Music Round up week 1 Feb

The Band you have to check out:

Fitz and the Tantrums – Pickin’ Up The Pieces.

Their first single money grabber is a great soul infused throw back, mixed male and female vocals and a hip feel.  Lately they’re  getting airtime on WPGU (champaign-Urbana) and KHJK 103.7 in Houson.  The album packaging, physical cd, and the music video for money grabber all feature blue and red lighting effects on black.  Check out the video, one or two listens and you’ll be hooked:

Free Streaming Album

Adele – 21 NPR has a free first listen Here.  At 22 the girl has some amazing pipes, and wisdom beyond her years.

Best New Album in 2011

The Decemberists – The King is Dead. I always wondered what a band could do artistically after creating a fully realized concept album/Indie Rock Opera.  I figured nothing the decemberist did would ever live up to that.  Thankfully instead of an ill advised attempt to top it, they went back down to basics – shorter songs, Americana instrumentation, self contained stories, and Colin Meloy’s voice.  I was afraid they’d “gone country” with the first single, Down By the Water, but it was much deeper than the topical addition of twang.  They’re now on the front lines of the folk/Americana/indie/rock wave, with bands like Mumford and Sons, Avett Brothers, and the Monsters of Folk.  Can’t wait to see them live again!

Upright Citizen’s Brigade Season 1 Episode 09

We are all very slowly becoming CYBORGS.

No not the computer implanted “resistance is futile kind of of cyborgs, or this guy ->

but cyborgs that still have to use their eyes ears and hands to interact with increasing amounts of information and tech. If I need to know something, I whip out my phone, immediately I’m on Wikipedia, promptly regurgitate whatever it says. Recently a guy with a relatively simple chess computer program and his own limited ability to play beat a grand master. The game was timed, so he had to multitask and optimize his approach, when to use computer help or when to just take that pawn. He’s a cyborg, we’re all slowly becoming cyborgs. And I guess that is the endpoint for tool makers – we either become the tool ( ghost in the machine or jersey shore cast member) or integrate it into how we function.

What set me off today is this:

Who can still tell SuperMackin what to do?

I’m 24 – Who can still tell me that my behavior is not acceptable? How far out of line can I step before some restoring force knocks me back into what’s ok? Will this restoring force be external, or internal? Who’s is going to tell me what to do? And who am I actually going to listen to? And when do I have no choice in the matter?

Point in case: I have 3 months between the ending of my lease in Urbana and the beginning of my job in Houston. I am unemployed until then. The solution that presents itself is move home, and live on my family’s dime. And that’s the plan. Don’t waste money on rent, don’t waste free time on work. Two of my good friends, who are pretty much only related by me, ran into each other at pitchfork last weekend. They decided, together, that I should not be moving home. They want/need me around, and I could do it by finding a cheap 3 month sublet and a crappy job in CU. As I consumed 3 long islands (2 dollars each!) in less than an hour and a half, at the Shit-Show of CU (also referred to as Pianoman), this became a glorious idea.