So here is the  brand new video from the Sigur Ros frontman, Jonsi. This is the first video off of his first and forthcoming solo project entitled Go. I am extremely pumped about this tour and hope to attain a ticket to his New York show.

I find this song to be very beautiful and the video pleasing to the eyes (or eye, if you’re blind in one like Jonsi). I also feel the song title “Go do” is my personal anthem right now. Yah.

And for all you art lovers out there, here is the inside scoop on Jonsi’s upcoming tour and stage design. This show is going to be unreal. Check it out.

Their story goes a little something like this:

In the spring of 2003, three young filmmakers (Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole) traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a film making adventure transformed into much more when these boys from San Diego discovered the untold tragedy of Uganda.  Rebel armies, known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), have been abducting children and using them as troops while they wage war against the Ugandan government. This originally caused the children to night commute, or walk miles nightly to avoid these troops. It is estimated that 90% of the LRA are abducted children. The film tells their story. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend that you do. I don’t say this often about cinema, but I swear to you that the film changed my life. You can get it here.

Once the documentary was cut in 2004, they started screening it at local universities, starting with University of San Diego, UCSD and SDSU but the film has now been seen by millions of people. The overwhelming response has been, “How can I help?” To answer this question, the 501(c)3 non-profit Invisible Children, Inc. was created, giving compassionate individuals an effective way to respond to the situation.

Over the last few years the story of  Invisible Children sparked a grassroots movement mobilizing thousands of American teens into action to raise money to rebuild war-torn schools in northern Uganda and provide scholarships to African youth. Through events like the Global Night Commute and Displace Me, millions of young people around the globe became voices for the voiceless in northern Uganda. The IC network and support base was expanding at an incredible rate.

Invisible Children has always been the best at creative social media and viral marketing. They use film to inspire people into action. Take a look at one of these next few videos and if you don’t get the chills, you might want to check your pulse.

The TRI Campaign.

The Rescue (a protest) aftermath

So let me get to the real reason that I’m writing this.

Facebook recently teamed up with JP Morgan Chase to distribute more than $5 million across its network of nonprofit organizations. Based on the votes of Facebook users, the partnership would donate $1 million to the winning nonprofit, $100,000 each to the five runners up, and $25,000 each to the next 100 finalists. That may seem like everyone gets a piece of the pie, but all of Facebook’s registered charities, totaling more than 500,000, are eligible to win.

The program is called Chase Community Giving: You Decide What Matters. The top 100 charities were announced on December 15 (Invisible Children being one of them),  another round of voting commenced from January 15 to January 29. The five runners up and $1 million grand prize winner was announced on February 1.

Two days before the voting ended, IC was in 2nd place, behind To Write Love On Her Arms, an awesome organization dedicated to the prevention of teenage depression. And they weren’t behind by a small margin, they were in second place with about 11,000 votes between the two. IC had to breach that within two days and voting had been open for weeks. They did. And within the last day of the race, they actually ended up pulling ahead by 11,000 votes. But watch below and see how small the margin actually was for the win.

Here’s to changing the world one film at a time.

Shalom and happy Tuesday to you, my friends. I’m assuming you thought I gave up on this precious piece of electronic journalism, but let me assure you I have not.  I am back and more enthused than ever on the dawn of this incredible new decade. A decade filled with limitless possibilities and unfathomable promise. 2010 has been mighty generous to me thus far, with people, opportunities and of course, music.  So I am here to delve into the last of those three for your reading pleasure. More specifically, I am here to review Yeasayer’s new album Odd Blood.

1. The Children

The clunk and clank of a mysterious forced march of caught bandits in some futuristic landscape bring in the reverberations and voice manipulation of Chris Keating, very similar to what you might hear from The Knife, rendering him almost completely unintelligible. From an instrumental standpoint, you’ll hear some nice pianos, xylophone and even a faint horn. This is such a unique and interesting way to start off, I’m convinced the song is used as a secret code to invite the listener to expand their mind for the duration of the album.

2. Ambling Alp

The Children fades serenely into the first few notes of Ambling Alp and you immediately know this song is going to  rip your heart out, if only by the first few soulful and precision-laden drum beats.  Plainly put, this is an epic song with a killer hook. I think another reviewer put it best when likening it to Peter Gabriel in his  “Shock the Monkey” pop brilliance days.  Chris Keating’s voice demands attention and owns every square mile of this song.  He is in his finest form vocally and leaves you wanting for more.  Lyrically, an electronic lesson-filled tune paying homage to classics such as “Father and Son” by Cat Stevens as Keating sings “And if anyone should cheat you, take advantage of or beat you, raise your head and wear your wounds with pride.”

3. Madder Red

Vocals. Vocals. Vocals. And group ones at that. Melodic war cries, wailing for understanding. Talk about paying your respect to the 80′s. Almost Toto-ish at times with the harmonies and some resounding electronic drum beats eerily similar to any Mannheim Steamroller Christmas album, but don’t let that scare you. If this album will prove one thing, it will be that Yeasayer loves to layer. Sounds upon effects upon sounds. They’re aiming to be the mixologists of the music industry. Another catchy chorus that will send shivers down your spine and won’t leave your head for hours.

4. I Remember

A true love song,  Lou Gramm and the rest of Foreigner would be proud.  Frantic synth slides into monstrous and gripping drum beats that may or may not be ripped off from the “Chariots of Fire” theme. Keating’s falsetto so haunting it takes you back to holding your first love as he wails “You’re stuck on my mind, all the time” over and over.

5. O.N.E.

If you go to the Yeasayer myspace page (myspace.com/yeasayer) you will notice that their headline reads “Enya with Bounce.” Never is this more apparent than in the song O.N.E. From the get-go, you are immediately whisked away to a foreign land, you might even want to call it “Storms of Africa” hyped up on adderall. Other than Enya’s influence, this is definitely a tune for all you Animal Collective lovers out there, lots of energy and lots of squelchy synths. This tune will make you move.

6. Love Me Girl

Initially the most rave-esque of all the tunes and just when you think it’s going to explode, the song shifts into a psychadelic drum-induced beat fest. Keating, seeming to have had some romantic hardships during the making of this album sings “What is she covering up? What is she lying about?” amidst the harmonies of the rest of the band. Housey piano and interspliced Birds of Paradise noises round this clever tune out.

7. Rome

Danceable Marimba-infused song that happens to be a little too Lou Bega for my taste. Yeasayer really holding strong on the exotic animal sounds, leaves one feeling as if you’re at the zoo a bit. Over-processed beats, a blurry and stubborn bass line holds the song while crooked keyboard lines and Keating’s vocals weave in and out of each other in their own global shuffle.

8. Strange Reunions

A technical technicolored dreamcoat of wordly sounds. And of course, some birds, but I don’t mind. The sitar is warmly welcomed and the clapping on “Strange Reunions” is reminiscent of their song “Tightrope” one of my favorites from their contribution to Dark was the Night.

9. Mondegreen

Whop Whack Whop Whack Whop Whack, the thudding beats will hypnotize your tapping foot until your rhythmic extremity no longer has a will of its own. A sexy tune that has Keating confessing “Everyone’s talking ’bout me and my baby/making love to the morning light.”  A spastic clap-along for the indie kids.

10. Grizelda

Doing what they do best, using clapping to it’s fullest. How they make it work in a psychedelic folk  lullaby escapes me.  But I love it.  Layers of vocals, including Keating’s falsetto for the last time. This song will send you off to dreams of futuristic faraway lands.

Yeasayer- “I Remember”

Yeasayer- “Madder Red”

I realize that I’ve been posting like a paranoid schizophrenic, but this morning, Yeasayer announced the official dates for the tour that will support their new album ‘Odd Blood’ which becomes available on February 9th of 2010. And if you’ve spoken to me within the last few weeks, you know that this is my band. These are my boys.

If you don’t know much about them, they describe their music as “Middle Eastern-psych-snap-gospel” which of course, leaves room for all types of interpretation, therefore forcing you to check it out and decipher on your own.

YEASAYER came to national attention after their appearance at 2007’s SXSW festival in Austin, TX.  An experimental band out of Brooklyn, NY (but originally from Baltimore), the band consists of  Anand Wilder, Chris Keating, and Ira Wolf Tuton.

Originally conjured within the hills of Woodstock, NY at the Marotta lair, then taken to the steely sweeps of NYC,  Odd Blood took many layers to finalize, but with all things Yeasayer the wait is undoubtedly worth it. Filled with their own take on pop pleasures and experimentation, the band has once again carved its own path through that ice cold glacier that is modern pop/rock.

The new album was actually leaked on  December 10th of  this year . Acknowledging this, the band posted on their Twitter page, “Presents are always spoiled for those who open them before they are supposed to.” I couldn’t agree more.

YEASAYER TOUR DATES

02.05 Los Angeles, CA – Natural History Museum
02.08 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
02.09 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
04.03 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
04.04 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
04.05 Asheville, NC – Orange Peel
04.06 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
04.07 Memphis, TN – Hi Tone Cafe
04.08 Dallas, TX – Granada Theatre
04.09 Houston, TX – House of Blues
04.10 Austin, TX – The Parish
04.11 Austin, TX – The Parish
04.14 Tucson, AZ – Club Congress
04.15 Phoenix, AZ – Rhythm Room
04.17 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
04.19 Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
04.20 Seattle, WA – Neumos
04.21 Vancouer, BC – Commodore Ballroom
04.23 Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue
04.24 Denver, CO – Bluebird Theatre
04.25 Omaha, NE – Waiting Room
04.26 Saint Louis, MO – Gargoyle Club
04.27 Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theatre
04.28 Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre
04.29 Chicago, IL – Metro
04.30 Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
05.01 Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
05.02 Montreal, PQ – La Sala Rossa
05.03 Boston, MA – Paradise
05.04 New York, NY – Webster Hall
05.05 Philadelphia, PA – The Trocadero

My good friend Maz Ameli just posted this link on facebook and I thought I’d share it with you. If you are a law abiding citizen and abstain from stealing music from the internets, this is Amiestreet.com‘s gift to you.  Essentially all albums that you would covet for the year of 2009, if your taste in musicality is anywhere close to mine. If it’s not, tough cookies and get with it. Please proceed to get excited and start impulsively purchasing like an insomniac on the HSN.

A few of the bands you will find in this sweet bundle:

Phoenix
Passion Pit
Atlas Sound
Girls
Great Lake Swimmers
St. Vincent
The Antlers
Animal Collective

Just check it out, already.

For those of you who don’t know the original reason I decided to just up and move to the greater Los Angeles area last March, let me fill you in.

I met a guy named Sean Carasso a few years ago at an organization called Invisible Children. He was on the road with them, preaching about the injustices of children being kidnapped from their homes in Northern Uganda, while I was basically giving what time I had to writing thank-you notes to donors and helping their head viral marketer with some social networking. Sean and I became fast friends through one of the founders, Bobby Bailey and we kept in touch from time to time on Facebook.

In the winter of 2008/2009,  Sean Carasso decided to start his own non-profit organization based on what he was witness to while spending some time in the Democratic Republic of Congo a year or so before. His vision? Falling Whistles.

After I found out that I would be getting laid off in February of 2009 from my job with zAthlete.com, I decided that moving home to good ‘ol Granite Bay would be the best course of action.  So in November of ’08, I packed my bags, said my farewell to the only  home I had known for the previous six years and drove reluctantly away from my San Diego. Over that Christmas break, I had a lot of time to figure out what the next chapter of my life was going to look like. A lot of prayer took place and a lot of discussion took place between myself and those around me that I respected the most (Marty and Beckie Clev mostly). By the time January came around, I felt like God was really putting it on my heart to give Sean a call. I loved what I had been a part of with Invisible Children and I felt like I was in a unique position to give something back while job hunting.  So, Sean and I started talking more frequently and he eventually  put me in touch with another one of the founders, Jonathan Carr.  I started doing some copywriting for them and even put together a few proposals. Eventually, Sean convinced me to come to LA, live on his couch and work in his garage with the three guys who started it all.

I ended up working with them for about three and a half months. We were able to accomplish a lot, but I’d say the biggest achievement of all was devising an internship program. The responsibility of creating an internship application was on me and from that process we were able to accept eight stellar interns for the summer of ’09, some of whom are still there and have become full-time employees. Over this past year, dozens of events have been put on, including fashion shows and benefits galore.  Sean has traveled the country speaking at universities, we even have a huge display in the Santa Monica Fred Segal store. There were also three guys who rode their bikes from Florida to San Diego raising money for Falling Whistles along the way. The company has blossomed into something truly magnificent even within the last eight months.  And today, it got even better.

There have been countless articles written about FW in numerous publications, but to have an article in the Los Angeles Times, along with a simultaneous article in Brand X with a gargantuan photo of Jon Stewart wearing one of the beloved whistles necklaces, really just shows you how far we’ve come since the meager beginnings. I don’t know how they got the whistle on him, I know that Sean has been spending a lot of time in NYC recently and I can only imagine that he ran into Stewart and gave him the speech of his life to take one photo with the whistle. I need to get some answers. All I’m saying is, today I am proud. I’m so glad that I was (and sometimes still am) able to have a hand in this movement. The people that run FW are some of my dearest friends in the world and I couldn’t be happier.

If you haven’t checked out the website, I would highly suggest you see what all the fuss is about. Jon Stewart’s doing it.

Brand X Article

Los Angeles Times Article

One of the many perks that comes with working for a company entirely devoted to promoting and exposing new musical talent is the access to a multitude of magazine subscriptions that I don’t have the money for on my own. I’m constantly tearing out articles and stuffing them into my skinny jeans hoping no one will notice. Last week, while coming out of the john, I grabbed a month-old edition of NME (The New Musical Express) and was pleased to discover their “What’s on the NME Stereo” page. Essentially, two pages of ten new tracks they’re suggesting we simple folk checkout.

There seems to be an evolution of dubstep occuring since it’s beginnings ten years ago.  Electronic artists are taking more creative control than ever and Samuel and the Dragon have given us something we have really yet to hear before, a song-step if you will (and I will).  If you have ever thought electronics couldn’t be soulfoul, S and the D are here to prove you wrong. In their debut single “Diamonds on a Boat” we have an anguished (also gifted) crooner and some sparse beats interrupted by the occasional synth squiggle.

NME says: “If you thrilled to the XX’s rich dubstep torch songs, you’ll be all over this dreamy, slo-core synth number.”

CMC says: If you’re looking for a pure-voiced hopeless romantic backed up by some eclectic uses of synths and beats, these are your boys.

They have one other single that I’m not nearly as impressed with called “Rising Up” check it out on their myspace here , if that is your desire.  Let’s hope they’re in the studio devising their EP as we speak.

Glasses on.  The lights dim. Enter Gogol Bordello at the New Jersey All Points West Music and Arts Festival. If you don’t know who Gogol Bordello is, they are a band out of the lower east side of New York City. Formed in 1999, the group is famous for their high energy and theatrical stage shows. Talk about an understatement. This band has more energy than a five year old on taurine. They don’t just come out on stage, they explode on the scene. With each band member vying for the adoration of the audience, yet somehow simultaneously working as a team and reveling in each other’s stage activities, Gogol Bordello is a spectacle for the senses. There are violinists, accordion players,  bongos, there are even cute girls running around with daisy duke shorts banging cymbals and screaming “oi!” at the top of their lungs. Point being, they have a little something for everyone. This audience is as devoted to the band as any large group of people can be to a rag-tag group of gypsies playing punk rock. This is, without a doubt, the highest quality of film that you can possibly wrap your mind around. It is as realistic as it can get, without buying a ticket to the show. I couldn’t shake the goose bumps during a few key moments. There was one girl in the front row of the audience who’s on the shoulders of someone for the entirety of the performance. She’s donning overalls with no shirt underneath (don’t get too excited, she has the body and bust of a pre-pubescent male teen), but she is constantly waving this red scarf. The red is like blood. You’ve never seen a red like this on screen. Other highlights from this portion of the film include vocal solos by the salt and pepper-haired violinist , Sergey Ryabtsev. His raspy voice is a warm and weathered reminder that old people can rock just as hard (or harder) than the young. Frontman Eugene Hutz has commandeered the stage for this particular performance and holds the microphone with such ferocity and force, you find yourself pitying it. He is beyond charismatic and it’s virtually impossible to take your eyes off of him.

They play only about three or four songs before we’re whisked away to the Mile High Music Festival in Denver where we catch a glimpse of Ben and his Relentless7 having a chat before climbing the stairs to their  given stage. Upon setting one foot within view of the masses, the crowd goes wild. The set is probably my least favorite of the three,  due to the fact that Ben is sitting for the majority of it and rarely engages with his band mates (but I suppose I can’t blame him, he’s playing the lap guitar). But if you see this film, you’ll quickly realize why I feel this way. Other than some choice shots of percussionist Jordan Richardson’ s stomach peeking out of his baby t-shirt and some good tunes, not much of this particular performance stood out. Sorry Ben, I found myself longing for the good old minutes where I had the pleasure of Eugene Hutz throwing red wine at the front row. I will say though, that this portion of the film sets Dave Matthews Band up perfectly.

Ok, DMB. I get it. You sell out the biggest arenas on earth. And now I know why. It’s not that I’m the biggest Dave fan you’ll ever meet, but it’s just that I’ll never be able to see Dave, Carter and the rest of the crew in this format again. Did I fail to mention that this movie is only running for one week? The 360 degree views allow you to soak in every smirk, smile and two-legged shuffle he graciously gives. Throughout this performance, you will see countless moments of interaction between him and his musically-talented companions. From mimicking his trumpet-player’s blowfish face to just losing all inhibition and dancing an erratic jig, he proves that doing what you love for a living is the greatest gift of all. You can’t help but just smile through this. This was the segment of the film that my fellow viewers and I had the most fun with. We clapped at the end of each performance, laughed when Dave goofed off and were moved by the power of every single performance. They started off by playing some of their newest material from the 2009 album “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King.” I forgot how quirky Dave is and was reminded of it right during his short intro to one of the songs when he explained “uh…uh…this son’s called ‘Seven’ and I like it a lot.” During the performance of “Why I Am” the entire audience would scream at the top of their lungs whenever the lyric “still here dancing with the GrooGrux King” an homage to the late Leroi. Toward the middle of the set, they started playing the classics such as “Ants Marching,” “So Much to Say” and even an incredible cover of Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House.”

See this film if you’re a fan of live music. See this film if you enjoy any one of the artist’s showcased. I’ve probably given entirely too many details, but if you actually see it for yourself, you can still be pleasantly surprised by the 3D aspects of it. The wayward beach ball may just catch you off-guard.

Dearest Low Anthem. I never knew you existed. I’m so sorry. You folks are simply divine. From the gritty chops of Ben Knox to the musicianship of Jeff Prystowsky and the harmonies of Jocie Adams, these sounds do a spirit good.

If you folks like the sound of Bon Iver, this is as soft and intimate as “For Emma, Forever Ago” and dare I say maybe more so.  It was even recorded in a winter cabin. “Oh My God Charlie Darwin” was self-released in September of 2008 and we are all running late for a date with this band. So I suggest you hurry up and have a listen.

Golden Silvers:

A band from London signed to independent record label XL. The line-up consists of vocalist and keyboardist Gwilym Gold, Ben Moorhouse on bass guitar, and Robden Alexis Nunez on drums.

By the way, how much do you love the name Gwilym? Yeah, me too.

Anyway, their debut album “True Romance” came out in April of 2009 and it makes me feel warm inside. The best way I can describe their sound (especially in the track Arrows of Eros) is a marriage between the bands of The Clash and Cut Copy. If you don’t agree, then you don’t know those bands. It’s actually very very Clash-esque, which is righteous because they happen to be one of my favorite bands.  It works. You can dance to it, it’s not terribly deep, but it could make you happy on a lonesome day. Yay Go Golden Silvers.