DISREGARDING SILENCE on tumblr!

Recently I've decided to boldly move DISREGARDING SILENCE
from blogger to tumblr, so now you can read my blog there!

Celebrating the Fourth in Brussels.

Marvin Gaye knew exactly what he was doing.
One of my favorite versions of "God Bless America:"

Watching "Jejune Stars" all June.

Every new day is a gift, it's a song of redemption
Any expression of love is the way to return
To that place that I think of so often, but now never mention
The one the voice in the back of my head says that I don't deserve

Come fire, come water, come karma
We're all in transition
The wheel I'm becoming erases the physical mind
Until all that remains is a staircase of misinformation
And the code we inherit, the basis, the essence of life

So I go, umbrella under my arm
Into the green of the radar
How'd it get so dark in the day?
It's just so bizarre
Is it true what we're made of?
Why do I hide from the rain?

Inside's so cloudy, nostalgia
But there are no features
Look at ourselves through a porthole
The passage of time
See that sunny day that we snuck out, hid under the bleachers
Kissed as the band marched
Everything fell into line

So I go, umbrella under my arm
Into the green of the radar
How'd I get so lost? I'm amazed
It's just so bizarre
All the things I'm afraid of
Why do I hide from the rain?

Sure I have my doubts
But I know it now
We are Jejune stars
So it starts again
At our childhood's end
I'll die young at heart

So I go, umbrella under my arm
Into the green of the radar
How'd it get so dark in the day?
It's just so bizarre
If it's true what we're made of
Why do I hide from the rain?

My Morning Jacket's new EP sounds epic in Europe.

I listened to MMJ's new EP Circuital twice through today, which must have been twice as epic because it was a rainy day in Brussels. It's got that sinister, eerie feeling that I love about Jim James. They performed the title track on VH1's Storytellers Friday, so that's a bonus.

My Morning Jacket Storytellers |My Morning Jacket |Music Videos |Storytellers

1+1=Beyonce.

I listened to Beyonce's new song "1+1" at least six times today.

Barbie-studded "Super Bass."

Nicki Minaj has really outdone herself this time. In her hot pick jumpsuit and her barbie pink lips, she rides a motorcycle made of ice, swims in a pink pool and plays in a room full of feathers. Her back-up dancers wear rainbow-colored doc martens and transform into neon light-up dancers. To sum it up: this video is everything Nicki and it rules.

Beyonce dances for Let's Move!

Beyonce put her dance skills to good use and joined forces with Michelle Obama for the Let's Move! initiative. The first lady founded the program in 2008, setting a goal to end childhood obesity and promote healthier eating throughout schools in the U.S.

Wilco announces new album!!

Jeff Tweedy & Wilco officially announced a summer release of their new album, Get Well Soon Everybody.

The album will be released on Wilco's very own new record label, dBpm. It will be a sassier version of their past work, which can't be a bad thing. There's talk of it being two-disc set, which I'm anxiously crossing my fingers for, of course.

Here's what Mr. Tweedy had to say about the matter: “I do think it’s a little bit more obnoxious and irreverent of a pop record than people have heard from us, maybe, ever."

In honor of the new album, Paste Magazine put together this list of the 30 best Wilco songs. It's pretty comprehensive and will send you back to the archives of some of their greatest work.

'Hallelujah' covers tribute Leonard Cohen.

I stumbled across this video today because Paste Magazine put together a list of the 15 greatest 'Hallelujah covers. The Beirut one was my favorite. I think listening to 15 different versions is a phenomenal way to celebrate Leonard Cohen's legacy.

Bright Eyes here, there and everywhere.

Bright Eyes recently came through Kansas City, Milwaukee and will be in Columbia in August. I'm happy for them, but sad for me because I keep missing their epic shows! It's such a tease. Therefore, I've been following them on the interwebs - because that's my only choice. A couple weeks ago they were on The Tonight Show performing "Beginner's Mind," which happens to be one of my favorite new tracks.



Conor and the band were also recently featured on NPR's World Cafe, which was a treat. It's nice to get some background about The People's Key and hear an in-depth interview with Oberst and Mogis about Saddle Creek's motives. They even sneak in "Lua" at the end.

Smith Westerns in fog.

Forgot to post this...it would be a crime not to share it.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are exactly what they say they are.

I've recently gotten into The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, a "dream pop" band from NYC. I think part of the reason I became so interested in them is because they remind me of Belle & Sebastian. They've got that young, heart-broken thing going on, which this video will display quite accurately. These kids hit the nail on the head: full of "pain," "heart," and "pure."

Tomboy finally debuts!

This Monday morning was the Monday morning after spring break. It was an extremely difficult task to peel myself out from under my covers this morning and an even harder task to brush my teeth. My morning issues were momentarily reconciled by NPR's decision to stream Panda Bear's new album Tomboy.

I haven't always been interested in Panda Bear, but I have been interested in Animal Collective for a while. Noah Lennox is still the man behind the music and needless to say, it got me through Monday.

Grace Weber just wants to make the world dance.

Grace Weber released this video today reminding the world that it's not all about the money, covering Jessie J's "Price Tag."

Meet me in Montana.

So next week I will embark on a journey into the mountains. Deep into the Bridger mountains of Bozeman, to my dear friend Peter's cabin. In the spirit of this, I'm going to need to post this video that Peter sent out to all of us. It's pretty oldschool and involves Marie Osmond singing "Meet me in Montana" with Dan Seals. Marie has inspired my wardrobe for the trip. Also, thought I'd throw in some evidence of our trip to Goodwill this weekend. Tom and Grace found some gems for MT.

The People's Key in action.

Listening to the new Bright Eyes album is a beautiful experience, but Conor Oberst teaches us that watching and listening can be more worthwhile. The band posted a video of a room filled with sofas, vinyl and a projection of song lyrics on the wall. People come in and out of the room to sit on the couch and talk, look at picture frames or pet a dog. At one point Conor comes through with a bottle of wine and reads lyrics while the album plays. It was a cool ritual to watch and it make me wonder why I've never thought of it. Regardless, I've been watching this video daily for almost two weeks now.

True/False music!!

Last weekend, True/False documentary film festival came back to Columbia, Missouri for its eighth annual four-day takeover. I went to more than eight films, and I could write a novel about each one of them (I guest-blogged for my friend about one of them), but I want to focus on the music.

The first film that involved inspiring music was Benda Bilili!
It is about Staff Benda Bilili, a group of musicians from the impoverished Congo. They gather to sing songs about their optimism as they live in terrible conditions. One more thing: they are handicapped. This story was incredibly inspiring and will make you never want to complain about anything again. Even though their songs are not in English, it's easy to understand the emotion behind each note.

In between film screenings, True/False has different musicians play to entertain the audience. This year, I saw a cute girl with a ukulele. Her name is Lizzie Wright. She's just got a great attitude and there's a lot of love in her songs.


The last musicians who I really was impressed by were Bramble, a band from Salt Lake City. They're one of those young and hungry kind of bands and I really like their dynamic.

New Wavves video explains it all.

Nathan Williams is such a punk. He has ridiculous antics and appears to only care about three things: the beach, his girlfriend's cat and weed. This video will sum it up for ya.


Wavves also recently released a new track called "TV Luv Song."

Anderson Cooper gets to know Gaga.

A lot of people try to understand Gaga and fail. It think Anderson Cooper however, has come the closest to obtaining a substantial amount of information about her - right from the source. In this 60 Minutes interview, Cooper unveils all of the mysterious layers of the monster herself to find the true meaning of her nonsense. Turns out, Gaga just wants everyone to be themselves.

Arcade Fire win the album of the year!

This post deserves an exclamation point. Last night, Arcade Fire won the album of the year Grammy for 2010's The Suburbs. It was a great day for Canadians and independent music. The band recevied the award right after an exhilarating performance of "Month of May." It was so uplifting to watch Win Butler accept the award then go right into performing "Ready to Start" and I felt giddy watching the uncanny glow on Win Butlers face as he panted through the events. Talk about a whirlwind!

While some people in the world still don't know who the f*** Arcade Fire is, others (like KANYE) were overjoyed by the occasion. Oh yeah, did I mention that Arcade Fire surpassed artists like Katy Perry, Eminem and Lady Gaga ? Congratulations Arcade Fire, you deserve it.

Genre-bending music.

ATIBA EVANS Panasonic GH2 Skate from skatefairy on Vimeo.

Last week, Tom and I played freak folk on our genre bender segment on our radio show. We played bands like Animal Collective and and artists like Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom.
Avey Tare, the founder of Animal Collective, has a project called Panda Bear and it fit more into our genre bender segment this week, chillwave. A blogger who goes by Carles coined the term on Hipster Runoff, to describe a genre filled with synthpop and lo-fi sounds that focuses on a looping effect.

This is a video for Panda Bear's "Atiba Song." Nothing like a bunch of skateboarders jamming to chillwave. Panda Bear's new album Tomboy will be released soon.

Crazy for the Packers.

It's official: the Packers won the Super Bowl XLV. In honor of the great state of Wisconsin, I have to share some videos that helped make it happen. Yes, the fans made it happen.

Prophetic, a rapper from Milwaukee, remastered Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" with the oh so catchy "Green and Yellow," which was a smart move.

A couple kids from Madison also decided they would show their Packer pride by remaking the song "Like a G6" with the words "Like a Cheesehead." Pretty ridiculous, but entertaining nonetheless.

I want to be a "Photojournalist."

Small Black's "Photojournalist" is nothing new (off their 2010 album New Chain), but they just released this video. It's probably what you would expect from a lo-fi synthpop band from Brooklyn, but nonetheless, it's gorgeous.

Small Black - "Photojournalist" (Stereogum Premiere) from stereogum on Vimeo.

Nicki Minaj's "Moment 4 Life."

Nicki Minaj - New Music - More Music Videos

A lot of people ask me why I decided to dye a strand of my hair pink. I'm not rebelling against society, nor am I mad at my parents. It was an act of individuality that I decided to pursue over Christmas break - half due to boredom and half due to well, Nicki Minaj. Yes, I am 20 years old.

When her video for "Moment 4 Life" debuted this week I was enthralled. She's only had one album out, but to me, she is so already incredibly accomplished. She's signed on Lil Wayne's Young Money record label and has worked with Eminem, Drake and plenty others. Minaj is an ambitious female rapper with an incredible vocal spectrum. She sometimes raps about her wild alter ego, Roman, but in this case, we see a softer side of Minaj that wants to be a princess for a night. She's so bold and willing to be vulnerable at the same time, and I think we can all relate to that. Minaj also made an appearance this week on SNL!

Totally unrelated to Miss Minaj: I wrote a blog post for Radio Milwaukee this week about the Smith Westerns new album, which is phenomenal.

Everyone needs to get on a sailboat.

Recently I was introduced to the band Tennis. The timing is very important because the winter has gotten the best of me and they remind me that there are four seasons. Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore spent a great deal of time traveling through the country on a sailboat, and if that's what it takes to make this kind of music, I'd recommend every musician check it out. Their music is in sync - so it makes sense that they're married. Plus, the New York Times likes them.