Band To Watch: Fanfarlo

First of all, go here to download Fanfarlo's debut album for one dollar and by the time you're done reading this you'll be able to enjoy this London-based band's catchy indie pop. Seriously though, do it, this one dollar offer ends the 4th.

Drawing comparisons to bands like Arcade Fire and Belle & Sebastian, Fanfarlo has big shoes to fill, but with the release of Reservoir the band is taking a step in the right direction; Reservoir takes the listener through a land of supple instrumentation and alluring orchestration. The thing that stands out the most about this album is just that, it's an album. Too many bands today attempt to write albums chock full of sagas and masterpieces which result in an overcrowded, incohesive album. Luckily, Fanfarlo has been able to avoid this pitfall and as a result we have Reservoir, a saga and masterpiece all it's own.

Watch out for this band to slowly grow a following...

Fanfarlo - I'm A Pilot
iTunes/Fanfarlo

-Bishop-

Chairlift on Ferguson

We know all know the song "Brusies" by Chairlift by now. It was basically crowned indie pop gem of all time a little while back. Nevertheless, the reason it is so popular is because of how impossible to resist it truly is. As I listen, the second she goes into that falsetto of gold, I melt instantaneously. Anyway, Chairlift took their first step towards world domination Friday night when they performed the song on Craig Ferguson, instantly melting the hearts of the couple hundred people who stay up that late. Also, another classic Craig moment in which Bob Barker destroys Craig's desk with his bare hands.





Chairlift's MySpace
-Donovan

Some Radiohead?

I've recently been trying to suck up as much Radiohead as I can, especially b-sides and EP's. I figured I'd post a few of them here to not only sway someone to fall in love with Radiohead, but also to show their amazing versatility.

Photo from Dead Air Space

Radiohead- Worrywort
"Worrywort" is off the Amnesiac b-sides and the Knives Out single. It's not only my favorite track that didn't make one of their albums, it's up there with my favorite tracks of their entire collection. Everything about it is so fleeting, and it's almost like after you listen to it just sort of floats away. Just me? Alright.
iTunes / amazon

Radiohead- The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
I get really weird imagery when I hear this song. Like corpses coming back to life and dancing around Yorke as he sings. Especially towards the end, I can just picture a bunch of goblins and ghouls on puppet strings eerily moving about. Just me again? Anyway, it too is off the Amnesiac b-sides and the Pyramid Song single, and I adore it.
iTunes / amazon

Radiohead- Gagging Order
Going in a completely different direction, "Gagging Order" is a much softer song than the one above, but just as much satisfying. As one of the few good songs off the Com Lag EP, this is a breathe of fresh air in comparison to the regular Radiohead sound. It just goes to show, Yorke + acoustic = money. But then again, Yorke + anything = money.
iTunes / amazon

DEAD AIR SPACE
Radiohead MySpace

-Chandler

Days Like These

People Under the Stairs make music that's made for the summertime. Seriously, invest in one or two of their albums, you may end up listening to them and only them 'til this winter. O.S.T. and Stepfather are classics, I seriously can't plug them enough.

Today was one of those perfect summer days. The northeast has been doused with rain for weeks, and we all needed the sunshine. Here are two songs from People Under the Stairs, exactly what you need to start your Saturday night off right. Who wants to have a barbeque??

People Under the Stairs - Days Like These
People Under the Stairs - Jamboree Pt. 1

Amazon / iTunes

-Chris

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band Records Daytrotter Session

This is a band that my sister tipped me off on a long while back, and I had always ignored the suggestion, until now. Fortunately, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band recently sat down with those gentle boys over at Daytrotter and recorded a few songs for our listening pleasure. Be sure to check out their myspace as well.

-Bishop-

New Free Song from Fleet Foxes

While my love for Fleet Foxes has diminished slightly since last summer, I'm still rootin' for the guys. Amidst all the over-hyped bands riding the trendy wavves to success, Fleet Foxes are just a bunch of awkward friends recording folksy songs.

Anyways, after the band recently played the Glastonbury festival in the UK, lead singer Robin Pecknold recorded this new song, available for download below. It doesn't matter if you've never heard their music or if you're a hardcore fan looking for more, take a listen. As always, right-click and "save as" in order to download the mp3 onto your computer.

Fleet Foxes - Blue Spotted Tail

Amazon / iTunes

-Chris

Big Ups

As everyone already knows, Michael Jackson died yesterday at the age of 50. I personally just want to say how awesome MTV was last night for showing old MJ videos and bringing in artists who had worked and been influenced by him (which is almost everyone). To be honest, it was the first time I think I've ever watched MTV. It was on all night, just scrolling through the same videos and same melancholy monologue concerning his death. In retrospect, it should have made me pretty angry about the pitiful state MTV is in nowadays, shamelessly parading its seemingly endless group of shows which don't concern music in the least. In part, blogs like this one can actually thank MTV for becoming completely useless in musical reporting, because they in essence helped create the blogosphere by doing so poorly. They definitely showed last night that they were capable of being cool, but unfortunately in a day or so they'll return to the pitiful drudgery. And for those of you who enjoy MTV, I'm sorry, but I don't know if it really has much right to have music anywhere in the name nowadays. Anyway, I just wanted to say that MTV was really cool last night, if only for last night.

-Donovan

I Just...I Just...

With fellow blogmates running for tampons as they jubilantly awaited the release of Regina Spektor's latest album, Far, I finally decided to give her a shot.

Holy Poopsicle! This chick is good!

Despite the fact that I loathe being the guy that jumps on the bandwagon, I wish I could shout my love for Regina from a mountaintop, but I don't have a mountaintop, I have a blog! All I have to say is if you haven't given her a chance yet, pick up a copy of Soviet Kitsch and fall in love. And if you have already fallen in love, fall in love again by listening to the opening track of 2004's Soviet Kitsch again!

Regina Spektor - Ode To Divorce

-Bishop-

Michael Jackson Is Dead

Michael Jackson has died at the age of 50. According to several sources (including the ever-questionable TMZ), Jackson suffered a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital around 2:30pm pacific time this afternoon. We'll let you know more once we know more, but right now you know as much as we do, if not more.

Song o' the Week #24

Photo from Harlem MySpace

I've been listening to Harlem's Free Drugs a lot lately as news came that they signed with Matador and will release their second album sometime next year. This is great news for everyone, because not does it mean another great act is added to the Matador roster, but also Harlem's next release should get some more attention. Which they certainly deserve.

Harlem- Caroline
iTunes / amazon
Harlem MySpace

-Chandler

New Banners On fork/knife!

Hopefully by now you've noticed the new banner across the top of our site. Every two weeks or so (we're not sure yet), there'll be a new banner, incorporating the great design of either an album cover or concert poster. You can find the information concerning each banner on the top of the right hand column of the page, while it's up. We've already collected forty or so banners that will keep things interesting and fresh.

Naysayers, embrace change! This guy's got the idea.

Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A Changin'

Amazon / iTunes

-Chris

Revisiting an Old Friend

I recently experienced an insatiable urge for some Sigur Rós, and when you experience such an urge where better to go than Ágætis byrjun? And it truly is a magical album, but my favorite track is so majestic, so fantastic, it must be heard rather than discussed. Here's Olsen Olsen, the eighth track off Ágætis byrjun, which has very strong roots in classical music. It's also secretly about the Olsen twins, but everyone already knows that.

Sigur Rós - Olsen Olsen
Buy Song:ITunes

-Donovan

New Don Diablo

We just got this in our mailbox today. Don Diablo takes The Roots' "The Seed 2.0" and spices it up a bit, and it's quite good. Plus, it's nice to see The Roots get some love while they're wallowing in Fallon's still mediocre humor on his late night show. Anyway, enjoy this tasty ditty and to all our European readers: Don Diablo is playing June 27 at Pete Tong's Wonderland night at Ministry of Sound in London and June 28 at the Glastonbury Festival in the Dance Village (West Dance).

Don Diablo- The Seed 3.0
Don Diablo MySpace
The Roots MySpace

-Chandler

Album Review: Dragonslayer

"Get this album."

I have to admit: the first time I heard this album I was rather underwhelmed, and the only track that really stood out was the epic ten minute closer "Dragon's Lair." As it would turn out, this is such a great example of an album that swells up with goodness and grows to perfection with more listens. I have no idea how Spencer Krug keeps up this ridiculous amount of musical output (he's been a part of twelve full length studio albums in the last four years), but I think this may be his finest release to date. Every song unravels with subsequent listens to reveal the intricate melodies and, more importantly, the lyrics. The album contains some of the most beautiful and captivating lyrics I've heard in a long time, and following Krug through his journey while his words spill out is just as impressive and enjoyable as the backing instrumentation, if not more so.

It's clear that Krug is maturing, and his music is obviously doing the same. While some may say At Mount Zoomer was weaker than Apologies to The Queen Mary (and it was), I think a steady progression can be seen over all his projects. And if this continues, I'm actually kind of scared to see what he whips up next. The energy on the album is so palpable thanks to it's mostly live recording, I don't know how Krug could possibly top himself now. I guess we'll have to see.

I know a lot of people (including myself) were blown away by Sunset Rubdown's previous effort Random Spirit Lover, so I certainly wouldn't say I enjoy Dragonslayer more if I didn't absolutely mean it. To clarify: I mean it. I can't do anymore to express my love for it: Get this album.

Sunset Rubdown- Silver Moons
iTunes / amazon / jagjaguwar
Sunset Rubdown Myspace

-Chandler

Looking for Good Lyrics?

David Bazan is easily one of my top five favorite songwriters. As the brains behind Pedro the Lion and The Headphones, he's got a catalog of fine material that is worthy of some serious listening time. Now, Bazan is recording and performing solo, and playing house shows across the country by request! Yep, that's right. In an unusual move, Bazan played several house shows in the pacific northwest, and will be playing more shows on the east coast this August. Check out more details at Bazan's website.

For now, take a listen to one of Bazan's solo recordings. It's a solo version of a great Pedro the Lion song that highlight's his masterful lyrics. Enjoy!

David Bazan - When They Really Get To Know You They Will Run

Amazon / iTunes

Bazan's Official Website

-Chris

Album Review: Far

It's been three years since Regina Spektor's last studio album, Begin to Hope, was released. At the time, I remember thinking to myself that despite certain strong tracks, it was no Soviet Kitsch. But there were definitely some strong tracks, "Fidelity", "On the Radio", "Apres Moi" and "Summer in the City" to name a few. The real problem with the album for me was when she took the focus off of herself with guitars and a more bandlike sound, moving away from just her piano. In particular, "Better" demonstrates a song for me that stopped working after a few listens. On her latest album, she moved farther away from the sound that originally enveloped me, and despite a few standouts, maturity isn't doing it for me as much as her earlier material. The songs I find I like the most are the ones already released on Demo Cassette almost 10 years ago. Sonically, the album sounds great, her voice really sounds amazing, the production is very good. The problem is that she sounded better lo-fi, in my opinion, it almost sounds too dressed up, too professional. She was the best at making songs that didn't sound good sound good, if that makes any sense (maybe only to me...) I liked it better when she was the one drumming, and not some random person who didn't write the music. Despite seeming ornery, the truth is that Far is a very good album, very professionally done, and I'm just a little sad that the woman who captivated me a few years ago is changing, but that's my problem, not her's. The truth is, she's doing better than ever, and so long as she's happy, I should be happy. Back in 2005, when I was 15, I didn't know much about music. And when I heard Soviet Kitsch for the first time, it was a total and complete musical renaissance for me. It completely and utterly changed my opinion of what music could and should sound like. So while Far may not be as groundbreaking for me personally, there's no reason it can't be as groundbreaking for a lot of people, and maybe this album does have that capacity in itself. But to be honest, it seems like the person who said, "Can't I just be left alone? I want to take a fucking bath."[1] seems to have changed, maybe for the better, maybe for the worse. You should still check out Far, but you should definitely also check out her other albums if you have not done so already.

Regina Spektor - Daniel Cowman[1]
Preorder Far:ITunes

-Donovan

Your LOL Moment of the Week

In case you haven't heard this yet, here it is. Big hit of the summer? We'll see...

Photo by Victoria Jacob

Das Racist- Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper remix)
Das Racist MySpace

-Chandler

Here We Go Magic

This is a simple post about a simple song by a group called Here We Go Magic. The song is called "Fangela," a track with a muddy sound and a persistent beat. As the song runs, melodies rise out of the murk, and the various layers make more sense. But really, it's all about the simple refrain:

Fangela, look at me / All is yours 'til the morning comes

Fangela, look and see / Feast your eyes on a winded world

Here We Go Magic - Fangela

Amazon / iTunes

Here We Go Magic MySpace

-Chris

TL/Rx & Titus Andronicus @ Toad's Place: 6/19/09

Well what can we say about Titus Andronicus? It was loud and fun, and lead singer Patrick Stickles was sporting a King Leonidas-like beard. With an array of thundering guitar-heavy songs including covers of Misfits and others, Titus melted our ears and warmed them up nicely for Ted Leo.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists took the stage right on time and opened with a fantastic version of "Little Dawn." What made it so great? Ted Leo broke into a short cover of "One More Time" over the regular beat, sending the f/k clan into a bit of a frenzy. Unfortunately, that high caliber of energy was never reached again, despite classics like "Me and Mia" and "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone." Overall, it was a solid performance that showed how a seasoned veteran controls the stage and the audience.

As always, head to the f/k Flickr page for more photos of this and past shows.

-Chandler

Imogen Heap's vBlogs

Today marked the end of an era of sorts, Imogen Heap created her final vBlog regarding her upcoming album Ellipse. For those of you who don't know, she decided almost two years ago as she began work on the album to start a series of video blogs informing her fans of what was going on in terms of the process of making an album. I didn't pick up the series from the beginning, but did eventually watch every video in sequence and found it fascinating. I also think Imogen is the perfect artist to make something like this because of her silly, outgoing nature and the electronic nature of her music. As much as I love Fleet Foxes, I imagine a lot of the musical process is just strumming guitars, but with Imogen you could kind of get a feel for her thoughts and ideas as they progressed. The segments featured Imogen playing instruments like toy pianos, megaphones, a "Hang", and even herself. There are 40 parts in the series, each about 10 minutes long, so if you plan on trying to catch up, make sure you have a big chunk of free time. You can find her Youtube channel page here, and make sure to catch the album when it comes out on August 24th.

Imogen Heap's MySpace

-Donovan

fork/knife Joins Facebook

Hey guys. This is just a short post letting you know that we've finally gotten a facebook page for fork/knife. Check it out HERE! Below is the inexplicably long list of places where you can find us on the interwebs, although I have to say that you'll find great stuff at each one. And hey - thanks for reading fork/knife.

fork/knife on the web:

twitter - read our witty quips

flickr - scope out our beauteous pics

facebook - hang with all our cool friends

-Chris

764-Hero and MMM #16

As much crap as we give Pitchfork, I plan on going to their festival this summer, because it's very inexpensive and has a DYN-OH-MITE lineup. I have to say I'm extremely excited to see Built to Spill, and therefore have been sneaking them into my heavy listening rotation when I get a chance. I've also been listening to similar sounding bands, including more bands off Up records, the best being 764-Hero. Here's a little ditty from the boys.

764-Hero - Sunburnt
iTunes / amazon
764-Hero MySpace

The big video of late has been the new Animal Collective video for "Summertime Clothes," which we already featured. So we're going to continue the AniCol trend, but add some additional videos for your viewing pleasure. I wanted to post "Peacebone" because a) it's a great song and b) it's one of the weirdest things I've seen. Until I saw the next video. The second is a short student film starring Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) as a person obsessed with fish. If you're looking for an odd time suck, look no further. And finally, we can't mention AniCol and videos together without posting an f/k favorite (ok, just Donovan and I) : the live version of "The Purple Bottle" with Doctess.







Animal Collective MySpace

-Chandler

New Album From The Dodos

There's no one quite like The Dodos. I've been eating up their album, Visiter, since I got it a few weeks ago. If you haven't heard it, check out the song and video that I posted recently because both are wonderful. Now, to the news! Pitchfork is reporting that The Dodos have announced their new album! It's going to be called Time to Die, and will be released by the Frechkiss label on September 15th. YeeeeHaw!! I've posted the tracklist below.

Time to Die:

1. Small Deaths
2. Longform
3. Fables
4. The Strums
5. This Is a Business
6. Two Medicines
7. Troll Nacht
8. Acorn Factory
9. Time to Die

-Chris

Camera Obscura on Late Late Show

Last night Camera Obscura performed "French Navy," the fantastic opener off their latest album that came out only a few months ago, My Maudlin Career. Shockingly, the band from Scotland had never performed on TV before in their 14 year career, but they certainly knocked the performance out of the park. Hopefully this will garner the band a little publicity if that is indeed what they're looking for, because it's hard to think of a band that deserves it more than them. Here's a video of the performance:



On a side note, I love the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and if you happen to awake at 1 AM, you should definitely check it out. Or if you have DVR or TIVO or whatever the kids are using these days... Here's another video of Craig dancing pointlessly but hilariously to "Istanbul" by They Might Be Giants:



-Donovan

Discovery Album Coming July 7th

If you haven't heard about Discovery yet, you're in for a treat. Just in time for summer, they're a laid back duo ready to give you the ultimate party soundtrack. One part Vampire Weekend and one part Ra Ra Riot, they leave all of their previous work behind, instead whipping up glittery pop gems. Be sure to pick up their album when it comes out on July 7th!

Discovery - Swing Tree
Discovery - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (ft. Angel Deradoorian)

Discovery's MySpace

-Chris

Video: "Summertime Clothes" by Animal Collective

This is Animal's Collective's latest music video from their fantastic '09 release, Merriweather Post Pavillion. Pick it up if you don't own it already!

Directed by Danny Perez

-Chris

New! Check out the fork/knife Flickr!

The four of us here at fork/knife just set up an account on Flickr. We'll be posting pictures from concerts, album covers from the albums we're listening to, and other miscellaneous photos. We're far from professional photographers, but hopefully it'll be a cool way for you to see what we're up to.

CLICK HERE to see our first pictures. They include photos from the Local Natives/Blind Pilot concert in Boston, as well as a few albums that we're digging at the moment.

Local Natives Band Interview

-Chris

The Cave Singers Announce New Album

Most of you have probably never heard of The Cave Singers, but hopefully this post will be their big breakthrough!

The Cave Singers - Dancing On Our Graves
Amazon/iTunes

The band from Seattle quietly released their first album, Invitation Songs, back in 2007 on Matador Records. It slowly grew in popularity by word of mouth and now people, including myself, are looking to see where their sophomore effort, entitled Welcome Joy and due out the 18th of August, will take them. The trio of Peter Quirk, Derek Fudesco and Marty Lund were joined on this record by Amber Webber from Black Mountain, and Lightning Dust and Ashley Webber, of Lightning Dust, so I expect great things.

Here's a taste of the new album...

The Cave Singers - Beach House

-Bishop-

Ohhhhh Nelly

Do you like Bright Eyes? Love M. Ward? Are you a fan of My Morning Jacket? Soon you'll be able to get all three in one package. Prepare yourself for The Monsters of Folk.

The band is a collaboration between Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and M. Ward. They are indeed the monsters of folk; between the three of them they have released brilliant, genuine albums that range from freak-folk to straight-up-country. It'll be thrilling to see what these proven songwriters can create now that they've joined forces. The album is set to drop September 22nd. Until then, enjoy this song from My Morning Jacket's early album, The Tennessee Fire. If there ever was a perfect campfire song, this would be it.

My Morning Jacket - War Begun
Amazon / iTunes

My Morning Jacket's MySpace

-Chris

Song o' the Week #23

The Dirty Projectors' new album Bitte Orca was released earlier this week, and some discussion is beginning to swirl around the blogosphere about it. Personally, I need some more time to let it sink in before I can start talking about it in reference to releases from the rest of the year. But I do know that there are a few songs that jump right off the album as perfect stand alone tracks, and this is one of them. While the song is fantastic, I'm still on the fence about the album itself. I feel like it may be one of those "keep listening until it clicks" ordeals, or it may just wind up as a "listen for a couple weeks and then forget about" ordeal. The problem is this: while '08 was seriously lacking in great releases, we've already been blessed with countless albums that need to be heard in '09, and it's only June. If you've got time to listen to Bitte Orca, feel free to stream it below and decide if you'd like to add to it what I'm sure is a giant collection of albums on rotation.

Dirty Projectors- No Intention
iTunes / amazon
Dirty Projectors MySpace

-Chandler

Local Natives/Blind Pilot @ T.T. The Bear's Place: 6/10/09

After scrambling to make plans for the two and a half hour drive up to Boston, the f/k crew was met with open arms by Local Natives upon arriving at T.T. The Bear's Place. The five-man, one-woman group didn't let the club's small stage stop them from putting on one hell of a live show. They always seemed to find a way to keep the audience on their toes and wondering how they could top the previous song, and they always did, leaving us longing for more as they left the stage.

Here's a song from their upcoming release, Gorilla Manor.

Local Natives - Sun Hands

Here are two more pictures of Local Natives, click on them to see the full size version!

After Local Natives was Blind Pilot. Although we were there to see Local Natives, Blind Pilot took the stage to a packed house. They were smooth and crisp, proving why they were the headlining act for the night. It wasn't a show meant to get people dancing, but instead one that had people singing along as they enjoyed every strum of Israel Nebeker's guitar and every vibration of his vocal chords.

Overall, it was fantastic night. We look forward to seeing Local Natives and Blind Pilot again, and we recommend that you catch their show if they come to your town. If you see them, be sure to say hello to the guys from Local Natives, they're a fun group of down-to-earth guys that seem to be having the time of their lives.

-Bishop-

Music Movies Monday #15

Blast! A day late again. Oh well, this MMM isn't very fun either. MGMT turned in a solid effort last year, along with the incredibly catchy tune "Kids." Recently, they churned out a music video for it that is getting some attention around the word wide interweb. I don't think it's very good, but it's certainly interesting. Though, it will be more interesting to discover the effects that making the video had on this poor child years down the road. In any event, it features Joanna Newsom looking mighty foxy.



-Chandler

These United States New Album Details

It's been quite a long time since the last These United States album, and they've finally released details on their next effort. Hitting the streets Sept. 1, Everything Touches Everything will feature that cool album art and this tracklist:

1. I Want You to Keep Everything
2. Will It Ever
3. Everything Touches Everything
4. Night & the Revolution
5. The Secret Door
6. Conquest & Consequence
7. I'm Gonna Assemble a City
8. Good Bones
9. The Important Thing
10. End
11. Good Night Wish

Why am I so excited? Because they make simple gems like this:

These Unites States- First Sight (acoustic Daytrotter Session)
itunes / amazon

They're touring extensively in July, so if you wish to catch them live, check out their tour dates on their MySpace

-Chandler

Dungen Brings the Swede-Rock

Chances are, you haven't heard of Dungen, and I don't hold it against you. There's enough music happening in North America that keeping tabs on the Swedish music scene seems totally unnecessary. Well, Dungen is here to prove everyone wrong. Think Sigur Ros with catchier melodies, deeper grooves, and more rock. The vocals are in Swedish, but it definitely doesn't matter that you can't understand what they're saying. The music is lush and shimmery, due in large part to the band's impressive instrumentation. Their most recent album, 4, is wonderful summer music. Here's a sample, a song called "Det Tar Tid." Enjoy!

Dungen - Det Tar Tid
Amazon / iTunes

Dungen MySpace


-Chris

Nashville

Kate Nash is great. She spins simple melodies laced with charm and inventiveness. I am a big time fan of her debut album, Made of Bricks. Something about its down-to-earth nature really encapsulated me a while back, and now as I revisit the material, I realize there is a tremendous power behind the album and it is really an absolutely fantastic debut album. The truly fantastic thing about the album is how deep it goes, I can name 10 songs I find really fantastic off it. There aren't a ton of albums for which that's true, so although she may have a poppy star, she can deliver an entire album, something which I think is important. The subject matter of the album is mainly based on relationships, but there are some fantastic moments when she breaks out of the mold and spins some truly bizarre and interesting lyrics. I recommend going out and familiarizing yourself with this young lady, because she has some new material in the works, and when it comes out you can totally be like, "Dude, I know her, she's great!" On a side note, she's one of the most attractive redheads I've ever seen. In fact, she's third on the list behind Molly Ringwald and fellow blogmate Chris Hoge. Enjoy my favorite, and perhaps the most mundane, song of the album, "Mouthwash."

Kate Nash - Mouthwash
Buy Song:ITunes

Kate Nash's MySpace!

-Donovan

Song o' the Week #22

A while back, Sup Pop released a free zip file containing some great songs from some great artists. Like one would assume, it's great. The ones that stuck with me were the Grand Archives' new song and Tiny Vipers' new tune, both enjoyable for different reasons. Anywho, here's the aforementioned Tiny Vipers song, because I find it too relaxing and good not to post. It's off her upcoming album Life On Earth, which will be released next month. If you'd like the entire zip file, head here to download it. It's super cool and not a virus! And it contains some good tuneage from some other Sup Pop bands, like those Fleet Foxes guys.

Tiny Vipers- Dreamer

Tiny Vipers MySpace

-Chandler

Wooly Mammoth's Mighty Absence

Mount Eerie is the musical project of Phil Elverum. On record, his music is noisy, scattered, and experimental. However, much of Mount Eerie's material is available in acoustic form on rare live recordings. Thanks to my brother, we've gotten our hands on a high-quality version of Elverum playing "Wooly Mammoth's Mighty Absence." Check out this great live take. If you like it, I highly recommend taking a look at the rest of Mount Eerie's material, as well as Elverum's old projcet, The Microphones.

Mount Eerie - Wooly Mammoth's Mighty Absence
Amazon/iTunes

Mount Eerie MySpace

-Chris

My Favorite Albums Before and After Y2K

Since I didn't have the luxury of having parents who heavily influenced my taste in music, like Hoge did, I have had to search for music on my own. For many years I didn't think too much of music, so I just listened to whatever was popular, from 50 Cent to the Barenaked Ladies.

Fortunately, once I got into high school my friends and sisters introduced me to good music, and immediately upon listening I knew I needed more. I began to branch out in every direction, finding things I loved, things I hated, and everything in between.

So, after five or so years I have compiled this list of eighteen albums, nine that were released before the new millennium, and nine that have been released since, all of which have impacted my life in one way or another.

Pre-2000

(from top left to bottom right)

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Phish - Junta
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
Bob Marley - Legend
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
My Morning Jacket - Tennessee Fire
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out
Neutral Milk Hotel - In An Aeroplane Over The Sea
Radiohead - The Bends

Post-2000Radiohead - Amnesiac
Wilco - Kicking Television
Explosions In The Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
Andrew Bird - Armchair
Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time

-Bishop-

The Dodos

As a music listener, the most gratifying feeling can come from finding the perfect band at the perfect time. For me, this is happening right now with The Dodos. I'd loosely describe their music as folk music with a thick layer of drumming underneath. Their incredible album, Visiter, has an unstoppable momentum, yet you never get the feeling that the band is out of control as they barrel along. To boot, they've got some of the most interesting lyrics that I've heard in a long time.

Here's a sample, a song called "Walking." Compared to the rest of the album, it's one of the more subdued and melodic songs. A perfect song to start the album, and a great introduction to the band.

The Dodos - Walking
Amazon/iTunes

Check out this great video from Pitchfork, it's a live performance of The Dodos playing some of their best songs.



The Dodos MySpace Page

-Chris

Your LOL Moment of the Week

A while back, I bought the theme song for the show Welcome Back, Kotter. Because, let's face it: that's a great song. I passed it in my iTunes today, and it put me on a spree of listening to a bunch of theme songs from shows. It was when I searched for 'Full House Theme Song' that I struck upon our LOL moment of the week. I saw a number of people saying that a recent song by Green Day very closely resembles the theme from Full House. Which meant I had to delve deeper. Whether it was cryptomnesia, blatent theivery, or just a longing for the lost days of Uncle Jesse, it seems as though Full House has found its way into the subconcious of the boys from Green Day. Don't believe us? Have a listen for yourself:


Jesse Frederick- 'Full House' Theme Song

Green Day- 21 Guns (Solo)

-Chandler

Your Good News of the Week

Sometimes it pays to read Pitchfork, and this is one of those times. They posted a link that brings us your good news of the week. As most of us had hoped, James Murphy is currently making a new LCD Soundsystem record according to his latest MySpace post. In addition, he gave a rather detailed account of his night at the MTV Movie Awards with his friend Aziz Asnari, which proves why he is simply one of the coolest people on Earth. As if his music didn't prove enough. I think it's safe to say all of f/k is very eagerly awaiting this release, whenever that may be. Murphy writes:

"making a record is strange. last time i made a record i had a pretty brutal and miserable experience. then i made something that wasn't the record, went back to said record, and had a great experience. it all worked out. this time i'm having a pretty great experience. i like the record more, but have no idea if that means it's better or anything. it's just more fun. the shitty full-days of lying on the floor stuck in my own head about things has been pushed back into hours, or only one hour, here and there. i also get to swim in the morning, and do things like that. which is good. which makes the record better, i think. because now when i'm not actually working on the record, i'm doing something i like and that occupies my mind, rather than sitting in a room with my head in my hands wondering if i still know how to make music.

i was very hungover today, mainly because i drank a lot of drinks with alcohol in them yesterday. i accompanied my tv star friend to the mtv movie awards because it seemed like the most hilariously hollywood thing i could possibly do right then, and wound up at times pretending to be either his publicist or body guard, which was very funny. i also ate a lot of these skewers with a shrimp and a green olive on them. they were good, but not substantial enough really to soak up the shitty free beer that they have at these things.

while at the awards, i learned a few things:

1. will ferrell is very nice in person, and must be exhausted with how much effort he puts in to seeming like a decent, regular guy. i met him very quickly and he was so absurdly nice that i felt like a dick for all the times i was wooden and awkward with strangers at a festival or something.
2. danny mcbride is fucking hilarious. and pretty much like you expect.
3. eminem is a better actor than you think.
4. pr people and "young hollywood" seem like, literally, different species of animal.
5. young, self-satisfied, confident celebrities are weird to be near.
6. the more excited young people are about an actor/actress, the less likely i am to recognize them. there is an inverse relationship formula for volume-of-screaming to person-i-recognize that i'm working on.
7. jason 'mayhem' miller has a very large head. and that's coming from ME.
8. talking for 2 minutes with ben stiller about something totally unrelated to the mtv movie awards while at the mtv movie awards makes people audibly say "who is that talking to stiller??" in total, unselfconscious earshot of the subject (me) while said subject (still me) walks back to the bar area. they'll actually point.
8b. being at an event thrown by a company called "music television" pretty much ensures that you will not be recognized by anyone at all except for the people you show up with, previously know, and danny mcbride.
9. comedians are funny in person, but not the way you think.
10. hollywood likes to stratify, and being the +1 of a tv personality makes you pretty low on the list, but if you've just said hi to will ferrell, and he looked at you in some way that could be interpreted as "familiar"--largely because he's kind, and you blurted something about him using "north american scum" in "stepbrothers"--you can basically walk into any room you want and take beer for the next 5 minutes. it's like getting an invincibility pill in pac-man. you can feel the power start to blink after you cruise out with 4 beers from the 3rd dressing room, so you should probably head back to your friends and share the beers.
11. chris isaacs likes his dog.
12. forest whittaker is disarmingly friendly.
13. i, as a person, am oddly frightened (i'm saying frightened here--not intimidated) by jim carey.

i think like being a largely anonymous dude in a weird band that most people don't know about. it's nice. i wouldn't want to be a movie star. i mean, i feel like i knew that, but it's good to have your feelings validated like that once in a while. because it's easy to sit back and say "i wouldn't want to be a movie star" when it's totally not a salient point... but being there, with everything seeming so easy for them, still didn't make me want any of it. except the free stuff.

today i woke up late, sat around in a horrible state, until i went in the pool and played "goodminton" (which is badminton where the object is to keep the birdie in play as long as possible), ate in n' out burger, and watched several episodes of the BBC show "ashes to ashes", which has amazing music.

tomorrow i'll wake up early, do a little jiu jitsu stuff, swim, shower, get into my making-a-record outfit, eat an avocado and a hard boiled egg, make an amazing coffee, and get to work on a new song. gavin russom (gavin and delia, black leotard front, black meteoric star) is here for a few days, so maybe i can get him to wrangle some synths with me. i have a good feeling about tomorrow, frankly. and i'm also terrified that i'll never make anything good again.

that works.

oh: my tv friend is aziz ansari. thanks, aziz."

LCD Soundsystem- Thrills
iTunes / amazon

-Chandler

Black Moth Super Rainbow

Prepare yourself for a healthy dose of trippy electronic psychedelia. Black Moth Super Rainbow is one of those rare groups that sound exactly like their band name. Using futuristic tools like vocoder, their songs are tangibly fuzzy and dripping with color. The distorted keyboards and unstoppable beats of Black Moth Super Rainbow have a distinct and specific appeal that you'll either love or hate. Take a listen and see what you think!

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Rollerdisco
Amazon/iTunes

Black Moth Super Rainbow MySpace Page


-Chris

Music Movies Monday #14

Keeping with the Grizzly Bear theme, I thought I'd quickly post this relatively new music video for their song "Two Weeks" for those who haven't seen it. I really like this video for some reason, but I'll let you guys be the judge.

Two Weeks


-Chandler

Song o' the Week #21

This will actually be song o' the week for last week, and I'll give you a new one this Friday. Like we previously stated, there are some changes a-comin' for the blog, so stick with us for a little while longer while we work it all out. The real song o' the week for me is off Sunset Rubdown's upcoming album Dragonslayer, but because it's not out yet, it's rather frowned upon to post a song from it. But when the release date comes, expect a glowing review. Anyway, on to this week. Which is actually last week.

Last Tuesday we saw some great releases, including the new Grizzly Bear album Veckatimest, Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, and Mandy Moore's Amanda Leigh. Okay, the only one I really enjoy/care about is Veckatimest, and it seems like the rest of the world tends to agree. After its ridiculously early leak, we got a low quality feel for this masterpiece, along with those increasingly annoying ">" comparisons with Animal Collective. It took a few listens to win me over, but Veckatimest eventually turned into a beautiful mosaic of harmonies, and is really worth picking up if you haven't already. To win you over, here's possibly my favorite song from the album, which was debuted before the leak on late night talk shows. Which reminds me: make sure you watch the debut of Conan on the Tonight Show tonight, as it's sure to be gold.

Grizzly Bear- While You Wait For The Others
iTunes / amazon
Grizzly Bear MySpace

-Chandler