Yay! I’m in New York. So happy to be here and looking forward a fun weekend of music and friends. Another anticipated performance for me this weekend is experimental group Animal Collective. Their 2007 release, Strawberry Jam, was critically acclaimed. Here’s a new video for Water Curses off the same titled 12″ released this year.
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The countdown to the All Points West Festival begins! Dubbed as the Coachella of the East Coast (hardly, but I guess you have to start somewhere), I’m really excited to participate in this inaugural NY event this weekend- albeit just for one day. Of course the highlight will be Radiohead. But with Kings of Leon opening? Not too shabby, I say.
Kings of Leon have a new album, ‘Only by the Night,’ due out September 23. They’ve been sampling new tracks on their MySpace page that sound really good. They released Crawl for download recently. Today they premiered Sex On Fire. Not a bad anthem.
Follow this link to Sex On Fire
Artist: The Helio Sequence
Album: Keep Your Eyes Ahead
File Under: Dream Rock
Recommended if You Like: Early U2, Band of Horses
Featured Tracks: Lately
The Portland-based duo, The Helio Sequence, released their third album ‘Keep Your Eyes Ahead’ in January of this year; but it’s one of those records I just keep coming back to again and again. While this post may be long overdue, the relevance of this recommendation is right on. It’s a great summer album. Perhaps it’s because there are moments on the record that sound so early U2/Joshua Tree I can’t help but feel nostalgic.
To see them live gives you an even greater appreciation of their range and talent. Drummer Benjamin Weikel is mesmerizing to watch on stage with his visceral drumming technique, as if he’s in some altered state of ecstasy. Combined with Brandon Summers refined vocals and radiant layers of reverb guitar, the duo produces a lot of good sound. It’s certainly high on my list for Best of 2008; maybe even claiming title to ‘Sleeper Album of the Year’. So go get it already. Hurry, before the summer’s up.
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Be Your Own Pet announced Friday that they’re calling it quits as a band, citing nothing more than it’s time to move their separate ways. This just months after the release of ‘Get Damaged’. Awww, now I’m really sad I missed them open for The Raveonettes earlier this year.
Here’s a video for ‘The Kelly Affair.’
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Goodbye grey skies, hello sunshine! I hate July in San Francisco. But it is now officially over and so are the notorious chilly, foggy days. I woke up this morning to blue bird skies and blazing sunshine. Then I found this new track from Koushik on RCDLBL, ‘Lying in the Sun’, from his latest release – Out My Window. The perfect soundtrack for my day in every way – even the album cover.
Download the track for free from RCDLBL.
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Waxing philosophical about the soundtrack of my life yesterday reminded me of one of my all time favorite – and little known – Swedish rock bands, The Soundtrack of Our Lives (a.k.a. TSOOL). I had the good fortune of seeing them for the first time this year at SXSW and nearly fainted when the lead singer jumped off the stage and sang ‘21st Century Ripoff‘ right in front of me. I at least had my wits about me to take this photo.
Turns out TSOOL has a new single, Utopia, streaming on their MySpace page. Unfortunately, they don’t have a widespread US following, so I’m resigned to adore them from afar. I just love the Swedes and their fantastic music sensibilities.
For those of you unacquainted with TSOOL, here’s a video for one of their more popular tracks, Sister Surround.
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I often fantasize that if my life were a movie it would have the best soundtrack ever. I guess I’m a bit Mary Katherine Gallagher in the sense that I think my feelings would often be best expressed by some melodramatic song. And if my life came with a built in scary movie soundtrack? Oh, the trouble I could have avoided. Like my little boy’s projectile vomit that hit me this morning. Gross.
Nothing makes you feel more helpless than trying to comfort a 3 year old through waves of nausea while screaming hysterically, “THERE’S HOT SAUCE IN MY MOUTH, MAMMA! MAKE IT GO AWAY!” And you can’t; all you can give them is words. “Don’t worry, sweetie, don’t you worry…it’ll be okay.”
After the worst had passed, I try to find something to comfort him…..”Juice? No. Crackers? No. TV? Yes. Anything else? A lollipop. Okay, a lollipop then.” And as I handed him the lollipop, this is the song I heard playing in my head…
Artist: The Ruby Suns
Album: Sea Lion
File Under: Psychedelic Indie Pop
Recommended if You Like: Panda Bear, The Magnetic Fields, Cocteau Twins
Featured Tracks: These Are Birds, Kenya Dig It?
Listening to The Ruby Suns on the sunny beaches of Santa Cruz this weekend, feeling all bleary eyed and relaxed, reminded me how much I love this album. The band’s founding member, Ryan McPhun, is a California native whose love for travel took him to far flung destinations like Africa and Thailand before settling in Auckland, New Zealand.
Knowing that trajectory helps to make sense of the band’s sound, which is like a combination of sunny California psych pop and world music. Some of the songs on the album are actually sung completely in Maori. Co-vocalist Amee Robinson adds an etherial, dreamy quality to tracks like ‘These Are Birds,’ and at times her voice gives me flashbacks to the Cocteau Twins. It a beautiful and atmospheric album, perfect for a sleepy Sunday morning at the beach.
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I realized after obsessing this week over Beck’s new album, ‘Modern Guilt‘, that I was listening to yet another Danger Mouse production. What is this guy up to and what else is he working on? A lot, so it seems.
Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) is famously known for remixing Jay Z‘s ‘Black Album‘ over samples from The Beatles ‘White Album’ to create, ‘The Grey Album.’ From there he collaborated with Cee-Lo (as half of Gnarls Barkley) to release the hugely popular ‘St. Elsewhere’. He’s also produced the debut album from The Good, The Bad and The Queen, and the latest releases of Sparklehorse, The Rapture and Gorillaz.
This year he’s in top form with producer title for the following releases:
Martina Topley-Bird (from Tricky), ‘The Blue God’; Featured Track: Phoenix
The Black Keys, ‘Attack and Release’; Featured Track: Same Old Thing
The Shortwave Set, ‘Replica Sun Machine‘; Featured Track: Harmonia
Beck, ‘Modern Guilt’; Featured Track: Modern Guilt
With his influences firmly rooted in electronica/trip-hop, I’ll definitely be tracking his next move.
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Who would guess a group of guys that look like and sound like this are from Jersey City? After stumbling upon the track Paisley Pattern Ground during my SXSW band research, I quickly added them to my collection. I’m a sucker for that retro, neo-psychedelic sound. Paisley Pattern Ground is a gem of a track from their 2008 release, Casting Shadows – and arguably the best song on the album.
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the OCMD 
