Happy Birthday!

What? You say it isn't your birthday? Well, it will certainly feel like it when you open The Hype Machine's year-end wrap-up called the Music Blog Zeitgeist 2008. It presents the top 50 songs, artists, and albums of the past year according to music blog mentions, and streams every single one for your listening pleasure. Full songs, full albums, and radio shows featuring interviews with the featured artists abound. Most of my favorite fashion/musica superstars (M.I.A., Jenny Lewis, Cat Power, and many more) are featured so I wanted to pass it along.

We know they can rock, but here are some of these ladies' most fabulous fashion moments:

M.I.A. photoshoots like a mofo:


Jenny Lewis has a seriously early '90s moment with some hats at the 4:00 mark:


Cat Power gigs at a Chanel show:

So, Happy Birthday to your ears, at least. Or, Happy Unbirthday, whatevs. Just listen, dance, and be happy. Put on a listen-dance-and-be-happy outfit while you're at it. That'll make me happy.

She's the Next Messiah

Jenny Lewis is one of those enigmas in the music world. She's a child actress (you have to remember her as Hannah Nefler in Shelly Long's best work Troop Beverly Hills) who has survived that career path to become a bonafide songstress with enough talent and genuine musical chops to make her more than a pretty face with gorgeous/alt/Nylon-y style.

None of this is news. Lewis has been doing the music thing for years in different arrangements. She's the defining member of the band Rilo Kiley, she did an amazing album with the Watson Twins, and has now recently released a solo record called Acid Tongue. I heard the song "The Next Messiah" for the first time on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic (I have a huge crush on accented, tattooed host Nic Harcourt) and I fell in hot love with it. This song's got moves. It has three sections, a bluesy beat, stompy bass, and sweet lyrics. Here's a live version from Germany that rocks.


The album version has its own charms and clocks in at an alternate state inducing 8 minutes and 56 seconds. You can listen to it here if you have the time.