marino13

I think the biggest piece of propaganda that I've heard is the part about him hiding behind a woman. She was probably just collateral damage from the initial attack, but they're using her death to craft a story that Bin Laden was a coward up to the end, hiding behind a woman.

Agreed. He made his little statement there, but then really stumbled around with the follow-up questions.

I have to think that he's dead also, I'm just not sure if the story of how it happened is 100% true. Could be that they are trying to slant the story a certain way to highlight "one of the gutsiest calls I've ever seen by a President" (as Brennan put it)and gain political points. That, or maybe they beat the crap out of Osama and used his head for target practice before they took a picture of him. Who knows, I just have a very hard time trusting what comes out of the mouths of politicians, left or right.

Just saw the press conference with Brennan. Can someone explain to me how releasing a picture of a dead body could potentially jeopardize similar operations and intelligence sources in the future? I'm not buying it. Also not buying their excuse for burial at sea.

damn that's good. i'm thinking this decade might be pretty good if these dudes are putting out records. just plain good song writing.

I had the exact same thought. Dawes and Delta Spirit are where it's at for me right now. Those two are just great songwriters and seem like very humble and likable guys as well. It just feels like the future of music watching that clip.

Never heard of these guys, but I'm listening to the link on NPR, and holy shit they sound like Golden Smog on "Blue Eyes." Pretty good! Thanks for posting.

If you like that, then watch this one, especially from 2:55 to the end.

The lead singer on both of those is Matt from Delta Spirit. If you haven't checked out Delta Spirit, they are outstanding.

Count me in the camp that wants less falsetto from Jim. If the new album is full of it, I will drift further away from the band. Delta Spirit is starting to scratch my itch the way MMJ used to. I much prefer Matt's voice and lyrics, and their new album is supposed to be much louder as well.

http://gc.guitarcenter.com/sessions/

An intimate concert and interview with indie-rock band, Delta Spirit. Performances include "Bushwick Blues", "White Table", "Ransom Man" and "Scarecrow". With host, Nic Harcourt.

Premieres April 9th if you have DirecTV. This has quickly become one of my favorite bands and a must-see on the next tour. They have also helped me to give Dawes another chance, and I'm glad I did!!

I hope he stays far far away from the auto-tune on this one.

Love the thread idea.

A few recent ones for me:

Elliott Smith - "Tomorrow Tomorrow"

Had heard this song several times before, but just recently I finally HEARD it in all it's beauty.

Elliott Smith- "Pretty Ugly (Before)"

Hadn't given much attention to the Basement on the Hill album and suddenly fell in love with this song, especially the harmonies. "ugggglyyy beforrrrre..........doooooooooooooooo"

Radiohead- "Pyramid Song"

Have owned Amnesiac for several years, but it took my daughter learning piano for me to start getting more into piano-based music. When I went back to this album after a long break from Radiohead, this song really hit me. Also love the live version of "Like Spinning Plates" from the I Might Be Wrong live album for the same reason.

it's taken a few records, but I've finally come to terms with the fact that I just don't love an Isbell less truckers nearly as much...

 

i was a fan before he joined, but i started LOVING them when he joined... and post-Isbell albums for me have just been very good but I have much less interest than I used to, this one included. It doesn't help that Patterson has always been my least favorite vocalist in the group I suppose.

 

*sigh*

Agree, agree and agree.

Doubt I will buy the new one, but from what I've heard of "Mercy Buckets", I may have to download that track. Decoration Day and Dirty South are where it's at for me.

There is a Borders in PA where the whole basement level use to be mostly music. That place had everything - imports, box sets, all sorts of stuff. I once spent two hours looking at cds there. The cds were not all that expensive, but that was before the days of iTunes, and online music buying.

 

The last time I was there a few years ago, almost all of the inventory was gone. It was pretty much what you see at a Walmart now, mainly greatest hits, some new releases, and stuff people buy a lot - such as certain country artists.

I think it depends on the store. I have been to many that are more like Wal-Mart. However, the one I hit has many indie bands. I recently bought the newest Menomena and Delta Spirit albums there, for example. I even saw the Anais Mitchell - Hadestown album there the other day.

I really hope they stay open, I buy a lot of cd's there. Before you call me an idiot, I use Discover rewards bucks to get a $25 gift card for $20. Then I use my Borders rewards membership, which gives you 30-40% off coupons, plus an additional 10% off and free shipping. So, a $16 cd is now under $10 and I'm buying it with a gift card through Discover. Really supports my habit and allows me to own physical copies of music that you can't find at the big box stores for a very low price.

A big problem with Borders is their online store sucks compared to Amazon and B&N. Several times I have had to navigate around their system to find an album. The artist sometimes is not linked, so I have to find it by looking up the album title instead. I'd hate to think of how many sales they lose because of this.

Looks like VH1 is going the route of Austin City Limits and featuring for the most part better and lesser known artists. Can't wait to see the MMJ episode, just hope they avoid the middle section of Evil Urges when choosing a setlist.

http://blog.vh1.com/2011-02-16/vh1-storytellers-set-to-return-with-episodes-featuring-kings-of-leon-cee-lo-death-cab-for-cutie-and-more/

I mostly agree with the Stereogum article. I really like the album, but other than "Sprawl II" and "We Used To Wait", it drops off significantly for me after "Suburban War" (my favorite song on the record). I'm sure it was most deserving of Best Album compared to the other contenders in the category, but there were for sure better albums released this year, "High Violet" for one. However, they don't get the viewers to watch the show if they truly nominate the best music. Bottom line, I'm glad AF won the award and I can't wait to see them with The National in April. It will be my third time seeing The National, but my first time with AF.

I thought their first album was good, but not worthy of the lavish praise and album of the year honors it received. Add to that, I saw them early in their tour and thought they were a bit awkward and nothing spectacular.

Part of me wanted to not like this song to justify my prior feelings and bring them back down to earth. Damn you Fleet Foxes, I really liked it.

This is a timely thread for me. I had seen their performance on Carson Daly a few weeks ago, but didn't pull the trigger. Saw the Kimmel performance and went back for a closer look. Ordered the first album yesterday and will pick up the second one next time I'm out and about. I wish they hadn't just completed the tour. Is it just me, or does the scratch in his voice remind anyone else of Lennon at times on the studio material?

Here is an interesting old article from Metacritic that sorts out the best artists of the decade (2000-09)based on consistently high album scores. Who do you think is #1?. Hint, they were just mentioned in the thread.

http://features.metacritic.com/features/2009/best-music-of-the-decade/

#1 The National - High Violet

Next Cut:

Black Keys

New Pornos

Next Cut after that:

Arcade Fire

Spoon

Jenny and Johnny

Frightened Rabbit

Avett Brothers - Live Vol. 3

Mumford and Sons

Tallest Man - Wild Hunt

Unfortunately, nobody is going to watch a music awards show with nominees that aren't huge sellers or nostalgia acts that the Average Joe knows.

They should include the huge sellers, just with categories like "Worst Popular Album (min. 500K copies sold)". That would be an awesome awards show. Include the most worthy albums for best of and slam the worst talent out there at the same time.

Realistically though, the Oscars will throw a high grosser in there from time to time that might not be as worthy as some others, but it's always at least a respectable movie. I wish the Grammys could at least find some middle ground.

If they ever do nominate a good band, they are usually way late to the party and the band is not even at their peak. Wilco is a perfect example. Their first nomination was for AGIB, nothing for BT, ST or YHF. Then they continue to get nominated for SBS and W(TA).

I believe this is the first time Arcade Fire has been nominated and most would agree that this album is worthy of nomination but not as good as some of their previous work. I'd be willing to bet that their next album is nominated even if it is subpar.

The other tendency is to nominate acts way past their prime that make a comeback, like Robert Plant, Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan, etc.

Band of Horses for Best Alternative Music album is ridiculous. There are a thousand albums better than that one, most notably High Violet, which received no nominations.

Why is there such a difference between the Oscars and the Grammys as far as identifying quality art? Katy Perry for Album of the Year is like nominating Transformers 2 for Best Picture. There is not a mainstream music awards show that one can even begin to take seriously.

That's sort of why I brought it up. We now take it for granted that wars are fought in far away places by other people and we don't have to pay for it and we barely know what is at stake. Both WWI and WWII were pretty clear. Lots of people served and lots and lots of people died. And the wars more or less ended.

 

Not only that, the country erected monuments to the those who served and those who didn't come back. There are many now neglected World War I monuments all over the country. I have two favorites. One is the one on King Drive in Bronzeville which is a monument to the African American units that were part of the war and the other one is in Peoria at the foot of the scenic drive that overlooks the Illinois River Valley.

 

Chicago

 

Peoria

 

 

 

LouieB

I am not a Peoria native, but I've lived in the area about 10 yrs and knew nothing of that monument. I've been up scenic drive several times and the monument looks vaguely familiar, but now I will make sure to stop and look. I sit here right now about two minutes away from it. My dad fought in Vietnam, so the veterans have a special place in my heart as well. Thank you for posting!!

Saw night 1 and so far up to Tom Hanks of night 2. I really liked the bit with the TBS censor.

I'm ready for Conan to quit talking about Conan. He was mining comic gold on the way out of The Tonight Show and he kept it up on Twitter and his tour over the last nine months. However, I think it's time to move on to the next chapter. It was funny while it lasted, but I think most people are going to get tired of it quickly.

I read last week that he was pleading for people not to buy the album on Amazon if they offer up the 3.99 deal like they did with The Suburbs. I think he just needs to consider himself lucky if someone wants to buy it in the first place vs. just getting it for free.

My six year old loves this band. However, we call them the New P's in my house because I'm not ready to explain to her what a pornographer is.