Wednesday, April 29, 2009

LIKE THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS


"meaningful" picture

guys, it is imperative that you download this.

OSAKA LOOP LINE --- DISCOVERY.
this remastered version is giving orange shirt a run for its money as "the most awesome thing ever." really crisp synth, nice clear vocals, best use of autotune since ever...

on the subject, i wrote a review of this for pma, here.

Monday, April 27, 2009

NEW PASSION PIT



MOTH'S WINGS --- PASSION PIT

glorious and triumphant synth. this guy's voice is one of my new favorites. enjoy it

Friday, April 24, 2009

MALUCA



this girl knows what she's doing, i think
LISTEN TO "EL TIGERASO"

Thursday, April 23, 2009

I'M WALKIN PAST UR HOUSE


i think this picture has a lot of meaning

listen guys, blog world just found out about discovery thanks to this illuminating stereogum post. i hope you guys are respecting the fact that if you read this blog you have been onto discovery since JUNE.

YOU ARE WELCOME.

anyway, said post has mastered copies of the two killer songs discovery has recorded, and wes miles' twitter is giving me some hope for the future.

lazy? okay.
ORANGE SHIRT --- DISCOVERY

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

ALL HANDS AND THE COOK



as some of you might know, my friend anthony and i went to see the walkmen last thursday, april 16. they were incredible. in the middle of their set they played one song that blew me away, and i just figured out what it was and want to share it with you because it will blow your mind too:

ALL HANDS AND THE COOK --- THE WALKMEN

in the end of this song, hamilton held one "note" (by which i mean he just yelled one word) for at least thirty seconds. it was insane. all of us in the audience were screaming and cheering expecting him to stop, but he just did not stop.

if you are not convinced, youtube does more justice than i ever could with words.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

GUESS WHAT I DID



i saw vampire weekend again, at columbia this time! it was beautiful out. i got there as they were starting cape cod kwassa kwassa and i walked by this young woman dancing with a little girl, singing to her "would this feel so unnatural to peter gabriel too!?" unfortunately i missed white sky, and they didn't play any new stuff, but it was such a glorious day out and everyone was so happy and ezra dedicated a-punk to asher roth and everything just skittered on the breeze and there was this great echo on the vocals in i stand corrected and all was very, very well.

Monday, April 13, 2009

I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO CANNOT TAKE THIS PRETTY GOOD ALBUM TITLE SERIOUSLY

i live in a small town in westchester, new york. you have not heard the word "bittie" and thought of a young lady in ugg boots and abercrombie, with a pink razr, wearing leggings as pants, unless you come from here too.
the dirty projectors are a band from brooklyn and they have a new album coming out soon called "bitte orca." it looks like this:


the lead single off it is
STILLNESS IS THE MOVE --- DIRTY PROJECTORS.
i've been listening to an NPR sxsw recording of it all weekend, and i just finally got the recorded version! IT. IS. AWESOME. amber coffman sounds like an mtv-style pop diva wailing arpeggios over talking heads-ish guitar. listen to it RIGHT NOW.

i think that "bitte orca" is a good album title. local slang is unfortunate. whenever i think about it i think "bittie orca."

Thursday, April 9, 2009

AN IMPORTANT SONG

if you know me, you know that i just got my license so i've been driving around all the time. when i am in the car with mon frere, chadbourne, we tend to kick out some serious jamz.

here's one of those serious jams.

EVIL URGES --- MY MORNING JACKET.
the only words we know to this song are "evil urges, baby!"


and check out my debut as nyc concert reviewer on PMA / a really nice review of that totally awesome ra ra riot show i attended the other day right here! all the mp3s luis put in there are definitely worth downloading as well!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

KILL THE MOONLIGHT

here is an album i would STRONGLY ADVISE YOU TO PURCHASE ASAP:



BUY IT
or LISTEN TO "PAPER TIGER"

Monday, April 6, 2009

EVERY BAND IS DERIVATIVE



BUT WAIT. i don't mean an infinitesimal change in a function with respect to one of its variables! i mean, pretty much, the title of this post:

EVERY
BAND
IS
DERIVATIVE!!!!

let's discuss this further.


OBSTACLE 1 --- INTERPOL.
i found out about interpol when i was in seventh grade through my brother's skate video "girl yeah right / hot chocolate" which has an amazing soundtrack. reading about interpol on the internet at such a tender age i began to realize the huge problem in the BLOG AGE that is rampant, often nonsensical, haterism. every single everything about interpol was prefaced with "THEY SOUND LIKE JOY DIVISION."
TRANSMISSION --- JOY DIVISION.
let's just state this: interpol do sound like joy division. but what is the problem with sounding like joy division? joy division are awesome. it isn't as though interpol blatantly copied the bassline in isolation or anything: there is a similar voice, a similar detached coldness, similar distant, lost vibes. in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with this. to have an idea in your head that someday along will come a band whose music is entirely, totally original is overoptimistic and improbable.

what about these dudes:

the arcade fire are probably the single most blog-acclaimed band in the entire universe. i have never heard of anyone who claims to HATE THE ARCADE FIRE. when funeral came out i am sure everybody in the world who likes indie music heard wake up and jizzed in their collective pants.
WAKE UP --- THE ARCADE FIRE.
this song speaks to the youth of the world in, i think, the same way that rap music tries to: DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN!!! THERE IS HOPE YET FOR YOU!!! "children, wake up, hold your mistake up!"
people never delve into the fact that the arcade fire are derivative because they are so blog-beloved (this is like animal collective. no one ever says anything bad about animal collective. except me. that's why you love me). when i first heard neighborhood #2, i was in eighth grade, and i thought it was the talking heads.
PSYCHO KILLER --- TALKING HEADS.
i really like the arcade fire and i think they really changed the face of indie pop music. i was reading an article about them that said they made it no longer acceptable to "mope and sound like joy division" --- now, you have to overcome something and work in interesting instruments and philosophize on your failures and create solutions and then bang on unique percussion. ALL THAT SAID, they are derivative.


NOW: i have thought for a while now that ra ra riot do orchestral pop better than the arcade fire. want proof? okay:
GHOST UNDER ROCKS --- RA RA RIOT.
since the arcade fire were making music before ra ra riot were, we can say that ra ra riot are a derivative of the arcade fire's orchestral pop stylings. HOWEVER, you can say what you want but i cannot think of an arcade fire song that is more affecting than ghost under rocks.
i might just really, really, really, really like ra ra riot. and their live show is devastating.


these are just a few examples. the point that i'm trying to make here is that, in my opinion, hating a band because they are derivative is pointless and will leave you hating every band in the world if you stick to your principles. there are some songs that i hear and i think "jesus you guys, THIS IS THE EXACT DRUM RHYTHM FROM CECELIA!" and i am disappointed that this band, whoever they are, could not get up the originality to write something of their own. this, however, is really rare (i totally made up that circumstance above) and usually bands tend to put all their influences together and make a sound that is their own.

thank you.

Friday, April 3, 2009

A QUESTION I HAVE REPEATEDLY ASKED MYSELF

yesterday i bought all points west tickets (and you should buy them too!), which would enable me to see vampire weekend for the sixth time. today i asked my friend simone to send me the link to buy tickets to see vampire weekend at smith college in massachusetts on april 22 (i will be visiting my future alma mater, adjacent mount holyoke college, on this day). this means that, by july 31 2009, i will have seen vampire weekend seven times. vampire weekend has written and performed at some point (by my count) seventeen songs, and if we are to do some terrible math this means i will have seen vampire weekend approximately once for every two songs they have written. this prompted me to demand of myself a question i have heard many, many times in the past year and a half wherein i have spent at least 50% of my music listening time listening to this band:

WHY, WHY, WHY DO I LIKE VAMPIRE WEEKEND SO MUCH?
and its subsequent FOLLOW-UP QUESTION....
WHY, WHY, WHY DO OTHER PEOPLE HATE VAMPIRE WEEKEND SO MUCH?

let's introduce this by saying that, like IT'S THE MONEY SHOT has a "boner for MGMT," i have A BONER FOR VAMPIRE WEEKEND (i understand that i am a girl and this is physically impossible. think about the metaphors here). so let's talk about WHY.

every good argumentative essay starts with a concessions paragraph, so here i will make some concessions as to why people think vampire weekend suck / are not worthy of my repeated support.
1) as i mentioned earlier, they have written 17 songs (the album is 11 songs, plus ladies of cambridge, arrows, white sky, little giant, ottoman, cousins).
2) as they are white and incorporate some ethnic rhythms they are imperialist douchebags


metaphorical cartoon representing vampire weekend's alleged "cultural imperialism"

now in an argumentative essay you're going to want to work in why all the concessions you mentioned in the concessions paragraph are complete and total bullshit, thus proving that your point is right:
to reject concession #1, these seventeen songs are RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME. if you like vampire weekend, you can reminisce with me about what YOUR FIRST VW SONG was (mine was THEIR COVER OF EXIT MUSIC. i like to consider this "THE BEGINNING OF THE END"). hearing vampire weekend for the first time was like the moment i realized that i loved living in new york city --- and then i stopped being afraid of the subway, and i stopped demanding my parents to take cabs everywhere, and i wanted to walk in flip-flops and get my feet dirty, and i wanted to be squeezed on the six train in july with every surface sweaty and everyone very irritable, and that i loved this. i was doing something for my job on the internet when i first listened to vampire weekend, and i remember when the drums came in in exit music i just thought "oh, shit."
what i realized when i first heard cousins a few weeks ago was that vampire weekend make exactly the kind of music i want to hear. not all of their songs hit this nail on the head, but a-punk hits it, ladies of cambridge hits it, the verses in ottoman hit it, what i can understand of cousins hits it, and white sky hits it directly in the center, with mind-blowing accuracy. if you are a tough critic you might be thinking "HOW ABOUT YOU JUST GO AND LISTEN TO GRACELAND AND (obscure african musican)." i can tell you that i understand vampire weekend are derivative because all bands are derivative. it is the fact that they are derivative that i appreciate. they manage to amalgamate all their influences in a way that i find absolutely perfect. you can't hate a band because they are derivative. animal collective is derivative (ZING!).

let's reject concession #2, which is a claim i have seen on many pieces of this glorious thing called the internet: vampire weekend are mostly white east-coast dudes with good educations, and some of their songs are influenced by ethnic rhythms, namely those of africa. thusly, they must be imperialists secretly desiring to rule over third-world tribes a la KIPLING'S "THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING."
the interesting thing here is that, when you hate on a band, most people say things like "they suck. they're gay (believe it or not, this seems to be a verifiable way to dis a band. never mind the fact that a lot of gay musicians are very talented --- looks like your go-to insult just backfired, youtube commenters). they sound like joy division. hipsters like them." with vampire weekend, you get "they suck. they're gay. they sound like paul simon. hipsters like them. they're imperialist, white-supremacist, upper-class warriors."


all haterz should photoshop a giant chandelier in place of cecil rhodes in this famous cartoon. then get back to me.

my point here is that, by appreciating the music of other countries and wanting to incorporate some of its inspiration into original music, you're not going back in time and putting smallpox germs on blankets you're then going to give to unsuspecting tribes so you can steal their gold. the fact that people associate racism and imperialism with appreciating the music of other countries is SO BEYOND RIDICULOUS, I DON'T EVEN WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. i honestly hope that anyone who thinks along these lines is joking and does not actually think along these lines.

this brings up the opportunity for future discussions about AUTHENTICITY, DERIVATION, and HATERS (look out for these! you will see them because they will be novels)

i think i should spend time doing things on this blog besides vehemently defending vampire weekend's honor, like perhaps defending my own dignity. but this (dignity!) is a discussion for another day. i really appreciate writing these giant novels about ridiculous subjects, and i hope on some plane you enjoy reading them.

i need to post a song here.

GIVING UP DA GUN --- L'HOMME RUN.
you may remember my post about how sometimes the only thing that can truly make me happy is joke rap. relating to this post, this is a college rap ensemble which constituted 3/4 of what is now vampire weekend. i think this song is appropriate, dealing somewhat with the subject of imperialistic violence, but i also think that there is a lot of foreshadowing in this song to Da Greatness 2 Come (some strings and stuff and there's a lyric about vampires). enjoy it.