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Neil Young - Living With War
In case you've missed the big broohaha lately, Neil Young isn't too happy with what's going down. So he made a record about it. And it's good. Unbelievably good. Both as a protest record, and as a Neil Young record. In Young's words, it's "a metal version of Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan ... metal folk protest?" If you are looking for the Neil Young protest song to compare it to, it's much much closer to Ohio than Greendale.
The whole thing was recorded in like 12 hours with a 3 piece band (plus a hundred person choir). Then he took it down to his record company, and they decided to release it super quick like. You can stream the whole thing here. They have a good blog about making the record here. They have a side-splittingly hilarious video here wherein some Entertainment Tonight-style reporter asks, "You have a song called 'Let's impeach the President. What's that song about?" You can't make funny like that up. Anway, I'm obviously jazzed on this record.
Technorati Tags: music mp3 neil young living with war protest politicsBeirut
This is by far the greatest song I've heard this week. Coming off like a Magnetic Fields/Arcade Fire love child, Beirut is going to be huge this summer. Here is a list of some of the instruments used: Horns, violins, cellos, ukuleles, mandolins, glockenspiels, drums, tambourines, congas, organs, pianos, clarinets and accordions. Really, you can never go wrong with ukuleles. Ever. I recommend you pre-order Gulag Orkestar now, so you aren't the only uncool kid at school when this comes out.
MP3 Beirut - Postcards from Italy
Technorati Tags: music mp3 beirutNeko Case is even cooler than I imagined
I always get in trouble with the ol' ball and chain when I talk about Neko Case because I can't help getting all giddy like a schoolgirl. But really, you need to read Pitchfork's interview with Neko. Sometimes the beauty of her songs make me forget about how dark and scary they can be. Like Star Witness, which is a song about an ugly murder:
"It was one of those things where there's gang violence and somebody gets shot right in front of you, and you live it and it's horrible. And, of course, it doesn't make the news because the kid is black. Nobody gives a shit except for his family, and you see how much nobody gives a shit and it's fucking heartbreaking. He wasn't even the kid they were looking to shoot. He was just some kid who they mistook for somebody else and they shot him. I saw it happen. I didn't make the song about me either. The song is pieces of different people but the event is in there."
The interview also has lots of not so grizzly bits about David Cross, Celine Dion, and her future with the New Pornographers.
Technorati Tags: music mp3 pitchfork neko caseSome refreshing thinking about Boot Camp
Maybe I'm a little spoiled by using the best desktop management system possible, but today's big hoopla about Boot Camp seems a little misplaced. Sure, it's nice to be able to run Windows on your fancy Intel-based Mac, but how can Apple's official solution be nearly identical to the quick hack cobbled together by two amateur programmers? Maybe in the next version of OS X there will be WINE-style functionality, but for now Boot Camp scores a solid "eh" from me. Check out Khoi Vinh's much more elegant analysis. The photo for this post (an unreleased Apple Jonathan) came from Khoi's post.
Also, I would just die with laughter if tomorrow Microsoft did the exact same thing for Windows boxes. If Apple's stock rose $6 today on the news that it can load Windows, how far would it drop if any Windows box could run OS X?
Technorati Tags: Apple boot camp windows intel macHello I am not dead yet.
Where have I been the last few weeks? I have no idea. Did you know that Islands'sss new record came out yesterday? Me neither. This is very exciting. Here's a video for Rough Gem, complete with Space Shuttles and kids in dog costumes. And Islands. You really can not go wrong with that combo.
Technorati Tags: islands music video