Music, album reviews and videos
Archive for March, 2011
Alexander and more from SXSW 2011!
Mar 30th
I feel like I say this a lot, but it’s been way too long since my last post! As another month wraps up, I wanted to highlight some of March’s new music as well as a few tracks that finally caught my attention. The first two tracks are from Alex Ebert, the lead singer of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. In January, I featured the single “Truth” from Alexander’s self-titled album, but we had to wait until this March to hear the rest. These two songs brought to mind a bit of Paul Simon and even a little Marley in the first track.
Alexander – A Million Years Buy
Alexander – In the Twilight Buy
This next band, Yuck, was recently referred to me by my good friend AJ. When I started to listen, the first thing that came to mind was how much it reminded me of Dinosaur Jr., which coincidentally is one of AJ’s favorite bands. The band is out of the UK and released its first album in February of 2011 self-titled Yuck. They’ve also gained a lot of momentum as they were a part of SXSW this past March.
Yuck – Georgia Buy
Another new band that was part of the SXSW music festival is Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.. Their new single, “Morning Thought”, is part of the forthcoming album, It’s A Corporate World, set to hit stores in June!
Dale Earnhart Jr. Jr. – Morning Thought
Next on the list for today is Tame Impala, a band from Western Australia that made quite a buzz in the music industry with their single “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind” from their 2010 album Innerspeaker. Not new music, but good music 
Tame Impala – Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind Buy
Lastly for today is Baths, another band who was a part of SXSW 2011. I haven’t heard any of their tracks other than “Hall”, but I like what I hear so far. They definitely have more of an electronic feel, and in my opinion, “Halls” gets much better to listen to around the minute and a half mark.
Baths – Hall
New TV on the Radio, The National and Okkervil River
Mar 17th
I’ve been meaning to post these new tracks for the last few days, but spare time has been a little hard to come by lately. The first track, “Caffeinated Consciousness”, is the second single from TV on the Radio’s forthcoming album. The single is a great followup to “Will Do” and my anticipation has only grown from hearing it. Fair warning, if you are not a TV on the Radio fan (yet), this track may seem a little abstract and chaotic, but give it a few listens, or try the search tab and give their first single “Will Do” a shot.
TV on the Radio – Caffeinated Consciousness
The second new track is from The National titled “Think You Can Wait”, and is featured in the indie movie Win Win set to hit theaters this Friday. I’ve included the trailer for you to check out as well. I like a lot of the films cast, so perhaps there’s some potential in this one.
The National – Think You Can Wait
Lastly for today is the latest single from Okkervil River titled “Wake and Be Fine”. The song is part of their album I am Very Far, which will be released on May 10th. Okkervil River has been around for quite awhile so if you haven’t had a chance to listen to more of their songs, it’s definitely worth the time.
Okkervil River – Wake and Be Fine
New songs from Fleet Foxes frontman!
Mar 8th
The sunset in Hawaii does a excellent job of making the iPhone camera look like a professional one. I snapped this shot last night while out a sunset cocktail cruise! Later on in the evening I noticed an update from Grizzly Bear’s Edward Droste mentioning a duet with Fleet Foxes front man Robin Pecknold. In fact, Pecknold released three new solo tracks in total noting, “These aren’t Fleet Foxes songs, but I didn’t know where else to disseminate it. Pretty mellow jams.” The last track is a cover from New Zealand folk singer Chris Thompson. Hope you enjoy!
Robin Pecknold – I’m Losing Myself (Feat. Ed Droste)
Robin Pecknold – Derwentwater Stones
Robin Pecknold – Where Is My Wild Rose
Heavy Rotation Volume 3
Mar 1st
2011 is already almost a quarter over somehow and I can’t seem to keep up with its pace. I’d like to get at least a couple posts done a week, so we’ll see if I do a better job in March! For today, I’ve got a couple of new covers as well as two songs that seem fitting for a soundtrack.
First off is Yellow Ostrich, a three piece band from New York. One of their newest members is a former member of Beirut (check them out if you haven’t heard of them). They have recently released an album titled The Mistress, which is a collection of songs they recorded from January-September 2010 and you can pick up the album exclusively on eMusic. They used to offer the album on a pay-what-you-want basis, but that has just changed in the past few days. The song I’ve featured is not on the album as it is a cover of Beach House’s “Zebra”, but if you like it, you may want to explore a few of their other songs via the link to the right of the song.
Yellow Ostrich – Zebra (Beach House) Band Website
Next is a great acoustic cover of Seal’s “Crazy”, performed by Yeasayer. I wasn’t sure of what to expect when clicking on a Seal cover, but as a fan of Yeasayer, I thought I’d give it a try.
Yeasayer – Crazy (Seal Cover)
I felt the next couple of tracks for today’s posts could be a good fit for a movie soundtrack when I first listened to them. First up is Bibio, the moniker for artist Stephen Wilkinson whose released four albums over the course of the last four years. His experimental style of music has been dubbed a hybrid of folk and electronic music by most fans. The folk portion is definitely evident on the song “Lover’s Carvings” that is featured in this post and I’m curious to hear what his other tracks have to offer when I get the opportunity.
Bibio – lovers’ carvings Free
Lastly is Wild Nothing’s “Chinatown”. A band whose sound brings a classic indie feeling and makes me think of something I would have listened to in the 80′s if I had been a little bit older to appreciate it. Heavy on the reverb with a blended/muddled sound of the instruments, Wild Nothing has something good going for them. Check out the album Gemini, released in 2010!
Wild Nothing – Chinatown Buy