Anyone else going to see Free Energy at Spaceland tonight? I hear their set at the Echo last night was the jam... Album drops digitally on the 6th, and physically in May. It's definitely worth the wait....
Efterklang - Modern Drift. "Modern Drift" is the first song from Efterklang's new record Magic Chairs, out today in Europe and tomorrow in the US. As opening statements go, it's a good one - the piano starts quietly, then more piano, then those thumping drums, then it all breaks open. This track makes the record sound like a gradual incline, which it is. The album is an increasingly ornate piece of pop music that uses its bells and whistles wisely and sparingly. Efterklang hails from Copenhagen, and Magic Chairs is their third full-length. There's a lot to be said...
I first heard singer Maggie Morrison in the late, lamented Minneapolis band Digitata. (Well, they maybe broke up? This July interview with Digitata drummer Drew Christopher makes it unclear. But it's funny.) Morrison's new band Lookbook keeps some of Digitata's essential elements: bloops, bleeps, synthdrama. Lookbook - Yesterday's Company. This track comes from Lookbook's first full-length, Wild At Heart. It's a good record, and as much as I love Digitata, it's interesting to hear Morrison front a band more interested in keeping things on steady ground. (Digitata simply isn't designed for that, in my opinion, which is one reason...
One For The Team - Every Little Thing. I've been a fan of One For The Team for a while now, and it's been really interesting watching them change over the years. Their sound has deepened and darkened, and on Ghosts, their third full-length, an instrument that sounds like a Mates of States distorted electric piano adds some murkiness to the mix. It all still pops, of course, underneath Ian Anderson's lighter-than-air vocals, and it all clicks along as if no one can stop it. This band is from Minneapolis, and even though I moved from that scene about...
S. Piliso & His Super Seven - Kuya Hanjwa. Look, I'm not the guy to sort out all the political, social, sociopolitical, and other implications of the indie fascination with South African, and specifically Sowetan, music. There's a lot to say about it, especially when it comes to the long American history of appropriation, and there are no easy answers. I will say this: I love that first Vampire Weekend record, but I think the band's characterization of their music as "Upper West Side Soweto" was pretty obnoxious. And when I saw Tune-Yards in Boston last fall, their bassist...
Bobby Charles - I Must Be in a Good Place Now. And so we lose another one....
This is a great recording of one of the many Jay Reatard shows I was lucky enough to see. Even from the back of the room it was a bloodbath. We're gonna miss him like crazy....
Laura Gibson & Ethan Rose - Younger. Like many songs I post on here, this is a song for the in-between times. It's not triumphant. It's not a celebration of success. It's not a shoulder to cry on or a call to move on. It's not about the boys being back in town or the girls having a night out. It's not about love or hope or rock 'n roll. It's about breathing, in and out, as we move along in our day. It's about deciding to make another cup of coffee because it's raining, or deciding to eschew...
Can Numero Group do no wrong? T.L. Barrett & Youth For Christ Choir - Like A Ship. The newest release from the archival label is Good God! Born Again Funk, out January 30. It's the 30th record from Numero, and the third in their Good God! series, which collects rare religious music from small labels. I've been a fan of Numero since their amazing Yellow Pills power pop release back in 2005, and I've tried to check in with their output since then. Their CDs and LPs are immaculately presented, with slipcases and extensive liner notes, and the music...
Clogs - Three Two. Up here on the second floor with a windless view through palm trees to the hills of the park, the only sound is the faint hiss and woosh of the carwash on the backside of the building. Over on this side it's an idyllic portrait of southern california life. Pink flowers hover over tiled rooftops as the lush scrubs of the desert slowly surround everything. And into this mix we bring Clogs, the long-standing project of Padma Newsome and Bryce Dessner from the National. They have always worked more in the realm of musical ideas...
We'd like to take a second and welcome our new friends Because Sound Matters to our tiny little blogroll over there on the right. They're a new vinyl-only venture from the Warner Bros. family, offering reissues from all kinds of sick catalog titles. Their catalog is slowly growing, but it already includes solid entries from old favorites like Metallica, Wilco, Dire Straits, etc. Anyway, just wanted to give you the heads up....
Yarn Owl - Bicycle. It isn't until the refrain in the back third of the song that it really wins you over. The beginning, begging to be sound in a round, or at least with some harmonies, is the kind of mossy, woodsy thing we expect and love from the Pacific Northwest. It reminds you of hitting sticks against trees in the woods behind your house, all damp, all covered in rich soil. But the final part, where the harmony kicks in and they sing about the girl coming home from her library is the what makes you really...
Family Band - Hatred. Staring down the barrel of a move on a rainy day, why not throw on some Family Band. It's cold, it's wet, there's a mountain of crap in the room that needs sorting, filing, boxing, tossing, remembering. Each object is given a piece of my time as I try to remember why I had it in the first place, and whose memory it was keeping. The steady stream of holiday traffic on the boulevard outside reminds me that I'm still in Los Angeles, and that I'm just moving upstairs. Not far at all. One flight....
Real Estate - Beach Comber. I'll be honest - I wanted to post a different track. Real Estate's song "Snow Days" has burrowed itself in my brain, and I've been listening to it a few times a day, marveling at how it's like a little narrative, with characters, plot arcs. But the band's self-titled record is awesome overall, and I am happy to post anything I can, including this song. Real Estate has been rattling around the internet for a while now, both under the Real Estate name and the related Ducktails project, so I'm not telling you anything...
Having spent the morning making a series of totally unwanted phonecalls and dealing with math of all things, it's amazing to sit down to a fresh new video from Menomena. Look at that stance, at the swagger! These are not the little boys who were once coughing coughing, puffing up their chests to be the strongest in the world. After a year or so of near silence, they've returned as men, and as fathers, and here we have the stunning, confident results. There is not a moment's hesitation, and the fragility of their previous performances has been replace with...
Air Waves - Knockout. Today, on what's likely the clearest day we've had in Los Angeles in months, seems like a good a day as any to pull out the tenderly crafted box set from 1928 Recordings, the Golden Hour. With a straight-shot view of the denuded, snowy San Gabriels, I can't help but think about hopping in the car and driving out to the mountains. As my friend said this morning "Close down the bell desk. Guests can carry their own bags on a day like today." And what better way to carry you there than the earnest...
So I'm going to this......
This song has been rattling around in my brain all morning, through an endless commute that involved rain, a couple of faulty subway cars, and too much wind for one umbrella. Anders Ponders - Slowest Motion Miracle. "Slowest Motion Miracle" is on the new Anders Ponders record Nodes Of Overtones, and it got me through my morning. That's Ponders on viola and just about everything else, playing up a storm while singing in a quiet voice. It's all very Sufjanian and Andrew Birdian, but it's also just a good song with an interesting arrangement and a pretty melody. Ponders -...
It's that time of year again, folks. It's finally the time when I get to gush about my favorite Christmas music. Lucky everybody! J.D. McDonald - Boogaloo Santa Claus. This track is from the awesome new compilation In The Christmas Groove, out now on Strut Records. It's full of Christmas soul songs, all of which are obscure B-sides from the '60s and '70s. There are some funny songs, some beautiful songs, some just plain weird songs. I'm not sure which category "Boogaloo Santa Claus" falls into, but I think it's great. You can buy In The Christmas Groove - whose...
Destry - Big Mouths. Destry's Michelle DaRosa must get compared to Jenny Lewis pretty often, and I bet that gets old. But That Voice, with its surprising depth no matter the pitch, is what DaRosa's got in spades, and it's what drives this song towards its eventual demise. It all starts innocently, but with the help of DaRosa's ferocity, it hurtles downward. I'm super into it. Destry's members are from all over the place - Boston, Phoenix, Dallas, Nashville, New York - and it's interesting to consider who's bringing what to the table, and what city's sensibilities. The band's...
music (for robots)
The Shins: “September” (b-side of “Simple Song” 7”)
St. Vincent - 'Cheerleader'
Jay-Z & Kanye West - Ni**as In Paris (Explicit)
OK Go - Needing/Getting - Official Video
Ladyhawke - Black White & Blue
Conchord On Composing Music For Muppets
Watch: Trailer for Dave Grohl’s documentary, Sound City
Hardwell Bootleg Pack 2012
Webcast: The Kills’ 10th anniversary concert
Childish Gambino - "Heartbeat" (Official Music Video)
