tuneMine

While I’m sure I’ll go into my late-life love for...

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:01:20 -0400

While I’m sure I’ll go into my late-life love for Veronica Falls many more times in the lifespan of this blog, I’m going to take a second to jot down what I always think during my favorite Veronica Falls songs: they remind me of this one, a wistful rocker from DC indiepoppers Aden. This song destroys me as much as is did in 1999: weaving, brilliant guitar lines and world-weary vocals. A stunner.

Hooray! New Dodos song! A lovely, lush starts with several...

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:01:12 -0400

Hooray! New Dodos song! A lovely, lush starts with several spikes that lead it to a harsh rocker. In other words: new Dodos song! Hooray!

Putting Friend & Lover’s “Reach Out Of The...

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:25:42 -0400

Putting Friend & Lover’s “Reach Out Of The Darkness” at the very end of last week’s Mad Men seemed really heavy-handed, coming as it did over the new of RFK’s assassination. But as obvious as the irony is, I actually really liked the contrast between the political volatility of the time with the heavily-marketed pop music of the time. You can see Don Draper or Ted Chaough pitching it: “People want to feel good. They’re nervous about the way the world is changing, and they want to be comforted. They want to know that this upheaval will ultimately make the world a better place.”

find it on Reach Out Of The Darkness

See if you can get your head around this one: the chorus of the...

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:01:20 -0400

See if you can get your head around this one: the chorus of the new Vampire Weekend song “Step” is lifted from Souls of Mischief’s “Step To My Girl”, which in itself is lifted from the Grover Washington Jr song “Aubrey”, which is a cover of a song by Bread.

Now who gets songwriting credit for what here?!

“Step” is kind of the ultimate Vampire Weekend song....

Sat, 11 May 2013 14:01:27 -0400

“Step” is kind of the ultimate Vampire Weekend song. It’s kind of annoying in a way—yet another Pachelbel’s Canon rip; more rich-guy lyrics—but like all Vampire Weekend songs, it succeeds wildly in spite of itself, overcoming it’s obvious touch points and turning into a song that goes on repeat.

On the off chance you know people who think that “they...

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:01:02 -0400

On the off chance you know people who think that “they just don’t make music like ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ or ‘Holiday’ anymore”, just have them listen to this.

find it on Above The City

Bibio’s “Lover’s Carvings” is one of the...

Mon, 06 May 2013 09:01:12 -0400

Bibio’s “Lover’s Carvings” is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, which is pretty hard to match, but “À Tout À L’heure” comes close. A beautifully pastoral song with a trippy video, and all of a sudden, I have a new album to look forward to.

find it on Silver Wilkinson

There’s a lot of dinky drum machine and pushy harmonica...

Sun, 05 May 2013 09:01:00 -0400

There’s a lot of dinky drum machine and pushy harmonica going on in this song, but the chorus has a melody that shines bright enough to blot out the excess.

Fair or not (probably not fair), Majical Cloudz is going to be...

Sat, 04 May 2013 09:01:00 -0400

Fair or not (probably not fair), Majical Cloudz is going to be compared to Perfume Genius. While not quite as wounded as Mike Hadreas, the disarmingly sparse piano/vocals and an attraction to almost-unbearably sad sounds makes it hard not to put the two side-by-side.

In other words, I love it.

find it on Impersonator

My first reaction on hearing that Johnny Marr played “How Soon Is Now” on Fallon a...

Fri, 03 May 2013 09:01:04 -0400

My first reaction on hearing that Johnny Marr played “How Soon Is Now” on Fallon a...

In these days when the rain of music never lets up, it’s...

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:01:10 -0400

In these days when the rain of music never lets up, it’s interesting to see what songs you like in the moment hold up when they come up on shuffle years later. “We’ve Never Lied” was a song that I liked plenty when it first came out, but I attributed it mostly to the awesome line “and I’ll talk to whoever I goddamn wanna”, but these days, it sounds like a stone-cold CLASSIC.

I dismissed this song the first time I heard it, but clearly,...

Wed, 01 May 2013 09:01:05 -0400

I dismissed this song the first time I heard it, but clearly, the first time that I heard this song, I didn’t listen to it all the way through. Because while the first bit might come off like too much more of that “indie take on slow jamz” thing, when the titular section of the song starts in, it transcends genre and makes it self at home at Just Plain Awesome, which is probably a club or something. That part could repeat out for infinity and that would be fine with me.

DANCE FLOOR BURNER ALERT. The new !!! album—as ridiculously...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:01:11 -0400

DANCE FLOOR BURNER ALERT. The new !!! album—as ridiculously titled as the band: Thr!!!er—is fantastic, stripping down some of their excess and focusing on hooks and grooves. And this one in particular kills it. This will sound great played right after the new Daft Punk track on the summer’s dance floors.

find it on Thr!!!er

I missed a lot of good stuff in the 80s mostly due to “not...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:01:00 -0400

I missed a lot of good stuff in the 80s mostly due to “not paying attention” or “having cool friends”. But there was a lot to miss, too. Close Lobsters are a band that I was really sorry to have missed out on. Their late-80s production isn’t as egregious as most bands in the late-80s, and their songs are fabulous. “Gutache” is one of the most immediate of their needs-to-be-widely-rediscovered discog.

I can see why Pitchfork gave a lukewarm review to the new...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 09:01:16 -0400

I can see why Pitchfork gave a lukewarm review to the new Generationals album. It’s not bad. At all. It’s really catchy and summery, but there’s something incomplete about it. Every song is a great idea that isn’t fully realized.

“Put A Light On” has a absolutely fantastic hook of a melody, but it lacks that one resolving hook that makes it irresistible; that “I love you, baby”-type clincher of “When They Fight, They Fight”.

But hey…why think about could be when you can enjoy what is, and this is still a pretty blissful listen.

find it on Heza

I got in an interesting email debate recently about whether...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 09:01:00 -0400

I got in an interesting email debate recently about whether older bands are tarnishing their “legacy” by continuing to make music well past the days that people are clamoring to hear something new from them. I came down solidly on the side that they are not; that bands should be feel to make music for whatever reason they want under whatever name they want without any thought or concern as to whether to changes how fans feel about their past stuff.

Wire is a perfect example. Pink Flag and Chairs Missing are classics, but why shouldn’t Wire get back together and try to make music? And if they want to make music that sounds like their old stuff…well, they enjoyed doing it the first time, so why not again? Why worry about the fans that demand their past stuff exist in a bubble, untouched by anything slightly different?

But Wire’s new album is a great example in that it’s really good. Not many people would really put it right beside Pink Flag, but it shows that as long as the creative desire is there, creatives should create and all the people who somehow feel they should protect their legacy be damned.

find it on Change Becomes Us

A few years ago, after “Cup of Loneliness” appeared...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:50:00 -0400

A few years ago, after “Cup of Loneliness” appeared on Mad Men, I went out and bought The Definitive Collection and was thrilled I did. Wonderful, classic country.

RIP George Jones.

I hear that there’s a new Camera Obscura song and I...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:01:13 -0400

I hear that there’s a new Camera Obscura song and I immediately think that I’m going to be blown away, which is unfair. This song is standard-issue Camera Obscura loveliness, and while it may not be anything groundbreaking from CA, it’s damn satisfying and will be a perfect addition to our (my) summer playlists.

Here’s To Taking It Easy is one of my favorite albums of...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:01:00 -0400

Here’s To Taking It Easy is one of my favorite albums of the last few years, and while I do really like Muchacho a lot, it had a tough act to follow. “A Charm/A Blade” blends the best of the two album: the horns and hooks of Easy with the laid-back squalor of Muchacho.

Okay, it may not have the culture-invading heights of...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:01:00 -0400

Okay, it may not have the culture-invading heights of “Milkshake”, but this is a delicious slab of soul and Sitek production. Mmmmm…slab.