Hey people. How are you? Never, I care not for your state of mind, because you’re going to be feeling pretty awesome after you hear this brand spankin’ new song from Foo Fighters that will be released on their upcoming “Greatest Hits” album. The song is titled “Wheels” and while I posted an unfinished version with a slightly-altered pitch a few weeks ago, now you get to hear the real version and it is glorious. I am definitely digging the shades of Tom Petty’s “Learning to Fly” in it.

The album will also feature a second new song from the Foo called “Word Forward” and an acoustic version of their fan favorite “Everlong.” Click right here to see which songs made the cut, although I can tell you right now that they are the expected songs that received the most airplay, which makes sense. If I were to a put together an album of their greatest songs, it might look something like this though:

1. “Come Alive”
2. “Hey, Johnny Park!”
3. “Everlong”
4. “February Stars”
5. “Come Back”
6. “Best of You”
7. “Time Like These”
8. “Cold Day in the Sun”
9. “How I Miss You”
10. “The Pretender”
11. “Let it Die”
12. “The Last Song”
13. “Aurora”
14. “Stacked Actors”
15. “Hell”

Oh, and since we’re on it, take the jump to see some of my favorite covers that the Foo Fighters have done, because it is common knowledge that these guys are some of the best when it comes to covering other artists.

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Jesus.

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Cheesy.

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Gangsta.

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Television shows by their very nature are long-sighted affairs. Even if they run only a season or less, the intention is that they’ll run longer, and accordingly, the stories and characters are built over a long period of time, rather than the relatively short period of time that belongs to movies. Though some shows are more given to long story arcs and others focus more on discreet standalone episodes (and everything in between), it still holds true that most shows are judged, loved, or hated as a whole rather than by each episode.

However, sometimes specific episodes leap out from the dozens or hundreds episodes of a given show and bowl you over with their individual power, apart from their places in the show’s arc or among the other, more average episodes. Sometimes a great episode emerges from a mediocre show, or sometimes an episode of an outstanding show turns out to be even better than those surrounding it. I thought it would be fun to highlight some of these episodes in what I hope will be an ongoing series. First off, an episode I recently saw for the first time and practically wouldn’t let me go without writing about it.

We’re all geeky enough here not to laugh and write me off immediately when I say an episode of the BBC’s rebooted Doctor Who is one of the best things I’ve seen on TV in a long time, right? Well, even if we’re not, rest assured that episode 3×10: “Blink” is tighter, stronger, and scarier than anything else I’ve seen on the series (I’ve only watched through Season 3), and contains hardly a trace of the series’ lovable cheese. It also works very well completely on its own, so it’s a perfect entry-point for a new viewer. Just be aware that the show as a whole (which I love, by the way), is a lot more given to dubious special effects and over-the-top plot-lines than this episode is.

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Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.

-from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I‘m not sure what’s most exciting about this. The fact that it features an Edmonton group who remind me a whole lot of Daft Punk and whose sound I’m digging and who I’ve never heard of before, the beat or the cool video.

Spin had this to say:

What do you get when you take an electro-rock sextet from Edmonton, Alberta , and add a twenty-four-year-old rapper who has been called Canada’s Dizzee Rascal? Flames!

Personally, all I can think is: where can I buy this track?

For the most part, hip-hop isn’t my thing. It’s too bass heavy, I can’t understand what the artists are saying and outside of the stuff I listened to in the 90s, there are few new artists that get my attention (over the last few years, the only one I can stand is Jay-Z).

Earlier this week a friend sent me over this song after I thanked him profusely for his help. I listened to it once and then again. Not to be sucked into buying an album that only had one song I liked, I cruised You Tube for more of this guy’s stuff and discovered that most of it is this style of melodic hip-hop and to boot, he’s an artists that promotes the positive rather than violence.

Meet Lupe Fiasco. Reading later that he is a contemporary of Jay-Z and a man who has been called a “hip-hop Generation Next vanguard” comes as no surprise since listening to his latest album “The Cool” was a bit of a revelation. It’s a type of concept album, each track – starting with the declaration “Baba Says Cool for Thought” – encourages listeners, youth, to think twice about what they think is “cool.” This type of lyricism is what I liked from the earlier days of hip-hop and I’m happy to see it’s making a comeback. I can’t wait to get my hands on his first album, the critically acclaimed “Food & Liquor.”

Even if hip-hop isn’t your cup of tea, give this guy a listen. It’s likely to surprise you.

People. Are watching you.

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Discovered via Twitter, it took all of 20 seconds for me to realize that this band was something I needed to be listening to. A sound that reminds me of everything from Joy Division to Keane, this British outfit is currently on heavy rotation, buzzing in my ear and making me wonder which rock I’ve been living under that it’s taken me this long to uncover them.

Their debut album “The Back Room” is nothing short of spectacular (“Munich” is an instant favorite) and their follow up “An End Has A Start,” is equally fantastic (it’s no surprise “Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors” was a hit). Having listened to this new single half a dozen times, I’m convinced that their new album, due for release on October 12th, will be phenomenal.

Loads more on the band, the music, current tour and more videos at their official website. For now, check out the video for “Papillon”.

Hair.

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We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?

-from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

If you are yet to check out Muse’s latest album title The Resistance – the follow up to their masterful 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations – you are really missing out. Surely to divide fans, the album is their most unconventinal and ambitious yet, starting off with two absolutely head-bangingly beautiful tracks and closing with a three-part thirteen minute song titled “Exogenesis” – a brilliant song comprised of over forty musicians. It’s different than a lot of their previous work, but it is just as good.

Below is the awesomely zany video for the album opener and their first released single, “Uprising.” Check it out and be sure to pick up a copy of the album. It’s well worth the bucks. These guys are some of the best in the business today.

Saturday, September 19th, 2009…

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Crater on Mars. For more detail, click the image.

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