...music is absolutely great. I watched the movie with these awful subtitles, so I even got to know a little bit about what the songs were saying. Theyre way fun. Omkara gets his own theme song (about what a hard-bitten gangsta he is) and the pieces alternate from the bump-and-grind of Beedi to the heartfelt duet O Saathi Re, sung in the last...

...music scene. Even more so than usual, so forgiveness please if some of these videos are way overhyped already 01. LAist put up the trailer for The Soloist, Steve Lopezs book about a street musician that he befriended a couple years ago. Lopez writes the column Points West for the LA Times, which I have enjoyed reading for a while now. It must...

I don't really like this song by Ra Ra Riot. However, the chorus is excellent, because it was written by a bawdy & brash young man by the name of e.e. cummings. Therefore I felt I shouldn't pass up the chance to link the two together. Call it a postmodern public service For those confused, cummings is differentiating between dying, which is...

...band name-dropping. Not to mention more Chuck Bass Witty One-Liners While Wearing Bow Ties 01. Lady Gaga Paparazzi 02. Jem Crazy 03. Shwayze Buzzin (Villains remix v.2 04. Nelly Furtado Afraid That was a lot of songs with Zs in their titles. You can stream Motion City Soundtracks Fell In Love Without You right at their site

This weekend Long Beach is hosting its annual Blues Festival . If you happen to be in the area, you can catch a Grammy-winning blues legend onstage in the flesh Taj Mahal. It would be worth the crowds and the heat and all the sticky children screaming if you could take in a little of that action. (Unfortunately I will be dealing with my own...

...music variety (the most useless of all categories, but apt if youre spending your cash on a ton of Putumayo collections 01. Paris Combo Je Rêve Encore [from "Paris Combo 02. Idan Raichel Project Boi [from "The Idan Raichel Project," where Amazon spells it "Boee" and I have no idea which is right 03. Bopol Mansiamina Samba Samba [from...

This is all good news 01. A new Cake On Cake album, due out Oct. 1st, with new songs to stream at her Myspace! I dance with Swedish glee Cake On Cake Come On Rainbow 02. LAist has a nice new podcast called Advanced Afrobeat For Beginners 03. I decided to suck it up and go see Flogging Molly at the House of Blues next month. Only Dave King & co....

...music is crisp and distinct, nothing mushy or weak, and McKelle keeps up like a champ, easily dominating the entire orchestra behind her in songs like Cheek To Cheek and Abracadabra, but not overpowering a quiet piano in Save Your Love For Me. You can stream the entire album at the Cheap Lullaby site and see if Im just talking out of my ear...

...music, and by that, I mean the Clancy Brothers. Give him a chorus of the Gypsy Rover or John Kanaka and hes on cloud nine. And perhaps you might be tempted to think of Ireland as the land of a) the Clancy Brothers (or their punk derivatives); b) U2; and c) soulful balladeers, like Damien Rice or Gary Lightbody or Lisa Hannigan. (Exceptions:...

...bandleader of the New Orleans Hot 8 Brass Band. Frigging awesome, guys. I love brass band stuff, love it love it 07. I love Amanda Palmer too (but not her eyebrows) though I never quite know whats going on with her. Would this video at Fabulist! help? (Answer: not really