Austin 2

Went to see The Strange Boys. A really good, local band with a retro garage/R&B sound. It's actually two brothers on bass and guitar. 

They're playing Radio City Music Hall in NY with Spoon and Deerhunter on March 26th.

Austin

I'm in Austin, Texas this week on a business trip. Having been here a few days already, I can see why it's dubbed the capital of live music. There are bands playing in every single bar, every single night.

But there's also some art culture, like the Mexic-arte museum that groups a few local collections of Mexican art. It's small, colorful and has some vibrant pieces spanning Mexico's history. Some of my favorite pieces below:

Top 10 Things to Watch Out For in 2010

Global trend expert Ann Mack from JWT Intelligence has predicted the Top 100 things that you should watch out for in 2010. It ranges from the predictable prediction (electric cars...) to the more obscure (dry shampoo). 

My favorite? Argentina's Lionel Messi coming in at #52.

The Future of Gaming

You don't need to speak Hebrew to understand how this application could take gaming outside of the living room and into the real world. Or virtual/real world.

This reminds me of a trip to Disneyworld about 8 years ago where I tried one of those bulky helmets and had a sword and was swatting around at virtual things that appeared. The experience was so not-immersive that I really felt like an idiot. Bridging the real world and the virtual looks like the real deal...

The Known Universe

The Known Universe is a new, and quite trippy, film produced by the American Museum of Natural History that is part of a new exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City.

Bombay Bicycle Club (Acoustic)

I've posted about these guys before. They're already getting big in the UK and are going to get bigger. They look about 15 years old, as per the bass player snickering at the beginning but boy can they play guitar...

Say Yes to Twitter

Say yes to Twitter from Marcus Brown 

No monkeys this friday. Just rats...

Rats. They're here, they're there, they're everywhere. That's rats for you... 
The Hot Rats is Supergrass dudes covering classic hits under a Frank Zappa song name. Their cover of Gang of Four's Damaged Goods is,well good.

Yes, friday is supposed to be..

... monkey business. As much as I like my simian brothers, frog muppets really say it as it is. Kermit stars in this LCD Soundsystem video.

Cibelle: Lightworks

If Amy Winehouse came from Brazil and dropped acid instead of shooting up, she'd sound something like Cibelle. Or at least look like her.

Black Box Revelation

Belgium is not top of mind when you think hard-thumping rock. But Black Box Revelation hail from Brussels and keep their sound raw and heavy, with a healthy dose of blues. The Black Keys' distant belgian cousins in other words...

Music + Visuals

Cool visuals by Japanese outfit Bonsajo. More of their work on Vimeo.

Phoenix: Acoustic Set

Click for a great acoustic set from the Versailles band for German magazine musikexpress.

Mixtape

This is cute... For anyone who has ever sweated over a mixtape or who simply likes The Kinks.