Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Kids and Money

I recently started reading BPM on a regular basis. They don't try and sway me towards "The Dark side", their reviews appear to be unbiased, and I absolutely love there interviews and other articles. Oh yeah you can also read the entire magazine cover to cover for free on their website. I discovered one such article in the November issue.

Conveniently titled "Material Girls (+ Boys). The short, 5 paragraph piece talks about a new 'docu-short' by award winning filmmaker Lauren Greenfield and in conjunction with The New York Times Magazine's Money issue. The film was shot in LA and Lauren asks different teenagers about money and its effect on their lives.


I'm not trying to pick on the "well-to-do" people in the world, I just find it amusing to listen to people explain their spending...almost rationalizing it to you. The film doesn't just stick to the upper crust. Miss Greenfield talks on all walks of life, from the "4-digit" girls ($1000+ FYI) to family's that share a one bedroom house. It's somewhat humbling to see these kids, none of them are portrayed as unhappy or in an unsatisfactory light. They're all on different tiers revolving around the same city.


I commend Lauren Greenfield for this unbiased look at what could become a major problem for children and teenagers especially in the next decade or so...


You can watch the entire 14 minute film here and then find out more about Lauren Greenfield at her website.


Quotes from the documentary that I just love:

"Going to the things that are 4-digits I think that's very inappropriate for school."..."But, if you want like a really nice classic bag. Its definitely appropriate to spend that kind of like 4-digits..."
-Gabby, 16

"Its just something you have to do. You have to be popular, you have to be in-style. And in order to be popular you have to be in-style, so like you know. So to achieve popularity you have to have a lot of clothes, a lot of shoes."
-Sean Michael, 17 (as an added notation, Mr. Michael says he spends $700-$800 a month just on clothes, which is over twice what I pay in rent every month.)

Oh my a music blog contest....

No, not that kind of contest. The only thing you might win is a feeling of self-worth from helping out a friend.

(Via Hey Nielsen)

musicBlogContest.gif

(UPDATED 11/13) Following the success (good for us, good for bloggers) of our First Annual TV Blog Contest, we're launching our First Annual Music Blog Contest on Monday, November 12. With the help of our friends at Billboard.com, we've nominated a heap of U.S. blogs that serve up reviews, features, downloads, and more. Check out the complete list of blogs after the jump and the rules here.

You must be a member to vote. Membership is free!

A big thanks to Billboard.com's Jaded Insider Blog for their help and to our newest H!N teammate Sarah Epler who researched all of the sites and stats, and has not taken her headphones off in a week.


Best Music Blog Nominees | Rules

To vote, simply click on the VOTE link next to the blog and then click on the RATE IT button on that blog's main page. You can vote for as many blogs as you want, but you can only vote for each blog once.

  • 3Hive | Visit | VOTE
  • Adam's World | Visit | VOTE
  • Aquarium Drunk | Visit | VOTE
  • Arjan Writes | Visit | VOTE
  • Audiversity | Visit | VOTE
  • Aurgasm | Visit | VOTE
  • Atoms 4 Peace | Visit | VOTE
  • BBQ Chicken Robot | Visit | VOTE
  • Big Stereo | Visit | VOTE
  • Blogs are for Dogs | Visit | VOTE
  • Bradley's Almanac | Visit | VOTE
  • Broken Dial | Visit | VOTE
  • Brooklyn Bodega | Visit | VOTE
  • Brooklyn Vegan | Visit | VOTE
  • Cable & Tweed | Visit | VOTE
  • Can You See The Sunset
    From The Southside? | Visit | VOTE
  • Captain Obvious | Visit | VOTE
  • Cat Bird Seat | Visit | VOTE
  • Che Sing the Cool | Visit | VOTE
  • Concrete Loop | Visit | VOTE
  • Confessions of a Music Addict | Visit | VOTE
  • Copy Right? | Visit | VOTE
  • Culture Bully | Visit | VOTE
  • Day Trotter | Visit | VOTE
  • Done Waiting | Visit | VOTE
  • Ear Farm | Visit | VOTE
  • Ear Sucker | Visit | VOTE
  • Flux Blog | Visit | VOTE
  • Good Weather For Airstrikes | Visit | VOTE
  • Gorilla Vs. Bear | Visit | VOTE
  • GRANDGOOD | Visit | VOTE
  • Hear Ya | Visit | VOTE
  • Hip Hop Ruckus | Visit | VOTE
  • Hit Hip Hop | Visit | VOTE
  • Honorable Media | Visit | VOTE
  • I am Fuel, You are Friends | Visit | VOTE
  • I Guess I'm Floating Visit| VOTE |
  • Idolator | Visit | VOTE
  • Indie Blog Heaven | Visit | VOTE
  • Indie Muse | Visit | VOTE
  • It's Hard to Find a Friend | Visit | VOTE
  • Largehearted Boy | Visit | VOTE
  • Late Night Wall Flower | Visit | VOTE
  • Live Music Blog | Visit | VOTE
  • Melody Nelson | Visit | VOTE
  • Metal Lungies | Visit | VOTE
  • Metal Martyr | Visit | VOTE
  • Milk Milk Lemonade | Visit | VOTE
  • Modern Age | Visit | VOTE
  • More Cowbell | Visit | VOTE
  • Music for All Marck | Visit | VOTE
  • Music for Robots | Visit | VOTE
  • Music Forecast | Visit | VOTE
  • Music Is Art | Visit | VOTE
  • Music Is Not Dead | Visit | VOTE
  • Music Ramen | Visit | VOTE
  • Music Snobbery | Visit | VOTE
  • Muzzle of Bees | Visit | VOTE
  • My Old Kentucky Blog | Visit | VOTE
  • Nah, Right | Visit | VOTE
  • Notes from a Different Kitchen | Visit | VOTE
  • Obscure Sound | Visit | VOTE
  • Oh Word | Visit | VOTE
  • Palms Out | Visit | VOTE
  • Pardon Me Duke | Visit | VOTE
  • Pop Muse | Visit | VOTE
  • Pop Tarts Suck Toasted | Visit | VOTE
  • Pro Hip Hop | Visit | VOTE
  • Redthreat | Visit | VOTE
  • Rock Insider | Visit | VOTE
  • Rock Sellout | Visit | VOTE
  • Salad Days Music | Visit | VOTE
  • Shots Ring Out | Visit | VOTE
  • Shoutmouth | Visit | VOTE
  • Skatterbrain | Visit | VOTE
  • Soft Communication | Visit | VOTE
  • Some Velvet Blog | Visit | VOTE
  • Soul Sides | Visit | VOTE
  • Sound On The Sound | Visit | VOTE
  • Soviet Panda | Visit | VOTE
  • Speed of Dark | Visit | VOTE
  • Stereogum | Visit | VOTE
  • Strivin | Visit | VOTE
  • The Late Greats | Visit | VOTE
  • The Lonely Note | Visit | VOTE
  • The Music Slut | Visit | VOTE
  • The Rap Up | Visit | VOTE
  • The Rawking Refuses To Stop! | Visit | VOTE
  • The Sky Report | Visit | VOTE
  • The World Forgot | Visit | VOTE
  • The Yellow Stereo | Visit | VOTE
  • Tiny Mix Tapes | Visit | VOTE
  • T-Sides | Visit | VOTE
  • Ultragrrrl | Visit | VOTE
  • Underrated | Visit | VOTE
  • Vitamin H2 | Visit | VOTE
  • WFMU | Visit | VOTE
  • Yeti Don't Dance | Visit | VOTE
  • You Aint No Picasso | Visit | VOTE
  • You Heard That New | Visit | VOTE
  • God damn what is it mean


    White Shoes & The Couples Company
    (Minty Fresh Records)


    As a child I watched a lot of old television shows (i.e. Mary Tyler Moore Show, Get Smart, The Bob Newhart Show, The Dyke Van Dyke, F-Troop, Dragnet...anything that was playing on Nick at Nite when Nick at Nite was on Nickelodeon and there wasn't a channel dedicated to 5 hour blocks of the Cosby show everyday). I feel that this was a major point in my life. I discovered 'Classic' shows that my parents and grandparents were raised on, and I've noticed that quite a few of my friends also share a fondness for these shows.

    That being noted, I was very happy the first time I heard the Indonesian sextet,
    White Shoes & The Couples Company. They had all the makings of a 70's show...wardrobe included.

    White Shoes & The Couples Company self-titled album , available on
    Minty Fresh, is a breathe of fresh air for me in this slow moving indie pop world. Their light harmonies, sparse arrangements and flowing melodies make it easy to stare off just reminiscing about your childhood over a cup of tea. Its no wonder All Music Guide named them one of their "25 Most Crush Worthy" bands last year .

    White Shoes formed in 2002 at an art institute at
    Cikini, central Jakarta. Two lover from the fine art faculty Rio & Sari decided to form a band together with their ffriend in the faculty named Saleh. This was the first formation of White Shoes & The Couples Company, which featured Sari on vocal & violin, Rio on rhythm guitar and Saleh on melody guitar. The three of them made their first debut as White Shoes & The Couples Company at a college event. However, the trio formation diverged from their original plan when Sari and Rio had keenly asked a married couple from the music faculty to join the band. The couples was Ricky Surya Virgana & Mela Virgana. Yet the couple was hard to meet since they were busy lecturing and covering for orchestras. Several months later, the couple join White Shoes & The Couples Company with Ricky on Bass and cello and Mela on viola, keyboards and piano. White Shoes & The Couples Company did not have a drummer in the beginining, but Ricky took the initiative to ask a friend at his faculty namely John Navid to play drums for one event at the BB's Bar. How ever, as the time went by John eventually became a permanent drummer in 2004. Thus, the final formation of White Shoes & The Couples Company was set.

    I feel like it would be cheating you not to give you as many songs from White Shoes & The Couples Company, but I don't want to infringe on anyone, so I'll put them up in the form of videos. I can't pick a favorite song, but do yourself a favor and go get this album. You won't regret it.

    Track 2 Tentang Cita


    Tentang Cita (White Shoes and the Couples Company)



    Track 4 Windu & Defrina





    Track 6 Sunday Memory Lane




    Track 8 Senandung Maaf



    Hot Chip New Album Free MP3....




    Its no secret that Hot Chip are readying a new record, Made In The Dark, for release February 5, 2008. What you should know is that they are giving away a MP3 that has been streaming on their myspace. "I Became A Volunteer" is not a track from their up coming LP, but it is a pretty sweet song. The only catch is that you have to sign up for their mailing list to get access to the mp3, but who doesn't want up to date information on one of London's hottest groups?

    Sunday, November 11, 2007

    The Woodies mad me ill

    I made out to MTVu's 4th annual Woodie awards. It was um, interesting....I didn't know it was happening until the night before. And I didn't vote, but a friend pointed out that the bands that were present, were the ones that ended up taking the woodies home, aside for Madvillian winning the left field Woodie...I don't know if it just happened that way or if every awards show really is set up...


    The night was pretty uneventful...The performances were good, and the drinks were strong. The most interesting thing to happen during the night was watching the antics of Philly's MC Spank Rock, and his interactions with the live blogging tables of The Gothamist and Best Week Ever.

    And to make things even better...between Rilo Kiley's 2 song set (They closed out the night's performances and the show itself), MTV handed out a press release...which I find pretty ridiculous...its pretty much the equivalent to live blogging but in hard copy form. I even took the time to jot down notes during the precedings to re-tell the story to everyone...but instead you can just read about it.

    Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


    Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


    Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


    Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket



    Regardless I ended up waking up the next day feeling sick, and even now I'm still fighting this badass cold...

    Thursday, November 8, 2007

    c-c-c-cool

    NME put up their Cool List 2007 earlier today, so go and vote...someone has to be cool, right?

    Hello, Blue Roses





    Is it any surprise that Dan Bejar would be collaborating/releasing a new record? From
    The New Pornographers to Destroyer he always seems to be pushing forward in mud hole that we call the music world (industry sounds a bit too tacky here).

    This time he's teamed up with
    Sydney Vermont as the duo Hello, Blue Rose. Together they create a warm soft aura in the vein of Joni Mitchell-ish singer/songwriters of the 70's...But you will notice a deepness upon listening, a new founded insight into song structure, and of course there is a great juxtaposition betweenBejar's songwriting and vocals to Syndey's ethereal voice.

    Their debut is due out on January 22, 2008 on Chicago-based label
    Locust Music. But if you can't wait until then, there will be two 7" splits coming in December. One a 'tour only' split with Frog Eyes on Absolutely Kosher, and the other with the UK's Starless & Bible Black. Available only from Locust's website.


    Go to Hello, Blue Roses Myspace to listen to Hello, Blue Roses (yes that is the song title, I'm not delirious yet)...or click here to hear the song "Shadow Falls"

    Marina Gasolina

    Brazilian's Bonde do Role are coming out with an EP in December featuring a bunch of remixes and a couple of new tracks. Its all those dance hits off of With Lasers remixed by all your favorite Artist...well I'm sure that it'll be great no matter what.

    Its scheduled for a December 4th release.

    The track listing looks a little like this:

    1 - Marina Gasolina (New Version)
    2 - Contaminada
    3 - Cagago
    4 - Miami Beach
    5 - Marina Gasolina (Fake Blood Remix)
    6 - Marina Gasolina (Peaches Remix)
    7 - Office Boy (CSS Remix)
    8 - Office Boy (Architecture In Helsinki Remix)
    9 - Solta O Frango (Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Remix)
    10 - Solta O Frango (Ladytron Remix)


    Its getting to be pretty cold out now, so let's hope that another dose of that infectious Baile Funk will help keep us warm until the spring thaw.

    Charith Cutestory

    So I just recently started watching Vice's VBS.TV...something to do with the writer's strike, or perhaps because I don't have basic cable...but some how I started watching a segment that they dubbed 'The Cute Show' and I don't know, but it is damn cute. There are so many (well about 8) shows up and each one is equally as adorable.

    This one is the first episode that I watched...









    I don't care how this speaks about my character...its CUTE.

    Friday, November 2, 2007

    pop:ped

    Then:












    Now:




    I really don't have much to say about this, but if this isn't a great start for the return of pop music?...
    Then how about the fact that Britney Spears' lastest album will be at the top of the Bilboard Charts next week. Huh?..HUH?


    Oh Backstreet Boys where are you?...Oh Wait...

    Post: Halloween

    With a slew of new and upcoming releasefor Def Jux this year, The Juggaknots' DJ Boo compiled a mixtape for Definitive Jux for the recent Halloween holiday entitled Halloween Candy Before Dinner. Featuring Definitive Jux artists El-P, Aesop Rock, Junk Science, Hangar 18 and Rob Sonic.

    Tracklisting:


    Aesop Rock - Citronella
    El-P - Smithereens'
    Rob Sonic - Rock The Convoy
    Junk Science - Do It Easy
    Hangar 18 - West Wing
    Rob Sonic - Dead As Disco
    Junk Science - Hey!
    Hangar 18 - Bakin' Soda
    Junk Science - Jerry McGuire
    Hangar 18 - Thing Big
    Rob Sonic - Fat Man & Little Boy
    El-P - Flyentology
    Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass