Pinback - Good to Sea
Unabashedly fun summer music. This has been playing in my headphones too much. Much thanks to my buddy Bill for the musical intro.
Diamond Rings - All Yr Songs
Heard this song the other day on turntable.fm*. Total guilty pleasure. To me this song sounds like it came out in 1998 (and it sounds like something I would have been listening to in 1998). If you’re feeling brave you can YouTube the strange and entertaining music video.
*I’ve tried to remember the last time I was as excited about a web site as I am about turntable.fm. It’s a ton of fun, and for a pseudo music snob like me, it fulfills this intense narcissistic need to have other people appreciate my taste in music. Everyone should try it. The idea is very simple. There are rooms themed around different types of music (or anything else for that matter). In each room there are five DJ slots in a lineup on a little stage. Below the stage there is space for the avatars of the people listening. Any time a DJ leaves and a new spot opens up, anyone in the room can hop up on stage. The app rotates through each DJ spot and plays the next song in that DJ’s queue. During each song everyone can click the “Lame” or “Awesome” buttons. If you click Awesome, then your avatar starts bobbing his head and the DJ gets a point. With points you can unlock new avatars! With new avatars you feel even cooler! It’s crazy awesome. I highly encourage everyone to try it, but for now it’s only if you have a Facebook friend (like me) who is also using it (oh exclusivity…).
Beirut - East Harlem
This song just started making its way around and has blown up - for good reason. It’s quite a tune and I’m totally hooked. The onslaught of songs demanding to be played all summer has officially begun. My guess: it will take less than one complete listen for you to enjoy this song. And for a great value add, Google the lyrics if you can’t quite make them out.
Another rose wilts in East Harlem…
Fort Lean - High Definition
Sometimes an indie rock band can just sound a little bit like a thousand other indie rock bands and that’s OK. I like this tune a lot. It lulls you for a bit with the nice jingly guitars and soft vocals and then it gets a little more serious, but even then keeps it’s pop sensibilities close by. And then at the very end, hey, let’s yell a little bit - why not?
Hat tip to Bitzl R, the newest tumblr blog providing me with audio entertainment.
Also, these guys are playing Glasslands on Saturday…
Colour Revolt - Blood in Your Mouth
“Colour” and yet they’re from the American South. This track goes to show that just because a band’s best claim to fame might be “opened for Taking Back Sunday*”, they can still be pretty good. It was suggested to me by a friend, and I think it proves that my musical taste has reached a certain point of predictability. A five-plus minute track with raw production, high/low moments and some yelling? Yeah…I mean, you’ve convinced me.
*Damn it, I do have a soft spot for some earlier Taking Back Sunday. So sue me!
The Mountain Goats - Beautiful Gas Mask
The new album, All Eternals Deck, I think snuck by a lot of people. For me it’s hard to get into a band that has a zillion albums, and it’s sometimes hard to be into their latest when a new one comes out. Such is the case with The Mountain Goats. The discography is really long. I’m really enjoying this album though. It’s basically good from start to finish. This song is a pretty good example of what to expect. The songs are relatively simple and straightforward but have a level of complexity in the production that keeps them interesting.
(Quick side note: There are no masterpieces like this one on All Eternals Deck. I’ve been re-listening to that song quite a bit lately. The delivery and content of the line “There will be feasting, and dancing, in Jerusalem next year” makes it one of my favorite moments in a song, period. I bothered a good friend who knows of such things about what this line might be referring to, and of course it makes it even better. ”Next year in Jerusalem” is an important phrase in Judaism referring to (I will probably butcher this) the idea that each person strives for and looks forward to more freedom and happiness for themselves and others in the future. So yeah; I like that.)
Okkervil River - The Valley
Oh give me big drums and harmonized vocals. And make sure the drums are really big.
Love this song and can’t be bothered with the rest of the album so far. It’s like they wrote this song and then some crap band killed them and wrote the rest of the album, but nobody noticed.
Titus Andronicus - The Battle of Hampton Roads
No words.
The Twilight Sad - Cold Days from the Birdhouse
This song was my introduction to The Twilight Sad and it’s a good barometer for whether someone has similar music taste to me. I heard this song for the first time and thought, “Yep - I like this band”. Maybe it’s the kinda lo-fi and awesome production. Maybe it’s the Scottish accent. Maybe it’s the all the repetition of the vocal hooks.
Basically Frightened Rabbit was just a gateway drug.
The Antlers - Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out
Second track that’s gotten out from the upcoming LP. I can’t get enough of this song at the moment. It seems that this album will be something of a departure from Hospice, but that album is such a delicate disaster that it probably had to be. I’m hoping it’s awesome. ”Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out” is probably my favorite song title of 2011.
I live in New York. My interests are varied.
