Dance Yourself Happy, My Life Motto

If Psych Today tells me so, it must be true. What I've hoped for for years is confirmed by numerous studies from around the world: dance makes you happy!

I'm going to keep pretending nobody can see me while I'm jamming on the road and in my apartment with windows wide open.

I wonder if study results would prove the same for getting take-out from Cozy Noodles...

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201008/mind-your-body-dance-yourself-happy

OK Go, "White Knuckles"

These dogs have gumption!

Sufjan Stevens, All Delighted People

Last month, seemingly out of the blue, indie darling Sufjan Stevens released his All Delighted People EP. Almost simultaneous was the announcement that he would release a full-length record as well. Titled Age of Adz, the album will be released on October 12, 2010.

I have downloaded All Delighted People and was, indeed, delighted by it. A couple singles from Age of Adz have also hit the airwaves, and that project seems just as promisingly wonderful. Alternative radio stations are abuzz about Sufjan, and so it's made me wonder, "Who is this person, creating such a stir and so recklessly purging all this music out to the masses?"

Sufjan certainly is an intriguing figure. I've compiled some interesting facts, gathered from careful research (Wiki really). Read on to find a bit more about the man:

• Sufjan's label, Asthmatic Kitty, is a family affair. He and his stepfather founded the label in 1999, and named the business after their kitten Sara. Both the label and the kitty were based in Lander, Wyoming due to the latter's need to breath thin, dry air.
• Sufjan (SOOF-yahn) was not named by his parents. The founder of the spiritual community Subud gave him his name, meaning "comes with a sword." Sufjan's parents later gave him the option to change it, but he couldn't think of anything better.
• Sufjan seems to have a strong fascination with animals. Label name aside, his work was greatly effected by the sudden death of his childhood dog, and he's written a song about the supposedly extinct ivory-billed woodpecker.
• The title of his new LP is easy to mispronounce. The last word in the title "Age of Adz" should be pronounced like "odds," not what Don Draper does.
• "Age of Adz" was inspired by the schizophrenic artist Royal Robertson. Much of Royal's work depicts his vivid dreams of aliens & apocalypse and uses media like cardboard, markers, and glitter. Sufjan made a conscious decision not to create a Royal biography but, rather, focus on broad themes like love, anxiety, and death.
• Sufjan's older brother, Marzuki, is a nationally recognized marathoner.

Check here for news on Sufjan and other Asthmatic Kitty artists: http://www.asthmatickitty.com/

Download singles here and here:

http://sufjanstevens.bandcamp.com/track/too-much

http://sufjanstevens.bandcamp.com/track/i-walked

Robert Plant Still Sounding Good

As much as I love Robert Plant, there are certain times when I have a difficult time listening to him sing. After Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980, he started releasing material on his own, and I've never been a huge fan of that stuff...I thought his voice was whiney and oddly falsetto. I was so relieved to hear he still had it in 2007, with the release of Raising Sand, the great and memorable album he did with Alison Krauss.

He's back at it with his new album Band of Joy, which just so happens to be the name of his very first band from back in the '60's. The record's a collection of cover material and in a similar vein sound-wise as the Raising Sand stuff - old-school, blues, bluegrass. Not quite Zeppelin-style rocking out, but the man's 62 anyhow.

A couple instant faves are "Silver Rider" and "Harm's Swift Way." Listen here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129178865

Band of Joy's official release date is Sept. 14.