Song of the Day: Foster the People

Hey guys, I've been swamped at work lately so I apologize for not blogging as often as I should. I came across a terrific three-peat of perfect songs during my morning commute:

Foster the People - Helena Beat
Ladyhawke - Magic
The Kills - Nail in My Coffin

Thank you, John Richards of KEXP for making my morning just a little bit brighter before an otherwise shitty day at work. Oh and by the way, if you haven't supported your local independent radio station lately, DO IT NOW!!! What are you waiting for? I gave $20 to C89.5, our local dance station, and it felt amazing to be able to give back. A real high school student volunteer answered when I called the -800 number with "may I take your pledge." Umm, yes you may! Brings me back to the good old days of working at OAG :)

Seattle is very lucky to have independent radio stations that are well-respected, play wonderful groundbreaking music, and give back to their community in tangible ways. KEXP hosts Capitol Hill Block Party and promotes local unsigned bands. C89.5 is run almost entirely by students at Nathan Hale High School. As in the students get academic credit for working at a kick-ass radio station with 57 minutes of music per hour. So jealous! While sometimes I don't really like their music choices - C89.5 tends to over-play the Top40 during rush hour and KEXP is notoriously overrun with hipster flavors - I gotta say it's so much better than the alternative. KISS 106.1, anyone? haha I'd rather shave off my nipples with a cheese grater :)

Alright I'll get off my soapbox! Here is your song of the day:

Vancouver Bike Nazis

Here's a funny take on bike lanes, from our friends up north in Vancouver, BC. It's a scene from the incredible film Downfall, which chronicles the last days of Hitler in his bunker, with a bit of bicycle Nazism thrown in the mix for ya. If only our politicians were this crazy about bike lanes, then we might actually get some real transportation improvements, jaaaa!



Via: Seattle Transit Blog

Def Jam meets Ibiza...

What do you get when you cross the sound of "urban" artists - God, don't you hate that term - with Ibiza trance?

I had never heard of such a thing until this new song by Kris Menace. It's a fantastic remix of The Dream's "Walking on the Moon." Thank you, C895!



Here are the original tracks - can you hear the synthesis in the final video? The power of electronic music - takes two otherwise bland genres and meld them into something great!

Happy Valentine's Day (Thank You, Old Spice)

I had to post this in honor of Valentine's Day. It would be criminal not to...enjoy :)

XBox Kinect's Dance Central is My New Crack...

I have to apologize for not posting as much as I should be lately. I do have a good excuse though!

For Christmas, I took home the new XBox Kinect and got the Dance Central game the next day. One word: HOOKED!

The game is beyond addictive. True, you could say the same thing about many video games. Somehow I had avoided the craze of video games for my entire life before this moment - never owned a console of any kind, never succumbed to this addiction. Ok, you got me, I was kind of a freak in junior high :)

It was a combination of factors that caused me to never catch the video game stupor like everyone fucking else on the planet. 1) the controllers - They are awkward to hold, I don't like using them. End of story. 2) Time committment - don't have it. I never understood how my friends could have "Halo parties" for 8 hours plus when we were 14, 15, 21??? Too much screen time, too much weed, too many crushed Cheeto stains on my carpet. No thanks. 3) Arcade games are more fun, and because you're dropping quarters on them each round, you get more of the thrill of gambling to get to the next level. It's like slot machines for kids. As a young whipper-snapper in downtown Kirkland, I loved going to Quarters every chance I could and blowing all my allowance there on Tekken 2 and Jones Soda. Like I said - freakkkkk :)

Kinect has totally changed my take on video games. For the first time, I don't feel guilty at all for playing them. I actually feel like I'm getting a workout (of sorts) just by playing them. If you really work at it, you can legitimately break a sweat. The Dance Central game has a great line up of dance, hip hop, and funk music that can keep you going for hours doing actual choregraphed routines. I have to admit that so far I suck at it for most songs - I can only get to "Easy" 3 or 4 stars most of the time, but I'm working on it.

So in case you were wondering, I've been plugging away trying my best to not look like these dorks:

Top 10 Youtube Videos of 2010

Some of the videos on here are predictable, others wildly unexpected.

1. Old Spice - who could resist?
2. Antoine Dodson - "Hide ya kids, hide ya wife..."
3. Double Rainbow - probably the most famous acid trip ever captured on camera.

The Ultimate Questions - courtesy of Old Spice