A Sweet ‘n’ Sour 4th of July Jam – MVSCLES

It’s 4th of July… and I have nothing to do, surprise! Considering that we burnt down our deck last year, maybe it’s better this way.

I got up early and headed to the de Young museum to view the visually stunning interactive Jean Paul Gaultier fashion exhibit (which I highly recommend). Afterwards, I strolled through Golden Gate park, walked to the inner Sunset and sat down for lunch where I then inhaled an ungodly amount of kimchi and rice cake – quint essential 4th of July cuisine. Feeling guilty, I decided to walk it off and headed to Cole Valley, through the Haight and wound up at the Pan Handle.

I sat down on a bench to figure out my next plan of action, when “Little John” approached me. He jumped off his skateboard, plopped himself next to me, cap bent upward, diamond earring glistening in the sun, flashed a wide grin and asked me for a favor. Reluctantly I told him that depended. Of course, because random people apparently approach me about this all the fucking time, he asked if he could borrow my phone. I feel like this is such a weird  thing to ask of a stranger. He handed me his dead phone and said, “Here, you can hold my phone if you want. I’m just tryin’ to find my friends in this park and I don’t wanna walk the whole thing.” I laughed and exclaimed, “This park really isn’t that big.” He smiled and said, “I promise I won’t steal your phone.” – This of course, is why asking a stranger to borrow your phone is weird because we’re both thinking about that possibility. So I smiled and handed him the phone. “Little John” yanked the headphones out to make his call (to “Big D”), and this song (that I’d been listening to on repeat during my entire walk-a-thon through the city), came blasting out:

MVSCLES – Sweet N Sour

I can’t find much about MVSCLES (because they’re new!…?) aside from the fact that they’re a duo hailing from Boston and this is their debut track. This jam is sickeningly addictive, full of synth-y greatness, bouncy beats and simple but smile-inducing lyrics like: “If I hadn’t met sour, I’d have never known sweet.” Here’s their bandcamp (for a download!) and their Twitter page if you feel like stalking.

After “Little John” finished his phone call via speaker phone, he jumped up, said, “Stop wasting all this beauty on a bench!” then told me to join him and his friends for BBQ, beer, fireworks and fun.. especially since I now knew where they were all sitting. I smiled, said I’d think about it, he jumped up on his skateboard and rode off.  I should’ve taken him up on his offer because now, this is what I’m doing instead. Hah… lucky you!

Happy 4th everyone!

These Jams Feel Right: Motion CNTRL + FIDLAR + Why? + jj

jj

I am REALLY terrible at judging when a band is actually going to go on stage. Doors open at 7:30, show starts at 8 pm, so I  get there by 8:30 pm and the starter band hasn’t even gone on stage. Sometimes I’m there JUST to see the starter band, so I add an hour to my initially planned time and I miss the whole fucking thing. So while I’m writing this, I’m probably missing the entire Lower Dens show, but let’s hope  I’m wrong, like always. … side note: I made it RIGHT on time and Lower Dens blew my mind and/or eardrums and made my pants vibrate – Rockin’ show.

Now on to the good stuff. I’m gonna share with you some great fucking jams I’ve come across within the last week, so let’s cut to the chase:

I heard this track and immediately played it 13 times in a row. The jam is catchy as hell with smooth vocals and a bouncy, poppin’ synth beat. It’s also available for FREE on band camp. Hell yes! The girl/guy duo hails from LA. BlahblahblahScience conducted an interview w/the two here for your reading enjoyment.

Motion CNTRL – It Feels Right

I stumbled upon this awesome map on Phoenix with the “50 Best New Bands in America” so of course I clicked on California and discovered FIDLAR (Fuck it, Dog Life’s a Risk). Now I’m not usually one for garage/surf/skate punk because it reminds me of hot, fit, tan surfer bros w/long bleached blonde hair making skate videos in empty pools and jamming out at house parties… cus… those are all terrible qualities? Anyway, these guys rock it and I dig their sound:

FIDLAR – No Waves

Why?  – Sod in the Seed

Why? is back and frontman Yoni Wolf has found his witty, quirky, poetic hip-hop grove once again. It’s about time. They’re releasing a 6-song EP August 16th w/the same title. Check it:

 

Speaking of (don’t call it a..) comebacks, jj – the Swedish indie new-wave pop duo has released a new song reminding me of the gloriousness that they produced with their epic 2009/2010 albums… (okay they released some stuff last year, but it wasn’t as mind blowing). The song is part of an EP they recently released called High Summer.

jj – High Summer

OMG New Jams – Purity Ring + Phèdre + Cat Power + Diplo

Purity Ring

Would this Purity Ring album come out already? I have a homie who’s already been ear deep in it, but of course he gets paid to write about rock jams and the such, hence he has his hands on it pre-release. The rest of us, however, have to sit impatiently, scouring the internetz for another leaked jam to feed our curious need to hear more of the majestic electro pop, crackle and snap that Purity Ring projects. The band consists of two Canadians, Megan James and Corin Roddick, both former members of GOBBLE GOBBLE, now Born Gold (another electro-tastic band). The album Shrines is set to release July 24th, 2012 – Hurry the eff up!

Their first debuted single from the album, Odebear already made its appearance on this blog, but just this week they’ve given us another gem to listen to on repeat. James’ poetic voice sweetly sings of enclosing/holding someone, literally inside her rib cage, and the steady electro beats make this song a fine shrine of its own to worship.

Purity Ring – FineShrine

What’s with Canadians being so amazingly fantastic at creating weird-o/magnifying/experimental/addictive electro pop? Keep it up. Phèdre‘s one of my all time fav bizarro-pop bands hailing from Canada and they’ve impressed me once again with Haberdash. And, get this… according to Gorilla Vs. Bear, they released this song in hopes to raise money, “with all proceeds going to benefit one of the label’s beloved Toronto institutions, UNLOVABLE, which was shut down over the weekend.” Enjoy:


Wow, when was the last time Cat Power came out with any jams and/or an album? Let me Google that for you. Hmm… I still don’t know, too long ago, but you guessed it (!) She has a new song and stuff. Apparently she has a new album, Sun, to be released September 4th. What a pleasantly unexpected surprised. Even better? This new jam rocks:

Cat Power – Ruin

So this last one, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to admit listening to, Hah, sorry Diplo. I can’t say I listen to his mixes much, plus I also developed this aversion towards him when he started “Follow Fat Girl Sunday” on Twitter, in which he asks fat girls to send a plead for his follow, or at least nudes. Afterwards, I thought, “That guy’s kind of a dick.” Regardless, this jam IS catchy as hell. It’s off his new EP, Express Yourself, all of which is available to stream on SoundCloud here, which is kind of a nice guy thing to do… Kind of.

Diplo – Set It Off feat. Lazerdisk Party Sex

How to Dress Well + Finally Boys – A Hilarious & Stunning Set Recap

I saw How to Dress Well last night at Rickshaw Stop by myself (until, however, to my luck, a last.fm homie actually introduced himself, for which I was delightfully grateful!). There’s something so unusual about going to a show solo. You willfully purchase the ticket knowing you’ll be in the midst of such a social scene, yet enduring detachment from it all. This oddity occurs purely because you know that show will be worth that undeniable loneliness you’ll feel while enjoy the sweet sounds you’re so looking forward to.

Tom Krell aka How to Dress Well stated on Twitter that he’d be going on at midnight. I should’ve taken his word for it, because I stood there at 10:30 pm in the middle of the mostly empty venue, beer in hand, looking around at the walls, dying for someone/anyone/anything to get on stage and give me an excuse to stop feeling so alone. Thirty mins later, laughs, fresh jams, entertainment and beauty ensued:

The starter band, Finally Boys, a fresh-faced electronic duo “representin’ the East Bay” was ironically hilarious and their sounds were super fresh. I was totally digging their entire set, not to mention their laugh-inducing interpretive dances and entertaining posse of bubble blowing, mullet donning, hyphy groupies and/or girlfriends. I kept looking around the room to exchange a mutual laugh, giggle and/or wide eye, yet everyone was blank faced and swaying. Regardless, they produced ridiculously sweet sounds and an entertaining set. I can only find three of their songs anywhere (find them here), and this one’s definitely a keeper:

Finally Boys – Lunar Lover:

 

Sure enough, How to Dress Well, the lo-fi, R&B artist came on at 11:50 pm. A violinist accompanied, and I’m guessing a keyboardist (I really don’t know, there were too many tall people to my left) and Tom asked everyone to squeeze in. Not only is Tom an insanely beautiful human with twinkling eyes and a charming demeanor, but his songs are enchanting and raw. His entire set was simple yet full of impact and his songs produced an entrancing quality to which you felt frozen in place, stung by the beauty he sweetly belted. My absolute favorite part of the set was when he swiftly came back for an encore, and swung the microphone over his shoulder to swoon the audience with the fragility of his pure voice. In that very moment, the entire audience fell silent, lapping up those last moments of delicate sounds.

After the lights went up, the dude next to me (who kept singing “shit, shit, shiiiiit” along to the songs) turned to his buddy and exclaimed, “I don’t think anyone gets just how much I felt during that.” You’re probably right bro, being that I think you were on drugs, but regardless, we were all certainly feeling something during that beauty of a set. This was part of How to Dress Well’s pre-album tour. His LP Total Loss is due in September. His latest dreamy jam, Ocean Floor for Everything has already made its presence on my blog, though it’s worth another go, as are his R. Kelly covers. Most certainly take up the chance to see How to Dress Well and/or Finally Boys – You won’t regret it, even if you’re alone.

 

 

Jams So Fresh, So Smooth (you’ll wanna gro0ve) – Onra, Yalls, THEESatisfaction

Oh hi. I’ve been working on a blog post for two days (still working on it!), but alas, it’s for work! When do I get to write about smooth, fresh, funky jams I’m just dying to expose, listen to and write about all day long for our listening and mind-blowing pleasure? Right fucking now. I took a break from blogging …to blog… (cue eye rolling), but no really, these jams are so damn worth taking a break from blogging to blog, that you’d wish you’d started your own blog (don’t do that) featuring all of the smoothness I’m about to unleash. Brace yo’ self:

1) Onra – L.O.V.E: Ready to (really) get dooooown? Onra, the funk-master, beat-making French producer (aka Arnaud Bernard) has released this beauty of jam (soon to be released on an EP June 12th). Someone commented on the Onra last.fm page, “Onra destroy my brain!” so you know this shit is gooood. Better than #bathsalts (I’m guessing).


  
2) Yalls – Settle Down: Wait, so this guy lives in Berkeley and his name is Dan? Regardless of the ‘normalcy,’ I stumbled upon this sweet, (oh so!) sweet and deliciously funkdafied jam ‘cus I’d  heard another song of his on another blog. I was amazed, thus tweeted about it and then ferociously looked up more of Dan in Berkeley aka Yalls’ jams because they’re fresh, and that’s how these things go. He also has a Tumblr, cute. Go look at it here.

3) THEESatisfaction – QueenS: Wow, wtf (!) this jam is so funky fresh and soulfully smooth, I feel like it’s transmitting dreamy subliminal messages into my brain: “Whatever you dooo, don’t funk with my groove.” THEE  (see what I did there?) last.fm bio of the duo, (Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White hailing from Seattle) describes their musical genre as “Funk-psychedelic, feminista sci-fi epics with the warmth and depth of Black Jazz and Sunday morning soul, frosted with icy raps.” Damn, I think I can handle that! Listen to their entire album (released March 2012), awE naturalE on Spotify here.

All right. Back to blogging about stuff I get paid to blog about (but I love you like I do).

Braaaaaains! Courtesy of Lower Dens

This just in: Everyone’s losing their f**king minds + an amazing song/album you need to hear.

There have been two cases of cannibalism in the news this week:

1) Rudy Eugene, the “Miami Zombie” who chewed and ate the face of some homeless bro on a causeway; all while nude and high on bath salts.

2) Alexander Kinyua, the Maryland college student who just murdered, then ate the heart and brain of his roomie.

I find this all very fitting being that my latest addiction from the recently released (May 1st) Lower Dens album, Nootropics, is the song Brains. (Psst. the entire album is on Spotify). Lower Dens frontwoman, Jana Hunter, does look slightly zombie-esque and/or deranged in this Brains video, all the the while dreamily singing, “Don’t be afraid” and smugly smiling to herself. Well played.

So whether you’re amused, horrified and/or disgusted by the seemingly approaching Zombie apocalypse, listen to this enchanting dream-pop, shoe-gaze, indie rock song, and you too will have brains on the… brain (just not in your mouth please!).

Lower Dens – Brains:

Six Enthralling Dance-y Jams

The blog went on a weeklong hiatus while I was prancing through sweat & rain in the lovely/steamy streets of NYC. Vacay is over, but that’s not gonna bring me down (I’ve been back a day, so just wait hah). Here are a handful of enthralling and unique dance-y jams I just haven’t been able to kick (which obviously isn’t a bad thang). They’ll keep anyone happy and occupied to keep the post-vacay blues, or whatever you’re complaining about today, away:

1) Kauf – When You’re Out

2) WhoMadeWho – Head On My Pillow

3) Craft Spells – Sun Trails
(Why is this song so mysterious to find online? Click to hear it in Spotify)

4) The Mynabirds – Body of Work

5) Here We Go Magic – How Do I Know?

6) Purity Ring – Odebear

Badass Round Up – New: Brick + Mortar, Yeasayer, How to Dress Well

So many new and badass eargasm jams to speak of today, they’re all being wrapped up into one sweet package of listening pleasure:

1)  Brick + Mortar – Bangs: This catchy rock jam from the Jersey hailing duo can be found on their limited edition 2 song 7″ being released in June. You can also download for free on on their Tumblr. (The intro of this song should be blasted into your earbuds for maximum badass intensity.)

Brick + Mortar – Bangs

2) Yeasayer – Henrietta: This is the first release from Yeasayer’s recently announced, August arriving album, Fragrant World. The self-proclaimed “Middle Eastern-psych-snap-gospel” Brooklyn-based band does it again. Magnetic!

Yeasayer – Henrietta:

 

3) How to Dress Well – Ocean Floor For Everything: New dreamy single by ethereal/R&B artist Tom Krell that’ll be released on his new LP, Total Loss this fall.

Kindness – “The Beat is Bad!”

Kindness… sounds… nice, right? Oh (!) but it’s so much more than that. Imagine a tall skinny white guy with luscious, Fabio look-alike locks who produces so much engrossing funk that you wanna get up (‘cus you feel like being a sex machine?) and slap the “kindness” right out of this mastermind’s name. His beats are so sweet they’re baaaad.

Adam Bainbridge, the Brit behind the funky beats recently released his debut LP “World, You Need a Change of Mind” and it’s got me wanting more. That’s not very kind… or maybe it’s the kindest thing of all.

Indulge away:

Kindness – That’s Alright

Kindness – House

Kindness – Cyan

Death Grips – The Money Store: “Gaga Can’t Handle This Shit”

Wow. The intertwining of rough and ready rap/hip hop vocals, dark edgy beats and random sounds in Death Grips’ songs create this insanely intense desire for even more of their experimental chaos.

The trio (Zach Hill, Stefan Burnett, and Andy Morin) hail from Sacramento (woah, they even have a wikipedia page) and released their first album, The Money Store, April 24th with Epic Records. (Psst… the whole damn thing is available on Spotify).

While absorbing the magnitude of Death Grips’ sweet beats in my cubicle via Spotify, my coworkers were also eyeing the titles of The Money Store’s songs flood their Facebook feeds: “Fuck That,” “Bitch Please,” “Hustle Bones” – I undoubtedly scarred and/or scared them, but Oh GOD (!) is it worth it.

Give this entire album a thorough listen, or at least join in my addiction for songs like “Hacker” and “I’ve Seen Footage.”

Also, if you can resist the urge to roll your eyes and tell me to f**k off for referring you to Pitchfork, they have an interesting interview with the “riotous, shit-starting Death Grips.”

Death Grips – Hacker


Death Grips – I’ve Seen Footage