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Christmas with the Jews Elizabeth & the Catapult 1 comment Read More Elizabeth & The Catapult http://weheartmus... Paste and Rolling Stone loves Brooklyn-based Elizabeth & The Catapult

ELIZABETH & THE CATAPULT
elizabethandthecatapult.com ♥ myspace.com

The last time we mentioned Elizabeth and the Catapult, the song "Race You", went straight to the top ten on The Hype Machine. And it's easy to see why, the song is such a fun and cute pop song.

This Christmas song, "Christmas with the Jews", is also fun and cute (and not to mention quite short). But what you're thinking when you're listening to this song, is "er, aren't you forgetting Hanukkah?"

Maybe you can ask them if you see them live:

01/28/10 The Barn Clinton, New York
02/05/10 World Cafe Live Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
02/06/10 8x10 Baltimore, Maryland

THE JOY FORMIDABLE
myspace.com ♥ twitter.com

The Joy Formidable - My Beerdrunk Soul is Sadder than a Hundred Dead Christmas Trees

The Joy Formidable

When I first heard of The Joy Formidable last year, I was impressed. I said I saw "lot of potential" in this band. Based on the free Christmas song, "My Beerdrunk Soul is Sadder than a Hundred Dead Christmas Trees" (available at musicglue.com), I'm still loving the vocals by Ritzy.

Maybe there was a problem with my download, but the MP3 track is 4:56, where the last 30 seconds of the song is complete and utterly garbage... it sounds like it was encoded in error and not part of the song. I've edited out the crap part for you.

The tour information they sent me is as follows:

January 2010.
Fri 8 USA New York Terminal 5 w/Passion Pit.
Sat 9 USA New York Terminal 5 w/Passion Pit.
Mon 11 USA New York Union Hall.
Tue 12 USA New York Pianos.

February 2010.
Sun 21 Norway Oslo John Dee w/The Temper Trap.
Mon 22 Denmark Copenhagen Vega w/The Temper Trap.
Tue 23 Denmark Copenhagen Vega w/The Temper Trap.
Wed 24 Sweden Stockholm Debaser Slussen w/The Temper Trap.
Fri 26 Germany Hamburg Molotow w/The Temper Trap.
Sat 27 Germany Berlin Postbahnhof w/The Temper Trap.
Sun 28 Germany Cologne Gloria w/The Temper Trap.

March 2010.
Tue 2 Germany Munich Atomic Café w/The Temper Trap.
Wed 3 Germany Frankfurt Nachtelben w/ The Temper Trap.

THE MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA
themanchesterorchestra.com ♥ myspace.com

The Manchester Orchestra - 12 Days of Christmas

We're on Day 10 of the 12 Days of Christmas, so hurry on over if you're a fan of the Manchester Orchestra. Each of these songs are acoustic live versions of their song. My only complaint is that you have to listen to these songs on the computer - so if you've got 30 minutes to spare, sit and listen away.

My favorite track is "One Hundred Dollar", you can simply hear the anger as singer Andy Hull asks to borrow $100. While the song is short and doesn't offer much explanation, you, as the audience makes up your own background to the song. Anyway, the song is from their latest album, Mean Everything to Nothing, they'll probably be playing loads of their new songs on tour:

01/29/10 Salt Palace Convention Center^{^} Salt Lake City, Utah
01/30/10 The Fillmore^{^} Denver, Colorado
01/31/10 The Black Sheep* Colorado Springs, Colorado
02/02/10 The Marquee* Tulsa, Oklahoma
02/03/10 Juanita’s Cantina Ballroom* Little Rock, Arkansas
02/04/10 New Daisy Theatre* Memphis, Tennessee

^ with Brand New
* with Harrison Hudson

SIA
siamusic.net ♥ myspace.com

Finally, we have Sia. This actually has nothing to do with Christmas, unless you count getting a new music video as a holiday gift. But just talking about the video for "You've Changed" isn't enough to warrant its own article, so I thought I might as well stuck her here.

Sia has always seem to me to be this child trapped in a grown-up's body. The latest video is wonderful, it features this weird stop-motion, "dress up" video-gamey feel to it. I don't know who's idea it was, I'll bet it's a combination of Sia's child-mind and director Dennis Liu of @radical.media, but it came together pretty great.

Be sure to watch the high-resolution video of it (you'll need it to read the song lyrics scrolling at the bottom).

Sia - You've Changed

 12/23/2009 04:58:16 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com

(cause Wed is the new Tuesday, even though it actually feels like Friday night)

Loathe:

• I have to go into the office tomorrow (it REALLY feels like Friday to me)
• Today, I got up too late to go to AAA for my handicap placard
  
• The boss reassigned my planned workload to an unqualified coworker because she wanted it done before I got in (even though I was holding it for a specific, and valid, reason). So, great, it's done. It's worthless... but it's done. And more proof that she no longer has any trust of my judgment or work ethic.
• People attempting to force me to interact with them. Double loathe if they do it when they know I'm pissed off.
  
• People being total dicks then giving craptastic Xmas presents as if that suddenly makes everything okay (esp when they know I'm not celebrating Xmas... more of that "my wishes are more important that yours" bullshit)
• Questionable ethics in coworkers
  
• Me continuing to have HUGE attitude problems - about nearly everything
• Boo has spent most of the night whining without giving me a single clue as to the problem
• Skritches' remaining eye is having "issues" (I don't know what yet - it's been watery and red and she probably needs to see a doc)
  
• I don't think I have anything to wear to work tomorrow. I thought I had something for today, only to find out I was wrong, so I ended up in a pair of lounge/yoga/sweat pants. Pulled it off but it was a Christmas Miracle, and now I really have nothing left to wear. I could have prepped something tonight but I thought it would be more fun to see what I come up with in the morning.
  

• Letting out my angry & annoyed side IRL, esp on strangers who deserve it (soooooo refreshing!!)
• Kitties sleeping in bed with me
• The way Moshi likes to sleep pressed up against me (he starts with a paw but eventual ends up with most of his body against mine)
• When Espressa sleeps on a pillow above my head. Bonus points if she makes sure to have a paw touching me.
  
• Finding Moshi and Skritches nearly sleeping together
  
• THIS YEAR'S WORK PROJECT FROM HELL IS FINALLY DONE (not really - there's more "clean up" tomorrow but shouldn't be anything significant since virtually everyone who has to sign off has gone on vacation for the rest of the year)
  
• Strawberry sundaes (I'm totally craving one right now)
• Watching my coworker attempt a "stealth exit" (fast & quiet) from the office, even though it turned out to be a Fail (someone ran after him less than a minute later)
• NO ON SITE BOSS TILL JANUARY
  
• Just invited myself to a Dec 26 beer & food fight party which will be filmed. Food will be pasta, no sauce. I believe, as a Pastafarian, I am obligated to attend (...dressed as a pirate). Sooooo hoping I remember!! It's at the apt of the guy who I thought was Charlie from Lost.
• When the kitties have muscle twitches while they are having dreams
• Skritches is learning to come when called (though she still stops and plops onto her side about 2' short of me)
• Not caring that my house looks (and probably smells) horrible. No guests = no worries!
• Going to bed
  

Being a total pain in the ass to the person who's normally a pain in my ass.

What's your a favorite holiday memory?

Getting a puppy. And my sister being so psyched out about attacking her stocking that she stepped right over the dog without even noticing her.

www.nataliedee.com

Fanfarlo - Fire Escape Fanfarlo 1 comment Tour Dates 01/23/10 Ampere München 01/24/10 Studio 672 Köln 01/26/10 Magnet Berlin 01/28/10 Rocking Chair Vevey 01/29/10 Ziegel Oh Lac Zurich 02/01/10 Prinzenbar Hamburg 02/09/10 Thekla Bristol 02/10/10 Hare & Hounds Birmingham 02/11/10 Brudenell Centre Leeds 02/12/10 ULU London 02/13/10 Audio Brighton Discography [Oct 2006] Talking Backwards (single) [Feb 2007] You Are One Of The Few Outsiders... (single) [Jun 2007] Fire Escape (single) [Mar 2008] Harold T. Wilkins (single) [May 2009] Drowning Men (single) [Sep 2009] Reservoir (album) Read More Fanfarlo http://weheartmus... This band shot straight up my priority list because you only have FOUR more days to get Fanfarlo'...

Straitjacket Escape ♥ photo by Dave

Indie pop isn’t usually described as epic. Adorable, precious, and cloyingly cute? Yes. But epic? Not so much. Fanfarlo seems to be the exception, and they proved this point on Friday night, when they had a man suspended upside down from the rafters and escape from a straitjacket. This happened within the first five minutes of the show, during the orchestral behemoth that is “The Walls are Coming Down.” It was like a Bruce Willis movie, but with less explosions and more glockenspiel.

The straitjacket incident was obviously the most epic moment of the night, but the theatrics didn’t end there. There was interpretive dancing, rogue boomerangs, and a pretty intimidating box accordion. Throw in a picturesque stage setting and a watering can attached to the drum kit, and it wasn’t an average Webster Hall show. The band managed to take a spacious, relatively normal venue and shift the atmosphere to match that of the album: warm, enthusiastic, and frenzied.

Fanfarlo ♥ photo by Dave

Frontman, Simon Balthazar, led the charge in a bowtie and further proved my belief that Swedes are musical messiahs when it comes to penning a good pop song. Though he was the lead singer, the audience seemed to focus on the band as a whole as they constantly exchanged instruments and shared singing duties. The arsenal of instruments that night included a banjo, mandolin, violin, clarinet, and a brightly colored melodica – the required instrument for every chamber pop band out there. True, they occasionally succumbed to a few clichés (see: the rampart Arcade Fire comparisons), but their sincerity shone through. When you take away the fanfare, there’s still a pulse to their music that drives it past most conventions. Hence the epic-ness.

With only one album, they had a limited supply of songs to play. My personal favorite, “I’m a Pilot,” drew from the band’s most appealing quality: their infectious camaraderie. This was most apparent during the encore, when they had run out of songs to sing, so they resorted to the obligatory cover, Low’s “Just Like Christmas,” featuring opening band, Freelance Whales. Anything holiday-related is instantly a cheese-fest, but throw in a cavalcade of instruments and a dozen earnest musicians and it becomes easy to suspend any cynicism.

(I really wanted to end this review by writing, “...and by the end of the night, you could say that the entire audience had shed an emotional straitjacket – and put on a fringed vest of love.” But I won’t. Swearsies.)

Photos by Dave: 

Fanfarlo ♥ photo by Dave

Fanfarlo

Fanfarlo

Fanfarlo & Freelance Whales

 12/22/2009 00:12:42 ♥ kateg () ♥ fanfarlo.com ♥ myspace.com/fanfarlo

Where the heck is my remote control?

Bonus Q: How do I manage to misplace it so often?

Almost considered skipping the show tonight but soooo glad I didn't.

Traffic was HORRID - but it's LA, at the holidays, and the weather today was FANTASTIC (around 80) so I should have expected that.

Valet was $25... but they gave me a free carwash. Granted, it turned out to be a pretty shitty carwash - but it was free so, whatever!

The lineup was Royal Crown Review (very short set), The Ventures (THE original surf guitar band - over 100million records sold), the Brian Setzer Orchestra.

Brian never played guitar one-handed, which kinda bummed me out. But it was still a great show. I have a billion photos and video to sort through after I recharge the cell phone... or plug the micro sd card into a reader.

My knees were okay till about the time Brian Setzer came out. By then, they were thrashed. I had some empathy from the couple behind me (father & daughter) who also had knee/leg/foot problems. I got into the venue shortly before 8 and into my car round 12:15... 4+ hours of standing and/or walking. I would have done rude things for a drink after the show but nearly everything at Universal City Walk was either a disco or closed. So I did without...

...till I got back to Long Beach, where I stopped at Puka Bar for a drink... or 20 (I think it was actually 4).

I almost bought Crankypants a big carry-all bag at Universal CityWalk. It had something about being angry, or hating people, or something like that. Would easily work for me but seemed more "okay" if I got it for Cranky. But I eventually decided we could both do without it.

So now it's after 2a and I'm too awake (even after 4 mixed drinks) and tomorrow has only one commitment (hair color & cut at... 4??). I actually tried to run some errands today but I got there too late and the only errand I actually accomplished was getting fake eyelashes (they look GREAT).

late to bed, late to rise (makes a chick look lazy to morning people)