today sucked hardcore. so i came home and did what i do best: moped. of course, in the midst of all this self-imposed solitude, i played good music at high volume through my 15's. I created an album playlist that will shake the foundations of your world, i'll swear to any god you want that it will. So without further tooting of my personal horn and my music taste;
1. It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright - mewithoutYou
2. Sung Tongs - Animal Collective
3. They Threw Us All In a Trench And Built A Monument On Top - Liars
4. I'm Wide Awake It's Morning - Bright Eyes
5. Pocket Symphonies for Lonesome Subway Cars - Casiotone For the Painfully Alone
6. Apple O' - Deerhoof
7. Saturdays=Youth - M83
8. Elevator - Hot Hot Heat
Now let me explain why this is the best album list ever. if you have time to listen to them in order (about 5.5 hours worth of listening) then you will find that the albums will take you over the proverbial roller coaster of those things called "feelings" that not many of us have actually experienced.
So: a tour? That can be arranged.
mewithoutYou starts us off subdued and softly depressing, though muted happiness and optimism shine through the cracks in this album, and the slow ending that is "Allah Allah Allah" blends perfectly into the opening of Sung Tongs.
Sung Tongs begins slowly, building up to that yelping, frenzied cacophony of noise that marks any good AC album, but it's energy contrasts nicely with the slow simmer of Liars' best effort: Trench.
Trench is almost a monotone, bringing down any "feelings" Sung Tongs fired in your chest, but still ends us strong and transitions beautifully into the spoken intro of I'm Wide Awake.
I'm Wide Awake is Bright Eyes, re-imagined. Its ingenious opening almost matches the style of Liars, however it also begins the downward emotional spiral that is this album. It always leaves me feeling despondent but warm, as though I'd swallowed a painless, slow poison at 84 after a long and riotous life. Casiotone's atmosphere is only marginally better, but the way the two albums merge is so beautiful it makes me cry.
Pocket Symphonies boils us down to the lowest point of the whole list; that deepest blackest point where we see ourselves plainly and realize that whatever we feel doesn't matter anymore, life is beautiful yet heartbreakingly sad. Imagine the last four chapters of "The Amber Spyglass" set to melody and drenched in tears of sadness mingling with those of joy.
Apple O' is just pure Deerhoof at the top of their game, and the jarring change between Casiotone and Deerhoof is such a shock that the aftereffects of Pocket Symohonies almost become a laugh, and the post-ironic beauty of Apple O' solidifies into a foundation upon which the staircase out of this well that Casiotone dropped us in can be built on.
Saturdays=Youth, if we were to continue with our staircase analogy, is like the slow walk up into the light, spiraling around thousands and thousands of times, going up with every step but only slowly progressing. By the time the album ends and Elevator opens, any last shreds of sadness have been transformed into soft warm blankets with which we should wrap our memories in.
Elevator is indescribable. Give it a listen...Hot Hot Heat is The Strokes pumped full of daisies and butterflies meets Wayne Coyn snorting compressed happiness in the form of rock cocaine, with just a little bit of jazz organ, Flipron-style, added in, seasoned to taste and mixed well.
My english teacher is always frustrated that i can't close anything very well...but i figure if i leave it open, more people will come back for more. (self-imposed delusion is the best for of delusion or so i've heard.) so without closing in any way....
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
"Eeeeeeery day" means...when i feel like it.
No band should be allowed to be so consistently perfect.
Do Make Say Think's newest album dropped just a little while ago, and i know i gave it a plug in one of my major postings, but since Other Truths is all i've been listening too while i was sick/driving/eating/sleeping/learning/living i figured it needed another review.
Oh, and because this album really was just released, i expect lots of drooling reviews (people tend to yell about how much they love/hate something more on the intraweeebs) so i know i'm not alone in my drooliness: but bear with me.
Numero Uno, the track listing on this album is siiiiiiiiiiiiick. I've always wanted to release an album where the titles of the songs sync up somehow, be it haiku or poetry or a little story, but the elegance of Other Truths's 4 tracks blew my mind:
1. Do
2. Make
3. Say
4. Think
Being a mostly instrumental band, when i picked up Other Truths i expected to be disappointed, i admit it. Mogwai's Mr Beast left me so bitter about good bands ever releasing more good music that i truly didn't even bother listening to Other Truths the day i picked it up.
Everything changed though, when i plugged the first track through my 15s. Life suddenly had more meaning! I had hope, somehow, for the first time in a long time; Grizzly Bear wouldn't be played on the radio, The Fields would release an album i liked, Slint would stop talking at the beginning of their songs, the "indie-chick fuzz voice" would nevermore be perfected by lonelies on youtube, and the bro/alt generation would quit listening to Gossip's Music For Men. This album kicked serious skinny indie ass. The superb chill-ness of this album was reminiscent of the first couple of DMST albums, but the addiction of vocals without words did the impossible: made the band Do Make Say Think more awesome then they already were.
Oh, and btw, don't jus torrent/itunes the album, you need to go find the actual physical album and buy that...the album artwork, the inside, the tracklist on the back....somehow the album whispers "i'm a product of the chillwave revolution" and it looks tiiiiiight sitting on your shelf.
‘The world would be a better place if every1 appreciated indie music because it truly is the best music on the planet. It is a healthy form of expression, celebrating ideas and themes the right way. Indie music will save the world.’
- Carles, 2009
Do Make Say Think's newest album dropped just a little while ago, and i know i gave it a plug in one of my major postings, but since Other Truths is all i've been listening too while i was sick/driving/eating/sleeping/learning/living i figured it needed another review.
Oh, and because this album really was just released, i expect lots of drooling reviews (people tend to yell about how much they love/hate something more on the intraweeebs) so i know i'm not alone in my drooliness: but bear with me.
Numero Uno, the track listing on this album is siiiiiiiiiiiiick. I've always wanted to release an album where the titles of the songs sync up somehow, be it haiku or poetry or a little story, but the elegance of Other Truths's 4 tracks blew my mind:
1. Do
2. Make
3. Say
4. Think
Being a mostly instrumental band, when i picked up Other Truths i expected to be disappointed, i admit it. Mogwai's Mr Beast left me so bitter about good bands ever releasing more good music that i truly didn't even bother listening to Other Truths the day i picked it up.
Everything changed though, when i plugged the first track through my 15s. Life suddenly had more meaning! I had hope, somehow, for the first time in a long time; Grizzly Bear wouldn't be played on the radio, The Fields would release an album i liked, Slint would stop talking at the beginning of their songs, the "indie-chick fuzz voice" would nevermore be perfected by lonelies on youtube, and the bro/alt generation would quit listening to Gossip's Music For Men. This album kicked serious skinny indie ass. The superb chill-ness of this album was reminiscent of the first couple of DMST albums, but the addiction of vocals without words did the impossible: made the band Do Make Say Think more awesome then they already were.
Oh, and btw, don't jus torrent/itunes the album, you need to go find the actual physical album and buy that...the album artwork, the inside, the tracklist on the back....somehow the album whispers "i'm a product of the chillwave revolution" and it looks tiiiiiight sitting on your shelf.
‘The world would be a better place if every1 appreciated indie music because it truly is the best music on the planet. It is a healthy form of expression, celebrating ideas and themes the right way. Indie music will save the world.’
- Carles, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The more we mash together, the happier we'll all be.
Alright...so i was sick as a dog today: dizzy and shaking, so i fell asleep to some Divide & Kreate...actually all the Divide & Kreate i had. In my semi-delirious state, i believed that i had to listen to the whole set list before it was safe to fall asleep...which is really weird thinking about now. Never underestimate the powers of delusion of a sleep-deprived mind.
For those of you who don't know who Divide & Kreate is, he's a genius single artist who takes two songs and mixes them together so well that you couldn't tell they weren't recorded that way anyway. I think my favorite mix/mash is Lady Gaga's Just Dance vs. Eurythmics Sweet Dreams. Yeah, you wouldn't think that they're either very good or that together they would work (especially in the breakdown in the middle of the song, there is some serious mixing that he must do to make all this shit sync up) but the songs together are so rad compared to when than they are apart.
Oh and Umbrella (that Rihanna song that everyone sang even tho they hated it b/c it had that sweet ella ella ella piece. yep, that one.) gets an electrorock treatment, not mashed with something else but just remixed...and its actually tiiiiiight. So if you're looking to dance, D&K takes that mainstream shit that you would normally have to play, and instead gives it that sweeeeet hipster twist, allowing an audiophile with morals such as myself to let go and Just Dance.
So after all that rambling (i still must be a little spacey) the mix page i got all my D&K off of his own website:
http://www.divideandkreate.com/20.htm
Left-click/Download link has to be THE best drop down menu option ever in the history of drop down menus.
(oh and sorry about the terrible Lady Gaga pun.)
For those of you who don't know who Divide & Kreate is, he's a genius single artist who takes two songs and mixes them together so well that you couldn't tell they weren't recorded that way anyway. I think my favorite mix/mash is Lady Gaga's Just Dance vs. Eurythmics Sweet Dreams. Yeah, you wouldn't think that they're either very good or that together they would work (especially in the breakdown in the middle of the song, there is some serious mixing that he must do to make all this shit sync up) but the songs together are so rad compared to when than they are apart.
Oh and Umbrella (that Rihanna song that everyone sang even tho they hated it b/c it had that sweet ella ella ella piece. yep, that one.) gets an electrorock treatment, not mashed with something else but just remixed...and its actually tiiiiiight. So if you're looking to dance, D&K takes that mainstream shit that you would normally have to play, and instead gives it that sweeeeet hipster twist, allowing an audiophile with morals such as myself to let go and Just Dance.
So after all that rambling (i still must be a little spacey) the mix page i got all my D&K off of his own website:
http://www.divideandkreate.com/20.htm
Left-click/Download link has to be THE best drop down menu option ever in the history of drop down menus.
(oh and sorry about the terrible Lady Gaga pun.)
Monday, October 5, 2009
What? a post? Hell they're getting almost regular now....
So i think i might try and do these like once a day now...i will just put up whatever i feel is my favorite band of the day...they won't always be new...but they will be the one i'm obsessed with at the mo, so that means they must be good :).
Today, I have been listening non-stop to MeWithoutYou...it really is my favorite band of all time. I'm going to see them June 29th in Denver, CO. It's gonna be the best show of my life. The band really covers a lot of genres, and so saying that i've been listening to them today is a little too vague. I can't stop listening to [A-->B] Life, beginning to end, over and over and over and over. Playcount on iTunes right now is at 16...the albums been playing all day.
To get even more specific, my favorite song of the entire album right now is Gentlemen. Fav line's "I wander and i wander/your absence beating inside my chest/i try but i can't remember/the color of your eyes/just the shape of your dress." that's goddam lyrical genius, but 1:53 to 2:05 is the climax of the ENTIRE fucking album, and Weiss' voice embodies just about every emotion i've experienced today. "And you'd better be alone." goddamn son.. Oh and the guitars and the drums and the bass line and the rawness of his voice....i'm just blown away. So give it a listen...but make sure you have a whole day...and a hardcore set of 'phones.
Peach, says the hippie with braces.
Today, I have been listening non-stop to MeWithoutYou...it really is my favorite band of all time. I'm going to see them June 29th in Denver, CO. It's gonna be the best show of my life. The band really covers a lot of genres, and so saying that i've been listening to them today is a little too vague. I can't stop listening to [A-->B] Life, beginning to end, over and over and over and over. Playcount on iTunes right now is at 16...the albums been playing all day.
To get even more specific, my favorite song of the entire album right now is Gentlemen. Fav line's "I wander and i wander/your absence beating inside my chest/i try but i can't remember/the color of your eyes/just the shape of your dress." that's goddam lyrical genius, but 1:53 to 2:05 is the climax of the ENTIRE fucking album, and Weiss' voice embodies just about every emotion i've experienced today. "And you'd better be alone." goddamn son.. Oh and the guitars and the drums and the bass line and the rawness of his voice....i'm just blown away. So give it a listen...but make sure you have a whole day...and a hardcore set of 'phones.
Peach, says the hippie with braces.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Scoff all you want, you elitist music snobs...i'm doing Malkmus' work here and you know it.
Hey everyone. It’s been a while, but I’ve been doing nothing but schoolwork and reading Hipster Runoff to maintain my cultural relevance. I’ve got two new album recomms for you all though; Memory Tapes’ Seek Magic and Do Make Say Think’s The Other Truths. Both are tiiiiight I tell you.
So. Seek Magic is basically a bouncier, less chill Junior Boys album, but the beats and the siiiick synth rhythms are still there. Its gonna be hard to get your palms on a copy of the album right now, (it took me some serious searching) since it hasn’t dropped, but the myspace has some older tracks that are a little more chill, but still will give you a good idea of Memory Tapes’ atmosphere. I def recomm buying the album when it comes out…and if you preorder now you get some limited blue vinyl when it finally drops…well worth the $$$.
Myspace/memorytapes
On to the main event: DMST-The Other Truths is THE best post-ironic rock I have heard all year. Seriously, the lyrical/musical genius present in this album blows my mind. If these guys had been around when the Beatles where, we would have had a Canadian Invasion instead of a British one. If there is one band I have to see live before I die, it would be a split between these guys and….uh well…these guys. Just buy the album when it comes out, alright? And take the weekend off from work…its that good.
Myspace/domakesay
So. Seek Magic is basically a bouncier, less chill Junior Boys album, but the beats and the siiiick synth rhythms are still there. Its gonna be hard to get your palms on a copy of the album right now, (it took me some serious searching) since it hasn’t dropped, but the myspace has some older tracks that are a little more chill, but still will give you a good idea of Memory Tapes’ atmosphere. I def recomm buying the album when it comes out…and if you preorder now you get some limited blue vinyl when it finally drops…well worth the $$$.
Myspace/memorytapes
On to the main event: DMST-The Other Truths is THE best post-ironic rock I have heard all year. Seriously, the lyrical/musical genius present in this album blows my mind. If these guys had been around when the Beatles where, we would have had a Canadian Invasion instead of a British one. If there is one band I have to see live before I die, it would be a split between these guys and….uh well…these guys. Just buy the album when it comes out, alright? And take the weekend off from work…its that good.
Myspace/domakesay
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