Top Albums of the 00's

IN NO ORDER:


Lightspeed Champion – Falling Off The Lavender Bridge - Lightspeed Champion is Dev Hynes (formerly from the Test Icicles) and friends. He's from London, but he came to Omaha to record this album with a bunch of our super talented musicians (Mike Mogis, Tim Kasher, Tilly and the Wall, etc). How sweet is that?? His songs are like a mix of Bright Eyes, Weezer, and the Beach Boys.
"Tell Me What It's Worth"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYKNZAN2KFE


Rilo Kiley – The Execution Of All Things - I love all of Rilo Kiley's albums with the exception of their newest one, but this stands out more than any of the others. Great lyrics, great music, great hooks.
"Capturing Moods"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDmo-_q95sY


Bright Eyes – Lifted or The Story Is In The Soil Keep Your Ear to the Ground - I read a review of this once that said it was "the best nervous breakdown ever set to music." That pretty much sums it up. Conor Oberst freaks out, and a mini orchestra brings his freaked-outness to life.
"Let's Not Shit Ourselves"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biuHzcnEXf0&feature=related


Bright Eyes - I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning - Conor Oberst is still freaked out, but this time the album shifts musical style to country/folk and shifts attention to the state of the world.
"Old Soul Song For The New World Order"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_rV6XaqJ5Y


Beck – Sea Change - Beck was a weirdo Beastie Boys On Acid type, then he got depressed. THEN he wrote one of the most beautiful albums ever. Poor guy.
"The Golden Age"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf_zt_dIm0A


Ben Kweller – On My Way - It's his most rockin and most raw and I love every song. Ben Kweller writes the best pure rock and roll songs out there right now.
"The Rules"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-aPn7YCo6E


Common – Be - I just got into Common recently, and I can already say he's one of the smoothest and most intelligent rappers out there. This album also features some of the best beats Kanye West has ever made.
"Be"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp4_r8_MMho


Cursive – The Ugly Organ - Tim Kasher's sarcastic self depricating lyrics make the intense music hit even harder.
"Art Is Hard"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtxIJt2J7tg


Sufjan Stevens – Come On Feel The Illinoise - Someday Sufjan Stevens' classical/pop music will be appreciated. This stuff is weird, complex, and insanely catchy.
"Come On, Feel The Illinoise"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poXdW6g5WK0


The Good Life - Album Of The Year - If you don't know, The Good Life is Tim Kasher (Cursive)'s folky Other Band. And they're equally as good. Album Of The Year is a concept album that tells the story of a failed relationship one month at a time.
"Album Of The Year"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbTcf1lcEE0


The Good Life – Help Wanted Nights - Some people hate on this album but I absolutely love it. This album took what Album Of The Year did and switched it up a bit by making it poppier. A good mix if you ask me.
"Heartbroke"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeaRM4_LcUs


Blink 182 - Untitled - The Final Blink Album. They were my favorite band for so long, and they finally were forced to grow up on their last album. I've always thought these guys were great songwriters, so it didn't surprise me much when they pulled it off.
"Violence"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpxFhvT_GME


Motion City Soundtrack – Commit This To Memory - After Blink broke up, the pop punk genre got absolutely embarrassing. But Motion City Soundtrack kept the music more than respectable with this album.
"Everything Is Alright"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY-c-_sZ8LI


The Roots – Rising Down - The best hip hop band ever. If you don't know the Roots, you should. These guys are great musicians, Black Thought is a great MC, and that equals a great band. This album is pretty dark compared to their previous albums. It works.
"Get Busy"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBb0yh-pZOM

The Strokes – Is This It? - This album made people pay attention to rock and roll again. These guys did it like the great bands of the 60s, and it worked just as well.
"Last Nite"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tuvX_X7Rlw

Some days are aces, some days are faces, some days are twos and threes

One of my favorite artists of all time, Ben Kweller, has finally released three songs from his new EP, "How Ya Lookin' Southbound? Come In" on MySpace.

It's country.

Usually I'm not too big on country because when I think of country music I think of the horribleness that is Shania Twain or Keith Urban or something. This is awesome though. In tribute to his influences growing up, it's old school like Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. Anyway, he's releasing a whole country/folk styled album in January, I believe. Check out the preview!

www.myspace.com/benkweller

GREAT SHOW

This weekend I saw Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band play with Jenny Lewis at the Anchor Inn. Wow.

I've loved Jenny Lewis for a long time, and I was really happy to hear her new stuff live. It sounded great. A lot more rockin than her old album. It translated very well to a live setting. 

Check out her new song "Acid Tongue." 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrxwL3848cU&feature=related

Conor Oberst is the man. I've been listening to his new solo album a lot lately. I was actually really happy that he stuck to new stuff and didn't play any Bright Eyes songs. That just wouldn't be right. But the Mystic Valley Band ROCKED it. 

Here's his new song "Souled Out!!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYewptydkvE

Look at this

I love Omaha. I wish it looked like this all the time.

and now, a heartwarming tribute to our town

Blog Number One: Introduction

My name is Joe, and I am just bored enough to do this.

I have absolutely no expectations of this ever being read by anyone, but my friend Steve just created a blog and it seemed like a nice way to pass the time. 

I live in Omaha, Nebraska

I go to school in Lincoln at University of Nebraska

I play in a band called Hot From Far

This blog will probably consist mostly of music, Nebraska football, and whatever else is on my mind I guess. But those two things are on my mind most of the time, so we'll see how far into the subconscious we can go.

So here we go. First blog. 

Things I Like:

Playing guitar

Sneezing

Record players

Memorial Stadium

Vess Soda

Upright bass

The Office

Things I Don't Like:

Hearing people chew food

People talking during a movie

Alright seeya next time