Bon Iver

image compiled from zealous

someway, baby, it’s part of me, apart from me.
you’re laying waste to Halloween
you fucked it friend, it’s on it’s head, it struck the street
you’re in Milwaukee, off your feet

…and at once I knew I was not magnificent
strayed above the highway aisle
{jagged vacance, thick with ice}
I could see for miles, miles, miles

3rd and Lake it burnt away, the hallway
was where we learned to celebrate
automatic bought the years you’d talk for me
that night you played me ʻLip Paradeʼ
not the needle, nor the thread, the lost decree
saying nothing, that’s enough for me

and at once I knew I was not magnificent
hulled far from the highway aisle
{jagged, vacance, thick with ice}
I could see for miles, miles, miles

Christmas night, it clutched the light, the hallow bright
above my brother, I and tangled spines
we smoked the screen to make it what it was to be
now to know it in my memory:

and at once I knew I was not magnificent
high above the highway aisle
{jagged vacance, thick with ice}
I could see for miles, and miles and miles.

Bon Iver releases on Jagjaguwar on June 21. I'd like to request to be left alone and on the brink of tears at my desk with my headphones on until further notice.

Bon Iver // Holocene

Perfume Genius

On occasion I'll come by an album that completely destroys me.

Upon realization I have 67.99GB of music in my iTunes {what?! gross.}, I've been pushing up my sleeves and giving the ol' heave ho to scores of mp3s I never want to hear again for the rest of my life. I'm not talking tracks I'd be a little embarrassed to come up on shuffle during a shared road trip. You just have to embrace "Mortal Kombat" popping up before working your air ninja blades. I mean my enjoyment of four Girl Talk albums is simply long past the expiration date.

Besides the point and get back on topic, would you? Sheezus.

In my "benefit of the doubt" modicum, I can't throw out anything I haven't given at least one listen. So when I came to Perfume Genius, I judged a book by it's cover and assumed "synthy, Animal Collective-wannabe, Garage Band application." wrong, Wrong, WRONG.

After years of self-destruction and persecution by the crawling, hushed demons that haunt the sorrowful few, Mike Hadreas took shelter in his mother's house in Washington state. The taking up of a hermetic life stirred long-suppressed creativity, and Hadreas started penning lyrics to lay open dark stories of addiction, suicide and abuse. Set against lo-fi, simple piano at times so quiet you can hear the whoosh of recording pick-up, Hadreas' vocals range from harsh whispers to tremulous demands. Rather than cheap and shallow, the results are lush, warm melodies cradling his words to your ears and making you pay attention. Forcing you to look.
look out, look out / there are murders about

Released on Matador Records in 2010, “the songs on the album are the ones I think are the most real. And they are about everybody, you know? Even though some of them are directly from my experience - I always had everybody in mind.” - mike hadreas

Perfume Genius // Learning
Perfume Genius // No Problem

Mondial Creative Labs

Nick Wurz and Kevin Bennett of the hugely talented shop, Mondial Creative Labs, took to the streets after VCU's loss to Butler two nights ago. They're like ghostwriters for the wild letdown and adrenaline detox experienced by students and fans as they swarmed, alighted and ultimately retreated from the scene on Broad. Surreal and sadly gorgeous, you could be on either side of the police line and still mourn the end of the cinderella story.

Fantastic stuff, gents. Check out an older ES interview with largely Mondial-populated band, Autocue, here.

VCU Riot after 2011 Final Four from MONDIAL on Vimeo.

Adele - chanteuse inferno

Since calling for her "Hometown Glory" on 19, Adele has forged her own path amongst the teenyboppers and pill-poppers of the diva scene. With 21, she lunges like a steam locomotive back into the charts with tracks produced by hitmakers Rick Rubin and Paul Epworth. You can hear her resonating vibrato for miles through the fog of "sophomore slump," not a bit of which seems to apply.

Had she made a dance album? Bleached her hair platinum and lost the bouffant? Tried to fit the pop-princess cookiecutter? Chances are this searing album of hearts rippedraw&bleeding that's going to have the lot of us condemning our deserter for lovers and exclaiming I FEEL that wouldn't exist for exorcisms.

Goddamn do I love a breakup album.

A favored peachy track and her gospel affirming performance on the 2011 Brit Awards.



Adele // Set Fire to the Rain

Young Marble Giants

Macaron-light vocals (Allison Straton) peeping out from akimbo guitar and steel bass (Moxham brothers) were things of revolution back in '78. The post-punk act from Cardiff, Wales loosely hold hands whilst taking us on a voyeuristically eerie journey.
Helluva single-take crane shot to boot.





Young Marble Giants // Final Day

Lost in the Trees

Ari Picker (B-Sides, the Never) grew up in a small, skipped-over town outside of Chapel Hill, NC back in the early 80's. The Picker family didn't have much; but unlike the cozy fairytales where the family lives on laughter, air and maybe some loaves of sweet brown bread - they didn't have much in the way of anything. The house was one of hostility, sadness and loss. We're talking the major, scary things - parent's who loathed the space the other existed in, twin sister siblings who died at birth and his mother's subsequent depression. Just looking at the list makes me want to press my forehead against my prefab laminate desktop and close my eyes against it.

Picker got away, away, attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston where he was trained in classical composition. His love of sweeping orchestration, combined with rustic folk roots and the right people, has brought him to his current band, Lost in the Trees. He writes the music and hands it out to those who truly want to play his old ghosts out to the room. He is not afraid to tell the tale of what has been; that he had been All Alone In An Empty Room - expected to release Aug. 10.

The titular song samples the creak of old floorboards as we enter this abandoned effigy. It starts easily enough with Picker's acoustic guitar picks, but it's not long before provocative lyrical samples from actual arguments of his parents, I built you this gorgeous house/To put up with your bitch tongue, let's you know you can never be warm here. The instrumentalists come in one by one, swarming and surrounding yet his tremulous vocals remain alone.

You're thinking, "jesus h, woman. Way to shave my buzz for the week," but it's worth the listen. You'll hear the influence of Bernard Hermann's Hitchcock soundtracks in his interludes "Mvt. 1 and 2." Instrumentation is downright impressive, and as we hope for him since the opening note - there is light on the other side. Picker has said in recent interviews that the rawness of his lyrics cracked the doors that separated his family from each other. "You really felt that?" "Why didn't you ever say it?"

Well. He is.

Lost in the Trees // All Alone in an Empty Room

You're Gonna Cry

The Sandwitches - "Baby Mine" from Empty Cellar on Vimeo.

Gets me every goddamn time. Gotta go have my sandwitch now.

the National

Hi.

After a long, coastal hiatus - I returned to cubicle existence with a head full of inspiration. Tripping along boulders jutting out of the Pacific will do that to you. But a week of automaton immersion makes all that tidal beauty fade away - and all that inspired momentum with it.
Luckily, a dear friend sends a leaked copy of High Violet, the 5th album and Boxer followup from The National. The modular walls disappear and I'm back in the waves all over again. Music's f*cking great for that.

High Violet is an upswing but no, it can't be happy. That's just not their style. I spent a summer cross-legged on my backporch, smoking ciggs and purposefully listening to Boxer & Alligator for good reason. It's a contemplative low rumble from Matt Berninger. It's gothic and orchestral builds from the Dessner and Devendorf brothers - brass, woodwinds, strings, organs and enough guitar to flood the Sydney Opera House. There's cresting melodies and whydidn'tiwritethat lyrics like "live on coffee on flowers / try not to wonder what the weather will be."

And there isn't a skip-track in the bunch. Even if there was, cameos by Justin Vernon and Richard Reed Parry would keep your finger off the button. Guested by Sufjan Stevens, track 7 carries you on it's haunting winds and makes you pray to god you'll have the drugs to sort it out.

The National opens their spring&summer tour April 22 at, well, The National / RVA.
See you there.

The National // Afraid of Everyone

Phantogram

Sometimes you don't realize just how good you have it until you go and fuck things up. You spit on the hand that feeds you and it doesn't want to feed you anymore. Then it's all you can do to get one more glance at the fingernails. Those fingernails are the inspiration for today's post.

It's been a long time since I've posted anything of merit. Or anything at all really. Mainly because I've been absent. But even I can't be invisible to something this overpowering. The beats and sweet electronic melodies from Phantogram make time slow down. The music just reaches through the space, grabs a hold of whatever air you're harboring behind that epidermic mask you wear, and simply makes you high. But not like a crack high, more like a pure air clarity high (RE: Woody Harrelson).

This duo from Saratoga Springs, New York, consisting of darling keyboardist Sarah Barthel and guitarist Josh Carter, with their latest album, Eyelid Movies, have made the perfect collection of baby-making tracks that will occasionally make you think about things that are important. Things like you. "'Cause you are the Ocean. And I'm good at drowning."

Phantogram // You Are the Ocean
Phantogram // When I'm Small

Ryan Bingham/Crazy Heart

From the new country music film Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal, this track by Ryan Bingham should have you crying into your beer by lunchtime. I haven't seen the movie so I can't comment on it, but I have heard the song and after just seeing Willie Nelson last night, it seemed appropriate for Hump day. And to be the first post since Nam.

P.S. The image is Jeff Bridges, not Ryan Bingham. Jeff is much cooler looking.

Ryan Bingham // The Weary Kind

Jason Lytle

Love this guy. Did his thing with Grandaddy for a long while and could never really lift the poor bastards off the ground. Apparently after their last show, he set his guitar on fire and moved from California to Montana to record this album, Yours Truly, The Commuter. Copycat (RE: Bon Iver). I guess the point was to reinvent himself with his music. While I like this album a lot, it basically sounds to me like the next thing from Grandaddy. Although, definitely better than their last few.

Jump from your secular diving board into this abyss for a while, forget who you are, where you're from and that you have a job. Then get divorced, sell the kids and move to Montana. And whatever you do, don't take a shower.

Jason Lytle // Fürget It
Jason Lytle // Brand New Sun

Eels

From the land of the lyrically gifted, this album is a welcome mat I like to put my feet on. Elvis Costello on the upside, Leonard Cohen on the downside, and there's really not much of an in-between. It's called Hombre Lobo, the Eels 450th album (that may not be accurate, but I lost count, so...) and it's a pleasant roller coaster ride that I, for one, will be taking multiple passes on.

Eels // That Look You Give That Guy

Faunts

Born in Canada in 2000, year of Falconia, Dark Lord of Falcon Crest, Faunts have fascinated the world with news of repeated transsexual orgies backstage. That may or may not be true, but it probably is. Or isn't. Stop straying off topic, let's keep this about the music. Most of the melodies on their latest album, Feel.Love.Thinking.Of (nice one fellas) are Slow.Touching.Retropop.Dutching. What did I just write? Dutching. College experiment, I'll explain later. The lyrics will boil the love blood in your heart holes so I'd suggest some Cardene before listening. That's Mexican for heart medication. Speaking of heart medication, can I borrow a quarter?

Faunts // So Far Away

The Antlers

Bear
or, Children Become Their Parents Become Their Children

There’s a bear inside your stomach, a cub’s been kicking from within. He’s loud, though without vocal cords, we’ll put an end to him. We’ll make all the right appointments, no one ever has to know, and then tomorrow I’ll turn twenty-one, we’ll script another show. We’ll play charades up in the Chelsea,
drink champagne (although you shouldn’t be), We’ll be blind and dumb until we fall asleep. None of our friends will come, they dodge our calls, and they have for quite awhile now. It’s not a shock, you don’t seem to mind, and I just can’t see how.

“We’re too old.”
”We’re not old at all.”
“Just too old”
“We’re not old at all.”

There’s a bear inside your stomach, a cub’s been kicking you for weeks, and if this isn’t all a dream, well then we’ll cut him from beneath. Well we’re not scared of making caves, or finding food for him to eat. We’re terrified of one another, terrified of what that means. But we’ll make only quick decisions, and you’ll just keep me in the waiting room, and all the while I’ll know we’re fucked, and not getting un-fucked soon. When we get home we’re bigger strangers than we’ve ever been before. You sit in front of snowy television, suitcase on the floor.

The Antlers // Bear

Shitkatapult - Strike 100 compilation

Shitkatapult is the mostly electronic label out of Berlin started in 1997 by Marco Haas, who is also the artist T Raumschmiere. Sascha Ring, who is the musician Apparat, helped run it for a while but has gone back to strictly makin his own music.

Strike 100 came out at the end of last year to mark the 100th release by the label. It's 2 discs of ambient fuzz that alternates between soft and prickly with also some environmental sounds, though many of the songs do have annunciated beats, and vocals even.

Man it's really hard for me to decide what to upload.

Okay okay okay. One from each disc: Felix, for whom google turns up sparse info, at least in English, and Fenin, whose English isn't very good but who knows the word "homies." A lot of these guys seem to cite reggae and dub as influences, which I find interesting.


Flier for an Apparat CD release party. I might have died.

Felix - Outside on a Cold Day

Shitkatapult // Fenin - Lastkahn

Here We Go Magic

DIY DIY DIY DIY DIY DIY

so down for polyrhythms

ATAVISM RESULTING FROM OVERCULTIVATION OF HUMAN SOCIETY

face paint and amniotic fluid have turned out to be pretty hip among civil types in the end, though, haven't they? my ski instructor lives in yogaville.




Only Pieces

god, i keep liking stuff that's been featured on npr. decrepit. only bangers after this, fur real.

tUnE-YaRdS

Eventually from Portland's Marriage Records. This chick, Merrill, was into anarchy puppets and Christmas music when she was younger. You can actually hear that in the music. She attended Smith and sang in a "brazen" all-female a capella group, too, and later went to Kenya, all of which you can also hear.

She recorded her whole album, BiRd-BrAiNs, on a hand-held voice recorder. She also booked her own tour all last year, which led to the thing with Marriage and this past month to opening for Beirut.



Sunlight

Faunts

Wooo, Canadians! These guys are from Edmonton, and the group includes 3 brothers, the Batkes boys.

They wrote their new album, Feel.Love.Thinking.Of, while touring across the States. It's technically some kind of indie rock, whatever that means, but I have chosen one of the album's more Jan Hammer tracks to share with you.



"I Think I'll Start A Fire." Their record label, Friendly Fire is hosting several free downloads.

It's A Musical

What is post-irony? I propose that rather than a simple abandonment of irony, it's irony that is really fun and therefore in hindsight exactly what should have been expected all along.

One female Swede (from Malmö) and one male Berliner, It's A Musical have released an album called The Music Makes Me Sick. Their label, Germany's Morr Music, says: "It is aimed at the people and still fits to the music, too, whose smallest as well as biggest common denominator can be called pop. And sincerity."



The Music Makes Me Sick

Au Revoir Simone

Anyone for a foursome? Hahahahaha, I’m dirty. Here’s another remix, what am I thinking? I like to jazzercise to the second half of this song.

A Violent Yet Flammable World (Montag Remix)