herman jolly: candy stairs.

HERMAN JOLLY is part of the collective known as The Bedroom Trio, along with Diamond Jim and Trevor Childs.

Together, The Bedroom Trio is a group of solo indie-rock artists who have decided to create their own musical designation-- "bedroom music". As deceptive as this name may be, bedroom music is not necessarily sexy. (I suppose it's not necessarily unsexy either.) Bedroom music is the sound of artists crafting and recording music within their homes, "more confessional, more genuine and generally more creatively adorned and arranged than typical 'lo-fi' or whatever categories are employed to ghettoize indie solo artists". The designation isn't necessary something that I would call a "genre", as each artist's sound is entirely unique in comparison. Essentially, each artist is dedicated to creating quality music without the help of a big ol' studio. I'm not sure if I buy into this whole separate category, but I certainly don't mind if they create good music.

Herman Jolly's Bunker Life is one of three albums released this month under the Bedroom Trio banner. The first single "Candy Stairs" is accompanied by a video featuring Jolly lip-synching down a street with a guitar. It certainly has a bit of a Pixies vibe to it, but in a way that doesn't seem like it's trying too hard to have a Pixies vibe to it. You might like it. You might even like it enough to buy his album for $2.07 on Amie Street. Maybe.

d/l: HERMAN JOLLY- Candy Stairs (YSI)
d/l: HERMAN JOLLY- Key On A Kite (YSI)
(bedroom indie-pop)
- buy it - space it - amie it - hype it -

WEBBYVANDERQUACKIN': Check out M.I.A.'s new video "Boyz" at the new miauk.com. Oh No! Oh My! has a "new" song (as in an old song appearing on a new EP) available for your ears on their space.

sunny d levine: love rhino.

download: SUNNY D. LEVINE- Love Rhino (YSI- zsh)
(mellow California pop tune)
- buy it - site it - space it -

This Valentine's Day...ask yourself the really important question-- "Are you a love rhino?" Sunny D. Levine was wondering, and you are probably wondering who the fuck he is. His debut album dropped a while ago to surprisingly little hype. However, you may know him as a producer for The Happy Mondays and Mickey Avalon ("So Rich, So Pretty"). He also rolls with Hello Stranger, formerly Vagenius. These things don't really matter though. Let's get back to the question. Are you a love rhino? I mean, ARE YOU?

prince: golden globed.

LISTEN: PRINCE- Song of the Heart
(soundtrack tune, streaming at AOL music)
- buy it - site it -

For me, the best news coming out of the Golden Globe Awards is that PRINCE won for Best Original Song. Sure, Jennifer Hudson took home Best Supporting Actress, but let's face it...we saw that coming from a mile away. Seeing Prince nab an award after Mr. Timberlake tried to deliver a slap to the face was great. Seeing Timberlake present the award? Priceless.

This feud is no feud at all. Prince is a superior artist on so many levels-- producing, writing, and performing every aspect of his music. Just because Timberlake is topping the charts now, that doesn't mean that he will have any relevance to the history of pop music in the future. Like, I love you Justin, but you need to become your own man before you start talking big. I saw you tryin' to act cute on TV, and it wasn't cute. Just stop. Make some brilliant pop music under the direction of Timbaland. Don't act like you're ground-breaking.

Returning to Prince, "Song of the Heart" is an amazing (not to mention gosh-darn cute) song.

don lennon: imagi-fridays.

DOWNLOAD: DON LENNON- Young People Need Guidance
(Poppy rock tune, off of his new album Radical)
- BUY it - SPACE it - SITE it -

No, this isn't going to be part of my thesis...yet. To gain inspiration for the rest of my project, I went through my house over winter break to find old drawings, school projects, and photographs. The excerpt below was written by me as a 7 year-old on October 15, 1992.

"Joseph's Island"
One day Joseph was walking and he met a witch. The witch gave him a ride to an island. Nobody was there to do some thing. He tried to make a boat, but that did not work. Then he met a friend. The friend left. and Joseph swam back. Then he wanted to go get something to eat and drink. He got Kool Aid and pretzels. He was so happy. He jumped out of his shoes. Everybody cheered.

Some things will never change.

I still love pretzels so much that they make me jump out of my shoes in happiness. It's hereditary...My grandfather loved pretzels so much that he would keep a stash in the front pocket of his shirt.

I still have problems. With punctuation. And punchy sentences. You may have noticed. Possibly.

Unfortunately, some things do change. My imagination. I will never again write a story like that in my lifetime. I've lost that spontaneity. Everybody cheered.

WHAT IS THIS? WHERE ARE THE REGULAR POSTS?

music for feedback: elmo and animal hospital.

DOWNLOAD: ANIMAL HOSPITAL- Para Larva
- website - myspace - cop that -

This begins a series of posts that will continue up until April. What's the deal? I give you a tune a day in return for feedback on my senior art thesis. Hypothetically, this will allow me to share music with you AND encourage me to have something new to show to you every night. If you want to know a little bit about the tracks, you can check out the tags on the post. I won't have time to write much more than that, but I will direct you to websites, myspaces, links to purchase, and any press for the artists involved.

Perhaps I should explain what I'm doing art-wise. At Wesleyan University, art majors are required to complete a senior thesis exhibition. Essentially, this means that we work intensely for months and show the final product in a huge art gallery with a few other majors. I will be showing in approximately 3 months.

My thesis is composed of wood-block prints of a personal nature, exploring childhood, the imagination, the process of growing up, and the uncertain future. The future will be represented by a collection of garments for a single 3 ft. tall paper doll. The garments will span across a wall of approximately 150 square feet. They will detail various aspects of the future-- occupation, fashion, social standing, fantastical scenarios, etc. The block you see above will be used for a print emphasizing the bizarre possibility that I will wind up working at Sesame Place as Elmo.

I plan to complete the garments by the end of January and then focus on the second wall of the gallery. This wall will include prints detailing my growth as an individual. I know that this doesn't sound like the most intellectual or groundbreaking collection of art, but my hopes are that the piece will encourage others to revisit their childhood and remember the days of coloring books & imaginary friends. I feel like we grow up way too fast, quickly forgetting what made us who we are and worrying too much about what we'll become.

OH! And don't worry...I'll still be bringing you some exciting new stuff musically. Just wait.

chamillionaire: southern comfort for the haters

CHAMILLIONAIRE be on the grind yall. Every single day, he is hustling. Not just every other day (which I suspect Rick Ross probably takes off on Sundays so he can take it to the church)...and a hustle like him is hard to find. Very hard to find.

Seriously though...Explain to me why Mr. Hakeem Seriki dominates over every other up-and-coming rapper in the game today. With the rate that Chamillionaire appears on random pop songs, all signs say that he should soon become the new Nelly. That's not a compliment. Come on though, this guy is appearing on songs as often as Ne-Yo or Akon. It should be annoying by now.

The difference separating King Koopa from the rest of them crackheads is that he doesn't do shit half way. When collaborating with TRL friendly artists such as Ciara or Frankie J, people tend to throw out trite lines like, "she's a model, ooh, she look like a coke bottle". I'm not going to hate because the fact that they pull that off is a clear indication of major swagger. With all this talk about the south murdering the game, it's nice to see a Houston native who actually thinks before he opens up his mouth and lays down the rhymes. This is his aim. He's not only doing it, he's trying to. He wants to prove to you and the entire world that the south can turn out quality lyricists with their own style of rhyme. That deserves some serious respect, because I totally am getting to a point where I can't tell the difference between D4L or Dem Franchize Boys, Yung Joc or Young Dro. It's fun, but that's not skills. And Paul Wall isn't doing it for me either...

And he didn't "come up overnight b". Chamillionaire and Paul Wall, who were childhood friends, got their big break nearly ten years ago freestyling on a mixtape for Michael 5000 Watts of Houston's 97.9 The Box. This led to a string of mixtapes, creating an extreme buzz. This success allowed them to record their first group album, Get Ya Mind Correct, which sold 100,000 copies independently and was nominated as The Source's Indie Album of the Year. Eventually the two parted their ways, and Paul Wall allegedly jumped Chamillionaire's brother at a club.

With the beginning aside, let's get to where he is now. After all the drama he had getting paid nearly nothing for the mixtapes he appeared on, he stated, "I had already been through money problems with Swishahouse and Paid in Full and I swore that I wasn’t gonna work for anybody else but me. The best way I could make sure that I received the money I was owed was if I was the person that was in control." So he got in control. He teamed up with a DJ and dropped mixtape after mixtape, refusing to work with anyone who screwed him over in the the past. Now that he established himself, he was ready for the big leagues, and he didn't play around at all. His debut solo album boasts production from top dollar producers Scott Storch, Mannie Fresh, The Beat Bullies, and Cool and Dre. It includes appearances by Killer Mike, Lil Wayne, Bun B, and Scarface. Moreso, it's been out for nearly a year and it's still selling copies!

This is undeniably due to the success of the single "Ridin" which rich white kids are totally obsessed with. The song was number one for two weeks on the US Billboard charts, and it's not about shaking your ass or doing your thing. It's about racial profiling. Even if your ears bleed from the months of radio DJs playing it out, how can you not respect that? The song was so well-received that 9 or more additional versions were recorded-- Three US (south, west coast, east coast/NYC), Croatia, UK, Brazil, Germany, France, and Australia. That's BUSINESS right there. On top of his rap game, Chamillionaire also sells cars and will soon be dropping his brother's album. I'm not even kidding.

DOWNLOAD: CHAMILLIONAIRE f/ OLLI BANJO- Ridin' (German remix)
DOWNLOAD: CHAMILLIONAIRE f/ BABY DOOKS & BIZZO (Croatian remix)

BUY The Sound of Revenge, BUY Step Up soundtrack

BLOGGER NOTE: Did I totally just get linked off of the VIBE.com blog??? Yes.

BLOGWATCH: Beauty wrote a review of Beyonce's new video "Ring the Alarm". All I have to say is that I love the choreography in this one. Bigstereo has Diplo's mix of the Teddybears' "Cobrastyle". Fluo kids posted a new remix of the Scissor Sisters single...and a collaboration between the Basement Jaxx and Robyn. For the uneducated on the glory of Robyn's latest album, YES...that is the same chick from "Show Me Love" and "Do You Know (What It Takes)"

roads till redemption: ripping off the best.

ROADS TILL REDEMPTION kind of just seems like just a guy from Georgia who recorded some tunes in his bedroom. Because he is.

In his case, however, it's awfully charming. His music is quite good, but if he had been the product of a large music studio...I'd probably be bored. This isn't to say that I love him because he's so "exclusive and indie!" No. He's just one humble ass motherfucker. He downright admits that his sound isn't completely original, heavily influenced by artists such as Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, The Postal Service, Bright Eyes, and The Doors. Together, influences like this form one of my favorite emerging sub-genres...electro-folk. Maybe even electro-alternative country, but who can keep track with all these genres these days? Not I.

But maybe Jeremy McCann-Deas could, because he is one multi-talented fellow. He plays guitar, bass, and harmonica. He programs! He produces! He edits! He sings! He dances...!? Okay, well I've yet to see him dance, but when would he even have time to dance with all that music on his brain?

Long story short, "93 Million Part One" is the laid-back jam of the summer. It makes me want to retreat to my porch, to rock alone and drink from a handle of Jack Daniels with my golden retriever at my feet. And I don't even have a porch! Or a dog. Or a rocking chair.

DOWNLOAD: ROADS TILL REDEMPTION- 93 Million Part One
DOWNLOAD: ROADS TILL REDEMPTION- Killing The Urge

FRIEND Roads Till Redemption

BLOGWATCH (french edition): Can you see the sunset from the southside? has a great song for those who enjoy modern new-wave, as well as a remix by Alan Braxe & Fred Falke. CallmeMICKEY has one of my fave French dance jams, "I Am Somebody" by DJ Mehdi f/ Chromeo, as well as an additional track from Mehdi's upcoming album Lucky Boy.

destroyer: shat on the radio.

DESTROYER: Since the mixtape, I've been posting a lot of pop & hip-hop, so I decided I'd switch it up for a minute. The latest effort from Dan Bejar, Destroyer's Rubies, is on the shelf next to St. Elsewhere, Rabbit Fur Coat, and Silent Shout as what are, in my opinion, the best albums of 2006 so far. With that said, it'd be a shame if I didn't refer you over to i (heart) music to download the Radio 3 session the band did last month.

BONUS TRACK: DESTROYER- Students Carve Hearts Out of Coal

BUY This Night
BUY Destroyer's Rubies

If Dan Bejar's vocals and cryptic poetry aren't quite up your alley, may I suggest a cover of Gnarls Barkley done by none other than the newly sexified Nelly Furtado? All I have to say is that this girl is quite far from her days of being a bird that didn't know where her home was. To sum it up-- Sex sells, and we're buying it. Her lead single off the new album Loose, "Promiscuous", scored her the first US number one single of her career thanks to a little help from sir Timbaland, the self-proclaimed Gandalf of hip-hop. With all that said, she recently did an acoustic cover of another song that's topping the charts right now. It's been described as "hauntingly beautiful". If not that, it's certainly a nice break from the original.

DOWNLOAD: NELLY FURTADO- Crazy

BONUS TRACK: NELLY FURTADO- Maneater (UK single, also produced by Timbaland)

PRE-ORDER Loose, officially dropping June 20th