Some cutesy fun

Still need a bit more help getting up in the morning?
Here's another remedy for ya:
GOOD SONG: Light Bulb (ANR Remix) by Rachel Goodrich

So THIS is the famed founder of Shake-a-billy.
Interesting.

Such a fun song! I recommend it as a purely fun, danceable ditty to brighten your day a bit. Don't think too much about the words. The remix is better than the original, which is too cutesy for my taste. However, the original song has a HILARIOUS video:
Check it out here: Lightbulb video
Rachel Goodrich is a Miami-based musician, who claims to be a "shake-a-billy" artist. Yeah, OK, whatever the heck that means. I hate all these new micro-genres that people make up. Anyway, though, her music is definitely fun and quirky (although I fear she might be a perfect living example of Problem #4 here) . She can play the guitar, ukulele, banjo, kazoo, autoharp, piano, and others (question: who *can't* play the kazoo?). Her first album, entitled "Tinker Toys" came out in 2008, and her new self-titled album came out this year.  If you like twee-pop, or retro-sounding/vaudevillian stuff, you will enjoy her un-remixed music.

If you liked this song/the original song, you might also like:
The Boy Least Likely To
Lykke Li
Jens Lekman
April Smith & the Great Picture Show

Over and out,
Anna

The Viking of 6th Avenue

New York has been home to many weirdos, freaks, characters, and oddballs (including me). One of the greatest?
MOONDOG!!
A.K.A. "The Viking of 6th Avenue"

I'm seriously considering dressing up as Moondog for Halloween.
Unfortunately, most people would just assume I was a Viking.
Dang.

Seriously, folks, this man was a MUSICAL GENIUS. And also, probably, totally bonkers. Which is one of my favorite combinations ever.
Background? Moondog (born Louis T. Hardin, in Kansas) was a blind jazz musician who moved to New York City in the 1940's and lived (by choice!) as a street musician, mostly on 6th Avenue, dressed as Odin, the Viking god. 
H'amazing.
Anyways, he had a genius for mixing traditional elements of jazz, like saxophone and flute, with native American percussion and ambient city street noises, like honking horns. His music is instantly identifiable by its unusual rhythms, characteristic lack of any instruments other than woodwind and brass (with a few exceptions), and funny names. Some of his songs also have male choruses and such. Those are good ones, too. If you're curious, watch the Jens Lekman video I posted at the bottom of this post.
As I have mentioned before, I am not a huge jazz fan, but this guy's music is just incredible. And different. Because of his talent and his strategic busking location, he managed to catch the attention of many famous musicians of his time, like Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, Leonard Bernstein, Toscanini, and Philip Glass.
You HAVE to give him a listen.


GOOD SONG #1: Bird's Lament by Moondog
This song was written in honor of Charlie Parker. Such great saxamaphone.
GOOD SONG #2: Get a Move On by Mr. Scruff (with heavy sampling of Bird's Lament by Moondog)
What an awesome remix! And look at that video-- hilarious! Most of his videos have that goofy animation, actually. Another wonderful human being.

GOOD SONG #4: All is Loneliness by Moondog, sung by Janis Joplin.

Oh yeah, and he invented the Trimba.

(How did I find out about Moondog, you might ask? I was at a Jens Lekman concert in 2007 in NYC and he covered Moondog's song "Paris." You can watch him sing it at that VERY SAME concert here on this GOOD SONG VIDEO. Gotta love youtube!)

Over and out,
Anna

Better than an alarm clock!

Need a little help getting up in the morning?

I know I do. What with this incredibly gloomy MONTH of bad weather, it hasn't been too easy to get my butt out of bed and out the door every day.
I recommend a healthy helping of some GOOD SONGS to assist you in your quest.

Their music is so energizing, it almost makes me want
to go biking. Almost.

GOOD SONG #1:Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People

GOOD SONG #2: Call It What You Want by Foster the People.

Foster the people was originally called Foster & the People, but because people kept messing it up, the new version stuck. Mark Foster, Mark Pontius, and Cubbie Fink (yeah, amazing name, I know) are the three main members, with some other dudes (Sean Cimino and Isom Innis) coming out to play at their live performances. They formed in California and DANG, do they make some find indie-pop. Really, if this stuff doesn't get you out of bed with your head bopping, I don't know what will. They released an EP in January, and their full album, entitled "Torches," dropped in May of this year. There are already various remixes of this stuff (check out The Hype Machine), which doesn't surprise me at all. It's just begging for it.

FYI, they will be playing on SNL on October 8th (this coming Saturday).

If you liked these songs, you might also check out:
Passion Pit
Local Natives
The Go! Team
Campire Weekend
and lots of other indie-pop groups which are popping up (ha! pun!) all over the place

Over and out,
Anna