The Sounds of Uptown

Hi Everyone!

I've been the busiest and my finger has been broken, so I'm sorry for the lack of posts. The finger is getting better, but the busyness - business? -  continues, which means I only have the time and energy for he briefest of posts. So... here is what I've been listening to in the last month or so. It's getting colder and, therefore, the music of choice is starting to shift - intentionally - from bright, happy electronica to more melancholy sounds. This playlist reflects the shift.

(I promise that I've got a full length blog entry in the works and you, dear readers, will be the first  and only people to know about it.)


Chicago, month 1.

The Wire - Haim
Cannons - Youth Lagoon
A Little Respect - Erasure
Youth is Wasted on the Young - Young Galaxy
Age of Consent - New Order (I am never not listening to this song)
Whats the Frequency, Kenneth? - REM
Night Sky - CHVRCHES

Instant Crush- Daft Punk

Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys
Nosetalgia - Pusha T ft. Kendrick Lamar
Sea of Love - The National
We Are the People - Empire of the Sun
Instant Crush- Daft Punk
Spit on A Stranger - Pavement
Ya Hey (Vampire Weekend Cover) - Phosphorescent
Red Hill Mining Town - U2
There is a Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths

The Mother Word

Hi everyone. For the six of you that read my blog, I'm sorry that I've been silent for so long! Broke my finger and started a new job n' stuff. Hoping to get back to it on the reg in the next few weeks, but in the meantime here's a lightning-fast post for ya. So, without further ado, here are

The Four Best Uses of the F Word in Music 
(according to me)
(selected based on band significance and context of word in the song)


Range Life
by Pavement
volume to play it at: medium

Pavement - along with bands like Pixies, R.E.M., The Smiths, and Neutral Milk Hotel - were power players in the early history of indie music. Range Life is an excellent song from their excellent second album, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and it chronicles the life of an aging musician lamenting his existence and looking for a quieter one; a home on the range, where he would settle down if he could. In the last verse, lead singer Stephen Malkmus quips:

"out on tour with The Smashing Pumpkins/nature kids, they don't have no function/ I don't understand what they mean/and I could really give a fuck."

Besides sounding very appropriately bitter and sad within the context of the song, this f-word is important because it sparked a major feud between Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) and Malkmus. Corgan took it as an insult and broke off their tour with Pavement, while Malkmus insisted that it was the voice of the song's character, rather than his own. They still have beef.


Oxford Comma
by Vampire Weekend
volume to play it at: medium loud

An Oxford comma is a comma that may or may not be placed between two items at the end of a list. For instance:

Oxford comma included: "Bread, milk, and eggs."
Oxford comma excluded: "Bread, milk and eggs."

Ezra Koenig hears about this Facebook group called "Students for the Preservation of the Oxford Comma." He then wonders/proceeds to write a song about why one would give a fuck about an Oxford Comma. He gives a shout out to Lil' Jon. Ezra Koenig and Lil' Jon become friends.

I don't even need to add anything to this story.


Monster (explicit)
by Kanye West
volume to play it at: MAXIMUM

Ok, so there are a lot of f-words in this song. I'm specifically talking about the one and the end of Nicki Minaj's verse. So Nicki gets on the track and starts talking about how her and M.I.A. are bad bitches and how they're better then all of the competition. Standard rap braggadacio, right? Except this is really, really good. Scary good. This was before Nicki was well known and even before she had released an album, a fact that she notes bout halfway through her verse. Her multiple personas are all in play, she uses some wicked clever puns to put her haters in their place ("I'm on a diet but my pocket's eatin cheesecake"), and she makes it very clear that she's here to stay. Nowhere else are her rapping chops on display as they are here; by the time she gets to the end of the song, lets out a primal scream and yells "I'M A MUTHAFUCKIN MONSTER," you feel like one too. Like you wanna jump out of your chair and break something. Bonus for Bon Iver fans: he sings the intro and the outro (and then went on to do extensive collaboration with Ye on Yeezus.

I Want to Be Well
by Sufjan Stevens
volume to play it at: loud

Sufjan Steven's grand electronic album Age of Adz has been hailed by some potentially correct people as his magnum opus, and hailed by some idiots as a flop. In either case, it is undoubtably a challenging and poignant concept album that chronicles Sufjan's journey through physical issues:

"The Age of Adz, is, in some ways, a result of that process of working through health issues and getting much more in touch with my physical self." - Sufy Jay

I THINK that this "getting much more in touch" is a nod to an acceptance of some homosexual attraction. If I ever do an Age of Adz analysis, I'll delve into that theory at length. However, whether Suf is getting through sickness or admitting something to himself, "I Want to Be Well" is the breaking point of the album; its when the singer stops speaking in allegory, when he stops alluding and storytelling, and finally speaks openly and honestly. Halfway through the song, Sufjan lets loose with an anguished cry of "I'm not fucking around" which he repeats until the end of the song. He's no longer joking. If there is one thing he wants to communicate to his listeners it's that he wants to be well.

If you know anything about Sufjan's fan base, you know that a goodly percentage of his listeners are Christian kids who like him because he pairs spiritual ideas and subject matter with genuinely creative, extremely enjoyable music, something that very rarely happens in the world of art (see also Terrence Malick). Pardon my French in advance: Shit hit the fan when this particular demographic heard "I Want To Be Well" for the first time. Cries of "I can't believe he gave in to secularism" and "I guess I can't listen to him any more" and even "he must not be a Christian" resounded through the infosphere and sparked many a heated facebook/Christian college dorm room debate. I think that it's pretty obvious where I fall on the issue; I would venture to say that, in the broad context of Sufjan's discography as well as in the microcosm of Age of Adz itself, this f-bomb might be the most moving, significant use of the word in music history. When you never pull it out and then suddenly use it to say "I'm not fucking around" in the middle of an intensely personal album, the emphasis is clear, and the use goes far beyond any kind of "selling out" or "cheapening of language." All good naysayers...shut up.

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

(bonus if you catch the title reference. Hint: it relates to this blog post)

Break-up music is not the best thing to listen to right after a break-up.

However, having a couple of songs about break-ups in your back pocket is a good way to revisit old, painful emotions in a way that is far less heartbreaking and much more reflective. You might connect with a specific situation or lyric in a break-up song because you went through a similar situation; you might even hear something really melodramatic and realize how silly you were "back then," and subsequently experience some closure and catharsis. Or maybe you're mad at your ex and you need music that empowers you. No matter how it affects you personally, break-up music is great because it gives you a glimpse into the life of the artist and allows you to connect with the music in a way that other songs can't. For example, which incredibly popular song strikes more of a chord with you?

"I throw my hands up in the air sometimes
Singing aaaayy ooo
Gotta let go.
I wanna celebrate and live my life."

"And when we meet, which I'm sure we will,
all that was there will be there still.
I'll let it pass and hold my tongue
and you will think that i've moved on."

...you're right. Dynamite.

So if you're getting tired of listening to Adele's 21 (hey Adele, we get it) on repeat but you need a little break-up music, skip the Taylor Swift and look no further than this list:

break-ups.

Calling and Not Calling My Ex - Okkervil River

Folk music is all the rage right now, thanks to good old mmfrd n sns, guys who have the same first and last name, and monsters and men or whatever. Unfortunately, the things that make folk music fantastic -  namely story and emotion -  have been unceremoniously siphoned out and replaced with epileptic banjos and egregious harmonies. Mumford and Sons are the kings of saying things that don't mean anything and disguising them as deep folk ruminations, but even more acceptable bands like The Civil Wars border on asininity in their weaker moments. Okkervil River, on the other hand, has stayed true to the rich culture of storytelling that Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash started (and Sufjan has kept alive). "Calling and Not Calling My Ex" is an upbeat, yet wistful song about a guy who's ex-girlfriend becomes famous. He starts seeing her everywhere and begins to regret what happened between them, but the beauty of the song is that he truly misses her; he's doesn't just want her for her success.

More From This Band: Our Life is not a Movie or a Maybe, Unless It's Kicks, The John Allyn Smith Sails

Heart in Your Heartbreak - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

My best friend sent me a text about what this song makes him think of and he nailed it.
"Sitting in the back of my older brother's Toyota, holding hands through hoodies, crying on each others shoulders on the way back from the skatepark behind the mall. Yellow strobing streetlights. Sitting in the old treehouse smoking our first cigarette together, barely hearing mom and dad fighting from the kitchen over the sound of a Smiths record. Her kissing me on the cheek and whispering "let's run somewhere."

Teenage love, man.

More From This Band: Stay Alive, Anne with an E, A Teenager in Love

Love Will Tear Us Apart -  Joy Division

Not so much a break-up song as a song about a love that is fading away. Absolutely tragic. It so perfectly describes that moment in a relationship when routine and complacent comfort start to replace passion, and Ian Curtis doesn't know how to remedy the relationship as he watches it slip away:

When routine bites hard, 
And ambitions are low. 
And resentment rides high, 
But emotions won't grow. 
And we're changing our ways, 
Taking different roads. 

Love, love will tear us apart again.

"Skinny Love" is pretty similar thematically. All of you who thought it was a happy song...sorry. Check out "Far From Me" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds for similar themes as well. Also, you can hear a little shout out to this song in Sufjan's brilliant commentary on the bastardization of Christmas/our own culpability in it/the fact that Christmas transcends anything we could ever do to it, "Christmas Unicorn." 

Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac

Rumors, frequently (and appropriately) touted as one of the all time greatest albums, is the grandfather of Adele's 21 in the sense that it is the quintessential break-up album (possibly only rivaled by Spiritualized Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating In Space). Right before it was written, these things happened:

Vocalist Christine McVie and bassist John McVie divorced after eight years of marriage.
Vocalist Stevie Nicks and guitarist Lindsay Buckingham (who were dating) started fighting.
Drummer Mick Fleetwood learns that his wife had an affair with his best friend.

So...every single person in the band was having serious relationship issues. As good songwriters tend to do, Fleetwood Mac composed an album chock full of songs inspired by real emotions. Here's the track list and subsequent themes.

Second Hand News - breaking up
Dreams - breaking up
Never Going Back Again - breaking up
Don't Stop - being hopeful about the future following a break-up
Go Your Own Way - breaking up
Songbird - loving yourself in the midst of a relationship
The Chain - breaking up with someone who is cheating on you
You Make Loving Fun - the honeymoon stage of a relationship
Oh Daddy - staying in a relationship that you don't really want to be in
Gold Dust Woman - cocaine (both very literally and as a metaphor for a lover)

So, break-ups and cocaine.

Call your Girlfriend - Robyn

Have you ever been told by your significant other that he or she has met someone else?
Have you ever told that to someone?

Three White Horses - Andrew Bird

The most beautiful song on this list. Andrew Bird very simply calls attention to the human need for companionship by describing life as a walk toward death, and the loneliness that the journey brings when walked alone. One of his most vocally powerful songs, rich with symbolism.. just beautiful. At the end of this album - Hands of Glory, if you're interested - there is a song called "Beyond the Valley of the Three White Horses" that serves as an outro to this song.

I Know It's Over - The Smiths

Morrissey, in typical Smiths fashion, is pretty mopey on this song. But the situation warrants it; the "woman" he loves is marrying another man and he has nowhere to turn except to his mother. Musically, this is definitive Smiths. Jangly, airy guitars. Crooning vocals. Splashy drums. Played in a major key that still manages to sound sad because of the angst in the lead singers voice, especially toward the end when he almost breaks into tears singing "Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head." A beautiful song that has the power to transport you to a very specific time. For me, it's taking a walk on a sunny winter day in February, or a spending a humid July 4th drinking tea on the back porch.

Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - U2

Achtung Baby is the U2 album for people that don't like U2, and "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" is arguably the greatest break-up song ever. There's no anger. There's no spite. There is only the songer asking "when I'm gone, who is going to understand and love you the way that I did?" It's a sincere question...there's no jerky subtext of "well, good luck finding another me, bitch."It's a man praising the complicated, wild, and free creature that he loves and who once loved him, and hoping that someone will connect with her soul the way that he did. The only song on this list that makes me tear up, yet the only song that makes me feel truly happy after I hear it.

U2 doesn't play this song live because they've never been able to "capture it again."


Honorable Mentions:

Blood On the Leaves - Kanye West (Wait for the horns to drop... this song is pure anguish.)
Impossible Soul - Sufjan Stevens (much more than just a break-up song.)
Broken Heart - Spiritualized (tragic)
Breakup Songs - Deerhoof

Dog Days

The term "dog days of summer" was coined by the Romans to describe the hottest, most humid part of the summer. This period typically coincided with Sirius - nicknamed the "dog star," as it is the brightest star in the Canis Majoris constellation -  rising at the same time as the sun. Thanks college astronomy class.

We're in the dog days, folks. The twilight hours of summer. School is approaching for many of you, for better or for worse. I started this summer feeling aimless; untethered, like I didn't really have a reference point for the rest of my life. School has been that reference point ever since I can remember. Instead of summer feeling like a break, it felt the beginning of a long journey with no destination. Dizzying. And somewhat discouraging.

 Luckily, I now have something to look forward to! Now that I know that summer has an endpoint for me and isn't just a period of endless existence, I'm feeling the lazy sense of enjoyment that I always get in the last two or three weeks. Eating ice cream out on the porch, skateboarding through town under the streetlights, driving my convertible to the reservoir, pick-up games of basketball, spending Saturdays watching movies, smoking hookah on friends roofs, laying in truck beds looking up at the stars...I feel surprisingly carefree, almost like I'm about to start my freshman year all over again. I feel loved, blessed and refreshed.

So naturally there's a playlist. Put on some big sunglasses that turn everything yellow, pour a glass of ice tea, and take to the sea.

Dog Days of Summer

The Laws Have Changed - The New Pornographers
KV Crimes - Kurt Vile
Heart in Your Heartbreak - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Fun Times in Babylon - Father John Misty
Shout it Out - Mikal Cronin
Hey Snow White - The New Pornographers
Chinatown - Destroyer
Cookin Up Something Good - Mac Demarco
Nocturne - Wild Nothing
All Apologies - Nirvana
Polish Girl - Neon Indian
Here Comes Your Man - Pixies
Ride On/Right On - Phospherescent
Wakin on a Pretty Day - Kurt Vile

Laneway Music Festival

Taking a break to tell you to all go to the Laneway Music Festival in Detroit. Here are three reasons to go:

1. We should support the city of Detroit because it's a sad boy but cool things are happening there.
2. I'll be there.
3. Dash Wieland will be there.
3. Also all of these bands will be there:

Sigur Ros (whoa)
The National (WHOA)
AlunaGeorge (cool kids)
Charli XCX (mentioned her here)
Chet Faker (never heard of him_
Chvrches (OMG I <3 CHVRCHES)
Deerhunter (lead singer played at Taylor)
The Dismemberment Plan (huh?)
Flume (...huh?)
Frightened Rabbit (great Scot)
Haerts (?)
Icona Pop (I LOVE IT)
My Brightest Diamond (sang backup for Sufjan. Also came to Taylor.)
Phosphorescent (love them)
Run The Jewels (El-P + Killer Mike)
Savages (sure why not)
Solange (Beyonce's lil Sister)
Warpaint (...)
Washed Out (OH YES PLEASE)
Youth Lagoon (cool guy)
Matthew Dear (Chris Baker likes him so whatever)

Here's a little pre-concert playlist to convince you:

Amor Fati - Washed Out
Hoppipolla - Sigur Ros
Stay Away - Charlie XCX
The Mother We Share - CHVRCHES
Revival - Deerhunter
What I Like - Charlie XCX
Lucky (Radiohead cover) - My Brightest Diamond
Looks Good With Trouble - Solange ft. Kendrick Lamar
Afternoon - Youth Lagoon
All Over Now - Washed Out
England - The National

OK Computer pt. 2: Radiohead Post #1 (of 6)

Lets jump right back in. Just a reminder; most of this stuff is from what I've picked up listening to the album. Wikipedia's page on OK Computer has a lot of additional background for each track if you're interested!

Let Down 

 "Let Down" is appropriately titled both lyrically and sonically; we've moved on from excitement about technological advancement, burgeoning industry, and massive consumption; now we're starting to feel the hollowness - the loss of humanity - that attends such things. This song is utterly melancholy. The first stanza returns to the subject matter of "Airbag" - transportation - but treats it very differently:
  
"Transport/ Motorways and tramlines /Starting and then stopping /Taking off and landing"

Instead of gratitude to the convenience or safety of vehicular travel, "Let Down" calls attention to the mundanity of it; the faceless masses moving from place to place, each with a story that is drowned out by the noise of commuting. This is the second song in the "Vehicular Trilogy" (I should copyright that...) of OK Computer. "Airbag" is part one and speaks in the language of awe and gratitude ("I'm amazed that I survived/an airbag saved my life"). "Let Down" is part two; the vehicle, to our imaginary protagonist(s), has shifted from a benevolent machine to a bland, utilitarian device. Part three is yet to come, but you might be able to guess the next point on the spectrum. 

Fitter Happier

This interlude is not necessarily a song, but it provides a roadmap for the rest of the album. Pull up the lyrics and listen to it. There's not really anything else that I can say about "Fitter Happier" that I haven't said about OK Computer as a whole; it describes the initial enthusiasm of progress and innovation (or, in this song, the things that are marketed as leading to a "better life"), followed by the dawning realization that consumerism is a deadly trap in which the things that you own are the only things people see ("weird creatures who lock up there spirits/ and live for their secrets").

The initial trinity of "Fitter, happier, more productive" is replaced by the eerie mockery "A pig, in a cage, on antibiotics." Or at least we think it's replaced. The genius of "Fitter Happier" is that, as you listen through, you realize that the opening lines and the closing ones mean the exact same thing.

Electioneering  

This song is almost clunkily straightforward, and, like "Let Down," form follows function; it's a raucous, in-your-face guitar fest with no particular subtlety. But that's the genius. Thom Yorke is speaking from the point of view of a raucous, in-you-face politician with an absolute lack of subtlety. The song is rather unpleasant to listen to, BUT THAT'S THE POINT; political posturing is often equally unpleasant. Nice going, guys.

The other interesting feature of this song is the point-of-view shift; it's the only song on the album where the narrative voice changes from the man oppressed by modern life to a man contributing to the oppression. This marks a sharp contrast to the rest of the album and especially the next two songs.

Climbing Up the Walls/No Surprises

These two songs mark the most interesting point in the album for me. In our very loose underlying theme progression (excitement - detachment/disillusionment - consequences - reform), we've finally reached the consequence stage. "Climbing Up The Walls" and "No Surprises" both feature characters at the end of their ropes. In "Climbing" he's described as "a local man who's got the loneliest feeling" - local potentially describing a suburbanite, your average Joe that has lived his life trying to find security and normalcy, a family man with kids and a wife and a cookie-cutter house in a little neighborhood outside of London, a pig in a cage on antibiotics. In "No Surprises," he is likely a very similar character, with a "pretty house" and a "pretty garden." In fact, just for fun, let's pretend that both songs are about the same character under slightly different circumstances. We'll call him Max.

In "Climbing," Max's response to the stress of keeping up appearances manifests itself in the form of a voice in his head. This voice is not a pleasant one. I think the go-to interpretation for this song is that it's a murderer talking to it's target - probably a woman - and saying things like "lock the kids up safe tonight" because he plans to attack. A closer look at the lyrics gives us a much more chilling alternative:

"I am the key to the lock in your house/That keeps your toys in the basement/And if you get too far inside/You'll only see my reflection."

This verse and the chorus seem to suggest that the narrator of this song is the voice itself, telling Max to lock up his own kids. Ugh. Max is either suffering from a mental disorder such as schizophrenia or dissociative identity, or he is simply snapping under the pressure of his existence in what is called brief reactive psychosis. Either way, the voice is getting stronger, literally climbing up the walls in Max's head, trying to get out. There are sounds of bugs buzzing in the background, a classic symbol of infestation and even Satan himself (some Lord of the Flies parallels here), and the whole song kind of claws at you until Thom suddenly erupts into a metallic, distorted scream surrounded by wailing guitars- the breaking point. (warning: violence)

In "No Surprises," Max, now a tragic character, comes to a different sort of breaking point. His suburban life has driven him to suicide, quietly and unassumingly. The sound of the song contributes a lot to the lyrics;  the quiet, whimsical music box guitar mirrors Max's  bland, unsurprising life, while the dreamlike lullaby atmosphere mirrors the method by which Max kills himself:

"a handshake of carbon monoxide/with no alarms and no surprises."

What seems like musical juxtaposition (opposites: pairing dark, heavy content like death with happy music ) turns out to be quite an appropriate pairing. "No Surprises" is a soul crushing, nearly-perfect song that succinctly embodies middle-class discontent and hopelessness, especially when paired with the video. Fun fact: the song was recorded in one take, while the video was notoriously tricky to shoot and caused a lot of frustration for the band. Fun fact 2: Listen to the chorus of Paramore's "Only Exception." Or the verse of Damien Rice's "The Blowers Daughter.

Here's my somewhat conspiratorial thought. The timeline of Max's character is "Climbing Up The Walls," followed by "Exit Music (for a Film)" and, finally, "No Surprises." Max goes insane and goes after his family. They run. Max is left alone in the situation that drove him to the edge of the cliff in the first place. Silence.

My other way of viewing these two songs as alternate possible endings to Max's story. On the one hand, he violently snaps and unleashes his repressed aggression. On the other hand, the stress and pain of his life drives him further and further into the ground until it is finally buried with him.

These aren't real theories...I don't want to pigeonhole the artists by saying that they had a specific set of intentions when writing each song. However, so much of the significance of art is what the consumer brings to the table, and this is the baggage that I've brought.

Tune in next time for the end of the album!

Austin

OK Computer pt. 1: Radiohead Post #1 (of 6)

Odds are that you've heard of Radiohead. Maybe from your cool older brother. Maybe in comparison to The Beatles, or as the inspiration behind Coldplay. You've probably heard words like "important" or "groundbreaking" used to describe. No matter what you've heard, dear reader, I have no doubt that you've failed to grasp the full extent of this band's far-reaching influence and creative genius. I've certainly failed.

In these posts we'll be taking a cursory glance at Radiohead's entire body of work, with one post roughly covering the length of one album. I'll start with the lynchpin connecting the two distinct halves of their discography - OK Computer - then jump back in time to The Bends, then moving in order until ending with The King of Limbs. For reference, here's the timeline:

Intro/OK Computer (post #1)

Pablo Honey/The Bends (2)

Kid A/Amnesiac (3)

Hail to the Thief (4)

In Rainbows pt. 1 & 2 (5)

The King of Limbs (6)

The reason that I'm starting with OK Computer is twofold. First and foremost, it's Radiohead's most accessible album (with In Rainbows at a close second). Previous albums occupied a pretty specific niche - melancholy british alternative rock - and if you're a fan of bands like Blur and Oasis and even The Verve, The Bends is immediately recognizable and likable. If you're not, it takes a few listens. Contrast that with post-OK Computer Radiohead which I will discuss at length in future posts. Suffice it to say that Kid A (and onward), for the most part, is like good coffee; it's an acquired taste, but once you've acquired it you're hooked for life. OK Computer is the link between these two sonic worlds, and it occupies the gap with gusto.

Second - and feel free to argue this point with me - OK Computer is Radiohead's only true concept album. The other albums are cohesive and should be listened to in order, for sure, but only on OK Computer is there a very recognizable theme, and possibly even a story, that runs throughout. Here is my take on it, adapted slightly from an essay that I wrote in high-school. Excuse my writing style. New thoughts are in bold:

"OK Computer is, at it's core, an expression of dissatisfaction with modern life. Technology (especially automobiles, objects with which Thom Yorke is notoriously uncomfortable) is the main target, but other subjects such as increasingly detached personal relationships ("Subterranean Homesick Alien"), politics ("Electioneering"), "ideal" cookie-cutter suburban life ("No Surprises," "Climbing Up The Walls," "Exit Music"), and consumerism each receive treatment. Even the ordering of the tracks mimics culture's response to technological advancement; excitement about advancement, detachment from humanity, consequences of that detachment, and finally a realization of the ills associated with such advancement and an attempt to slow down. Awareness of the themes present within OK Computer make it a rich, compelling, tragic, and ultimately hopeful work of art that deserves multiple listens."

So, bearing those themes in mind, let's explore the album track-by-track.


Airbag

"Airbag" marks the point in which Radiohead starts to begin albums with a bang, no pun intended (all subsequent albums would follow this trend; try to listen to the opening notes of "Everything In Its Right Place" without getting chills, or "15 Step" without dancing). Lush and excited, filled with layered looped drums, strings, crunchy guitar arpeggios and sweeping echoey solos, strings, synth choirs, and a appropriately minimalist bass; this is the complete package for a rock song. The lyrics describe a car crash in "the next world war," in which a man driving a "fast German car" presumably slams into a stopped truck...and is saved by his airbag. This near-death experience is equivalent to a new birth (presumably a nod to Thom Yorke's fascination with "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying," which you can read about here), and it's all thanks to this marvel of modern technology. The song feels like a sunrise after a long night, a flower blooming after a long winter; life after death. It also sounds like classic Radiohead, up until the end of the second chorus. At that point it sounds like the song should be over. But hark! Dissonance, glitchy DJ scratches, and sounds of static take over the track, superimposed upon by a slowly building wail from Thom. The hopeful joy that dominated the beginning of the song takes on a twinge of anxiety, and electronic sounds start to bleed into the pure instrumental rock that we expected.

Paranoid Android

The anxiety from the end of "Airbag" is fully realized in "Paranoid Android." It starts out with a clean, syncopated guitar that somehow sounds machinelike; I'm always reminded of a Xerox making copies, or a tiny mechanic arm on a factory assembly line. The guys apparently made this song for fun, kind of as a joke, so I don't want to over-analyze it; however, the anti-consumerism theme is prevalent ("kicking screaming Gucci little piggy" is used to describe someone), as is the somewhat dissociative anxiety that attends the modern man. The structure of the song lends itself to this feeling of fractured identity, chiefly because the three distinct acts were written by different members of the band and modeled after "Happiness is a Warm Gun". This is one of many homages to The Beatles' monumental White Album, the other notable examples being "Karma Police" and, I think, "Exit Music (for a Film)." One of the more difficult songs to listen to casually, but it's place on the album is indispensable. And it grows on you.

Subterranean Homesick Alien

 "Subterranean Homesick Alien" is the conclusion of the first section of the album; trepidation about modernity/capitalism/technology has started to replace the initial enthusiasm that we heard in "Airbag" (I don't count "Paranoid Android" in this progression because it's somewhat of a joke, as I said earlier). The main character in this song is imagining contemplating Earth, or at least England, from the viewpoint of aliens hovering up above, making "home movies for the folks back home/of all these weird creatures who lock up there spirits/drill holes in themselves and live for their secrets." He sees the people around him becoming detached from one another, holing up in their subdivisions and find their identity in both the 1) image they present to their neighbors and 2) the secrets they hide from them, a theme that the band will revisit in "Exit Music," "No Surprises," and "Climbing Up the Walls." There are parallels to the opening chapters Douglas Adams' The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, though more subtle than the previous shout-out to Marvin the Paranoid Android.

Exit Music (For a Film)

This song plays at the end of Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (and in fact was written for the movie and later added to the album), so I always assumed it was about that story:

"wake from your sleep/the drying of your tears/ today we escape/pack and get dressed before your father hears us/before all hell breaks loose."

Recently, though, I heard the song differently and, at least in the context of the album, more correctly. I think that Exit Music is actually about a mother and her child escaping from an abusive father, and then dying in the cold together. Literally "Exit Music;" "(for a film)" is a very straightforward admission that the song has been added to the movie, yet stands alone as it's own personal story. We haven't been introduced to who I imagine is the father character yet, but we're getting very close.

A brief note about this song sonically: I would argue that Muse, a band who eventually carved out their own niche in the music scene, owes quite a bit of their success to this song (and to Radiohead in general). Johnny Greenwood's scuzzy guitar (and even the note progression in his solo) is the go-to sound for early Muse, while the quiet-quiet-quiet-LOUD template assists them very well in their more operatic songs like "Take a Bow". It's especially easy to draw parallels to this song because Thom Yorke and Matt Bellamy sound so similar when they belt, as Thom does here and Matt does on most songs.

The song sounds epically classical because it is. Radiohead drew heavy inspiration from ELO's instrumental song "After All" (which was inspired by a Chopin piece), and, I suspect, from The Beatles' "Mother Nature's Son" (another White Album track). Credit to wikipedia for the Chopin info.

Last note: Vampire Weekend does a phenomenal cover that kind of stands on its own.


I hope this gives you enough reading and listening to tide you over for a while! second half of OK Computer will follow by the end of the week. Peace and love,

Austin

Throwback Tuesday

Fun jangly nineties rock to drown out the country music my coworkers are playing:

Chelsea Dagger - The Fratellis 

No Rain - Blind Melon

Birdhouse in Your Soul - They Might Be Giants (sorry CB)

You Live You Learn - Alanis Morissette

Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger

Never Let You Go - Third Eye Blind

Song 2 - Blur

Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve

Essential Artists - Dirty Projectors

So I'm in the car with my family on the way back from a great vacation to the Upper Peninsula. Good things have happened; we got to take a boat tour along the beautiful Pictured Rocks lakeshore of Lake Superior, and I visited my FINAL location from Sufjan's "Greetings from Michigan!" album (Tahquamenon Falls, if you're interested). Bad things have also happened; have you ever seen a Golden Corral buffet after the post-church rush? Picture that, but instead of starving Methodists, swarms of Mosquitos, and instead of Golden Corral, my body (another church metaphor might be "Unholy Communion"). The second bad thing that happened was that I underestimated my reading ability and only brought three books. I just finished "Personal Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" -  a wicked good read - And now I have three hours from Lansing to Upland with no reading material. Jared is usually entertaining but he's playing Pokemon Fire Red like a smart kid. Garrett is reading. Everyone else is asleep. Daaayyum. So now you guys get to hear about why I love Dirty Projectors.

Where to begin. Oh yeah, HARMONY. These people - especially the ladies - can sing like you wouldn't believe. Harmony can be annoying in large doses; whether it's simple ( I'm looking at you, Civil Wars) or complex (hey Crosby Stills and Nash... We get it), too much harmony is the same as too much anything - egregious. 

That being said, the Dirty Projectors wield harmony like a honed scimitar. This metaphor is twofold:

1. If you see someone swinging a scimitar, you're probably going to ask yourself "what the hell is that person doing?". In the same way, when you first hear "when the world comes to an end" you'll be incredulous.

2. Someone who is a scimitar expert is most likely both technically brilliant and really creative. Make the connection yourself.

Next is IRREGULARITY. Verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus is left on the doorstep like a bastard child and replaced with... Something. Very refreshing, and the irregularity serves a dual purpose; when they write a song like "stillness is the move," the steady rhythm sounds fresh to death. Being a closet Rush fan, I have a soft spot for irregular timing, especially when combined with

ESOTERIC AND UNCONVENTIONAL LYRICS

Ok I'm almost home so here's your intro playlist. Venture into the album Bitte Orca at your own risk, it's hard to listen to. But Swing lo Magellan is gold! Hit that first to build up your tolerance, then take a shot of Bitte Orca and, if you're really feeling frisky, Rise Above.

Stillness is the move

No intention

On and ever inward 

Two doves

About to die

Impregnable question

Unto Caesar 

Sadness is my Boyfriend

The first week of summer, I was painting a wall in Sammy Morris by myself. It was early still; the sun sat low above the fields outside and the blades of the windmills were casting slow-sweeping shadows across the dorm wall. One of those mystical times that only seem to happen in the earliest and latest hours, or in the overlap of both. I remember having made a playlist the night before and I had just started it. As the notes of the first song began, I felt this crushing feeling of something - sorrow, maybe, but with no particular referent - and I sat on the bed, almost in tears, music still playing.

 I watched the sun rise and started to piece together the reasons for what I was feeling. Part if it was that I had just ended a long relationship, and even though it was mutual the feeling of loss was still flavoring my thoughts and attitudes. My best friend had just moved to LA. That sucks.  I had just finished college. Graduation was supposed to be this huge event that sent us rocketing into the world with a fistful of knowledge and a truckload of zeal, but it really just felt like the opening ceremonies for a long string of goodbyes. Pretty anticlimactic. I didn't get enough time with anyone at Taylor and there I was, leaving. And a week later, here I was, painting. 

Ok, I guess the inexplicable sadness made sense. After I finished my little existential crisis playlist, I wrote the songs down so that I could listen to them later in the summer and remind myself that sorrow is fleeting. And so it is. I've gotten to spend wonderful time with my best friends. I've got a job lined up that I'm unbelievably excited about. My family loves me. God is good, people.

It's good to feel sad sometimes. Humans were designed to feel a very broad range of emotions and it does damage when we deny the "bad" ones to the exclusion of the good. But even though I felt like a was in a dark hole the first time that I heard this list, now when I crank up the first song (and imagine the sun rising)I feel hopeful. This too shall pass - no matter what "this" is - right?

Intro - M83

Pretty Boy - Young Galaxy

Anne with an E- Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Step - Vampire Weekend 

Hood - Perfume Genius
Five Seconds - Twin Shadow

Jesus Christ- Brand New

Get Better - Mates of State

The Transfiguration - Sufjan Stevens 

Runaway  - The National

Half Light II (No Celebration) - Arcade Fire

(google the title of this post if you're confused...sorry boys)

Storm Playlist

It stormed today. Here are songs that sound good with rain. Open rainymood.com and let it play it the background. Pour a cup of tea and curl up on the couch with a blanket and a good book. Shower, rinse, repeat. Thank me later.


Imitosis - Andrew Bird
Avenue of Hope - I Am Kloot
New Slang - The Shins
Far From Me - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
County Line - Cass Mccombs
The Tourist - Radiohead
Reasons Why - Nickel Creek
A Savage Night at the Opera - Destroyer
Green Aisles - Real Estate
Love's Stepping Out - Disco Inferno

The Perks of Being Nostalgic

I watched "Perks of Being a Wallflower" last night for the first time. Hadn't ever read it either. Besides making me cry like a baby at several points, the movie invoked a variety of emotions in me (several of which are absurdly relevant to this blog).

The first was nostalgia, something that I've been experiencing quite a bit lately. The word "nostalgia" comes from the Greek words for "homecoming" and "ache" (credit to Dr. Heth's third-semester Greek class). The etymology of this word  is pretty powerful because it describes the elusive feeling accurately, allowing you to both experience the emotion more fully and use the word more pointedly (that was my blatant endorsement of studying language/reading/vocabulary/spelling/etc.). Watching Perks definitely gave me that feeling of returning to something familiar; the author wrote the story in such a way that it resonates with a wide variety of people, regardless of their high school experiences. However, along with that joyous feeling of return - of homecoming - there was a feeling of sadness. The books we read, the music we listen to, the hometowns we revisit...none of them quite live up to our memories of them, and that is a bittersweet realization that often feels painful.

The second emotion was gratitude for the music I was exposed to in high-school. A major theme in Perks is of Charlie being brought in to the world of Sam and Patrick. This "bringing in" echoes in many spheres of Charlies life, but the main metaphor that the author uses to symbolize it is the music that his new friends share with him. One of the first questions that Sam asks Charlie is about his favorite band. Charlie of course responds with "The Smiths," and later says his favorite song is Asleep. That's really the first time that Charlie and Sam really connect with one another, and it's a beautiful moment because music does have the amazing power to draw people together.
There's also something awesome about finding music on your own, something that has become much easier and far less rewarding with the rise of the smartphone. I remember hearing a song on the radio and having to wait weeks to hear it again so I could write down some of the lyrics and hunt it down (Today, by The Smashing Pumpkins), or hearing something awesome and singing a few bars for my dad so he could tell me what it was (Ziggy Stardust, by the one and only Bowie). Sam and Patrick and Charlie have a similar experience in the movie with "Heroes;" it's frustrating to hear a song once and lose it, but the moment that you find it again brings a burst of joy that Shazam is incapable of producing. There's my rant.

So, this list is mostly nineties shoegaze (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoegazing) because most of the music in Perks is nineties rock. I just went through my I-pod and  found the songs that a) fit the genre and b) are most strongly tied to that time period for me. There are a few more recent songs and songs that aren't shoegaze (e.g. The Smiths).

Nineties "Homecoming Ache" Playlist

(1985) The Boy With The Thorn In His Side - The Smiths  ("Asleep" is actually the B-side of this track which I learned after I made this list. I'm so cool.)
 (1994) It's A Kid's World - Disco Inferno
(1995) 1979 - The Smashing Pumpkins
(2009) Stay Alive - The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
(1989) Here Comes Your Man - The Pixies
(2001) Spoon - Boris
(1992) Twisterella - Ride
(1999) Spit On A Stranger - Pavement
(1992) Only Shallow - My Bloody Valentine
(2007) Lazy Eye - Silversun Pickups
(1997) Everything Beautiful Is Far Away - Grandaddy
(1999) Take A Picture - Filter
(1991) Alcholiday - Teenage Fanclub
(1997) Lucky Man - The Verve
(1995) The Bends - Radiohead
(2004) Can't Exist - Joseph Arthur
(2013) Afraid of Heights - Wavves
(1977) Heroes - David Bowie

Essential Artists - Arcade Fire

Summer is in full swing today and brother, it is a HOT one. The sky is that hazy shade of blue and yellow, the air is dead still, and heat is rolling off of the asphalt in shimmering waves. Ugh.
Summer also means nostalgia. It's when you go back to that boring, minimum wage summer job in your hometown, see your high school friends, ride your bike down the streets you grew up on. Nostalgia is hitting me hard this year because I'm out of college and I don't know what the future holds; all I have is my past. Everything that I see and do reminds me of something that I've seen or done. It's like my life is a huge reference to itself, an extended deja vu where everything is familiar but nothing is as good as it once was. As a wise woman once said, "I'm happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time." Simply put...I'm feeling 22. 

There are two works of art that perfectly encapsulate both summer and nostalgia for me, and I always turn to them when I start feeling this way. The first is the movie Stand By Me; the second is Arcade Fire's third album, The Suburbs. Since this isn't a film blog, you can probably guess which one that I'm going to talk about...

Arcade Fire made a serious splash when they first came on the scene for a couple of reasons. For one, they're multi-instrumental, employing strings and bells and guitars and horns and organs and hurdy-gurdys (google it) to create a rich-yet-organic atmosphere that wasn't really present in popular music at the time of Funeral's release. The interesting voices of the husband and wife team add another layer of uniqueness.

The real money, though, was in Arcade Fire's lyrics and album themes. First album "Funeral" was about dealing with death; "Neon Bible" about religion; "The Suburbs" about - you guessed it - growing up in the suburbs. One concept album is brave. Three is really brave. Successfully pulling off three concept albums is miraculous. Arcade Fire somehow succinctly captures three extremely heavy and complex themes by blending earnest and personal lyrics with lush music, calling to mind songs like "I'm On Fire" and "Baby We Were Born To Run" by Bruce Springsteen (or more recently, Death Cab's  Transatlanticism ). 

On these "Essential Artists" posts, you should listen to all of the artist's albums. But here is a little teaser list to get you started.

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)

Two kids band together while their parents grieve a death. Beautiful piano riff throughout joined by a jangly guitar and a steady drum.

 Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)

The confusion and frustration that attends neighborhood kids who don't quite understand whats going on in their parents world.

Rebellion (Lies)

Amazing song. Interpret it as you will. 

Keep the Car Running

The most Springsteeny song on the list.

Intervention

Pipe organs fit well with the theme of an oppressive church. Majestic and tragic.


The Suburbs (Whole Album)

Listen to the whole thing and then listen to it again. And again. And again.

You Don't Know The Power of the Dark Side.

Well, if anyone actually reads this blog, this is the point of no return: the plunge into electronic music. If you stick with me through this post, you can stick with me through anything.  An important thing about being a discerning music listener is an open mind when it comes to new genres, so drop your preconceived notions and get on board!

Arguably, the birth of viable electronic music was the song "Cars," by Gary Newman. The eighties, as most people know, was a breeding ground for synth driven music, so much so that the market was oversaturated; it's easy to look back at the eighties and dismiss the whole decade as a synthesizer-filled nightmare, lumping great bands like New Order and Tears for Fears with duds like The Human League or Rick Astley. The same thing happened in the seventies with disco (Donna Summer and ABBA = Good, Village People = Bad)  and the nineties with grunge (Nirvana = Gold, Creed = Total Crap). Despite these gross over-generalizations, the eighties laid the groundwork for some great stuff that is starting to come to fruition.

I'm going to write two lists of ten: The Light Side and The Dark Side. I must admit that I resonate more with The Dark Side...there is something about driving through a city at night with the windows down playing loud, throbbing music that sounds like the soundtrack to a better version of Tron. That kind of music is destructive and nihilistic, and I think that it's cathartic to let some of that out every once in a while. On the other hand, the Light Side is pretty awesome too. Get ready.

AUTHORS NOTE: There is plenty of wonderful  music that heavily features synthesizers (Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division, anything by The Cars, It's A Kid's World by Disco Inferno, Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants). However, the songs on this list rely almost exclusively on electronic sounds.

ADDITIONAL AUTHORS NOTE:
I deliberately left Radiohead off of this list because they deserve a whole article and their music needs to be appreciated as a whole body of work; Radiohead is VERY important in the evolution of electronic music.

The Light Side:

I Belong In Your Arms - Chairlift

Lead singer Caroline Polachek channels Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie for this upbeat, lighthearted love song that's perfect for a summer date. The Japanese version is equally good.

Similar Songs:
Everywhere (Fleetwood Mac cover) - Vampire Weekend
You Make Loving Fun - Fleetwood Mac



Side of the Road - Big Black Delta

Newcomers Big Black Delta blend deep drumbeats with an almost Tempatations-esque motown pre-chorus, not to mention a driving, excellent hook. 

Similar Songs:
Eight - Grimes
Oh Lamour - Erasure

One - Yeasayer

African drums and a fervent Tears for Fears-era synthesizer combined with thoughtful lyrics make for an almost perfect dance song.

Similar Songs:
Ambling Alp - Yeasayer
Waveforms - Django Django

A Real Hero - College ft. Electric Youth

You really need to see the movie Drive to appreciate the full significance of this song, but even those of you who haven't seen the movie can appreciate the airy vocals supported by a slow, dreamlike backbeat.

Similar Songs:
Warm in the Winter - Glass Candy
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) - Arcade Fire


Need You Now - Cut Copy

My favorite song on this list. Vocals reminiscent of Simple Minds. Sweet, nostalgic lyrics. All carried by a quick, steady beat that recalls feelings of taking off in an airplane or driving fast to meet the sunrise. "Need You Now" starts out quietly and conversationally and ends in a passionate, hopeful plea that sounds almost triumphant - probably would've worked at the end of The Breakfast Club. Killer track.

Similar Songs:
Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds
Do it Again - Holy Ghost


Heartbeats - The Knife

The Knife are royalty when it comes to electronic music and melody. That's really all that can be said here.

Similar Songs -
Kids - MGMT
Amor Fati - Washed Out (I strongly endorse this whole album, actually: it's called Within and Without)

The Mother We Share - CHVRCHES

Scottish pop band CHVRCHES have the uncanny ability to create infectious hooks. Think Lonely Island's Jack Sparrow; it digs into your mind against your will and stays there. Add in a pure pop backbeat and some masterful use of autotune/vocal manipulation and you've got the "turn it up" song of the summer.

Similar Songs:
Closer - Teagan and Sara
Recover - CHVRCHES

Steve Mcqueen - M83

Put stadium rock, a sci-fi soundtrack, and a hymnal into a blender. Serve it in a shiny clear glass at a diner in the dead of night. In space. That's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming by M83. It's a great album with plenty of standout tracks, but this is my favorite; I specifically remember blasting it while driving through the mountains at night with a good friend, stars in the sky and windows down. Almost a perfect moment.

Similar Songs:
Reunion, Midnight City, Intro, or Wait, each by M83

Genesis - Grimes

I love Grimes. She's my age, she recorded her first album with garage band, she floated down the Mississippi on a raft with her best friend, she's an outspoken and articulate feminist, and her music is unlike anything you've ever heard. She's weird, but it's the kind of weird I like.

Similar Songs:
Oblivion - Grimes
Vanessa - Grimes

Too Much - Sufjan Stevens 

The King of Indie Folk journeying back into electronic territory. In a big way. Start with his album Seven Swans and work your way up to Age of Adz. You won't be sorry.

Similar Songs:
I Walked - Sufjan Stevens
The Vesuvius - Sufjan Stevens



The Dark Side:

Lofticries - Purity Ring

I'm going to let this song speak for itself. It's just incredible. Everything that Purity Ring does is incredible. Make sure you start this one off loud - you're going to thank me when the beat first drops.

Similar Songs:
Teardrop - Massive Attack
   
Capsize- Big Black Delta

Big Black Delta with another great contribution; this one, a perfect blend of a cathedral choir and the soundtrack of Inception. In space. This song still blows my mind after countless listens.
           
Similar Songs:
Swallowing the Decibels - Yeasayer (Credit to Chris Baker for this one)


NightCall - Kavinsky

Another song from Drive. See the movie and then drive through downtown Chicago at midnight with this song playing. You'll get it.

Similar songs:
Television Rules the Nation - Daft Punk

Shout - Tears for Fears

The beautiful thing about Shout is the layering. It starts with a distant drum and a single, chanting voice, but with each new chorus another layer of synth or percussion or vocal is added, until the song finally becomes a rich, precisely synchronized choir of sound. The angst in the lead singer's voice adds a layer of violence to this already penetrating song. Eighties music at its best.
Similar Songs:
Rock Me Amadeus - Falco


Silent Shout - The Knife

Silent Shout starts out quiet, like a faint heartbeat. Picture being half asleep in your bed... and all of a sudden a fire alarm goes off.  The melody in this song is complex and addictive.

Similar Songs:
Ingenue - Atoms for Peace
Standing on the Shore - Empire of the Son

Closer - Nine Inch Nails

Layering again. Picture "Shout," but in a factory. Instead of angst, lust and rage. Nine Inch Nails invented and perfected a genre - industrial rock - and nowhere is the dark, machine-like aesthetic more present than in Closer. My favorite song on this list. (Warning: Graphic language)

Similar Songs:
Angel - Massive Attack

Shoom - Trust

Cavernous. Listening to Trust is like spelunking in an ancient cave and hearing someone - or something -  singing miles underground. The music sounds like it is echoing, or literally dripping off of a cave ceiling. The beat stays the same speed all the way through, which makes the transition into the second half sound organic while still sounding monumental. Crank this one loud.

Similar Songs:
Bulbforms - Trust

White Foxes - Susanne Sundfor

Most of the songs on this list are carried by their music. White Foxes, on the other hand, is carried by Susanne Sundfor's incredible voice, supplemented by subtle, rippling synths.

Similar Songs:                
Running up That Hill - Kate Bush (or, for a slower, darker version, Placebo. Both are excellent in their own rights.)
Lose It - Austra
     
Black Tin Box - Miike Snow ft. Lykke Li

I just love the arpeggiated synth in this song. The steel drums - a la "Heartbeats" -  are a nice touch. The way that Miike Snow manipulates his voice is surreal and almost robotic. Like a talking toy when its batteries are dying.

Similar Songs:
Silvia - Miike Snow

Hold My Liquor - Kanye West

Kanye has churned out several candidates for this list, but Hold My Liquor holds my interest. The strong presence of Justin Vernon (a.k.a. Bon Iver) provides a template for a powerful melody on top of steady undercurrent of drums and synth strings. Plus an airhorn. Kanye spits some sweet rhymes, and there's a guitar that sounds like it was borrowed from Ratatat. But strangely, it all fits together. Praise Yeezus.

Summer Albums

Here are a few of my favorite summer albums that you should add to your listening list:

This Is It - The Strokes
Cults - Cults
Nocturne - Wild Nothing
Doolittle - The Pixies
The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths
It Still Moves - My Morning Jacket
Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks
Loaded - The Velvet Underground
Nocturne - Wild Nothing
Treats - Sleigh Bells
Within And Without - Washed Out
Kaputt - Destroyer

Disco Ain't Dead

Disco is a polarizing genre, to say the least. Many people say it should never have existed; most people (including disco fans) say that it's dead and buried. In light of all this, it might surprise you to hear that, not only is disco alive and kicking, but dominating the charts. I'm talking of course about these guys:

 

Like it or not, Daft Punk's brilliant new single "Get Lucky" is a bona fide disco track, once again proving that the duo draws from a deeper well than often they're credited for. True, the casual radio listener is familiar with "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" because of the sample in Yeezy's "Stronger"or the Youtube video of the girls with sharpied arms. Their talents stretch far beyond that song, however. The pulsing crawler "Television Rules the Nation" is cavernous and dark, comparable to Nine Inch Nail's definitive "Closer" with a beat that is easier to dance to. "Aerodynamic" is a frenzied instrumental track with screaming guitars and an irregular bass beat, as good of a basketball pump-up jam as any Waka-Flocka track (shudder). "One More Time" is anthemic, nostalgic, and joyful, with breakdowns and drops that blow dubstep (double shudder) out of the water.
"Get Lucky" is brave. It attempt to revive disco was a dangerous bid in the world of popular music, full of young people who have always heard  how bad disco is from their parents. Disco is a cultural joke. Luckily, their bid paid off and "Get Lucky" is one of the most popular tracks in the world.

Here's a playlist of disco tracks (both new and old) that are worth a listen:

Don't Feel Like Dancin - Scissor Sisters
Gimme Gimme Gimme - Abba
Night By Night - Chromatics
Heart of Glass - Blondie
Danger! High Voltage - Electric Six
Love Today - MIKA
Wait and See - Holy Ghost!
Invisible Light - Scissor Sisters
Get Lucky - Daft Punk

Ringtone

This is my ringtone and people have been blowing up my phone today so it's stuck in my head. Summmmmmmmmer.

Essential Artists - Vampire Weekend

It's summer, and that means that happy music - or at least music that sounds happy - is a must for those pool party playlists, hot early morning drives to work, and nights on the beach with good friends. Luckily, the kings of upbeat have delivered another stellar album, just in time for summer.
If you're not familiar with Vampire Weekend, have no fear. Their music is about as easy to dive into as a heated pool. Melody is the name of the game, but it's not their only asset; their almost impossibly catchy tunes are assisted by well crafted, admittedly esoteric lyrics ranging from college girlfriends to Yahweh, all bravely belted/yodeled/crooned by lead singer Ezra Koenig. The other asset is the tightness of the instruments. The music is so mathematical, so precise, that you half expect it to sound cold and methodical. Far from it. Vampire Weekend evokes euphoria in almost every song, even in nostalgic laments like "Diplomat's Son" or gut-wrenching love/hate letters to God like "Ya Hey."
Vampy Weeks has been criticized for being pretentious, but if you know anything about the band it's very easy to pick up on the self-awareness and cheekiness in their music.
Every time that I post an essential artist, I strongly encourage you to get ahold of their entire discography and listen to it all the way through. This is especially easy for VW because they only have three albums.But for now I'll leave you with a playlist of some of my favorites. Happy listening!

Today's Painting Playlist

I'm painting a stairwell by myself today. Here's what I'm listening to.

Unbelievers - Vampire Weekend
Nancy From Now On - Father John Misty
Shout It Out - Michael Cronin
Diane Young - Vampire Weekend
Pretty Boy - Young Galaxy
Side of the Road - Big Black Delta
What is and Never Should Be - Led Zeppelin
Pure Morning - Placebo
Guns - CHVRCHES

Rock on, y'all.

Excellent Eighties

Eighties style music is making a comeback. Sweeping synths and drum machines, high falsettos, heavy back beats. Here's your challenge. Only one of these songs is from the eighties. Pick which one without googling and post it in the comment box!

Kings Of Leon

Kings of Leon enjoyed a period of success at the end of the last decade, and rightfully so. They filled the niche of stripped down rock that was left empty after the disbandment of The White Stripes and the slow collapse of The Strokes. Because Of The Times was solid, and "Use Somebody" was a popular single (and Only By The Night a popular album) for good reason; it provided excellent contrast to the overproduced, incredibly boring and mercifully brief reign of Daughtry and Lifehouse. Here's a playlist of older songs for those of you who like Kings of Leon and want to find some similar stuff:

Audience of One - Cold War Kids
Song for Zula - Phosphorescent (very similar vocally to KOL)
Steady as She Goes - The Raconteurs
Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
Reptilia - The Strokes
Something is Not Right With Me - Cold War Kids
Radioactive - Kings of Leon

Charlie XCX

For all of you out there that are loving Icona Pop's "I Love It" - which is a brilliant song, by the way - you should check out Charlie XCX. Charlie is a British artist who is YOUNGER THAN ME and she's fantastic. She actually wrote I Love It and sold it to Icona Pop, so you know she's good.

https://soundcloud.com/charlixcx/what-i-like-full-length-single

Intro

Hey y'all. My name is Austin. I just graduated from college. I have a little sister who just graduated from high school. Yesterday, I walked into her room and saw a One Direction poster on the wall and I realized that, without a wiser music listener in her life, she could fall into the swamp of The Black Eyed Peas and Mumford and Sons and country music that half of the people I know are drowning in. This blog is dedicated to you, Hannah, but it's also dedicated to everyone who wants to break the shackles of pop radio, stumble out of The Cave of bad music, and run into the massive and diverse world of quality songs.
Before you write me off as a mean, pretentious hipster, hear me say this: there is a place for pop radio and country...just like there is a place for Christmas music. If you're driving down a dirt road drinking a Bud Light with a golden retriever in your passenger seat, then by all means put on a country song. If you're thirteen and you're wearing Skittles-flavored chapstick and earrings from Claire's, then by all means flip the radio to Kiss 95.1. But if you really want to expand your music horizons and get a jump start on your college peers, then this is the place for you.
This is how it's gonna work. Every Friday I'll write a little blurb that has to do with music history, music philosophy, witty anecdotes, etc. In the meantime, I'm going to be posting all kinds of music stuff. it might be popular songs followed by songs that you should listen to. For example:

If you like "Last Friday Night," by Katy Perry, listen to "Primadonna" by Marina and the Diamonds.

I might post a playlist, like "Summer" or "Dark Space Music"

I might just post individual songs. Or an old song and a similar new song. Or an essential album/artist.

And so on.

Two things before I go.
1: Exploring new music requires patience. Don't give up after one listen.
2: The best part of a good song is listening to it with good friends.

Happy Friday!