My 20 Favorite Songs of 2012

Got an early start this year, so here goes...

1. Some Nights ~ fun.
2. Take a Walk ~ Passion Pit
3. Climax ~ Usher
4. Phone Sex ~ Blood Diamonds
5. Little Talks ~ Of Monsters & Men
6. Thinking About You ~ Frank Ocean
7. I Love It ~ Icona Pop
8. Hold On ~ Alabama Shakes
9. Gangnam Style ~ Psy
10. Ho Hey ~ Lumineers
11. Swimming Pools ~ Kendrick Lamar
12. Call Me Maybe ~ Carly Rae Jepsen
13. Fuckin Problem ~ ASAP Rocky
14. The House That Heaven Built ~ Japandroids
15. Oblivion ~ Grimes
16. Change the Sheets ~ Kathleen Edwards
17. Five Seconds ~ Twin Shadow
18. Adorn ~ Miguel
19. Teenage Icon ~ Vaccines
20. Everything Is Embarrassing ~ Sky Ferreira

Music by Cities

Great maps from the Atlantic showing the geographic distribution of billboards top 100 tracks and pitchfork's top 100 songs from 2012. The biggest surprise is just how many of billboard's songs are "from" Nashville.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/12/where-2012s-top-music/4228/

Random songs stuck in my head

Drive By ~ Train
Bring 'Em Home ~ d.veloped
Technologic ~ Daft Punk
Set Fire to the Rain ~ Adele (Thomas Gold Remix)
Night by Night ~ Chromeo
Tongue Tied ~ Grouplove
Searching Through the Past ~ Bleached

Zurich Style

I can't believe I didn't discover Gangnam Style until I was in Zurich! (more on Europe later)

The message behind the video according to time:

http://business.time.com/2012/09/24/the-wholesome-hidden-message-of-gangnam-style/?iid=obinsite

Songs stuck in my head part 1

I periodically get songs stuck in my head and listen to them like a hundred times over the course of a week so I thought I'd share what's been going through my head of late:

Talk about the passion ~ REM

Part of me ~ Katy Perry

Without me ~ Eminem

Wrong 'em boyo ~ Clash

Real wild child ~ Iggy Pop

Lunch In Sweden

The latest big thing in Sweden - lunchtime raves. Complete with DJs, smoke machines and strobe lights. I want in, how do we get one of these in the Loop?!?!

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/05/swedes_spend_their_lunch_breaks_clubbing_.html

Instead I'm going to close the door to my office, put on my headphones and dance to Avicii. OooOoo sometimes I get a feeling!

April

WOW, what a month! Still trying to absorb all the experiences and catch up on sleep. I can't believe the month started with FRC Duffy's, Marcus' goodbye party, Coast and a Cubs game. It feels like those things happened ages ago. After much discussion we finally bit the bullet and went to Duffy's for their $20 all you can drink / all you can eat special. Given my low expectations for the night it was surprisingly fun - maybe a little too much fun! The following night was Coast which is always a great crowd and a sake-fueled shit show. Michael may have video of me starting a dance party in the middle of the street around midnight - good times. The next weekend was our (now annual) NYC trip with me, Jake, Michael and Marcus. It's sad to see Marcus leave Chicago but we definitely showed him a good time in his first weekend in NYC - I'm really glad we got to spend it with him. Between hanging out with the three bulls and my mom at dive bars in Brooklyn, a party in Yanni's hotel room and craziness around Nolita with Patrick it was quite the weekend. And even Greek Easter was a smashing success! I was very happy that my mom agreed to go after all the drama this year. She hasn't been on speaking terms with my sister for months so hopefully this was a step forward toward mending their relationship and helping my mom accept my sister's relationship with Yanni. A delicate process indeed.

So that was the slower half of the month.

3 days after getting back from NYC, it was time to leave for Coachella. (Jake: We went to Coachella bitches!) In retrospect I was certainly underestimating the awesomeness of this trip in the weeks leading up to it. But when I got on the blue line to head to o'hare I met a guy who was also going and my energy level went through the roof. By the time I got on the plane I was downright giddy. And that feeling still hasn't faded! Hanging out with Kyle in LA was a blast on Thursday night, the drive to Indio was beautiful on Friday morning and arriving at the festival in 106 degree heat was out of this world. All of a sudden it is the middle of summer and music festival season - life is good. The festival itself was perfect in many ways, a great mix of energy and relaxation, natural and man made beauty. And the music... if the bands I had to miss were headlining a festival I would definitely go to that festival! Didn't get the chance to see: Black Keys, Explosions in the Sky, Bon Iver, Kaskade, Feist, Florence and the Machine, Calvin Harris, AVICII and DJ Shadow. Jeez! The trip home was fun too, we stayed up all night Sunday to catch the early flight out of LAX. We were certainly the happiest/rowdiest bunch on that flight - much to the annoyance of all the business travelers I'm sure. And finally 3 days after Coachella, Abigail came to Chicago for my golden birthday weekend. Saving the best weekend for last! My golden birthday fell on a Friday - of course I had to go all out and that means a trolley ride with 20 of my closest friends. It was my first time on a trolley and it definitely exceeded my expectations - that seems to be the theme of April! As Elizabeth put it, just the challenge of drinking and dancing on a moving trolley is worth it. I really do have incredible friends and I'm very thankful for them. The rest of birthday weekend was quite spectacular as well - thanks to Abigail. Whether it was dancing together at Danny's or listening to Canon in D together on my couch it was really the perfect mix of fun and relaxation. I'm smiling a ton while I reminisce.

And now its May. A few days to catch up on life and then time for more adventures!

Meditations on Coachella

Still haven't fully recovered from the 106 degree heat and lack of sleep. But wow, it was incredible. Certainly the most beautiful festival grounds I've ever seen. It felt like a mini-paradise, very intimate atmosphere. All the stages were so close together and (for the most part) everyone was super friendly and thrilled to be there. Not to mention the music, Saturday was also probably the best day of shows I've ever seen - Radiohead, David Guetta, Shins and Jeff Mangum. Spectactular! Even the bands that I had to miss on Saturday (Bon Iver, Kaskade, Miike Snow and Feist) would have made for a solid day! Pictures coming soon to Facebook.

LCD Soundsystem is playing at my house

Since I heard 5 LCD Soundsystem songs at Blokes & Birds last Friday they've been stuck in my head. Its like coming home for dinner and discovering I only have fudge brownies. Awesome.

All My Friends

You spent the first five years trying to get with the plan,
and the next five years trying to be with your friends again.

You're talking 45 turns just as fast as you can,
yeah, I know it gets tired, but it's better when we pretend.

It comes apart,
the way it does in bad films.
Except in parts,
when the moral kicks in.

I Can Change

And love is a murderer, love is a murderer
But if she calls you tonight
Everything is all right
Yeah, we know
And love is a curse shoved in a hearse
Love is an open book to a verse of your bad poetry
And this is coming from me

But I can change, I can change, I can change, I can change
I can change, I can change, I can change
If it helps you fall in love

Yeah (Crass Version)

Everybody keeps on talking about it... nobody's getting it done
I'm tired, tired, tired now of listening, listening... knowing that the ship's gotta run

My 11 favorite songs of 2011

1. Rolling in the Deep ~ Adele
2. Till The World Ends ~ Britney Spears
3. Pumped Up Kicks ~ Foster the People
4. These Days ~ Foo Fighters
5. Midnight City ~ M83
6. Don't Carry It All ~ Decemberists
7. Niggas in Paris ~ Jay-Z & Kanye
8. Need You Now ~ Cut Copy
9. Get Some ~ Lykke Li
10. Its Real ~ Real Estate
11. Turn Me On ~ David Guetta

Another weekend another music festival

This past weekend was my 4th music festival of the summer (Pitchfork, Lolla, Outside Lands). On Friday I went (mostly) to see David Guetta and on Sunday night I went to the ATB afterparty at the Mid. Both shows were very solid overall, Guetta closed with a remix of Club Can't Even Handle Me that blew me away. ATB played some MGMT and Robyn which was much appreciated by all the hipsters in the crowd.

I'm a relatively recent convert to electronic music but after creating a David Guetta Pandora station a few weeks ago I just had to buy the ticket. I feel like he has his hand in nearly every song that I recognize but don't know the name of:

Getting Over You ~ David Guetta

Ecstasy ~ ATB

Outside Lands

Wow, great festival! Three incredible days of music and wine in one of the most scenic parks I've ever visited.

Friday: MGMT was solid. Big Boi never actually played - instead we got 15 mins of Dave Chapelle standup. The Shins sounded great, it was their first show in almost four years. They've coming out with a new album and hopefully will be touring again soon.

Saturday: The Black Keys were the best surprise of the festival for me, I always liked their studio stuff but they were even better live - plus the crowd was really into it. Muse closed the night with an impressive show. I've only recently become a Muse fan but I will definitely be seeing them the next time they're in Chicago.

Sunday: Major Lazer was ridiculous as usual and the Decemberists were fun. Of course this day was all about Arcade Fire and they did not disappoint. Just before the encore they sang a few lines from "All My Friends", I was melting - it was just a perfect moment. Though I was probably one of few people in the audience who recognized it.

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/arcade-fire/2011/outside-lands-music-and-arts-festival-san-francisco-ca-2bd0fc26.html

So I've decided to start blogging

There's a lot going on in the world and writing helps me think about it. So here goes.

Quite the weekend, the US lost its AAA rating - what does this mean to me? Basically nothing, except the opportunity to pick up some equities on the cheap. As Warren Buffett says "Be greedy when others are fearful." The US has the printing press, inflation risk yes, default risk no. This pretty much sums up how I feel about the matter.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/08/on-the-sp-downgrade-of-the-united-states-of-america/

Now the good news, lolla definitely surpassed my expectations. After last year's lineup this year's lineup was a bit of a disappointment so I only went Sunday - but what a day! Flogging Molly was a blast as always and Deadmau5 was unreal, the music, the lights, the torrential downpour made for a once in a lifetime experience. Thousands of wet, muddy and dancing people all in one place and we couldn't be happier - it was incredible.

http://www.spin.com/gallery/10-best-sets-lollapalooza-2011?page=10#main