( photo credit )* Last night I saw Jeff Mangum perform live, something which I've always dreamed of but never thought in a million years would do. I was just entering my teens when Neutral Milk Hotel broke up (shortly after releasing their landmark album In The Aeroplane Over The Sea ). It was a few more years until I discovered the band, but they were incredibly formative in my musical development. It always saddened me that, due to Jeff Mangum's legendary disappearance from the music world post-breakup, I would never get the chance to see the [...]
Martin de Thurah, the auteur behind a number of amazing videos like Fever Ray's "When I Grow Up" and James Blake's "Limit To Your Love" directs this ravishing, cinematic video for "The Bad In Each Me", the best track on the Feist's Metals . The song's lyrics talk about human connection, good and bad, and de Thurah matches the words with a beautiful, touching video collage of tiny moments beween people. Filmed in Mexico, the cinematography is sure to be some of most gorgeous you'll see this year. Watch above and listen to the track below.
You can always count on Merge Records to deliver the goods and they did so this week with the debut record from Hospitality , a band that plays the type of Belle & Sebastian-inspired jangly, wistful indie pop that always seems to hit the sweet spot for me. The first track on Hospitality's self-titled debut is "Eighth Avenue" which opens with all the typical twee-signifiers, gently strummed acoustic guitar and airy vocals, but opens up to become a lush, brilliantly realized track with some quick tempo-changes and rowdy guitar noodling among the memorable melodies. Check it out [...]
It's been quite a while since I've delved in the world of album covers in my ongoing album art lover series, but I was inspired by Sharon Van Etten's sleeve for her brilliant new album, Tramp (which is streaming on NPR today by the way) to explore the ever-popular face cover. They say that 93% of communication is non-verbal, which perhaps explains why the face-cover has endured for so long. You can usually get a good idea of the album you're about to hear by the expression and composition of the [...]
Supply Drop #1 Trailer from Soundsupply on Vimeo . This morning's aimless web browsing led to the discovery of Soundsupply , a bundle of 10 digital albums available for $15 for a limited time. As fans of previous bundle methods , it's interesting to see this approach applied to music. It's a relatively cheap and painless way to discover something that might have otherwise flown under your radar, or maybe give something a chance you otherwise wouldn't. Of course, Soundsupply would not be as enticing if the albums offered weren't so [...]
I missed this video when it premiered earlier this month, but it's such an excellent piece of work that I had to post it. It's directed by Chris Milk, who's previous works includes groundbreaking interactive videos like Arcade Fire's " The Wilderness Downtown " and Rome's " 3 Dreams of Black ". This video, also for Danger Mouse project Rome , features a mesmerizing narrative and gorgeous, fast-moving animation from Anthony Francisco Schepper. The video apparently is a precursor to an upcoming film inspired by Rome's album. If it's anything like this stunning clip, it'll be one [...]
Bear Cavalry are a genre-defying band from Gosport, England who caught my ear with their debut EP, Maple Trails . The band is stylistically all over the place, but in a good way. Coming off like a more schizophrenic Local Natives, they mix upbeat Afro-pop rhythms, intricate mathy guitars, bursts of trumpet and the occasional chanting harmonies. The melting pot of sounds keeps it interesting and the matched with sunny, danceable melodies it makes for some memorable tunes like exuberant opener "Roman Summer" and the humorously-titled "Will Smith Solve's The Rubik's Cube". Roman Summer [...]
You think we'd all be tired of the retro 702s-style trend in music videos by now, but as long as it keeps yielding amazing videos like this one, you won't see me complaining. Directed by up-and-coming director Dimitri Basil, "Foreign Language" parodies 702s TV opening credits all the way down to the ridiculous wardrobes and hammy acting. The results are very entertaining to say the least. And yes, in case you were wondering, there is a sword training scene on a beach. The addictive disco-pop song, "Foreign Language" comes courtesy of Flight Facilities, an electronic duo from Sydney, Australia. Watch [...]
One of the best indie rock bands out there, Shearwater is back with a new album. The Austin- based band, led by Jonathon Meisburg (formerly of Okkervil River) and his striking vocals, will release Animal Joy this year. It's the band's first album on Sub Pop and their first since completing the Island trilogy of albums: Palo Santo , Rook , The Golden Archipelago . "You As You Were" is our newest release from the album, and it's a phenomenal song. The track is far more exuberant and uplifting then [...]
After a bit if a slow start to 2012, a lot of good music is starting to reach my ears. Chief among those is Swedish duo First Aid Kit 's brilliant sophomore LP, The Lion's Roar , which is streaming now on NPR . One of the many highlights is "EmmyLou", an engrossing folk tune in which sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg lovingly pay homage to many of the country greats in the lyrics ("I'll be your Emmylou and I'll be your June / You'll be my Gram and my Johnny, too"). The poignant lyrical tributes along [...]
I'm not usually given to posting movie trailers, but for Wes Anderson , I'll make an exception. The trailer for Moonrise Kingdom came out yesterday and it looks amazing. It definitely has the look and feel (and retro soundtrack) of a Wes Anderson film, with perhaps a bit more sepia-tone to match the 602s time period (although no sign of the usual Futura typeface). But, of course, the best part of a Wes Anderson film is his distinctive dialogue, and this trailer is already rife with some classic lines. Here's my five favorite scenes: 5. [...]
It's been a while since we've heard from Black Dice, nearly three years to be exact. But a new album, Mr. Impossible , was finally announced earlier this week and with that news came "Pigs", a delirious blast of disorienting noise that dissuades any notions that the band has lost their touch in the interim. If anything, "Pigs" is one of Black Dice's more catchy, accessible songs since their "Cone Toaster" experiment; it's abrasive and brash, but still makes room for melody and a head-nodding groove. If "Pigs" is any indication of Mr. Impossible as a whole, [...]
Former Eagle Seagull -frontman Eli Mardock's debut solo album is one of my most anticipated albums in 2012. I was a big fan of Eagle Seagull's self-titled album from 2005, which earned the band plenty of buzz as well as comparisons to their indie-rock contemporaries Arcade Fire & Wolf Parade. Some recordings from their follow-up album, The Year of The How-To Book hit the web in 2007, and sounded extremely promising, but the album suffered delay after delay and wasn't made available until years later when the band quietly released a [...]
This week marks the release of Guided By Voices ' first album in 8 years and the first to feature their classic lineup in 16 years, so I thought that'd make a good opportunity to do a list of the quintessential tracks from the legendary Dayton, OH indie rock band. My history with the band actually starts, oddly enough, with Jason Schwartzman . He shared the track "The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory" on his iTunes Celebrity Playlist and I've been hooked ever since. I've been lucky enough to see the band live twice [...]
It's a new year which for me means absorbing all the new music I can. There hasn't been any big album leaks yet for 2012 (when is the last time that happened?), but digging a little deeper led me to Porcelain Raft , a dream/shoegaze pop project from Londoner Mauro Remiddi, previously of Sunny Day Sets Fire . His upcoming album is called Strange Weekend and the first single is the wonderful "Put Me To Sleep". It's a beautifully crafted track, anchored by hypnotic drum machine and atmospheric synths, with an infectious chorus pulling you into the [...]
(photo by cubagallery ) After what felt like an explosion of great albums last year, 2011 seemed a bit less monumental to me. On the plus side though, the shortage of heavy hitters in the indie rock genre did allow ample opportunity for diversification. Looking over the year's best, there's much more representation from music of the electronic, folk, pop, and experimental persuasion than in previous years. Another theme seemed to be awesome sophomore albums with bands like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Lykke Li, The Antlers, Girls, and Smith Westerns all producing albums that break the sophomore [...]
We're still working on the Best Albums of 2011 list, but in the meantime here's my annual recap of my favorite live shows of the year. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch as many concerts in 2011 as I typically do (getting old I guess?), but I still managed to see quite a few memorable shows. I chose the 15 shows of 2011 that I loved the most for this list. Make sure to visit the musicforants.com flickr page to check out all my concert pictures from this year. 15. Youth Lagoon @ Canopy Club [...]
(photo by cubagallery ) These are 50 tracks that defined 2011 for us, presented in highly unscientific ordered list form, with Matt's songs marked with a "-MG" and my choices with a "-TJ" next to them. To better spread the love, there's only one song per artist. Click the links next to the track to download / listen to the song and go to our Spotify Playlist to hear them all. Enjoy y'all! 50. Austra - Beat and the Pulse MP3 [...]
The National debuted two new songs live on Canadian Public Radio yesterday, and seeing that The National are not in the practice of making anything less then spectacular, these tracks are predictably amazing. The first is called "Rylan" and sounds like one The National's classic ballads like "Start A War" or "Runaway" with stately piano chords, swelling guitar and Matt Berninger's moving baritone. The folky "I Need My Girl" is perhaps even more interesting, with acoustic guitar that sounds a bit like the finger-picked ending of "Impossible Soul" (which if you remember, Bryce Dressner performed with Sufjan earlier [...]
Nick Thorburn has been busy with Mister Heavenly , his collaboration with members of Man Man and The Shins (w/ Michael Cera as their touring bassist) for the past year, but he's now back to his main gig Islands is prepping a neww album, A Sleep And A Forgetting, for a Valentine's Day release. Our first taste is the ballad "This Is Not A Song", which is a more solemn, reflective track than is typical for the band, but the melody is enchanting and the strings at the end are quite lovely. I'm very interested to [...]
Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good
French Graffiti Artists Videojack “N*ggas In Paris”
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Domo Genesis and Wiz Khalifa “Ground Up”
