A few of my fellow SiS bloggers and I have put together a proposal for a panel at next year's SXSW music conference. What are we proposing to talk about you wonder? Well, as bloggers we are acutely attuned to the way people are discovering music, we often find ourselves getting creative with the ways we find the under heard -and deserving- musicians out there so we can in turn become the conduit for discovery for our readers and each other. Even more often we find ourselves discussing our approaches and perspectives of the state of musical discovery. [...]
Hold Your Horses Hold Your Horses came to my attention by one of the bookers at Danger Danger Gallery - one of Philly's best DIY venues- and after seeing this video I'm super bummed I missed seeing the French band's stop in Philly a few weeks ago. This is one of the coolest premises for a music video I have seen in a long while, the group recreates classic paintings while performing the totally addictive track "70 Million." The art major in me had a lot of fun trying to place the inspiration for [...]
Fools Gold The Fools Gold kids push Philly's Free Energy "Bang Pop" in tropically spaced out directions with this remix. Yeah, I'm fully aware that is a strange way to classify their take on the otherwise entirely delectable pop tune but you listen to it and let me know a better way to describe the awesomeness that goes on here. [MP3] Bang Pop (Fools Gold Remix)- Free Energy Kyle Andrews [...]
My Gold Mask A long while back I saw My Gold Mask in Brooklyn and the Chicago duo totally blew me away with the power of their live performance. Lead singer Gretta Rochelle's voice has an unfiltered rawness that leans towards the iconic lady howlers of the past. It's the voice of a woman who has some stories to tell and she channels some deeper places during her performances. Her partner in crime Jack Armando knows know to complement her croon with his charging guitar riffs making them a pair [...]
Sebastien Tellier Sébastien Tellier - Look from Record Makers on Vimeo . This video for Tellier's song "Look" is being relieased as part of Record Maker's 10 Anniversary celebrations and it embodies the chill euro coolness both the label and the artist are known for. The simple animation tells a cheeky -heh I love a good pun- story with clean imagery. The song, of course, is smooth as all get out which makes this one awesome video. [MP3] Look [...]
I. Love. This. Album. Menomena is back and on their third album they have found their most comfortable sound yet. While having previously explored some darker, wider ranging territory in their albums Mines is more focused and as a result plays well both as a whole and as individual tracks. Their vocals - shared in turn by each of the bands three members- are strong and pure; pulling them to the front of the mix gives them more distinction and imparts a poppier vibe to the entire album. While the vocals are consistently given [...]
Chromeo Ever the crowd pleasers Chromeo has produced an appropriately cheeky video for their track "Don't Turn The Lights On." They have a bit of fun with some simple techniques -and a totally creepy reoccurring eye ball theme - that keeps the smooth groove from getting too serious. These two give nerds everywhere hope for claiming their own slice of cool and I'll forever dig them for that. Neb your preorder of Business Casual here . [MP3] I Can't Tell You Why (Eagles Cover) [...]
Redial Usually Don Diablo is the one doing the remixing but this time it is his track that is getting chopped up. This is gritty and pushes hard. Redial's amped up attack makes it the perfect track for a high speed chase scene, if Daft Punk hadn't earned the honor of creating the Tron soundtrack I'd say this should would be in the running. [MP3] Who's Your Daddy (Redial Refix) - Don Diablo Majestyy [...]
Today is my mother's 60th birthday and it absolutely breaks my heart that I can't be with her to celebrate. She's a woman that never ceases to completely amaze me. It is she who is responsible for my musical passion and curiosity. Over the years she has shared with me her endless knowledge of classic rock, the importance of the back up singer, the righteousness of good soul music, the historical significance of protest music, what makes a good guitar riff, the comfort of associating music to place and too many road trip mixes to count. She has also inspired [...]
Young Man Boy , the first release from Young Man (aka Colin Caulfield), is a testament of the complexities of a youth's perspective of adulthood. Constantly striving to achieve "grown up" status while lacking the full vernacular to completely express his desires and curiosities this is an album that succinctly captures the nieve certainty of that age. The seven tracks on Boy give voice to the fickle sense of self & direction one experiences at the edge of adulthood then places those perspective carefully [...]
As a member of the Strangers In Stereo blog collective I'm delighted to be able to share such efforts as the monthly Stange Sounds mixtape. Here's the every month a different blog curates Strange Sounds; they're responsible for selecting a artist they support/dig to make a mixtape that, in turn, is shared with the rest of SiS and our readers. This month The Culture Of Me was at the helm and he elected to work with elusive producer Spectacle . Read on to find out how the TCoM made his pick and what the [...]
The DØ The Do - At Last (kidam version) from THE DO on Vimeo . The Do's song "Stay" is perhaps one of my favorite feel good tunes to add at the tale end of a mix or to throw on the bring on a bout of smiles. I've been waiting for what seems like forever to get word of new material from the French/Finnish duo and I think "At Last" is the perfect package to deliver the news that their next album A Mouthful [...]
Jakwob What starts off kinda slow and sexy pushes it's way into for more intense territory quickly in Jakwob's remix of GCWCF's "Collapsing Cities." Like a soundtrack to a tense montage in an indie thriller if definitely imparts a mood. You'll dig it, I promise. [MP3] Collapsing Cities (Jakwob Remix) - Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly Scattermish Originally intended to simply be an dance floor filler for the Scatterblog DJ's this retake of the hip [...]
You know what's tasty this time of year? Smooth, sweet and cool ice cream. I just had some - well a variation on the theme since I can't eat dairy- and it brought to mind another tasty item, cover songs. Since I'm still in too much of a food coma to finish off the post I had started earlier today I am instead sharing with you the musical equivalent of the huge serving of ice cream I just inhaled. These are the top picks from my recent covers acquisitions. So, eat up! I Love You Always [...]
Grum I love this video mostly because watching it you know it was a massive heap of fun to plan and make. This kind of faux buddy action short is just to sort of video bands should be making with their time, especially if they have the resources. The full enchilada is there flashbacks, moustaches, ambiguously gay vignettes and gratuitous athletics. Perfect story to play out during "Through The Night." [MP3] Show Me The Night (Grum Remix) - Jump Jump Dance Dance Wallpaper Wallpaper makes [...]
Murder Mystery Mmmmmm, Mondays are perfect for a smidge of new neo-wave and Murder Mystery will provide you with just such a fix. The New York band makes the tastiest of tasty slice of life pop songs that go in easy and stay rattling around your ears as you find yourself humming them all day long. They're just pushing two singles out for your enjoyment right now but man do I hope there is a full album hiding up their sleeves. [MP3] I Am (If You Are) [...]
Dinosaur Feathers Dinosaur Feathers - Teenage Whore from The Moonmen on Vimeo . I know I'm not alone in wondering when we were going to finally see some videos for Dinosaur Feather's excellent album Fantasy Memorial which dropped all the way back in April. Welp, the time has finally arrived. The video for "Teenage Whore" came about when they won a battle of the bands and were paired with the winners of a tandem contest for video makers. The result is a nice collection of vignettes [...]
After finishing my freshman year of college I knew I didn't want to move back home to Minneapolis for the summer but I didn't have the money to travel all summer or rent a place so instead I decided to live in the guest cabin of my family's lake home in northwest Wisconsin. I found a job tending bar and waiting tables at a mexican jazz joint in the nearest town - the metropolis otherwise known as Spooner. I suppose I should clarify that they didn't feature solely mexican jazz bands rather, they made mexican food and booked jazz bands. [...]
Escort This remix brings me nothing but pure unabashed joy. There have been a bazillion remixes of Feist's work -all to varying degrees of listenability- and until now Britt Daniel's versio n has been my fave. That may soon change with a few more listens of this incredible track. Escort gives it a big band treatment with horns that will make your worries melt away. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. [MP3] I Feel It All (Escort Remix) - Feist [...]
There have been a ton of interesting snippets dropped in my lap lately - most of them awesome concert announcements- and I feel the best way to get them out there is to simply dump them all into one post. So, here goes.... There is buzz that the irish band The Frames will be touring North American this fall with stops in Philly, NY, Chicago, Washington, DC, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Frames are an incredible folk rock with a wealth [...]
The World In A Paper Cup
Avicii – Two Million
Scissor Sisters’ “Baby Come Home” Video: Watch The Band Get Animated
Yellow Magic Orchestra edit from Chrome Canyon
Beck – I Just Started Hating Some People Today
