Culture Greyhound

Trailers for upcoming movies. Some are good, some not as much.

Alex Winston – “Sister Wife” from stereogum on Vimeo.

Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Nicki Minaj feat. Ester Dean – Super Bass
Jacques Greene – Another Girl
Adele & Jamie XX vs Cecile, Mr Lexx & Timberlee – Rolling In the Heat (Heatwave Refix)
Wiz Khalifa – Roll Up

Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.

20. The Postal Service – Such Great Heights

My favorite Ben Gibbard album is Give Up, even amongst all those great early Death Cab masterpieces. Before the twee synth became commonplace, Gibbard took it to every first-generation iPod, car commercial, and teen soap montage (I’m looking at you, The O.C.). And of course, he did so with this song, still as beautiful as I remember it back on WOXY-FM my sophomore year of high school.

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Probably more than any other election, your vote as a responsible Austinite for the three city council places up for grabs really does count.  Apparently hardly anyone votes in it, which is a shame, because we all are affected by the decisions these people make, from our taxes, to our zoning, to parking meters issues, etc.

As with every citizen, I find particular issues to be of more importance than others, but I feel it is vital for Austinites to pick the candidates of their choice and get out there this Saturday, May 14th, and vote!  Go here for voting info, including the candidates in each Place, and your particular polling location.

I live in East Austin, walking distance from downtown, and as most twentysomethings in Austin like to do, I enjoy taking in the essence of the Live Music Capital of the World.  I feel the current city council hasn’t done enough to protect the unique identity of Austin, its culture, and its entrepreneurial spirit, the reasons I chose to move here.  I am concerned the new parking meter weekend regulations will affect the downtown scene, and I feel more creative ideas can be kicked around to help deal with traffic congestion other than the expensive, archaic light rail plan currently being talked about.

I am for a single member district in Austin, and, most importantly, I am for city council members responsibly finding a balance with music venues and residents, so we can continue to have a thriving, vibrant music community.  Supporting artists and musicians is a high priority, as well as dealing with noise ordinance issues that could hurt the spirit and hipness of Austin.  I am for proper zoning that helps, not hurts, the bars and venues that make Austin awesome.

Finally, I want city council members to find ways to curtail the trend of the skyrocketing cost of living in the city, which has become frankly ridiculous, and has caused an unprecedented amount of gentrification on the East and South sides, while high-dollar development condo projects continue to be built downtown at unreasonably high rental rates.  I fear if we don’t elect new blood to the city council, Austin will slowly become what I fear the most – just another Texas city like Houston or, even worse, Dallas.

So, without more ado, here are my picks for Saturday’s election.  I encourage you to find your picks, or, even better, just go cast your vote for mine. 🙂

Place 1: Josiah Ingalls

Ingalls is running on a platform of “more transparency” in our local government, which I’m all for, as this has become an issue recently due to some discovered “closed-door meetings” that took place. While I don’t necessarily consider myself a “fiscal conservative,” per se, I do approve of a candidate that takes into account the need to round up spending on projects that the community doesn’t really care about, and Ingalls declares his passion for this more straightforwardly than the other candidates in this Place.

Place 3: Max Nofziger

Always great to see an Austin musician supporting the rights of his fellow artists, and fighting for their voice in this unique city. Cutting the budget is Max’s top priority, and he’s got some creative ideas for making Austin the Electric Vehicle Capital of the World, as well as a frontrunner on solar energy use. He’s got years of experience on getting our local economy and budget under control, and he firmly supports a single member district for better representation for Austinites. And as a bonus, he’s got the most badass moustache in town.

Place 4: Toby Ryan

Far and away my favorite candidate, Toby Ryan has no political background and doesn’t really want one. He’s a DJ at 101X, which is obviously a plus for a radio guy like me, and he wants to represent the people that actually make Austin what it is – the people in the service industries, the artists, and the thriving, but lately neglected, music scene. He has attended zero city council debates for this election, because he feels (rightly so) that it’s unnecessary if you want to work for the people who don’t vote, the other 90% of the city. He’s running on a platform to protect the interests of Austin music, and fighting the ridiculous sound ordinances and zoning issues that have come up recently because of incumbent Laura Morrison. More than any other candidate, Ryan is working to keep Austin’s unique identity, to keep us from becoming a boring hot Texas town, to Save Austin Music, and to bring a little common sense to City Hall.

Read a Q&A with Toby here.

Jim Jones – Believe in Magic

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Youth Lagoon – July

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EMA – Milkman

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King Tuff – Hands

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SBTRKT – Wildfire

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Today I continue a series of posts dedicated to the best albums of the last decade, posting analysis of one album at a time.

39. Outkast – Stankonia

The underground hiphop sensational duo of Andre 3000 and Big Boi, now Grammy-winning superstars of today’s pop landscape, were just a blip on the radar when they dropped the now-classic Stankonia, an hour-long space-age, futuristic pimp, Southern rap adventure. The boys had made a name for themselves with equally strange-yet-funky albums ATLiens and Aquemini, but with the hit singles “Miss Jackson,” “So Fresh, So Clean,” and the explosive “B.O.B.,” Outkast launched onto MTV and pop radio almost overnight.

It’s hard to believe it’s been over ten years, and the guys have since made a double album of solo concepts, a movie with a better soundtrack, and their own solo material (Big Boi has stayed the most productive in that realm, dropping the amazing Sir Luscious Left Foot last year, while Andre has yet to make his first solo album, instead collaborating as a guest star on many A-list tracks since the release of Idlewild nearly five years ago). Still, Stankonia remains for most their crowning achievement, an apocalyptic sounding rap catastrophe in a world that had just survived Y2K. Who would have known then that a song called “Bombs Over Baghdad” would come to broadly define the next ten turbulent years?

Outkast – Miss Jackson

Outkast – B.O.B.

Outkast – We Luv Deez Hoez

SNL hiphop trio the Lonely Island haven’t exactly hit gold yet with the leaked tracks from their upcoming sophomore release Turtleneck and Chain (the title track featuring Snoop Dogg has been the best, though the joke grows stale by the second verse). Where, you might be wondering, are the “I’m On a Boat”s or the “Jizz In My Pants”s or even the “Dick In a Box”s?

Well, never fear – Samberg and Co. haven’t lost their touch, especially when recruiting pop icon Michael Bolton. This one’s funny for sure, and it features one of Bolton’s trademark “big, sexy hooks.”

Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Washed Out – Eyes Be Closed
CSLSX – Keep On Shining
Niki and the Dove – The Fox
The Hood Internet – VCR (feat. Freddie Gibbs, Telli of Ninjasonik, Elizabeth Harper of Class Actress)