Camels With Hammers

327. The Whigs

February 9, 2010 – 11:44 pm

Just a good young straight up modern rock band whose sound is built on fantastic rhythm:

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Music, Videos | Tagged "Right Hand On My Heart", David Letterman, The Late Show With David Letterman, The Whigs | Leave a Comment

Mr. Deity Tries To Find Time To Make Time

February 8, 2010 – 11:01 pm

I don’t know if I’ve seen such a well-scripted bit of comdy about metaphysics and cosmology before:

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Atheism, Atheist Videos, Comedy, Cosmology, Hilarious, Metaphysics, Mr. Deity, New Atheism, Parody, Physics, Religion and Science, Satire, Videos | Tagged Nothingness, Time | Leave a Comment

“And It’s One Life And It’s This Life And It’s Beautiful”

February 8, 2010 – 10:32 pm

That’s the key life affirming spirit from the teenaged Swedish sisters in the band First Aid Kit. I’m not sure if or where they might make the big top 366 list but figured I’d pass on a great song in an atheist spirit to my godless readership. The dissertation is completing steadily and I’ll be back to blogging about philosophy and atheist issues regularly again soon.

The song is called “Hard Believer”:

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Atheism, Atheist Videos, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Hard Believer", Atheist Art, First Aid Kit, Life Affirmation | Leave a Comment

328. Buffalo Springfield

February 8, 2010 – 7:12 pm

They wrote and performed one of greatest songs ever about war, for what it’s worth. Click here to see its incorporation into the brilliant title sequence of the film Lord of War.

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Film, Music, Videos | Tagged "For What It's Worth", "Lord of War, Buffalo Springfield, Classic Rock | Leave a Comment

329. Tori Amos

February 7, 2010 – 11:54 pm

A harrowing and unbelievably brave song about one of the worst imaginable personal experiences:

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Music, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Me and a Gun", Tori Amos | Comments (1)

330. British Sea Power

February 6, 2010 – 6:06 pm

They had might as well be called British Pop Power since it’s the epitome of their sound:

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Film, Music, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Man of Aran", "Please Stand Up", British Sea Power | Comments (2)

Magnetic Fields Documentary Coming!

February 6, 2010 – 2:06 am

Trailer!!

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Film, Indie Music, Indie Rock, Music | Tagged "Strange Powers", Claudia Gonson, Daniel Handler, Documentary, Magnetic Fields, Neil Gaiman, Sarah Silverman, Stephen Merritt | Leave a Comment

331. Miranda Lambert

February 5, 2010 – 9:58 pm

Her voice just sings “blunt country girl with a brash attitude” so so well.

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Famous In A Small Town", "Guilty In Here", Miranda Lambert | Leave a Comment

332. The Vaselines

February 4, 2010 – 3:52 pm

Kurt Cobain loved this quirky band enough that Nirvana recorded three covers of their songs. Below are the Vaselines playing acoustic versions of those songs and then another of my favorites:

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Indie Music, Indie Rock, Music, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam", "Molly's Lips", "Son of a Gun", "You Think You're A Man", Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Vaselines | Leave a Comment

333. Bon Iver

February 3, 2010 – 4:02 pm

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Indie Music, Music, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Re: Stacks", Bon Iver | Comments (1)

334. Blonde Redhead

February 2, 2010 – 5:34 pm

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Indie Music, Indie Rock, Music | Tagged Blonde Redhead | Comments (1)

335. Cowboy Junkies

February 1, 2010 – 10:59 pm

The Cowboy Junkies make the list on the strength of the one album I own from them, their classic The Trinity Sessions, the brilliantly moody feel of which is epitomized in their rendition of Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane”:

And like many others I discovered this masterpiece song from Oliver Stone’s perfect incorporation of it into “Natural Born Killers” and so here’s a cool YouTube video someone put together for “Sweet Jane” involving stills and dialogue from the film:

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Film, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Natural Born Killers", "Sweet Jane", Cowboy Junkies | Leave a Comment

336. Los Campesinos!

January 31, 2010 – 9:54 pm

I love bands with both a male and a female lead, so you’ll hear a bunch of them show up over the course of this list starting here with Los Campesinos! This Welsh band’s songs are brim over with a truly vibrant, youthful energy and undeniably strong melodies. The only drawback which prevents me from listening to them more is that despite their decidedly upbeat and decidedly rock arrangements they occasionally manifest a bit too much of an emo-like lack of subtlety and can even be a bit too twee and immature at times. Nonetheless, for the most part their passion, however overwrought, is digestible because of the sheer strength of their musical arrangements and their innately likable group personality. In the final analysis, on the scale of bleeding on the stage emotional excesses, they fall pretty squarely on the preferable Arcade Fire side, a safe distance from the Linkin Park side.

And thus ends the first month of my run down of my ranking of my favorite 366 bands! I hope you’ve enjoyed the music so far and promise increasingly exciting music as we go month to month!

366. Barb Jungr
365. Smog
364. Siouxsie and the Banshees
363. Fountains of Wayne
362. Mountain Goats
361. Fever Ray
360. Mirah
359. Gwen Stefani (& No Doubt)
358. P!nk
357. Damien Rice
356. Lily Allen
355. Soul Made Visible
354. The Cranberries
353. Japandroids
352. Dan Deacon
351. Offspring
350. Sheryl Crow
349. Marnie Stern
348. Jane’s Addiction
347. Barry White
346. Beyoncé
345. Metric
344. Cat Power
343. Garfunkel and Oates
342. Fleming and John
341. Def Leppard
340. Deborah Harry/Blondie
339. Antje Duvekot
338. Lil’ Mama
337. Bjork

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Indie Music, Indie Rock, Music, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Miserabilia", "You'll Need Those Fingers For Crossing", Los Campesinos! | Comments (1)

2009 Pazz and Jop Poll Results

January 31, 2010 – 3:58 am

I know now that I am daily presenting my favorite 366 bands you have stopped bothering to look anywhere else for tips about new music worth investigating. But, nonetheless, you can find a ranked list of critics’ favorite 1,934 albums released in 2009 here. For the (considerably shorter) rankings lists based on critical consensus of years past (stretching back to 1971), you can find those here.

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Music, Music Reviews | Tagged Pazz and Jop | Leave a Comment

337. Bjork

January 30, 2010 – 5:50 pm

While I found Lars von Trier’s “Dancer in the Dark” unbearably irritating story wise, Bjork’s songs had me rewatching their scenes over and over again. The scene below, containing the film’s most spectacular song and dance number, comes from late in the film and so is premised on a major spoiler from the film, so spoilerphobes, you’ve been warned:

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Film, Indie Music, Music, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Bjork", "Dancer In The Dark", "In the Musicals" | Comments (1)

338. Lil’ Mama

January 29, 2010 – 11:27 pm

I admit I’m used to listening to Lil’ Mama’s remix of Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” without the video and presented that way Lil’ Mama’s rejoinders have the effect of hilariously and cockily intruding, undermining, and mocking her. So the video below is a bit of a letdown as it does not retain any of those tensions which make Lil’ Mama’s cheeky contributions to the remix so sassy and fun. Nonetheless, her talents as a rapper and her charm as a persona should still come across in “Girlfriend” and her rap over hand claps and other found percussion from her break out track, “Lip Gloss.”

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Music, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Gilfriend (Remix)", "Lip Gloss", Avril Lavigne, Lil' Mama, Rap | Comments (1)

339. Antje Duvekot

January 28, 2010 – 1:28 am

I discovered Antje Duvekot through her song “Merry-Go-Round” as it played in a bank commercial and have bought several versions of it over time. A higher-fi audio of the version below is the 15th most frequently played song in my I-tunes and I-pod since the summer of 2008. That’s 15th out of 14,344 songs. It’s one of those rare songs I feel compelled to listen to on a loop (and the song’s structure makes it a natural song to loop–it sounds like just an elongation of the song rather than starting over when you let it swing back to the beginning). I love her unique voice with its Irish tone yet entirely American accent and while her musical style is generally pretty straightforward folk, her way with a lyric and a melody has moments of greatness:

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Music, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Merry-Go-Round", "Scream", Antje Duvekot, Folk Music | Comments (1)

340. Deborah Harry/Blondie

January 27, 2010 – 1:27 am

Debbie Harry easily has one of the coolest rock chick voices around. Be sure to watch the great video of her and Iggy’s completely charming cover of “Did You Ever?” in the first video below, where she shines just talk-singing:

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)

An Anti-Gun Ad

January 26, 2010 – 11:07 am

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Videos | Tagged Ads | Comments (5)

341. Def Leppard

January 26, 2010 – 1:26 am

My kind of ’80s cheesy pop hair metal, my favorite song when I was 9 is the first in this retrospective:

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Music, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged "Armaggedon It", "Love Bites", "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Rock of Ages", '80s Music, Def Leppard, Hair Metal | Comments (1)

342. Fleming and John

January 25, 2010 – 1:42 pm

No videos today since this band is small enough that there are no good videos of the song most responsible for their being on this list. It’s called “SSSH!” and when I first discovered it I played it on a loop for about 30 times I found its lyrics and melodies and, most of all, Fleming McWilliams’s full-ranged vocal performance so infectious. Her singing across all her songs is filled with exhilaratingly passionate and aggressive banshee screams, hauntingly quirky melodies, and perfectly phrased lyrics. Her shrill voice explodes with personality, frequently managing in the same song to be effervescently manic, jazzy, wry, snotty, rebellious, contemptuous, aggressive, comical, and enchanting. Listen here.

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Indie Music, Indie Rock, Music, Music Videos, Videos | Tagged Contemporary Christian Music, Fleming and John, Fleming McWilliams | Comments (1)

Daily Hilarity: Mr. Deity’s Promised Land

January 25, 2010 – 9:32 am

The new Mr. Deity, brilliantly exposes the insanity and moral repugnancy of a certain allegedly “good” “divinely inspired” book of “moral guidance” from a “good God”:

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Bible, Comedy, God, Hilarious, Parody, Religion, Religious Satire, Religulous, Satire | Tagged Biblical Genocide, Biblical Violence, Canaanites, Mr. Deity, Promised Land | Comments (1)

Daily Hilarity: The Deity Advises Conan

January 25, 2010 – 9:26 am

Your Thoughts?

By Daniel Fincke | Posted in Comedy, Hilarious, Parody, Videos | Tagged Conan O'Brien, Late Night Wars, Mr. Deity | Leave a Comment

343. Garfunkel and Oates

January 24, 2010 – 5:00 am

No, I’m not saving spots on the top 366 by reviewing both Simon and Garfunkel and Hall and Oates as one oeuvre of cotton candy male duet harmonies stretching over three decades and two bands with completely different members. Garfunkel and Oates are the comedy singers Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, who write extremely clever, fast-paced, nuance rich comedy songs about the many awkwardnesses of dating. ”One Night Stand” brings out the hilarious juxtaposition between the desire before a one night stand and the common revulsion that follows it, “Fuck You” (cleaned up and not as funny in its Scrubs performance as “Screw You”) is a great send up of disparate expectations between two people whose interest in each other is otherwise mutually increasing, and “I Would Never (Have Sex With You)” is a song about, um, let’s say, “putting things bluntly.” Like the best comedy songs do, they wring their subjects out for a myriad of funny insights, rather than just ride along on the most obvious component of the joke the whole way through. And like the master of comedy music Weird Al (who regularly speeds up the pace of the songs he parodies), they realize that faster is funnier when it comes to music. And boy do they go fast, compressing a ton of witty lyrics and funny phrasings and other vocal flourishes into short songs. In the YouTube videos below they go so fast most of the time that often the lyrics become nearly impossible to understand (at least on first listen). They tried to remedy this on their actual album with these songs, which they released a year ago in January, but, at least to my ears, the slight loss of momentum actually hurt the songs so that they’re funnier on YouTube than on the i-pod. It also doesn’t help to lose their terrific facial performances of their songs either.

I should probably also mention that all the videos below are pretty NSFW.