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Austin, Music

Love at 20’s “Lips in London” Takes Me on an 80s Synth Night Ride

My favorite genre of music is the one that makes me feel like a Bret Easton Ellis character. The sort of night ride synth that puts you in a romantic nostalgia for a time and place you’ve never been.

Austin’s very own Love at 20 does just that. Love at 20 is the 80s new wave pop child of Mike Groener.

Love at 20 was born out of the ashes from Austin’s legendary electro band Clap! Clap! and Groener’s love for Depeche Mode.

I can’t get their latest album Lips in London out of my mind.

Think Drive soundtrack, but a little less death and destruction.

If you’re a fan of Depeche Mode, The Cure, Erasure and Pet Shop Boys, you’re going to love this.

Here is a collection of my favorite tracks.

You can listen to the entire album here.

Enjoy!

 

“Disappear”

 

“Boxes”

 

“PR”

May 30, 2012 by
Austin, Film, Music, Pop Culture

Explosions in the Sky’s “Postcards From 1952” Made Weep and Orgasm Simultaneously

Have you guys seen this redonk music video from Austin-based Explosions in the Sky yet?

It will cause you to instantly weep and orgasm at the same time.

The music video was created by the very talented Austin filmmakers Peter Simonite and Annie Gunn. This is the sort of artistic creation that makes you wonder what the hell you’re doing with your life.

 

May 17, 2012 by
Music, Pop Culture

NYC vs. LA: According to Music, Which City is the Saddest and Loneliest?

source

While sitting on the can the other day, I thought of Warren Zevon.

I thought of his East LA anthem “Carmelita”, a song where the lead character calmly admits to being “all strung out on heroin on the outskirts of town.” From there I moved onto Zevon’s more personal “Desperadoes Under the Eaves”. In this song also about Los Angeles, Zevon speaks of drinking up all the salty margaritas in the city and having difficulty finding a girl who understands him.  My last Zevon thought came in the form of “The French Inhaler”, a song about a lazy actress and her even lazier boyfriend.”You said you were an actress, yes, I believed you,” Zevon sings. “I thought you’d be a star, so I drank up all the money. Yes, I drank up all the money with these phonies in this Hollywood bar. These friends of mine in this Hollywood bar.”

By the end of my Zevon mental assault, I thought, “Shit, there are so many sad, pathetic, heartbreaking and lonely songs about Los Angeles.” It’s not just Zevon who (more…)

April 12, 2012 by
Film, Music, Pop Culture

R. Kelly Aims To Wow Your Panties Off With New Installment of Trapped in the Closet

 

I’ve been waiting for this news my entire life.

The next installment of R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet” will premiere on IFC next year.

If you’ve never seen the first 22 chapters of R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet”, I feel sorry for you. You’ve lived a sad and sheltered life.

“Trapped in the Closet” follows the dramatic tale of Sylvester (R. Kelly/narrator), Gwendolyn (Sylvester’s wife), Cathy (a lady Sylvester cheated with), Rufus (Cathy’s pastor husband), Chuck (Rufus’ lover), Big Man (a midget), Bridget (Big Man’s Southern wife) and Pimp Lucious (R.Kelly again) as they all cheat on, love on and point guns on each other. The characters are voiced by R.Kelly in a NEVER-ENDING, MIND-NUMBING CYCLE OF THE SAME SONG FOR 90 MINUTES STRAIGHT.

“Trapped in the Closet” falls under the cult classics that are so unbelievably f’ing terrible that they come across as brilliant. Believe me, after you watch “Trapped in the Closet”, R. Kelly will become your creative role (more…)

March 21, 2012 by
Austin, Film, Music, Pop Culture, Writing

The #1 Thing Austinites Want To Achieve At SXSW 2012

SXSW kicks off tomorrow and it got me thinking, “What is the #1 thing I want to achieve at the festival this year?”

My goal is to watch Dave Foley piss on the side of a building again. Or if I’m really lucky, it will be a tag-team of Dave Foley AND Willem Dafoe peeing all over 6th Street.

I asked some of my fave Austin bloggers and movers & shakers what their goals are for this year’s SXSW.

Take a look at their tips below!

Cathy Benavides/Found of Austin Slave to Fashion: “I am most looking forward to meeting and chatting with people in the fashion community for Style X. Last year was a great kick off for Style X and they have lined up some great speakers and designers for this year. Fashion is invading SXSW and it warms my cold black heart!”

Chris Apollo Lynn/Founder of Republic of Austin: “During SX, people want to achieve everything from seeing a set number of bands to imbibing hella free booze. I’ve found that setting expectations can either lead to long lines or (more…)

March 8, 2012 by
Austin, Hipstercrite Life, Music, Pop Culture, Writing

The Other 2012 SXSW Parties You Should Attend

You see, I could give a crap about RSVPing to all the hot SXSW parties this year and standing in line for hours on end in my only pair of stylish shoes that I pull out once or twice a year because they give me knee pains and being crammed into a small area with hundreds of drunk scenesters that step on my said only pair of stylish shoes which forces me to go all Hulk-like on everyone and tell them to “BACK THE FUCK ON UP!”, but in reality I actually won’t, so I become a shell of a person, completely despondent to all that is around me.

Instead, I’m checking out the other parties. The parties that I know won’t be overcrowded, or if they are, at least I can learn a thing or two about a cool new app, business venture or meet some neat-o folks.

Check out this list of parties if you’re hoping not to get your pinky toes murdered.

Who: The Warby Parker Citzen’s Circus
When: March 12-14th starting at 1PM
Where: French Legation Museum
Why: Cause who doesn’t want to hobnob with this (more…)

March 7, 2012 by
Music, Pop Culture

Drinkify with a Splash of Mick Jagger’s Tears

Often find yourself sitting alone on the couch in your underwear crying to Purple Rain because you can’t dance like Prince- YOU’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO DANCE LIKE PRINCE!- and wondering what the hell you should get yourself loaded with? Well look no further than Drinkify, the new drink generating app for while you’re listening to your favorite artists.

There really is no ryhme or reason to the drink suggestions Drinkify offers other than that they obviously want you to get really drunk.

Here are the beverages Drinkify suggested for my favorite artists. Next to it are the drinks I think I should actually drink.

David Bowie–
Drinkify– 1 bottle Box of wine (this doesn’t even make any sense)
Hipsterify– 6 ounces of Vodka, 1 ounce of Dance Magic, .5 ounce of glitter and pinch of Mick Jagger’s tears.

Talking Heads-
Drinkify– 6 ounces of Vodka
Hipsterify– 10 ounces of gin, 2 ounces of Water at the Bottom of the Ocean, garnish with a photo of an inanimate object.

Warren Zevon-
Drinkify– (more…)

February 20, 2012 by
Music

Leonard Cohen Has Old Ideas

Today marks the debut of my favorite Jewish Canada’s newest album. No, William Shatner has not blessed us with another compilation of monotonal pop ballads. Leonard Cohen’s 12th studio album, Old Ideas, hits the record stores today. And lucky for us, we can listen to the entire album on NPR before we buy it!

Going to put this on in the background in hopes of some writing inspiration. Lord knows I need it today.

 

 

 

January 31, 2012 by
20-Something, Film, Music, Pop Culture

The Indie-Urban Existential Crisis

I’m reaching an age where it takes a lot for me to stay focused and interested in contemporary independent film and music.

I’m reaching an age where unless a film has a point or a song is originally written, displays some sort of individual talent and doesn’t sound like a band I heard back in the 60’s-90’s, I fall asleep, turn it off, or get up and leave.

This sort of behavior does not make it easy for me to go to the theater with friends or listen to music recommendations. Because of this, I’m absolutely not in the know on what is indie-urban popular, because, well, most of the time I think it’s absolute shit.

This goes against the idea of being a “hipstercrite”, I guess. I really can’t go on and on about how I hate Lana Del Rey, talk about what movies are currently hot at Sundance or manifest Ryan Gosling memes.

The alternative, the irreverent and the ironic is my bag, but lately I’m finding a lot of it forced and showing lack of skill. More often than that, I’m finding (more…)

January 24, 2012 by
Fashion/Design, Music

Life and Style Icon of the Day- Warren Zevon

Yesterday, I asked my father, a pianist and music lover, if he was familiar with Warren Zevon’s music. Considering that Zevon was a classically-trained musician, popular in a pivotal decade of music for my father and featured piano in many of his songs, I figured he was a fan.

“Sure, I used to listen to him back in the day. Has he come out with anything new lately?”

“Dad, he’s been dead for eight years.”

“Oh, wow. Really? I guess I haven’t listened to him since “Werewolves of London”.”

After my Dad said that, I figured he never actually listened to Warren Zevon at all. “Werewolves of London” is not a song you bring up if you’re a fan.

At one point that was the only song of Warren Zevon’s that I knew as well and I kind of hated it. It was on every Halloween compilation my mother owned and it would get played over and over during the holiday. After each howl, I swore off Zevon more and more.

I spoke of Zevon a bit on my recent CultureMap post about being indie-ignorant (more…)

January 19, 2012 by