The War on Drugs

One of the bands that I have inadvertently stumbled upon over the past few months is The War on Drugs. While listening to a Spotify playlist one day at work, their latest single, "Red Eyes", caught me by surprise. Since then, I have had the song, as well as their latest album Lost in the Dream, in heavy rotation.

Lost in the Dream has been receiving a ton of critical acclaim, most notably from Stereogum, but also through more mainstream avenues including Spin and The Rolling Stone.

The War on Drugs is coming through Cleveland tomorrow, February 12th. I'm heading to the show and will hopefully have some photos, videos and experiences to share early next week.

Below are two songs off of Lost in the Dream, taken from a live performance at KEXP Seattle. The aforementioned "Red Eyes" as well as "An Ocean Between Waves". If you like these two, check out the full session here, which includes KEXP DJ Cheryl Waters gushing with emotion after hearing them play.

Radio Silence

While listening to some songs this morning while working, I was reminded of my blogging days of highlighting (potentially new) bands to friends and family. The goal of the blog was to share what I believed to be some of the best new songs, albums, and artists that are not represented on mainstream radio. I realize I haven't posted on here in years, but I'm going to make a concerted effort to start this blog up again. Right now, the tentative plan is a new post every week, writing about what had been making my ears happy during the previous week. The format may change, but the premise will remain the same. I look forward to hopefully recapturing some of the followers and to hear feedback on writing, my music suggestions, as well as hearing suggestions about new bands. -Bob

You're already dead, but you're about to die

Not to mention any names or anything (Branco), but I received some flack the other day about not posting on this site for a very long time. Here goes nothing. I've lately been listening to Dirty Projectors' new album, Swing Lo Magellan a lot. The follow up to their mainstream breakthrough,Bitte Orca, is definitely a bit more refined and less daring, but is an interesting listen nonetheless. Check out some of my favorite cuts below.

F*cked Up

Today's jam of the week has actually been my jam for about a month now, I just have been too busy. Ok, I've been too lazy.

The tune is "The Other Shoe" by F*cked Up off the album David Comes to Life. The album has gotten awesome reviews, but I don't want to buy it before hearing it once through. Unfortunately, I've lost my membership to the torrent site I used to use to make sure I liked albums before buying them. I actually have a list that I'll drop below of albums I've been meaning to download/buy, but haven't gotten around to. If you have any of them, let's figure out a way for you to get them to me!!

Sorry for the digressions, F*cked Up is a punk band from Canada. These canucks have been around for a long time, and are on the brink of mainstream success. This song is borderline too intense for me due to the screaming, but the subtle beauty of the guitar riffs and female vocals plays really well off of it. I also love how the song slowly builds courtesy of the percussion.

Below is the album version and the live version. I included the live version because they apparently put on great shows, which is well documented in the video. Enjoy!






Albums I need:
Tune Yards-Bird Brains
TVOTR- new album
Lyke Li- new album
Panda Bear- Tomboy
Paul Simon- new album
EMA
Abe Vigoda- Crush

Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr

Before everyone starts freaking out, this post is NOT about Nascar. It is, instead, about a band from Detroit. The bands first EP Horse Power had sparked my interest. I gave it a few listens and thoroughly enjoyed it. I forgot all about this band until I read this year's Lollapalooza lineup. I was stoked to me them on there (althought I'm not going this year). The festival should be a coming out party for this eccentric trio.

Below you will find a link to stream a couple of their songs. Their new album, It's A Corporate World, is out a week from today. Until then, enjoy the tunes from Horse Power!

http://soundcloud.com/dale-earnhardt-jr-jr

Old Jams

The first few albums that got me into this whole indie music scene were Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend, Sky Blue Sky by Wilco, and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon. While at the coffee shop this morning, I heard songs from all three albums that brought me back to junior year in college. I apologize if I have put these songs up here previously, but they're definitely all worth another listen.

tUnE-yArDs

A few months back, I was turned onto Tune-yards (not doing the whole uppercase, lowercase thing outside of the title as it made me feel too much like a 15 year old girl) after they received rave reviews at South by Southwest. After doing some research, I discovered Tune-yards is comprised of Merrill Garbus. That's it. In the last video below, you will see her perform live with a few backing musicians and help from a few electronics.

When I first heard of Tune-yards, I just listened to her first single, "Bizness" off of the sophomore album WHOKILL. After about a month of resisting buying her album at Loop, I finally succumbed this evening and do not regret one penny of the money spent. The album is absolutely fantastic. Below are a few of my favorites off WHOKILL upon my first listen. Enjoy!