This is my new Sprout Music Widget. It should allow you to listen to a playlist I made and check out some of the photos I've taken. Enjoy, and be sure to leave feedback if you want to know about a certain song.

Arctic Monkeys and We Are Scientists

Live at The Warfield, San Francisco, CA June 1st, 2006

Wednesday I had the pleasure of seeing some of the hippest little hipsters shoveling heaps of hip into our (h)i(p)Tunes. The show went a little like this. We were the tallest people at the show, because SF hipsters are not allowed to be applying to colleges yet. We sat with the rest of the HS sophomores and waited for the Scientists to come and falsify some data. Most everyone at the show was yet to have seen either band, so there was a palpable "i hope they are as good as the blogs tell me I'm supposed to think they are" feeling in the room.

Luckily by nature's grace I was able to see the Scientists twice in London and the Arctic Monkeys in Barcelona in the fall. (this was when leadsinger Alex Turner was the 19 year old king of England, with their debut single at #1, every magazine performing lurid sexual acts on them, and their concert tickets being scalped for $200 (100 quid a ticket you little muts, SEE THE MONKEYS! [in scratchy british scalper speak].

But for now, We Are Scientists had the floor. Many call them the Thinking Man's "the Killers". but they're better than that. They actually give a shit while the Killers have no souls (though not really their fault, they're from Vegas) The Scientists pretty much rocked their socks off,with lead singer/guitarist Keith Murray battling it out on the guitar, making for a very entertaining show.

These guys are so catchy, I don't really get why they're not popular. I should be careful what I wish for, or I'll end up hearing "The Great Escape" with absurdly fish-hooking chorus or the throttling "Inaction" all over the radio.

We Are Scientists - "The Great Escape" http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/08%20The%20Great%20Escape.m4a

We Are Scientists - "Inaction" http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/03%20Inaction.m4a

The, motherfucking. Arctic Monkeys. If you haven't heard this band yet, we have an issue. Simply put, this is the biggest band in Britain, and you have no idea. Maybe it's some conspiracy by US record companies to slight us out of good music, but you're hard pressed to even see these guys on MtvU for some reason. Well for those hardy enough to get tickets to this show (it sold out in 14 minutes) none of that mattered, and they screamed like the Warfield was giving away free lapdances. The Monkeys tore through a fun set, reminding us the only reason there's new music (new ringtones!, from "A Certain Romance"). Nothing too adventurous, just straight forward British Indie Pop Rock About Not Getting Into Clubs, Laughing at Police, and Being Scared to Talk to Pretty Girls. Rather pertinent subjects if you ask me. While throwing in a off-beat cover or some more stage banter would have made the show a bit more personal, they still lived up to the 'ype.

Please, don't be stupid, download and listen to these songs. The future of your music taste depends on it. Right click, Save as "my god, rock music lives!"

Sample awesome lyric "Last night these two bouncers And one of em's alright The other one's the scary one His way or no way, totalatarian" This one is my personal favorite.

The Arctic Monkeys - "From the Ritz to the Rubble" http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/02%20From%20the%20Ritz%20to%20the%20Rubble.mp3

Their hit single, as heard in every pub, club, cab, and headphone in London.

The Arctic Monkeys - "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/15%20I%20Bet%20You%20Look%20Good%20On%20The%20Dancef.m4a

Their epic set closer. Dueling Guitars. Huge Dynamic Changes. A Breakdown Talking About Loving Your Friends. Big Fat Good Music.

The Arctic Monkeys - "A Certain Romance" http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/17%20A%20Certain%20Romance.m4a

Don't be the last kid on your block still thinking The White Stripes are what new, forward thinking music is like.

WOLFMOTHER - "Dimension" and "Mind's Eye"

An epic weekend deserves an equally epic soundtrack. These guys are the headliners. The act, Wolfmother, the style, don't-give-a-shit rock'n'roll, the tracks "Dimension" and "Mind's Eye". These aussie hard riffers are the kind of guys you want to kick it with at the bar, but would be cautious about having crash at your place. If Led Zeppelin had listened to Nirvana, but got too fucked up to really remember how do anything but assault and batter their guitars, you might end up with Wolfmother. You might end up with bloody fingertips and a loss of hearing. These guys make either alternative sound appetizing. Their Coachella set almost blew down the palm trees.

"Dimension", the opener to to their self-titled debut, just flipped over my car and broke all my glassware.

http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/01%20Dimension.m4a

Leadsinger Andrew Stockdale rapidly metling faces with licks and a tight aussie fro

"Mind's Eye" builds with psychadelic anticipation like waiting to hear your friend didn't get robbed of all your drug money, to climax with what sounds like a highway car chase on acid.

http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/08%20Mind's%20Eye.m4a

Don't be squemish. Though they could kick you ass, Wolfmother have been stabilized in mp3 form and are safe for now.

Jurassic 5 and Dilated Peoples LIVE in Santa Clara, 5/23/06

(Shoddy CamPhone pic of J5)

Last night I recieved a quaint harmonious hip-hop injection from the likes of J5 and Dilated out at Santa Clara's Leavey Center. Let me say this, I saw Jurassic play 6 years ago at the Warped Tour, and boy they were tight. Sadly, the years have worn on them, with certain members starting to show significant graying of the hair. This is not something you want in your rapper. However, J5 managed a solid set with DJ Nu-Mark getting Emeril (BAM) on the group's hits like "Quality Control", "Jayou", and "What's Golden", but the energy just wasn't what I was hoping for. The atmosphere was not assisted by the group constantly telling the crowd to buy their soon to be released new album. Seriously, let us know it's coming out, but don't bring my wallet into the discussion, this about music not sales. Can't say I'm not skeptical about how their first disc in 4 years will sound, but what it will NOT do is top their old skool materials. So that's what I'll leave you with. Check out how true hip-hop sounds, when rappers 1. Don't need to prove their masculinity by repping weapons, and 2. Try singing instead of spitting monotone like a chemistry lecture (both Three 6 Mafia and my Stats prof trying to drop knowledge, I am trying to hear neither.)

Jurassic 5 - "Jayou"

http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/Jurassic%205%20-%20Unknown%20Album%20-%20Flute%20Loop.mp3

Thank the Lowwd openers Dilated Peoples were trying to exert. They really impressed an unsure crowd and as they say "We make it hard when we go on first".

Hear that line in their classic:

Dilated Peoples - "Worst Comes to Worst"

http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/Dilated%20Peoples%20-%20Unknown%20Album%20-%20Worst%20Comes%20To%20Worst.mp3

On the Brighter Side

Ben Gibbard and Andrew Kenny -
You Remind Me of Home


Ben Gibbard is somewhere plotting to make you feel something. With Death Cab it’s Sad, just really really sad, With the Postal Service it’s that you wish the whole world was a video game about making someone fall in love with you, and when he gets out on his own, it’s that fuzzy nostalgia feeling. This track from his acoustic jaunt with Andrew Kenny has the later in spades. Take a stroll to this one.
http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/01%20You%20Remind%20Me%20of%20Home.mp3


The Academy Is... - "Slow Down"

Fiction: All songs without depth are without merit.
Fact: It’s fun to dance around to pop-punk rock. Exhibit A – The Academy is - “Slow Down”
These guys probably spent about 10 minutes writing this song (though the lyric “You kissed me like an overdramatic actor who’s starving for work” was probably lifted from the lead singer’s middle school poetry), but what matters is that I’ve spent more than that singing it in my car while being defeated by what seems like an endless stream of Stop Signs. If you hate Blink 182 and Fall Out Boy A. Don’t download this song, B. Get over yourself.
http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/02%20Slow%20Down.mp3

And I thought you weren’t listening. But insecurity issues aside, it’s nearly the school year’s end. This means different things to different people. Some think it’s time to buckle down, while others see the lack of scheduled classes as an opportunity to aleve themselves of all the pesky knowledge they’ve gathered in the previous months. That’s right friends, its time for songs about DRUGS.

Ghostface Killah - "Kilo"

On the glamorizing side, we have the new single from Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah. While others from the rap super group have had it bad, (ODB’s stomach punctures a concealed condom of coke and he croaks), or worse (Method Man proclaiming how ill the new Right Guard Extreme Sport Power Stripe deodorant is), Ghostface continues to drop the hotness Eskimos long for. 70’s soundtrack horns and razor on mirror effects, its nice.
Enjoy, and keep a low profile, you never know who will narc next.
http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/03%20Kilo.mp3

Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Snow (Hey Oh)"

To juxtapose we have Anthony Kiedis and the Red Hot Pepper boys crooning over a dagger point guitar riff: “[Guitarist John] Frusciante came away from his near-fatal heroin addiction with new musical superpowers” (rolling stone).
Laying down a sobering account of yayo abuse over an instrumental that would probably be quite enjoyable to listen to while off one’s face is an interesting match. The rest of the group’s bloated double-album Stadium Arcadium (ugh… who chose that rank name) is pretty mediocre, but this tracks deserves credit as an update for “Under the Bridge”.
http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/1-02%20Snow%20(Hey%20Oh).m4a

Any opinions on these?: “No that album is a perfect retrospective of the Chili Peppers’ career” (FALSE) or “Too close to mainstream rap, I thought you were indie” (good, bring the hate. hate hate hate. Let me know, that’s what the comment button is for. Though it’s also good for telling me to keep my day job in non-music non-criticism.

In honor of the emergence of Spring, I've picked my favorite, windows/sunroof down driving song. The Strokes channeled the surf and palm trees for this B-side extraordinare "Hawaii Aloha". Lead singer Julian Casablancas contends for the Best Chanted State Name Award as sun splashed guitars sputter and whirl. Seriously, you will be belitng out "We've got it made, Oa ah ah ooo" so loud nearby runners will hear you over their own iPods. Download, burn to disc, and save it for the next 75+ day.
http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/02-hawaii_192_aac_cbr_ex.m4a

Second, we have a mash-up that turns two mediocre tracks into a masterpiece. Mash-up artist and Live 105 DJ Party Ben set forth to collide Green Day's acclaimed "American Idiot" album with a music history lesson that reveals just how much of the album is ripped off from past hits. Most of "American Edit"'s concoctions are chuckle and head-bob worthy alternative takes on the aging punkers' marketable political tirade, but one track "Ashanti's Letterbomb" stands out as something totally original. It samples Ashanti's abominable "Only You", a sexy-as-hell vocal ruined by a caustic back-beat. Party Ben remedies this with some sharp yet sparse guitars, letting Ashanti's voice shine. Curl up with this RnB babydoll and her Rock and Roll girlfriend for sensual night on the couch
http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/08-Ashantis_Letterbomb.mp3

Lets get to business like the D-train to manhattan. Two songs that have been keeping me up at night and asleep during the day.
DJ Danger Mouse, producer made famous for his Jay-Z/Beatles mash-up The Grey Album, is putting the finishing touches on a new collabo with hip-hop middle-ager Cee-Lo. And their group's name surpasses everything in coolness since MC 900 Foot Jesus. --Gnarls Barkley-- How fucking rad is that? Well the lead single, "Crazy" which will be sure to tear up iPods later this spring, has been my pre-game anthem the last few weeks. Dig it.
http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/gnarls_barkley-crazy.mp3

Second, we have a track so utterly immobilizing I fear I may kickstart the wheelchair industry just by posting it. The former Frou Frou leadsinger, made famous by her swirling, "Garden State" closing, airport terminal kiss soundtrack "Let Go", has released a solo album under the name Imogen Heap. I discovered this track recently when a friend choreographed an unbelievable dance to it for her troupe Urban Styles. I literally got moist around the eyes watching it, and booked it home afterwards to pick this up. The track, "Hide and Seek" redefines that potential of an A Capella track, and has become my meditation hymn. Please check this out, but PLEASE, give this song the respect it deserves, and listen to it first by yourself without interruption. When you wash up onshore 4 minutes later you'll understand.

http://www.stanford.edu/~joshsc/05-hide_and_seek_320_aac_cbr_ex.m4a

-Steenboat, not writing his final Soc paper.

Inflicting My Taste Upon The Cosmos

After seeing a fellow music aficiondo lay down a sweet blog, I thought it might be nice to start a place to feature my current favorite songs and other assorted media. I had never had a blog because I assumed one would just use it to spread their own gossip, something with which I need no assistance. As long as I don't get sued for putting up tight, albeit copyrighted, music and I DO get picked up by hip lifestyle magazine, we'll be in good shape. Prepare to be implicated or be one of the little people that helped me along the way.
-Steenboat