Date With IKEA

I've made no secret that David Byrne is my hero, rock&roll or otherwise. I recently discovered his online journal, hosted over at his website. It you want a good dose of David Byrne awesome, check this recent post on his first trip it IKEA.

Dude is so my hero.

P.S.: Also, the Knee Plays, Byrne's score for an avant garde play, is being reissued. I purchased the LP (vinyl, baby!) while Candace and I honeymooned in San Francisco all those years ago and am pretty excited for a (relatively) new David Byrne album.

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Here's Jens Lekman's newest video "Sipping On the Sweet Nectar" from his forthcoming release, which I have already preemptively raved about. We are going to see him here at the Beachland Ballroom in less than a month. I'm pretty excited.

Anyway, so here's the new single. It's got a good beat. I can dance to it. I'd give it a "9". Roll it:

Also, don't forget that you must post on the 500th ("Happy Birthday To Me") post in order to get entered in the drawing. Those are the rules.

Sweden Is So Hot Right Now (the Sequel)

I have sort of sang his praises here & there, but I thought I'd make it official and devote a post to the music of Swedish sad-sack/goofy pop prince Jens Lekman. He has a new album out next month. It's called Night Falls Over Kortedala. You can probably just expect it to make its way over to the A-OK! section of the sidebar once it's released. I'll just say that now. Save us some time. You can listen to and/or download a couple of tracks ( "The Opposite of Hallelujah" & "Friday Night At The Drive-In Bingo" ) from it over at the Secretly Canadian website. Or, if you're completely devoid of scruples, you can just steal it from the internets.*

Your call.

"But Dylan," you may ask, "What does this Jens Lekman sound like?" Well, dear reader. I'm glad you asked. I have prepared a visual aid for you for just this reason. As you can see below:

If you take the illegitimate black science (It's like black magic... only 100% more scienc-y-ish!) offspring of Morrissey and Jonathan Richman (whose I, Jonathan I consider a "perfect album") and feed it nothing but Swedish Fish, you will get a Jens Lekman (it's sort of like breeding Chocobo's...**).

It's lush, sad and, ultimately funny stuff. I have two of his previous releases, When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog (which comes from the lyric "When I said I wanted to be your dog /
I wasn't coming on to you / I just wanted to lick your face...") and You're So Silent Jens, either of which is worthy of your time. I so wanted to work "Maple Leaves" into my Mixtapery mixtape, but it looks like the tribe has spoken and I will instead showcase my devotion to the boogie.

Next time, Jens. Next time.


* Seriously though, if you decide on the latter, I judge you not. I'm cool like that.
** Nerd reference! Yay!

I Love YouTube Posts

I don't care what people say; I love you, YouTube posts. Because I really like this song, video and album and this is a great way to make you pay at least a little attention to it. Hit it, YouTube!

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names from their album #3. I will tell you what, Sweden has it going on. These guys, Jens Lenkman, the Shout Out Louds, Peter, Bjorn & John, Dungen, some other bands I'm probably forgetting, those little delicious fish candies and the meatballs, Oh! Saints be praised! the meatballs. And let us not forget Ikea, boon to poor hipsters everywhere. Sweden, we salute you! If this whole America thing doesn't work out, I will definitely be calling you.

Sweden = teh rules!!!1!

P.S.: If you're serious about the art of mixtapery, you had best get on the list. It closes on Saturday.