New music from The Strokes: Future Present Past EP

The Strokes just dropped a new EP on us late last week. It's called Future Present Past and the official release date is June 3. I'm just getting to it now. I know. I suck. Oh, well.

Give it a virtual spin. It's got lots of what we love from The Strokes - the deceptively simple guitar and vocal parts that weave in and out of our consciousness until the addiction takes hold, the solid rhythm section foundation, and Julian Casablancas' unique vocal delivery.

Pic from Facebook.

Ten years ago: The Strokes First Impressions of Earth

This site is about the music I like. That includes the stuff that's exciting me today, and a look back at what I enjoyed in the past. Last year I started highlighting album anniversaries and I think I'm going to continue that as part of looking back at the music I like.

First up is The Strokes' ten-year old album First Impressions of Earth. It's not their biggest album by any means, but it does get started with two most amazing tracks that I love. Take a listen to "You Only Live Once", "Juicebox" and "Heart In A Cage".

They'll be headlining Governors Ball June 3-5.

Pic from Amazon.

Song from new supergroup Summer Moon; members of The Strokes and Au Revoir Simone

Summer Moon are a supergroup from New York made up of Nikolai Fraiture from The Strokes on bass and vocals, drummer Tennessee Thomas from The Like, Au Revoir Simone keyboardist Erika Spring and guitarist Lewis Lazar. This is a groovy little track called "With You Tonight". It'll ease you out of the work week and into your weekend fun quite nicely, thank you.



Pic from Facebook.

Five by Five: Five Five-Star Rated Songs

Here's something new. I'm going to call it "Five-by-Five" which will be five selections from the five-star rated songs in my iTunes library. I think the only other restriction I'll put on it is that these will be songs that I've never posted on the blog before.

"Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" by Sophie B. Hawkins. First time I heard this song was while I was checking out music for my college radio show. I loved it instantly and still love it.

"Noticeable One" by Missing Persons. An old friend of mine could never figure out why I liked Missing Persons. They certainly didn't seem to be a fit for a rocker like myself. They are, however, some of the most accomplished musicians to put out such pure pop. Check it out. Most if not all of the band members spent time in Frank Zappa's band. And I like the tunes.

"You Only Live Once" by The Strokes. No big story here. I like The Strokes. And this song came up on a smart playlist recently.

"Human Behaviour" by Bjork. I can't remember for sure where I first heard "Big Time Sensuality" from Bjork's Début, but it blew me away. I love that album.

"Jessica Numbers" by The New Pornographers. I absolutely love this band. I could have picked many tunes, and probably will if this becomes a recurring feature on the blog. I heard that The New Pornographers are playing a free show at The Bandshell at the Canadian National Exhibition, known in Toronto parts as the CNE, on August 17. Should be cool.

New Strokes video for All the Time

I noted on my Twitter that I really liked the tune "All The Time" from the forthcoming Strokes album Comedown Machine. They've just released a nostalgic clip for the song. Great tune.

The album comes out March 26 and Stereogum has a link to 30-second previews of every song on the album. They say it's the "funkiest Strokes album". Cool.

UPDATE: Now you can stream the whole album from the band's site.

New tune by The Strokes: One Way Trigger

I never promised to grab a "scoop" now, did I? If you haven't heard it yet, and I just heard it a few minutes ago, you can check out the new song by The Strokes below. It's called "One Way Trigger" and it's about The Lone Ranger's horse. Or not. The nice guys that they are, The Strokes will trade your email address for an MP3 of the tune.

My 25 favourite tracks of NME's 100 best tracks of the '00s

NME posted their 100 Best Tracks Of The ’00s.  I picked out my favourite 25.  It was tough.  Here they are.

100 Maxïmo Park – “Apply Some Pressure”


99 Flaming Lips – “Do You Realize”


95 The Killers – “These Things That I’ve Done”


93 The Big Pink – “Dominos”


79 Muse – “Plug In Baby”


76 Gnarls Barkley – “Crazy”


66 Friendly Fires – “Paris”


59 Interpol – “Evil”


55 The xx – “Islands”


50 Kasabian – “Empire”


47 Britney Spears – “Toxic”


46 Lily Allen – “Smile”


42 Gossip – “Standing In The Way Of Control”


41 The Killers – “Mr. Brightside”


31 Bloc Party – “Banquet”


30 Franz Ferdinand – “Take Me Out”


28 Arctic Monkeys – “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor”


24 Doves – “There Goes The Fear”


23 Muse – “Knights Of Cydonia”


22 The Strokes – “Last Nite”


17 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Maps”


10 Arctic Monkeys – “A Certain Romance”


07 Klaxons – “Golden Skans”


05 Outkast – “Hey Ya!”


02 MGMT – “Time To Pretend”

Classic Strokes

The Strokes have been getting lots of press for their recently released album Angles. I thought I'd go back to the first Strokes song I ever heard - "Last Nite". Awesome tune. I love the almost disinterested attitude they have, along with the unique guitar interplay. Cool.