am/fm

This video mashes up all the best songs of the past year into one pop monolith, featuring everyone from TI to Sara Bareilles to Alicia Keys to Coldplay to Pink to Katy Perry. It's pretty seamless and kudos to whoever put this together, but the result kind of emphasizes the interchangeability of each song, rather than serving as the palimpsest of the pop landscape in 2008.

By eh

So I saw "Role Models" a few weeks ago and it was pretty funny. What I have to say is mildly spoiler-ish, so I'm doing it after the jump.

By Ed Condran
Special to amNewYork
• Kimya Dawson is at Bowery Ballroom Friday, 8 p.m., tickets: $13, $15 day of

Since Kimya Dawson started her music career as a member of the Moldy Peaches, the eccentric singer-songwriter has crafted songs with a lot of appeal to children. Her tracks, both with the Peaches and solo, are generally filled with simple lyrics and fantastic stories, and she includes offbeat samples and effects.

She doesn’t mind the younger fanbase, though some of her music is clearly aimed at adults.

“I’ve got quite a few fans that are just kids and I don’t think that it’s hard to figure out why,” Dawson says. “A lot of my songs connect with children as well as young people, but there are some songs I’ve written, which kids shouldn’t listen to.”

I'm not here to make any sort of judgment calls on Jim Carrey's new movie, "Yes Man," which I'm sure I'll never see (which, I suppose is, in a way, a judgment call), but I can tell you this - the soundtrack has an amazing new track from the Eels, a.ka. Mark Oliver Everett (above, sort of).

The song, which you can hear by pressing the button below, is high on the gritty raspy folk-singer sound that Everett has cultivated over the years, mixed with an indie-rock accessibility. What does that all mean? It's a good song, and coupled with a infectious chorus, I just can't seem to stop listening to it.

By eh

I had an informal goal to make it to a show a week in 2008. I made it to considerably less than that, but it is what it is. Here are ten of my faves from this year (in reverse chronological order).

• Army Navy/The Takeover UK

• The Noisettes, et al.

• Ben Folds

• St. Vincent

• Matt & Kim/The Cool Kids

• The Futureheads

• Battles/Gnarls Barkley

• Dirtbombs

• Spinto Band

• Jeffrey Lewis

By eh

(Via Stereogum)

Get it? Because of the lyric: "And it feels so unnatural/Peter Gabriel, too." Gabriel adds: "It feels so unnatural to sing your own name."

Besides the indie in-joke, however, Gabriel's version isn't that exciting and it kind of blands down a song that's not that exciting to begin with (I love you Vampire Weekend, but your music is on the sedate side).

By Robert Spuhler
Special to amNewYork

Jay-Z or Nas? Biggie or Tupac? Hip-hop fans can find arguments in comparing any two emcees. But there are few statements that garner as much agreement as this: Any list of “greatest emcees” that doesn’t have Rakim’s name in the top three isn’t worth reading.

“It’s funny — for a person who usually good with words, I can’t find the words to explain that, besides ‘it’s a blessing,’ ” Rakim says. “To be around this long and still be recognized for what I’ve done, it’s nothing less than a blessing. I appreciate it.”

By eh

Like all December babies, the AM/FM blog has to share its special day with all the end of the year and holiday ruckus. We're sorry, AM/FM, that we're conflating your birthday with a 2008 retrospective of the blog year, but that's life, kid.

January: We took an in depth look at the use of slide whistle in modern pop music; Yacht Rock dropped another hilarious installment; We showered early love on Vampire Weekend (who we still like, for the record); We learned that Kanye rocks at Connect Four; We watched as Radiohead conducted their grand experiment.

February: We sang songs about cheese; We warmed up to Valentine's Day; We were introduced to Yael Naim and Sarah Bareilles (both of whom we're kind of over; though if Naim released a new album, I'd listen).

March: We celebrated bassists who sing; We talked to The Grey Race; We went to the PLUG Awards; We loved new releases by Gnarls Barkley and Stephen Malkmus (still do).

For purposes of this entry, we're pretending that this blog is called Lisa.

By eh

This is super cool. Chris Han has mashed together 33 songs with "love" in the title for the ultimate love song.

Love Songs from Chris 'The Falcon' Han on Vimeo

In the video, you can track each, well, track and see how he's putting the uber-song together, which is pretty neat. Find a full list of the songs used here.

By eh

(via)

What if Radiohead composed music for the NES?