Two Step

Happy Tuesday, everyone. I've been allowed to start "working from home" on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is every bit as awesome as it sounds like. I'm sitting here, listening to some electro on full blast, not working, but thinking about it. See, that's the key.

Anyways, I've actually got a shitload of stuff to write about, so take your hand off that mouse, buddy. You're gonna be here for a while.

In some happy, yet dismaying news, Calvin Harris is working on a new album. Why is this dismaying? He seems to have checked his laptop in his luggage, which was subsequently lost in British Airlines' new clusterfuck, Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. It was the only copy he had, so if, say, it falls off of a conveyor belt and breaks while the operators are having tea, it's gone. Bad news.

I've been obsessively watching the show Dexter lately. I cannot seem to get away from it -- it's like a book I can't put down, except, you know, the lazy kind that projects itself on my computer screen. It's a show about a serial killer that kills people that have escaped the law. I guess CBS has started broadcasting it from the beginning, so start watching it, or torrent it, because you won't regret it.

I just went to see In Bruges with a friend at the Lyric the other week. It was pretty good. I hesitate to say "really good", because it had a really open-ended, erm, ending, which is totally fine sometimes, but not necessarily in this instance. I don't want to discourage anyone from seeing it though, because it was totally entertaining and unpredictable. Plus, I really think Colin Farell was at his best, playing a jumpy, angry Irishman that hated the town of Bruges. Speaking of random indie movies, I'm not really sure if I ever mentioned the movie Wristcutters, which I also saw at the Lyric. It was about a guy who killed himself after his girlfriend dumped him, only to find that she offed herself soon after he did. How did he know this? Well, he seems to be inhabiting a sort of half world, where everything sucks as much as it did during his time on earth, but is worse, because he can't seem to make himself feel anything. Pretty good movie, had Will Arnett in it, which pretty much makes anything awesome. But! There was a character featured in the movie, that was in this crazy-ass band, and I just found out that the band not only exists, but has played for and impressed quite a few audiences. They're called Gogol Bordello, and are this crazy, eastern European gypsy band that apparently put on the most insane live show ever. I'm going to post a video, and you're probably going to giggle to yourself while you're watching it, but as you're doing that, think of how amazing they would be live.




Human Giant are awesome. This video is fucking awesome. Why? The last line. Seriously. Watch it.



Do you wanna know what I did yesterday? Yeah, I YouTubed "cats on treadmills". Seriously, this is what my life has become. I am not ashamed.



I'm sure I've already raved enough about her, but I am so fucking crazy about Laura Marling. Her CD was pretty much all I listened to in Europe. I couldn't get enough of it. It's so earnest and beautiful. Seriously, listen to this and then try to tell me she's not amazing.

There's also a really amazing Mystery Jets remix by Shoes, which actually features Laura Marling. It's really upbeat and fun, and worth a listen and maybe a download.
{ZShare Link: Mystery Jets -- Young Love ft. Laura Marling}

Another artist that I'm really starting to like is a girl from England called Emmy the Great. She's got a really pared-down, folk thing about her, and I fell in love with this performance of her because they did it in the back of a taxicab in London. I love London.

And, actually, now that I look at him, I think the guy playing violin is in the band Noah and the Whale. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he is.




God damnit, getting super off topic here, but this Noah and the Whale video is super hilarious.




Anyways.

I guess before I left for Europe, I forgot to put up some of the bands I had been listening to. When I was in Los Angeles, my friend Hanna turned me on to two really amazing bands -- Chromeo and Kenna. Actually, Chromeo is just two guys, and Kenna is just one. But they're both amazing. I think Kenna will blow up pretty huge soon here, and Chromeo will do really well. I had Chromeo in an electro playlist I was preparing for this blog that never really came to fruition about 3 or 4 months ago. Oh well.

Here's Kenna first -- my favorite track of his is "Daylight", but it's not a single, so all that's available is a some fanvid. Eh. Good enough.




And this is Chromeo. Tight.





Anyways, I've got more bands to write about, but I'll save them for next time, because this has turned into an incredibly rambling post. So, like I said, Happy Tuesday!