Music Blog

New Music Titles

LemmyCaution@evpl — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 20:22:00 GMT

If you're feeling adventurous, and looking for some of the most engaging and creative artists currently working, then you might find some of musicians or bands listed below satisfying.

A singer-songwriter with a long and storied career that includes membership in the indie power-pop supergroup, The New Pornographers, Dan Bejar has shifted from the David Bowiesque rock of earlier albums to a synthesizer, keyboard, and brass based effort which references the excesses of eighties era Steely Dan and Roxy Music. Destroyer's Kaputt melds pop, disco, and smooth jazz into a cohesive vision which transcends some of the more melodramatic elements of the genres it references. Hallmarks of Destroyer's previous work remain, including Bejar's penchant for lyrics filled with witty and self-referential observations. Meanwhile, Bejar's lyrics also take aim at the bands and genres of music referenced in his lyrics.

Last year the British artist James Blake released a series of singles which melded the musical genre of dubstep with elements of soul, and created a more sublime and contemplative version of the dark genre dubstep. His debut album includes a cover of Feist's Limit To Your Love, which made the rounds among blogs last year, and his subsequent album has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in Europe. The songs on the album consist of soulful ballads wrapped in layers of synthesizers and programmed beats, which build around repetitive refrains sung by Blake in a mournful and somber tone. Blake's promising debut has allowed dubstep to progress after too many contrived efforts by lesser artists in recent years.

One artist who has come to dominate coffee shops, and the dorm rooms and apartments of sensitive college students, is the evocative folk project Bon Iver. The project is primarily the effort of Justin Vernon who wrote his debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago in a remote cabin in rural Wisconsin. The now mythologized story and album led to his inclusion on several best of the year polls and a collaboration with Kanye West. On Vernon's most recent effort Bon Iver, Bon Iver, he utilizes an expansive array of musicians, thus providing a larger and more nuanced sound beyond the more simple arrangements of For Emma, Forever Ago. In terms of vocals, Vernon's ethereal falsetto lends poignancy to his poetic lyrics, which evoke a variety of emotions and places. The greatest distinction on this album remains Vernon's progression as a songwriter and his focus on production and the subtle inclusion of a variety of instruments.

One of the most discussed and debated genres since 2009 has been chillwave, or what is otherwise known as glo-fi. The genre primarily consists of an individual artist working with synthesizers and software to arrange instruments, samples, and loops together into a hazy and psychedelic rhythm. The best album to emerge from this genre, and manage to push the genre's boundaries, comes from Toro Y Moi, the bedroom project of Chaz Bundick from South Carolina. His second album Underneath the Pine adds greater clarity to his vocals and the music contains a variety of instruments from organ to drums, along with the inclusion of the musical stylings of funk and pop. Several danceable songs appear and are filled with basslines and synths that align well with Bundick's smooth vocal delivery.

For those seeking to move away from the world of synthesizers and programmed beats, Okkervil River's latest album I Am Very Far, while not their best, should hold your interest. On their latest album, the band's principal songwriter Will Sheff, and now producer, has refrained from making another concept album, and instead has shifted his excesses to the amount of musicians present on the album. Each song contains multiples of several instruments from piano to drums, and lends the album a density which packs a punch. Otherwise Shelf blends his celebrated literate and cerebral lyrics with a rollicking mixture of rock and roll and Americana that reaches orchestral levels.

Michael Buble, "Crazy Love"

googler@evpl — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:31:00 GMT

You may have caught Michael Buble singing after the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games. Not a hugely impressive performance for him, I thought -- the man has a remarkable voice and a classic style, in the mode of Sinatra and Darin. He does Vegas-style arrangements of standards and "classic pop" as well as anyone these days.

His latest CD is called Crazy Love, and contains both standards and modern songs. The standards include the opening track, "Cry Me a River," and this thing is one of the most melodramatic arrangments of any song I've ever heard. Critics didn't exactly love this track when the album came out, calling it bombastic, heavy-handed, over-arranged, but I liked it immediately (of course, it may just have suited my mood at the time). I think the drama of the music matches the drama of the lyric, and it's a lot of fun to sing along with.

The modern songs on the CD are surprsing, interesting, and likeable, from the Eagles to a couple of new songs he co-wrote. Jazz and blues elements continue to creep into his style, and he pulls it off pretty well.

Check out Buble's video of "Cry Me a River" here.

New CD round-up, part two

googler@evpl — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:05:00 GMT

Time for another fairly random sampling of some of our new CDs! If there isn't something you like on this list, visit the sound recording section to find something more to your tastes!

Southern (Bill Emerson and the Sweet Dixie Band) may just be the perfect bluegrass album. Writes Juli Thanki, "it's an album that covers most of the standard bluegrass song topics—there’s a gospel tune, a song about dead kids, some reminiscing about the good old days, and a whole lot of heartbreak—and its all performed with consummate, understated skill. The ink is barely dry on the liner notes, so it’s a little too soon to peg Southern as 'timeless,' but it is timeless-sounding and a mighty fine traditional bluegrass album."

Live and Mo' (Keb' Mo') is the first indie CD from versatile blues artist Keb' Mo'. Says Holly Hughes, who appreciates his "craggy voice" and guitar and banjo picking, "his guitar licks may channel Robert Johnson, but the lyrics are more like Jackson Browne, only funnier, with Mo’s witty take on contemporary society. ....For a new listener, this career-spanning selection of songs would be a great introduction."

I Bring What I Love (Youssou N'Dour) is the soundtrack CD of the critically-acclaimed documentary about the singer, songwriter and Senegalese pop icon Youssou N'Dour. "Pooling tracks from his career, the [CD] is quintessentially N'Dour, full of the singer's bright, intoxicating easy swing and unpretentious grace. ...It takes only a brief listen to Mr. N'Dour to discover that his unadorned joy is real and heartfelt," says T.J. Nelson. (We classify this CD as folk.)

Orchestrion (Pat Metheny) is classified as jazz. Explains Dave Gelly, "The late-19th century orchestrion was a kind of super player-piano, with all kinds of instruments added. Metheny has spent years creating a modern version, a roomful of acoustic-mechanical gadgets that play along with his guitar. The result is extraordinary. What he plays on these five longish tracks is as gripping as usual, while the busy tinkling and plunking that surrounds him is by turns bewildering and hypnotic."

And just in time for Valentine's Day, we offer Barry Manilow's The Greatest Love Songs of All Time. Just as a previous reviewer confessed to liking Glen Campbell, I have to confess to liking Barry Manilow. "Mr. Manilow is a melody man who respects the mostly great tunes enough to sing them with only minor variations from the notes as written," writes Stephen Holden, who goes on to acknowledge the CD's "tasteful, unfussy arrangements" and a "friendly, nostalgic bonhomie."

I Like Glen Campbell

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:32:00 GMT

It's not easy for me to say I like Glen Campbell. I don't think people my age are supposed to like Glen Campbell. I guess I've thought for awhile that Rhinestone Cowboy is an alright song if I'm in the mood for old country music. Recently, though, a friend suggested his 2008 CD, Meet Glen Campbell. It's all covers and they're good. To the best of my knowledge none of the ten songs were originally country songs. I think my favorite is Times Like These, which was originally written and recorded by the Foo Fighters. I also enjoy Good Riddance / Time of Your Life (originally by Green Day) and All I Want is You (originally by U2). I have never listened to any one of the original versions of these songs and thought "Wow, wouldn't this be great done as a country song?!", but they are great done as country songs. Even though it's a different style, and probably made with a different goal in mind, it reminds me a little bit of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (written about here by professor.knowsitall@evpl), because it's another example of how well some songs translate from one genre to another. I've enjoyed listening to this from track 1 to track 10 and have been telling friends about it, although they often respond with "Who's Glen Campbell?".

New CD round-up

googler@evpl — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:36:00 GMT

Looking for something new to listen to? This is a very small selection of new CDs, but it might give some idea of the diversity and currency of the Library's collection. Comment to let us know if you’ve listened to any of them and what you think, or make your own recommendations.

1. In the pop/rock category, try "Bomb in a Birdcage," from A Fine Frenzy. With varied textures, big sounds, diverse instrumentation, it's "lush, bewitching and atmospheric," says A.L. Harper at Blogcritics.

2. In the classical category, try Beethoven’s "Complete works for piano and cello" performed by cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Simone Dinnerstein. Bailey is a "deeply committed, serious player with a big tone, generous resonance, interpretive sensitivity, and a natural manner of playing that's as easy as breathing….. Dinnerstein is an excellent choice as accompanist given her fundamental understanding of classical tempi, keen touch, and her general abilities in Beethoven…. The two make for a great team, and there's no question that this is a great recording; beautifully engineered, played with a sense of artistic purpose and professionalism," says Dave Lewis.

3. If you'd like to try some jazz, check out "Emergence" by Roy Hargrove’s Big Band. "There are no jarring surprises herein, but Hargrove has sculpted a deliberately mainline repertoire that jumps from hearty swing to roseate sentimentality. It's a slick, well-balanced sound that may well find the trumpeter a fresh audience of more mainstream-inclined jazz fans," says Martin Longley.

4. For some alternative country, you might like "Happiness and all the other things" by Cross Canadian Ragweed. "For their seventh full-length album, Cross Canadian Ragweed tread familiar yet firm ground, crafting earthy, sepia-toned road songs that are as good, if not better, than anything they've released in the past. It's a well-traveled highway, and the ghosts of the acts that came before them -- like the Eagles, Marshall Tucker Band, Neil Young, and Gram Parsons -- are always in the rear-view mirror, but Happiness and All the Other Things ultimately keeps its eyes on the horizon" says Lee Power.

The staff at your local branch and in the Popular Materials Center at Central will help you find music to match all your tastes, or dip into a genre you're not familiar with! And use this page to explore our collection from home.

The Clash's "London Calling" Still Rocks!

Bufkinite@evpl — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:17:00 GMT

I have been listening to London Calling - the Clash's 1979 breakout album - on my morning drive recently, and wanted to blog about how fresh it still seems after 30 years. In fact, it's hard to believe that it was 30 years ago that I was first entranced by the hypnotic sounds of the title track.

It's aged really well, and seems almost playful now - at least tracks like "Jimmy Jazz" and "Lost in the Supermarket." Other tracks maintain their effrontery and anger as fresh as the first time I heard them. I'm thinking especially of "The Guns of Brixton," the lyrics of which predate the race riots that took place there in the 1980s, but are almost prescient in terms of depicting the tensions that were building at the time that bassist Paul Simonon penned the song in 1978, largely due to the heavy-handedness of the police.

Other songs that still resonate are "Working for the Clampdown" and "The Card Cheat."

One thing you never had to be afraid of with the Clash was being shortchanged. The 19 tracks on this album contain over an hour of listening. Their other recordings are similarly generous.

An interesting note about the album cover: it was a parody of/reflection on Elvis Presley's debut album, "Elvis Presley," which came out in 1957. Considered a "bad boy" in his day, by the time the Clash debuted with "London Calling," Elvis seemed positively wholesome, and the image of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his bass on the stage of the Palladium in New York City reinforces the new level to which being a "bad boy" had risen by that time.

Give the Clash a listen! If you've never heard them, it's high time; if you have, you'll enjoy the return trip.

Wilco

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:18:00 GMT

I am not what some would call a music snob. Some of my friends will sit around discussing a particular artist or album using phrases describing the emotion the lyrics project or how the sound of this band was influenced by another. I am not qualified to discuss music in this way. If it sounds good, I like it. There are few bands out there that can do no wrong in my world, and I never fail to buy their latest album.

When I moved to Chicago a few years ago, I was introduced to one of my favorite bands. Chicago-based band, Wilco, has been around for over a decade and they have a dedicated following. Most would describe their sound as alternative rock. Last year, their album Sky Blue Sky was Grammy-nominated for Best Rock Album. Their latest self-titled album was released in June.

If your musical tastes are simple or complex, give any of Wilco's albums a try. Even my more musically "sophisticated" friends enjoy their sound. I promise you won't be disappointed.

An unusual mix

kiya@evpl — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:22:00 GMT

I’ve been going through the CDs at Red Bank lately, trying to figure out how to fit more in, and have come across a couple I’ve enjoyed listening to.

The first is Low Strung, which has 11 rock classics arranged for and performed by master cellists who got a little tired of always playing the harmony line… I love the sound of the cello anyway, and these were very pleasing to listen to. I went to the band’s website, and found that they have a new CD due out soon. I also learned that they performed in Evansville a little over a year ago – they provided a link to the great review Roger McBain wrote for the C&P about the show. You can listen to a couple of the songs on their MySpace page.

· Low Strung’s website

· Low Strung’s MySpace page

(Please visit the site to view this media)

I also found a singer from my past – J. D. Souther. I had a couple of his albums on vinyl, and loved them. I particularly remember “The Moon Just Turned Blue” and “‘Til the Bars Burn Down” from my grad school years. (My neighbors from that time might recall them, too. I used to crank the volume when cleaning house.) Somehow, when everything changed over to CD, I never got around to replacing Souther's, and sort of forgot about him. EVPL owns two of his CDs (and his new one will soon be here), and now JD is back in my life. The bonus? While writing this blog post, I discovered he’s also the narrator on the downloadable audiobook of Jimmy Buffet’s A Salty Piece of Land. I’m loading it onto my mp3 player now – this should be interesting!

· J D Souther’s website

· J D Souther’s MySpace page

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Beatles fans & plastic rockers: mark 9/9/09 on your calendar!

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:58:00 GMT

September 9, 2009, will be a huge day for Beatles fans and plastic-instrument musicians around the globe!

On that day, The Beatles' entire catalog will be re-released on CD, digitally re-mastered for the first time. As taken from The Beatles' official website:

"Each of the CDs is packaged with replicated original UK album art, including expanded booklets containing original and newly written liner notes and rare photos. For a limited period, each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. On the same date, two new Beatles boxed CD collections will also be released.

The albums have been re-mastered by a dedicated team of engineers at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over a four year period utilising state of the art recording technology alongside vintage studio equipment, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings. The result of this painstaking process is the highest fidelity the catalogue has seen since its original release."

The date also marks the release of The Beatles: Rock Band on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, & Wii. While similar to previous Rock Band games, allowing wanna-be rockers to sing & play guitar/bass/drums, it will feature music by The Beatles (including several unreleased tracks) and a story mode. In this mode, up to 4 players play as the band, playing from their early years through their rise to fame.

The "Limited Edition Premium Bundle" (aka: EXPENSIVE) version will include the game, a bass guitar controller (a replica of McCartney's iconic Höfner bass), a Ludwig-branded drum set, and a mic with stand. Rumors suggest that multiple mics will be supported, to allow harmonizing on the vocal tracks.

While waiting for Beatlemania to arrive this September, check out our catalog to get your fix. Anyone else going to have a lighter wallet on 9/9?

More Information

EVPL Catalog: Find CDs, DVDs, & books by/about the Fab Four.
The Beatles' Official Website: Find out more about the digitally-remastered CD re-releases. Scroll down to the 4/7 post.
Joystiq.com: View all posts about The Beatles: Rock Band on Joystiq, a gaming blog.

The Drums, the drums, the drums! - The Ting Tings CD "We Started Nothing"

Bufkinite@evpl — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:21:00 GMT

The Ting Tings have captivated my airplay time this passed week. A two-person punk/alt rock band with an upbeat sound and relentlessly danceable songs, the Ting Tings have what it takes to get people off their duffs and tapping their feet.

Katie White (vocals, guitar, and bass drum) and Jules De Martino (vocals, drums, and electronics) make up the Ting Tings – named because of a woman Katie worked with by that name at a NY boutique. The CD is titled We Started Nothing, and includes ten tracks. The recording starts with a bang – Great DJ – and provides a taste of things to come.

Yes, there are some things I don’t care for, like the over-reliance on talking through vocals when one has a perfectly good (lovely actually) singing voice, or the necessary inclusion of dissonance in almost every song. But these are complaints I have generally with punk, and are certainly not specific to the Ting Tings.

Check out their Facebook page.

Below is a YouTube video of the first track - Great DJ

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Grammys weren't gasp all about the sales

E-Ville Librarian@evpl — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:10:00 GMT

Interesting night in the awards show department. Top of the list is Robert Plant and Alison Krauss for their haunting performance on Raising Sand. I gotta say this is a great album that, while old world, is alive in a real way. As with all other awards shows this year, Coldplay won for and performed Viva La Vida that god-awful song in pastel band uniforms. All the teeny heart throbs were represented (Jonas, Miley and Taylor oh my) and basicly needed more practice (though God bless Stevie Wonder for showing the young Jonases what real soul sounds like.). T.I. and J.T. maybe you could blame it on the sound engineer. I have to say I would really much have prefered to here Duffy over Katy Perry, though how bout all the fruit? Lots will be on the news tomorrow (today?) about Chris Brown and Rihanna, Nancy Grace is on the prowl. Grrr. Radiohead rocked the house. With the USC band for backup, lead singer Thom Yorke channeled primative spirits and gesticulated forth a grinding, crashing number which stood proof of what their street cred already gets 'em. Best Rap Album winner Lil Wayne performed with half of the Dirty Dozen. Did you see Kid Rock's RING?!?! (I know you don't remember his singing ; ) Is it me or is Kanye more and more like Michael Jackson every time he comes on stage? At first I thought MJ had been frozen scince '82. Carrie Underwood knocked 'em dead. Adele and Sugarland sounded solid. U2 opened the show, but didn't leave an impression. And Neil Diamond as the show closer ... meh (though Sir Paul was groovin' to Sweet Caroline.) The highlight for me was Stevie Wonder playing the rarest of rare R&B songs with meat to its bones as the credits closed, causing the great tune to be relegated as background music for a Delta commercial. For shame.

The Boss is Back

this.is.not.here@evpl — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:33:00 GMT

I'm not a sports fan at all but I always look forward to the Half-Time show and the commercials during the Super Bowl. I was so happy when I found out Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band would be performing at Half-Time '09. I was hoping Bruce would do some of the older songs and I was not disappointed. For 12 minutes I was treated to two of my all time favorite songs from my favorite album/CD Born To Run. "Tenth Avenue Freezeout"and "Born to Run" had me on my feet, dancing and singing along with an excitement I hadn't felt in a long time. It was so wonderful to see Bruce, "Little Steven"(Steve Van Zandt), Max Weinberg (drummer for Conan O'Brien) and Clarence Clemmons on saxophone again. And when he did the "slide" on his knees that took him right into the camera it was amazing. Okay I couldn't get just real excited about Patti but I'm told she's very talented. Bruce is actually my age and it was really neat to see how good he looked. Still a little scruffy but wow!!!!

He also sang "Working on a Dream" from the CD "Working on a Dream , and finished with "Glory Days" from Born in the U.S.A. I'll leave it to someone else to express their criticism of his performance. All I know is "The Boss is Back" and he is still fabulous!!!

Coldplay accused of plagiarism...again.

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:42:00 GMT

In a June 2008 interview with MTV UK while promoting his band's upcoming album, Coldplay's singer-songwriter Chris Martin stated: "We look at what other people are doing and try and steal all the good bits. We steal from so many different places that hopefully it becomes untraceable."

Upon the album's release a couple weeks later, indie band Creaky Boards made headlines by accusing that the album's title track borrowed liberally from a song of theirs. They claimed that Coldplay's song Viva La Vida was a rip-off of their track The Songs I Didn't Write (IRONY!). Creaky Boards frontman Andrew Hoepfner claimed that Martin saw them play in an October 2007 concert where they performed the song, writing:

"We were flattered when we thought we saw Chris Martin in the crowd that night. He seemed pretty into it. Maybe too into it."

Coldplay immediately denounced the claims, as they'd recorded a demo of Viva La Vida in March 2007, prior to the alleged concert. In fact, Martin couldn't have been at the October '07 concert, as he was in London recording. Hoepfner retracted his claims, intelligently stating...

"I must have been mistaken about seeing Chris (Martin) at the show because all British people look the same. I lived in London for six weeks and I seriously thought every third person on the corner was Coldplay."

Wow, just wow.

So Coldplay's off the hook, right? Nope.

In court papers filed on December 4, 2008, instrumental guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani claims that Viva La Vida (the same song!) copies "substantial original portions" of his 2004 song If I Could Fly. As the court papers have been filed, his team of lawyers thinks he has a case.

What peeves Satriani is that If I Could Fly isn't just any song. It's a composition, a love song dedicated to his wife, he'd been laboring over for more than 10 years before recording it. According to him:

"Everybody assumes I'm trying to go after these guys in Coldplay, as if I'm doing this with malice. That's the furthest thing from my mind. I'm just doing what I need to do as an artist, to protect what's mine, to protect those feelings I put down in song.

"I did everything I could to avoid a court case with this situation. But Coldplay didn't want to talk about it. They just wanted this whole thing to go away. Maybe they figured this little guitar player guy will leave them alone after a while, I don't know.

"But we're talking about a piece of art that I created, and that's something I feel is important. I think everybody should feel that way."

Listen to the songs in question via the YouTube links below or by checking out the CDs. What do you think? Is Coldplay a fraud? Mere coincidence? Or did all these songs rip-off Cat Stevens' Heaven? Sound off in the comments section!

	YouTube	EVPL Collection
Viva La Vida by Coldplay	Music Video	Check availability of album Viva La Vida
If I Could Fly by Joe Satriani	Listen (Skip to the 50sec mark)	Check availability of album Is There Love in Space?
The Songs I Didn't Write by Creaky Boards	Listen	Not available

More Info

Joe Satriani speaks about Coldplay lawsuit: Hear what Satch says in this December 7th interview.
Did Coldplay copy Joe Satriani? Let's Do the Music Theory - PART 1 & PART 2: Those with an understanding of music theory should check out these two vids.

"Bridging the Distance: A Portand OR Covers Compilation"

HoodooVoodoo@evpl — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:38:00 GMT

Every once in awhile I stumble upon a hidden gem when looking for music. This happened recently when I was doing a search for the bands the Minus 5 and Loose Fur, both side projects for Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, and found Bridging the Distance: A Portland OR Covers Compliation.

Bridging the Distance is almost exactly what the whole title eludes to, a collection of cover songs from Portland OR area bands. The bands enlisted for this album aren't household names. In fact, before checking it out I had only heard of three of the bands before: The Decemberists, The Minus 5, and Blitzen Trapper. The songs on the other hand are quite recognizable. Most of the songs included were famous chart toppers of the 70s and 80s from artists like Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, and Led Zeppelin.

As with most cover albums, there are some hits and misses. Some of the standouts on the album include The Decemberists rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Think About Me" which has been stuck in my head for days, and Whip's slow folky interpretation of Billy Idol's "White Wedding". The hits outweigh the misses, but the glaring cover that could have been skipped is Lacktherof's cover of Michael McDonald's "What a Fool Believes". Of course, this fool believes there is no appropriate version of that song and it would've landed on my miss list no matter who covered it, but don't let that deter you from checking out this steller compilation album.

"Ain't no party like my nana's tea party!" Flight of the Conchords albums are musically, comedically brilliant

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:13:00 GMT

Flight of the Conchords is an award-winning New Zealand comedy band, self-described as "New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo". While a couple previous blog posts (1 2) talked about their recent TV series on HBO, this post will focus primarily on their music.

Bret McKenzie & Jemaine Clement formed Flight of the Conchords in 1998. They create original songs that parody real songs, both in style and lyrics. With an odd mix of guitar, bass, & synthesizers, along with hilarious lyrics, they cover all the genres: romantic/R&B, rap, pop, new wave, techno, and more!

In 2007, they released their six song EP, The Distant Future, in the US; this album contains three studio tracks and three live tracks. In 2008, they released their self-titled album Flight of the Conchords. The EVPL has both albums, and both are definitely worth checking out! Here are a few of my favorite songs:

"Inner City Pressure": (On Flight of the Conchords) A spot-on parody of the Pet Shop Boys 1985 hit "West End Girls". It received a 2008 Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics". Check out the video below to see for yourself! Here's a snippet of lyrics:

"Counting coins on the counter of the 7-11,
From a quarter past six 'til a quarter to seven.
The manager, Bevin, starts to abuse me
Hey man, I just want some Muesli.
Neon signs, hidden messages,
Questions, answers, fetishes.
You know you're not in high finance,
Considering getting second hand underpants."

"Hiphopopotamus Vs. Rhymenoceros (Featuring Rhymenoceros & The Hiphopopotamus)": (On Flight of the Conchords) A hilariously tame gangsta rap song, featuring too many rap clichés to count. Here's a sampling of the hardcore lyrics:

"They call me the Hiphopopotamus
Flows that glow like phosphorous
Poppin' off the top of this esophagus
Rockin' this metropolis
I’m not a large water-dwelling mammal
Where did you get that preposterous hypothesis?
Did Steve tell you that, perchance?"

"Think About It": (On Flight of the Conchords) A parody in the vein of Marvin Gaye's/Black Eyed Peas' "Where Is the Love?" The lyrics talk about society's ills: violence, AIDS, sweatshop labor, etc.

"They're turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers.
But what's the real cost?
'Cause the sneakers don't seem that much cheaper.
Why are we still paying so much for sneakers
when you got them made by little slave kids?
What are your overheads?"

"The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)": (Studio recording on Flight of the Conchords; live recording on The Distant Future) A rousing, romantic love song to the most beautiful girl (in the room).

"Looking 'round the room
I can tell that you
Are the most beautiful girl.....in the room.
(In the whole wide room.)
And when you're on the street
Depending on the street
I bet that you are definitely in the top three
Good-looking girls on the street.
(Depending on the street.)"

"Not Crying": (On The Distant Future) An emotional break-up ballad, trying to save face.

"I'm not crying. No, I'm not crying.
And if I am crying, it's not because of you.
It's because I'm thinking of a friend of mine who you don't know who is dying.
That's right, dying.
These aren't tears of sadness because you're leaving me.
I've just been cutting onions.
I'm making a lasagna...for one."

This is just a small taste of the Conchords. Check out their albums for the full deal, including some songs I can't mention here.

Finally, if you're a fan of their music, check out the Flight of the Conchords TV show on DVD! Bret & Jemaine play a fictional band that moves from New Zealand to New York to make it big. They're constantly breaking into song (the ones on their albums, along with some additional ones) to tell the story. Quite possibly the funniest show I've seen in a long time!

Here's a video of "Inner City Pressure" as it appeared in "Bret Gives Up the Dream", the 2nd episode of the TV show.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

More Information

EVPL Catalog: Search for the FotC music CDs and DVDs in our online catalog.
What the Folk!: Unofficial fan site about Flight of the Conchords.
Amazon.com: Purchase CDs, DVDs, & other FotC merchandise using this link, and the Public Library Friends will receive a portion of your purchase!

Music Blog

New Music Titles

Michael Buble, "Crazy Love"

New CD round-up, part two

I Like Glen Campbell

New CD round-up

The Clash's "London Calling" Still Rocks!

Wilco

An unusual mix

Beatles fans & plastic rockers: mark 9/9/09 on your calendar!

The Drums, the drums, the drums! - The Ting Tings CD "We Started Nothing"

Grammys weren't *gasp* all about the sales

The Boss is Back

Coldplay accused of plagiarism...again.

"Bridging the Distance: A Portand OR Covers Compilation"

"Ain't no party like my nana's tea party!" Flight of the Conchords albums are musically, comedically brilliant

Grammys weren't gasp all about the sales