Dude, this guy has the best guitar/O-face of all time.

Hi kids, I’m still alive. I’m in NYC with my good friend Edward Gottfried. Being in NYC grants me access to all kinds of fun and awesome things. Like seeing Cap’N'Jazz and Lightning Bolt and No Age for free. Or eating ungodly amounts of delicious burritos. Or being bothered on the street by a shivering gentleman who is holding his nose for fear of it falling off. Or not showering and having no one notice how bad I smell because the garbage behind me is emitting the foulest of foul odors (3 week old shrimp that’s been basting in an old canvas shoe resting in a literal river of shit). Or going to Siren fest.

Siren fest was fantastic. There was a nice mix of middle-to-mainstream bands playing decently long sets for the best price: nothing. Also, it was at Coney Island, so if the bands were dull, you had an ocean to play in or a freak show to watch. Man, what a great place. Suck it Pitchfork Fest. Although I did not make it there in time to catch one of my favorite new bands, Dom, I did get to see the likes of Ponytail, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Apache Beat, and Holy Fuck. But my favorite performance by far was Cymbals Eat Guitars. I was ecstatic the hear them open their set with the words “we’re going to play a few new songs” because I was honestly afraid of Cymbals Eat Guitars being a one-and-done band. For those who are unaware (all of you), I was a huge fan of CEG’s debut Why There Are Mountains. Although many called it overly-derivative, I preferred to think of it as a positive expression of postmodern pastiche. In a year filled with fairly excellent releases, Why There Are Mountains is one of the only albums that continues to get regular play 1.5 years later (for the record, Edward has expressed similar sentiments). A debut as strong as WTAM that received as much press as it did often results in lofty expectations from fans and critics a like. It can also influence an artist to develop in an unnatural way, either experimenting too much or lying too dormant to be a followup worthy of similar praise. Luckily, Cymbals’ new material sounds just as strong as their previous stuff, with no influence rising above the others to pull their music in an unnatural direction. The Pavement is still there, but so is The Modest Mouse, Guided By Voices, Explosions In The Sky, Tullycraft, Cap’N'Jazz, etc. All of their songs retain the baroque-strength of WTAM while adding an unexpected maturity in both song structure and song writing that is beyond the band’s average age (25). Below the jump you will find the videos of these as-of-now-untitled songs, in decent quality, for your viewing and critiquing pleasure. All the videos were taken by Jay “Shapster7″ Sharp, who apparently like, “Glam, wacky shit, and acoustic covers.” Thanks Jay.

Of the new songs on YouTube, this is by far the best. Lead singer Joseph D’Agostino said that it might be the lead-off to their as-of-now-untitled and undated and officially unannounced 2nd album. It has the same intensity as Wind Phoenix, though it feels a little more contained and makes use of the synths a bit more. It’s thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended by yours truly.

Related posts:

1. Practice, Practice, Practice
2. BEST ALBUMS OF 2009 — #5-1
3. J. Tillman (of Fleet Foxes): "Firstborn"

This is exactly what the DJs and interior of WAMH look like...

Ladies and gentlemen, I have arrived. No, wait… WE have arrived. ‘Where have we arrived’, you ask? The airwaves. The motherfucking radio airwaves. 60 miles in circumference from the sizable transmitter sitting atop Bear Mountain. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, I, Marquis Meowmers IV, have a a college radio show. Friday afternoons. From 2-4P.M on WAMH Amherst, MA, 89.3 FM. What’s that? You can’t listen because you don’t live nearby? Well, make the jump for more info, and a few sweet tunez thrown in just because I love you.

Now, wait… what? You don’t even live in beautiful Western Assachusetts? Well, FRET NOT. You can still listen in (from 2-4pm Friday afternoons) at http://wamh.amherst.edu/programming.html . You can even chat with me there! That’s right. Direct internet contact with yours truly. And after every show, you can come here, read the set-list, and be all like “damn that sumbitch knows how to DJ a college radio show”. Awww yeah.

Wait, what’s that? You don’t want to just internet chat with me? You can to hear sarcastic, self-centered scoffs/relationship advice straight from my voice? Well than, call me up at 413.542.2288. That’s right. A real motherfucking request line at a real motherfucking college radio station. Awwwwwww yeahhhhh.

Wait, what’s that? You don’t care about my 2 hour long radio show filled with hot babes and sweet music? You just want hot tunes for your computer? Well, I’m not sure if I can do that right now, but damn baby, I’ll try:

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Beach House – Norway (YSI)

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Rye Rye (Ft. M.I.A) – Bang (DJ Sega’s Philly Club Remix) (YSI)

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J. Dilla – Fuck The Police (YSI)

Playlist for The Animal Show show (11/20/09):

song – artists (break song denotes a song played in the background during PSA announcements)

the day that mauro ran over elwy yost – 1-speed bike
Fuck The Police-Clean – Jay Dee
Detchibe 4:09 – Prefuse 73

Come On Feet (12″ Version) – Quasimoto

Welcome Home – Daedelus
Bang (DJ Sega’s Philly Club Remix) – Rye Rye F. M.I.A. – break song
Say Whoa – A-Trak
golden phone (etan’s golden pager ringtone) – micachu
Animal (Crookers Remix) – Miike Snow
Music sounds better with you – Stardust
Demon Lung – Electric Wizard – break song
Money Stinks (D.R.I.) – Ampere
Sick of Jock – Aerosols
Against All Youth – In/Humanity
Man You Suck! – Betercore
Downward Harmonization – Confines
Police – Fucked Up
Hungry Jack – Weedeater
With Teeth – Melvins
Aquarian – Sleep
Tongue Tied – Wanda Jackson – break song
Take My Hand – Randy Holden
Gypsy Ball – Blue Cheer
Let’s Talk About Girls – The Chocolate Watch Band
Violent Brave – Ganglians
Hammer I Miss You – Jay Reatard
The New Dark Ages – Dan Melchior’s Broke Revue
North American Scum – LCD Soundsystem – break song
Oozing – Kisser Chug
Cold – The Charlottes
You Are The Darkness – Fleeting Joys
Surfin’ With The Shah – Urinals
Let’s Go Crazy – Prince – break song

Related posts:

1. The Animal Show Rocks You Into 2009: Part I
2. The Animal Show Collects All the Animal Collective-Related Material You Could Ever Want
3. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANIMAL SHOW!

And, unfortunately, not enough of these.

So, I have nothing new to bring to the table right now.  But in the interest of interest, it’s interesting that recently I’ve been listening to more individual songs than albums.  Normally, I’m really an album guy, slavishly devoting my ears to the artist’s intent.  Mixes are fun, but usually I’m too respectful lazy to embark upon making them.

And I’m still not.  I’ve just been hitting the genius button on my iTunes a few more times a week, letting it scour my massive library for gems I’d never given a chance to before–gems past and present.  Here are some great launching points for me from this past year:

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Buck 65 feat. Sufjan Stevens – Blood Pt. 2 (YSI)

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Metric – Help I’m Alive (The Twelves Remix) (YSI)

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Avett Brothers – And It Spread (YSI)

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The Antlers – Bear (YSI)

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Franz Ferdinand – Call Me (Live) (YSI)

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Monsters of Folk – Temezcal (YSI)

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Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move (YSI)

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Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others (YSI)

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My Morning Jacket – El Caporal (YSI)

Related posts:

1. Sneak Peek: Bruce Springsteen's Working on a Dream
2. Birds Aren’t Muppets.
3. Live, on air, it’s The Animal Show show (Now with a playlist!)

Just think, I could totally be forcing you to listen to William Basinski's Disintegration Loops, but I'm not because I know that not everyone likes hour-long minimalist songs.

Hello Animal Show readers / Hype Machine users. Tis I, Marquis Meowmers IV. While taking a work break from a paper I’m writing (entitled “Hyper-reality, Animation, and Irony”), I StumbedUpon a nice little website that will probably be sued into oblivion by the end of the year. 8tracks.com is an online mixtape service, similar to the now recontexualized (due to legal issues) muxtape.com. All you do is sign up, log in, and start mix-taping.

Now, I know you probably aren’t asking yourself,  “Why the hell does this deserve a post?” but I’ll tell you anyways. I’ve been wanting to do a series of posts that tackle musical topics that are larger than a single artist or remix or mash-up. I’ve wanted to make posts like “the best albums of 1988″ and “Shoegazing: a beginners guide” and “My favorite tracks by Fucked Up” and “D.I.T.C – Rest In Peace Big L”. However, it’s nice to have a very wide array songs available for that sort of stuff, and this is an easier and way more legal way to share tracks than uploading to Boxstr. If nothing else, I will probably have a mixtape every week or so documenting my 10 favorite songs of the week (my musical tastes change to reflect whatever Pitchfork is promoting).

So, without further ado, mixtape 1: Marquis Meowmers IV’s Best of 2008 MixTape.

This MixTape encompasses my favorite track from each of my top 15 albums of 2008. Complicated enough? I thought so. Here’s to new trends. Additionally, if you’re a regular reader get stoked! Within the next two weeks, we will have an exclusive surprise here on The Animal Show!

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