barry beck gets what ever barry beck asks for....

finally another hipster report. our resident hipster, oddly enough, has been too busy lawyering to bestow any hipness on us, but he's back and back with a vengence. ladies and gentlemen, i present high life:



Alright, I know I have been slacking, however I have to admit for a while I had lost my faith in music. Tuesday night's Modest Mouse show was the single worst concert going experience I have ever had. However, as Andre can attest, last night's Arcade Fire show at Bowery has restored my love for the obscure, mildly successful, critically acclaimed rock band. First, here are a few MP3s to get you through a crappy weekend:

David Byrne - "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"

Arcade Fire - Wake Up

On that note - here are a few recommendations from the last few months:

Richard Buckner - "Dents & Shells" - Long time alt-country troubadour, now living Brooklyn, drops his fifth or sixth album. Great singer/songwriter stuff.

Pavement - "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" Reissue - It's a weird feeling when albums you bought the day they came out start getting reissued,but this 10th Anniversary album is a welcome addition to any collection. Almost 50 tracks over two CDs. This is THE definitive "indie" rock album. 1994 saw Pavement struggling to avoid the fate of Nirvana and the rest of the "alt-rock" of the 90s. Malkmus's disinterested stoned delivery never sounded more sincere and the songs don't get any better. A classic. It also contains the most depressing song about tennis ever written, "stop breathin'" - "Gotstruck by the first volley /Of the war in the courts/Never held myserve/Send'em a wire, give'em my best /This ammunition never rests /Noone serves coffee, no one wakes up"

Devendra Banhart - "Nino Rojo" - Leader of the "freak folk" scene that has been brewing out of San Francisco over the last few years. Nino Rojo is his SECOND album of 2004 and no less amazing than the first. Most of it is just him and a guitar making sounds that seem to comefrom another time. Comparisons to everyone from Nick Drake to Dylan to Ella. This is pretty cool stuff. Oh yeah, he moved to Brooklyn recently too.

Elliott Smith "From A Basement on a Hill" - creepy posthumous album has a few classic Elliott numbers and a few throwaways.

Green Day - American Idiot. Yeah, I know, but this album kind of rocks.