Do you have 33 minutes? Good!

I will now start including Rdio widgets to these, due to Spotify’s new listening limits. If it turned out you burned your Spotify limit for the month, you can head on over to Rdio to listen as well as listen through the Grooveshark widget. The Rdio widgets only provide previews, because they want you to visit their site to listen to full songs. Other than that, it’s as free as Spotify, with its own limits, and actually has as good (sometimes better, sometimes worse) a selection as Spotify.

Enjoy.

SPOTIFY.

RDIO

GROOVESHARK

Radical Face - Welcome Home, Son

Starting with a slow song isn’t something I do all that often, but it’s 2012, which means anything can happen?

So last week, I saw The Grey, starring Liam Neeson in a movie that might as well have been called “Liam Neeson Acts Really Tough and Also Fights Wolves.” The premise sounded pretty stupid, however! Reviews were coming in that were lauding it as an exciting thriller, with Liam Neeson lending the film some gravitas, which is the way reviewers usually apologize for the film around said gravitas. Curiosity killed the cat, as they say, and a lovely young woman and I went and saw it on opening night.

Alright, so the movie was good. Like, really good! How the hell was a movie about roughly 5 assholes and Liam Neeson taking on wolves in a tundra good? It was just a very well-paced thriller which allowed you to simply enjoy Neeson being a badass while the cast around him continued to dwindle due to “SUDDENLY, WOLVES.” The reason I even mention the movie is because a lot of people walked out of the theater groaning at the lack of payoff at the very end. Those people are dumb, because there was a satisfying payoff after the credits. So, there you go. All those words to say to stay until after the credits if you go watch The Grey. You’re welcome.

South - Tell Me

Speaking of fighting wolves in a frozen tundra, I, after the movie, immediately wondered aloud how long I would survive in their situation. Let’s see: I hate the cold. I don’t function well when I’m hungry. I’m not afraid of dogs or anything, but hearing one wolf growl/howl would force me to need new pants, and also faint.

I’d be dead within 5 minutes of stepping out of the plane wreckage. Never get lost in the wild with me.

Longwave - Pool Song

The Super Bowl is this Sunday, so naturally I should provide a set of predictions. So, I’m going to say that Welker burns the Giants for 100 yards and a score because they’ll waste too much time worrying about Gronkowski and Hernandez, but Eli’s going to go off against that pathetic New England secondary for 4 touchdowns, guaranteeing that Tom Brady will have to be his best, which he will. 38-35 Patriots, and at least 2 offensive commercials by a shitty web domain company and let’s say… a start-up that aims to change the way you sell off old furniture or something. Also, 1 commercial that everybody’s talking about at the water cooler the next day because “wow, those special effects!” Except it’ll be for a product that nobody’s comfortable talking about in mixed company, which will create many an awkward situation.

Lastly, 6% of the viewership will puke sometime during Madonna’s performance with LMFAO. That’s a prop bet somewhere, right?

Still Corners - Cuckoo

See what I just did? That was some honest-to-goodness hot air blowing. If you’ve ever seen a sports analysis show, or listened to talk radio, you’ll know that sometimes you’ll be subject to some of the most bullshittiest bullshit ever. “I’ve been thinking about this game every way I can…” “I’ve seen film of their running game from the entire season…” “I knew Eli Manning in high school, and let me tell you…” All that garbage flies out the window as soon as the game is played. Then, the next day, listening to everybody try to explain what they just saw with as many buzzwords as possible is an exercise in condescension. It’s pretty brutal. That said, I listen to sports talk all day because I need to understand why the Mets suck so bad, so often. GIVE ME ANSWERS.

Vampire Weekend - Giving Up the Gun

I don’t get it. I just don’t. I don’t like Vampire Weekend. I don’t like how they came out of nowhere and become the flavor of the week with their peppy, poppy, peppy pop. This song marks about the 4th time now that I’ve heard a song by them and thought “hey, this is pretty damn catchy, and it sounds like… DAMNIT, it’s Vampire Weekend again!”

If that ever happens with Kings of Leon, I’m killing this weekly feature dead.

Guster - Sattelite

Sometime in the last 7 years or so, I became a total Apple cultist. It started with the iPod. Then came the Macbook Pro. Then came the iPhone. Soon, perhaps if I cut my cable cord, I’ll be purchasing an Apple TV. How did this happen? This was like some bodysnatcher movie where all my gadgets started transforming into those which were designed in Cupertino, California, and I loved every minute of it.

One of the great, yet maddening things about Apple products, however, is the fact that they’re designed to “just work.” That is, the filesystems and options are very simple. On and off switches, yes and no questions, etc. The problem with this, and the reason I wanted to throw my Macbook out the window onto a car’s windshield so that the car’s owner shared in my misery, is that when something doesn’t work, you might as well say “fuck all” and shrug, because there’s no “fix this” button.

What I’m trying to say is that iTunes really got on my nerves yesterday, and I needed hours of Googling to figure out how the hell to fix it. These are serious problems, people.

Phantom Planet - Do the Panic

I’m going to be honest: I had no idea Phantom Planet didn’t just spontaneously combust after making that OC song and Jason Schwartzman went on to actually become famous. Anyway, seems as if they held on for a little while, and are now reuniting in 2012, as if anybody really missed them. Shouldn’t the word “reunion” really be reserved for bands that went away for longer than 5 minutes? Either way, Do the Panic is quite the catchy ditty, that I can easily see being played in support of an auto-insurance commercial and occasionally my own now-working iTunes.

Hospitality - The Birthday (only on Spotify and Rdio)

I’m going to just warn anybody who reads these posts now: I’m going to post a stupid amount of songs from this self-titled album in the coming weeks, months, and summertime drives. This album is just so good and full of energy, and The Birthday puts the band’s best foot forward. This is their debut full-length album, and here’s hoping it wasn’t a one-album fluke.

Gladys Knight & the Pips - Friendship Train

Performed once on Soul Train, this song was included to recognize the awful news that came out this week about its former host and creator. R.I.P. Don Cornelius. Your show was so much fun to watch as a kid, when I tried to imitate the dance moves I’d see on screen only to hurt myself and break large pieces of furniture.