Great. My son’s been in pre-school for 3 weeks now and I’m already getting reports that he’s ‘running with the bad kids’. My sweet angel who just this morning told me I made his heart happy? (Sigh) Say it ain’t so. If it is, it’s gonna be a long 12 years.
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I haven’t been able to get enough of the Panda Bear cover of ‘Boneless’ from Germany’s The Notwist. These guys have been making music for nearly 20 years. They started as a hardcore punk band in the 90s and have slowly evolved into a fusion of indie pop and electronica. Their latest album, The Devil You + Me is a good album that gets better for me with every spin. They have a Radiohead meets Belle & Sebastian kind of vibe that feels really nice on my headphones.
If you’re in San Francisco, be sure to catch their lush, electro-fuzz sound tonight at Bimbo’s.
Listen to the original Boneless:
Listen to Panda Bear’s version:
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Not that I’m a huge Moby fan or anything, but I couldn’t resist posting this video I saw this morning. Ooh yeah, can you say 70s porn spoof? A little inspiration just in time for Halloween. Happy Friday.
Artist: Wintersleep
Album: Welcome to the Night Sky
File Under: Indie Rock
Recommended if You Like: Grandaddy, The Editors, Broken Social Scene, Jeff Buckley
Featured Track: ‘Drunk on Aluminum’
This has most definitely been the album of the week for me. While not technically a new album (it was released in Canada in 2007), it just hit the US – and my inbox – last week. And has been on heavy rotation ever since.
Welcome to the Night Sky is the third album for the Halifax-based Wintersleep, and one that seems destined for success in the US. Already quite popular in Canada, the band recently received the 2008 Juno award for ‘New Group of the Year’. Their sound is expansive with heavy, smashing guitars combined with delicate, heartbreaking vocals. A sound so well represented in the track ‘Drunk on Aluminum’.
Dig deeper into the album and you start to peel back the layers, and musical influences. They have drawn comparisons to Radiohead, Mogwai and Low. I hear Jeff Buckley at times, Broken Social Scene, The Editors and a bit of Grandaddy during others. But I think what makes them so compelling to me is that they but they never seem to imitate, only reference these artists. Which makes me keep coming back for more. I can’t quite put my finger on it. So I keep listening to it. And the more I do, the more I love it. I hope you do too.
Catch Wintersleep at Slim’s in San Francisco November 24.
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I awoke at god knows what time this morning because Judah thought there was bug in his room and wanted to cuddle in my bed. Bleary eyed and half asleep, I obliged. Which is really no hardship on my end. Believe me, he’s the best cuddler in the world. Except when he sleeps perpendicular to me and kicks me in the head all night. Which was the case last night.
So when he awoke at the opposite end of the bed this morning all alone, he said to me sleepily: ‘Mommy, I didn’t give you good love last night!‘ ‘I’m going to come over and give you some good love.’ Which basically means he’s going to puppy-pile on top of me. After settling in and before falling back asleep, he added: ‘I didn’t make you a picture yesterday either, Mommy. I’m sorry. I’ll make one for you today.’
How do they get so damn cute? Every time I see him sleeping so peacefully like this, I always think of this song from The Acorn’s Glory Hope Mountain called ‘Lullaby (Mountain)’. The most beautiful lullaby ever.
Listen to Lullaby (Mountain):
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Hey there. You can stream Ryan Adams’ new album, Cardinology, for free on iLike for the next 48 hours. The album goes on sale next week, October 28. Check it out!
Whoo hoo! I just bought my first album today via Topspin! And it was the much anticipated debut LP from my favorite Texas rockers, White Denim, to boot. The album is being digitally debuted with the new platform in advance of the album’s physical release on November 3. In case you don’t recall from my prior posts, Topspin is a cool new technology platform that is helping artists circumvent labels and market directly to the fans. It allows artists to offer a variety of ‘value add’ options and services to their fans.
Take a trip to the White Denim site and you’ll see what I mean. You can:
Cool huh? It’s a whole new way to consume music and the artist gets to reap the rewards. What a concept.
Here’s Shake, Shake, Shake:
The Western States Motel is the name given to the work of Monterey, CA native and Los Angeles resident Carl Jordan, whose first endeavor was the soundtrack to a short documentary on Johnny Cash’s infamous 1968 concert at Folsom Prison. His latest EP, Painted Birds Flying in the Orange Mirror Sun, was recorded in the confines of his LA home and sounds like a sunnier, more optimistic Elliot Smith. And that’s A-OK by me.
Take a listen to ‘Oh World‘:
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As much as I hate The Warfield, seeing Southern rock gods, Kings of Leon, play there Saturday night was well worth it. It was like seeing a southern version of U2 play in teeny tiny venue. The crowd was so into it, singing along with every song they played, pumping their fists in the air. Having sold out two nights at The Warfield, it seems like people are finally catching on to this good ‘ol American rock-n-roll band. They seem poised for superstardom, despite Pitchfork’s pitiful 3.8 rating of their new album, Only by the Night. They’re a bunch of snobs anyway.
I’m a sucker for their rock ballads, so my favorite song of the night was ‘Arizona‘.
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Listen to Ponytail, ‘Beg Waves‘:
I’m the first to admit I like a lot of weird music and enjoy the novelty of discovering an unchartered sound. But there’s a new crop of critically acclaimed experimental/punk bands emerging like Times New Viking, No Age and, the subject of this post, Ponytail that I don’t frankly get.
I took some friends to see Ponytail and High Places (mostly the latter) last week at Bottom of the Hill to check it out in person. And, I still don’t get it. Instrumentally, the band is tight. But lead singer Molly Siegel is just whacked on so many levels, which perhaps is part of the allure. After seeing her in person, I question whether she’s human. Or sane. Without question she operates on a different frequency. She moves like Thom Yorke in an epileptic trance and sounds like a cross between Bjork and Yoko Ono.
To say the experience was jarring is an understatement. My music buddies all hated it, yet somehow can’t stop talking about it. A photographer friend of mine, Rich Trager, took this shot of the wall in the mens bathroom. And it seemed fitting for this post because it begs the question: is it art or is it trash? Ultimately you decide, whether or not you agree with the critics. But Ponytail sure did stir something up in our group. Everyone felt that performance. And while no one may want to go back and visit that feeling again, it certainly won’t be forgotten. Not be me either. I’ll always be known as the one who drug my friends to that crazy show.
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the OCMD 