Behold the Power of Telekinesis!

Telekinesis (also called psychokinesis): the ability to move or affect objects unconnected to the body using only the mind.

Right.

Fortunately, it also happens to be a great band from Seattle (Seattle! Again! Something in the water maybe?).
Telekinesis is just one guy basically, whose name is Michael Benjamin Lerner, but on tour he's joined by Cody Votolato (former member of The Blood Brothers, and whose actual brother is Rocky Votolato, who is a great folk singer in his own right), David Broecker, and Jonie Broecker. So far there have been only two full-length albums: "Telekinesis!" (2009) and "Twelve Desperate Straight Lines" (earlier this year).

Here is proof of the power of telekinesis:
GOOD SONG: Fever Chill by Telekinesis.
This seemed like an appropriate song to pick, since I am feeling sick, and there is definitely some terrible fever chill bug going around amongst my students. I think I may have caught it :(

Watch out for that eagle behind you, my friend. 

It might have telekinetic powers. 

Their new album is awesome. It's great guitar-driven and hook-filled pop, but it's not just fluff. "Fever Chill" is a little bit darker than some of the other songs on the album. His voice sounds very young, but there is a quite mature brooding emotion on the song that I really like. When the drums kick in (literally), the song reaches another level of greatness. Give it a spin!

If you liked this song you might also like:

Throw Me The Statue

The Rural Alberta Advantage

Weezer

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

Smith Westerns

Over and out,

Anna

My Retro Music Dream Duo

Ever dream about having your own music festival, where you chose all the acts? Or about choosing your own musical dream team? Or even about what it would be like if two amazing bands became one, or two singers got married and had babies that were like perfect mixtures of their parents, with their collected musical genius?
'Cuz I do.


And one of my new favorite things to think about is what kind of kid Eli Paperboy Reed and Adele would have together, if they got together. I can't tell you what they would look like, but they would probably make music like their parents. Which is a very good thing.


Who are these people, you might ask. Well, with no further ado...

How could you not love this?

GOOD SONG: Take My Love With You by Eli Paperboy Reed and the True Loves.


So this dude is FANTASTIC. I saw him live with a bunch of my friends last Thursday at the Rock and Roll Hotel in DC, and he just blew us all away. Such an amazing live performer. You feel like you traveled back in time 50 years. A little info on him: Eli Reed is originally from Boston, but moved to Mississippi after high school, and got his career started there helping out with the gospel music with a just-starting-up church. The rest is history. His music is "neo-soul" which basically means great soul music that is also relevant and fun. It also means that his band, the True Loves, are freakin sweet. There is nothing sarcastic, ironic, shocking in his music. It's pure enjoyment. 
I HIGHLY recommend seeing him live if you get the chance.
(This is also a GOOD SONG of his: Come and Get It) 

Classy lady!

As for Adele, you probably know her because of her hit song "Chasing Pavements" from her album entitled "19," which was good, but honestly, just not as good as anything on her new album, "21" (I'm seeing a trend here). 

I really want her to get with Eli Reed because their babies would have more soul than... than.... I don't know, a lot of people. They would be FILLED WITH SOUL. FILLED, I TELL YOU. 

Her new album has a lot of goodies on it, and I am making a prediction right now: you will probably hear the song "Rumour Has It" a lot on the radio starting about now. 

But I think this song is even better:

GOOD SONG: I'll Be Waiting by Adele.

Adele is huge right now in England, and I am aware that this post is not going to be most people's first exposure to her, but honestly, I don't really care since that isn't truly what this blog is for.  She is an amazingly talented young woman (younger than I am!), and I gotta admit that it's pretty cool that a singer like her (soulful and gorgeous but not a skinny, slutty pop star) has made it so big. Her voice is so powerful that it gets me every time. Her songwriting isn't stellar, but she could be singing about cauliflower for all I care.

So yeah, that's my dream duo. 

Who's yours?

If you like these songs, you might also like these artists (both old and new):

Duffy

Sam Cooke

Aloe Blacc

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

The Zutons

Stevie Wonder

Otis Redding

Janelle Monae

Cee Lo

Over and out!

Anna

Big Bird Has a Band?

So, what with SXSW (that's the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, for those of you who don't pay attention to these things) coming up, there are a lot of new bands getting talked about now. One of them is the band Yellow Ostrich. Despite the fact that Big Bird is a yellow ostrich (I think),  the band has nothing to do with Sesame Street. There is no link (although nothing could beat THIS link).

Hmm... they don't LOOK like Jim Henson creatures.

Despite the lack of Sesame Street cred, they are a really great band, with a ton of indie rock street cred instead. The band is basically the brainchild of Alex Schaaf, although now it includes Michael Tapper (from We Are Scientists!!) and Jon Natchez (from the bands Beirut AND Bishop Allen!!). They're based out of Brooklyn (who isn't these days?). Their music is pretty simple stuff-- a lot of looped vocals, drums, and fun guitar riffs-- but it's super catchy and I'm diggin it.

For example,
GOOD SONG: Hold On by Yellow Ostrich

It's just a very happy-making song that I have been enjoying blasting out my car windows as spring approaches...

If you liked this song, you might also check out:

Dr. Dog
Broken Bells
The Whitest Boy Alive
Throw Me The Statue

and I'm struggling to think of anything else that is even mildly similar.

BUY THEIR MUSIC HERE: Yellow Ostrich

Over and out,
Anna

Dostoevsky's So Hot Right Now

So as an Art History major, I don't always get the literary references that surround me. I'm just not as well-read as I would like to be. But, when I first heard of the band Ivan & Alyosha, I thought, "Hey! There is a literary reference that I *actually* get!" Ivan and Alyosha are the names of two of the main characters in Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov," which is one of my favorite books of all time.

Look at that beard!

Ivan & Alyosha is a band from Seattle. It began as a solo project for Tim Wilson, but eventually expanded to include Ryan Carbary, Tim Kim, and Pete Wilson. So far they have released one EP entitled "Fathers Be Kind" (Tim Wilson is a new dad, by the way) and another full-length album entitled "The Verse, The Chorus." Both are great, and should definitely be checked out. 

Their band website claims that they "are not nihilist indie rockers but a new brand of tender dreamers." 

Sounds good to me!

Sorry guys, you just can't beat Dostoevsky's facial hair. 

GOOD SONG: Living For Someone by Ivan & Alyosha (the video is very simply but beautifully shot, methinks).

The song includes the lyrics:

"Draw the line between 

what you want

and what you need."

I was reminded of a section from my all-time favorite part of The Brothers Karamazov, when the wise old monk speaks about the "isolation" that plagues modern man:

"He heaps up riches by himself and thinks, 'How strong I am now and how secure,' and in his madness he does not understand that the more he heaps up, the more he sinks into self-destructive impotence. For he is accustomed to rely upon himself alone and to cut himself off from the whole; he has trained himself not to believe in the help of others, in men and in humanity, and only trembles for fear he should lose his money and the privileges that he has won for himself... 

But...we must keep the banner flying. Sometimes even if he has to do it alone, and his conduct seems to be crazy, a man must set an example, and so draw men's souls out of their solitude, and spur them to some act of brotherly love, that the great idea may not die."

If you liked this song, you might also check out:

Magnet

The Head & The Heart

Joseph Arthur

Margot & the Nuclear So-and-So's

Sloan

Oakley Hall

BUY THEIR MUSIC HERE: Ivan & Alyosha

Over and out,

Anna