Where to begin. A thing happened in Virginia Beach, VA in mid February that doesn't usually happen in Virginia Beach, VA, regardless of the time of year. It was a living room show, a potluck, a gathering of singing, songwriting friends, which seems normal enough. But there was also a laptop computer, running dutifully, and a microphone to capture these moments, as pristine as they are raw. Squeaking strings, some slightly off their intended tuning, knocks at the front door, crowd banter in the background, they all combine to create this world of intimacy and realness. On a [...]
A sleepy, smoky bar. Tall tables and ashtrays, scattered and half-full. A few barflies bellied up, backs turned to the stage. A golden guitar appears before the microphone. The speakers bark as the cord slides home and one of the silent strangers glances over at the guitar. A pale hand grips the fretboard, its partner poised above the pickups. Twang , CHK, twang , CHK. Every chord, a heartbeat. Every heartbeat, a breath. Every breath, an ascension. Bar stools slowly swivel towards the spotlights. The barkeep has stopped sweeping up yesterday's dust, his hands and chin resting on [...]
I couldn't not post this new track from White Rabbits , because the video is super rad and the song might be even better. These guys have come a long way since their Cold War Kids-esque "Percussion Gun" period. Here the beat slips into a slick groove and never comes back out, the perfect hype track that leaves you wanting so much more. Their third long-player Milk Famous drops on March 6th. Download "Heavy Metal" here free. [via [...]
Gayngs - Cry - This project isn't new, but I'm finally listening to Jagjaguwar uber-band Gayngs. Members of Bon Iver, Megafaun, The Rosebuds, and Solid Gold combine with rappers, songstresses, and a jazz sax player to create a 69bpm experiment in sound and collaboration. The record, as you'd imagine, is pretty schitzo, but the successful moments are pretty special. At the moment, I'm substituting this song for "Time After Time" at the end of Romy & Michele [watch it, muted, as you listen to this song]. It's a beautiful, lurching slow dance. Time dragged to nearly to a halt. [...]
Gayngs - Cry - This project isn't new, but I'm finally listening to Jagjaguwar uber-band Gayngs. Members of Bon Iver, Megafaun, The Rosebuds, and Solid Gold combine with rappers, songstresses, and a jazz sax player to create a 69bpm experiment in sound and collaboration. The record, as you'd imagine, is pretty schitzo, but the successful moments are pretty special. At the moment, I'm substituting this song for "Time After Time" at the end of Romy & Michele [watch it, muted, as you listen to this song]. It's a beautiful, lurching slow dance. Time dragged to nearly to a halt. [...]
1. Jim Guthrie - So Small - intimacy. delicacy. aplomb. whimsy. harmony. eloquence. this one is for you, Jeff. Love you, buddy. [from Now, More than Ever | buy ] 2. Haywood - Plow - Wow, this song is 10 years old, a fact that I find easy and hard to believe simultaneously. I miss music like this. It's hard to believe I'm 29. This song is about plowing snow, but it doesn't have to say so lyrically for you to feel it. Maybe it's that Weakerthans-esque air lying coldly between [...]
Every year , I look back at previous years' lists and without fail I'll see a song that I had at #63 that, over time, has definitely wiggled its way into the top 20 for that year. There are often top-15 songs that have fallen completely off my radar. These things happen. It's an emotional, subjective, impulsive and inexact science. With the birth of our now-11-month-old daughter Asher in February, our month-long move from Norfolk to Portland in December, and a hundred little things in between, the blog has obviously grown fallow. I've listened to less music (or, at least, [...]
It's been awhile since I did a covers series, but we're going to do it differently this time. Namely, more bite-sized.* 1. Solid Gold - Danger Zone (Kenny Loggins) - A slick update of a classic dude song. Less homoeroticism, more hot flight instructors. (One can hope.) [from Synchronize | buy ] 2. Cee Lo Green - No One's Gonna Love You (Band of Horses) - I'm not sure why Cee Lo decided to cover this, but it turned out pretty nicely. He could sing my grocery [...]
1. The Dirty Diamonds - Where Are the Words? - What is this, 1989? New, old, odd, even. Sounds like old birthday candy, saved for just the proper occasion. [from Monster Ballads EP | free! ] 2. Greg MacPherson - Visitor - This slow-burner closes Greg's album of broken dreams and open roads. A song of contemplation, hypnotism by white lines, red brake lights smeared through rain-spackled windglass. Maybe the most important thing about the destination is the journey. [from Mr. Invitation |buy on iTunes or Amazon ] [...]
"...Wesafari is relatively unknown in their own hometown of Seattle, the natives distracted by other Pacific Northwest heavyweights like The Decemberists, Deathcab for Cutie, The Shins, etc. They are the underdogs with no expectations. In near obscurity, they crafted this stellar collection of sounds, samples, and hooks into an album that has easily breached my all-time top 20. Now all they need is a follow-up..." I wrote this blip in October of 2006, a fact that only cements the reality of the time that has elapsed between then and now. Somewhat tragically, I could [...]
1. Wye Oak - My Neighbor - This song is like going through a jangly car wash of guitars, being soaked in riffage and the gleeful splashing of cymbals, and emerging sweaty and satisfied. [from My Neighbor/My Creator EP| buy ] 2. Jonsi - Boy Lillikoi - Light-blades flashing, sunlight stabbing, sunblood spilling, fiery rebirth from pools of molten mercury. [from Go | buy ] 3. Panda Bear - Slow Motion - Slow Motion? More like stop motion. More like snapshots, snapped milliseconds apart, snapped back together [...]
50. Tokyo Police Club - Breakneck Speed 49. Snowden - Anenome Arms 48. matt pond PA - Brooklyn Fawn 47. Fionn Regan - Catacombs 46. A Weather - Winded 45. Solid Gold - One in a Million 44. Joanna Newsom - '81 43. Rogue Wave - I'll Never Leave You 42. Frightened Rabbit - Foot Shooter 41. The Streets - Trust Me 40. Sharon Van Etten - Love More 39. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Sink/Let it Sway 38. Yamon, Yamon - Alonso - Surprisingly relevant [...]
10. Shapiro - s/t 9. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker 8. Autolux - Transit Transit 7. Pomagranates - One of Us 6. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs 5. Spoon - Transference " Out Go the Lights " I wrote in January that Transference was Spoon "going back to the drawing board and crafting another flawless spectacle out of tinfoil and toothpicks" and the record has only gotten stronger in the days between. Spoon's music does not have to be shiny to [...]
1. Soft - Droppin' - I don't know much about this band other than this song is really freakin' good. Hi-hats are singing in the streets tonight. [from Gone Faded | buy ] 2. Slaid Cleaves - This Morning I Am Born Again (Woody Guthrie) - There are few things dirtier, more desolate, more hallowed, than a properly executed bluegrass song. Woody Guthrie was the man and Cleaves brings out the best in it. [from Broke Down | buy ] 3. Rogue Wave [...]
It seems a little early and out of nowhere to be getting a marketing blast for a March 22 release by a band I've never heard of before. I open the e-mail because, at first glance, I think that The Lonely Island is announcing their next record. Wrong. This e-mail is about the Lonely Forest , the first band signed to Death Cab's guitarist Chris Walla's new label Trans Records. He might even be a better producer and mixer than guitarist, having had his hand in the production credits on records for DCfC, Nada Surf, Mates of [...]
I wanted to hear the gnashing of horns. I wanted a gang of sounds to fight it out on a rooftop somewhere, secretly recorded by a curious documentarian who would electronically deliver the recording to my front door. I wanted this conflict to resound into the night, to bounce off the walls of taller buildings, for soundblood to splatter the tar and mortar, for soundhair to be caught under soundfingernails. I wanted beautiful chaos to reset the things that needed resetting. I needed my own mirrors to defog and uncrack and for my body to shrink back to its former [...]
Writing a song is both the easiest and hardest thing to do in the world. As somewhat of a songwriter myself, I can tell you there is frustrating truth in that statement. There are days the words will pour forth from your pen, soaking paper and ticket stubs, napkins and receipts, staining fingers and clothing, until the tide recedes. It could be a year before it happens again, if ever. There have been months consecutively that I just feel dried up. It's when I hear artists like Alexander Wolfe that I see how easy it can [...]
It's better to be late than dead and gone... 1. My Luminaries - A Little Declaration - Heaviness. Lightness. Guitars. Footstomping. Power. Pop. Chorus. Late '90s nostalgia. Stuck. Happy. [from Order from the Chaos | buy ] 2. the Script - Breakeven - John Mayer tweeted about this track a few weeks ago and prompted me to scour my music collection in order to refresh my memory. This song should have been huge in 2008. Still could be in 2010. Tell someone. [...]
The first post of 2010 deserved to be a good one. It could have easily been about Vampire Weekend making the "sophomore slump" seem like something that only happens to everyone else. Or Spoon going back to the drawing board and crafting another flawless spectacle out of tinfoil and toothpicks. It'd be too obvious and tell you absolutely nothing you don't already know. Instead, my first post of 2010 is about someone you've (probably) never heard of. It's a guy who, at first glance, looks like such a hipster that I gagged. And then I pressed play. Three [...]
After having my Best of 2009 post deleted for the second time, despite it only containing links to buy the records themselves, I've decided to bite the bullet and move over to Wordpress. I don't want this broken record to destroy this blog I've worked so hard on in the last few years. So I hope you'll join me over at. www.linesthroughlines.wordpres s.com www.linesthroughlines.com will also forward you there. It's easier to remember. Thanks, everyone.
linesthroughlines
the Weekender ::: New music from Catcall // the National // Summer Camp
KNIFE PARTY – RAGE VALLEY EP
