Alex Ebert & Jared Leto Win At The Golden Globes

 

So who watched the Golden Globes last night?  I managed to make it through the entire show, with special thanks to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's hosting duties for keeping it away from that boring "award show" territory.  There were actually quite a few pleasant surprises in the winners this year.  It wasn't the usual Clooney and Streep show.

Alex Ebert, of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Ima Robot, and Alexander fame, won the "Best Original Score" award for his work on the Robert Redford fronted All Is Lost.  My cable box decided to momentarily break just before the category was announced, so I only managed to see Ebert walking off the stage as I shouted "That's Edward Sharpe!".  I still can't believe he actually won over Hans Zimmer or John Williams.  Everything about that is amazing.

Part time actor and 30 Seconds To Mars frontman Jared Leto also won, taking the "Best Supporting Actor" award for his role in Dallas Buyers Club.  I'm ashamed to say I still haven't seen the film and it sits at the top of my must-see list, but holy upsets Batman!  He beat Michael Fassbender and Bradley Cooper!  That makes two underdog musicians who managed to topple the big industry names.

Congrats to Golden Globe winners, Alex Ebert and Jared Leto!

Friday I'm In Love - 26/7/13

Friday I'm In Love is a weekly feature.

Includes highlights of what I loved over the past week.

Week = Friday to Friday.

May include things of a non-musical variety.

"Falling In Love" by 2NE1

I tend to watch Korean television every so often and the best time to tune in is when the channel plays a block of K-Pop videos.  K-Pop videos are almost guaranteed to be more spectacular in every sense when compared to your average American pop video.  2NE1's latest video for "Falling In Love" has actually been out for a few weeks, but I'm still hooked on the song.  It's amazing.  I just wish Spotify would add it to their library so I could play it on repeat.

Pre-"Licensed To Ill" Beastie Boys

I'm not the biggest expert on anything Beastie Boys related, but as I was browsing tumblr the other day, I learned that the Beastie Boys used to play hardcore punk before their rap-rock career took off.  Naturally, I had to take a listen.  It proved to be highly enjoyable.  If you're interested in checking it out, their early material has been collected on the '94 compilation album, Some Old Bullshit.

The new self-titled album from Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros

This album release seemed to come out of nowhere.  The date had been announced long ago and there was a pre-release stream, but I still almost managed to let it slip by.  I guess that means I'm falling behind on my music calendar.  Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros have always been consistent through each of their records and this self-titled album reminds me of their debut wonder.  There's also a somewhat hard to describe new sound that the band seems to be dabbling in.  I highly recommend you go check it out.  If only one could join the always growing line-up of The Magnetic Zeros for just a day.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Better Days

I like to think that Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros are responsible for the recent "folk jamboree" craze in popular music.  You know what type of sound I'm talking about, with the campfire sing-along vocals followed by either a banjo solo or a horn section.  See The Lumineers, Of Monsters And Men, Mumford & Sons, or even that dreaded Phillip Phillips single for example.  Some of the releases from those bands sound suspiciously similar to Edward Sharpe's massive hit "Home".

The band's newest track, "Better Days", is the lead single to their upcoming self-titled record and, aside from a few seven-inch singles, serves as the follow-up to last year's sophomore effort, Here.  With this song, I feel like the band has created a perfect trilogy.  It all starts with "Home", then "Man On Fire", and finally "Better Days".  The instrumentals are full and all three tracks share a huge chord progression.  Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros at their finest, if I do say so myself.

Listen to "Better Days" below and look out for Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros' self-titled album on July 23.