"Exxon, Exxon, Clean It Up" The other day our good friends at Blog Fresh Radio rang us for a tea-time chat about our favorite ramshackle sea-faring obsession of the moment, Port O'Brien. Coincidently, Port O'Brien will release its debut studio record, All We Could Do Was Sing, today. We pre-ordered ours from the kind folks at CD Baby and they had it in our hands late last week. Needless to say it's an invigorating folk record, just in time for summer road trips, perfect for camping trips in the Pac-Nor or the Northern Rockies. The band is currently touring the left coast with Bobka-interviewees Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.
Last week, while not attending SXSW, we spoke with those cool cats over at Blog Fresh Radio about Barcelona's hypnotizing El Guincho. With the polar ice caps melting and mud puddle season among us, it's only appropriate that Alegranza take some of the heat for global warming and the ever increasing hole in the O-Zone. We're OK with it, and for one reason only, El Guincho is playing the Other Music Partytonight at Union Pool for free. While it sucks that not receiving a work visa means some of our favorite artists can't get paid for shows, it's really sweet for us fans, especially the poor ones. So do El Guincho a favor and purchase the lysergic Alegranza immediately, you'll be glad you did.
Be sure to check out Blog Fresh this week, an exceptional episode in which Edinburgh's Song by Toad introduces us to a sweet Scottish folk collective by the name of Broken Records. Just one of many of the fine bands this top notch show has introduced us to, and we're not just saying that because we contribute.
"Lift Your Head" The folks over at Blog Fresh Radio were nice enough to have us on again this week to talk about The Acorn and their majestic Glory Hope Mountain. We talked about them just a few days ago, so if you're playing along they should be fresh in your mind. And fresh they should stay, as this record is the type of album that can, and will, save lives. We triple dog dare you to give it a listen. Peep our post HERE and be sure to check out the latest edition of Blog Fresh Radio.
"Do Yourself Some Right" The crew at Blog Fresh Radio is back from their winter vacation and decided to kick off 2008 with final dose of 2k7. We'd like to send a big shout out to Bill at Blog Fresh corporate headquarters for including Bobka pick "Left Foot Stepdown" by The Bee's as part of 2008's inaugural edition, as well as raising a really good question as to why I only made a Top 9 list (Idiot, oh well). This mix is really a great summary of 2007 and includes a ton of our favorite songs by the likes of Jens Lekman, Escort, LCD, Of Montreal, Roison Murphy, basically everyone that made 2007 an aural thanksgiving feast. Also, I've never heard The Builders and The Butchers before, but their "Spanish Death Song" is f'ing badass. Big ups to Song by Todd for the intro.
"We Just Wanna Emote Til Were Dead" Of Montreal'sHissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? became one of my favorite albums due to its indelible irony. How can one deny something so good that seems so wrong? You can't. It's in that spirit, albeit in jest, that Kevin Barnes master work with Of Montreal came to do be. It makes sense that a record documenting Barnes "divorce from himself" and his transformation into the mythical "Georgie Peach" (as well as his schizo divorce from wife/Of Montreal bass player Nina Twin) would break from the band's sugary lysergic mold, however it seems counterintuitive that the band romps over forlorn, depress fest lyrics to reinvent itself as the funkiest white disco band in the world. And there in lies it's magic. At every corner you are faced with Barnes lyrical struggle. "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger" is a champagne bubbling synthetic pop gem which finds Barnes "on the verge of a total breakdown while living in Norway." Georgie Fruit is most biting during the 11 minute transformation funk of "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" and the absurdist "She's a Rejector", where he crows both "Eva I'm Sorry But You Will Never Have Me/ To Me Your Just Some Faggy Girl/ And I Need A Lover with Soul Power" and "There's the Girl that Left Me Bitter/ Want to Pay Some other Girl to Just Walk Up To Her And Hit Her." It's alot funner than it sounds, I swear.
You can hear bits of Hissing Fauna... along with a laundry list of the best albums of the year on this weeks Blog Fresh Radio, which dissects the Blog Fresh posse's favorite records of the year. Definitely worth a look and a listen.
Also be sure to peep the righteous video for "Gronlandic Edit" below, as well as Kevin Barnes Year End Top 10 list, which he composed for P4K: 1. Caribou: Andorra 2. Deerhoof: Friend Opportunity 3. M.I.A.: Kala 4. Robert Wyatt: Comicopera 5. Liars: Liars 6. MGMT: Oracular Spectacular 7. Animal Collective: Strawberry Jam 8. Panda Bear: Person Pitch 9. Fiery Furnaces: Widow City 10. A Hawk and a Hacksaw: A Hawk and a Hacksaw and the Hun Hangar Ensemble
"Colours and Colours and Colours and Colours" Who knew if you started talking about Christmas you'd start receiving gifts too?! Well thats just what happened today after we posted The Black Art's video for "Christmas Number One", we stumbled on some new Hot Chip songs at the home of fellow Blog Fresh Radio correspondent Headphone Sex. James at HPSex saw Hot Chip a week ago in England and after the show the group was handing out the Normal 7" with new tunes "So Dope" and "With Each New Day." No word yet as to whether or not these two will be included on the forthcoming Made in the Dark LP, which drops February 5th. While "So Deep" represents the fidget funk Hot Chip's known for, "With Each New Day" finds Alexis channeling his inner Elliot Smith. Not that we'll ever stop listening to The Warning but we're really F'ing excited for February 5th.
"The Beard That I'm Growing/ Cannot Fully Grow" The other day I chatted with the kind folks over at Blog Fresh Radio about one of my favorite new bands, Delta Spirit. The ragged hobo spirit blues of their self released Ode to Sunshine would sit well next to a worn out copy of On The Road, an old Hohner harmonica and a rucksack. With that in mind I highly recommend the record, which I've dubbed "Songs for Dharma Bums."
Tuesday the 16th of October was the first day of CMJ and like we've said a few times before (and will do at least once more) we were at the Bowery Ballroom for the Brooklyn Vegan Showcase featuring the Rosebuds, Voxtrot, Shaky Hands, bon Iver, Dean & Britta and the Most Serene Republic (Miracle Fortress was not allowed through the border!). At some point during the evening, after Charles convinced me we need some Patron XO shots, I headed to the bathroom to do what people do in the bathroom. Like any drunk with dancing feet, I had late night on my mind and knew where I was headed...James Murphy at Hiro. Problem was I couldn't remember where the hell the Hiro Ballroom was. Luckily there was a line at the dude's bathroom to ask some peeps. I politely asked the guy in front of me who said "14th between 1st and 2nd." "Thanks alot man, 'preciate it." Tap tap on the shoulder from the guy behind me. "Actually it's 16th between 8th and 9th." I got real lucky he overheard me getting bunk info. A few minutes later I spotted the fellow with the correct address at the bar and had the bartender send him a drink on the Bobka. It was then, after a few minutes of geek rock talk, that I discovered the aforementioned corrector of bad addresses was Bill, the man in charge of Blog Fresh Radio since Ms. Alex went back to grad school. Long story short, last week Bill gave me a shout and had me spit some ish for the latest edition of Blog Fresh Radio, which as you know is pretty much the best 45 minutes of each week (truth). We chatted about Glass Candy. You can hear all this nonsense HERE.
"Sunshine Lady Came to My Door" Like we've said numerous times before, we're suckers for swedish indie pop. Alex from Blog Fresh Daily understands our deepseeded obsession and luckily has given us another outlet to pontificate over soft and sweet Swedish singer-songwriters. In addition to having us on her radio show discussing Jens Lekman and "Friday Night at the Bingo Drive-In" (here), she also had me do a short segment on the new Taken By Trees record, which we covered about a month ago. Click here to listen to the segment. Below is a wondrous live performance Victoria did on a swedish TV show which may or may not be called Nyhetsmorgon.
"Take Up Hippie Names, I'd be Snowfish, You'd be Sunny" Be sure to check out this weeks edition of Blog Fresh Radio where I chatted with the lovely Alex about Jens Lekman's new single, "Friday Night at the Bingo Drive-In," which we posted about last week (here. Make sure you listen, because aside from Jens & ourselves, Alex is featuring a great track called "Song For an ABBA Tribute Band" by a new British band called Lets Wrestle. Don't know anything about them, 'cept that this track is Jonathan Richman/Art Brut witty and jangly indie as all hell.
"Randolph's finest" Our friend Alex from Blog Fresh Radio put together a super sunny summer mixtape of all the brightest blog hits of the moment. She's very nice. Nice enough to include our post about OCDJ's "PLS STP TH HSTL." It's number 7 on her mix. It's a good number 7. Be sure to 8-bit your summer with some OCDJ....
...Did I mention OCDJ is a fellow Drrrty Irrrty native?
"Don't Hurt 'Em" Alex from Blog Fresh was nice enough to include us again on her fantastic radio show. Head on over to Blog Fresh to here McG, 1/4 of the TeamBobka, stutter and "uh uh" his way through an interview about Kid Sister. You definitely want to check this out as McG makes a fool of himself impersonating Kid Sis's rhymes ("Holla Holla Holla Gigolo!") In case you haven't jumped on the Kid Sis bandwagon, what the hell is wrong with you?!?! Hop on cause shits getting high gear. Head on over to Kid Sister's MySpace to hear Kanye's remix of "Pro Nails." Word.
"Try to remember always just to have a good time" Alex from Blog Fresh Radio was nice enough to have us on her radio show this week to discuss Panda Bear's mind blowing Person Pitch. If you want to hear me pontificate on the Panda Bear song "Comfy in Nautica", click here. You can download "Comfy in Nautica" below. Get this record, save your soul. period.
all songs are posted because we love them and think they make the world a better place. they are for sampling purposes only (duh). if you like what you hear, buy the record or see the concert!!! if you own the copyright to anything that appears on this site, contact us.
The other day our good friends at Blog Fresh Radio rang us for a tea-time chat about our favorite ramshackle sea-faring obsession of the moment, Port O'Brien. Coincidently, Port O'Brien will release its debut studio record, All We Could Do Was Sing, today. We pre-ordered ours from the kind folks at CD Baby and they had it in our hands late last week. Needless to say it's an invigorating folk record, just in time for summer road trips, perfect for camping trips in the Pac-Nor or the Northern Rockies. The band is currently touring the left coast with Bobka-interviewees Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. 
