The Official Chris Duncan Web Site

I don’t claim to be cool… but I do have incredible taste. I don’t really read music blogs or anything like that. I really just download music randomly or based on suggestions. I think I’m pretty much a cross-section of American music consumption with an affinity for sappy or serious sounding music. Much to my surprise, I got into electronic music in 2008. After seeing Justice at SXSW, I got Cross which brought me to Hot Chip and Cut Copy. So there’s definitely a heavy electronic influence on this list. However, I still like rock and rap… I just haven’t found as much diverse music in those genres lately.

I'm going to start smoking cigarettes and wearing fitted leather jackets.

In terms of albums, there are obvious ones like Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III, Hot Chip - Made In The Dark, Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours, MGMT - Oracular Spectacular, etc. Looking at this list, you also can tell how much I love The Black Ghosts. They are fucking awesome. In addition to their eponymous album (that means it’s ALSO called The Black Ghosts), they also released an amazing mix tape (aptly named The Black Ghosts - Mixtape). The Black Ghosts are two guys: Simon Lord and Theo Keating. Simon Lord also released an album as Lord Skywave (two songs on my list). Theo Keating, on the other hand, has been extremely busy. In 2008, he started anonymously remixing tracks under the pseudonym Fake Blood. Speculation was that it was a super producer such as Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim), Daft Punk,  Dave 8-Bit, or even a group of guys. In fact, it was Theo Keating.  Mr. Keating ended up releasing two of the better tracks of 2008 in Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat (Fake Blood Remix) and Fake Blood - Mars. He also released Vampire EP as DJ Touche toward the end of the year.  The song “Vampires” from that EP is quite sweet.
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If you’re interested in reading much more reasonable and informed “Best of 2008″ lists, check out Not Many Experts or Hate Something Beautiful.  Here’s are my lists:

THE BEST

Bon Iver - Skinny Love
The video from Letterman is pretty amazing.

Cut Copy - Out There On The Ice
I probably listened to this song multiple times per day for 2-3 weeks.

Does It Offend You Yeah - Being Bad Feels Really Good
I know, they all sound the same. But I like this album (You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into) a lot.

FrankMusik - 3 Little Words (The Black Ghosts Remix)
I like FrankMusik and I love The Black Ghosts. Shocking, isn’t it?

Hot Chip - We’re Looking For A Lot Of Love
This is the song that got me hooked on “Made in the Dark”. I have Wrestlers below… but there are a handful of songs I wanted to include on this list.

Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat (Fake Blood Remix)
I can’t stop listening to this song. Probably my favorite song of right now.

MGMT - Kids
I went to Chicago in May and I pretty much listened to this song on repeat for two days.

T.I. - Dead and Gone ft. Justin Timberlake
People hate on JT… but they shouldn’t.

The Black Ghosts - Some Way Through This
Have you ever been really pissed off at your girlfriend? Simon Lord has.

Young Jeezy - Hustlaz Ambition
This track is produced by Drumma Boy who also takes credit for Ready for Whatever, What Up, What’s Happenin’, and Put On.

THE REST

Albert Hammond Jr. - GfC
Albert Hammond Jr. - You Won’t Be Fooled By This
Beasts of Eden - Skin
Black Kids - I’m Making Eyes At You
Cut Copy - Lights and Music
Cut Copy - Nobody Lost, Nobody Found
Does It Offend You Yeah - Epic Last Song (Lifelike Remix)
DJ Touche - Vampires
Fake Blood - Mars
Fil Ok - Wink Wink (Touche Remix)
FrankMusik - Made Her Smile
Hot Chip - Wrestlers
Illinois - Hang On
Kanye West - Welcome to Heartbreak
Kings of Leon - Closer
Lil Wayne - Tie My Hands
Lord Skywave - Maybe I Need To
Lord Skywave - Something
Mark Knight and the Funkagenda - Man with the Red Face
MGMT - Electric Feel
MGMT - Electric Feel (Justice Remix)
MGMT - Kids (Soulwax Nite Version)
MGMT - Kids (The Kooks cover)
N.E.R.D. - Laugh About It
O’Neal McKnight - Check Your Coat
T.I. - Whatever You Like
The Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose To Give It (Boy 8-Bit Mix)
The Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose To Give It (The Whip Remix)
The Black Ghosts - Let’s Get Physical
The Heavy - Set Me Free
The Killers - Spaceman
The Steps - Pull the Cord
The Tallest Man on Earth - Honey Won’t You Let Me In
The Whip - Dubsex
The Whip - Muzzle No. 1
The Whip - Sirens
Trabant - The One (The Black Ghosts Remix)
TV on the Radio - Crying
TV on the Radio - Love Dog
Young Jeezy - Vacation

MOST OVERRATED SONGS

Kanye West - Love Lockdown … I have no idea why this is the primary single. It’s probably an above average song. I skip it on my iPod.
Lil Wayne - A Milli … possibly one of the most annoying songs of all time.
Young Jeezy ft. Kanye West - Put On … I’ve tried to like this song but I really can’t.
Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love … this is a Wilson Phillips rip off! Please!

DISAPPOINTING NEW ALBUMS

The Mars Volta… I like The Mars Volta and listened to their most recent CD. After like 4-5 times around, I stopped listening to it.
The Kooks… it was actually a good CD… but was it different in any way? It sounded like Inside In/Inside Out on shuffle. I like “Gap” but probably because it’s a “Naive” remix.
Kanye West … if you read this blog, you’ve read my Kanye rants. If you think 808s is great, listen to The College Dropout again. That should cure you.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR IN 2009

FrankMusik
I really really like FrankMusik and think that his debut album could catch on in a big way. It’s being produced by Stuart Price who most recently worked on The Killers Day & Age. You may say, “Chris, I thought Day & Age sucked.” And I would say you’re wrong. All of the people that didn’t like Day & Age decided that Brandon Flowers need to make upbeat, poppy jams to reach the same level as Hot Fuss. While that may not be in the cards for The Killers anymore, that’s the exact sound that FrankMusik produces. He even uses the echo effect on his vocals in “Gotta Boyfriend” that Brandon Flowers used to love. I think he’ll either blow up in a big way… or nobody in the US will ever hear of him unless they read a snarky music blog (or this shitty one).

Theo Keating AKA DJ Touche AKA Fake Blood AND Simon Lord AKA Lord Skywave
As you can already tell, I’m OBSESSED with The Black Ghosts members Theo Keating and Simon Lord.  I’m guessing that Theo Keating will be busy next year as well. Hopefully, there’s more Fake Blood production on the way. Simon Lord is collaborating with Flowers of Doom for their upcoming album and he’s planning his second Lord Skywave album. It also sounds like there will be another The Black Ghosts album in 2009. Keep in mind that Lindsay Lohan also listens to The Black Ghosts. God, I am so fucking cool… and no, that’s not how I heard about them.  LISTEN TO THE BLACK GHOSTS!

The Shameless Lesbians vs. The Black Ghosts

Pop Is Back
My one sweeping prediction (that doesn’t sound like much of a prediction) is that pop is back. What does that mean? I’m not sure. But I’m pretty positive that by the end of 2009, people will be reviewing the resurgence of pop music. Pop music is interesting because there really is no defining set of characteristics. But you can look at the recent past to see new attempts at “pop”. Kanye West said 808’s was a pop album. A lot of the electro-pop music is sounding quite poppy these days.  Even Britney has made a comeback.  BBC picked Little Boots and her pop sound as the #1 artist to watch in 2009.  We’ll see…

Let me be one of the first to promote the theory that Kanye West’s dancing is even worse than his singing. Too bad there’s no autotuner for dancing… because Kanye sucks at it. I first noticed his attempts at dance on either Conan or Letterman a few weeks ago. He was all by himself in front of the band, so he spastically jerked around. I know that it’s pathetic and horrible dancing because it looked much like something that I would attempt. However, I’m not trying to be the next Michael Jackson… and it takes a lot of booze to convince me to “get down” like that. TMZ and MediaTakeOut have both highlighted his horrific dancing from the last episode of Saturday Night Live.

Can we also note that Kanye posted these videos on his blog and spelled the name of his song incorrectly? I know it’s minor… but he called it “Love Lock Down” instead of “Love Lockdown”. Normally, I’d let this pass… but it’s probably due to somebody ghostwriting for him. Note that his domain name is registered by echomusic LLC. echomusic LLC specializes in marketing (listing music blogs as one of their specialties) and is owned by Ticketmaster. Hmmm…

• Warcraft “leading cause” of college dropouts.
• The Guardian: The Dark Knight has most ridiculous plot of 2008.
• Rihanna shows some cleav.
• List of people/businesses swindled by Bernard Madoff.
• SNL writers read my blog, create David Paterson Weekend Update appearance.  However, David Paterson doesn’t think blind people jokes are funny.
• Pictures: Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
• Picture: Shawty got a donk.
• Tim McGraw has #1 fragrance aptly named “McGraw”. Faith Hill to create a fragrance as well.
• Michael Jackson wore a crazy Zorro outfit to court.  Sad.
• Kanye wears a lot of red to Z100’s Jingle Ball.  Did he borrow that tux from Brandon Flowers?
• The Hangover (movie) looks pretty funny.
• Mark Cuban says down with the frohawk.
• Arsenal midfielder Djourou is a bigtime metrosexual.
• Video: Check out the Japanese commercial for SoftBank starring Brad Pitt and directed by Wes Anderson.   Seriously.

Sean Avery is hilarious but also a d-bag. Elisha Cuthbert’s ex felt the need to run his mouth now that people know his name. It has to suck when you’re more known for your ex-girlfriends or a publishing internship than your actual career in the NHL. At the same time, it’s not Elisha Cuthbert’s fault that she likes to bone hockey players. I sense a bit of jealousy in Sean Avery’s comments. Would you ever see his name in the news (or a box score) unless he said something extreme? Reading the original article, I ended up seeing Mr. Avery’s profile picture on ESPN. Lame. Here’s more visual evidence of his douchebaggery:

Did he buy those glasses off of Lenny Kravitz?

I wonder what he's going to say about Shanahan when they break up

• CW to spin off Gossip Girl into Jenny Humphrey show?
• Knight Rider is officially dead.  Next up: American Gladiators.
• In smart but less-than-innovative plan, The Dark Knight will be re-released in theaters 6 weeks after the DVD release. Also, The Dark Knight to debut on VOD before DVD in Korea.
• Entertainment Weekly declares Seth MacFarlane “smartest man in TV”. Apparently, ripping off The Simpsons makes you a genius.
• Colt McCoy wins Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year… then named second team All Big 12 QB. Huh?
• MySpace to offer videos through mobile.
• IFC unveils for domestic trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s Che starring Benicio Del Toro.
• Check out first images of Christian Bale and Johnny Depp (as John Dillinger) in Public Enemies.
• Apparently, Stephen Colbert reads my blog and has “declared war on Kanye West”.
• For The Record: Britney’s ratings good but not great.
• For the fiends: New Lost trailers.
• BBC News: How to deliver a ransom to pirates.
• Check out the new Aftermath & Eminem mixtape. Also, Eminem - Number One.

Kanye is being complimented for his blog by GQ (according to Jossip). Apparently, they’re calling him out in the “Men of the Year” section for his blog Kanye Univercity. Mr. West is a super-blogger — some days he posts over 10 times. He even managed to post 20 times on the day that he was arrested in the UK. Is that really possible? Probably not. Hip Hop’s Newest Vocoder Fan oozes narcissism in his new Fader interview. Gross. He also attributes his sour grapes outbreak during the MTV Europe VMAs to him being an “independent champion” (the outburst is at 1:10 and quite ridiculous). Right. He also said recently that he wanted to be Elvis. Will his next album’s (likely) mediocre sales temper his attitude? We’ll see… he’s compared himself to Michael Jackson and Elvis in the past week. Please also do not give him credit for the Lego heart he wore on Conan… it’s from the guys in Jackson Swinton.

You didn’t know?  Kanye made underbites hot.

• Stallone adds Dolph Lundgren to The Expendables along with Jet Li and Jason Statham.
• Nike orchestrating LeBron move to the Knicks; gives Knicks fans free hot dogs.
• Whizzinator creators face The Man.
• Twilight stars will get $10 million raise for sequel.
• SNL to air “sports-centric” special during NFL Playoffs. Sarah Palin will appear. Just kidding.
• Ryan Seacrest is slowly becoming a somewhat legit TV producer… he’s responsible for Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Denise Richards: It’s Complicated, Bromance, and Momma’s Boys.
• George Clooney hazes Hugh Jackman upon becoming Sexiest Man Alive.
• Yeah, Kanye can’t possibly write his own blog… but Argentinian model Griselda Sanchez is really hot.
• Apple sued over iPhone’s browser.
• NY Daily News: Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Australia’ an ‘unwieldy mess’; Nicole Kidman ‘painfully corny’. Ouch.
• Is the Heidi/Spencer marriage fake? Probably.
• Mila Kunis knows a lot about World of Warcraft… even more shocking: Macaulay Culkin is her boyfriend.
• Atlantic Records claims half of its revenue comes from “digital”.

Jimbo Wales is an innovator. He’s also a big time Google hater and has said that the world’s #1 search engine is severely flawed and lacks openness. Jimmy “Jimbo” Wales is the mind behind Bomis, Wikipedia and Wikia Search. Everybody knows Wikipedia… but people know less about his first project, Bomis, and his most recent project, Wikia Search. You might think he’s a squeaky clean, Silicon Valley nerd… but Bomis was a “babe search engine” and it was discovered that he’s EDITED HIS OWN WIKIPEDIA ENTRY multiple times. The newest project, Wikia Search, was supposed to compete with Google by providing an community-powered search experience. Users could essentially grade the results that they received. Most recently, they added an app platform called WiseAPPS. None of that matters now. Google released “Search Wiki” yesterday and logged in users can do literally the same thing … but with Google. Considering the clout that Google already has by running Blogger, YouTube, and Gmail, it won’t be long until this outstrips Wikia Search. See you later, Jimbo Wales and Wikia Search. Also, has anybody ever noticed how SHITTY the search is within Wikipedia? Unless somebody has created a redirect, you get completely irrelevant results if you mispell anything. Maybe he should focus on that.

Jimbo Wales, we hardly knew ye

• Blackberry Storm gets mixed reviews.
• 50 Cent sues Taco Bell for asking him to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent, or 99 Cent.
• Online advertising actually increased in Q3 despite the economic conditions.
• Selling an $11000 truffle isn’t easy with the economy in bad shape…
• Tall Europeans aren’t as good for the environment as medium-sized Americans.  USA!  USA!
• GLC & Kanye West - “Big Screen” … look, ma, no vocoder! GLC & Kanye have teamed up before … check out Akademics Jeanius Level Music Vol. 2.  It’s awesome.
• Ludacris ft. Jay-Z & Nas - “I Do It For Hip Hop” … Kanye, Luda, The Killers, and GnR all drop albums next week.
• George Clooney is down with the stache.
• If you hate Affliction shirts as much as I do… it’s quite discouraging that Wal-Mart is going to start selling an off-brand version.
• Scrubs starts on ABC Tuesday January 6th @ 9PM.
• Here’s the preview for The Wrestler directed by Darren Aronofsky. Marissa Tomei is HOT, Mickey Rourke’s face is NOT.
• Boston College won’t give students email accounts anymore… just forwarding.
• Victoria Secret model Karolina Kurkova has no belly button. It’s funny how her super-perfect body healed a scar well… and that’s an imperfection.
• Flashback: Letterman did a show with no commercials over 10 years ago. Think about it TV, internet, and mobile video producers.

Justin Timberlake made a surprise appearance on SNL last night and killed.  He started with a super-speed monologue on Weekend Update where he ran through his entire (now cancelled) episode that he was going to host next week.  Later, he appeared in this skit as a backup dancer for Beyonce.  Paul Rudd was also a great host.  Maybe SNL isn’t dead.

Bringing sexy back?

• Netflix CEO thinks the remote control will be replaced by a sweet Wiimote-like pointer.
• Hillary Duff to star in NBC show.
• Hollywood scales back partying.
• Newest Guitar Hero not selling as well as previous installment.
• British woman divorces husband for virtual world sex. Also worth noting is that she met her (now estranged) husband in an online chat room.
• Prison Break coming to an end?
• Rosie O’Donnell “variety show” on NBC will feature Kathy Griffin, Jane Krakowski, Alanis Morissette, Danny Bonaduce, Dane Cook and Joe Francis. That sounds random and horrible.
• Paris potential BFF Corrie Loftin was not only in GGW, but also did softcore nude pics under the pseudonym Devin Lexen.
• My mustache heroes: the Croatian water polo team.
• Obama gives first weekly YouTube address.
• Robert Swift has a stupid tattoo on his arm (of the And1 guy). Idiot.
• Tatum Bell, previously a member of the Lions and manager of a cell phone store, signs with the Broncos.
• Maloof’s partner with Mark Burnett for reality show about the Sacramento Kings.
• Pros & Cons of the Blackberry Storm and iPhone 3G.
• Kanye West blogs about his arrest.
• Matthew McConaughey must’ve been stoned when he made up this exercise.
• Justin Timberlake buys $5.5 mn loft in NYC.
• Hamid Karzai offers Taliban safety deal.
• Kim Jong Il “makes new public appearance”.

NY Mag has harsh words about “Amazing” and “Tell Everybody That You Know” two tracks leaked from Kanye’s upcoming CD. I love a lot of what Kanye’s done. Everybody knows he’s an excellent producer and lyricist … but his vocals and flow are suspect at times. I actually like both songs and they will probably be popular, but you can’t call this an improvement on his past work.  “Amazing” almost sounds like a Kid Rock’s “Only God Knows Why” mixed with the Gangsta’s Paradise choir. And everybody still talks about Kid Rock’s slowed-down vocoder song… oh wait, no they don’t. Thankfully Young Jeezy is a good addition — he had a slick appearance on “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” from Graduation.

I don’t know how to feel about these songs though. They’re worth listening to… but they aren’t really “Kanye West songs”. When I heard them, I immediately thought either 1) somebody close to him died or 2) he and his girl split. Apparently, it’s both.  His mom died about a year ago from botched plastic surgery and because he and Alexis Phifer broke up a few months ago. The title of Mr. West’s upcoming CD is 808’s and Heartbreak. The former referring to the drum machine nicknamed the “808″ and the latter presumably referring to Phifer. Maybe Kanye grew up. He surprised me the most by failing to mention a single brand (I think). In 2004, he topped the American Brandstand list with mentions of 19 different brands in 4 of his songs (19 brands in 4 songs - Avis, Boost, Cadillac, Cartier, Cool Whip, Ensure, Geico Insurance, Hennessy, Jacob the Jeweler, Lexus, x2, Mercedes, MTV, Nike x2, Pepsi, Rolex, Toys R Us, Versace).  Although, the new “maturity” didn’t stop him from claiming he’s the “voice of a generation”.

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Gap creates potentially the most annoying celebrity holiday song commercial of all time

• NBC to air 3-D episode of Chuck after the Super Bowl… and then realize Chuck will never be popular. This is reminiscent of INCESSANT My Own Worst Enemy promos during the Olympics.
• Obama to resign from Senate on Sunday.
• Viewers of election coverage like and dislike O’Reilly the least. Katie Couric sandwiched between O’Reilly and Fox News (in general) on disliked list. Ouch.
• Heidi and Spencer will appear on “How I Met Your Mother”. Ugh.
• 60 Minutes books first post-election interview with Barack and Michelle Obama on Sunday.
• NYT says Obama dresses like Jerry Seinfeld.
• Preview Kanye’s competition… The Killers Day & Age
• TMZ says it best, “Travolta Shaves Head, Leaves Beard“. Scary but kind of awesome.  John called it the “Stone Cold” look.
• Chinese government decides to “name and shame” artists that lip-synch.
• Quantum of Solace locations for your James Bond tour.
• Paulson urges automaker aid. Soros: “Hedge funds will be decimated.”
• Bin Laden “cut off” from Al Qaeda operations. I think we’d actually be less safe if he died. At this point, he’s just a trophy.