Aural Pleasure

Animal Collective -

2005-10-20T15:26:00.000-04:00

"Animal Collective's transition from startling freak-out act to reliably gratifying pop troupe is squarely mapped out on Feels – the conventions are presented in abundance and stamped with the official seal, from the propulsive beats galloping beneath billowy guitar chords to the guileless lyrics and tentative harmonies. Live, these songs move with all the intent of tectonic plates: giant trampoline expanses of sound saturated with jittery and frayed guitar tones, barely liminal shape-shifting ruptured occasionally by feral drumming and supremely pleasurable vocal melodies. On Feels, the flotsam is mostly brushed under the rug. What we get is Animal Collective playing a solid collection of Animal Collective songs, sans masks."
Dusted Magazine

Listen to "Grass"

Wolf Parade - Shine A Light

2005-10-11T23:17:00.000-04:00

"There's no question the lonesome crowded sound is here, but when Wolf Parade dig in and dust off their influences, the band rolls like a Ritalin-deprived power-Bowie or 70s Eno flexing piano-based hooks over Pixified rhythms. Component ingredients include electronics, keyboards, guitar, drums, and two spastically surging, forever tuneful vocalists (Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug), but there are also surprises: A theremin cries in the slow-poke "Same Ghost Every Night"-- one of the longer tracks, it grows in pageantry as it swells to the six-minute mark-- and a spot of noise-guitar echoes throughout Krug's windy "Dinner Bells". And unlike most participants in indie rock's million-band march, Wolf Parade makes familiar elements mesh in special ways."
Pitchfokmedia

Listen to "Shine A Light"

Mix for a Cloudy, Cold Autumn Day

2005-09-28T14:24:00.000-04:00

So making mixes for just about every occasion (or just whenever I like a bunch of new music at once) is one of my passions. If there was some way that I could turn my passion into a profession, I would. Who wants to hire someone who can make really nice-flowing themed mixes of (in my opinion) really good music, music the every day person hasn't heard before (but will probably like)? Anyone? Well, in the meantime I am gonna post the tracklists of my masterpieces just so you (whoever is reading this) can create them and pretend you are me. Enjoy!

Now presenting...

Mix for... A Cloudy, Cold Autumn Day

1. Blockhead - Insomniac Olympics
2. Elliott Smith - Clementine
3. Ugly Cassanova - Hotcha Girls
4. The Books - Smells Like Content
5. Big Star - Thirteen
6. Menomena - Oahu
7. The Eels - The Medication Is Wearing Off
8. Aphex Twin - Alberto Balsalm
9. Boards of Canada - Hey Saturday Sun
10. Gorillaz - November Has Come
11. Yo La Tengo - Little Eyes
12. Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day
13. cloudDEAD - Rifle Eyes
14. Broken Social Scene - Swimmers
15. Belle and Sebastian - Don't Leave The Light On, Baby

Subtle - f.k.o.

2005-09-28T11:19:00.000-04:00

"Subtle are the latest offshoot hybrid lovechild of the anitcon collective, featuring Adam ‘doseone’ Drucker (cLOUDDEAD/themselves) and Jeffrey ‘jel’ Logan (themselves). After releasing four consistently experimental (yet inconsistently rewarding) EPs on Lex, they dropped the track “f.k.o” in October as a teaser for their debut album. It teased, indeed, for Subtle had decided to confound expectations in the only way still could; they recorded a pop song. Granted, it was a pop song which spread beatnik rumors that ‘the sun is flipped by hat tipped Private dicks’ over a backing track that veered from folky electronica to Beach Boys lush, folded over biscuit-box beats from jel. Simply put, it was fantastic, and the bar was raised way, way up for their debut album, A New White."
Stylus Magazine

Listen to "f.k.o."

DUAL UPDATE!

2005-09-21T12:13:00.000-04:00

So, I just discovered this great site called Epitonic where there are tons of free mp3s for download. A lot of them suck though, so let me be your guide.
The first band I got real excited about on their website is called Lovage.
"Lovage is the supergroup of Mike Patton (Faith No More), Nathaniel Merriweather (Handsome Boy Modeling School), Jennifer Charles (Elysian Fields) & Kid Koala." Think about sitting in the trashy, smoke-filled lobby of some sleazy European hotel with red lights and there's a fat, sweating French man hitting on you, but you're too drunk to care. That's kind of what Lovage is like, but better and cooler.
Listen to "Strokers Ace."

Additionally, while looking around Epitonic I was surprised to see that a local Florida band, Causey Way had made their way to the website. I heard about these guys from a good friend who sent me the album and lived in FL. According to Epitonic, Causey Way are a "willfully bizarre, relentlessly eclectic rock band whose music often sounds like a sentient science experiment in which whimsical machines have become masters of the humans who once controlled them."
Listen to my personal fav, "Te Como Vivo."

Slowdive - Machine Gun

2005-09-13T22:24:00.000-04:00

"It's like watching film in slow motion: Everything goes watery-dreamy, but it also takes on a weight and a drama that can crush. And through every stage of their career, that's the heart of Slowdive. You're lulled into sleepy waves of melody, the hazy druggy beauty of it all, but just as you're drifting away, the whole thing squalls up into a big crushing storm or drops off into disorienting darkness. People try it with guitars and they try it with computers, and nobody does it quite like this."
Pitchforkmedia.com

Listen to "Machine Gun" (Live in Oslo, 1993)

Enon - Natural Disasters

2005-09-06T22:28:00.000-04:00

"You listen and the hooks dig in, and as the record progresses an epiphany blindsides you: every song's got "it." Every goddamn track's got something--a memorable lyric, a melody that lingers after the track ends, an iconoclastic rhythm--such that when you look down at your hands, they seem to be moving of their own accord, like Enon's the Outer Limits and they're controlling the vertical, the horizontal and everything else."
Stylus Magazine

Listen to "Natural Disasters"

Calexico - Sunken Waltz

2005-09-01T15:45:00.001-04:00

"Calexico have always been restless experimenters, juxtaposers and journeymen, crafting a unique fusion of bluesy Mariachi, desert-rock and jazz, and injecting healthy doses of experimentation into the otherwise straightforward records on which they've made guest appearances... A brief acoustic guitar figure and pounding waltz beat open things at a crisp gait. Joey Burns quickly intones with the lines, "Washed my face in the rivers of empire/ Made my bed with a cardboard crate," immediately establishing the tension of the borderline that pulls Calexico's music in its many directions."
Pitchforkmedia.com

Listen to "Sunken Waltz"

Vetiver - Farther On

2005-08-24T13:46:00.000-04:00

This is definitely one of the most beautiful songs I have heard in ages. There is nothing to not like about it.
"Psych-folk warblers Vetiver (with Andy Cabic, Devendra Banhart, Alissa Anderson, and Jim Gaylord) have opted to cluster, hold hands, and skip the line between deviously surreal and lullingly pleasant, leading us all very, very deep into the forest, leaving no trail of breadcrumbs in sight."
Pitchforkmedia.com

Listen to "Farther On"

Of Montreal

2005-08-19T18:15:00.000-04:00

"For whatever reason, psych-pop seems more prone to reductive descriptions than most other genres. For critics, it's all too easy: Just state the bandname and album title, discuss the intensity of the lead songwriter's Brian Wilson fixation, and critique him based on the effectiveness with which his band approximates Pet Sounds. For extra points, drop words like "hallucinogenic" or "sun-drenched" in the review as often as possible, and-- if you're really good-- throw in a well-placed Curt Boettcher reference. There you have it: Band X is another petty homage to 1960s California pop."
Pitchforkmedia.com

Listen to "So Begins Our Alabee" from the new album, "The Sunlandic Twins", or "Lysergic Bliss" from "Satanic Panic in the Attic."

Pinback - Fortress

2005-08-17T10:03:00.000-04:00

Though it was released about a year ago, Pinback's most recent album, "Summer in Abaddon" has remained one of my favorite CD's to date and seldom leaves my stereo. Pinback have a really unique sound with their unusual arrangements, rhythms, and great harmonizing. This isn't the best song on the album, but probably one of the most accessible.
"Appropriately, the album plays as a chronicle of time wasted; its songs are full of romantic cul-de-sacs, barroom blackouts, and crossword puzzles. " Pitchforkmedia.com

Listen to "Fortress"

Arcade Fire - Headlights Look Like Diamonds

2005-08-13T15:21:00.000-04:00

I just bought Arcade Fire's self-titled EP. At first I was a bit underwhelmed by it. For instance, the production and recording sound a lot less polished than "Funeral" and the songs are more drawn-out, they take longer to build to their climax. However, my patience with the songs has since grown and I am starting to love it. Just give it a little time and you will love it too! Of course, you have to consider that this was self-released earlier than "Funeral". The one song that really stuck out to me is available for download below.

Listen to "Headlights Look Like Diamonds"

Blonde Redhead

2005-07-30T17:21:00.000-04:00

"'In Particular' (one of the most accessible songs on Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons) is an understated beauty, marked by Amadeo Pace's gentle guitar flourishes and Makino's mournful keening. That song begins with the lines "Lying on my back/I heard music/Felt unsure and catastrophic/Had to tell myself it's only music/It blows my mind/But it's like that" -- not a bad way to describe the experience of listening to Blonde Redhead. "
Epitonic.com

Listen to "In Particular" from "Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons" or "Misery Is a Butterfly" from the most recent album of the same name. (Right click, save as.)

Chromeo - Needy Girl

2005-07-25T17:40:00.000-04:00

When you first listen to Chromeo, it's hard not to wonder to yourself "is this a joke?" But even if it is or isn't, it's still the catchiest freaking synth-pop hip-hop dance club music I've heard in a while. It's obvious that Dave and Pee Thug are having a good time and don't take themselves too seriously.

Listen to "Needy Girl." (Right click, Save as)

Or, even better, watch the music video for "Needy Girl" here.

Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day

2005-07-22T15:19:00.000-04:00

"The best travel writers skew their journeys into pointed narratives, writing the story of the landscape by seizing all the weird, awkward bits that make it distinct. On first listen, Sufjan Stevens' latest installment of state-based chamber-folk, Illinois, sounds dangerously similar to 2003's Michigan, all chirping vocals and copious orchestration. Both records inadvertently validate East Coast stereotypes of tough Midwestern values: This is earnest, hard-working music, morally rooted and technically precise... The excellent "Casimir Pulaski Day" (named after an Illinois state holiday honoring the polish-born victor of the Battle of Brandywine) is a heartbreaking story of late winter death, bravely sung over rich banjo."
Pitchforkmedia

Listen to "Casimir Pulaski Day"

Caribou - Pelican Narrows

2005-07-20T18:54:00.000-04:00

Formerly known as Manitoba, Caribou's sound consists of the same (if not better) magical soundscapes created by only one person! By the way, I hear that the man behind the magic is a mathematical genius, which makes sense considering the amazing drumbeats and precision of each song. This song is an energetic example of Caribou's very unique sound. Check out Manitoba as well, you'll love it if you love this.

Listen to "Pelican Narrows."

Brian Eno - Needle In The Camel's Eye

2005-07-20T18:27:00.000-04:00

An oldie but a goodie! My love for this song was renewed when I watched "Velvet Goldmine" recently. Oh how I love glam rock.

Listen to "Needle In The Camel's Eye."

Edan - I See Colours

2005-07-16T00:52:00.000-04:00

So, Edan is really awesome because he does the production and writes the songs and he uses samples from great 60's psychadelic rock. His music is a tripped-out journey back in time, where you can smell his music and taste colors. I really like the artwork for this album. The song I am providing a link to is my current favorite on the album. "I See Colours" is one of the catchiest and uses really great samples. It is best listened to on headphones. Now here's what someone who actually gets paid to write about music thinks:
" On lead single 'I See Colours', Edan declares, 'Prince Paul already used this loop/ But I'ma keep it movin'/ And put you up on the scoop.' The lyric is a synopsis of Edan's new outlook. Yes, it's been done before, but not like this. The song is his epiphany over a 60s jangle and mushrooming Moog effects. Like a master mathematician who suddenly sees the pattern in the formula, Edan commences his solution."
Pitchforkmedia.com

Listen to "I See Colours."

Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.

2005-07-15T15:24:00.000-04:00

Yes. It's from that ipod commercial.

"As with the standouts from the debut album, the best tracks here strike a unique balance between slacker detachment and dance-floor bounce: 'Feel Good Inc.' swerves through an anxious bassline to a choice De La Soul drive-by... Like the Gorillaz's self-titled debut, Demon Days goes the way of most auteur projects, its oversize idea load making for a trip equal parts peak and valley. But also like the debut, Demon Days is better than it has any right to be, featuring singles stronger than anything released under the Blur banner since, you know, that 'Woo-hoo' song."
Pitchforkmedia.com

Listen to "Feel Good Inc." from the Gorillaz newest album, Demon Days.

Eels - Hey Man, Now You're Really Living

2005-07-10T18:13:00.000-04:00

"Blinking Lights is a clear sign that Everett's fuel tank is not running dry; if anything, his momentum is only building... Generally, the more elements Everett piles on, the more interesting things get, such as the 'Mr. Blue Sky' orchestrics of 'Losing Streak', or the surf drum/spaghetti western collision of 'Old Shit/New Shit'."

Listen to "Hey Man, Now You're Really Living" from above album.

The Rosebuds - Back to Boston

2005-07-01T15:46:00.001-04:00

"The Rosebuds are a hook-laden, energetic indie group from North Carolina plucked right out of Merge's backyard. Their debut long-player, The Rosebuds Make Out, is a strong and memorable record that sounds fresh on repeated listens."
Allmusic.com

Listen to "Back to Boston"

Saturday Looks Good To Me - Meet Me By The Water

2005-06-29T18:28:00.000-04:00

"While Motown, Phil Spector and the Beach Boys still exert a strong influence on Saturday Looks Good To Me's sound — especially on "Alcohol" and "Ultimate Stars" — the band explores an entire bandwidth of AM radio moments, ranging from the "Itchycoo Park" drum fills on "Meet Me By the Water"; the Peter & Gordon-esque acoustic guitars on "No Good With Secrets"; and the Byrdsy jangle of "You Work All Weekend," which sounds like said band backing the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt."
Allmusic.com

Listen to Meet Me By The Water

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice

2005-06-27T12:30:00.000-04:00

"Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are the rare chimera that look like a bunch
of normally dressed substitute teachers, while throwing down the most
captivating, Talking Heads-esque bizarro pop you've ever heard."
NY Press

Listen to "In This Home On Ice"

Hymie's Basement - 21st Century Pop Song

2005-06-27T11:15:00.000-04:00

"Hymie's Basement is the joint project of cLOUDDEAD's Why? (aka Yoni Wolf) and Andrew Broder (aka Ninja Tune artist Fog)... Unsurprisingly, the result retains the atmospheric esoterica of cLOUDDEAD and the candid quirkiness of Broder's Fog releases, yet also features an interesting and unique interplay... "21st Century Pop Song" was recorded after the original basement sessions as a means of gathering enough material to fill out the album. The track benefited from a little distance, and both its mood and subject matter make it the perfect opener for the record. Here, the pair merge slick hip-hop production tricks with indie guitar riffing to overlapping vocals that tackle ideological cynicism, the futility of mundane existence, and atomic bomb survival tactics."
-Pitchforkmedia.com

Listen to "21st Century Pop Song"

Alias - Unseen Sights

2005-06-01T18:07:00.000-04:00

Check out this awesome song by the wonderful Anticon producer, Alias, which features Markus Acher from one of my favorite bands, The Notwist.
Alias ft. Markus Acher - Unseen Sights.

The Magnetic Fields - 100,000 Fireflies

2005-05-31T23:18:00.001-04:00

"The crowning achievement of the Magnetic Fields' early years, when Susan Anway was the lead singer... '100,000 Fireflies' is Merritt's first masterpiece and still perhaps his finest song. The arrangement is beyond sparse, with a simple electronic keyboard and a muffled drum machine the only accompaniment to Anway's sweet '60s pop voice." (Allmusic)
The Magnetic Fields - 100,000 Fireflies

The Go! Team - Ladyflash

2005-05-31T17:45:00.000-04:00

This is my new MP3 blog that I will update everytime I hear a new awesome song that I wish to share with the rest of the willing world.

I'm gonna start off with a song that's been stuck in my head for the past few days:
This song uses a variety of sampling and infectious drum beats. It is awesome. Just click the following link to listen: The Go! Team - Ladyflash.mp3

Leave a comment telling me what you think of the song! I'll probably be posting again soon.