Oh, to be a machine!
Oh, to be wanted.
To be useful.
-Menomena

When looking up the Menomena lyrics above, I found this website. Interesting. It might be going a little deeper than I like for a lot of stuff, but it’s nice to know that there are people out there talking about the symbolism of 50 Cent.

So who is Josh Rouse and why is he a machine? Josh Rouse is a singer/songwriter out of Nebraska, currently residing in Spain. Now that you know who Josh Rouse is, why is he a machine? Well, since 2002, Josh Rouse has put out 5 albums and two EPs. That, ladies and gentleman, constitutes a machine.

I’ve completely missed his last two releases, Subtitulo and Country Mouse City House until at least two days after the came out. I know what you’re thinking… “Ooo, two days. How horrible of a person is this Nick guy?” Pretty horrible, I guess. It’s weird for me to miss an album of an artist that I like, especially one that I can find on emusic.

I like the title of this most recent CD because both “country mouse” and “city house” rhyme with Josh Rouse. It’s like how Bridget rhymes with midget, right Erin?

Ok, almost done with the man-love for Josh Rouse. Today’s song comes from the aforementioned rhyming album. Here is Hollywood Bass Player.

P.S. I may be using the lyrics above as a basis for one of my next posts. It’ll be interesting.

I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it
I’m about to lose control and I think I like it.
- Pointer Sisters

One week until Lollapalooza! Whoo! By the way, who here thought of Saved by the Bell immediately after reading these lyrics? I won’t explain it for people who don’t understand what I’m getting at.

I’m getting excited for this year’s Lollapalooza. I’ll have to put up my expecting viewing schedule on Monday. Obviously, that schedule gets messed up once you get there and realize that some stages are half a mile apart and its like walking through the halls in high school, but meh, that’s only Saturday afternoon.

I picked up Stars‘ latest album, In Our Bedroom After the War, last week as an advance digital copy of the album. The album doesn’t actually come out until September 25th, but it’s available on emusic.com as well as iTunes. Since iTunes is not a subscription service like emusic, that means you, loyal reader of noeviltwin, can go purchase it for yourself. I recommend it.

The reason that Stars is so successful is the back and forth between lead singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. I’ve always been a fan of combining male and female singers – it makes songs more personal, but also gives bands the range to play different styles of music.

On a side note, did you know that the aforementioned Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan, as well as Stars’ bassist Evan Cranley have contributed to Broken Social Scene? Check out the wikipedia entry on Broken Social Scene – the number of talented artists who have had a hand with that supergroup is very interesting.

Today’s song is Midnight Coward and does a great job of explaining the interaction between Campbell and Millan that I mentioned above. Oh, and the semi-high note that Campbell hits 1:25 into the song is freakin’ awesome. You know it.

I’m on fire, and now I think I’m ready,
To bust a move, check it out I’m rocking steady
To the beat in my head, it goes oh-oh-oh…
- Motion City Soundtrack

Ever find yourself doing things to the beat of the music that you’re listening to? On Friday, I caught myself waiting a half second to open my can of pop so that opening the can matched up to the beat of the song I was listening to. Apparently, music controls my life even more than Erin. Well, maybe not that much.

I remember walking to class during college and finding myself needing to change songs to make sure that I made it to class on time. That was always fun trying to change songs on the ol’ iPod while walking down the street, because I wasn’t stopping to change songs. Stopping just isn’t the way I roll. Plus, if I was going to be late to class because I was walking too slowly, then stopping isn’t going to help things at all. Come on, people.

Want another example? Well, I do like pairs of three for some reason, so… sure! Thanks for asking to share in my neurosis!

I’m what is known in the industry as a “desk dancer.” No, this doesn’t mean that I dance on desks for a living. Though, if the price were right… nah. Erin wouldn’t like that. Actually, it’s because I sit at my desk at work with my head bobbing and my feet moving to the music I’m listening to. Fairly often, I’ll type in groups of three to the beat of a song. Tippity, tippity, type! type! type!

Anyway, like last Wednesday, today’s lyrics are also from today’s song. It’s Motion City Soundtrack! I first saw Motion City Soundtrack at the Target Center when they, together with The Get Up Kids, Thrice, and Dashboard Confessional played a part in the 2004 Honda Civic Tour. Here’s The Future Freaks Me Out.

P.S. Motion City Soundtrack’s new album, Even if it Kills Me comes out on September 18th.

P.P.S. Apparently the new Stars album, In Our Bedroom After the War, is available on iTunes as well as emusic. It’s a very good album. General availability means that I’ll probably post something from that on Friday.

Baby went to Amsterdam,
She put a little money into traveling,
Now it’s so slow, so slow.
Baby went to Amsterdam,
Four, five days for the big canal
Now it’s so slow, so slow.
-Peter Bjorn and John

Fun wedding this weekend, people. Unfortunately, it’s leaving me with a little um, same title as Peter Bjorn and John’s debut album, Writer’s Block. At the risk of having this humble blog be labeled mediocre, I’m taking the day off.

And it’s not that I don’t have anything to write about. It’s that my problem with remembering words has been at least tripled. It took me fifteen minutes to think of the word subliminal. So, yeah. I’ll work extra hard on Wednesday’s post. Sorry to disappoint you guys, but hey, at least you still get a song.

Anyway, today’s song comes from a band that you hear about when you’re around music people who want to sound extra cool (which is obviously the only reason people get in to music – to be cool, right?). Whenever somebody puts out a semi-cool lo-fi album and the reviewer wants to give it a big complement, you hear, “People like to say that they sound like Neutral Milk Hotel.” No reviewer is going to say that they agree with this assumption – that would be social suicide, since all of the Neutral Milk Hotel fanboys would come out of the woodwork to blast said reviewer that no album can ever live up to the likes of the Milk Hotel.

Right, I should give you your song now. Here’s Two Headed Boy, a song that sounds like it was done in one take quickly (yet brilliantly). The song is raw and pretty confusing. Enjoy!

It’s a nice day for a white wedding.
It’s a nice day to start again.
- Billy Idol

Welcome to Friday, people! It’s nice to be here. I have a wedding in Milwaukee to go to this weekend. A good friend from high school is getting married to a nice girl from one of my favorite city names, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.

Here’s a fun website for today. Find out the song that was number one on the day you were born. What was mine, you ask? Why, Endless Love by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. Sweet. Sorry, Chris. No surprise for you. I’d say that the 80’s was my best decade. Why?

• 1980 – Another One Bites the Dust by Queen
• 1982 – Jack and Diane by John Cougar
• 1983 – Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler
• 1984 – Let’s Go Crazy by Prince & the Revolution
• 1987 - Here I Go Again by White Snake

The 60’s were close, but for my money, I like the 80’s.

In honor of Scott’s wedding, I’m going to play a song that I can only assume was written for a wedding. Even better, it’s by an artist whose latest album was titled, Songs Not to Get Married To. Today’s song is by Reggie and the Full Effect and is called Congratulations Matt and Christine.

There’s got to be another way.
We all are scientists. We will not be afraid.
- The Submarines

Wow, music news galore, people. When I got home from work on Monday, I was channel surfing and happened upon Directv’s channel 101, which is like corporate-run public access. Lately, they’ve been showing concerts on this channel and I noticed that the Levi’s jeans hawking Peter Bjorn and John were playing. And, to make my day even better, they were followed directly by The Polyphonic Spree! Sweet!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, there’s a new Levi’s jeans commercial which plays Peter Bjorn and John’s Up Against The Wall. Plus, you get to see some dude destroy his apartment building just by pulling up his pants.

On top of that, I got an advance copy of the new Stars album, In Our Bedroom After the War. Thanks emusic! This album is everything that Do You Trust Your Friends wasn’t. My favorite song so far is Personal, a song about a woman getting stood up on a date that she got from a personal ad. It’s a haunting sort of song.

Anyway, the idea for today’s post came from a recent Rufus Wainwright interview in Spin. In it, he says:

I’m scared of what young people are being force fed. I’m sick of trash culture… I’m really sick of Beyoncé. All of her songs are formulaic and produced in a way that’s utterly mezmorizing in the basest way. There’s no enlightenment. Like most mainstream pop these days, it’s more of a scientific experiment than an artistic experience.

I think that it’s interesting that he put it that way. I’ve always thought that there’s a thin line between science and art, especially in music. It’s why there’s “experimental” rock, right? Rufus Wainwright is basically saying that that line has been crossed and it’s sad that it has.

Personally, I think that pop music has been more about science and less about music for a long time, now. I mean, you can’t think that We Built This City by Starship was artistically inspired. On top of that, who builds a city on Rock and Roll? Hippies, that’s who. Hippies and corporate stooges frolicking in a field of sunflowers and cell phones.

Today’s song comes from the quote above… err… the quote above comes from today’s song. Here’s Vote by The Submarines. Enjoy!

You’ll be accepting my apology
For taking things too seriously.
Sometimes I’m old enough to to keep routines,
Sometimes I’m child enough to scream
- The Get Up Kids

My apologies, people. I have not been keeping up to date on the local music scene. I skipped the St. John’s Block Party this weekend to go to a graduation party. On top of that, I also missed the musical stylings of Trouble Shooter, a surprisingly entertaining cover band who plays every year at the Viola Gopher Count.

Erin went to the St. John’s Block Party, which is a small music festival held in downtown Rochester once a year. This year’s headliner was Sister Hazel, who are probably most famous for their 1997 single, “All For You”. Erin knows them best for their 2003 commercial flop, Chasing Daylight. I picked up this CD at a Pawn America in 2003. I remember thinking, “Hey, I remember Sister Hazel. Some guy on my soccer team stole my copy of Somewhere More Familiar. Well, for $2, why not get this to replace it? The rest is history.

Actually, it’s a decent CD, although I completely stopped listening to it about six months after I bought it. Erin still likes it, though. Oh, and apparently they have a new CD that just came out called BAM! That’s about it for Sister Hazel.

So why the Get Up Kids‘ lyrics? Just something new I’m trying out. I figure I’ll throw some lyrics out that have a vague connection to what I feel like writing about. I’ll probably try and do it a couple of times this week.

Today’s song comes from a British band receiving a decent amount of press lately, Art Brut. I read an interview with them in the latest issue of Spin where they decided to be interviewed at a Dodger’s game even though they knew nothing about baseball. Anyway, here’s Direct Hit.

Before we get started, I was checking my email today, and got an email from a list I had forgotten that I had signed up for. In it, I noticed this:

Hey, look at that! Friends of noeviltwin.com, David and Carr won the contest that I asked people to vote for two weeks ago. Congrats, guys!

Oh, and I expect this to be a fairly all-over-the-place entry today. I’ve got about three different songs stuck in my head right now… two by Spoon, one by Polyphonic Spree, if you were wondering.

Speaking of the Polyphonic Spree, today’s post was inspired by their song, Running Away. In it, there is the lyric: “I am so excited and delighted today ’cause you decided to be in my life.” Those are the kind of lyrics that make Erin go, “Aww…” But not in the “Aww, Nick, why’d you go and do that stupid thing again?” No, it’s the “Aww, that’s so sweet” sort of aww.

But look at those lyrics again. In my mind, those are B or B+ lyrics. They’re not the “gold” lyrics you break out when the crème brûlée arrives and the candles have melted down to the candlesticks. They’re not the type of lyrics you try and force into a wedding vow, either. (No, I was the one pushing for the traditional vows).

Then why am I so enamored by them?

If you’ll allow me to be slightly poetic, I think the answer is this: Sometimes, the coalescence of music and lyrics create an entity in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Ok, so poetic/scientific – I’m a sci-poe.

Anyway, what I was trying to say is that sometimes music makes so-so lyrics seem that much cooler. There’s other times when music makes incoherent lyrics unimportant. Think The Mars Volta. Or, think of the Get Up Kids lyrics, “Tonight if you’re awake at all / Tonight if you’re awake / Tonight if you’re awake at all / Tonight if you’re awake“. To me, those aren’t great lyrics, but try and stop me from singing them. I dare you.

Where am I going with this? Not sure. I just realized that my AIM away message is typically lyrics that aren’t anything special, and I thought I might explain why I am the way I am.

Today’s song comes from the EP that is an addendum to Of Montreal’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? As I have mentioned before, both of these CDs were written while lead singer’s Kevin Barnes marriage was on the rocks. Du Og Meg appears to tell the story of how they met. Oh, and I checked – Du Og Meg translates to “You and me” in Norwegian. I’ll get my friend Emma to verify that.

Sorry, my loyal readers, but Tuesday night was a long one and I didn’t get around to writing a well-thought out post. So, instead you get a quick hitter. I’m sure all of you are wondering if I caught The Singing Bee last night on NBC. The answer is… kind of. I watched the last five minutes where a guy who couldn’t sing won himself a cool 50 G’s. For anyone else who watched, did it really seem like NBC pushed this show up to quickly? The music was good, but the set just seemed half-finished.

I won’t be watching Don’t Forget the Lyrics tonight. Won’t be home.

Anyway, exciting news! The new Spoon album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, came out yesterday! It is classic Spoon, a very good album. It feels a little more sparse and quiet than their previous effort, Gimme Fiction. Obviously, today’s song is from this album. It’s the song that jumped out at me after a couple of listens. Here’s The Underdog.

Love karaoke?!? You know I do, or maybe I don’t. How much have I been drinking? While I enjoy singing at home for Erin (a.k.a. my own enjoyment) I’m not such a huge fan of karaoke. Whether it’s people embarrassing themselves or me embarrassing myself… well, you know…

If you haven’t heard, NBC and FOX have decided to release concurrent karaoke-related TV shows. NBC’s is called The Singing Bee while FOX has gone a different route and decided to let the producer’s three year old kid name the show Don’t Forget the Lyrics!

Not sure which one to watch? Well, that’s why I’m here! I’ve created a couple of criteria to compare the shows.

So there you have it. If I were forced to watch one of these shows, then I might watch The Singing Bee… even if it means I have to deal with Mr. “I was also in My Big Fat Greek Wedding I wasn’t just the old guy in N’Sync.”

Today’s song comes from my favorite gay, Canadian singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright. Here’s Going to a Town.