The right song on a pair of good headphones can be a transcendental experience. Seriously. Music, of course, is meant to be shared and heard amongst friends in large auditoriums and sun-drenched fields, but sometimes it's also solely an individual experience. Reflecting, daydreaming, or drowning out unwanted chatter, a pair of headphones is many ways a lens into a one-person world: one where th...
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Harmony has an incredible allure. Whether it's the Zombies or contemporary groups like Grizzly Bear and the Fleet Foxes, that combination of previously unconnected voices singing in unison produces an almost magnetic force. The Belle Game, a trio based out of Vancouver and Montreal, succeeds on that same platform. "Shoulders & Turns"—the first song off their first EP, Inventing Letters—is rich
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Blowing brass, hand clapping, a down beat piano, and a rhythmic racket of banging bottles and tambourines lend New Orleans band the Generationals a Phil Spector-worthy wall of sound for "When They Fight, They Fight"—a lighthearted and endearing romp through doo wop and 1960s soul. Comprised of former Eames Era guitarists Grant Widmer and Ted Joyner, the Generationals are a lo-fi pop group with .
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To put it frankly: If you have any drugs, you should probably take them now.Music: Levek - "Shift" (Grizzly Bear cover)Video: Walt Disney's Melody TimeGrizzly Bear - "Shift" (acoustic)
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Brooklyn's Acrylics and Class Actress are part of a cast of young musicians signed to Terrible Records, a label recently launched by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. Taylor, a talented multi-instrumentalist and producer, has previously proved his own immaculate taste with projects like Veckatimest, the Department of Eagles' In Ear Park, and Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's debut—and now behind th.
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Celebrated as one of the first all-female hard rock groups, the Runaways were led by singers Cherie Currie and Joan Jett and the guitar shredding Lita Ford. Merely teenagers at the peak of their success, the band members were unfortunately marketed as jailbait (think Britney Spears circa "Baby One More Time"), but the Runaways nevertheless persevered as a group of bad ass rockers who could pen ...
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A Chicago doo wop group that wears soulful love songs like a pair of worn, old and perfectly fitted jeans, The Dirty Diamonds are a small unsigned band that's worthy of plenty of praise. Dance, sing along or just sit back and take in that sweet polyphony: this band's for you. You can download the group's first EP here for free and below, the instant head buzz—"By Default."The Dirty Diamonds - ".
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Once you've settled into the quiet, ethereal tones of Baltimore's Beach House, it becomes hard to take off that comfortable blanket of fuzzy textures and sound. After their overwhelming succes last year, the duo is now set to follow up Devotion with its Sub Pop debut, Teen Dream—due out January 26th. And yes, the album cover appears to be a bunch of zebra butts. Beach House - "Norway" (from Tee.
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I like to make lists in that annoying Rob Fleming (High Fidelity) fashion: best Bob Dylan covers, top ten favorite films, greatest 80s songs not used on the Top Gun soundtrack or featured in a John Hughes movie, etc. But most important and dear to my heart is my top ten favorite songs of all-time list: a constantly evolving undertaking roughly eight years in the making. Last week I knocked off ...
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The first time I heard Brandi Carlile sing was in 2005 at a small advertising firm in New York City. Playing for about 30 or so creatives and ad persons in a conference room, Carlile's voice lit up the space with an explosion of unexpected sound, nearly rendering her and fellow bandmates Tim and Phil Hanseroth's acoustic guitars useless. It was a lot of noise from such a little person—and a bea.
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Everybody Taste favorite the Soft Pack will be releasing their first record as the Soft Pack (not the Muslims) on Febuary 2 via Kemado Records. In preparation for the "debut," the band's already released a single—the stiff chord-strumming frenzy of "Answer To Yourself"—and a video for the song (watch it over at Stereogum). You can pre-order the album now at Insound.The Soft Pack - "Answer To Y
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The great rock and roll band that is Deer Tick is set to release a four-song EP on Dec. 1st to cap of a year in which they earned universal praise, from obscure taste makers to mainstream behemoths like NBC anchor Brian Williams and Rolling Stone. When I saw the band live earlier this year, it just clicked: this music is classic—something no trend or length of time can change.The EP, More Fuel .
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The Freelance Whales song "Generator ^ 2nd Floor" is swelling orchestral pop music—unfortunately, a completely over-saturated style in contemporary indie rock (thank you Arcade Fire). However, if a song's good enough it can always stand on its own—and those meddling trends can be forgotten. Here, the banjo-plucking Freelance Whales make just that case.Freelance Whales - "Generator ^ 2nd Floor"
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The Freelance Whales song "Generator ^ 2nd Floor" is swelling orchestral pop music—unfortunately, a completely over-saturated style in contemporary indie rock (thank you Arcade Fire). However, if a song's good enough it can always stand on its own—and those meddling trends can be forgotten. Here, the banjo-plucking Freelance Whales make just that case.Freelance Whales - "Generator ^ 2nd Floor"
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A seven-piece concoction mixed with equal parts dub, reggae, funk, jazz and soul, Fat Freddy’s Drop is a dynamic and largely improvisatory group that plays what New Zealander’s call Aotearoa music—the native Māori people's name for New Zealand.According to lore, the band came up with its name shortly after recording its first song—“Hope” in 1999—under the influence of LSD. The parti
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"Tougher Than The Rest" was released on Bruce Springsteen's 1987 album Tunnel Of Love. Because of the musical influence of the time period—cheesy synthesized organs and glossy production—the song was never a favorite of mine. But recently, under the guise of different artistic visions, its developed into somewhat of an addiction. First with Mike Vogel's remix—a dreamy landscape of texture—
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Oftentimes, the best music travels by word of mouth from friends. For me, that's the case with Brooklyn ska band The Slackers—a band I might've never heard about if not played endlessly by a good friend. Fronted by the charismatic and often self-depricating singer Vic Ruggiero, the Slackers came about in the early 90s ska resurgence that saw bands like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big F.
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There are plenty of reasons to like Dawn Landes: she plays the glockenspiel, has a background in sound engineering, covers the likes of Peter Bjorn & John and Tom Petty, and is married to fellow folky Josh Ritter. Most importantly, she has a beautiful voice and sticks it to some pretty good tunes. I highly recommend Landes's excellent performance of "Straight Lines" on the Black Cab Sessions. T...
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I'm not a Death Cab For Cutie fan. They're certainly talented, but not my cup of tea. However, I found it interesting to discover their name came from a song by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. A group who gained popularity performing in the British children's television show Do Not Adjust Your Set (which also featured future members of Monty Python). Paul McCartney was a fan and in 1967 asked the b...
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Yeasayer's new song "Ambling Alp" is rather mind blowing: weird pop music spun with great orchestral ambition and lathered in a radiating wash of sunshine. The single will appear on the Brooklyn band's forthcoming album Odd Blood, due out February 19.Yeasayer - "Ambling Alp" (from Ambling Alp EP)
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