'Portlandia' a quirky show worth a look

Quirky. Inventive. Funny. Strange. Unnatural. Original. 

That in short is "Portlandia," a new half-hour sketch comedy show on the IFC channel that stars "Saturday Night Live" vet Fred Armison and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney and NPR "All Songs Considered" fame.

The pair skewer any number of subjects, including Portland itself, with wicked sarcasm. Brownstein is new to this game but pushes Armisen to heights he never reached on SNL. And it's equally hilarious to see famous (Steve Buscemi) and semi-famous (Aimee Mann) entertainers pop up in guest roles. 

"Portlandia" is one of those shows that are best explained by seeing it yourself. So check out the video above. And be sure to tune in to IFC before the show's six-episode run ends. You may never see anything like it for awhile. 

'The Invention of Money'

I'm hit and miss with "This American Life" but the recent "The Invention of Money" episode is worth downloading.

Sounds boring but it's not. In "asking the same stoner-ish question: What is money?," host Ira Glass and his team explain the crazy "pre-industrial society on the island of Yap that used giant stones as currency (including one on the bottom of the ocean far from residents), to how Brazilian economists tricked people with a virtual currency to the most recent efforts by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank to prop up the American economy.

Fascinating breakdown on a subject that drives our daily lives but which most of us have no real grasp of.

'Year in Rock: 1991' a fun reminder of an amazing year

The guys at "Sound Opinions" recently went back in time 20 years with a "Year in Rock: 1991" episode that examines the amazingly transformative year of 1991.

Think first of Guns 'N Roses' two "Use Your Illusion" albums, then Garth Brooks and Bryan Adams. But the real magic kicks in with the influential new sounds of Nirvana and the Grunge scene, NWA and Ice Cube, Pearl Jam, the Shoegazer bands, Nine Inch Nails and much more.

It's shocking to think how many major artists released landmark recordings that year, how much music the public was actually paying for, and how the new genres of alternative and rap exploded into the mainstream. Looking back, that revolution in music is comparable to rock 'n' roll's heydey in 1956 and the British Invasion in 1964.

The weekly "Sound Opinions" podcast is always great fun but this one of the best I can recall in years.