Last week. Sorry I'm late! Spent all day on Interstate 35.
This afforded me ample music listening time, luckily. Damage Decade's album Lifted High is really nice to drive with at night. Very soft album, electro influences on rock. A little emo.
I guess I'm a bit melancholy tonight or something, here's Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M, Simon and Garfunkel's saddest song.
I've really been enjoying the new Pissed Jeans album Honeys. It's messy, loose punk with some catchy hooks and interesting lyrics. My favorite songs on the album are Loubs and Cafeteria Food. I'm on the verge of totally immersing myself in punk now that I'm finishing up with my experimental electronic binge. It's a genre I couldn't quite get into except for a few artists before, but now it's starting to click with me.
It was a slow week for me:
I listened to Wild Nothing and DIIV which is pretty similar, but very relaxing and chill.
I listened to some Electronic stuff from Squarepusher
And some math rock stuff from Bulletproof Tiger And yeah its good stuff.
Thanks for the suggestions! I haven't listened to any new math rock in a while, but I'll definitely be listening to Bulletproof Tiger more in depth this week.
DIIV is a great band. One of their members is a former guitarist of Beach Fossils, you should definitely check them out too.
Ha yeah, I've been seeing Beach Fossils everywhere lately. I think this is an actual sign that I have to listen to them.
Harlem by New Politics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVOUTkFkMNU It's a little "pop-y" for my taste but so fucking HYPE, especially when driving. Lil' insom ROCKS OUT! Plus the video makes me miss NYC.
I spent 4 years there. I was over it. But I'm starting to miss it a little bit now.
My sister lived there for about 5 years. I really enjoyed visiting and felt the same way, "how could anyone ever get tired of this place?" But as I began to reflect on a typical day there it occurred to me that beyond your apartment walls there is very little solitude. Even the quiet moments involve the sounds of not too distant people. I would miss being able to go on a hike or a walk where I'm near certain I won't see anyone. Though those moments are rare these days, I still enjoy knowing they are possible. I've been trying to talk my wife in to moving there for years to no avail. We have 2 large dogs that are accustomed to big back yards. They would be miserable. But it is a really fun place. I get the same type of energy from it as I do being in the mountains -odd.
I'm utterly divided. Some days I wake up and I'm a crowds and cities and people-watching person -- give me a walk around Columbus Circle and a bagel in Central Park -- but others I just want to park myself in the middle of nowhere and walk into a canyon.
The ideal cities have both. But none of those cities are on the scale of NYC.
Definitely one of the cities on our short list along with Vancouver, Seattle, Austin and Raleigh-Durham.
Disregard Seattle. Lived here for over three years, and I still feel like a visitor. The social dynamic is... Swedish. Not to disparage the Swedes. But it's really chilly. Also, the city is so spread out that it feels more like a series of isolated boroughs, and none of those boroughs feel quite as culturally developed as you'd expect from a city this size. And the local music scene is really narrow- if it's not garage punk or cabaret, forget about it. Honestly, I feel like Seattle has got an inflated opinion of itself. Grew up in Portland- that place was awesome as a kid, and it's only gotten better, although the job market is tough. Warm people, incredible culinary/bar scene, good music for days, and some beautiful (and affordable) neighborhoods. If you're looking at Detroit, you should check out Baltimore as well. Fantastic city.
I heard that from sounds_sound once. He referred to it as the "Seattle Freeze". I've heard nothing but good things about Portland though. I used to live in Missoula MT and there's a part of me that really wants to get back out west.
If you end up in either, let me know. I'm interested to know how much Missoula has changed and which, if any, of my old haunts are still around. If you end up in Asheville, we'll have to get a beer sometime as I go there occasionally for work etc. I live in Durham.
I forgot to put Detroit on my list. I find it very likely that we'll end up in Detroit or Ann Arbor again. I love Ann Arbor and Detroit is pretty kick ass too. But Austin is a place I will forever visit.
I've been listening to and loving it since the day it came out (I got the signed vinyl on preorder), and I know it's been getting a fair amount of attention lately (deservedly so), but it really just hit me this week how incredible Swan's new album The Seer is. It's absolutely astounding when you consider the amount of little details there are in it, and then realize this is entirely its own form of music. It doesn't hit any single genre really well and redefines a lot of perceptions of music. A lot of the things I adore about Swans really came through to mesh as they should-- the use of bells, M. Gira's voice and tonality, and all the strange sounds they make with guitars. It was definitely worth the 20+ years of work that went into it, and I think the fact that they consider it "still incomplete and evolving" is spot on. It's not a finished product because it spans so far beyond a single album in its existence. EDIT: Adding on Michael Gira's quote, because he of course said it perfectly: "The Seer took 30 years to make. It’s the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I’ve ever made, been involved in or imagined. But it’s unfinished, like the songs themselves. It’s one frame in a reel. The frames blur, blend and will eventually fade."
I found out that Sufjan's latest album, Age of Adz, is his most commercially successful album yet. He has a bandcamp website selling his albums. A favorite song, Futile Devices, starts my trips on the road.
I like most all of his work but Illinois is his strongest work in my opinion. Has there ever been a song about a serial killer more haunting and beautiful than this one? -Damn.
No! There hasn't! blackbootz I love Age of Adz but Illinois will remain Sufjan's magnum opus.
Haha I must clarify. When I said most commercially successful I meant just that, Age of Adz made him the most money. Illinoise may or may not be "better" but it was mostly torrented or shared, not bought.
I'm surprised he didn't make more $ off Illinois. It was featured in a number of ads and was the soundtrack for "Little Miss Sunshine" -I think.
Low, C'mon - I'm not a huge fan of Dave Fridmann's production work and thought he was an odd pairing for the band on some of their "recent" albums, so I tuned out on pretty much everything they've done since Trust way back in 2002. That said, they're one of my favorite active bands and by the time I got around to this album I was really ready to hear what they're up to. C'mon is a return to form. Self-produced by the band and recorded at Sacred Heart Studios, a converted Lutheran church in Duluth, the album brings back everything I love about Low - the pace and the space... the sculpting in time, so to speak. Here they are performing one of the album's standout tracks, "Witches", in NOLA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_UQw3N0n4 And the epic "Nothing But Heart" live in Minneapolis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HvfO4-abbM If you like these live, you should hear them on the record.
checking ipod to see if I have the latest Low album...Wait, I do. Can't say I remember even listening to it. 'Murderer' from Drums and Guns is maybe one of their best songs, so I give that album a pass. The Curtain Hits the Cast will forever be their greatest imho. I've seen them maybe 5 times in concert. Oh boy. Will have to put on C'mon here soon. Thanks!
For me it's been: Royal Baths
Devo
Electrelane
Sister Vanilla ...and some ambient stuff.
This week I've been listening to Why? a lot, since I saw them last weekend. If you're into alternative hip-hop/a fusion of a tons of genres then you should check them out. This song in particular hits me hard when the chorus comes around. I've also been listening to New Order a lot more recently. By which I mean I've sat in my room and had it on for a couple of hours, it's amazing both just listening to it actively and having it on as background noise.
Why?s newer stuff is less fun to me. Do you like Hymie's Basement? That's a good one.
Can't say I've listened to them, I will be doing so over the next couple of days though! Thanks for the recommendation. I've listened to Clouddead before, if you like Why? you'll probably like them too (another project with Yoni Wolf in it).
Love me some Clouddead. Think of Hymies Basement as just another clouddead album. Exact same music. Which is a good thing. It's why I know you'll like it :)
Safari. Nice. Funny, I never listened to the Breeders, except for whatever was rotated on MTV. Once in a great while, I'll get into a 90's band and will end up liking them more than any of the bands I actually loved and listened to during the 90's. EDIT: I also just might be in love with Kim Deal. Well, that OR really scared of her. Can't tell yet.
Chris Bathgate my cousin plays violin with him and back in the day the new green shared a couple shows with him. Nice guy, great songwriter. Sufjan Stevens Michigan listened to this tonight while making this The National listened to this while making this. Then I listened to/watched this Bowie interview To cap it off, I was at the museum with my daughter when this old Wilco tune came on and put an even bigger smile on my face. It was a good week for music at my house... and for drink making.
Bam! #weeklymusicthread added. Check out Bathgate, let me know if you dig it. That Wilco tune "Don't Forget the Flowers" is a good one to listen to on the heels of that Simon and Garfunkel tune.
I wrote and recorded this: https://soundcloud.com/thenewgreenmusic-com/song-for-j-and-g... this week. I'm possibly the worst drummer ever, but it was a fun one to record. I still would like to add acoustic and electric guitar and I'd like to do a better job mixing it.
Giraffes? Giraffes! - More Skin with Milk-Mouth is a great instrumental and math-rock album. I just started listening to them again. My favorites off the album are probably "I am shimer..." and "A Quick One, While She's Away." The last track is very soothing to me. I am also in love with Perpetuum Mobile by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. It's a pretty old song and I'm sure it was probably in a commercial, but I still enjoy every minute of it. It makes me want to reflect on life and contemplate what my future will be like.