Her name is Merrill Garbus and she is tUnE-yArDs and she’s brilliant. She does the amazing looping-herself thing when she plays live, like Andrew Bird and Juana Molina. I recommend listening to her album BiRd-BrAinS right now!
Magnetic Felds – [Realism] Hmm, I love Magnetic Fields, but I’m too excited about this one after the first listen. Realism is Stephin Merritt’s “folk album”, and the sister album to 2008’s Distortion, where he wanted to sound more Jesus & Mary Chain than Jesus & Mary Chain.
Spoon – [Transference] Back with their 7th studio album, Spoon keeps putting out great stuff.
Vampire Weekend – [Contra] Will the sophomore album live up to the debut?? I might like it better. Bonus track
Broken Bells – [Broken Bells] The new project from Danger Mouse and James Mercer from The Shins! Pretty great. (Not allowed to post the link due to web sherrif!)
Yeasayer – [Old Blood] trippy awesome
Shearwater – [The Golden Archipelago] Epic. Shearwater started as a side project of Okkervil River, but have continually released amazing records of their own.
Xiu Xiu – [Dear God, I Hate Myself] Though still not “radio friendly”, this latest record is so much more so than the other Xiu Xiu releases. I like it, and the title is pretty awesome. And I read somewhere that they used a nintendo to make some of the sounds?
Real Estate - [Real Estate] Good, mellow. Kinda Fleet Foxes-ish but less dreamy?
Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) – [Heartland] So Owen decided to drop the Final Fantasy moniker for all upcoming releases. This album uses a lot more instruments than just his usual violin and voice.
Nana Grizol – [Ruth] I like this album a lot, and the singer is getting compared to Jeff Mangum, though I don’t quite see it. It kinda reminds me of Hallelujah the Hills, from Boston. Nevertheless, it has a definite Elephant 6 feel to it, as it should. Members of this band run Orange Twin Records with members of Elf Power.
Los Campesinos! – [Romance is Boring] I think they grew up a little with this record. Lot’s of good songs, but less innocent cutesyness.
Liars – [Sisterworld] More cool hipster music.
Harlem – [Hippies] Lo-Fi, garage-y, I think you’ll like it if you liked the Girls album last year.
Moonface – [Dreamland EP] Spencer Krug from Sunset Rubdown and Wolf Parade gives us 21 minutes of Marimba and drums and lyrics based on his dreams. Offered free or by donation on www.mooonface.ca
Charlotte Gainsbourg – [IRM] French actress, daughter of Serge Gainsbourg, collaboration with Beck…. So good.
Neil Young – [Dreamin' Man] Live takes on every song from Harvest Moon, but in different order. 1992 performance.
I am obsessed with organizing my iTunes. Well… I guess my music obsession trumps the organization obsession. If I didn’t download so much music, I wouldn’t have so much to worry about, but still… I can spend hours (hours?) making sure everything is classified correctly by genre, properly labeling track numbers, gathering album art, etc. My friend Justin is similar about his record collection, and I know from experience (of messing with Justin’s on his graduation day) that one should not mess with a audiophile’s vinyl alphabetizing / sorting by release date. My friend April and I had to hide out in a bathroom til he cooled off. Maybe I’d freak out if you hacked my iTunes, but please don’t try it. Perhaps my obsession stems not only from a love of music, but also from my 2 year stint working at a cd shop in college. “Good Afternoon, ‘Strawberries’ Music, Movies & More, How can I help you?” To this day I cannot walk by a stack of cd’s in a store without straightening them out, and maybe alphabetizing just a little.
I just got my hands on a ton of new music. Of course I haven’t had time to listen to it all. I’m working my way through it, but I’ve been sidetracked listening to the Clues album a lot. I’m really excited to hear the 2 new Mountain Goats (one is a bonus disc, but they’re both both bible themed) and the new Built to Spill album. Karen O does a version of Daniel Johnston’s “worried shoes” that I love on the Where the Wild Things are soundtrack. Interesting that the Arcade Fire song from the movie trailer isn’t even on the soundtrack. I’m including links to download the albums, which can mostly be found on flamingmilk.blogspot.com and oursociety.tsururadio.com
Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Built To Spill – There Is No Enemy (indie guitar rock)
Karen O and the Kids – Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack (Karen from Yeah Yeah Yeah’s)
The Mountain Goats – The Life Of The World To Come
The Mountain Goats – The Life of the World in Flux
Alec Ounsworth – Mo Beauty (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah singer)
Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms (trendy electronica stuff)
Thomas Function – In The Valley Of Sickness
Daniel Johnston – Is And Always Was
Memory Tapes – Seek Magic
The Almighty Defenders – S/T (Black Lips & King Khan side project)
New Moon Soundtrack (Twilight is lame, but it’s got Grizzly Bear, Thom Yorke, Bon Iver)
Old Canes – Feral Harmonic (Appleseed Cast side project)
Former Ghosts – Fleurs (New Xiu Xiu project)
Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar – One Fast Move (Death Cab guy and Uncle Tupelo guy)
The Swell Season – Strict Joy (The couple from the movie Once?)
Flashy Python – Skin & Bones (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah side project)
It’s not hard to figure out where you are once you enter the old abandoned Harrod’s building on Florida Street. The word “TANGO”, in simple all-caps helvetica, is plastered everywhere to announce the 2009 Tengo Festival. It’s two weeks of tango music, tango dancing, tango clothes. Tango worship.
I went the other night to check out a couple electro-tango bands, Otros Aires and Narcotango. I missed most of the former, but I caught up with my friend Jessica and we scored 2nd row seats for Narcotango. The show was good, with interesting video footage projected behind the band. The music was pretty chill, hence the “narc” name. Where’s my vicodin? Electro-tango is a Gotan Project kind of sound, which is as “electronica” as one can get while still incorporating an accordian into the mix.
[Gotan Project - Notas] mp3
