Had to upload it to youtube this time!
At least his bedding will be clean soon, even if he isn't....
Reasons I Am Buying Less At Trader Joe's
or
Items Trader Joe's Has (Apparently) Discontinued
in no particular order other than the most heartbreaking is first (also you might notice a theme)
- Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies--I told the cashier last year that I loved these so much I wanted to marry them. Then I wrote Trader Joe's and told them that, and they said they were a seasonal item. And they didn't bring them back this season. I want to punch them in the face for this alone.
- Pierogies--these had become rather a staple for me over the last year or 2. I'm not sure if they have been discontinued but I haven't seen any in a few months.
- Hot chocolate mix in the round blue can--okay, they have the sipping chocolate which is good, and this one I can live without but still, just another turn of the thumbscrew.
- Chocolate yogurt--the kind with the real cocoa in the bottom that you mixed up and it was all delicious and shit, not that Eurotrash crap in the smaller container they try to shove off on you.
- Cookies with Perks--the chocolate chip cookes with espresso chips (or espresso flavored cookies with chocolate chips?). Haven't seen them since probably last winter or spring. Bastards.
- Milk chocolate cocoa almonds (are you getting the theme yet?)--now they have the black cocoa almonds, and they are pretty good, though unless you eat them with a spoon or chopsticks it's like you just read 100,000 newspapers (okay, newspapers that taste like chocolate, but still, it's messy!) Now---90% of the time I prefer dark chocolate, but this is one of the few exceptions (one of the others is the milk chocolate covered McVitie's digestive biscuits which I haven't had in years but I would probably sell a kidney for a packet right about tomorrow). Would it be SO WRONG to have both?
- I didn't check for it this time because I bought some at the regular supermarket since I couldn't find it at Trader Joe's the last couple times, but if they have discontinued their frozen broccoli florets I'm gonna bust up the joint.
- I don't think they have discontinued them (YET) but their sea salt brownies were really delicious until they lightened up on the sea salt. Now they are just bland.
- I didn't see the little chocolate mint cookie clusters. They were so good that I can't even remember what they were. They were in a brown and dark pink round container, like a pint of ice cream, like Thin Mints or something, all crumbled up and covered in chocolate, maybe?
- Also I haven't seen the dark chocolate toffee squares I've become rather addicted to, in a while. I bought some in September to bring on vacation. I have one left in front of me.
There are probably other things but it's probably like regular food that doesn't stand out in my mind like chocolate stuff. I will add things as I recall them. I know my neighbor was pissed about some croissants they discontinued, maybe almond croissants.
They are discontinuing stuff I like but not replacing them with anything as good or better. Are my tastes that eclectic? Do all the rest of the Trader Joe's customers have bland ass taste?
Oh--the first thing I ever had from Trader Joe's, before I lived near one, were these little chocolate animal cracker type cookies (my sister had them at her house when I was babysitting once and I wanted to eat the whole thing). They weren't chocolate covered or anything, they were like chocolate butter cookies that melted in your mouth. And they replaced them with something BLAND.
I seriously was planning on buying 10 boxes of those Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies. And next trip I would have bought 10 more. I'm completely serious. I was going to stock up so I could have them at least through the spring. Or till New Year's. Or till I OD'ed on them, or at least till I vomited.
Quit breaking my heart, Trader Joe. You are getting to be evil and sadistic, getting me hooked on this stuff and then yanking them out from under me, without warning, before I can stock up and buy out every store in the area.
Also, I am back on reviewing music as I have stopped going out to see live bands. I am still not accepting new music as I still have to clear out what I've already been sent/requested. Apologies to any promises that I may have made.
SARAH ELIZABETH FOSTER
sarahelizabethfoster.com ♥ myspace
Sarah Elizabeth Foster's EP, Gardening From the Ground Up Part 1 from Studio Sarah Records, is the first submission I've received for a 2010 release. Generally around this time, I get a ton of Christmas music offers (which, hey, I will be doing a roundup next week!).
Foster actually has a degree in music, singing French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and, of course English. While this EP is only in English, it does showcase her classically singing abilities. My favorite song is actually the title-track, "Gardening From the Ground Up". There's something about this love song, from rain drops to the up-beat jazzy tempo, that I really like. This is in contrast to the opening song, "Wake Up", for a song that's about waking up, it sounds like "take it easy" evening song.
While people will automatically associate Foster to 60s girl singers, I think her vocal styles, would actually lends itself really well to modern indiepop music. I'm certainly interested in hearing what part two sounds like. If you live in New York, Foster will be playing tomorrow, December 4th at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn.
FERAL CHILDREN
myspace.com/feralchildrenseattle
Feral Children is a "backwoods" band from Seattle, Washington. Their self-titled EP was a free released on Sarathan Records, while their forth-coming album, Brand New Blood, will be available digitally December 8th, while a physical release on January 19th, 2010.
As their name suggest, their music seems, I don't know, wild. Like "grizzly bear", "panda bear, "deerhunter" and "animal collective" wild, and this isn't surprising, considering Scott Colburn (Animal Collective's Feels producer) is their producer on the Feral Children album. Compared to previous bands I mentioned, Feral Children seems more melodic and less experimental. I'm not sure who produced their EP (I rarely get liner notes for digital submissions), but they certainly have that collective-like influence.
I did give the EP a few listens, and not entirely impressed with the singer (is it Bill Cole?). His vocals is very rough, voice cracking comes to mind on tracks like "Saint". While this may possibly be the greatest song done live, listening to it on headphones made me cringe.
Who knows, maybe their album will be much better than the self-titled EP. It is, after all, their first release, I'm sure they'll improve over time. Information on the free downloads, head over to Sarathan Records.
MOJORISING
mojorisingband.com ♥ myspace
I keep mis-reading this band as Major/ising, so I'm not sure if other people might have the same problem reading the name (it's OK people misread W♥M as "we love music" all the time...)
Mojorising recently moved from Los Angeles from Australia. So prices for their EP at $12 on the merch page might seem high, until you realize it's in AUS dollars.
My impression is that this duo makes some really funky music, but with classic rock attitudes (think Jamiroquai). The funk soul translate well on a few of their songs, "She Woke Up To Me" and "Sooth Me And Use Me". The later is very dancey, I suspect it will play well to a live audience. Incidentally if you are interested in hearing the first song, it's available as a free download.
The band is playing a few dates in California:
- Dec 20 2009 THE MINT Los Angeles
Jan 10 2010 EL CID Los Angeles
SEA OF BEES
seaofbees.com ♥ myspace
Lara dismissed Julie Baenziger, aka Sea of Bees, as being too "CocoRosie/Joanna Newsom", and really - what's wrong with that ? As expected, Baenziger's vocal style is that of a small cute child. And also cute is the title of the EP, called Bee Eee Pee. This is a collection of four songs and one intermission song.
All of the songs are pretty minimalistic, usually with just acoustic and Baenziger singing. The stand-out track for me is "Willis", because it does feature a melodic backing music (vs just acoustic alone). Also, the inclusion of the random intro is nice - it explained that this particular recording happens to be the third take.
Julie is doing some winter dates:
- Dec 4 2009 Fox & Goose Sacramento, California
Dec 15 2009 Sacramento, California
Jan 26 2010 Matadero Huesca, Huesca
Jan 30 2010 Tanned Tin Festival Castelo, Castellón
Feb 10 2010 TBA w/ Mountain Man, Chelsea Wolfe and Dead Western Sacramento, California
PS, That's all I can manage today. Check out Ryan as he's retweeting on twitter/weheartmusic. You can see some of the tweets on the right-side of this page. The account is kept active by live blogging by myself, Ceji, and Ryan. Not just a robot account!
12/03/2009 22:55:52 ♥ vu (
) ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
I thought this was kind of neat.
The Beatles Complete on Ukulele (recorded in Shabby Road Studios in Brooklyn!)
I was just looking again at a newsletter I got in October from Spottiswoode & His Enemies and noticed it mentioned at the bottom. Well, Spottiswoode does a cool version of Within You Without You which I downloaded for free. Yep, all of the songs are free to download. They are doing a song a week for 185 weeks till the catalog is complete. And if you happen to be in Brooklyn this weekend, they are doing a Benefit Concert for Yoko Ono. Last year it was a benefit for Warren Buffett, so I don't think it's like Yoko's broke and needs bone marrow transplants or anything.
Sunday December 6, 2009, from noon to midnight at Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Whythe Avenue, between N. 11th and N. 12th Streets, Brooklyn 11211.
more info here.
Discography
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Baby Dee ♥ Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (12/01/09) |
Before her last song, she introduced The Books by telling this joke about next to the dog, a man's best friend is a book. Next because inside a dog, it's too hard to read.
The Books set up two chairs and their movie projector at 9 o'clock. Remember, this is the Cedar, their shows starts early and ends early (no later than 10:30pm). Which its audience is an older (and probably gainfully employed crowd), so they like early shows.
So, back to the Books, they provided the live soundtrack to their movies. Everything is in sync, no technical problems at all. They even went so far as having a one-minute intermission song as they tune up their instruments. The intermission song features anagrams of the word "Immediate". Everything is calculated.
I find that trying to watch the movie and watching Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong was somewhat distracting. I think they prefer you watch the screen, because watching the duo play isn't exactly that exciting.
|
The Books ♥ Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (12/01/09) |
As for the encores, which incidentally is predetermined because of the movies that is associated with the songs, they did two songs. The first is a Nick Drake cover "Cello Song", which Paul explained is their only cover they do. It was for the benefit of the Red Hot organization for Aids awareness. If you recall, I've previously endorsed the organization by buying many of their music releases. Their final song is "An Owl With Knees" from their 2005 album, Lost and Safe.
PS, This is my final concert for 2009 (I hibernate during the winter), I would like to thank everybody for offering shows for me to review. I will be able to accept assignments in March-ish 2010, and/or whenever it stops snowing.
12/02/2009 11:29:30 ♥ vu (
) ♥ thebooksmusic.com ♥ myspace.com ♥ twitter.com
Minneapolis duo Bella Ruse self-classify their sound as “indie folk jazz,” but when Joseph Barker plugs in his electric, as on opener “Push On,” the result doesn’t quite fit the categorization. The sparse, moody guitar and Kay Gillette’s intimate vocals would be as appropriate for a sparse, moody Jim Jarmusch film as for a smoke-filled jazz club. While “Push On” is Bella Ruse’s standout track, the rest of the EP is quietly pleasing. “J’ai Presque Peur” is a smooth Pinot Noir toast to Edith Piaf and “Heart of Everyone” jangles along nicely. When Norah Jones released her debut, I remember being underwhelmed at first, certain that her foray into “jazz” was one clarinet short of Lite FM. However, after a few listens, I warmed up a bit, mostly because beneath the soccer mom ear-bait, I could detect the slightest shade of melancholy, and this interested me. Bella Ruse is interesting in a comparable way (they had me at “kind of sad”). Gillette’s voice calms rather than excites and sure, “Hold Me Close” would probably excite a Meg Ryan character (when she realizes that the Tom Hanks character is The One*); still, revisit “Push On” and convince me there isn’t a little Scout Niblett/Chan Marshall angst beneath the romantic sentiments.
In his track notes, Barker admits that “Push On” was not an immediate favorite. In fact, it took Gillette’s persistence and encouragement from fans to convince him that the song had a place on the EP. Although this baffles me, I also kind of get it. “Push On” is Bella Ruse’s “Hide and Seek”: a stand alone track that deviates from an otherwise comfortable style. There’s a reason why I’ve listened to the song a total of 27 times since I received the EP, except the ‘reason’ is actually a sensation—a slight tingling, milder than goosebumps but equally elusive. My request for the band is simple: more, please. More blood, sweat, tears, booze, ultra-lights, magic fairy dust or WHATEVER combination birthed this beauty. More Pinot Noir, too.
Besides their debut EP, Bella Ruse has also released ‘Twas a Bella Ruse Christmas, a 4-song compilation of Christmas favorites. Both albums can be purchased digitally at http://bellaruse.bandcamp.com. For more information visit the band’s official website or e-stalk the pair on Facebook and Myspace.
*Sadly, my Nora Ephron references are dated. Help.
12/01/2009 23:35:26 ♥ lara (
/lara206.vox.com)
♥ bellaruse.com ♥ myspace.com/bellaruse ♥ twitter.com
One of Kateg's favorite label, Polyvinyl, is offering a free 16-track album at polyvinylrecords.com/mentalmath. The sampler includes a ton of bands we've previously covered: Architecture In Helsinki, Mates of State, Asobi Seksu, Headlights - just to name a few.
Incidentally, one of those band, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin are on tour:
- 12/02/09 Outland* Springfield, MO
12/06/09 Binghamton University Vestal, NY
12/07/09 Bell House Brooklyn, NY
12/08/09 Summit Columbus, OH
12/09/09 Bishop Bloomington, IN
12/12/09 Outland Ballroom Springfield, MO
01/13/10 Maxine’s Pub Hot Springs, AK
01/23/10 Gallery Sounds Collective Springfield, MO
01/28/10 Schubas EARLY ALL AGES SHOW Chicago, IL
01/29/10 Courtyard Cafe Champaign, IL
01/30/10 Mojo’s Columbia, MO
01/31/10 Jackpot Lawrence, KS
* SSLYBY 10th Anniversary show with Brian Azevedo and Lamentia
THE YOUNG PUNX
I got a download sample and press release for this band's latest "double a-side single" for Simple Pleasures/Like Dat. Generally, I am not accepting singles, remixes, or demos, but since I did enjoy their previous single for "Your Music is Killing Me" and "You've Got To" (especially the Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim remix), I did give these two new songs a listen.
What can I say ? I really dig the old-school punk intro, followed by this weird 80s pop singing, then some rasta-thing. Not really sure what to classify the whole thing, except that it's quite dancey. As for "Like Dat", I wasn't keen on this as much. Perhaps it's the rap song is such a stark contrast to the other song... but that's probably why people like Young Punx.
Currently, I think you can only get Simple Pleasures/Like Dat on iTunes. If you want to wait, I think these two songs are going to be available on their upcoming album, Mashpop & Punkstep, due out in 2010.
Anyway, since this is the "free" post, you can head over to their official website under theyoungpunx.com/../mp3, you'll find a ton of free mixes and oddities. My favorite are any remix of "Juice and Gin".
NETFLIX+PS3
Also, some random thoughts: I survived Black Friday. I have never seen so many people out in force at 5am. The parking lot at Wal-Mart was completely full, thankfully we got news alert from other shoppers that we went to Wal-Mart at the last stop. Deals were everywhere, it was the worst at Target (which also reflected people flocking to there). One of the item I bought was the Matrix 10th Anniversary Bluray, which comes in a nice book-format, for $12.99. It's normally $29.99 suggested retail price. My impulse buy was S.T.A.L.K.E.R. PC game for $5.... it couldn't be helped.
I spent most of my vacation catching up on reading and TV shows. TV shows comes in the form of Hulu and Netflix - via the Netflix Instant Streaming disc for PS3. Compared to Xbox's "Gold Membership" which costs $50 a year, PS3's free streaming is a much better deal.
The Netflix streaming is dependent on your internet connection, I have a semi-decent connection at 5 megabit, so the video starts instantly (less than 30 seconds). Compare this to Playstation's own HD digital rental services, you have to wait at least 30 minutes to start the video, while it download the rest of the file. It's probably fast if you just drove to the video store and rent your movie.
Quality-wise, again depending on the connection, was pretty amazing for me. According to 1up.com, the streaming is in HD (however, I think some titles are only available in standard definition).
My gripe is that most of Netflix's titles are only available on DVD, the digital portion is probably less than 1% of their titles (it is only a guess since their selection is so poor). Also, there's no searching via the streaming disc. You can browse the recently added in various genres, but older titles, you will have to search and add to your "instant queue". Kind of lame, I hope they fix this problem in future updates.
If you don't have a PS3, most newer television and bluray player will come with instant Netflix, so this company is quite smart in getting their hands on all devices. Think about it, if you bought a Bluray player with Netflix, you will probably sign up for an account. Anyway, if you have a PS3 and a Netflix account already, you can request the free Bluray disc for yourself at netflix.com/ps3.
12/01/2009 00:16:50 ♥ vu (
) ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
|
The King Khan & BBQ Show ♥ Triple
Tour Dates
Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (11/29/09)
12/01/09 Mad Planet Milwalkee, WI
Read More
12/02/09 Logan Sq Auditorium Chicago, IL 12/03/09 Northside Tavern Cinncinati, OH 12/04/09 Lees Palace Toronto, ON 12/05/09 Babylon Ottawa, ON |
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Fans lining up outside ♥ The Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (11/29/09) |
So, if you need to catch up on The King Khan & BBQ Show (myspace), they are an interesting modern band with minimalistic setup and plays a weird mixture of 50s doo-wop and Surf music. They've got a ton of fans, who lined up hours before the show.
I got the story between King Khan's on stage antics and Jessi Darlin that prior to showing up in Minneapolis, that they were delayed and detained at the Canadian border (I think they had spent the last few weeks touring throughout Canada). This resulted in two things: "Unnamed peed in his pants" and last night's show to be slightly delayed (the doors weren't opened to the public until 9:30pm).
Some notable details about the stage costumes: BBQ uses his foot to tap the tambourine and Khan has a fox's head over his crotch. They dedicated "I'll Be Loving You" to "all the Orientals in the audience", which probably only account to myself.
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Nikki Darlin ♥ The Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (11/29/09) |
They started off dirty with "Fun Stix Party" with naughty lyrics like "I'll bring the p****, you bring the d***", followed by "Wild One". They also played fan-favorites like "DUI or Die" and "The Whole Damn Thing" (aka the Chicken Song).
Their cover song, "Shakin' All Over", was their last song on the set... which actually went pretty crazy. See the last half of the song in the video.
|
Jessi Darlin ♥ The Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (11/29/09) |
PS, Those Darlins' only male member, drummer Linwood Regensburg tried talking me out of buying their "Gay" V-Neck T-Shirt. He said that he made those V-Necks because someone had suggested it. Apparently they weren't very successful as they only sold a few of those shirts. So, as of this writing, I am one of the six people in the world that owns that V-Neck Darlins shirt.
11/30/2009 04:20:18 ♥ vu (
)
♥ thosedarlins.com ♥ myspace.com/darlins ♥ twitter.com/those_darlins
| W♥M058 [download (53 min, 49 mb)] |
BRITPOPCAST #5: Q MAGAZINE'S BRITPOP QUIZ
Recorded in the same session as Britpop Top Ten Countdown (which I still consider the best show ever), this super hard quiz was written by some hardcore journalist at Q Magazine, published in a paperback book called Q Quiz Book. The book is free, along with Q Greatest Rock & Pop Miscellany Book, as bonuses for an annual subscription. I got the book via one of their magazine off the stand.
Some questions are dubious, as far as Britpop is concern, like The Verve question... but overall one of the better quiz out there.
The later part of the show, we talk a bit about The Abercrombie Hotel closing down, Pavement, and Empire of the Sun.
Also, don't forget to see DJ Sal in Sydney at britpop.com.au.
Below are the questions and answers.
| Question | Answer | Points | ||||||
| 01 From which London suburb did The Bluetones hail? | Hounslow | 0 | ||||||
| 02 What was the Boo Radley's debut album called? | Ichabod and I (1990) | 0 | ||||||
| 03 What was the name of Elastica's long-delayed second album? | The Menace (2000) | 1 | ||||||
| 04 What was Pulp's original name? | Abacus Pulp | 1.5 | ||||||
| 05 What was the name of the band fronted by Danny Goffrey's wife Pearl? | Powder | 1 | ||||||
| 06 What was the name of Sleeper's first Top 10 single? | "Sale of the Century" | 0.5 | ||||||
| 07 Who replaced Bernard Butler on Suede? | Richard Oakes | 1.5 | ||||||
| 08 What were Blur originally known as? | Seymour | 1 | ||||||
| 09 Which Ocean Colour Scene song was the theme music on Chris Evans's TV show TFI Friday? | "The Riverboat Song" | 1 | ||||||
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10 Which Britpop supergroup featured both Blur's Alex James and | Me Me Me | 1.5 | ||||||
| 11 How many Brit Awards did the Verve take home in 1998? | 3 | 0 | ||||||
| 12 In which year was Pulp's first Peel Session? | 1981 | 1 | ||||||
| 13 What was the name of Echobelly's singer? | Sonya Madan | 0 | ||||||
| 14 Which Britpop frontman had his shoes stolen by muggers in 1997? | Rick Witter | 0 | ||||||
| 15 Which member of John Power's band Cast also performed with Shack? | Peter Wilkinson | 0 | ||||||
| 16 One of the follow was not a member of Kula Shaker. Which one?
a) Alonza Bevan b) Jay Darlington c) Steve Peck d) Paul Winterhart | C | 0 | ||||||
| 17 Who was the singer of the Seahorses, John Squire's post-Stone Roses outfit? | Chris Helme | 0 | ||||||
| 18 Which member of Dodgy went out with Denise Van Outen? | Andy Miller | 0 | ||||||
| 19 In 1995, with Britpop at its zenith, which three acts headlined the Reading Festival? | Smashing Pumpkins, Bjork, and Neil Diamond | 0 | ||||||
| 20 What item of furniture played a prominent role in the video to Supergrass's Alright? | bed | 1 | ||||||
| 21 What was Marion frontman Jaime Harding convicted of stealing in 2000? | a garden gnome | 0 | ||||||
| 22 Which Britpop outfit were the first to appear on Top of the Pops without releasing a record? | Menswe@r | 0 | ||||||
| 23 How many Top 5 UK albums did Space manage? | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| 24 Gene's 1994 debut single For the Dead came in a limited run of how many? | 1994 | 0 | ||||||
| 25 Which former member of Pulp now runs a ceramics shop? | Nick Banks | 1 | ||||||
| Bonus Questions |
|
| ||||||
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26 The infamous "Battle of Britpop" - name the two singles by Oasis and Blur that went head to head that same week.
Bonus point: Who won in term of most singles sold. | "Roll With It" vs "Country House"; Blur won the battle (but Oasis won the war). | 1.5 | ||||||
|
27 Elastica stole the guitar riff of "Connection" from what 70s punk band?
Bonus point: name the song. | Wire; "Three Girl Rhumba" | 0 | ||||||
| 28 Name Blur's bassist Alex James' unusual hobby? | Cheese lover | 1 | ||||||
| 29 Before Kanye's "I'll let you finish" upstage,
which Britpop maverick danced his way on stage during Michael Jackson's
performance of an award show. Bonus point: name the award show. | Jarvis Cocker; The Brit Award | 1.5 | ||||||
| 30 Name the lead singers of (1) Oasis, (2) Blur, (3) Pulp, (4) Suede, (5) Sleeper, and (6) Elastica. | Liam Gallagher, Damon Albarn, Jarvis Cocker, Brett Anderson, Louise Wener, and Justine Frischmann | 3 |
11/29/2009 20:09:50 ♥ vu (
) ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com






