This is me right now. This is how I'm going to be for approximately 99% of this weekend. To recap: prolonged drunkenness + great shows + lack of Internet access = half of our staff on hiatus. Hillside Festival is going to take over some of our lives this weekend, meaning if there are fewer posts around these parts over the next few days, you know why. [...]
I was just going to do a throwaway "this song sucks" post for whatever I was supposed to write about today since I'm busy preparing for Hillside. This post still isn't going to be long, but like, I don't know if it's my obsession with "Surprise Hotel" or what, but does anyone else think this new Shakira single kind of rules? It's like she copied the afro-pop guitar line that makes that Fool's Gold track so addictive and made a disco song out of it. This is a subdued Shakira, a Shakira who's confident enough to use the [...]
I'm unsure if this is the official video for Laura Veirs' "Spelunking" or not, but in any case, it is very suiting to my mood at the moment, both the visuals and the music. Check it out to the right or by clicking this link . Oh, I love her lyrics. Laura Veirs - "Spelunking" posted on YouTube by nicebicycle
I debated whether or not I should post this because my posts are predominantly about Grizzly Bear and I don't post too often as is. But if not I, who else? "Ready, Able" played beautifully by the band accompanied by the ACME Quartet on Letterman.
Perfect weather outside tonight, yes. 2007, yes. Beastie Boys, yes. Mix it up, yes. Waiting for Hot Sauce Committee , yes. 14th St. Break, hell yes. Beastie Boys - "14th St. Break" (download) A semi-forgotten gem and proof of the undisputed greatness of the Beastie Boys.
Even though The Burning Hell's third album has been out for several months now, it was just recently that I found a record store that stocked it; Weewerk, the label that that distributes Baby, makes Arts & Crafts look like Sony BMG. However, the old adage that good things come to those who wait rings true for my long-awaited rendezvous with this CD, the best that I have heard in a very long time. This is the masterpiece that the previous two albums from this Peterborough collective have hinted at, refining their unique formula that never grows [...]
New song. Dinga dinga dong dong dong. This kind of makes me excited.
As a music enthusiast, the aesthetic qualities of an old vinyl record have never been lost on me. It's just, I've never owned a record player with which to play them, nor have I ever had the money to go out and purchase them. Yesterday morning I was going garage saling with my mom, and I came across a box full of records, twenty-five cents each. I began to look through them for kicks, and suddenly discovered that whoever was giving them away obviously had decent taste back in the day. If you ignore their John Mellencamp fetish, [...]
Guelph, Ontario's Hillside Festival is arriving in one week's time, and I'm so excited that I'm doing the only thing I know how to do in times of such excitement: blog. Here's a mixtape to get you just as amped. H/I/L/L/S/I/D/E 1. Attack In Black - I'm A Rock (2009) 2. Woodhands - Dancer (2008) 3. Green Go - Brains For Breakfast (2009) 4. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Don't Haunt This Place (2009) 5. Gentleman Reg - [...]
Whoa! It's raining frogs out, where did the sun go? Oh well, here's a mixtape for you all. S/H/O/W/E/R/T/I/M/E/ (feat. A Reminder ) 1. Dirty Projectors - Two Doves (2009) 2. Andrew Bird - Lull (2003) 3. Why? - Fatalist Palmistry (2008) 4. The Arcade Fire - Goodnight Boy (2003) 5. Elliott Smith - Say Yes (1997) 6. Pulco - Choppy Seas (2007) 7. Radiohead - Planet Telex (1995) 8. [...]
It's the most joyous song I've heard this summer since "Surprise Hotel" . And I just don't have time to talk about it: I have to keep spreading this joy. Atlas Sound - "Walkabout (Feat. Panda Bear)" (Download)
Listening to Pictureplane's Fleetwood Mac sampling track "Goth Star", it's pretty hard not to have some kind of emotional response. I was walking to work half-drunk the other day with it on repeat, and I realized: I wish I lived in a world where everyone stayed that kind of almost drunk where you're completely aware of everything going on around you but you just kind of lose all sense of restraint. And I wish "Goth Star" soundtracked every day in that world. It's propulsive, with its electro backbone that pushes you forward only to bring you back [...]
" In the garden of my house there's a tree with lots of randomly grown twigs. It looks odd and nice at the same time. One day I asked myself if I could create a piece of music with it. To tune the tree I picked a fundamental note and tuned the twigs by trimming them with a pencil sharpener. I used two Røde NT6 and a NTG-2 as microphones, combined with a customized stethoscope. [...]
Nothing represents how I feel right now more than the picture above. I've been obsessing over Kid Sis for a while now, but to be honest, she had never released that truly BOMB single that was going to vault her into stardom. "Pro Nails" came close, but wasn't quite there. And now it's finally happened. This is the single I've been waiting for, a track that mixes "Pro Nails" squiggly bassline with the electro niche that Kid Sister fills so well. It's a banger, the sound of a young emcee finally putting it all together. [...]
"I can see right through you like you bathin' in Windex." That line alone is really enough to sell me on this song, Mariah's new single "Obsessed". Outside of that though, "Obsessed" is endlessly catch in all it's "Blame It"-ness, and a nice change up from the "Touch My Body"'s of the Mariah world. Not that this is some kind of uptempo party jam, but Carey sounds like she's having fun here. Most of the material on E=MC2 was pretty robotic, but this sounds pretty free. It's presumably some Eminem diss track, and while [...]
Chromeo fans, eat your heart out. Brooklyn-based Wildlife are a fun electronic group that are perfect for your 2009 summer, however little left there may be of it. Per the press release: "Composed of Gabriel Cohen-DeVries, Tomek Gross, & Andrew Doga, Wildlife have crafted a solid set of songs with their debut project. The group takes electronica on with a singular perspective as they blend live instrumentation, sly humor, and killer craftsmanship." What I love about Wildlife is that while their sound is very clean, they've also tinged their lyrics with a bit of [...]
Brazilian Beirut cover band. No way! Postcards from Italy and an awesome version of Cliquot Something about the percussion in their version of Cliquot, gives me the shivers, in an oh so good way.
This week's video is from Japan's Sour for their song "Hibi no Neiro" off of their debut EP Water Flavor . It was compiled using webcam footage sent in from their fans all around the world. Clever concept and very nice execution. The song is rather catchy, to boot. Check it out here , or to your right. Sour - "Hibi no Neiro" Directed by: Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Magico Nakamura & Masayoshi Nakamura
Seriously. Just listen. Now apparently Mayer Hawthorne's debut album is coming out this fall. Tell me you aren't looking forward to this one. Tell me. MySpace Pre-Order Hawthorne's "A Strange Arrangement"
Why? took our number two slot in our best albums of 2008 list with Alopecia , mostly because Yoni Wolf and co. are masters of the intensely personal sing-rap lyric. And now they're back and more acoustic than ever! No, seriously, early release "This Blackest Purse" is a slow piano ballad where Wolf is mostly to the left of the sing-rap spectrum. And it...works. These guys can do no wrong, apparently. Eskimo Snow is due September 22. Be stoked. Why? - "This Blackest Purse" (Download)
Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
No Church In The Wild
Nas - Daughters
The Rains of Castamere by The National
CHROMATICS "THESE STREETS WILL NEVER LOOK THE SAME"
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Avicii – Two Million
Beck – I Just Started Hating Some People Today
iamamiwhoami: kin - Teaser
