New Song from The Shins

I wasn't sure if this day would ever come, but The Shins have finally released a new song.  The Shins last album, Wincing the Night Away, came out in 2007.  When that album came out, I immediately fell in the love with it.  I listened to it all the time, I mean it never even left for CD player for well over a year.  It was one of those albums that you could listen to regardless of what your mood was.  It was a solid album.

But then time went by and reports of the band splitting up began to appear.  James Mercer, the bands leader singer, started doing the side project Broken Bells.  Other members of the band were forming new bands.  It broke my heart to think there would be no more music by The Shins.  But then news came out that James had began working on a new Shins album and that made me really excited.  Then news came that the album had a title, Port of Morrow, and a release date, March 20th, 2012.  Let me tell you, I was a happy camper when I heard this news.

And then yesterday, Jan. 9th, the first single from Port of Morrow was released.  The first single is called Simple Song and I must say I am a fan.  I really look forward to hearing what the rest of the album will be like.  Below is a link to Pitchfork.com that has the song streaming.  Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/12952-simple-song/?utm_medium=bnt_sidebar&utm_source=pitchfork

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer #2

This is a few weeks old now, but I decided I should at least mention it.  Back on Dec. 19th, the second trailer was released for The Dark Knight Rises.  For you that know me really well you know that I have a slight obsession with the Christopher Nolan Batman movies and The Dark Knight Rises is the third and final film in his trilogy.

I have been eagerly waiting for a full length trailer for The Dark Knight Rises and the wait was well worth it.  I can watch this trailer nonstop.  I love it.  It's one of those trailers that doesn't give too much away about the movie and makes you wonder how everything goes together.  Below you can find the trailer.

I'm really excited to see how Tom Hardy does as Bane.  I enjoyed Tom a lot in Inception and Warrior and think he will do an amazing job as the films main villain.  I am interested in seeing how Anne Hathaway will do as Selina Kyle/Catwoman.  I'm putting a lot of trust into Nolan hoping he doesn't screw it up by having Catwoman in the movie.

I feel like the action scenes in the movie are going to be crazy just like they were in The Dark Knight.  In the trailer the scene where the football field just collapses looks insane.  I also feel like the fighting scenes between Bane and Batman could be fairly epic.  Bane is the type of character that will just be brutal.

The Dark Knight Rises is easily the biggest movie of 2012 for me.  July can't come soon enough.  In my mind I am already sitting in line for the midnight showing!

Across The Universe Review

I've decided to give reviewing movies another try.  The movie Across the Universe is first up.  I have owned this movie for a few years now and have finally got around to watching it.

Across the Universe stars Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess.  Jim plays a young lad named Jude who was born and raised in Liverpool.  Jude decides to travel to the United States to find his father who left before Jude was even born.  While Jude is in the United States he runs into a Princeton student named Max.  Max invites Jude to come with him to his parents for Thanksgiving.  There Jude meets Lucy, played by Evan Rachel Wood.  Jude instantly becomes smitten by Lucy.  Max and Jude move to New York, where Lucy decides to join them during the summer.  From then on Jude and Lucy's relationship begins to grow.

Across the Universe is a musical where songs by The Beatles play an integral part into the stories plot.  Throughout the entire movie the cast will break into song, and sometimes dance, to songs from The Beatles catalog.  For me, most of the musical numbers worked, but at times I felt some dragged on a bit longer than they needed to.  The ones that bothered me the most are the ones where "drugs" where involved and it got all psychedelic.  For example one that I didn't really like at all involved Bono from the band U2.  At first I thought it was okay, but they it got a little crazy and out there.  Below I have include a video of the scene.  These scenes just seemed to take away from the story and didn't really serve a purpose.  The musical numbers I enjoyed fit into the story and weren't a distraction.  They showed the emotions of the characters and help progress their relationships.

Overall I felt that Across the Universe was enjoyable.  There were definitely a few scenes that could have been cut, but hearing songs by The Beatles performed in a new unique way was interesting and fun to watch.  If you are a fan of The Beatles or just enjoy musical in general then I would say check out Across the Universe.

Top Ten Albums of 2011

Here are my Top Ten Albums of 2011.  Bon Iver was my favorite album of the year hands down, wasn't even close.  Such a beautiful album.  If you haven't listened to it yet, please go pick it up!!!

1.  Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2.  Fleet Foxes -  Helplessness Blues
3.  Adele - 21
4.  The Civil Wars - Barton Hallow
5.  Cults - Cults
6.  The Weeknd - House of Balloons/Thursday
7.  St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
8.  Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
9.  James Blake - James Blake
10.  Okkervil River - I Am Very Far

I have also included an Honorable Mention list because 2011 featured some pretty solid albums.

Honorable Mentions:
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
Death Cab for Cutie - Codes and Keys
The Decemberists - The King is Dead
M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
My Morning Jacket - Circuital
Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing
The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
Cut Copy - Zonoscope

James Blake & Bon Iver - Fall Creek Boys Choir

Instead of my normal music highlights of the day post I'm just going to talk about the new song featuring James Blake and Bon Iver that was released today.  Last week James Blake released a post on Twitter saying that he and Bon Iver had an announcement to make on 8-24.  When I saw this I got really excited.  So far I've absolutely loved everything Justin Vernon of Bon Iver has done so far and the more I listen to James Blake, the more I enjoy him.

Early this morning I was sitting at work and remembered that today was supposed to be the big announcement.  I had expected it to be announced early this morning and was slightly disappointed when I didn't read any news of it.  I am have even sent a post to James Blake and Justin Vernon on Twitter about it, but just maybe.  Within 30 minutes of sending the message, news started coming out that the song Fall Creek Boys Choir would be played live on BBC Radio.  When I saw this I got a little excited, okay really excited.

If you are a fan of Bon Iver's latest album or of James Blake album you will probably really enjoy Fall Creek Boys Choir.  It is pure auto-tune magic.  Understanding the lyrics is a tad difficult but the song still has this incredible beauty to it.  I really hope that this collaboration can turn into a full album.  That would be absolutely amazing!!!

For those of you that haven't listened to it, here is Fall Creek Boys Choir by James Blake & Bon Iver

Music Highlights of the Day 8-23-11

Go Outside by Cults:  The Cults are a band out of Manhattan that have an extremely fun sound to them.  When I listen to them I just think of a 60's beach party.  The first single released from their debut album was Go Outside.  To me Go Outside is one of those songs you would expect to hear in a commercial, especially an Apple or some car commercial.  Here is the official video for the song:

Holocene by Bon Iver:  Last week the video for Holocene was released and it is beautiful.  It was filmed in Iceland and shows how amazing the landscape is there.  I absolutely love Bon Iver and any chance to listen to a Bon Iver song is a treat.  Hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.

Music Highlights of the Day 8-22-11

Conversation 16 by The National: The National have slowly become one of my favorite bands. In fact I would be them in my Top 3 favorite bands and about to become number 1. Seeing them last summer in concert is the reason for this. They put on such an incredible show. Their live performance alone is why people should check this band out. Today I listened to their last album High Violet. One of my favorite songs off the album has got to be Conversation 16. It's a very dark and bleak song. The lyric "I was afraid, I'd eat your brains" is proof enough how dark it is.

Wake and Be Fine by Okkervil River: Okkervil River is another one of my favorite bands. I actually got to see them last summer in concert opening for The National. I don't know what it is about Okkervil River but I absolutely love them. Their songs end to be dark but always seem to tell a great story. Below is a video from their latest album. Hope you enjoy it.

Music Highlights of the Day 8-18-11 & 8-19-11

Work has been kind of slow the last few days so I haven't really been able to focus on music as much. Because of this I've decided to combine the last two days.

Change of Time by Josh Ritter: If you've watched any of the preseason NFL games this season you have probably heard this song. When I saw the commercial I was completely shocked. I couldn't believe I was hearing Josh Ritter on a nationally televised commercial. I've seen Josh Ritter I'm concert and he is one of the happiest people I've ever seen on stage. If you have the chance to see Josh in concert, do it!

First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes: I first started listening to Bright Eyes my senior year of college. With the release of I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, Bright Eyes released a collection of beautiful songs, but to me the best song was First Day of My Life. When you listen to the lyrics you can't help but feel great and possibly get the chills.

The Party & The After Party by The Weeknd: The Weeknd is an R&B singer out of Toronto that has released two mixtapes for free online. His first mix tape, House of Balloons, Has received a lot of praise from various critics. I feel that it is a solid album that is enjoyable to listen to from beginning to end. My favorite song on the album has got to be The Party & The After Party

Music Highlights of the Day 8-17-11

Limit to Your Love by James Blake:  So I've listened to James Blake full length album twice now and every time this song comes on I wonder where I've heard it before.  The reason why this song sounds so familiar is because it's actually a song originally performed by Feist.  Feist is an artist who I haven't listened to a lot of but I some how remember she did this song.  I kind of prefer the James Blake version but I can let you decide which one you like more, so here are videos for both.

Sun Hands by The Local Natives:  The Local Natives are a band that I fell in love with the second I heard them.  I just really enjoy their harmonies and the tempo of their songs.  I actually got to see them in concert a little over the year ago at what once was the Empyrean in Spokane.  It was a nice intimate venue and I was able to pretty much be right in the bands face, it was incredible.  Sun Hands is probably one of my favorite Local Natives songs and watched a video of them performing it at this years Lollapalooza.  I hope you enjoy the song as much as I do.

Music Highlights of the Day 8-16-2011

Set Fire to the Rain by Adele: Set Fire to the Rain is probably my favorite song off Adele's latest album. It is just one of those songs that gets into your head and you can't stop singing it all day long. Every time I hear it I wonder what it would look like to set fire to the rain. It's one of those things I can visualize happening in some apocalyptic movie. Yes I know that sounds strange but that's what I think when I hear it.

Howlin' for You by The Black Keys: The Black Keys are a band I wish I would have found out about earlier. I had heard of them but never listened to them until after their latest album, Brothers, was released. Howlin' for You is a song that you can't help but enjoy. For me, it's a song that pumps me up and gets me excited. It's one of those songs that everyone should listen to. The video for Howlin' for You is pretty crazy, tons of celebrities.