Feed Your iPod vol. LX: Strobelite Honey

Every time I see the commercial featuring The Choice Is Yours it is like Kia Soul created a time machine to go back in to my Middle School and kill my childhood. Watching hamsters rapping the classic is like being forced to watch Glee on a loop. For those that only know Black Sheep from the commercial (or did not even know the name or were an actual group), their debut A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing, which features The Choice Is Yours is full with bangers including my second favorite track of the album Strobelite Honey, an ode to chicks who look a lot better inside the club than outside (something I unfortunately became familiar with when I went off to college). Hopefully Kia pulled the Hamster ad in the near future because it shaves months off my life every time I see it, until then, I will have to jam to their other classic tracks like this one. Hopefully no other car companies ruins Strobelite Honey.

Strobelite Honey - Black Sheep

Let Love Bring Us Together

On his last album Raphael Saadiq a twelve track love letter to the heyday of Motown and his new album, Stone Rollin’ is still in a retro mood but expands his RnB repertoire from the fifties roots rock to smooth seventies soul and still manages to sound as cohesive as The Way I See It. Really the only time Saadiq dipps back into the Motown pool is on the grooving Movin’ Down the Line.

The rest of Stone Rollin’ is like a compilation of great rhythm and blues music from thirty years or more ago. The album opens up with Heart Attack which moves like a Jr. Walker & The All Stars song. Radio has shades of early guitar players like Chuck Berry. Day Dreams sounds like one of Eric Clapton’s poppier mid seventies songs. Raphael gets his Stevie Wonder on during Over You. Oddly, Just Don’t starts off with the same guitar strums that begin Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer.

But the biggest standout track on the album is also the greatest song Saadiq has done in his quarter century making music. Good Man just drips cool like Curtis Mayfield when he was penning music for Superfly. The song is so great someone in Hollywood needs to write it’s on blaxplotation film for Good Man to anchor the soundtrack for. Seriously screenwriters out there, just expand the equally great music video that has already been released. The other album high is the antithesis of Good Man, the heavenly Go to Hell (I understand the irony, but the song is about someone trying not to go there) which floats through your ears before heading for a gospel ending. The song is a prime example than even though the songs he makes sound like they could be from an era long gone, Raphael Saadiq can still make it sound modern.

Song to Download – Good Man

Stone Rollin’ gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television - 5/9/11

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.

Mean - Taylor Swift



One thing that always struck me about this song is how Taylor Swift spends four minutes taking some dude to task for being mean, but then calls the dude a liar and pathetic and alone in life, which is pretty mean spirited itself. And isn’t that the chick from Ramona and Beezus in the video (um, not that I actually saw the movie, um, let’s move onto the next video)?


Sadness Is a Blessing - Lykke Li



It’s videos like this that make me want to sit in on some pitch meetings. “Lykke Li, you are going to be in a swanky restaurant taking shots for two minutes, keep in mind we will not start the song yet, and by the time we start the song, you will spend the rest of the video doing weird music.” “Sure, but how about we throw in a dramatic pause in the middle for no apparent reason.” “Brilliant, let’s start the casting.”


L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. - Noah and the Whale



This by Noah and the Whale is one of those songs if it was released in the mid-late nineties it would have been heavy rotation on MTV along with Harvey Danger, Marcy’s Playground and Cake until teen girl came along and ruined the channel. I miss those days.


Poison and Wine - The Civil Wars



Last time I posted The Civil Wars' first single and here is their latest which is my favorite off their album because it is just heartbreakingly beautiful.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 5/8/11

The Killing: One of the reasons I never watch Six Feet Under is because I had no desire to see a dead body prepared every week, and I could have done without seeing Rosie getting ready. But I guess we have to have the teacher’s wife very high on the suspect list. Now that we are at the halfway mark of the season I wonder if we are going to start narrowing down the suspects or keep adding to the list until the end. You can download The Killing on iTunes.

Chuck: Early on I actually thought Volcoff was Agent-X before changing my pick to Mama Bartowski. But I love the people who think the show went with Volcoff to explain away Timothy Dalton’s in and out Russian accent. Here is hoping he gets reunited with his mother at some point. I would not be surprised if she exchanged information with Casey. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: Hopefully my special talent that is brought out by a special mix of cocktail never gets revealed to the general public. And how disappointing was the Arcadian? It is supposed to be some great historical landmark (as so Zoey would have us believe) but it looks like it should be condemned and torn down even if it were her childhood home. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Event: If there are plenty of nutjobs out there that believe Obama is a foreigner and Bush ordered the Twin Towers destruction, I do not understand how the evidence they already have against the vice president would not be enough. But my favorite part of the episode is they just so happened to have an antidote laying around to give to the president. How convenient. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Event on iTunes.

Castle: Nice to see Billy Riggins still getting work, and he was the butt of the best gag of the episode, a fake interrogation room as they were brought in by actors. But I am disappointed that we did not get any more on Beckett’s mom’s case. Wasn’t the detective killed involved with it in an earlier episode? You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Survivor: Redemption Island: One thing that amazes me about the remaining players is that none of them are paranoid. Have none of them actually watched the show before? It’s like they are all playing checkers when they should be playing chess. It is a shame that any of the remaining players made it this far let alone even got cast. After a couple busts in a row, it may be time to get a new casting director, because casting just a pretty face makes for boring television. Seriously, is Natalie actually going to be the first winner ever to have less screen time in a season than the first person to get voted off? You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



The Big Bang Theory: I now want to play three person chess. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.

Community: If you scroll the 2000+ posts I have made you will notice that I never talk in hyperbole, so believe me when I say Spaghetti Western Annie is the greatest thing ever. EVER. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Outsourced: Wow, we actually got to hear the bearded dude talk. Although if he picks up the quiet chick in the office, I wonder what those conversations would be about. And as great of an episode Community’s second paintball one was, no sight gag was funnier this week than Pinky on the bike. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Outsourced on iTunes.

Friday Night Lights: The Lions continues its theme of players from the island of misfit toys with the addition of Buddy Jr. (I’m guessing it is not the same actor). It is nice to see Mindy warm up to Becky just by saying her butt is small (and can we please get a Riggins family spin-off sitcom next season? I’d watch that). And note to East Dillon High: In School Suspension, it is way worse punishment that out of school suspension, just sitting in a small room for eight hours staring at a wall and you only get to leave twice a day to go to the bathroom. And if you do not follow the rules, more time in The Box (as we affectingly called it when I was in high school). But seriously, how has Texas yet to come up with a more cruel and unusual punishment than Ohio? You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.