TGIYOLOF: The Many Covers of MGMT

It's Friday, Friday!
Getting' down on Friday!
We're partyin', partyin'....FuN FuN fUn FuN!

Without further adieu, here is today's YOLO Friday selection: Memorial Day Weekend Edition! Sit back with your burgers and beer and check out these artists, all covering MGMT.

Talktothewalls

Katie8588

Daycart66

Orlaandashley

Enjoy your beaches, bitches, and barbecues!

A Collection of Animals: Patrick Cederberg

21-years-old. Musician. Animator. Film-maker. 

This is Patrick Cederberg. A Toronto native, Patrick is all of the above and, according to his roommate, "A great guy!"

You may remember Patrick from the last post as the gentleman who covered Animal Collective. But, as with all Youtube posters, he has a life occurring apart from the glow of the computer screen.

Patrick's relationship with music developed through exposure at a young age. His father played in a bar band until Patrick was 9 or 10. His immediate and extended family members were also avid musicians. In short, he says music "constantly surrounded" him during his formative years.

It makes sense then, that Patrick, too, should pick up this hobby.

Now, at the mere age of 21, Patrick has ten years of guitar playing, four years of self-taught piano, three years of bass, and a bit of percussion under his belt.

In order to share his diverse talent, Patrick began in an unlikely place: the basement.

After graduating from high school, Patrick made the decision to take a year off before college. During this time, he gave in to his tendency to be a self-proclaimed "basement dweller". There, he conjured up musical creations to post on Youtube.

Of this time, Patrick says "[A]ll my friends moved away so, when I wasn't working, I was downstairs making music on my own. YouTube seemed like one of the best ways to get myself out there and at least have something to show for the work I put into it on my own."

Posting on Youtube provided "affirmation to keep on going," he says.
 
Still an avid poster, even now that he's in school again, Patrick states that Youtube has proved to be more than just an instant audience: "It helps me hone a sound and find out what works and what doesn't based on the comments people leave"

Additionally, he shares his music through Soundcloud, a website dedicated solely to sharing voices, moments, or music (according to the site).

He uses Soundcloud to upload full length tracks from his current band: a three-member outfit called Shy Kids. Though they made a music video together, he states that they're waiting to upload it to Youtube until they get the mix "just right" on their album.

"We're perfectionists," he says.

If you're in the Toronto area this summer, be sure to look for Shy Kids, as they plan to tour around the city.

In the meantime, give his stuff a listen, a viewing, and a helpful comment here:
Patrick Cederberg Solo
Shy Kids
Youtube

TGIYOLOF: Thank God It's YOLO Friday!

Dear Friends,

TGIF: time to embody the principles of YOLO!

Let the bad decision making begin: buy shoes that look great, but feel like firewalking; stay up later than you should, like 10:30 instead of 10 PM; and procrastinate doing laundry till Sunday, even though it badly needs to be done now. Who cares if you don't have any clean underwear? Not you. You DGAF!

As you can see, ever since I entered the "real world", the definition of "bad" in my decision making has become distorted and tamed by my growing levels of responsibility as an adult. Now that I'm 26, not peeing before long car rides is typically the poorest choice I make...

Before I launch into further examples of my ever-looming quarter-life crisis, I present to you a new series in my blog: YOLO Fridays! This is the time when I link you up to your wild 'n crazy weekend soundtrack!

So, without further adieu...

If you like:
Beach House, The Beach Boys, going to the beach, The state of California

You will like:
Will Sturgeon - The video features his band "brightener", though he also plays in "The Miracals" 

If you like:
Melted chocolate, silk, the finer things in life

You will like:
Rozzi Crane - Her voice is sex on fire.

If you like:
Kid Cudi, Lykke Li, Lana Del Rey (even after that unfortunate SNL performance), Germany

You will like:
RoyalIceCream, aka Ina

If you like:
Awesome girl covers of strictly boy bands

You will like:
This cover of Animal Collective by some anonymous ladies who have no other such amazing videos...

If you like:
Animal Collective (again), happiness, Wintertime, Bright Eyes

You will like:
Patrick Cederberg - his cover of Animal Collective, much like the one above, is fantastic.

Happy weekend! YOLO, but don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Two Blokes, Two Ukes: Many Talents

A long time ago, in a far away place - last year, in Allston, MA - my roommate and I nursed pipe dreams of forming a band together. Our instrument of choice: the keyboard. She would sing; I would play; we would be famous.

Naturally, we wanted to call ourselves "Two Girls, One Keyboard".

But, thankfully we never did get around to bringing that vision to fruition. Turns out, there are two talented gentlemen in the UK who have adopted an eerily similar namesake for themselves. Enter our quirky Youtube duo: Two Blokes, Two Ukes.

This blurry pic depicts the gentlemen (formally known as Ian and Stevo) at the genesis of their internet musical career under their new moniker. In case you didn't recognize the ridiculous standard pattern of all bus seat covers, these two pals birthed their Youtube project while on a 30 hour bus trip to Switzerland.

Due to the length of the trip, all electronics died and they were left to entertain themselves with Stevo's Sponge Bob-themed ukulele and Ian's non-Sponge Bob uke. Thankfully they were surrounded by their music-loving peers on this band tour. By the end of the trip, Ian and Stevo's unwitting audience was egging them to film videos for Youtube. And thank goodness they did, 'cause they are fantastically charming and musically precocious. Check their collaborative cover of "School of Rock", their personal favorite cover so far (they're the two guys with the ukuleles, of course):

What makes this pair fantastic is their vast knowledge of music and their clear passion. These two have mastered 7 different instruments between them, not including the old ukulele. They say "[b]oth of us has been heavily involved with music for many years now. Ian started off playing the drums when he was ten, but quickly moved onto clarinet when he was twelve, which became his main instrument. Stevo has played drums for over ten years. He has now moved to London and is a professional session drummer."

While they love to play together, obligatory schooling has prevented them from doing so more often. They make up for this by joining forces in the summer to play festivals with something they call a "Uke Box". Just like a Jukebox, they take requests for covers. They say this is most successful in pubs amongst an intoxicated audience. In such events, they can make up to 200 pounds in two hours, which is like $400 for us folk on the unfortunate side of the currency conversion. 

So, what started as an experiment on Youtube turned into something bigger. After getting cover requests from people they didn't know, the pair decided to keep going. They turned the videos into a personal competition to make better and better covers. 

Currently, Ian and Stevo are using more professional equipment to "take advantage of all the instruments [they] can both play to make multi-instrumental tracks." A lovely, seamless example of this is their cover of Muse, "United States of Eurasia":

Whether they're Two Blokes with ukes, pianos, or drums, this pair is undeniably talented. Their quirky Youtube creations have even earned them a spot on an advertisement for THE GRAMMY'S. If that isn't an awesomely big deal, I don't know what is!

If you like what you see/hear from this British duo, be sure to check them out:

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/browian01

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TwoBlokesTwoUkes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/tbtu

Lastly, THANK YOU to Ian and Stevo for your contributions!

Colossal Gospel and other music news!

Question: Guess who's back and ready for action!?

Answer: Me.

I, Julia, have returned from the murky depths of the end of my second-to-last Grad School semester. Shit got heavy, but I finally finished up (for the most part) this week. I have one last 4-5 page paper that I should be doing now, but I suddenly - inexplicably (wink, wink) - got the urge to revisit my Youtube reviews. When inspiration/procrastination strikes, you must follow the crazy creation train.

Anyway. Exciting news on the Youtube Reviews front. I have a response from Mr. Johnnie Shaneyfelt to share, as well as what I'm assuming are well-wishes from Haley Barnes and those crazy folks from Ancient Cat Society.

After firing up the internet machine and surfing over to Ye Olde Facebook and Google+, I found our young musician friends amongst the tangled web of social networks. With only a little bit of groveling, I received responses back from both featured folks, which was super exciting.

Unfortunately, I have not heard back from Haley since her initial response, even after sending her a list of my best interview questions. I am now assuming the Ancient Cat Society has voted Ms. Barnes in as resident Goddess of All Felines, which I can imagine keeps her quite busy. Haley, if you read this, I wish you nothing but success, whether in music or in ruling over the society of meow meows,

On the other hand, I did receive a lovely response from Johnnie Shaneyfelt. This is like the closest I've ever come to speaking with a famous person, so I was pretty psyched to get such a heart-felt email in return.

So, without further adieu, I present to you the story of Johnnie Shaneyfelt, told by the humble man himself:


First of all, I am quite flattered. Thank you for taking the time to write about some guy that put some videos up a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away. 

I've never done this so I apologize if my story seems a little scrambled. 

I tried to sing before I could talk. I would just hum to myself all the time. After acquiring some vocabulary, I immediately started singing my heart out in church. Singing has always been my instrument of choice. My grandmother bought an old tired no name acoustic guitar from my uncle when i was about 6 or 7. It was always around and i learned a few chords. I didnt really pick up the guitar until I was about 15 or so and started writing my own songs. Honestly while most of my friends were in their room mastering scales and shredding their fretboards, I was jamming Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men singing until my head would hurt. I remember listening to Silverchair and deciding that i had to at least write one song that would impact someone the way a Silverchair song impacted me. My music has always been simple, so I never have been super flashy on guitar. As long as I could pluck a few chords that would help carry a melody. 

Sometimes I will just waste half a day on YouTube. There are so many people like you and I out there that go to school or work and no one knows how incredible their talents are. I took a long music hiatus and when I found some videos on YouTube it inspired me to do the one thing I truly love again. I'm currently in a band called Colossal Gospel and I love doing it. It's good to play music with people and not just in my room. Our record comes out in late may/early june. You can stream the whole thing at colossalgospel.bandcamp.com

Thank you Julia

-johnnie

(Seriously, please do check out Johnnie's new band "Colossal Gospel". Folksy fun goodness. Sounds kinda like Grizzly Bear mixed with a little bit of Heaven.)

In other news, I promised a review of Alain de Courtenay. I will provide this.

Alain de Courtenay (anaker00 on the Tube) is a dapper young fellow whose covers of Regina Spektor and and Stevie Wonder make me swoon. Maybe it's the perfect pitch. Maybe it's the skillful guitar playing. But, most likely it's the wife beater he's wearing in his cover of Stevie Wonder's "Knocks Me Off My Feet". I'm sold.

This gentleman is easy on the ears AND the eyes.



So, god only knows why the font formatting changed when I copied that email into this post. I apologize. I spent 20 whole minutes trying to fix it! While I may be able to write adequately well, my abilities in technology are severely lacking. Super Secret Confession: It's because I'm 26 going on 80. 


Speaking of which... keep your adult diapers in easy reach, cuz I'mma throw some guys with ukuleles at you next post!


(...They're so good, they'll make you poop yourself, is what I'm saying...)


UPDATE: FONT FIXED! (But I still have the weeknight bedtime of an 80-year-old.)