foreign audiophiles

This Charming Post

2007-07-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

it's A to B comparison time: This Charming Man

The Smiths - This Charming Man

or is it this one?

Death Cab for Cutie - This Charming Man

or this...woman?

Stars - This Charming Man

this song seems to be (and people are going to kill me for saying this) the "Freebird" for popular indie bands. If you've had moderate success and it's your 2+ record, cover this song first thing tomorrow. you can thank me by letting me record it.

50's appeal

2007-06-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

we all know emo is on the way out. come on, stop lying to yourself. when you've got giant skulls silk screened on black "distressed" shirts at K-Mart, there isn't anything but to call it but over. "So Troy, Where do I put all of my teen angst? I need some way to rebel against my parents!" One word. Rockabilly. I'm serious. Rockabilly is going to make a huge comeback. It's already being bread within the emo culture and soon it'll jump out and bring down the house. jump on the bandwagon or get left behind. To get you started, here's some swingin' 50's-esque hits sure to rock your socks.

Rilo Kiley - The Frug

The All-Nighters - N2O

Britt Daniels - Bring It On Home To Me

you can do it too!

2007-06-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

(basically what a typical day writing FA looks like)

ever think "wow, Troy never updates. He should do that more" or "man, troy doesn't know how to spell or use correct puncuation;" or even "Troy doesn't know shit about music. what is he, deaf?" well, I've got the solution. write for FA! you can have all the acclaim that comes with a blog that 200 people read and all that stuff. plus, you'll totally meet women/men/get a raise/sleep with that one person in that one band/beome more attractive/get free booze/ learn a second language/the list goes on and on.

so, send me a message at zerrbert@gmail.com and we'll get you hooked up

Bonus of the day

32 INCH KICK DRUM. DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW HUGE THAT IS???? DO YOU?????

Majesty Rockbird

2007-06-14T00:51:00.000-07:00

Most of think "quiet, inspirational folk that's occasionally nice to makeout to" (or a village people cover band memeber, according to this pic) when we think of sufjan stevens. I'm sorry, but those days are gone. gone...until he releases another single. for this latest release, he's scraped the string section for squeeling guitars that are more jack white than bob dylan; this is serious people.

Sufjan StevensIn the Words of the Governor

Possibly off of the recently announced California album?

Bonus part Einse)

Bonus part the twoce)

bring it all back to pop

2007-06-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

no huge sexual innuendos, no religion views, no cursing, no love lost, no working class blues, no angst, no sense of style, no drug refrences, no political message, no rude solos, no bigger picture, no death, no self deprication, no rock gods, no anti-establishment. back when you really didn't have a clue what cool was instead of knowing what it was and being intentional about not being like that.

there's a reason it's called pop music. it's ear bubble gum.

(my uploader has hit the fan, but when it's back up, the tracks will be...)

Fergus Brown - Nerds in Love

The Decemberists - Apology Song

and an undecided one

it's coming for you!

2007-06-08T06:31:00.000-07:00

I promise this weekend to bust out some more blogs. I'm thinking in excess of 2. wait for it... wait for it...

Easy Breezy

2007-05-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

It hit 85 here in seattle today, and I'm going to say it's safe to call it summer. In honor, here's some good stuff to cool down to.

Ben Folds - Rockin the Suburbs sure, MJ isn't rocking so much, but this is that time sophmore year when you skipped school, broke into your neighbor's house, drank all his beer and swam in his pool for two days straight...in song form.

Jack's Mannequin - Holiday from Real This always reminds me of this one girl...

Skeelo - I Wish white guys can really relate to this song.

The Ataris - San Dimas High School Rules if you don't still think the ataris are the one of the best pop punk bands ever, you've never heard of them.

Death Cab for Cutie - This Charming Man Death Cab + Smiths = feel good hit of the summer (and no, not the Queens of the Stoneage song)

Nada Surf - Blankest Year how summer is it to stop everything and have a party to get over an ex? I bet if you did all your friends would make you forget about her and you'd end up making out with that cute girl in the american apparel swimsuit who dragged you into the kiddy pool on the roof.

Live Gib @ Box down street

2007-05-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

As I'm writing this Taylor of 65 Hearts fame is listening to Ben Gibbard over at the Showbox. I was a little bitter until she call and pulled a say anything with her cell and shared the joy. thanks Taylor, I owe you big time.

For the rest of you who couldn't make it, here's some live gems from the Gib man.

405 (Live at the Knitting Factory)

Song For Kelly Huckaby (Live at the Underground Coffeehouse, WWU) Just one of the many reasons Bellingham has a huge edge on most cities.

Complicated (as in Avril) "No, Shut up. This is serious. ....I don't know if that was a good idea or a bad idea to play that."

That's all that I've got for tonight. Next time Ben Gibbard rolls around, I'll make sure we end up doing shots off dancers at the lusty lady after the show. (if that really happens I don't know if it would be a good thing or a bad thing)

Check 1 Check 2 Yes Yes

2007-05-21T17:52:00.001-07:00

Testing the new mp3 uploader so you can download directly from the page. for sticking around here's a rare Brand New cover of Built to Spill's Car

Brand New - Car (Acoustic)

A to B comparison

2007-05-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

it's funny how trends come in waves, and how those waves emulate each other. whenever I hear a quality lo-fi cover, it's always of a quality lo-fi band a wave or two back.

Example A: The Magnetic Fields- Why I Cry.mp3 . MF released this one in 95, right at the peak of the 90's indie lo-fi wave. It was a quant song about one of the cutest sad breakups I've heard of. the plunky guitars, the drum machine high hat and the $5 synth vibrato could have been the soundtrack to a breakfast club sequal where molly ringwald and judd nelson end up breaking up at the end of summer. Then summer of 02 hits, and Ben Gibbard decides to kick digital music production in it's binary rear and record an album to walkman cassette and call it All Time Quarterback Why I Cry.mp3. Gibbard took Stephin Merritt's lo-fi gem and took the production a notch by moving it from the bedroom to the bathroom and setting up a toy xylophone. Both ended up as gems, so take both and run with them.

I think A to B is going to be a weekly posting.