I'm not going to get into politics, but in times like these it's nice to have things to listen to. Nice things. Things that are relaxing and calm. Last night I heard The Postmarks for the first time, and it was perfect timing. They have a kind of Jobim-meets-shoegaze thing going on. Looks Like Rain - The Postmarks from the album The Postmarks (2007)
Another couple of weeks without posting. It's not that I haven't had things worth sharing. But apparently, if blogger/google feels like it, they can just delete one of your posts without warning. That happened to me and it just took the wind out of my sails for while. But I think I'll start putting things here again for the, like, 4 people who read this. Anyhoo...
We Plants Are Happy Plants is Peter Bergmann, a producer from Hungary. He makes big, swirling, epic sounding electronic music. Another blog, WeAreBinary, said it best when describing his song Apollo:
This song is perfect for a night drive when you're alone in your car. Just driving out to meet some friends at a bar...feels like you're on your way to save the world, or maybe to save a beautiful girl.
The Rosebuds are a husband-wife team from North Carolina who have made a few albums of very solid indie rock. I love the layering of sounds and voices on this track that makes it sound a little like it was recorded in a cave.
I love Bon Iver and I like well-executed covers. This is a well-executed Bon Iver cover. Ellie Goulding is a singer from the UK, and her myspace page describes her music as "electro-acoustic." There's no "electro" in this one.
Sparklehorse is what Mark Linkous calls himself, and I confess that I am almost completely unfamiliar with his music (the one exception being a Pink Floyd cover he did with Thom Yorke). Based on what I've heard recently, I already wish I had listened to him before. This song is from his collaboration album with Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton), which is a star studded affair. David Lynch (???) even signed on and created a 100-page book of photography to be incuded with a limited edition of the album. Apparently, this project has actually been shelved over some record label bullshit, so the artists have in effect released it to the public free of charge.
This song is a fine sample of their work, featuring Julian Casablancas of The Strokes. Little Girl - Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse from the album Dark Night Of The Soul (2009, sorta)
Nobody makes beautiful, sad-bastard music like Mark Kozelek. He outdoes himself here with this cry-yourself-to-sleep cover of Send In The Clowns, from the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music.
Au Revoir Simone: Three girls from Brooklyn whose "band" consists of three keyboards and a drum machine. This is a hypnotic, sugary little electronic song.
...I haven't forgotten you, blog that nobody reads! I have much more to share and will be doing so shortly!
In the meantime, thanks to a heads-up from Greg, here is something awesome from the awesome Decemberists show that I awesomely slept on and thus failed to acquire tickets.
Here you go, Kev. It's only a 5-song EP, and it's a little indie-electronic heavy, but here are a few worthy candidates for KNFS.
Contents:
01. Paris (Aeroplane Remix) - Friendly Fires (feat. Au Revoir Simone) 02. Bones - Editors 03. In The Morning - Junior Boys 04. Until We Bleed - Kleerup (feat. Lykke Li) 05. Ass Made Of Diamonds - The Cool Kids (feat. Tennille)
Asobi Seksu takes their name from a Japanese colloquialism for "casual sex." So, that's fun.
I'm not gonna lie, I just found out about them. A couple of weeks ago I read about them on some other website and downloaded them on a whim, not even paying that much attention to the review except for the part where they were highly recommended. And now I can pass along that recommendation .
The bulk of the lead vocal duties are carried out by the lone female in the group, Yuki Chikudate. In a different environment, her singing could easily slip into the realm of the twee and cutesy. But when you add in the band's shoegazer wall of sound, it produces an appealing mix. Chikudate's feather-light and occasionally gauzy voice floats above the heavy layers of guitars and reverb.
They have released three albums thus far, with Hush being released earlier this year. Though that was the album that hipped me to them in the first place, their second album, Citrus, is the album that best captures the light/heavy aesthetic.
Anyway, here's a sampler with a few representative songs from each album. Also, they will be appearing at the Firebird this Saturday night and I believe the first of two opening bands goes on at 9. It's only $10! I am planning on attending if anyone is interested in joining me...
The first time I heard The Bird & The Bee's cover of Rihanna's Don't Stop the Music, it made me think of The Cardigans and their cover of Black Sabbath's Iron Man. Both covers completely transform the song into something new. They both take the frenetic energy out of the original songs all together and replace it with dreamy, jazzy pop. TB&TB's Don't Stop The Music is actually a superior song than the original in my opinion, taking a cookie-cutter radio r&b dance song and making it a hazy, flirty come-on.
It was a beautiful day today, and it resulted in this shorter mix.
01. You! Me! Dancing! - Los Campesinos! (2006) 02. Miracle Drug - A.C. Newman (2004) 03. Love Burns - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (2001) 04. Words - Doves (2002) 05. I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You - Black Kids (2007) 06. Need Your Needs - Georgie James (2007) 07. Wake Up - Arcade Fire (2004) 08. Lolita - Stereophonics (2005) 09. On The Bus Mall - The Decemberists (2005) 10. Cherry Tulips - Headlights (2008) 11. Rhinemaidens - The Envy Corps (2007) 12. Middle Of Nowhere - Hot Hot Heat (2005)
I tend to use Windows Media Player as my default program for listening to mp3s on my computer as well as burning cds. I don't know what anyone else might use. If at any point you are unable to get a track to play that you downloaded from here, please give VLC Media player a try. It's free, it's open source, and it will play damn near anything, video or audio.
I just got back from a brief two-day jaunt and as such haven't had the time to finish the slightly more substantial material I plan on posting here in the next few days. So in the meantime:
This has actually been floating around since late last year, but I recently re-discovered it. I've been binging on covers lately. The original version of this song (by The Outfield) is rather upbeat. Considering the subject matter of the song, I think Bon Iver's more-intimate treatment changes the vibe of the song to something more suitable.
Despite the fact that this video doesn't contain the complete performance, I think it has the best sound of any of the other versions floating around on youtube.
Also, if you need the original for reference, here it is, complete with horribly-out-of-sync sound:
Vocals: Alison Mosshart (The Kills) Guitar: Dean Fertita (Queens Of The Stone Age) Bass: Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs) Drums: Jack White (The Raconteurs, The White Stripes)
First post, blah blah blah. Might as well get the party started with a recent mix. It's a pretty down-tempo affair (even with James Brown). Download link is at the bottom. This is all very new to me, so please let me know if you experience any problems.
Here's how it reads: Track #, song title, artist.
01. Futures - Zero 7 (feat. Jose Gonzalez) 02. Lust - The Raveonettes 03. Leave Me Alone - Chappaquiddick Skyline 04. Fake Empire - The National 05. Ah. Ah. Ah. - The Coral Sea 06. Wisconsin - Bon Iver 07. Glory Box - Portishead 08. House Of The Rising Sun (Live) - Nina Simone 09. In The Middle (Pt. 1) - James Brown 10. Let's Dance (David Bowie cover) - M. Ward 11. Soft Shock (Acoustic) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs 12. Leif Erikson - Interpol 13. Far From Grace - Doves 14. Cocoon - The Decemberists 15. Creep (Radiohead cover, and perhaps the greatest cover version of any song ever) - Scala & Kolacny Brothers
I just started this to share with my friends whatever music I am into at any given moment. Nothing more.
Any music available on this site is for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, please support the artists by purchasing a cd or a t-shirt or going to their concerts or something.
