The Ithacan

Song of the Week: “Headcage”

January 29, 2012

It only makes sense that Matthew Dear is signed to the record label Ghostly International. His creepy and sepulchral house beats seem to meld the rhythms of the ancient world with the steely edge of modernity. If anything, I guess the appropriate descriptor would be musical steampunk. Ever the workaholic, Dear couldn’t wait to…

Disney’s Joy Division Identity Crisis

January 25, 2012

I think Disney may have officially lost their minds…or just their sense of appropriateness when it comes to their image. Yesterday, this lovely piece of apparel popped up in my Facebook newsfeed from various friends and news outlets. What we have here is a Disney t-shirt with a Mickey Mouse likeness created using Joy…

Song of the Week: “Comeback Kid”

January 23, 2012

Few bands, other than Sleigh Bells, can combine angry beats with upbeat vocals and make it sound so tantalizingly brilliant. Their debut album, “Treats,” blew up and turned all those angsty teens on to the world of noise pop. Alexis Krauss and Derek E. Miller are looking to ride the popularity surge from “Treats” and…

Discovery, Discovery: araabMUZIK

By Jared Dionne • December 18, 2011

It’s not often I get to write about an artist that hails from my home state of Rhode Island, so this is going to be a bit refreshing. Providence hip-hop producer araabMUZIK has been getting some serious looks lately after dropping his own album, “Electronic Dream.” araabMUZIK’s album steps away from raw hip-hop to…

Arcade Fire Redefines Music Videos…Again

By Jared Dionne • December 17, 2011

Canadian indie rockers Arcade Fire have been laying low in the United States after their Grammy win and a handful of festival headlining dates this summer. But this week, the collective resurfaced to unveil their new video for “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains),” a track off their latest album, “The Suburbs.” But it’s not…

Song of the Week: “American Terrorist III”

By Jared Dionne • December 13, 2011

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you may remember me drooling over Ryan Gosling’s movie “Drive” back in September. I was infatuated with the soundtrack in particular and I included a link to French electro artist Kavinsky’s song “Nightcall.” Apparently Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco was just as impressed with Kavinsky’s track. On…

The War on Drugs Play Castaways

By Jared Dionne • December 11, 2011

Saturday night, Ithaca was lucky enough to be graced by the presence of Philadelphia rock band The War on Drugs. The quintet stopped by Castaways before they head down to New York City to open for The National at the much larger and fancier Beacon Theatre. I would like to give an immediate shoutout/thank…

Aziz Ansari “Remixes” Watch The Throne

By Jared Dionne • December 9, 2011

It’s no secret that standup comedian and “Parks and Recreation” star Aziz Ansari is an avid Watch The Throne fan. Follow him on Twitter and you’re more than likely to run into some Jay and ‘Ye inspired tweets. Last month, Aziz live tweeted the #BestFlightBackToLAEver. This hilarious series of events involved the flight’s captain blaring…

Grammy Predictions

By Jared Dionne • December 4, 2011

Well, the Grammy nominees were announced the other night. It was a year where my favorite artists didn’t really do too much, so I don’t have many of my obsessions in the running. But I can still put my two cents in and be utterly shocked when the votes come through. Here are my…

Song of the Week: “Immigrant Song”

By Jared Dionne • December 4, 2011

You may remember that Trent Reznor, lead singer of rock band Nine Inch Nails, won an Oscar a while back for his soundtrack to “The Social Network.” Reznor is continuing his foray into film with his newest project, a soundtrack for the film adaptation of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” Reznor teamed up…

Discovery, Discovery: Lana Del Rey

By Jared Dionne • December 3, 2011

I love roadtrips. They combine two of my favorite things: driving and music. I enjoy driving six hours back to Rhode Island with nothing but my thoughts and my tunes…and the absolutely insane drivers that I constantly complain about. But roadtrips are even better with friends, especially when they have similar music tastes. Swapping iPods…

Song of the Week: “Last Night I Heard Everything in Slow Motion”

By Jared Dionne • November 28, 2011

This week we had a nice reprieve from the usual cat viral videos, or even worse, viral statuses, that normally grace Facebook newsfeeds. Instead, we had a video that actually promoted a prominent social issue—marriage equality. An Australian marriage equality activist group produced a heartwarming video that chronicles the dating stages of a couple…