Senior Citizens attempt hip hop hits

Looking for that perfect last-minute gift?

I have the answer - Angolan bunnies. Duh.

Happy holidays. Now go make some Pink Panty Dropper and celebrate!

Rather Red's NBA Predictions as of 12/19/08

East:
1. Boston (too fucking good)
2. Cleveland (also really fucking good)
3. Orlando (finally fucking good)
4. Atlanta (surprisingly fucking good)
5. Detroit (surprisingly not so fucking good w/ AI)
6. Miami (Dwyane Wade is fucking good)
7. Toronto (disappointingly not fucking good)
8. New Jersey (definitely not fucking good, but it's a start)
9. Chicago (Derrick Rose will be fucking good)
10. Philadelphia (should've known they wouldn't be fucking good)
11. New York (a little fucking better)
12. Milwaukee (send Redd to Cavs so they can be really really fucking good)
13. Indiana (surprisingly fucking fast)
14. Charlotte (never will be fucking good)
15. Washington (fucking terrible)

West:
1. LA Lakers (they're looking shakier than Boston & Cleveland at this point)
2. New Orleans (started slow, pulling it together)
3. Denver (we forgot how good chauncey was)
4. Portland (roy is legit)
5. San Antonio (just get out of my league already)
6. Phoenix (porter needs to let them run free)
7. Utah (boozer wants to ditch them like he ditched lebron)
8. Houston (still injury plagued, no surprise there)
9. Dallas (most likely to not succeed of the nine)
10. LA Clippers (pulling it together for morale's sake)
11. Memphis (oj mayo... wow)
12. Golden State (even with monta they're not good enough)
13. Sacramento (john salmons is their go-to guy right now... wow)
14. Minnesota (kevin mcFAIL)
15. Oklahoma City (this is what you get for leaving Seattle you fucktards)

2nd Round: Cleveland over Orlando, Boston over Atlanta, Lakers over San Antonio, New Orleans over Phoenix (all expected shit)
Championship: Lakers over Cleveland (Kobe and his all-star team will pull together... Boston is too old to be pushing it 30 games into the season, they'll fade, once Bron gets Redd or Miller, they'll be unstoppable in the East.... but the Lakers will be too much... Odom is their fucking sixth man for fuck's sake)

MVP Voting: LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard.
ROY Voting: OJ Mayo, Derrick Rose, Rudy Fernandez, George Hill, Michael Beasely.
1st Team: Dwight Howard, Paul Pierce, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade
2nd Team: Yao Ming, Amare Stoudemire, Kevin Garnett, Chris Paul, Brandon Roy
3rd Team: Chris Bosh, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowiztki, Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups
Others receiving votes in no order: Rajon Rondo, Joe Johnson, Allen Iverson, Devin Harris, Pau Gasol, Carmelo Anthony, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, Tracy McGrady, Shaquille O'Neal.

Warped Tour 2009

The first batch of Warped Tour 2009 bands have been announced. It's looking good. I'll list the bands, ones not to miss in bold, interesting choices in italics, and the tour dates that are relevant to fans and members of the LOP crew.

June 26 (Friday) in Pomona
June 28 (Sunday) in Ventura
June 30 (Tuesday) in Phoenix
August 1 (Saturday) in Chicago
August 7 (Friday) in Boise
August 22 (Saturday) in Whale's Vagina
August 23 (Sunday) in Los Angeles
For more dates: Click here

3OH!3
A Day to Remember
A SKYLIT DRIVE
Alexisonfire
Anti-Flag
Bad Religion
Bayside
Big D and the Kids Table
Black Tide
Bouncing Souls
Breathe Carolina
Brokencyde
Cash Cash
CHIODOS
Dance Gavin Dance
Dear and the Headlights
Dirty Heads
ESCAPE THE FATE
EVERY AVENUE
Flogging Molly
Gallows
Hit the Lights
I Set My Friends on Fire
Jeffree Star
Less Than Jake
Lights
Meg & Dia
Millionaires
NOFX
Outernational
P.O.S.
SAOSIN
SCARY KIDS SCARING KIDS
SENSES FAIL
Shad
SILVERSTEIN
Sing it Loud
Streetlight Manifesto
Tat
The A.K.A.s
The Architects
The Ataris
The Devil Wears Prada
The Maine
THE WHITE TIE AFFAIRr
There For Tomorrow
Therefore I Am
THRICE
TV/TV
UNDEROATH
Valencia
Westbound Train

AFI's Mystery/Contest/New Album

AFI are finally active again. They played the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, and then they started their mystery back up again. I was on their site all day as they changed the main page over and over between various dark and mysterious images. Finally, the mystery led to a website that explained their new contest:

Begin Transmission

It contains the following video. Apparently, contest entrants can make a short video about themselves. Winners get to sing on the new AFI album.

Afternoon Links: Scranton just got a little Blacker

• If you haven't gone outside after finals, opting for catching up on masturbation and movie rentals, it's raining buckets.
• Good news for you Office fans on a rainy day, which will hopefully cut out the bad news.
• A great piece done by the LA Times (newspapers relevant? who knew!) on the dreams of families done in by the housing bubble-burst here.
• While weather is on your mind, it might snow in my hometown of Santa Clarita tonight (elevation around 2,000'). Which means hit the slopes nearest you. I will come Thursday.
• If you opted to celebrate with hideous festive sweaters over the weekend, you missed one of the best SNL's of the season. No Jizz My Pants, but apparently the send-off of Amy Pohler, involving cheap blind governor jokes (just watch) is causing quite a stir on the other coast. Video below.

Thoughts?

• If you haven't seen The Prestige yet, please do. An absolute breathtaking project that will make you appreciate The Dark Knight and Batman Returns ever-s0-more.
• Guy Ritchie just got a shit-ton more rich-ie-er. (I try) Note to self: Once wife gets semi-old and ridiculously rich, introduce to douchebag male athlete.
• Here goes my only chance to get on a jumbotron.
• As to why me and Matty didn't take a year off of school and think of this, I will forever hold it against me.
• The whole TO/Tony Simpson/WhiteBoyWhitten thing gets wierder by the day, with ESPN's "factual" reporting taking the blunt hit in all of this. If you quote an "anonymous " source with just a couple people involved, how hard is it to just say who told you?
• Pepperdine's disgraced son and national douchebag-of-the-month embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich thinks he has a fighting chance and won't give up.

Neverender Box Set

Coheed and Cambria played sixteen shows these past couple months: Four in New York, four in Chicago, four in Los Angeles, and four in London. What makes this significant is that in each city, the band played one of their four albums, from beginning to end, each night. They told the story of Coheed and Cambria.

These shows are finished. However, Coheed is releasing a box set of this concert series. The Neverender box set can be ordered online for $110. It comes with 4 Live DVDs, 4 Live CDs, a documentary DVD, a hardcover photo book, and a dragonfly.

Learn more at www.coheedandcambria.com/neverender

Family Force 5-Radiator Video

The new Family Force 5 video is just one badass video, and if you've never been to one of their shows, you haven't been to a show yet, period.

Kanye West- Love Lockdown (VMA Performance)

Yeezy could have brought the house down with Lil Wayne and T-Pain last night for a remix of one of his many hits, but chose to go the "pull at your heart strings route."

Great choice.

His Painess and Little Little Wayne, whose jeans probably wouldn't have held up for another performance, were pretty much spent after mopping the floor with the best VMA performance of the night.

West, looking dapper as ever, closed the show outside, and as soon as the unregistering beat built, West turned to the crowd revealing only himself and his makeshift beating heart.

When the chorus kicked in, a Ewok like drumline was revealed, and West's autotuned singing proved a bit dry (he's no R. Kelly on the love lyrics), but dammit he did his darnest to give someone a black Radiohead, or at least Morrisey.

I garuntee you'll listen to this again.

And again.

The Virgins- Private Affair & Rich Girls

The Virgins come in riding the coatails of New York bands like The Strokes and We Are Scientists. Their retro-rock approach might be a few years to late to generate any mainstream buzz, but at least its good enough to get mentioned on LOP.

Does It Offend You, Yeah?- Dawn of the Dead

There have been many a posts earlier about upstart British import DIOY, Y?, partly for their ridiculous name, partly for their eclectic new album You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into.

A long winded band to say the least.

Combining Daft Punk electronica, rave elements and new wave rock, some coming altogether in one song, some coming in seperate parts, makes their new album interesting from end to end.

I caught them at during their Saturday afternoon Lollapalooza set and the energy they put out make them a must-see (9/22 @ The Troubadour)

Their new single is Dawn of the Dead, in which the electronica takes a back seat for New Wave and some steel drums.

Jamaica is having quite a week.

Its British.......

SuperClassico....EN VIVO!

7:35pm- Just got inside the press box, its up at the very top of the stadium. But I feel that its way better to watch soccer up high either on midfield or exactly behind a goal. It gives you a better feel for the game in terms of field placement, player movement, etc. that you don't get two rows up in $1,000 dollar seats.

Well i got hear at 6pm, and NOBODY knew where the parking was for media. And then Chivas got all bigtime on us (isn't that the Galaxy's job?) and the media had to pay to park tonight. Wasn't too happy about that.
Just caught a Tony Parker sighting. He apparently escorted Becks into the estadio tonight and just got done giving a Mexican TV station a quick interview up here.
The worst thing about the Home Depot Center (HDC from now on) is that its in fucking Carson. The worst spot to put a stadium. Always bad traffic. Not near anything. Wherever you are in SoCal it takes you an hour+ to get to this stadium.

So granted the estadio is only half-full right now 30 min before game time but probably about ten minutes into the match it will be sold-out craziness. Chivas tix are cheap compared to Galaxy's, so the booze will be flowing and the rivarly, which has picked up since you know who arrived, will be in strong form tonight.

Gonna go grab some tortillas y shredded beef from the Media Room, get my grub on and be back with starting lineups.

8:15pm- Your starting lineups are...
Galaxy
Donovan------------------------------Buddle
Beckham---------Pires-----------------Vagenas-------------Allen
Klein------------Franklin------------------Jazic----------------Vanney
---------Cronin--------------

Chivas
Braun---------------------------------Harris
Savage------------Marsch---------------Nagamura-----------Paldini
Talley------------Burling----------------Thomas---------------Mendoza

Interesting things to note:

• The Galaxy switch back to the classic 4-4-2 under the first game with Cobi Jones, and so far its paying dividends. They look sharp and hungry. The biggest question asked by the media was how they would come out and respond and with Klein beautiful pass to streaking Donovan on the right side for the 7th minute easy goal. Seems to be working
• Chivas is without Sascha Kleijstan tonight, who is still at the Olympics. He is their best player and most important in the midfield. With the Galaxy controlling that area early on it seems to be quite the uphill battle for them early on.

8:20- GOAL! Donovan streaks down the right side, perfect leading pass from Chris Klein. 1-0 Galaxy, looking very very strong early on.

8:25- AEG CEO Tim Leinwieke is in the press box, as is Bruce Arena, former US National team coach. They just did a presser with ESPN2, although Bruce I guess is not in the coaching hunt. Soo....why go on TV? To say he's not even though you invited him? Look for Arena to be the next GM I feel. I think he is done with high-profile coaching.

8:35- Chivas is starting to collect a few runs and string some nice passes, but its ultimately nothing compared to the runs the Galaxy are putting together. Each one has the potential to be a goal so far. El estadio is full now, loud, the way it was built to be. Beckham is playing all over the field tonight and his cross field passes are just a beauty to watch.

8:50- Halftime. The Chivas girls are out on the field doin there thing.

"Not very synchronized," leans over a reporter. Whatever gets a gringo fired up you know.

The field was recently sodded after they tore it up for the X-Games. It looks horrible. I really think they need to find another venue to have the motosports at. It probably costs a signifigant amount of money to get the field back into shape year in and year out.

I'm gonna go exploring, the guy I'm job shadowing isn't exactly Mr. Yapper over here.

9:02- Wow, what a day for stories. Buzz around the press box is that Sasha IS HERE. We didn't even know he was in the building! He just returned from the Olympics a couple hours ago. Maybe if they show his face on the jumbotron it could give the fans a little boost after Chivas ended the half on a strong with some good chances and free kicks in the last 15 min.

9:11- GOAL! Chivas strikes as I predicted. The Galaxy's defense is looking very lax like they did with Gullit right now. They pretty keep up the offensive attack so they don't expose their defense.

9:14- And they do just that with several opportunities in the last few minutes. Donovan and Buddle both recieved beautiful passes from Beckham but after Landon beat the goalkeeper to the left with a dribble he lost control and couldn't put it home. Buddle was called offsides.

9:20- Chivas is pulling their defenders up big time to stop this barrage of Beckham lead passes. Donovan just got called offside twice in a row. Jesse Marsch from Chivas, the man who high-kicked Becks in the stomach last year, just got a yellow in the 59th

9:25- Becks picks up a yellow in the 61st. I don't blame him, play was dead and some dude tried to laser shot a blindsider at him.

GOAL! Quick counter from Chivas and Harris and Nagamura play beautiful touch football inside the penalty. Easy goal for Nagamura. 2-1 Chivas.

9:28- Sometimes David Beckham can be to unselfish. He picks up a wide open lane on the right side from a pass from Donovan inside 18 and decides to pull back and cross it rather than blast it with his $250 million dollar right leg. His free kick is good a minute later but nothing comes out of it.

9:30- Chivas almost scores! A header goes off the cross bar and a diving Cronin breathes a sigh of relief.

Some more Galaxy chances. Beckham corner and Chris Klein has his shot blocked by his own midfielder Pires!! Oh what a chance! Pires just had a serious lapse of judgement!

The atomsphere is really picking up here. Both Chivas bands are going and the Galaxy band just played some old school and well-needed Offspring. The Galaxy need to equalize quickly before Chivas drops back too much and plays for the 1-goal win.

9:55- GOAL! Allan Gordon on a nasty header from 10 yards out! I'll write more when I get back gotta go down to the trophy ceremony and lockerroom. Galaxy equalizes in stoppage time to get the SuperClassico crown.

Live Blog Tonight from the SuperClassico

I'm gonna try another live blog tonight. I successfully failed at producing one for my first Dodger game because the Internet was spotty at best in the press box. Maybe I'll posthomously produce it one day when nothing spots up on this blog.

Tonight I will be covering my first soccer game for the Daily News, The Honda SuperClassico, and its arguably the biggest game for both Chivas USA and the Los Angeles Galaxy. Their derby (pronounced "daarrby") match tonight (both clubs share the same venue, The Home Depot Center) is the third and last match between the two this season.

Obviously the hoopla here is the Beckham circus which can be seen live on ESPN2 tonight at 8pm PST.

Galaxy GM (and former US national player) Alexi Lalas and coach Ruud Guillit were tossed by AEG CEO Tim Linwieke Monday and put in recently retired Cobi Jones in charge as interim head coach.

Both clubs come in somewhat dissapointing form. The Galaxy are winless since June 14th, and Chivas USA has been sliding down the ranks in the last month to sit behind Becks' side in 5th place.

This is a huge game for both sides.

For the Galaxy, its almost make or break for their season as year two with Beckham has hit a standstill.

Under European coach Gullit, who brought in "sexy football", the Galaxy were on a roll the first half of the season with Landon Donovan, Eddison Buddle and Beckham showing fine form. But their defense has been lackluster all season and now that they are facing teams 2nd and 3rd times around everyone is exploiting the week midfield and backfield play.

Although the Galaxy lead the league in goals scored, ditto that to their defense giving them up.

Since this game is being broadcast nationally this has huge reprocussions for the Galaxy. They NEED to win.

Linweike said so.

For Chivas, this is another chance for them to stick it to their stadium-mates and possibly gain some ground on popularity in the LA media market. And of course leap-frog the Galaxy in the standings.

I'm leaving the Daily News office in about an hour to head over to good ol' Carson, CA. Home of a go-kart racing thingy, an auto mall and the Home Depot Center.

Then onto the pitch for pre-game interview with Cobi Jones.

Then let the madness begin!

Keith Urban and Usher?

One just wants to talk about himself in a superficial way and the other just wants to get dirty with Keri Hilson on the bar . That’s right two superstars of separate musical spectrums, Usher and Keith Urban are having a free concert to kick off the NFL season. Last year’s kickoff show in Indianapolis featured performances by John Mellencamp, Faith Hill, Kelly Clarkson, Hinder and Keyshia Cole. Are Usher and Urban Roger Goodell's personal favorites, or guilty pleasures? Why couldn't he just create a line up from this years Madden 09 soundtrack and rock in the new season with Disturbed, Franz Ferdinand, The All-American Rejects, The Offspring, or Linkin Park ? Anyway, I'm going to be drinking a quadruple Hennessey with a gin back and skipping on the country.

P.S. If you're like D-Rock and haven't seen Pineapple express your to-do list is as follows:
1. Support your local drug dealer, and buy a dime bag
2. Smoke out your Hyundai on the way to the theatre (bring Ozium to spray after smoking)
3. Buy tickets and like me get your ID checked three times before entering theatre
4. Enjoy the cross joint and vulgarity

Everybody Nose.....REEEMIIIIX!

I think its safe to say that Kanye West, The Neptunes, Clipse and Lupe Fiasco own the rap game these days. They all show up here for The Neptunes' N.E.R.D. remix for Everybody Nose.
An upgrade I say. Note the sweet Atari graphics!

Live from MSG- Kanye and HOVA- Jockin' Jay-Z

Still in its early stages, Yeezy brings out Jigga for his encore at The Garden (getting your daily shortening of titles yet?) to show a new song that will be on The Blueprint 3.
The first verse in the new song (which seems to only be a few bars in length)? A diss to Oasis.

BLUEPRINT 3 from kwest on Vimeo.

Pure rockstar.

Rather Red's Favorite Albums of 2008 (Thus Far)

1. Children 18:3- Children 18:3

The most catchy and consistently exciting album I've heard in awhile. The band is made up of two brothers and a sister. On the surface, they're just a punk band, but there's a lot of meaning in their lyrics. Some that I've found most profound are explorations of lost youth (All My Balloons), violence on TV (You Know We're All So Fond of Dying), and the Book of Revelations (Final).


2. Alesana- Where Myth fades to Legend

Melodic screamo at its best. This is the stuff I live to listen to. Screams are all over the spectrum, both growls and shrieks... only adding to the energy. The choruses are super catchy and powerful. Induces moshing.





3. 3OH!3- Want

I already posted about these guys, but I was really impressed with the consistency of their album. There were MANY quality sing-a-longs on this album. For those who don't know. 3OH!3 (named after the area code for their hometown of Boulder, Colorado) is a bunch of white kids acting gangster and crunk over some catchy techno beats.



4. Flo Rida- Mail on Sunday

When I first heard of Flo Rida, I thought he was gonna be a wack one-hit wonder. However, I took a listen to some of the iTunes previews for his album. They piqued my interest enough to coerce me to buy the album. WOW are there a lot of great rap songs on this album. The hooks are solid, the beats are solid. Flo Rida's style is more based on delivery than lyrical content, and he comes through on delivery.


5. The Used- Shallow Believer

This was The Used's B-side album. Because they're such talented song writers, the album is still great quality despite it being full of songs that didn't make the cut on their first three albums. Hopefully they bring back the emotion we saw on their debut when they come out with their next LP.




6. A Skylit Drive- Wires and the Concept of Breathing

See the description for Alesana's album. Same style, same quality, same energy. Not as consistent an effort as Alesana's, however.








7. Does It Offend You, Yeah?- You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into

Props to D-Rock for finding this band. Throw some techno and electronica (and maybe a little insanity) into The Killers and this is what you get.







8. Flobots- Fight With Tools

Motivational, inspiring punk rap. When I say punk, I don;t necessarily mean the style, I mean the political mindset. Their lyrics are a lot like Rage's. Yet they sound like Eminem rapping over guitars and brass.





9. Machinae Supremacy- Overworld

Swedish alt-metal with synths. They sound pretty produced and manufactured, but the songs and solos are quality.








10. Take the Crown- Relapse React

They come from the same scene as my boys from National Product (whose debut, Luna, I would HIGHLY recommend). Orange county hard rock with higher-range vocals and few screams.







Honorable Mentions:
The Audition- Champion
Panic at the Disco- Pretty. Odd.
Lil Wayne- Tha Carter III
Tyga- No Introduction
Disturbed- Indestructible

I'm currently still listening to and judging many more albums including Trapt, The Classic Crime, Nas, From First to Last, Tickle Me Pink, There for Tomorrow... and some albums that take many listens to actually define, like Coldplay and The Mars Volta. They'll be on this list sooner or later.

And there were a lot of albums that I didn't like... but I don't believe in unnecessary negativity towards art, so I won't mention those.

Lollapalooza: Day 1

RIDICuLOUS
Its been extremely hot as me and almost 70,000 others have braved the 90-degree heat (plus about 40% humidity). Right now is the end of my beergarden break (aptly named The Leiderhosen) as we are a mere 10 minutes away from Radiohead bringing the city to its knees.
During my break I did my usual sports blog surfing and found these two gems.
I will write tomorrow morning about Day 1 so for now let Will Ohman (Pepperdine grad) --reliever for the Braves serenade you with his pitch-perfect Harry Carey impression (I'm not to shabby myself which has become my staple here in Chicago at the bars)



Ohman Does Carey
by TheFightins

And what do to star point guards do during their downtime (and not playing for their national teams)?
They make a Step Brothers trailer parody and dance on 3rd Street in Santa Monica of course.

Friday's Madness of a Schedule

Just finished marking down Day 1 of Lolla (we'll call it that for short from now on) and here is what were lookin like.
Keep in mind I have to interview Jordan Farmar via phone tomorrow @ noon.

12:30-1:15
Black Lips
1:15-2:15
Rogue Wave
2:15-3:15
Catching the beginning of The Go! Team's set, then running across the park to see acoustic sets from Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Rogue Wave
3:15-4:15
The Kills
4:15-5:15
The Black Keys
5:15-5:45
Beergarden break (gonna be seriously needed as I talked about the weather in the Day 0 post)
5:45-6:15
Catching 2/3s of the Grizzly Bear set. Not really sold on them but this is the quite before the storm on Friday. The madness begins....now
6:15-7:15
Bloc Party
7:15-8:00
The Cool Kids (my apologies to The Racounteurs, I wanna dance and feel thug today)
8:00-?
The one, the only Radiohead.

Lollapalooza: Pre-Festival Warm-ups

Some bands have come into town early and are performing tune-up shows tonight in Chi-town.
Radiohead canceled their gig tonight, citing lead singer Thom Yorke's "sick". Hopefully this doesn't damper what should be the highlight of my musical life as we know it tomorrow night.
Some others....

Thursday
The Black Keys w/ Magic Wands
Metro, $30, 10pm
- TBK latest showed them actually stepping into a recording studio, and with a big producer (Danger Mouse) to boot. The result: More polished (of course) + some serious blues rock

The Kills & Black Kids w/ Foals
Apple Store, Free, 7pm
- Solid lineup. Too bad it will be in a fucking store and not a solid venue. Hosted by hometown Kanye protege Kid Sister.

Friday
Brand New w/ Manchester Orchestra
House of Blues, 9:30pm

MGMT w/ Mates of State
Double Door, 10pm

Rogue Wave w/ Dr. Dog
Schrubas, 10pm

-Somewhere douchebag John Mayer, ginger Brett Dennen and lesbo Colbie Caillat are playing.

Saturday
Bloc Party w/ Does It Offend You, Yeah? & CSS
House of Blues, 9:30pm
- Wear very tight clothing and make sure it breaths 'cus you will be dancing and moshing all night long with some serious hipsters (who know they're hip)

Battles w/ Foals
Double Door, 10pm
- If you rock your calculator with slim jeans, this is for you.

Lollapalooza: Day 0

Lollapalooza is less than 24 hours away from myself and 225,000 others.

Chicago is great, amazing city. And after a rousing bar hop that involved a sloppy wingman, Irish Americans (the drink and the people) and some good ol' fashioned late night streaking, I'm ready to bring on the record heat, humidity and a possible Obama appearance.

Up tomorrow is none other than Radiohead among 10 other bands that I have on my schedule.
Over at Rockdaily, festival curator Perry Ferrell has also upped the ante with a full on rave club and beer-garden inbetween Millenium and Grant Park.
I also might go check out the FC Barcelona v. Chivas game on Sunday night at Soldier Field

So we'll have reports every day from concert review, nightlife (we are attending Pete Wentz's Angels and Kings afterparites) etc.

For now, new vid from Vampire Weekend, get ready to get your Thiller/Preppy-Goth on!
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

....and another from electronica band M83, "Kim and Jessie". May it brighten your day with sweet sounds of synth.

M83 - Kim & Jessie


Now excuse me while I look for my streaking partner's underwear, socks and wallet

Gnarls Barkley- Who's Gonna Save My Soul

In Honor of Step Brothers Coming out on Friday

Some of Will Ferrell's earliest work showcased him and writer/director Adam McKay's unique style that brought us the William we all love and know. Random outbursts, playing to the crowd, saying the most unheard of things in awkwards situations, etc. etc.
I could put a bunch of Anchorman and Robert Goulet vids up here, but we are going WAAAYYY back in time.
Try not to laugh when you hear the line "I got my own snowcone here"
Step Brothers comes out this friday and early reviews claim it to be Ferrell/McKay's best work yet. Here's praying Anchorman 2 tops that.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Rather Red on Last FM

Shameless plug time. Rather Red is collecting royalties off of his plays on Last FM. Enjoy the thuggery, the emotion, the schizophrenia, the sex, the violence, and most of all, the poor production quality.

http://beta.last.fm/music/Rather+Red

http://beta.last.fm/user/ratherred/library/music/Rather+Red

3OH!3

3OH!3 is a Crunk/Techno/Emo band from Colorado that knows how to start a party. Their new album "Want" dropped last week. They're like Family Force 5, but with more Lil Jon influences and swearing. They are set to manipulate and take advantage of many young ladies on tour. Here's their crunk-ass ballad, "Chokechain".

Crystal Castles- Courtship Dating

As me and T-Dizz say, the future of music is Crystal Castles and Justice.
Viva la Electronica!

The Verve- Love is Noise

When Coachella's lineup was annouced this year, no one was more surprised than I to see that 90's Brit darlings of alt-rock The Verve would reunite not just for festivals (they are playing 10-15 this summer) to bank in on the cash that comes with these major music binges, but that they sounded better than ever and they're new material took old with new and made it worth listening to AND closing out their festival sets.
"Love is Noise" is the first single of their new album Forth, whose album cover btw is already in my top 10.

I don't know what exactly they sample here, but its not exactly as heavy as "Bittersweet Symphony" (taken off a Rolling Stones B-side). The dancey beat accompanied by the Coldplay-esque guitars take this song to another level. I can truly not wait for The Verve to drop Forth and be back on top of the world of rock and roll.
The Verve - Love Is Noise

N.E.R.D., Julian Casablancas, Santogold- My Drive Thru

The video for their Converse "100 Years" Campaign, resembles the advertisements you find on undergrounds or flipbooks. Not a big fan of Santogold (overhyped, overmarketed) but the beat N.E.R.D. puts on this is dandy enough to hold up for a commercial campaign.
Produced By Pharrell - Santogold, Julian Casablancas, N.E.R.D.

Linkin Park- Projekt Revolution Secret Preview Show

I had the privilege to attend this secret Linkin Park/Busta Rhymes shindig down at the Warner Bros. practice studios. Sick experience. Here you can see the ish that went down, and me walkin' around in a shock-like state behind whoever is being interviewed.

Projekt Revolution 2008 Preview Featuring Busta Rhymes


Projekt Revolution 2008 Preview

New Rollingstone Cover

Rollingstone editor and true OG Jann Werner sat down with Obama after he became the presumptive Democratic nominee to talk about the future of his campaign.

MGMT- Electric Feel

MGMT - Electric Feel (New)
by wonderful-life1989

The Ting Tings- Shut Up and Let Me Go!

Ting Tings - Shut Up and Let Me Go from espionage on Vimeo.

Rogue Wave- Chicago x12

New Music- Holyfield, Luke Top & Nightmare of You

New music for ya! Spent last night helping my friend at Capitol look for some concerts to go to this summer and bands/artists under the radar to you, boost the internship cred ya hearrrd. So lets get to it!
Holyfield- Seattle, WA
Holyfield really caught me by surprise last night. Realtivley low myspace plays for such an amazing debut album. A mix of piano-power-pop (a la Cartel) with great digital polishing (Hellogoodbye) to make a bright sunny summer record.
Don't be surprised if you see these guys take a Boys Like Girls sky-rocket to the top in the late summer if they get signed. For now, you can buy there stuff on iTunes (don't bother looking for it online or in stores) and I'll give you a live performance of their best song that examplifies their style, "Act Faded" live.



Luke Top- Silver Lake, CA

Luke Top is a singer/songwriter for quite some time. Migrating from the Bay Area and before that, Israel. His new found Silver Lake (indie band haven of Hollyhood) is a perfect fit for his unique sound with multiple contributors (including ex-We Are Scientists drummer Michael Tapper). His new album is in the works so check out the myspace here.

Nightmare of You- NYC, NY

NoY have been together since 2005, and I recently heard them over on good ol' Jonsey's Jukebox on Indie 103.1. What can I say about them? Well, they are made up of ex NYC bands (Brandnew, Glassjaw, etc.) and have a very unique singer/lyricist in Brandon Reily. Amazing voice and interesting lyrics with great melody. They remind me a lot of Vedera with a little Talking Heads and Supergrass influence put into them. Check out "I Was Never a Normal Boy" over on their myspace here.

Coldplay leakes/streams online today!

Coldplay's new album Viva La Vida or Death & All His Friends leaked online yesterday afternoon on file-sharing sites around the globe. So naturally, the next step to take (which seems to be one that is happening to curb people from downloading) is to stream the album for free online.

While most bands turn to MTV's The Leak, Coldplay's new album is on this site, IHeartMusic, an album review will be up at the end of the weekend. I have already heard the opening instrumental "Life in Technicolor", "Lost!", "42", "Viva La Vida" and "Violet Hill" (the first three from an unnamed at Capitol Records), so it will be interesting to see how the rest of the album blends in to what I have heard.

So far, a lot less open synth-scapes fuel the background, a lot more closed in, much like Death Cab for Cutie's great new album Narrow Stairs.

The State of Women's Basketball

So the headline might want to make you scroll down, but wait! It's a very interesting article by Mark Schwarz about (really) the state of women's professional. Good-ol' mid-west bred (and semi-hot) Becky Hammon has decided to play for the Russian Olympic team.

Why? Well, for one, women get paid much more overseas to play than they do here, and are treated very well. Cars, houses, food, etc. are paid for as well as your salary.

When Hammon was left off the initial 30-invitees for the US Team (later asked to try out, but with little chance of making it), even though she was runner-up in WNBA-MVP voting last year (does that mean anything?), she decided to use her Russian passport to play.

Its an interesting story that involves money (lots of it) and representing your country, or lack thereof.

You be the judge on her story...

Coming to a Pepperdine rager near You

Final TT and DJ Scott Hobbs combine to have Kaos-type pads, in which you control music via touch and light, onto turntables.


Final Product // ATTIGO TT from Scott Hobbs on Vimeo.

Fresh son.

The Ignorance This Country Still Faces

Weirdest Album Covers of All Time

If you know me, I'm an LP kinda guy. Actually just got my first legit record player instead of the mono-speaker one I got for $10 at the Goodwill.
Let's just say I won't be buying any of these albums anytime soon.

Weezer- Pork and Beans

Weezer, the old geezers that they are, still rock, as evident of their new album and single "Pork and Beans" (along with album cut "Get Dangerous"). They are dork-rock and they know it. The majority of their album is (you be the judge) intentional comedy towards the music biz, and this video just sums up that the 'zer dudes are having a great time.

They know that you don't watch music videos on TV anymore, so why make one that is TV-worthy? In the video for "Pork and Beans" it is VERY Youtube worthy. As in they get pretty much every Youtube star (even Chocolate Rain, Ms. South Caraliona, and the Mentos dudes) known to man and somehow make an amazingly side-splitting video out of it. Long live Weezer!

It was only a Matter of time

I know I've been posting a lot of videos lately and not really trying to give you news, music, etc. but damn its summer and I could care less. I promise after Memorial Day I will bring some more to the table but for now I leave you with Facebook Gangsta.

The name says it all!

Have a great 3-day weekend!

LOP Team

Slam Dunk of the Century

Breaking Artist- Flobots

Can't get enough of your white rappers? Denver-native Flobots are a mash-up of ska, reggae, hip-hop and Sublime that has taken modern rock by storm over the past few weeks. Their song "Handle Bars" peaked at #3 on the Rock Chart last month and they will bring their eclectic act to the Troubadour in Hollywood June 8th. Enjoy "Handlebars"

Crystal Castles

I've been getting into electronic music a lot over the past year, and Crystal Castles is a great new indie band from Canda that uses a synthesizer and keyboard with Atari chips in it to produce Gameboyesque pop-electro, check out Vanished and Courtship Dating (from which Timbaland ripped off the synth to use for "Ayo Technology"

The Rock Band Treatment for Queens of the Stone Age

Josh Homme, lead singer of Queens of the Stone Age, let the animators for the amazing Rock Band (why this blog is called what it is) do work on his new video for 3s and 7s. Not a big QotSA fan but this is a interesting little video!

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In other news....SNL has Steve Carrell and Usher on for their season finale (watching right now) and both are killing it. Usher dance moves haven't lost a step, keepin it straight funky fresh. John McCain also is stopping by to finally get his schitck in (Hillary and the Bama have already been on twice). BTW, if you have yet to catch The Office season finale.....wow, just wow, please click here and watch it so we can talk about it next time we run into each other.

Coldplay- Violet HIll

eBoy- Los Angeles

If anyone has seen my computer in the last six months, you know I love graphic design team eBoy's artwork of city landscapes. Now they have up our good old City of Angels up on their site, which I'll put here, or you can just admire from down below...

Most Expensive Commercial EVER

No special effects, no computer-graphics, no trick camera angles. This commericial cost $6.2 million and took 606 takes to shoot and get perfect.

I Love the Bay Area and BART

I'm so glad I was able to find this for the 100th post at LOP. Enjoy 3 minutes of BART madness! Long live the hyphy movement!

Scrubs Get the Shock Therapy Treatment

Like milking a dead cow, ABC has picked up LOP's beloved Scrubs for one more final season. And by season, they are picking up the show for an "8th and final season" mid-season (follow me on this) to air the final episodes that NBC didn't want to produce. Then, if the show performs well, ABC will pick it up for additional seasons. So....when is it gonna end is what I am asking? Give Scrubs the proper burial it deserves and give it a great last season instead of milking it for syndication money.

Maroon 5 ft. Rhianna- If I Ever See Your Face Again

Somewhat of a remix to the opener of the their amazing 2nd album It Won't Be Soon Before Long. This is what, the fifth single of the album? Just goes to show how good it is. They update the song with Rhianna in it and rearrange the drums and synths in some parts. But who cares, your either staring at Adam Levine or Rhianna anyway (depending on which way you swing).

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New Music Tuesdays

Ahhh, you taste that? It's not last nights In-&-Out still stuck in your teeth, its the warm sensation of summer tingleing your nostril hairs. So i guess its not a taste after all but a smell, a very comprehensible smell.
Summer can only mean one thing. No not summer lovin' you fuckin gutter-minded Pepperdinian, it means summer album. The big boys. Bringin out the big guns. You want Love in this Club? Usher is gonna give it to you pretty soon. Do you just wanna Viva La Vida all summer? Coldplay's got that for you to.
So the start of summer Week 1 of summer album has a pretty hefty lineup, and LOP has got the lowdown for you all summer.

First up, Derek's favorite garage-indie band We Are Scientists, whose debut album, 2005's With Love and Squalor was a great, fast-paced debut to get your groove on and smash some things when your parents wouldn't let you have the car for the night. After a couple months abroad (they are huge in the UK) the album Brain Thrust Mastery makes it way to the US. Gone is crazy-delicious drummer Michael Tapper, and the core duo of singer-guitarist Keith Murray and bassists Chris Cain lead the way. Its a shift in pace twoards a more bass-heavy, NewWave sound that harkens back to Duran Duran and other early 80's acts. One of the best pop songs of the year so far, "After Hours" is the single and I'll post it for ya here. They are also hillarious dudes so check out their writings and videos on their site here. Overall, I would download of few tracks, definetley not a stong body of work but has its bright moments.




Next up is the highly anticipated Death Cab for Cutie album Narrow Stairs, which is streaming live online for you to preview at MTV.com on their Leak page. I have listened to the album all weekend and I must say it is worth the praise. I would put it on the pedestal as the album to beat this year in the Grammy catagory (unless Radiohead's In Rainbows gets recognized). It is dark on subject yet upbeat in lyrics. The craftsmenship in musical detail is amazing, and credit goes to producer-guitarist Chris Walla making a beautiful record. I would strongley recommend buying this. There won't be too much like it the rest of the summer. The lead single "I Will Posses Your Heart" is a 8 1/2 minute long jam session that you won't turn off and it will stay in your head.




LOP favorite Kidz in the Hall comes at you with their first album on a label, The In Crowd. K'n'H is a Penn grad duo that brings their smooth, silky, we know-we-are-fly beats and rhymes front and center. The album is streaming on their myspace which can be found clicking on their name above. The first single's video can be found in a previous post yesterday, which is their most radio-ready single.

Also in stories today, N.E.R.D. comes back with Everyone Nose, Jason Mraz with We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. Ummm, sure Mraz.

The Title of the Vid Says It All...

Kidz in the Hall- Drivin Down the Block

The Future of Rap

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This news will make your Mothers Day!!

Knights of Columbus Anchorman 2 is a reality!! That's it!

"Narrow Stairs" Streaming Online

The much buzzed about album from Death Cab for Cutie is now fully streaming online here.

Judge for youself, I haven't listened to it yet but from what I've read it has a chance to be a front runner for album of the year.

Anything with Zach Galifinakis makes me laugh

I honestly think its the beard.

Coldplay Annouces the US Leg o their Summer Tour

The Viva La Vida tour kicks off in Philadelphia June 29th, but never comes to LA, bummer. Click here for all the tour dates.

John Mayer takes you Behind the Scenes

Excited for Saturday Night?

Well now you should be with Shia LeBeouf hosting SNL (w/ great new music by My Morning Jacket)

Pepperdine East?

Yesterday, Pepperdine aquired the old American College of Physicians building on Penn Ave in the nation's capitol for a whopping $17.4 mill. No word yet on what they plan to do.

The abroad program occupies a swank condo complex (a small percentage of it) just outside D.C. and students have a couple options on attending universities out there, so it will be interesting to see what Pepperdine does with the new property in the amazing location.

Will they turn it into another abroad house with classrooms? Will say flip the property and sell it?

The only thing known is that Pepperdine is starting to use its endowment (close to $900 mill and a massive on-campus rennovation) to makes "waves" (baduump....cha!) around the university scene.

I just wished they could realize a legit bball team would do five times that much for the school.

Scrubs Series Finale Live Blog

So is this the Scrubs series finale or not? Several reports claim it is, including ABC, but EW.com was on the set with Zach Braff to discuss the series finale while he was filiming what may or may not have been a new episode or ABC, which own the rights to Scrubs anyway.

Regardless, it still holds a special place in our hearts, with it wierd and nutty/screwball world that they have created, and the premise or tonight couldnt serve the series (maybe) sendoff any better. A Princess Bride retelling in Scrubs format. Lets do it!

8:30pm- A piece of me is already lost, the season hasn't been very strong as it is so hopefully this Braff directed episode brings down the house.

8:31- Classic Doug quote to JD- "Hey JD you keep reelin them in, I'll keep reelin them out." "Awsome appropriateness Doug!"

8:32- Poor The Todd, finally gets the shun from everyone.

- Great banter so far, keep it up Cox!

- Poor Ted, he has only had one shining moment this entire series, and almost had one when he was asked what a court of law looks like (in his long depressed drawl) "We all wear black gowns and white-powdered robes," poor guy needs someone to buy him a girlfriend.

- They've really been trying to ram this JD/Elliot getting back together down our throats and we know they are going to get back together, so instead of letting it go on the entire season WHAM! us at the end!

8:34- Dr. Cox sets up the fairy tell quite nicely, let the play begin! BTW, i'm not watching basketball for this even though I have a DVR, thats how dedicated I am.

8:38- They don't even try and make Janitor (doesn't he have a name now?) like Andre the Giant, lol

8:40- The name for Turk and Carla, aka the two-headed witch, Turla

8:42- Ted's orange and black tie is just too much, the man needs a woman before this series ends people! What is The Todd's actor ever going to do after this? I couldnt take him seriously (even in comedic roles) in anything else. He should just keep high-fiving people for a living.

8:46- I've always had a crush on Jordan, its gonna be sad to not see her on Thursdays anymore. At least I'll have everyday on Comedy Central, WGN, KTLA and any other station willing to pay dirt cheap for repeats.

8:53- How did Kelso get his job back?!!? I'm struggling to figure this out, he walked out of the job, laughed at returning, and now he is back at the start of the episode as the cheif of medicine. Eh, whatever.

8:57- Ted's "Yeahaha!" flying his kite made the episode, he gets the greatest pleasures doing the simplest things.

Umm....the end i guess? For that possibly being the last episode, no conclusions were drawn other than JD and Elliot still being friends (and Turk still have one testicle). But I really liked the ending, when the "fairy tale" Cox told his kid was not reality. It sums this series up for what it always has been: no matter what the shenanigens they guys get into, or how odd JD's dreams are, or how much The Todd creeps us out, they are still doctors at the end of the day, and have to deal with the struggles that come with it.

Did anyone else notice the new "ABC Studios" logo at the end? Certainly hasn't been there before so from what it seems we might see some more Scrubs, we might not, but I think the series ended on a positive note and doing what it does best, be quirky and goofy while still reeling it in in the end.

Now onto The Office and 30 Rock (waaayyy better than The Office by the way)

Coachella 2008- When Pigs Flew

For those who couldn't cram into the Sahara Tent to catch the Chromeo/Justice back-to-back extravaganza on Sunday night, Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd) offered the biggest visuals and soundscape to end out the festival in style, not to mention his always there flying pig. The "Obama Pig" (as it was dubbed by his name on the belly) hit the high winds over the desert and decided to take off mid-set.


Monday, Waters offered $10,000 for the lost pig, which ended up splitting in half over two backyards in nearby Palm Desert.