seizure time?

This band is crazy. Are they a band? They're crazy.

jj

jj is a super mysterious, super sexy Swedish band that not only has fantastic original songs, but also can do a mean cover (and we all know how I feel about covers). The band released their debut album jj n°2 with the Sweedish indie label 'Sincerely Yours' in early 2009. In December of last year the group announced that the American label 'Secretly Canadian' signed jj, and their new album, jj n°3, was released on March 9, 2010. As I said, I love a good cover, so here are some of their best, posted with the songs they're re-making.

Ecstasy - jj

Lollipop - Lil Wayne

ceo birthday - jj

Birthday Sex - Jeremih

Troublemaker - jj

Troublemaker - Akon

Welcome Back - jj (youtube)

Welcome Back (Theme from Welcome Back Kotter)

other non-cover, but still good songs.

My Way (feat. Lil Wayne) - jj

Things Will Never Be the Same - jj

From Africa to Malaga - jj

Masterplan - jj

LIMNOLOGY radio

Download the show from April 18th here.

1. The Temptation of Adam - Josh Ritter
2. Cristobal - Devendra Banhart
3. Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie - Joanna Newsom
4. Willy Robinson (live) - Vikesh Kapoor
5. Leftovers - Johnny Flynn
6. Friday XIII - Deer Tick
7. On a Sunlit Stage - Villagers
8. Song for the Painter - Lost in the Trees
9. Restless - Langhorne Slim
10. Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
11. Evident Utensil - Chairlift
12. Blessa - Toro y Moi
13. Lemonade - Cocorosie
14. When I Grow Up - Fever Ray
15. You're So Pretty - Field Music
16. Twenty-Two - Wakey Wakey
17. Lordena, It's Easy - Soltero
18. Wasted - Emperor Clouds
19. It's Raining Again - Holly Brook
20. Debbie - Architecture in Helsinki
21. In the Still of the Night (The Five Satins cover) - Boyz II Men
22. Come Softly to Me - Fleetwoods
23. Funnel of Love - Wanda Jackson
24. Runaround Sue - Dion
25. Ragged Wood - Fleet Foxes

just incase you were having a good day.

so sad. so pretty. so melodramatic. and originally a 9 inch nails song. enjoy. or don't enjoy.

Hurt - Johnny Cash

Evident Utensil

Found this song on a recent playlist on Pack of Strays around 1 am the other night - I was about to go to sleep when I listened to it for the first time, which resulted in playing it on repeat until 2am. It's just so bouncy and silly and fun. and they rhyme "pencil", "stencil" and "utensil".

Evident Utensil - Chairlift

LIMNOLOGY radio

download the show here!

1. If We Can Land a Man on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart - Beulah
2. Indian Flute - Timabland & Magoo
3. Clocks/Chicago - Coldplay vs. Sufjan Stevens
4. The Great Salt Lake - Band of Horses
5. Hot n La Vida - Katy Perry vs. Coldplay (youtube)
6. I Believe in a Thing Called Love (The Darkness cover) - Edson
7. Excuses (Yours Truly session) - The Morning Benders (youtube)
8. Static Waves - Andrew Belle (feat. Katie Herzig)
9. Memory - Emperor Clouds
10. Oh, Eva - Shira Erlichman
11. Home is a Romanticized Concept - Woodpigeon
12. Bottomfeeder - Soltero
13. Girlfriend - Michael Jackson
14. Beach Town - Le Loup
15. Take Me to the Riot - Stars
16. Take On Me - A-ha
17. Black Balloon - The Kills
18. My Boys (Animal Collective cover) - Taken by Trees
19. Toxic Girl - Kings of Convenience
20. Go Outside - Cults
21. Sleepyhead - Passion Pit

sleepy sundays

some nice music to work or sleep or eat or listen to. or all of those things, at different times. good for sitting in or outside and enjoying the spring sun and also half wishing it was a little less bright on your tired (hungover, perchance?) eyes.

1. On a Sunlit Stage - Villagers
2. Livewire - Fyfe Dangerfield
3. Song for the Painter - Lost in Trees
4. The Rifle - Alela Diane
5. Call Me - Margaret
6. Reasons to Love You - Meiko
7. Why Don't They Let Us Fall in Love - The Morning Benders
8. Snowy Atlas Mountains - Fionn Regan
9. Boy From School (Hot Chip cover) - Grizzly Bear
10. Skinny Love - Bon Iver

These Days

Nico's cover of "These Days" is one of my favorite songs - perfect for musing on the fragile, ephemeral beauty of life (a.k.a. wallowing/whining and feeling justified in doing so.) Though Jackson Browne said that he wrote the song when he was 16, the earliest version, then called "I've Been Out Walking", was recorded On January 7, 1967. German artist Nico then recorded the (now) most popular (and my favorite) version of the song in October of that year, on her album Chelsea Girl:

These Days - Nico (more recently known for it's place on The Royal Tenenbaums sountrack)

Brown then got The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to record the song on their first album Rare Junk in 1968:

These Days - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

as well as Tom Rush in 1970:

These Days - Tom Rush

Kenny Loggins' first band Gator Creek also in 1970:

Gator Creek's album 'Same', including "These Days"

and Iain Matthews in 1973:

These Days - Iain Matthews

Many, many people have covered it since, some staying more true to the increasingly popular Nico version, and other's keeping more or less only the lyrics.

These Days - St. Vincent

These Days - Mates of State

These Days - Mates of State (Daytrotter Session)

These Days - Elliott Smith

These Days - The Tallest Man on Earth (on vimeo)

April 8th

Hey look it's April 8th and here is a song called April 8th. This song is from Neutral Milk Hotel's 1995 album On Avery Island, which refers to the salt dome in Louisiana. Though this song starts out a bit slow, it builds to an eerie, slightly whiney peak filled with reverberation and distortion. The lyrics are angsty and poetic enough to groan along to, and I have many fond memories of blasting this song sophomore year of high school in my oversized headphones at coffee shops in Cambridge feeling super-hip for listening to a band with a name as indie as Neutral Milk Hotel.

April 8th - Neutral Milk Hotel

Ojalá

Silvio Rodriguez is a 64 Cuban folk musician, well known in certain circles for his poignant and eloquent lyrics, and in others for his support of Che Guevara. This song is from his 1978 album Al Final De Este Viaje and was written for his gran amor, Emilia.

I love the lyrics,

'ojalá que tu nombre se le olvide a esa voz

ojalá las paredes no retengan tu ruido de camino cansado

ojalá que el deseo se vaya tras de ti

a tu viejo gobierno de disfuntos y flores'

with my limited Spanish knowledge, it translates roughly to,

'I hope that your name is forgotten by this voice

I hope that the walls don't remember the sound of your sad walk

I hope that this desire goes with you

to your old government of bodies and flowers'

Ojalá - Silvio Rodriguez

LIMNOLOGY radio

We're back! After a 2 week hiatus LIMNOLOGY radio returned for a Sunday evening full of cross country listeners and toe tapping tunes.

Download the show in it's witty entirety here

1. Don't Think Twice It's Alright - Bob Dylan
2. Wrapped in Piano Strings - Radical Face
3. Eviction Party - The Darlings
4. Gorgeous Behavior - Marching Band
5. Rome (Neighbors Remix feat. Devendra Banhart) - Pheonix
6. Moving Pictures, Silent Films - Great Lake Swimmers
7. Oberkampf - Woodpigeon
8. Baleen Plate Lullaby - The Woods
9. Sweepstakes Prize - Mirah
10. Psychic City - YACHT
11. Oh Messiah - Timber Timbre
12. The Moment You Said Yes - Soltero
13. Your Heart Grows in to Mine - When Walls Are Built
14. Popular Mechanics for Lovers - Beulah
15. Fables - The Dodos
16. Imagine One Day (So Far Away) - Mashup - Germany [Matisyahu vs. John Lennon vs. Blink 182 vs. Gentleman vs. Bob Marley
17. Vivid Youth - Pastels & Tennis coats
18. Bruised - The Bens

Also, between songs 3 and 4 I gave out my black bean and mango salsa recipe. For those of you wishing you had a pen during the show, here it is again:

1 mango

1 can of black beans

4 tomatoes

1 habanero pepper

juice from 1 lime

bunch o' cilantro (by eye)

1/2 red onion

chop em all up in small pieces

(warning: do NOT touch your eyes after cutting the habanero! Wait a few hours, even if you've washed your hands. Scary stuff.)

mix em all together

enjoy.

Juicy

Girl talk remixed it, Mtume sampled it, and now Emily Wells and The xx want in. Biggie's 1994 hit is arguably best in its original form, but a little experimental alternation never hurt anyone. Here are 3 attempts at a new take on Biggie's classic - successful? or beating a dead horse? I'm on the fence, though I always appreciate the creativity.

Smash Your Head - Girl Talk

Juicy (Notorious B.I.G. cover) - Emily Wells

Juicy-R (The Notorious B.I.G. vs The xx) - Wait What