To say that Robin Pecknold, of the Fleet Foxes, is this generations Niel Young is starting to seem like an understatement. I know that's a bold statement but before you start cramming all your Harvest Moon B-sides down my throat just give this song a spin and then go ahead and give it a few more twirls. The very first stanza that leaves Pecknold's lips forces the listener to stop thinking and start living. There is a strong wisdom that carries through the air when this young poet breaths in his own unique language. Addressing the unanswerable questions with more quizzical statements only pulls said listener further and further into the gigantic stormy reality that is life. Until finally, sitting Indian-style, in the eye of the storm, everything is made clear to give the sweet release of a single enlightening moment, only to be drawn back to the daily grind by shelling out the idiot-genius line "Someday I'll be like the man on the screen". There are very few songs that give you the feeling that you've read an 817 page Tolstoy Novel in the span of 5 minutes and 3 seconds and for that reason alone you should do yourself a favor by pressing that play button down there. Love Dominic Fleet FoxesHelplessness Blues
Earlier this month COOLRUNNINGS released their new full length album "Dracula is Only the Beginning" and I couldn't be more pleased about that. Everything these kids do pumps me up to no end. Not to mention they release all their shit on their own. This album can be found on their bandcamp account for five beans. So it's up to you, you can either buy yet another soggy cold-cut trio from Subway, or get one of the dopest albums that I've heard all year...... If you still need some convincing I put the song "Jesse" below, but I must warn you, you're prolly gonna listen to it like a thousand times cause it's like visiting the worlds funnest haunted house party, enjoy! PS. I know that the picture I used is an old album cover of theirs but I seriously can't get over it. Best Album cover/album title ever these guys are the best!
Listening to this makes me feel like I'm running along side a pack of wolves, in slow-motion of course. It's subtle bassy build slowly links into a surfy guitar lick which then moves into a slow tribal drum beat accompanied by a lonely yet firm high hat clapping away in the background which builds and builds into a very communal chant of "Heyyyyyyy Caroline." Pull out the face paint and loin cloth and start howlin' at the moon cause shit's about to get real great.
Earlier today Chris Chu of the Morning Benders released this little waltz number. It seems to be a lost B-side to last years amazing album Big Echo. Chris says, “My only regret with Big Echo is that this wasn’t on it. I wrote it after watching Annie hall for the 100th time.” Going through an overly obsessive Woody Allen stage earlier in my life, this song is putting me on a good one today. Enjoy.
I've been running along side the Kurt Vile train for the last couple weeks trying to decide weather or not if I should jump on. Well let me tell you what is what, "All aboard the Kurt Vile express". After watching this performance I'm hooked. Plus that line that he says before he starts playing hurts so good to hear, "Besides, friends are cool too, but there's usually only one person that can like, make you not feel alone." Long live the long haired lovers!
Yeah, so today was 4/20, and everyone of my stony asshole friends have been trying to show me their new favorite greenflash-pot-jams. But, as a kid who finds ray-gay and weed about as much fun as watching an episode of Jimmy Kimmel (BORING), this was the only thing that stuck out to me. It sounds like every amazing 90's jam sewn onto the back of some Pure ecstasy tonal structures. Not to mention the droned out/bleed together tracks that make everything feel like, ripped jeans and heroin addictions are the new black. Oh yeah, and if you're still not convinced they're signed to fat possum records..... I don't think those guys have ever fucked up signing a band...... ever. PS shout out to Ace for showing me this jam today.
This is my fourth and final attempt to sit in front of my computer screen and try to describe how amazing this weekend was. I've mentioned in the past the compulsive nature that coincides with my love for music. This last weekend was the musical equivalent of some type of heaven for obsessed music weirdos. The line up this year (outside of Kanye West, fuckin dork) was not to be taken lightly. It should be noted that for the last five years I have found my way into this festival one way or another running from tent to tent so that I wouldn't miss the "I was there" moment. This year went a little differently, I rode up to meet the TOTEM crew, a tribe of kids that come from all over the country to embrace as a fluid unit; that hugs, screams, dances, talks, and LOVES, I mean really loves each other. This is the third year that I've joined them and for sure the most connected that I've ever felt. My entrance to the festival is all thanks to one of my best friends in the whole world, Jen Daley, who happened to finagle me an all access backstage pass! So you could say that for a kid like me this was a recipe for some pretty " I was there" moments. I found that this year was a lot less stressful than years passed. I just kind of floated around the carnival of glee and no matter where I was there was a great band playing and a group of pinkies, TOTEM uses their pinkies as a land mark so you can always be with your friends if you want to be when you're cruising around the festival. I definitely utilized the privileges that came along with my pass a couple times. The first was to "air-hump" on the stage while Gogol Bordello was blowing everyone's minds with their gypsy rock and the second was to get a more intimate moment during the Broken Social Scene set. Other than that I decided that I'd rather be with my friends more than anything. Almost every band I saw was pretty next level but nothing even compared to the set that Arcade Fire put on. From start to finish I had chills, and I can't even describe the surreal, "out of this world" type feeling, that comes along with hearing their song, "Wake Up", while standing close to someone you can connect with and care about and all the while gigantic colored orbs are falling from the sky into the crowd by the hundreds. There is no other moment in time where I felt whatever it is that I felt while that was going on. It was such an impressionable moment that I could feel a sort of conscious shift that over took the negative, gloomy parts of my brain, a moment where life it self gently took me by the hand and said "Hey buddy not everything has to be so confusing all the time, look at how beautiful it all can be". After that point in time you could have punched me in the face and I would have greeted it with a smile. The rest of the weekend was filled with way too many laughs, mostly provided by Tommy B., and so much god damn dancing it made dance dance revolution look like a game of pong. All in all for only being three days long I realized that if half as many good things happened to me in a years span then it would have been a pretty good year. "Left Front Pinkies Up That's The Way We Like To Fuck!!!!" PS here's some footage of the orbs being dropped. The good footage was taken down for copyright reasons but you'll get the idea
So the other day I cruised into Soda Bar to peep this band that I wasn't all that stoked to go see. I decided to go on a short NON-drinking binge, which is about as fun as..... well it's about as fun as some shit that frankly just really isn't all that fun. So needless to say I wasn't all that thrilled to go watch some asshole band that I've only heard of because they were on Jimmy "suck-dick" Kimmel a few nights earlier. Let's just say that two songs into it I was acting like the drunkest Mormon chick that you ever went to highschool with, I was three seconds away from throwing my panties on stage and flashing my dude-tits for the whole bar to see. These little Mexican skate rats know how to bring the mother fucking noise. I mean they have all the demeanor of a hardcore pop-punk band and the right state of mind to know that that shit is dead, and if you're gonna make that type of music you better be playing some whacked out instruments and have a pretty good sense of humor. Anywho below is their video for "NYC Moves to the sound of LA" it's pretty great.
So last night I came home to this little treat in my inbox. Jamuel Saxon took one of my bands songs, "Winter" and banged it out ghetto blaster style. Needless to say i couldn't be happier, seriously I'm tickled pink, like no joke I'm pretty fuckin stoked. Take a listen and download the track for free cause homeboy is just that rad.
This Tune Yards album is slowly sneaking into my brain and reverberating throughout my blood stream. There is a heavy tribal sense of community that exists within this band on a whole. With songs like "Es-so" it's undeniable that you're gonna be tapping your feet all over your house like an over caffeinated Cosmo Kramer on two hours of sleep. It's sporadic and stressful guitar chords married to the wide vocal range that occurs throughout the track makes for a funky thought provoking piece of music. The vocal patterns ring within the same bell of the Dirty Projectors/Bjork song "When the world comes to an end". Not nearly as impressive though, D.P. has their shit dialed in vocally. Below are both tracks, enjoy. (Keep in mind that the Dirty Projectors track is live so those vocals are all in real time!)
Throw this new recording of "Chorus" on for size. It's one of my favorite COOLRUNNINGS tracks ever. I just like how much these guys joke around with their music. I feel like every other song they make is them trying to tell the world to fuck off and leave them alone cause they wanna get fucked up and sleep all the time, and if they wanna party and cuss you out then that should be perfectly fine with you. They take on the persona of a 17 year old skate rat that happens to like really good music...... It's pretty comedy.
Presenting itself with a very lucid and longing melodic factor, California Wives new track, "Tokyo" conjures up some very real life feelings. It brings out the happy-sad ache that comes along with things like love and the end of epically long life changing trips. Needless to say I'm a pretty big fan of this song.
To say that I idolize James Murphy, from LCD, would be an understatement. No questions asked, he is music and sound and feelings and life to it's fullest. The older subject matter that he presents, coupled with the pain that comes with wanting to be the guy who dances through life, all shines throughout everything that is presented within this band. It's rare for me to be so enamored by one person. I feel like he is this aged wizard who understands that the meaning of life is that you really will never understand life in it's entirety. He is the quintessential aged hipster, he's there, where we all want to be, and he's not afraid to say that he's still trying to figure it out. I could sit here and tell you about how impressive it was that LCD had Reggie Watts show up after the first encore of their final show, and how the Arcade Fire was there playing along side with the band, but the truth of the matter is that if this was a stripped down acoustic set it would have been just as great. The reality of this situation is that this band represents what music is and should be; Constantly expressing the pains and joys that exist in ones life to the truest form....... Note : the sniffles that occur during the last song. This performance may teeter on the heavier side of three hours but I promise that if you watch it in it's entirety you might understand why people get so obsessed with music to the point that the obsession resembles an infection. A point where the necessity of sound is more important than most other things, outside of love, because music is love. Also, aside from LCD's last performance of all time I included a James Murphy interview that I refer back to at least once a month to reassure myself that the ones who really get it, never allow themselves to get it until they become it............ PS. There is a rumor that this video will be removed soon. So if it's not here when you try to watch it I'm really sorry but at the very least check out the interview, it's beyond enlightening. Thanks to Cory over at Wizard Pleasure for sending me this. Big Love
The other day Sezio released some amazing footage of my boy Jamuel crushing it over at the Casbah. This song has got me fist pumping harder than the entire cast of Jersey Shore.
My hommie Jesus just dropped this new Remix of "Freaks & Geeks" in my inbox. It's got me doin the two step in my room by myself. Lets just say I'm gettin some funny looks from my dog right now. Pay attention to the synthesized flute section it's pretty rad. The second video is of Gambino's performance at SXSW which is pretty next level, check out the dude on the violin he's kind of a shredder.
This new Love Inks song is really great. The chorus "You've got blackeye on your eye" is pretty genius and the guitar hook will bury itself somewhere deep in your brain, in a comfortable way. The video is pretty swell too. I know it's a little ways away but this super hottie will be playing the tin can alehouse in SD on the 19th of may, so mark your calendars kids.
