k-pop jam#2

this has been on repeat a lot lately.

boogers. i have boogers.

happy 4th!

24601

so i am about 400 pages into the new (to me) 1200 page emily rose translation of one of my favorite books ever, 'les miserables.' if you've never read it this translation definitely is the way to go; much fresher and lively and makes climbing the mountain that is 'les miserables' less intimidating. if you get started now you will all be prepped and psyched for this:

waahoo. its-a gonna be good!

the baron

favorite albums of 2012.5

2012 is already halfway over and that means mid-year list time! this has been a pretty stellar year for music thus far for me with (hopefully) many more to come in the following six months. as always, this is not definitive by any means, but simply the 10 records that i have found myself playing the most this year. in no real order. enjoy! 

chairlift - something

burial - kindred

big bang - alive/still alive

death grips - the money store

beach house - bloom

hot chip - in our heads

the tallest man on earth - there's no leaving now

lone - galaxy garden

the cribs - in the belly of the brazen bull

iamamiwhoami - kin

that's it so far. i just got the new fiona apple and i have a feeling that will be pretty high up there come the years end. agree? disagree? what am i missing? let me know. you all rule


the baron

on a permanent basis, i apologise...

so yesterday one of my all time favorite bands, blur, released two (!) new songs, 'under the westway' and 'the puritan'; playing them live on a rooftop in london and streaming it over twitter. both songs are wonderful, but 'under the westway' is truly beautiful and a real treat; a longing, celebratory anthem to a city the way only blur can write them. its things like this that make me hold out hope for a new blur album sometime in the hopefully near future. if anything it will be great to see them play these during the closing ceremony concert at the olympics. good morning, indeed.





be sure to check out their rooftop performance of these two beauties at http://www.blur.co.uk/livestream/ . there is an advert for their new boxset at the beginning of the video, so skip to 1:29 for the goodness.


the baron 

k-pop jam #1

i've also decided that this re-fitted and re-polished version of 'el baron...' should include one of my new obsessions: k-pop. so every so often (or very often) i will share some of my favorite pop coming out of korea. we begin with wonder girl's new summer jam 'like this.' killer moves, yo...

remember when people thought the world was round?

i'm back! it's been many moons but i just wanted to say hello to all and let you know that i am going to give this another shot for real this time (for reels for reels!). the past six months have been a pretty stellar time in my life and now that my daily world is falling into a routine for the summer, i thought that this would be the perfect time to let the world once again bask in the glory of my intermittent posts about things that i currently dig. or something. 

for starters, i want to share with you an album that i currently can't get enough of: hot chip's new lp 'in our heads.' i've been a big fan of the band for awhile and in my humble opinion this is their strongest overall album yet. not a dud in the whole bunch. the first two singles, flutes and night and day, are rock solid but right now my favorite track is the opener, motion sickness. everything works and works wonderfully. layer upon layers of slowly growing, bouncing, syrupy synths. and one of the best opening lines of an album ever. and so i will leave you this song as a welcome back present; have a listen, won't you?