BuzzSugar

Link Time! 1/29

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:31:29 -0800

Cinematical found the poster and some behind-the-scenes footage from the next James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.
Check out Stereogum for the new Erykah Badu video for "Honey."
Speaking of music videos, Spinner makes me happy by premiering the new Mountain Goats video.
TV Filter has the video of Craig Ferguson taking his citizenship test.
Meanwhile, YouAintNoPicasso has an MP3 of Belle and Sebastian covering David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Television Without Pity wonders: Why isn't Victor Garber more famous?
Pop Candy wants to know what random TV shows you've discovered during the strike.
Popwatch learned a whole load of information about No Country for Old Men, straight from the Coen Bros.' mouths.
Give Me My Remote has the new strike video that's making the rounds, starring Josh Radnor.
Desperate for Desperate Housewives, TV with MeeVee has turned to Amas De Casa Desperadas.

Getting Into: Belle and Sebastian

BuzzSugar — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:30:00 -0700

How often have you said "I really think I would like that band, but I've never gotten into them"? Therein lies the inspiration for Getting Into, where I'll help start your education about a singer, band, or film director by telling you what albums or movies you'll need as a beginner, intermediate, and advanced fan. (Got ideas for Getting Into posts? Leave a comment or send me a private message.)

Today I'm taking on Belle and Sebastian, the Scottish indie pop band that combines childlike wonder with an adult sensibility (and a string section). Relentlessly literary and always clever, Belle and Sebastian makes some of the smartest danceable music I've ever heard. Here's how I'd recommend getting into Belle and Sebastian:

Beginner: If You're Feeling Sinister and The Boy with the Arab Strap

Together, these two albums are a great place to start your Belle and Sebastian collection. Between the two, they run the full gamut of B&S emotions, from peppy and upbeat ("Seeing Other People" from If You're Feeling Sinister) to contemplative ("It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career" from Arab Strap) to both ("Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying" from Sinister). Between the two, Sinister probably has better individual songs, but Arab Strap is the kind of album that slowly seeps into your bloodstream until you can't remember what life was like before you heard it.

To see the intermediate and advanced selections, just read more

Intermediate: Tigermilk, Dear Catastrophe Waitress, and Push Barman to Open Old Wounds

Now that you have a feel for Belle and Sebastian, it's time to go back to where it all started: Tigermilk, the band's first album, which saw very limited release in England in 1996 but wasn't widely available in the United States until 1999. The album includes some absolutely essential B&S songs, including "She's Losing It." This is also the stage for picking up Push Barman, which compiles out-of-print EPs and includes some of the most beautiful, and most unusual, songs the band has recorded. Finally, Dear Catastrophe Waitress includes a large number of songs that make me chuckle aloud, including the ode to an office affair "Step Into My Office, Baby."

Advanced: Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, The Life Pursuit, the Storytelling soundtrack, and various related projects

Now's the time to venture into albums that, frankly, aren't as strong but still have plenty to recommend them. The Life Pursuit, the band's most recent album, is maybe its most carefree, though it's almost too uncomplicated. Fold Your Hands Child nearly turned me off the band - when it misses, it misses big - but it also includes one or two of my favorite songs, including the heartbreaking "I Fought in a War." By this point, you'll be able to take what you like from these albums and ditch the rest. Also, check out the more recent projects of former band members Isobel Campbell (The Gentle Waves) and Stuart David (Looper), who were key in the band's early sound.

Source

Wrap-Up: BuzzSugar's Top 20 Albums of 2006

BuzzSugar — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 06:07:20 -0800

Not every year can be a great year for music, and 2006 was just okay. It didn't help that this year was sandwiched between 2005-which gave us great albums by Kanye West, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and Sufjan Stevens-and 2007, which promises new releases from Wilco, Arcade Fire, and Timbaland.

Thankfully, I managed to scour enough of the year's music to bring you BuzzSugar's Top 20 Albums of 2006. I've been posting my reviews all week, but here at last is the list in its entirety. Don't forget to bookmark the albums you thought were Buzzworthy this year!

20. The Clipse, Hell Hath No Fury

19. Band of Horses, Everything All the Time

18. Howe Gelb, 'Sno Angel Like You

17. Magnolia Electric Co., Fading Trails

16. Johnny Cash, American V: A Hundred Highways

15. Destroyer, Destroyer's Rubies

14. Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat

13. Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

12. Califone, Roots & Crowns

11. M. Ward, Post-War

To see the Top 10, read more

10. Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/LoveSounds

9. The Pipettes, We Are the Pipettes

8. Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

7. Drive-By Truckers, A Blessing and a Curse

6. Islands, Return to the Sea

5. TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain

4. Cat Power, The Greatest

3. Bob Dylan, Modern Times

2. Belle and Sebastian, The Life Pursuit

1. The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America

Song of the Day: Belle and Sebastian, "Sukie in the Graveyard"

BuzzSugar — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 08:46:53 -0800

It's always good to start the Friday off right with a happy song to get you going for the weekend. So today, I'm bringing you a track off one of my Top Albums of 2006. In "Sukie in the Graveyard," Belle and Sebastian prove once again that they can write a perky pop song about anything: in this case, a girl named Sukie who does tombstone rubbings and hides out in an art school.

BuzzSugar's Top Albums of 2006: Part IV

BuzzSugar — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 05:14:15 -0800

Thankfully, I managed to scour enough of the year's music to bring you this four-part series, BuzzSugar's Top 20 Albums of 2006. Now for the final installment: the Top 5! (Read yesterday's post on albums 6 to 10.)

5. TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain

After Justin Timberlake, possibly no musician this year utilized falsetto better than TV on the Radio, albeit to a very different effect. Floating eerily above the surface, the band's two vocalists-one with a high-pitched wail and the other with a Bowie-like croon-give the listener an entry point into the band’s dense, puzzling sound. With their skittish beats and bleating saxophones, TV on the Radio’s industrial jams combine elements of marching bands and electronica for a sound you'll be hooked on before you understand why.

4. Cat Power, The Greatest

Chan Marshall (a.k.a. Cat Power) traveled to Memphis to lay down the tracks for her newest record, which is easily one of her boldest and most beautiful. Fittingly evoking a steamy blues bar, the album alternately makes you want to gyrate in tune to the muted trumpets, then weep into your whiskey along with the mournful strings. With her lonely ballads and swaying piano-driven tunes like “Willie,” Power provides a lesson on creating jazz-inspired rock that’s gentle but not the least bit soft.

To see the rest, read more

3. Bob Dylan, Modern Times

Few people, besides me, seemed to dig Bob Dylan’s 2001 album, Love and Theft, but Modern Times is winning fans left and right. That's because, on the new album, Dylan uses many of the same elements from its blues-obsessed predecessor but improves on them exponentially. Though not as consistent as Dylan’s older albums, this CD runs the gamut of lyrical fodder to produce two instant classics: “Thunder on the Mountain” and “Workingman’s Blues,” which, when I heard it in concert, took me a minute to realize it wasn’t one of Dylan’s early masterpieces.

2. Belle and Sebastian, The Life Pursuit

When I first heard that Belle & Sebastian were releasing an album this year, I almost ignored it on the assumption that The Life Pursuit would be another fairly mediocre album from an increasingly irrelevant band (like 2003’s Dear Catastrophe Waitress). But lo and behold, the band completely blew me away by breaking its usual twee habits and forging a refreshingly new sound. The Life Pursuit takes elements of classic Tigermilk-era B&S and organ-heavy mod rock. Particularly stunning is “White Collar Boy,” which mixes everything from deep fuzzy beats to girly choirs to growling guitar riffs for a pop song that’s extraordinarily weird and irresistibly danceable.

1. The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America

There is a distinct subset of music fans who grew up listening to Bruce Springsteen, graduated to punk and grunge in high school, and spent their 20s getting just a little bit too wasted. For that discerning generation, there is The Hold Steady. At its most basic, the New York-by-way-of-Minneapolis band plays pure, triumphant rock with a steady beat and the occasional piano bludgeoning. Then, there are the band's stellar lyrics, delivered in frontman Craig Finn's unique hybrid of singing, shouting, and slurring. But what sets The Hold Steady's rock apart is the band's ability to capture the drastic highs and lows of youth, lust, and indulgence. On the band's third full-length, the music makes you want to join the party one minute, and the next thing you know, you're being dragged into the dark and eerie comedown. That every part of the journey is a total blast makes this easily my top album for 2006.