Late to the party

Sometimes I'm wrong about an artist. I'll hear one track by a band and immediately dismiss them without even bothering to listen to anything else. Such a shame...

I first heard of Miike Snow when I was researching all the Lollapalooza artists last year. I have no idea which song I actually listened to, but all I know is that it sounded too poppy for me. And that was the last I heard of Miike Snow.

Until now.

As I was listening to my Whitest Boy Alive station on Pandora a few days ago, Miike Snow kept reappearing. Three songs within a few hours. The first two had me dancing in my chair, but then I heard "Cult Logic" and I knew I had to have that album. My only regret is that I could have been jamming to this stuff for the past year, if only I hadn't been late to the party. Oh well...better late than never.

Miike Snow is not a solo poppy poser like I had assumed. As a matter of fact, it's not one guy...it's three! There's your fun fact for the day, folks.

Anyhow, if you need something upbeat, fun and catchy in your life right now, here you go.



Miike Snow - Cult Logic


Miike Snow - Burial


Miike Snow - Black & Blue

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The Beta Theta

I love those nights that are unplanned. The nights that begin with me laying in bed, reading a book, minding my own business. And next thing I know, I'm walking out of my apartment with my partner in crime, props in our hands. One thing leads to another, and I end the night dancing around a bar wearing a wild animal mask.

It seems those spontaneous nights always lead to something great. A new musical discovery, a new friendship, a new favorite cocktail...whatever.

In this case, it may be all three.

But I'm going to focus on the musical discovery today. I think I owe a large portion of our shenanigans last night to the man responsible for the music at Bar Deville. I was definitely that annoying chick, walking up to the DJ booth every five minutes asking the name of each song. Thankfully, The Beta Theta was awfully nice to me and gave me the title of each desired track.

I'm so happy there are bars in Chicago that play this kind of music (I'm not even going to attempt classifying it...BUT if I had to I guess it was a mixture of punk, electro and funk). My pals and I danced the night away, terrifying strangers in every direction I'm sure. I mean, a friendly panda and spastic giraffe never hurt anybody!

Anyhow, thank you Beta Theta for hooking it up with the tracks. And if you like what you hear, pals, you can find him on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/thebetatheta. For those of you Chicagoans, he'll be DJing at The Burlington Bar in Logan Square tomorrow and at Rodan in Wicker Park on Sunday.


A Touch of Class - Streetdub


The Units - High Pressure Days


The Glimmers - Let's Get Physical

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Dripping with alchemy

I am kicking myself in the booty right now. I always reprimand my friends for not giving bands a chance. I say, "You only heard ONE song! How can you possibly already know you don't like them?" And today, I discovered I am guilty of doing the exact same thing.

I heard a few Yeah Yeah Yeahs' tracks a while back and just couldn't get into them. Then they performed at Lollapalooza this year. Once again, I had no interest in catching their set.

Well, my pal Shobi sent me a link to the video for "Heads Will Roll" this morning, and I've had this track on repeat ever since. It's so sinister and intoxicating. In my last post, I talked about how I just want to walk around and snarl. This right here is the ultimate snarling track. Just listen to the lyrics.

Gangstaaaaa...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

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