From my window I see stars

I'm kind of busy but I thought I'd post a few songs that have been getting me through the week:

-The Finches: Daniel's Song
I posted about this a few weeks ago. It's probably the best song on the album, not just because it gets really hopeful in the middle, but because it kind of captures how extremely tired I feel right now.

I also really really really like the last track, The Last Song of 2003. The chorus around 1:50 is so simultaneously raw and delicate

-The Magnet Fields: The Desperate Things You Made Me Do
I always thought this song used synth really well

-Saturday Looks Good to Me: Underwater Heartbeat
This song makes me feel like everything is okay. It was kinda so-so performed live in a man's voice, but still highly conducive to dancing.

My ears are ringing in a very good way

It has been awhile, I know. This may be the craziest month of my life, and it's about to get crazier. Fortunately for me, I've gotten to see a lot of good bands over the break.

Tonight was probably the best:

Oppenheimer put on a great show. I love Irish people, just as a general rule. I especially love Irish people who sing in robot voices and have airhorn solos. It was especially cool that they have a song called "Saturday Looks Bad to Me." You can listen to it on their myspace.

Saturday Looks Good to Me played some new stuff and some old stuff. I prefer the old stuff to the new stuff, I would say. Actually, I really just think All Your Summer Songs, the middle record, is the best. Anyway, they sounded good live, despite sounding so different (a bit rougher around the edges).

Asobi Seksu technically was the headliner, though I enjoyed them the least. We left before the set ended. They're a good example of a band that sounds a lot better recorded than live. I still had fun and danced a lot and it was all very epic, but epic is better from a distance than blaring in your ear while there are strobelights flashing and christmas lights everywhere.

I need to go to bed so I'll write more later.

time to dance

Remember all those post-punk dance parties everyone used to have? It's been a long time (or maybe only 2 years). Anyone who says they aren't at least a bit nostalgic for them is either a liar or just didn't get a bad haircut and start wearing skinny scarves that year.

Anyways, a few things to look forward to:

-The new !!! album, Myth Takes, which came out a few days ago. Sadly, the same day as Neon Bible (yes, it has its own wikipedia page), so no one is really writing about it. Listen to some of the album on !!!'s myspace.

-The Faint's new album, forthcoming in the fall on Saddle Creek. The first time I heard Wet from Birth was a Saturday. I remember picking up the package. I didn't stop dancing until the next Friday or so. It has lost some of its novelty over the years, but I can't wait for the new one.

The Faint: I Disappear, from Wet From Birth
And a really weird remix

-The Thermals tonight. Who doesn't dance to the Thermals? You don't dance to the Thermals? I dance to the Thermals. More on that tomorrow.

In other news:

-I wrote about The Fratellis awhile ago. They finally did their own video for "Flathead." Watch it here. It...really doesn't rock that hard at all. It rips off the iTunes commercial a bit, but it's just really slow and boring for such a dynamic song. And the inclusion of the girls is a little bit pervy. You be the judge. You can watch the iTunes commercial here.

She asked me if I like to sing; I said of course I like to sing

Last night, I decided to simplify my vegan cupcake endeavors a bit and go for an almond-chocolate cupcake (a variation of the chocolate-orange cupcake with almond and vanilla extracts and without all the orange stuff) with chocolate ganache icing. You can find both recipes in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. This time, the recipe was true to volume and made 12 instead of 18. The ganache was good but took a long time to set and even then was kind of runny. I would decrease the amount of soy milk and maple syrup and probably add in some cocoa powder to make it set faster.

I find myself always listening to Ghost Mice when I'm baking or cooking. Maybe its the DIY-ness of it all. My roommate a few summers ago used to always make fun of me for listening to songs about generating your own electricity while using so many appliances. Good thing she doesn't know I'm also an American vegan.

Now you, too, can bake fun vegan things and listen to Ghost Mice:
Boy Meets Girl
Sing out
There is a light (smiths cover)

Yesterday, we also rented Sofia Coppola's latest, Marie Antoinette. It was less hazy and dreamlike than the Virgin Suicides, and slower than Lost in Translation. It was also kind of weird to watch because there were all of these beautiful period costumes and props and food, but some of the characters had random American midwestern or Texan accents, while others had British ones. The idea was to create a very modern-feeling film (I mean, it has to be modern if they're dancing to Siouxie and the Banshees), but it was sort of confusing 'til I watched it again. Jason Schwartzman was very Ethan from Slackers, but somehow Louis XVI at the same time. Kirsten Dunst was as cute as a button, as always. And the colors. The colors and dresses were really the best part. They made me want to bake pink and blue pastel cupcakes and put them all over the set.

In other news, the Threadless shirt for the Decembrists' The Crane Wife is out.

My home is wishing me away

I know I haven't posted about music in awhile. I get really distracted by my multiple personal projects, this being one of them, and rarely continue them for this long. I've also kind of been in a weird mood. Nothing I've listened to in the past few weeks has really stayed with me, except for the finches. They've appeared on comp's with Devendra Banhart, Mount Eerie, Eluvium and Six Organs of Admittance, but something about them reminds me of what I imagine would happen if Kimya Dawson actually sounded like she recorded an album in an studio. The comparisons I've heard to Mirah or (2005 not 1970) Vashti Bunyan are probably also appropriate.

From The Six Songs EP (which you can get on their website on vinyl with some pretty art):
-The Road
-Daniel's Song

From their first full-length, Human Like A House:
-House Under the Hill.
My copy is en route in the mail but what I've heard from it definitely reminds me of why I bought a record player.

Check them out at their five million shows in Austin the week of SXSW, or when they come to your town.