twenty one pilots - Holding On To You I’ve chronicled my strange relationship with music on this blog before. And I don’t mean in the general, “this is a music blog, let me show you what I’ve been listening to” way, but in a more… “why do I rarely achieve the same auditory bliss I used to?” way. It sometimes feels as though I just can’t feel that strongly about things, which is part of the reason the returning entry in the Hyperbole and a Half webcomic struck a chord with me (along with almost everyone but I’m special). But lately it feels like things are looking up for my ears and the 3lb. organ hanging out between them. Daft Punk, Vampire Weekend, Twenty One Pilots, Justin Timberlake… it seems like this years music is going to be one for the memories. Maybe someday I’ll remark on it like a vintage bottle of wine “2013? Yeah, that was a good year.” Anyway, I’m getting this one to you guys a little late in the night (or early in the morning if you live just about anywhere but California), which might just go along well with the this song. So this one’s for all you night owls out there, no matter how you’re feeling. - Max |
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!!! - Fine Fine Fine The band !!! (pronounced “Chk Chk Chk”, naturally) is one that has kind of flown under my radar. I first read about them a few years back when I was in high school and the main draw was their unique choice of name. Thing is, I didn’t listen to any of their music. My bad. Fast forward to this week –the first time I’ve seen anything about them since that day after school reading an issue of (the now defunct) Blender magazine— and my noticing their newest album Thr!!!er on the front page of Spotify. The rest, as they say, is H!!!story. - Max |
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Chilly Gonzales - I Am Europe
In case you didn’t know, I’m a huge fan of well done music videos. I’d never heard of Chilly Gonzales before last week. He’s better known under just the Gonzales moniker and for his classical/piano music, but frequently collaborates with popular artists from other genres. Particularly cool examples: he assisted in the creation of Daft Punk’s highly anticipated Random Access Memories and a version of Marina & The Diamonds’ “Hollywood”.
I first heard I Am Europe when I was looking at tank tops in the mall and heard this little ditty on the speaker. 30 seconds & a Shazam search later and I found myself with a fun little song to add to my collection. But that’s all it really would have been if I hadn’t stumbled upon the really weird music video for the song (which kind of reminds me of Adam Goldberg’s even weirder Vine account). It’s pretty cool and I recommend giving it a watch.
Lastly, none of you seemed to have anything to say about last week’s “Piracy Is ____” topic. I’m going to assume that means you were just too mesmerized by the music to form words. It’s okay, I know that feel.
- Max
Ghost Beach - Close Enough feat. Noosa Ghost Beach, a little indie rock band that has been around for a while but I’ve only begun to listen to pretty recently, has found a home in my Warm Weather Playlist. But of course there’s more. In the immortal words of one Marshall Mathers, “we need a little controversy”. A recent NYC billboard campaign has, seemingly managed to make some waves. Now, since I don’t live in New York City (and really, who would want to?), I only learned about this campaign from a NerdAlert video. Long story short, Ghost Beach teamed up with American Eagle Outfitters to put up billboards around the city provoking the question of what you believe the role of piracy is in the world. Good? Evil? Forcing innovation or exploiting artists’ work? It’s a pretty interesting topic, and I don’t use the word “interesting” lightly here. (Feel free to weigh in on the topic in your replies!) Thankfully though, you can get a copy of Close Enough for free without resorting to piracy (if you even have a problem with that) from their Facebook page. They’re currently on a North American tour with Chad Valley so if you’re quick maybe you can snag a ticket and see them live in a city near you. Or pirate the tickets. - Max |
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Alt-J - Dissolve Me You’ll have to forgive me. I find myself increasingly out of touch with the new music “scene” sometimes, which is a huge part of why I love being a part of Soundboard. My friends give me a little sampling of the music rocking their lives every week which is very helpful since, I can try to keep up with new releases and album news, but at a certain point I have to say (as I’m sure I’ve said before on this blog), there are only so many hours in a day. All of that makes what I’m about to say sound a little crazy but… I often hold off on listening to the music that I hear people raving about. Alt-J is one of those artists who’s tracks I’ve seen on my dashboard too many times to count… and not one of those times have I ever pressed play. Or at least not until last week. The result: another of my album download’y, repeat all’y music marathons of new music. So here’s a bit of advice… just press play. The next audio post you see on your dashboard, just press it. If you don’t like what you hear, you can just stop it, but you’ll never know unless you listen. Runners up: - Max |
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Atlas Genius - If So It’s that time of year again! What little bit of chill we get down here in Georgia is melting away and being replaced with glorious golden allergy dust. It’s also the time of year when I open my heart to more Top 40 pop music than usual. Yesterday I found this fun song by this guy named “Taio Cruz” titled Fast Car? It’s pretty cool I guess. But enough of my ignorance of pop radio tunes. This week’s song is by Atlas Genius, who I’ve been listening to for a few months now, but held off on posting them since they didn’t feel seasonally appropriate I guess. But now I think is a great time to start rolling out the beachy tunes. Or maybe I always post beachy tunes on Sundays. Whatever, “beachy” isn’t a word so really I can define it however I want so… that’s what’s up. See you next week! - Max |
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Stevie Nicks - Stand Back (The Soundstage Sessions) You can add synthesizer jams to the list of my weaknesses. From A Flock of Seagulls to Stratovarius to random 80’s anime theme songs, I am practically powerless to those delightful digital twangs and and hums. It takes me back to an awkward time when I had to use dial up internet and rather than download mp3’s, which would take about an hour each to download, I downloaded midi music and listened to that while I studied. Stop judging me. We all did what we had to do to survive the dial-up era. Anyway, now I hear midi instrumentals and it instantly takes me back to those late nights studying for whatever stupid test they were giving out that week. That’s right. I called my middle school tests “stupid”. Just call me RebelMax. Anyway, I wish you all the best on your various finals and exams, be they next week or next month. See you next week! EDIT: I suddenly realized that midi files might be a total mystery to a lot of you (Coincidentally, I suddenly feel like a mossy relic from a time gone by). Anyway, if you are unaware, they’re essentially what you get when someone decides to make hot music beats using computers from 1980. Depending on how complex the midi file is, it can sound like like anything from a very sad 90’s ringtone to an unforgettable gaming anthem or, more commonly, the backdrop to an amazing study song. - Max |
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Juliette and The Licks - Sticky Honey Ah, Juliette Lewis and her garage rock awesomeness. I’ve been a fan for a long time but it wasn’t until earlier this week that I became aware that I didn’t have her 2006 album, Four On The Floor, ripped to my computer. Unacceptable!!! I remedied the situation and have been rocking out ever since. Of course, my buzz was harshed when I found out that Juliette and The Licks actually disbanded in 2009 after years of a fairly tumultuous roster of members (which actually includes Dave Grohl on drums for the studio recording of FOTF). Also potentially a bit of a buzzkiller was this GAP ad where Lewis showed off some decidedly soccer-mom dance moves alongside Guy-Manuel and Thomas Bangalter. You know… Daft Punk? I’m still not sure if it’s really embarrassing to dance badly in front of two of modern electronica’s most revered artists, or really badass. Oh, and that was totally a terrible segue into me telling you, in case you haven’t heard, that Daft Punk’s newest album, Random Access Memories, is set for release on May 17. So close, and yet so far. Anyway, I’ll see you guys next week, which is 7 days closer to May 17th than March 24th is. I’m totally not obsessed. - Max |
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