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?

2011: five music videos i have loved

its getting to be that time again; but while i'm working on my favorite albums, i will leave you with something short and oh so sweet. five great videos that i have enjoyed over and over again this year:

fun fact: this cut copy video was inspired by this photo.

love it.

i wish i had one iota of the moves that these guys do. incredible.

probably my favorite song of the year. complimented by the perfect video; who knew super powered children would fit so well?

this video! i myself probably account for a million of its current (almost) 2 million views. it just makes me feel so HAPPY!

just thought i'd share

so one of my favorite tracks of the year, M83's 'Midnight City,' just got a pretty awesome video to go along with it. let's here it for glow-y eyed sci-fi children! enjoy:

back to work.

work was pretty good today. i suppose it makes a big difference approaching it after a week of straight relaxing; but for what it is worth, i pretty much had a great time. just chill day. had blur on loop at work which always helps to make things better. tonight's jam before i head off to bed is a live version of one of my favorite blur/albarn tunes ever (with quite a sweaty damon); from their 2009 reunion:

vacation.

so its the last night of vacation and it has been pretty splendid. i didn't realize how much i needed a break until i was actually here at the beach with my wife and family. relaxing. reading. playing games. and eating and drinking WAY too much. it was stelar and all good things come to an end; back to the real world tomorrow. so i'll leave you with the new justice single from the album of the same name; i wasn't all about the first single, 'civilization,' but this new one and the video have me re-excited about the new album. finger's crossed!

my new obsession.

so i stumbled across this song and video last night (or rather early this morning) on disco naivete and i have become obsessed. i have literally watched this video/listened to this song about 50 times since then. i am gobsmacked. besmirched. and very in love with this song. i just want to share it will you. austra is the name of the trio from toronto, canada and this amazing, blessed song is called, 'lose it,' off of their upcoming debut album, 'feel it break,' out may 17 on domino records. enjoy:

the great listen-in: PART I

so for the past week and for the foreseeable future i have been systematically going through my favorite artists discographies chronologically; listening to one release before going to the next artist and so on. i thought that tonight before heading to bed i would post a lovely discovery from some of the artists i've recently revisited. i'm just into the beginning of it so everything comes from the very early periods of all of these bands/artists. come on! it will be fun!

arctic monkeys - settle for a draw. this is a b-side of off their second single 'when the sun goes down.' i had never heard it till a couple of days ago. i'm a fan

blur - i know. this one comes from their debut single 'she's so high.' that wonderful old school blur sound. zing!

bob marley & the wailers - maga dog. this song! it's been on repeat a lot since last friday.

the clientele - saturday. debut ep; last song. rainy and beautiful as ever.

daft punk - da funk. this one deserves the video; classic video at that. debut single

david bowie - letter to hermione. a favorite of mine from the pre-ziggy days.

thats all for tonight. more coming soon.

the baron

three day (almost) weekend!

hooray for weekends with the wife; and for new pogo remixes. enjoy

jam of the day.

ceo. covering 'halo'

perfect.

we don't wanna get in line...

so somehow i missed that there is a new 'i'm from barcelona' album coming out this year; on april 19th in fact. it's called 'forever today' and the first single (i still can't believe that i missed this) is called 'get in line' and it is the same wonderful, cheery, warm-you-up, swedish brilliance that they have been delivering since 2006. enjoy; this song is quite the earworm:

smmooooth

so the past week has seen me become pretty obsessed with jamie woon: an awesome singer-songwriter/producer from london with a great almost '90s R&B-vibe mixed with a wonderful post-dubstep musicality. well that sounds kinda convoluted but it works brilliantly; much better than my description of it. see for yourself:

'night air' was the first single off woon's upcoming 'mirrorwriting' album; with the song being co-produced by burial which can never hurt. but it's the second single, 'lady luck,' that has me really taken at the moment:

oh woon! i just can't get enough

enjoy.

the baron

saturday's jam!

i don't know much about MNDR; she/they were featured in SPIN not too long ago and i was looking forward to hearing them. count me impressed.

happy saturday!

the baron

don't call it a comeback...

it's been quite a long time and i'm sure most of you have given up looking at this page; but i think i am finally ready for a comeback. life's been pretty good as of late. the weather is warming up; my wife and i are happier than ever; i'm reading books again; finding great new music; and also this video:

what more can a man ask for? i'm working on some ideas for some posts coming soon so if you are still there; stay tuned...for real this time.

till then

the baron

yummy.

i'll be back soon...i promise.

till then.

here's this: