This Weeks Releases February 9th, 2010

(If they have a STAR by them, it means I’ve heard it and I like it. Album title links go to Amazon. If I miss any good releases, please add them in the comments.)

For all your MP3 needs purchase from iTunes or Amazon.

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MP3 >> Yeasayer – Ambling Alp

MUSIC:
Beach Fossils: Daydream
Best Coast: Something in the Way (vinyl)
Hot Chip: One Life Stand (CD & DVD)
Massive Attack: Heligoland
Phantogram: Eyelid Movies
Yeasayer: Odd Blood (vinyl) *

DVD:
A Serious Man

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Hin Chua

View the beautiful photography of London based photographer Hin Chua.

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The Weekly Check In With Jeff Rubin

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

Here’s the first installment of a Weekly Check In with another Rubin in the world (who I’m not related to). Jeff Rubin is a funny guy. I’ve been enjoying his stuff on Collegehumor for some time now, enjoy his stand up and his newest show Bleep Bloop (a show about video games).

Name: Jeff Rubin
Location: New York
Age: 28
Occupation: Editor of CollegeHumor.com
Websites: http://jeffrubinjeffrubin.com / http://www.collegehumor.com/bleepbloop

Rubin: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Jeff Rubin: One of the nice things about the website is we’re always working on a few different things. We just had Chuck Klosterman, who is one of my favorite writers, on my videogame show Bleep Bloop and we’re almost done editing. I can’t wait to post that. I wrote a few scripts that are going to be videos soon (including an Electric Slide parody) so that’s always exciting. We’re currently plotting a CollegeHumor Live event at the Gramercy Theater for February. It’s the biggest venue we’ve ever done by ourselves, so that’s going to be a lot of fun.

Rubin: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Jeff Rubin: We just did a live show in Notre Dame which is great. We’ve got a show at the end of the month in Utah, so I’m hoping to spend some time in Zion national park.

Rubin: What’s your favorite music right now?

Jeff Rubin: It’s always fun when someone asks that. I’ve been listening to nothing but MF Doom (who I only recently discovered) and Rod Stewart.

Rubin: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Jeff Rubin: I try to do a bit of pizza tourism anywhere I go and on a recent trip to San Francisco I recently tried Tony’s (in North Beach). It wasn’t just a good pie for San Francisco (a wonderful town cursed with bad pizza), it was a great pie for anywhere.

Rubin: Anything else you want to mention?

Jeff Rubin: Rod Stewart is good! Really! He had some of the best musicians of the era on his early solo albums, and his work with The Faces and the Jeff Beck Group is criminally underrated.

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Keepaway Yellow Wings

I like what I’ve heard so far from this Brooklyn, NY band Keepaway. (And maybe I heard the whole EP because I knew a guy who knew a guy and I really really like it. So be on the lookout when it gets it’s proper release.) Yes they remind you of Animal Collective but there’s something else going on that’s not just straight up the same.

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MP3 >> Keepaway – Yellow Wings

Find out more at Myspace.

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This Weeks Releases February 2nd, 2010

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MP3>> Midlake – Acts Of Man MP3

(If they have a STAR by them, it means I’ve heard it and I like it. Album title links go to Amazon. If I miss any good releases, please add them in the comments.)

For all your MP3 needs purchase from iTunes or Amazon.

The Album Leaf: A Chorus of Storytellers
Fela Kuti: Live With Ginger Baker
Lil Wayne: Rebirth (deluxe edition with bonus tracks)
Madlib & Guilty Simpson: Madlib Medicine Show 1
Midlake: The Courage of Others *
Mount Eerie: Black Wooden *
Pierced Arrows: Descending Shadows (vinyl)
Priestess: Prior to the Fire (vinyl)
Toro Y Moi: Causers of This (vinyl) *
U.S. Girls: Go Grey
Vedera: Stages

MOVIES:
Zombieland *

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Cloud Nothings

Well if that’s what they wanted, I really don’t know much about Cloud Nothings except I love their debut record Turning On, his name is Dylan, he’s from Cleveland and he was in a band called Cat Killer before this.

“The debut of Cleveland, Ohio’s Cloud Nothings is an incredibly catchy and nostalgic 8 song full-length album. Solo bedroom pop punk overflowing with infectious guitar riffs harmonizing perfectly with addicting vocal melodies. Expect big things from this kid! First edition of 100 cassettes and second edition of 100 CDs.” (from the Bridgetown Records website)

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MP3>> Cloud Nothings – Can’t Stay Awake

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MP3>> Cloud Nothings – Hey Cool Kid

Buy the record at Bridgetown Records on Cassette or CD.
Listen to more and check out the upcoming tour dates at Myspace.

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Zombieland

The first DVD I’m buying of 2010 is Zombieland, the directorial debut by my amazingly talented friend Ruben Fleischer (follow everything he does over at ruben.fm.) I saw this movie twice and think it could be one I watch often for years to come.

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin “The horror comedy Zombieland focuses on two men who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies.”

Buy it on DVD or Blu-Ray over at Amazon.

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The Weekly Check In With Sophie Curtis

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

Sophie Curtis is a very talented young photographer based out of England. She has what feels like 100’s of websites that she contributes to, one of my favorites is titled Samesies, and she always continues to inspire me. I hope someday I can take a photos as magical as hers.

Name: Sophie Curtis
Location: South-east England
Age: 20
Occupation: Trying to work out how to accomplish everything I want to and enjoy everything too
Websites: http://flickr.com/sophiecurtis http://pus-eye.com
http://outhereoverthere.blogspot.com
http://cashmereclubhouse.com

Rubin: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Curtis: I was recently asked by a small record label to take a few series’ for them to use as promos and so on, I am really excited about that! The label releases pretty experimental music so I am enjoying the brainstorming part of the project, its made me consider taking photos that would have taken alot longer to come to me otherwise. And I’m trying to move away from what I almost feel like is my “safety zone” and its actually more fun than scary so that’s gooood.

Rubin: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Curtis: I have spent a fair amount to time on trains and buses since the start of January, because when I’m not working I like to go see friends who are dotted about in England studying at various universities. The nicest trip I’ve taken this month was to the Cotswolds, I was there for a week and we got 10 inches or so of snow and everything looked really lovely. I’ve been trying to see lots of different people recently so I can get used to taking photos of people properly again, I don’t show faces enough in my photos!

Rubin: What’s your favorite music right now?

Curtis: I don’t know if it’s because I have someone back in my life from when I was 13, or because I have felt a bit weird about suddenly no longer being classed as a teenager, but I’ve really reverted to music I loved when I was younger, like 60s rock and roll. I will always always always love is Joanna Newsom, Cat Power and BJM. I like anything really, especially if it makes me feel strange or unreal or lifted (unfortunately this sometimes makes me like really crap music.)

Rubin: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Curtis: Spiced chai tea milkshake on a train. And the enchiladas my mum made for my birthday.

Rubin: Anything else you want to mention?

Curtis: The person I like to photograph the most is Rianna Cox, she wears lovely sparkly things that I can’t help snapping. She doesn’t post all over the place like I do but I think everyone should know about her because her photos are magical and wonderful! Her Flickr is http://www.flickr.com/effluo and I want to mention another really good friend Dan Price because I always want him to put more photos online and this might get him to do it haha – his Flickr is http://www.flickr.com/annemariefrank. And and and people should look at Alex Howard and Simon Nunn and Hannah Davis and Dave Geeting and Bobby Doherty. There are more but I’m just being ridiculous! Thanks!

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Sony A850 DSLR

I love this camera. I finally broke down and bought the Sony A850 one of their 24.6 megapixel, full frame 35mm DSLRs. For me, this is the first DSLR I’ve used where it just felt amazing to shoot with it and felt like shooting a film camera. From the solid build of the camera itself…  amazing image quality, features like SteadyShot  Inside™ (in-camera image stabilization – works with
every lens) the beautiful huge bright pentaprism viewfinder, the sound of the shutter, 35mm Exmor™ CMOS sensor w/dual BIONZ processors delivers the best color around, a 3″ Xtra Fine LCD, and other components. For the lens, I’m using the Sony 28-75mm (with dreams of the Zeiss lenses they have someday.)

I would recommend this to anyone who wanted a full frame camera but couldn’t spend as much as some of the comparable cameras cost. I’m still learning a lot about Sony cameras but I think you’ll be very impressed. It doesn’t shoot video but that’s something that didn’t bother me for now. Also, there are A LOT of cameras out there. This is the one I decided on, I hope it’ll interest you in Sony’s newer cameras and how much awesome stuff they’re doing.

I’ve taken some photos with it over on my Flickr, they’re tagged with Sony A850.
Read about it at over at Sonystyle.com.
Get it at Amazon.

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Have You Heard? Music That Happens After Something Happens Mix

Here at Rubin Recommends we’re launching a new mixtape feature called “Have You Heard?”. The idea is to have friends and compatriots curate mixes of tunes that might otherwise have gone unnoticed (or are just generally KILLER). Themes will be obvious or obscure, songs will be loud or soft, downloads will be fast or slow.

To start things off we have a mix called “Music That Happens After Something Happens“. It will greatly aid you in partying forever. It’s about, well, music that happens after something happens.

Gang Gang Dance ‘House Jam’
The Yummy Fur Policeman
Micachu ‘Golden Phone’
The Bug ‘Poison Dart’
The Knife ‘Pass This On’
Patrick Cleandenim Stage Fright
Hercules and Love Affair ‘Hercules Theme’
The Phenomenal Handclap Band ‘15 to 20′
Cold Cave ‘Life Magazine’
Fever Ray ‘Triangle Walks’
Giorgio Moroder Underdog
Red Dragon Band ‘Let Me Be Your Radio’
The xx ‘Crystalised’
Telepathe ‘So Fine’
Blond Redhead ‘Elephant Woman’

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Download the mix.

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