If young Patti Smith were ever to have sung a 90's alt style lo-fi blowout, this is probably the closest thing we have to what it would sound like. This is some pretty awesome stuff.
Rock on and chill out dudes
Promulgating Undergound Music
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Daisy Victoria's "Heart Full of Beef"
If young Patti Smith were ever to have sung a 90's alt style lo-fi blowout, this is probably the closest thing we have to what it would sound like. This is some pretty awesome stuff.
Rock on and chill out dudes
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
Fickle Friends, Mumdance and Morgan Delt
Okay, get ready to jam out. You won't even be able to contain it. Trust me. I'm dancing right now. I have too.
Here's this ridiculously catchy track from Fickle Friends, titled "Swim"
Of course, we have to balance out such catchiness with some pulsing, darker stuff. But you might still be dancing. Just, you know, contemplative dancing.
Here's a great new track from Mumdance called "Springtime"
And to wind it all down, here's a nice chill-out track from Morgan Delt titled "'Obstacle Eyes". His self-titled debut is out tomorrow.
Here's this ridiculously catchy track from Fickle Friends, titled "Swim"
Of course, we have to balance out such catchiness with some pulsing, darker stuff. But you might still be dancing. Just, you know, contemplative dancing.
Here's a great new track from Mumdance called "Springtime"
And to wind it all down, here's a nice chill-out track from Morgan Delt titled "'Obstacle Eyes". His self-titled debut is out tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
New M Machine and Mac Demarco
Here we have some pulsing, haunting new house music for your Tuesday afternoon. Of course, if that's not enough, you can always chill out to this new Mac DeMarco track too.
Mac DeMarco's album, titled Salad Days, is due out April 1st.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
First January Mix
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Here's my first January mix. It has clearly been a very Indie Pop month for me so far.
What do you think of the tracks? Do you like the mix?
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
New song from Hospitality. Album out later this month
Check out this new track from Hospitality, titled "Rockets and Jets"
Hopsitality plans to release their new album, called TROUBLE, sometime later this month
Hopsitality plans to release their new album, called TROUBLE, sometime later this month
Monday, January 13, 2014
New Real Estate, "Talking Backwards." New Album out March 4th
Real Estate just released this song, along with some info about their upcoming album. The new one, called Atlas, is due out March 4th
Real Estate releasing new song at midnight
So excited! Real Estate just announced that they will have a new song out by midnight tonight. They posted the news along with a video on their Facebook page. We'll hopefully have the song posted here as soon as it is released, so stay tuned.
Blank Realm Album releases tomorrow
New Blank Realm album, Grassed Inn, releases tomorrow. Here you can listen to two songs from the release:
Support the artist and preorder the album here
Support the artist and preorder the album here
New Liars Track, Update on Painted Palms
Liars just released this new track form their upcoming album Mess. Should be a great listen
Also, an update on Painted Palms. They are streaming their entire album over at Pitchfork, found here
The album is supposed to be released tomorrow (I'm really excited about this one), and again, you can preorder it here.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Painted Palms - New song, new album out on Jan. 14
Awesome new Painted Palms song. Their new album, also called Forever, is due out on Tuesday, and is definitely the first album I'm really looking forward to in 2014. Apparently they are doing a limited white vinyl release at their bandcamp website here
The Top Tracks of 2013
Here is the Settling in Sound list for the best songs in 2013. Since I am coming so late to the party, my list should be the most well thought out, reasonable, and polished list out there. Okay, it probably isn't, but there is still some fine songs accumulated here. I've got the Spotify playlist all ready to go, so you can listen to each track and compare it with your own ideas for the best songs.
20. Hold On, We're Going Home - Drake ft. Majid Jordan
4. Song For Zula - Phosphorescent
3. Open - Rhye
2. Latch - Disclosure ft. Sam Smith
1. Step - Vampire Weekend
I could pretend like this was a close race. Like all of these songs were mind blowing, overwhelming masterpieces and Step just barely edged out the rest. I could pretend that 2013 was that way, but I would be seriously lying. This wasn't much of a contest at all. Not only is Step the best song of the year, it is one of the greatest songs, at least lyrically, of all time. Ezra Koening's English degree finally manifests itself in one of the most heartwarming and heartbreaking songs I've heard in recent years. Let's just start at the beginning and trace out how brilliantly this song plays out:
"Back back, way back, I used to front like Angor Wat. Mechanics-burg, Anchorage, and Dar Es Salaam. While home in New York, with champagne and disco, tapes from L.A. slash San Francisco. But actually Oakland, and not Alameda. Your girl was in Berkley with a communist reader. Mine was entombed within boom box and Walkman, I was a hoarder, but girl that was back then."
Okay, so somebody has been traveling the world, and references the Berkley communists? What's the point? Here's the point: I want you to focus on what he says about his "girl" throughout this song. Where is she in the first verse? "Entombed within boom box and Walkman." His girl is his dreams, his aspiration, his music, his love. When you look at it that way, the song starts to make more sense. With that in mind, let's move on to the first chorus:
"The gloves are off, the wisdom teeth are out. What you on about? I feel it in my bones. I feel it in my bones. I'm stronger now, I'm ready for the house. Such a modest mouse. I can't do it alone, I can't do it alone."
Ignoring the obviously brilliant reference to Modest Mouse, the chorus is clearly about the pains of growing older and realizing that we "can't do it alone." We need somebody to help us along the way. We're stronger now, we're growing bigger... But we still need to know that someone is there for us. Ezra sings this with such aching passion that the chorus alone would make it the best song of the year. And then the second verse comes:
"You're ancestors told you, that their girl was better. She's richer than Croesus, she's tougher than leather. I just ignored all the tales of a past life. Stale conversation deserves but a bread knife. And punks who would laugh when they saw us together? Well they didn't know how to dress for the weather. I can still see them there, huddled on Astor. Snow falling slow to the sound of the Master."
Keeping in mind that the "girl" refers to, I think, our lives and aspirations, here he's singing about two things: Nostalgia and control. The older generations, and the younger generations when they grow old, all think that their lives and times were better than the present. The ancestors speaking so highly of their "girl" refers to that: that we can't ever escape the wonderment of nostalgia and reminiscing. The younger generations, when they are told this, view the older generation as stale and boring, and look to the future instead. That's what the stale conversation and the bread knife are referring too.
As we grow up, we are also subject to ridicule and disdain over our dreams. We all have "punks" that laugh at us. We have to tell ourselves that we're going to get through it anyway, and buckle up for the pain. We have to "dress for the weather." The verse ends with those same ridiculers, huddled all together, having lost their individuality, with the snow falling to the "Master." And then the chorus comes in again, reminding us of how hard it is to grow up.
The third and final verse is perhaps the most well-written of them all. Here, Ezra finally brings home his final point, and gives us the golden message the song had been laying the whole time:
"Wisdom's a gift, but you'd trade it for youth. Age is an honor, it's still not the truth. You saw the stars when they hid from the world. You cursed the sun when it stepped to your girl. Maybe she's gone and I can't resurrect her; the truth is she doesn't need me to protect her. You know the true death, the true way of all flesh. Everyone's dying, but girl you're not old yet."
After having looked to the future, and gone down the path some, we realize that we would trade everything we learned on the journey to be young again. We curse the sun when it sets, because we are another day older. We just want to live for as long as we can, and enjoy life for as long as we can. But our life goes, and we can't bring it back. It goes and we "can't resurrect [it]." We're all going to die... But wait. We're not quite done yet. "Everyone's dying, but girl, you're not old yet." That last line leaves the song on that last glimmer of hope; we still have time to make our difference. Yeah, sure, we're all going to leave the world. But shouldn't we make the absolute best of it while we can? Shouldn't we write our verse in the play of the world? At that, Ezra bows in the gift of "Step." We're going to experience sadness, nostalgia, and doubt about ourselves. But, after realizing that we "can't do it alone," we also realize that we can do something worthwhile while we are here.
In the context of the rest of the album, which deals with the pain in losing faith, this song stands out as the pinnacle statement. Sure, maybe there isn't an afterlife. Maybe there isn't a God watching over all of us. We certainly all die. But in the time that we have, we can make friends, have adventures, and make our mark. Especially if we all come together, lift each other up, and make sure nobody goes at it alone.
But of course, don't take my word for it. What did you think were the best songs of 2013? What glaring omissions were there in my list? Why am I the worst list maker of them all? Tell me in the comments.
20. Hold On, We're Going Home - Drake ft. Majid Jordan
19. Reflektor - Arcade Fire
18. Menswear - The 1975
17. Unbelievers - Vampire Weekend
16. White Lies - Max Frost
15. Get Lucky - Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams
14. The Wire - Haim
13. Royals - Lorde
12. Dream House - Deafheaven
11. New Slaves - Kanye West
18. Menswear - The 1975
17. Unbelievers - Vampire Weekend
16. White Lies - Max Frost
15. Get Lucky - Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams
14. The Wire - Haim
13. Royals - Lorde
12. Dream House - Deafheaven
11. New Slaves - Kanye West
10. Counting - Autre Ne Veut
9. Doin' It Right - Daft Punk ft. Panda Bear
8. Hannah Hunt - Vampire Weekend
7. The Mother We Share - Chvrches
6. Black Skinhead - Kanye West
5. Turns Turns Turns - Majical Cloudz
8. Hannah Hunt - Vampire Weekend
7. The Mother We Share - Chvrches
6. Black Skinhead - Kanye West
5. Turns Turns Turns - Majical Cloudz
4. Song For Zula - Phosphorescent
I could pretend like this was a close race. Like all of these songs were mind blowing, overwhelming masterpieces and Step just barely edged out the rest. I could pretend that 2013 was that way, but I would be seriously lying. This wasn't much of a contest at all. Not only is Step the best song of the year, it is one of the greatest songs, at least lyrically, of all time. Ezra Koening's English degree finally manifests itself in one of the most heartwarming and heartbreaking songs I've heard in recent years. Let's just start at the beginning and trace out how brilliantly this song plays out:
"Back back, way back, I used to front like Angor Wat. Mechanics-burg, Anchorage, and Dar Es Salaam. While home in New York, with champagne and disco, tapes from L.A. slash San Francisco. But actually Oakland, and not Alameda. Your girl was in Berkley with a communist reader. Mine was entombed within boom box and Walkman, I was a hoarder, but girl that was back then."
Okay, so somebody has been traveling the world, and references the Berkley communists? What's the point? Here's the point: I want you to focus on what he says about his "girl" throughout this song. Where is she in the first verse? "Entombed within boom box and Walkman." His girl is his dreams, his aspiration, his music, his love. When you look at it that way, the song starts to make more sense. With that in mind, let's move on to the first chorus:
"The gloves are off, the wisdom teeth are out. What you on about? I feel it in my bones. I feel it in my bones. I'm stronger now, I'm ready for the house. Such a modest mouse. I can't do it alone, I can't do it alone."
Ignoring the obviously brilliant reference to Modest Mouse, the chorus is clearly about the pains of growing older and realizing that we "can't do it alone." We need somebody to help us along the way. We're stronger now, we're growing bigger... But we still need to know that someone is there for us. Ezra sings this with such aching passion that the chorus alone would make it the best song of the year. And then the second verse comes:
"You're ancestors told you, that their girl was better. She's richer than Croesus, she's tougher than leather. I just ignored all the tales of a past life. Stale conversation deserves but a bread knife. And punks who would laugh when they saw us together? Well they didn't know how to dress for the weather. I can still see them there, huddled on Astor. Snow falling slow to the sound of the Master."
Keeping in mind that the "girl" refers to, I think, our lives and aspirations, here he's singing about two things: Nostalgia and control. The older generations, and the younger generations when they grow old, all think that their lives and times were better than the present. The ancestors speaking so highly of their "girl" refers to that: that we can't ever escape the wonderment of nostalgia and reminiscing. The younger generations, when they are told this, view the older generation as stale and boring, and look to the future instead. That's what the stale conversation and the bread knife are referring too.
As we grow up, we are also subject to ridicule and disdain over our dreams. We all have "punks" that laugh at us. We have to tell ourselves that we're going to get through it anyway, and buckle up for the pain. We have to "dress for the weather." The verse ends with those same ridiculers, huddled all together, having lost their individuality, with the snow falling to the "Master." And then the chorus comes in again, reminding us of how hard it is to grow up.
The third and final verse is perhaps the most well-written of them all. Here, Ezra finally brings home his final point, and gives us the golden message the song had been laying the whole time:
"Wisdom's a gift, but you'd trade it for youth. Age is an honor, it's still not the truth. You saw the stars when they hid from the world. You cursed the sun when it stepped to your girl. Maybe she's gone and I can't resurrect her; the truth is she doesn't need me to protect her. You know the true death, the true way of all flesh. Everyone's dying, but girl you're not old yet."
After having looked to the future, and gone down the path some, we realize that we would trade everything we learned on the journey to be young again. We curse the sun when it sets, because we are another day older. We just want to live for as long as we can, and enjoy life for as long as we can. But our life goes, and we can't bring it back. It goes and we "can't resurrect [it]." We're all going to die... But wait. We're not quite done yet. "Everyone's dying, but girl, you're not old yet." That last line leaves the song on that last glimmer of hope; we still have time to make our difference. Yeah, sure, we're all going to leave the world. But shouldn't we make the absolute best of it while we can? Shouldn't we write our verse in the play of the world? At that, Ezra bows in the gift of "Step." We're going to experience sadness, nostalgia, and doubt about ourselves. But, after realizing that we "can't do it alone," we also realize that we can do something worthwhile while we are here.
In the context of the rest of the album, which deals with the pain in losing faith, this song stands out as the pinnacle statement. Sure, maybe there isn't an afterlife. Maybe there isn't a God watching over all of us. We certainly all die. But in the time that we have, we can make friends, have adventures, and make our mark. Especially if we all come together, lift each other up, and make sure nobody goes at it alone.
But of course, don't take my word for it. What did you think were the best songs of 2013? What glaring omissions were there in my list? Why am I the worst list maker of them all? Tell me in the comments.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Unsigned Saturday: Children of the North
On Saturdays, I'm going to try to highlight an artist that is totally unsigned, unheard of, and is only self-releasing music via the internet. I found this track titled "Dirt" on Soundcloud, by a band called Children of the North. Give it a listen.
Of course, if you like the song, support the artist. http://childrenofthenorth.bandcamp.com/
Of course, if you like the song, support the artist. http://childrenofthenorth.bandcamp.com/
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