This is one of my favorite non-folk songs of the year. Actually, it's one of my favorite songs of 2013, period. I'm sure that a lot of people have heard this song at some point over the past two weeks. It's been popping up all over the internet and rightfully so. The ethereal quality is quite enchanting and I get lost for a few minutes every time that I listen. The long, distant outro is a nice artistic flourish that reinforces all of the distance in the song's lyrics, vocals, and overall sentiment. I [...]
I haven’t written in quite some time and with this review, I break my silence. The past two months have been a huge whirlwind of changes. I’m sure many can relate to the sentiment of change – whether it’s something as natural as the changing of seasons and growing ages, or something that you work so hard for and finally achieve. Either way, the past two months have been filled with change, the nice positive kind. And with such changes, I tend to reflect back from time to time. The first concert I ever went to [...]
I can't believe that I haven't written about this song at any point during the past two years. I have featured it on a mix and I've featured a song from one half of the former duo , but I've never featured this song and it is quite possibly the song that best exemplifies 1146 miles. Today I'll rectify that. Every single word in the lyrics of Whatevertown fits me; even that day holds significance. January 1 thought I'd never be alone again [...]
Here's an electropop bedroom project to love. Seesaw is the first song released by Outsides. I'm pretty sure that I account for at least 50 listens on this track and I wanted to share so that you can listen to it 50 times as well. I'm ready for summer at this point and I keep listening to Seesaw hoping the driving beat beckons summer to come quicker. Outsides is Tim Ellis. He's been involved with Chicago bands and now resides in Kansas City. Outsides was originally named Clock People and [...]
Sometimes I can hear a song and I just want to close my eyes and absorb the sounds. There is a smoothness to this song that has sweet as honey vocals and an uncomplicated strum of a guitar that nicely roots its melodious sound in my mind. I couldn't help but begin to sway to the beat. It is very cool, chill, and from Australia. There's gasoline in your heart, there's fire in mine. I know I'm never gonna light you, but there's always nighttime. [...]
This song has been on repeat for me. Combined with the Vampire Weekend stream, my head was nodding along at work all of yesterday and today to music and it made Tuesday and Wednesday slightly more enjoyable than they otherwise would have been. I only like the first half of Vampire Weekend's Modern Vampires of the City (in fact, I think the best 6 songs on that album are the first 6 in some order), but I love all 3 songs on Magic Man's The Fox Den Demos . The EP features Paris [...]
Recording covers of songs can be a tricky business, but when it’s done right, the result can be amazing. In my opinion, it’s rare for a cover and its original counterpart to exist on equal footing, though it has been done before: just listen to the dueling versions of “You Really Got Me” (The Kinks, Van Halen) or “Sympathy for the Devil” (The Rolling Stones, Guns ‘n Roses). However, the pattern most often repeated is one we all know too well: when a cover propels a previously unheard-of song into the spotlight, surprising fans later when they come to realize [...]
Multiple people told me that I should be more excited today. I guess I wasn't outwardly excited or giddy or anything that people want to see when something good occurs. I am, for better or worse, even-keeled a lot of the time. I prefer it. The peaks and the valleys aren't so extreme and I like to believe that I maintain good perspective in the best or worst of times. I lead with that intro because this song, Fire , by the Hollydays is one of the better comedown songs that I've heard recently. One of my [...]
Glasgow-based Prides fuse together a variety of elements to create a catchy synthpop single here on Out Of The Blue . A driving beat off the start that gives way to darkwave and 802s influences, Out Of The Blue is a magnificent pop song from the band former known as Midnight Lion. The influences are fairly obvious from the previous Midnight Lion releases such as All Greatness Stands Firm . With the endorsement of CHVRCHES, this iteration of the band is receiving more attention while maintaining the 'epicness' of their sound. The [...]
I love music festivals, and now is the peak time that they occur again in my little southern world. I recall fondly, at a music festival last summer, noticing an unusual occurrence. Among the fray, an adorable older couple had put down their beach chairs. I couldn’t help but see that the man was focused intently on the music and his wife was nose deep into a thick, juicy novel. This peaked my curiosity. Because I am a gregarious person, at a lull between bands, I struck up a conversation with them. They were literally beaming because they were in [...]
"Grab your cigarettes and follow me out of the living room and I'll get drunk enough to tell you how I feel" I always wonder what happens in a person's life to turn them into such cuttingly honest songwriters. But Taylor Goldsmith, Dawes ' front-man, doesn't hide behind metaphors in this song. Nor does he in the rest of their new album, Stories Don't End, which came out a few weeks ago but I just got my hands on. More direct than ever before, Taylor weaves stories out of his own life, points out [...]
Garage rock as a genre has witnessed extensive transformations since its inception a half-century ago. From the rebellious lyrics of MC5 to the speed and attitude of The Ramones to popular music’s most recent reincarnation in the music of The Black Keys, garage rock has dipped its toes into a multitude of other genres as decades of musical trends and styles have come and gone. At its core, the genre remains dedicated to the theme of carefree accessibility: anyone with an instrument and a band of friends can have their say, so long as their message is interesting and they [...]
I've been a fan of Jinja Safari for over a year now (although they have not really broken through in America like I expected). However, as they march towards releasing their debut album later this month, I've been disappointed by their newly released material and I'm holding out hope that the rest of the album will be more akin to Mermaids or Head In A Blender and less like Oh! Benzo . Fortunately, some of their countrymen (and friends of the site), Anton Franc have [...]
This is absurdly good, in my opinion. An up-and-coming artist that released one of my favorite EPs of last year (St. Lucia) remixing one of 20132s most pleasant surprise hits (The Colourist's Little Games ) sure seems like a recipe for something good. I'm not always a fan of remixes but man, I don't know how you can't like this. It's catchy and irresistible-you could dance to it, you could drive to it, you could have fun to it-while keeping the major aspects of the song intact. In fact, most of the re-working is on [...]
Brothers is a promising young band based in Cleveland, OH that epitomizes the raw sound championed by garage rockers of the past and present. With noted influences like The Black Keys and The White Strips evident in the band’s early low-fi approach, the trio manages to set their music apart from the kind of popular acts that started with a similar sound and setup. Comprised of Joe Fulkerson (guitar, vocals), Steve States (drums, vocals) and Shawn Davis (bass, keys), Brothers got their start covering their favorite artists on stages in and around Cleveland in 2011. Over time, the band transitioned [...]
I got lost, driving, away from the city. It felt good in an odd, rejuvenating way. It was a Sunday drive where I let myself get lost in the countryside and let my mind wander a little. When I got back I wanted a song that captured some of the wandering and the lonesomeness. I listened to a lot of pop initially and then I stumbled across a song by The Fine Machines that I knew was exactly what I wanted to listen to and post. The song is Alton Levy and it's off their debut [...]
I'm no stranger to western Maryland. This gorgeous, weird land has much more in common with John Denver's vision of West Virginia than The Wire's Baltimore or spring break in Ocean City. Driving through the formidable valleys and sunny plains always feels like traveling back a bit in time and space; it makes total sense that Cotton Jones and their earthy sound hail from these rolling hills. The sound of the folk quartet hearkens back to the psychedelic folk days of the mid 19602s; their production style reinforces the dusty-vinyl aesthetic. "Gone the Bells", the fourth track from their [...]
Together for over two decades, performers at Bonnaroo in 2009, three released EPs and just as many albums – I’m amazed I had never heard of The Features before this month. The Tennessee quartet’s 2012 single “How It Starts” grabbed my attention recently, and I can’t count the number of times I’ve played it since. Singer/guitarist Matt Pelham’s raw vocals fit the gritty rock feel of the track perfectly, but it’s the impenetrable groove that drives the song from start to finish. Alongside Pelham, band members Roger Dabbs (bass), Rollum Haas (drums) and Mark Bond (keys) flush out a distinctive [...]
There was something so familiar about this band’s sound. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew that I liked it. Then, after doing some research, I found out that the lead, Richie Follin, is the younger brother to Cults's Madeline Follin. There is a similar poppy vintage sound, perhaps because of the like influences growing up and Richie playing guitar and touring with the Cults, but it is clearly different. Guards stand on their own, in terms of, being a little grittier and more experimental and fresh. They are a three-piece band consisting of Richie Follin, Loren [...]
1146 miles
MP3: Daft Punk – “Horizons” (RAM Japanese Bonus Track)
Daft Punk – “Doin’ It Right” ft. Panda Bear
