Joy Zipper//Check Out My New Jesus

OK, so I know I'm a few days late on this...ok...a week and a half. But I really wanted to post this song in honor of Easter. Because I think we all deserve a new Jesus at least once a year, regardless of our religious upbringings/beliefs.

As a person of Catholic and Jewish lineage, I have the maximum amount of guilt humanly possible encoded into my DNA. This is why one year I gave up guilt for lent. This year though, much like this Jesus post, I totally messed up my give-up-something-for-lent timing. Anika and I are currently not eating processed sugar, which is proving to be...let's just say...rough.

Seriously, did you know that there's sugar in EVERYTHING? I mean everything. Yogurt? Sugar. Tomato sauce? Sugar. All breakfast cereals besides Shredded Wheat? Sugar.

Back to Jesus, this song is about...well...it's about getting a new Jesus. Joy Zipper is a sweet little couple band from The Island. I guess someone compared their songs to a candy apple with a razor blade inside, which seems about right to me. Actually, most of my favorite music falls into this variety, or something like it. If it's not a candy apple/razor blade then it's a something else with a something else inside. Catch my drift?

Anyway, now I've waited so long to post this that another holiday has eclipsed the holiday about which I've been writing. Thanks, Cinco De Mayo. I hope you have fun drinking Coronas and eating Churros, two things I can't have due to obvious sugar content.



Check Out My New Jesus.mp3

Check out my new Jesus.
He talks and he walks if you want him to.
Nevermind the thorns.
They're only there to confuse you.

Mates of State//Proofs, My Only Offer

I think I got into Mates of State, husband-and-wife indie pop team Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, somewhere during my freshman year of college. I went to see them live soon after and my friends and I were all just amazed at how IN LOVE they seemed. I think we joked about them having sex on stage. Sorry. We were young and crass.

It’s weird—when I first saw them, I felt like I would never be in a relationship that was like that (or, that was like their relationship seemed—who knows how it really IS), so whole and good and together. Now that I finally am, their music conveys a new kind of energy to me and I hear the love bliss in the sound even more than before.

The Mates are kind of an interesting band because I really do think that their “togetherness” is integral to their sound, just as Quasi’s apartness as a couple influences their sound. While Quasi’s members go eagerly into their own strong directions and make amazing music from there, MoS have a strangely pure harmony that is kind of unique to them, as if the music is a representation of their fused aesthetics.

The couple is still together and they’re still making music (and PETA ads) too. They also have a few kids now. Cute.

If you can’t take the all the cuteness (once they even served as the house band to everyone’s favorite borderline precious radio show), you might be tempted to skip out on the Mates. But I’m telling you, don’t! Just give it a try and let yourself consider for a moment, however brief, that true love might exist. I promise it will be catchy poppy fun…and you can always listen to Moz next.



"Proofs" is the first song on My Solo Project and I love how it starts.

Proofs.mp3

The lyrics to "My Only Offer" read like a nano fiction modern classic.

My Only Offer.mp3

I’m on tour next week, my darlings, so OSS will be off until Monday. Hope you have a great week!

Breathe Owl Breathe//Kids + Cats

Local Music Local Friday
Tell me...what is this Local Music Fridays?

On Saturday November 19, 2005, Michael and I were releasing The Dumb and Ugly Club's second album, Mars 1967, at Arbor Vitae in Ann Arbor. There was a band called Breathe Owl Breathe and Michael was friends with them, so they opened up for us. They were great.

At they time they were comprised of Micah Middaugh and Andrea Moreno (they have since added Trevor Hobbes). Since then, the band has skyrocketed, getting lots of well-deserved love from places like eMusic and Pitchfork.

Just because they may now be selling doesn't mean they've sold out. In fact, it's the exact opposite. Listening to Breathe Owl Breathe, I feel transported to back to so many memorable magical Michigan music moments (sorry for the Ms)--acoustic guitars and banjos and xylophones on the porch of a house by a lake. Ahhhhh.



Kids + Cats.mp3

We met up in a net
Outside the city limits.
For hours, we talked and slept.

Chuck Berry//Your Driver, Spoon//Idiot Driver, The White Stripes//Big 3 Killed My Baby, The Anniversary//D in Detroit

Hey again, guys. Know how the car companies just asked for a giant bailout!?!?! You probably do.

The state of the American Auto industry is something I’ve always kept half an eye on, ever since my six-year stay in Michigan educated me to the peculiarities of the its culture (yes, execs and employees of different companies did segregate out into different neighborhoods—a tidbit I learned from Detroit aficionado, Dan Faichney) and economy. Indeed, Michigan, and more specifically Detroit, is like a mini ecosystem where the car is the only food in town and shit! Now all the cars are dying out! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO!?!?

In honor of all the good, bad and the ugly of The Big Three and beyond, please accept these four sweet songs (playing a little catch up for upcoming vacation from internets):


I Want to be Your Driver

This song, which was put on a mix for me by one good, good friend, Emily Bate, harkens back to the good old days of the automobile. Shiny chrome! What a fine machine! AND IT REALLY COOKS!

This song may be a metaphor for…something? What do you think?



I Want to be Your Driver.mp3


Idiot Driver

And then…the hoard descended and everyone needed a fly ride! The highways swarmed and grew congested. You wanted to hit that souped up Honda next to you at full ramming speed!

CAN YOU SEE MY MIDDLE FINGER? IT IS POINTED IN YOUR DIRECTION!!!



Idiot Driver.mp3


The Big Three Killed My Baby

What would this post be without this song? Nothing, that’s what.

Those greedy sons-a-bitches keep churning out the shitty cars and ruining the lives of honest Americans, poisoning the environment, getting into bed with corrupt oil companies and generally sucking hard. At least they didn’t take your first born…or kill your spouse….er….nevermind.



The Big Three Killed My Baby.mp3


D in Detroit

Oh, as if killing your baby wasn’t enough…let’s not forget an entire destroyed city! Detroit was once the third largest metropolis in the country. It is now a burnt-out shell of urban hell. Your taxes, about to be hard at work.

This band is a guilty pleasure that I can trace back to high school. They're so good...for emo!



D in Detroit.mp3

Now will somebody please throw these guys some dollars!