Friday, July 31, 2009

From Vancouver to Orlando.

Alaskan vacation is successfully concluded. I didn't accomplish my goal of riding an orca, but I did discover Vancouver, British Columbia. Everyone, please visit here sometime! It is an amazing city. Huge parks, great shops, a huge fresh produce market, music, Shakespeare in the park, international firework festival, and the 2010 Winter Olympics! A truly unique city. If you do visit, rent bikes (it's pretty cheap) and go to Stanley Park. There are restaurants, shops, music, and an aquarium in the park, and it's really close to downtown.

Also, Jack and I have been talking about heading into Orlando more this fall. We are going to be checking out the music and nightlife of the central Florida area. In particular, we want to hit Crush, an indie dance night every Monday at BackBooth in downtown Orlando. http://www.crushorlando.com/



August 17th they are having a five year anniversary, which means no cover for all you lucky guys and gals. As always, they have a free (it's no strings attached free) keg of PBR until its gone. So, who is down to dance the Monday blues away for free this fall??!!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Thursday Night Spotlight

So here's what we're doing. It's Thursday, I'm sitting at work, you may be too, you may just be sitting on your couch, either way, it's Thursday, which means you're more than likely going to have some fun tonight. Seeing as we launched MYMNKA earlier this week let's go ahead and get Thursday Night Spotlight up and running. From time to time I'm going to be posting songs that will help get our Thursday nights crazy. I expect you to come back here tonight, whether you're pre-gaming or gaming, hit play, and let these songs get you excited.
Miike Snow - Animal (Peter Bjorn and John Remix)
The Virgins - Rich Girls (The Twelves Remix)
Kid Sister - Right Hand Hi
The Hood Internet - Wetter and Jeffer (Twista vs Boys Noize

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

MYMNKA: Rug


     Well we said we would do it, and here it is - our first installation of Music You May Not Know About. This is the section of our website where we'll be bringing you music from bands that are beginning to gain some steam. They may be local, they may just be smaller or completely unsigned, either way, they sound great and you need to know about it.

     The first band we're going to feature on here is named Rug.
     And let me say, These boys know what they're doing. In my last post I mentioned I was going to see Rug play in Orlando, Florida and the show was phenomenal. Rug is based out of Orlando, Florida and have roots of a developing band as long ago 2000. In the past year though, they've been busy. With a bunch of shows under their belts, a 2nd place showing at the huge Daytona Beach Int'l Festival Battle of the Bands, an EP recorded, a live show recorded and a growing fan base, this band is going somewhere.
     Before they recorded I got to sit in and hear these guys practice a few songs and after seeing them the other night, this is one of those go-see-them-live-if-you-appreciate-music bands. These guys put on a show that will leave you speechless, the sound they create makes you want to just keep asking for more (which many people were doing). Makes me angry I forgot my camera the other night.
     In addition to all of that, it's so easy to listen to this EP. I've listened to it almost three times just writing this. Anyway, of course I'm going to give you some music to listen to but before I do that I'm going to say you need to go see these guys at Floyd's Music Store in Tallahassee, Florida on August 8th. I guarantee you'll be hearing about these guys in the future. And also check out they're Myspace at Myspace.com/Rug
     Ok so here we go, Here are two tracks for you. The first, Sparrow, if off of the Rug EP, and the next song, Traveling By Night is an Attempts At Hip exclusive track
Rug - Sparrows
Attempts At Hip Exclusive!
Rug - Traveling By Night

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Well Hello Again!

     Well, I'll be the first to admit that it's been a little since my last update. But, Tyce has been holding it down pretty solidly with the Pitchfork coverage. Wish I could have been there! Anyway, to create a good excuse for my lack of attention to AAH, I had a few days off from work which gave me some time to head home, and tomorrow I'll be heading to Boston to visit a few friends, so this is what's kept me! Maybe I'll root around in Boston for some neat music.

     In the meantime, I've been listening to some new music that I think you'll enjoy as much as myself.

     The first comes from Toronto based band MSTRKRFT (that's pronounced MasterKraft). These guys rip it up with some of the remixes they produce. One of the members used to be in Death From Above 1979 so obviously they've got some talent. Plus, they've worked with John Legend on this single called Heartbreaker and I love the way it sounds. Check out the video for it.

     Another new band I've been rockin' is named This Town Needs Gun. They're a wickedly talented band from Oxford (thus inherently talented), and they play some crazy complicated sounding stuff. It's a pretty mind-blowing sound. Some call it math/indie..I say it's just plain good. Check out their single entitled Pig from their debut LP; Animals
This Town Needs Guns - Pig

     Also, I know it's a few years old but I've had Minus The Bear's - Menos El Oso on constant rotation for the past week or so. Such a good album. Brought my boombox to the beach and blasted them the other day. Had a few people who were blasting some Young Jeezy keep staring at us while we listened to it! So here's Pachuca Sunrise
Minus The Bear - Pachuca Sunrise

     Finally, going to see this insanely talented band called Rug tonight in Orlando. Sadly they have no recorded music, but soon I'll get them to get something for you to hear, they rock hard. Also, I want to leave 2 videos I'm enjoying. The first is by Keri Hilson, called Knock You Down..It's blowing up on the radio, but I think it's just a neat sounding song. The Next is by Kid Cudi, who I'm having a really hard time getting into, but seeing as he only talks for about 35 seconds in this song of his, I like it. BTW, where is Lady Gaga with all that sampling?

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Who knew?

Who knew that Pitchfork could take so much out of me? I am beat guys, so I'm not going to do a full post tonight. Everyone I saw at the festival was really amazing and talented though, and I have fun stories to share. Hopefully by tomorrow I will have recuperated. Good night everyone!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Gotta support my Illini family

So it is the eve of the pitchfork music festival. I've got my flannel goodwill shirt packed because it is pretty chilly for Illinois right now (and because it is awesome and soft). A friend clued me into a band from, not far from my house actually, Lisle, Illinois. The Hush Sound, started in 2005 is a pretty interesting quartet led by guitarist Bob Morris. They're in that indie pop group with The Academy is or Panic at the Disco. Not bands I'm typically into, but I'm trying to expand my taste, and I'm a lot of you will like them. Anyway, here is Like Vines from the Like Vines album.

The Hush Sound - Album Sampler
Found at bee mp3 search engine


Can't wait to share my experience at Pitchfork!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Votes are In

So in my humble opinion, the entire line up for Saturday is awesome. The line up is as follows:

The National • Beirut • Doom • Yeasayer • Final Fantasy • The Pains of Being Pure at Heart • Fucked Up • Plants and Animals • Cymbals Eat Guitars • The Black Lips • Matt & Kim • Lindstrøm • Wavves • Ponytail • Bowerbirds • The Dutchess and The Duke • The Antlers • Disappears.

There is a synopsis of each group on the festival website if you are interested in learning about all the bands. http://www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com/index.php?d=saturday. I think though, I am most impressed by Owen Pallett, who goes by Final Fantasy. He has been composing music since he was a kid and has composed music for the Arcade Fire (awesome!) and the Great Lake Swimmers (great folk music, I'll post some of their work soon).



He is a violinist and has composed the orchestral arrangements that have made the Arcade Fire who they are today. Here is just one of his excellent songs, The CN tower belongs to the dead.

Final Fantasy - The CN Tower Belongs To The Dead
Found at bee mp3 search engine

Enjoy!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Greatest bands + Greatest city = Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago

All of you know that Jack and I love indie music. Only some of you may know that I am from the great state of Illinois (I! L! I! I! N! I!). In the spirit of awesomeness that imbues Illinois, Chicago is hosting the pitchfork music festival.



I will be there on Saturday and will be sharing all kinds of great pictures and hopefully great insights after the show. I am still looking up a lot of the bands for the day before I go, and will definitely share what I find. I am really excited right now about two bands in particular: Beirut and *drum roll* Matt and Kim!!! Please don't stop reading Attempts at Hip guys if videos of me dancing like a fool to Daylight or Yea Yea Yea surface on youtube. We have Matt and Kim songs in earlier posts, so I leave you with Elephant Gun by Beirut.

Beirut - Elephant Gun
Found at bee mp3 search engine


Final note. I am distractedly watching the Daily Show right now, and John Stewart showed the NY times story that Palin signed a baby. Really Palin? I bet if we popped her inflated ego, we could power wind farms across the world for weeks.

So Much Noise! So Much Hip!

     I believe the new President of this fine University is outside the door of my office, and I think the entire office is out there having a welcoming party. They were just singing a welcoming song. I hope they don't scare her off!

     Anyway, I've got a bunch of great music to talk about and, as usual, I'll include some music for you all to hear toward the end, so I'm going to get right to it.
The first focal point of this update is a guy I've been forcing all my friends to listen to the past week and it's been blowing my mind how intelligent/awesome this music is.
     Snob Scrilla is a California born Australian musician putting out crazy beats with mind blowing lyrics. It's funny, I just began writing how Snob Scrilla's music is a kind of rap-but not rap, but erased it because it's hard to explain what this is. The best adjective to give any insight to the sound would have to just be; great. His album Day One is loaded with these great tracks. SS has been added as the other act for Matisyahu's Australian tour (Matisyahu is back with a new set of music too, by the way). I think there needs to be a lot more music like this. (scroll down for the mp3)
     The next band I wanted to talk a little about is out of Kentucky, and admittedly, Tyce knows more about these boys than I do. Cage The Elephant originally made me double-take Sirius when I saw the interesting name flashing across the screen. I think what I like about these guys is that they have a kind of Red Hot Chili Peppers-esque sound on almost all their songs I've heard with the exception of their released single. And I love RHCP. But to say they just sound like RHCP is pretty close minded. These boys have carved out a great sound and they show they're pretty versatile with the differences between their single and the other songs on their myspace. Apparently CTE is blowing up in the UK. Definitely give their self titled album some play time. (scroll down again for another mp3)
     Finally I wanted to talk about a New York based band that a friend reminded me about. White Rabbits has been blowing up all over Sirius and the Internet lately. Mainly it's been with a song called "Percussion Gun". And their exploding onto the scene is for good reason. They sound great! With bellowing floor toms in the single, White Rabbits command some attention, and with gruelingly contained-but-almost-out-of-control sounds that have to be heard to be appreciated, this band has some kick. Percussion Gun is off their album "It's Frightening" which is available for only $7 online. Best of all, these guys are going to be playing two dates in Florida (which is getting rare for fun bands to come here!) They'll be playing Tallahassee on August 22nd and The Social in Orlando on the 23rd. You can expect to see me at The Social! Here's the video for Percussion Gun.

White Rabbits "Percussion Gun" Music Video from White Rabbits on Vimeo.


     In other news. I'm going to try this thing later today that allows us to leave music videos (and just cool videos) on the side for you to watch and be entertained. I'm not the best with these computer doodads but I'll do my best to make this beast work. Could be cool! Expect to see Snob Scrilla's Heartbreak Scorsese video there because it looks SO amazing.
Snob Scrilla - Heartbreak Scorsese
Cage The Elephant - Ain't No Rest For The Wicked


     Very finally, In the near future Attempts At Hip is going to be doing a lot of reporting on local/smaller Floridian bands. A friend of mine has a record label that will be sending some music our way and we're going to start making this central Florida music life happen. (Hopefully!)

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Hiatus well spent

So it has been way too long since I've written anything for Attempts at Hip. I'm sorry everyone! Our budding blog needs TLC, and I've been negligent. Blog, bloggers, and innocent bystanders, my sincerest apologies. Hopefully I can redeem myself with this tidbit.

Deer Tick, the folk band I posted last month has released a new album! Rejoice and revel in the twang. "Born on Flag Day" will be well worth your time if you liked their first album "War Elephant." Here is probably the most popular song, Easy. Let us know what you think guys and gals.

Deer Tick - Easy
Found at bee mp3 search engine

Monday, July 6, 2009

Being Hip On Monday

So lately I've been working on Monday mornings in the office, which turns into slacking off the moment it's slow and listening to music while updating Attempts At Hip. Which explains the Monday posts. Well, today I'm not working in the office, in fact I'm about to go on a little adventure. So I figured before I do so I'd post up a couple songs that I've been rockin' lately and figured you all should as well.
The first song is by a band called Wild Lights. Now, with the classic Phantom Planet ode to California (See: The O.C.), there are a ton of songs that hype up how cool Cali is, but every now and then it's nice to have a someone cut down the state and keep Cali from getting a big head, and Wild Light delivers on this. If California heard this song it might just cry, and I think I'm ok with that. Give this a listen and you'll hear exactly what I'm rappin' on about. The song is beautifully repetitive and super catchy. I guarantee this one will be stuck in your head. Wild Light's album Adult Nights is out now everywhere.
Wild Light - California On My Mind
The second song is a little switch in genre. Never a bad idea to switch it up. I got my hands on this song about two weeks ago, listened to it a bunch of times and then kind of forgot about it. But, I actually heard it either on Pandora or Sirius the other day which reminded me, it's a pretty cool song! Wale is a rapper out of Maryland that hasn't followed the auto tune trend and actually made an interesting song (even with a Superbad shout out) and to top it off, he's teamed up with Lady Gaga for the song called "Chillin". It's a great song to just hangout to and especially to drive to. I'm definitely posting the video for this one. As weird as Lady Gaga looks sometimes, she looks great in this video, AND check the Mercedes SL Black around :50. That thing looks great too, though TopGear ripped into it pretty hard this week!
Wale Ft. Lady Gaga - Chillin


Look for another update come Wednesday as I'll be office-bound again by then!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

During The Workday..

I love music. Lemme just say that. And right now I'm working but not working in the office so I can't write too much which means this will be short. I heard The Hood Internet the other day in an interview and they're awesome people. Their music is absolutely as awesome as these guys personalities. They take popular songs and don't really mash them up as much as make them work with one another. And they do a great job and get out about a song a day, it's amazing how productive these guys are. I know Tyce had been addicted to Matt and Kim lately so I figured I'd post up this Beastie Boys/M&K mix. It's pretty sweet.
The Hood Internet - Good Ol' Fashion Rump ShakerBack to work