“Mr. Fancy Pants” by Jonathan Coulton at PAX East 2010

The most entertaining part of PAX East’s Saturday night concert was probably Jonathan Coulton playing “Mr. Fancy Pants” on the Distract-o-tron.

I’m very impressed by how he’s able to keep the drum beat going throughout just by tapping on that thing.

(Many thanks to uploader acmidgett!)

Jonathan Coulton and Paul & Storm play TMBG’s Flood

I saw Paul & Storm (very good) and Jonathan Coulton (very very good, especially in “Coultron” form with Paul & Storm and Metroid Metal’s rhythm section) play at PAX East this past weekend.

Little did I know that, with a little Internet digging, I could uncover videos of them playing They Might Be Giants’ album Flood, in its entirety, at a show in Chicago last year. I made a playlist so you can watch it all back-to-back:

Many many many thanks to uploader MrSctw.

I always thought of TMBG as just this weird (though awesome) niche band that I and some of my friends were in to, so it’s very odd (though obvious in retrospect, given their trail-blazing position) to see them as a point of reference for other musicians.

More Paul & Storm / They Might Be Giants stuff: It Might Be X-Mas, a Christmas album written in the style of TMBG. I recommend at least listening to “Christmas Eve Eve.”

Boys and Girls Singing Together

Five songs with alternating or overlapping male/female lead vocal parts:

Boys and Girls Singing Together

Let me know what you think!

Honorable mention that Lala doesn’t have rights to: “Under Your Spell / Standing (Reprise)” from Once More… With Feeling.

Old Crow Medicine Idol

ATL 5 @ Yahoo! Video

Songs I Like in Languages I Don’t Understand

I made this playlist a few weeks ago and stuck it in my sidebar, but since I’m starting a little series I thought I’d call it out in a post.

Here are five songs I like in languages I don’t understand:

Songs I Like in Languages I Do...

Boats and Being on Them

The first track from The Darwin Song Project, “Trust in the Rolling Ocean,” has been running through my head the past few days. It’s inspired me to put together a quick playlist of some of my favorite songs about boats and, in particular, being on them:

Boats and Being on Them

Rachel Efron: Home to Me

“Home to Me” performed by Rachel Efron. From the 4AM CD release party at Café du Nord.

I saw Rachel Efron when she played Jupiter in Berkeley a year or so ago. She has a great mellow jazzy-pop sound and a beautiful voice.

She’s touring in support of her new album, 4AM, and is playing tonight in Cambridge at the Lily Pad.

I’ve found two more videos on YouTube from the 4AM CD release party in SF: “A Fool Could Find a Way” and “Goodnight My Dear” (which is from her first album, Say Goodbye).

Swedish Big Band Hip-Hop IS Better with Banjo

Buy on AmazonMovits!

Saw these guys on Colbert. Their MySpace (which has four songs to listen to) says their album is coming to iTunes soon. (Update: now on Amazon, though!)

I’m always a fan of horns and banjo, which is why I believe that King Oliver had it right. (Though Louis Armstrong doesn’t hurt, either.)

Update, 8/1: Correction. On further inspection, it is a guitjo. Even better.