I Want My Music Television: 7/21/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Angel in Blue Jeans - Train


Sure the new Train song kind of sucks in a jumping on the folk rock trend two years too late kind of way but if you are going to release a bad song you might as well pay Danny Trejo copious amounts of money to lip-sync your lyrics making an actual entertaining video. So congratulations to Train, you almost got me to almost like your crappy Mumford and Sons rip off simply by getting me to watch the music video multiple times.


You and I (Nobody in the World) – John Legend


Just when you think John Legend was going to release yet another music video based around his Sport Illustrated it turns into a very real look at the various types of women that populate the nation. It is empowering and heartbreaking at the same time. Seriously, if you did not break out crying at the breast cancer victim, you very well may not have a soul.


Try - Colbie Caillat


If that is not enough real women for you Colbie Caillat takes that John Legend idea one step further (to be fair, Try hit YouTube two days earlier and is exactly what the song is about; I just put You and I first because it is a much better song) as Colbie and another group of ethnically diverse strip themselves of all their numerous beauty products.


Mother and Father – Broods


We have hit that time a year when people start posting their silly half-year lists. One thing that stuck out to me on these lists is that music so far this year kind of sucked. Making things worse is that are not many good new artists. Around this time last year there were already great albums or EPs from Lorde, Haim, Kacey Musgraves, Daughter, and Chvrches. It is depressing to think Iggy Azalea is probably going to get a Best New Artist nomination basically there is no one else (granted since Ed Sheeran got nominated in the category last year, maybe Lorde will get nominated this year) even though she only has only been on two songs anyone cares about and is the worst part of both songs. Sure there have been a couple songs by new artists that have piqued my interest this year but I really not interested in full albums by Hozier, Bleachers, Jamie N Commons, or X Ambassadors (I have not even been bothered to see if the last two are the same act or two separate ones collaborating on Jungle; which is not to be confused with the new band Jungle that I do not really care for that much) but there is only one group that I am looking forward to hearing more from and that is Broods. They put out a solid EP earlier this year and next month they are releasing their debut album Evergreen (apparently it will not be released stateside until October but sometimes these foreign releases show up on Spotify here before we Americans can buy them). The first single from the album is actually better than anything on that original EP and shoots the album up my list of what may be a crowded most anticipated fall albums (even though many of the biggest names do not have a release date as of now).

I Want My Music Television: 1/28/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Sleeping with a Friend – Neon Trees


I always Neon Trees would have fit in well during the pop-rock band of the late ninties (as signified by having a McG directed music video), but the band went full eighties with their latest video and I am not sure if it make me nostalgic or is giving me bad flashbacks.


Hold On - Colbie Caillat


Who would have guessed the Lilest Lilith Fair music video would be made by Colbie Caillat in 2014. How did Paula Cole not make this video seventeen years ago?


You Sound Good to Me - Lucy Hale


Late last year a video circulated the internets claiming to be every country song of 2013 which features every song which sang about trucks driving down dirt roads, chicks in blue jeans named “Girl,” cold ones and about ten other country clichés. Really the video could have been every country radio hit of the past thirty years. And even though every country song that gets played on the radio sounds the same, Pretty Little Liars’ Lucy Hale somehow managed to come out with the most bland country song possibly ever. Even the music video looked recycled from some Carrie Underwood outtake. It somehow managed to be the most bland country song possibly ever.


M.A.A.D. City / Radioactive – Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar


I am not the biggest fan of Imagine Dragons or Kendrick Lamar and was weary when it was announced they were going to perform together at the Grammy’s but not only was it was the best performance of the night it also gave up the most GIF-able moments with many cutaways to Taylor Swift dancing and what may have been the first public appearance of Lorde smiling. I got excited when I saw a Kendrick Lamar Remix of Radioactive hit iTunes after the performance. Unfortunately the studio version just sounding like someone cut and pasted a random Kendrick rant that sort of had some time signature and put it in the middle of Radioactive. I never understand why artists do not put their award show performances on iTunes. I would have spent about ten dollars on this year’s Grammy’s alone. Instead I have to debate on whether to hunt down crappy version that someone ripped from their television. It certainly would have been nice to buy a high quality version of this performance without the lengthy bleeps or the Copy of A / My God Is the Sun closer without getting cut off (hey Grammy’s seriously just start at 7:00 and go four hours because that is how long the show overruns every year anyway).

I Want My Music Television - 1/23/13

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

The Rebound – Tristan Prettyman


I think we may be nearing the end of the lyric video phenomenon because I actually had an adverse reaction after watching this one from Tristan Prettyman. Seeing the lyrics and them being realize literally (bananas!) with images just made me see just how creepy the song really is.


We Both Know - Colbie Caillat featuring Gavin DeGraw



I like both Colbie Caillat and Gavin DeGraw but this is a pretty boring song. It probably does not help that the movie it is from, Safe Haven, looks painfully bad. But I guess that should not be much of a surpise considering it was based on a book by Nicholas Sparks who have us the abominations that were Dear John, The Last Song, and The Lucky One.


Waiting For the Night - Nelly Furtado


Whoa Nelly Furtado, you got some bad advice from whoever told you the 2-face skeleton paint would work. It makes the accordion solo look like a great idea in comparison.


Hollow - Alice In Chains


I was pretty content ignoring the Alice in Chains reboot when they released a new album a couple years ago. I really enjoyed the band back in the day because I loved the dichotomy of the angsty Laine Staley against the more melodic Jerry Cantrell. But I guess I going to have to acknowledge the new incarnation now that they are going to release a new album. The thirteen year old version of me does not like it at all.

I Want My Music Television - 2012 Christmas Edition

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


All I Need Is Love –Cee-Lo Green featuring The Muppets


Ha Lo-Cee. I wonder if CeeLo's team was eliminated from The Voice we would had seen more of Lo-Cee. And apparently Walter from the most recent The Muppets movie is becoming a thing. But The Muppets do make anything better, with all the reboots happening, I am surprised no one has thought about rebooting The Muppets Show. Seriously Disney, you are rebooting Boy Meets World, but it has not donned on you to start up The Muppets Show? At least do a periodic special every couple months.


I Feel It In My Bones - The Killers featuring Ryan Pardey


The Killers holiday single has become a yearly tradition, but I think they may have ran idea when they start record dark Christmas carols. This sounds like something that would be used in a Christmas movie made Bret Easton Ellis. It may be time to move onto the standards guys.


Christmas in the Sand – Colbie Caillat



As someone who has living in cold weather his whole life, I really would like to spend Christmas in the sand one day, preferably with Colbie Caillat. Although I have no desire to see Santa Clause in his bathing suit.


I Think You Might Like It - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John


John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John recorded a Christmas album. And they are line dancing in the video. No Sandy, I do not like it. And what the frack is on Danny’s head.

I Want My Music Television - 6/12/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Every Single Night - Fiona Apple



Nothing like an octopus on the head to reintroduce yourself to the general public. Welcome back Fiona Apple and it was nice to see you smile at the end.


Mercy - Kanye West featuring Big Sean, Pusha T, 2 Chainz



The video to Kanye West and his G.O.O.D. Music rappers is so fun to look at I almost forget the song itself is fairly lackluster. But has there ever been rap label crew track that did not suck? Do we have to go all the way back to It's All About the Benjamins to find one?


Favorite Song - Colbie Caillat featuring Common



After he showed up on The Jonas Brothers album, it should not be that surprising when Common (former G.O.O.D. artist) shows up pretty much anywhere, but I still had to do a double take after he popped up in the new Colbie Caillat video. On a side note, when did Colbie start morphing into Raylan Givens’s ex-wife?


"45" - The Gaslight Anthem




A straight forward performance video from The Gaslight Anthem but I wanted to share it just because Handwritten, coming July 24, may be my most anticipated album of the summer and still very high on the list for the second half of 2012.

I Want My Music Television - 7/21/11

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (feat. Santigold) - Beastie Boys & Santigold



When you hear Beastie Boys and Spike Jonze in the same sentence it is hard not to get excited, but is hard not watching their latest collaboration and not think of Team America: World Police. But then again it is hard to be disappointed with anything that involves Nazi Zombie Dolls.


Helena Beat – Foster the People



Foster the People has the surprise hit of the summer with the catchiest song about school shootings ever (sorry P.O.D.), Pumped up Kids. And they keep the violent kids theme for their new video which is like Lord of the Flies seen through a Mad Max filter.


Brighter Than the Sun - Colbie Caillat



Speaking of summer hits, I was reading an article debating what the summer anthem of 2011 is and concluding that it may be Rolling In the Deep by Adele which is pretty bad sign for the summer that a dark breakup song released just before Christmas may be the summer anthem. Since we are still a month and a half away from Labor Day, how about we throw the new Colbie Caillat song into the ring for the title. It is her catchiest song yet, even has “Sun” in the title, and handclaps; who doesn’t love handclaps in the summer?


Sugarcane – Shaggy



Speaking of summer anthems, Holy Shaggy Sighting! Sure this is not his best work, but we should write our congressmen and have them make a law requiring Shaggy to release a new song every summer. It is not like they have anything else important on their docket right now.

I Want My Music Television - 3/21/11

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Rope - Foo Fighters



It seems like Foo Fighters alternate videos between cheesy dress up ones and artsy performance based ones and after the eightiestastic White Limo it’s time for artsy. And did I miss the memo that Pat Smear was back in the band?


I Do - Colbie Caillat



The whole (un)happy faced inanimate objects is cute and all for Colbie Caillat, but is there a credit card ad that already did that a year or two ago?


How You Love Me - Talib Kweli



Those credits seemed a little long for a music video featuring a dude and a chick in a bedroom. At least it was another killer track from Talib Kweli.


'Til The End of Time (Edited Version) - Timothy Bloom



For those that think like me that R&B died about a decade ago, here is a song by Timothy Bloom that might give you hope for its resurrection. And the music video is like a two person D'Angelo video. And for those wondering, yes there is an undited version.

I Give Up, I Give In, I Let Go, Let’s Begin

Colbie Caillat broke onto the scene two years ago with songs so sugary and saccharine, had she had been five years younger you’d expect them to come alone with a Disney Channel show. Not that there was anything wrong with that because songs off of Coco became quintessential mellow California sound from a female perspective for the new millennium. But if there was a down side to her debut was that it was too mellow.

For the recording of her second album Breakthrough, Caillat traded one beach for another, going from California to Hawaii. From the first single Fallin’ for You, that she had an extra bounce in step on the islands as it was her most upbeat, and better than any song from Coco. And that sediment is transferred to some other songs on Breakthrough such as Begin Again, You Got Me, and Running Around.

But even though I Don’t has the defiant title, the song about not accepting that a friend isn’t more. And the rest of the album pretty much sound like outtakes from Coco. There is something to say her most adventurous songs to date the duets Breathe with Taylor Swift on Swift’s Fearless (Caillat’s song Fearless on Breakthrough is completely different for Swift’s title track) and Lucky with Jason Mraz. But where Breakthrough can get repetitive, especially if you grab the seventeen song deluxe version, the songs individually are still as stronger than her debut and much like those songs, they would be better listened to if you download them to your computer and listen on shuffle and the songs would occasionally come and put a smile on your face before going onto a different artist.

Song to Download – Running Around

Breakthrough gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television vol. XLII

Lucky - Jason Mraz with Colbie Caillat

Jason Mraz - New Music - More Music Videos

A couple weeks ago one of the major record labels pulled all their videos off YouTube, but I still go there first when looking for new ones intuitively. When I searched for the new Jason Mraz video I found one with a new notice: “This video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by all copyright holders. The audio has been disabled.” So you basically are watching the music with the mute button on because YouTube won’t pull the video but has to strip the audio to avoid copy write infringement. I love getting caught in the middle of uber rich entities fighting with other uber rich entities over pennies.


ManWomanBoogie - Q-Tip featuring Amanda Diva



Yet another reason why Q-Tip landed in at number two of the Best Albums of 2008 list. I can’t imagine anyone who couldn’t get behind this bass line. If you haven’t checked out The Renaissance yet, do yourself a favor and pick it up.


Sooner or Later - N.E.R.D.

N.E.R.D. - New Music - More Music Videos

Sounds very much like Maybe which may be my favorite N.E.R.D. song. Get it? I guess that is why I never went into stand up. And what is up with the gratuitous Zune product placement.


February Air - Lights



And the very first headscratchingly absurd video of 2009 goes to Canadian artist Lights. Still I watched it about ten times when I first came across it.

Our Name Is Our Virtue

There is no artist that is more hit or miss than Jason Mraz. He creates these annoying pseudo raps that he surely thinks are clever but get old quick. But he also makes really heartfelt love songs that you cannot help but sing along. And it is odd that he would name We Dance, We Sing, We Steal Things when he isn’t really known for two of the three.

It doesn’t take too long to figure out where the first part comes from as the opening track Make it Mine sounds like a long lost track of a rock band trying out that new disco thing in the seventies. A couple tracks later, Butterfly bust outs with horns straight from the Ohio Players handbook.

The We Sing portion on the album is highlighted by I’m Yours, the quintessential fireside ditty that is easily the best of his career and should be played at every beach this summer. The other standout is the heartbreaking slid guitar aided Love for a Child, a song seen through the eyes of a kid whose parent are divorced debating the pro (having two birthday cakes, less rules) and cons (loss of innocence, drug addled parents) of the split.

Mraz brings along two friends on the album, most notably is the bubbly girl herself Colbie Caillat on Lucky that could have been easily a leftover from her album as it is simple and enjoyable as anything on her disk, but nothing extraordinary. Later on the album James Morrison pops up on Details in the Fabric where the two voices really play off each other well with the backdrop of a haunting acoustic guitar.

Unfortunately that pseudo rap does show up on The Dynamo of Volition with silly lyrics about Gun n’ Roses finally finishing their album and blisters from playing Nintendo. And there is a weird answering machine type message that bleeds into and out of Details in the Fabric. But for the most part Mraz is on the right track with this album.

Song to Download - I’m Yours

We Dance, We Sing, We Steal Things gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Feed Your iPod vol. X: Tell Him

Recently I happened upon of version of Lauryn Hill’s Tell Him performed by Colbie Caillet (you may know her best as the Bubbly girl). The only bad thing about this was the realization The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill turns ten years old sometime next year (more on that next year). Nothing like a landmark album from your formative years having an anniversary to make you feel old. But anyways. What is incredible about Tell Him was that it was a hidden track even though it is better than most people’s lead single these days. Not so hidden anymore, the song should be a prerequisite for any baby making mix tape or just any iPod in general.

Tell Him - Lauryn Hill




Bonus: Tell Him - Colbie Caillat (Crappy Live Version)

Record People Are Shady IX

When scouring the internet for yesterday’s Don’t Download These Videos I planned to show the video for Bubbly by newcomer Colbie Caillat to once again remind you that you can currently download this song for free on iTunes (well as long as the ad to the right still features her) but I couldn’t because, much like all their videos, the Universal Group has chosen the “Embedded Disable by Request.” I have never understood why anyone would utilize that function because it seems like people are saying, “I want you to check this out but please no free publicity.” If you ever check out YouTube’s most viewed videos for the day, if there is a fan loaded videos of the same music video it is always higher than those put up by UMG that don’t let you embed them. Well this is of course before UMG inevitably has YouTube remove the fan uploaded versions.

Of course I’m sure if you were to ask the record executives why they do this they go back to their usual defense is that doing so would hurt record sales. Yeah because I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that decided not to buy a song or record because a very low quality version of the video it is readily available on some dudes MySpace page. What is really bad is that it not at all hard to get around the “Embedded Disable by Request” thing. Granted I just choose not to do so with these music videos because I make a note not to piss off anyone who is litigation happy. So here is my plea to the UMG, please allow your videos to be embedded, not only will this not hurt your record sales; the more visibility of your music videos will undoubtedly increase sales.

Ms. Caillet’s video isn’t the only video recently that I haven’t been able to highlight because of the dreaded “Embedded Disable by Request” thing. High on the list is the video for Ryan Adam’s Halloweenhead that could have become a viral hit with quirky lyrics and old people dancing but lost that chance thanks to the similarly Walk it Out mash-up the floated around the web last week. UMG, you could have had that buzz with Halloweenhead, which came out earlier, but no on saw because people couldn’t be spread around the web because we couldn’t embed it.

Then there is the new Katharine McPhee song Love Story, which I declared the best song from her otherwise lackluster album. Again here is another song that has gotten zero buzz because UMG won’t let use feature it on out blogs. Granted I wanted to show this video so I could talk about how the further into obscurity McPhee falls, the less cloths she wear. Unfortunately she isn’t attractive enough to make the whole sex sells thing to work. Case in point, she is relegated to the cover of the third rate Men’s magazine Stuff the same month the sometimes moderately attractive Hilary Duff gets the cover of Maxim.

So for those of you that aren’t too lazy to click links here are the previously mentioned videos on YouTube that I am not allowed to embed:

Bubbly - Colbie Caillat (or download the Bubbly video on iTunes)

Halloweenhead (NSFW) - Ryan Adams (or download the Halloweenhead video on iTunes)

Love Story - Katharine McPhee (or download the Love Story video on iTunes)


On a completely unrelated not, to better understand you my audience, I have wanted to create a survey so I can make the 9th Green a better experience for all. As luck would have it, this past week Mike from Quibblo.com sent me an e-mail about his site that allows you to create surveys, polls, and quizzes. So I created a survey, The 9th Green Readers Poll, and if you subscribe to this blog or just stop by a couple times a month, please take a minute or two to fill it out and thanks to Mike for the heads up on his site.

You Make Me Smile Please Stay for a While Now

Certainly with temperatures still going up and still plenty of time to hit the beach, local pool, or just on the top of your roof before your summer vacation ends to put some extra color on you body. Some people pass the time working on their tan with the latest trash novel but if you are like me you need some tunes to pass the time, preferable classic beach sounds from the catalog of Jack Johnson. For those who are looking to work something new into their rotation while waiting for a new disk from the surf folk king here is a suggestion, Colbie Caillat.

Born overlooking the Pacific, the twenty-one year old sounds like something best suited for a bonfire along the beach with her breezy acoustic songs with that invite you to sing a long. The best example of from her first album Coco is the infectious debut single Bubbly, which could get even the most annoyingly depressed emo dude to sing along after a couple listens. And if anyone has a karaoke party on the beach, this song should be a prerequisite.

Coco opens with Oxygen, a quintessential song about longing for that special person while trying to figure out how to tell them Colbie sing with just enough power in her voice you will be hoping everything works out and maybe hope that you are who she is singing about. Then there is One Fine Wire which bounces along and if you happen to out walking when this song comes on you may start bouncing like you were on a fine wire.

Caillat come from a decent pedigree, her father Ken co-produced the classic Fleetwood Mac album Rumors as well as the follow-up, Tusk. Though she was more than happy to take her dad’s advice, she balked at the chance to have her father recruit an all star band to help record with. Instead she took a more organic approach leading to an album that isn’t bogged down from overproduction. Caillat even built up her fan base organically, topping MySpace’s top unsigned artist list for a couple months. Coco does suffer a little bit if you are listening to it on repeat which may lead you to hitting the next button on some of the songs in the middle that start feeling repetitive like Realize with lyrics like “If you just realize, what I just realized” but Coco should be a decent soundtrack to the rest of your summer and maybe Caillet will continue to fill your warmer months for years to come.

Song to Download - Bubbly

Coco gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Want to download Bubbly for free? The song is currently iTunes Free Single of the Week so as long as the banner below features Colbie, click on it to get the song for free. In fact you have my money back guarantee that you will love the song. If you like it, while you are in the iTunes story you can buy the whole album at the discounted price of $7.99, or if you prefer CD’s, Amazon is currently selling it for the same price (see below).