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!