Long overdue

So last weekend was Bonnaroo. I wasn't there in person, but I did end up watching most of the live streaming coverage on Youtube. I have a review of what I saw throughout the 3 day music festival, but I decided not to post it. It got too long and I don't think it would be too interesting. I might still post it, but it needs to be condensed big time. I mentioned a update on my facebook account almost a week and a half ago, and it still hasn't happened. So where have I been the last 2 months? Well I wish I had a good explanation to give you. It's been a combination of laziness, being busy with trying to find a job, being preoccupied with other projects or playing video games. Only one of those reasons is admissible, the rest are just me being a slacker. However I am back now, and I am going to try my damnedest to keep up to date. What do you say? Let's get this dog and pony show on the road.

I'm going to spoil my Bonnaroo post right off the bat but, I feel I can do this because I found out about this song a week before the festival. According the their Wikipedia page it says that the five band member all met each other at an artist commune in 2008. I was fortunate enough to catch their performance at Bonnaroo and they completely blew me away. They had the audience in a frenzy by the end of their set. They have fun stage presence and you can tell that the band genuinely enjoys what they are doing. If you couldn't guess by their name these cats are sort of hippieish, but in the best way possible. Their music is upbeat, happy and weird. They looked like a rag tag bunch that was just thrown together, the male vocalist had a Kurt Cobain disheveled artist look, the female singer looked like Molly Ringwald straight off of the set from Pretty In Pink (so hot!). Then you had a guy who looked like he should be in The Allman Brothers and another who should be in Nickelback. You might have actually heard a song by them already. Their song "Tongue Tied" was featured in an iPod Touch commercial. I don't care how they look or if they are hippies, I want lots of GROUPLOVE!
Grouplove - Colors


I mentione above that I have been playing a lot of video games lately, actually computer games, but whatever. A friend of mine got me to give the popular online game service Steam a try. My friend had been telling to to download the client for a while and I put it off, mostly because I forgot about it and the message he sent me got buried in my message folder. I ended up finally doing so because I am blessed with awesome friends, who do nice things like send me a game fro my birthday. I then ended up buying what is called the Indie Humble Bundle. It's a suite of games you can buy and you name your own price, and a portion of the proceeds got to charity. Not only did I get about 8 really sweet indie games but I also got the soundtracks for most of the games. One game in particular I played had, in my opinion, the greatest soundtrack I have heard in a game. The Game was called Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. The game itself is an 8-bit looking exploratory action adventure game. I'm not going to go into the game play but I did want to mention, because I think it's funny, that you eat mushrooms and trip out to help you understand how to do certain tasks throughout the game. It's really an original and fun game with beautiful graphics. The music was composed by Jim Guthrie who has been a member of bands such as the Islands and Royal City. The soundtrack was released on a special edition vinyl, which is the same one that is featured in the game. I can't really describe the music other than a perfect audio landscape full of moody goodness. Bravo Mr. Guthrie! Do yourself a favor and check the album out on bandcamp. You won't be sorry.

Jim Guthrie - Little Furnace


I have been looking for a job since February and I am having a heck of a time trying to find work. It's so hard to find a decent job these days, it's crazy. Every place wants either 3 years of experience, a degree, or to pay a low wage that's virtually impossible to live on. I actually had a great interview recently with a company. I was excited about it. I waited on pins and needles for two weeks only to get a an e-mail telling me they went with more qualified candidates. It was practically the same job I was doing before. Let me tell you, I was super bummed. I firmly believe that today in the US, the hardest job is finding a job. I never thought I'd say this but I REALLY miss working. I really do. I WANT IT! I am also trying to get back into school, and that has been a series of roadblocks as well. However, no matter how hard it gets, how many times I get rejected, how depressed I get; I remind myself that I am awesome. I'm as tough as nails and I won't let this big bad world push me to the ground. I'm going to eat that frustration and poop out motivation. Watch out jobs/school, I'm coming to get ya! I think this little punk rock gem from 1995 sums it up quite nicely.

CIV - Can't Wait One Minute More


I have always been a fan of David Bazan. Whether it's his work sitting in with different bands, being the front man and creative force behind Pedro The Lion, or his solo projects; he's a tornado of talent. His lyrics and music both carry a no nonsense honest style. This is the title track, from the 2001 album Strange Negotiations.

David Bazan - Strange Negotiations

I don't consider myself to be a avid listener of ultra catchy pop songs, but I will admit that I have a soft spot for really good ones. This may ruin any cool kid cred but I might have a Katy Perry or Bruno Mars song or two in my library. Who am I kidding? I do, and I love it. If that makes me uncool then so be it. Like what you love and let the haters hate. This song by Brett Dennen is absolute ear candy, with a chorus that will have you still singing long after the song is done. Why is this guy not huge? If more stuff like this was played on major radio I'd definitely tune in.

Brett Dennen - Sydney I'll Come Running

Stunner Summer - A RopBop Mix

It's been hot as hell recently, so I decided that now would be a good time for a Summer Mix. I am actually planning on doing two summer mixes this year. The first mix (this one) is meant to be listened to during the day, when you are chilling at the beach, or taking a road trip. The second will be music for a summer night. So keep your eyes peeled, I will be posting it soon. I hope everyone has a safe and great summer!

Artist names link to their respective webpages, songs link to youtube videos.

Stunner Summer - A RopBop Mix

01. The Fabulous Wailers - Tall Cool One
02. The Almighty Defenders - Cone Of Light
03. Jacuzzi Boys - Cool Vapors
04. Opus Orange - Nothing But Time
05. Ween - Ocean Man
06. The Skatalites - Latin Goes Ska
07. Stereo Total - Ta Voix Au Téléphone
08. Das Racist - Coochie Dip City
09. Blackbird Blackbird - Sunspray
10. Golden Boys - She Said It
11. The Stone Roses - Waterfall
12. John Lee Hooker - The Waterfront
13. T. Rex - Mambo Sun
14. The Strange Boys - Be Brave
15. Alabama Shakes - I Found You
16. Dr. Dog - The Old Days
17. Born Ruffians - Foxes Mate For Life
18. The Dirty Projectors and David Byrne - Knotty Pine
19. fun. - Some Nights
20. Norwegian Recycling - Miracles
21. My Sick Uncle - Lil Wayne (feat. Kanye West)Quequ'un M'a Dit: We Outta Here Baby
22. The Mountain Goats - Jenny


Here is the link for the mix. Enjoy!!

The Letter O

For some reason I always think that this song is done by Okkervil River, however the singer sounds nothing like Will Sheff. I am pretty sure the connection stems from the fact that Okkervil's faster songs usually have a rowdy feel, similar to this one.
The Old Canes - Little Bird Courage

How about some funk that will make you say "O'ma god, that's funkay!"
Orgone - Who Knows Who?


I hate it when I leave the oven on, but I love it when I leave the Ovens on.
Ovens - Movin' On


I feel a mashup coming on....are you ready?
Overdub - Five Step (Radiohead vs Dave Brubeck)


Ooooo it looks like we are going to have a battle of the old men in this post...
Old Man Markley - Guts N' Teeth

V.S.
Old Man Luedecke - At The Airport


And the winner is....


It would just be a shame if I didn't declare him the best old man.

Well I checked that off my list!

Hello and welcome to another post on RopBop. This one is going to be a short one, the reason for this is because I have been working on this blog like mad the past few days. What have I been doing you might ask? Well, I went through all the posts and updated the songs that were no longer available and directed them to the songs youtube link and I also updated every band name so it now directs you to a link for the band! I tried as much as I could to post to official music videos or live performances, I'd say about 70% should go to something you can watch. There will be some that just aren't there, but look close cause sometimes I link to a different song by the band. Also don't worry I'll still leave the past few posts up for a while before converting the links to strictly youtube. I hope you have just as much fun going back through the old posts as what I did (even though it was a daunting task). I'll be back next week with the normal sized post. Time to get a victory sandwich!

Rock on,
-Brad-

I am sure that I have talked about the ADD mashup master Girl Talk before, and I am about to give him critical praise once again on his latest release All Day. Weather you love to dance, love music, or need something to get the party started this should be an immediate go to. Where else can you hear Biggie rapping over Smoke On The Water, or Missy Elliot gettin' her freak on over Blitzkreig Bop. Listening to this album is so much fun and will have your head bobbing until the end. Oh did I mention the album free? Why wouldn't you at least give it a try!? As a side not I would definitely suggest Girl Talks other albums.
Girl Talk - Oh No


I recently made a mix for a friend of mine, because I'm a nice guy like that, and I included a lot of rap and R&B stuff and other geeky songs that I knew he would like. This friend works with developmentally challenged kids at an inner city elementary school. He is always telling me how he is breaking up fights, or sending kids to the principals office for being bad. It sounds like a tough job but he's a cool guy with a level head so he's perfect for the job. In the mix I gave him I added this song called Manners by indie rapper Big Don. He called me a few days later telling me that he is going to use it in one of his lessons. First of all it made me happy that I finally made a mix that he liked, secondly I am thankful for people like Big Don who decide to make a sweet rap song and keep it on a positive level. We need more of that in this world.
Big Don - The Manners (No Longer Available)


As I have mentioned on this blog before I listen to a lot of Podcasts. I am particularly addicted to The Preston And Steve Show on 93.3 WMMR. They have this great game that they play called Crackshot. Basically each member of the morning show has a category that they are "experts" in. Someone is an expert in Saved By The Bell trivia, someone else is an expert in 80's movies and so on. The listening audience calls in and tries to stump the DJ. If they do they get a prize and the expert gets shot in the ass with a BB gun. They roll a die to see how many times the gun gets pumped. If you roll a six you can pass the shot to someone else. It definitely makes for some interesting and hilarious listening. At the beginning they always play this song. Roger is also a cousin to Jackass's Johnny Knoxville
Roger Alan Wade - B.B. Gun

Jump right into the water...of nerdiness!

It feels like forever since I have done a post here, however it's only been ten days. I guess that is because I have been busy with other nerd activities. I recently bought a copy of World Of Warcraft, which has been taking up some of my time. My hat goes off to the makers of that game because, damn, it's insanely intricate. A few weeks ago I also discovered Reddit which is one of my favorite websites at the moment. If you haven't checked it out, do so. Just make sure you have a few hours to kill, and look up subreddits. There is a subreddit for pretty much everything! The latest time taker has been a program called XBMC. It's a media center program that is leaps and bounds beyond what you have on your computer. In the simplest terms it lets you stream media (movies, tv shows, music, pictures) from websites or from your computer. For example if you use Hulu, there is a plugin that will create a list of everything you can watch on Hulu and organize it into a easy to sort list. That way you don't have to go to the site and click all over to get to what you want. Now imagine being able to do that with National Geographic.com or G4tv.com or whatever other site you like. It's pretty customizable, and best of all it's open source (meaning anyone can write code for it). Anyway, all that on top of putting in applications for jobs has kept me pretty busy. This is a song by Swedish indie pop group Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. It's a really great song about computers and music! Yay!
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Loop Duplicate My Heart


The other day I was cleaning my closet and I came across my comic books. I haven't looked at them for years, it was a fun trip down memory lane. I used to get this comic book magazine in the mail called Wizard. I think it's still around but the format has changed drastically from what I remembered it to be. Looking back I got a lot of cool magazines in the mail. I used to have a stack of Nintendo Power magazines from the early 90's. I was always super excited to get the mail, hoping the new issue was there. The pure jubilation seeing it there waiting for me to rip open the plastic bag, smell the fresh newsprint scent, taking my time leafing through the pages like it was something to be cherished. I wish I still had some of those magazines. To this day I still love getting the mail or receiving packages in the mail. In fact...
Pree - In the Parlor


Brad's Possibly Radio Friendly Song Pick Of The Week:
The Stationary Set - Haunt On


I love the 90's. This song is pretty heavy and dark, but I love the chorus, especially near the end. I also like the way he says water.
Emmet Swimming - Jump In The Water


Alright time to end this post. I need to take a shower, I feel funky!
Dyke And The Blazers - You Are My Sunshine

Diggin' through the crates....

I rearranged my CD collection this week, by that I mean I cleaned and organized. It took a long time and created a lot of sneezes but it was well worth it. As I was going through it all I pulled out a few songs from older compilations I had. You can expect to see a few older songs in the next few entries, because I found a ton.

This song is from San Jose's Korea Girl. You probably won't find a ton of info about them. They had only released one album and a 7". On top of that they broke up nearly 12 years ago. Regardless, of all of this they still made some pretty damn good tunes. You can still get their album through Asian Man Records. Buy it through there, because the guy who runs the label, Mike Park, is a really great guy. I would also recommend checking out their song "Reunion", for a chilled out bitter song about a high school reunion.
Korea Girl - B-Side


Phantasmic were one of the first bands that I featured on this blog. If I remember correctly (and I do cause I just checked) I posted a cover song by them as well. A Misfits cover song no less! Well this time Ms. Wiley and company bless us with a wonderful version of Billy Idol's "Eyes Without A Face". I dig the distorted guitar so much in this song, especially toward the end. Super grindy!
Phantasmic - Eyes Without A Face (Billy Idol Cover)


I first came to know of this song from a little indie magazine I would pick up back in the 90's. The magazine, CMJ used to have a magazine and compilation CD of the bands featured in the magazine. Back then I was all about getting free stuff with magazines. Probably why I have so many comic book trading cards. Anyway this is a little instrumental by µ-Ziq (pronounced like the word music). It's like a lullaby only a little faster, very twinkly. It would make a perfect night time driving song.
µ-Ziq - Phiesope


Do you remember the big ska craze of the 90's? I really miss ska music and would love to see it reflected more in music. It was just so happy and fun. This song by The Slackers isn't necessarily super upbeat, but it does manage to tap into that laid back Jamaican Ska sound. On a side note, if you ever see a CD called Give 'Em The Boot Vol.1, you best pick that shit up! It's a great compilation.
The Slackers - Watch This


RIYL (Recommended If You Like): The Rentals. This is a great indie band that is driven by power pop, keyboards and guy/girl vocals. More rock than you can shake a stick at. Their first album, Designing a Nervous Breakdown is one of my personal favorites.
The Anniversary - The D In Detroit


Be on the lookout for a few mixes coming soon. As well as a podcast??? (This is still in the works, so it might be a while.)

The Letter N

This track comes from one of the best split EP's I have ever heard One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels. I love the lazy laid back vocals. I remember reading an interview with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes (The other artist on this split) where he was asked which album was his favorite written or collaborated piece of work that he had done, and without hesitation he said this EP. I might have to agree.
Neva Dinova - Poison


Quick little gem from Nashville Tennessee rockers Natural Child.
Natural Child - Dogbite


I like to come up with my own genres sometimes just to be funny. I call this song Fury Blues.
Nick Curran And The Lowlifes - Kill My Baby


How about some 60's psych rock? Dig that fuzzed out guitar solo, man!


L.A.'s underground darlings No Age make great instrumental tracks!
No Age - Eraser


Thew New York Dolls were an important band that paved the way for the New York punk scene which spawned bands like the Ramones. This song was originally released in 1973, a much more fast and punked up version. This, much slower version is off the bands 2009 album Cuz I Sez So
New York Dolls - Trash(2009)


I guess technically this should go under the letter C, if you want to be a dick about it. I don't care though, I LOVE this woman and she is under the n's in my iTunes.


Canadian Indie pop. I think those canucks are on to something folks. I have yet to hear a really crappy Canadian band. P.S. If you know of one please refrain from informing me and ruining my love of the great white north.
No Kids - Beaches All Closed