Hooray! | I'm Only Human [and more]

[You've caught me red handed]

Download | Hooray! | I'm Only Human EP (2010)

More one-off thoughts from our favorite snowed-in student in Normal, Illinois. In true collegiate attention span form, we get four songs in five minutes (make it ten with the Winter Break EP). It's actually the transience of these tracks that again adds character - sort of an invitation to headphones them all day on loop. He's exploring in his "free time", just for fun. Oh while I was typing this, another iDream came over. Well Ben, I hope your Monday classes get cancelled.

Friday Send-Off | Sky Reprise

You may remember this post a few Fridays ago. Well here's how that worked out:



Animal Collective | Fall Be Kind EP (2009)

After leaving Fall Be Kind behind last fall, I gave it a spring listen this morning, and it really is a trip. Anyone who hasn't let this thing knock the wind out of them yet, if you're out there, you need to (here, I'll google it for you).

Only this band would have and could have made this EP.



Have fun. Be safe. Get weird.

Mixtape | RANDOM RAINBOW

A few stress storms have rendered S&S absent this week and I want to thank you (in the form of a mix) for understanding. There is light breaking through these clouds. In fact, I feel an optical and meteorological phenomenon coming on.

In addition to a prismed state of consciousness, RANDOM RAINBOW aims to bring you a sampling (spectrum?) of all that is rad and fresh right now - aside from two choice classics that occupy each end, because that somehow made sense in my head.

View tracklist here.

A special thanks to Spirit Spine (go stream his new Jungle Bridges LP), GOBBLE GOBBLE, and Chrissy and Julia (Chrissy of Coyote Clean Up + Julia LaDense collaborate wildly on Getting Dirty).

Real Love,
Sutton

Friday Send-Off | Tan Dollar

Not much posting activity this week (apologies). I've been working on some neato things elsewhere and can't wait to share (more on that later).

So my eyes/ears tingled at first glance on this one (via Get Off The Coast). It's lo-budget. It's perfectly not perfect. It's like our weekends should be.

Tan Dollar | Your Body As A Temple (2010)

From the very area I'm typing this (Orange County), Tan Dollar just might be marking something new on the musical map here (no offense, early 90s socal hardcore/punk). Their experimental pop comes stone-washed and air-dried, sort of crispy, doesn't quite fit right at first, but takes shape after a few wears.

They've got some EPs to grab at their blog. The LP is available on Life's Blood. They sent over a few tracks and yup, you should pretty much keep an eye on these guys .

Have fun. Be safe. Get weird. Listen to the new Joanna Newsom that just leaked (Google it people!).

Classic | Bill Holt | Dreamies (1973)

This 'picked up where Revolution 9 left off'.



Bill Holt - Dreamies (1973) - link removed

I'd be crazy to attempt a blurb any more fitting than the one that accompanied this package (thanks Kelsey):

"Okay, I'm going to start off by telling you that this album was recorded in the early seventies and it combines dreamy folk rock with layered tape collage and swirls of moog. Probably when you hear that you're gonna be like "sounds psychedelic" and you'd be right on, it's definitely so, but not the bright-colors-swirling-manic-freakout-the-sun-on-my-face-feels-so-damn-good-i'm-just-gonna-explode-real-close-to-touching-the-mystic-godhead-hair-tossing-elbows-jerking-skronkity-waa-oh-waa-oh up kind of psychedelic. 'dreamies' is more of a jesus-christ-it's-still-going-i-just-want-some-goddamn-sleep-paranoid-twitchfest-my-living-room-ceiling-looks-as-fucking-dingy-and-nasty-as-always-except-it's-wiggling-slightly-and-i-really-think-i-might-hurl-grey-brown-throbbing-come-down kind of psychedelic. What I'm trying to say is that it's kind of a bummer, man. and get this: apparently the story behind Bill Holt is that he was this office worker with a wife and kids that quit his job at age 28 to chase his musical dreams and make Dreamies. And it was a flop, and he went back to his office job. "Downer album" in quite a few senses--but then again, it did get rereleased in 2006, and it's pretty fucking killer if you like your acoustic ballads mixed with early electronic tinkering, musique concrete and a feeling of crushing in from all sides. Pack a bowl and sync it up with Dr. Strangelove."

Hooray! | It's A Snow Day! EP

When I was in college, I spent snow days in various forms of sleep. Chicago's Ben Wagner might do that too, but he also captures little dream passages via dormroom recording.

Download | Hooray! | It's A Snow Day! EP (2010)

"I'm just a twenty year old college student who is trapped inside due to this crazy winter."

- in response to my "who are you?"

This 3.5 song set is rough, drafty, and brief. It all adds character. Along with that little Hooray! dude. And the fact that a track is called "Snowhere To Go". And that he endearingly lo-fi tackled a great Modest Mouse song at his myspace.


Go for it, Ben. S&S believes in you.

*|* SnwMltr *|*

In the spirit of love, here's more free warmth from RxRy:    

Download | RxRy | SnwMltr EP (2010)

   

"Hello Friends,    

It is Valentine's day.   

from the wikipage for St. Valentine:

"The feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among those '... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God.' As Gelasius implied, nothing was known, even then, about the lives of any of these martyrs. "

I am sending you SnwMltr in its entirety to post at your will on your respective blogs, if you feel so compelled.

I was going to wait until it was released, somehow. But, that doesn't seem to be the plan anymore.

So. It is my free present to the world today. On this day. Where I am spending my day doing homework, being true to my love (words/music/vibrations)."

How bout that. I'm glad he decided to share this little slice of strobing life. It goes to far away places in four tracks and I've been wanting to bring you along. Enjoy. 

Friday Send-Off | What Would I Want? Skydiving

I'm jumping out of a plane this weekend (UPDATE: the video)



Have fun. Be safe. Get weird. I love you all.

Yeasayer @ Music Hall of Williamsburg [Brooklyn; 02/09/10, in pics]

Whether you think Odd Blood is full of hits, misses, or both, there's no question that it has given Yeasayer some serious weapons in their live set. These are jams. An oversold Natural History Museum and I (sans camera) caught them in LA last weekend and now Victoria brings a color-coded account of the album release festivities in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Here's the verbal part:

"Yeasayer was a feel good show, lots of interaction - bouncing, singing...dancing. Everyone was pleased with how they sounded, including them, plus their light show was on point. The "Tightrope" rendition was not as good as it could be (like you mentioned). "Ambling Alp" and "ONE" of course brought the place to new heights. They played "2080" as an encore which left us feeling full and happy. I feel like I hear this a lot but they professed their love for playing MHOW, claiming its their favorite venue because they can park their car out front (they live in the hood)."

This bicoastal Yeasayer coverage will unite at Coachella and I can't wait.

V-Day Mixtape | I and Like and You

S&S fully endorses Nate's corny Valentine's Day mix because let's face it, I once burned "Sara Smile" to a mixtape (in addition to making heart-shaped PB&J sandwiches), and Nate simply has a way with song selection. His notes:

On last year’s I and Love and You The Avett Brothers mused upon those three words that became hard to say. This mix reflects long before that point, when it’s all unknown and exciting and the three hardest words to say are I and like and you. Luckily, Valentine’s Day comes around every year and Cupid gives those apprehensive ones a gentle push to revealing their true feelings.

Since there have been crushes, there’s been tools out there to report the crush. Flowers, cards, and chocolates have been staples for generations. But, since the birth of cassette tape, there’s been the mix tape and it’s trumped all sweets as the best way to capture one’s heart. Us mortals may not possess the skill set to verbalize eloquently just how far our passions reach, but luckily our favorite artists are our mediums that put into words what we feel. As fun as it is to give a mix to your crush, it’s doubly as exciting to get a mix from your crush. You become instantly transformed in to a crazy haired conspiracy theorist, dissecting each lyric, looking for any sort of sign that this song, this verse, is about you. When you do make that transcendent connection between lyrics, to truth, to you, it’s one of the more visceral musical moments. All of a sudden it’s no longer just a song, it’s a secret between you and your mix maker.

This mix has a bunch of new, sweet, fun and moving love songs (there’s also a lot of covers for some reason). Please send it to whomever your crush is, whether they know you like them or you’re a secret admirer. If there’s no one special in your life don’t fret, just listen to this mix over and over again until your confidence builds so much that when you do find someone, those three words will be easy to say: I and like and you.

Download | V-Day Mixtape | I and Like and You

Meaningful enough to count, tasteful/relevant enough to live past the holiday (or even bypass it entirely); it's not easy what he just pulled off with this.

View tracklist here. Ladies, Nate's contact information can be provided upon request.


And Beach House's "Real Love" might be the song of the year, just saying.

RxRy | the mystery continues...

So I'm heading up to see Yeasayer play with the mammals and in comes a note from our RxRy friend, worth forwarding:

Hello,

Rx here.

I finished working on a new track today for the upcoming "SNWMLTR" ep

it is called "Sobr Vokbulry"

It is the first song I've made with vocals.

best

_Rx

Not to get all 'MP3 blog' on you, but this is a unique case.

Download | RxRy | "Sobr Vokbulry"

Glorious, anonymous, and generous. Plus album art like that deserves to go wall to wall. OK, now we're really sent-off. Have fun. Be safe. Get weird.

Friday Send-Off | Pantha Du Prince's Black Noise

Looks like we're hitting the weekend on another drifting note, it must be naturally offsetting some weekday chaos. Just going with the flowww here, and we're headed for headphone land. If it's possible to bottle all of Black Noise, Pantha Du Prince's excellent forthcoming album, Broken Pixel animator Ashley Dean has done it. Her perspective piece helps too:

"Described by Pantha Du Prince as 'a frequency inaudible to man, something archaic and earthly, the calm before the storm', the phenomenon of Black Noise was as much of a challenge to render in visual media as it was to make an album that encapsulated this elusive substance. The central process used for the trailer was part mechanical automation, part digital archaeology; an excavation of still and moving images, looking beyond their native pixels into seams of solid colour and unstable shapes. The forms that were explored came from similar natural sources as the music, the harsh powers of wind and ice, the beauty of distant lightning and the comfort of warm, external rain.

And sometimes, the beats and rhythms of the music engulf and dictate the process. When the bass thumps at the diaphragm, kaleidoscopic waves and pounding concentric circles dominate the screen. When the treble glistens and the microsamples skip and tick, so do the visuals, using myriad techniques to distort and deconstruct once recognisable images.

The visualisation of sound is always a combination of personal expression and artistic expectation but when the music takes hold there is no other option but to let it show you what to do..."

Download | Pantha Du Prince | Black Noise (2010, .rar)

You've probably heard "Stick to My Side" by now, since its two minute mark invites vocals from the royal Panda Bear - a bloggable move on its own, but more so bold because Hendrick Weber (Pantha) is known primarily for minimal techno, and also because it's beautiful; a centerpiece, yes, but certainly no island. "The Splendour" gallups into it, and "A Nomads Retreat" follows up with the type of fading reprise you'd expect from its title.

Black Noise is a complete album...a complete escape. Highly recommended.

Here We Go Magic + Glass Ghost + Midnight Masses @ Music Hall of Williamsburg [01/29/10; NYC, in pics]

Victoria took in another nightful and here's a sampling of what came over in a zip the next day.

These are all good bands. And it sounds like they all had their moments on Friday. That said (vaguely), I was just thinking (tweeting) that Here We Go Magic would be way closer to the top on an 09' list if I did one right now. A real grower. More on that later.

Glass Ghost (a former Send-Off)

Midnight Masses

Here We Go Magic