i have a blog

Hello, is this thing on? Welcome to the new Christy blog. B is for Blog and C is for Christy. This is not only the go-to place for ramblings and incoherent descriptions of nightlife-- but also a place for music news, recommendations and condemnations.  

News for today:

-CMJ Music Marathon Kicks off in NYC today. I have sent my friends from Born In The Flood to be Daily Indie correspondents. They are going to make me so proud!

-Arcade Fire made a cameo appearance during Bruce Springsteen’s encore on Sunday night. 

-The Annuals signed to SONY.

-Tim Fite is releasing a 6 song Halloween Ep For Free on his Web site. He is both the sweetest and strangest person I have ever interviewed.

Music Playlist for today:

-Beirut-“Nantes”

-Black Kids-“I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You"

-Born In The Flood-“Anthem”

-Glass Candy-“Life After Sundown”

-Division Day-“Tigers”

Thank you for stopping by my new home. Send any housewarming gifts, comments, mix cd’s to Christy@maniatv.com.

Zombies Attack

 

 

I'm a girl scout zombie!! We filmed Daily Indie at the Zombie Crawl this weekend. Prepare for creeptastic music videos and scenes from the most famous zombie movies. Plus, real life zombie attacks of the highest caliber. Coming October 30th: The Zombie’s Attack edition of the Daily Indie!  BRaINS!!! October 30th 2pm/7pm. Cookies + Brains = good for business!

my mom says the daily indie needs a little soul.

New Yorker article about the missing sounds of soul, blues, reggae and funk in indie rock. My mom sent me this article and told me the daily indie needs more soul.

I couldn't agree more. Here's my favorite Temptations song for my mom, and for you.

Zombie Girl Scouts > Amy Winehouse

Its a good thing I dressed up like a Zombie Girl Scout this year and not Amy Winehouse.

Halloween Safety.

Check out this Halloween safety video my friends made.

Neil Young is Cooler.

 

-I just wasted like 15 minutes voting on the NME Readers choice cool list. I didn’t vote for Alex Turner once, I don’t know how he is number one. WTF mate.

 

-If you want to partake in some online voting, vote for me and The Daily Indie on this dig poll.

 

-Interesting Read: When Pigs Fly: The Death of OINK, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide.

-I want this.

I saw Neil Young on Monday. He played a full acoustic set and after the intermission rocked out another set with his band. Yes that was me holding up my cellphone during The Loner, while everyone else (the 45-65 year old crowd) was smoking. I love it.

-

I saw the movie Juno yesterday. I liked it. Full review to come. They used the song “Anyone Else” by Moldy Peaches throughout the movie. Gave me flashbacks.

Tori Amos Interview

It's always weird to meet those artists who you've grown up with, even more weird is meeting an artist who has that iconic persona attached to them. I wouldn't consider myself a Tori fan--the ones who have seen her play 30 times and know every word to every song--I met some of these people last night and I loved their unabashed enthusiasm. I would consider myself an admirer of her work. I got all her CDs as a teenager from my mom who thought she was a smart, but also strange enough to be a good role model.

She walks into the interview sits down next to me and before I can say a word she goes "So whats you're story?". I can honestly say most artists never take the time to get to know who is interviewing them, and it really struck me that she honestly wanted to know. Even better is that she gave me 40 minutes, I'm lucky to get 15 minutes most of the time. She spoke very gracefully about everything from her new record to her daughter and husband who travel with her on tour.

The interview will be up on the Daily Indie site in about 2 weeks. So I will send out a link when it's ready. I just think people should know when certain celebrities astound you with their good intentions. Especially with Tori fans, they love her so much I want them to know that she deserves every bit of their applause. Yes, she's a little strange, but just the right amount for a role model.

IPod wars: Obama or Clinton?

Whose musical tastes are better? Clinton or Obama?

I'm going to say I would like to load both of their Ipods up with new music. Can we arrange this during the Democratic National Convention? All you press secretaries call me up and let's arrange this. Hillary is getting my Lilith Fair mix from 7th grade, Obama, you get Sufjan's Illinoise!

And who will win the 2008 Grammy for spoken word album? Clinton (Bill) or Obama?

Good to note that Obama's party tomorrow night features Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and the Cool Kids. I want to go. 

Current Obsession

 

Obsession for the day: Lykke Li from Sweden. I've been listening to her all morning. Check her myspace.

The Final Line Of 'Lost In Translation'

You know the final scene, where Bill Murray whispers something to Scarlett J.?

Well someone analyzed the audio and here is what he said....

Is the movie better with or without knowing what he says?

Val Kilmer's Album

Val Kilmer is looking for a label to release his album, Val Kilmer:Sessions With Mick. Mick Rossi is his bandmate on the project--playing keyboards and drums. Read more here. This is just a rumor at this point, but rumor enough for me to countdown my top 5 favorite Kilmer movies with Hitlist fervor.

Your Friend,

Christy

#5 True Romance - Umm...he plays Elvis. Enough said.

#4 Top Gun - The Ice Man.

#3 The Doors - This was the first R rated movie my mom ever let me watch. Apparently, because it was Jim Morrison, all explicit sex scenes were acceptable.

#2 Willow - My first movie star crush was Val Kilmer in Willow. I don't know why, but I remember thinking he was awesome.

#1 Real Genius - This is in my top ten favorite movies of all time. Val Kilmers' character, Chris Knight, forever influenced my notions of the perfect man. Chris Knight and Lloyd Dobbler from Say Anything--thanks for skewing my perceptions. Good work.

My Top Albums of 2007!

This is the hardest part of December, trying to make some sense out of all the good music that has kept me company in 2007. There are albums that I listened to and liked that didn’t make my list -- because either I thought it was too overplayed (Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin) or the album felt disappointing (Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight). Everyone does a top 40 or 50, so I decided to do a top 35! Below are my top 35 albums of the year, up first my top 5:

 

1. LCD Soundsystem - 'Sounds Of Silver' - On James Murphy’s second album his ideas are more realized, he’s injected more emotion and the lyrics have improved. It’s like he took the first album and improved upon every aspect. Also one of the most fun live shows of the year.

2. The National - 'Boxer' - Intimate and smart lyrics from a band who has figured out their perfect indie rock formula. And, lead singer Matt Beringer wins the award for best male vocalist!

 

3. Justice - '+' - French electro-dance pop! You’ve heard their single D.A.N.C.E. hundreds of times, but the brilliance of the band lies in the rest of their debut album. Hipster dance party anyone?

 

4. Feist - 'The Reminder' - One of the most beautiful voices of the year! I know that everyone’s sick of her iPod commercial, I stand by my A+ rating.

 

5. Talib Kweli/Madlib - 'Liberation' - One of the best collaborations of 2007, two hip hop icons working together for the first time. Originally released for free online, the album is now available in stores.

6. Beirut - 'The Flying Club Cup'
7. Born In The Flood - 'If This Thing Should Spill'
8. Battles - 'Mirrored'
9. Menomena - 'Friend and Foe'
10. M.I.A. - 'Kala'
11. Arcade Fire - 'Neon Bible'
12. K-OS- Atlantis - 'Hymns For Disco'
13. St. Vincent - 'Marry Me'
14. Okkervil River - 'The Stage Names'
15. Black Lips - 'Good Bad Not Evil'
16. Muscles - 'Guns Babes Lemonade'
17. Kanye West - 'Graduation'
18. The New Pornographers - 'Challengers'
19. Of Montreal - 'Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?'
20. Spoon - 'Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga'
21. Andrew Bird - 'Armchair Apocrypha'
22. Panda Bear - 'Person Pitch'
23. Jay-Z - 'American Gangster'
24. Jesca Hoop - 'Kismet'
25. El-P - 'I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead'
26. Dirty Projectors - 'Rise Above'
27. Elliott Smith - 'New Moon'
28. Tegan and Sara - 'The Con'
29. Dinosaur Jr. - 'Beyond'
30. Radiohead - 'In Rainbows'
31. Kate Nash - 'Made of Bricks'
32. !!! - 'Myth Takes'
33. Bloc Party - "A Weekend In The City"
34. Calvin Harris - 'I Created Disco'
35. The Go! Team - 'Proof Of Youth'

Still to come, best indie videos of 2007 and the best concerts of 2007!

2008

Well it's here. The new year.  2008. January seems like the longest month of the year, maybe because it's absolutely freezing here. I have decided to make a list of things to come in 2008 to get me past the freezing days of January. Up first, movies in 2008 that are going to be awesome:

'Where The Wild Things Are' - Spike Jonze's adaptation of one of my favorite children's books.  

'Be Kind Rewind' - Jack Black and Mos Def save their video rental business by creating their own versions of famous movies. Michel Gondry directs.

'The Other Boleyn Girl' -Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johannson star in this period piece about the Boleyn sisters competing for Henry VIII. Watch the Trailer here.

'Choke' -Chuck Palahniuk's book is being turned into a film starring Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Houston.

'Burn After Reading' -New Cohen brothers' movie about two gym owners (Pitt and Clooney) who find a CIA memoir  belonging to John Malcovich, and they try to blackmail him.

'Iron Man' -Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man! Trailer here.

'The Dark Knight' -Batman is back and this time Heath Ledger is the Joker and Maggie Gyllenhaal takes the place of Katie Homes. Trailer here.

'Australia' -Baz Lurhmans new movie about WWII. Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman star in a story of World War II in Australia.

'Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' - Harrison Ford is back, and Shia LaBeouf is his new sidekick.

 
Albums coming out in January

Chris Walla - 'Field Manual'

Magnetic Fields - 'Distortion'

Sia - 'Some People Have Real Problems'

Kate Nash - 'Made Of Grace'

Black Mountain - 'In The Future'

Cat Power - 'Jukebox'

Vampire Weekend - Self Titled

Mars Volta - 'Bedlam In Goliath'

Girl Talk - TBD 

Other Albums to look forward to in 2008:

• 'Hot Chip'
• 'Wolf Parade'
• 'Weezer'
• 'Colin Meloy'
• 'Crystal Castles'
• 'Death Cab For Cutie'
• 'Mates of State'
• 'My Morning Jacket'
• 'Raconteurs'
• 'REM'
• 'Amanda Palmer'
• 'The Cure'
• 'Los Campesinos'
• 'Breeders'
• 'Destroyer'
• 'Ladytron' and many, many more...

What are you guys looking forward to?