I know I'm late on this one, haven't you figured that out about me yet? Someone always tells me about these bands, but I hear band names so often that I just tune them out. I think I need to hear a song to make it stick. Sort of like putting a name to a face. Anyways, my friend told me about LCD Soundsystem a while back and then yelled at me for playing it in my car last week. I can't help it though 'Someone Great' gets stuck in your head like crazy. It was also just [...]
I avoided this record forever because the word "prog" kept showing up in every description of them and that gave me the willies. I'm stoked I eventually caved because Mirrored is a ripper. Mathy and quirky, but catchy in a way that technical, math-rock normally isn't. Battles - Leyendecker Battles - Tij Battles - Atlas
Here are a trio of covers that have been sounding good to me lately. Calexico does an amazing job of breaking down 'Guns Of Brixton' and making it appropriately creepy. Yeah Yeah Yeahs create a version of 'Diamond Sea' that is even sleepier and more floaty. The Bloc Party cover is cheesy, I know, but have you ever heard that Nelly Furtado song before? I had totally forgotten about it until I heard this cover. Two pop songs colliding together always make me happy (for like the first 10 times). Don't worry, I'll hate [...]
The new wave of shoegaze, nu-gaze, whatever, is a big wet steaming pile of shit. Sorry, but its true. It's as if a whole generation of kids hellbent on creating their own version of "Loveless" missed the point entirely and instead over-saturated a scene of limp, lifeless, daydreaming gear nerds with soul-less sounds to stare off into space to. I can count the bands on one hand (with fingers to spare) who took the sound of My Bloody Valentine, Ride, etc. and ran in the right direction. Electro Group is one of those very few, and is easily [...]
This record crept up on me over a few listens, but once I was hooked, I was hooked. Foggy, fuzzed out guitars, spacey electronics and a layer or two of assorted noise-making junk makes for a hazy headspin into a world founded by Faust, This Heat and the like. The hissing, psychedelic atmosphere created by this duo creates reminds me a bit of Flying Saucer Attack as well. I've seen this being held up as one of the year's best, definitely in my top 10 to put on when coming off a bender. Blues Control [...]
My friend just made a podcast to go along with an interview he had done. On the podcast was this song by the Brooklyn's My Teenage Stride . The song pretty much blew my mind and I tried to go buy the record. Unfortunately they don't have any vinyl out, so I have to play these songs on my ipod when I dj which is always lame. On the plus side though, while I was researching them I found a bunch more great songs. Oh, and they are from Massachusetts which makes me like them more I guess, but [...]
Saw The King Kahn & BBQ Show a while back and they put on a pretty amazing live show. I think I had only heard them once before I saw them but it didn't even matter. I'm not sure how two people can sound so full, but they pull it off. To top that all off they played three shows back to back in San Francisco and Oakland. Now that's a fucking work ethic. The King Kahn & BBQ Show - Zombies The King Kahn & BBQ Show - Why [...]
I'll be honest with you. I stayed up last night till five in the morning drinking and taking drugs (what else is new). I woke up close to 4pm and I feel like I'm going to die. Even after a full meal and lots of water, I'm emotionally unstable and horrifyingly bored. I was debating how I could beat this feeling, until I opened my email. My friend sent me over the new Black Kids EP and it's so so good. I have listened to it on repeat about 5 times now and I instantly feel better. They [...]
I'm not even going to speak on this one. The video is enough.
Oh man, the new Les Savy Fav album is so good. I've been keeping an eye on them for a while, but to be honest all the last albums sort of disappointed me so I never really spent much time on listening. I don't know how the new album differs (which is why I shouldn't have a music blog) from the old stuff, I think it might be a stronger effort on song writing. The hooks are catchy as hell and it's less 'screamy' then the last stuff.. I think I'll use that word "accessible" again. Anyways, my [...]
I remember hearing The Teenagers' 'Starlett Johansson' a while back and then forgot about them until my friend recently posted another one of their songs. I think I like them because they're dirty, but not in Peaches sort of way. It's more of a nonchalant European way of being dirty that I find very endearing. Plus some of their hooks are catchy as fuck, and you know how I feel about pop music. They are playing during January in San Francisco and I think I'm going to go. Probably not though, I'll forget about it for sure. [...]
I kept getting turned down by Hype Machine I think because my links never expire or something. Anyway, I finally emailed them and asked what the problem was and got it sorted out. You can now stream unpiano postings like radio on Hype Machine by clicking below. http://hypem.com/list/3002
The only things I know about The Mantles is that they are from San Francisco and that they make pop music the way I like it. Fuzzy, reverby and why don't you throw in a hint of garagey 60's psych while you're at it? Kind of reminds me of the first Outrageous Cherry record I liked so much. Here's a track off their new (first?) 73 on Dulc-I-Tone . Limited with a hand-screened cover, get 'em before they're gone. The Mantles - Trouble In The Streets
90's Sacramento legends Nar have a muddy history, peppered with drunkeness, laziness, line-up changes, false starts, tours and records that never happened and other disasters typical of the area. But one thing is for certain and that is Scott Miller (the "other" Scott Miller, not the dude from Game Theory) can write a catchy fucking pop song. The on-and-off-again trio recorded a heaping pile of songs from '90-97, releasing a handful of 73 singles and compilation tracks that are all pretty much long gone. Sloppy punkish pop (not pop-punk) with an ear towards the bouncing playfulness and wit [...]
The new Thurston Moore record is pretty well done. He gets all acoustic which is a nice change and the songs have very minimal noise in them which makes them very 'accessible' - to steal a phrase from a friend. Noise rock has never been my thing, (see all of Mark's posts) but I have always wanted to like Thurston's stuff as opposed to just respecting it. Now I do. Granted this record sounds like it was written at the same time as Sonic Youth's Rather Ripped , but I like that album so that [...]
New Radiohead anyone? I downloaded the new album In Rainbows a couple weeks ago, and have been trying it out on my bike rides lately. Sure it sounds a little like the last stuff, but does it really even matter? I think it's a given that anything they put out will be good in some form or another. My only qualm is that in one of the songs below, he sings like Anthony Kiedis on his Californication album. Maybe Thom Yorke was trying to reclaim it? I dunno.. [...]
I was digging through my records again and I came across these DJ Eclipse remixes I picked up a while back. I searched for them online but couldn't find them anywhere so I hooked up my turntable and put them up myself. Eclipse is down with Non-Phixion (who I think broke up) and Ill Bill which means he's been around for a minute. These remixes are all from the '94 era of hip hop which I am forever biased towards. Just so lovely.. I should have posted these in the Summer, but just imagine it being nice out [...]
I feel hip hop less and less these days, but here are a couple of tracks that make me click back to the start as soon as the song is over. First off, I've talked about Lupe Fiasco before, but dude is the new Kanye for real. Just like Kanye supposedly surpassed Jay-Z after Jay mentored him, Lupe was Kanye's protege and is now posed to out shine him (remember that CRS track I posted?). Check his rhymes, they are too sick. 'Riveting is rosy, pockets full of posies'? Did he just say that? Yep. Keep [...]
New cold weather podcast up on Fecal Face Dot Com . You can subscribe by clicking on the link below. http://www.fecalface.com/podca sts/dircaster.php
I have been listening to The Wipers a lot lately. Over The Edge is a really amazing album that has been borrowed from by just about everyone it seems. I got this version off the box set, so it has a bunch of demos, b-sides and instrumentals. I knew Kurt Cobain and others stole from them a bunch, but I just heard the instrumental version of the song 'Our Past Life' for the first time. It looks like Dave Grohl was very heavily "inspired" when he wrote that Foo Fighter's song 'Everlong'. Anyway, what else can [...]
Unpiano
Avicii – Two Million
Beck – I Just Started Hating Some People Today
H&M Lookbook Mujer y Hombre Otoño 2012.
Amanda Mair
