“i’d rather just play the blues”

(thanks, sizod.)

yikes! i forgot 2 of the hottest songs of the year when i did my faves list. look at that pic of ellen allien and listen these tracks.

belle and sebastian “we are sleepyheads”
they continue to surprise me. what a tight band! rhythmically solid. the background vocals make the track for me. “ba da ba da ba da ba da ba da” ascending to blissful heights.

ellen allien and apparat “do not break”
dj ray liotta first played this one for me. scorching dancey drum machine beats.

a few close pals of the sneakmovement put together this quick and hilarious video–watch as jeff and grandma betty whip up a delicious batch of “.” c.weisbart and r.eigen provided stellar production work. bravo, guys–make more of these!

a very sad way to start my christmas morning, as reports are circulating that has . there’s no need to explain how influential he has been for so many decades. a true legend and a true loss.

let’s listen on more time: james brown – i feel good (mp3)

is the protege of timbaland and has for some of timbaland’s biggest hits.

get to know him now because we are gonna hear about him soon.

please enjoy , , and

i highly recommend a vacation in mid-december. it is just after thanksgiving and then right before the xmas/hanukkah/kwanza/dick-in-a-box holidays. mexico is always a fine location, as well. it makes you think, however, that some places look just like the us. i should say that we look like mexico, since mexico is older than us. a few interesting things to ponder as we spin dreidels or tear open presents. there is a beach town, within about 15 miles south of puerto vallarta, called yelapa. yelapa is owned by the families of its original habitants. the formal land ownership came to the indigenous people by a grant the spanish crown in 1581 as a gift for their allegiance. the land ownership has been maintained ever since and protected in the 1910 constitution. amazing. they only recently have installed electricity and are still without cars. most of the restaurant owners and workers are decendents of the original families and will find offense in being called hispanics or latinos. when tripping to pv, make a stop there. another little point that i pondered whilst roaming around: how could a country so rich in natural resources, manufacturing, and wealth have such a wide divide of income? sure, it is a question asked around the world and there are many opinions. one cause of perpetual underdevelopment: remittences. payments by workers in the us back to mexico in 2001 came to 8 billion bones. imagine what it is now, as we near 2007. why would a country want to forge clear development lines when you are getting such a big chunk of regulated loot from the states?

by malverde playing in the background. not the malverde of mexican lore, a robin-hood of sorts, but the rapper of the same name from the costa oeste.

i’m really enjoying my subscription to magazine. every month with a kickass cd compilation of the great bands covered in that issue. and even more pleasing? xlr8r’s office top ten picks of the week. !

good luck guys! let’s hope the other ray liotta doesn’t decide to start his own dj career…

we’ll miss you.

this time we finally see what the movie and robots will look like. sort of a cross between starship troopers and war of the worlds–except not at all sucky. all of a sudden this might be the best movie of the 2007.

watch the trailer .
(thanks, señor mott.)