Technical Difficulties

Sorry loyal listeners: Due to unforeseen and rage-inducing technical difficulties, I was unable to record tonight's show for podcasting. I'm probably the only one who's upset, but thanks to all who were planning to download it or to all who downloaded last week. It feels good to see so many downloads on zshare. Thanks again!

-TMC

Same Old Drag? Not at TMC.

Robert Schneider has a weird voice, but TMC isn't complaining. Check out The Apples In Stereo's "Same Old Drag," which we'll be playing tonight on our show 8-10PM EST tonight on Georgetown Radio! We'll be posting a podcast of the show later on, but tune in if you can to hear some bangin' beats and banter (please excuse the alliteration). Later pals.

WGTB Stream

... is back up on the website now too, as the university belatedly ponied up for georgetownradio.com expenses.

Noah & the Whale in Saturn Commercial

Noah and the Whale's "Five Years Time" appears in a Saturn car commercial. I guess they've made it?



"I didn't sell out, son. I bought in." - SLC Punk

TMC's First Podcast

Friends and lovers,

TMC has successfully recorded its first podcast, the first show of the summer! This is a good thing, since WGTB informed us that the Center for Student Programs forgot to pay our bills and the stream was largely unavailable for live listening...

Topics of talk include boobs vs. breasts, Norwegians, obesity, and more! And of course, there's good music to be heard.

It can be downloaded in two parts (due to upload limits) below.

TMC #1, Part 1
TMC #1, Part 2

We sincerely thank you for downloading and hope you enjoy it. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of amateur podcasting (kind of), but please excuse any technical errors and excessive laughing into the microphone. Apologies.

NOTE: The image is misleading as we don't actually have an RSS feed, but give us (Jess) time... someday.

Guilty Pleasure: Lollipop

Every once in a while, TMC is gripped by the power of club hits i.e. "Umbrella," "The Way I Are," and "Call On Me." Now... it is "Lollipop."



I actually first heard of this song by watching this Jason Mraz-ish bro do his cover. I say "bro" because look at him. He's straight out of the "Bro Rape" video.

Gender Mashup Mix

In honor of my bright-shiny-newly gained fact that Minneapolis/St. Paul has the largest transsexual community in the country, a mix of gender b(l)ending songs:



EXHIBIT A: Lola by the Kinks. Buy Lola vs. the Powerman & the Money-Go-Round, Pt. 1 here.
EXHIBIT B:Halah by Mazzy Star. Buy She Hangs Brightly here.
EXHIBIT C:Your Woman by White Town. Buy Women in Technology (what a great album name) here.

The last two songs of this are also good argument for the awesome that was the last decade of the last century.

Disclaimer: this post is probably offensive in some way to someone or, in fact, many ways to many people. My excuses.

Pump It

Pump it !! from Capucha on Vimeo.
This is the ballingest dance video ever.

Converse Promo

Head over to the Converse website to download the free track "Drive-Thru," a collab of Julian Casablancas (The Strokes), Santogold, and N.E.R.D. It's just alright and had the potential to be better. The beginning reminds me of Prince's "Kiss" and there's this little flittering sound that makes me hallucinate my cell phone is ringing every time. As opposed to the Josh Ritter/Hilary Hahn collaboration, this is an example of where mixing musicians from different genres doesn't always end with the best results. Not terrible, but not amazing either. Why am I posting it then? Because I don't want to study for my last exam.

Josh Ritter with a Classical Twist

I just heard about violinist Hilary Hahn's collaboration with folk musician Josh Ritter while listening to NPR's Bryant Park Project podcast. According to BPP, Ritter and Hahn have been playing joint bills to audiences of half classical fans and half folk fans. Hahn improvises over Ritter's songs and Ritter plays with Hahn on Paganini's Cantabile.

The moral of the story? Classical musicians can school the humble singer-songwriters any day. But wait. We already knew that. The real moral of the story is that the rap mash-up is not the only way to combine two dissimilar genres. "Girl in the War," featuring Hahn's improvisation, is a really nice addition to Ritter's simple strumming and melody. Check it out below, along with Paganini's Cantabile. Volume on the videos is inexplicably low, so as Rage Against the Machine said... "TURN THAT SHIT UP!"

"Girl in the War"


Paganini's Catabile

So You "Love" Me

I've been getting a lot into The Magnetic Fields' i album and this is one of my favorite songs from it. This version is possibly even better thanks to the amped up synth. I must confess, I'm not a big fan of their latest album Distortion; it's too loud for me and lacks the simplicity of the older albums. Still, The Magnetic Fields have released enough material to make me a happy camper for a long time, so there's no use complaining. Here's "I Don't Believe You." Quirky and fun, as always. You better bet I'm posting "Washington, DC" in a few days because, in fact, it is paradise to me.

Whitney Nostalgia No Longer the Only Option

Not that it isn't a good option.

Possibly this is only a move of reassurance, since its been official word for more than a year, but Whitney Houston is back in the studio, and based partly on how much better she's been looking lately (see right), and partly on how amazing "Its Not Right But Its Okay" is, I'm really hoping something will come of it. I couldn't find an embeddable version but clicking through is well worth it - Whitney's mouth is totally mesmerizing.

In related news, Whitney Houston's song titles are so long. Like, always.

Bonus! Download: Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby by Islands here.
Buy Return to the Sea here.

@#%&*! Aimee Mann

Ok, so I might not score "cool" points with the indie kids and hipsters for liking Aimee Mann, but I can't deny it... I do.

She released her latest album @#%&*! Smilers this past Tuesday and though I haven't gotten a chance to pick it up, I've listened to a few songs and my conclusion is exactly that which I had after seeing her at the Birchmere last summer: Aimee Mann is an amazing songwriter. Her ability to produce such quality for almost twenty years is a rarity in music today.

As I listen to her more, I realize that her voice is something to get used to but I don't quite understand the influx of comments about Aimee Mann being overrated. NY Johnny left the following on a CNN story: "It's exceedingly rare that someone so far out on the fringe of mainstream is overrated... but Aimee Mann pulls it off." Well, NY Johnny, let's agree to disagree.

"Freeway" is typical Aimee Mann and the first track of @#%&*! Smilers. It's driven me back to revisiting her entire discography. If you're interested in Aimee Mann, I suggest trying out Bachelor No. 2. Every song is good... on every album, basically.

Alright. I'll stop there with the praise and I'll balance it out with some criticism. Aimee Mann hates music piracy. She's the female Lars Ulrich, so beware music-loving downloaders. Enjoy "Freeway" and buy her album.

Album Coming Soon... from Emmy the Great!

Hello from the depths of studying.

A quick and exciting note that London favorite Emmy the Great will be (finally) releasing her debut album, tentatively titled First Love, in September. Thanks to Chromewaves for the tip, since I'm not too vigilant about following artist MySpaces. Head over to Chromewaves to download a really good live version of "Two Steps Forward". (Or just click that link). Get a lil' taste of the song from her Black Cab Session below.

As I've mentioned, the incestuousness of the London music scene is charming. "Fiddle Me This" man is from Noah & the Whale, another London favorite that probably has hoards of fans awaiting the release of their debut album, me included. Alright. Godspeed, folks.

Tower of Song

I stumbled upon this video while "studying" at the library, and now have an inkling that I might embark on a little quest for Leonard Cohen knowledge this summer. I really like the lyrics, so I'll post a little snippet, but just listen carefully and enjoy.

My friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love, but I'm not coming on
I'm just paying my rent every day
Oh in the tower of song

Here's Martha Wainwright on the David Letterman show performing "Tower of Song."