ADELE
There is something about Adele’s voice that makes me feel like she understands how I feel when I’m sad.
mp3: Make u feel my love (Remot REmix) [Adele]
THE DREAM
I love this ultra-dramatic, ultra-electronic song. I haven’t seen the MV for it, but I hope there’s a scene with The Dream standing at the edge of a cliff with his arms open wide because that’s how I’m envisioning the chorus playing out in video (I’m hoping that it’s not yet another MV of a booze saturated club scene with hoochies).
mp3: She needs my love [The Dream]
LYKKE LI
Youth Novels, by Young Adult Lykke Li
In the music world, where years are counted in something like dog years, Lykke Li’s 2008 debut seems ages ago. And yet, it still lingers in one of my top most played albums because she’s weird… yet so listenably weird. It’s weird and catchy. The aura of her music, to me, is like a less annoying Joanna Newsom (as much as I love “Peach Plum Pear,” I’ve really hit my limit with listening to her irritating screech).There is something in particular about this track on Lykke Li’s 2008 debut “Youth Novels.” My first listen of “Youth Novels” was that it was just an amalgam of fidgety noises and bangs, often creatively done on regular instruments like pianos and guitars. But this track, “My Love,” is a welcome break from Li’s Ritalin fueled repertoire. While the background melody stays repetitive throughout the song (as is common in her album), it still holds a song all by itself. In the end, though,”Youth Novels” overall is a vocalist’s album; it is always Lykke’s vocal addition that holds each song together.
mp3: My love [Lykke Li]
THE DARJEELING LIMITED
If you have not yet checked out this lovely movie by auteristic cinema genius Wes Anderson, you should. And if you don’t love Adrien Brody yet, you will.
mp3: Where do u go to (my lovely) [Peter Sarstedt]
JOURNEY
You know it’s the 80s by the pornstached man.
‘Send her my love’ by Journey
MILKE
Milke, a duo comprised of Andrew Friendly (music) and Ra (vocal, lyrics), is inspired by the third French wave of Kitsune artists, electro pop, Stuart Price and the DFA, mixed with the pop sensibilities of Eurythmics, The Cure, Talking Heads, Stevie Wonder and Prince. With a KLF approach to creativity (minus the sheep slaying), Milke sings about displacement, mental illness, love and love-lost, obsession and sex.
This catchy tune is definitely going on my ipod for running!
mp3: Love Get Out of My Way [Milke]
holy crap. it’s been a long time hasn’t it? Well as I have been meteoring/crying (or, as my friend B would say “cryafing” – it’s a complicated, body fluid wracked combination of tears and barf – whaaat…some people that sort of thing is hawt) through medical school, it seems the music industry has continued to pump out tons and tons of music. Some of it good, some of it bad of course. I haven’t had as much time to blog but oh blog, I have missed you so. Here are some sciencey tunes for your enjoyment for those you who (thank you) have wondered upon my little digital journal of music. Enjoy!
Iglu & Hartly
“Tom Petty meets The Pointer Sisters in a neon karaoke bar in Tokyo singing Tina Turner. The music is a sonic milkshake, a genre blending, culture-defying laser show. Synths, raps, explosive hooks, colorful bridges, sailboats, inspiration.”
mp3: Day Glo [Iglu & Hartly] - FUN SONG. The beginning makes me real thirsty though.
“We want people to listen to our record, be inspired, look inside themselves and work out how they can dominate the world in their own unique way,” says Jarvis. “We’re about smashing down barriers.”
The group met at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Jarvis Anderson, Sam Martin (vocals, keys), Simon Katz (guitar). These three began making music that, ultimately, made them. Unable to contain their energy, and unwilling to wait for their diplomas, the boys quit school and moved to the eclectic neighborhood of Echo Park, California (just east of Hollywood) where they began knocking on club doors and asking to play shows.
While enduring a circuit in the glitter and grime of seedy Hollywood night clubs, the band was simultaneously embraced in the South Bay of Los Angeles, a beach community with a strong punk rock heritage, home to legendary bands such as Black Flag, The Descendents, Circle Jerks and Pennywise. Leave your Malibu “sunshine daydream” at the door…
Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Luis Rosiles flew from Jarvis’ hometown of Chicago to join the band as their drummer, and LA local Michael Bucher joined as bassist.
Iglu & Hartly recently teamed with Universal Republic Records to bring its debut release, “And Then Boom” to the US masses, where it belongs. The May 5th release date marks the culmination of a band-centered, worldwide marketing effort, including touring and promo activities in every major market in the world. Eleven songs, recorded in the living room of the Echo Park house they have lived in since moving to Los Angeles. No filler.
Welcome to the world of Iglu & Hartly. A world of hope driven by heavy synth. A world soaked in beer and sweat, borne from heart and soul. Welcome to the movement of kids worldwide who have heard the word, who believe, who live like us. Uncompromising, undeniable, uncontrollable, unstoppable.
“When it comes to what we believe to be true in every way, it’s you.”
And then Boom.
U.S. Tour Dates:
Apr 11 2009 7:00P The Midland Kansas City, Missouri
Apr 18 2009 8:00P Blank Club San Jose, California
Apr 19 2009 8:00P Velvet Jones Santa Barbara, California
May 1 2009 8:00P Martini Ranch Scottsdale, Arizona
May 2 2009 8:00P University Of Arizona Tucson
May 5 2009 8:00P Roxy Los Angeles, California
May 9 2009 8:00P Detroit Bar Costa Mesa, California
May 23 2009 8:00P TBD Tampa, Florida
Sep 5 2009 12:00P Bumbershoot Seattle, Washington
Sep 6 2009 12:00P Bumbershoot Seattle, Washington
Sep 7 2009 12:00P Bumbershoot Seattle, Washington
Iglu & Hartly And then Boom
available online now, in stores May 5, 2009
Universal Repbublic Records
http://www.igluandhartly.com/
http://www.myspace.com/igluandhartly
[Text by Cornerstone Promotion] – Sorry, I am lazy heh
Art Brut
Remember the 1980s movie “Weird Science”? I used to love that movie. HOW the heck is there a science lab inside the closet? It’s like a nerdy-Narnia fantasy land.
Band of Skulls
“HO-tel, Taco Bell” hahaha love that line.
Band of Skulls is:
Matthew Hayward – drums
Russell Marsden – guitar & vocals
Emma Richardson -bass guitar & vocals
http://www.myspace.com/bandofskulls
Little Boots
I really love this song. The first time I heard it, I thought LB was singing, “don’t metal with her heart” which also kind of makes sense. Don’t turn her heart into metal, you know? Which meddling can do. Of course, I’m overanalyzing the song.
Little Boots is like the less-Long-Island-Guido version of Lady Gaga. Not sure whose music I like better. Lady Gaga also has a lot of fun, catchy dance tunes.
From Rollingstone: “Victoria Hesketh, a budding 24-year-old pop star from the U.K. who played in a variety of prog, punk and synth-rock bands before embracing her inner Kylie Minogue. A friend had nicknamed her Little Boots, and though it’s a dark reference to the film Caligula, “It’s not that I’m a sex-crazed mad Roman despot or anything like that,” Hesketh says. “I’m small and have small feet.”
mp3: Meddle (or…metal?) – DL worthy fo sho
Every once in a while I accumulate a large list of songs I REALLY want to blog about. Unfortunately, there just aren’t enough moods to integrate them all into one giant “mood.” Thus, I’ve decided to give myself a little leeway about once a month and go buck crazy. Call it PMS, call it impatience, call it… schizophrenia (call it Britney Spears). Here is a large list of some of my favorite stuff these days. Every one is a MUST DL so charge up those ipods and ENJOY!
JANELLE MONAE
Elvis and iRobot consummated and gave birth to Janelle Monae
My friend the Ticketmaster aka M told me about Janelle Monae after seeing her perform at Summer Stage this past Sunday in Central Park. Now I regret not dragging my ass over to NYC for the show because after listening to her tracks on her myspace, I realized that her stuff exemplifies my reasons for being a music lover. There is nothing I appreciate as much as an artist with a strong, gorgeous voice who experiments in new/different kinds of sound. She comes from a school similar to that of Lupe Fiasco (thoughtful lyrics and good beats) but it’s a little more fun and a little less serious (like Lupe’s “Intruder Alert” which is about a girl who loses trust in people because she gets raped. Good stuff, but not exactly party music). Check out some of her songs below and more importantly, check out her album “Metropolis Suite I: The Chase” coming August 12, 2008.
Published track list:
01 March Of The Wolfmasters
02 Violet Stars Happy Hunting!
03 Many Moons
04 Cybertronic Purgatory
05 Sincerely, Jane
Tour Dates:
August
6-9 Oslo, Norway at Oya Festival
11 Atlanta, GA at Variety Playhouse (with Gnarls Barkley).
15 San Diego, CA at House of Blues (Delta Room).
17 Los Angeles, CA at Live Show (with Raphael Saadiq).
19 Los Angeles, CA at Viper Room.
20 San Francisco, CA at Bimbos (with Raphael Saadiq).
22 Portland, OR at Doug Fir.
23 Seattle, WA at Nectar.
26 Arlington, VA at Iota.
27 New York, NY
September
6 Chicago, IL at Soul Music Festival.
A friend asked me: “What kind of music is this?”
And I said: “Hip-hop/punk.” I think that’s the best way to describe it.
mp3: Violet Stars Happy Hunting! [Janelle Monae] – MUST DL
She’s the cutest alien with the coolest hair at school.
mp3: Sincerely, Jane [Janelle Monae] – MUST DL
Janelle Monae doing “Violet Stars Happy Hunting” live at Criminal Records in Atlanta. Her voice has great texture.
Buy her album (arriving on Planet Earth on August 12) can be bought on her website store or you can buy the mp3s on Amazon here. Additionally, some other songs she has done with Outkast and such can be bought on Amazon here.
SHWAYZE (not Patrick)
An angle of Cisco Adler only Mischa Barton would want to see…
Shwayze aka Aaron Smith is an alternative hip-hop artist whose self-titled first album, Shwayze, is to be released on August 19, 2008. It’s not life changing music but it’s a cute summer song for those of you who are tired of listening to Katy Perry singing about kissing girls.
mp3: Buzzin’ [Shwayze ft. Cisco Adler] – So EZ Breezy
MV for Buzzin’
MV for Corona and Lime (is it just me or does it sound almost exactly like Buzzin’?)
PASSION PIT
Their EP Chunk of Change is out September 16th.
mp3: Better Things [Passion Pit]
JENNIFER HUDSON
I first posted about this song a while back since then I have been listening to it and I really have grown to really like it. It starts to get reaaal good at 2:39. I just love Jennifer Hudson’s voice when she gets all emotional and starts yelling. I just tear up whenever I think of her singing in the head-wrap in Dream Girls after Beyonce kicks her out of the band and takes her man. Lol. Beyonce (aka Diana Ross) can be such a bitch, damn.
mp3: Spotlight (ft. Rick Ross) [Jennifer Hudson] – Must DL
ODYSSEY
First formed as the Lopez Sisters (Carmen, Lillian, and Louise) in 1968, Carmen dropped out and Tony Reynolds (a Manilla native) joined to form ODYSSEY.
“You’re no tramp but you’re no lady.” Hahaha! What a backhanded… compliment. With lyrics like this, how can you not love this song? Also has a swinging beat.
mp3: Native New Yorker (12″ from 1977) [Odyssey]
They’re probably too old to have a myspace; try the Yellow Pages. Or maybe the Farmer’s Almanac. Or Face-Slab-of-Rock (what a lame joke. If you liked it, facebook me we can be friends).
THE TEENAGERS
Most of the buzz surrounding The Teenagers has died down through the summer (yeah, ok u used the c-bomb in a song) but I still like to listen to them from time to time because they make me laugh.
“Would we be dancing the same? If Michael Jackson hadn’t made music?”
“Does internet makes us smarter? Or does it just help us for porn?”
“What if….whatever.”
mp3: Wheel of Fortune [The Teenagers]
I love colors. I love them in saturation, I love them in desaturation. And with the advent of “hipster” culture, I like them in the neon. I used to be one of those kids in school who were obsessed with her colored pencils. I liked to line them up ROYGBIV in cascading hues.
The short stubby pencil of the pile? Usually it was black (because of all the outlining) and one of my favorites: yellow! It’s so bright and sunny, it added a little pop to all my elementary school scrawling.
1. The Faint
Album: Fasciinatiion
Label: blank.wav
Release: August 5, 2008
I have yet to hear the whole album but I anticipate a very fun album. Check out “Take Me To the Hospital”!
mp3: Take Me to the Hospital [The Faint]
mp3: The Geeks Were Right (Does It Offend You Yeah? Remix) [The Faint]
The Faint Tour Dates
August
1 Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
2 Seattle, WA – The Showbox
3 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
4 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
5 San Francisco, CA – The Grand Ballroom
6 Pomona, CA- The Glasshouse
7 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theatre
8 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theatre
9 San Diego, CA – SOMA
11 Austin, TX – La Zona Rosa
12 Dallas, TX – Palladium Ballroom
14 Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
15 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
16 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
17 Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero
18 New York City, NY – Terminal 5
20 Worcester, MA – The Palladium
21 Toronto, ONT – Opera House
22 Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre
23 Omaha, NE – Sokol Auditorium
2. John Henry & the Engine
mp3: Under the Yellow Moon [John Henry & The Engine]
3. Feral Children
Seattle based band Feral Children (no, it’s not a band that consists of Liam Neeson and Jodie Foster as interesting as that would be) are in the “experimental rock” genre, or as I like to call it “weird music.” While it’s a far cry from my usual aural fare, I love the belly deep drumming in the background of “Jaundice Giraffe.” I also like that they wrote a song about a giraffe.
mp3: Jaundice Giraffe [Feral Children]
You can buy their album “Second to the Last Frontier” here.
Read an interview of the Feral Children here.
4. Coldplay
I know I’ve posted this previously, but I have never-ending love for this song. Coldplay has a real talent for making songs that capture the feeling of bittersweet melancholy.
mp3: Yellow [Coldplay]
VIVA LA VIDA on Jimmy Kimmel Live (6-4-08) – Hands down my favorite song on the new album! Haven’t gotten sick of it yet.
5. Big Yellow Taxi
Joni Mitchell wrote “Big Yellow Taxi” back in the 1970 and since then many, many artists have covered this happy tune about tree killing/paradise destroying, including Amy Grant, Melanie (Melanie Safka), Counting Crows with and without Vanessa Carlton, Sandi Thom, Kaya, Pinhead Gunpowder, Paul Tillotson, Moya Brennan, Keb Mo, Chris Thomas King, Keren Ann, the acappella quintet Toxic Audio, and Bob Dylan.
First verse:
“They paved paradise and put up a parkin’ lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin’ hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you got till it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parkin’ lot.”
Mitchell told this to journalist Alan McDougall about the origins of the song:
“I wrote ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart… this blight on paradise. That’s when I sat down and wrote the song.”
More about the song on Wikipedia.
mp3: Big Yellow Taxi [Joni Mitchell]
mp3: Big Yellow Taxi [Amy Grant]
MV: Big Yellow Taxi [Counting Crows ft. Vanessa Carlton]
Priscilla Ahn
A while back I did a posting of Priscilla Ahn’s beautiful song “A Dream” on her album “A Good Day,” out now. I listened to this song extensively during my travels. It was the perfect listen for long bus rides through the lush terrain of pastoral Asia. Ahn’s sweet yet textured vocals are a good match to the acoustic guitar based tune. Following the gentle sound of “A Dream,” I was happy to receive a copy of the whole CD “A Good Day” and even happier to hear that there a couple of other gems on album (another of my faves posted below). Damien Rice fans, you will probably enjoy this album. You can buy it here.
mp3: Wallflower [Priscilla Ahn] - A MUST DL
mp3: I Don’t Think So [Priscilla Ahn]
Her tour dates:
July
30 Boston, MA – Cafe 939 at Berklee
31 Northampton, MA – Iron Horse Music Hall
August
1 Hoboken, NJ – Maxwell’s
2 Philadelphia, PA – Tin Angel
3 Vienna, VA – Jammin’ Java
5 Annapolis, MD – Rams Head On Stage
6 Boulder, CO – Triple A Summit
12 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant *
13 Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater *
15 Lyons, CO – Lyons Folks Festival
16 Denver, CO – Gothic Theater *
17 Aspen, CO – Belly Up, Aspen *
26 Seattle, WA – The Triple Door
27 Portland, OR – Lola’s
30 San Francisco, CA – The Independent
September
1 Napa, CA – Napa Valley Opera House !
4 Saratoga, CA – The Mountain Winery !
* = w/ Amos Lee
# = w/ Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, etc.
! = w/ Willie Nelson
[from pluginmusic]
Jakob Dylan
Jakob Dylan, son of Bob, and last most people heard, of The Wallflowers fame. Remember the song “One Headlight”? I was a big fan of this song in high school.
Well, singer Dylan recently released his first solo album “Seeing Things.” Now the usual question asked when a band member goes solo is, can he go solo? And in Dylan’s case, the answer is yes. But man, it is a melancholy piece of work. But if you’re gonna be sad, wouldn’t you rather listen to something well written than something bad? So, if you’re feeling like a nice cry because the Wallflowers aren’t together anymore [EDIT: I STAND CORRECTED BY A WELL INFORMED READER - THE WALLFLOWERS DID NOT BREAK UP. SORRY!], check out Dylan’s album. There is a lot of sorrow in this solid work. You can buy the album here.
mp3: Something Good This Way Comes [Jakob Dylan]
MV for “Something Good This Way Comes”
The Starlets
Glasglow based The Starlets apparently have been music for about 10 years. Apparently the mood for today should be “melancholy” instead of shy because this song is also sad-ish. But I guess there lies a connotation of despondency in introversion
mp3: Rocking in a Shy Way [The Starlets] - cutesy
mp3: All To Make You Feel Brand New [The Starlets]
They recently played the Indie Tracks festival. Check out their interview as well as a free mp3 download here.
Shy Child: Not so shy, but still.
To break the sorrow, listen to this more uppity electronica track from the New York band Shy Child. Shy Child is the progeny of Pete Cafarella (vocals and, my fave instrument/accessory, the keytar) and Nate Smith (drums) who have been making music together since 2000. They have toured extensively in the UK/Europe since 2007. They also played with Chairlift a couple weeks ago in their hometown.
mp3: Astronaut [Shy Child] – A MUST DL. I really like this rock/synthy track. It’s keytar, people!
MV to Astronaut
For those of you who went to McCarren Pool this past Sunday to see MGMT (see the visuals of a hipster-claustrophobic’s nightmare on brooklyn vegan) only to stand in the rain for an hour before heading home in dejection, hopefully, Shy Child will play a free show soon so we can feel better. I was one of them; so I’m really hoping.
You can buy their album here starting tomorrow.
Rosette
This is an old song I have in my itunes. I don’t remember where I got it from and there’s not much about the singer Rosette online except that she’s Canadian. It’s so sad. Just tell him, Rosette! Just tell him!!!
mp3: Crushed [Rosette]
