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Sasha and I recorded a theme song for Rock the Animals today. Enjoy!

Ben and Sasha Garvey – Rock the Animals

Chuck Berry – Maybellene
The Blow – Eat Your Heart Up
Ween – It’s Gonna Be A Long Night
The National – Abel
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood
The Bloodhound Gang – Ralph Wiggum
Beck – Mattress
Neutral Milk Hotel – Holland, 1945
White Stripes – Blue Orchid
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Date With The Night
Pixies – Isla De Encanta

Here’s a video of me playing the theme song at our annual family reunion log contest.

Two days after I posted my list of the Top Ten Albums of the Decade I noticed some glaring omissions.

10. Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have it So Much Better, 2004
9. Radiohead – Hail to the Thief, 2003
8. Blur – Think Tank, 2003
7. Feist – The Reminder, 2007
6. Of Montreal – The Sunlandic Twins, 2005
5. The Strokes – Is This It, 2001
4. Frank Black and the Catholics – Dog in the Sand, 2001

Frank Black and the Catholics

3. Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights, 2002
2. Tapes n’ Tapes – The Loon, 2006
1. Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, 2002

What was I thinking?

They say the older you get the faster time goes by, but 2000 – 2009 seemed like a long time to me. I don’t know if this decade offered a whole lot of originality or if I was just too lazy to find it. The main thing I took away from it was that the music I listened to in the 90′s was mostly crap and holding on to it for nostalgic reasons could pose a health risk. Still, the zeros weren’t completely devoid of good music.

10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show your Bones, 2006 – Their breakout album, 2003′s Fever to Tell, was fun but had too many cringe moments for me when I wished the lyrics were more thought out or the music was more interesting. The best three songs on the album are the last three mellower tracks; Maps, Y-Control, and Modern Romance. I thought Show Your Bones showcased Karen O’s range and songwriting and felt a lot less gimmicky than Fever to Tell. I’m couldn’t be more envious of Nick Zinner’s guitar work, too.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

9. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary, 2005 – I have a confession. Until I saw them live in 2007 I didn’t realize Wolf Parade had two singers. Seems F’ing ridiculous to me now, since they sound and write so differently.

8. The National – Boxer, 2007 – Another example of a followup album surpassing the breakout, but even more so. On Boxer, the National finally figured out what the hell to do with Matt Berniger’s voice (ie. raise the tempo just slightly and elevate the drums on the mix). It wasn’t a huge change from Alligator, but it sounded better.

7. The Blow – Paper Television, 2006 – I was late to this band, but found them through last.fm this year while painting my son’s room. On came True Affection and I instantly fell in love with Mikhaela Maricich’s voice and songwriting. It’s electro-folk-pop and Eat Your Heart Up is the power song on my iPod when running.

6. Beck – Sea Change, 2002 – Flashback to the late 90′s: Beck ruled my life. There was no other stronger musical influence than Odelay, Mellow Gold, and One Foot in the Grave. I adored Midnight Vultures. I wasn’t a huge fan of Mutations, but I still excited when I heard Beck was going to continue his alternating Rock and Folk albums. Sea Change ended up being his last truly original statement as an artist. He’s still relevant. He’s still putting out good music, but Sea Change was the last time he blew anyone’s mind. It’s easy to remember things differently before Beck was an XPN staple, but despite the Grammy and awards for Odelay, many people pegged Beck as a novelty… especially musicians. He was a few rungs above Weird Al and the Monster Mash and it was ok to listen to him once and a while, but he shouldn’t be taken seriously. On Sea Change he surprised us by being serious.

5. Modest mouse – The Moon and Antarctica, 2000 – It’s hard to believe this album came out this decade (and yes I’m including 2000 in decade, otherwise I’d be doing this list next year). I have a soft spot for any songs that throw in weird questions about space and time and try to connect them to humanity. On this album they do that better than anyone.

4. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, 2006 – It’s almost a crime that this is above the Moon and Antarctica, but that tells you how much I like this. My fascination with this band started back in 2003 when I saw Alec Ounsworth at an open mic in Philly. Their debut album was a battle between being a pop band or an art band with the pop side winning a little. Their later efforts have been less interesting so far, but what a start. I listened to it thousands of times.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

3. Black keys – Thickfreakness, 2003 – Dan Auerbach is a guitar god in a world where kids stand in front of the TV pretending to play guitar for their video game system. It would be like if Tiger Woods showed up just as miniature golf overtook golf’s popularity. The Black Keys are a 20ish, two piece, garage-blues band from Akron, Ohio and they should be loved by everyone.

The Black Keys

2. The White Stripes – Elephant, 2003 – For better or worse, I think the White Stripes defined the decade. They were fresh, but retro. Simple, but artsy. Somehow, they came up with a Smoke-On-The-Wateresque riff that no one had thought of before and called it Seven Nation Army. It helped to kill off some of the god awful bands popular at the time and Elephant was the album that established their reign over the first half of the Zeros.

1. Arcade Fire – Funeral, 2004 – I don’t know how anyone can be in a band as large as Arcade Fire. I can barely stand to play with 2 or 3 others, much less the 10 or 12 in Arcade Fire. They were somehow able to record the best album of decade. I didn’t write this list because I think I’m a great writer. I wrote it to make sure anyone who reads it buys this album.

Arcade Fire

I’ve been meaning to do this forever and it’s been sitting my drafts bin for month. ?Here’s a list of some great local singer-songwriters and bands who I’ve played with over the years.

Bevin Caulfield – Close
Catchy, simple, but the song’s real draw are the campy innuendos. ? Bevin’s unique singing style keeps it interesting and it’s no wonder she gets pestered to play this song every time she walks into Studio Luloo.

yearlongday – simple
Think of Belle and Sebastian as a rough acoustic duo.? yearlongday is not the typical group you expect to hear at local shows, but if you live in the South Jersey / Philly area you might.? The first time I heard them I was hypnotized.

Sweetheart Parade – Crooked Crow
When you see Sweetheart Parade live you may notice the singer’s missing fingers and interesting guitar setup (upside down, left handed, funky tuning), but there’s no way you can miss Josh Britton’s powerfullty effortless voice.? Their CD is great, but Josh brings the house down on Crooked Crow. ?It should be played during the ending credits of an episode of True Blood.

Apple of Discord – The World Will Never Defeat You
Myspace it cut off the last character, so it’s not titled “The World Will Never Defeat Yo.” ?I’ve only seen them live once or twice, but they’re really tight and when I bought one of their CDs, Nelson looked sad and said, “oh, that’s the one I’m not on.” ?This is probably my favorite song of theirs, even if I disagree with the title. ?Sometimes the world wins.

The Silence Kit – Reassurement
If you like The National and Radiohead you will love this band. Eight Years is my favorite song of theirs, but I couldn’t find it online.

Relay – Forgot to Tell You
I am a big fan of my cousin Mark’s band.? This is one of my favorite newer songs of theirs and it’s as fun on their album as it is live.

Adrien Reju – A Million Hearts
I met Adrien in 2002 and I haven’t heard a Philly singer/songwriter with a better voice yet. ?She’s in NY now, but I’ll always be a fan.

Jeff Ritchie – Sing the Note of Just Tryin’
Jeff used to stop by my open mic years ago and I always liked his stuff. ?It’s lo-fi, acoustic droll music that I think must have like 8 fans in the world and I’m one of them.

Johnny Miles – Modern Man
“Can’t Explain” is definitely my favorite Johnny Miles song, but Modern Man is great.

Sarah Allen – How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore?
Not local anymore, but after hearing Sarah play once a week for over a year, it was so hard to run the open mic after she moved to North Carolina.? She has some songs that are recorded better, but I love this because it takes me back to 2004. ?Can’t find this online anywhere, so you’re screwed.

Rob Whitekettle – The Pop Tart Song
How many times can you trick the Devil?? Can you sell your soul to the Devil for Pop Tarts?? This song takes on the tough questions.

John Shaughnessy – Feelin’ Good Again
Could easily be a song by Mathew Sweet, Fountains of Wayne, or the band from That Thing You Do. ?Also, check out Roberta Part 2.

Sara O’Brien – Train to the Moon
Only Sara O’Brien could get away with line about porn stars with kids singing backup vocals. ?Fun song.

From the Auction House show a few weeks ago, here’s my cover of Beck’s Cut in Half Blues:

This Friday I’m opening up for Audizen and the Atomic Square this Friday at Audubon’s Auction House Loft. I’ll be playing at 8:00PM and doors open at 7:30. Also, the Atomic Square is now one of my favorite bands ever for making this AWESOME FLYER:

I remember playing this awful, awful game.

100 West Merchant Street
Audubon NJ 08106

I’m the featured artist this week at Studio Luloo’s open mic night. If you’ve never been to their weekly event, use this as a good excuse to check it out. It’s at 916 white horse pike in Oaklyn, NJ across from Froggies liquor. It’s BYOB and has tons of great musicians, poets, and performers.

I finally got around to downloading the latest version of iTunes and with it came their new Genius playlist feature. Here’s how it works:

You pick a song in your library you like, hit the Genius button, and it generates a playlist from your library of 25 complimentary songs. I was skeptical, but tried it out. It first parses through your whole library and uploads that data to a central server somewhere (let’s call it Mother Brain) and cross references with thousands of other people’s libraries and musical tastes. So can Genius generate the awesomest mixtape ever from just one song? Will John Cusack and Jack Black use this feature as evidence of an impending apocalypse in High Fidelity 2?

Maybe. Here’s how it did when I selected Neighborhood #2 (Laika) by Arcade Fire…

1. Neighborhood #2 (Laika) by Arcade Fire

2. Five Years – David Bowie
3. Slow Hands – Interpol
4. Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
5. Lua – Bright Eyes
6. The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
7. El Scorcho – Weezer
8. We Are Nowhere and It’s Now – Bright Eyes
9. Grace – Jeff Buckley
10. Lover’s Spit – Broken Social Scene
11. Caring is Creepy – The Shins
12. Molly’s Chambers – Kings of Leon
13. 12:51 – The Strokes
14. Business Time – Flight of the Conchords
15. Lazy Eye – Silversun Pickups
16. I Summon You – Spoon
17. My Moon My Man – Feist
18. Vampire / Forest Fire – Arcade Fire
19. Fake Palindromes – Andrew Bird
20. Do You Realize? – The Flaming Lips
21. Evil – Interpol
22. Wolf Like Me – TV on the Radio
23. Y Control – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
24. Woman King – Iron & Wine
25. In the Backseat – Arcade Fire

Not bad, but a little heavy on Bright Eyes. Let’s try another song: Coffee & TV – Blur

1. Coffee & TV – Blur

2. Every You Every Me – Placebo
3. Alright – Supergrass
4. Supersonic – Oasis
5. The Charming Man – The Smiths
6. Summer Babe – Pavement
7. The Dark of the Matinee – Franz Ferdinand
8. Lucky – Radiohead
9. Monkey Gone to Heaven – Pixies
10. Slow Hands – Interpol
11. The New Pollution – Beck
12. Here Comes Your Man – Pixes
13. El Scorcho – Weezer
14. She’s So High (Live) – Blur
15. The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
16. Out of Time – Blur
17. The W.A.N.D (The Will Always Negates Defeat) – The Flaming Lips
18. No Cars Go – Arcade Fire
19. Mistaken for Stranges – The National
20. For Tomorrow – Blur
21. You and Me Song – The Wannadies
22. Tropicalia – Beck
23. We Used to Vacation – Cold War Kids
24. One Big Holiday – My Morning Jacket
25. Molly’s Chambers – Kings of Leon.

The way I’ve been using it is to create the playlist and not look at what was selected, preferring to treat it like a robot radio station while I listen to it on my commute. What’s cool about it is that it will dig down and find stuff that you probably forgot about and never got a chance to rate (if you rate your songs at all).