London buzz band, The Vaccines, are officially ‘On the Verge’ with demo that caused a sensation, a debut record now in the making and their first UK tour underway. It’s all happening so fast for them they don’t even have a MySpace page, or website. Described as the Mary Chain on happy pills, their first single ‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)/ Blow it Up’ will be available on November 29. But you can get it here now.
I don’t know about you, but I tend to judge people by the music they keep. It’s a sure indicator for me of whether or not we’re going to get along. It may be unfair, may be a little harsh but I can’t help myself. It’s an ongoing fascination I have with compelling and notable people too. It’s all I can do to NOT rip their iPods out of their hand to find out what they’re listening to. And then I realized…wait, I can do that legitimately! And thus the series, ‘Recently Played’ was born where I ask those that I respect and admire (either musically or otherwise) to send me the last 10-12 tracks they’ve recently played. It’s been enormously enjoyable for me. I hope it’s as much fun for you. And that you’ll get to discover some cool new tunes and people along the way. So, without further ado…
Meet Sean….
Founder // Drowned in Sound
Columnist // The Sunday Times Culture
Monthly Playlist Curator // http://blog.spotify.com
Twitter//@seaninsound
Yes…he’s all that and a bag of chips. But most importantly, Sean is the founder of Drowned in Sound (DiS), one of the UK’s first and most established music blogs. Celebrating 10 years of blogging this month, DiS has become an award-winning destination for more than half a million music fans a month. And if that’s not impressive enough, Sean writes a column for The Sunday Times, does a monthly selection of playlists for the Spotify blog, is the driving force behind DiS Records (Kaiser Chiefs, Metric, Bat for Lashes, Martha Wainwright, Emmy the Great, etc) and was recently named one of the London Times’ most-influential people under 30. You should definitely listen to what he has to play.
//Recently Played//
Fox Royal – “How It Always Ends”
A perfectly themed post, thanks to Austin, Texas-based Fox Royal who’ve just finished recording their EP, Us Against Us Again. The four piece met and formed in Lubbock, TX then relocate to the Music Capital of the World and have been performing shows around Austin ever since. They’ve got a couple coming up: Tuesday, 10/12, at Red 7, and 11/9, at The Mohawk.
*sigh* Austin. I miss you.
It’s 10:10 AM on 10/10/10. A perfect 10. These tri-numeral dates come around once a year and this year it falls on the number 10. Is it an auspicious day or a bunch of hullaballoo? There is a certain completeness of order with the number 10. For the Chinese the number is lucky, representing perfection or completion. We’re born with 10 fingers and 10 toes after all. Perfect beauty is measured on its scale. Top 10 lists are ubiquitous. And any respectable album contains at least 10 songs.
If you’re technologically-inclined, today is a “binary” day. The ones-and-zeros representing the binary code or the mathematical language “spoken” by computers to create all things digital. Converting the date 10/10/10 to binary code gives us 101010. And in the binary counting system, that number translates to 42, which means…absolutely nothing.
But hey, it’s a nice theme for a post isn’t it? And everyone loves a top 10 list. So, here’s mine. The 10 albums I’m obsessed with on this month, this day, this year. The albums I have on heavy rotation right now and keep coming back to again and again. Ten, in a long list, of albums you should most definitely own. Listed in no particular order, they are:
Artist: Royal Baths
Album: Litanies
Track: “Nikki Don’t”
Artist: Deerhunter
Album: Halcyon Digest
Track: “Desire Lines”
Artist: Sea of Bees
Album: Songs for the Raven
Track: “Marmalade”
Artist: Sonny & The Sunsets
Album: Tomorrow is Alright
Track: “Lovin’ on an Older Gal”
Artist: Lower Dens
Album: Twin Hand Movement
Track: “A Dog’s Dick”
Artist: Tame Impala
Album: Innerspeaker
Track: “Vital Signs”
Artist: Future Islands
Album: In the Evening Air
Track: “As I Fall”
Artist: Ty Segall
Album: Melted
Track: “Cesar”
Artist: Tamaryn
Album: The Waves
Track: “Mild Confusion”
Royal Baths – “Nikki Don’t”
Meet your new favorite San Francisco garage rock band: Royal Baths (formerly known as The Baths but forced to change their name so not to be confused with LA’s Baths). I’ve been silently stalking these guys for about a year. Unable to satisfy my craving for their music because they only released cassette tapes (a most annoying trend, btw), I was oh so thrilled when they signed to the tastemaker Woodsist label. The future looked bright with the promise of a debut LP on a format I could actually consume. And that day has finally arrived. “Litanies” is out and my need for a whole and complete Royal Baths fix has been satisfied. So satisfied. Lo-fi, dark, brooding goodness is what this is all about. With a heavy dose of eccentricity. Future SF garage rock royalty in the making.
K. Flay – “Coastin’ with Zion I”
You gotta wonder, being a white girl from San Francisco emerging on the hip hop scene, how often K.Flay has heard that phrase uttered. Well, with all due respect, she’s damn good for a white girl. Apparently so good she’s turning heads within the hip hop/rap elite. She’s already collaborated with Bay Area hip hop czars, Zion I, has a debut EP ready to drop October 12, and will be hitting the road on tour with Passion Pit and 3OH!3 this fall. Color me impressed. Go get ’em K.
My penchant for Brit rock never wanes. The Joy Formidable released this video for their new single “I Don’t Want to See You Like This” off their upcoming 7″ due to release October 11.
Fitting in so well with this Best Coast-y, 60’s lo-fi surf music era we’re in right now, Seapony has a limited 7″ release on the horizon that will satisfy that craving. The single ‘Dreaming’ is out on the 15th of November and available to pre-order now.
Sweet bejesus, I can’t wait to see these guys at The Independent December 13. Whoo hoo! One of my favorite albums of 2010, hands down. Here’s the new video for ‘Lucidity’.
The White White Lights – “Space Invaders”
Dana Falconberry – “Nightingale”
The monthly FutureSounds Rumble Tour that rolls through town every month has built a reputation of breaking hot new artists (think Band of Skulls). This October, The Rumble will trump all of that with a new venue location, Cafe du Nord, and a new concept – indie film!
As usual, the monthly Rumble tour is set to bring a stellar line up upcoming artists through San Francisco tonight Wednesday, October 6, featuring Austin, TX-based acts Sunset, The White White Lights, and Dana Falconberry. What’s new is that preceding the showcase you’ll get to see a sneak preview of the indie film, Echotone – a documentary film about the music culture of Austin, Texas that features the very bands in this month’s showcase line up. Documentary filmmaker, Nathan Christ, followed a range of indie rock bands over a two year period chronicling the indie subculture – from the bands to the venues and promoters to the city governments themselves. Wrap it all up and put a bow on it, I can’t think of a better night of audio/visual entertainment. Don’t miss it!
RSVP now for the free music portion of the event at SonicLiving.
RSVP here for discounted tickets to the Echotone film screening ($7 with RSVP/ $10 at door ) that starts at 7PM.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
the OCMD 