If you don’t know who Leslie Hall is by now, you probably don’t have a series of tubes connected to your haus… because this would have arrived in your inbox with the subject line:
Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: omigawd rofl!
Leslie, a 24-year old art school graduate from Ames, Iowa and self-proclaimed keeper of the gems, made a splash this past year with several YouTube hits performed with her rotating backup band the Lys, including Gem Sweater, Gold Pants, and Beat Dazzler.Additionally, she joined forces with fellow internet personalities Tron Guy (Jay Maynard) and Peter Pan (Randy Constan) to make an impassioned plea for net neutrality on We Are the Web.
Quite possibly the lovechild of Amy Sedaris and Mike Myers, Leslie recently released her second album, Door Man’s Daughter, which is round 2 of rhymes plus beats and tinkly piano ballads. The song “Mother Gem Lullaby” was running through my head this evening after my pants burst during Thanksgiving dinner.
Gold Pants may be the only way for me to continue being seen in public.
- Listen to Mother Gem Lullaby
- Listen to Beat Dazzler
- Listen to Zombie Killer
Buy Door Man’s Daughter from 
or from Leslie herself.
BTW, here’s Leslie and her recent appearance on Ring My Bell taking calls and playing with plastic dinosaurs.
Nobody knows where you are is more like it.
The runner up in MTV’s Basement Tapes contest, the Dog Police were featured twice on Weird Al’s Al TV.
Here’s the song for those of you who are into that sort of thing.
Lasse Gjertsen is at it again.
As you may know, the 22-yr old from Volda, Norway readily admits that he can’t beatbox.
And now he has revealed that he also can’t play the drums or the piano.
So what can he do?
Well he can edit for starters.
He can animate.
He’s quite the fashionista (check out that haircut).
And, he makes some pretty compelling music without (apparently) being able to play an instrument.
Welcome to a series of tubes.
- Listen to the audio from Amateur
- Listen to Jeg Bryr Meg Ikke
- Listen to I Love Trees
Hear more here.
Popular artists selling their music for use in advertising is nothing new. In some camps, it’s viewed as being a shrewd business move and in others, it’s viewed as selling out. But regardless of where you sit on that fence, you know it’s bound to happen.
When I saw this ad for Kraft cheese crumbles,
I thought, “Of course! They must be crumbelievable.” I also thought, “What the hell happened to EMF?!!”
But the other day I heard this ad for Outback Steakhouse on my car radio and I just about drove off the road.
I thought I must be dreaming. Chocolate and peanut butter are two great tastes that go great together, but Elephant 6 and steak?!!
Then I saw the TV ad,
and I knew it was true.
*sigh*
I’m going to take solace in the fact that the folks at Outback Steakhouse appreciate good indie pop.
They appreciate it so much to have forever altered the meaning of Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games) in the same way that Golden Grahams altered the meaning of The Turtles’ Happy Together, the lyrics of which, I now think go something like this:
Imagine me and you / and you and me / together eating Golden Grahams / so happily / that crispy graham and honey taste / was meant to be / so happy together!
*sigh*
In the original Wraith Pinned to the Mist, Of Montreal sang:
Maybe I’ll never die / I’ll just keep growing younger with you / And you’ll grow younger too.
Somehow I think that just might be impossible while enjoying a blooming onion at a mediocre chain restaurant.
Buy The Sunlandic Twins at insound.
Yesterday I received a rather distressing email informing me that one of our Philly faves, Mazarin, would play their final show will play their final show on December 2nd. That doesn’t mean, however, that Quentin Stoltzfus and the gang are gonna stop playing. After their swan song at at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia, the band will simply no longer be known as Mazarin.
So why the change and what’s the band’s new name?
Well, that’s where it gets complicated. You see, apparently there are
currently two Mazarins out there. No, this isn’t some sort of quantum physics trick nor is it a trip to the Bizarro world in which the members of the Justice League so frequently battled the forces of, um, bizarre. Rather, there appears to be a band in Long Island that feels like their Philadelphia doppelgangers are stealing their thunder. While Mazarin was named for a winning racehorse owned by the father of the two founding members, the soon to be former Mazarin was named for the successor to Cardinal Richelieu, known for being quite a lucky man himself.
But Mazarin’s luck turned when Mazarin decided to sue.
Haven’t heard of the other Mazarin? Well apparently neither had Mazarin. That is until Mazarin received a cease-and-desist in the mail. It’s probably an understatement to say that Mazarin was somewhat vexed. Where had Mazarin been while Mazarin had released such psych pop classics as A Tall Tale Storyline and last year’s We’re Already There?
Well, apparently the self-proclaimed “Rock and Roll Legends of Long Island” had been stewing in their own juices. Oh, and one of their members was ill. I don’t know if the Legends thought the money from a settlement would help out their ailing bandmate, that maybe it would land them on easy street, or what but apparently they didn’t do their research. The Mazarin we all know and love isn’t exactly swimming in cash.
So instead of dealing with the headaches and costs associated with a court battle royale, Mazarin gave in, gave up their name, and let Mazarin have it.
[We]concluded the whole predicament was so sad and despairing that instead of dragging out a lengthy litigation, which [we] had neither the time nor money to commit to; fuck it. Clearly, the name is cursed.
Clearly Mazarin, doesn’t think so.
- Listen to by What See The Sky the soon-to-be former Mazarin
- Listen to by Your Advice Quentin Stoltzfus
- Listen to by Slave to Rock and Roll Mazarin
Buy some Mazarin, any Mazarin, at insound.
As for band name suggestions, here’s a few.