I spent the whole of last week and the early part of this weekend worrying about Hurricane Ike (that is now unfortunately ravaging Cuba). I was absolutely convinced it was going to hit us and kept claiming “I have a bad feeling about this” like I was in some B horror movie.

I ended up putting up all the solid aluminum storm shutters on my house and going and shopping for supplies in case we were out of power for a week like we were a couple of years ago. I had even developed a plan to ride the storm out at the Sapient Hollywood office because it’s built like a bomb shelter.

The saddest part was that I had developed this crazy plan that I was going to report the entire storm via twitter including sending photos from out of the windows (as the office has very highly rated impact glass). I thought this was going to be an amazing experience to share with the world and I actually started to look forward to it.

I’m thrilled to say the storm won’t be hitting us and simultaneously embarrassed to say that I think I actually felt a moment where I was disappointed because I couldn’t try out this experiment. If you’re not following me on twitter already please add me at http://twitter.com/djm0ther.

I’m going to file this one under WTF, but it has some interesting features.

Nico Nico Douga is one of the most popular video sharing sites in Japan. The very unique feature they have is that users leaving comments on videos appear in an overlay in real time. This allows comments to be timed to certain aspects of the video adding relevant thoughts at the appropriate time. Some users have even used it to add sub titles to their video.

I think this is a great addition. I’ve been watching YouTube for some time waiting for a comparable feature to appear. I’m suprised they haven’t tested even a prototype to see if western culture makes this as much as phenomenom as the Japanese did for Nico Nico Douga.  Read More »

I fancy myself a bit of a music fanatic. I’m one of those obsessive compulsive types that organizes his music by genre and sub-genre and then decides the next week to sort my music by the order in which I first heard it. Think of the book/movie High Fidelity and then replace the record collection with an MP3 collection. (Sadly, I did have the records once too, but opted to digitize them all.)

I hope you enjoy this cross section of 5 albums you probably haven’t hear but should be listening to. It covers the full gambit of musical taste and should satisfy any night out unless you’re a country music fan. If you are a country music fan, please leave my blog now.

Cut Copy  – Ghost Colours

Cut Copy, an Australian band, have brought one of my favorite sounds to the modern age: new wave. This fun album mixes a bit of New Order, older The Cure, with a healthy influence of modern electronica and house. It hit #1 on the Australian charts and has proved to be a slow starter here, but everyone I show it to loves it. The song below is titled Out There On The Ice from the Ghost Colours album.

Santogold – Lights Out

You may have heard of this one. If you haven’t you don’t read up on music very often as she’s been called the artist to watch in 2008 by the BBC, Spin, and Rolling Stone. My favorite thing about this album is that it seems to have so many different styles from songs that remind of Siouxsie and the Banshees to dirty bassy funk. She toured with M.I.A. at one point and you might hear a track that let’s you understand why that pairing would make sense. If you’re looking for something fresh and new then this is a good album for you.

The song below is called L.E.S. Artists and it’s one of the first singles off her debut album.

She Wants Revenge – This Is Forever

She Wants Revenge’s last album was one of my favorite releases of the last two years. It’s like Bauhas reborn, but in my opinion bigger, bolder, and better. Their debut single Tear You Apart really got my attention. The new album which came out this year is equally worthy with a slight evolved sound. Something about the singers voice really appeals to me and this band easily fits onto my gothic guilty pleasure list.

The video below is from the single True Romance off the new album.

CSS – Donkey

CSS, like She Wants Revenge, was one of my favorite releases of last year. This quirky band from Brazil released a raw unapolagetic album filled with electric riffs, fast beats, and dirty vocals. It was crude and amateurish and I LOVED IT.

The second album, Donkey, is far more polished. It’s obvious that they got the attention of a top quality producer now that they’re so many records. I missed the rawness of the first album, but after taking the time to listen to it a couple more times I’ve come to the conclusion it’s a great album. You’re just better off if you don’t compare the two…

Rat is Dead is the first video single from the album Donkey.

Etro Anime – See The Sound

In the interest of not being predictable I’m going to mention an album that is three years old. Somehow it slipped past my radar so I’m going to guess it slipped past yours too. Etro Anime featuring Lissette Alea’s exquisite vocals can be described as a kind of electro-trip-hop smoothed out with a few jazz elements.

The album rounds out my top 5 list with something you want to play laying in bed as easily as you’d want to hear while entertaining friends. I love the sound and I think they’re just one of those unlucky bands whose album came out at the wrong time, because it’s lack of recognition is not for a lack of matching talent.

Watch Endless from their 2005 release. It’s probably one of the poppier tracks of the album. If you want to get a little deeper search for some of their other songs.

Today would have been my father’s 86th birthday. I have put a bunch of videos in the Media section of the website you might enjoy.

Regardless, I miss you dad.