Maddening March Musical Madness Part 6 - Final Four

So this is it....The Final Four. I can't really be sad that this is the way it turned out. Yeah you always want the cinderella team to win, but I also like to see a great competitive game. As for the music side of this, WOW. I'm still going with Radiohead/Kansas, but they did just barely beat Amy Winehous/Davidson. Can they handle Arcade Fire/UNC? As for LCD Soundsystem/UCLA versus Feist/Memphis... it's anyone's guess. Flip a coin and you'll probably be right. Who do you think will come out on top?

mp3: Arcade Fire - Une Annee Sans Lumiere --> buy
mp3: Radiohead - Videotape --> buy
mp3: Feist - Mushaboom --> buy
mp3: LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing At My House --> buy

Retreadin 2007 Part 2

Second albums are notorious for exposing weak one hit wonder bands. That was the fear as I cracked open the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. To my relief and probably everyone else's that didn't happen. There was joy and happiness. This album is intense and emotional. Pain was put into crafting and molding this. The best part for me actually was months after the release. The Arcade Fire put up that crazy interactive video. Then they had the live performance with 'The Boss'. Basically those two things led me to pick up my copy of Neon Bible and put it back into the player. That's when I realized it truly was one of the great albums of the year.

mp3: The Arcade Fire - Intervention --> buy
mp3: The Arcade Fire - The Well And The Lighthouse

Sounds of Silver by LCD Soundsystem is a great album, but it would not be if it weren't for two particular songs. I'm not one to single out songs from an entire album and just repeat them over and over, but that's what I did with this album. 'North American Scum' is a classic. The lyrics are sarcastic(which I like) and somewhat humorous(which I also like). Not to mention the rockin' LCD style through the whole thing. Sometimes their emotion gets lost in the repetitive nature of their songs, but not in this one. Or in 'Someone Great' either. This song is what pushed this album over the top. It's a heartfelt, slow building, electronic anthem. A perfect song when you're driving late at night in the rain. It's not to say the rest of the album falls short---it's pretty good. In my opinion, these two songs took LCD Soundsystem to another level.

mp3: LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum --> buy
mp3: LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great

Must See Monday

I know Heroes is on tonight, but there are some good shows around the area. In DC Rogue Wave, Bodies of Water, Port O'Brien, and Phosphorescent play the Black Cat. Anybody who saw Rogue Wave open up for Nada Surf last year in Baltimore knows this will be a great show. Also The Warlocks play the Rock and Roll Hotel with Darker My Love. Enjoy yourself then come home and watch heroes on Tivo or the internet or not at all.

Rogue Wave - Seconds (U2 cover).mp3 --> website --> buy
Bodies Of Water - Doves Circle The Sky.mp3 --> website --> buy
The Warlocks - So Paranoid.mp3 --> website --> buy

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Monday Mystery Tour is on a temporary hiatus, but here is the solution from last week.

Black Fiction - Disease.mp3
The Arcade Fire - My Body Is A Cage.mp3
Bob Dylan - Ballad Of A Thin Man.mp3
Cadence Weapon - Holy Smoke.mp3
The Anniversary - Sweet Marie.mp3

Video: Arcade Fire and The Boss

I was always reminded of Bruce Springsteen and his wall of sound production when I listened to Arcade Fire. Maybe I was onto something...because here's a live performance with bothe of them performing a kick ass version of Keep The Car Running. Thanks to You Ain't No Picasso for leading me to this. Enjoy!

Bruce Stringsteen and Arcade Fire - Keep the car running
Uploaded by trendwhore