OK Go is one of those bands that’s sort of underrated.  Sure, everyone knows them for their constantly inventive music videos, but the songs behind those videos are often just as good.  Case in point: “Needing/Getting”, the latest release off of 2010′s Of the Blue Colour of the Sky.  Besides the awesome stunt-driving video, the song perfectly captures that moment when you realize someone isn’t going to change, dust yourself off, and move on.  For side-by-side comparison, here’s the original track.

Guess who’s back with a new album this summer? MIA!

Granted, we were a little burned by her last album, the easy to type /\/\/\Y/\, but that was mostly the crazy amount of industrial influences on the music. This sounds like she’s back to being slightly more pop-/radio-friendly, even if it does tread some tropes that are a little tired for MIA. Here’s to cautious optimism in the year of the Dragon.

Also, it was either this or the extended mix of Jermaine Stewart’s “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off” (the “awesome tracks” well is still a little dry as we ramp up for more releases).  You’re welcome.

Lana?  Can we talk?

No, it’s not about that interview you did with MTV (although I do want tangible proof that you babysit twice a week).  It’s about your album.  I wanted to give you a fair chance, but I don’t think I like you.

On one hand, when I first heard “Video Games”, I thought it was great – it managed to blend the sounds of the 50s/60s with enough modern subject matter to be relevant and keep things from being straight pastiche.  But that doesn’t mean I wanted a whole album of that.  There are some issues we need to address.

First: there needs to be a little more variety in your vocabulary.  We get it, there’s a seedy underbelly to the whole retro glamour thing.  Wonderful.  Do you have to keep repeating the same phrases all the time?  There’s got to be more to life that “queen of Coney Island”, “you da best”, “Las Vegas”, etc.  Just because you wrote the songs in the same batch doesn’t mean they all need to be on the album.

And as long as we’re on the topic of the songs, you can actually trim them down.  Nearly every song on the album overstays its welcome.  Really, the only one that doesn’t is “Diet Mountain Dew” (which, on a side note: was that supposed to be replaced?  Sort of like how Paul McCartney used the phrase “Scrambled Eggs” until he came up with “Yesterday”?  Not to compare you to Macca.  Because you’re not.), which I think I might only like because I hated some of the others so strongly.  ”National Anthem” is execrable.  You should be ashamed.  And the less we say about “Radio” and “Carmen”, the better.  But seriously, all of these long drawn out mid-tempo songs are at least a minute too long.   Look, Lana, I get that you’ve all about this “dark side of 50s retro glamour” niche and you’ve clearly done at least some of your homework, but can you be a little more concise?

And then there’s your voice.  The jumps you make between the Jessica Rabbit-ish coo and your lower range are jarring, to say the least.  I think you need to pick one range and stick with it.  Your mid-range is nice and sultry enough for the material you want to do.  Maybe work on that for album 2 (assuming you get one)

In the end Lana, I look at the album cover and it all sort of makes sense.  Not quite a come-hither look, nor intense enough to be piercing, it all just comes off as looking a bit bored.  Are you bored, Lana?  Because you could always try recording the music you want to make instead of just the stuff you think will sell.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

One of the lit classes in college that really pushed my reading habits into the place they are today was the class I took on Contemporary American Literature.  Besides requiring me to read a bunch of modern classics (Rabbit, Run and The Crying of Lot 49 as a few examples), it also pushed me to find books that are a little unconventional while still being compelling.  It also got me to read some really weird stuff I still don’t quite get (sorry, Patchwork Girl.  Perhaps hypertext just isn’t my thing.)  Flash forward a couple years and I’ve dug deep into works by authors like Richard Powers and David Foster Wallace, but still was looking for something that had the playfulness of Pynchon with the wit of authors like Foster Wallace.

Here’s where George Saunders comes in.  Maybe it was the deer on the cover, maybe something else, but I was drawn to Pastoralia and immediately fell in love with the stories therein.  All of Saunders’ stories are set in the near future where we’ve gone a little dystopian, but not the full 1984/Brave New World special.  A little sadder, a little more broken down, but not completely transformed.  It’s in this space that Saunders’ best work flourishes.

Recommended: the title story in “In Persuasion Nation”, his latest fiction collection.  A series of vignettes based around fake commercials slowly merge to become a surreal battle for good and evil.

“Where Are Your People?” continues to mine the same sort of indie-dance sound We Have Band mastered on their debut, but adds slightly higher production values and just enough empty space for the melodies to bounce against.  Their second album, Ternion, is out this week from Naive Records.

I don’t know about you, but I’m about ready for the release cycle to begin again.  I’m running out of new tracks!  January’s a lovely time to reflect on music from the past and re-discover old bands, but I’m about ready to dig in to the new stuff already.  Luckily, the hype cycle starts up again in full next week.  For the time being, here’s a new discovery from Pandora.  Deep?  Not really.  Completely disposable and ultimately fun?  Definitely.

It’s unusual in the hyper-fast release cycle most indie bands deal in these days to be gone for more than 2 years without an album.  Chairlift’s last album, Does You Inspire You (mostly known for iPod ad-accompanying single “Bruises”), came out in 2008.  A lot’s happened in four years – the band lost a founding member, Aaron Pfenning (now making music for DFA as Rewards) nearly lost its name (resulting from the breakup), and its members have been equally busy with other artists (Patrick Wimberly acting as the “invisible fourth member” of indie rap guys Das Racist, and Caroline Polachek guesting vocals on Washed Out’s stunning “You and I”).

And yet from the cover of their new album, it’s immediately clear where they’re going with their second album – looking back, mining a lot of the same 80s influences as their peers, but with their own twist.  There are gorgeous synths all over this album, and not just providing melody lines – synth bells clatter and create unusual percussion on almost all tracks.  Polachek’s vocals can go to a strong lower range or an enthusiastic but ethereal high range.  One reference point that immediately came to mind that’s a bit different than what other groups are pulling from: Hall and Oates.  There’s a sense of songcraft (as well as some of the synth sounds of their era) that just fits in with that other duo.

This is an album that makes a good first impression and keeps growing on you with additional influences.  ”Sidewalk Safari” (above) is an intriguing opener, but it’s easily the best song about mowing people down with your car that I’ve heard all year (not that there’s been much competition in that field).  Other strong tracks are the pulsing “I Belong in Your Arms” and “Met Before”, the sultry and unusual “Take It Out on Me” and the exercise-video-soundtrack jam that is “Anamaemonesia” (previously seen here as a TotD).  Closing tracks “Turning” and “Guilty as Charged” give a more experimental edge to the record, but still keep accessible enough to give the album a strong end.  Something is, for me at least, the first truly stunning album of 2012, and I can already see it making my year-end list.  We’ll see.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Note: I realize in taking well over a week to get this out, I’m already a step behind in the whole cycle that I’m talking about with this, but I think it’s still an interesting subject to explore.

It’s safe to say at this point that you’ve heard of Lana Del Rey.  Whether you were one of the first people to see “Video Games” when we still thought she was an independent artist or you found about her in the subsequent wave of press that followed, it’s likely you’ve heard the details of her story: the millionaire father backing her efforts to be a singer, the transformation from Lizzie Grant to Lana, the accusations of being all hype and of collagen-enhanced lips, etc, etc.  Perhaps it made you mad – I know it did my roommate.  Even before hearing her songs, he decided he didn’t like her – after all, those of us who prided ourselves on our “indie” taste had been duped – she had a contract with Interscope.  I wasn’t so dismissive – after all, this wasn’t the first artist who’d been agressively marketed at us, and she didn’t seem any better or worse than any other pre-packaged micro-managed pop star who’d been thrown at us before.  I waited to see her performance on SNL before making any sort of judgement.

As for that performance: awful.  I’d actually warn against watching the clip even though I’ve embedded it at the top of this article.  There’s really no vocal talent on display – LDR alternates between some weird low range that doesn’t quite work and a truly awful high falsetto.  Aside from the lyrics and backing, this doesn’t remotely resemble the “Video Games” we’ve seen on Youtube.  She would have been better off performing the more recent “Born to Die” – the melody line’s a little easier and would have at least fooled us into thinking she could sing.  And don’t get me started on the lack of stage presence – I’ll get to that later.

Some might argue that SNL isn’t the best venue to evaluate an artist, and I’d agree.  There’s certain acoustic properties 8H lacks, and various union regulations governing who’s running the sound board (hint: it’s not usually the band’s usual sound guy, who’s allowed to consult but can’t actually touch the board).  On the other hand, it’s still in the artist’s hands to present themselves the best way possible.  The week after LDR’s performance, SNL ran a rerun of the Emma Stone/Coldplay episode.  Now this may be an unfair comparison (Coldplay isn’t a new artist, nor was it their first SNL performance), but it’s a good example.  Coldplay didn’t sound the best live during the show, but the sold the hell out of their performance.  Chris Martin was energetic, bounding around the stage, spinning in circles, and giving the best vocal performance he could.  Compare this to Ms. Del Ray, who awkwardly swayed back and forth, rubbed her hands on her body like she was wiping off sweaty palms, and spun around awkwardly.  I hate to say it, but it comes down to this – the performance might not be your best, but at least sell the hell out of it.

As far as I can see, there are two ways this will go: Lana will either bomb spectacularly, with no singles beyond “Video Games” and “Born to Die”, and fade back into the trailer park from whence she came (we as the American public have said “no” to Jessie J despite the music industry’s machinations, and we will do it again), or she’ll have one “good” (read: popular, bought by everyone, regardless of end-product quality) album, biff it on the second album, and fade away.  Either way, this is not a career built to last – why worry about it too hard.

The depths of winter may just be starting (at least here in Cambridge), but colors for winter are staying a little on the brighter side.  Take for instance green – usually just relegated to darker olive shades, is getting a brighter outlook.

Lands’ End Canvas has an awesome corduroy shirt in a bright blackwatch plaid that looks awesome with jeans (and fills your need for blackwatch plaid if you coveted J. Crew’s awesome blazer in the same pattern, but couldn’t justify spending the $500).

Also available to brighten up your wardrobe?  Their Moleskine campus jacket in a cool Loden green.  This has been my favorite blazer since it arrived in the mail – I keep trying to find more excuses to wear it to work, as I get nothing but compliments from my usually quiet co-workers when I wear it.  The fit’s a little tight, (but that might just be the result of me bulking up a bit for winter — need to stay warm, after all) and the cut is perfect – the only way I would have loved this more was if the blazer was double-vented (and that’s a personal preference thing anyways).  The little details like the elbow patches and inner pockets only make it better.

LEC isn’t the only brand bringing awesome greens this season.  Elsewhere on the net, Gap has taken their classic straight-leg jean (the only jean any guy really needs) and run them through a garment-dying process to turn them an army green that has its own individual variations.  For my business-casual (emphasis on the casual) office, these mixed with a button-up or basic sweater on top with some chucks (I did say emphasis on the casual) is a perfect weekday outfit.

All images culled from retailer’s websites.  I bought these all with my own money (unless otherwise noted) and vouch for them by wearing them in my daily life.  Men’s Fine Wale Cord Shirt, $19.99.  Men’s Moleskin Campus Jacket, $139.99.  Men’s Straight-Leg Garment-Dyed Jean in Olive, $69.99.