Elton John & RuPaul-Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Personally I enjoy the original version more (when Elton duets with KiKi Dee) but fuck it, that song doesn't have a video as colorful as this one. I've found myself daydreaming/wondering what happened to RuPaul, and whether RuPaul went back to being just Paul after his/her 90s heyday...but ive been informed that he is still a very very fabulous She on his very own television show called RuPaul's Drag Race, check your local listings!

English Sounds Funny: Adriano Celentano

We all enjoy making fun of the way other languages sound. Asian people say ching chang all day long. Arabs seem to do a lot of throat clearing, you get the idea. But have you ever wondered what we sound like to people who don't speak English? Lucky for us, Adriano Celentano, a prolific Italian comedian and songwriter from back in the 60's and 70's wrote a little gem called "Prisencolinensinainciusol" (don't run for your Italian to English dictionary, I'm pretty sure it's meaningless.) The song is composed of gibberish meant to sound like English words. It's hilarious. What make this perfect for Flockalone is that not only is the song really catchy, the video is pure eye candy. Anyways, I had fun watching it, I hope you do too.

Broken Social Scene: Forgiveness Rock Record

Broken Social Scene is back with a new record coming out on May 4th. It has been five years since their last LP and that is just too long. The band has a lot of people in it and many that float in and out. Feist a member of the band at one time has had quite a bit of success and is well known to the masses due to the iPod commercial she made with her song 1234. Kevin Drew of the band has also done some solo stuff that you should check out but sadly no real commercial success for him. The new tune is here for your listening pleasure.

Sleigh Bells

So the mega music blogs pitchfork.com and stereogum.com have done quite a good job of hyping this duo Sleigh Bells. The recordings sound as if they may have been turned up too loud and creates a fuzz that has you thinking "Is there something wrong with my speakers?" My unpaid intern seems to think that they did it on purpose. Maybe it sounds more gritty, more real, more like it was actually recorded in a basement. The song "Ring Ring" is the catchiest thing I've heard in months and once you start you can't stop. Buy into the hype...you know you want to.

Sleigh Bells - Ring Ring



Sleigh Bells - Crown on the ground

White Hinterland: Chronos and Kairos

The new dream pop group White Hinterland have released their new album Chronos and Kairos. The couple of songs posted are ghostly sounds with an angelic voice of Casey Deniel bringing it to a new level. With the band Beach House stealing a lot of attention these days and bringing to light this genre this band will most likely be picked up as a favorite in the blogosphere. Electronica music has reaped the benefits of technology involved in music production and makes albums like this possible. This studio album should be listened to if only to increase the pleasure of ones childlike imagination.

Winter Hinterland - Icarus


Winter Hinterland - No Logic

David Hasselhoff-I Believe (Video)

Baywatch is the most popular syndicated show of all time, and it's easy to see why from this video. Not many shows on television can combine swimwear, action, romance and comedy into a single 45 minute episode. Baywatch was the one show that could do that, and that's why it was able to transcend language barriers and social norms to become an international phenomenon! Here's Mitch and the gang in a montage from season six, with a song from the Hoff himself (featuring Laura Branigan).

Black Eyed Peas-Meet Me Halfway

As a regionally semi-famous professional playlister I encounter a lot of requests for extremely cheesy songs (like "Womanizer" or "Poker face") from drunk chicks. This tends to make what would otherwise be an extremely tasteful playlist look like the itunes top 10 pop chart. I relent to these requests for one reason: people dance to them. That's really what it's all about: creating a fun environment where everyone gets laid...I'm not trying to convince the crowd that Bitches Brew is truly a milestone of jazz fusion. That said, I download alot of 'pop' music in order to "please the crowd". Sometimes I end up un-ironically liking the stuff I download, for whatever reason. One such song is the new song from the Black Eyed Peas called "Meet Me Halfway". It's a pop song through and through...a strong easily relatable romantic sentiment is expressed, it's got an extremely catchy hook, and its unique enough sonically to stand out (but not too much to be weird), and its got a propulsive steady beat that makes it easy to gyrate to.
The video for the song clearly was created with a strong budget and although the story is stupid (as is usual for music videos), the visuals are striking. Excellent costumes, lush backgrounds, and cool camera shots. Basically its the Avatar of music videos.

All of this causes me to re-evaluate the role of The Black Eyed Peas in modern music. How did they transgress from a roots hip-hop group to the modern day answer to C&C Music Factory? The an$wer is probably not a$ hard to figure out a$ one might think...their financial success is probably enough to justify this evolution. To contrast where they are at now, I've provided the video for their song "Joints&Jams" off of their first album Behind the Front.

Tegan and Sara: Warner Theater DC Show

So last year I started to listen to a band that many people I know love and adore called Tegan and Sara. I have to be honest in saying all I knew about them were that they were twins, they were women, they were from Canada and they liked walking with ghosts. In fact in early 09, late 08, if they walked by me, chances are I wouldn’t have even batted an eye. Other than remarking at the fact there were twins that passed by me, and I don’t see twins very often in my duration on the planet. And really people, who does? It occurs once in a blue moon. Maybe twice... So on the 17th; I trudged on after work to the Warner Theatre in beautiful downtown DC, ready to hear them perform.

The relationship these two twin sisters have with their audience is incredible. And the fact that they turned off the stage lights, and had the house lights turned on so they could see all of our faces were pretty amazing. Not too many bands do that. In fact, NO other band I’ve ever seen time and time and time again, has ever done that. It really means a lot to them that fans love their music and are supportive. And even with the size of the Theatre being pretty spacious, Tegan and Sara made it pretty intimate as possible. Total eye contact, responding to things the fans shouted out, including myself (I said “olden” out loud to which Tegan responded to), and pretty colorful stories about growing up as twins made it for a fantastic evening. The audience (myself included) ate it up. It felt like friends were watching fellow friends on stage…friends who they had seen grow in front of their eyes musically and stylistically (do a google search of Tegan and Sara pictures over the years..It’s like a complete transformation.)

They were definitely beyond friendly, discussing with the audience topics such as the white house, DC’s snowpacalpyse, and the tick that apparently Tegan has for having a tendency not to remember lyrics. And trust me, if I had a catalog of tunes that was as big as theirs, I wouldn’t remember half of them eitiher. Tegan and Sara delivered and then some. You could really and truly see the progression in sound from their early songs as “You Wouldn’t Like Me,” “Speak Slow,” “I Hear Voices”, to “Paperback Head,” ” The Con,” “Nineteen (a DEFINITE FAN FAVORITE),” to “Hell” and “On Directing,” among lots of others.. What was once acoustic sounding pop with a wee bit of folk has now changed to electric, keyboard heavy, and percussion heavy dance tracks in some aspect. But the lyrics about love and heartache, isolation, and divorce are just as powerful as ever. The three guys in the band, Ted, Shaun, and Johnny, were ALWAYS on point as back up to provide the weird quirky sounds from the bass and drums, to laughter in support of Tegan’s ramblings (of which there were many, followed by reassurance by Sara, that she’s ok). I admire Sara, who I’ve dubbed, “The Peanut” because she’s tiny in stature but has this loveable ability through her heartfelt lyrics to drag you in and make you want to give her a hug. And...Her head is shaped like a peanut. I don’t know how she can see through her hair, but that’s for a different blog. Tegan can go on and on and Sara just stands there, waiting to interject her two cents. It’s amazing these two can put out albums and still make it work. Just.. Amazing. And Tegan I’ve named Gans because...It’s just funny to me. Gans and the Peanut.

This review, the photos and the video was produced by our guest blogger Gabby Bond.

Never Home-Repent (Video)

It's been a hot minute since we've heard from our friends the Never Home, well they're back and stronger then ever. Their demo tape is in the can: you can hear it streaming on their myspace. And they just released their first music video, for the song "repent" watch below...

Rick James-Give it to me Baby

With Valentines day fast approaching all I've been listening to on my ipod are sappy love songs, and this one in particular really strikes a chord with me. This #1 R&B hit from 1981 spent 5 weeks at the top of the charts, and its easy to see why. Besides having a really funky beat, the lyrics reflect Rick's sensitivity to relationship issues and honesty about his priorities (dancing, staying out late, getting high, and having sex) which he seems not to have shared with his partner.
Sharing common interests are very important for healthy relationships, and clearly Rick and his lady friend have to find some things to do to keep the flame alive, if I were friends with Rick, I would send him a link to this article I just found "5 Simple Hobbies that Can Help Couples Reconnect" I found it very interesting, and informative!!

Mixtape Volume 10

Dodo Bird - Beards

Ryan Bingham - Ever Wonder Why

The Felice Brothers - Frankie's Gun

22-20's - Friends

Holly Golightly - Getting High for Jesus

Dan Auerbach - Going Home

The Wooden Sky - Hiding for us in the Night

Morphine - In Spite of Me

M. Ward - Magic Trick

Deer Tick - Smith Hall

The Hold Steady - Stuck Between Stations

Download the latest Mixtape HERE

Air-So Light is her football (Breakbot Remix)

Imma get all french for you for a minute, cause this dude is great. He's on the same label as Justice (Ed Banger Records) but Breakbot has more in common with Christopher Cross than Calvin Harris. I put a few of his remixes on some mixtapes way back, but I had no idea what a Breakbot was, well now I know...hes some soft rock french dude who looks like Jesus.

Air-So Light is her football (Breakbot Remix)

Bonus: Dude put together a valentines mix of some schmaltzy shit, check it out here

The Tallest Man On Earth

Kristian Mattson aka The Tallest Man On Earth is on the verge of releasing a new album "The Wild Hunt". Mattson himself does not sound at all like he is from his home country of Sweden. This new song "King of Spain" is the first thing to hit the interwebs. I am also including a song from his session with Daytrotter. Peruse this website and you will surely find some gems.

The Tallest Man On Earth - King of Spain


The Tallest Man On Earth - I Won't Be Found

Danger! High Voltage!

I've loved this song for years. A friend gave it to me in a mix a while back and it's always made me laugh and dance uncontrollably. Tonight I was at a friends house trying to get things going and I pulled this song up on Youtube. I can't believe I've never seen this music video.

Delta Spirit: DC9 Show

Delta Spirit visited the fair city of Washington DC last night with new material and guess what, these guys are getting better and better. The first time I saw this band they played a sold out show at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC and I went around saying that I thought it was the best show I had ever seen. The music has so much energy at times that it gets people jumping up and down screaming along with the lyrics. There is so much more to this band though. The lyrics are substantive, poignant and Matt Vasquez proudly wears his heart on his sleeve, and gives himself to the crowd. This band’s live performance will send true emotion coursing through your veins.

Delta Spirit all hail from San Diego, and Mat Vasquez was the last addition to the band. The band supposedly found him busking loudly on a park bench late at night, and he would later become their front man. Their debut album “Ode to Sunshine” was well received by the critics and now they're currently working on their sophomore effort “History from Below". The tour they are doing now is undoubtedly a way for them to try out the new material in front of a crowd. From what I heard last night (which was mostly new stuff) it's stronger lyrically than anything off “Ode to Sunshine.” And that's not to say that that album wasn’t great itself, it's just that the new stuff sounds even better. Along with the new stuff they played some favorites off the old album such as “Trashcan” where Vasquez plays keys and the keyboard player uses the top of a trashcan as a drum. The song “Motivation” which was off of their LP and that they said they have not played in three years was played as well. They've added a new guitarist into the mix; filling out the sound and making them sound even bigger than they were. Vasquez is deliberate and honest in his tone and delivery. To me, its almost unbelievable how much goddamn passion and soulfulness is in this band at the moment.

DC9 is a pretty small club and the scene was really different than when I saw them at the Bowery Ballroom over the summer. I'm surprised that they played such a small venue considering they sold out in New York but maybe it might have to take a bit more time for the rest of the world to catch on to the talent of this band. They deserve to be huge. The up close and personal experience may be the best way to see this band though. Go see them live, listen to the lyrics, open up and let it all sink in.

Presenting the Flockalone Ringtone Collection for iPhone

Here at Flockalone, a team of our unpaid interns busied themselves for the most of the morning creating some of the most annoying/wonderful ringtones for their iphones. Before sending them back to listening to Lite FM radio and scouring the 1974 R&B Billboard Chart for our next post, we've decided to upload them for you, our loyal readers. Simply Download, and pop this into itunes and you're good to go

The Collection includes:

Lady Gaga-Bad Romance
Lady Gaga-Pokerface
New Boyz-Youre a Jerk
Miike Snow-Animal
Juvenile-Gonna Ride With Me
Budgie-Parents
Christopher Cross-Sailing
Amy Holland-She's on Fire
Yes-Owner of a Lonely Heart
Snoop-Tha Shiznit
Very Best-Warm Heart of Africa
Bone Thugs-Tha Crossroads
INXS-Need You Tonight
Yes-Heart of the Sunrise

Download

The Heavy: The House That Dirt Built

The Heavy's brand of music is some gritty, funky shit with elements of neo-soul. This foursome from Noid England (uhh where the hell is that) has dropped the recent album "The House That Dirt Built" on the music world sometime last year. It is noted that the guitarist Dan Taylor and and vocalist Kevin Swabby originally bonded over vintage R&B and Jim Jarmusch films. I certainly hear the vintage R&B in there. Do you hear Jim Jarmusch?

Colleen


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