Daft Punk - Fragments of Time (feat. Todd Edwards) Stu Pickles you were right to hold on to your disco suit! I don’t know why I remember that from Rugrats but the disco age is back and who would have thought it would come in the form of Daft Punk. While I don’t expect a Beegees Bandwagon to start up, I think this album draws so much influence from the disco age it (almost) makes it relevant again. Of course there’s so much more to this album than disco influence. I’d even cite Daft Punk as an influence because it sounds nothing like their old stuff in the best possible way. Callie and Andrew already beat me to the new Vampire Weekend as well as the new National album which have been on repeat for me lately so I’m here to follow up on some Daft Punk and I’m completely fine with that. I don’t want it ever to end, -Zach |
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Everything Everything - Cough Cough This song is a different kind of catchy. I often find catchy synonymous with terrible lyrics but that is not the case here. The choppiness hooks you from the start and with each play you fall deeper into the Everything Everything trap. Arc, the album where this song resides, came out in January of this year and I found it to be a huge improvement from their first album released three years prior. They’ve started developing a clearer stronger sound that leans towards the Django Django side of the music spectrum. I hope they’ll continue on this path because the response to songs like Cough Cough usually involves the word addictive. I think they sum it up best in song when they say: It’s whispering into my eardrums and it tells me that I want more, -Zach |
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Electric President - Safe and Sound The first time I heard this song I spent the rest of the day listening to Electric President’s discography. One of my favorite facts about Electric President is that they named their first album “Self-Titled” as opposed to having it be their self-titled album. The lead singer Ben Cooper has several other projects/bands that he continues to work on while this band of his is on hiatus. Every one of his songs are recorded in the tool shed behind his house (don’t worry it’s been converted into a recording studio). Electric President can be defined by a penchant for slow tempos with a cheery let’s say medium-fi sound. Even a song like “Eat Shit and Die” retains a dark happiness as backing vocals punctuate the track. Safe and Sound is one of the cleanest sounding tracks with lyrics that flow from one word to the next. The small layering breakdown in the middle is what makes it a classic for me. But I’ll tell you lies if it helps you sleep at night, -Zach |
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Breathe Owl Breathe - Swimming I just wasn’t sure of this song. I liked it the first time I heard it but expected to grow tired of it. After having it in my library for a month now I’ve only grown more attached. I wouldn’t normally use the word harmless to describe a song but it’s just so easily enjoyed. The tempo flows along and just puts me at peace. Their sound is tough to describe not only for me but for the band themselves. Best description I’ve come up with is “sparse whimsy” but it doesn’t do justice to their creative arrangements and the baritone of Micah Middaugh (who sports a wonderful beard). The more I listen to their albums the more I appreciate their style. Feel free to follow them for they occasionally post things on their tumblr (I like this whole bands on tumblr trend). I hope you fall in love with them faster than I did. And if you didn’t like this music suggestion let me know what better music I could have shared. Only nine days left to get in your submissions for our second annual submissions week where we invite you to write a post in the style of Soundboard! Give out a yell, -Zach |
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Daft Punk - Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams) I mean how could I not? I was honestly kind of scared for Daft Punk because while the Tron soundtrack was amazing, they hadn’t come out with a new album since 2007. Since then music has continually grown and I was scared they’d get swallowed up in the much more prevalent field of electro music. But with one song they restored my hope. It still has that perfect Daft Punk sound and I just can’t sit still when I listen to it. I know we’ve all been listening to it for a week or so now since someone was smart enough to grab it from French radio and pass it around on Tumblr but I’m glad to mark today as when it actually came into my music library. I can’t wait until May 21st when it’s joined by its brethren. The force from the beginning, -Zach |
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Joe Esposito - You’re The Best Around If you’re ever stuck staring at that blinking cursor of your blank word document just put this on and get ready to kick an essay’s assay. Say you forgot to study the night before. This song almost guarantees an A on any exam. Forget books! Forget rushing to the library! Just remember you’re the best around and nothing’s going to ever keep you down. Actually the only thing going down will be your GPA if this is all you do to prepare. The better option is to set this song as your alarm. While it probably won’t help you with your grades directly it will start you off on the right round kick to the day’s face. That’s my best tip so do with it what you will. Try to believe though the going gets rough that you gotta hang tough to make it, -Zach |
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Dr. Dog - Shadow People Just for giggles I checked out what Pitchfork had to say about Dr. Dog and when I realized that most of their albums were poorly rated I knew they were safe to post. This particular song literally hits close to home because this band from Pennsylvania slips in a lyric about the neon lights on Baltimore. That line causes imagery to swirl through my brain but it’s not because I know it, it’s because if you listen to any of the lyrics you start imagining the visual elements of the whole song. That alone makes this song for me. The band was getting criticized for its lack of growth from the sounds of 1960s psychedelic rock. Their sound is what attracted me in the first place and although lo-fi isn’t exactly my cup of tea, Dr. Dog finds a way to make the perfect blend of the two. It’s the right night for the wrong company, -Zach |
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Matt Singer - All This Joy
I started listening to Matt Singer a couple weeks ago. After making contact, I asked him to write a little bit about one of my favorite songs at the moment and this was his response:
The song All This Joy is about my own coming of age, about a choice to live more spontaneously, courageously, hopefully. To a great degree, this song and the album, The Build, acknowledge my different selves. There is a self that is stuck in a rigid and conventional way of being and another self that is open and child-like. The choice to cultivate the latter self and leave the other one behind is the necessary leap. The video (the making of it AND the end result) are a reflection of that choice, as I have incorporated captivating visual elements such as puppetry, animated objects, and my own acting. You can find that here:
If you’re looking for songs that make your heart happy look no further. You can also find him on tumblr.
We’re only as free as we let ourselves be,
-Zach
(Source: Spotify)
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