2009 Here We Go Steelers mp3 download

We're two days away from Super Bowl XLIII, when the Stillers go for their sixth Super Bowl title, against the upstart Arizona Cardinals.

Every year there's a new version of the Here We Go Steelers song, and here's the latest version for yinz to enjoy. This song is all over the Internet as the "2009 version," but I find that hard to believe - how could they make a 2009 version of this song without mentioning James Harrison or Lamar Woodley? I think this is really last year's version, and that no new version was actually recorded this year. Whatever.

This song has been around in various incarnations since 1995, and there's one thing that's always bugged me: Why the hell does the kicker get an entire verse? That makes no sense!!

MP3: Roger Wood - Here We Go 2009

By the way, I'm wondering what songs The Boss is gonna play during halftime. I'm guessing he'll skip "Born in the USA," so my guess for his 3-song set is: 1) Some unknown song from his new album, 2) Glory Days, 3) Born to Run. I'll probably be wrong about all three.

History is made

This morning as I walked into my office, by sheer coincidence the song playing in the lobby was Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours."

Barack Obama never made it to Grant Park in August for Lollapalooza, to my dismay. But he made it there last night, as president-elect. We can hardly contain ourselves.

Lollapalooza downloads, Volume 2

I'm still working on upgrading my MP3 hosting so I can share more music... in the meantime enjoy these Lollapalooza MP3s courtesy of Sub Pop...

MP3: CSS - Alala (Cansei de Ser Sexy)
MP3: Foals - Balloons (Antidotes)
MP3: Rogue Wave - Every Moment (Out of the Shadow)

Lollapalooza downloads, Volume 1

Someone remind me why I'm going to the All Points West Festival again? Lollapalooza announced its 2008 lineup yesterday, and 3 of the 4 bands I'm going to APW to see (Radiohead, CSS, and The Go! Team) are playing Lolla as well. The fourth, New Pornographers, is coming to Pittsburgh next week and I'll be there.

Anyone want to buy an APW ticket?

After the Austin City Limits announces its lineup later this month, I'll be back with a massive post critiquing all the summer music festivals. For now, here's some music from a few bands that will be playing Lollapalooza 2008.

MP3: Black Lips - O Katrina! (from Good Bad Not Evil)
MP3: Girl Talk - LC and Lo (from Bone Hard Zaggin')
MP3: Cat Power - Metal Heart (from Jukebox)
MP3: Dr. Dog - Worst Trip (from We All Belong)
MP3: Gogol Bordello - Troubled Friends (live)

(Edit: I'm working to resolve the bandwidth issues...)

Bat for Lashes

(Warning: I'm about to hype an album that's over a year old...)

Natasha Khan's band Bat for Lashes got some crazy blog hype a couple of months ago, when their 2006 album Fur & Gold got nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. Up until then, I hadn't heard enough of it to give it my approval, but now I can.

Sparse instrumentation, entrancing, atmospheric vocals - I like this description from Pitchfork: 'Fur & Gold shows a band quite good at giving their songs room to breathe and evolve, allowing the songs to expand out before snapping back into focus on Khan's expressive voice.'

Bat for Lashes was the favorite to win the Mercury Music Prize, but it went to the Klaxons instead. No comment on that one...

MP3: Bat for Lashes - The Bat's Mouth
MP3: Bat for Lashes - Horse and I

www.myspace.com/batforlashes

Pipettes = Fembots; Nicole Atkins = budding superstar

CONCERT REVIEW: The Pipettes/Nicole Atkins
Diesel, Pittsburgh
November 19, 2007

I saw the Pipettes the other night. They came onstage and struck me as the most joyless creatures I'd ever laid eyes on. Up there wearing their polka-dot dresses and singing these happy pop songs, and yet they weren't even cracking a smile. It was as if I was watching three fembots perform. They looked tired and disinterested, as if they were in the middle of a long national tour (which they were).

Fortunately, they loosened up as the show went on and things got a lot more fun, although the audience seemed to enjoy their banter mainly because it was spoken in a cute English accent. I'm not sure how much respect people actually had for their musical abilities. That's something the Pipettes will need to get past if they ever want to be bigger than they currently are...

Nicole Atkins (recent interview subject of mine) opened the show and delivered a terrific set with her band The Sea, closing with a furious, spot-on cover of Patti Smith's "Pissing in a River." She has a great voice, good songs, and an engaging stage presence. I'll be very surprised if she is not huge within a year or two. My favorite moment was the introduction to "Cool Enough," when she said, "This song is about going back to your hometown 10 years later, and realizing that all the people who used to be cool in high school aren't anymore, and you are." I can relate!

I caught up with her after the show and she said she thought I looked like the guy from Grizzly Bear. Compared to the comparisons I usually get, I'll take that...

MP3: Pipettes - ABC (We are the Pipettes) Amazon

Three rivers and two rappers

Could it be that Pittsburgh is actually getting a spot on the map as a hip hop city? The local scene is now strong enough to support an annual Pittsburgh Hip Hop Awards (hosted this year by Mele Mel.) Local rapper Wiz Khalifa has started to make a name for himself and is poised to breakout, having been signed to Warner Bros.

But it's another city kid, Pittsburgh Slim (above), who is getting the most attention with his single "Girls Kiss Girls." Slim, a former member of local rap group Strict Flow (who we actually booked a few times for shitty bar gigs), was signed by Jay-Z to a 5-album deal for Def Jam, and the "Girls Kiss Girls" single is exploding. According to his MySpace page, Slim is even slated to appear at next week's American Music Awards (I'm not sure in what capacity, though; the show's website doesn't list him as a performer or presenter.)

For years hip hop was an east coast vs. west coast thing, but then St. Louis got big for a while. Two rappers certainly doesn't constitute an explosion, but as Mel said, if St. Louis can become a rap epicenter, why not Pittsburgh?

MP3: Pittsburgh Slim - Girls Kiss Girls (Method Mix)
MP3: Pittsburgh Slim - First Date

My mom thinks she's in love with you

I don't think that's the real lyric at the end of "Do You Like it Or Not," but that's what I hear...

I was so excited to finally hear the new Architecture in Helsinki CD, Places Like This, only to be let down when it didn't contain anything as sweet as the ear candy of "It'5", from their last album. But I had to listen to it over and over to write a review, and as I did, it grew on me.

Yeah, it's cliche to say of an album that 'you have to listen to it several times', but it's true of this one. I'm now at the point where it may be my favorite album of 2007.

My full review is at slant magazine here: http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=1173

MP3: Architecture in Helsinki - Heart it Races

Holy crap, I feel the power of Google images

Yesterday I experienced a surreal 9500% increase in hits to my blog. I felt like I was in some twilight zone where nothing made sense. I thought my tracking website was screwy, or someone was playing a trick on me.

Turns out, it was due to an image I posted a few days back of the Spice Girls. Somehow, it worked its way into the first row of search results in Google images, and as a result I got inundated with visitors. The same thing happened with my Fergie image. Both were giving me thousands of hits. None were actually interested in what I had to say, of course, they were just using me for my photos.

I'm not sure why Fergie pics are in such demand, but the Spice Girls interest makes sense since they announced they are re-uniting! It's been 10 years, which means it's about time for late '90s boy band and bubblegum pop nostalgia. I am all for this reunion, though I'm disappointed they are only playing three American cities.

Anyway, back to talking about me - Although the traffic increase was appreciated, it kind of sucks too, because I'll never get that many visitors again. No matter how well I publicize my page over the next several months, I will never again equal what happened yesterday.

Unless, that is, I post an even more popular picture... hmmm... Paris Hilton is loosely considered a "musician," isn't she? I'll have to think this over...

In the meantime, enjoy some mp3s that have been posted on a zillion other blogs recently:


MIA - Hit That



Girl Talk - LC and Lo



New Pornographers - My Rights Versus Yours