The Beat Frequency - April 30, 2010

This was the day of the Art Attack concert of Ben Folds and Weezer at the University of Maryland.  We sat really far away.   Lots of Ben Folds and Weezer on the show today.

This was also the day where Tevis and I sang "Topologize" (math version of "Apologize" by OneRepublic) on the radio.  Good day.

"Add It Up" was one of my favorite songs of this time of year.  I edited it and played it at the end.  We closed with the theme song to "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" in honor of the "It's Always Sunny" party I was throwing May 1st.  Oh college.

1	The Presets	My People
2	Mates of State	Now
3	Lady Sovereign	Pretty Vacant
4	Wye Oak	I Hope You Die
5	You Say Party! We Say Die!	Laura Palmer's Prom
6	The New Pornographers	Crash Years
7	The Like	Waves That Never Break
8	The Replacements	Alex Chilton
9	Social Distortion	I Was Wrong
10	Annuals	Loxtep
11	The Rolling Stones	Ruby Tuesday
12	Dan Deacon	Snookered
13	UMD Math Club	"Topologize"
14	Those Dancing Days	Space Hero Suits
15	The Silent Years	Madame Shocking
16	Class Actress	Adolescent Heart
17	Regina Spektor	No Surprises (Radiohead cover)
18	Little Beirut	Sniper's Lament
19	The Sound of Arrows	M.A.G.I.C.
20	Broken Social Scene	World Sick
21	Ben Folds	Annie Waits
22	Ben Folds Five	Kate
23	Ben Folds	In Between Days (The Cure cover)
24	Weezer	Buddy Holly
25	Weezer	Island In The Sun
26	Weezer	El Scorcho
27	Weezer	(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
28	Violent Femmes	Add It Up
29	Heinz Kiessling	Temptation Sensation

The Beat Frequency - April 23, 2010

This week: the original of "Laura" (last week had the cover)
"Fascination" by La Roux ("old fascination is feeding my frustration" were sweet lyrics)

Best thing ever "Worst Song Medley" by Garfunkel and Oates, ukulele version of the following put together in the best way possible:
1. "I Love You Always Forever" by Donna Lewis
2. "I Don't Want To Wait "by Paula Cole
3. "Too Close" by Next
4. "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer
5. "I Wanna Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd
6. "Barbie Girl" by Aqua
7. "Breakfast At Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something
8. "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" by Michael Jackson
9. "Cotton Eyed Joe" by Rednex
10. "Rush, Rush" by Paula Abdul
11. "I'll Be Missing You" by Diddy
12. "Drops of Jupiter" by Train (last line)

Final Fantasy's cover of "Peach, Plum, Pear" by Joanna Newsom, a suggestion from my friend Carrie.

I played a bunch of songs requested from my friend Greg, including the Bob Dylan, Usher, and Prince songs below.

"Warrior" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs may or may not have been requested by my sister, but I will associate that song with her forever.

Playlist:

1	Local Natives	Wild Eyes
2	Ben Folds Five	Battle of Who Could Care Less
3	Girls	Laura
4	La Roux	Fascination
5	Garfunkel and Oates	Worst Song Medley
6	Coldplay	Shiver
7	Spiderbait	Black Betty
8	Final Fantasy	Peach, Plum, Pear
9	Crystal Castles	Baptism
10	Teddybears	Cobrastyle
11	Reverend and the Makers	Heavyweight Champion of the World
12	Architecture in Helsinki	Maybe You Can Owe Me
13	Bob Dylan	I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met)
14	Usher	My Way
15	Prince	Purple Rain
16	Shiloh	Operator (Girl Like Me)
17	Modest Mouse	Lives
18	Nick Drake	At The Chime Of A City Clock
19	Wild Beasts	Hooting and Howling
20	Yeah Yeah Yeahs	Warrior
21	Depeche Mode	Personal Jesus
22	Joanna Newsom	On A Good Day
23	White Rabbits	While We Go Dancing

The Beat Frequency - April 16, 2010

I'm really bad at updating blogs.  It's kind of thing of mine to have a blog, write all the posts except the last few and just stop.  My new goal is to actually finish this one.

The night before this show I went out to a birthday party for Jenn from Wye Oak at the Golden West Cafe in Baltimore.  It was pretty cool.  Friend of the band Mickey Free performed along with a few other acts for the birthday girl.  The party was pretty fun, there was a giant moose head, beer, a guy with a tattoo of Talking Heads lyrics ("There's a city in my mind" if you were wondering), and decently good times.  I played the Mickey Free remix of "That I Do" by Wye Oak in honor of the event.

Darwin Deez's "Radar Detector" was a solid part of my playlist this time of year.  It's cute and bouncy. 

The Dirty Projectors' "Two Doves" was played with Nico's "These Days" because I had recently found out "Two Doves" contained a few lyrical references to "These Days", a classic Jackson Browne song I've known since I was very little.  (He wrote that song when he was in high school.  Deep stuff.  My mom's a big Jackson Browne fan.  We named our dog after him.)

Mates of State's cover of Girls' "Laura" was a really good one during this time of year too.  I like the cover way better.

Here's the entirety of the playlist.

1	Boston	More Than A Feeling
2	Toto	Africa
3	The National	Start A War
4	Wye Oak	That I Do (Mickey Free Remix)
5	Local Natives	Sun Hands
6	The Clash	Train In Vain
7	Bob Dylan	You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
8	Devo	Girl U Want
9	Wilco	Muzzle of Bees
10	Weezer	El Scorcho
11	Talking Heads	Road to Nowhere
12	Elliott Smith	Memory Lane
13	Magnetic Fields	I'll Dream Alone
14	Owen Pallett	Lewis Takes Action
15	Barenaked Ladies	I'll Be That Girl
16	Surfer Blood	Swim
17	Tokyo Police Club	Breakneck Speed
18	The Wombats	Here Comes The Anxiety
19	The Magic Number	The Pulse
20	Radiohead	No Surprises
21	The Blow	True Affection
22	Darwin Deez	Radar Detector
23	The National	Afraid of Everyone
24	Jens Lekman	If You Ever Need A Stranger
25	Dirty Projectors	Two Doves
26	Nico	These Days
27	Eric Clapton	Got You On My Mind
28	Prince	I Would Die 4 U
29	Mumford & Sons	Cousins (Vampire Weekend cover)
30	Mates of State	Laura (Girls cover)

The Beat Frequency - April 9, 2010

Hello hello! Welcome to my musical musings.

The Blow is awesome, and I think I heard this song "Hey Boy" on my friends and radio neighbors' show Victory Sweater a few month back. Good stuff.

I'm From Barcelona's "Treehouse" is adorable. Nada Surf covering "If You Leave" and You Say Party! We Say Die! covering R.E.M.'s "Nightswimming," which is one of my favorite R.E.M. tunes.

"There Goes My Love" was probably an iPod commercial song and "Bye Bye Bye" was on Chuck. I love television and music. Pavement's "Gold Soundz" was for my sister, who loves that song and is always surprised when I like it too.

Oh snap, Janis Joplin. When I was way little (it came out when I was 6), I used to love the Faith Hill version of this song. Now that I'm older and know the Janis Joplin version, I like it a lot. I didn't actually know that Janis Joplin's version was a cover as well. Thanks Wikipedia.

The next three were all requests from my friend Lilly. My favorite of these tracks was Ha Ha Tonka's "Close Every Valve To Your Bleeding Heart" which is fantastic for times when you are down. It has incredible lyrics too. Here are some of my favorites:

Thick skinned, hard headed, better off
you're closing every valve to your bleeding heart
Does it hurt too much?
Are you just fed up?
Or is it something else entirely?

When I ask you why
you reply the death of hope hit you hard too

Only Dostoevsky could kill off a pair like us.

Holy cow. Just listen to the song.

Kate Nash's "Do Wah Doo" uses the word "bitch" in such an adorable way.

Next a mini science themed set of We Are Scientists, Dandy Warhols, and Guided by Voices.

I had the opportunity to attend the Florence + The Machine concert with The Temper Trap the Tuesday before this show. Florence Welch, the lead singer with Florence + The Machine, drunkenly sang the Etta James song "Something's Got A Hold On Me" to her now manager in a bathroom. I love Etta James, so that was a cool piece of trivia. Then we played "I'm Not Calling You A Liar" a song that appears to be about taking someone for who they are without considering their baggage or their past.

1		The Blow	Hey Boy
2		I'm From Barcelona	Treehouse
3		Nada Surf	If You Leave (OMD cover)
4		You Say Party! We Say Die!	Nightswimming (REM cover)
5		The Blue Van	There Goes My Love
6		Plants and Animals	Bye Bye Bye
7		Pavement	Gold Soundz
8		Think About Life	Sweet Sixteen
9		Janis Joplin	Piece of My Heart
10		Ha Ha Tonka	Close Every Valve of Your Bleeding Heart
11		Neko Case	This Tornado Loves You
12		Lhasa	My Name
13		Kate Nash	Do Wah Doo
14		We Are Scientists	After Hours
15		The Dandy Warhols	Scientist
16		Guided by Voices	I Am A Scientist
17		Etta James	Something's Got A Hold On Me
18		Florence + The Machine	I'm Not Calling You A Liar
19		Matt Pond PA	Ruins
20		Boston	More Than A Feeling
21		Devo	Fresh
22		Joanna Newsom	Easy
23		The Presidents of the United States of America	Video Killed The Radio Star
24		Phantom Planet	Dropped
25		Weezer	My Name Is Jonas
26		The Beatles	The Fool On The Hill

The Beat Frequency - April 2, 2010

Greetings! Welcome back to another installment of me rambling on about the music I like.

I found out that Regina Spektor had done a John Lennon cover and I had to hear it. And of course it was amazing.

We played some Tally Hall who I had seen a week before, and then some new Frightened Rabbit "Skip The Youth", which is very good, and has an intriguing intro. I was seeing Florence + The Machine the next Tuesday and played some "Hurricane Drunk," which I didn't like initially but now really enjoy. Daniel Zott's "Living A Lie" was on Chuck in early March.

Right about this time of early April, I was obsessed with Joanna Newsom's "Good Intentions Paving Company." It's an elegantly and intricately constructed song.

"How I said to you, 'honey, just open your heart', when I've got trouble even opening a honey jar"

That's just a half stanza. The whole song is full of excellence. Lyrics here.

Also Joanna Newsom is dating Andy Samberg of Saturday Night Live fame. So we played some music by The Lonely Island right afterward.

Fun fact: The song I played by Washington is called "Teenage Fury." For some reason, my computer switched the titles of that song and her song "Halloween."

More awesome Fanfarlo. Cyndi Lauper retro jam. Yello's "Oh Yeah" from Ferris Bueller's Day Off and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, better known as "Day Bow Bow". The video is so trippy.

Then some old favorites with "The Frug" and "Karma Police." :)

1	Regina Spektor	Real Love (John Lennon cover)
2	Tally Hall	Taken For A Ride
3	Frightened Rabbit	Skip The Youth
4	Florence + The Machine	Hurricane Drunk
5	Daniel Zott	Living A Lie
6	Joanna Newsom	Good Intentions Paving Company
7	Lonely Island	On A Boat
8	Angus and Julia Stone	Big Jet Plane
9	Washington	Teenage Fury
10	The Antlers	Kettering
11	Fanfarlo	Drowning Men
12	The Shins	Pressed In A Book
13	Cyndi Lauper	She Bop
14	Yello	Oh Yeah
15	Cloud Cult	Chain Reaction
16	Paramore	The Only Exception
17	Rogue Wave	Permalight
18	Muse	Micro Cuts
19	Rilo Kiley	The Frug
20	Radiohead	Karma Police
21	Black Diamond Boy	Brothers In Exile