-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans (RAC Mix)
This definitely isn’t the first RAC-mixed track that has been posted, and I’m fairly sure it won’t be the last. Absolutely killer.
-mchristie
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
White Denim - River to Consider
It’s like the love child of Ian Anderson and Rusted Root.
-matthew
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
AM & Shawn Lee - City Boy
Chill opening track from AM & Shawn Lee’s newest collaboration: Celestial Electric.
-matthew
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
My Morning Jacket - “Anytime”
another yim yames special, circa 2005. have a weekend, y’all.
-matthew
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Pepper Rabbit - Murder Room
great new track from Pepper Rabbit’s new album, Red Velvet Snow Ball.
-matthew
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Stornoway - “Zorbing”
Theme: Morning Songs
The leisurely days of late summer are in short supply, and with work or school intensifying, mornings tend to start earlier and with more difficulty. I find that almost as important as a strong cup of coffee is a motivating wakeup playlist - songs that ease you into that rare state of mind where even the most challenging trials seem insignificant; songs that engender a kind of cosmic gratitude and tranquility. I’d be willing to bet that most of my co-contributors have impeccably curated morning setlists, and maybe a lot of readers, too (send in your suggestions!) For the jumping-off point, I’d like to share a track that Brian introduced me to last year: “Zorbing,” by Oxford, UK’s Stornoway. I can only imagine the amount of painstaking research they did to capture the elation of bouncing around in a giant plastic bubble. Hope you guys enjoy it.
-matthew
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Ratatat - Kennedy
Saw It Live
The very same weekend that Brian came to visit me at Tufts to see the Shins, we saw Ratatat - talk about a double-header. The show was in a little cafe-turned-venue in the middle of campus, and Ratatat was at the height of their hype. Brian and I got there a little late, so we were relegated to a spot looking into the cafe from the side of the ‘stage.’ We shared a window with the keyboardist, who would occasionally blow smoke in our faces. I think I’m most excited about this post because of the picture that accompanies it. This is an actual shot from the show, shamelessly stolen from some guy at Tufts, and if you look closely, you can see that Brian has actually spotted the camera (framed by the red cup and hat), and I appear to be falling asleep above him. As for the song I’ve posted, Kennedy is one of those incredible build-up tracks that Ratatat is well known for, probably suited for the “Pay Dirt” theme. Enjoy it.
-matthew
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Theme Week - Percussion
I drove back to Nashville from Iowa a few weeks ago, which gave me plenty of time in the car to listen to and think about music. At one point, I queued up Beck’s Modern Guilt, an album I hadn’t listened to for months, and got hooked on a track that had never really struck me before: Chemtrails. Maybe it was the shitty speakers in the car or the mental fatigue, but after a few listens, I came to really appreciate, nay, love Beck’s use of drums. They are thrust to the front of the song, carrying the chorus forward, while the verse is characterized almost completely by their absence. Without percussion, Chemtrails is empty.
As as result of this revelation, I’d like to dedicate this week on our blog to songs that uniquely and centrally feature percussion instruments - whether a particularly impressive Who track or something a little more abstract, like the first song that I’d like to share. NYC’s The Books have always been a couple of musical oddballs, eschewing more traditional structure and content for a style self-described as “musical collage” (a characterization that will make sense shortly). In “An Animated Description of Mr. Maps,” from 2005’s Lost and Safe, The Books manipulate the percussion in quite a novel way, using it to compliment, rather than define the rhythm of human speech in the song. The introduction is pretty wild, too. Hope you guys enjoy it.
-matthew
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Steel Pulse - Ravers
No kids, but a little reggae to help you over that Wednesday slump.
matthew
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Turtles - You Showed Me
What modern artist can’t you hear in this incredible Turtles track from 1969? Those strings remind me of Beck’s Sea Change, the harmonies are straight out of a Grizzly Bear song, and I swear I hear a little Cake in there.
-matthew
