Lady Mary Goes On Dave

Michelle Dockery, one of many beautiful women in the case of Downton Abbey (but the one who gets to wear by far the most beautiful clothes), was a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday night. Wouldn't you be terrified of her, too, but in the best possible way?

The Alabama Shakes on Conan

The Alabama Shakes are a little-known band from the south whose major-label debut is not being released until April. For months, NPR's All Songs Considered has been promoting them on the strength of their self-titled small-label release, and predicting them as one of the break-out bands of 2012. If their performance on Conan Monday night is any indication, NPR's prediction may come true.

"Hold On"


"I Ain't the Same"

Watchin' Downton

I wish I could make a snarky comment about this, but this is basically how every Downton Abbey watch party that I've ever been to has gone. With perhaps a few more comments about the MILFiness of Lady Cora/Elizabeth McGovern.

Now Tell Me Are You Down With It?

The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin sits down with Naughty By Nature to discuss "O.P.P." It is every bit as awesome as it sounds.
Naughty By Nature discusses and performs "O.P.P."

Hump Day

Although its only Wednesday, it has been a long week here at CSD headquarters. Some weeks, you need something silly to cheer you up. These non-sensical Spongebob Squarepants overdubs of classic scenes from Casablanca, Singin' In the Rain, and The Godfather lifted my spirits; hopefully they will lift yours as well.

Craig Finn Discusses the Unreleased Song "Jackson"

As long-time readers of this blog know, the Hold Steady is one of our favorite bands. In 2010, the band, minus long-time piano player Franz Nicolai, released Heaven Is Whenever, a solid album with a couple of great songs that was nonetheless by far the weakest and least consistent album the band had ever released. Late last year, Craig Finn, the band's lead singer, announced that he was releasing a solo album in 2012; news that fans took with no small amount of skepticism. Franz Nicolai's solo albums sucked so much dick that Stoya got a little envious, and no fan of The Hold Steady wanted to see Finn release a legacy-destroying solo project that would make his early records like Almost Killed Me and Separation Sunday seem like lucky flukes instead of the product of one of the greatest bands of their generation.

Fortunately, Finn gave the internet (and visibly star-struck music critic Steven Hyden) a sneak preview of one of his solo songs, "Jackson." It sounds exactly like Craig Finn without sounding too much like The Hold Steady, which is to say that he seems to have hit it out of the park. Hopefully the album will have five or six more songs like this:

Craig Finn discusses and performs "Jackson"

Red Flag!

NBC has turned off embedding on this video, but Saturday Night Live's "Red Flag" is the best fake advertisement they've done since the legendary "Schmitt's Gay." I love the male leads' reaction shots, particularly the way that Jason Sudekis spits martini back into his glass after hearing that Kristen Wiig lived in Las Vegas for eleven years. Also, like the "you know how I know you're gay?" scene from the 40 Year-Old Virgin, the signifiers of craziness they pick are clever and funny and show first-hand experience with meeting women in night clubs. I just loved this skit.

Thanks to Jake Taylor for recommending the clip.

Reading Resolutions for 2012

1) Finish Roberto Bolano's 2666 - I may have to backtrack a little bit to refresh my memory about some of the characters. This novel is long, and not a quick read, but the spiffy three-volume set I picked up at a library sale should make it easier than the 900-page behemoth I lugged to the office and back all summer.

2) Read four or five more books off of The New York Times' 25 Best Works of American Fiction of the last 25 years - The list of the 25 best works of ficiton actually contains thirty novels; I have read twenty of them, and hope to get to twenty-five by the end of the year. This list, in its entirety, was my reading resolution a few years ago, but there's only so much Philip Roth and Cormac McCarthy one can read in a calendar year.

3) Read at least one volume of a fantasty novel franchises - This year, I read, and loved, Lev Grossman's Brakebills franchise, and it has inspired me to start another one this year. George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice and Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles are at the top of the list

4) Read more classics, particularly 19th-Century classics. Anna K, Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, and George Eliot are at the top of the list. They're all free on the Kindle!! How difficult can this really be?

5) Read more books I already own. This has two components - buying fewer books, and going to the library less. I love the Brooklyn Public Library, but the more I patronize it, the longer my books sit on my shelves, unread.

2011: The Year in Reading

This was somewhat of an usual year in reading for me. I read about twenty fewer books than I have in the past three or four years, which I attribute to a combination of being busy at work, starting several books that I did not finish, and subscribing to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books, which occupy my commuting time that, in previous years, was spent reading books. Also, I finished 2010 in the middle of three or four different books, including the bookstop Infinite Jest (not included on any of the below lists because I read most of it in 2010) and it took me most of January to finish them. Still, I read some great stuff this year. These are the most noteworthy books. I would like to thank my friend and blogmigo Ellen W_______, of the excellent literary blog Wormbook, whose idea I am totally ripping off here.

BEST FICTIONA VISIT FROM THE GOOD SQUAD, by Jennifer Egan
PYM, by Mat Johnson
FATHER OF THE RAIN, by Lily King
NETHERLAND, by Joseph O'Neill
THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE, by Haruki Murakami
TRUE GRIT, by Charles Portis
THE TIGER'S WIFE, by Tea Obrecht
THE MAGICIANS and THE MAGICIAN KING, by Lev Grossman

BEST NON-FICTION
ALL THINGS SHINING, by Herbert L. Dreyfuss and Sean Dorrance Kelly
OUT OF THE VINYL DEEPS, by Ellen Willis

BEST MEMOIR
THE LONG GOODBYE, by Meghan O'Rourke
LIFE, by Keith Richards
BALL FOUR, by Jim Bouton
BOSSYPANTS, by Tina Fey

Most Dated Novel Widely Considered To Be A Classic
THE MOVIEGOER, by Walker Percy

Best Novels To Be Overshadowed, Unfortunately, by Their Film Adaptations
TRUE GRIT, by Charles Portis
THE BIG SLEEP, by Raylond Chandler

Best Novel By First-Time Novelist Whose Future Books I Eagerly Await
SWAMPLANDIA!, by Karen Russell
THE ADULTS, by Alison Espach

Best Essays
PULPHEAD, by John Jerimiah Sullivan (Full disclosure: not yet finished)
DON'T GET TOO COMFORTABLE, by David Rakoff

Best Genreless Book By Famous Humorists
THAT IS ALL, by John Hodgman
ZOMBIE SPACESHIP WASTELAND, by Patton Oswalt

Best Short Stories
THE ANGEL ESMERELDA, by Don DeLillo
LIKE LIFE, by Lorrie Moore

Best Endings
THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE, by Haruki Murakami

Books Published in 2011 I Am Most Looking Forward to Reading in 2012
THE ART OF FIELDING, by Chad Harbach
PULPHEAD, by John Jerimiah Sullivan
THE LEFTOVERS, by Tom Perrotta
BLUE NIGHTS, by Joan Didion

ONE LAST THING --

I started Roberto Bolano's 2666 this summer, and really enjoyed it, but it is very long, and work got spectacularly busy this fall, and long story short I kind of lost my momentum in it and never picked it up again. But its real

SNL Writer Taran Killam Becomes Gay Icon Overnight, and other news

To alleviate the boredom of a writer's-blocked night at Rockefeller Center, Saturday Night Live writer named Taran Killam recorded this YouTube video, where he re-creates, move for move, Robyn's "Call Your Girlfriend" video. Killam is a hulking, Jason Segel-ish guy with a bit of a gut and an apparent tendency to wear hooded sweatshirts with insufficiently-lengthy t-shirts underneath them; Killam's awkward dancing made me laugh out loud several times, but none moreso than the sequence in which he rolls around on the ground, bearing his potbelly.

Its totally credible that the decision to make this video was (relatively) spontaneous; certainly, as a Saturday Night Live writer, he has the resources to make a more professional-looking video than this, and the contributors to this blog have witnessed -- some might say participated in -- late-night dance parties to catchy pop songs to break up late-night study sessions in college and law school.
The only thing making me happier than Killam's video is this video, in which Killam's video is edited together with Robyn's original, so that you can watch the two of them side-by-side. Its definitely worth ten minutes of your time.

Wye Oak Finishes Their Breakout Year With "Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day"

Wye Oak became one of my favorite bands over the course of this year. Their album Civilian was one of my favorite records of the year, with a couple of blow-your-mind outstanding songs, went on tour opening for The National, and hit their two AV Club Undercover performances -- The Kinks' "Strangers" and Danzig's "Mother" out of the park. Lead singer Jenn Wasner's performance and discussion of "Holy Holy" on One Track Mind was absolutely charming.

The holiday cherry on this sundae is their performance of Brenda Lee's "Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day," a Christmas song on which I never previously had a strong opinion, but which they have made into a staple of my future Decembers. I've said before that Christmas songs should either be religious and traditional OR be fully-formed, complete songs in their own right, totally independent of their use of Christmas and its iconography. This song is one of the better examples of the latter.

Wye Oak covers "Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day" by Brenda Lee

Rick Perry and Sarah Palin Wish You a Happy Hannukah

In the past 24 hours, numerous evangelical Christian politicians, such as Sarah Palin and Rick Perry, both of whom believe that the New Testament of the Bible is literally true, have tweeted "Happy Hannukah," or, more likely, had a junior staffer tweet for them. I realize that there are a small number of very religious Jews who support right-wing evangelical Christian candidates because of those candidates' unwavering support of Israel, but 1) they are very few in number; 2) making common cause with someone is not the same as being friends; those candidates' support is overwhelmingly white protestant. The evangelical candidates who tweet "Happy Hannukah" are only superficially wishing Jews a happy holiday. In the main, they are attempting to show moderate white Christians that they are not anti-semitic.

The candiates doth protest too much. While I would not be so brash as to suggest that they are actually anti-semitic, I do believe that they don't really care one way or another about whether Jews enjoy Hannukah, and using a religious holiday for such a cynical political goal -- and, in their cases, to win an election so that they can enact laws that explicitly favor Christian interest groups -- is pandering of the most disgusting sort. In the words of comedian Rob Delaney, tonight those candidates can suck the first of eight circumcized cocks.

You Knew This Was Coming

Vaclav Havel died today. He led one of the most impressive and admirable lives of the 20th century. Kim Jong-Il also died today. Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Team America: World Police made fun of him and his meglomania so effectively that people who saw the movie basically couldn't look at him and keep a straight face ever again. Because of it, more Americans will probably remember Kim Jong-Il than Vaclav Havel, but I guess that's how it goes.

In Heavy Rotation

A few new albums have been in heavy rotation at Common Sense Dancing headquarters. Here is a sampling:

St. Vincent - "Actor"


Wild Flag - "Future Crimes"


Real Estate - "Easy"


Real Estate - "Wonder Years" (sadly, not a great recording)

Thank You, Internet! Vol. 2

What I can't even . . .

This cover of "Bad Romance," sung in Mandarin by a group of middle-aged Chinese people, is so hilariously weird that the Fig Leaf Gang from the "Yatta!" video is starting to get jealous. Don't worry, Fig Leaf Gang; these middle-aged Chinese people are still 3,050,000 views away from being a real threat.


Ah, fuck it -- let's watch "Yatta!" again for old time's sake:

You may say its juvenile, but I believe that it will never get old.

Thank You, Internet! Vol. 1

Miss Kentucky. Presented without further comment:

Money Talks, with John Hodgman

The opening credits alone - where Hodgman's face appears on a number of different currencies, including the Yen ("What is this, the eighties?") and the Peso ("Money never siestas"). Hodgman has reached the point where I basically start laughing as soon as he comes on screen, and this bit is no exception. Somewhat selfishly, I like how he introduces nerdy Yale stuff to a wider audience, admitting its ridiculousness while appreciating it for its, well, awesomeness. I wish I had a rich man's megaphone following me around, wearing white gloves and harmonizing.

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Men of a Certain Wage - Money Talks
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We're Back!

Its been a rough couple of months -- a month-long internet outage at CSD headquarters, a couple of out-of-town weddings (which were a lot of fun, but nonetheless had me away from my computer for a few days), followed by consecutive 60+hour work weeks.

During my time away, I've reconsidered my attitude towards blogging. From now on, I will update this blog less frequently, but (hopefully) with longer, more involved posts. But, for the time being, check out this awesome set from Wild Flag, whose self-titled debut album has been in heavy rotation at CSD headquarters since its September release. The band features Sleater-Kinney alumni Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss, and is introduced by NPR Music's Stephen Thompson, beloved by us for founding the AV Club, copyediting The Onion's Our Dumb Century, and general all-around awesomeness.

in which i tell you about something that isn't ironic or about popular culture

I was in transit from one errand to another in the western suburbs today when, in a large roundabout, about 6 cars ahead, A Lexus RX330 (that small SUV), rear ended a motorcyclist and then ran him over, trapping him under the car. I didn't see enough to know who was it fault, but it was gruesome.

Those who saw it pulled over and ran to the site. The motorcyclist was calling "lift it up, lift it up." so we attempted to lift it. Because at the start there were only 6 of us, we could not lift the SUV, but merely succeeded in compressing the springs--lifting the body but not the wheels. But as more and more people assembled, we tipped the car toward the driver's side to about a 45 degree angle (there was some debate about whether to tip it all the way over, but some sort of con census was reached not to do so). by then there were nurses on the scene to remove the man in a safe spinal position. and we lowered the car back down.

by the time the car was down, EMS personnel were there and were clearly in charge. So the crew of 20 or 30 men simply walked away not really saying anything to one another, got into our cars, and drove off, because we were blocking the roundabout.

Normally I would try to extrapolate this experience into something broader because I sort of hate unanalyzed anecdotes as a form of interaction. But none of the frames I can put on it really work. it was both miraculous and wrenching. Both a wonderful show of community and very isolating.

so we'll go with this as a broader moral: this is now the second man I have seen fall off a motorcycle at speed on a road. Jesus, those things are dangerous.

in which i try to seem discerning about sofia coppola

I have recently seen both Somewhere and Marie Antoinette. I like Sofia Coppola movies. They are easy on the eyes and palette, particularly if you are young, and privileged. But I can't shake the sense that all Sofia Coppola movies are about sofia coppola. She has an uncanny knack for showing that being young and pretty and rich is lonely and emotionally nuanced. But because it so clearly looks like she is telling the story of her own life, every time she gives her girls too much credit, it makes her look vain. like when the 11 year old Elle Fannings makes perfect eggs benedict for her louche father in the Chateau Marmont. 11 year olds can't make eggs benedict.

Marie antoinette worked a little better. The emotional similarities between the priveleges american teens and marie antoinette was interesting and empathetic. and the fact that kirsten dunst is pretty vapid totally worked. but it made her maturation into a brave royal at the end seem unearned. anyway, i'd watch another one. and then complain about it to you.

Also, are Sofia Coppola and Charlotte Gainsbourg occupying the same cultural niche? Famous father (Francis Ford and Serge). Early fame/scandal caused by father's placing them in limelight (godfather III and Lemon Incest). not really a bombshell but very beautiful in thier own way. Very cool and tasteful seeming life. Making artistic life for themselves separate from parent. and brunette.

The Hold Steady Covers All Sorts of Great Stuff

For this week's edition of "Undercover," CSD favorites The Hold Steady stopped by the AV Club's offices to perform Huey Lewis & The News' "The Power of Love." We've been waiting for The Hold Steady to make an appearance in the "Undercover" series, because the AV Club staff are all outspoken fans of theirs, and, though we didn't expect it to be Huey Lewis who they covered, the results are pretty cool nonetheless.

The Hold Steady covers Huey Lewis & The News
And, when it comes to Craig Finn covering catchy 80's songs, this cover of Elton John and Kiki Dee's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" that he sang with Frightened Rabbit

"It's Been A Tough Couple of Years For Condescending Nerds"

As John Hodgman explains, its been a tough couple of years for condescending nerds. He has a point -- all of those bookworm hipster douchebag types who used to work at records stores, then went to work at video stores once the record stores went out of business, then went to work at Borders once the video stores closed and became crystal meth dens now have to find somewhere else to work. Although, its worth noting that Nathan Rabin, Keith Phipps, Josh Modell, Noel Murray, and a number of the other AV Club critics worked in video stores, record stores, and movie theaters before becoming some of the most insightful and influential critics in the country, so maybe there's some hope for those guys after all.

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The Magicians, by Lev Grossman

Oh, how I loved this book. I enjoyed it so much that I limited myself to a chapter a day, so that I wouldn't get through it too quickly, because this was my only opportunity to read The Magicians for the first time, and I wanted to savor it. After twenty pages, I pre-ordered its sequel, The Magician King, which was released last Tuesday.

I've read very few fantasy novels in my adult life -- other than Neil Gaiman (who I love), I probably haven't read one since high school. This may be the novel that turns me on to the entire genre. Sometimes, when a fantasy novel is reviewed in the mainstream press, a reviewer will make a point of saying that, though it is a fantasy novel, adults can read it, too. In most instances -- for instance, the Harry Potter books, or the His Dark Materials trilogy -- the critics really mean "this young adult novel is so well-executed that adults can read it without embarassment." The Magicians, on the other hand, is a fantasy novel written for adults. Quentin, a nerdy, fantasy-loving know-it-all living in Brooklyn, goes to interview for Princeton University, only to find that the old man who was to interview him had died shortly before Quentin arrived. A paramedic hands Quentin an envelope, apparently left for him by the old man. Quentin opens the envelope, and a note flitters out, deep into a community garden. Quentin enters the garden to search for the note, and finds himself whisked away to Brakebills, a magic school on the Hudson River in upstate New York, inspired by Hogwarts, Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, and other famous fictional magic academies. Quentin's entrance exam, equal parts written and practical, is a gorgeous, laugh-out-loud funny set piece that could stand alone as a short story in a prestigious liteary anthology. Besides Quentin, only two other students pass, out of hundreds sitting for it. That test earns Quentin one of the twenty seats in the first year class at Brakebills. Only then does Quentin realize that the entrance exam was the easy part.

The Magicians is also noteworthy for its dark psychology and attention to detail. How many books attempt to reconcile the bizarre combination of medieval, Victorian, and modern technology found in most fantasy novels? In how many fantasy novels is one of the main characters a self-loathing homosexual? When you encounter a talking bear, should you be surprised that it primarily wants to talk about honey? If magicians did exist, how would they find meaning and avoid depression in a world in almost everything came to them easily, where they could, for example, coax money from an ATM with a simple spell? The Macigians' characters struggle with these problems, the, um, "real world" (?) implications of magic, which I haven't seen a fantasy story discuss in depth. The novel's only drawback is that some of Quentin's friends are familiar "types," but they're all real-world types, and none of them are the sort of pure, virginal teenagers who populate other fantasy novels. I can't wait to see how those characters grow and evolve in the next two books in the series.

In Which I Subscribe to NPR's Concert Series and End Up Falling In Love With Adele

Last week, All Songs Considered hosts and NPR music editors Bob Boilen and Stephen Thompson commemorated the 150th installment of NPR's "Tiny Desk Concert" series. These concerts, held at Bob Boilen's desk in NPR's office bullpen, typically consist of three songs sung without microphones and with spare accompaniment, in front of NPR's employees, who sit in a semi-circle just feet away from the musicians. They are as intimate as any concert you are ever going to see broadcast. Clips of ALL 150 CONCERTS are now available on YouTube.

Some of my favorite groups, like Phoenix and Neko Case, but I most enjoy the concert series for the way in which it exposes me to artists to whom I have never - and probably otherwise would never - listen. One such singer is Adele. I've never disliked Adele; it was more that I was never really consciously exposed to her music; it never seemed like my sort of thing. I probably would never have listened to her without the Tiny Desk concert series, but . . . man. At the risk of throwing away years of hard-earned bookworm hipster douchebag credibility, Adele can really sing. Her voice is a magnificent instrument - even without a microphone, she basically blows the ears off of everybody in the audience. Few singers have pipes like hers; she is in the rarefied company of Neko Case and Alicia Keys. Like Amy Winehouse, her songs have callbacks to classic soul, but without being self-consciously retro. Basically, I think this video will charm your pants off.

Site Update

Over the past couple of days, I've made a few cosmetic changes to the blog. This site has been "optimized" to run on mobile devices, so it should look better on your tablets and Blackberries. Also, for what its worth, we have updated the "Common Sense Dancing Recommends" section to showcase some of the cool things we've read, seen, and heard this summer.

Cut Copy at the Prospect Park Bandshell

Unbeknownst to me when I wrote about them three weeks ago, the Australian dance-pop band Cut Copy played an outdoor concert in Prospect Park this past week as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn concert series.

The videos that have been posted to YouTube are of variable length and quality; unfortunately, most of the videos that show an entire song from start to finish have poor sound quality. This clip, featuring most of "Lights and Music," seems to capture the energy of the show. The enthusiasm and audience participation is good to see -- even in a irony-heavy place like Brooklyn, Cut Copy, like Phoenix and Robyn and a select few others, can inspire the sort of unbridled enthusiasm that the cool kids are normally too self-conscious (-ly hip?) to exhibit.

Bob Mould and The Decemberists cover "If I Can't Change Your Mind"!!!

Can a musician "cover" a song that was originally performed by a group of which he was a member? Rock legend and all-around hardcore old guy Bob Mould certainly believes so; he 'covered' "If I Can't Change Your Mind," by his former band Sugar, as part of The AV Club's "Undercover" series. Its good to see that Mould is still killing it well into his fifties.

Bob Mould "covers" Sugar
But that's not the coolest part. AV Club favorites The Decemberists expressed interest in covering "If I Can't Change Your Mind," more or less simultaneously with Mould, and, rather than refuse of the most critically acclaimed bands in indie music, they let the Decemberists cover it, too (which is probably more in keeping with the original idea for the series). The end result sounds more like The Decemberists than it does like Sugar, but that's one of the things about great songs - they open themselves up for any number of interpretations.

The Decemberists cover Sugar

This Is How You Do It

Long-time readers of this blog know that, in our bright college younger and more vulnerable years, 2/3rds of us rowed competitively for our college rowing teams. None of us follow the sport as closely as we once did, but, from time to time, an extraordinarily cool race or surprising result catches our attention.

Late last month, the United States won the men's eight at the World Under-23 championshpis, leading the race wire-to-wire and finishing in a truly impressive (if wind-assisted) time of 5:24. (By comparison, the world record, set by the United States in the 2004 Olympics, is a wind-assisted 5:19, and has rarely been approached since). It showcased the talents of the next generation of United States Olympians, and was just a kick-ass race from a program that, in recent years, has failed to reach the heights it achieved in the middle of the last decade. You don't have to be a competitive rower to appreciate how bad-ass these guys are.

If More Prayers Were Like This, I Would Go To Church

Pastor Joe Nelms' pre-race prayer at a recent NASCAR race in Nashville, Tennessee is a classic of American oratory, on par with anything delivered by Jonathan Edwards or Cotton Mather. Okay, maybe not - those guys never publicly thanked God for their smoking hot" wives, and would probably have asked the Lord to bless the drivers so that they could deliver a performance worthy of Him, instead of a performance worthy of "this great track." Even so,

The Best Thing About True Blood

HBO's True Blood, which is about vampires, or Anna Paquin's breasts or whatever, often plays covers of classic pop songs over its final credits. Some of those covers are performed by really interesting combinations of musicians. The first episode of the show's fourth season had two CSD favorites, alt-country songbird Neko Case and bad-ass Australian rocker Nick Cave, singing a duet on The Zombies' "She's Not There." The song is both pretty and creepy (a lot of mid-60's pop songs were like that, when you think about it) and Case and Cave's voices cover the pretty partsa and the creepy parts with equal conviction. Its such an unorthodox pairing that, in a way, I'm surprised somebody hadn't gotten them together before now. In any event, here's the song. Its also available on iTunes.


Here is The Zombies' original:

Very Deep In America

The author Lorrie Moore (who's short story collection Like Life is currently making its way around CSD headquaters) reviews Friday Night Lights in her essay, "Very Deep in America," published in the latest issue of the New York Review of Books. It is the best review of the series (and the movie adaptation of Buzz Bissinger's book that preceded it) that I've read.

Cut Copy Breaks Through at the 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival

According to just about every music writer in North America, the big surprise at last week's Pitchfork Music Festival was the Australian electronic pop band Cut Copy. Cut Copy, which is squarely in the tradition of imported techno groups like Daft Punk and Air, has been around for almost a decade, but they've really only gained popularity in the United States over the past couple of years. Since their 2008 album In Ghost Colours, they've been building gaining popularity as one of those bands that critics love, and casual fans either enjoy or haven't heard of. Hopefully, between the popularity of their tour and the success of their recent album Zonoscope, Cut Copy may have broken down the door on which they've been knocking for years. I, for one, hope so - I am almost physically unable to keep my feet from tapping while I listen to this song:

This Is How You Do Street Art

Its true. Big thanks to Ellen Wernecke at Wormbook for, somehow, finding this image in the far recesses of the internet.