The Unknown: The xx and JJ

Two of the hottest bands this late summer are the goth-folk experience known as the xx...and the world-influenced bubble pop of JJ. Their success is due to the simplified approach to music making...that bigger isn't necessarily better. And the brevity of their names is a perfect example of how little you need to do to get your point across. But they are not the first to try their hand at the double letter naming...in fact there are already a long line of suitors.

The xx: Stars

JJ: My Hopes and Dreams

Here are the 11 best double letter artists:

1. B.B. King
2. LL Cool J
3. ZZ Top
4. Dee Dee Ramone (okay...a little cheat)
5. A. A. Bondy
6. C.C. Deville (Poison)
7. GG Allin
8. TT Quick
9. AAVV
10. WW
11. PP Arnold

Buy debut albums from the xx and JJ now.

The Unknown: An Evening with Conor Oberst, Jim James, and M. Ward (Part 2)

Here's part 2 to the show...

Make sure you go out and buy the indie supergroup's new album...Monsters of Folk. for this week only...$4 on my store.

And if you're not...follow us on Twitter.

Here is part 2 of An Evening with Conor Oberst, Jim James and M. Ward:

Conor Oberst's set

17. Train Under Water

18. Going For Gold

19. Soon You Will Be Leaving Your Mom

20. A Celebration Upon Completion

21. We Are Nowhere and It's Now

22. One Foot In Front Of Another

23. Lua

24. Waste of Paint

All three together

25. Seashell Tale

26. Always on My Mind

27. Laura Laurant

28. At Dawn

29. At The Bottom of Everything

30. Girl From North Country

Buy The Monsters of Folk...this week only for less than $4.

The Unknown: An Evening with Conor Oberst, Jim James, and M. Ward

In 2004, three icons of the indie rock movement (Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and M. Ward) got together and performed an intimate folk concert. Who knew that 5 years later, the three (four including Mike Mogis) would get together to put out one of the most anticipated albums of 2009? Well, today's the day that the album finally lands on our computer. To celebrate its arrival...here's part one of that show that started it all. Thanks to Captain's Dead for the original post on it...one of our favorite sites on the net.

Make sure you go out and buy the new album...Monsters of Folk. This week only, it's available for a measly $3.99 from our store.

Make sure you follow us on Twitter!!

An Evening with Conor Oberst, Jim James, and Conor Oberst:

M. Ward's Performance

1. Fuel For Fire

2. Deut For Guitars #3

3. Let's Dance (Bowie)

4. Undertaker

5. Helocopter

6. O'Brien/O'Brien's Nocturn

7. Vincent O'Brien

8. Outta My Head

Jim James' performance

9. One in the Same

10. Unknown Song

11. I Can't Wait

12. Where To Begin

13. How Could I Know

14. The Bear

15. Bermuda Highway

16. Golden

Buy the Monsters of Folk for only $3.99 ...for this week only.

The 11 Best Pearl Jam Songs (00s):

It was a tough call on a couple tracks this time around. "Brother" is technically a Ten-era outtake...but did not get a full release until the Ten Remaster from this year. So where does it belong? The 90s or 00s? I was going to leave it in the 90s...but it had no effect on the 90s and didn't get the proper mastering until just this year...and actually received some decent radio play. Tons are songs are written by bands and sit for years on the shelf...then don't get the proper exposure until years...sometimes decades later. The official release of "Brother" was given to us in the 00s...so the 00s is should remain. "Hold On" was a similar debate. It's an Vs. era track that didn't get released until 03. Since it never saw the light as a B-side or Japanese bonus track...it also remains a part of this decade. But it doesn't make the list because it lost a coin toss to "Unemployable."

Make sure you follow us on Twitter!!

Here are the 11 Best Pearl Jam Songs (00s):

1. All or None (Riot Act)

2. Insignificance (Binaural)

3. Inside Job (Pearl Jam)

4. Brother (Ten Remaster)

5. Sad (Lost Dogs - Binaural B-Side)

6. Grievance (Binaural)

7. World Wide Suicide (Pearl Jam)

8. Save You (Riot Act)

9. Thin Air (Binaural)

10. Unemployable (Pearl Jam)

11. Love, Reign O'er Me (Reign Over Me)

Buy Pearl Jam's new album Backspacer....now.

The 11 Best Pearl Jam Songs (90s):

With the Beatles Rock Band and Pearl Jam's exclusive deal at Target...the term "sell-out" is getting thrown around way too much. "Sell-out" should really be the term that describes a band who was on the outside looking in that sold their principles to get a good seat on the bus. For example...if Fugazi all of sudden hired Will.I.Am to produce their album of hip-pop for an exclusive deal at Walmart about how wonderful corporate America is...then they would sell-outs. Pearl Jam is already popular. They don't need Target...in fact, they don't need anyone. If anything, Target needs them more than they need it. And you can still buy Backspacer at itunes...so it's not that exclusive. Physical CDs are going away fast. Having a physical CD is a token of a past social meme. But if you do go out and buy the disc, the band is rewarding everyone with a free download of 2 Pearl Jam concerts of your choice. And they're Pearl Jam concerts...so they're not short. That's helluva a lot music for the price of one CD. Giving away free concerts doesn't make you a sell-out...if anything, it shows you're still as true to the fans as you've ever been.

Here are the 11 Best Pearl Jam Songs (90s):

1. Porch (Ten) 2. Black (Ten)

3. Animal (Vs.)

4. Not For You (Vitalogy)

5. Rearviewmirror (Vs.)

6. Corduroy (Vitalogy)

7. Alive (Ten)

8. I Got Id (Merkinball)

9. Indifference (Vs.)

10. Yellow Ledbetter (Ten B-Side)

11. Do The Evolution (Yield)

Buy the new Pearl Jam album, Backspacer now. Get two free concert downloads with purchase!

The 11 Best Q-Tip Songs

Q-Tip's new album is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with the music industry. I'm not saying that the music industry can't do anything right...they're just more skilled at doing things wrong. See, Q's album is not actually a new album...it's an old album that's been sitting around since 2001. Why? Because it's a concept jazz-infused hip-hop album without a break-out single which makes it impossible to promote...in their eyes. To the record label, singles are what makes an album successful. And in the 90s that worked. But now we have itunes...and for the past decade...the labels have been still pushing singles over albums...and what has happened? Album sales have plummeted. If you heavily promote a single over an album, people will just go buy that 99 cent single without buying the album. Why spend $10 if you only want one song? That's what people are doing...and the labels are left scratching their heads about the decline in album sales.

Because Q's album marketing plan was too difficult of an egg to crack...the album sat and sat and sat. Meanwhile, for years it was traded...downloaded...burned to anyone who wanted it. An internet frenzy that called it nothing short of a masterpiece. All the while, the lable lost thousands...if not millions of dollars on album sales. It's hard to feel bad for the guy with one leg who shot himself in the foot.

Since Q-Tip's people are running around taking down all the Q-Tip posts with MP3s...nothing for today...which means...I don't have to provide a link where you can buy it. Sorry Q, if you're going to punch me in the back...I'm not going to scratch yours.

Here are the 11 Best Q-Tip Songs:

1. Vibrant Thing (Amplified)

2. Getting Up (The Renaissance)

3. Move (The Renaissance)

4. Let's Ride (Amplified)

5. Official (The Renaissance)

6. Johnny Is Dead (The Renaissance)

7. Things U Do (Amplified)

8. Dance on Glass (The Renaissance)

9. Life Is Better (The Renaissance)

10. Breathe and Stop (Amplified)

11. N.T. (Amplified)

Buy Q-Tip's recently (and finally officially) released album, Kamaal the Abstract.

The 11 Best Songs By Muse

I watched the VMAs this Sunday. Not because I wanted to but felt like I had to. I've watched every year since it began...and despite its recent sucking...I can't give up now. This year was not nearly as bad as the last couple years...and yes, Obama is right about one thing...Kanye West is a jackass. But I noticed one thing about the awards...about the reason why it's just not that exciting anymore...it's because there's nothing exciting about it. Green Day gave the best performance. And as much as I like Green Day...15 years ago...they gave almost the exact same performance...and it was the throwaway performance...now it's the centerpiece. Where are the Nirvanas who perform snippets of songs like Rape Me...just to get the censors worried? Where is the bassist of Rage Against the Machine? Where are the duets with Bruce Springsteen and Axl Rose? You gave us Joe Perry and Katy Perry. That was just embarrassing. Has anyone told her that she can't sing? The Janet/MJ dance was good for what it was...but that Single Ladies song and the video are honestly not that good. MTV needs to stop being so homogenuous...and start being daring again. Where is the channel that gave Neil Young video of the year for a video no one had ever seen? MTV used to set the trends...now they not only follow trends...and it's so sadly blatant it seems like they're basically kissing the trends' ass. MTV is no longer in front...and they need to realize...the longer they lag behind...the more likely they'll get left behind.

Follow us on Twitter!

The 11 Best Songs By Muse:

1. Hysteria (Absolution)

2. Map of the Problematique (Black Holes and Revelations)

3. Time is Running Out (Absolution)

4. Assassin (Black Holes and Revelations)

5. Butterflies and Hurricanes (Absolution)

6. Citizen Erased (Origin of Symmetry)

7. Starlight (Black Holes and Revelations)

8. Supermassive Black Hole (Black Holes and Revelations)

9. Knights of Cydonia (Black Holes and Revelations)

10. Showbiz (Showbiz)

11. Ruled By Secrecy (Absolution)

Buy Muse's new album, The Resistance.

The 11 Best Songs By Pete Yorn

Over the next few weeks (probably months) I'll be making the jump to my new site. It's already up and running and mirror image of this one. You can check it out here (www.goodbadunknown.com). I'm still learning how to use Wordpress...so that's been the delay.

I've also started using Twitter for this site...you can add me via (goodbadunknown).

Also visit my Amazon store, where I feature albums (and more) from this blog...with some really good deals. (including the new Pete Yorn/Scarlett Johansson for only $2.99).

It's Pete Yorn's second album of 2009. Don't be discouraged by his last homogenic endeavor, this time around he's brought Scarlett Johansson to win us all back.

The 11 Best Songs By Pete Yorn:

1. Lose You (Music For The Morning After)

2. Strange Condition (Music For The Morning After)

3. Murray (Music For The Morning After)

4. Undercover (Nightcrawler)

5. For Nancy (Music For The Morning After)

6. Splendid Isolation (Nightcrawler)

7. Committed (The Day I Forgot)

8. Life On A Chain (Music For The Morning After)

9. Crystal Village (The Day I Forgot)

10. China Girl (B-Side)

11. Paradise Cove (Back & Forth)

Buy Pete's new album with Scarlett Johansson, Break Up. Get it now from my Amazon site for only $2.99. That's cheaper than a ringback tone. Man, I'm such a whore.

The 11 Best Jay-Z Guest Spots

The first Sunday of the 2009/10 NFL season has come to a close. Sunday's games were more grind-it-out exhibitions than scoring frenzies. Is this a clue to the season that is to come?..if so...it's going to be a very tough one to decipher. Or...is the fact the teams are still settling into their new line-ups? Leftwich and Gonzales are now a Falcons, Orton a Bronco, Cutler a Bear, TJ a Seahawk...and Favre a Viking??? It'll be especially interesting to see how these new roles pan out...or if they're merely roadstops onto another pasture.

If you haven't picked up Blueprint 3...it's only $3.99 right now. That's nothing for one of the last great hip-hop artists.

The 11 Best Jay-Z Guest Spots:

1. Encore - Linkin Park/Jay-Z (Collision Coourse)

2. Never Let Me Down - Kanye West ft. Jay-Z (The College Drop-Out)

3. Crazy in Love - Beyonce ft. Jay-Z (Dangerously In Love)

4. Diamonds From Sierra Leone - Kanye West ft. Jay-Z (Late Registration)

5. Flip Flop Rock - Outkast ft. Jay-Z (Speakerboxxx/The Love Below)

6. Mr. Carter - Lil Wayne ft. Jay-Z (Tha Carter III)

7. Frontin' - Pharrell ft. Jay-Z (The Neptunes Present)

8. Black Republican - Nas ft. Jay-Z (Hip Hop Is Dead)

9. Dear Summer - Memphis Bleek ft. Jay-Z (534)

10. 8 Miles and Running - Freeway ft. Jay-Z (8 Mile)

11. Umbrella - Rhianna ft. Jay-Z (Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded)

buy the Blueprint 3. Now. don't wait...it's almost sold out. cause it's only $3.99!!!!

The 11 Best Songs By The Beatles

Do I dare? What's the worst that could happen?

And yeah...I'm not stupid. No MP3s on this one.

The 11 Best Songs By The Beatles:

1. Day in the Life (Sgt. Peppers)
2. Let It Be (Let It Be)
3. Revolution (fast version) (Non-Album)
4. Yesterday (Help!)
5. Something (Abbey Road)
6. Hey Jude (Non-Album)
7. Help! (Help!)
8. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (The Beatles)
9. A Hard Day's Night (A Hard Day's Night)
10. For No One (Revolver)
11. I Am the Walrus (Magical Mystery Tour)

Buy the Beatles' Rock Band and Remasters now!

The 11 Best Songs By Jay-Z

Are the Beatles sell outs? I have friends that think it's disgusting that the Beatles have their own video game. But how is having video game make you a sell out? The Beatles are entertainers. Video games are entertainment. How is combining the two a negative thing? And this is the Beatles we're talking about. The most shrewd businessmen in the music biz (second only to Gene Simmons). The Beatles have board games, comic books, neck ties, lunch boxes, action figures, movies, shoes, music videos, purses, teapots, etc....yet a video game...that's selling out?

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Jay-Z:

1. Brooklyn's Finest (Reasonable Doubt)

2. Heart of the City (Ain't No Love) - (The Blueprint)

3. Dead Presidents (Reasonable Doubt)

4. 99 Problems (The Black Album)

5. The Blueprint 2 (The Blueprint 2: The Curse)

6. Roc Boys (American Gangster)

7. Do You Wanna Ride (Kingdom Come)

8. Song Cry (The Blueprint)

9. Hard Knock Life (Hark Knock Life)

10. The City is Mine (In My Lifetime)

11. Politics As Usual (Reasonable Doubt)

Buy Jay-Z's new album The Blueprint 3...dropping a whole 3 days early.

The 11 Best Songs By The Drive-By Truckers

With Labor Day upon us, it's time to spotlight one of the hardest working bands in the music industry. The Drive By Truckers. Through line-up changes and toying with major label stardom, the band has remained true to the gritty, man of the south sound they burst on the scene shouting. This past week saw DBT release a collection of B-Side and unreleased Tracks called, A Fine Print. Where most bands b-sides are collection of nice tries and near misses...A Fine Print stands sturdy and as complete as anything the band has ever done.

Here are the 11 Best Drive-By Truckers songs:

1. My Sweet Annette(Decoration Day)
2. The Day John Henry Died(The Dirty South)
3. The Sands of Iwo Jima (The Dirty South)
4. Margo and Harold (Pizza Deliverance)
5. The Righteous Path (Brighter than Creation's Dark)
6. Ronnie and Neil (Southern Rock Opera)
7. Puttin' People on the Moon(The Dirty South)
8. Sink Hole (Decoration Day)
9. Boys From Alabama (The Dirty South)
10. Where The Devil Don't Stay (The Dirty South)
11. Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife (Brighter Than Creation's Dark)

Buy The Drive By Truckers new album of rare tracks, A Fine Print.

The 111 Best Albums of the 00s (1-11):

In creating the top 11, it really comes down to finding albums that weren't only great but also helped define the musical landscape of the decade. These ablums don't need a lot of explanation of why they were chosen. If you haven't heard these discs...then you likely were in a coma for the Bush years. It's only fitting in my opinion, that the most potent artist of this decade (Jay-z) opens the decade with the Blueprint...and closes it with the Blueprint 3.0. I've been racking my brain...trying to come up with something clever to say that sums up the decade musically...but when sitting down to finally write it...I think letting the music play...just speaks for itself.

NOW...it's your turn....

What are your top 11 albums of the 2000s???

The 111 Best Albums of the 00s (1-11):

1. Jay-Z - The Blueprint (2001)
2. Wilco - Yankee Foxtrot Hotel (2002) - War on War
3. The White Stripes - Elephant (2003) - Seven Nation Army
4. Coldplay - Parachutes (2000) - Yellow
5. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)
6. Beck - Sea Change (2002) - Lost Cause
7. Green Day - American Idiot (2004) - American Idiot
8. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007) - Reckoner
9. Kanye West - College Drop-Out (2004)
10. The Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004) - Laika
11. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)

    
    

    Buy these albums now!

The Unknown: The Black Crowes - Rustic Cabin in an Evergreen Woods

Some bands can't do it. They need songwriters, producers, mastering, and guest vocalists to make their albums worthy. Put these bands on a stage with only their instruments and their voices to carry them...and most flop harder than fat guy on a high dive. That's what amazes me most about the Black Crowes. Here's a band that just writes good music. Kind like what bands used to do back in the day. How novel. On their new album (Before The Frost)...they perform all their songs live in a studio session inside a barn. That's right...inside a freaking barn!!! Take that Fall Out Boy. It's not only one album's worth of material...it's two. That's right a blues rock album and country album. And it's only $3.99. Linkin Park's new album was $14.99 and it was only 36 minutes of music. Guess which band is overcompensating.

The Black Crowes - Rustic Cabin in an Evergreen Woods

1. Rainy Day Woman #12 and #35
2. Don't Wake Me
3. Waitin' Guilty
4. Somebody's On Your Case
5. 99 lbs.
6. Song of the Flesh
7. Just Say You're Sorry
8. Sunday Buttermilk Waltz
9. It Must Be Over
10. You Don't Have to Go
11. Mellow Down Easy

12. Darling of the Underground Press

Buy The Black Crowes new album (Before The Frost...Until the Freeze) now for only $3.99. Come on people...you can't beat that deal with a baseball bat. (I don't know what that means)

The 11 Best Songs By The Black Crowes

Why are airlines nickel and diming people? On a recent American flight, I was charged $3 for a movie, $5 for a lunch, $2 for a blanket, and $3 for a bottle of water. Like seriosuly...you couldn't just raise the price of the ticket $10...and then given me the stuff for free? To me, this is insulting. Because...you have no other choices. You're stuck on the plane...and instead of making the customer feel comfortable...they make the customer feel like an unwelcome guest. And if I feel like an unwelcome guest...why in the world would I want to come back? If you want your customers to return...wouldn't you want to woo them with free things? Make them feel special. Look at Disney...they were struggling...then told people they could come to the park free on their birthdays...and guess what? Business is booming.

Well, the new Black Crowes (Before the Frost) comes out this week...actually it came out yesterday...in hopes for Grammy gold, I assume. And on Amazon...it's only $3.99. That's 20 cents a song. Anyone who's a fan...whoever was a fan...this is a brillant move. I bought the album without listening to a single track. The deal was just too good to pass up. And you know what...it was well worth it.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By The Black Crowes:

1. Remedy (Southern Harmony and Musical Companion)

2. She Talks To Angels (Shake Your Money Maker)

3. Jealous Again (Shake Your Money Maker)

4. Wiser Time (Amorica)

5. Hard To Handle (Shake Your Money Maker)

6. Seeing Things (Shake Your Money Maker)

7. Descender (Amorica)

8. Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution (Warpaint)

9. Waitin Guilty (B-Side)

10. My Morning Song (Southern Harmony and Musical Companion)

11. Oh Jospehine (Warpaint)

Buy The Black Crowes new album, Before the Frost...Until the Freeze. It's only $3.99 this week. That's .20 cents a song. Seriously the best deal out there. Ever.