Pictures Came and Broke Your Heart

Jonesing for a music video, ANY music video? Somebody went through the trouble to link to a huge amount of music videos that can be found on YouTube. We'll see how long this stays up, but it's very cool nonetheless.

Mother Sucking Rock and Roll

Sir Bono speaks about taking U2 to the "next level." Regarding the last two albums, "it's not gonna stay where it is." Excellent. He speaks about maybe going more acoustic, or going more hard rock. Who knows. But it definitely seems time for something a little different. They're back in the studio in the new year with an expected new release by the end of 2007.

I Must Be Wrong, Baby, Yeah

Ugh. Sir Paul is working on a stage show that covers his early life and is based on his first classical music piece Liverpool Oratorio. I guess he didn't learn from the Lennon musical fiasco.

I've Been Aching Hard for Years

Paul Westerberg tried to clean wax out of a candle by piercing a screwdriver through the nerves and cartilage in his hand. There seem to be more effective ways to accomplish this task. I kid, but I shouldn't. Paul is cool. He is a Replacement after all. And don't forget he's a guitarist. Usually guitarists don't stick screwdrivers through their hands in an effort to make them better guitarists. Damn, I kid again. Perhaps I should've waited to share this news until when I was in a less sarcastic mood.

You Weren't on Any Mercy Mission This Time

U2's Bono is to become a Sir, but not really. He will become a knight of the British empire (they're still an empire?!), but because he's from Ireland, he's not entitled to the title. He joins other non-sirs like Steven Spielberg, Bob Geldof, Rudy Giuliani, and Placido Domingo. He hopes it helps him in his diplomatic missions to Alderaan.

Sorry for the SW references. Couldn't resist.

Speaking of SW, check out my SW blog.

Just kidding, I don't really have a SW blog, but maybe I should. That would be so cool.

Hum-didalily-Hum didali-Hum-didalily-Hum didali

Hum a song into your computer's microphone, and Nayio's Humming Search will might find it. I haven't been able to try it yet as it doesn't work on a Mac, but it still sounds pretty cool. I'm sure it will get better and more accurate over time.

Oh Can't You See What Love Has Done?

Not sure what to make of the new U2 video for their new tune Window in the Skies from their new album OU812 -er- I mean, U218. The song is a mediocre representation of everything U2 has done post-Pop, not to insinuate there haven't been high points (I still think All That You Can't Leave Behind is nearly a masterpiece representing a moment in time - a musical harbinger of post-9-11-ism).

Anyway, the video is quite creative. It is a wonder of editing that showcases musical icons lip-syncing to the tune. The rights to all that footage couldn't have been cheap, but then again, U2 is certainly not cash poor. I'm just not sure what to take away from it. The members of U2 are seen throughout as members of the audience. So, is the idea that the song is so great that it is worthy of performance by musical greats, many posthumously? Or is it that the song is representative of the band's musical influences? Or is it that some music video editor wanted to pad his portfolio with an edit-intensive video for one of the most successful rock artists of all time?

Now I've gone and written too much. Watch for yourself:

White Girls of the North

By all accounts, The Shins should be one of my favorite artists of the past few years. But for some reason, not unlike Death Cab For Cutie, I just haven't gone out of my way to listen. Call it laziness I guess because everything I hear from both those artists I enjoy quite a bit. Well, I'm going to make a conscious effort to listen to more Shins. Their new album, Wincing the Night Away, will be released in January and if the rest of it sounds as cool as the first single Phantom Limb, then I'm all in.

MP3: The Shins - Phantom Limb (via Sub Pop)

With Our Love We Could Save the World

New and official Beatles video for Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows...

Groovy. The Love album is quite excellent. The sound quality is amazing and blows every other Beatles CD release away. It's a fresh perspective on some of my favorite songs of all time, one being Tomorrow Never Knows actually.

Hear and see more at theirspace.

You should've told me the trouble I was in before my life was dim.

DADA is back! DADA released their A Friend of Pat Robertson EP this week and while I don't really understand their choice in song topics, the music is good, and sounds like classic DADA. None of that leper "How To Be Found" crap. And if you don't have Puzzle, and read this blog, buy it NOW, or you're a bigger loser than me, and that's pretty big.

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot

Can't get enough of the year-end lists? The excellent blog Largehearted Boy has an incredibly and inconceivably exhaustive list that is continually updated. That'll kill a couple days at work during the holiday doldrums.

Things Are Gonna Change So Fast

You know you're getting old when artists that you liked when you were in college are releasing box sets! Congratulations to Tori Amos for having a significant enough of a career up to this point to justify a five-disc set complete with 86 songs including studio releases, b-sides, and other rarities. Honestly, I haven't listened to Tori much in the past 10 years (her last few albums kinda lost me), but I did see her in Ames forever ago and she was quite a talent. May have to dust off the CDs and get them on the iPod.

Speaking of Tori's box set, stereogum has a contest to win it. Not too tough. Just tell 'em your favorite Tori tune. I picked Winter, which is certainly one of them.

Download a couple Tori Christmas tunes at Curiously Tasty Music.
Download A Tori Amos Collection-Tales of a Librarian (her previously released compilation) via iTunes.
Buy A Piano: The Collection from Amazon.com to get the nifty piano packaging.

Guess My Race Is Run

Never really thought about this before, but it could have some serious consequences for some of the biggest selling acts of all time. Copyright law in the UK on sound recordings currently stands at 50 years. 2006 - 50 = 1956. Think about it, in 6-7 years, some of The Beatles biggest hits (i.e. Love Me Do, I Wanna Hold Your Hand) will enter the public domain in the UK. It's about time they cash in by remastering (like Love, which sounds AWESOME) and releasing them on iTunes both in the UK and the US (why not?). Despite industry calls for an extension to 95 years, it looks like that it'll stay 50. In the US, things are a bit different.