I AM ASHAMED TO SAY I HAVE LOST ALL HOPE IN EVERYTHING

i feel like this is so fake it threatens the idea of real music. also reading the youtube comments is hilarious.

I MIGHT HAVE TO GO TO COACHELLA

check the lineup!
RIGHT HERE!
it's looking pretty good; not quite as good as last year (at least for me, whose favorite bands played one right after the other on the same stage). sunday looks like please have my children immediately.

THE BEARS ARE COMING

a long time ago, pretty much every band i liked was from ACROSS DA POND or sounded like they were. nowadays it seems like the only english bands i like are the sexy, dancy ones, with synth-laden music, who dance ridiculously when they perform live. (see: FRIENDLY FIRES). while the english (by which i mean NME) seem to be excited about the US music scene, it has been hard for me lately to get excited about the english music scene.



THEN MAGIC HAPPENED:
i decided to listen to LATE OF THE PIER, the four most frequently, incongruously shirtless guys in britain, the other night, and i started feeling better about this whole thing, because i really like them. they are easy to classify with MGMT because of the weird trippy aesthetic, but i feel like they're more creative than MGMT. all of their songs sound like they were created out of 2839043 ideas the band had then decided to combine into one song.

THE BEARS ARE COMING.
let me tell you how i feel about this song: the first 42 seconds are probably the best first 42 seconds i have heard in a long, long time. however, like i said above, this song is about eight million different songs so after those 42 seconds it dissolves into okay.
HEARTBEAT.
TRY not to love that synth line. TRY NOT TO LOVE IT. apparently i have played this 30 times in 2 days.


they are coming to the US in the spring to do some shows. after having youtubed the shit out of them, i have concluded that it would probably be in everyone in the world's best interests to go. they are utterly ridiculous and awesome.

IT'S SUCH A DRAG TO BE ON YOUR OWN

many thanks to the blog i stole this from.

today i discovered a huge gem: the walkmen take my favorite jimmy cliff song / one of many childhood jams and transform its reggae-tinged afternoon-sunlight bliss into a tortured, nostalgic anthem. i don't know how this makes so much sense to me.

MANY RIVERS TO CROSS --- THE WALKMEN.

BONUS:
WE'VE BEEN HAD --- THE WALKMEN. oh hey, piano! hey, do you remember i taught myself this whole thing in the auditorium in high school. it echoed all the way up to the ceiling. i get tired with this whole mess now. i could go back to that and learn a thousand songs and echo them up to the ceiling and forget whatever.

MELLOW OUT

here is a band called PRINCETON. apparently, not like the college.



their music does appear to be academic in subject, but what is the point of categorizing academic music as we have categorized "college" music (remember my theorizing on this)? they remind me quite a bit of belle and sebastian in terms of their sound, but belle and sebastian seemed to me to always focus on the sexual aspect of acadamia ("you are looking at the working week in the eyes of a gigolo-oh-oh!") and princeton have composed an EP about the members of some kind of british intellectual collective.
this song's called LEONARD WOOLF (like the noted british political theorist. duh). do i hear some HIGH WOODWIND ie. CLARINET / FLUTE / OBOE STYLING in there (this is where the B+S comes in! hear it?)

this is not about the collective consciousness of some smart english people, but it is still very good:
THE WAVES

quite cute and very positive, enjoy

JAMZ OF LATE PART IV

courtesy livejournal's film_stills community + wes anderson

1) BADONKADONKEY --- BORN RUFFIANS. here is a song about falling out of love, woven around one bass note, some simple drums, the ridiculous inflections of luke lalonde's voice, and a jerky, stuttering guitar riff. one of the best songs on one of the best albums released last year.

2) BETTER THINGS --- PASSION PIT. stating the truth in the first thirty seconds: "YOU'RE GONNA DRIVE ME CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZYYYYY." all full of synth warble and this sexy yelping voice: catchy little song. i'd like to hear more from this band.

3) KIDS ARE YOUR FRIENDS --- MGMT / JUSTICE / PITBULL. break this out at a dance party or when your boy (or girl) is over. sometimes you need to be told "shake that thing shake shake that thing" over that killer synth riff from kids.

4) IN THE NEW YEAR --- THE WALKMEN. this is one of the best tracks on one of my favorite albums of 2008, and i gave it to you on new years' day but if you didn't get the hint here it is again. the point is, this is a mindblowing song with a mindblowing level of power, and all of that is proven within the first minute with hamilton leithauser's faux-drunken scream: "I KNOW THAT IT'S TRUE! IT'S GONNA BE A GOOD YEAR! OUT OF THE DARKNESS AND INTO THE FIRE!!"

IT ALL COMES AT ONCE

this pretty picture comes up when you google 'white sky.'
when i talk about white sky though i'm not talking about that interesting national phenomenon that happens a lot out west, i'm talking about THAT VAMPIRE WEEKEND SONG THAT MAKES ME CRY.

since we've already delved into my personal feelings on this, i'm not going to say much, but i will say that i'll always remember when i first heard this song, because i have never ever in all of my life been hit so hard by a song, and i have been hit pretty hard by a great number of songs.

here is a really nice version... they also did that cover of ca plane pour moi again, and mansard roof because it's a classic. you can select whichever video you want, although let me WHOLEHEARTEDLY RECOMMEND white sky to you as it is mind-blowing, life-affirming, and totally fucking awesome.
WHITE SKY --- VAMPIRE WEEKEND