash the Curry Skit (from Arular, UK)

Also in the last few days, I got the demo version of You're Good and the original version of Lady Killer (thanks to the lovely people over at M.I.A.fans). You're Good appeared on a demo of Arular (there's a different version on Piracy Funds Terrorism). At first I thought it was Untitled a.k.a. Macho (from Piracy Funds Terrorism) 'cause the beat sounds very similar. But nope, totally different song. Diplo's remix of Lady Killer is on Piracy Funds Terrorism but the original version is yet another bonus track from Arular.

M.I.A.- You're Good
M.I.A.- Lady Killa

Last month, callmeMICKEY posted a bunch of Galang Remixes. But most are all new to me so, they might be new to you as well. I like the Dave Kelly Remix the best.

M.I.A.- Galang (S-Unit Remix)
M.I.A.- Galang (Cavemen Remix)
M.I.A.- Galang (Cadence Weapon Earthbound Remix)
M.I.A.- Galang (Serj Tankian Remix)
M.I.A.- Galang (Dave Kelly Remix featuring Cham)

And for all of you budding DJs out there, here are acapella versions of a few songs from Arular. Remix the hell out of them.

M.I.A.- Pull up the People (a capella)

M.I.A.- Bucky Done Gun (a capella)
M.I.A.- URAQT (a capella)

And I've posted this one before, but I really like it so...

M.I.A.- Do Ya

You look like Harry Potter

Earlier, I was watching TRL ('cause, well Maury Povich is doing his 500th paternity show, and they get boring after awhile) and Daniel Radcliffe a.k.a. Harry Potter was on, and he said, "Who's heard of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah?! They're absolutely brilliant!"

Harry Potter is an indie rocker! Who would've thunk it. Ok. just some useless information.

Here's some music by Harry and the Potters. Harry and the Potters is Paul and Joe DeGeorge. They're brothers (duh) and they've been together since 2002 (as a band, not as brothers). They write songs about Harry Potter and his gang. All the cool kids like them.


(from Harry and the Potters)
Harry and the Potters- Wizard Chess
Harry and the Potters- Save Jenny Weasley *highly recommended*
Harry and the Potters- The Godfather

(from Songs from Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock!)
Harry and the Potters- Stick it to Dolores
Harry and the Potters- The Human Hosepipe *highly recommended*
Harry and the Potters- The Godfather, Part II

+Unrelased track+
Harry and the Potters- The Wrath of Hermione

Be Harry and the Potters' myspace friend.

The boy in the photograph

I thought I'd fall in line with The Modern Age and mention rock photographer Andrew Kendall who recently had 5000 GBP worth of camera equipment stolen (that's about $8,732 USD). This week he heard back from his insurance company, and they are refusing to pay for the stolen items, even though he's spent thousands on insurance over the past few years. I've linked Andrews photos before (here and here) and he's truly an amazing photographer. While it was suggested to him that he set up a paypal account, he doesn't feel right about asking for donations. Instead, he's selling 12"x8" prints of his photos for 15 GBP each (that's $28.65 USD). If you're able to help out, definitely look at Andrew's massive gallery of pictures, and I'm sure you'll find one or two photos that you like. He has photos of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, Interpol, Arctic Monkeys, Kanye West, Madonna, The Go! Team, Franz Ferdinand, Oasis, Goldfrapp, R.E.M., and LOADS more. So if you can help Andrew out, please do.

Kele Okereke (Bloc Party) at the Astoria in London, April 14th, 2005

I'll take these secrets to the grave

Days like today are when I wish I was still going to school in Athens. There's a FREE show tonight at the Caledonia Lounge with DJ Twin Powers, Snowden, and Psychic Hearts. If you're in town tonight, you should definitely go. If you live on the Georgia/South Carolina border, you should also go. Trust me, if you left now, you'd make it there in great time. The OC has been kind of lame this season, and Making the Band 3 is going to come on like 85 more times this weekend, so there's no need to stay home and watch tv.

Psychic Hearts is a great band out of Athens who describe their sound as "heavy new-wave, disco shoe-gaze." Michelle used to tell me about how great they were, and I finally heard their music late last year when their self titled EP was in rotation at WUOG. This three song EP got quite a bit of airplay on the station, and I especially grew to love the track Pavement.

Psychic Hearts is definitely one of the most promising bands in Atlanta. They beat out hundreds of other local groups to land one of the few local spots at this year's Music Midtown Festival. Their energetic live shows have allowed them to sell out Athens music staples like Tasty World and the Caledonia Lounge. I'm really looking forward to hearing the music that this band will bring to us in the new year. But for now, we've got these three great songs below.

(from Psychic Hearts EP)
Psychic Hearts- Hands
Psychic Hearts- Golden
Psychic Hearts- Pavement *highly recommended*

You're the only one that makes me feel this way

Over the weekend, I picked up my guitar for the first time in ages. I don't think I've even looked at it since May. Whenever I haven't played for awhile, I'm always interested in seeing what songs I can remember right off the bat and which ones I kind of have to play around with for a bit before remembering how to play them.

Like a lot of kids, I started playing guitar in high school. There were quite a few kids at Pius who played guitar, and I just thought they were so cool. I remember going into the band room after school one day so that my friend Karen could pick up her flute. We found our classmate Andy in the room, playing No Doubt's Don't Speak on his guitar. I was so impressed because it sounded EXACTLY like the actual song. I wanted to be able to do that too.

I was 15. I loved Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Bush, and The Cure. I was pretty certain that I was gonna be a rockstar because I loved music so much. So, I figured I had to learn how to play something.

The day I got my guitar at Jackson's music, I also got The Gig Bag Book of Picture Chords, which I still use whenever I don't know how to play a certain chord. I took lessons for about a month with this lady at Woodward Academy. My lessons were usually on Saturday mornings. She wasn't a guitar teacher per say (she mostly taught piano) but she still knew the basics to teach me. She asked me what songs I wanted to learn how to play, and had me write the lyrics out on lined paper. Then when we practiced, I'd play her the cds that the songs were on, and she'd write the chords over the lyrics. When she realized that I'd need a capo to play certain songs that I wanted to learn, she suggested I buy one. So I had Kevin take me back to Jackson's and I got a capo as well as the Nirvana in New York guitar book.

There was a handful of songs that I was set on learning when I first got my guitar. My teacher taught me how to play Glycerine, Sunny Came Home, and Make it Home, and on my own I learned how to play My Forgotten Favorite, Fire in Cairo, and Free to Decide. And thanks to my trusty Nirvana guitar book, I of course learned how to play Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam. I only had lessons for a short time because my teacher felt that she could only teach me so much, and I was learning pretty quickly. The songs that I set out to learn right away were some of my favorites at the time, and ones that I thought I could learn fairly easily.

When I wrote about Juliana Hatfield over the summer, I mentioned that I got the chance to talk to her after a show she played in Athens. She said the coolest thing when I told her that Make It Home was one of the first songs I learned how to play. She said that when she first started playing, she was so amazed that she could actually learn how to play songs that she loved listening to. And I thought, "Yeah, that is pretty amazing." We all have those songs that we just adore, and to me it's just so awesome that if you want to, you can pick up a guitar and learn how to play one. Sure some songs are easier than others, but you are capable of doing it. It's something that's possible. And that's pretty cool.

Here are some guitar tab sites that I like going to. Check them out for (generally) easy to follow guitar and bass tabs.

Guitar Tab Universe
OLGA
Ultimate Guitar

And here are the first songs that I mastered on the six string! Ok, not really mastered but ya know...

Bush- Glycerine (from Sixteen Stone)
The Cranberries- Free to Decide (from To the Faithful Departed)
The Cure- Fire in Cairo (from Boys Don't Cry)
Juliana Hatfield- Make It Home (from My So-Called Life)
Nirvana- Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam (from Unplugged in New York)
Shawn Colvin- Sunny Came Home (from A Few Small Repairs)
Velocity Girl- My Forgotten Favorite (from Clueless)

Check out how dorky I was in high school. My awkward stage lasted forever. Are those glasses the worst or what? My 5 year reunion was last month, but I didn't go. I don't think I've done anything that interesting in the past five years to really tell anyone about. Maybe I will in the next five. At least, I hope so.

Fall back quiet like graves

I've gotta thank Carlos for making one of my life long dreams come true. I've always wanted to see my name in liner notes, and thanks to Lakota, I know have. See? What I love most is that my name is right after Carlos D's. Los, you're the best.

I guess it wouldn't be cool for Carlos to tell you how awesome his own band is, so I'll gladly do it. Lakota is a four piece pop punk group out of NYC. Think Foo Fighters meets Sugar. In Spring 2003, bassist Carlos Ramirez met singer/guitarist Kayne Konecny. Kayne played Carlos a demo tape he had, and the two decided to start a group. Kayne knew guitarist Pat Lane from a previous band, and he asked Pat to jam along with him and Carlos. After finding a drummer in Lou Lagno, Lakota started working on songs.

When I spent a month in New York during the summer of 2003, I was lucky enough to catch one of Lakota's practices. It was the closest thing to an actual show that I could see (since I was going back home to Atlanta in a few weeks), so I was thrilled. For four guys who hadn't been playing together all that long, they sounded great and I was really impressed with how amazing the songs sounded resonating off the walls of their practice space. They were incredibly energetic and having a great time playing.

A few months later, Lakota picked five of their best songs and recorded them with producer Juan Garcia at Magic Shop Studios in Manhatthan. This 5 song EP included Idle, So Simple, Shouldn't Have To, You Know I Know, and Standing By, and was sent out to venues around NYC (and friends of the band *wink*).

In 2004, Jimmy Herbst joined Lakota as their new drummer, and in March of this year, the band released their Aquaintances EP, which included almost all of the songs from their unreleased EP, as well as the song A Rich Man.

Lakota recently released their debut album, Hope for the Haunted, on Pop Up Records. Kayne and Carlos have definitely proved what an amazing songwriting team they are and this record will surely make a fan out of many.

You can downloaded Hope for the Haunted's first track, Quiet Like Graves, from the bands myspace page here. Or if you're too lazy to go there, you can download it below. But be sure to check out their myspace page anyway for 3 more tracks and their Pure Volume page to listen to the entire record, and some older recordings. Also, be sure to check out Lakota's awesome new site. Kayne did the whole thing and it looks great.

Lakota- Quiet Like Graves (from Hope for the Haunted)

We got a lot in common, not a big deal.

You guys know how much I LOVE M.I.A. Clearly, I am not the only one. Over the weekend, I came across Aziz Ansari's myspace page (he's a total riot) and I found a download to a stand up piece he did about meeting M.I.A. It's pretty funny. It's from all the way back in February (so maybe you've already seen it), but it's still funny. You can download it from Aziz's myspace profile here, or download it from here.

The whole routine is about how he met M.I.A. after a show at the Knitting Factory, and how the meeting didn't go quite the way he would've liked. So he gives three different scenarios of what he wish had happened instead.

J Lo's got a batty, well you can't see mine 'cause I wear my trousers baggy

Lady Sovereign's album Vertically Challenged, is coming out next Tuesday, November 15th (at least that's what Amazon says) and Hoodie Part 1 and Part 2 come out November 24th. I've been listening to a lot of the Cheeky One lately and have been thoroughly enjoying the remixes that I've found. Here are some of my favorites.

Lady Sovereign- Random (IG Culture Remix)
Lady Sovereign- 9 to 5 (JME Vocal Mix)
Lady Sovereign- 9 to 5 (Gas Panic Remix)
Lady Sovereign- Cheeky (remix)

When i heard Sad Ass Strippa for the first time, I wasn't expecting to hear some of THE BEST LYRICAL DISSES EVER!

So, this is Jentina. She and Lady Sovereign have two things in common: 1. They're about the same age (19ish) and 2. they're both from the UK. That's about it.

This is Jentina's song Bad Ass Strippa.

Jentina-Bad Ass Strippa

There's really nothing special about her. We've seen talentless, scantily dressed pop stars like her before, and there's really no good reason for record companies to continue churning out clones of Britney Spears and Xtina. The S.O.V feels the same way. So she ripped Jentina a new one in Sad Ass Strippa as heard here.

Lady Sovereign- Sad Ass Strippa

This is my favorite part:
You been chattin' bout ya Gucci Thongs
But how many weeks, bitch have you had it on
I can tell by your dances
Dat it's somewhere stuck up your bum

Clearly, The S.O.V wins. Anywho, here's a list of Lady Sovereign's upcoming shows in North America. Go out and see her or she'll kick your ass.

North American Tour Dates:

November 28- Boston @ Middle East
November 30- NYC @ Knitting Factory
December 1- Philadelphia @ Silk City
December 2- Montreal @ La Tulip
December 3- Toronto @ Revival
December 6- Chicago @ Empty Bottle
December 9- San Francisco @ Live 105 Not So Silent Night Afterparty
December 13- Los Angeles @ Cinespace

Be sure to check out Lady Sovereign's Save the Hoodie site too.

But then a strange fear gripped me and I just couldn't ask

I was so excited when I heard that Morrissey is currently mixing his new album in Rome with producer Tony Visconti. It's set to be released in mid March, and hopefully, Morrissey will hit the road with it, and play some shows here in the states.

I found a great Moz interview on Soulseek the other day, and thought I'd post the tracks. It's always great hearing the things Morrissey has to say, because you're never quite sure what might come out of his mouth. But it's always entertaining.

I've been trying to figure out exactly what year this interview was done (if any of you know, let me know). The tag on the mp3s say 2000, but that could just be the year that the interview cd was put together. I'm thinking that the first part (tracks 1 through 10) was taped in the late 80s or early 90s at KROQ in LA, because Moz talks about White Snake and Janet Jackson being shown on MTV, and Richard (the interviewer) talks about the cliche heavy metal video. Moz also brings up Margaret Thatcher being in power, and I believe she was Prime Minister in England only up until 1990.

Parts in the second half (tracks 11 through 17) lead me to believe that there was maybe a second interview done with KROQ in 1997, because Richard asks Morrissey, "Did you see the fight on Saturday referring to the Tyson/Hollyfield fight where Tyson bit off a piece of Hollyfield's ear. That happened in 1997. In track 13 (Moz on Life) Morrissey says it's been about 6 years since he's been at KROQ, so that would put his first appearance around '90/'91. The clips are chopped up strangely, so it's hard to tell if they're in the right order or not. Nonetheless, they're still great to listen to, and Moz is witty and hysterical as always. Forever a quotable figure.

01 Fans, Influences, Releases (6:30)
"Well, sometimes I don't mind, if they're good, and sometimes I buy them. I know you're supposed to be very annoyed because people make lots of money and none of it comes to you. But that doesn't really bother me. I'm very glad that there is enough interest in The Smiths for there to be bootlegs, and soforth, so it's just really pleasing."- Moz on Smiths bootlegs
"Well, the right people like it."- Moz on the song There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.

02 Vegetarianism, Benefits, Multi-Artist Concerts (3:18)
"No, I wouldn't be interested in a hostile crowd."- Moz when asked if he'd like the challenge of winning over a hostile crowd.

03 Himself & The Music Industry (4:23)
"I was told that I would be destroyed by my own record, which sounds actually reasonably exciting. But it didn't happen, I'm still here, and I'm quite healthy."- Moz on the BBC's reaction to Ouija Board, Ouija Board.

04 Hope & Despair (3:25)
"I do despair a great deal of time. That's all I can say really. I feel disappointment a great deal of time in the human race generally."- Answering a caller's question about the contrast of hope and despair in his lyrics.

05 Reading, TV & Pop Music (2:27) *this is cute because Morrissey didn't know what Nintendo was*
"I think children throughout the generations of the world change in any case. I mean, a hundred years ago, they were probably chasing sticks. Which, it wouldn't be a very good idea if children these days were chasing sticks. So I think that's just how the world changes and moves on. I don't know that it makes them more interesting individuals or less interesting. I really don't know. But television, obviously, quite naturally, I find quite destructive."- Moz when asked if things like video games and Nintendo negatively affect children of today.
Morrissey: "But Janet Jackson, as far as I can see, has no talent at all."
Richard: "She just dances, right?"
Morrissey: "Badly (laughs)."- When talking about whether or not there's room in 'his world' for pop music.

06 Drinking, Actors, & Manchester (4:30)
Richard: "Everyone knew you'd be intelligent."
Morrissey: "Well, I try not to hide it."- When it was mentioned that no one at the station knew what Morrissey would be like in person
Caller (Richard's mom): "There must be a flaw in this wonderful person."
Morrissey: "I assure you there isn't."- When talking about the healthy life he leads.

07 Fans, Childhood, Johnny Marr (5:40)
"Generally, very witty. Generally, the bright sparks who weren't possibly, terribly athletic, but terribly quick. And the ones who were always in trouble. But I was very athletic, which is something that I never personally understood."- Moz on his childhood friends.

08 Books, Celibacy, Import Records, Oscar Wilde (6:06)
"Well if it's in Spin magazine, it must be true."- When asked by a caller if he was really celibate.

09 Flying, The Royal Family, School Days (5:28)
"If there were only two (political) parties in England, she wouldn't even be, ya know, in the kitchen making the tea."- Moz on Margaret Thatcher.

10 Music in America, Videos, Manchester, Loneliness (6:15)
"I think the musical audiences of America are very underrated. And I think their intelligence is very underrated. And I think really, if they were exposed to more intelligent music and more innovative music, they would take it. But see, they don't really have much choice, do they?"
"I get so many letters complaining about music in America, and how people are fed a constant barrage of White Snake, followed by Janet Jackson, followed by White Snake, followed by Janet Jackson. I mean MTV really, which is a brillitant idea executed dreadfully, is just really a succession of the same video. And it's always the same style. There's lots of interesting, smaller groups who, if they had exposure in this country, everything would change. But it won't change until that time occurs."- Moz on music in the U.S.

11 Moz on Music (:38) *this is mainly about the Smoking Popes*

12 Moz on Boxing & Fans (1:27)
"I thought Tyson was extremely badly behaved. I think he should be arrested. Because if I walked onto the street and bit somebody's ear, I'm sure I'd be arrested. I don't think they'd hand me $27 million and say, ya know, 'See you at the next fight.' "- Moz on the Tyson/Hollyfield fight.

13 Moz on Life (2:16)
"I'm still the same person that I ever was. I'm a very secluded person. But I'm not neurotic or anything."- When asked if he'd been in seclusion.

14 Moz on Working (1:51)
15 Moz on Other Live Bands (:45)
16 Conventions and Reunions (2:53)
17 Moz on Mick Ronson (:41)

The rest is the interview with Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke. I'm not sure what year this is from. Mike mentions having hundreds of unreleased Smiths recordings in his posession, which is pretty cool to think about.

18 Mike and Andy (1:22)
19 On Conventions (:55)
20 Compilations & Unreleased Music (1:36)
21 New Projects (:26)
22 Listener Calls (4:25)

And so that you have some actual music to listen to, here are some songs: There is a Light that Never Goes Out, Ouija Board, Ouija Board, and just because I think that nothing is sexier than Jeff Buckley singing The Smiths, Jeff covering The Boy with the Thorn in his Side.

The Smiths- There is a Light that Never Goes Out (from The Queen is Dead)
Morrissey- Ouija Board, Ouija Board (from Bona Drag)
Jeff Buckley- The Boy with the Thorn in his Side