Go Clipless

Up and coming band, Bat for Lashes, has video with bikes and creepy halloween costumes

I track a bunch of indie music blogs, but lately haven't found much I like for some reason. I would have totally overlooked Bat for Lashes if it weren't for the fact that the lead singer Natasha Khan was riding a bike in the video. It's a little creepy though since the rest of the band is dressed in Halloween costumes doing BMX stunts. Anyway, check out this video and not just because of the bikes, it's actually pretty good music. (Via Fuzznut)

By the way, new Interpol comes out tomorrow...

5 ways to break your way to the front of a concert

Ok, so Kgirl and I are here with Dr.P and Queen Michelle at the Snow Patrol concert at American University and we're like the oldest f*ckers here.

That band with the treadmills is the opening act and they suck. So we decided to find some seats on the side. Some a-hole student was saving 16 seats. I think he was just pretending to have friends.

Anyway, since we're old, we found some bleacher seats in the back and brainstormed some ways to make our way to the front of the pack when Snow Patrol comes on.

1. Push forward flailing your arms wildly while hoisting your body forward through the boisterous crowd.
2. Tap people on the shoulder one at a time and tell them you are trying to meet up with your girl/boy friend up ahead. This is very time consuming, however and requires that you lie to many people.
3. Be-friend a security guard by commiserating about how old you are and have him shine his light in front of you while you stroll right up like a VIP.
4. Tap the right shoulder of the person in front of you and scootch your way to the left. Its the oldest trick in the book, yet it can still be effective. Alternatively, crawl on your hands and knees.
5. Find a sound guy from the band and offer up your wife/girlfriend to sleep with the band if he helps you get to the front.

Here's hoping Snow Patrol comes on soon.

Update March 24: Guess which way actually worked?

Photo from Flickr by spinal_faun.

Brilliant fake Smiths - Morrissey song titles

Local downhiller, Captain Jack Sparrow of Conversations with Mud, noted that the titles of spam e-mails make great song titles for The Smiths or Morrissey. Favorite fake titles include:

Dear Mister

Bigamous Hand

Slapstick Escape

Check out the complete list.

This is either brilliant or the good captain has too much time on her hands...haha.

Lily Allen and the Cocteau Twins

No they're not appearing together. Just noticed that there has been quite a run on Lily Allen images judging from a recent spike of visitors to this blog. At first I was thinking how cool it was that so many more people were finding their way here. But noooooo....they just want to catch a glimpse of the cockney punk princess...you're sick sick sick...the lot of you!

Actually, it turns out that her debut album is finally going to hit the streets in another week or so. I threw up a link over on the 'reviews in 10 words or less' sidebar, but it's still the import version. I'll update the link when it's released in the U.S. She's finally got a website too...no more of that shitty-ass-crash-my-firefox-neon-blinding MySpace page. And for those of you that are saying "hey, what does this have to do with bikes?" check out the album cover...and the video.

Meanwhile, I was checking out some of my other favorite music blogs and got onto a Cocteau Twins kick. Nothing new from them...just an electro mix version of one of their songs from The Smash Mix. Just in case I went to their official website to find out the latest. Nothing new really. But I was remembering back when I saw them at The Ritz (which, by the way was one of the best music venues ever and now there is virtually no record of it to be found on the 'net) in NYC circa 1990. Their lyrics are almost unintelligible on some songs/albums and the rumor back then was that they were sung in a combination of English, Gaelic, and backwards French. Well, not quite, but this page explains the confusion...or does it? Anyway, if you want to get started on the Cocteau Twins you should check out the album Treasure. Kgirl and my wedding song is the last one on that album titled "Donimo."

Awwwww....ain't that cute.

A paradox, utility bikes, stolen bikes, Cyclocosm, and some electro beats

Isn't it interesting that developed industrial nations seem to be in a renaissance period with bicycles while emerging countries like China are embracing the automobile?

On a related note...check out the recent post from Spinopsys (and ensuing conversation) about the rise of the utility bike niche in the cycling industry.

BikePortland is tracking a new service (not yet released) that would help victims of stolen bikes scan Ebay, Craigslist, and the like to help recover their bikes.

Get pro road racing coverage with wry wit, skepticism, and wisdom. Cyclocosm covers the pro scene in a most unique way. Even though I don't always know what he is talking about it is always an entertaining read. Not sure if it is my naivete of the road racing scene or the blog is just over my head. Anyway, this site has been added to my blogroll. Check it out.

Picked up a few more CDs at Tower...four to be exact. I seem to be getting back into the dance scene a bit. Maybe it's the time of year. For those of you that don't understand dance music, let me help you out. It's about sex. That's it. Period end of story.

If you like sex then you should like dance music. Right? Ok...I know it doesn't work that way. But it should. Uh oh...I think I hear Dr. P ready to put a comment beat down on my ass...haha.

My latest foray into dance music is a bit retro-electro. New dance music with an eighties electronic feel that's sometimes pop-py and sometimes industrial. First I bought Ultra Electro, a compilation album that includes remixes of new New Order, Depeche Mode, Daft Punk, among others. It's always cool to hear remixes of bands that you like, because it seems to breathe new life into songs that may be played out, however, this one doesn't blow me away. I need to give it a little more time to brew though.

Miss Kittin on the other hand. She's my bytch! Errr...maybe I mean I am hers. On this disc she's purring all get down and lick my boots don't care if your a boy or a girl goth style. This ones a keeper and down right hilarious on the eighth track titled "Modeselektor." I won't quote the lyrics here...but you won't get the full vibe if you listen to a 30 second preview clip. You'll have to spend the 99 cents on iTunes if you want the full effect.

I'll get to the other two albums in another post. Meantime you can always peruse my music reviews in 10 words or less along the sidebar. (Yeah, they link you to Amazon, but trust me it's not a money making venture. My blog service has a nice utility that links to Amazon and grabs the image, title, etc. and formats it nicely for me.)

Question of the day: Why can I mountain bike 30 plus miles over the course of a few hours and still get winded walking up four flights of stairs?