stellargirl returns

new music: the swimmers

If you're in the mood for some new music, specifically some delicious indie rock, check out The Swimmers.  Hailing from Philly, they deliver a magnetic blend of layered vocals, playful keyboards and lush guitars. They've got a bit of a throwback sound, reminiscent of early Beach Boys and the more recent (relatively speaking) Lilys.  Good news, you can stream their full album directly from their website.

If you like what you hear, you're in luck, they will be playing live Wednesday October 8th at the Khyber!

have you downloaded the new girl talk album yet?

Last week my friend Kyle suggested I download the new Girl Talk album. Yeah, yeah, I'm busy. I will get to it later. And then another friend asked, and then another. Not to mention it was all over twitter. Nothing like a little peer pressure to get me to try something.

I decided to take the plunge and downloaded it today and let me tell you... it is the JAM. If you're looking for super fun party music with all your favorite hip-hop, pop, random indie rock... this is for you.

Girl Talk is offering a pay what you want (aka FREE) download on their site: download it today! Be sure to follow up and let me know how much fun you had the second you pressed play!

yes i watch american idol

And I am so stoked that David Cook won.. he was totally amazing!  He had me at Hello!

if you're feeling sinister...

I should first mention, as I have already several times on Twitter, that this Belle & Sebastian radio station I made on Pandora is absolutely, categorically one of the most amazing stations ever! For all you Belle & Sebastian fans out there, I have even better news! This Saturday, May 10th, National Mechanics and Philebrity are hosting the 4th Annual Belle & Sebastian Dance Party. If you're looking to see other people, sleep the clock around, or wait for the moon to rise... this is the place to be! If you can't make it to this, well then you're just a baby!

Since you'll be in the neighborhood, it might also be a good time to head over to Independents Hall for the Battlestar Galactica Party, brought to you by Geekadelphia, The Hacktory and of course Indy Hall. I hear there will be Cyclon raider cookies and Battlestar shaped cake brought to you by the sweetest girl in town, Whipped Bakeshop. RSVP on Facebook.

my first etsy order

I placed my very first Etsy order last week: 2 colorful screenprints sold by Standard Design of Northampton, MA. I've been looking for new and interesting wall art for my naked (yet colorful) walls. My awesome friend Sara inspired me to check out Etsy. I was in the mood for screenprints, so I drilled down to art :: print :: screenprint.

The Built to Spill and Neko Case prints jumped out to me right away because they were so bold and graphic, and because the colors complemented each other so well. I've been a fan of both artists for a long time. Built to Spill was played extensively during my college years, and Neko Case is an incredible chanteuse with some serious pipes.

If you haven't checked out Etsy already, you should... it's a great way to support artists and creators, and find yourself some original and fun niceties for your home, your friends, yourself...

Be sure to check out the Standard Design Etsy shop!

adding an album has never been easier!

Hey wow. It looks like Typepad made an update to their album typelist functionality and that makes me pretty happy! I've bitched about the limited functionality previously, specifically how sometimes the wrong album title/art will come up when you try to add a new album to the list. Typepad was super responsive, commenting on this very blog with a suggestion: adding the ASIN# directly from Amazon. It is a bit of a hack, for sure, but it did the job ok. Mostly I was pleased with their customer service and responsiveness.. thanks Typepad!

But NOW, now things have gotten sort of interesting. When you go to add an album, you get a keyword search box - awesome!

Type in your album / artist name... and voila! All kinds of results! I tested this out with Prefuse 73 and was presented with an array of options:

And as you can see, I added Preparations to my Listening to... list. That was easy and fun. Yay.

If you're looking for a new mellow pandora station, I've been listening to my Badass DJs station all week... it's really mellow, but has enough electronic beats to keep me focused at work. Try it out.

the making of the con

I was so happy that I caught the tail end of "The Making of the Con" on WYBE last night. It's a great documentary about.. well.. the making of The Con, the latest album to be put out by Canadian wondertwins Tegan & Sara. The dynamic duo are indie pop powerhouses and super cute to boot. I already was a big fan, so I enjoyed seeing them work out their creativity in the studio. And the forest phone is the best!! Hopefully, it will be playing again soon, check your local listings.

If you wanna give Tegan & Sara a go, check them out on pandora.

listen to this: mason jennings

I have been on a crazy Mason Jennings kick the last week or so. You can check out a Mason Jennings-inspired pandora station over here. If you like Elliott Smith, the Decemberists and things of that nature, I think you will enjoy this station.

listen to this: sharon jones & the dap-kings

I first read about Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings on Perez Hilton sometime last year. Perez, a longtime fan of Amy Winehouse (thankfully taking her to task for her general crackheaded-ness), revealed that the Dap-Kings were the real sound behind the jazzy Miss Winehouse.

I listened to a hot track on Perez's site (he does have pretty darn good taste in music), and meant to follow up, but no big suprise, got distracted. Fast forward to present day. Current musical inspiration is all Pandora all the time (please Pandora, don't ever go away) -- the PERFECT way to dig right into a song or a sound...

Sharon Jones Radio did not disappoint. If you're feeling funky today, take a listen.

The world just got a little bit brighter. Thanks Miss Jones.

more new music: enon

I realize that the moment I said that I was going to blog a lot more this month, I crawled under a rock. Not enough time to give you a proper blog post, but I do want to share with you my Stereolab radio station on Pandora. It's been delivering delicious synth-pop to my ears all week. Stereolab is one of my all time favorite bands, and the music pandora is serving up according to the Music Genome Project has been super fantastic. Today's favorite is any of the music from Enon's Lost Marbles and Exploded Evidence. Take a listen.