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24 Oct 2009 12:20

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Music: Our Saturday Mixtape: Atlas Sound and Ben Gibbard cohabitate

  • 1. Bradford Cox is really one of a kind. The Deerhunter lead singer, who moonlights as Atlas Sound, really does a great job synthesizing really interesting ideas into his stew. Especially if, as in the case of “Walkabout,” that idea is Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) of Animal Collective. It’s a very Panda Bearish-sound, but built on of of those simple-but-awesome Deerhunter song structures.
    2. We admit to having an affinity for this broken twee sound, which Pens does a pretty good job of replicating on “I Sing Just For You.” It doesn’t really hold up over a whole album, but it’s nice in single-bite form.
    3. Sufjan Stevens went from recording really awesome albums about states to doing his best impression of the compositions from Final Fantasy VI (or Final Fantasy III if you’re a luddite who doesn’t know the series’ Japanese history). That description doesn’t give “The BQE” much credit – really, it’s great – but we hope he gets back to the 50 States Project soon.
    4. Ben Gibbard doesn’t have to do this. He’s already incredibly famous, and Death Cab For Cutie’s an interesting enough outlet that he doesn’t need another Postal Service-style offshoot to keep busy. But we appreciate his album of Jack Kerouac-inspired songs he did with Jay Farrar – it’s very much in the “Mermaid Avenue” mold. In a good way.
    5. It’s good to see our old friends Kings of Convenience showing up with a new album. We thought they were gone for good. A lot of people argue they need to expand their sound, but we think it’s perfect as-is, especially on “Me in You.”source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Oct 2009 14:37

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About: Not saying you have to, just suggesting you should.

We kind of have a favor to ask. See, our friends at Mashable have this contest going on. And we were hoping you might vote for us in the "Best News Source to Follow" category. We would pay you back in cheap beer. We swear.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Oct 2009 21:09

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About: Big site news: ShortFormBlog’s redesigning, and other changes

redesign1021

We have big plans, guys. As you might remember a couple weeks ago, we asked you guys what you wanted. In part, that's because we have some big plans for the site's future. To start with, we have a redesign ready to launch November 3. Here's a little about the redesign, and some other changes:
  • Why the redesign? ShortFormBlog has been in existence for ten months, and we’ve learned a lot. And in many ways, the site’s focus evolved in ways that the original site didn’t anticipate. Mainly, we wanted a cleaner format that made the bite-sized elements work as well throughout the site as they do on the front page. To emphasize these changes, we’re flipping the slogan from “writing a little, saying a lot” to “read a little, learn a lot.” Small, but notable.
  • Why the redesign? ShortFormBlog has been in existence for ten months, and we’ve learned a lot. And in many ways, the site’s focus evolved in ways that the original site didn’t anticipate. Mainly, we wanted a cleaner format that made the bite-sized elements work as well throughout the site as they do on the front page. To emphasize these changes, we’re flipping the slogan from “writing a little, saying a lot” to “read a little, learn a lot.” Small, but notable.
  • Sports: Outta here One of the things that we’ve wrestled with more than anything is a way of paring down the site’s elements in smart, clear ways. For that reason, we’ve chosen to take out a piece of the pie that’s fallen by the wayside. Sports will not be part of the redesign. By cutting off a finger, we hope to make the hand stronger or something. But in the future, we have other plans for sports. And we want to bring readers on board to help.
  • Why the redesign? ShortFormBlog has been in existence for ten months, and we’ve learned a lot. And in many ways, the site’s focus evolved in ways that the original site didn’t anticipate. Mainly, we wanted a cleaner format that made the bite-sized elements work as well throughout the site as they do on the front page. To emphasize these changes, we’re flipping the slogan from “writing a little, saying a lot” to “read a little, learn a lot.” Small, but notable.
  • Sports: Outta here One of the things that we’ve wrestled with more than anything is a way of paring down the site’s elements in smart, clear ways. For that reason, we’ve chosen to take out a piece of the pie that’s fallen by the wayside. Sports will not be part of the redesign. By cutting off a finger, we hope to make the hand stronger or something. But in the future, we have other plans for sports. And we want to bring readers on board to help.
  • New content, kids! One thing that we will be adding to the site is a weekly editorial comic by Shawn Vulliez. Vulliez, a fan of the site, created the animation for one of the most well-known and popular Flash clips of all time, “The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.” The comics are just a start, we hope. Our long-term goal is to figure out ways, both big and small, to get more contributors on board. Bug us if you’re interested.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

17 Oct 2009 14:16

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Music: This week’s Saturday Mixtape covers some of 2004’s best tunes



OK, we're halfway through the naughts after this week. In case you haven't noticed, we've been going through some of our favorite songs of this decade, year-by-year, since August. Once every other week or so. This week, we hit 2004. (Want to hear the others? Click here: 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000)
  • 1. If we had to pick one song of the decade, this would be it. In four and a half minutes, The Walkmen’s “The Rat” nailed the unnecessary gravitas and self-seriousness that defined this decade. No other song has come close to best defining it.
    2. Animal Collective essentially did the opposite of what Radiohead did to become famous. Starting out as a strange, dense, openly experimental band, they found themselves making pop music by the beginning of 2009. We still heart 2004’s “Sung Tongs,” though, and “Who Could Win a Rabbit?” is the bridge between the two sounds.
    3. The Arcade Fire suffered greatly at the hands of overhype, like many other perfectly-good bands of the era – Bloc Party or Vampire Weekend, anyone? But they deserved every bit of the hype they got, especially on “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out).”
    4. The Streets – aka Mike Skinner – nailed the best album of his career in 2002 with “Original Pirate Material,” but as far as singles go, “Fit But You Know It” is easily his best. With that roughshod beat – the kind of beat that Lily Allen rides up the charts nowadays – backing a story of a drunk ticked about the unattainable hottie in front of him, it synthesizes the best of Skinner’s sound and storytelling.
    5. The great secret of Sufjan Stevens’ “Seven Swans” – an album openly loaded with religious imagery – was that you didn’t need to be Christian to be deeply affected by it. “The Transfiguration” is beautiful on its own terms, but not without questioning its listener: “Consider what he says to you, consider what’s to come.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Oct 2009 12:00

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About: Feedback wanted: A special query from site founder Ernie Smith

What do you guys want? I (not we, I) love doing this site. But I want to encourage its long-term future. I have a lot of things in the can for the site. But I want to get some thoughts from my readers on how to proceed. Here's a few things on my mind:
  • Building focus Over the last 10 months, the site’s content has been defined by its everything-gets-in atmosphere. It largely focuses on a soft approach to hard news, but the subject matter is very broad otherwise. I’m debating whether it might make sense to have a tighter focus – less sports and music, more hard news and tech. What do you think?
  • Building focus Over the last 10 months, the site’s content has been defined by its everything-gets-in atmosphere. It largely focuses on a soft approach to hard news, but the subject matter is very broad otherwise. I’m debating whether it might make sense to have a tighter focus – less sports and music, more hard news and tech. What do you think?
  • Adding new voices As some of you might know through my usage of bad puns, dirty jokes and left-field explanations, (I think) I’m a funny guy. But I feel like more variety – and more writers – could strengthen the site. (And yes, I’m asking for resumes.) How would you handle writing news in short bites? Think you could do it on a regular schedule? Think about it.
  • Building focus Over the last 10 months, the site’s content has been defined by its everything-gets-in atmosphere. It largely focuses on a soft approach to hard news, but the subject matter is very broad otherwise. I’m debating whether it might make sense to have a tighter focus – less sports and music, more hard news and tech. What do you think?
  • Adding new voices As some of you might know through my usage of bad puns, dirty jokes and left-field explanations, (I think) I’m a funny guy. But I feel like more variety – and more writers – could strengthen the site. (And yes, I’m asking for resumes.) How would you handle writing news in short bites? Think you could do it on a regular schedule? Think about it.
  • Time vs. quality It’s probably obvious, but I spend much of my day trying to make this site happen. It’s lots of work. It’s fun work and I love it. But, I already have a full-time job. And this takes up too much of my life right now. Is it a matter of working smarter vs. working harder? I want to find the right balance. Do you guys have any ideas? Leave a comment.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 20 Comments • Permalink

03 Oct 2009 23:20

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Music: We continue our Saturday Mixtape decade-in-review with 2003

  • 1. The Jayhawks’ sturdy approach was never really appreciated after about 1995 or so, which is a shame because “Rainy Day Music” is a great album, and “Save it for a Rainy Day” is one of the alt-country band’s best singles.
    2. M. Ward’s under-the-radar rep tipped above the radar after 2003, but “Transfiguration of Vincent” is as good as his later albums – if not better. “Vincent O’Brien” plays centerpiece.
    3. Back in 2003, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were overhyped and under-appreciated all at once. “Maps” went a long way to make them accessible, but their first album, “Fever To Tell,” was full of spiky bursts of energy like “Y-Control.”
    4. Dear Ben Gibbard: You’re sitting on a huge potential pile of money and you haven’t done anything serious with it in nearly six years. No matter the success of Death Cab for Cutie, the reason that people started caring about DCfC en masse is The Postal Service. Here’s a B-side, “There’s Never Enough Time,” covering a topic that we know all too well about.
    5. The Wrens are the quintessential indie success story; ditched by a label that later sold out and became huge by pushing Creed, they disappeared for years, only to return with a victory lap of an album, “The Meadowlands.” “She Sends Kisses” has a great hook that stays with you for days.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Sep 2009 16:16

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Music: Lotsa great music’s come out latetly. Our Saturday Mixtape is on it.

  • 1. We admit that we’ve been quite excited about Monsters of Folk, mostly because of our boy M. Ward. (Nothing against Conor Oberst, but he seems to have lost his edge lately.) The leadoff track, “Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.),” certainly doesn’t scream folk, but there’s certainly a lot more going on here than an indie equivalent of the Traveling Wilburys.
    2. What if you took the most experimental part of Bon Iver’s “For Emma, Forever Ago” and built a whole album around it? You’d have Volcano Choir‘s “Unmap,” which features frontman Justin Vernon with Milwaukee’s Collection of Colonies of Bees, proving that he’s not the only interesting musician currently coming out of Wisconsin.
    3. Lots to love here. The Big Pink’s “A Brief History of Love” has at least one killer chorus in the form of “Dominos,” which gives a nice sheen to their best shoegaze intentions.
    4. Rain Machine, a.k.a. TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone, had one of the year’s most-highly-anticipated releases. The album itself isn’t nearly as amazing as the billing, but the vocal theatrics of the otherwise-simple “New Last Name” certainly live up to the pedigree.
    5. On “Higher than the Stars,” The Pains of Being Pure at Heart seem to be ready to cut back the massive amounts of guitar distortion that defined their earlier releases. Even without it – relying more on a cheery synth instead – the formula still works.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink
 

19 Sep 2009 15:27

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Music: Ah, vintage 2002. Our Saturday Mixtape takes a swig or two.

  • 1. Back in our noise-addled 2002 minds, Idlewild’s “You Held the World In Your Arms” was that explosion of R.E.M.-esque bombast that should have been huge in the U.S., but instead remained on the fringes.
    2. Consider this a placeholder for both the Roots and Cody ChestnuTT, who both released killer albums in 2002. (Lala, sadly doesn’t have ChestnuTT’s only album thus far, “The Headphone Masterpiece.”) A lot’s changed since this song came out – The Roots are on Jimmy Fallon, and ChestnuTT is … somewhere. Where did you go, man?
    3. When everyone was going gaga over Interpol (we didn’t get the hype), we were putting The Notwist’s “Neon Golden” on repeat. A slice of IDM+pop, “Pilot” is the German band’s best song.
    4. It wouldn’t be 2002 if we didn’t give due credit to Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” so here we are, giving it. They haven’t been as weird as “Radio Cure” since, but it was weird enough to get everyone to pay attention.
    5. Iron & Wine’s success was a starting point for 21st-century indie folk. The fact that Sam Beam’s been improving ever since doesn’t negate the fact that he wrote the template with songs like “Upward Over the Mountain.”source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

05 Sep 2009 16:08

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Music: Our Saturday Mixtape decade-in-review continues with 2001’s best

  • 1. Rufus Wainwright came out of the gate strong, and maybe lost a little steam after the second album, but “Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk” definitely isn’t the point where he lost the plot.
    2. Quiet wasn’t the new loud, but the sorta-movement created a couple of pretty solid bands between Kings of Convenience and Turin Brakes, whose “Emergency 72” holds up well considering its current lack of musical context.
    3. Britt Daniel of Spoon made a compelling argument for “The Fitted Shirt,” a style that’s evolved from the days of “ma’am and yes sir” to the style of choice for the male on the prowl. In the process, he made a very compelling argument for Spoon.
    4. It’s interesting how a band known for its guitar-shredding, the White Stripes, first hit mainstream consciousness with “Hotel Yorba,” a three-chord acoustic guitar ditty. No worry; they’d quickly become one of the decade’s biggest bands.
    5. Two years after Dntel’s “This is the Dream of Evan and Chan” came out, the ideas of this song were further explored with the uber-popular (and woefully neglected) Postal Service. And it’s obvious why. Jimmy Tamborello’s glitches and Ben Gibbard’s vocals made perhaps the best argument ever for indie-plus-IDM.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2009 19:38

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Music: Our Saturday Mixtape peers back into some of 2000’s best tunes



A word of warning: This is not a top songs of the year list for us. Rather, these are five good songs from 2000 that are worth your time. And yes, we plan on doing this with every year of the decade over the next few months. Agree with these choices? Disagree? Debate here.

  • 1. Elliott Smith’s later period is one highly debated by fans. He went big around the time of “XO” and went even bigger around the time of 2000’s “Figure 8.” For some fans, this made the album a bit of a wash, but the single, “Son of Sam,” still holds strong nearly a decade later.
    2. It’s easy to forget, but The Mars Volta started from the split of the At the Drive-In, a band which did more to justify Thursday’s existence than it did The Mars Volta. A precursor to screamo, “One-Armed Scissor” is far less embarrassing than that descripiton sounds.
    3. What a shame. Grandaddy’s “The Sophtware Slump” is a great album best known as the answer to a trivia question. The question: “What album was Jason Lee’s son, Pilot Inspektor, named for?” A damn shame for a great album. “Jed the Humanoid” is a definite highlight for sure.
    4. Yo La Tengo will likely never break out of its cult audience, but they make great musical arguments why they should. “And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out” is one of the band’s peaks, and “You Can Have it All” is a quiet triumph.
    5. For us, hearing Radiohead’s “Nude” on 2007’s “In Rainbows” gave “Motion Picture Soundtrack” context. Many superfans were spoiled by a spare acoustic version of the song that made the “Kid A” version seem overly grand. But in the context of “Nude,” you see exactly what the band was going for. Worth revisiting for sure.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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