iPod on shuffle:

1. “Your House” by Jimmy Eat World

2. “Strange Desire” by The Black Keys

3. “St. Augustine” by Band of Horses

4. “Hummingbird” by Wilco

5. “Strategic Gear” by The Pastels

6. “Time Won’t Let Me Go” by The Bravery

7. “No One Loves Me & Neither Do I” by Them Crooked Vultures

8. “Scarecrow” by Beck

9. “Aeroplane Blues” by The Black Keys

10. “Albina” by Horse Feathers

My potential weekend to do list:

Friday:
Peter Squires show at Flipnotics, along with Seth Sherman and Dear Sombrero

Saturday:
The Nutcracker at the Long Center, presented by Ballet Austin
A big show at Beauty Bar featuring Zorch, El Ten Eleven and Motel Aviv

Sunday:
Greg Izor & the Box Kickers, Warren Hood & the Hoodlums, Cleve and Sweet Mary at Momo’s.

I will be trying to get to each of these shows. “The Nutcracker” I kind of have to go to because the tickets were purchased by my better half. I’ll be the girl in the winter felt flapper hat sipping a gin and tonic. Come say “hi” if you see me.

Madonna, “Everybody”

CSS, “Alala”

Ghostland Observatory, “Dancing on My Grave”

In one of my nerdier posts, I talked about dead malls and my fascination with them.

Naturally, I was mesmerized by this new photo series and interview with Brian Ulrich on The Morning News titled “Ghosts of Shopping Past.” Some of the photos are actually kind of pretty in a strange way. This is one of the most thought provoking points:

Some buildings can be repurposed but so many cannot. Retail design and use is not only based on the space itself but also location. When a few stores go down often many others in an area go with them—a retail ghost town if you will. Though one can repurpose one space it might sit in a vast area of blight. The problem lies not in what we should do with what we have already but it seems more important to get a lot stricter about what new retail spaces we allow into our communities. The promises are always jobs and tax revenue, but that won’t help in the long run if the store folds or relocates to the next township who offers an incentive.

It may seem cynical but I personally would like to see many of the spaces simply be turned back into fields, woods, and natural landscape, rather than trying to discover some profound solution. This is actually happening not so much by design in Detroit where entire neighborhoods are disappearing. Rather than design a new use for the space, many are arguing to leave it and let it be.

I highly recommend taking a look at the whole interview and moseying over to Ulrich’s website. Spectacular.

iPod on shuffle:

1. The Smiths – “Hand In Glove”

2. The Twilight Singers – “East 17th”

3. Johnny Cash – “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”

4. The Walkmen – “Seven Years of Holidays (For Stretch)”

5. Bob Marley & The Wailers – “Is this Love”

6. St. Vincent – “Black Rainbow”

7. The American Analog Set – “Slow Company”

8. Better Than Ezra – “Good”

9. Mazzy Star – “Fade Into You”

10. Sound Team – “Get Out”

Some cool stuff for this chilly Thursday night:

1. 7 Worlds Collide mini-review

I’ve always thought this was such a neat project: 7 Worlds Collide. With Neil Finn at the helm, 7 Worlds Collide brings together talented, big name musicians for a good cause.

7 Worlds Collide released their latest effort, The Sun Came Out, earlier this fall and it’s AWE-SOME. The album features the likes of KT Tunstall, Jeff Tweedy, Ed O’Brien and the venerable Johnny Marr. Impressive roster for sure. This is the second album with the 7 Worlds Collide moniker on it and the purchase benefits international charity Oxfam. Here’s a great sample track (and one of my favorites) from the album:

This would make a wonderful Christmas gift. Hint, hint.

2. Upcoming Zorch shows

I’ve written about Austin’s superhero avant garde synthrock duo Zorch several times. And Shmu (one half of Zorch) was kind enough to point me in the direction of some of his excellent solo stuff.

They have several upcoming shows throughout December and in to January. Check out their schedule on their MySpace. They’re playing tomorrow night at Red 7 and again on Saturday (12/5) at Club De Ville. And look! Another show coming up right around the corner. Look at this neat poster:

I will be trying in vain to get to one of their upcoming shows. You should too.

3. The Arcade Fire announce new album and tour in 2010.

Per The Guardian (I love how they refer to them as an “indie mob” in the headline)

Arcade Fire are to release their third studio album in May 2010, Billboard reports. The mysterious follow-up to Neon Bible will be preceded by a single – and the band plan to headline at least one major summer festival.

Admittedly, these aren’t very juicy details. But after months of rumours, this is the first official confirmation. Take the news that Arcade Fire have again been working with Coldplay engineer Markus Dravs: it’s not the Montrealers who made the announcement, nor Dravs himself, despite allegedly having “been there for six months”. Instead, the news came from the band Mumford and Sons, who worked with Dravs on their debut album. “I keep asking Markus how [recording] is going and he’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s OK’, and I’m like, ‘What are the songs like?’ And he goes, ‘Better,’” Markus Mumford told the BBC.

YES.

Today is Drummond’s birthday.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Heads Will Roll”

I’ve been really lucky to have had people point me in the direction of some great music lately. Tonight I want to add Dawn Landes to that list.

Kentucky-born and Brooklyn-based, Landes released her lovely new album, Sweetheart Rodeo, just a few months ago. The album has received lots of good buzz of late and with very good reason. Landes has an impressive resume as both a sound engineer and musician in her own right. She’s had several songs featured in various TV series and on commercials already. Not too shabby.

First, as we usually do, let’s ooh and ahh over the pretty cover art:

Just from looking at it, one gets a vintage vibe, no? That’s perfect, because this album is hard to categorize and sounds like something from the late ‘60’s folk rock wave, but in all the best ways. Is it pop? Is it alt-country? Rock? All three?
While the entire album is spectacular, I want to focus on my favorite tracks. They’re really on different ends of the spectrum. The first one I listened to was “Romeo.” I noticed my foot tapping immediately and I couldn’t help but move my head back and forth. It’s got a catchy, upbeat sound that Landes’ sultry, velvety voice complements perfectly.

I’m also in love with the song “Young Girl,” track number one. It’s darker and more complicated and seems to have a harder edge than some of the other songs.  When she sings, “Don’t you know, it’s time to rodeo?” it almost sounds like she’s challenging someone to come meet her for a fight, while still managing to be delicate and graceful. What I love about this album is the same thing I’ve loved about so many indie singer-songwriters of late: Landes is excellent at weaving stories. And the music to back her up is pared down, but never boring. If you’re looking for a low key album to listen to on these upcoming cold days in Austin, I recommend this one.

And-AND-Landes will be in Austin this spring! She’s playing Stubb’s on February 4th, 2010 with Justin Townes Earle. Check the tour dates on her MySpace.

She also has several other dates around the state throughout the early part of February.

Other places for Landes information:

Her pretty MySpace.

Her blog.

Her purty website.