Welcome to this week’s special hip hop edition of Go Eat Listen See. Hot weather makes me want a hot beat, so i’ve been listening to music appropriate to 70 and 80 degree weather…and in anticipation of 90 degree weather in Florida! Leaving tonight! Can’t wait!
Have you heard the new Beastie Boys album yet? It is mothaflippin’ phenomenal. It’s called Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 and it’s classic Beastie Boys hip hop. If you are a fan of the Boys, you shouldn’t be disappointed. When i first heard “Make Some Noise” I thought i was hearing some forgotten track from Paul’s Boutique.
I absolutely have to post the video for that song – check out the multiple cameos!

Sorry I’ve been so quiet recently, to those who check this blog. Work’s been beyond busy, plus i’m making preparations for our vacation which starts next week to Florida. We’re finally going to visit my aunt and uncle, who we’ve been promising to visit since we first got back from Ukraine. It’s going to be great to get away and spend time with some awesome people. So, for the next few days I’ll just be daydreaming of the beach and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – I’ll let you know how butterbeer tastes when i get back.

Andriy and I went to the Arcade Fire/National concert a few weeks ago in St. Louis. I should have written about it right after the show, while it was fresh in my mind. We drove to the show: Mandi ecstatic, Andriy slightly apathetic. I’m really the Arcade Fire fan of the two of us. Andriy was just coming along to keep me company. He knew a couple of their songs and kind of liked them, but he’s not the big concert goer like i am (or used to be, anyway.)
The National played first. Our seats (weird not being on the floor in front of the stage, trying to squeeze my way to the front btw) were about 100 meters from the stage and slightly to the left (stage left). Okay, this is going to make me sound old: I wished I was down on the floor, dancing my heart out and closer to the band, but it was kind of nice to be able to sit down for a second. There: I said it.
But really, the sound was great for this being in an arena. Scott Trade Center isn’t too huge though and the acoustics weren’t bad. The National was very good. If you’ve heard them, you know the singer has a very deep voice, a beautifully mournful sounding baritone. Play me just about any of their music, and i imagine myself driving through the lonely desert at sundown.
Anyway, he drank red wine through their whole set, and in the end, he took a stroll out into the crowd and up into the seats, singing the whole time, with members of the crowd holding his microphone cord up high and off the floor the whole time, so it wouldn’t get caught. Kind of cool. I’m wondering if he just needed to use the bathroom after all the wine and took the long way to get there, through the crowd.
Arcade Fire came on after a short break and they had an amaaaaaazing set, just as i expected. Even at the distance we were from the stage, we had plenty to see. They had what looked like an old fashioned marquee, hanging above the stage, with two screens that met in the center at an angle. Also, there was a small screen above and behind the band as well. Througout their set, they played interesting footage of old looking footage from some suburbs (The Suburbs is the name of the latest album) and other totally random and strange stuff like creepy synchronized swimmers, and footage of people driving from the 50’s and circus performers.
As i expected, the band switched instruments throughout the show. What a talented group of people. I heard lots of songs from Funeral, which was the album I fell in love with back in 2005, a few from Neon Bible and a lot from the Suburbs. I can never help but dance along with Regine. My calves were sore the next day from bouncing around. Andriy joined in…he totally enjoyed himself and i think has the same appreciation for the band after i saw them for the first time.
Thankfully, we were both extremely glad we went and i’ll be looking for them to come around again, so i can get smooshed in the crowd in front of the stage and dance my heart out.
Here’s a little National to take you home, through the lonely desert. Watch out for armadillos.

Have you ever made someone a mixed tape? And when i say mixed tape, i mean a music compilation. Because, obviously, no one makes “tapes” anymore. It could be on a cd now. I don’t think i accept an mp3 playlist as a mixed tape. It’s not permanent enough.
 I used to spend, literally, hours on a mixed tape. Each song had to blend perfectly into the next. I couldn’t put a heavy song next to a light song, there had to be a gradual progression through the whole thing. And if there was kind of a theme to it, even better.
Probably one of my favorite creations was for my best friend, Emma, and I even made a cover and a case to it. The cover was a collage of various pictures of stuff we thought was funny. And we thought everything was funny. Comp-elation, volume one. I may have actually made a few copies of that cd. I don’t think I ever made volume two. If there is still a copy of that somewhere, i would love to hear it. I’d like to think that i still love every single song on it.
Actually, today I am making Emma a new mixed tape. Tonight is her birthday party (come as your 7th grade self is the theme, i’ll post pictures) and that will be part of her gift. Honestly, i don’t even care if she hates every song on it (although i know she won’t), i just LOVE making it.
If anyone wants me to make them a mixed tape, i would be honored. You just give me a holla.
Now i’m off to the grocery store and to Mom and Dad’s to dig through my old clothes for my costume tonight. It’s going to be amaaazing.

I have an annoying personality trait. Actually, I have many. And one of them is that I am a music snob. I don’t mean to be. It’s just part of who I am. You might say I have discerning taste. You might say I’m pretentious. I think I just know what music I do and don’t like. I’m actually a lot better about it than i used to be. I used to never listen to any band that was played on popular radio. Especially during the boy band/Britney Spears years. But I don’t think you can blame me there. Now, I at least have an open mind about what I hear on FM radio and I even like some of it! Maybe that’s more of a testament to FM radio than it is to me. It must be getting better, I dunno.
But at the root of all the music snobbiness, is my desire to discover and love them first. I have been teased for saying this before, “I listened to them before they were famous.” It’s really a pretty annoying thing to say out loud. It’s at least equally as irritating as hearing, “I told you so.” But truthfully, it is very gratifying to discover something new on your own. And kind of bittersweet when everyone else discovers them too – you’re happy for the band’s success and of course, that feels like some sort of validation for your own taste, but then you know you won’t be able to see them play in those small venues again (unless you’re really lucky) and you’ll probably hear their music overplayed on the radio or on some commercial on TV.
Of course, with the technology surrounding us today and with the way that many people, at least of my generation and younger, listen to music, it truly isn’t very difficult to discover new music anymore. Pandora, iTunes – these music sources “suggest” new artists for you to check out based on what you’re already listening to. It’s makes the search for good stuff a lot easier.
Here’s a good example of one of those bands that I obsessed over and now they’re just on that verge of everyone knowing their name: I was watching TV a couple of days ago and a commercial came on for the Windows phone and I heard a song playing in the background by Sleigh Bells, who I first heard last year. Once you hear them on a commercial, you know everyone will know who they are soon.

I can tell there’s a storm coming today, or at least there’s the chance of one, because I slept like crap last night. I don’t know if it’s the change in pressure or what, but I wake up a lot if there’s strong weather on the way. Now, if it’s already raining, forget about it. I’ll sleep like a rock.
And I had a craaazy dream. About weather. My family was vacationing in a little house in the mountains in Colorado and there was a big storm with a tornado watch. The storm was headed our way so we decide to leave this crappy little house we’re staying in after deciding it was unsafe so we hop in our AIRPLANE (which is much safer?) We’re driving/flying through the town we’re in and everyone’s outside just doing normal things because no one in the mountains apparently knows what to do during a tornado watch. Again, we’re in an airplane. So we stop and for some reason we’re at Uncle Bill and Aunt Sherrie’s new house in the mountains, which is huge, and therefore a safer place to take refuge during the storm. For some reason they have 8 white cats, but one of them has blue legs, so it looks like he’s wearing jeans. Pretty sure Sherrie would never let 8 cats live in her house.
So we’re in there and the house is kind of confusing so I lost the rest of my family and then i ran into this old guy at the bar in the basement who decides to show me all of these pictures from when he was a young musician. I’m trying to get away from him because I want to find my family and see what’s going on with the storm, but he just keeps talking, then my sisters show up. Then I must have woken up because i don’t remember what happens next.
There: interpret that. The only thing that makes sense to me is the old guy with the pictures because that happens to us ALL THE TIME at work. I don’t know about the rest.
Hey, someone who lives in Jacksonville just left town for a big tour. His name is William Fitzsimmons. You should definitely check him out if he’s going to be near you. The man’s got a beautiful voice and he’s uber talented. Plus, he’s a super nice guy. Check him out at http://www.williamfitzsimmons.com/.
A band called Slow Runner from South Carolina is touring with him. I helped them ship a bunch of stuff yesterday. They also seem like nice guys with great facial hair. I listened to a couple of their songs of yesterday after helping Michael (who sings for the band, i just learned that from their website http://www.slowrunnermusic.com/) and they are definitely a band I will listen to from now on. Looking at their discography, I realize now that i should have opened one of the boxes that i shipped that said “Shiv” or “Mermaids” and nabbed a cd. Just kidding, i would never do that. Honestly.
Anyway, they will be playing in St. Louis in May, and otherwise at a venue near you, so go see Billy Fitz and Slow Runner.

So, it’s early Sunday morning (the coffee is still brewing) and i’m already on here checking out tour dates for Arcade Fire, which is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I caught them at Lollapalooza in 2005, before i even knew much about who they were and I was an instant fan. They had like, 20 people on stage. Okay, in reality there were about 7 people, but it seemed like more because they were all jumping around the stage and playing multiple instruments. One guy was actually wearing a helmet and just playing this tom drum, as well as playing the helmet on his head. And there’s a guy in the band that looks like Napoleon Dynamite. I’m just sayin.
 Then, last year they released an amazing album, The Suburbs, and as you probably heard, just won the “Album of the Year” Grammy. Not bad for a bunch of loud Canadians, eh? Soooo, they’re playing in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center on Thursday, April 21. I think i would seriously regret not going to that show. Anyone else interested? Check out this link to whet your appetite. Trust me, it will be AMAZING.

Here are two other awesome songs by two completely different artists to make you happy: Foster the People and Lykke Li. Me likey!

Ooh, coffee’s ready. Andrusha, time to get up, kava hotova! 🙂