BuzzSugar

What to Download: New Music This Week

BuzzSugar — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 14:30:09 PDT

Check your watch: it's time to rock out! Today's new Tuesday music releases are all about rock bands, including a longtime staple, an indie one-of-a-kind, and a lead singer gone solo. Check out the albums and tracks I've deemed worth the download, and if these aren't your cup of tea, there's also new music from Chromeo and The Walkmen.

Weezer, Hurley
The lowdown: Rivers Cuomo and the boys find a home on a new indie label with this rock and pop-punk mix that shows they're out to have fun. It's still a far cry from Pinkerton but a welcome relief following messy Raditude.
Choice tracks: "Memories"
"Smart Girls"
"Time Flies"
Download this album if you: Need some tunes for your next house party.

Brandon Flowers, Flamingo
The lowdown: The Killers's front man Brandon Flowers forges his own path on his debut solo album, taking the band's rock anthems down a notch with more low-key songs and fewer commercial hits.
Choice tracks: "Crossfire"
"Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts"
"Hard Enough"
Don't download this album if you: Are expecting it to sound exactly like The Killers.

See the release from Of Montreal when you

Of Montreal, False Priest
The lowdown: Idiosyncratic but poppy indie band Of Montreal releases its 10th album, a collection of upbeat, avant-garde tracks, some quirkily romantic, and some flat-out wacky.
Choice tracks: "I Feel Ya' Strutter"
"Coquet Coquette"
"Sex Karma"
Download this album if you: Are ready for your iPod to get a little freaky-deaky.

Fall 2010 Album Preview: Buzz's Picks

BuzzSugar — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 08:45:00 PDT

Ready for a new exciting season of entertainment? I've got you up to speed on the Fall movies to look forward to (see parts one and two here), and now I want to focus on music. There's a ton of great new albums coming your way in the next few months, so I've gone through them to tell you which ones I'm looking forward to most!

New Music: of Montreal's "Hydra Fancies"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:45:04 PDT

Quirky indie outfit of Montreal has a new album coming out this September, False Priest, and today you can have a taste of it with the track "Hydra Fancies."

The band's sound tends toward the fanciful, which "Hydra Fancies" definitely is, but it also has a pleasantly upbeat tone, with lead singer Kevin Barnes crooning about "you, my new favorite thing" atop electronic beats and squeals. To me, it's a throwback to their 2007 album, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? - and since I still love that disc mightily, I feel the same way about this new single. To listen for yourself, just

Link Time! 7/23

BuzzSugar — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:30:18 PDT

Is the "post-Seinfeld slump" finally ending? - TV.com
Atlas Shrugged getting a screen adaptation: shrug? - Popwatch
An interview with Mad Men's Harry Crane (Rich Sommer). - Televisionary
Are this year's movie characters - or at least their names - unusually unmemorable? - Cinematical
Here's a new Of Montreal video. - Stereogum
Five reality TV mashups worth creating. - Vulture
What episodes are the Emmy nominees submitting? - Gold Derby
A new Flight of the Conchords album? Party! - Pitchfork

What to Download: New Music on iTunes

BuzzSugar — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:30:39 PDT

Tuesdays are big in entertainmentville: Not only do all the new DVD releases hit Netflix, but new music also pours into stores, including iTunes. So I take a spin through each week's iTunes music releases and pick out some albums and tracks worthy of a download. Here's what's on my list this week:

When the album cover looks as good as the band sounds: Rolling Stone called Of Montreal's new album Skeletal Lamping, "A soulful romp through psychedelic melodies and sprawling noise-scapes" which sounds very cool to me. Already I can tell that this is a big album (15 songs) with long tracks full of intricate details, and it probably deserves a good listen-through on a Sunday afternoon. That's my plan, but if you're looking for a taste before you buy the whole thing, check out the luscious "Touched Something's Hollow," and the extremely fun "Beware Our Nubile Miscreants."

Moody tunes: Ever since releasing a full album back in February, The Raveonettes keep on trucking along and have been releasing a series of four EPs. Today the third installment, Beauty Dies, caught my attention. There are four tracks including "Black/White" (recorded for GAP's "Sound of Color" project) and a song that I'm really enjoying called "The Thief."

One more after the jump, so

Hope songs: Aw, we could all use a little uplifting music these days, couldn't we? Young folk artist Brett Dennen has released a pretty album full of the kind of songs that Dave Matthews and/or Jack Johnson fans might enjoy: Hope for the Hopeless. For obvious reasons I'm excited about his song "San Francisco," and both "Make You Crazy" and "Ain't Gonna Lose You" are plenty heartwarming and worth checking out.

Link Time! 1/31

BuzzSugar — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:31:07 PST

Cinematical compares the two new Leatherheads posters: romance or sports?
Popwatch proudly talks about applauding along with the rest of the audience at the end of Rambo.
SFist has a photo of Sean Penn as Harvey Milk and other photos from the set.
TV Squad ranks TV judges - think Wapner and Judy, not Simon and Paula - through the ages.
Stereogum has a video of KT Tunstall covering The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian."
United Hollywood has a story of a fifth-grader launching a readathon to support the strike.
This Slate reviewer calls Meet the Spartans a "massive consumer fraud" for charging $10.50 for a movie that's barely one hour long.
TV Filter wonders if anyone else hated the Pop Up Video-style Lost rerun.
YouAintNoPicasso is hosting a large collection of Of Montreal covering everyone from Blondie to The Shins to Gnarls Barkley.
Bridezilla hilariously suggests some great ideas for having a sob-free Valentine's Day as a single gal, including more Romy and Michelle, less Meg Ryan.

Source and source

Indie Rock for Kids

BuzzSugar — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:46:14 PST

I don't usually have children's music on my radar, seeing as how I don't have kids. But with LilSugar launching this week, I just had to share my recent discovery of a kids' CD that's so awesome, I might buy it and stash it away until I've got little ones of my own.

Released by the cutting-edge Nettwerk Records label, For the Kids III is the third in a series of compilation CDs featuring indie-rock bands singing songs for their tiniest fans. Of Montreal turns its psychedelic pop into cuteness, O.A.R. covers "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," and Over the Rhine does a hilarious little ditty called "The Poopsmith Song," which you can listen to here.

It sure as hell beats Barney, and I could definitely see picking some of these up for my friends with kids. How about you? If you have kids, would you buy them kiddie indie-rock?

Song of the Day: Of Montreal Covers Neil Young's "Harvest Moon"

BuzzSugar — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:30:00 PDT

At first glance, Of Montreal doesn't look like the kind of band that would cover Neil Young. (As Exhibit A, I present the above photo of Kevin Barnes and company performing at the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival.) But I've just found a recording of the psychedelic pop-rockers performing "Harvest Moon," off of Young's album of the same name, and it's really quite lovely.

Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? remains one of my favorite albums of 2007, and though the music is a bit wacky on the surface, it's pretty dark when you really get down to it. (This one, for instance, is built around the plea, "I'm in a crisis / I need help / Come on mood shift, shift back to good again.") Here, Barnes' delicate, childlike vocals add an emotional gravitas to Young's classic. To listen head over to Aquarium Drunkard and then let me know what you think.

Source

Music Video: Paul Rudd and David Wain Do Karaoke

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:00:13 PDT

I've been crushing on Paul Rudd ever since Clueless. I mean, he's cute, he's funny, he can act, and - as I learned today - he can also rock some serious karaoke. On Friday night, Of Montreal played a show at Studio B in Brooklyn, and the band took a break for a bit of hipster karaoke. Rudd was there, and he and David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer, "The State") treated the crowd to a rollicking rendition of Boston's "More Than a Feeling."

Idolator graciously posted a video of the performance, which is pretty hilarious and also not half bad. I highly recommend you check it out, so

Source

Rewind: This Week's Buzz

BuzzSugar — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 07:00:55 PDT

The Cure's Robert Smith collaborating with Ashlee Simpson? Weird.
Do you like "Dog the Bounty Hunter"? If so, tell me why, and while you're at it, vote for your favorite FX show.
If you love good movies, go see The Hoax or Grindhouse this weekend. If you crave crappy editing and boredom, go see The Reaping.
Do you have the sass to recast "Designing Women" with modern-day actors?
Plush bears, Norwegian soldiers, and great music come together - finally! - in Of Montreal's music video.
TV networks are spring cleaning some lame shows (like "Wedding Bells") and have declared their love for certain others (like "30 Rock"!) by giving them more seasons.
Is Jessica Alba becoming a legitimate actress? Perhaps there is more than meets The Eye.
"The Hills" are alive with the sound of another season of spoiled, pretentious rich kids.