Happy Opening Day!

Today I thought I'd throw out (no pun intended) a couple songs to celebrate the start of the 2012 MLB season.  


Here's Macklemore with a tribute to the Seattle Mariners' 1995 run through the playoffs and late radio announcer Dave Nihaus. Despite the fact that I am not really a Mariners fan, something about this song brings a lot of joy to me. Maybe because it's not about the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cubs. I like this song so much that I'm going to go ahead and put in both the official video plus a live version from KEXP in Seattle.    
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – My Oh My on Spotify. 

1995 the division series, Edgars up to bat, bottom of the 11th inning got the whole town listening,swung on and belted the words that started, Joey Cora rounds third, here comes Griffey the throw to the plate’s not in time, my oh my the Mariners win it. Yes, fire works they lit up ceiling in the king dome. We had just made history.

There's no way I'm going to leave this post without a shout-out to my boys in purple, the Colorado Rockies. Here's Fort Collins hip-hop artist Black Prez remixing Wiz Khalifia,   Colorado stylie. Plus he gives a shout-out to both his and my alma mater. 

Ho Hey!

I just bought my tickets for the April 6th Lumineers show at Mishawaka Amphitheater in Bellvue, CO and I'm super-psyched!! This will be my first time seeing this band but from what I've heard, I'm in for quite a treat. Here's the new official video for the song Ho Hey. The quality is much better than the live living room video I posted a few months ago. Also, their album drops April 3rd, get on it!

"I don't know where I belong, 

I don't know where I went wrong,

But I can write a song!"     

Illuminated by the Lumineers

I decided to dedicate this first official post of twenty-twelve to my wife. Every time I come to her enthusiastically with a "Baby, you've got to listen to this new band I found!", she always listens intently and enthusiastically gives me legitimate feedback, even when she has an anatomy test on the horizon. Early this week, the tables were turned. I received a text from her that read as follows: "Babe, do you know the Lumineers, they're out of Denver? You should put them on your blog!" #bestwifeever.
So my answer was no, I hadn't heard of The Lumineers out of Denver. But after listening to them all week, I'm grateful for this discovery. This is a folky and fun band, with heaps of talent and a definite dark side. 


The Lumineers are not on Spotify yet but they do have an amazing live session that can be downloaded for free on Daytrotter. However, their live recordings on YouTube are fun, intimate, and makes me greatly anticipate a live viewing of this great band in Northern Colorado. 


Here's Ho Hey. The audio isn't amazing in this version but I absolutely love the context and atmosphere of this video. My favorite quote heard in the background of this song "watch those beers, I bet they're full."

Dead Sea

Flowers in Your Hair

Be in my eye, Be in my heart, Be in my eye, eyeyeye, Be in my heart

Tastiest of 2011 - All The Rest

So being that we're about a week into 2012, I've decided to do one final post about my favorite music from the past year. I wanted to include many of these artists as individual posts but the time has come to move on. So, without further ado, let's bring the final Tastiest of 2011 pizza out of the oven and have a few slices.


First up Wilco, from their album  The Whole Love, here's the epic seven minute track , Art of Almost. Wilco – Art Of Almost. Check it out on Letterman.

Although I didn't love Brett Dennen's 2011 release Loverboy, I did really enjoy some of the songs. Brett is one of the most fun, positive, and happy musicians out there and everything you see in his videos resembles what you see in his live shows. Plus, he's lost a lot of weight since I met him a few years back (see photo below).  

Brett Dennen – Comeback Kid (That's My Dog)

Alright, time to change it up. Here's Jay Z and Kanye West (and oh yeah, the man, Otis Redding) with Otis from Watch the Throne Jay Z – Otis

Sounds so soulful, don't you agree?

Let's M83 it. Here's Midnight City from the album Hurry Up We're Dreaming. M83 – Midnight City

Everything Connor Oberest and Bright Eyes does is gold and the album The People's Key was no exception. I chose the song Jejune songs because I love how much Connor sounds like Paul Simon in Kodachrome when he sings  "into the green of the radar."

Bright Eyes – Jejune Stars 

Mac Miller is a 19 year old rapper out of Pittsburgh and this song Knock, Knock was the official soundtrack to our summer party. Mac Miller – Knock Knock Plus the Philadelphia Flyers have adopted the song as their victory anthem, awesome!. 

My "Most Theatrical" award goes to Fun. and their song We Are Young. Fun. – We Are Young - feat. Janelle Monáe

The Civil Wars, my favorite duet of 2011! Here's Poison and Wine from the album Barton Hallow. The Civil Wars – Poison & Wine

Ok, to change it up completely, here's Denver's finest electronic rock band. This was also my wife's favorite pop song of  2011. Here's Breathe Carolina with Blackout Breathe Carolina – Blackout.***Video is a bit racy, might not be safe for work, but that all depends on where you work.***   

Finally, Dispatch. One of my favorite bands of all time reunited this summer and I was lucky enough to see them play one of their first shows of their reunion tour at Red Rocks this past summer. The band released an EP this year and and just hearing new music from the band for the first time in 8 years pretty much made my summer just by itself. Here's Broken American filmed in Steamboat Springs, CO! Dispatch – Broken American 

Alright, that does it for 2011! Sorry to all the Adele (I do like Adele) fans but it's time for me to move on. There was heaps of great music in 2011 and I couldn't recognize it all, but I hope my list has given you a solid overview of my musical tastes. Thank you 2011, you were Bad Ass!     

Tastiest of 2011 - tUnE-yArDs

The first time I head tUnE-yArDs, my wife and I were negotiating the tight hairpin turns of Berthoud Pass, returning from a ski weekend in Winter Park, CO. Our friend Julie had given us a couple of CDs for the drive back to the front range and she prefaced the tUnE-yArDs disc with a "be open-mined about this one." And without question, you do need an open mind to enjoy Merill Garbus and her ever-growing band. But if you do open yourself up to them, you'll be happy you did. Merill Garbus is one of the most innovative, talented, fun, and strange musicians I've heard in years, and my ears happily eat up everything she does. Garbus creates drum loops before adding in her ukulele and powerful voice along with bass and saxophone from other members of the band. The result is cool beyond words. 


Here's the most popular song from the w h o k i l l album, Bizness Tune-Yards – Bizness

Also from w h o k i l l, Ganster. Tune-Yards – Gangsta
Bang Bang Oi!

Finally, here's the NPR Tiny Desk Concert from Merill Garbus and crew. What I love so much about this is how well it showcases the tUnE-yArDs music creation process. Awesome!