Covering the crossroads of music and film.
'08 WAS GREAT!
LIVE: 3 Shows That I'll Recall Fondly
By James Ziegenfus on 01/02/2009
Filed under: '08 WAS GREAT!, LIVE2008 was a pretty decent year between me and my favorite music. I liked a handful of albums, but hardly loved any. (Tim Goldsworthy's production with Cut Copy and Hercules and Love Affair was probably the one thing that impressed me more than any specific record.) (left: Kraftwerk, "I couldn't hold their inaction against them.) I went to a lot shows and enjoyed many, but rarely walked away dragging my jaw on the ground from amazement. And isn't that the point of going to shows? To feel like there's nowhere else you'd rather be during that hour, or so?... MORE »
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LUNCHBOX: 2008 Golden Guitar Awards
By Jim Shearer on 12/30/2008
Filed under: '08 WAS GREAT!, VIDEO BLOGLadies and Gentlemen, time to hand out some Golden Guitar Awards for outstanding performances in 2008: The flash 8 plugin was not detected. var so = new SWFObject("/static/bc/ifc_generic_blog.swf", "yearend", "380", "295", "8", "#ffffff"); so.addParam("wmode", "transparent"); //change player width so.addVariable("pwidth", 380); //change player height so.addVariable("pheight", 285); //distinguish between different videos so.addVariable("s_movieID", "yearend"); //insert brightcove title id here so.addVariable("bctid", 5663608001); so.write("yearend"); MORE »
My 10 Favorite Albums of 2008
By Jim Shearer on 12/29/2008
Filed under: '08 WAS GREAT!, LISTSThe following is not a list of the Top-10 Albums of the Year (c'mon, I'm one man, who am I to say if these are the best albums of 2008?), instead, this is simply a list of my Top-10 favorite albums of the year: 10. Girl Talk, Feed The Animals Yes, he's just a mash-up artist, and what can a mash-up artist do besides layer acapellas over well-known instrumentals? Well, if you're Girl Talk you take hundreds and hundreds of not just instrumentals, but bleeps, breaks, and beats and masterfully intertwine them with the naughtiest dirty south rap lyrics you... MORE »
'08 WAS GREAT!: Top 5 Shows
By Sarah Pesin on 12/29/2008
Filed under: '08 WAS GREAT!, LIVEAnother day, another dollar. Does that phrase work for the whole year? Another year, another $365. Doesn't have the same ring to it. Ah well, another year has come and gone and probably most of us don't even have $365 to show for it. But with the bad comes the good. Let's not forget all the awesome things that happened in 2008. My personal favorite was of course the summer Olympics. While it may not seem that I would be into sports, I'm obsessed with the Olympics. So much so that when I was younger and able to stay... MORE »
'08 WAS GREAT!: Lil' Wayne, Artist of the Year?
By Jim Shearer on 12/26/2008
Filed under: '08 WAS GREAT!, IT'S LIKE THATLet me begin by saying that I like Lil' Wayne. I've met Lil' Wayne, and, yes, he's a very friendly guy. He's got a magnetic personality, and his demeanor alone could sell a few thousand albums. That being said, it still zaps my mind (much like that vein tattoo on Lil' Wayne's forehead) that he became music's most praised star in 2008. And we're not just talking about Dwayne Carter getting fist pounds from fellow hip-hoppers. He was loved by the pop set, mainstream music lovers, and even--no lie--the indie elite. (A certain Chicago emcee/producer is secretly wiping his... MORE »
'08 WAS GREAT!: Mash-Ups w/ Mash-Up Videos
By Jim Shearer on 12/22/2008
Filed under: '08 WAS GREAT!In 2008, Girl Talk released his brand new mash-up masterpiece Feed The Animals. Not only did we get a collection of mash-up songs this year, but a collection of mash-up videos as well. Nice! Girl Talk, "What It's All About" MORE »
'08 WAS GREAT!: Best Way To Market Music
By Jim Shearer on 12/19/2008
Filed under: '08 WAS GREAT!In 2008 there was no better way to market your music than to get inside of Michael Phelps' iPod. When we wasn't in the water, Phelps could be seen bobbing his head with a pair of ear-buds tucked inside his swim cap. Gold medal after gold medal, reporters asked him what he was listening to before each race. His answer? Lil' Wayne. Before you knew it NBC was shouting out Lil' Wayne like it was a Cash Money class reunion. Phelps won eight gold medals and Lil' Wayne scored eight grammy nominations, becoming one of this year's biggest success... MORE »
'08 WAS GREAT!: Best Educational Stage Banter
By Jim Shearer on 12/18/2008
Filed under: '08 WAS GREAT!In 2008 Public Enemy celebrated the 20th Anniversary of their groundbreaking hip-hop masterpiece, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. The group (with all of their members intact, except Terminator X) played the album in its entirety at select tour stops. In between songs, Chuck D would drop a little history on the audience. Before P.E. broke into track #9, "Show 'Em Whatcha Got," Chuck told the crowd that the group used to sequence their albums with cassette tapes in mind--creating both an A-side and a B-Side. (above: Chuck D's stage banter: educational and informative!) Right... MORE »
'08 WAS GREAT!: Best Song About Punctuation
By Jim Shearer on 12/18/2008
Filed under: '08 WAS GREAT!When I was a kid in school I used to curse out periods, colons, and quotation marks, but in 2008, Vampire Weekend took cursing out punctuation to new heights with their song "Oxford Comma." Yeah, who gives a f_ck about an Oxford Comma!?! MORE »
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