Ok, so technically I’ve taken Thursday and Friday off of work, so we’re going to pretend that this morning is actually Thursday morning. On Thursday morning, Erin took care of the puppy, which allowed me to sleep in until 7:15. That’s AM, by the way and yes, I know how pitiful that is. But such is my current life.

Anyway, that extra hour of sleep allowed me to get up ready to greet the day! How did I do that? Why, a combination of Matt & Kim and Junior Senior.

Junior Senior’s new album Hey Hey My My Yo Yo is pure fun. Granted, there are times where you stop and say, “Hey hey, I’m I’m listening listening to to disco disco.” totally ignoring the fact that you just doubled each word in your personal thought bubble. But that’s the type of person you are and you’re not going to take that sort of crap from nobody.

So, instead, you’re going to log onto noeviltwin and listen to a song that you have something in common with. Here’s Can I Get Get Get by Junior Senior.

P.S. Tell your friends. Do it.

Hey, it’s the wizard! I hope you don’t get nervous like last time. We wouldn’t want you to…”wiz” on someone!
-The Wizard

Well, it’s Wednesday, and I wasn’t able to write a coherent post for today. My bad. I guess that I ran out of time. Speaking of time…

I recently read an article about a paper stating that time might not exist. Well, that it might not exist on an atomic level. Feel free to read the article if you want a further explanation.

What I really enjoyed from this article was one of the opening paragraphs:

“I recently went to the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder,” says Lloyd. (NIST is the government lab that houses the atomic clock that standardizes time for the nation.) “I said something like, ‘Your clocks measure time very accurately.’ They told me, ‘Our clocks do not measure time.’ I thought, Wow, that’s very humble of these guys. But they said, ‘No, time is defined to be what our clocks measure.’ Which is true. They define the time standards for the globe: Time is defined by the number of clicks of their clocks.”

Wouldn’t it be fun if you could say something so absolute like that?

“Wow, Nick. You’re really groovy.”

“No, actually, groovitude is defined by me.”

Anyway, today I will play you a song by Rilo Kiley. Rilo Kiley is a group headed by indie sweetheart, Jenny Lewis. For those of you who are familiar with mid-80’s movies, Jenny Lewis played the daughter in Troop Beverly Hills, and more importantly, played opposite Fred Savage in the 1989 Nintendo advertisement of a movie, The Wizard.

Rilo Kiley band-mate Blake Sennett (who also has a side band – The Elected) was also a child actor, appearing in shows like Salute Your Shorts and Boy Meets World. Ah Camp Anawanna. How classic. I only remember two things from that show: The radio quiz episode where they win when Ug tells them that a giraffe’s tongue is black, and, of course, the awful waffle.

Thanks, wikipedia!

Anyway, here’s today’s song, Breakin’ Up.

I headed out to one of great Minnesota’s get-togethers on Saturday, the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, and had myself a good time. It made me consider playing Joanna Newsome, but that’s some weird, weird stuff. This week, I get to go to the actual Great Minnesota Get-Together, the state fair. Should be a fun week.

So, I mentioned this last week that I was excited for two albums on emusic last week – Challengers by The New Pornographers and Kala by M.I.A. and I think I’ve got the offical answers for both. Matador is holding off releasing Challengers since the people on emusic are likely to go out and buy the album if it’s not available on emusic. It will apparently be available in 2-3 months. Obviously I went out and bought it.

Kala probably shouldn’t have been put on emusic, since its U.S. distributor, Interscope/Universal isn’t a part of the emusic family. Oh well. That was also an album purchase.

Add to those two the new Rilo Kiley, Under the Blacklight, and Junior Senior’s Hey Hey My My Yo Yo and I officially have a little too much music to wade through. Oh well, maybe a 4-5 day weekend will help me with that.

So what do I think about having to go out and buy the albums that I could get as part of my emusic subscription? Meh. I’ve got the money to support these artists, and I should be doing that. If I wanted to wait 2-3 months, I could do that, too. I’ve read the analogy of the cheap movie theaters that show movies after they’ve been in and out of the normal movie theaters, and that’s a pretty good analogy.

I decided to play All the Things That Go To Make Heaven by The New Pornographers. It was a difficult decision. I’m not saying that there aren’t any good songs on Challengers, just that there’s no Sing Me Spanish Techno or Use It, but this reminds me more of the old New Pornographers than any other track on the album.

B-A-M-B-I-D-O, do the bambi.
- Stereo Total

Howdy everybody! Well, it’s Friday again, which means fun song Friday. Lately I’ve been a little lazy in posting “fun” songs on Friday since every day is kind of blending into the next. But hey, it’s Friday now, and there’s only one more day of work and then Renaissance Fair for beer and turkey legs tomorrow and I’ll be golden.

Fun song Friday was something I pondered in the second week of noeviltwin’s existence. But I wasn’t pondering whether or not to have a fun song every Friday. Instead, I was trying to think if I had enough weird songs to play on Friday. To me, weird songs are fun and are usually accompanied by copious amounts of giggling to the delight of my wife. Well, at least that’s my typical reaction to most of the weird songs I like.

Originally, I considered making a song by Stereo Total called Do the Bambi my first Friday fun song. There’s not much to Do the Bambi other than a keyboard and a little drumming, but I decided that it was too weird and would probably scare away people, which is kind of the antithesis of this noeviltwin’s existence. This is a friendly place, people. Tell your friends!

So, anyway, I copped out and played a song by Hot Hot Heat, which was very well received. Fun song Friday had been born.

However.

There comes a time when a man must go back to his roots and ignore popular convention. Stick to his beliefs. So, today, I’m playing a song off of the new Architecture in Helsinki. Is it the best song on the album? No. Is it kind of weird? Yes. But, hey. If you want to listen to their non-weird songs, check out Heart it Races on their myspace page.

Everyone else, come with me. You get to join me in a head-bopper of a song called Debbie.

Sorry, people. It’s been a long day. I logged into emusic this morning since my tracks were set to refresh and they were still sitting at zero. Ok, that’ll get fixed sometime today, I guess I’ll just have to wait for the three CDs I was going to get today.

Wait, The New Pornographers new CD, Challengers isn’t available and won’t be available until an unforeseen future date, probably two to three months from now? Best Buy, here I come!

Oh, and MIA’s new CD, Kala, which was available on Monday has been pulled off of emusic? Well, at least I still get the new Architecture in Helsinki. Right? Yep.

Lucky for me, all three are currently on spinner.

Now here’s the problem that leads into today’s topic. My changing listening habits. I’ve noticed that I really want the newest, best-est album on the day it comes out. When digging through emusic, I’m more likely to give a newer CD a chance than an older one. I’m not sure when this happened.

I remember growing up listening to Genesis or Paula Abdul (I was 10, people) and wearing out the cassette in my dad’s cool three cassette player (remember the days of cassettes?). I have one particular memory of summer vacation, sitting inside listening to a cassette of something, playing Metroid (the NES version), and having a weird childhood euphoria. Today, I’d probably listen to it for a couple of weeks unless it was a classic album, and then it’s around for about a year.

I’ve never claimed to be normal.

Since I can’t give you guys a fresh-off-the-presses type of song today, I will instead give you a song from a CD that I haven’t had enough time to focus on yet. Here’s Unless It’s Kicks by Okkervil River.

I know I shouldn’t,
Is it so wrong,
To break from your kiss,
To turn up a pop song?
-Art Brut

You think I’m going to talk about the degredation of today’s airwaves, but that’s too easy of a target. Instead, I’m going to talk about the definition of “pop” music in the world of indie music. I’ve seen enough reviews lately telling me that this band’s music is “classic pop music” and should be “listened to outdoors on a hot summer day.”

I think that in the world of indie music, “pop” means “simple”, but not in a bad way. It’s not meant to be insulting, because typically the person using the term is a fan of the music that they’re calling pop. Alternatively, it’s possible that said reviewer is embarrassed by liking something so simple that they use the p-word as an excuse for why it’s ok for them to like it.

Technically, this is how I found out about Josh Rouse. I read a review saying that I shouldn’t be embarrassed to enjoy Josh Rouse, even though his music is a little girly. (No, his music is not a little girl… I’m using girly as an adjective, not a noun)

I’ve found that pop music may be a good way to reel in future indie lovers. Gradual steps are needed to one day actually enjoy something like Menomena. Then again, it’s possible that your friend may find your musical suggestion a little boring. That’s the downside of being labeled as pop.

Anyway, today’s song comes from a classically pop album that should be listened to outdoors on a hot summer day. Here’s Don’t Stop Now by Crowded House.

Look what I found just lying in the street,
A little piece of rhyme and a little bit of beat.
-Junior Senior

So, I’m confused. I remember the summer of 2005, when Junior Senior came out with their new album, Hey Hey My My Yo Yo. Apparently, it must have never been released in the United States, because it’s a new release this week. Wikipedia! Help me with this one!

Wikipedia: Well, Nick. It appears that Hey Hey My My Yo Yo was released in Japan and Parts of Europe in 2005, followed by Australia this April, and finally in the U.S. on August 14th.

Thanks, wikipedia!

Anyway, their entire album is currently streaming on spinner. Check it out if you want to brighten your day. It’s disco-licious!

Changing subjects, it’s that time of the month again. My emusic tracks are set to refresh soon, so I have to use up all of my remaining tracks. Here’s some albums I put on the iPod last night:

• Crowded House – Time on Earth
  
• Mae – Singularity
• Marmoset – A Marmoset Menagerie (eMusic sampler)
• Okkervil River – The Stage Names
• The National – Boxer

I know, you’re looking at me like, “You didn’t have Boxer on your iPod? What kind of music nut are you?” Well, the answer is that the lead singer’s voice kind of bores me, and whenever I had listened to Alligator at work, I noticed that I yawned a lot more. But, my brother says he likes the album, so I’m going to give it a shot. Between these albums, Junior Senior, and the other two albums coming out next week, I should have a decent amount of music to pass on.

Anyway, today’s song is the opening track from Mae’s new album, Singularity. Here’s Brink of Disaster.

P.S. I got a sweet deal from my web host to upgrade my server capacity, so sometime this weekend, the new site should be up and running. You shouldn’t see anything different, although if things don’t go right, then this post will disappear and you won’t see this note and you’ll be confused, hungry, and scared.

It’s that time again, people. Time for me to tell you what I’m currently digging and what I’ll probably be digging in the future. Let’s spin the wheel!

Mae – Singularity. I picked this album up today, so there’s not much to say other than it sounds like Mae and it’s on sale through Saturday at Best Buy (wink, wink).

Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. I know some people who find this album a little pedestrian, but I really enjoy it. It’s also a fun album name. Hopefully they heard the three times I shouted “Hooray Spoon!” at them last weekend.

White Rabbits – Fort Nightly. I’ve been listening to more of this album since lollapalooza. Seeing a band live will do that to a guy. Now I can picture the people singing to me.

So, this week we have the new Mae album, and next week, we have two more highly anticipated albums:

Architecture in Helsinki – Places Like This. This is the follow up to 2005’s In Case We Die. Has anybody noticed that there are a lot of Australian super-groups out there?

New Pornographers – Challengers. Apparently, I’m some sort of loser who didn’t preorder this album, but that’s kind of the summer I’ve been having. I’m really surprised that I’ve been able to keep up with this blog. Anyway, this would probably by my most anticipated album of the year.

Today’s song is from a CD I picked up solely because the artist was a backup singer for both Sufjan Stevens and The Polyphonic Spree. Her name is Annie Clark, but she goes by St. Vincent. Here’s Paris is Burning (wma).

P.S. Yes, I know Randomness is spelled incorrectly in the title. It’s a play on the fact that Wednesday is usually pronounced “Wendsday”. Har dee har har.

What’s this? You’re wearing the shirt of the band you’re going to see? Don’t be that guy.
- From the movie PCU

Sorry for taking so long in posting my lollapalooza experience, but I just got me a new puppy and she’s kind of a handful. Today’s write-up on Sunday at lollapalooza will be short, because it was easily my shortest day there (and yet, it felt like the longest).

We hopped on the train to get down to lollapalooza by 11:30 because White Rabbits had been added to the Sunday morning schedule and I wanted to go see them. We got down there in time to catch about six songs. The set ended early, but they put on a good show.

So here we were. Downtown Chicago at 12:15 without a specific band we wanted to see until Peter Bjorn and John at 5:00 and the crowds were larger than any other day because of Pearl Jam.

Speaking of Pearl Jam. This band seemed to bring out “that guy”. Oh, it also brought out people willing to stand next to the main stage from morning until night so that they’d have a good spot for Pearl Jam. Personally, I didn’t stay to see them play. I was on the fence on whether or not I really wanted to, but the fact that we were driving back to Madison that night gave me a good reason to leave.

Anyway, for a quick rundown of Sunday’s shows, here goes:

White Rabbits: Entertaining. I’m excited to see them live again sometime.

Amy Winehouse: She did not appear to want to be on that stage, but can flat out sing.

Peter Bjorn and John: Disappointment of the day. Their sound cut out two songs into the set. After waiting fifteen minutes, they weren’t set up yet, so I walked down the hill to see…

!!!: Energy filled, if a little scary show. These guys were going nuts. Left me a little frightened.

My Morning Jacket: Guys, if you just played a ten-minute song that ended at 7:15 and your set is over at 7:15, then stop playing. Especially when TV on the Radio is up right after you and has a shortened 45-minute set before Pearl Jam. Don’t play another 7-minute song just because you think you’re bigger than you are.

TV on the Radio: Best show of the day even though it was shortened because of the schedule and stupid My Morning Jacket.

Today’s song comes from TV on the Radio. This is the song they played to finish up their set. It had everybody in the crowd jumping and begging for more when it was over. Here’s Staring at the Sun.

There is so much joy in what we do up here.
-Craig Finn of The Hold Steady

Day 2 of lollapalooza was the day I was most looking forward to and it started out great. Matt & Kim started out the day strong with a happy, fun first set. Both Matt & Kim seemed overwhelmed by the number of people who came to see them play and played a fun set with intermittent sound issues (their amp kept overheating). They also gave me my favorite stage story of the day (see below).

This was an interesting day, because for any other day, The Hold Steady’s show would have been hands-down the best show of the day, probably the best of the weekend, but then came a little band from England called Muse who blew everyone out of the water.

Sure, Muse had the advantage of a very expensive light show and an awesome graphics program for their big screen video, but with this show, they’ve officially moved into “If they’re anywhere within 250 miles of me, I need to go see them” status. I could have sat there staring with mouth agape at them the entire time, and nobody would have looked at me funny. They rocked my face off.

I wish I could have stayed and watched The Roots more than I did. This was the second time that I had seen them in concert, and they’re just a tight, fun group to watch. But, we needed a good spot for The Hold Steady, which turned out to be the right choice for the day.

The interesting point of the day was actually Spoon. When all was said and done, I feel like they were slightly forgotten in everything. AJ didn’t actually remember them at all. I thought that they played a simple, no-nonsense concert which would normally be very enjoyable. Then again, this is a music festival where you expect every band to be screaming, “Are you ready to rock?!?” I’d like to see them in an actual venue, where I’m sure I would absolutely love the show.

Bands I Saw Today: Matt and Kim, Tokyo Police Club, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Silverchair, Motion City Soundtrack, The Roots, The Hold Steady, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Spoon, and Muse.

Favorite T-Shirt of the Day: “Pedro Lacks Political Experience”. Apparently, this is an old t-shirt that you used to be able to get at Busted Tees. Oh well. I still laughed at it.

Favorite Story of the Day: From the Matt and Kim show. Matt told a story of an exchange between him and a burly guy at the merch tent which became a running joke throughout the show:

Merch Guy: So, are you part of a band?

Matt: Yeah, we’re called Matt and Kim.

Merch Guy: Is Kim a chick?

Matt: Yeah.

Merch Guy: You dating her?

Matt: Yeah, I am.

Merch Guy: You know what they say about dipping your pen in the company inkwell.

Matt: Dude, I dipped my pen in the company inkwell last night!

In honor of the Matt & Kim story, today’s song is by them. Here’s Yea Yeah.