Video(s) of the Week: 3/5-3/11

Hello all!

It is that day again!

So last week's Video of the Week was The Happy Hollows "Death to Vivek Kemp", and in case you missed that, the post is below this one because this was a lazy busy week. There will also be a VotW Archive page!

This week, I have for you TWO Video(s) of the Week. Now, both videos are for the same song, but are completely different videos and versions of the song. So, this week, we have:

OK Go "This Too Shall Pass"

Now, I am going to assume they really love this song because there are two videos for this song that took a while to make. We'll start with the first one. Embedding is disabled by request on the video so I'll just link it here.

The first version of the video was directed by Brian L. Perkins, who works on kids cartoons for Nick Jr. and has directed a couple other videos for OK Go, and OK Go. It features the Notre Dame Marching Band and is actually an alternate version of the song arranged for the marching band. The presentation of the video is spectacular. The development and growing marching band throughout the three minutes and fifty-three seconds of the video is amazing. It starts with the four members of OK Go in ND Marching Band attire playing the beginning of the song and it sounds very modest. They begin marching and, like any good Navy Seal, previously unseen brass and woodwinds come out of cover, adding more to and building the sound, and more members just keep adding and the sound grows. The big refrain "Let it go, this too shall pass" is then spelled out in black and white by a large number of the band, who then put the signs away and proceed to join the band into a very loud, very amazing final outro to the song. Just, watch it.


OK Go - This Too Shall Pass (Marching Band Version)

The second video is absolutely amazing. OK Go, being who they are, never cease to amaze. If you are not aware of what a Rube Goldberg Machine is (I'm sure you know what it is but may not know that is what it is called) then head over to Wikipedia and read up (I conveniently linked it for you above where it says Rube Goldberg Machine, also just then)... Now that your "aaaahhh, yeeeeessss" moment is done with, the collaborative powers of OK Go, director James Frost, who has directed many great videos like Silversun Pickups "Panic Switch" and Radiohead's "House of Cards" just to name a couple, and Synn Labs, people who have what must some of the coolest jobs ever, regardless of this being their job or not, bring you the Rube Goldberg Machine version of this video. Now, it's not just music playing while you're watching a RGM, and an amazingly spectacular one at that, but the machine had to go throughout the entire three and a half minutes of the song, not mess up or stop for any reasons, parts of the machine had to match rhythms in the song and there's a portion where part of the machine actually PLAYS part of the song. It took several months to make and a little under four minutes for the machine to go through its cycle. Enjoy this amazing video.



Check back next week for another Video of the Week!

Thanks!

Video of the Week: 2/26-3/4

Starting today, I am bringing back Video of the Week. It used to be Live Video of the Week, but I figure I'd just make it more broad and give a little background on each of Video of the Week.

This week's video of the week is the music video for The Happy Hollows "Death to Vivek Kemp" off of their debut full-length, Spells. I have written a few articles on here about The Happy Hollows and I love these people, their band and their music. This music video was created and directed by Ben Hoste and is an amazing video. First, watch:



Now, the amazing thing about this video is that it was not made using Adobe Flash or Illustrator or anything of that sort, but is literally 2,200 (that's TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED) sheets of paper that have the video drawn on them, as you can see here.



That's animation the old-fashioned way. Amazing job, Mr. Hoste.

Check back next week for a new Video of the Week!!!

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

As many may, or may not, know, the amazing Broken Social Scene are releasing a new record on May 4th entitled Forgiveness Rock Record.

Yep, that's it. It will be released on May 4th, 2010, but Broken Social Scene have released "World Sick" off of the album as a FREE DOWNLOAD on their website!!!

It's a great song!

Download it NOW!
(It will ask for your e-mail, then send you a link to the download.)

02/20/10

Thanks to all who tuned in to the show this past Saturday, in which my good friend Marcus put together a little over the first hour of music, YAY a la Kermit the Frog.
PLAYLIST!

1. Sonic Youth - No Way
2. Mogwai - Batcat
3. The Murder City Devils - Idle Hands
4. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Asco Que Conmueve Los Puntos Erogenos
5. Pixies - Isla De Encanta
6. Public Image Ltd. - Fishing
7. Nick Drake - Parasite
8. The Stooges - Shake Appeal
9. Rollins Band - Going out Strange
10. Muse - Micro Cuts
11. Sunny Day Real Estate - In Circles
12. Gorillaz - O Green World
13. Zechs Marquise - Chase Scene
14. Prodigy - Serial Thrilla
15. PJ Harvey - Down By the Water
16. mewithoutYou - We Know Who Our Enemies Are
17. Spiritualized - The Waves Crash In
18. Islands - Volcanoes
19. The Velvet Underground - Who Loves the Sun
20. Flight of the Conchords - Carol Brown
21. M. Ward - Epistemology
22. Modest Mouse - Beach Side Property
23. Tiny Tim - Living in the Sunlight, Loving in the Moonlight
24. Vampire Weekend - California English
25. Bran Van 3000 - Feline Fantasy
26. Serge Gainsbourg - Avant de Mourir
27. The Flaming Lips - Sunship Balloons
    

02/13/10

DAYTROTTER SHOW PART DEUX!

1. Little Joy - No One's Better Sake
2. Vampire Weekend - M79
3. Anya Marina - Move You (SSSPII)
4. Ra Ra Riot - Dying is Fine
5. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Cold Spring
6. Grizzly Bear - Little Brother
7. Death Cab for Cutie - Styrofoam Plates
8. Cursive - Donkeys
9. Japandroids - Rockers East Vancouver
10. Earlimart - For the Birds
11. Architecture in Helsinki - Debbie
12. Tokyo Police Club - La Ferrassie
13. The Local Natives - World News
14. Voxhaul Broadcast - Mouth Full of Dry Sand
15. Velvet Teen - 333
16. Grand Ole Party - Next Day Nightmare
17. Daniel Johnston - Fake Records of Rock and Roll
18. Department of Eagles - Phantom Other
19. Okkervil River - You Can't Hold the Hand of a Rock and Roll Man
20. Avi Buffalo - What's In It For?
21. Dear and the Headlights - I'm Not Crying You're Not Crying...
22. The Swell Season - Fantasy Man
23. Minus the Bear - Knights
24. Margot & The Nuclear So and So's - Broadripple is Burning
25. Zee Avi - Honey Bee
26. Thee Oh Sees - Ruby Go Home
27. My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realize (not daytrotter)
    

02/06/10

This is the playlist for the February 6th, 2010 episode of Aural Life. This episode was made up of entirely http://daytrotter.com sessions!
(The show was cut off early due to some technical issues)

1. Har Mar Superstar - Sunshine
2. Deerhunter - Dr. Glass
3. Beach House - Zebra
4. Telekinesis - All of a Sudden
5. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Optimist Vs. The Silent Alarm (When the Saints Go Marching In)
6. Tokyo Police Club - Be Good
7. Sondre Lerche - Say It All
8. Zee Avi - Bitter Heart
9. Of Montreal - Requiem for OMM 2
10. Fucked Up - Crooked Head
11. Avi Buffalo - Remember Last Time
12. Two Gallants - The Hand That Held Me Down
13. Daniel Johnston - Speeding Motorcycle
14. Tim Fite - Line By Line
15. Rain Machine - Hold You Holy
16. We Barbarians - No One's Better Sake
    

01/23/10

This is the playlist for the January 23rd, 2010 episode of Aural Life.

PLAYLIST!

1. Cursive - Opening the Hymnal/Babies
2. Vampire Weekend - White Sky
3. Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains - Love is Not a Contest
4. Azure Ray - Dragonfly
5. The Crimea - Lottery Winners on Acid
6. Albert Hammond, Jr. - In My Room
7. Portugal. the Man - Elephants
8. She & Him - This is Not a Test
9. Beach House - Holy Dances
10. Death Cab for Cutie - I Was a Kaleidoscope
11. Dusty Rhodes and the River Band - Magic Words
12. Good Old War - Just Another Day
13. Sondre Lerche - Dead Passengers
14. Massive Attack - Dissolved Girl
15. Idiot Pilot - The Day in the Life of a Poolshark
16. The Strokes - Hawaii
17. Beep Beep - Seppuku
18. Torches in Trees - Carnivora (Live on isgoodradio.com)
19. Flight of the Conchords - The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)
20. Francis and the Lights - Strawberries
21. The Chemical Brothers - Burst Generator
22. Hot Chip - No Fit State
23. Phoenix - Too Young
24. The Swell Season - High Horses
25. The Kinison - American Collectibles
26. Russian Circles - Enter
27. The Flaming Lips - Are You a Hypnotist?
    

Coachella 2010

We waited forever and it is finally here! The line-up for Coachella 2010.

Enjoy it, folks.

01/16/10

January 16th, 2010 PLAYLIST!

1. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
2. The Beach Boys - I Just Wasn't Made for These Times
3. Arctic Monkeys - From the Ritz to the Rubble
4. Bright Eyes - Touch
5. Japandroids - Crazy/Forever
6. The Buzzcocks - Why Can't I Touch It?
7. Campfire Songs - Doggy
8. Cat Power - The Moon
9. Cold War Kids - Every Valley is Not a Lake
10. The Happy Hollows - High Wire
11. Earlimart - Gonna Break Into Your Heart
12. Eulogies - Little Davie
13. Lightspeed Champion - Waiting Game
14. Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts
15. Davenport Cabinet - Thieves
16. Torches in Trees - An Empty Face
17. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Wild Phoenix (Proper Name)
18. Magen Melancholy - Happy Hop
19. Kinky - Maria Jose
20. Gang Gang Dance - Dust
21. Portishead - Humming
22. Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea
    

Featured Release Friday

Hello all.

I am returning something I did maybe once last year. Featured Release Friday!!! Every Friday, I will be doing a Featured Release article about an album that was released the Tuesday preceding that Friday. Sometimes I may even do two albums, but of course, it depends on the releases and what I can get my hands on that Tuesday.

Now, just to clarify, I am not going to be scoring these albums with any kind of rubric, bracket, scoring scheme or otherwise and these are not necessarily going to be album reviews. Now, I will give my own personal opinion of the album, but that does not in anyway represent a general review of the album, nor does it in anyway represent a review of the album by Aural Life. It will be my [Erick] personal opinion of the album and nothing more.

I believe that musical tastes and opinions on the quality of music is subjective. There are bands/artists that people like and others don't, so I'm not big on actual "Album Reviews." Also, I've listened to albums that got bad reviews and I loved them, so there we go.

Anyway, that being said, I am going to start this up again this Friday with Vampire Weekend's sophomore release Contra, which was released yesterday.

If you'd like to know more, check back on Friday and check out the return of Featured Release Fridays !

Also, I may occasionally to a Retro Feature or Retro Featured Release for an album that was released on a day that week or just something that I personally feel deserves some recognition.
Now, I use the term "retro" loosely. It could refer to something released a year ago, three years ago, or thirty years ago. So be on the lookout for updates and thanks to all who check out Aural Life.

Also, don't forget to tune in to Aural Life [Radio] on http://radio23.org every Saturday evening from 4pm-6pm PST.

Thanks everyone.
Peace&Love
Erick

NBC's Late Night Controversy: I'm With Coco

As many of you may know, the past couple of weeks have been filled with talks and rumors of the fate of NBC's late night line-up. Seems like the only solution would be to put Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien "in a pit with sharpened sticks and the one who crawls out alive gets to leave NBC" as Conan joked the other night. So far, NBC already has already said they will cancel Jay's one-hour "The Jay Leno Show" at 10:00 in favor of a half-hour version of the show to air at 11:30 and push "The Tonight Show" back to 12:05. Conan has released public statement that does not disguise how upset he is about the situation, as you can tell by the statement itself.

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky. That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn't matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

Now many people would think "he's not gonna lose the show, it'll just be later", but our favorite red-headed, pomp-sporting late night personality feels that 'The Tonight Show' at 12:05 just isn't 'The Tonight Show'. If NBC goes through with the change, which they plan on doing at the start of the Winter Olympics on February 12th, then Mr. O'Brien said he would be leaving NBC. Now, while Jay's supporters may feel like Conan should just suck it up and do the show a half-hour later (this is only how I imagine people who dislike Conan feel; not to mention they also hate kittens and America), Conan is nowhere near out of the line with how he feels and what he said. We cannot forget that not only Conan, but his "Late Night" crew up and moved to California to do the 'Tonight Show'. Have you ever moved? It's not easy moving to a different city let alone another state on the opposite side of the country. Conan has done absolutely wonderful with 'The Tonight Show' and it would be insane of NBC to let Conan go like that. I can honestly say that if they do let Conan go, I will never watch NBC again (Scrubs is on ABC now, so I wouldn't be missing much) and I wouldn't be surprised if many people took the same route. Okay, perhaps that is a bit drastic (I like the Winter Olympics; bobsledding and those dudes who sweep the ice, curling...I know), but I won't watch Leno. His time on the 'The Tonight Show' is up, has been for a few months now. If Fallon stands his ground, I'll stick with him.

This pic has been floating around lately and puts it simply. In layman's terms, whatever goes down, "I'm With Coco"

01/02/10

Happy 2010 (that's twenty-ten) to everyone! Thanks to all who listened to my first broadcast of the year and decade! Keep on listening to Aural Life and all the fine programming on http://radio23.org. Here is the playlist for today's show.

1. Death Cab for Cutie - The New Year (Live) (Daytrotter Session - 4/28/2008)
2. The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
3. TV on the Radio - The Wrong Way
4. Sia - Little Black Sandals
5. Silversun Pickups - Comeback Kid
6. Radiohead - Dollars & Cents
7. The Church - Reptile
8. Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Diablo Rojo
9. PJ Harvey - Long Snake Moan
10. Bjork - Pagan Poetry
11. The Beatles - Helter Skelter
12. The Murder City Devils - Get Off the Floor
13. The Mae Shi - Lamb and Lion
14. RX Bandits - ...And the Battle Begun
15. The Dismemberment Plan - Spider in the Snow
16. Nirvana - Do Re Mi
17. Nina Simone - Sinnerman
18. Earth Wind & Fire - September
19. Islands - Kids Don't Know Shit
20. Good Old War - Weak Man
21. Vampire Weekend - Horchata
22. Minus the Bear - Hey! Is That a Ninja Up There?

Thanks again everyone. I will not be broadcasting next Saturday for I will be seeing Sonic Youth at The Wiltern, but see you guys on the 16th. Thanks!

peace&love
Erick