The Letter R

 Kicking it off with a little fun number by Aussie band The Riptides!
The Riptides - 77 Sunset Strip

This tune by french band Revolver, reminds me of a 1940's crime setting. A time when bad guys had curled bushy mustaches, wore bowler hats (and actually looked cool, unlike today), and donned classy long overcoats that hid their flint lock pistols. If you read the lyrics it seems as if there is a group of bad guy who have no been so cautious in their crime sprees, and are gaining some notoriety with the local law enforcement.  They are now on the hunt for a patsy, someone they can pin the blame on. They figure if they can maintain their level of stardom, that the patsy will have a cushy time in prison.
Revolver - Get Around Town

A long time ago, my mother went on vacation with some of my aunts to Alaska. Which left my father, my sister and I together for a week. We were pretty young at the time, maybe I might have been about middle school age. That whole week we binged on movies. My Dad rented a ton of older must see movies, these weren't our typical feel good family movies. He got movies like Jaws, Rambo, The Birds, and John Carpenter's film Christine, which is based on a Stephen King book. If you haven't had the time to see the movie or read the book, do yourself a favor and get on that. It's a story of an evil car! How can you not love that!? Trust me it's not super scary, my sister and I loved it. This is a song by a nerdy hip hop guy named Rappy McRapperson. He's hilarious! His humor may not be in everyone's wheelhouse, it's pretty wacky and can be a bit off color, but it's all in good fun. If you can take a joke then you should check it out. If not then stay away you knucklehead. If you are totally bored and want to be entertained, you should check out a podcast called The Phone Show. He makes many appearances doing prank phone calls.
Rappy McRapperson - Devils In My Car



I love listening to this at night. Especially if you are out star gazing. The band, named after poet Rainer Maria Rilke, split up back in 2006, but put in a good 10 year run in the budding indie/emo music scene. This track is off their album Look, Now look Again. If you come across this album it's definitely worth picking up. I'd also recommend songs like Rise, Atlantic and if you want to get real emotional Tinfoil.
Rainer Maria - Planetary


Raised Among Wolves is a seven-man orchestra from Copenhagen. They have create a nice blend of indie pop and indie folk, that is easy on the ears. I honestly haven't hear much by them but, I am cleaning up my iTunes library and Boys Will Be Kings came on and it caught my attention. I will definitely be checking them out further.
Raised Among Wolves - Boys Will Be Kings



Stan Rogers is the man! This is Canadian folk music at it's best!

Stan Rogers - White Collar Holler


Blake Robinson is an orchestrator who dabble primarily in all things media related, such as games, TV, and movies. I first heard of him by looking up the soundtrack to my favorite game Terraria. He did an AMAZING version of the title theme for that game. As I perused his collection I loved him more and more. I am a huge orchestra fan and he doesn't create on a small scale either. The sound is big bold and very professionally produced. If you are a geek you'll want to check out work. He has covered things from the Star Trek Voyager Theme, to numerous video game scores. Great stuff here folks. These are two of my favorites. The first is mainly here because I am a huge Adventure Time fan, and I love the two songs he covered from this episode (click to watch it). The next song is one I am sure most people will recognize, so no explination needed there. 
Blake Robinson - All Gummed Up (Adventure Time)

Blake Robinson - Super Mario Brothers 3 - Overworld 2

The nightime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy, head, fever so you can jam out medicine

So I have been sick for the past week. Thankfully, it wasn't the throwing up sick, or the symptom that happens at the other end (you know what I mean). It was more of a Nyquil tagline sickness. Not fun times. Although I did have to go to the doctor, I called to make an appointment and they were all booked up so I had to go to a walk in clnic that they were partners with and I got to get checked put by a super hot female doctor. As Borat would say "Very nice!" So today I am going to post songs that are in some way related to sickness. Note: It's super hard to find songs related to being sick, so most of these won't be theme specific, but they will be good.

Nerds + Rap = Sick
Rappy McRapperson - Sick As Doggerooskies (Feat. MC Ecniv)


The Thermals - We Were Sick

Check out their website It's pretty badass(click on the band name below) This is one of those unknown and underrated bands.
The Protomen - The Good Doctor

The Cold War Kids - Hospital Beds

The National - Cold Girl Fever

Nurses - Fever Dreams

I don't sweat. I rain.

Last night I decided to watch a movie as I fell asleep. I can't get Netlix in the bedroom (because I'm too cheap to buy wireless) so I camped out on the couch. I always try to pick a movie that I have seen so if I fall asleep, it doesn't matter, I'm not missing anything. Netflix just recently made the movie Angus available to watch instantly, and how can you pass up watching that movie?! The movie is one of the quintessential high school nerd movies of the 90's. Along with being a great movie, it also had a really kick ass soundtrack. It features one of my favorite green day songs J.A.R.as well as contributions by some great bands such as Tilt, Dancehall Crashers, The Muffs, The Smoking Popes, and Weezer. However my favorite song on the album was always Am I Wrong by Love Spit Love. I can't say that I have listened to any other song by them, or I did and I wasn't into it, but this song is beautiful. Emotional poetic lyrics backed by an amazing string section.
Love Spit Love - Am I Wrong

I must admit, there was a long span of time where I didn't watch SNL. I still am not a "must tune in" fan, but I have found myself watching the show more than usual. When I do, I know that any SNL Digital short featuring The Lonely Island is going to be a treat. Some songs are better than others but, I at least get a chuckle or two even from the duds. These dudes know who to mix comedy and hip hop like mad scientists. Their new album Turtle Neck And Chain just recently dropped and I suggest checking it out. Not only is the album gut busting funny, but the production and beats are top notch. The video is from the new album but the song is from their previous album Incredibad.

The Lonely Island - Space Olympics

Speaking of funny, I started listening to this podcast called The Phone Show. It's a podcast where a bunch of people get together and make prank phone calls. Sometimes cruel, but always entertaining. It is a off shoot of a group called Phone Losers Of America or, PLA. The site is full of interesting and funny stories of the group tormenting individuals and doing fun things with phones. On the show they have a nerdcore rap celeb who calls in named Rappy McRapperson. It's not mature sophisticated rap by any means, but that is what makes it wonderful. The dude is pretty witty in his rhymes and can provide a hook that will stay stuck in your head for hours. I first heard this song when I was eating lunch at work. Couldn't think of a song more fitting.
Rappy McRapperson - Food


I have become a huge fan of The Hold Steady for the past couple of years, however I was disappointed when I learned that they were losing one of the best parts of the band, their piano player Franz Nicolay. Although I am sort of upset with Franz Nicolay leaving The Hold Steady, I can't stay mad at him when he puts out a solo CD like Luck and Courage. Like fromer band mate Craig Finn, Nicolay has a unique sing/talk style that works so well with the eccentric moody music. For some reason I picture the singer playing the part of a old timey preacher spreading the word at the top of his lungs.
Franz Nicolay - Anchorage (New Moon Baby)

The weather is finally getting nice, time to shed those hats and coats, crank the windows down and the tunes up. Why not start with this?
Your Youth - Diamond