This week's new music isn't really all that new. The band 'Jump Little Children' has been around awhile. Though I've just recently stumbled onto them, I can't seem to stop listening. I originally bought their album 'Between the Dim and the Dark' because an article I'd read compared them to Guster and Radiohead. I'm ashamed to admit I really only bought it to hold me over until Guster's new album comes out - which at this point I have no idea when that will be. While no one will ever replace Guster in my heart, this album is holding its own in my rotation and I think if you like Guster or Switchfoot or Travis or Radiohead you should really give these guys a listen.
The founding band members all met up while attending a school for the performing arts in the Carolinas - they were studying classical music and decided to forget it and become a rock band instead. Good idea!!!! Check them out!!!!
'The Dim and the Dark'
'Hold You Down'
'Rains In Asia'
'Mexico'
'Requiem'
'Young America'
Jump has two other albums that came out before Dim and the Dark called 'Vertigo' and 'Magazine' which I've only briefly listened to so far.... so I can't fully review them. BUT here are a couple of songs from each album just so you can hear how different they are from Dim and the Dark!!!
'Cathedrals' from the album 'Magazine'
'Angeldust' from the 'Vertigo' album - this album *REALLY* sounds like Radiohead
Sadly, I don't think they're together as a band anymore which is a huge bummer. But if you're in need of some new/old music, Jump Little Children come highly recommended. Happy listening!!!!
Well, if you didn't think I was a complete drunk before........ No, seriously. :) As soon as I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it out. I love cupcakes and these take the cake. They're pink, they have alcohol in them and the cosmo is pretty much my all time fave cocktail. Well, one of them anyways. These were a snap to whip up (be warned tho, lots of separate bowls will be used) and they're oh so pretty, aren't they?? The perfect treat for your next girl's night!!!
Cosmo Cupcakes
1/2 cup butter, softened 2 cups sugar 2 eggs 1/2 tsp salt 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 3 cups all purpose flour 3/4 cup buttermilk 3/4 cup frozen cranberry juice concentrate, thawed zest of one lime 2-4 drops red food coloring
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with paper liners. Mix together butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Combine buttermilk, thawed concentrate and zest in another bowl. (You know I effing love cupcakes if I would make this many dirty dishes right?!?) Add in 1 cup each of the dry and wet mixtures alternately, beating on low until well mixed. Fill cups with batter 2/3 full and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan.
For glaze: (that's right, more dirty dishes!!!)
1/4 cup thawed cranberry juice concentrate 1/4 cup vodka (doesn't have to be top shelf as you're not drinking it..... unless you are)
Brush cupcakes with glaze while they're still slightly warm. When they're cooled completely, frost with lime-cointreau buttercream.....
Lime-Cointreau Buttercream
1/2 c butter 4 c powdered sugar 3 Tbsp Cointreau or triple sec.... same freakin thing as far as I'm concerned juice from 1 large lime 2-4 drops red food coloring (supposed to make it pink not red)
Mix on high speed until fluffy and pipe onto cooled cupcakes! Garnish with a dusting of glittery pink sugar and a fresh lime wedge..... or you could take it a little further and get some of those sugared gummy limes. But I didn't do that. Anyways, hope you get the chance to try these. I think they were pretty fantastic!!!! I highly suggest mixing up a batch of these while listening to my swanky cocktail hour playlist!!!
I, like many others, sat with my family on the sofa and watched the 'Hope For Haiti' telethon this past Friday. I was overcome with emotion several times while watching and listening to the stories and songs. I can only hope that others were as compelled by the words and music and chose to donate what they could to help the people of Haiti.
One of my favorite performances of the night (and there were many) was Justin Timberlake's version of 'Hallelujah.' It was so beautiful. Lots of people were asking who the other guy that was singing and playing the guitar was. I did a little searching around and found out that his name is Matt Morris. Come to find out he is a former Mickey Mouse Club Member and has remained good buddies with JT since back in the day. Matt released an independant album called 'Unspoken' in 2002 and has performed at Bonnaroo, so he's definately not a new guy. And he just so happens to have a brand new album out - just released January 13th - called 'When Everything Breaks Open.' As soon as I listened to it, I fell in love. He sounds a bit like Sanders Bohlke which is a good thing - he's got that funky, folky, soulful thang going on. Here are a few songs from 'When Everything Breaks Open.'
'Bloodline'
'Let it Go'
'Money'
'In This House'
'The Un-American' (sounds like Bohemian Rhapsody!!! Love the lyrics!)
'Eternity' (JT sings back up on this one!!!)
There are lots of other songs on the album and each one is equally as good as the last. Now you know who "that guy" was that was singing with Justin Timberlake the other night!! I hope to hear a lot more of this "guy" in the future!!
New Music Monday with the flu!! Boo! This is the first time I've been sick like this in quite awhile. At first I was in denial and just thinking I was sore from working out, but it hit me like a ton of bricks last night. There's no mistaking the flu!!! Thank goodness for Motrin.
This week I am focusing on a new, young (she's only 26!) artist out of England named Olivia Broadfield. Her first album 'Eyes Wide Open' came out this past summer and I've been enjoying it ever since. It was also one of my top albums of 2009! It's one of those albums you can put on and enjoy all the way through. The soft rock dance beats combined with Olivia's ethereal voice make for a pleasant sounding album that will pull you out of the darkest of moods. I *guess* I would compare her to Imogen Heap a little bit..... maybe??? I'm also looking forward to using it for some dance classes I'll be teaching soon!!!
'Don't Cry' First Single
'Lost In You'
'Silence'
'Holding Onto You'
'Safe'
Well, that's it for today. I'm off to go and lie down for a little bit!!!
Renovate something!! Seriously, is it still January?!?! This is the time of the year when I really start to feel like I'm going mad. So I turn to home improvement projects to keep me sane. Or insane, depending on how you look at it.
The project I've been wanting to tackle since we moved in here five years ago (wow!) has been the stairs. I already ripped off the carpet and painted/stained the treads and risers which was a huge improvement. But I've always wanted to cut into the half wall and put up actual wooden railings instead.
I feel like the half wall doesn't really go with the style of the rest of the house. Suprisingly, Kevin agrees with me and wasn't too against the idea of taking a sawzall to the walls!!! Here are a few of the inspiration photos I've found that sort of show what I'd like to do.
I like the square ballisters. We'll probably paint them white and then do the actual railing in black. Not sure yet though as I really like the look of the all white railings in the last picture. Hmmmm..... looking at my pictures also makes me want to paint the inside of the front door a different color. Black??? Hmmmmm..... I smell another project!!!!!! ;) Good thing I've got myself to keep me busy.
New Music Monday!! Yay!!! This week I've been listening to the self-titled debut album from 'Broken Bells.' It's a fantastic collaboration between artist-producer Danger Mouse (of Gnarls Barkley) and James Mercer from 'The Shins.' As soon as I heard the first single 'The High Road', I knew I would need to buy it. There's some really cool stuff going on - a crazy sounding carnival organ and this sort of trip hop vibe. The actual album isn't being released until March 9th though, so we'll have to keep our pants on. But for now here's a bit of what there is to look foward to!!!
So here's a funny story for you. It harkens back to my city dwelling days. Ah, the city. Kevin and I were so young and dumb when we moved there. We lived on the north side in an area called Edgewater Beach near Rogers Park. It was a tad ghetto, but the price was right and it was on the lake. Anyways, we parked the car in this creepy parking garage underneath the high rise apartment building we lived in. There were these HEEEE-UGE concrete pillars that held up the ceiling of the garage and they had them wrapped in this rubbery stuff with these little feelers on them(in case you just happened to cut your turn too short and hit them) which I named "the weepies." I don't know why.
At that time we were just married and driving Kevin's old T-bird from high school. It was quite a large car and its turning capabilities left a lot to be desired. But it was a good car. So one night after work when I was parking it I did an awful thing and cut my turn a little too short. I hit the dreaded weepies. Despite the fact that they were rubber, they still messed up the side of the car up pretty bad. Woops. So instead of being honest and telling Kevin about it, I kept my mouth shut and hoped he wouldn't notice. He noticed right away the next morning. And he was pissed. His exact words were, "Oh, my GOD! Did you?!?!?!?! You hit the weepies!!!!!" Then we both just started laughing. To this day when I'm pulling into the garage he tells me not to "hit the weepies". Turd.
So imagine my sheer delight as I am perusing the music on amazon and I see that there is a BAND called.... you guessed it.... The Weepies!! I mean, I didn't even freaking care if they sucked!!! I was buying one of their albums regardless!!! But guess what?!?!?! They don't suck at all!!! They're kind of amazing!!!
'The Weepies' are technically classifed as an indie-pop folk band. Deb Talen and Steve Tannen were on separate paths when they met at a club back in 2001. They found they had a bond right away and began playing together. Then they got signed, got married and had a baby!! The band got major attention with their second album 'Say I Am You' in 2006 when it became the most downloaded folk album in eight countries. Since then, their songs have been featured on lots of popular shows like Grey's Anatomy, Everwood, One Tree Hill and Scrubs. And their song 'Can't Go Back Now' was played during an ad for Obama's presidential campaign. You've probably also heard a couple of their songs on JCPenney's commercials and you didn't even know it. Now you do!!!! I think Deb's voice reminds me a lot of Aimee Mann and I love her so that's a good thing. The harmonies between the two are prefectly matched and nothing short of breathtaking.
I present to you 'The Weepies.' Who knew??!?!?!
'Take It From Me'
'The World Spins Madly On' - beautiful lyrics and sentiment
'Gotta Have You' sweet love song
'All That I Want' wish I would've known about this Christmas tune!
'Can't Go Back Now' LOVE this one
'Somebody Loved'
So those are The Weepies. They don't rock out. They don't do anything real fancy. But that is why I like them. Well, that and their name! Hopefully I won't be hitting any more weepies with the car, but I'll definately be listening to them in it!!! :0
I am a mom to three great kids - Ethan is 12, Abby is 9 and Lulu (Olivia) is 5. I've been married to my highschool sweetheart for almost fourteen years. I love to paint, renovate and live for anything DIY. I love music and I love to bake. I also teach dance at a local studio. Thanks for stopping by my blog!!!
