If you were following any buzz from SXSW this year, you know that Broken Bells just about stole the whole festival. A project of Danger Mouse and Shins’ frontman, James Mercer, the duo released their first album this past March.
The highlight song is definitely the single, “The High Road,” a mid-tempo groove that is sure to get your head nodding. For a while, you could snag it for free on their site, but I think they might have taken it down once the album dropped.
You can pick up the album in a variety of formats, CD, MP3, Vinyl, as well as some deluxe options with video and extra packaging.
Sorry it’s been a while, I’ve been pretty tied up in other projects. I’ll make it up to you with a few awesome picks over the next few days, all of which have been sitting in the archive for the better part of a few months.
First up, Greg and Inara are back at it with a pinch of help from Shirley Manson (Garbage). Unique covers always seem to reveal the depth of talent within a musician. How do you make something creative, while having to adhere to certain constrains within lyric and melody. The best artists find that line of changing a song without forgoing its intent. Greg’s one of the best.
This album features 8 Hall and Oates covers, and one original song, “Heard It on the Radio.” If you’ve seen The Bird and the Bee live anytime within the past year or two, you may have caught a sneak peek before the album was out. One little audio nugget, and you’ll be singing, “I CAN go for that!”
It seems like every musical endeavor Jónsi embarks on, from Sigur Rós to Riceboy Sleeps, conjures a fantastic and dream-like quality. Perhaps there’s something in the water up in Iceland, or more likely, he’s one of the unique talents of our generation.
A few months ago, if you were on the Sigur Rós mailing list, you got a preview of Jónsi’s new solo project, and an oportunity to download a preview track, Boy Lilikoi. You might still be able to snag that on his website, I’m not sure.
We now have the official release date of Go, April 6th, and know that it will contain 9 sure-to-be-brilliant tracks. Of the bits I’ve heard, Jónsi’s solo debut picks up where Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust left off, with driving percussion and dancing orchestral arrangements, but incorporates more english than any of his previous projects. Until then, enjoy the new video for the first song on the album, Go Do, and sift through a plethora of media on his site.
I know I already tweetedthis album out a few times, but figured I’d still put it up on here since Yeasayer is gaining in popularity exponentially with each passing day, and the album has been on heavy rotation in my home and car for the better part of the past few weeks now.
Yeasayer is a Brooklyn-based group pumping out some great experimental electronic indie meets world beats. They started gaining steam upon a tour with Brooklyn buddies MGMT. Both groups feature highly affected falsetto vox, which I’ve unofficially deemed the new Brooklyn sound… solely based on a handful of groups hailing from the great NY. They first grabbed my attention a while back when Kevin Pereira was rocking “Sunrise” off the group’s first album, All Hour Cymbals.
I almost made that one a wax pick back then, but I didn’t feel like the album as a whole was as strong as I would have liked. It’s since grown on me a lot. Nonetheless, Yeasayer’s sophomore release, Odd Blood, is a very strong album and has a populace of gushing bloggers already forecasting it as one of 2010′s best.
My favorite tracks, the freebie Ambling Alp and O.N.E. The percussion will make you want to dance.
Through a series of events involving Fleet Foxes, Sub Pop, and 4 LPs, I ended up with a bit of store credit down at M-Theory, the local record shop. I guess I didn’t really like the pants I had on, because I felt the urge to let my newfound inheritance burn a hole in my pocket as quickly as possible.
I asked the owner if he had any good albums that had just come in, and he had hardly uttered the words, “Beach House” before a fellow customer, a middle-aged hipster perusing the used vinyl interjected, “No, you don’t! That’s my copy, you better not be selling him my copy!”
Seriously though, calm down.
Mr. M-Theory proceeded to explain that he had two copies on hand, and had previously set one aside for Mr. Hipster.
Well if missing the opportunity to purchase a simple album was enough to elicit a near-violent response from a fellow music connoisseur, I figured said album must be well worth purchasing.
It was.
That’s why I love still going down to the record shop. You never know what could happen. I’ll probably find out next week when I’m in and the same “customer” is there that it’s some elaborate dog and pony show and I got played, but nonetheless, the album is stellar.
One of my favorite releases of the past few months, Beach House has crafted a simple and nostalgic album that oozes dream-pop beauty. Maybe it’s my wife’s fault, but them Frenchies always seem to get me. The duo hails from Baltimore and is comprised of Alex Scally and French-born Victoria Legrand. Their lush compositions and textures create a sonic space hearkening back to Brian Wilson’s hay day.
This is Beach House’s 3rd release, and their first on new label, Sub Pop. My favorite tracks are hands down, “Real Love,” and “Take Care.”
Snag it on vinyl if you can, it comes with the MP3s and a DVD with video content from various directors set to each song.
If you were following any buzz from SXSW this year, you know that Broken Bells just about stole the whole festival. A project of Danger Mouse and Shins’ frontman, James Mercer, the duo released their first album this past March.
