Music You Should Be Listening To, Part One

This is probably going to be a long couple posts. So feel free to skip around as you choose. What I am trying to accomplish with this is to sort of stop and take a look back at the music I've been recommending, both in this blog, in person and over various other forms of social media (mainly, Facebook and Twitter). There's going to be a fair number of bands mentioned in this post, and I realize that having so many names, songs and albums thrown at you in such a short span can be pretty overwhelming. So I'll try to include as many videos as I can, to make it easier for you to dive straight into what I feel is a good entry point for the band. I'll make some kind of effort to group the bands in some sort of logical fashion, so that you aren't going straight from the Low Anthem to Andrew W.K. By the end of this, I hope that you will understand why going straight from the Low Anthem to Andrew W.K. would be a little jarring.



We'll start slow, with The Antlers. I've talked about them before, and posted their video for the song "Two", off of the album Hospice. It's a concept album about a man watching his loved one die of cancer. Along the way, it touches on a number of sensitive issues, such as abortion in this song, "Bear." They're a pretty serious band lyrically and pretty mellow soundwise, so if that sounds good to you, get Hospice.

The Antlers have a little bit of indie-folk in them, which is a whole other genre currently gaining a lot of steam. It takes elements of traditional country and folk music and combines them with an indie-pop sensibility; the most famous example of this is Fleet Foxes, which leans towards the indie side of things; another good example is The Low Anthem, whose album Oh My God, Charlie Darwin is another fine entry point into this genre, and places more of an emphasis on country, folk and acoustic sounds, with some fine vocal harmonies coming into play, as evident on "Charlie Darwin" or "To Ohio". Both of these are fairly subdued and driven entirely by a lightly strummed guitar and vocals. If any of this sounds enticing, look at The Low Anthem's album and Fleet Foxes's eponymous debut.



Frightened Rabbit also takes a bit of folk influence, although it is much less noticeable; they sound much closer to Band of Horses than any of the bands mentioned above. They have two absolutely stellar albums out, The Midnight Organ Fight and The Winter of Mixed Drinks. Midnight is basically a breakup album, with some rather dark lyrics but a bright, semi-epic indie rock sound that is easy to get lost in--see the video above. Winter adds a healthy dose of optimism to the lyrics while adding some focus and polish. Both are well worth your time.

I mentioned Band of Horses just now--if you don't know them, then watch this video. It will be all you need know about them:



They also have two very solid albums available: Everything All The Time and Cease to Begin. "Funeral" comes from Everything, in case you wanted to pick up that song in particular, but it's hard to go wrong with either of these.



Biffy Clyro opened for a band you'll here about later, Manchester Orchestra, and did a fantastic job of it. Do you ever listen to indie rock and wish that there was more rock and a little less indie (maybe it's just me)? Biffy fills this void quite admirably; their album Only Revolutions is smart, indie, heavy in places, melodic in others and one of my favorite finds in a long time (their lives show is pretty kick ass, too). "The Captain" is the opening track, and it's a fine introduction; others to look at are "Many of Horror", (mentioned on this blog previously), "Whorses", and "Bubbles".



These guys also put the "rock" solidly back into "indie rock", for which I am very grateful. Frontman Andy Hull puts so much of himself into each song that it's very hard to not be drawn in, and their live shows are something else entirely. The keyboardist is one of the very best headbangers I have seen in my life, inspring comments from the audience like "Dude, he's losing his shit" and "Is he okay?" and "Jesus, is that guy dying?" It is a sight to see. Both their albums are worth your time but their second, Mean Everything to Nothing, may be a tad better. Check out "Pride", "Tony the Tiger" and "Shake It Out" from that album. If you look into their earlier effort, I'm Like A Virgin Losing a Child, you'll want to hear "Wolves At Night", "Colly Strings" and "Where Have You Been?"

I'm going to take this time to encourage you to look back at the earlier posts on this blog; check out not just the videos I posted but also the other songs I told you to look at, because all of it is completely endorsed by yours truly (and it saves me from having to talk about them here).



Andrew W.K. is a polarizing fellow. Just ask Pitchfork--their founder gave his debut album, I Get Wet, a 0.6 out of 10 when it was first released, yet, it made their Top 200 Albums of the 2000s, placing number 144. The key to enjoying Andrew W.K. comes from accepting him for what he is: a fun-loving, party-loving, unashamed rock and roller who writes songs titled "Party Til You Puke" and doesn't take it seriously while still meaning every word of it. He drags 80s glam and hair metal kicking and screaming into the 2000s and makes it sound better than ever. Let me put it this way: I automatically put on Andrew W.K. when I am getting pumped to start partying, while partying, and after partying when I'm still way to pumped to go to sleep.

If you want more AWK, get his debut I Get Wet and listen to every song. That should about cover you.

This is it for Part One. Expect Part Two tomorrow. Until then, happy listening.

Song of the Day "Fields of Coal" -- ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead

This song is a bit trickier to deliver to you. Because of the scope of the artist, there just isn't a music video for me to embed. I got it figured out, though, and here is an embeded audio from the website Grooveshark (worth looking at as an alternative to Pandora, by the way) of "Fields of Coal", a song that came up on my iTunes while it was on shuffle and made me stop doing homework and chatting on Facebook for a full 2 and a half minutes as I listened, shocked that a song this good had been sitting in my music library for upwards of a month without me listening to it. I'm really not sure when or why I downloaded this album, probably a carryover from some late night downloading binge, but the fact that I did is quite a happy accident.

You probably have not heard of ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead unless you are fortunate enough to be from Austin, as I am, but that doesn't mean these indie art rockers, who so impressed Pitchfork with their third album, Source Tags and Codes, that they earned a rare 10/10, a score usually reserved for Radiohead albums, aren't well worth your time. Their last album, The Century of Self, which is where you will find "Fields of Gold", most certainly is.

Now, I can't speak for their previous five (yes, five) full-length albums. Reading reviews of this one that kept referencing past efforts with often less-than-positive terms makes me wonder a little bit. But Century of Self is definitely a worthwhile venture. "Bells of Creation" and "Fields of Coal" alone prove it. Give it a good listen, if you have time, and check out one of their shows if you get a chance (and live in Austin).

I always tried to do good but I was just a bad kid

Song of the Day: "Compliments" -- Band of Horses

I should hope you already know all about Band of Horses, my favorite Seattle-based indie band and one of the few things that Pitchfork and I agree is fantastic. If you don't, immediately go listen to "The Funeral." I'll wait.

Now that you are immediately smitten with them, allow me to bring some joy into your hearts: Band of Horses is due to release a new album, Infinite Arms, on May 18. Seems an eternity to wait, but if I can make it until April 22 for the NFL Draft, which has been the longest anticipated event of my 2010, you and I can together make it until mid-May. This is the first track they've given us off of that album, and it's a doozy.

I would like to make the side note that the trippy effects in this video are a visual interpretation of what it is like to have the spins while you are drunk. What this video looks like when everything is melding in and out of itself constantly is what I feel like when I am very drunk and going to black out if I have any more. I hope everyone appreciates that insight into the alcoholic side of my life.

I bet you get a lot of compliments down there

Update: New song from The Hold Steady

If you liked The Hold Steady from earlier, when you heard "Stuck Between Stations" then you should love this track, "The Weekenders", which keeps the Springsteen-y vocals and lyrics and adds a much more polished, cleaner sound on an anthemic soundtrack to nostalgia. Their new album, "Heaven Is Whenever", will feature this song and is due out on May 4th.

Look for a new "Song of the Day" tomorrow.

you could say our paths had crossed before

Song of the Day: "The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future" -- Los Campesinos!

How do you know when a song is truly great, when it's more than just catchy enough to stay with you or more than just pretty okay or pretty solid but really and truly great? I discovered Los Campesinos! last summer, when I took a road trip to Lollapalooza with two friends. On Saturday of the festival, I think, we somehow ended up sitting on the grass by the sound stage, no doubt waiting to get good spots for another band, as Los Campesinos! played their show. It was very solid, the kind of thing that you overhear and draws you from sitting kinda far back to standing, jumping and yelling as close to the stage as you can get. Energetic is a little bit of an understatement; it's like if the Arcade Fire drank a Red Bull and vodka right before the show and decided to give this whole excitable indie pop thing a try. Whatever it was, it was good enough for me to check out when I left Chicago, and I was not disappointed with what I heard.

Flash forward to late September of last year. I was reading Pitchfork off and on and happened to notice a rare familiar name in their "best new music" section: Los Campesinos! and their newest single "The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future", released to promote their upcoming album "Romance is Boring". Pitchfork raved about the track (relatively, at least; they gave it an 8.0 which qualifies as a "rave" for them. The track review can be found here) and I hurriedly downloaded it from LC!'s website.

The result staggered me. Gone were the hyperactive indie poppers and their cute little keyboard-glockenspiel hooks. In their place was a mature, somber and intelligent band, singing about, as Pitchfork very nicely put it, "a too thin girl who'll kick your ass at Mortal Kombat", death, grey and somehow retaining a sense of their pseudo-trademark naiive hope. It is, frankly, a phenomenal song, one of my top 5 ever. I love it to the point that I wonder in amazement at the circumstances that led me to see LC! at Lollapalooza, when I just as easily could have missed them entirely in favor of another stage, another band, another festival altogether.

That's how you know a song is truly great, at least on a personal level: you contemplate the impact it would have had on your life had you never heard it, you thank god that you found the band in the first place and you wonder if other people's lives are empty and unfulfilling because they haven't heard the song. I know, I'm going a bit overboard but it's all true to a degree and regardless of whether you think this particular song is as completely fantastic as I obviously do, I refuse to believe that there can be people out there who do not like this song, or would not if they heard it. Listen to it. Now.

Also take a look at the rest of their stuff. "Romance is Boring", the album "The Sea is" comes from, is very solid, although it took me some time to get into. Look at "There Are Listed Buildings", "In Medias Res" and "We've Got Your Back (Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #2)". From their earlier albums, try "Miserabilia", "You! Me! Dancing!" and "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed."

and all you can hear is the sound of your own heart

Song of the Day: "Daisy" -- Fang Island

Be warned, the music video for this song is one of the creepiest and scariest music videos I have ever seen. I quote: "Finally: concrete proof that mimes of all colors and plastic presidential masks are scary in every situation, including as the backing track to one of the happiest sounding songs this year. Thank you, Fang Island, for clarifying." - Daily Swarm"

You might be better off just listening to the song without watching the video, as it takes away from how incredibly happy and fantastic the song is.

Pitchfork's review of Fang Island's self-titled album (found here) is one of the few reviews I read and agreed with nearly every word. They really capture the spirit of the album and hit on a lot of the important parts of the album and sum it up nicely. Not bad reading. Well done, Pitchfork. This time...

It's a very odd album. Not "of Montreal" odd but odd in the sense that it generally lacks verses or choruses. It's almost too short; the songs flow together so well that it almost ends suddenly, leaving you wondering if your ipod just stopped working or if the album really and truly is over already. Fang Island describes their sound as "everyone high-fiving everyone" and this really isn't far from the truth. Other tracks to look at are "Sideswiper" and instrumental "Careful Crosses", which doesn't even seem like an instrumental; on this track, Fang Island has mastered the Explosions in the Sky trick of making vocals seem not just unnecessary but also redundant simply because the instruments completely remove the need for anyone to say anything. The instruments have already done all the talking.

Song of the Day: "Stuck Between Stations" -- The Hold Steady

You ever tell someone to look at a band you love and they ask what songs to check out and you don't know what to tell them other than "all of them" because every song on the album is just as good as the one before it? The Hold Steady's "Boys and Girls in America" is one of those albums. I went with "Stuck Between Stations" here, but really, any one of "Chips Ahoy!", "Hot Soft Light", "First Night", "You Can Make Him Like You", "Citrus" or "Massive Nights" would have been more than suitable introductions. Consider this an endorsement of all of those tracks.

The best way to describe The Hold Steady is a more indie Bruce Springsteen, minus Clarence Clemons, with almost as much lyrical skill and 300% more songs about drugs. If that sounds appealing at all, and trust me, it's a lot better than that description sounds, definitely check them out.

dependent, undisciplined, and sleeping late