November 8, 2009

New & Future Music Releases

NEW RELEASES

10/6 NO AGE - Losing Feeling EP
10/6 RAVEONETTES - In And Out Of Control
10/6 AIR - Love 2
10/20 FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS - I Told You I Was Freaky
10/20 EDITORS - In This Light And On This Evening
10/27 TEGAN & SARA - Sainthood
11/3 WEEZER - Raditude
11/3 FOO FIGHTERS - Greatest Hits

FUTURE RELEASES

1/12 VAMPIRE WEEKEND - Contra
1/26 CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG - IRM
1/26 SPOON - Transference

NOTE: This list will be updated regularly and I'll highlight the changes in bold. To keep abreast of updates to this post, consider subscribing to this blog's RSS feed.

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Posted on November 8, 2009 at 3:51 PM

August 1, 2009

Summer Travel and a New Blog

I'm not posting much these days but I would like to take a moment to plug my brother John's new blog, Margin of Victory. In it, he and his friend Russ write about boardgames. Now is an especially good time to start reading because the two of them are heading to the World Boardgaming Championships in Lancaster, PA this week.

John and Russ leave tomorrow morning and I will be joining them for the drive. Once we get to Lancaster on Monday, they start boardgaming and I'll be hopping a train to New York City, where I'll staying with my good friends Matt and Kabrina until Saturday.

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Posted on August 1, 2009 at 12:08 PM

December 18, 2008

Top Eight Albums of 2008

Unfortunately, I couldn't think of ten albums that I would put on this year's list of top albums, so I pared it down to eight instead. The strange thing is that there were plenty of releases I was looking forward to, but few matched my expectations. For example, bands like My Brightest Diamond, Death Cab for Cutie, The Hold Steady, and We Are Scientists have all been featured on my lists in previous years but none of their latest efforts matched up to my expectations. And it is on that purposely disappointing note that I hereby declare the following releases worthy of the title of Top Albums of 2008.

STUART DAVIS - Something Simple
Thanks to my college buddy Josh, Stuart Davis will probably always be one of my favorite solo artists. Although some of the tracks on this 2008 release have been reworked from Stu's previous independently released albums, it's still a great pleasure to listen to. Why some of these tracks are not radio singles is a "Twisted Mystery" to me.

NADA SURF - Lucky
Another solid effort from Nada Surf should, at this point, come as no surprise. I used to think Weezer were the catchy rock song geniuses but Nada Surf eclipsed them this year when the Weez put out the horrendous Red Album.

REM - Accelerate
Solid from start to finish, this album is filled with tons of catchy rock songs. This is REM's best effort since Monster and it's more accessible, too. When you're looking for a decent straightforward rock song with a decent hook, this is the go-to album.

GOLDFRAPP - Seventh Tree
Goldfrapp went a little softer on this release, compared to the previous effort (which also made one of my year end lists) but that didn't seem to matter as this album is just as great as the beat heavy electronica on the last record. "A&E" is my favorite song of the entire year and just might rank up there among my favorite songs of all time.

CSS - Donkey
CSS's 2008 album seems more musically refined than their self-titled release of two years ago without a loss of snarkiness in the lyrics. I never quite know what they're trying to say but the songs are so great that it doesn't really matter.

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
After hearing "Kids" from this album on the radio numerous times, I finally figured out who it was by and checked out MGMT. Few tracks on the album match up to that song, but that's more a testament to my high regard for the song and not the mark of poor album quality.

FLEET FOXES - Fleet Foxes
I felt stupid for getting into Fleet Foxes months after everyone else started raving about them, but better late than never, right? This album has been the soundtrack to many of my cold and snowy walks to work over the past month and it fits the bill perfectly. I owe thanks to many people for recommending this album to me and I'm glad I finally listened.

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS - Alpinisms
This one was a late contender because I hadn't even heard of School of Seven Bells until about one month ago. Since then, few days have gone by where I haven't listened to at least one track off Alpinisms, the band's debut. Hints of electronica and lovely female voices are always a big hit with me (see Garbage, Republica, Venus Hum, etc). None of those bands are very similar to School of Seven Bells, which should tell you that this is album is a fresh and original piece of work.

To sample a track from each album, press play on the widget below:

And there you have it, the Top Eight Albums of 2008. As always, comments are welcomed.

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Posted on December 18, 2008 at 12:10 AM

November 25, 2008

Cheap Music

I'm going to quickly and briefly turn into a shill for Amazon's awesome MP3 Music Store and let you know of some good deals they have going on right now. First, the new album from the Killers - just released today - can be yours for just $3.99. Hopefully that's not indication of the quality of the music. Secondly, recent releases from Fleet Foxes, Coldplay, TV on the Radio, Santogold, She & Him, Flight of the Conchords, Katy Perry and Vampire Weekend are all just $5.00.

And just like that, I suddenly love the music industry again.

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Posted on November 25, 2008 at 10:06 PM

November 4, 2008

Senate Prediction (Coleman vs. Franken)

Based on a sampling of 341 unlikely voters today in the liberal heart of St. Paul (which gave Obama the presidency in a landslide), manyhighways is predicting a victory for Republican Senator Norm Coleman over Democratic challenger Al Franken. The margin of victory for Coleman will be slim (under 5%) but Coleman will be reelected to the Senate.

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Posted on November 4, 2008 at 6:08 PM

November 2, 2008

2008 Presidential Election Prediction

I think I'm probably going to go through withdrawal when this whole thing is finally over. I've been reading way to much polling data and statistics lately, mostly from the excellent site fivethirtyeight.com. I've learned a lot and have decided that the time has come for the official manyhighways presidential election prediction. Without further ado...

Barack Obama: 311
John McCain: 227

Chances are good that Obama will actually do much better than this, so I'm making quite a conservative prediction here. I'm predicting that McCain will win the battleground states of FL, MO and SC while Obama will win CO, VA, OH and PA. If McCain doesn't do well in the battleground states, the margin of victory for Obama will obviously be much greater.

One thing I am not willing to make a prediction on is the Minnesota Senate race which is the most contested in the nation, largely because of Independent Dean Barkley. Minnesotans have had no problems electing third party candidates before (see Jesse Ventura) so who knows what will happen on election day. The majority of polls are saying Al Franken has a slight advantage right now but this lead falls within the margin of error in most cases, making the race too close to call.

Finally, and most importantly, be sure to VOTE ON TUESDAY!

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Posted on November 2, 2008 at 11:10 PM

August 16, 2008

Nursing an Adrenaline Hangover

I'm way behind with posting right now because I haven't written anything about "Into the Corn", the little road trip I took this past week. I will write about that at some point but today's post is about yesterday's trip to Valleyfair, the Twin Cities amusement park in Shakopee. I was going to write this up as an email and send it to my friend Aimee in New York because she's a roller coaster junkie, but then I decided to just post it here.

Yesterday's excursion has been in the works for a long time (with logistics handled by my sister-in-law, Sara) and though I originally didn't think I'd be able to make it, I'm glad I was. I hadn't been to Valleyfair for over ten years so there were a lot of rides that I had never even seen, much less ridden. Of course all the old rides like the Corkscrew, High Roller (which we always called the "White Roller Coaster" and the one that I was afraid of for many years as a kid because I actually shed blood while riding it) and Excalibur.

Most of the new rides built in the last ten years were great. Wild Thing is just your standard roller coaster but it's pretty good. It doesn't quite compare to Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg (which I have been to in the past ten years), but it's high and fast nonetheless. The other new coaster is an old school wooden one called Renegade which has a twisting drop on the first hill. It's a bit rough and my vision was actually blurred for the entirety of the ride because of the vibrations, but the ride is great and has lots of stomach turning twists and drops. We would've ridden it more often if the line hadn't been so long.

My favorite of the new coasters was Steel Venom, which opened in 2003. It's not a roller coaster in the traditional sense because it simply goes back and forth along a track. Riders are first launched at 55 mph up a 90-degree, twisting track, then fall back down and go up the back side of the ride. This ride was especially good because both times I rode, I was sitting in the front car with feet dangling and nothing to obstruct the forward view. When going up the twisting, forward portion of the ride, it actually feels like the train is going to fly off the track, and the view from the front is nearly all sky. The coaster is similar to Kingda Ka at Great Adventure in New Jersey but is a junior version because it only goes half as fast and one third as high. However, it's still a great ride, especially from the front and especially when riding with my brother, John who was a bit scared that there was nothing in front of us.

The other new-to-me rides which I was impressed by were the Xtreme Swing and Power Tower. Xtreme Swing is just that, a giant swing that goes 60 mph in both directions. We must have ridden this half a dozen times and it never got old. At the peak of the ride rider's literally face the ground and then swing around to face the sky on the other side. It also sounds like its powered by steam and it makes cool swooshing noises. I may have to do some research to find out how it actually works.

Power Tower, next to the swing, also appears to be steam powered and is actually two rides in one. It consists of three columns, two which drop riders from 250 feet, and the other which shoots upwards 250 feet. Shooting up in the air was good, but doing the drop portion of the ride was even better for two reasons. First, I am a bit afraid of heights. Roller coasters don't bother me because there is structure underneath, but when I feel like there is nothing under me I get a bit freaked out. On Power Tower, riders are basically sitting in a chair 250 feet off the ground with no floor. Secondly, once up in the air, the ride pauses for nearly ten seconds (building up steam?) before it drops, with no warning, to the ground. So, as if a long delay up in the air with nothing under my feet wasn't scary enough, the drop to ground intensifies the feeling. I especially liked the ride because it scared me so much, leading to a great thrill and much yelling when riding it, which we did twice.

Overall, the rides at Valleyfair may not be as high or fast as the ones in other theme parks around the country, but it's much less crowded which means shorter lines for the rides and more bang for the buck. This year's trip will most likely become a yearly tradition and I'm already looking forward to going back and screaming my head off some more.

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Posted on August 16, 2008 at 11:51 AM

August 7, 2008

Into The Corn: the Plan

Tomorrow my brother and I embark on the last trip of the summer. We'll be driving to Davenport, Iowa tomorrow to see the Smashing Pumpkins, then going to Des Moines on Saturday to check out the Iowa State Fair. On Sunday we'll make a short trip to Marshalltown where my mom's side of the family is gathering. Actually we'll be in a small town south of Marshalltown called Haverhill (population: 170). I last visited Haverhill in 2006 on the Great Plains Roadtrip and, even though I've never actually lived there, my family has deep roots in the town and it's always nice to go back.

My brother will be heading back to Minnesota with my parents on Monday but I'll follow my godmother and her husband back to Omaha and stay with them for a few days. They recently moved from Oxnard, CA and I haven't been to Nebraska since I was a kid so I'm looking forward to visiting the sights.

Stay tuned for posts and photos from the cornfields of Iowa and Nebraska!

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Posted on August 7, 2008 at 10:07 PM

August 3, 2008

Radiohead's Live Show

I'm always interested in seeing what bands do at live shows in terms of lights and stage effects. I think this comes from setting up for dozens of concerts at the Fargodome back when I was in college. Since then, technology has moved quickly and Radiohead's set last night at Lollapalooza is a good example of some of the awesome light shows that are being produced these days. Unfortunately, I wasn't there to see it myself but there are a lot of videos online that give a pretty good idea of what the show looked like.

They seem to have some sort of LED strips hanging down from trusses above the stage. Not only do these light up, but they can actually create patterns which the audience (especially those at the back) can see. In the video below you'll see the lyrics to the song "Everything In Its Right Place" scrolling in midair across the stage. Not only that, but there are video displays at the rear of the stage showing the band members. The second video below is shot from further away and you can see the coordinated fireworks which were going off during the song.

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Posted on August 3, 2008 at 11:25 PM

August 2, 2008

A New Home

I moved into a new apartment yesterday. More importantly, I was reminded throughout the day of what happened one year ago as my brother and I were driving into Minnesota from New York with a minivan full of all my worldly possessions. On that same day, August 1st, 2007, the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed and Minnesota marked the one year anniversary of that tragedy yesterday as the new bridge nears completion.

When I moved here last year I didn't have much time to find an apartment so I ended up in a less than ideal studio in St. Paul a few blocks from the Cathedral. As I wrote at the time, the location was amazing. The apartment was the opposite. Every window in the place looked out at the identical building next door and I couldn't even see the sky. The charm of living in an old (early 1900s) building wore off quickly and the claw-foot tub turned out to be annoying rather than neat.

Yesterday I moved into a bigger and better apartment. It's in a modern building with brand new carpet, a new kitchen floor, air conditioning and, most importantly, it has a bedroom. No more studios for me, ever. It's in a fairly residential area but is close to the shops and restaurants of Grand Ave. I'll now be commuting to work via my own two feet every single day while my car sits in a garage with a tank of gas that will probably last a month, if not longer. I face the rear of the building and look out at the garages but there are lots of trees behind them which is nice. When I woke up this morning I could see blue sky out the window and could hear birds chirping which made me smile. Beyond the trees is a road so I hear a bit of swishing from cars passing but that doesn't bother me. There are also train tracks next to the road but as everyone knows, I love trains, so I find the thrum of diesel engines to be rather pleasant.

Of course there are a few downsides. I am above the laundry room and can sometimes hear the spin cycle on the washers. And since this is an apartment, I do sometimes hear noises in the hallway or a bit of creaking from the person above me. But I expect I'll quickly get used to these noises, just as I got used to the sirens and street noises when I lived in New York City.

I set up the kitchen yesterday with a little help but there is much more work to do over the next few days. Time to get back to unpacking.

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Posted on August 2, 2008 at 11:50 AM