Blog: Cities of the Plain

The Neighborhood: SOMA // Painted Palms from Yours Truly on Vimeo . Yours Truly profiled local act (via Louisiana) Painted Palms for the latest edition of their Neighborhood series. Aside from it being shot beautifully, I love this video for a few reasons. Reese and Chris, the cousin duo behind Painted Palms, live in my neighborhood and there are a number of great shots along Divisadero, the main drag in our area. Also, I have met the guys a few times through mutual friends and it feels great to be able [...]

Foreign Born's Person to Person remains a perennial summer favorite around these parts. Sadly, it does not look like we will be seeing a follow up to that record anytime soon. Secretly Canadian, the bands label, is reporting that the band will be going on indefinite hiatus as the members focus on other projects. As a parting gift, the guys have offered up a new song, their first since Person to Person . "Keep It In Mind" shakes and grows with the same spirited energy that made their album such a stand-by. mp3: [...]

• Foreign Born - KEEP IT IN MIND 4!

The War on Drugs - "Come to the City" (Official Music Video) from Urban Outfitters on Vimeo . Check out another video to surface from The War on Drug's upcoming album, Slave Ambient . The video does a fantastic job of capturing the mood and textures of the more organic, layered sound that they first introduced on their Future Weather EP and pervades the new album. You can hear what I mean by streaming the whole album at the Urban Outfitters blog now. I just bought tickets to see them this Fall [...]

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Lia Ices - Ice Wine from Yours Truly on Vimeo . I imagine this video was shot a few months back when Lia Ices came through San Francisco opening for the Cave Singers. I arrived uncharacteristically early to that show so was able to catch the entirety of their set. I was more or less captivated by her then and, not surprisingly, the team at Yours Truly has done an excellent job at bottling some of that magic. Lia Ices' debut album Grown Unknown comes highly recommended.

This new single from Beirut comes out tomorrow and it is a good reminder that we should all be listening to more Beirut. The repeated line of "the rising sound of your breath in the cold" is a particularly poignant moment that evokes images of a couple bracing against the chill on a winter night in the city. Beirut - East Harlem by Revolver USA

• Beirut - East Harlem

I haven't done the requisite research to support this, but in a reflective moment the other night I wondered if my generation, the ambiguous 20-somethings, might be the first generation to actually prefer the way things were as we were growing up. Hardly the greatest generation, historians will refer to us as Generation N. The "N", of course, for nostalgia. That feeling of vague familiarity which so many generations past rejected to create their own unique vision of the world, embraced whole-sale by us, the non-rebels. Through this unfortunate lens then, "chillwave" becomes our generational soundtrack, music tinged with a [...]

• Washed Out - Eyes Be Closed

All splashy drums and blase vocals, the French Kicks aren't trying to turn any heads with "Sex Tourists" . It is one of those songs you can listen to on repeat for hours without really hearing, one listen seamlessly blending into the next. But then there are those moments when you suddenly realize you stopped whatever you were doing 10 minutes ago and all you have been doing is listening. Eyes closed, head back, listening . The French Kicks are masters of this sort of silent takeover. Half way through they sing "when we're vibrating somewhere" and I [...]

All splashy drums and blase vocals, the French Kicks aren't trying to turn any heads with "Sex Tourists" . It is one of those songs you can listen to on repeat for hours without really hearing, one listen seamlessly blending into the next. But then there are those moments when you suddenly realize you stopped whatever you were doing 10 minutes ago and all you have been doing is listening. Eyes closed, head back, listening . The French Kicks are masters of this sort of silent takeover. Half way through they sing "when we're vibrating somewhere" and I [...]

My first reaction after hearing Alela Diane's new album, Alela Diane and Wild Divine , was to go back and listen to her previous album, To Be Still . Some important change had taken place over the course of albums, but I couldn't put my finger on it without looking backwards. A few songs in my suspicions were confirmed: this was a new Alela Diane. To Be Still resonated with listeners because of it's sweet fragility, the product of a young women still searching for her place in the world. Wild Divine , on the [...]

Gardens & Villa are a new-to-me group out of San Diego looking to have a big year in 2011. They recently signed to Secretly Canadian , who will be releasing their debut LP in July, and have been touring up an down the west coast this Spring. I caught the tail end of one of their packed shows at Amnesia a few weeks ago and was impressed with the two songs I managed to hear. Although, I was disappointed to have missed "Black Hills" , one of the two tracks featured on their Cool Summer Records [...]

• Gardens & Villa - Black Hills

This NSFW unofficial video for The Weeknd 's "High For This" from Michael Cumming really fits the tone of the track (in that there's lots of women wearing next to nothing, artfully). We haven't written about much lately, but lest you not be entertained, there were some great pieces on The Weeknd when their (his?) mixtape first dropped, here , here and here . The Weeknd - High For This

• High For This » 01 High For This.mp3

Sorry for the lack of activity this last week or so. My normally allotted blogging time was spent gearing up for the music portion of South by Southwest. And by "gearing up," I mean watching a crapton of college basketball and not actually preparing for the festival at all. I'm already a bit overwhelmed by the whole ordeal and things haven't even started yet. I've been titillated by rumors going around the city (Kanye's coming to town?). I've thought about how I'm going to combat the fatigue that comes from nodding one's head aggressively (coffee [...]

1. Apropos of nothing, B. Rich's "Whoa Now," featuring a great sample of "Movin' On Up," and an introduction to Baltimore, pre- The Wire . This track was huge the summer that my parents finally caved and got cable… to say the least, it was a formative summer of rushing home to watch 106 & Park and Rap City after my summer job. 2. Dave Bry has a straight-forward take on the boom in rap talent of late over at The Awl, " Rap is good now because rappers [...]

"They're like Nicki Minaj with dicks…" "I broke that… fuck the framer." "It's a little rapey…?"

This week's Mix of the Week is Jamie xx's monstrous two-hour long BBC 6 Mix . There's loads of stuff from his collaboration with Gil Scott-Heron as well as some of the music that inspired his reinvention of Scott-Heron's works. BBC 6 has taken down the mix, but some kind soul re-posted it in its entirety. Put this on next time you're cleaning up or cooking dinner and just enjoy, there's some really terrific stuff in there. The tracklist is after the jump. Mediafire: Jamie xx's BBC 6 Mix [...]

1. I'm a bit late on Portlandia. I like the show, particularly that they're eager to play with the medium of their show and try different approaches, though it doesn't always work for me. The opening musical number "Dream of the 90s," however, is a jam. Where's the full length release? I've been humming this track for weeks now. Considering the chops of both leads , let's hope they continue to integrate music into their comedy. 2. Our amigos The Knocks were featured in The Guardian's listicle [...]

1. I dig this video for "Freaks and Geeks" from Donald Glover , fun production on the track too. Initially I though his Childish Gambino side project was something he did for fun, almost as a joke. Over the last few months, it's become clear that rapping is something he takes seriously, and expects fans to take seriously as well. He certainly comes with a lot of energy. I'll be seeing him in concert sometime next month, will report back when I do. 2. McSweeney's "What Your Favorite Classic [...]

I was pretty bummed when I heard TV on the Radio were going on a year long hiatus - they have been responsible for a lot of my favorite music over the past couple of years. I don't know if it has actually been a year since that announcement or if Dave Sitek, the hardest working man in music, just couldn't sit still any longer, but either way, they are back! Their new record, Nine Types of Ligh t, is set to be released on April 12th and we already have a new song. You can stream the relatively [...]

1. NPR's The Record blog has a great piece on Odd Future with loads of great insight from Noz . Also, Brick Stowell spent the last few weeks touring with the OFWGKTA crew and has loads of great shots up on his Tumblr . 2. Noz also wrote a rundown of XXL's 2011 Freshman class . Some GREAT lines in here: on Diggy Simmons' skills: " 2/10 No. Just no. "; on Fred the Godson's: " 5/10 Functional New York rapper #3489. "; Lil B's bio: " The [...]