The coolest thing about Blind Pilot (besides the music…I’ll get to that in a second) is that they just finished a tour of the West Coast on their BIKES! Gear and all, they pedaled their way down from Bellingham, Washington to San Diego, California. It took them just under two months. As a fellow bike commuter I’m extremely impressed by this feat. Taking the length of my commute into consideration (1.1 miles), this admiration shouldn’t come as a surprise. Likewise, after one listen to these Blind Pilot songs you’ll understand my admiration for their music. Simple, stripped down, yet completely majestic. “Go On, Say It” benefits from swelling strings and doubled vocals, but even those basic flourishes are just that. Flourishes, not crutches. “Paint or Pollen” proves Blind Pilot is capable of capturing and perfectly harnessing that elusive little thing we call pop music with nothing but the bare essentials.
Sam Bennett
Sam Bennett’s music is for the post-sarcastic, post-ironic believer in &mdash what did Obama call it? oh yeah — the audacity of hope within all (some? a few?) of us. As Detroit lurches towards extinction right down the expressway from my house, I’m thinking the honest, upbeat, youthful dreaminess of this British singer-songwriter will temper the total depression that’s surely going to soak southeast Michigan. (Either that, or a huge meteorite will blast us into oblivion; right now, I’ll take Bennett’s positivity instead.) Listen to “I Love” first to get a sense of what to expect, then check out “I Am A Lighthouse” if you’re still into it. And for those of you who are all snarky, who live in a state where the unemployment rate is lower than a typical mortgage rate, for those of you who are still listening to that which celebrates our impending darkness, don’t even bother. Personally, I think we need more lighthouses among us.
We Landed on the Moon!
Sometimes you just need to dance when you’re sweeping the kitchen floor. Sometime you just need to bounce in your seat on a long drive home. Sometimes you just need to let this Baton Rouge band fill your ears with their dance-y take on 90’s rock after spending time digging through your old shoegaze albums to get your head back to reality. And sometimes I talk about myself in the second person.
Crystal Stilts
The perfect companion to last week’s post on Cause Co-Motion!, since the two Brooklyn bands are currently touring the West Coast together. (I had planned on seeing them tonight in Oakland, but alas, I’ve got torn knee ligaments.)
The Slumberland page for their new album Alight of Night makes reference to a whole slew of bands: Velvet Underground, 13th Floor Elevators, Red Crayola, the Gun Club, the Mary Chain, and also bands from Flying Nun, Rough Trade, and Factory Records. I’d also throw in early Walkmen and the Recoys. Feel free to add your own.
Nik Freitas
As I was putting this post together, and listening to “All the Way Down,” I started thinking about a conversation I had a few years ago with Jen Larson. At the time, she was my student; now, she’s a college grad in a half-dozen Chicago bands and is cooler by three-and-a-half times than I ever was. Anyway, one day I made a random comment about how I don’t really care all that much for The Beatles. I was like, “Who really listens to them anyway?” And you can probably guess how she looked at me — This guy doesn’t like The Beatles? How can he be qualified to teach me anything? This is a long way of saying that of course I was wrong, and that Nik Freitas reminds me of clean 60s and 70s pop in all the right ways. “Sun Down” might be one of the nicest little songs of the year, smooth yet inspirational (as if those are contradictory). For some fun, and a little Built to Spill style without all the noise, check out “Normal” from Freitas’ 2002 debut. And if you still want to hear more, check out his website for a few more free downloads.
Cause Co-Motion!
Only one minute and thirty four seconds for you today, but it’s brilliant DIY pop from Brooklyn’s Cause Co-Motion! (or alternately caUSE Co-MOTION!) doing their take on the early Television Personalities, or what the Buzzcocks would have sounded like if they had formed in the USA in the heyday of 50’s sock hop. It’s Time!, a 14 song singles compilation is out on tomorrow on Slumberland, and they’re also starting a West Coast tour with Slumberland’s the Crystal Stilts this week.
The Olympic Symphonium
If you’re looking for mellow, melodic and pleasant — as opposed to mellow and just plain slow or mellow and super-hyper-overcontemplative (you know what I mean, right?) — The Olympic Symphonium might work for you. This trio from Maritime Canada brings an intimacy and gentleness to the ten tracks on More in Sorrow Than in Anger, their sophomore release due out in a week or two. Though the instrumentation changes a bit here and there, the album maintains a pleasant pop cool, perfect for the change in seasons. “Intentions Alone,” the free download down there, kind of has that crunching-the-leaves feel to it; check out the rest of this disc to maintain that vibe.
Love Grenades
This track is a gem among gems on the new Accidental Rhythm compilation curated by Jason Eldredge and Jeremy Wineberg, a couple L.A. lads who are all that and a bag of chips. Hickory BBQ, my current fave. Need to spice up your life? Then boogie on down to this saucy track. This thing is all groove: brown chicken, brown cow! (What’s the lead-in to that punchline?) and as classic as anything off Thriller, without all that Neverland baggage. Instead you get the gorgeous and sultry Liz Wight. Priceless. I should stop gushing now. If you’re in L.A. you can judge for yourself—they’re playing the Echo the next two Fridays.
Lykke Li
Now that Santogold can be heard on light beer commercials, I’m ready for another obsession (I’m not that fickle, I just need to back off from my one-a-day dosage). 22-year-old Swede Lykke Li might just be the answer. Her songs ooze modernity and warmth — restrained rhythmic backdrops meshing seamlessly with her instrumental lyrics. And then there’s her voice, that entrancing siren call… It may be too early to call her My Angel of Stockholm based on a debut album alone but dang diggity if she doesn’t melt my ears and heart.
(Thanks to JM3 for the suggestion.)
The Gay Blades
Clark from The Gay Blades sat down and recorded this song a few days after he heard that Paul Newman had passed away. He, like myself and many others, thought Paul Newman was about as good as actors, and men, got. Perhaps he just wanted to remember Newman or perhaps he wanted to offer a eulogy. Whatever it was, he picked well. In Cool Hand Luke Newman sang “Plastic Jesus†to mourn the death of his mother. Clark sings it as much more of a celebration, which you get the feeling would have suited Newman just fine.