I had to come out of hibernation in light of the election. Obama winning, GOOD! Prop 8 being passed, BAD! That pretty much sums up the key points of the election lol. Our conservative country really contradicted itself this Tuesday, hiring a liberal democrat and yet passing all these gross conservative propositions. Prop 8 wasn't the only ridiculous proposition passed, Arkansas also made it officially illegal for homosexual couples to adopt children (well any unmarried couple, still a direct stab at homosexuals).Lot's of noise has since been made by the ever so outspoken gay community in California, back to back rally/march/protests have taken place since the passing of Prop 8. One of the many celesbian supporters attending the rallies has been the also VERY outspoken Tegan Quin of Tegan & Sara (like you didn't know) Pictured above with Liz Feldman
Cathy Debuono and Jill Bennett Things are getting better although it may not seem like it. The thing is, we only lost this battle by 5%! That's alot closer than I thought it would be, and I'm sure alot of you might feel the same. We have a gay friendly President so, lets hope this isn't the last step towards changing our country, lets hope this is just the first. I don't have much else to say on the matter as SO many people have summed it up for me! I'll leave with one such person, a Mr. Keith Olbermann, if I were emotional at all...he would've brought me to tears
Sick of Sarah is a pop/rock/punk-ish band based out of Minnesota (finally Mid-West represent bitch!!!). The band consists of: Abisha Uhl: vocals & rhythm guitar Katie Murphy: guitar, vocals Jessie Farmer: guitar, vocals Brooke Svanes: drums Jamie Holm: bass, vocals
Jamie is the newest addition to the band, but you wouldn't be able to tell by the chemistry she has with the other members. Who are all hilarious by the way. If you love watching ridiculous Tegan & Sara stuff you'll love them, their "behind the scenes" stuff involves cigarettes and alcohol so...I can relate a little better! Tracks to check out, "Not Listening" and "Mr. Incredible". This is Mr. Incredible....with pictures;-) oooo
O! One thing I forgot to mention, they're a queer band!!! I know, you knew it was coming!!! And this is "Not Listening" LOVE THIS SONG!!!It's the theme song to Brunch With Bridget!!!
After a year and a half of touring The Con, Tegan & Sara have decided to finally make some serious changes to the setlist! For the legions of fans eagerly awaiting Tegan's much promised (and never carried out) performance of "Superstar", your (and my) time has come!!! What's better than Tegan performing "Superstar"??? TEGAN PERFORMING "THE FIRST"!!!!!!!!! I know, I know......I know, I've only just regained my shit....cuz I lost it!!! Sara's high ass has added a light show she can trip herself on..seriously wanna party with Sara! Other songs have been added but I'm not going to make embedding the video COMPLETELY pointless so...I won't go into that. However I will say that I hope one of the unreleased songs to be performed will include my new love "Give Chase"...... Tegan and Sara - US Fall Tour Announcement
Is it just me or do they look like holograms??? WTF???
Aghhhh!!!!! It's finally here the much anticipated 3rd and final video release from Tegan & Sara's fifth studio album, The Con!!! I won't lie and say I'm particularly happy with this song being the last single. You guys that have been reading know I was really hoping for "Nineteen" and I completely get the "winter ballad" thing! So I would've even rather they released "Dark Come Soon". But I'm just one person, everyone seems to LOVE this track. Including smart music supervisors on shows such as Grey's Anatomy and The Hills, who have included the song in their shows. But I love the video, such a simple concept! If it was too "big production" it would've been really stupid cause it probably wouldn't have had anything to do with the song.
And I swear to Buddah if somebody comments about my future ex-wife with all that "I wanna be good at Sara" or "I could be something Sara could be good at" or something to that effect....I'll do absolutely nothing!!! YEAH!!!
So this is a guilty pleasure post! It's not really about much just the new video for The Veronicas' new single "Take Me On The Floor"! I thought I'd have it on my site before the FCC deems it "too hot for tv"!!! Jess is the not-so-open-yet-not-closeted bi-sexual sister in the band who's dating an Austrailian MTV VJ:-) I like the fact that she hasn't been all "Yes I'm gay" or "I'm bi" I mean if you don't have to declare it then that means it's not a big deal...and I'm really tired of homosexuality being a big deal! Like being black is becoming less of a big deal. If these things are not a big deal then they are just normal and we are just equal....enought of that, heres the sexy video!!!!!
Obi Best, or is it Colorforms??? I'm not sure all I know is that I LOVE them! I mean her, Alex Lilly:-) Ok honestly I don't know what's going on I promise unless you know alot about Alex Lilly already then you're going to be really confused by the information on the Myspace pages, the fact that you need read more than one is already confusing enough! I'm going to give you a snippet of Obi Best's Myspace page:
While Alex Lilly's sweet, girl-next-door vocals may have once backed fellow L.A. residents and pop-devouts the Bird and the Bee, her pipes take center stage for solo project Obi Best. And Capades, Lilly's debut album under the moniker, validates her step into the limelight. Under a sprightly, whimsical layer-cake of pianos, synths, and budget drum-machine skitters (provided by a slew of like-minded pals), Lilly's work takes on a circus-esque, twirling quality with its animated, bubbly instrumentation and varied lyrical topics, from lovers to gardens, and beyond. And tracks like the slower, twinkling ballad "Green and White Stripes" and the Stereolab-esque "Blooms Like Flowers" show Lilly's knack for both songwriting and setting an ethereal soundscape. -- SPIN.com
When she’s not moonlighting as back-up singer for acclaimed retro-pop group the Bird and the Bee , Alex Lilly is masterminding the fanciful pop of Obi Best. With a cadre of talented LA friends and a sensibility that’s as at home with Stereolab as it is with Prokofiev, Lilly conjures music that’s complex and catchy – think geometry, double-dutch, and animated spin art.
Obi Best’s debut album due for release August 25th is a rich tapestry of piano, airy electronica, refined rock and panoramic beats deftly punctuated by bells and chirps and otherworldly sounds. Ranging from melodic and ethereal to rollicking and fun, the album inhabits a universe where fantasy and reality live side by side; here, Tokyo lies just around the block from Stockholm, youth and wisdom hold hands, magic seems to grow on trees. -Social Science Recordings
Well whether it be Colorforms, Obi Best or The Bird and the Bee (another Alex Lilly project) Alex Lilly is the common link throughout. I'm now content to just be a fan of hers until I'm clear on exactly what she's working on at the moment. Well I know that Obi Best's CD is set for release in January and a video of "It's Because Of People Like You" will be released sometime next week. However, I'm not clear on whether or not Alex Lilly is still singing back up for The Bird and the Bee.
One noticeable difference between the groups is Babs, the drummer for Obi Best. She's quite hilarious and has her own Vlog series on Youtube. A "internet friend" of mine turned me on to the vlogs, as well as Obi Best:-) Thank You Kelsey!!!! This post's for you!!!
After weeks of stress and other causes of insanity, I've found something inspiring to blog about: New Music!!!! Ok not really new music but music that's new to me and that you probably don't know about either so...yeah.
I had three people I wanted to focus on today. I debated on whether or not I should have three different posts...but I'm feeling a bit tired so I think I'll out do myself here with length and just make this one big ass post!:-)
The first person I want to talk about is L.P. L.P. is a singer based in New York. You might already know of her music and just be unaware of it like I was. If you watch "South of Nowhere" my friend then you know her, she sings the theme song...or rather her song is played as the theme. What's funny is I just recently downloaded that song by mistake cause someone had it listed as a Tegan & Sara song and I was like "wtf" this doesn't sound like T&S!!! lol Gotta love limewire:-P She's openly gay- guys I swear I didn't know that before I started listening to her! I'm just that gay! It's like the universe pulls me in these really homosexual directions: gay movies, gay actresses, gay singers, gay bands. I just stumble upon this shit! Anywho!She's got that androgyny thing that's really sexy in a female but is SUPER sexy in a female musician. She looks ALOT younger than she is too, which I can empathize with of course...she probably doesn't get the respect she deserves right of the bat. She has a really strong voice, it's heart-breaking. So far my favorite song by her is "Cling To Me" which you can her about 30sec of on her video for "Good With You", also an amazing track. She delivers unique vocals, seemingly very difficult to perform live, but that isn't so. She's an amazing live artist as well. She's very funny, witty and kinda sarcastic (I should ask her out). And she dares to have a style reminiscent of Alice Cooper but makes it really really hott. Here's the video for "Good With You", trust, you will thank me for this: L.P. "Good With You/Cling To Me" video
Next up, we have Uh Huh Her, which isn't new, but their CD is FINALLY about to come out next Tuesday! And what better time than right now for the label to FINALLY release a video. It's big production ya'll lol. I don't even have much to say on this note...I talk about them alot(not necessarily on here), if you don't got it by now, baby forget it! But if you need more convincing here's the video for "Not A Love Song"....I wouldn't be surprised if they opened up for T&S, that's all I'm gonna say...there are things that make me think that's going to happen shhh
And third The Veronicas!!! Yeah I actually don't have much to say about them except their twins and they make really catchy pop/(very little)rock music and I'm OBSESSED with their latest single "Untouched" and wanted to share it with you guys. Yes they're twins but don't worry they have nothing on T&S...except sexy Australian accents *swoon*. But you can't hear that when they sing so meh!
Ok, I want to start of by saying I don't think it's necessary to compare Tegan & Sara to each other. But before I really cared about them I said that Tegan was my favorite for poetic reasoning such as "the one with the piercing"! So yeah I was clueless. I think they're both awesome but after two weeks of catching up on all things T & S, I've come to find that I lean more towards Sara. First it was her sense of humor, the chick's hilarious! You guys should really check out their dvds and go on youtube and type in "Tegan & Sara abc interview", after it's over you'll have a feeling of what I'm talking about. Then the more I kept looking at them in all this shit I realized, they really do look different and in my humble opinoin Sara's face is a bit softer and she's a bit cuter...but I know why people find Tegan hotter, she's edgier, people love that! I also like Sara's style of writing better than Tegan's. I love every song they have made but I like the layers in Sara's lyrics. I love their voices equally, I don't think I have a favorite in that area...which is the most important area seeing as how they're singers! So after minor comparisons I still feel good about myself for not saying that one is a better musician than the other:-) And check my baby Sara out, she can hold her own:
Tegan also collaborated with Against Me! on a track titled "Borne on the FM Waves" but there is no video for that track but, it's awesome. And kudos to both of them for showing that they don't use each other as a crutch and are two separate forces. I think people really needed to see that. I promise this isn't going to turn into a Tegan & Sara fan site...
I'm just SO bored with Gimme Sugar and I have to wait until festival rounds are over to get some peaks at the drool worthy Indie flicks making the circut. So I will be back on top of that soon but I mean really....who's complaining???
JUST WATCH!!!!! I'm late to the Tegan & Sara Party, so excuse my enthusiasm, I'm a bit overwhelmed. I didn't know they were this damn amazing and no one sent me a fuckin' memo so...I got a feeling I'm gonna be rambling on the next couple weeks about them!!! Just WATCH, PLEASE!haha (and don't laugh at me if you already up on this!)
I'm in love with two people, Tegan & Sara! Who isn't right? Actually I've always liked them, but I didn't love them...until a few days ago. A while ago they were mentioned Cathy Debuono's WYP and were said to be gay. This of course peaked my interest, especially considering they are identical twins. So initially my research (and they're SO open about their sexuality that it didn't take much) was just to find out if this was true. Along the way I discovered geniuses! As a true music fan one thing you need to see before you die is "The Con" dvd/documentary, as a music lover getting inside T & S's head was such a revealation. I mean watching them put each song together layer by layer, in EXTREME detail was unlike anything I'd seen before. They are in this CD, it's not some studio job, where they handed over the demos and just let go. In fact, the first thing you find out is that the tracks on the CD are SUPER tweaked demos that the girls had already put together. They just added the guitars, keyboards, and vocals first. Then took it to the producer and the drummer (both members of Death Cab for Cutie) to really make these tracks come to life. And on a side note: SUCH a turn on watching Tegan play some raw guitar lol. They're both professionals on the keyboard and the guitar. Tegan drums a little but it definitely isn't her strongest skill lol.
But it's not all about "The Con", actually I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that Con is their 5th record. Which means I've got a lot more T & S coming my way. Now I'm not an idiot, I was very much a fan by time "So Jealous" came out but I just liked the singles, but for some reason was never motivated to buy the CD. So this is the very beginning of my Tegan & Sara journey back in time (The Con came out over a year ago), I've got a long ways back to go. I just caught a rarity on youtube a song from a really old cd called "The First" well the CD is called "The Business of Art" and it's unlike anything I've EVER heard by T & S! Tegan, whose voice is the more high pitched between the two, leads this track with a rough hip-hop/r&b vocal that I didn't even know she was capable of. The funny thing about the video is I'm sure when people saw it, they assumed they were gay cause they look like little boys, but I don't care. When it comes to rockstars they do all sorts of weird things with their appearance that has nothing to do with sexual orientation. It's just an artist's need to be different from the pack. This theory is supported by the fact that this vid is like 6 years old and the girls have since had a more feminine appeal. As of late they have blended with their signature mullet, that NO ONE else can copy, cause they would look ridiculous, where as T & S look sexy. Here's the old vid, that everyone should check out, especially if you're some one who thought that all they could do was poppy high-pitched vocals....YOU'RE DEAD WRONG!!!!
In true "Then & Now", "Before & After" fashion I will put a video from the latest CD on here, but I have to give a little info first. Nothing much just some stand out tracks. My fave of the 14 on the disc are: The Con, Like O Like H, Knife Going In, Floorplan, Call It Off, Nineteen, Are You Ten Years Ago. And damn that's half the CD, the other tracks are great too, but the ones I listed are on repeat on my computer right now! So in conclusion Tegan & Sara are sexy and successful and musical geniuses! How successful, well I didn't check out the numbers for this disc yet, but "So Jealous" was one of the best selling CDs of 2004 when it was released. Not to mention you've heard their songs on every major mainstream primetime show...and more than a few movies! Making them industry favorites, and respected among their peers. So here's the video for "The Con", probably my favorite song by them, and I'm REALLY pissed this wasn't the first single!
The Cliks! I'm excited! Are you? If you're a dyke you are cause you've heard their music now, officially on EVERY major lezzy show there is: Exes & Ohs, The L Word, and most recently Gimme Sugar. The whole band is made up of lesbians except Lucas who is a transman, and a gorgeous one at that. His (and for you straight people who don't get how this works, Lucas was born a female but never felt like one so she transitioned and is now a man)voice is AMAZING! I've never heard a voice a raw and raspy as his that was able to go so high. On their most popular cut "Oh Yeah" Lucas' voice is so painful and you feel his fury in the verses but then the pre-chorus is so light and his voice lifts and it's some vulnerability there that you weren't expecting. Then there's sexually charged (if only by the video) "Eyes In The Back of My Head" and he's whispering to you through the verses and then the chorus is like a chant, very engaging. Now "Complicated" is the most revealing of the three I think. And if you watch the video you kinda see why, I think this one really mirrors Lucas' pain and confusion about the his gender and what that pain was like. So here it is, the video for the three songs: Oh Yeah
Complicated
Eyes In The Back of My Head
And a special treat: Cry Me A River & Irreplacable
Wow, what a find! There is just too much to say about this movie. It covers so many issues. It's about a middle aged single mother, Rosie played by the gorgeous Michelle Pfeiffer, who falls in love with a much younger man played brilliantly by Paul Rudd, after casting him in her TV show. Rosie is a supervising producer on a hit TV show. The show within the movie is where you'll find Stacy Dash who rarely acts in anything other than a hip-hop music video. But the real gem in this movie and I mean the person with the best lines is Rosie's daughter Izzie played by Saoirse Ronan. The mother daughter relationship is just as big a part of this movie as the love story, which usually doesn't blend well. But it was the magic behind this film. I think my favorite part of this movie was the Britany Spears remix by Izzie it was bril "Oops I got a career by shaking my rear, and making guys leer. O baby baby Oops I'm gonna sing more and dance like a whore, I'm just not talented"!!! Hilarious and towards the end she does another remix with an Alanis Morrisette classic which was just a brilliant.
John Lovitz is great as Rosie's ex-husband, who is stuck in a ridiculous and hopefully an exaggerated mid-life crisis. Meanwhile Izzie seems to be growing up way too fast for Rosie, which apparent in a really cute and awkward scene where Izzie ask Rosie when she could have sex. Paul Rudd's Adam is definitely acting his age at 29 and allows Rosie to let go and breathe when she's with him. Of course some problems ensue and the relationship between Rosie and Adam suffers. Another great performance worth mentioning is the legendary Tracy Ullman as Mother Nature. Mother Nature sort of serves as Rosie's sub-consciousness or what have you. Another thing I really enjoyed about this movie is all the not-so suttle references to pop culture and its horrible effects on our youth. One scene in particular touched me, it takes place in a clothing store where Rosie takes Izzie to get some new jeans. I won't give the whole scene away but it's really sad and you find out that Rosie and Izzie's insecurities come from the same place, but they kinda envy each other. Well I thoroughly enjoyed this film so you probably will too so, check it out!
So these interesting looking guys to the left are "Stax Hungry", pretty clever, dare i say it, hip-hop. But the sound is hardcore. I love the melody and I mean these guys can really shredd! The vocals are bit too hardcore for me but if your into punk/metal the 4 tracks on the Stax Hungry Myspace page are for you. They remind me of Rage Against the Machine but if the lead singer of Rage had a deeper voice.
I'm pretty new to Stax myself so I'm gonna hit cha with their about me section for their myspace:
Formed originally under the name Cracker Jack and the White Chocolates, Stax hungry brings thought provoking, conscious lyrics and blends them with high impact rock melodies. Stax Hungry, est. 2005, has been the at the forefront of the "funcore" movement and has had the pleasure of performing with well know bands such as- The Burning Cacti, Jefferson Golfcart, Awesome Core, Pauly Tomale and the magnets, Dog Latin, and From the Future. There is far more to come from Stax Hungry as they are preparing for the release of their first album (not yet titled) for the summer of 2008. Be prepared to enjoy yourself to death.
So check it out and judge for yourself, out of the 4 tracks on their Myspace page my favorite is "Blink Yellow", just because of the first minute or so alone, the music is on point, so here's a link to their Myspace:
Time to talk about my favorite band of the moment, Uh Huh Her. Uh Huh Her is a band/duo consisting of Leisha Hailey who gained success in the late 90's with the band/duo The Murmurs. And she's actually famous for her role on The L Word, that little up and coming show about lesbian life, and Camila Grey who has worked with some of the biggest people in the music industry (but she doesn't talk about that) and plays like EVERY instrument!
Their sound is genius, its like PJ Harvey but more upbeat and electric. Fans of this band have been waiting over a year for their debut cd to come out! Which is really special we've all experienced this journey and that's so rare. We've seen them perform at their label when they got the record deal, footage of them praticing and writing songs for the EP a year ago. I'm going to be reporting on these guys ALOT so I won't even drag this one out lol...here's some of the more recent web video out there...
PRE ORDER THEIR DEBUT "COMMON REACTION" AT WWW.UHHUHHER.COM
