Lady Gaga is not from Yonkers

HANK ALTOGETHER:

In the latest instillation of "I Wanna like You, But I'm Not Sure I Do" [Lady Gaga Edition] finds me enamored by the Ga-stress on the Jay Leno show last night addressing her least favorite rumor about herself.

Watch here.

Respect.

Avett Brothers - "Slight Figure of Speech" (Video)

HANK ALTOGETHER:

Nice vid by a band that should have had an album on our best of the decade list.

The Avett Brothers - Slight Figure Of Speech - watch more funny videos

Vampire Weekend's "Cousins" Lyrics Are Stupid

ZACH THAT:

I understand you find Vampire Weekend cute and cuddly. I know their melodies make you smile and wish you went to an ivy league school. But, PLEASE LISTEN, they are not saying anything! I took too much time trying to write down the lyrics for "Cousins" and what the hell are they trying to say. Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits need to slap these guys with the lyrical bible. Enjoy...or don't. Actually, please don't enjoy these lyrics:

AY! AY! AY! AY! AY! AY!

You found a sweater on the ocean floor
They gonna find it if you didn’t close the door.
You and the smile sit outside the side-
In a house on a street they wouldn’t park on the night.

Dad was a risk taker.
His was a shoe maker.
You greatest hits 2006…and a list maker.

Caught in the melody
You eat it, or
You were born with ten fingers and-
You’re going to use them all.

(Shitty guitar thing)

(Verse I couldn’t make out)

Me and my cousins,
and
You and your cousins
It’s a line that is always running_
Me and my cousins_
You and your cousins_
I can feel it coming

WLFY's TOP 50 ALBUMS OF THE DECADE

Lighting Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow

A bass with one guitar string. A bunch of shitty drums. Playing in someone's kitchen in Lubbock, TX. Two RISDy dudes named Brian. Wonderful Rainbow was Lightning Bolt's quinceañera. It didn't just change the band forever, but everything that punk rock stood for and the way underground music would sound in the new millennium. (HW)










Death From Above 1979--You're A Woman, I'm A Machine


Two guys. That’s all this is. “You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine” is still one of the hardest things I have “rocked out to” in years. Yet, it’s only two guys doing this. Whenever I find myself pissed off and in need of a musical release I will often turn here. Through eleven tracks DFA never lets up; the guitars grind and the drums pound until your ears scream and bleed. I still think one of the saddest days of recent memory in music was when Jesse Keeler and Sebastien Grainger split. Yeah they both have come out with different side projects and what not but are they really as good as this album? Hell no. “You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine” is like a supernova on the music landscape. It exploded. It was bright and it was beautiful. Then it was gone. Even today, though, the effects are still there and every one still considers this a rock classic. Maybe in another universe or galaxy somewhere they never broke up… (BS)









Bright Eyes—Lifted Or the Story Is In the Soil, Keep Your Ear To the Ground


I think the love, the sadness, the pain, and the emotion that Conor Oberst expressed throughout this album is priceless. The fact that he pushed so much feeling out of a single album has never ceased to take my breath away. This album truly was one of my first forays into what I guess you could call “emo” music but more so “indie music”. I understand that Oberst has sort of been branded with a very sad white boy/emo vibe throughout his career as Bright Eyes but the fact remains is that there is truth in all of these songs and only people who haven’t been lucky/unlucky enough to experience all this will truly be the ones left in the dark by this gem. (BS)










Clues - Clues


While this album is fresh of the presses and ignored by many, year after year the dust will be blown off and fans will gather around to hear one of the best albums of the decade. I've never heard an album like this and its uniqueness is only surpassed by its brilliance. (ZH)










The Postal Service – Give Up


Industrial wastelands, nuclear fall out, incarceration, and bitter breakups never sounded quite so appealing. Somehow or another, Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard and electro enthusiast Jimmy Tamborello made it happen. The fusion between Gibbard's delicate vocals and the impenetrable trip hop landscape is like the eye of the storm, with a weird kind of near-apocalyptic calmness. If this is what the end of the world sounds like, I say bring it on. (LH)










Beruit – Gulag Orkestar


No one would know that Beruit's Zach Condon was just some boy from New Mexico, judging by the sound of Gulag Orkestar. Since when did ukulele, full-fledged brass sections, and rousing polka beats have anything to do with the American Southwest? Condon's merging of Eastern European folk music and Western pop seems authentic and effortless. Cuts like "Postcards From Italy" are radiant and carefree – a snapshot of a sunny afternoon over a rolling countryside. Is it possible for something to be a bit too idealistic? If so, this album is certainly Exhibit A. (LH)










Bloc Party—Silent Alarm


I enjoy “Silent Alarm” because of how pure of a rock album it is at times. “Like Eating Glass” is one of my favorite openers on any album and from there the album continues to take you in. The incredible thing is how you will go into the first few tracks of the album and be blown about by how badass the songs feel. Then all of a sudden “Blue Light” comes in and the dreamier aspects of Bloc Party come rolling in. Even when Bloc Party goes reaching for the starts with their sound they still maintain a gritty feel. Though the band hasn’t really been able to do anything with as much grandeur as their debut, it is still a blueprint for how to do an album right. (BS)










Joanna Newsom – Milk Eyed Mender


I listened to this album for the first time on a rainy day in Southern California. I still can't listen to Newsom's girly shreik of "I AM BLUUUE! AND UNWELL!" on "Peach, Plum, Pear" and not giggle. There' something so instinctively honest about putting those emotions together. It's why, for me, given the jeremiad of Ys, this album is infinitely more listenable: it's compact, imaginative, and puts things in ways that will forever change how you see them. (HW)










Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest


Choosing between Yellow House and Veckatimest proved to be a tough choice. The fact remains, however, that the excellence of Yellow House made Veckatimest the most hyped album of the year, and it delivered ten-fold. ‘Southern Point’ cracks the tension with an intense introduction displaying the musicality we have come to expect from Grizzly Bear, complex and enticing. The simple guitar riff juxtaposes perfectly with the string arrangement in the final verse, and then explodes into a slow and tense explosion of guitars and drums. How else to follow up such an epic introduction than the highly addictive soundtrack to your Monday morning ‘Two Weeks’? Ed Droste’s drawn-out oration of everyday uneasiness made ‘Two Weeks’ everyone’s favorite song at some point or another. With Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear made fans of everyone. Jay-Z, the entire family of Beyonce Knowles, hey, even Michael McDonald, the guy your dad was listening to when he ever-so-gently placed you inside of your mom got on board the Grizzly Bear Express. This was the breakout album of the year, and a very deserving one. (CJ)










Outkast - Stankonia


I shall let Outkast's words justify why this is on the list:
"Did you ever think a pimp rock a microphone? Like that there boi and will still stay street. Big things happen every time we meet. Like a track team, crack fiend, dyin to geek. Outkast bumpin' up and down the street." (ZH and Outkast)










Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise


The album is extremely visual, each song placing the listener into various parts of the state and at the same time, each track tells a fascinating story. "Illinoise" runs the gambit of emotions and moves swiftly from upbeat to downbeat with grace. In my mind, "Casimir Pulaski Day" might be the best song written this decade. (ZH)

Lady Gaga pre Gaga

HANK ALTOGETHER:

I gotta say, I know nothing about Lady Gaga beyond the provocateur image she's taken to the furthest extreme. But, this video makes me shiver. What incredible songwriting. It's too bad that sometimes being batshit crazy and image overrides what a person is really capable of. There's not an inch of superfluousness in these songs.

Video Wrap Up (11/16 - 11/20): Atlas Sound, N.A.S.A, Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck

Atlas Sound - "Quick Canal" (ft. Lætitia Sadier)

N.A.S.A. (Tom Waits & Kool Keith) - "Spacious Thoughts"

Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck - "Heaven Can Wait"

Neko Case - "Red Tide" (Live on Jimmy Fallon)

HANK ALTOGETHER:

I saw Neko play a pretty disastrous show in Montclair, NJ two days before she performed this gorgeous rendition of "Red Tide" on Jimmy Fallon. At the Montclair show, the songstress got electrocuted not once but twice while the tech crew seemed to twiddle their thumbs. Putting on her sweater, Neko was rebuked by an idiot in the audience who yelled "GO!"

"I'm just putting on my fucking sweater," she responded. "You get a rock band. Then you can fucking go." We all applauded, but something was all wrong. Case turned to the band and seemed to be pushing them to hurry up. After "This Tornado Loves You," they all left the stage rather hurriedly and didn't come out for an encore.

I blame it all on Jersey.

CONTEST: Win Girls "Hellhole Ratrace" 10" Vinyl (Only 500 Copies)

ZACH THAT:

Hey beautiful people. We're giving away a little early Christmas present to one of our readers: A mint, never played, Girls 10" (Hellhole Ratrace - Pitchfork named "one of the top 500 songs of the decade"). This vinyl is super rare...only 500 pressed and they have been going for crazy prices over at Ebay. For your chance to win, just show us a little love by doing the following three things:

1.) Add us on twitter. We want to be friends. If you're already our friend...perfect...you can still win by doing 2-3.

2.) Re-tweet @welistenforyou WIN GIRLS VINYL and a link to this post...just right click on the blog post title, copy+paste into twitter...enter...bingo.

3.) vote for us HERE. Just click on the green +...we're four down in the comment box...under We Listen For You.

Why do we have to do these things? We Listen For You does not make any money. All the ads you see on this site are things we like, we make the banners and advertise...I like Wes Anderson and Kentucky bourbon...so there you go. We love our readers and just want to increase our family size, so your votes/twitter ads help us grow. In return one lucky music fan will get a super rare Girls vinyl.

We Announce the winner: Nov 23rd...the same day as the release of our Top 50 Albums of the decade...that's promotion folks. We love you...and good luck.

ROYAL BANGS ON WOXY NOW!

www.woxy.com

Click on the player. Upper right hand corner, hipster. Get yr mind blown.

UPDATE: It's over. Minds who heard....blown.

Bowerbirds - NPR Tiny Desk Concert Video

ZACH THAT: