All posts by Lance

About Lance

Lance is an online product developer and content producer based in Austin, TX. He enjoys bourbon, tacos, cocktails, tater tots, live music, karaoke and is hoping one day to run into Sasquatch or a UFO. Or a UFO flown by a Sasquatch.

November Five-Star Shuffle: “Lake Shore Driving”

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Okay, here are the rules for the November theme, Chris.  Open up iTunes (it has to be a fresh open).  Go to your 5-Star playlist and hit shuffle.  Write about the first song that comes up.  No skips allowed, unless by some crazy circumstance, you hit the same song on your next post.  So here goes.  Wow…

Big Thing
Big Thing

“Lake Shore Driving”
by Duran Duran
from the album Big Thing
1988
Buy the album on Amazon

I’ve been in love with Duran Duran for years.  I came a bit late to the party, missing their early-80s works when they were crazy popular.  Big Thing was probably the album that first got me into them but I quickly added their more popular and poppier albums to my collection.  Big Thing is kind of an odd album coming off the pretty funky turn they took with 1985’s Notorious which saw the once quintet reduced to a trio.  If Big Thing is odd, then “LSD” is an accurate acronym for this weird-ass, but wonderful track. Continue reading November Five-Star Shuffle: “Lake Shore Driving” →

I’m Getting Too Old For Concerts

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Afghan Whigs
Afghan Whigs courtesy Grantland

On Friday night I went to check out the Afghan Whigs in Austin, a band I’ve loved since the early 90s but never got to see live.  Greg Dulli’s voice is one of my favorites and I’ve often said if I had the chance to sing like anyone, it would be him.  His voice is so raspy and powerful, it’s just killer.  I was really excited to check them out at a venue I’d never been to be before.   Continue reading I’m Getting Too Old For Concerts →

Orphan Songs: “The Ballad of Winnie”

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Pearls Before Swine
Pearls Before Swine

“The Ballad of Winnie”
by Tribe after Tribe
from the album Pearls Before Swine
1997
Buy the album on Amazon

Scattered throughout my digital library are lonely orphan songs which contain the only appearance from that particular artist in my collection.  Most of these come from a time when file-sharing was new and exciting.  You’d search for a bunch of random stuff you had heard about but had never seen in a store, or maybe had a jonzing for that catchy track you heard on the radio.  Every search was an attempt to fill up the empty hours at night and the megabytes on your hard drive.  Most of these songs have been lost to time,  played once and forgotten.  Most are missing key pieces of metadata.  But every now and then one of those songs will stick out.  It’ll make the move from computer to computer.  You might even end up buying a higher bit rate version later on iTunes or Amazon.  And if when it comes on shuffle, which is rare in a sea of complete discographies and ever-increasing collections, you’ll listen to it and remember. Continue reading Orphan Songs: “The Ballad of Winnie” →

October Soundtracks: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

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Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
2010
Buy the album on Amazon

I haven’t seen this film since it came out, but it was super fucking fun and clever at the time.  It might be a little dated now or might be just old enough to be cool again.  Either way, it introduced me to some music I wouldn’t have otherwise discovered on my own.  The album isn’t consistently good through and through, but there are some choice cuts along the way.   Continue reading October Soundtracks: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) →

Album of the Month: Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet

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Girlfriend

Girlfriend
by Matthew Sweet
1991
Buy the Legacy Edition on Amazon

Chris and I have been talking about doing full album reviews ever since we started MNP a few months ago.  We recently set a goal of one album per month from each of us, which seemed manageable at the time, particularly since we had no other rules regarding what to pick or how to go about covering it.  You’d think it would be awesome having the ability to choose any album ever made, throughout all time and space but fuck if it’s not totally stressful – particularly on the first go-around.  You want to pick something great to initiate your catalog but at the same time you don’t to completely blow your load and have nowhere to go.  While my wheels were turning I became aware of the dates quickly advancing towards the end of the month, I have to get the entry done by the 31st.  The 31st, that date means a lot to me, which I’ll get into later… but it did make this album pop into mind and when I started doing a bit of research, I came across another interesting fact:

Twenty-three years ago today, Matthew Sweet released his masterpiece of an album, Girlfriend.

That sealed the deal.  My first album of the month will be Girlfriend. Continue reading Album of the Month: Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet →

October Soundtracks: Trainspotting

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Trainspotting
Trainspotting

Trainspotting: Music from the Motion Picture
1996
Buy the album on Amazon

I’m not a junkie or even a dabbler, but most of my favorite films are wrapped in heavy layer of drug use and overdose references: Dazed and Confused, SLC Punk!, Requiem for a Dream and Trainspotting.  It’s probably some weird escapism thing – watching a life I’ve never lived, the same way we’re fascinated by alien invasions in science fiction.  Big characters in outrageous situations.  Seeing the best and worst of people.  Depression.  Darkness.  Great soundtracks.  Trainspotting pretty captures all of those things.

Continue reading October Soundtracks: Trainspotting →

October Soundtracks: Dream a Little Dream

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Dream A Little Dream
Dream A Little Dream

Dream a Little Dream Original Soundtrack
1989
Buy the album on Amazon

This one popped into my head because of a conversation Chris and I just had about Meredith Salenger.  I don’t even remember what the conversation was, but good lord, did I have a crush on her in high school.  In fact, this stupid little movie (and it is dumb, no doubt) is maybe one of my favorite films of all time.  Let it be known, I have a crush on this movie.  It might feature the Coreys and the main single from the soundtrack might be a cover done by a soap opera star, but dang it, this movie has a hold on me.

Continue reading October Soundtracks: Dream a Little Dream →

October Soundtracks: Grosse Pointe Blank

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Grosse Pointe Blank
Grosse Pointe Blank

Grosse Pointe Blank: Music From The Film
1997
Buy the album on Amazon

I adore absolutely everything about the film Grosse Pointe Blank.  Part of it is a timing thing — it came out just a couple of months after I moved to NYC and served as a security blanket when I didn’t have a ton of friends to hang with.  I probably watched it 5 or 6 times that spring.  It also has a cast that are really at their best, including a great turn by Dan Akroyd as an insane hitman.  And the plot is killer — who doesn’t want to return to their high school reunion with the coolest job ever — assassin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy9MlIBv6xo

If you haven’t seen it, watch the damn thing.  But even if the movie is not your cup of tea, the soundtrack will be.  It’s full of 80s-era “alternative” hits as spun in-movie by Minnie Driver’s radio DJ.

Continue reading October Soundtracks: Grosse Pointe Blank →

Weird: “On & On”

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On & On
On & On

“On & On”
by DUM
2014
Buy the single on iTunes

Total hat tip to Sploid who just posted the video for “On & On” which uses footage from a Chrance favorite, The Neverending Story.  I was totally going to save it for a weird post later in the week, but the song is so fucking catchy it seems like a perfect pick-me-up for a craptastic Monday.

Check out another excellent DUM song/movie mash-up after the jump.

Continue reading Weird: “On & On” →

Weird: “Frontier Psychiatrist”

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Since I Left You
Since I Left You

“Frontier Psychiatrist”
by The Avalanches
from the album Since I Left You
2000
Buy the album on Amazon

Every couple of years I’ll get a flash memory of this video.  When it happens, I usually bang my head against the wall trying to remember the name of the artist or even the song title.  But today when the vision of an old woman playing drums, and people dancing in sheets presented itself, so did the song title.  I’m posting the video mostly for the look at this weird-ass video aspect, but also so that if I can’t remember the title against next time, I can just search for “weird” on MNP and come up with this.

Without further ado, please watch this weird-ass video.