For the last couple months, I’ve been working with some of my favorite writers to put together the first issue of UNCOOL, a new music publication for curious people. This issue is themed and titled Guiltless Pleasures. It’s about exploring why we worry about the music we love and the forms that can take — from watching a favorite band’s career publicly implode to embracing a once-embarrassing teenage passion to, uh, skipping Arcade Fire to see Soundgarden. You’ll also find a reenactment of my SXSW panel on the future of snobbery, which was the titular inspiration for this project.

UNCOOL #1: Guiltless Pleasures is a 43-page .pdf that you can read on your computer, tablet or phone. Here’s what’s inside:

* Punk Rock Princesses: A Case for Something Corporate by Devon Maloney
* Dangerously in Love: My Decade with Beyonce by Jamieson Cox
* Repeat Offenders: Pressing Play, Over and Over Again by Harley Brown
* Guiltless Pleasures: Imagining a Post-Snob World by David Greenwald, Simon Vozick-Levinson and Lindsay Zoladz
* Miss You Like Crazy: Canada’s Lost Boy Bands by Melody Lau
* He Ain’t Even Know It: On Rick Ross, Rap, and Responsibility by Henry Adaso
* I Don’t Wanna Come Back Down From This (Sound)Cloud by Taleen Kalenderian
* Why Bother? Talking To Myself About Weezer by Jillian Mapes

With the help of readers like you, UNCOOL is a publication that pays its contributors. Thanks in advance for your support.  

DOWNLOAD UNCOOL #1: GUILTLESS PLEASURES.

Rawkblog is 8 years old now and is still alive. As ever, full-time freelancing doesn’t leave a lot of room for this blog, but I’m still paying for the web space and I don’t particularly trust Tumblr. Thanks for following me here for so long. Up next: many SXSW photos and in April, a massive group project I think you’ll really enjoy. Keep an eye out.

This is an excerpt from my ebook guide to SXSW 2013. You can pay what you want for it on Bandcamp; it also includes a daily party guide, tips and tricks for surviving the festival, food and drink, and basically everything else you need to know this week. And without further ado:

Good Bands Nobody’s Really Heard Of Yet
Lucy Rose
The Staves
Body Parts
Night Beds
So Many Wizards
NZCA/Lines
Agent Ribbons
Dana Falconberry
Kim Janssen
Archie Pelago
Churchill
Doe Paoro
Gliss
Emma Louise
The Eastern Sea
His Clancyness
Brothers in Law
Allison Weiss
Boy + Kite
Hannah Georgas
Hiatus Kaiyote
Dead Leaf Echo
Dreamend
Lemuria

Good Bands Who Might Have Some Blog Hype But You Can Probably Catch Relatively Easily
Indians
Torres
Empress Of
Diana
Shugo Tokumaru
Jacco Gardner
Alpine
Goldroom
Fallulah
High Highs
Devon Williams
Jesca Hoop
Mount Moriah
Haerts

Good Bands Who Have More Blog Hype Who Might Be Hard To See
Charli XCX
Haim
Fear of Men
Icona Pop
Sky Ferreira
Hundred Waters
Action Bronson
Kitty Pryde
Chelsea Light Moving (Thurston Moore)
Autre Ne Veut
Waxahatchee
CHVRCHES
Angel Haze
Lord Huron
Mac DeMarco
Rhye

Good, Once-Popular Bands Who Have Been Around Long Enough That This Is A Cool Opportunity To Catch Them
Hayden
Ghostface Killah
RZA (RZA and Ghostface could be packed but they’re playing tiny spots—could go either way. They could also be playing a secret Wu-Tang set at the Scoot Inn on Thursday, so plan accordingly. Rumors!)
Daedalus
Leigh Nash (Sixpence None the Richer)
Third Eye Blind

Good Bands Playing the Radio Day Stage Which is Really Easy to Get Into With a Badge
Iron & Wine
Devendra Banhart
Vampire Weekend

Good, Currently Popular Bands You’ve Probably Seen Already Or Should Catch Elsewhere
DIIV
Divine Fits
Jim James
Flaming Lips
Youth Lagoon
The Polyphonic Spree
Baths
Why?
Camera Obscura
Toro Y Moi
Danny Brown
Beach Fossils
Kisses

Ridiculously Popular Bands I Will Personally Try To See Anyway Because #YOLO
Tegan and Sara
Paramore
The Zombies (!)

Pretty Good Bands I Will Catch If Nobody More Interesting Is Playing
Blue Hawaii
Leif Vollebekk
Idiot Glee

Get the full guide on Bandcamp.

Fear of Men is of my favorite new bands of this young year. Looking forward to seeing them in Austin. Maybe they’ll cover “Linger”? Cross your fingers. (via Gorilla vs. Bear)

Find more music new and old with Playlist Club, my weekly hand-curated music discovery service.

Here’s some confidently silly Sunday afternoon hip-hop from Chance the Rapper, a song amusing enough for this L.A. native to excuse a Lakers diss. Download his album #10Day for free. (Via Kevin)

Here are some new songs and new-to-me songs I’ve been thoroughly enjoying lately, with links to further listening. I’ve been posting the occasional track on Tumblr, but I think I’ll round them up here on the Rawkblog mothership.

Imaginary Pants is a new (touring!!!) duo featuring Rawkblog heroine Rose Melberg, whose vocals are as lovely as ever on this track. The band’s quiet/loud Bandcamp EP is free.

Mac DeMarco’s 2 (2012) is a charming, off-kilter record, a warped take on Harry Nilsson not too loopy to forget the hooks. It’s perhaps the most singer-songwriter-y set Captured Tracks has yet issued, but another in the label’s string of winners.

I premiered this one at MTV Buzzworthy. It’s half of a great single from L.A.’s Body Parts, who play full-figured music that winks at Dirty Projectors from across the room before heading to a cooler party downtown.

Sea Oleena’s whole new album (2011) is just silky and gorgeous, exploring the same half-awake space as Memoryhouse’s early work — or Mazzy Star’s, for that matter.

Get weekly recommendations, playlists and more from me via Rawkblog’s Playlist Club.

I covered the Grammys for Billboard last week and was struck, like most viewers, by Miguel’s stripped-down performance of “Adorn.” The singer’s Kaleidoscope Dream album didn’t touch me in the way it did many fans: the production, a rock/R&B hybrid, was progressive but too mushy for his stunning voice to rise above it often enough for my taste. That’s solved above. One thing I love about Miguel: his sense of humor, which brings laughs without resorting to (also amazing) R. Kelly-level ridiculousness.

In today’s episode of Rawkblog Presents, Jacob Burch and I celebrate Magic: The Gathering’s 20th anniversary, talk about our gaming history and discuss Gatecrash, Magic’s latest set.

Download: Rawkblog Presents, Episode 16: Magic: The Gathering

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2, The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)
* Episode 4, Is Food the New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 5, Lit Blogs & “Against Enthusiasm” (Jacob Silverman)
* Episode 6, Taylor Swift / People’s List (Adam Barhamand)
* Episode 7, Fleetwood Mac / Tribute Albums (Rachael Maddux)
* Episode 8, Deeper Into Comic Books (William Goodman)
* Episode 9, Hip-Hop, Humor & Turquoise Jeep (Clayton Purdom, Colin McGowan)
* Episode 10, Fuck Yeah Menswear (Lawrence Schlossman, Kevin Burrows)
* Episode 11, Fall Music Preview (Evan Abeele of Memoryhouse)
* Episode 12, Hip-Hop & Hebrews (Simon Vozick-Levinson, David M. Goldstein)
* Episode 14, 2012 Year in Review (Jeremy D. Larson)
* Episode 15, Freelance Life (Paul de Revere, Erik Burg, Tyler Andere)

]]> http://www.rawkblog.net/2013/02/rawkblog-presents-episode-16-magic-the-gathering/feed/ 0 http://www.rawkblog.net/2013/02/rawkblog-presents-episode-16-magic-the-gathering/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawkingRefusesToStop/~3/xfToEaSag4k/ http://www.rawkblog.net/2013/01/new-music-la-font-onshore/#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:00:36 +0000 David Greenwald http://www.rawkblog.net/?p=12085

Loose lips sink relationships. LA Font’s excellent, oddly nautical-themed sophomore album will be out this year, probably as soon as you give them a record deal, you handsome tastemaker. I have written about them a lot.

Here’s a new video from, surprise, Hem, the makers of much of the last decade’s prettiest Americana music. Thanks to the singularly lovely voice of Sally Ellyson, “Tourniquet” is another addition to the band’s subtle but stunning catalog. It’s the first single from Departure and Farewell, due April 2 on Waveland. If you’re not familiar with the band, Rabbit Songs is an all-time classic.

Despite a decade-plus of Nigel Godrich obsession — I bought Beck’s Sea Change on release day in the quiet, awful days before advance streams — I managed to sleep on the longtime Radiohead producer’s new band. Ultraísta’s superb self-titled debut is full of gummy-bear synthesizers and familiar sounds: among the many highlights, “You’re Out” evokes Kid A‘s lemon-sucking and “Wash It Over” provides a floating showcase for Laura Bettinson’s feather-light vocals. Watch the “Wash It Over” video above. The band just canceled some dates due to a family emergency but hopefully they’ll be back on the road later this year.

Toro Y Moi’s music never blindsides you: his evolution comes satisfyingly step-by-step. “Harm in Change” fragments house-like elements into a piano-pop swirl; “Let me hold you tonight,” he keeps pleading at the center. “Say That” drops into rave-y bass bleed in between his demure verses, while “Grown Up Calls” evokes the decade-old folktronica experiments of Four Tet and Manitoba. Hip-hop, electronic music and sentimental pop, all past touchstones, fuse here into a subtle but deeply satisfying whole. Anything in Return is the sound of the hardest-working athlete in the race beating his own time and heading back to the starting blocks soaked in sweat, determined to shave it down one minute more.

Anything in Return is out now on Carpark. (Vinyl / CD / MP3)

This review originally appeared in Playlist Club, my subscriber-only newsletter and curation service. Sign up to get weekly album picks direct to your Spotify account, special monthly playlists and a personal mixtape hand-picked to help you find your next favorite bands.

Discussed within: several great Tumblr posts about freelancing.

Download: Rawkblog Presents, Episode 15: Freelance Life

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2, The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)
* Episode 4, Is Food the New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 5, Lit Blogs & “Against Enthusiasm” (Jacob Silverman)
* Episode 6, Taylor Swift / People’s List (Adam Barhamand)
* Episode 7, Fleetwood Mac / Tribute Albums (Rachael Maddux)
* Episode 8, Deeper Into Comic Books (William Goodman)
* Episode 9, Hip-Hop, Humor & Turquoise Jeep (Clayton Purdom, Colin McGowan)
* Episode 10, Fuck Yeah Menswear (Lawrence Schlossman, Kevin Burrows)
* Episode 11, Fall Music Preview (Evan Abeele of Memoryhouse)
* Episode 12, Hip-Hop & Hebrews (Simon Vozick-Levinson, David M. Goldstein)
* Episode 14, 2012 Year in Review (Jeremy D. Larson)

One of the great pleasures of keeping up with new music is when a band bashes through the blogosphere static with a song that triggers lightning in your veins and chills down your spine — and of course, it doesn’t get much worse than when an album you’ve waited for for months sounds like Michael Jordan playing baseball. With that in mind, this is by no means a definitive list of what to expect in 2013, just a handful of picks to look out for from the reliable crystal ball of my inbox. P.S. to the new My Bloody Valentine album: please be real.

This playlist and the below liner notes originally appeared in Playlist Club, my subscriber-only newsletter and curation service. Sign up here to get weekly album picks direct to your Spotify account, special monthly playlists and a personal mixtape hand-picked to help you find your next favorite bands.

Haim: A Los Angeles sister trio who’ve jammed with Ryan Adams and channel a combination of Fleetwood Mac and Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” Their debut album lands on Columbia (!) this year after a self-released free EP scored them instant, well-deserved attention in 2012.

The Staves: The second sister trio of the list, this time a folk group with the best harmonies I’ve heard in years. The production on their debut set, Dead & Born & Grown, is as clear as a case of Fuji Water thanks to legendary father-son producer team Glyn and Ethan Johns — collaborating for the first time. Worth the wait. No U.S. release date yet for the UK act, but album’s out digitally now.

The History of Apple Pie: Led by too-humble single “You’re So Cool,” the UK band plays shoegazy indie-pop that goes from catchy to crunchy with ease on debut album Out of View, due Jan. 28.

Fear of Men: The Brighton act’s gotten love from experimental-leaning blogs such as Gorilla Vs. Bear, but despite their low-budget production, they mostly sound like that one great Cranberries song. Look for a debut album this year.

Angel Haze: A controversial young rapper whose work has so far spanned beefs with Azealia Banks, hardcore hip-hop boasting, a powerful confessional about sexual abuse — and a flow that will stop you in your tracks.

Atoms for Peace: Radiohead’s Thom Yorke debuted this group in 2009 with a handful of Los Angeles shows to perform his solo album, The Eraser. In the band’s rhythm-heavy hands (as many as three members are on drums as Flea handles the bass), the album turned into a hurricane force. They’ll make their own debut with Feb. 26′s Amok.

Toro Y Moi: Always the most surprising, talented member of the Chillwave Class of ’09, his latest is Anything in Return — an album that looks to blend his electro-dance inclinations with the ’70s pop he capably explored on Underneath the Pine.

Local Natives: With Jan. 22-due sophomore set Hummingbird, the Los Angeles indie act eases back on the kinetic energy of Gorilla Manor with a less tribal, more turbulent album produced by the National’s Aaron Dessner.

Hayden: The consistently great Toronto folk musician is broadening his palette on Us Alone, his seventh album. First single “Old Dreams” steps away from the campfire, finding his comforting voice floating over an ethereal piano-and-guitar backdrop that evokes Summerteeth-era Wilco.

LA Font: Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, the Los Angeles rockers (and longtime friends of Rawkblog) added just the right amount of studio polish to the gritty Diving Man, their sophomore album and an impressively incendiary guitar effort that should make Ty Segall nervous.

Mount Moriah: The band’s a new Merge Records signee, which is good enough for me — not that the North Carolina act’s evocative alt-country wouldn’t have caught my attention. Their new album, Miracle Temple, is due Feb. 26.

Sky Ferreira: I loved Ferreira’s Ghost EP, which saw her embracing ’80s pop as unembarrassingly as lonesome folk. Can’t wait to see which sides she turns to on I’m Not Alright, her proper debut album.

High Highs: It’s been over two years since the Australian-turned-NYC act began transporting listeners directly to folktronica dreamland, but if it takes their whole lives to make that first album, so be it.

LA Font photo by David Greenwald

The 2013 Album Release Calendar page is live. Bookmark it: I’ll be updating it on a semi-weekly basis. Lots of exciting stuff coming this year, though most of it (I see you, My Bloody Valentine) is missing release dates at the moment. Here are a few of my particularly anticipated announced albums from the first few months of 2013. P.S., you can play these tracks in a single playlist with the ex.fm player in the bottom right corner of the page.

January 15
A$AP Rocky – Long.Live.A$AP (RCA)
Yo La Tengo – Fade (Matador)
Holopaw – Academy Songs, Volume 1 (Misra)

January 22
Toro Y Moi – Anything In Return (Carpark)

January 28
The History of Apple Pie – Out of View (Marshall Teller)

January 29
Local Natives – Hummingbird (Frenchkiss)

February 12
Azealia Banks – Broke With Expensive Taste (Universal)

February 15
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – We The Common (Ribbon Music)

February 18
Atoms For Peace (Thom Yorke) – Amok (XL)

February 19
Beach Fossils – Clash the Truth (Captured Tracks)

February 26
Mount Moriah – Miracle Temple (Merge)
Sally Shapiro – Somewhere Else (Paper Bag)

March 19
Phosphorescent – Muchacho (Dead Oceans)

April 9
Paramore – Paramore (Fueled by Ramen)

Let me help you keep up: join Rawkblog’s Playlist Club and I’ll share my favorite album of the week, reviews, mixtapes and more direct to your inbox every Tuesday.

Toro Y Moi photo by David Greenwald

Email: david.elliot.greenwald AT gmail.com

Twitter: @daverawkblog

Resume, bio, clips and photo portfolio: davidgreenwald.com

Rawkblog Presents pop culture podcast: iTunes (audio) and YouTube (video)

Rawkblog Playlist Club, my curated weekly music subscription service: rawkblog.net/playlist

Music blogging: Rawkblog.com + RSS

Tumblr/general blogging: Rawkblog.tumblr.com + RSS

Photography: Meaningless Before + RSS

I am writing regularly for Billboard, MTV and other publications. You can follow my professional work at davidgreenwald.com/blog.

If this seems like too much to actively maintain: it is. I will be doing less blogging and more professional writing this year. Rawkblog and Rawktumblr will be updated sparingly; for weekly music writing, album picks and monthly mixtapes from me, I suggest checking out Playlist Club. I’ll be doing a new podcast perhaps once a month, or more if the mood strikes. Let me know if you’d like to be on one.

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My favorite live music shots and portraits of 2012. All photos credit David Greenwald. Please contact me (david.elliot.greenwald AT gmail.com) for licensing or purchase information.

2012 Favorites: Songs of the Year | Albums of the Year

More music photos: Best of 2011 | Best of 2010 | Best of 2008 | all galleries

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Today is the final day for our Kickstarter campaign for UNCOOL, a longform music journalism publication I’m founding with Daniel Siegal and a bunch of great writers. Please pitch in if you can.

In today’s giant-sized year-end episode of Rawkblog Presents, Consequence of Sound managing editor Jeremy D. Larson and I go in on 2012, from Frank Ocean and Kendrick Lamar to making a living on music in the Spotify era. It’s almost as long as good kid, m.A.A.d city. Enjoy.

Download: Rawkblog Presents, Episode 14: 2012 in Review

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2, The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)
* Episode 4, Is Food the New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 5, Lit Blogs & “Against Enthusiasm” (Jacob Silverman)
* Episode 6, Taylor Swift / People’s List (Adam Barhamand)
* Episode 7, Fleetwood Mac / Tribute Albums (Rachael Maddux)
* Episode 8, Deeper Into Comic Books (William Goodman)
* Episode 9, Hip-Hop, Humor & Turquoise Jeep (Clayton Purdom, Colin McGowan)
* Episode 10, Fuck Yeah Menswear (Lawrence Schlossman, Kevin Burrows)
* Episode 11, Fall Music Preview (Evan Abeele of Memoryhouse)
* Episode 12, Hip-Hop & Hebrews (Simon Vozick-Levinson, David M. Goldstein)

2012 Favorites: Songs of the Year | Albums of the Year

I wrote a few paragraphs about my year-end feelings but decided not to bore you. These are favorites, not best. All recommended, particularly the top 15, which soundtracked the vast majority of my year. I would consider both Jens Lekman and Fiona Apple five-star classics — usually one album per year meets that standard for me, so cheers, 2012. Another more generous thought: this is a great time to look at your own top 10 or so and make sure you gave those bands money this year. They really need it.

Pre-2012 Discoveries and Heavy Rotation:

Dear Nora – We’ll Have a Time
Pants Yell! – Recent Drama
Devon Williams – Euphoria
Young and Sexy – Stand Up For Your Mother
Fennesz – Venice
Readymade – All The Plans Resting
The Byrds – discography
Sleater-Kinney – discography
Emperor X – discography

Favorite Albums of 2012:

1. Jens Lekman – I Know What Love Isn’t
2. Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
3. Hospitality – Hospitality
4. Jessica Pratt – Jessica Pratt
5. Swearin’ – Swearin’
6. Big Deal – Lights Out
7. Nite Jewel – One Second of Love
8. Weird Dreams – Choreography
9. Frank Ocean – channel ORANGE
10. Memoryhouse – The Slideshow Effect

11. Ravens & Chimes – Holiday Life
12. Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory
13. Grizzly Bear – Shields
14. Haim – Forever EP
15. Tennis – Young and Old
16. Violens – True
17. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city
18. Beth Orton – Sugaring Season
19. Sweet Hearts – Sweet Hearts EP
20. Mark Eitzel – Don’t Be a Stranger

21. Bowerbirds – The Clearing
22. Beachwood Sparks – The Tarnished Gold
23. Taylor Swift – Red
24. The Mountain Goats – Transcendental Youth
25. Lotus Plaza – Spooky Action at a Distance
26. Nada Surf - The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy
27. Will Stratton – Post-Empire
28. DIIV – Oshin
29. Kitty Pryde – Haha, i’m sorry EP
30. Allo Darlin’ – Europe

31. States – Room To Run
32. Rebecca Gates – The Float
33. Melody’s Echo Chamber – Melody’s Echo Chamber
34. Carly Rae Jepsen – Kiss
35. Keaton Henson – Dear
36. Standard Fare – Out of Sight, Out of Town
37. John K. Samson – Provincial
38. Horse Feathers – Cynic’s New Year
39. Rufus Wainwright – Out of the Game
40. Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits

41. Ke$ha – Warrior
42. Lord Huron – Lonesome Dreams
43. Action Bronson – Blue Chips mixtape
44. First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar
45. The Walkmen – Heaven
46. The Explorers Club – Grand Hotel
47. Of Montreal – Paralytic Stalks
48. Damien Jurado – Maraqopa
49. Projectionists – Projectionists EP
50. Mesita – The Coyote

I shared and wrote about most of these albums in my Playlist Club, my weekly hand-curated music discovery service. Give it a try.

One track per artist. What a year. I like when Jay-Z raps about his daughter.

1. DIIV – “How Long Have You Known”
2. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
3. Jens Lekman – “I Want a Pair of Cowboy Boots”
4. Sky Ferreira – “Everything is Embarrassing”
5. Usher – “Climax”
6. Frank Ocean – “Sweet Life”
7. Hospitality – “Eighth Avenue”
8. Swearin’ – “Kenosha”
9. R. Kelly – “Feelin’ Single”
10. Fiona Apple – “Anything We Want”

11. Rick Ross ft. Dr. Dre and Jay-Z – “3 Kings”
12. Cloud Nothings – “Stay Useless”
13. Sally Shapiro – “What Can I Do”
14. Jay-Z ft. B.I.C. – “Glory”
15. Sweet Hearts – “Dear Sweet Heart”
16. Grimes – “Genesis”
17. Taylor Swift – “Stay Stay Stay”
18. Memoryhouse – “Punctum”
19. Grizzly Bear – “Yet Again”
20. Violens – “Totally True”

21. Jessica Pratt – “Half Twain the Jesse”
22. Big Deal – “Cool Like Kurt”
23. Haim – “Forever”
24. Goldroom – “Fifteen”
25. Alphabet Backwards – “Big Top”
26. Dude York – “The Lake”
27. Japandroids – “The Nights of Wine and Roses”
28. First Aid Kit – “Emmylou”
29. Kitty Pryde ft. Dante – “Ay Shawty: THE SHREKONING”
30. Mansions on the Moon – “Leaves Fall”

31. Tennis – “Traveling”
32. Kanye West – “White Dress”
33. Ravens & Charms – “Division Street”
34. Allo Darlin’ – “Europe”
35. Dirty Projectors – “Unto Caesar”
36. Beth Orton – “Dawn Chorus”
37. Projectionists – “I Never Wanted Anything”
38. Standard Fare – “Darth Vadar”
39. Lotus Plaza – “Monoliths”
40. Freelance Whales – “Spitting Image”

41. Will Stratton – “If You Wait Long Enough”
42. Divine Fits – “Baby Get Worse”
43. Grand Resort – “Night is Dark”
44. Kendrick Lamar – “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst”
45. Pianissimo Brothers – “Rainbow Connection”
46. Of Montreal – “Dour Percentage”
47. States – “Versus the Mirror”
48. Rufus Wainwright – “Out of the Game”
49. Best Coast – “My Life”
50. The Eastern Sea – “Wasn’t For Love”

Sign up for the Rawkblog Playlist Club to get new albums and vintage classics sent direct to your inbox each week.

The Staves are a sister trio whose full-length I’ve been anticipating since learning Glyn and Ethan Johns — the father-son producers behind everyone from the Who to Ryan Adams — were both going to work with the band, the duo’s first-ever collaboration. I can’t imagine a higher recommendation; seeing them at SXSW this year didn’t dim my excitement. The Staves’ expectations-topping debut album, Dead & Born & Grown, hopefully sees U.S. release next year. As you’ll find in Yours Truly’s excellent session with the trio above, their harmonies are just stunning. You can stream the album over at TwentyFourBit.

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We have just over a month to go on UNCOOL, our Kickstarter project to launch a new longform journalism site with no advertising and a fair wage for writers. Please consider a one-year subscription, or a t-shirt, if you’re interested.

J. Irvin Dally has one of L.A.’s most remarkable voices. We were lucky to have him in full electric mode at Waynestock II this spring. Now just Irvin Dally, he’s just as breathtaking unplugged, playing Bob Dylan’s “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” in this Ice Cream Session. (No video from his Waynestock II set, unfortunately, though we did capture ARMS.)

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On election night in America, with Barack Obama the president once more, Jens Lekman took a euphoric crowd and sent them straight to heaven. I Know What Love Isn’t, his first album in five years and his sharpest end-to-end collection, is my favorite album of the year; critics who spat it out like crumbled cheese may have forgotten that music is improved by beauty, not just noise. And Love is his prettiest album, a fact made clear by his band on Tuesday night, which included horns, a violin and ceaseless enthusiasm.

Lekman’s set reconciled all of the Swedish musician’s various identities: the sincere bedroom boy, the globe-trotting dancer, the sad clown, Sinatra bantering at the Sands. Few musicians, not even Taylor Swift with her best Grammys face, can muster the simultaneous levels of innocence and cutting self-awareness that imbue all his songs. He played the hits, though they all are, really: “A Postcard to Nina,” “Black Cab,” “Maple Leaves,” “I Know What Love Isn’t.”

The mid-set dance party portion of the evening rode hard on his Night Falls Over Kortedala material, as most of his recent tours have, and it would’ve been nice to hear “Erica America” make an appearance. Still, he played a stirring version of “I Want a Pair of Cowboy Boots,” the new album’s highlight, and began and closed the set with versions of the sad-eyed “Every Little Hair Knows Your Name.” Lekman’s catalog is now so strong and vast that four-hour Springsteen theatrics wouldn’t be out of the question, but on Tuesday, with a room content with the world’s direc-tioooon, two encores would have to suffice.

I Know What Love Isn’t is out now on Secretly Canadian, wherever perfect records are sold.

Today, my friend Daniel Siegal and I launch the Kickstarter fundraising campaign for UNCOOL, a new advertising-free, reader-support site devoted to longform music journalism. We’ve gathered a number of our favorite writers, people who’ve written 33 1/3 books, written for national magazines and run beloved Tumblrs. We think it’s going to be pretty great — check out our video above and head to our Kickstarter page to help us out.

If you made it to Rawkblog and TwentyFourBit’s Waynestock II in March — our annual SXSW unofficial day party — you probably heard the blistering sounds of ARMS, who left our recording gear so fried only this video made it out alive. Thanks to Max and Jeremy for shooting and our sponsors for making it possible. We’re planning next year’s already — email me at rawkblog at gmail dot com if you’d like to help out. ARMS’ modern classic, Summer Skills, came out on vinyl earlier this year.

Related: Photos from Waynestock II

Looking for more music? Try Rawkblog’s Playlist Club: new albums and vintage classics hand-picked and sent right to your inbox every week.

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Beth Orton

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He appeared at several points during Orton’s otherwise solo acoustic El Rey show, adding the easy clarity of his vocals to Orton’s fireside crackle. Her voice has always been her most powerful instrument, with a husky quiver that steps between emotional revelation and formal vibrato. She was at her best when he stood beside her, gaining energy as their guitars and voices intertwined. “How great is Sam?” she smiled as he left the stage, never betraying their relationship status but beaming all the same. It was written in her face, and in songs such as “Dawn Chorus,” a “Northern Sky”-style effort as tender as a mother’s touch.

The set didn’t linger on only the new material. She reached back to Trailer Park for “Sugar Boy” and “Galaxy of Emptiness” and made this writer very happy with a lovely take on “Sweetest Decline.” Amidon was a fine replacement for Adams on the harmonies of “Concrete Sky,” offering affable banter as Orton tuned her guitar. Still, it was in Sugaring Season stand-out “Last Leaves of Autumn” that she addressed the obvious: “I’m ready for a first-time feeling,” she sang, her husband standing off stage, invisible in the shadows. Beaming all the same.

Looking for more music? Try Rawkblog’s Playlist Club: new albums and vintage classics hand-picked and sent right to your inbox every week.

It’s been a great year — arguably the best since Prince’s pre-”formerly known as” glory days — for soulful, chanteuse-driven electro. Look no further than Jessie Ware, Sky Ferreira, Solange Knowles and now Dragon Inn 3, a trio led by Roni Dickey and fleshed out with her brother Phil (of indie-pop geniuses Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin) and Brook Linder. The group’s latest, “Rocket Launcher,” finds Dickey getting breathy and calling in “late for work” over humming synths and drum tracks straight from the John Hughes IMDb page. The soundtrack to your next montage.

You can buy the band’s Ghoul School EP/cassette on Bandcamp.

Looking for more music? Try Rawkblog’s Playlist Club: new albums and vintage classics hand-picked and sent right to your inbox every week.

This is a lot of fun: at home with sister act/L.A. Unheard alumni Haim, a staggeringly talented trio that’s impressed everyone from Twin Shadow to Ryan Adams. The best part is their doting dad, who checks their drum tuning and wears a Hemingway sweater. Worth your 12 minutes. It’s unclear if the band’s signed a label deal or finished a debut album yet, but at the pace of their current ascent, it’s safe to expect big, much-deserved things from them in 2013. Red Bull made this, and whoever’s running their music outreach is doing a nice job — they were also involved with last year’s Tokyo Police Club covers record.

Here’s a killer new one from Haim, “Don’t Save Me”:

Mark Eitzel’s excellent Don’t Be a Stranger is a departure for the longtime American Music Club frontman, acoustic and evocative in the spirit of artists such as Nick Drake. The musician’s been discussing the new record with his friends in a recent video series, including, in today’s Rawkblog-exclusive episode, British playwright Simon Stephens — who liked Eitzel’s earlier stuff better.

He’ll be in Los Angeles for a pair of dates next week. See his full dates below:

Nov 01 Berkeley, CA – Starry Plough
Nov 02 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
Nov 03 Santa Monica, CA – McCabe’s Guitar Shop
Nov 04 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
Nov 05 Santa Cruz, CA – The Crepe Place
Nov 07 Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
Nov 08 Vancouver, BC CAN – Electric Owl
Nov 09 Portland, OR – The Star Theater
Nov 23 Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen
Nov 24 Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups
Nov 25 Cincinnati, OH – MOTR Pub
Nov 26 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
Nov 28 Toronto, ON – Rivoli Club
Nov 29 Buffalo, NY – Ninth Ward Arts
Nov 30 Northampton, MA – Iron Horse Music Hall
Dec 01 Somerville, MA – Johnny D’s
Dec 03 New York, NY – Highline Ballroom
Dec 04 Washington, DC – Black Cat Backstage
Dec 05 Baltimore, MD – Golden West Cafe
Dec 06 Philadelphia, PA – North Star Bar
Dec 08 Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade

Looking for more music? Try Rawkblog’s Playlist Club: new albums and vintage classics hand-picked and sent right to your inbox every week.

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The World Record

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The World Record was celebrating the release of Freeway Special, the band’s long-overdue follow-up to its tremendous 2006 debut. I was celebrating the chance to see Los Angeles’ best power-pop band — maybe anywhere’s best power-pop band — for the first time. It won’t be the last. The new set’s available on MP3, CD and LP.

All photos by David Greenwald.

Today on Rawkblog Presents: Simon Vozick-Levinson and David M. Goldstein join the show to discuss the long history of Jews and rap — and why the Tribe is having a hip-hop moment. What’s going on with Rick Ross’ Black Bar Mitzvah mixtape, Jay-Z’s menorah and the Drake/Shyne beef? Look out for some noise issues in the first couple minutes but we’re all clear after that.

You can subscribe in iTunes or download below:

Download: Rawkblog Presents, Episode 12: Hip-Hop & Hebrews

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2: The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)
* Episode 4, Is Food the New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 5, Lit Blogs & “Against Enthusiasm” (Jacob Silverman)
* Episode 6, Taylor Swift / People’s List (Adam Barhamand)
* Episode 7, Fleetwood Mac / Tribute Albums (Rachael Maddux)
* Episode 8, Deeper Into Comic Books (William Goodman)
* Episode 9, Hip-Hop, Humor & Turquoise Jeep (Clayton Purdom, Colin McGowan)
* Episode 10, Fuck Yeah Menswear (Lawrence Schlossman, Kevin Burrows)
* Episode 11, Fall Music Preview (Evan Abeele of Memoryhouse)

Over a year ago, my friend Dan and I got laid off from Brand X, the Los Angeles Times’ short-lived, shuttering alternative weekly. In many ways, our time there was a dream job: our editors trusted our reporting judgement and gave us the go-ahead to cover the stories we felt needed to be told. In our L.A. Unheard column, we provided the city’s first, and often only, mainstream coverage of local artists from Haim to Lord Huron — Dan even had a cover story on Kreayshawn weeks before she was popular enough to be sick of. We questioned the future of Coachella and applauded when the festival fixed its problems. We wrote about craft beer’s rising popularity, surprising art venues and dozens of other topics at the Internet’s ravenous pace.

Then they shut down the website. Working so fast, producing so much every day began to feel silly. We went out for drinks on our last night and talked about how we could keep going and how we could cover a broader range than just new music, one or two or three blog posts at a time. In the months since, laments over the state of music journalism have faced publications such as the Village Voice, SPIN (which won’t be printing a year-end issue), and many more, even making their way to Hipster Runoff, who wailed through his satiric fourth wall over the “broken indie machine.” The site Prefix has been offering new writers $2 a blog post — better than nothing, they argue. You’ve heard these horror stories from somebody — they don’t get any less depressing.

Dan and I want to do something different. Something removed from advertising and analytics data. A site that doesn’t have to put its “premium” content next to cat .gifs or post slideshows to boost page views. A site without three-sentence news posts. That something is UNCOOL, a website that will publish longform features, essays and criticism — and nothing more. We will not publish 3 times a day, or 10 — just once a week. Our hope is to be a regular source of the kind of great music story you see every once in a while in the New Yorker or even, yes, Pitchfork’s new cover stories, that you’ll come back and spend time with us with your Sunday coffee or during a weekday Twitter debate. We’re inspired by modern sites like One Week // One Band and The Classical, places that are open-minded and enthusiastic without sacrificing intelligence. We want to feature writing that’s funny and creative and personal without being Thought Catalog indulgent.

We want to be reader-supported. We have the supply — writers and editors from Grantland, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, the Atlantic, the Paris Review and many more; the authors behind multiple 33 1/3 books; the next generation of Tumblr bloggers — and we’re going to ask you, in a Kickstarter coming in a few weeks, for the demand. I don’t want to run a single advertisement on UNCOOL ever. No beer. No shoes. Not even music labels. We will not be starting a festival or promoting a CMJ showcase or anything that requires us take money from anyone other than you (and we won’t be rude and ask you for cash to throw ourselves a party). That means we’re free. No conflicts, no nothing. We can write about music that’s hundreds of years old or an album that’s coming out next week; go to the Taylor Swift concert or dig deep into Swedish death-metal. Our work will be limited only by our writers’ curiosity and passion. We’re going to build a beautiful website and work with the best artists and photographers to bring you an experience that’s clear, simple and visually powerful.

We want to pay our writers what they’re worth. Serious journalism isn’t cheap — or at least we believe it shouldn’t be. That means hundreds of dollars, sometimes thousands, for good, long work. We’re not expecting to raise New Yorker money, but we’re betting we can beat Prefix and a few other publications. We’re not looking for donations: we’re looking for (generous) subscribers. If we make more money than we anticipate, we’ll run more work and you’ll be building the foundation for a new kind of publication.

This is the beginning. We’ll be back in early November with our Kickstarter campaign — in the meantime, ask us questions at uncoolmag@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter and Tumblr. Let’s talk about music.

Today on Rawkblog Presents: Evan Abeele of Memoryhouse joins the podcast to discuss Ben Gibbard, Lord Huron, why indie albums don’t drop in the fourth quarter, Memoryhouse’s own new direction and more in our fall music preview.

You can subscribe in iTunes or download below:

Download: Episode 11: Fall Music Preview

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2: The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)
* Episode 4, Is Food the New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 5, Lit Blogs & “Against Enthusiasm” (Jacob Silverman)
* Episode 6, Taylor Swift / People’s List (Adam Barhamand)
* Episode 7, Fleetwood Mac / Tribute Albums (Rachael Maddux)
* Episode 8, Deeper Into Comic Books (William Goodman)
* Episode 9, Hip-Hop, Humor & Turquoise Jeep (Clayton Purdom, Colin McGowan)
* Episode 10, Fuck Yeah Menswear (Lawrence Schlossman, Kevin Burrows)

Grizzly Bear’s first Los Angeles show of note was at the Satellite, then Spaceland, in September 2006, just over six years ago. Yellow House, their second album and full-band debut, was a few weeks old. The band that took the stage then was not the expected cobwebbed folk act, appearing in a lovely sepia from a dusty attic trunk; the set was beautiful but at times raucous, even antagonstic. They played a noise jam in line with the rebellious music then being pursued by another group of experimental songwriters, Akron/Family, that nearly blew the room over. They have yet to record it.

The surest way to mark a band’s upward trajectory in the post-Napster era is through its venue bookings. Seeing musicians perform live still requires buying a ticket and being present in a room, a vote of visible confidence and the kind of stat that piracy and streaming services of all stripes have obscured in the home listening experience. The Satellite holds 260 people. The Greek Theatre, where the quartet performed last night, singing in a tree-lined setting at last appropriate to their moniker, tops out at nearly 6,000. At their current rate, in another decade, they can headline the Hollywood Bowl, though I doubt it’ll take that long.

Grizzly Bear was the recent target of a New York magazine cover story probing their finances (unsuccessfully, for that matter) and what it means to be a successful indie-rock band. Their record sales, 40,000 in the first week, seem at odds with their growing concert draw, but similar ratios appear throughout the pop world, where Lady Gaga’s 30 million Twitter followers might fill her shows but in large part can’t be bothered to pay for her album, even for $1. Grizzly Bear have nearly 60,000 Twitter followers: perhaps they are exactly as popular among serious fans as their statistics say. Yet a show, somehow, is less of a commitment and a more inviting affair than the arcane practice of buying an album — even with $22 wine carafes, at least a night under the stars with friends doesn’t require a fan club membership.

It was a great relief that there were no numbers involved in their Wednesday night performance, only the intricate mathematics of the group’s powerful musicianship. Their 90+ minute set drew from each of the last three albums, including this year’s excellent Shields, though Yellow House — the album capturing them at their most ghostly and gauzy — received the most love. Opening duet “Speak in Rounds” allowed co-frontmen Ed Droste and Dan Rossen the chance to present themselves as compelling equals; the wonder of Grizzly Bear lies in the way each member’s strengths pushes the whole to dizzying heights. Both Droste and Rossen sing with a sense of deep feeling, Rossen with a craggy sobriety and Droste, the more dynamic vocalist, allowing his throat to burn with melodrama; they never sound richer than when they’re joined by their band mates in full-on choir mode, their harmonies flying out above the trees.

The electric energy of their long-ago Spaceland set remains in full crackle. Grizzly Bear’s albums have become more athletic over the years, but their muscularity is still clearest on stage. Bassist Chris Taylor and drummer Chris Bear played in perfect lockstep on Wednesday, their rhythmic attack hitting with the speed and fury of a middleweight boxer. Dancing to it is a surprisingly reasonable endeavor, though segments of the Greek audience were too busy filling up their lungs for that. “Some of you are having a really good time!” Droste joked as pot clouds passed toward the stage. But the band needed the oxygen. At their best, in songs such as “Two Weeks” and “While You Wait for the Others,” Grizzly Bear’s music is fundamentally physical: the ordered weight of its rhythm section presses against their guitar chaos and soaring vocals like the pavement against a runner’s feet. There’s a fear that can come with flying. At a Grizzly Bear show, better to get high, however you can.

Photo by David Greenwald

Driving psych-Kraut from Denver’s Tjutjuna, whose new cassette (sigh) single lands Nov. 6.

Here’s the debut release of Tally Ho!, one of Rose Melberg’s seven (!) current bands — three covers, all great. Melberg rejoined with the Softies in San Francisco on Saturday for what sounds like the duo’s final reunion show, at least for now. They previously played Portland and Brooklyn. Fingers crossed.

Want hand-picked new music delivered directly to your inbox? Sign up for Mercury Music, our Digital Record Club, and get your first month free. Stop clicking — start listening.

Today on Rawkblog Presents: Lawrence Schlossman and Kevin Burrows, the writers of Fuck Yeah Menswear, reveal the blog’s secret origins, their Hipster Runoff inspiration and discuss the state of the #menswear scene. The book drops on Nov. 6.

You can subscribe in iTunes or download below:

Download: Episode 10: Fuck Yeah Menswear

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2: The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)
* Episode 4, Is Food the New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 5, Lit Blogs & “Against Enthusiasm” (Jacob Silverman)
* Episode 6, Taylor Swift / People’s List (Adam Barhamand)
* Episode 7, Fleetwood Mac / Tribute Albums (Rachael Maddux)
* Episode 8, Deeper Into Comic Books (William Goodman)
* Episode 9, Hip-Hop, Humor & Turquoise Jeep (Clayton Purdom, Colin McGowan)

Today on Rawkblog Presents: Clayton Purdom, Colin McGowan and I explore the limits of humor in hip-hop and R&B, from Turquoise Jeep to R. Kelly to Kanye West. Where’s the line between humor and satire? Why is rap so much funnier than indie rock? Is it funny when Yeezy raps about the Holocaust? Why isn’t it funny when Childish Gambino raps about his feelings? All these questions answered, mostly.

You can subscribe in iTunes or download below:

Download: Episode 9: Hip-Hop, Humor & Turquoise Jeep

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2: The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)
* Episode 4, Is Food the New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 5, Lit Blogs & “Against Enthusiasm” (Jacob Silverman)
* Episode 6, Taylor Swift / People’s List (Adam Barhamand)
* Episode 7, Fleetwood Mac / Tribute Albums (Rachael Maddux)
* Episode 8, Deeper Into Comic Books (William Goodman)

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Divine Fits

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A Thing Called Divine Fits describes itself pretty well: not a spearhead of innovation, not a genre game-changer, just a humble little rock record. And a satisfying one. Divine Fits merges the rock ‘n’ roll pedigree and intense style of Britt Daniel (Spoon) and Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs) in a gritty, effective fashion, with the band’s pleasure in playing evident at their intimate Hotel Cafe show. Daniel and Boeckner both entered the stage in matching black sleeveless shirts, Daniel’s turned inside out and his sleeves rolled up to stay in on the joke — a sign of the easy camaraderie a fresh collaboration can bring. Also: Britt Daniel definitely goes to the gym.

Deservedly rising L.A. act Lord Huron was a strong opener, if one ready to take on bigger rooms. The band’s upcoming Lonesome Dreams is a solid debut, though its foggy production doesn’t quite do justice to the technical and emotional clarity of the group’s live take on tropical-tinged folk-rock. They should be opening for Dave Matthews Band, or at least Fleet Foxes, anywhere they can get outdoors with a few thousand bottles of wine.

Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche has been one of my favorite musicians since his debut album, Faces Down made its way to America in 2002. The album, influenced by everyone from Beck to Bacharach, presented Lerche as a sensitive, striking new voice — a status only furthered to me by albums such as sophomore set Two Way Monologue and the undersung jazz-based Duper Sessions as well as his headlining performance at our own 2011 SXSW party. He’s now revisiting his first four albums with a slate of new vinyl reissues and Bootlegs, an edgy live set that finally captures the electricity of his performances. I was asked to write the press bio for the new releases and had the chance to talk to the musician for an hour, a discussion which seemed too good not to share in full. Below, a lightly edited transcript of our deep dive into Lerche’s career and catalog. (Full disclosure: I was paid for the bio because I write for a living, but not for this.)

David Greenwald: Congrats on the live album. It sounds great.
Sondre Lerche: Thanks! (Laughs)

DG: I know you’ve had trouble getting the kind of sound you wanted from live recordings. Why has it been so difficult to get something more raw?
SL: Recording live shows has gotten so sophisticated in a way that there’s very little now to separate a studio recording from a state-of-the-art live recording. Through the years, we’ve recorded quite a few of my shows. I guess you’re hoping that it’s going to sound great and you’re going to get really excited and release it as a double CD and a DVD and all that. [It] just, to me, always sounds like a letdown compared to having been there. And I’m at the center of anything that goes on at the show, so I was there in every moment with these people and then you hear the recording and it doesn’t resemble that experience at all.

So I’d sort of given up and then I heard, sort of by chance, my sound engineer in Norway had made this recording of a show we did in February in my hometown. I was going back to the club where I played the first [show], the release party basically of Faces Down when that came out in Norway, so it was the first time I was back, after 11 or 12 years or whatever it was. And it was really special. But when I heard the recording, which was just two tracks, just one mic in the room and then the board, in a way it was better than the actual experience had been on stage. It was really chaotic, really raw, there’s a lot of stuff that happens that was not planned, a lot of improvisation, a lot of mistakes, a lot of miscues. I always toss in a lot of impulsive, intuitive things that the band just has to roll with. I thought even though it sounds pretty raw, it’s not a hi-fi recording, I felt the need to share it.

DG: I’ve seen you a few times and your shows are always so intense – is that something that’s surprised your fans over the years, who may have expected more of a quieter, singer-songwriter-type show?
SL: I’m sure. And then people get used to it and you have to keep evolving. [I've] definitely, probably always, been more energetic and more physical live than on some of the recordings. But it’s also something that’s changed as I get better – as you become a better player and you become a better singer, and all these albums that we’re reissuing now on vinyl, they’ve all been challenges where I’ve, very often, tried to write songs outside of my range vocally or just emotionally. So that hopefully by the time the album comes out and I go on tour, usually at least by the end of the tour, I’ll have reached or learned something new and I’m able to sing something different. It’s a trial-and-error process but it does allow me to change a little bit with every tour and every record and I think that’s what may be the biggest difference.

Now I can really stand up for myself when I perform with a band. In the beginning, 10 years ago, the band had to sort of make room for me. I didn’t have that muscle yet, vocally or just the presence or whatever it is, so I’ve sort of just been working toward claiming my space on stage whether it’s alone or with a band. Especially if you perform solo, it’s really a challenge to try to get as much dynamic out of that limited format as possible. I’ve really worked on that, in the sense that every time you perform in front of an audience, you work on it. That’s the only way to rehearse it, I can’t sit at home and play by myself and imagine the audience. It feels good to feel that I can definitely do things now that I couldn’t 10 or five years ago.

DG: This is something that was written about you in 2002 by Slant magazine. “He was formally trained on guitar before he was nine years old, composed original material by age 14 and recorded and gigged in nightclubs while still a minor. By 17, he had already achieved Top 3 chart status in his homeland.” Accurate?
SL: Yeah, yeah (laughs). Formally trained, somebody attempted to train me formally. I still to this day cannot read music and I can’t write music. I first signed up for classical guitar lessons and I was terrible at it, I didn’t learn anything that stuck with me. But then I started learning more, not pop music but bossa nova and some local folk singers. I could relate more to the music I listened to. And that’s what sparked an interest in a lot of the stuff that’s informed the songwriting but I was never a good, like, formally trained musician. I wish I was because I’d love to be able to write stuff on paper and give it to musicians – hey, play with me, play this, you know? But I don’t have that capacity, sadly, yet.

DG: I’m curious about where you found some of your influences. Did you have much of a Norwegian pop tradition to draw from or did you go right to people like Elvis Costello or A-ha or other such groups?
SL: It started with whatever was playing in my home. When I was 4 or 5 years old, I started becoming aware of music and bands and pictures of bands. I have three older siblings and it was whatever they were playing. That was A-Ha, the Cure. My mom would play Eurythmics and Wham! and the Grease soundtrack. When my parents got divorced, we moved from this big mansion we lived in into this tiny, tiny, very depressing apartment where I lived with my mother and one of my sisters. It was quite an abrupt change from this idyllic mansion with gardens and lots of fruit trees and lots of space to run wild. The only good thing about that move was the fact that this apartment building, it came with cable TV. So it came with MTV. Up until that point, I had lived all my 9 years without, with only 1 channel. There was only 1 national channel in Norway. And all of a sudden I lived in this dour apartment building but they had MTV and I would watch it religiously every day. This was at the end of 1989, so it was a dramatic time in the political world. It affected the popular culture and the music — even the dumbest Rick Astley song felt urgent somehow. And I would watch MTV for years, hours and hours every day. I would start to form opinions on what things were and why something spoke to me and why I was excited when I heard Nirvana or if I heard a Prince song. In those days, they would play Nirvana and then they go straight to the new Donald Fagen single. This was the same music channel, it was a completely different time. It feels like longer ago than it is. They would play like “Heart Shaped Box” and then play “Tomorrow’s Girls” – I loved both equally.

DG: You won the Norwegian Best New Artist Grammy, the Spelleman award, in 2002. I imagine that set your expectations for the future at a pretty high level.
SL: I don’t know, in those days, things were happening really rapidly. I was signed to Virgin Norway, and they at the time had a lot of successes out in Europe, which was really rare for a Norwegian major label company. They had a lot of resources and a lot of willpower and a lot of good vibes. They released the record in Europe and eventually also in America. I spent from the ages for 14 to 17 writing and recording this album, Faces Down, so that had been a really protected process, where I just worked with my crew who I was very close to. And who really deserve a lot of credit, the creative people that I got to work with. If I had met different people, I might have be a completely different, less respectable, and I don’t know, maybe more successful artist, but meeting people older than myself who really took what I tried to do seriously really inspired me. It gave me a really protected creative process, up until the point where the album actually started coming out and the media response in Norway was very intense, very excited, because there hadn’t really been a lot of unmanufactured young singer-songwriters, or maybe not even young singer-songwriters at all, at least my age. So all of a sudden, I got used to things happening really fast and getting a lot of attention in a mainstream sense. I wasn’t Elliott Smith, I was like, John Mayer or something in Norway. Even though the music was what it was. It led me to sort of not take it all too seriously. I just kept talking about Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach records and trying to be really clear on what it was I was doing and where I came from. Getting a Grammy, I guess I got a little spoiled, also. Because after a while, when all your wildest dreams have come true, you’re going straight from school to making a living with these songs that you wrote when you’re 16 and there’s people even in America who know the words to your songs. It’s a really strange situation for someone like me to be in. So you get used to things just happening. So it was nice to get the Norwegian Grammy, but in a way it was, “Of course, I’m going to get a Grammy!” Which sounds terrible, but it was like that.

DG: Each of these four albums that are being reissued came out on Astralwerks. How would you describe your experience with the label?
SL: It was wonderful. They put out a lot of records that I really cherished. And they were putting out Kings of Convenience and Royksopp, who were all from the same town I was. So when they said they wanted to put Faces Down, I was just really thrilled. That was the one thing I really hadn’t thought could happen, and that was having a record released in America and also through such a great label. So that’s relatively rare and especially rare at the time for a Norweigan artist to have a considerable release in America. And I’d never been to America before so the first time I came, people were singing along to my songs, it was really, really wild.

DG: So the first time you came over here, people knew the music, the record was out, you got a good response –
SL: The album had come out and it was CMJ. I was playing Tonic, I didn’t really know what to expect but I had heard that Tonic was the place where Jim O’Rourke would hang out and play and that just made my day. (Laughs) And then of course it got shut down quite quickly after my show. I don’t think I had anything to do with it, though.

DG: It’s been over 10 years already since you did a lot of these songs. Looking back as the person you are today, does it still feel like your work, or do you feel removed from those experiences?
SL: Some of them. Most of them I really enjoy still. Some of them I need breaks from because for a while they’ve been in the live set and they’ve been very exposed in different ways. And then some, I think I’m older, I think the lyrics are a bit embarrassing or something but… I get it, I understand the guy, I have to respect what I did. I know what I was trying for and what I was inspired by and I have to own up to that, I think. It’s important.

DG: Are there certain songs fans have gravitated toward that surprised you?
SL: Yeah, and vice versa. I’ve come to terms with the fact that maybe I’m not the best judge — I thought maybe in the beginning I was a good judge of “what’s the song,” what’s the one they’ll remember me for, really stupid stuff like that. I think through the years, I’ve come to realize I have no idea. There are certain songs obviously that you just have to accept and embrace, the fact that they really have a special appeal and I’m really proud of it, you know? Then there’s songs that surprise me, songs I notice people really gravitate towards when we play live — songs actually that I haven’t played for years, that I’m going to play on this upcoming tour – there’s a song called “Counter-Spark,” on Two Way Monologues, that people always want to hear in the States –

DG: That’s one of my favorites.
SL: Oh, you like it? Alright, so I’m going to play that now because people have been asking for it for years, I always forget when we go into pre-production. I’ve tried to play it from memory on stage when people request it but that always turns out for the worst. So I’m going to play that one and then people want to hear some of the songs from Duper Sessions which obviously was an album that people would probably either hate or love. For the people who really really like that record, they’re really, really committed to that record. People want to hear “You Sure Look Swell” and “(I Wanna) Call It Love,” and those are songs I haven’t really played that much live. It’s a nice opportunity to assess what is it people request that you haven’t been able to provide and now that I’m actually sharing these albums in a new way, it feels meaningful to honor those requests.

DG: I remember when Duper Sessions came out, that definitely was an album I was walking around with and listened to for a long time. Why do you think there was a polarized response? It surprises me that that album surprised people, because you could always hear the jazz influence in what you were doing.
SL: Absolutely. I really honestly didn’t feel it was such a bold move or statement at the time and it was definitely not meant to be, it was just a collection of songs that were recorded pretty much live in the studio with a simpler instrumentation. But I still argue that most of the songs on Duper Sessions could’ve gone on any of the albums I’ve put out, if they were treated according to whatever the mindframe was of the respective albums. I was indulging a bit more in my affection for jazz, jazz-related songwriting at least, and I felt that – the thing that made Duper Sessions unique to me was that, it was this young guy trying to write these old-school pop songs who couldn’t really – I didn’t really have the voice for it, to be honest. I didn’t at the time – I can maybe sing them better now, we’ll see. But I really didn’t have the chops to do it. My band, except for the piano player, were not jazz musicians. So I thought there was this almost indie-rock, punk-rock vibe to us trying to tackle this material that was completely out of our league in a way. I think there’s always some sort of beauty to that ambition. Of course, some people fell for that and some people didn’t get it, but I’m still proud of the record.

DG: It seems like with that album and Phantom Punch, you split your loves for jazz and noisier rock – before making them, did you have the idea that you were going to do these two tighter genre exercises and have those two sides of the coin?
SL: It wasn’t a very thought-through thing. And if it was, maybe they would’ve been more successful or less successful, I don’t know, but the original idea was only that I wanted the next record to be a smaller ensemble. I wanted it to be a band playing together. At that point, I’d gotten a really tight band who I’d developed a really close relationship with and who really inspired me. We’d played a lot of shows and I felt, I want the next record to reflect our chemistry. And I want to see what we can do with guitar, bass, drums, maybe some piano, you know?

I was doing sessions — I did a recording session with Raphael Saadiq. Because my label said, “We want you to record something in America.” And I thought, “Cool.” They said, “What do you want,” I said, “[I] want to work with Raphael Saadiq,” I loved some of his productions and his album Instant Vintage, I thought it was the best. So we worked together and that was a lot of fun but I didn’t feel that I could do a whole album that way and it was also really expensive. So even though it wasn’t coming out of my pocket, I knew if I made a record that costs $2 million, the expectation is naturally that it’s going to sell 5 million copies. I didn’t want to go into that territory because I felt it wouldn’t motivate me creatively in a way that I needed to be.

I did a tour with Elvis Costello at the same time. It was such a cool experience to see this guy on stage every night, with his band, interacting and playing these amazing, amazing shows that were half-improvised, they had a big repertoire of songs and he would just play whatever he wanted. So after that tour I knew what I wanted to do, and that was to make a more sort of physical, energetic, primitive album with my band in the studio and that eventually became Phantom Punch. But the album recording got postponed because of the producer and a lot of things and meanwhile, I had all these other songs that would become Duper Sessions. We recorded that in a little over a week in Bergen. It wasn’t really intended to be an album because we were focusing on Phantom Punch. It had just this unforced charm and the label wanted to release it and I couldn’t really say no, so that album came out first. When it came out, we went straight into the studio and recorded Phantom Punch.

DG: I remember seeing you at the Troubadour in L.A. around that time and I think you and the band had been performing a bunch of shows there to gear up for that album.
SL: You were there! That’s crazy. We did these shows in New York and L.A. before we went into the studio with Phantom Punch. We had to play Duper Sessions because the label said, “You have to play songs from this album because it just came out,” and we didn’t even have a piano player and he’s very instrumental on that record. So we had to play these Duper Sessions songs without the piano player. We’d play 10 songs that came out last week and then we’d play 15 songs that are going to come out next year and that we barely know how to play and that I barely can sing and then I guess as a payoff, we’d play some encores with some songs that people had actually heard before. It was a bold move, it was my brief Springsteen phase. But the idea was that, we need to play these songs live in order to know what’s up and I guess I learned a lot from it — I learned that I didn’t have the vocal range to sing half of the songs that I’d written and that caused me to lose my voice. I had to work with a voice coach to actually find a way to sing these songs every night. Now I’m really happy but at the time I got really worried because I thought I’d bitten off more than I could chew.

DG: Why push yourself out to the edge like that? Why write the songs in a way that was going to make them difficult?
SL: I felt that was the only way to learn. It was just more exciting. You get a little comfortable in whatever you’re doing and you just want to do something else. I kept seeing around me, the field was getting really crowded with a lot of male, white, polite singer-songwriters. And I always felt, it’s really nice, but it would be nice if just one of you would just scream or do something. Something that shook it up every now and then. It can’t all be the same emotion. And I felt, well if I feel that way, that’s my responsibility, because I’m one of those guys! And I wanted a certain kind of physical force and energy in the shows and I couldn’t get that if I was going to sing in a mild speaking voice.

DG: When Faces Down came out, it seemed like there was this nice moment of smart singer-songwriter types – I’m thinking of people like Elliott Smith, Badly Drawn Boy, Aimee Mann. Did it feel like there was a niche you could be part of?
SL: I remember feeling very flattered stuff like that would come up. Because I felt like I wasn’t really a part of anything, when I grew up, I was listening to records nobody else my age really knew about or cared about. And so you get the sense that whatever you make is probably only going to be understood by yourself. So every time someone gets it or tries to understand, it actually means a lot. When people put it in the context of, yeah, Elliott Smith or Aimee Mann, that whole Jon Brion triangle of singer-songwriters, it felt very – like somebody was getting something. It was flattering. A record that meant a lot of to me in shaping or articulating the sound and culmination of influences that I wanted for Faces Down was Mutations by Beck. That was a really, really important record, because he managed to make this singer-songwriter album that had all these really exotic, sometimes psychedelic and really poppy and tropical influences. I felt, even though Faces Down doesn’t really sound like that, it helped me identify the kind of combination of sounds that really really triggered my instinct.

DG: I was listening to it the other day and I was surprised to hear so many moments of psychedelic rock or noisier sections attached to these beautiful folk songs, so that it’s interesting marriage on that record. Because the melodies stick in your head and you forget about the wild guitar part at the end of the song.
SL: Yeah, exactly. A lot of those songs go into relatively long outros where shit explodes and falls apart again.

DG: In the last decade, do you think the audience who might understand what you do and people who do a similar thing has grown or gone the opposite way?
SL: I don’t know, I still feel that I’m sort of in my own little boat. Doing whatever I do. I think it’s always encouraging to see other artists who you feel some sort of kinship with. I always embrace that because there aren’t that many and of course people may see a relation between artists where the artists themselves don’t actually feel it. I’ve had people come up to me and say, you and so-and-so are my favorite artists, [like,] “What?” In one day at South by Southwest, I did a showcase for Brooklyn Vegan and two minutes after the show, two different people came up to me and said – “Oh my God, you’re like a poppy Dirty Projectors,” and I was like, “Hey, oh, that’s cool, I like Dirty Projectors,” and then a minute later, a guy comes up and says, “Hey, you’re like an indie rock Michael Buble.” (Laughs) And this was the same performance and the same crowd. You get used to people having lots of different ways in appreciating your music, which is ultimately great. To me specifically, when I hear something that resonates with me, it excites me and it means a great deal. It’s also uplifting to see other artists do well and open up people’s ears to stuff.

DG: I want to talk to you about moving to New York. Brooklyn has been such an amazing space for music in the last few years – from Sufjan Stevens to the National to, of course, Dirty Projectors. Have you been inspired by that community?
SL: Yeah, I think it’s really inspirational. When there’s a concentration of talent and bands coming from one place, there is going to be certain sounds that you hear on several records and people get on the bandwagon of course. There’s been a lot of reverb going around. That doesn’t sound as fresh anymore. But I think all in all, there’s a lot of different ideas that are welcome. A lot of different niches are included and embraced. There’s a couple of bands who are just these towering forces, like Animal Collective and Dirty Projectors, who really reach this new level of shit in a way. I can’t really explain it. I don’t know in what ways it will inspire someone like me, who’s definitely more classic in the way I approach songwriting. But I think it’s really inspiring to be around. I really love living here.

When I moved here, I needed to be in a bigger place where I was smaller, I wanted to feel smaller, I wanted to disappear. First I didn’t want to be a part of a community but after a couple years of course, it’s nice to meet other people and be a part of something. I wanted to get away from a sense of community because I felt I needed to stand my own ground and figure out things on my own. And I’d been so caught up in music and all these nerdy things, that I also just needed to live a little, to get drunk and make a couple of mistakes and it was easier to sort of feel a sense of privacy and just disappearing into a big mass here than at home in Norway. So for me it was both a refuge and eventually really inspirational to discover all the beautiful music that was being made very close to where I live.

DG: When did you move there?
SL: I moved here first in 2005 and I was back and forth for a year and then in 2006 I’ve pretty much lived here since. Of course I would go back to Norway and to Europe and play shows but for a couple years, I hardly went home at all. Then Dan In Real Life happened and I had a lot of work with that, and I’d put out a lot of records for a while, so I had all that. When Dan in Real Life, Phantom Punch, Duper Sessions, all that was over, it was really nice to just live here. And not push yourself too hard.

DG: I was going back and reading some of your old reviews last night — in the early part of your career, there was a lot of discussion of your age. Is it nice to have that kind of stuff over with?
SL: (Laughs) You get used to it. At the time, you want to be taken seriously just for who you are and all that stuff. In the end it doesn’t matter so much, you’re only young once. I’m sure that got me a lot of extra attention, it heightened the effect of what I did, there’s no doubt about it. I don’t know, maybe we put that to good use to get my word out there. That’s fine. What I do enjoy is actually playing and working with people who are either my own age or younger than myself. Because I started working with people who were almost categorically 10 years older than myself because I couldn’t find anyone at home in Norway who was into the same music as I was, and if I did, (laughs) they weren’t good enough to play on my record. So I got used to being this kid brother. And I am the kid brother in the family because I’m the youngest in the family. And I feel that after a while, you really need to, for your own sake, get out of that role.

I think that was also part of — I didn’t think about this consciously at the time, but wanting to move and live somewhere else, was wanting to help myself grow out of that role. And that takes a lot of years. I’m still very close to a lot of the people I worked with back in the day. Kato Ådland who produced my last two albums, co-produced, he started out as the guitar player in my band and has worked with me on all these records in some capacity. He has been the most important person musically in my life. I just needed to figure out a way to become, to try to become some sort of man, I guess. The band you hear on the record, they’re mostly younger than me and they’re fucking amazing, they blow my mind. My drummer Dave is my age, he’s from New Jersey, he used to play with Regina Spektor. He’s this amazing artist on drums. So that to me is really inspiring, finally playing with people my own age who can relate to the same world I do.

DG: You’re still a very young man but you’ve accomplished so much. What do you see yourself doing next?
SL: I’m always dreaming about the next song. Ultimately it’s always just about the songwriting. I’ve made that [the] most important ingredient to my music. Over the years I’ve also become really interested in a lot of music where the song isn’t as important in a way, and maybe that’s the wrong way of phrasing it – the approach to writing the song is completely different and that fascinates me. I don’t know if that’s a way for me to approach it, but I can’t not try (laughs), so I’m doing a studio session this summer in a studio on an island outside of Norway. We’re playing this festival and I’m staying there for a week and just experimenting. I’m for the first time going to go into the studio without fully shaped songs. I always start a recording with these really, really tightly composed and structured songs and that determines the way we work in the studio and I really really have to explore what would happen if I came in with just random melodies and random chords and lyrics and let it run wild. I have a bunch of songs I’ve been writing lately that are more structured and written that still feel pretty fresh and represent something new. And I’ve been working on a songbook of all my music and lyrics for these four first albums that I’ve been working on for four years — it takes a lot of time simply because I can’t actually write the sheet music myself. I’m hoping to get that out also in the fall.

Today on Rawkblog Presents: William Goodman of BetweenThePanels.com and I discuss Marvel and DC’s latest crossover events, the next Captain America movie, the beauty of digital comics and some series to start out with for graphic novel newcomers. It’s very nerdy!

You can subscribe in iTunes or download below:

Download: Episode 8: Deeper Into Comic Books (William Goodman)

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2: The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)
* Episode 4, Is Food the New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 5, Lit Blogs & “Against Enthusiasm” (Jacob Silverman)
* Episode 6, Taylor Swift / People’s List (Adam Barhamand)
* Episode 7, Fleetwood Mac / Tribute Albums (Rachael Maddux)

1) I never tire of these Take-Away Show clones, which run the same formula every time because it keeps producing tremendous results. It is extremely pleasant to be reminded that all great music requires is a handful of instruments and a compelling performance — not massive speakers, not a light show, not a crowd of thousands, not back-up dancers, though all those things are nice. They Shoot Music Don’t They is a current favorite, as is Watch Listen Tell.

2) Memoryhouse’s debut album remains a really lovely effort that deserves a little more attention, or perhaps just more attention by people who like the Clientele. I reviewed it for eMusic and interviewed the band for a feature on lo-fi acts heading to the studio.

Fiona Apple plays my favorite song from The Idler Wheel… in New York in March. So much feeling.

For the second installment of Altin Village & Mine Records “Green Corridor” series, the label enlisted tour partners Chad VanGaalen and Xiu Xiu. Xiu Xiu’s contribution is a miserable 20-minute performance art piece but the Chad side is stunning. VanGaalen’s recent electric-oriented Diaper Island was the first of his albums to come a few breaths short of blowing me away, but Green Corridor II finds him in all his experimental acoustic glory. “Your Own Minds End” is a gritty, ramshackle rocker; “Evening Sun” is one of his most peculiar ballads — it sounds like a music box quietly going crazy; “I Want You Back” goes effectively punk and so on. There’s little here that isn’t captivating. VanGaalen’s relative non-fame even among the experimental set remains a mystery to me — maybe being on Sub Pop keeps him from being a patron saint to the Ad Hoc kids — but few artists are making music as vividly, accessibly individualistic.

The Joys of Sleeping: “Dude York Pt. 1″ is somehow not named after Seattle ear destroyers Dude York. Instead, it’s a stately chamber-rock whoa-oh almost-anthem that’s heavy on the Do Make Say Think and just a touch Modest Mouse. Very frigid, not very sleepy, really great.

Eyes Lips Eyes: “Blue Red” is on some introverted Elbow/Menomena shit, making it a likable but less exuberant exercise than the spiky, silly “Don’t Blow It,” which I would love to embed for you but physically cannot. But the band’s range is promising, as is their fidelity. If dudes are the next breakthrough L.A. indie band, I’ll be pleased to cheer them on.

Update: Here’s “Don’t Blow It.”

Polly Hi: Sam McDougle’s band plays off-beat, laid-back M. Ward folk, the product of melodic craft and a bedroom electronics budget. It’s quite charming, especially when “All My Energy” walks amiably into the guitar break. Hear more on his site.

(Above: the concert debut of Rose Melberg’s Puppies.)

After triumphant/heart-melting performances at Chickfactor’s 20th anniversary concerts in New York and Portland, the Softies will reunite once more in San Francisco on Sept. 22, playing alongside Belle & Sebastian’s Stevie Jackson and other twee mainstays. Having flown up to Portland for the last show, let me be the first to tell you: go. I’ll be booking a ticket, as well as catching the sans-Softies Chickfactor show in L.A., which will gently take over the Bootleg on Sept. 20 with Jackson and more.

Meanwhile, the Softies’ Rose Melberg appears to be the musically busiest she’s ever been: in addition to the reunion gigs, she played a London reunion show with Go Sailor and has a bunch of new bands in progress. She did a smart, lengthy interview with Charlotte Richardson Andrews about her storied career and her many current gigs, but in short: solo stuff, Softies, Go Sailor, Brave Irene, Bleating Heart (bass), Puppies (drums, vox), Tally Ho! and a seventh, Jay Arner. Here she is with Tally Ho! covering the Pretenders’ “Kid” and doing a Puppies original. They rule.

Today on Rawkblog Presents: The charming Rachael Maddux joins the show to discuss the Fleetwood Mac tribute album Just Tell Me That You Want Me, the evolution of the cover song and the best tribute albums of all time.

You can subscribe in iTunes.

Download: Episode 7: Fleetwood Mac / Tribute Albums (Rachael Maddux)

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2: The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)
* Episode 4, Is Food the New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 5, Lit Blogs & “Against Enthusiasm” (Jacob Silverman)
* Episode 6, Taylor Swift / People’s List (Adam Barhamand)

In case you didn’t know: Captured Tracks is my favorite record label going. Suburban Living’s “Float in Clouds” is deeply Captured Trackscore, specifically Craft Spells’ aggressive drum programming and, uh, the entire roster’s glimmering guitars. The band’s Cooper’s Dream EP is an enjoyable enough genre exercise, though the vocals are buried so deep it’s a wonder Wesley Bunch doesn’t suffocate. “Float in Clouds” boasts the set’s strongest hooks; if this is the dream-pop revival’s second wave, I hope it rolls on forever. (That said, I also hope we can skip 2013 buzz bands Craftsmen Style Home and Middle-Class Lawn.)

The Cooper’s Dream EP is out now on Bandcamp.

Another perfect song from Jens Lekman’s I Know What Love Isn’t, starring Jens’ out-of-season sportcoat and his goofy smile at the 1:29 mark. The album’s due Sept. 4 on Secretly Canadian and, having pre-ordered the shit out of it, spoiler: it’s a stone classic.

Today on Rawkblog Presents: Adam Barhamand joins the show to discuss Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and the country star’s pop-minded new direction. Is Swift an authentic artist or a bitchy ex-girlfriend? We also discuss Pitchfork’s People’s List and our favorite albums of the last 15 years. (Here are mine and Adam’s.)

You can subscribe in iTunes.

Download: Episode 6, Taylor Swift / Pitchfork’s People’s List (Adam Barhamand)

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2: The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)
* Episode 4, Is Food the New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 5, Lit Blogs & “Against Enthusiasm” (Jacob Silverman)

A deep, dark folk song, Wickerbird’s “Druids” evokes shadowy forests and backwoods trails that extend well past the horizon. The multitudinous harmonies might suggest otherwise, but the band’s the solo project of Mt. Rainier, Wash., musician Blake Cowan, who treats his vocals as swaying strands to cocoon the double-tracked guitars that drive “Druids.” Like all the best trips, the destination’s unclear — the journey, lovely as it is eerie, is the thing. By the way, Nicolas Cage’s The Wicker Man? No relation. Not the bees!

Wickerbird’s The Crow Mother is due Sept. 25. Hear more on Bandcamp.

Want new music delivered directly to your inbox? Sign up for Mercury Music, our Digital Record Club, and get your first month free.

Today on Rawkblog Presents: Jacob Silverman joins the show to discuss his Slate piece “Against Enthusiasm,” why literary bloggers are too nice, the power of Twitter and the future of negative reviews. Watch above (don’t miss his adorable cat!) or download and subscribe below.

You can subscribe in iTunes.

Download: Episode 5, Lit Blogs & “Against Enthusiasm” (Jacob Silverman)

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2: The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)
* Episode 4, Is Food the New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)

Ava Luna caught my ears thanks to Twin Sister’s numerous Twitter endorsements, as well as their giving the young group an opening tour slot. Ava Luna’s Echo show was thoroughly winning, evoking Dirty Projectors’ harmonic bravery against the backdrop of gritty, deconstructionist R&B. Singer Carlos Hernandez looks like he just moved into his freshman dorm but sings like he’s been singing for 500 years, to coin a phrase — a juxtaposition that makes their live show all the more impressive. The band’s Ice Level is good, not yet great, a show of potential that “Water Duct” begins to fulfill. The song was recorded through the great Shaking Through series, which also produced Twin Sister’s “Meet the Frownies.”

Today on Rawkblog Presents: LA Weekly Squid Ink blogger Erika Bolden and returning guest Paul De Revere of Consequence of Sound join the show to explore foodies vs. hipsters, how chefs are like rock stars, East Coast vs. West Coast cuisine and much more. Watch above or download below.

You can subscribe in iTunes.

Download: Episode 4, Is Food The New Indie Rock? (Erika Bolden, Paul De Revere)

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2: The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)
* Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits (Greg Katz)

Musician and L.A. scene secret weapon Greg Katz joins Rawkblog Presents to discuss the new LCD Soundsystem concert documentary, Shut Up and Play the Hits. We dig into the late band’s indie relevance, the power of live music and James Murphy’s adorable dog. Watch above or download below. (The audio version has some minor edits where we had technical issues. It is otherwise untouched.)

You can subscribe in iTunes.

Download: Episode 3, LCD Soundsystem and Shut Up and Play the Hits

Previously:
* Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)
* Episode 2: The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)

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Deep Time

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Before last night, I don’t think I’d been to a show since the Beach Boys at the Hollywood Bowl almost two months ago. It’s easy to forget the simple pleasure of returning to a dark, familiar room, especially one with improved craft beer options, to hear music being played from the stage instead of the cloud; the Satellite jogged my memory. (The Yeti Imperial Stouts helped, at least at first.) The evening opened with Pony Boy, a local act that did their best, er, most competent Alabama Shakes impression before Hardly Art duo Deep Time took the stage.

In most recent guitar/drums duos, it’s the frontman or woman who fills in the rhythm section’s missing heft with the weight of charisma; in Deep Time, drummer Adam Jones is the bigger draw. He plays with gymnast’s sense of movement, strong and quick but never forceful. Jennifer Moore skips Jack White-style guitar demagoguery in favor of a minimalist approach to both melody and instrumentation — it’s compelling in its bareness when the songs hit the right BPM, but it also leaves the band sounding like half a Grass Widow. The Mynabirds, though, were on a good mixture. As they did at our unofficial SXSW party in March, the Omaha-based group delivered a slow-burning pour of blues, rock and soul, Creedence Clearwater revisited from beneath a spirit hood. Such is the headgear of our time — credit to the band for skipping the RAGE t-shirts.

Friendly reminder: members of my Mercury Music Digital Record Club get a personalized playlist designed to introduce you to your new favorite bands. First month’s free.

Moostache – “EOS”: mp3

Robert Pollard still breathes, but there are others keeping the power-pop torch burning. Chief among them: Wrapping Paper, a sunny, lo-fi project led by Crazy Tim. The band’s You Could Appear Anywhere EP, only its third official release, shimmers in the summer heat like an exceptionally well-maintained ’72 Trans Am. (Get the EP for $1.99 from Giantship Records)

Wrapping Paper – “You Could Appear Anywhere”: mp3

We need more bands like Paramore. States is one of those bands. The new group — full of emo scene veterans — borrows just enough from Hayley Williams & Co. for debut set Room to Run to sound like contemporaries, not rip-offs (though on songs such as “Everlasting,” they come pretty close). It’s an album of enthusiastic, riff-heavy pop-rock with enough gloss for the radio and enough passion for you not to care. (Room To Run is out now on Tooth & Nail)

Want new music delivered directly to your inbox? Sign up for Mercury Music, our Digital Record Club, and get your first month free.

Mark Humphrey, screenwriter, law student and my former colleague at the UCLA Daily Bruin, joins Rawkblog Presents to discuss blockbuster film The Dark Knight Rises. We cover its successes and failures, its place in Nolan’s Batman trilogy, and the future of superhero movies. Watch Episode 2 above or download it below.

You can subscribe in iTunes.

Download: Rawkblog Presents, Episode 2: The Dark Knight Rises (Mark Humphrey)

Previously: Episode 1, Pitchfork Fest (Chris Ott, Paul De Revere)

Want new music delivered directly to your inbox? Sign up for Mercury Music, our Digital Record Club, and get your first month free.

For the first-ever Rawkblog podcast, Rawkblog Presents, I talked to writers/thinkers/geniuses Chris Ott and Paul De Revere about this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival, the rise of Grimes and cloud-rap, One Week One Band, indie-rock generational divides and everyone’s picks of the best things to listen to/watch/etc. for the week. You can watch our Google Hangout above and download the audio podcast below. What do you think? What should we talk about next? Let me know.

You can subscribe in iTunes.

Download: Rawkblog Presents Episode 001: Pitchfork Fest

Want new music delivered directly to your inbox? Sign up for Mercury Music, our Digital Record Club, and get your first month free.

London guitar glimmer-chasers Weird Dreams have done the right thing (#SpikeLee) and, now that hard copies are sold out, put their limited-edition Found EP online. The band’s catchy, blurry Choreography is one of my favorites of the year — this is well worth paying what you want for. For completists (which you are), Weird Dreams have a great new split single out with Girls Names that you can hear below and buy from Slumberland.

(Homepage photo by Leon Diaper)

The group’s at its best on the ballads: “Bluebird” flies with a tender lead vocal and heart-stirring harmonies soaring alongside it; “Weight of the World” could easily pass for a lost Dusty Springfield hit. Upbeat single “Run Run Run” is a winner, as is the Latin-inflected instrumental “Acapulco (Sunset).” Grand Hotel is a richer, more vibrant-sounding record than 2008′s California-indebted debut, Freedom Wind, though the band’s ambitious broadness stretches thin on genre efforts like power-pop riffer “I’ve Been Waiting” (which thankfully shifts into Brian Wilson mode) and Motown pastiche “Anticipatin’”. But most of the band’s darts hit — certainly enough to give Grand Hotel the tour it deserves. Don’t wait for Austin Powers IV.

(Grand Hotel is out now; get it on Amazon)

Previously: Premiere: The Explorers Club – “Sweet Delights”

Jens Lekman turns in a deceptively simple Take-Away Shows-style video for “Erica America,” the lead single from I Know What Love Isn’t. He’s also showing a lot of scalp — Shirin must’ve been booked. The new album (which is as great as you’re hoping it will be, promise) is due Sept. 4 on Secretly Canadian. Happy 4th of July.

Previously: Jens Lekman Plays a Tiny Desk Concert | all Jens Lekman posts

On ARMS’ Summer Skills, the title track is a languid, Sun Kil Moon-inspired funeral march. But in time for the hated heat of a new season, the New York indie act has rebuilt the song as a clattering rock effort that’s very much alive. At least until August breaks the thermometers. The still-great — in fact, still-fucking awesome — Summer Skills is out now on Amazon and elsewhere.

ARMS photo by David Greenwald

Keaton Henson – To Your Health (Channel 4 version) from Keaton Henson on Vimeo.

Reclusive folk musician Keaton Henson’s Dear… is one of the year’s finest folk records, a spare, striking collection that will tie your stomach into knots. New track “To Your Health” is a bitter toast: “Drink up so we can both finally die,” he sings, without the exuberant delivery that once softened a similar blow from the Mountain Goats. No, like an inverse Fiona Apple, Henson wants his ex to feel everything — or as much as a whisper can deliver. The above video, which finds him performing in the shallow end of the camera’s depth of field as a ballerina moves to his mood, is equally subtle. The track’s part of his upcoming Lucky EP, due July 23.

Previously: Video Premiere: Keaton Henson – “Strawbear” | all Keaton Henson posts

This is how I felt the first time I saw the video for Kitty Pryde’s “okay cupid”: “The beat is terrible, her flow is goofy and terrible, she has a pandering Supreme sticker on her laptop and the whole song is meaningless, boring pop culture references — it’s ‘Gucci Gucci’ with no hooks and no viewpoint, custom-designed to get posted on the Fader.”

First impressions are for jerks. It turns out there’s much to love about Kitty Pryde, who’s hiding a serious well of humor and savvy behind her low-budget beats and tossed-off delivery. Despite some earlier recordings and a handful of blog posts, Pryde’s effective introduction to the world came with the “okay cupid” video in May and an accompanying New York Times essay that compared her favorably with painfully uncharismatic viral stars Karmin. The video, though not yet viral, was dubbed as much during an explosive 48 hours of press, and thus another music industry creation myth was born.

In reality, Pryde’s still far from a household name — with less than half a million views, she’s not even a YouTube star. (Humble brag: until days ago, she was within a few hundred Twitter followers of yours truly.) But self-mythologizing is a crucial hip-hop trope, one Pryde smartly embraces on “Orion’s Belt”: she raps about being the “rap game Taylor Swift” and takes, er, pride in getting passed over by mixtape bastion DatPiff. Having haters means somebody cares about you; even announcing their existence means you matter. When she raps about “ruining hip-hop,” it’s with both knowing affection and from the outsider safety of white suburbia: why bother with the Talmudic restrictions of Hot 97-style “real hip-hop” cred when Danny Brown likes you and you’re being flown to New York to play shows?

It must be remembered, and repeated, that all genres are evolving orbits of ideas, eras and personalities. Hip-hop is not simply a static checklist of elitist qualifications: it’s Public Enemy in 1988, Nas in 1994, the Clipse in 2006. It’s Kitty Pryde in 2012. To say otherwise is to deny a bacon-eater the privilege of being a Jew. (Hope that’s working out for you, Chabadniks.) Classicist craftsman are essential to any genre, but art (and society) requires its share of progressives to keep it from collecting dust in a half-imagined golden era. It’s easy to look at Pryde and underestimate her. Like any educated liberal, she knows the rules: she just opts to break them.

Most of the self-released haha im sorry EP recognizes the putty-tenuous limits of her apparent fame and focuses its attention on more grounded, relatable subjects: crushing on boys, Adderall and singing pop songs into a hairbrush in her room, as she does on goofy “Call Me Maybe” rework “Give Me Scabies.” None of it’s especially professional: Pryde’s a teenager making music with her friends for fun, and the according rough edges have a lot of charm. Her sincerity here is backed up by her Twitter and Tumblr feeds, which are recent history’s most self-aware (and hilarious) real-time document of exploding Internet success. I hate the word “authentic,” but it applies to Pryde in the way it does to Miley Cyrus, who can’t help being 100% Miley at all times. That’s a compliment.

It’s a lucky thing that the stakes for Pryde have yet to rise in the way they have for Kreayshawn, whose disastrous major label single “Breakfast” should haunt the dreams of underdeveloped artists thrust into the spotlight. To Pryde’s credit, doing whatever she wants leads to pretty crowd-pleasing results: all of the beats are serviceable, with cloud-rap track “ay shawty: THE SHREKONING!!!!” floating on the waves of a melancholic string sample and tidal synths. On a technical level, Pryde’s not exactly a hard spitter, but she hits her marks and seems genuinely interested in being a sharp lyricist, stacking enough clever, breathless rhyming to make Lil Wayne blush. Next to Riff Raff’s Dadaist barking on “Orion’s Belt,” she sounds like a freestyle champion.

Pryde is not a meme, and haha im sorry is by no means a joke or even an apology: like most great rap, it’s smart, funny as hell and full of personality. The problem with being Taylor Swift is having to sell millions of records to 15-year-olds with generic big-city dreams; Pryde would do better to be the rap game Fiona Apple. haha im sorry is a promising start: if this little white girl is ruining hip-hop, it’s time to burn the mother down.

And then there’s my personal conspiracy theory: what if this is actually the box set that fans have been faithfully waiting for all this time, with Suicide Handbook, 48 Hours and his other numerous, album-length unreleased sessions? It’s a stretch, yes, but a 15-LP live box set is indulgent even for Adams, especially given the same 10-15 songs anchored his whole tour. Regardless, the whole package comes for a ridiculously fair $130 plus shipping. At this point, I’ll be happy to have the chance to pay anything for it. Head over to Adams’ web store at 4 p.m. EST and cross your fingers.

Update: Per this official tracklist image, it’s going to document his entire European tour from last year, which marked his first dates since going on hiatus. Awesome.

Ryan Adams – “Let It Ride” (live, 6.11.11): mp3

I’m new to rock tourism, but any excuse to get up to Portland is a good one. Seeing the Softies play their old hometown for their third and possibly last 2012 reunion show was the best one. I made a week of it (beer notes, restaurant notes), but the trip was firmly focused on seeing Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia play a dream set list to an adoring crowd. Because there’s a God, audience member/hero deathcab29 taped most of the set. It’s not as crisp as the New York videos, but the band’s always been a little lo-fi.

Before the Softies went on, Bunk Bar saw fine solo sets from Joe Pernice (of the Pernice Brothers) and the single-monikered Lois. In one sense, it was a circa 1992 show after all: the show was well-attended, but given the indie-pop legends on the bill, I’m still not sure how it didn’t end with a line out the door. It’s always a double-edged sword: you want to see the things you love succeed without having to give too many pieces of them away. Portland’s Chickfactor 20 felt just right, a gathering of people who wanted to be there for the same reasons, or at least reasons that didn’t involve talking over the bands or getting belligerent. Quite the opposite.

As the sequel to Pants Yell!, the Andrew Churchman-led band Cuffs has distanced itself only slightly: the music is louder, noisier, more unbuttoned. Punk as it almost gets, it’s still catchy, sensitive-dude indie pop. As it should be. I’d say the Pants Yell! catalog is one of the key indie-pop discographies of the last decade — with a mere three albums, Chuchman has a lot left to say. Here’s “Private View,” the newer band’s second single — the vinyl’s available now and comes with a download code. The band infuriatingly isn’t selling just tracks, but so it goes.

(Pants Yell! photo by David Greenwald)

It’s finally here: the Jens Lekman album announcement. I Know What Love Isn’t is due Sept. 4 on Secretly Canadian. From the tracklist, it looks like it’ll be the melancholy relationship album (a la When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog) he’s been promising, with live favorites “Every Little Hair Knows Your Name” and “I Want a Pair of Cowboy Boots” in the lineup. And “Erica America,” a lovely, sample-free song that shows Lekman’s fully grown confidence in live instrumentation. Listen above.

I Know What Love Isn’t tracklist:

Every Little Hair Knows Your Name
Erica America
Become Someone Else’s
Some Dandruff On Your Shoulder
She Just Don’t Want To Be With You Anymore
I Want A Pair Of Cowboy Boots
The World Moves On
The End Of The World Is Bigger Than Love
I Know What Love Isn’t
Every Little Hair Knows Your Name

Here’s a pretty impressive video from L.A.’s Body Parts, whose athletic indie-rock gets a gymnast-flexible, colorful screen interpretation in “Doing Things.” It’s very Reggie Watts, sorta Feist and entirely watchable. The band’s great On Purpose EP is out now.

Any excuse to post this possible song of the year is a good one, even if the video’s a Bill Nye rip-off of the “Earl” premise. DIIV’s Oshin and its perfectly gelatinous guitars is due June 26 on Captured Tracks. Forever/forever/forever/forever…

2012 might finally be Steely Dan’s year! No offense to Hall and Oates, but the ’70s perfectionists’ hipster revival is long overdue. We’ve already seen an Aja covers album recently from the Darcys (disappointing, I’m afraid), but Hospitality’s “Rikki” cover brings the goods. The dagger-strikes of Amber Papini’s voice are a perfect fit for the song, as is the band’s considerable musicianship — that guitar solo! Hospitality’s debut remains probably my favorite album of the year: this makes for a thrilling b-side. Get it for $2.99 on Amazon.

The band’s debut, Singularity, is out June 26. (And thanks to Beats Per Minute, Listen Before You Buy, the Blue Indian and We All Want Someone To Shout For for sharing this premiere with me.)

Highlands – “Railroad”: mp3

In which New York chamber-rock greats Ravens & Chimes play “Past Lives” and more for Breakthrough Radio. Don’t skip the (actually funny!) interview. The band’s year-end list-caliber sophomore album, Holiday Life, is out now on Better Looking Records.

Ravens & Chimes – “Night”: mp3

Kels continues his unparalleled recent streak of R&B singles with a jam smoother than a bottle of coconut oil. Write Me Back, the follow-up to last year’s great throwback release Love Letter, is due later this year.

The songs, gorgeously produced by Mark Ronson, are a look back, or at least one from down the road: “Does your mother know what you’re doing?” he sings on the title track, while “Montauk” is addressed to his daughter. This is Wainwright aging gracefully — if he wants to write operas, too, he’s more than welcome.

(Out of the Game is currently $5 on Amazon)

Want more music? Get great new albums in your inbox every week with Rawkblog’s Mercury Music Digital Record Club.

(Buy Stand Up For Your Mother for $6.99 on Amazon)

Mesita – “Into the Wind”: mp3

Fear of Men’s “Green Sea” comes via Gorilla vs. Bear, who’s getting twee on us in his old age. This track’s not drastically unlike Allo Darlin’ or the UK’s other current guitar exports, but unlike its twee and folk colleagues, it comes with a healthy sense of psychedelic dread. Listen again and try to figure out when the trip went bad. The 7″ is due June 18.

The sweet songs of the Goodbye Radio’s The Year We Didn’t Have earned a rave review here a couple years back, and the group’s latest effort is a similar set of shimmering power-pop. The lead track’s the swooning “Love Won’t Save Me,” a song should satisfy your AM-era Wilco craving. Their new album is due June 5, with more songs available now on Bandcamp.

The Goodbye Radio – “Love Won’t Save Me”: mp3

Sometimes pop stars get it right. This is one of those times. The studio version of “Call Me Maybe,” a 2011 Canadian pop hit that’s exploding stateside right now, is as catchy and driving as anything in the Katy Perry ouevre — this is even better. If Jepsen can harness this kind of breathy tenderness again, Taylor Swift will have to make some room on the country-pop throne. (Also: Jepsen is 26, not 17. It’s never too late!)

Rookies of the year-so-far Hospitality played NPR’s accurately titled Tiny Desk series with a stripped-down set including “Sleepover,” “The Party” and heroic jam “Betty Wang.” It is charming. The band plays the Satellite on June 1 — as you may remember, they’re pretty great in a normal-sized space.

Download the 10-minute audio from NPR and grab the studio “Betty Wang” below.

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LA Font

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Credit where it’s due: Brokechella was a big success. Starry Kitchen’s food was delicious, drinks were cheap, it wasn’t too crowded, the sound was pretty good for a downtown warehouse and the bands played to win. (Bonus points for an extremely photo-friendly lighting set up.) As expected, LA Font, yOya and Big Moves were terrific — the latter act’s set was far too short given Big Moves’ effective-now hiatus, but their energy won’t be forgotten. Go buy all their music, won’t you?

All photos by David Greenwald.

Friendly reminder: if you’re in Los Angeles on Saturday, you could do worse than plunking down $5 to take in a handful of L.A.’s finest bands at the annual Brokechella one-day festival downtown. It’ll be the last show for a while for Big Moves, one of my local favorites (and favorites, period), before an indefinite hiatus, so expect a set to remember. Some new details on the fest, which Rawkblog is sponsoring: they’ll have $3 beer and wine from 4-6 p.m. and cheap eats from Starry Kitchen all day. (And bands!)

And if you’re heading out to pick up some vinyl and support your local record store for Record Store Day on Saturday morning, I recommend you spend your hard-earned dollars at Origami Vinyl — a shop that’s helped the Echo Park scene thrive in recent years and was kind enough to host my first photography exhibition back in the day. Beyond the exclusive wax, they’ll have a whole day of events planned — DJs from KCRW, KXLU and beyond spinning starting at 8 a.m. and an eight-band lineup rocking the loft starting at noon. Go early — Brokechella’s at 4.

Get more info about Origami’s RSD plans on Facebook, also home to the Brokechella lineup and beyond.

The Softies, possibly the greatest band the North American indie-pop scene has ever produced, played their first show in years last week at one of Chickfactor’s 20th anniversary shows in Brooklyn. To call it “epic” might be a little much for a twee duo without a rhythm section, but for what it’s worth, I bought tickets to their next show (in Portland, May 30) over Coachella. Here are six (amazing) videos from the set.

It’s the A-side of a single due on Cool Summer Records on May 25; hear their 2010 debut EP in full below.

The first of two Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festivals kicks off today, and for the first time since 2009, I won’t be there to enjoy it. If I were going, here are 25 of the bands I’d see, in handy Spotify playlist form. Enjoy, and be safe out there! #tweetsfrommom

@daverawkblog @chickfactorzine The Softies did Perfect Dear, Best Days, Charms, Tracks, Count to 10, Loveseat, Lambretta Boy, so many more

— rob sheffield (@robsheff) April 13, 2012

I’m guessing Rob means “Perfect Afternoon” (update: Nope, it’s a track I didn’t know about actually called “Perfect Dear”) — the others would be “Charms Around Your Wrist” and “Tracks and Tunnels.” Would love to know how long the set went, but those tracks span nearly the entire catalog.

@robsheff this was my 4th @chickfactorzine show & I can honestly say that the softies set resulted in the most tears / make out sessions

— maria sherman (@mariasherm) April 13, 2012

You guys the Softies are just the most perfect everything ever #maudlinindiepoptweets

— maura johnston (@maura) April 13, 2012

For the record, that’s a Rolling Stone editor and the music editor of the Village Voice gushing. Can’t wait until next month. The band plays Portland’s Bunk Bar (their only other scheduled show) on May 30.

I wrote an exhaustive history/critical take on the Softies on One Week // One Band earlier this year. Enjoy. (You should know that in the Dave Rawkblog’s All-Time Favorites discussion, it ranks something like Elliott Smith, The Softies, Ryan Adams, everybody else.)

There are a handful of unsung geniuses in the L.A. scene right now, but perhaps none more primed to soundtrack romantic CW montages and headline the Hollywood Bowl than yOya. The band’s wonderful “Fireworks” video puts a new spin on found footage, pairing new videography with childhood VHS tapes and atomic test footage that dovetails with the track’s lyrical bent. Stream/buy their debut album below.

I wasn’t around to see Elliott Smith’s 2000 tour, but what remains of the shows is revelatory: the finest musician of his generation turns bedroom ballads into propulsive full-band jams, giving edge even to the more boldly produced efforts of XO and Figure 8. Here’s a full hour of Smith tearing through his catalog; you’re going to want to go full screen for this.

There are a number of audio bootlegs from this tour. This Roseland Theatre recording is a good starting point.

Elliott Smith – “Needle in the Hay” (live, electric): mp3

Get an exhaustive guide to Elliott Smith on his Rawkblog archives page.

Want more music? Get great new albums in your inbox every week with Rawkblog’s Mercury Music Digital Record Club.

Track list:

1. Dirty Rain
2. Oh My Sweet Carolina
3. Lucky Now
4. Houses on The Hill
5. Black Sheets of Rain
6. Chains of Love
7. Ashes and Fire
8. My Winding Wheel

Thanks, perhaps, to their relationship with Steve Albini, the Wedding Present’s albums always sound terrific. Albini didn’t lay a finger on their latest, Valentina, but the guitars still smolder and the drums cut through the mix like a machete. The waveforms probably look like Giselle Bundchen. It doesn’t hurt that the band, over two decades in, still has songwriting sharpness and romantic spite to spare. Here’s Valentina‘s lead track.

I’ve been worshipping at the Captured Tracks altar for a year or so, but even by their standards, Dive — a Beach Fossils spin-off — is a promising band. “How Long Have You Known” doesn’t betray the secret on the other end of its titular question, but that sense of mystery — made urgent by the band’s vivid, watercolor sound — leaves the group that much more to share on its June-due debut album.

Synth-pop wizards Alpine were among the best bands I saw at this year’s SXSW, and their magnetic stage show — which finds their two lead singers dancing, vocally and literally, around each other — translates easily to “Icypoles,” a track from their debut EP that’ll have to hold us over until this year’s debut album. Stream the Zurich EP on Spotify.

Want more music? Get great new albums in your inbox every week with Rawkblog’s Mercury Music Digital Record Club.

I wrote about the band for my Los Angeles Times column today — get familiar.

Most of the albums I like best these days are efforts of refinement, not progress, the sounds of the past given edge and improvement (or at least an attempt on it) by a enthusiastic new generation. Weird Dreams should be soundtracking mine for weeks to come.

Weird Dreams – “Little Girl”: mp3

Choreography is out now on Tough Love Records.

Want more music? Get great new albums in your inbox every week with Rawkblog’s Mercury Music Digital Record Club.

This is what live music is supposed to be like, I think. It’s from 2007, a year Jens Lekman’s voice sounded especially heaven-sent. News on his next album should drop any day now.