In the Summertime (The Rural Alberta Advantage)-Mt. Pleasant

In the Summertime-Mt. Pleasant from Ryan Connors on Vimeo.

Videos From The Clap 2009

Something Vague-Mt. Pleasant from Ryan Connors on Vimeo.

A Christmas Welcome!!

A Christmas Welcome from Ryan Connors on Vimeo.

More Videos To Come

Thanksgiving...Check. Christmas, You're Next!

Thanksgiving was great. Better than can be expected. Its unusual to have something great occur with something you really look forward to, close behind.
I hope you get a real tree this year...
Butterscotch Sundae...I guess (post)-And Where Do You Get Your Tree

Frightened Rabbit Is Cooler Than You

Their new cd will be out sometime in March. Here is one of the songs that I think will be on that cd. Stereogum has a link to three new songs, Swim Until You Can't See Land is one of them.

The Guy from Freaks and Geeks and The Dude From The Frames and The Piano Player From Once

I would say 30% of this little project involves me looking at other sites and borrowing the videos they post. This doesn't bother me because I sift through the nonsense and give you the important stuff. And its all very important...
Jason Segel, staring in such comedies as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Knocked Up and I Love You Man, is a funny man and here he is with the lead singer of the Frames and that chick from that "feel good" flick called Once.

Polar Bears Will Die

This was taken last year during Thanksgiving and its just a 30 second clip, but you can imagine how great this was in it's entirety.

The League

I think that a good television show is few and far between these days. At first glance you wouldn't think that The League, a 30 minute show based on Fantasy Football would be that sweet...or maybe you would. I am here to tell you that it is sweet, and funny, and that you should start watching it right away. There have been only two shows so far. Take a look and decide for yourself
The League airs at 930 after Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FX.

Another Performance of Two by The Antlers

This is one of the better songs this year. I can tell because I have listened to it back to back on several occasions.

AON Sessions: The Antlers, "Two" from All Our Noise on Vimeo.

A Users Guide to The Life Of The World To Come-The Mountain Goats

The disection of albums might be one of the most annoying things to read or listen to. With that being said I wanted to look at the bible verses that went along with each song. Way to early to talk in definitives with this album, but its hard to not say its one of the best.

-Track 1 1 Samuel 15:23
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has rejected you as king."

-Track 2 Psalm 40:2
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand

-Track 3 Genesis 3:23
23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

-Track 4 Philippians 3:20-21
20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

-Track 5 Hebrews 11:14
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.

-Track 6 Genesis 30:3
3 Then she said, "Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family."

-Track 7 Romans 10:9
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

-Track 8 1 John 4:16
16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

-Track 9 Matthew 25:21
21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

-Track 10 Deuteronomy 2:10
10 (The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites

-Track 11 Isaiah 45:23
23 By myself I have sworn,
my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.

-Track 12 Ezekiel 7
The End Has Come (I only posted the entire thing because it is pretty great and scary...like what is war if it is against everyone)
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says to the land of Israel: The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. 3 The end is now upon you and I will unleash my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. 4 I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I will surely repay you for your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
5 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Disaster! An unheard-of [a] disaster is coming. 6 The end has come! The end has come! It has roused itself against you. It has come! 7 Doom has come upon you—you who dwell in the land. The time has come, the day is near; there is panic, not joy, upon the mountains. 8 I am about to pour out my wrath on you and spend my anger against you; I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. 9 I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I will repay you in accordance with your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that it is I the LORD who strikes the blow.
10 "The day is here! It has come! Doom has burst forth, the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed! 11 Violence has grown into [b] a rod to punish wickedness; none of the people will be left, none of that crowd—no wealth, nothing of value. 12 The time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller grieve, for wrath is upon the whole crowd. 13 The seller will not recover the land he has sold as long as both of them live, for the vision concerning the whole crowd will not be reversed. Because of their sins, not one of them will preserve his life. 14 Though they blow the trumpet and get everything ready, no one will go into battle, for my wrath is upon the whole crowd.
15 "Outside is the sword, inside are plague and famine; those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague. 16 All who survive and escape will be in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valleys, each because of his sins. 17 Every hand will go limp, and every knee will become as weak as water. 18 They will put on sackcloth and be clothed with terror. Their faces will be covered with shame and their heads will be shaved. 19 They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be an unclean thing. Their silver and gold will not be able to save them in the day of the LORD's wrath. They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it, for it has made them stumble into sin. 20 They were proud of their beautiful jewelry and used it to make their detestable idols and vile images. Therefore I will turn these into an unclean thing for them. 21 I will hand it all over as plunder to foreigners and as loot to the wicked of the earth, and they will defile it. 22 I will turn my face away from them, and they will desecrate my treasured place; robbers will enter it and desecrate it.
23 "Prepare chains, because the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of violence. 24 I will bring the most wicked of the nations to take possession of their houses; I will put an end to the pride of the mighty, and their sanctuaries will be desecrated. 25 When terror comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none. 26 Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor upon rumor. They will try to get a vision from the prophet; the teaching of the law by the priest will be lost, as will the counsel of the elders. 27 The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their own standards I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the LORD."

Trip To The Record Store

I think its worth mentioning, any time you have a good trip to the record store. There have been plenty of times that I go in with excitement at the thought of coming away with 2 or 3 cds I have been looking forward to owning. There are times I walk away as disappointed as a kid who finds out that Wally World or California is closed and other times that I walk away having that excitement fulfilled in the form of new music. This weekend I had a great trip to Euclid Records (my proximity replacement for Vintage Vinyl). I went in looking to pick up the Mountain Goats new album, which I did, and find to be great. Also went in looking for Built to Spill-There Is No Enemy, which I also found and have been very pleased with so far. I would go as far as saying that it is great as well. Picked up Monsters of Folk because I felt I had to and I haven't given it much of a listen yet. The fourth was The Avett Brothers-I and Love and You. This was the surprise purchase of the trip. If you have the time and the money you should pick it up, especially if you have been complaining about your music collection for as long as you can remember.
I will refrain from giving any review other than the following
The Mountain Goats-The Life of the World To Come-I don't know if there is a more unique songwriter today than John Darnielle.
Monsters of Folk-No Opinion so far
Built To Spill-There Is No Enemy-Maybe my favorite of the bunch
Avett Brothers-surprisingly great

Townes Van Zandt

I bought a Townes Van Zandt cd years ago and listened to it once then never again until recently. The record is High Low and In Between and I believe it was released in 1972. I had always heard that Townes Van Zandt was regarded as one of the best songwriters that there is, but never gave him much of a chance. He is closer to folk than country, but some of his stuff is as country as it gets. He was from Texas, drank a lot, did heroin more (he tried to sell all the rights to his songs for 20 bucks when he needed some drugs) and ended up dying at the age of 52.
Steve Earle once said "Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that". That might be a stretch, but he is pretty great.

Townes Van Zandt [mp3] You Are Not Needed Now

Preview New Mountain Goats

Listen to the new Mountain Goats album here. Also watch them on the Colbert Report on October 6. You can also buy the album on this date

The Mountain Goats-The Life Of The World To Come @ Colbert Nation

Top Albums of the Decade

What are your favorite 10 albums of the last 10 years? I can't answer it right now, but I plan to answer it within the next couple days. The list will come out tomorrow (this has been inspired by Pitchforks top 200 or so albums of the decade) or the next day or the next. I am trying to get this done by soon so I am not influenced adversely by their efforts to impress. The year 2000 (cue Conan OBrien and Andy Richter with flashlights and space helmets) was a long long time ago and I will have to double check dates on some of my favorite records. I do know that Kid A was released in 2000 and that was one fine piece of music.

Please add your favorite albums as we go along.

1. Radiohead-Kid A
I think this might be one of the best albums ever made. That is a huge statement but I stand by it. To me this record is a new definition of what music is. I read in a Chuck Klosterman book (can't remember which one) that if you listen to the first 5 or 6 tracks of this album and picture all the events that took place on 9-11 that it fits in a very eerie kind of way)
2. Interpol-Turn Off The Bright Lights
This album feels like a great winter record to me. NYC is one of my favorite songs and in it has one of my favorite lines comparing the subway to a porno. Their next two albums have been alright, but haven't been able to live up to how good this one is.
3. Wolf Parade-Apologies to the Queen
Its amazing and they have come out with some great albums after this one, but none of them (Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs) have been better. Great songwriting and great sounds.
4. Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
I thought Summerteeth was a great cd. And then Yankee Hotel Foxtrot came out and I was pretty much blown away like everyone else. Mainly, because it sounded so different from what they had done in the past.
5. Mountain Goats-Sunset Tree
John Darnielle is one of the top 5 songwriters ever.
6. Arcade Fire-Funeral
There is something kind of spooky about this band and the stuff they do. I can't quite explain it. Laura says they are militant and we both say they are awesome.
7. Band of Horses-Everything All The Time
This record makes me want to vandalize.
8. The Thermals-The Body, The Blood, The Machine
No matter what this band does, nothing can be better than this cd. If you don't have it you should buy it. I think that this is a record that almost everyone will enjoy.
9. Modest Mouse-The Moon and Antarctica
Modest Mouse is one of my favorite bands and this is one of my favorite albums of theirs. Its not their best (The Lonesome Crowded West) but its their best in the 2000's.
10. Bright Eyes-Lifted
This cd feels like a Wes Anderson movie to me. There really isn't another album, that I have heard, that has the kind of feel this one does. Can't really explain it so I won't. If you listen to it you will understand. Its pretty great

Backspacer

As the posts of top villains have come to a standstill I will take some time to talk about important music. Pearl Jam and their new release Backspacer. Since No Code has been released, maybe Yield, I have been trying to figure out where the greatest rock band of the Post Rolling Stones era fits in to the music world. I know where they arrange themselves in my world and that is firmly at the top. As mentioned previously, a new band can be currently "the greatest music I have ever heard" (a typical overenthusiastic overstatement), but prefaced with the note that Pearl Jam is the greatest band of all time. They are our Rolling Stones, our Led Zepplin.

Critics seem to be tired of their act and that is not surprising because critics, whether they admit it or not, are out to "make a band famous" or at least relevant (go to any music "blog" and see what I mean**). A critic has nothing to gain by praising Pearl Jam. They are giants, they are Mount Olympus, they are outer space. They can't get bigger so there is no motivation to "sing their praise", plus if an artist isn't -reinventing music itself- then it is thought of as pedestrian ...kind of laughable really (this gets into music snobbery and that is a post all to itself). My point here isn't to highlight the ridiculousness of music critics because their absurdity is evident; my purpose is to talk about a great album and a greater band. How can a band be greater than the albums they put out? They put on amazing live performances that take a great studio recording and blow it up in a chemistry set.

Backspacer is the best Pearl Jam album since No Code. It contains all the great things you want from a PJ album. The first three songs rattle your window panes. Gonna See My Friends, Get Some, and Fixer are in the vain of Animal or Go, Hail, Hail, or Alive. They are the "play fucking loud" Pearl Jam songs that can make someone in his 30's act like a high school kid again. Then you have Just Breathe, Amongst the Waves, and easily my favorite Unthought Known (the keys in this song are great, you almost want it to break into a little E-Street but nonetheless it sounds great). Eddie Vedder, slowing it down a bit. His strength is in his ability to write great rock songs and also good "songwriter songs" like the ones he wrote for Into the Wild.

I started to wonder if I liked newly released Pearl Jam albums because they are Pearl Jam and I have great memories tied to their old records. The last few definitely made me wonder if I liked what they put out anymore...at least in the way that I used to. Backspacer is great. It is apolitical. It is a rock album in a musical world where the attempt to reinvent music is at a premium and where good rock music is sometimes lost. Go buy it and listen to it until you can't do it anymore.

**The Sun Sets On Indiana is a machine, not a blog

VILLAIN NUMBER 2---THE WOMEN OF THE NATURAL

THE BLACK WIDOW

Our second villain is a less obvious one, but maybe the most dangerous; for it is the less obvious that sneak in when your guard is down. If you see Darth Vader on the street you are most likely going to run, or at least be very aware of the ominous music that accompanies him. It is the ones that approach in common clothing, or a Trojan Horse that catch you off guard and get you good. In The Natural there is a hero, maybe the greatest hero, and that man is named Roy Hobbs. On the surface this movie has a few villains. Maybe the Whammer early on, the judge for sure, his henchman Gus Sands, and a sort of passive villain in Max Mercy. To the casual viewer of this movie, these are your villains. To someone who has seen the movie so often that in high school he could recite any line in any scene, on command...these are just decoys. Decoys throwing you off the scent of the true villains.
Villain number 2 in TSSOI list of all time villains, with a bullet, is...the women of The Natural.
Lets start at the beginning. A young Roy Hobbs playing catch with his pops, throwing a baseball through a barn...an all american boy playing an all american game in what we can only assume is the heartland of our great country. He finds out that the Cubs want to take a look at him and in his last night in town he heads to the barn and knocks up Glen Closes character (Iris). This seemingly innocent bit of adolescent romping is the beginning of the end for poor Roy. You can't fault Iris (or Roy really)...her intentions are innocent enough...but the gods don't choose heroes and villains based on intentions...there is something more. (side note: Glen Close is not only a villain in this movie, but in the end one of the true heroes. Find another movie when this happens.)
Roy hops on a train, just having his first taste of sex and his mind is now in the proverbial "gutter". No longer is he thinking about his 90+ mph fastball whipping through his barn. Nor is he thinking about making it to the goddamn Big Leagues. He is thinking about where he is going to get his next piece of pussy.
Next...the black widow...Harriet Bird. The woman on the train, the woman at the carnival, the woman smoking a bullet into the stomach of Roy Hobbs, ending his dream of "I want to be the best to have ever played the game." (Roy are you going to be the greatest to ever play this game--Thats right. BOOM!) She jumps out the window and you think it can't get any worse....but it does.
Next...Memo Paris. Roy is back. After a 15 year hiatus Roy is peppering balls off of the upper deck, threatening to take over a league he was destined to redefine years earlier. Then, an elegant, beautiful, early version of Marilyn Monroe arrives on the scene. But this woman, this beautiful woman, cannot right away be seen for the evil that she is. The platinum blonde hair and stunning body and shinny dresses turns her into an obsession, not a villain. She holds in her arsenal of manipulation the one thing that has brought many a good man down to a pedestrian status...and that is showing up in your hotel room wearing only a fur coat. So he slumps...slumps big time. Slumps like a wiffle ball bat swinging 8 year old in a snow storm. She even tries to kill Roy by feeding him a poisonous hordeuvres (Sidenote 1: we had a girl like this when we were in school...not nearly as good looking, but just as damaging...I stayed away). (Sidenote 2:Don't think Bump Bailey's death was a coincidence. It certainly was NOT). Memo Paris is the devil.
Like any good American movie, the hero ends up victorious, but not without taking his lumps on the way. In the end the hero prevails, engulfed in sparks of fireworks, leaving the villainous Memo Paris in the shadows, the kamikaze pilot, black widow gun wielder in her coffin, and Iris, the unintentional villain is back in shining light of the heroes. If Roy would have stayed away from the women altogether he might have been "the greatest to ever play this game", but every hero has a mortal side. Every hero has his "cryptonite". For Roy, that cryptonite was a good piece of ass.

NEXT: BUTTERSCOTCH SUNDAE'S VILLAIN NUMBER 2

VILLAIN NUMBER 1---JOHN DOE (SEVEN)

John Doe-Seven

I think we are more fascinated by villains than we are heroes. In fact, I know we are. Heroes bore us. To the majority of us “good” comes a little easier than “evil”…or maybe it’s the other way around. Anyway, there is always something much deeper and more interesting about a villain. You don’t question a hero’s motives or wonder what kind of great household he grew up in. You don’t concern yourself with the inner thoughts of Superman as he is flyng around the earth in order to save Lois. What we do think about is how fucked up Jason Voorhees must be to run around in that hockey mask hacking people into chunks.
Evil is just more intriguing than Good.

A good “bad guy” will make a movie. John Doe from the movie Seven is about as bad as it gets. Not in the guns a-blazin’ kind of way, but more subtle. A quiet, outwardly peaceful man who very matter of factly states his disdain for the world and his plan to make it “right”, John Doe is not a villain in his mind, but a hero. “Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you'll notice you've got their strict attention." Wow! He hits them with a fucking hammer all right.
The most amazing thing about this character is that you never see him lay a hand on anyone. He admits to the other brutalities, Greed-Lawyer sliced along his fat gut, Pride, maybe my favorite-“cut off her nose to spite her face” sleeping pills and a telephone, Lust-the fella who bangs the chick with a razorblade strap on, Sloth-I give the makeup crew props on this one, absolutely terrifying, Gluttony-dry heave and no more spaghetti please, Envy-“whats in the box” and then Vengeance-blood splatter in the field, but you never see him perform any of the acts. John Doe’s confidence in Brad Pitts ability to lose it in the end, is frightening.

Late in the movie when Morgan Freeman (if my life was a movie he would narrate) and Brad Pitt are discussing who this serial killer might be Morgan Freeman says something to the effect of, if this guy turns out to be the devil, I mean Satan himself, then it might live up to our expectations. At this point, as you watch, you kind of agree, but as John Doe first appears “Detective!!”…blood all over his hands, you kind of believe he is the devil.

In no specific order John Doe is our first villain. An intelligent villain, a creative villain, and most of all a terrifyingly insane villain.

The Sun Sets On Indiana Loves The Rural Alberta Advantage

Here is a song not on Hometowns. Go to Daytrotter for more songs. This song is as great as all the others...

The Rural Alberta Advantage Barnesyard



Next: Villains #1

The First Online Collaboration Between Machines (Villains vs Lovers)

WILL HE MAKE THE LIST??

We, at The Sun Sets On Indiana, would like to invite Butterscotch Sundae to a little collaboration, a little back and forth discussion. Their recent posts about Inglorious Basterds and Q. Tarantino has inspired us to work on a few "best of...movie lists". When discussing movies you will inevitably leave out important movies and important scenes, just because there are so many we have watched and loves over a great number of years. That is why it is so important to be organized, something I rarely believe in. On the first installment I would like to discuss Greatest Bad Guys in movie history (I am talking 1970 and up...none of this silent film, black and white, supposed "Greatest Movie in Cinematic History Citizen Kane" shit. The other category I would like to discuss is best on screen romance. I will await a post from Butterscotch Sundae before we begin our discussion.

Comments are welcome and actually encouraged.

Sunset Rubdown-Silver Moon

Watch this. And listen at the exact same time.

Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia

A new season (the fifth one) of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia begins September 17th on FX. If you haven't watched this show before, start on September 17. This is only what I can imagine Beckham does as he cannot conceal how weak he is...

The Antlers Are A Band. And This Is There Song

I like this song a lot. I liked it the first time when it was A Perfect Sonnet by Bright Eyes. Still a good song from a band I haven't heard much of, but hear they are just short of exceptional...which is still good.
I love a good synthesizer. Can't really beat it. I also have changed my mind about not listening to new music. IF YOU HAVE CLICKED ON THIS FROM THE ARCHIVES THIS VIDEO HAS BEEN REMOVED

I Follow, I Follow, I Follow, I Follow-Ce N'est Rien

This might just be the last installment of last months Sunset Festival. It was well attended by the four in attendance and we hope to do it again next year. I would like to blink my eyes and have August be over.

Ce N'est Rien Song from The Clap on Vimeo.

Its Time For A List...or something like that

The Best of The Summer of '09
I am already accepting the end. I am in the midst of my swan song. My final bow. My gentle gallop into the sunset. The summer is over. For most of America, at least the America for human beings 23-39, Summer doesn't really exist. But for me it exists and I dread things that have ends...and everything has an end. Pause and look up and to the left...
Here is my list of the greatest things this summer

Alcohol of the Summer-

This is always Bud Light Lime, but for the sake of discussion I am going with a Tequila Gimlet. Petron or Cabo Wabo with a little bit of Roses Lime Juice. I had always thought Tequila was the Devils sweat, but once you have a drink from a $60 bottle of Tequila you will continue to sneak into your parents liquor cabinet.
1) It was my birthday and I ordered two double Patron Gimlets. On the second one the waitress, noticing that I looked poor, asked if I knew this was a $20 dollar drink. I said yes of course, and fell into a cold, cold sweat.
2) I was excited about the Christmas holiday season and I bought a lot of expensive bottles of alcohol. I tried to carry it all in from my car and dropped the bottle of Cabo Wabo and watched it stream down the gutter and into the drain on the corner of my street.

Album of the Summer

I would like to say Sunset Rubdown-Dragonslayer, but would also like to say Wilco has a fine fine album.
Honorable Mention-The Rural Alberta Advantage-Hometowns. The only reason this makes Honorable Mention instead of the top of the podium is because they are from Canada and Canada never feels like Summer

Movie of the Summer-

I have been disappointed with movies since Shawshank Redemption. That was an exaggeration, but I remember the days where there were such things as Summer Blockbusters. I did enjoy The Hangover as most did...some say it was stupid but I say that they are...
The movie of the Summer, for better or worse is (500) Days of Summer. I actually hate this movie so it is sort of curious to see it as the movie of the summer, but sometimes the things I love the most are because I hate them so much. The soundtrack is pretty good. I feared it to be too cutsie and it kind of is. But it is also brutal (in an early 20's heartbreaking kind of way) and I don't want to talk to Zooey Deschanel ANYMORE!!

DVD Release of the Summer- Coraline. I loved this movie. I didn't watch it with 3D glasses on, but thought it was a fine and entertaining movie.

Festival of the Summer- Sunsets Festival Live From The Clap
Because it was bitching.

Grilled Meat of the Summer- I am in search of the perfect burger. It is the best hobby to have because you can never truly be satisfied. It is chasing the carrot that is fastened to an apparatus on your head. The closet I came is a sausage burger (undisclosed proportion of ground beef-sausage) with pepper cheese and caramelized onions, dill pickle and dijon mustard.
I am learning to do fantastic things to steaks.

New Website of The Summer- www.butterscotchsundaeiguess.blogspot.com. This will be something great. It just has to.

Epiphany of the Summer- I am done listening to new music. Finished. For now at least. Went to the record store today and bought Paul Simon, Tom Waits, Tom Petty. Have decided to only listen to...said artists and Bob Dylan and the Pixies and Wilco and everyone else that falls into the category of what I have in my mind as "non-new music"

Best Field Trip of the Summer- Sanibel Island, FLA is uncommercialized. This makes it great. In July it is hotter than satans heel, but still great. If you can get there in March you will experience the best vacation of all times. That is, if your idea of a good vacation revolves around drinking Busch Light on the Beach all day and then eating fantastic food in the evening and hitting the sack by 10. And it is for me.

Mind Over Matter-Ce N'est Rien/Mt. Pleasant Sings Mountain Goats

Mind Over Matter from The Clap on Vimeo.

Mt. Pleasant and the Mitch Miggenburgs

Mt. Pleasant Sings Mountain Goats from The Clap on Vimeo.

Freezing Each Of The Lymph Nodes...

Here is another version of an already posted song. This version is with the Family Band. I think it is funny. If not great this video is funny and we will leave it at that. There is dancing and screaming and notebooks being tossed. Three important elements to a great video.

Four Night Rider-Mt. Pleasant and The Family Band

Four Night Rider-Family Band Version from The Clap on Vimeo.

Butterscotch Sundae I Guess...

I am excited to introduce Sunsets sister site (one in which we have no creative influence, but are excited to see what a couple of crazy Midwesterners come up with in their creative boredom). The site is Butterscotch Sundae I Guess and I advertise it today (to the now 7 people viewing regularly) to get them on the ball. There are no current posts at this time but The Sun Sets On Indiana gives her full endorsement here.
Check it out and put it on your favorites because you just should.

I Can You Betty, Betty When You Call Me, You Can Call Me Al...

Be prepared to wake at 3am gently humming this little tune until the sun comes up.

You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon)-Mt. Pleasant from The Clap on Vimeo.

Welcome to the Clap

This is a cover of a song by Rural Alberta Advantage performed by the Claps house band.

Four Night Rider (Rural Alberta Advantage) from The Clap on Vimeo.

More From Sunsets Festival at The Clap

Here is another performance from the weekend. This is Ce N'est Rien and I don't know the name of this song at the moment. I like this song a lot and usually request that it be played more than one time in a row. That is the advantage to being the CEO of The Clap.
We apologize for the fuzz sound that you hear. It was 97 degrees up there and multiple fans were necessary.

Untitled for now-Ce N'est Rien

Sunsets Festival Live From The Clap

There was action in the Clap recently. In the days before the Pitchfork Festival there was the little known Sunsets Festival. It wasn't as well attended as Pitchfork, but the Clap was packed with music company. There was good, there was bad, and there was great. We, here at The Sun Sets On Indiana, are going to give you a little of everything this week. Sit back and enjoy it all.
The first clip is from the band Mt. Pleasant and its lead singer Mitch Miggenburg. The song, if you can't guess, is Better Days.


Next-
Ce N'est Rien

Nintendo Games...All of Them

I ran across this site today as I was looking up old Nintendo games. This is all amazing. Arch Rivals, Double Dribble, Ice Hockey, Baseball Stars, RBI Baseball. The list goes on endlessly. I need to find some sort of controller that plugs into my computer and then it will be perfect.
Play all nintendo games here Nintendo Games

K'Naan-Wavin' Flag

I can't stop listening to this song. Singers name-K'Naan
Think he is from Somalia originally. First video is a performance on QTV the other is not a video, but a picture of him with the studio version of the song in the background. This is an unbelievable song. It is called Wavin Flag.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson

I downloaded an All Songs Considered Podcast to listen to as I was driving earlier in the week. All Songs Considered is pretty great and on this particular podcast they were discussing their recent trip to SXSW in Austin. One of the bands/singers they brought up was Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson. This is the song they played and I liked it a lot. It is called Burriedfed and its really great. Click the play button and give it a listen.

and for our visual listeners

Happy Fourth Of July, You Can't Tell But Your Beard is Blushing In Our Presence

More...

EDMONTON BY THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE

The Rural Alberta Advantage

Another great band from Canada.
Spent this evening listening to the album called Hometowns twice.
The first time was because I hadn't heard it before, I had purchased it, and thought it would be a waste to buy it and not listen to it
the second time was to try to recreate the experience I had listening to it the first time. Also because I am bored like a 10 year old spending the summer at home without a single summer camp in sight...
Its good. And you would think so too if you would take a minute out of your extremely busy and important lives to have a listen

Here is a short one. Its over before you've got a chance to lose interest...but you won't because its sweet

The Rural Alberta Advantage [mp3] Four Night Rider

If the above song won't play, and it won't play for me and I want to fistfight something right now, then just click on the myspace page and listen to songs there

The Rural Alberta Advantage Myspace Page RAA
Buy the LP or CD at www.saddle-creek.com and you get the digital download immediately.

We Will No Longer Be Prisoners To The Heat

Here is what you have to do, I have figured this out just recently. Accept the heat. It is 95 degrees and it feels like 105. Stop complaining because that won't make it any cooler. Accept the fact that you will be wearing a wet shirt soon. Accept the fact that sweat burns your eyes. When you have done this you are half way there. Make sure you have a cooler filled with beer, lots of ice, and then more ice inside in the freezer because even ice in a cooler becomes water quicker than you can imagine. Drink the beer at a rate that would seem alarming to a physician. Don't worry about hydration. It is too late. You are and will continue to be dehydrated. The final two things might be the most important. Surround yourself with people who have bought into the earlier rules of the summer. These people are your friends and they WILL NOT complain about the heat. It is not allowed. They will also drink beer with you at an alarming rate and they will not think about their health for the next 3-7 hours. Finally, and arguably the most important thing you need is good music, good playlists, nice rotation of great, great summertime songs.
Here are a few songs from summers past to get you going. And here is to all the people out there breaking out of their cold, cold basements and ignoring ticker tape heat advisories to take back their summer.

SUMMER PLAYLIST I
Soul Asylum [mp3] Summer of Drugs
Evan Dando [mp3] Frying Pan
The Jayhawks [mp3] Lights

The Lakers (Kobe) Win and Nobody is Impressed

I am far removed from idolizing professional basketball players anymore. Even if I had the desire to idolize them I am very happy that I don't. It is nice remembering what it was like to want to be Larry Bird; running around my basement on Friday nights watching the Celtics on TNT; that is one of my fondest memories of being 10 years old. I can't remember, back then, if old people told me that Bird was nothing compared to the likes of Havlicek or Cousy or other fellas a generation before...maybe they did, but I believe that those "old people" still secretly thought Bird was the most amazing thing they had ever seen. I feel sorry for the kids growing up today who have the likes of Kobe Bryant or even Lebron James to emulate and idolize. The fact is, those guys are tired heroes. There is nothing to them that should be appealing except for the fact that they are great athletes...freaks even.
Not that Bird was "Mr. Personality" because quite frankly he was not someone you expect entertained guests at parties with his witty banter and charm, but at least he was real. Kobe is a manufactured character. He is a film script so influenced by other movies you feel you are watching a parody of sorts. He is so unoriginal you almost feel a little sorry for him...until you remember he is just an simple egomaniac lost in his own uninteresting psychosis. The scowl (which looks like an angry possum to me), the Jordan like speech patterns in interviews, the constant "I" comments littered throughout his tireless post game monologues...Its all calculated and manufactured and all very droll. Bob Knight is surely getting a laugh at Kobe and his conjured up "game face".
As my brother has pointed out numerous times in the last two days, "This was the most forgettable championship team in the last 25 years and any championship team from the last 25 years would handle these Lakers in 4 games." I couldn't agree more and that's not just because we were all hoping for a Lebron/Kobe matchup, it is because the '09 Lakers, ho hum, were not a 1 man team they were just 1 man...Kobe wanted it that way and thats what he got...boring as hell. Today's athlete would trade in 3, 4, 5 championships, shared with another great player or two, for 1 that they feel like they can call their "own". If that is not a sad, sad, joke then I am as confused as I have ever been about professional athletics.

Deer Tick is a Good Band, and if You Don't Think So You Are Wrong

Went to a concert the other day. A Jenny Lewis concert. It had been almost a year since I have seen live music and forgot how much I enjoy it. I don't know how I forgot, but I did. Deer Tick opened for Jenny Lewis and I hadn't heard much about this band but I like them a ton and they have a new cd coming out next Tuesday and this song is one of the ones they played and I liked it a lot.
We noticed they end some of their songs real abruptly, and oddly we liked that...

Deer Tick [mp3] Easy

Buy Sunset Rubdowns Album Now and They will Send It To You Immediately

The new Sunset Rubdown album, Dragonslayer, is amazing and great and I am almost tired of it because it is all that I have been listening to. Here is a song from it to listen to. You can go to www.jagjaguwar.com and pre-order the record or cd and they will send you a digital code so you can hear it right away. Everyone should do this. This means you can buy records and still get the song on your Ipod without buying one of those gadgets that converts your LP's to digital form. That is probably something simple, but I don't want to do it.

Sunset Rubdown [mp3] Silver Moons

There is not a better group of people putting out music right now than these Wolf Parade/Sunset Rubdown/Swan Lake folks from Canada. If you disagree then your opinion is wrong.

Live From The Clap

This has been a long time coming. A couple covers from our friend from the South, Mitch Miggenburg.
Enjoy them. They do exist...they really do.
Mitch Miggenburg [mp3] I've Changed

Mitch Miggenburg [mp3] John Wayne Gacy Jr.

Two Gallants and Memorial Day

This might be the only band I like right now. Underrated/Overrated never really matters but if you haven't listened to Two Gallants then you should. Mainly because they are awesome.

Matt and Kim are Naked

I have never been a huge lover of Matt and Kim. I like some of their stuff because it is catchy like pop song music. This song has little to do with my intrigue of them. I am in awe of these two and the balls (pun intended) to walk through New York City in complete nakedness.

Little Asian Kid Plays Nirvana

This was posted on pitchfork in remembering Kurt Cobain. He died 15 years ago last week, which feels really weird to me. This is amazing and it makes me laugh because it is so amazing...

New Music Thermals

I've been away for a while. I have been here but away. There has been plenty of new music I have been enjoying and I will begin sharing some of those bands and their music with the 5 that still feel like calling Indiana home....
The Thermals new album called Now We Can See is great. Not phenomenally amazing like their last one, but great still great. Here is a video for their song called Now We Can See.

Handsome Furs-I'm Confused

Spring Break begins today...for those still living the dream.
I am going to buy music today. M. Ward, Neko Case, and Hansome Furs new one called Face Control. Here is a video from a song on the album called I'm Confused. I am going to go ahead and say its Thriller meets 28 Days Later. Great song as well.


Handsome Furs "I'm Confused" from Sarah Marcus on Vimeo.

Time Springing Forward Sucks In The Morning

I've got nothing to say about nothing...

Book Recommendation: Downtown Owl-Chuck Klosterman
I love the way he writes. He writes how I wish I could write. After writing a handful of nonfiction-fiction type stuff he has written a novel. And he writes it in the same interesting way as he has written other books like Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs and Killing Yourself to Live.

Music Recommendation: Mount Eerie-Swan
This is really all I have listened to in the last month or so. I threw a song on here a while back by this guy (Great Ghosts) and although the songs are less than complex there is something I love about them so I keep listening.

Music I am looking forward to: Handome Furs-Face Control (comes out today and in past years I would by purchasing it this afternoon. Unfortunately, I have lost my sense of urgency when it comes to album purchases.

Movie Recommendation (I recommend you NOT to see this movie)
Miracle at St. Anna-
Spike Lee's attempt at a war movie feels like it was written without ever knowing anything at all about U.S. History. He quite possibly slept through every American History class he ever had and then decided that he knew enough to write a 2 hour and 40 minute movie...I know nothing about World War II and I am pretty sure Spike Lee knows as much as me...

Profession of the Day:
I want to mow lawns today. I would like to sit on a riding mower and mow a huge field with headphones on listening to every song I have on my Ipod, in alphabetical order.

Sandwich of the Day:
I would like a giant Reuben Sandwich.

Television Show of the Day:
World Baseball Classic and 30 Rock.

Cats Are Funnier When Little Kids Narrate

I like beef jerky!!

More New Muisc (At Least It Is New To Me)

With Terminator X

I just received Bon Iver-For Emma, Forever Ago yesterday in the mail. There has been more hype from this guy on "blogs" (The Sun Sets On Indiana is not a blog but rather a MACHINE)and my thoughts used to be that the hype was the not so selfless efforts of many to help a guy "make it". Didn't give the music much of a chance...listened to it a couple time...thought it was ok. Its nice music...nothing earth shattering or original (hard to be original these days...original often = rediculous). Giving it a few listens today and its just alright.... One song sticks out to me as being pretty good and it is called Skinny Love.

additional note:
Don't pronounce his name like it sounds in "American", but more like if you were an overachieving Sophomore taking his second year of French I.

Bon Iver [mp3] Skinny Love

Uncomfortable Entertainment

I don't know where I have been to miss such a thing but this is the most uncomfortably entertained I think I have been in some time. This is amazing and I am sorry if you have seen this multiple times, but it must be seen again.

Needless to say I was confused at Ben Stiller's antics last night. Confused...until now.



Maniacal laughter...that is funny.

MLB Network vs. Baseball Tonight

Too early to make a call on this one. MLB Network is the greatest thing that has happened to baseball since Peter Gammons. The possibility of watching baseball at any point during any day has been a dream of mine since I was 8. Its amazing to think how far things have come. Back then, in order to watch an American League game you had to keep your fingers crossed on Saturday that the game of the week on NBC would show someone from the better league. We usually just got the goddamn Cardinals or the Reds (it was hard to watch the Reds back then...in that god awful stadium they had). When WPIX (I think this is what it was), the channel out of New York came to Evansville we got to see Yankee games. Although I would have rather watched Star Wars for the 36th time than the Yankees, I still watched the game for their opponents. I believe Sportscenter existed in those early days, although I know Baseball Tonight was years from conception. This Week In Baseball with Mel Allen was as good as it got for me back then...
Now, with the Extra Innings ticket and Baseball tonight and now the MLB Network there is nothing else that I really need.
The programming so far, on the MLB Network has been a plus. The analysts and the anchors have been a minus. Mitch Williams and Dan Pleasac are boring me to pieces and I find their input to be the same as someone who stopped playing after their sophomore year in high school. Harold Reynolds and Bob Costas are great additions. Harold Reynolds back form his sexual harrassment hiatus and Bob Costas back in a sport he needs to be in. For as good as those two are they cannot hold a candle to the great Peter Gammons and his 5'1" sidekick Tim Kirkjin for Baseball Tonight. Those two are amazing. If the two sides could somehow consolidate we would be alright. Right now Baseball Tonight has a slight edge, but they still have Orestes Destrade (unlistenable) and a couple other goofs that have no business, being in the business.
Time will tell. Right now if you like quality over quantity you will choose Baseball Tonight. If you like the non stop, all the time aspects you will choose MLB. I will take them both, because it is all great and awesome and I can't wait for the season or at least Spring Training to start.

Mount Eerie Followed By The Revival Of Good Muisc

As I have mentioned previously, good new music has been hard for me to find lately... I have a feeling this is all in the process of changing. There are a number of albums I am excited about. Great Lake Swimmers (3-31) Handsome Furs (3-10), Swan Lake (3-24) and Beirut (I think it is available now or within the next 3 days) are four that come to mind. I went to Vintage Vinyl to buy The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and they did not have it... unfortunately this was not a surprise... I have a problem with buying too many of these albums on Itunes or through Amazon, but sometimes you have too if you can't find them in stores and are too impatient to wait for them to travel through the mail.
Mount Eerie comes up with some crazy shit, but the album Dawn seems to be the easiest of the albums to listen to. Kind of reminds me of Bonnie "Prince" Billy or Sufjan Stevens without all of the musical accessories. I first heard this guy on NPR's All Songs Considered with Bob Boilen. If you haven't listened to this program it is a good idea for you to start. He played Wooly Mammoths Mighty Absence and I loved it. Here is a song I find equally great. Its called Great Ghosts...


Mount Eerie [mp3] Great Ghosts

The Worst Press Conference Until The Next One

Not like I need another reason to think that ARod is a joke, but I got one. His press conference today, which I can only compare to a D+ presentation from a sophomore public speaking class, was without a point. If Alex Rodriguez stayed in bed today watching Sex in the City reruns I would feel the same about him as I do now. He gave 'zero' truthful statements in his address. He looked confused when he mentioned the substance he took..."after reflecting I remember that my cousin and I took bolay (sp????), an energy booster. Bullshit! I call bullshit! So he took an energy booster shot once every two weeks for 6 months in a matter of 3 years. Inaccurate. He should have started out his "read directly off the page" speech with "what I am about to tell you is a complete lie... you know this and I know this... lets just enjoy". I expect that on his page in ( ) were things like (give eye contact now) or (look over at my teammates) or (pause for 20 seconds and make to make it look like I am getting dusty).
First he didn't remember now he says its an energy shot...ha! Might have well said flax seed oil.
I don't give a shit about his legacy. I don't have a problem with him making the Hall of Fame (think Moyer was onto something, just went a little bit overboard). All I want is for him to say "I took anabolic steroids because I wanted to get bigger and hit shit loads of bombs"...
This, unfortunately is just the beginning...104 names on the list. That is going to be a lot of bad press conferences.
Here is who I suspect is on the list-
Albert Pujols
Andruw Jones
Any pitcher that consistantly throws over 100 (Francisco Rodney and all those in the bullpen for the Tigers)
There will also be Dominicans you have never heard of

A Break From Bad Music=The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

I haven't heard any new music lately that I like...even remotely. I don't know a thing about this band and I like it that way. I looked at an article but didn't read it because I didn't want to hear someone say who this sounds like or what they are trying to do. Their name is a little melodramatic but I choose to ignore it because it has been a long time since I have heard a song that is better than average. This song is good and that's all that matters. Vintage Vinyl is no longer in my back yard so now I have to take planned trips to the record store. I have not been in a long time. This song might make me plan a trip. It also makes me think of springtime and that is never a bad thing...

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart [mp3] Young Adult Friction

We are Proud of you ARod...

We still don't have a professional athlete who is completely honest after being caught doing something he was not supposed to. Some deny, some plead the 5th, and some admit, but admit with an out or without complete disclosure. Here are my problems with ARod and this nonsense.
1) He has to admit that he took preformance enhancing drugs. He was caught...on a list...a credible list. He should get no credit for admitting his guilt. If he was not caught his mouth would still be shut.
2) Why is it so difficult for athletes or anyone being grilled (Peter Gammons, for as much as I love him, might be the easiest interview in America) to directly answer the question they are asked. Asked a yes/no question ARod finds a way to go back to when he was 20 or that he just wants to turn the page.
3) So you are telling me that ARod still doesn't know what he took. "It was a different culture back then"...what the hell. I picture athletes lying around the locker room with a bunch of unmarked viles of liquid. They all have syringes and say "hey fill me up with a little of that stuff, lets see what it does."
4) ARod is proud of himself. What a joke. What is he proud of? I am proud that when backed into a corner I take the one and only out...

Questions I would have asked.
At 20 you were arguably one of the top 3 players in the game. Why would you feel the need to take anything. ("I was feeling all kinds of pressure after signing that contract" that is rediculous.)

Basically, I find this whole thing to be the same as all the others. Giambi, Pettite, Knoblauch and now ARod...all admit, but non of them are completely forthcoming...they are/were all Yankees. Not surprising.

Please God don't let Manny be on the list, Please God don't let Manny be on the list.

Funny

The Lonely Island - Jizz In My Pants from universalmusicgroup on Vimeo.

Post College Years (Blind man looking for a light switch)

My post college years have been from 2000-2008 and in those 8 years I have listened to 20 times the number of different musical artists than in my previous 22. Most of this is due to my ability to make money and then spend it on records and cds.

(To list all of the music I have listened to in these years would be rediculous. I will list the bands that stick out in my mind; the ones where my feelings at first listen are far from indifferent)
2000-2002 (Graduate School)--I may or may not be embarrassed that the music I listened to could have been classified as 'emo'.

If the first year of high school wasn't the most confusing moment of my life then my first year out of college definitely was. I was a mess and was in a new city and surviving solely on peanut butter and saltines and spaghetti. This is not an exaggeration. I used to figure out per dollar how much each meal I made cost (2 dollars a meal). I had no money and therefore downloaded music for free on Kazaa and other places like Napster. It was amazing, but I rarely ever had full albums; instead just handpicked songs from all over the place. I periodically run across some old mixed cds I made and they are litered with bands like Alkaline Trio and New Found Glory and Guster and Wheatus-(Teenage Dirtbag) and Dashboard Confessional and on and on. Lots of stuff that has no musical longevity, but at the time I liked it a lot and will remind me of living by myself and eating Spaghetti and marinara sauce in front of the television. It wasn't as sad of a time as I am making it out to be...I just had to make sure all of the toasters and hairdryers I owned were out of the house...I am only 4/7ths joking.
If I remember listening to one album it was probably Bright Eyes-Lifted.
Honorable Mention- Modest Mouse, Evan Dando and Acoustic versions of rock songs.

Late 2002-2004--The Mountain Goats, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Weakerthans

This is when I figured out that I had missed out on a ton of amazing music. You ask yourself how you missed it, but I asked how the hell I was supposed to know about it.
The list is immense.
I started listening to the Mountain Goats after Mitch played No Children to me through the telephone. My life has never been the same...not necessarily because of the Mountain Goats...
Neutral Milk Hotel- In The Aeroplane Over The Sea was a cd I picked up and couldn't believe I had not heard it before. With no college radio around you just have to 'dance with who brung you', as a friend of mine would say.
The Weakerthans- This band was exactly what I would be if I had musical talent and was in a band. Their lyrics don't make complete sense all the time but they make enough sense to make it interesting...
Honorable Mention-Rilo Kiley
2005-2008-Pavement

I missed out on Pavement. I missed the whole thing. The positive out of this is that everything they did was new to me and I loved it. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain-Brighten The Corners-Slanted Enchanted-Wowee Zowee. I recommend to buy them in this order. Stephen Malkmus writes songs made of gibberish that end up being something that is amazing and unlike anything anyone does. I love songs that at first listen sound far from pop, but as you listen more and more you catch some lines that give the song a nice catchyness. That is how I would describe anything Stephen Malkmus does.
How did I miss them?? How would I have heard them! 96 STO did not play Pavement.

There were and are many, many bands that I listen to. And maybe, in a couple years, when I look back, bands like The Hold Steady, My Morning Jacket, Okkervil River, Iron and Wine, and Band of Horses will be the ones I will talk about. Until then, we will stick with these.


**As I looked up the picture to the Fischer Price Record player I had a flashback of listening to two 45's when I was probably 10. One was Glory of Love (Peter Cetara) from Karate Kid and the other was Wildest Dreams by the Moody Blues. I would listen to these songs 10-15 times in a row. I still play them any time I see them on a juke box.
This picture is amazing.