lyrical lifeline

happy friday: i think you are great

2011-08-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday. Love for everyone.

I Think U Are Great - Yellow Ostrich by jokerwoman

infogram/fyf fest

2011-08-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to make sure you all are aware that F*ck Yeah Fest Fest is coming up soon! Labor Day weekend! I've provided the site link HERE so you can buy tickets online, and they even list local record stores so that you can buy your tickets there instead and skip the (middle)-man. Get your tickets! Go to the show! If you haven't been, it's really fantastically fab. It's in downtown LA, it's $40, it's got an AMAZING lineup of bands including Death From Above 1979, Explosions in the Sky, Simian Mobile Disco, Girls, No Age, Cults... Just look at the pretty picture above and read the pretty words.

lollapalooza withdrawals mix/ for you!!

2011-08-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

I've been on a non-stop lolla artist binge since I got back. Can't believe it's been over a week already. In celebration of my week-long remembrance, I've put together a playlist on 8tracks.

8tracks, if you aren't hip to it's heat already, is a site that lets members make digital mixtapes to share with whomever, AND it just got listed in TIME Magazine as one of the 50 best websites of 2011 (Read up on the rest of them here TIMELinketyLink). So check it out and make your own mix- it's just like the old days of emotionally-drenched-i-secretly-love-you mixtapes, but without the cassettes, glitter, lisa frank stickers, sharpies... in a word, streamlined.

So here's my mix, I made it for you, I made it for me. xo

music find/ oh my rockness

2011-08-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

I, while a blogger myself, understand the limits of blogs. I understand that truly, if I am only telling you oh-so-self-importantly that I love this or that band, I'm not really doing a service to anyone. What I mean is, if you listen to a track on my blog and decide that you like it, what options am I giving you to be an active participant in the listener/artist relationship? I would like to think that if anything, I would be able to give you a way to go experience your new-found interest at a live show.

Enter my newest discovery and obsession: Oh/My/Rockness. It's a website dedicated to listing each and every indie rock show in the city, at every venue- big and small and microscopic and barely existing. How else are you supposed to know where your favorite un-signed band who totally doesn't have a website yet is playing? This website is AMAZING, and although the link I posted sends you to the LA version of the site, there are other city sites as well.

In one day of perusing, I already found out that crunchy, distorted, tin-can recorded, Asian-Elvis, Dirty Beaches is playing next week in my area for free. And I'm going. So thank you, Oh My Rockness- my day planner now looks like a year round music festival.

The video below is a perfect representation of Dirty Beaches, just move it up to the 30 second mark.

work in progress.

2011-08-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

I was recently reinvigorated, but I haven't quite been able to bottle up all of the creative sparks of energy that are floating around my head all firefly-fashion. A three day trip to Chicago was apparently all I needed to turn the volume back on in my life. My ears are open, and since I've been consistently going to more shows than ever, I've got a lot to say about my newfound appreciation for the independently-run, sweat-splattered, claustrophobia-inducing dive venues we've got in this sprawling city of ours. Just got to sit down and focus. think. write. share. create. You know, all the good stuff.

While I'm working on that, you work on enjoying this track by Bleached, a band I recently got to see at the Smell in downtown LA. Local band, old school, low-fi, garage rock.

Bleached, "Think of You" by The FADER

tom vek: where have you been?

2011-04-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

I recently came across this handsome gentleman and his equally handsome sound. Apparently he released a pretty dope album back in 2005 and then dropped off the audio map until now. I know a thing or two about dropping off the map though, so no hard feelings, Tom. I guess I lucked out on discovering him mid the second-coming. Please to be enjoying some electro rock goodness.

Music Video- Tom Vek: A Chore

freebie- couldn't wait to share

2011-03-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

We Are Enfant Terrible, the French trio that adorably and with gramatically-incorrect-enthusiasm defines their music as "an electro dance sound with indie rock and synthpop sounds and a touch of 8bit music", has a free download of their single "Filthy Love" on their site. Click here to get there. Be warned: their site is just as jumbled, energetic, and colorful as their music. Also, if you're going to SXSW this year, you'll have a chance to see them live.

We Are Enfant Terrible - Filthy Love from bif on Vimeo.

ferocious few

2011-03-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

I'm a fan of buskers, being that I know a few and have seen how much it means to them to even have a few onlookers toss a dollar their way. These buskers are a new discovery to me and soon to be discovered by many more people than the passers-by in their native city of San Francisco (especially since their appearance last year at SXSW). The Ferocious Few, a two man band a la The White Stripes or The Black Keys, have gained a following for their unique style of garage rock- subbing out the usual blues influence for a country/folk twang. The result is something like folk-punk. I'm not so good at naming genres...maybe because there are way too many already, so just listen and think happy thrash-punk-folk-rock thoughts.

Here's their music video for Loc'd Out, which chronicles a night of geurilla projections across the city set to their music. Rad.

these are two of my favorite things

2011-02-03T09:12:00.000-08:00

I knew that Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead) was working on a solo project, but what I didn't know was that his solo endeavor makes up the score to a film adaptation of Norwegian Wood, a novel by one of my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami. Oh joy of joys! This is a combination of wonderful that I haven't seen the likes of since Oreo decided to dip their cookies in mint chocolate. The soundtrack is set to be released in March, and you can check out the tracklist on Pitchfork until then, although it really is more of a tease than anything else. I really can't emphasize enough how great this collaboration is. Murakami is such an amazing story teller- his words are poetic and dark, twisted and invasive; and his novels are an experience. His words paired with the music of one of the greatest composers/ rock gods out there (and performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Emperor Quartet) is sure to result in an explosion of aesthetics. You can watch the trailer below, and get excited for whenever the movie hits (most likely selected) theaters in the U.S.

dance music friday

2011-01-28T10:32:00.000-08:00

I accidentally downloaded Robyn's new album... well, bought it...on accident. I don't know how it ended up on my iPod. I swear. But now that it's here, I might as well listen. I'm super down with her, even if the only thing keeping her hanging by a thread of credibility was being featured on Royksopp's album Junior and a FIFA soundtrack (which is always amazing). The sun just came out again in Los Angeles, and it's time for some dance music. Here's the video to "Indestructible", voted one of the top videos of the week on Stereogum when the video was released back in October.

To hear more of this almost-not-guilty-pleasure-at-all dance music and a new (free) track from MNDR, another female working hard to give us some tunes and look awesomely weird doing it, head to Green Label Sound.

new year. new calendar.

2011-01-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

I finally had to retire my calendar of 1.33 years- a 2010 calendar bought in September of 2009, scribbled on to double the dates and used way beyond its $15.00 worth. Then I found this date-keeper on Old Hollywood's website:

A totally stripped down calendar focusing more than half of each month's page on musicians and their lyrics, rather than dates. Nice work. Too bad it's sold out. Too good I made my own...

Old Hollywood's got some really cool stuff to be had though, check out their website here: oldhollywoodmoxie.com

music activity: click, print, draw, and send to matt and kim

2010-10-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

Matt and Kim want us all to make them look awesome in 2-D. Click on the link below to get a pdf version of a postcard that they recently passed out at a show for people to doodle on. If you send the personalized post cards back to the duo, they might put it up on their website!

Matt and Kim Postcard

beautiful mind, voice, documentary: william fitzsimmons

2010-10-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

Check out this documentary on William Fitzsimmons, it's absolutely endearing and poignant. Plus his own music provides the score, so that's quite a plus.

William Fitzsimmons - Finding Home
Uploaded by DowntownMusic. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

freebies: i love them freebies

2010-09-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

Two bands, two songs.

Last week I had the pleasure of stumbling upon the energetically adorable Matt & Kim's new single "Cameras" from their upcoming album Sidewalks. It's a great indie dance song, has a head bobbing, synthy, hip-hop beat, and a singalong chorus just like their last breakout single "Daylight". Round that all off with carpe diem-esque lyrics and you've got a sticky sweet indie lollipop to last you through the remaining weeks of summer. Download the single from iTunes- unfortunately it's not free anymore, but it's definitely worth more than free.

Today, I came across Belle & Sebastian's new single "Write About Love" FOR FREE off their upcoming album of the same name. It's pretty swingin', and vaguely reminiscent of some Mamas & Papas' song from that decade that was cooler than every other decade. Download FREE here : Rock On The Streets

Matt from M+K: "But yeah, we still play basements, living rooms, and kitchens."

...good to know. I've got two out of three of those...my chances for hosting a concert are lookin' up.

on repeat: bang bang bang

2010-08-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

I think that the good people at Apple should devise some sort of application to make a song unplayable after a certain number of plays. I say this because I am, sadly, one of the many people stricken with listen-to-my-favorite-song-until-I-hate-it-itis. Right now, that song is Mark Ronson & The Business Intl.'s "Bang Bang Bang". Mark Ronson's new aforementioned "band" features collaborations by musicians from multiple genres, a fact which lends itself nicely to the title of the upcoming album, Record Collection. On his site, Ronson expands on this idea, stating, "Record Collection suddenly made so much sense as a title. All these disparate performances and people hang together by a thread, and that thread is that I own records by all of them. And the only reason it all works is that I'm such a passionate fan of all those artists." Below is the video for the perfect summer dance anthem, "Bang Bang Bang", featuring artists MNDR and Q-Tip. Listen to it, love it, but don't love it too much- it's gotta last until the rest of the album drops in September, which you can pre-order on his website here: Mark Ronson & The Business Intl.

music thought: memory and sound

2010-08-19T14:53:00.000-07:00

This is an unconventional posting for me, but I feel that it deserves its place here. I was thinking today about music in relation to memory. How I got to this train of thought is a little convoluted, but then my thoughts often do tend to bounce around at random.

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine about music in film, and I got to thinking about how music plays an extremely important role in setting the tone for particular scenes in a film. Essentially, my music-centric mind turned what was at first a discussion of film, into a theory on music. At a certain point, I got to thinking about the types of music that are appropriate for certain moments in film, and focused on one moment in particular- the moment when someone realizes the death of a loved one.

In this moment, music acts as a soundtrack for the realization of death. It is the backdrop, the mood setter for a scene, in life as well as in film, when a person comes face to face with a reality that is shared by all but strongly rejected and ignored in preparation of the mind by most. I would argue that music, or more generally sound, is one of the strongest triggers for memory. Upon hearing a given song or a certain sound, we are emotionally and mentally transported to a different place- often a specific location in our memories that we attach to the sound.

For instance, when I hear the album Bedtime Stories by Madonna, I immediately imagine myself jumping on a trampoline in my family’s den when I was in second grade: I remember that the trampoline was my mom’s- an exercise fad at the time. I remember singing lyrics, out of breath from jumping, that were well beyond the mental grasp of a 7 year old. I remember the smell of the carpet. I remember the dim lighting. It works the other way around, too. When I think of driving down 880 for my sister’s graduation from UCLA, I immediately think of Imogen Heap’s I Megaphone since that was what I listened to the whole way down- an indication of my often forced and belligerent teenage melancholy.

Here’s where it gets tricky with film, and with depicting a scene in which someone is informed of the death of someone they truly care for. I tried to think about the sounds I remember from the moment when I heard that my brother had died. I can think of nothing. I can’t even see faces in my mind, nor can I recall exactly where we were or anything that I would usually remember about any number of pivotal moments in my life. The last thing I remember clearly from that moment was my mom picking up her cell phone, then slumping over in the passenger seat in front of me and crying.

After that there was no sound, which is striking for many reasons. First, and perhaps most importantly, my mother was crying- wailing even. Also, we were on a freeway- there were cars rushing all around us and I’m sure my dad had to screech on his brakes to get to the nearest exit…although I can’t recall. We parked at a Chevron, where I can assume, but can’t remember, there were constant waves of people pulling in and out of the station over the course of however long we were there- which I also cannot remember. We sat on a concrete bench next to the station, and my dad explained to me and to my younger brother, what had happened. I don’t remember what he said. I don’t remember what I said, or if I said anything. I can’t hear anything attached to this moment- which for me is supremely unnerving. What characterizes this memory for me is the absence of sound, although there was most certainly an abundance of sound at the time of the actual event. The fact that there was all of a sudden no sound at all, is what is so unnatural about the realization of death.

This is why I was stumped when trying to think of music for this moment in a film- because if anything, my gut feeling is that there would be no music at all. No booming crescendo, no grating chords, no distorted guitar, no shrill violin, no sound. Because nothing exists in that moment- there is no sound, no place, no time, nobody, not even you, because you are experiencing a true affirmation of the finite. It is one of the rare moments experienced by human kind that becomes the anti-moment; a moment of existence in which existence ceases to be.

-Just a thought, that hopefully provokes some thought in return...

ARCADE FIRE TICKETS deserve capital letters

2010-08-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

I just bought tickets to Arcade Fire's show on October 7th at the Shrine Auditorium.

SPEECHLESS. and now poor.

Just checked one of the boxes off on my things-to-do-before-i-die list.

What a fantastic day...

alarm clock: a/b machines

2010-08-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I forget that people are asleep at 8am. If you are one of the lucky people who gets to sleep in and hit snooze til your hands turn black and blue, I feel no remorse for potentially involving you in my morning routine. Lately, I have been on a Sleigh Bells kick, and I am currently completely obsessed with BLASTING the track A/B Machines. It. Wakes. Me. Up.

Sleigh Bells' album Treats is, in general, highly caffeinated and pleasingly grating. Its signature aesthetic of decided upon distortion (that some mistake as poor production value) is a refreshing and smart choice amidst all the over-produced, digitalized junk that's floating through the airwaves. It's rough and angsty and unpolished; it feels real. It's a phenomenal example of what music can be when it stops trying so hard.

A/B Machines in particular is a great example of the values of keeping it simple- there are only two lines in the whole song: "Got my A machines on the table/ Got my B machines in the drawer". Baller. Coming from Sleigh Bells, it sounds like a dare to anyone who challenges their work, or a promise to any current fans: It lets people know that the group's got more coming, tucked out of sight for now until plan A fails to please. Also, as a wake up anthem, it makes you feel pretty badass.

So, I'm sorry for blasting A/B Machines at 8 in the morning, but really, get your asses up out of bed. It's a new day for you, and a new day to let your yourself in on some audible energy.

Sleigh Bells' singer Alexis Krauss in an interview with Pitchfork: "We're not about ego and all these trends that you see in popular music and culture that are just so damaging. We're just trying to point out that it's fucking ridiculous. As a teacher, you see all that shit firsthand. You see what 10-year-olds are worshipping, and it's so terrifying."

newsflash: remixed gaga

2010-08-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

Short copy: Passion Pit has remixed Lady Gaga's song "Telephone" on her new remix album, titled The Remix. Guilty p-p-p-pleasure? Yes ma'am.

epic fail: cinespace

2010-07-28T15:51:00.000-07:00

First negative review to date: Midnight Juggernauts.

I have to start by saying I had high hopes for this band. I like what I have heard from them- funk driven bass lines, dance beats, and electro-rock jams. However, last night at Cinespace, they just weren't working.

Maybe I expected too much from my night because I had been home sick all day. Maybe the overpriced and underspiked drinks put me and my wallet in a bad mood. Maybe I was turned off because I couldn't talk to my friends for a minute without an ego-inflated wannabe actor slurring some poor attempt at a pickup line in our direction. Maybe the bouncers shoving between people and shining flashlights in our faces made me feel like I was on the cusp of being thrown out of a high school dance for wearing too little clothing or dancing too dirty with a guy.

Regardless of the many biases I could have had while listening to Midnight Juggernauts, the fact remains that they were awful. The sound was muddled and disjointed, the musicians were sloppy, and the music was ill-fitting on an electro-night at Cinespace. I really did feel like I was watching my little brother's high school group playing at battle of the bands- I wanted to like it, but I didn't. And since my baby bro wasn't waiting for congratulations after the show, I don't have to pretend like it was the best thing I've ever heard.

My friends and I spent the night on another dance floor, as did most of the people there. We listened to a DJ spin top 40 and accessible electro for baby-ears. Overall, we could have put together a better night ourselves, and spent less money doing it.

WTF mate?

You be the judge: Here's a video from last night that one of the brave few onlookers posted.

gnarls barkley head

2010-07-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!

To kick off the weekend, enjoy some of this glorious cover action: Gnarls Barkley playin' Radiohead's Reckoner. Sweet, sweet cover. Cee-Lo's booming vocals bring this song to a whole new level.

Have a rad weekend. Make those two days count.

beirut > huffington post

2010-07-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

I would love to see Beirut play live. Their founder/leader Zach Condon is uniquely inspired and has produced equally unique and inspiring music. His albums Gulag Orkestar, The Flying Cup Club, and March of the Zapotec are accomplished, well thought out pieces of musical artistry- refreshing, beautiful, and engaging.

This is why I want to slap someone from the Huffington Post in the face. A recent article covering his show at the Guggenheim completely missed the point of his music, calling it contrived and a "cannibalization of all the styles of the past". I'm sorry, but what the what? How does anyone get off ripping on someone for experimenting with different musical genres?

I'm going to be extremely short here, though I could rant for hours, but this is the bottom line: People listen to music because it sounds good. Music that sounds good is doing its job as music. Music does not need to have any greater purpose behind its existence and acceptance among audiences, although often it does. Beirut's music succeeds because it resonates with people who appreciate MUSIC. It is pleasing to the ear. It is well composed. It is filled with a veritable buffet of instruments not often messed around with in most mainstream rock bands, like the flugelhorn, ukelele, cello, mandolin, glockenspiel, accordion, organ, baritone sax, trumpet, trombone, and euphonium. It also achieves its goal of combining Eastern European folk music and Western popular music into one seamless, seemingly natural sound.

The problem with the writer of the Huffington article was that he attacked an artist for experimentation. He claimed that the reasons people listen to Beirut are because of its obscurity, nostalgia, and ability to let people peer into a window to a place people would rather not visit (a reference to the Balkan-folk music that Condon regularly cites as an influence). Because of this, they deem his music contrived. I take issue with someone criticizing music, or any art form, based on the audience in lieu of the musician or work itself. This is not how we should look at art. Instead, we should admire the aspirations of artists who feel inspired enough to create something unique and thought-provoking; something beautiful, something new.

So, listen to his music. Because it sounds good.

hard summer is on

2010-07-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

Just bought my Hard Summer tix. That is all. So ready for this. Can't wait to report back with details...

in defense of neon bible

2010-07-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

In response to the comment I had on my Arcade Fire posting from yesterday, I felt the need to sort of defend the album Neon Bible. It was a fantastic album that had the misfortune of following Funeral, one of the most lauded albums of the last decade. However, I would argue that while Arcade Fire's talents were presented in Funeral, they were confirmed in Neon Bible. Funeral presented listeners with a distinct, elegantly sublime sound, and Neon Bible's lofty, ecclesiastical contents continued in the same tradition. The album's sound is at times triumphant and jubilant, and at others, has the brooding, bittersweet sound of melancholia that forces you to pause in reflection. This, for me, has come to be Arcade Fire's signature- a sort of evocation of romantic gloom, sweet sadness, and pensive joy.

J'espere que vous aimez le concert a emporter...

arcade fire: the suburbs

2010-07-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

Who's super stoked for Arcade Fire's new album?

Me. Me. Me. I am. I've been waiting for this ever since I basically wore out my ipod playing Funeral and Neon Bible on repeat. Excuse me, ever since I still wear out my ipod playing them on repeat. This album is going to be massive if they stay true to what they're good at: being epic. 8 album covers is a good start.

Not only are fans praying on their neon bibles in anticipation, but it also won't hurt that the band reached a whole new fan base after "Wake Up" was featured as, basically, the theme for the movie Where The Wild Things Are last year. Even the 8 year old I used to babysit requested I play their albums in the car on the way to and from school.

The band is set to release their album on August 3rd and you can pre-order it on their website.

They also released two tracks to the public a short while ago and you can download them here.

Quotubular: Spike Jonze told Ain't It Cool News he wrote the Where The Wild Things Are script while listening to Funeral: "[The] record is thematically very connected to the film". AND before shooting, he apparently cut a mood piece soundtracked by "Wake Up" to inspire his crew. Dope.

random music thought: doo-wop

2010-07-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot recently about what music genre is ready to make its comeback, and I've settled on doo-wop. It makes sense, and to be honest, I just really want to see it happen. It's so old school cool that it would be a shame if it didn't make its way onto albums again soon.

I feel like for my generation, one of ironic-mustache wearing, cardigan sweater loving, skinny jeans obsessed hipsters, there is a totally compulsive need to look back at what worked in the past for inspiration. I'm not saying this is a bad thing at all; on the contrary, I think it's pretty sweet that we are trying to do that whole learn from history thing. If you look at music now, we've got the new disco in electronica, the new new-wave in... new-wave, punk is back, and experimental psychedelic rock, blues, folk, and gypsy have come to define most of the indie music that is successful now. I think the only thing left to cover now is doo-wop.

The sweet, soulful sound of doo-wop. Think of it as the a cappella version of electronica.

Doo this: TV On The Radio- Mr. Grieves (Pixies cover)

Splendid interview with TV On The Radio's lead singer Tunde Adebimpe:

"Splendid: 'What about the doo-wop? Is that something that's in your background? An old love?'

Tunde: 'I don't know. I think half of it is just not being able to play an instrument. The other half is that I have a big affection for really old music. Knowing that you can do something without banks and banks and banks of technology is really important to me.'"

the black belles

2010-02-19T13:28:00.000-08:00

Looking for a gritty, indie, garage-rock band? That's also an all girl group?

If you answered yes to the first question, please proceed. If you answered yes to the second question, you should probably go rethink your life choices.

This is not a girl group. It's basically just the band Jack White would have made if he were a woman. And cloned himself. Thrice.

Check out Third Man Records'/ Jack White-discovery The Black Belles and the music video for their debut single "What Can I Do?" here at theblackbelles.com

You won't be disappointed, I promise- super duper promise.

happy birthday, yoko!

2010-02-18T13:03:00.000-08:00

Today, the Imagine Peace Tower will light up Reykjavik to celebrate Yoko Ono’s 77th birthday. The tower, built in 2007 as a memorial to John Lennon, is a beautiful and loving tribute to both John and to the ideals he shared with Yoko. Happy Birthday, crazy lady! Check it out here: imaginepeace.com

Random poll: Are Ono's legs photoshopped or not? Does Tina Turner have some competition?

anxiously awaiting mgmt's sophomore album

2010-02-17T20:09:00.000-08:00

MGMT, why do you tease us so?

After capturing our hearts and ears with their debut album Oracular Spectacular all the way back in 2007, MGMT has been seemingly MIA. (LETTER PLAY! ba-dum-bum). The psychedelic synth-rock duo have spent the past few years touring- appearing at almost every known music festival in the US as well as abroad, and supporting acts like Radiohead and Beck on their respective tours.

But now, finally, there is promise of a new album. Congratulations is set to be released on April 13^th. You can pre-order the album on MGMT’s website, and there is even a limited edition CD and vinyl available for purchase, complete with …a limited edition scratch-off cover with custom metal coin. Huh. Well. It’s just too bad the cover doesn’t also double as a lotto scratcher, because then the album title could be really coincidentally awesome if you won. Didn't think that through, guys, huh?

The sonic the hedgehog-esque, acid trip of an album cover is pictured above, and I guess if it speaks to the music that will be contained below its neon surface, then I am totally excited. More indie dance music, just in time for sunny summertime weather and long sweaty nights! Woop Woop

Go Pre-Order their album on MGMT's website

Ben Goldwasser of MGMT in an interview with UGO.com: "Yeah we had a preying mantis for a while, and it would dance. It would get really excited whenever we put on the second side of Combat Rock by The Clash. So yeah, the music of "Time to Pretend" was really inspired by the bug's dance movements."

music joke

2010-02-16T17:33:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of xkcd

decemberists side project

2010-02-16T10:40:00.000-08:00

My excitement= not contained

While perusing the interwebs, I came across a posting from last month on The Decemberists' website speaking of a side project. Dubbed Black Prairie, the spin-off band includes Decemberists Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, and Nate Query and welcomes new players Annalisa Tornfelt and Jon Neufeld from the Portland music scene.

Due to my overwhelming happiness and mind-blown-ness, I am left speechless and therefore leave the most pressing details to the band members themselves. So, without further ado...

From decemberists.com-- "This eclectic bluegrass-but-not-really group will make its live debut at Noise Pop in San Francisco next month. Their record, Feast of the Hunters' Moon, will be released later this spring."

In the name of all things castaway and cutout, walk, run, fly to their show at Noise Pop on February 27th, and check out Black Prairie's myspace, complete with two songs from their upcoming album- "Red Rocking Chair" and "Back Alley".

Thank you, Black Prairie, for quelling my want for more.

UPDATE 7/19/10: Got to go see them play while they were in LA a couple months ago. The show was sweet- The Living Sisters opened (whose band members include Inara George from The Bird and The Bee and miss Margaret herself from The Decemberist's Hazards of Love, Becky Stark). Super low key, totally worth the $15 just to chill on the back patio drinking beers next to Chris Funk and Jenny Conlee. Solid night of indie bluegrass.

grok music

2010-02-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

I consider myself to be fairly internet-savvy, but I guess I missed the memo on this little site. Grok Music is a website akin to Pandora; it helps you discover new music based on your current favorites. However, Grok Music differs in that its function is primarily visual, presenting visitors to the site with a "music map" - kind of like a musical family tree. You just type in the name of a band you like, or maybe that you're curious about, and the site pops out a map of new artists that you might also like. Grok also provides short descriptions about each new musician, links to listen to tracks from a featured album, and of course, links to purchase the music from iTunes or Amazon.

Above is my sample music map for Björk, it's fairly bitchin...and surprisingly accurate. Not bad Grok. Not bad.

new features to come

2010-02-11T19:38:00.000-08:00

My favorite thing to do pretty much, um, all the time is looke for music news gems, so I'm going to post my findings here!

Get excited, this is not a drill. Breaking news to come...

Hear No Evil,

Lara

track 3: the polysics- "i my me mine"

2010-02-11T13:59:00.000-08:00

It’s exciting to get to play home-town tourist every once in a while, especially when you live in L.A. Luckily for me, a friend of mine from France is hiding in California for a few months while she shirks the responsibilities of post-college job hunting, and I get to show her how amazing California is! On one of my recent trips to visit friends at UCLA, I brought my Frenchie with, and played tour guide like it was my job. She toured campus, went to a house party, dropped in on a class, drank cheap beer out of red cups, learned beer pong, ate at In-N-Out, saw a pseudo-celebrity (Kim Kardashian), bought some flip flops, frequented college dive bars, ventured through Venice Beach, and last but certainly not least, went to a show at the Roxy on Sunset. The Roxy is a place I’ve always wanted to go, but never got the opportunity to when I was at UCLA. It’s a well known, Sunset strip venue; tiny- but a great little spot to intimately view your favorite bands or up-and-comers. It’s fun 'n' gritty: dark, no frills, sticky floor, sticky bathroom, but that’s kind of the best part: The Roxy doesn’t mess around, it serves its purpose as a music venue and that's about it.

Who did we see? "The Polysics! From Tokyo....JAPAAAAAN!" The crazy Devo-inspired-Japanese-punk-new wave band rocked our faces off. Clad in orange jumpsuits, name tags, and futuristic rectangular sunglasses, the Polysics have so much energy and enthusiasm in their act that you forget they’re singing in Japanese and you mosh into the music. The ridiculously prolific band luckily played a bunch of their better-known songs like “Kaja Kaja Goo” and “I My Me Mine”. The lead singer/guitarist, Hayashi, jumped around the stage, screaming and dripping sweat until the last beat, while their female keyboardist/ back up vocalist, Kayo, complete with robot-voice-effect headset, was in C3PO mode the entire act. She even stayed robotic as she unplugged her synth and walked off stage: no smiles, no waves to the crowd or anything, just gone. It was like the Polysics had been on a mission from planet punk to rock our world from 11pm-1am and when they were done, they were gone…

Definitely worth the ridiculous cab fare to get to the Roxy, and I am sure Mlle. Emmanuelle will not be forgetting this trip.

Check out their music video for “I My Me Mine”

Hayashi, from the band’s myspace blog- “I prayed ‘Hope I could have a great show today too!!!’ Anyways I’m so hyper tension!!!! Because of this today’s show was so cool!!! Everyone’s was so awesome, and our tension was brilliant as well!!! Thank you Los Angeles!!!!”

P.S. Kayo is leaving the band in March, to pursue “normal woman” things:

Kayo, from the Polysics’ website.- "I have almost given my all to the Polysics during my 20s. From my 30s, returning to a normal woman, I feel like wanting to do normal things. I wanna try lots and lots of normal things. "

track 2: yeasayer: "i remember"

2010-01-25T18:10:00.000-08:00

The loss of an ipod; the addition of a new favorite band. After much contemplation over posting missing signs for my poor lost ipod, the odds aren’t looking good, and sadly I am now in mourning my lovely, silver, 8-gigabyte pal. Thankfully, my pain was eased by the new album by Yeasayer, Odd Blood. Heralded (perhaps prematurely) as the album of 2010 by my roommate (with impeccable taste in music), I had to hear it.

Having previously been obsessed with the song "Sunrise" from their debut album All Hour Cymbals, I was pretty stoked to hear something new from these psychedelic, experimental pop rockers. I was not disappointed- the new album is engaging, energetic, dance electro-pop: the new new-wave. It’s a nod to the current obsession with spandex, neon, tight jeans, Brat Pack films, converse, and danceable synth-pop. It sort of sounds like what Animal Collective would sound like if they joined up with Cut Copy, complete with digitally distorted harmonies, synthesisers, electro-percussion, and keyboard and guitar solos.

While not entirely innovative, Odd Blood builds upon what new wave started, and makes it more complex, adding lushly layered beats and strange vocal arrangements to an all around dance rock sound. Definitely worth a listen, and a solid addition to my life’s soundtrack. The new new-wave is totally rad, dude.

Pants off Dance off to: “Ambling Alp”, the first single to be released off the album.

Wait for my favorite: “I Remember” when the album is officially released in February.

Also, check out their Take Away Show from 2008 or take a peek at that of their fellow '08 tour mates, Man Man for some fun.

EW's Joseph Lynch in reference to "Ambling Alp": "The track sounds like some sort of trippy synth-pop bubble bath, with Yeasayer splashing around in effervescent electro waters which are surprisingly warm and inviting."

track 1: "hey jude"

2010-01-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

Track One on My Life Soundtrack: The Beatles: “Hey Jude” I’ve been meaning to write this for so long now, that it feels a little odd finally putting it into words. The single most profound memory that I own, is one which I’m not even sure exists, or ever existed, outside my own head. Regardless, it remains possibly the single-most influential moment of my childhood I (might) remember. When I was 2 ½ years old, my dad videotaped me singing along to The Beatles’ “Hey Jude”. My cover version went something like “Hey dude, na na na na...”, but still I think that’s pretty good for a toddler. The odd thing about the song, is that it has come to truly affect my adult life. "Hey Jude" is the beginning and the end for me when it comes to music, and quite probably the source of my attachment to any and everything musical. Whenever it comes onto a playlist or random shuffle through my music library, it stays, and sometimes repeats. It lingers with me, and haunts me, makes me cry, and then want more. It’s because of the lyrics- which strangely were so unimportant to me during my first debauched performance of the song. They are beautiful, painful, true, comforting, and utterly heart wrenching. They demand the listener to “take a sad song, and make it better”, which in fact the song itself seems to do- turning a melancholy lullaby into a bittersweet anthem for hope and happiness. "Hey Jude" is an advisory to appreciate what we have, to try and take something from the disappointments, rejections and complete failures that life gives us and to learn from them. I understand that this could potentially sound vague or superficial, but I feel the need to impress upon each and every one of my few readers that we need this message, no matter how it has seemingly been beat to death in our “carpe diem” generation; a generation brought up in a time of monotony, complacency, and mediocrity. I can be a skeptic, but I also know the worth of positivity and blind optimism. That is why this song rings true to me. I’m not religious, but I do have faith in the undeniable feeling of belonging that occurs every once and a while, that makes us feel like we’re a part of something larger then ourselves. I feel like this song does that; it makes you feel like you can relate to the rest of the world, in maybe nothing more than your loneliness and sadness. That should be something to relish in. That should be something to enjoy- that you connect to the human culture, and that if nothing else, at least you can feel. The song “Hey Jude” exemplifies the struggle to connect, and furthermore to reconnect to something that we feel has betrayed us. It is a response to something that we feel is true that we are shown is not. It is a portrayal of disillusionment, of facing reality, and it is something we need to know is a universal feeling. We all feel betrayed: when we learn Santa is not real, when we learn our parents are fallible, when we learn our teachers know nothing, when we learn our leaders are flawed. It is a window into the humanity that we own. It is what we are. We are a “sad song made better”, and if anything, we should learn that we are all subject to fault, and to strive to make ourselves better because of it. So, in conclusion…go listen to “Hey Jude” and Carpe Omnia- don't just seize the day, seize it all. “Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.” – John Lennon

soundtrack of my life

2010-01-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

Hello and Happy New Year!

So, this has been a crazy past couple of months: finishing at UCLA, starting a relationship, moving to Davis, stumbling into the crumbling job market, and now rediscovering my need to write. I've been stockpiling ideas, scribbling down notes, striking them out, rewriting, and now I'm going to start from semi-scratch and add some new features. For now, I'm thinking I'll narrow my reviews to my favorite songs and albums.

Music that would make it on to My Life's Soundtrack.

Without further ado...let's begin...

shuffling the songs to stumble to sufjan

2009-07-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

Alright, hold up. Let me explain something that I just discovered. Summer+ homelessness+ everybody and their mother giving me new music every single day = me not being able to rediscover my iTunes library. This whole project began when I realized that I don’t think I’ve listened to all of the music I own, and today I go back on track. No more new stuff for a while. SO without further ado, I am going to hit shuffle on my iTunes library and whatever comes up is what I’m writing about. Druuuuuum roll please… Sufjan Stevens it is. I was really hoping for Backstreet Boys or something embarrassing...nerds. 56 seconds into “Ya Leil” on Sufjan’s album A Sun Came! is good tunes. I’m digging whatever kind of music this is, it sounds like it belongs on a soundtrack for a Wes Anderson movie.

Sufjan is a musician's musician. He plays a reported 14 “instruments” according to Pitchfork magazine, primarily the banjo, guitar, piano… and he sings. Listed among his many instruments are the lesser known stapler and stationary floor fan, but I’m down as long as he’s rocking it.

His vocals have an Iron and Wine, Simon and Garfunkel kind of funky folkiness, while the instrumentation goes off the deep end in the background. The album is highly experimental, and viciously ambitious for a debut- it’s like he wants you to know every single thing that he is capable of so you can brace yourself for the work to come. He takes chances, playing with what he refers to as “traditional pop music, medieval instrumentation with Middle Eastern inflections, tape loops, digital samples, literary vocals, manic percussion, woodwinds, sitar, amp distortion and Arabic chants". It’s a mish mosh of sound that blends pretty well together, without seeming forced or arrogant. When viewed in this light, Sufjan is masterful in his debut. He keeps you guessing with his musical variety, even covering electro-pop on "Joy! Joy! Joy!", and taking a stab at Flight of the Conchords-esque comedy with “Super Sexy Woman”. It’s over an hour of a musical experience that doesn’t ever get boring or predictable, and that is something worth listening to.

My favorite track-"Happy Birthday". Soulful. Poetic. Minimal. Come on- it's called Happy Birthday, how bad could it be? Just try it, just for a second, just to see how it feels. Peace out -The Homeless College Grad "Why would a reviewer make the point of saying someone's not a genius?" --Eli Cash

"Sufjan: I've always wanted to be a writer but I can't seem to really do it. Pitchfork: Well, your fallback has worked out so far. Sufjan: Yeah, Plan B has worked out fine. " -- Interview by Jason Crock 5.15.2006 If you like like I like, try: Iron & Wine's Our Endless Numbered Days, Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends, The Velvet Underground's The V.U. and Nico and V.U. , Nico's Chelsea Girl, Of Montreal's Satanic Panic in the Attic, Damien Rice's O, José González's Veneer, or The Shins' Chutes Too Narrow or Wincing the Night Away

plastic ono (sunglasses) band

2009-07-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

Finals, graduation, introduction to the real world, and subsequent homelessness has made my mind a little more than muddled. Yoko Ono brought me back. Yes, that eccentric little Japanese woman who everyone likes to blame for the break up for the Beatles. Do some research, people. Yoko was and is a fabulous, mad, dizzyingly thought-provoking artist- not a destroyer of bands. Lennon loved her, and I have come to love her after studying Lennon’s life and his relationship with her. She was his muse, and for the purposes of this article, she is mine as well.

In Nylon magazine’s July issue, they did a spread on the women behind the men of rock royalty, and the iconic fashion accessories that made them more than just arm candy on the red carpet. Although I usually could care less about this sort of thing, the magazine tapped right into my love for John and Yoko- the very first page of the spread featured a waiflike, collagen injected, model version of the duo…and Yoko’s signature Carrera sunglasses. I wanted them. Needed them. Had to have them. I wanted nothing more than to run right out and buy them that instant, despite my mounting debt of post-collegedom. A week later, they were mine!!!!

Also…as a side note, the night I bought my beloved Carreras, I went out to see Public Enemies. I don’t know if any of you that have seen it noticed, but all of the men in the movie wore John Lennon’s round sunglasses. They are coming back. Get ready people- the sunglasses of John and Yoko are upon us.

Sunglasses (logically?) brought me back to music. After pondering the meaning of the sunglass phenomenon, I felt it necessary to revisit one of my favorite albums: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The first album Lennon released as a solo artist, it serves as a landmark of his separation from the Beatles and as a complete embodiment of his own musical style and personal philosophy on life. The album is intimate to such an extreme that it almost makes you feel nervous listening to it, like you’re reading his diary and he could burst in to the room at any second, leading to an awkward moment and eventually an agreement to never speak of it again. From start to finish, it is an audio journal of pain, self doubt, and attempts at reassurance and hope for something better to come.

One of the most notable characteristics of the album is the use of Primal Screaming. Everyone needs a little scream once and a while to let out what they’re feeling, but Lennon records his pain on the album. Plastic Ono Band served as therapy for Lennon, who conceived much of the album during his stay at the radical Primal Institute in Los Angeles. There, he was introduced to the idea of Primal Screaming, which is supposed to tap into the fundamental root of your neuroses and help you release it in a burst of sound. Entirely appropriate for a musician. At times it seems almost too much to bear- listening to a man scream until his vocal chords are most likely burning and torn, but if nothing else it is certainly an effective way to evoke empathy in a listener. He is exposed, completely and utterly just-John, in a way that he never was before as a Beatle.

The album opens with “Mother”, a song serving as resignation, an attempt to come to terms with the death of his mother and the abandonment by his father. It’s sad, like you’re hearing a child’s pleading voice coming out of Lennon, this man, icon, famous figure of such seeming strength of opinion and message. The words he repeats until the end, “Mama don’t go/ Daddy come home” are saturated with emotional distress. He screams at the top of his lungs and the minimal accompaniment of piano, bass, and drums (by Ringo) tries to catch up with him as he drifts off into his complete and utter pain.

From there, the album demonstrates Lennon’s attempt to pass on what he has learned about reality by realizing his pain and stripping away all of the bullshit of life. In his songs “I Found Out” and “Working Class Hero”, he talks about the ills of society; citing religion, drugs, sex, and tv as the tools of the world to keep you doped up and crazy. He tries to warn people not to be sucked into the machine, bringing to mind similar plights by Pink Floyd in “The Wall”. The two songs, especially “Working Class Hero”, are anthems to the common man, the man who suffers his whole life, beaten down into submission yet ordered to succeed and triumph.

Lennon is calling to people to stand up for themselves, and to discover what life is truly about, which from his songs “Love”, “Well Well Well”, and “God” (which contains the central thesis of the whole album) is nothing other than love itself, and being in touch with reality which is knowing yourself and knowing love. In “Love”, Lennon states for the first time on the album exactly what he has discovered: “Love is real…love is feeling…love is touch…love is living”. The song is sweet and sad, sending the message of his complete belief in his love with Yoko, which is perhaps the reason that he left the Beatles and the spotlight to be with her- to live in love and therefore reality.

Finally, “God” is no doubt what Lennon builds to the entire time- a complete smack down on everything that he once believed in and now finds to be false. He starts on religion, calling out Jesus, the Bible, magic, God, tarot, Buddha; then moves on to historical figures like Hitler, Kennedy, and kings; then finally narrows his disbelief onto musicians- Elvis, Dylan, and last but not least The Beatles. What a slap in the face. I mean, I get it, I do, but it is still shocking to hear him sing that he doesn’t believe in Beatles. He lets his audience know that he has found himself: “I was the Walrus/ But now I’m John…The Dream is over”. Take that Beatles fans…man. It’s so sad but so understandable- he’s just a guy like any other who wants to be left alone to love and to simply be.

There are even points on the album when we can see his struggle in taking his own advice to just be real. In songs like the bluesy, piano heavy “Isolation” and “Look at Me”, Lennon is once again stripped down and afraid of facing the world. I love how in “Isolation” he even drags out the “I” and separates it from the rest of the word, further emphasizing his loneliness. Then in “Look at Me” he reflects upon himself, who he is, what he is supposed to be and do and desperately cries for “his love” to look at him and tell him what to do. The only completely reassuring songs on his rollercoaster of suffering and self-doubt are “Hold On” and “Remember”, in which he assures himself, Yoko, and the world that everything will be all right, and not to worry.

Finally, the albums ends right where it began, with a song about his mother. Entitled “My Mummy’s Dead”, the 59 second song is eerie, slow, exasperated, and tired (who wouldn’t be after all that screaming?). Thank god for the remastered edition that was put out in 2000. Supervised by Yoko, the tracks “Power to the People” and “Do the Oz” were added in to create some positivity after such a dreary ending track. “Power to the People” advocates action, revolution, activism and social change, and definitely serves as an appropriate concluding remark to the intimate album of loss and realism that Lennon initially created.

I am in love with this album, on a literary sense, as I am sure can be inferred by my primarily-lyrical analysis. But that is what this album is about- it is about Lennon’s words- his belief in stripping everything down to its rough, un-mastered core. It is about a struggle to understand the world, and Lennon’s ultimate faith in love only. On a musical level, the album is stripped. It is raw and unpolished, bluesy, folksy, rock-n-roll, and classic Lennon all at once. It is John and it is Yoko and it needs to be listened to. It contains the powerful message that originality, authenticity, and connections to the world and the self are all that truly matter.

So…I guess maybe I should rethink needing these Yoko sunglasses.

"All my concerts had no sounds in them; they were completely silent. People had to make up their own music in their minds"-- The one and only, Yoko Ono.

Listen to the Album: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

And! Listen to the John Lennon interview about the album with Jann Wenner from Rolling Stone.

And!! If you happen to listen to the interview, this Dave Edmunds version of "I Hear You Knocking" and Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" (please ignore the many religious references in this video version) are what Lennon refers to as the kind of simple rock he likes most.

mashup my makeup

2009-05-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

It definitely took me a while to get back to full speed after last night. I woke up, splashed water on my blurry, mascara-ringed eyes, and begrudgingly started my day. Usually I guess you wouldn’t think of Monday nights as the crazy ones, but last night was different, last night was…a pinning. What's a pinning? WELL...Pinnings are essentially mock engagements for 4th year couples in the Frat/Sorority system. Yes, this is the part of our reader-writer relationship where you stop reading because I am in a sorority. Or, you grow a pair and open your mind a little.

To continue- Pinnings involve limos, candles, singing, black dresses, a venue for dancing, and maybe a bottle or 20 of champagne. I don’t know how the guys feel about the whole thing, but for the girls, this can be a highly emotional event. It’s kind of like in Wedding Crashers, how Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson bank on the women in attendance to be super down to hookup because they are reminded, by the wedding, of their own loneliness. Everyone is just lookin’ for some love. It’s like fishing with dynamite. However, my focus for the night wasn’t a guy, it was dancing. I’m sorry but if you don’t like to dance, please don’t waste my time. Dancing is to my body what music is for my ears. And a pinning is simply another excuse to dance. I don’t care what the music is, as long as it has a loud, pulsating beat that you can feel deep down in your chest. Of course, when you go out to a club with 20 something year olds in LA, there’s only one kind of music you’re going to hear: welcome to the good life, just dance, crack a bottle and blame it on the alcohol… boom boom pow. As much as I love my guilty pleasure pop-rap, I thought I would take some time now to suggest a different type of music to dance to: mashup. I’ve come to appreciate mashup recently, along with electronica, which is quickly reaching its neon stained fingers into the cookie jar of every musical genre out there. Similar to electronica, which often involves remixes of popular songs set to a sick dance beat, mashup employs the art of remixing and sampling to create new, original, and often surprising music. Girl Talk, Milkman, and The Hood Internet are the frontrunners in taking mashup to the clubs. Girl Talk is perhaps the most well known of the three. The tickets for next week’s performance at UCLA sold out in less than a day, so it’s obvious that his sound is catching on. I remember first listening to Night Ripper, and how the first track “Once Again” introduced me to the concept of blending classic rock songs or pop classics with current pop and hip hop. It’s like my guilty pleasure music met up with all my old favorites and had a love child. Nine seconds into the track, the violent, head banging sounds of the organ, clavinet and driving bass in Boston’s “Foreplay/Long Time” interrupt Ciara’s sensual “Goodies” and seamlessly meld together with snippets from Fabolous’ “Breathe” to create an intense, completely danceable track that is both classic and novel. Not only does it remind me of the songs my dad played in the car during family road trips, or the albums he blasted during weekends just to appreciate his speakers and bug the neighbors, but also of my favorite songs on the radio now. DJ Milkman uses a similar technique on his albums, the amalgamation of new and old. He’s a young alum from UCSB, and aside from dropping the beat once and a while and drawing from the same collection of music as Girl Talk, he has the potential to be great. My personal favorite, however, is The Hood Internet. You can download their mixes for free on their website, and you should, as soon as you’re done reading this. Unlike Girl Talk and Milkman, The Hood Internet blends new with new. Hood Internet draws from rap and hip hop favorites and mixes them with the dopest beats from the electronica-indie rock scene. One of his songs, “Shut Up, American Boy”, a mashup of “Shut Up and Let Me Go” by the Ting Tings and “American Boy” by Estelle ft. Kanye ended up creating a sensation felt by the original artists themselves, and they made The Hood Internet’s song a reality by performing it live at the Brit Awards 2009. Other favorites from Vol. 3 include Chromeo v. Rihanna, The Dream v. Cut Copy, Ludacris v. She & Him, T-Pain v. TV on the Radio, The Cardigans v. Ratatat, and Spank Rock v. Burial. Noteable mashups from Vol. 2 include Eve v. Radiohead, Dr. Dre v. Fujiya and Miyagi, Genesis v. Justice, Birdman v. Tunng, and M.I.A. v. Oceleot. As you can see, there’s something for everyone. I love playing Hood Internet at parties when they give me the chance to play DJ. It’s amazing watching die hard rap haters realize that they’re actually enjoying rap, or people who don’t know a thing about indie and dance music decide that it’s their new favorite thing. You can dance to it, walk with swagger to it, and play it at any party, because as I said before, it has something for every music lover out there. Go download this magical music, and spread the good word. The genre for our generation has come, and its name is mashup. Congrats guys, beautiful night. Next time let me dj? “Girl Talk’s music is a lawsuit waiting to happen.”—Rob Walker, NY Times Eargasm waiting to happen: The Hood Internet, Milkman's new album Circle of Fifths, Girl Talk Feed The Animals, Night Ripper

my car and my guitar

2009-05-15T18:42:00.000-07:00

There is nothing better than bumping music in your car while you’re flying down the freeway. It is one of the best ways to listen to music; you’re jacked up on adrenaline from the sound and the speed- you feel invincible and one with the moment. Last Wednesday, a few friends and I went to go see Star Trek for the second time. The first time at the Arclight in Sherman Oaks, and the second…IMAX! There is definitely no shortage of nice theaters in LA, I’ve gotten spoiled rotten on theaters. So much so that it didn’t even cross my mind that the movie was playing at the Fox in my own little Westwood, the site of countless premiers. Hard life...

I don’t drive, but Miller does. He LOVES his car. He’s had it for 5 years and you can tell it’s his baby. A cobalt blue ’98 Mustang with flame seat covers, and dice caps for the door locks. Could you guess he’s in a band? Plays guitar like a fiend, saxophone, oh and the flute. He’s a musical madman. I still remember walking down the halls of our freshman dorm and hearing him blast Incubus, and then later on harmonizing with him to Imogen Heap in the study lounge. Always wearing flair of some kind- bandanas around the wrists, guitar picks caught at shows hanging around his neck, and he definitely owns a couple spiked bracelets (definitely borrowed those in moments of weakness/experimentation). Now, I always turn to him for musical advice, and last Wednesday he surprised me yet again with another musical jack-in-the-box.

We trudged back to the car totally stoked but totally exhausted from the movie, but once Miller pressed play on his stereo, I woke up. Silversun Pickups’ new album Swoon flooded the car with chaos. God knows how many strings died to make this album; layers upon layers of distorted guitar tracks, winding bass lines, and crazed violins bombarded my ears with sound.

LOUD NOISES.

Loud, beautiful noises. I had never heard of Silversun Pickups before so I was of course, stoked to explore something new. Miller picked a great song to introduce them too, the first single off the album, “Panic Switch”. As we drove down the 405, with the lousy suspension in his car letting us feel every unpaved bump along the way, the music blasted, and I was surrounded by overwhelming, unadulterated rock sound.

The band’s style is extremely similar to Smashing Pumpkins, bringing elements of a heavy rock sound to a contemporary indie rock audience. The tracks are thick with music, so much so that sometimes you can’t tell which instrument is which. But somehow they achieve a balance with the understated, semi-feminine vocals that leads to a sort of mysterious haunting feeling at times. For instance, “Growing Old Is Getting Old” has a kind of creepy, gothic factor that I think of on albums like A Perfect Circle’s Mer de Noms or Thirteenth Step and Dredg’s El Cielo. Whatever it is, I like it.

The album in its entirety is so epically drenched in musical sweat that I would urge anyone out there to give it a go. It is brooding, smart, experimental, and energizing. After borrowing the cd from Miller, who yes still purchases actual cd’s (thank god someone still enjoys the last remainders of album art), I laid out at the pool and listened to the entire thing while tanning and relaxing in the sun.

Even in the most laid back setting, this cd works. The track “Draining” is particularly soothing, and brings you back down to earth after the preceding track “Panic Switch” gives you a bit of a sugar rush. The ethereal vocals and floating violins of “Draining” allow you to melt into your pool chair and soak up sun. The album is inspiring in its versatility; you could play it at the beach, in the rain, in a car, or at the gym; when you’re sad, when you’re mad, when you’re happy, or when it’s time to take a nap(py)?

Thank you Miller, for an solid listening experience.

"I hear my voice, and I'm like, 'Oy, who's that guy? He sounds like a chick.'" -- Silversun Pickups Frontman Brian Aubert (In an interview with Seattlest.com)

P.S. The tracks "Panic Switch" and "It's Nice to Know You Work Alone" can be downloaded for Guitar Hero: World Tour if you're into that kinda thang.

If you like Silversun Pickups, go pick up: Smashing Pumpkins: anything…, Coheed and Cambria: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 and Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness, Placebo: Without You I’m Nothing, Dredg: El Cielo, Autolux: Future Perfect, A Perfect Circle: Mer de Noms

falling down the rabbit hole

2009-05-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Fortunately for cable-less me, my friends down the street let me come over every once and a while to indulge in full-on frontal television. A while ago we were sitting around watching trailers for upcoming movies and were stoked to see the preview for “9”, a new animated movie which promises to be utterly stunning. It’s produced by the eerily enigmatic Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas anyone?) and Timur Bekmembetov (director of the gloomy, matrix-esque “Night Watch” trilogy), AND the trailer features Coheed and Cambria’s “Welcome Home”. Enough of this though, just watch it here. ANYWAY…we got to talking about animated movies of our childhood, and somehow we got to talking about Alice in Wonderland. I’m not surprised- the walls in their place are decorated with a Tool poster, a framed still from Scarface, and what I assume is a stolen sign that reads “Smoking is prohibited except in designated areas”. So, as 60's-drug culture-psychadelia fanatics, we came to the conclusion that we should watch the movie again as grown up quarter-lifers. Cut to: Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit”. As soon as we finished the movie, it was the first thing I wanted to hear. The song draws you in, first with the strong, uncompromising drum beat. Like a military march, it calls to mind images of the card soldiers that lead the way for their loud-mouthed and unstoppable Queen of Hearts. Grace Slick is that queen. Her vocals are booming, powerful, hypnotic. Her lyrics wrap around your head like the hookah-loving caterpillar’s rings of smoke, sensually drawing you in with tales of pills that make you smaller, and others that make you larger. Eventually, Slick builds to a crescendo in which you can’t escape her demands…it’s not “off with your head”, but “feed your head” she screams. And then silence... as you contemplate maybe taking her up on the offer. Slick is unmatched in her vocal abilities. There are few women now who are willing to showcase their vocal talent with such reckless abandon; in the words of Nigel Tufnel, her voice goes up to 11. She at times sounds like her mouth is so wide she could swallow you whole, like the fat-lady of the opera, but stoned and wearing paisley prints. I can only imagine what it would have been like to see Jefferson Airplane perform at Monterey Pop in 1967, probably the first major venue in which "White Rabbit" was performed since the album Surrealistic Pillow was released only a few months prior. I remember seeing the documentary on the festival a couple years back and being moved to think, as I have so many times, that I was born in the wrong decade. The festival featured then-unknowns Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and Otis Redding, among countless other counter-culture, summer of love bands; bands anyone who wishes they had been at Woodstock would have drooled over, fallen to their knees for, and shouted at in unison “I’m not worthy!” The freedom found in the message of Slick’s lyrics is the same freedom that the counter-culture experimented with at the festival: freedom of love, music, and drugs. No wonder they needed a bad trip teepee for any attendees who had eaten the wrong side of a mushroom- even Alice ended up hitting rock bottom when she had had too much. Now, the freedom of the flower children seems far away, but Jefferson Airplane’s song still reminds us of the era’s voracious appetite for new perspectives and transcendence through experimentation. If you like Grace Slick’s evocative vocals as much as I do, drink this: The Duke Spirit: Neptune, Cat Power: Jukebox, Annie Lennox: Medusa Also…and I hate to even mention this, but Katy Perry is actually a contralto like Slick, and her music could sound just as amazing if she would just stop messing around kissing girls and touching hot and cold objects. So, you could try her out if you like. Note: Slick had already recorded "Somebody to Love" and had written "White Rabbit" by the time she was 27. Get on it, Perry. P.S. Tim Burton is producing a new Alice in Wonderland movie, due out in 2010. Dope. “Through literacy you can begin to see the universe. Through music you can reach anybody. Between the two there is you, unstoppable.”-- Grace Slick

music 101

2009-05-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

So, here I go…

Finally. As any college student could probably tell you, procrastination is the rule and not the exception, and I’ll be damned if I don’t follow the rules. I’m finally here though, to write about music.

First, let’s get one thing straight- I have a loving relationship with music, not a “love affair". Not only would I throw up a little from using the phrase "love affair", but it would just be a totally inaccurate description of the solid thing me and my-man-Music have going. Music is not my mistress. Music isn't the dirty little secret hidden in your panty drawer; the drunk text message you delete the next day so no one will stumble across it; the home wrecker. No. Music is and forever will be my LIFELINE. It is my memory, my swagger, my sustenance, my daydream, my dance party, my message, my heart beat, my home.

I want everyone out there who possibly comes across this to understand that that is what music can be. Music unites us, it transcends and translates, it moves us physically and emotionally, and it will be here until the world comes to its last booming crescendo.

Think of this blog as a musical dialogue. I’ll cover music news, write some reviews, and hopefully get you interested in some bands you never thought you'd be into.

"Without music, life would be an error."—Friedrich Nietzsche

Peace out until next time...