On Repeat: Rhye

Oh my, I can't seem to stop listening to Rhye - Woman

This band seems so secretive. Although the lead's voice sounds a lot like Sade - spoiler alert! - it's actually a man. I did a quick search for a photo since I wanted to have some sort of visual of the man behind the voice...but there doesn't seem to be any! In an age of over-the-top celebrity appearances, I can respect that they don't want their "look" to interfere with their music. Their recent feature on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic continues to peak my curiosity but I guess I will continue to wonder because I will be out of town when they return to LA's El Rey Theatre on May 10th. Somebody do me (and yourself!) a favor...buy a ticket and snap a photo, ok?!

Hear the entire MBE/KCRW session here! // Another cool article on NPR if you care for more.

In Our Eyes

Summer into fall soundtrack: Niki & the Dove, Instinct (listen on Spotify)

Instinct is one of those albums that I have had on repeat for months. I'm not much of a music editor / critic so I'm not going to even attempt to write up something to convince you to listen to it. Just do it! Start with Tomorrow, The Fox, In our Eyes and prepare for a mini dance party (or in my case, a craving for some good 80's style Jane Fonda aerobics).

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Photo: taken by me on an iPhone and then edited in Photoshop. Filter Culture Collide Fest October 7, 2012. Please note awesome floral headdress. Lead singer, Malin Dahlström, would be the best bargain-bin elementary school art teacher if this music career doesn't pan out! She was well-equipped with pony beads, floral earrings and anklets, and feather/popsicle-stick fans. Impressive.

Yet Again

We hooked up the new (old) record player and listened to the Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest yesterday as we unpacked. Bliss!

Can't wait to get my hands on Shields, coming out Sept 17th!

On Repeat.

Lost in the Light

A new tune dedicated to all of those young lovers out there.

For everyone else, try swaying your booty to this while washing dishes!

Credit goes to Marissa for introducing me!

Creator.

A few posts ago I mentioned that Santigold's set was one of my top Coachella memories (click if you've ever wondered what it might feel like to perform on the Main Stage...don't click if you get dizzy easily!!) I wasn't too familiar with her music before seeing her, but she had/has amazing energy and oh MAN her dancers were out of this world!

She's a mix between MIA and Tegan & Sara and I can already tell that her new album is going to be playing all summer long. Preview it on NPR here and if you find yourself in a creative funk, take a listen to this song...

M.Ward

A lot of new album releases lately, but I'm stuck on M.Ward's Wasteland Companion, streaming right now on NPR. Good stuff! Give it a listen...

Spotify Me.

First: an unrelated photo of one of my favorite Thai treats -- I was there last year! Sad. Had to get that out of the way...

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Music ADD (self diagnosed, of course) keeps me on my toes, always looking for new stuff to listen to. That's when I discovered a new Spotify app called Moodagent. It is similar to iTunes' Genius feature but it extends your playlist options to new music instead of limiting it to your own personal music library. All you have to do pick a track that you're into at the moment and it'll generate a playlist for you! It'll factor in "moods" like sensual, tender, happy, angry and even tempo. I haven't played around with it too much, but I'm going to venture to say that it is smarter than Pandora radio (which always gives me Jack Johnson songs no matter what I type in - NO THANKS!)

Here's a good mix based off of a Cold War Kids song, Hospital Beds:

1. Hospital Beds - Cold War Kids
2. SWM - Tapes n' Tapes
3. Details of the War - Clap your Hands and Say Yeah
4. Red Elephant - Born Ruffians
5. The Drawing Board - The Features
6. Suspended in Gaffa - Ra Ra Riot
7. Icky Thump - The White Stripes
8. 1 4 U & U 4 Me - The Decemberists
9. Rocking Horse - The Dead Weather
10. Fighting in a Sack - The Shins
11. Driver, Surprise Me - The National
12. So He Won't Break - The Black Keys
13. Red Paint - Matt & Kim
14. People C'mon - Delta Spirit
15. Joy - Islands
16. Trying Your Luck - The Strokes
17. The Immortals - Kings of Leon
18. I Only Wear Blue - Dr. Dog
19. Drops in the River - Fleet Foxes
20. Flash's Theme - Louis XIV
21. Camera Talk - Local Natives
22. Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl - Broken Social Scene
23. Eyes - Peter Bjorn and John

New Music Video From Josh Ritter

Wow. Stop-motion with construction paper. What next?! Whenever I see this kind of thing, I am just in awe and wonder of how these artists (apparently a team of 20) didn't tear their hair out throughout this whole process. I can't imagine the level of patience it would take to pull off these intricate cut-outs.

Apparently it took 12,000 pieces of construction paper and there were no extra effects applied in post. Insane.

Little Spark

Throughout my short blog absence, I've been listening to the beautiful tracks on Jessie Baylin's brand new album, Little Spark. After two years of waiting for some new material from one of my favorite songbirds, Little Spark does not disappoint!

NPR says it best, "The album Little Spark evokes a sound you might have heard 40 years ago, piercing through the static of your AM radio." She's a true artist and this little gem is filled with lots of heart and integrity.

Little Spark on Amazon.com

Twice

We saw Little Dragon at the Avalon last month and while I was mostly excited shake my booty to Ritual Union live,  I was surprised to walk away with a new favorite song, Twice. Although it's an older song, it was the first time I had heard it. Talk about an absolutely beautiful and totally haunting way to close out a sold-out show. While each band member can definitely hold their own, the lead singer Yukimi Nagano has such stage presence. She can dance around in sparkly spandex and then silence the room with her arresting voice. I love that "Little Dragon" was her parents' nickname for her as a child!

Their latest album, Ritual Union, is one of my tops of the year and it's the perfect soundtrack for a Friday.

A Very She & Him Christmas

I know it seems a little early to be blogging about Christmas, but I can't wait to get my hands on this! Kind of tempted to buy a copy for everyone on my Christmas list. 

1. The Christmas Waltz
2. Christmas Day
3. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
4. I’ll Be Home for Christmas
5. Christmas Wish
6. Sleigh Ride
7. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
8. Silver Bells
9. Baby, It’s Cold Outside
10. Blue Christmas
11. Little Saint Nick
12. The Christmas Song

Zooey Deschanel is everywhere these days. The big screen, the little screen, billboards, buses, all over my twitter feed...if it were any other pretty actress/blogger/chanteuse I may be a little overloaded. While I can't say I'm as impressed with The New Girl as everyone else, one thing is for sure: the girl can sing. And the boy can play a mean guitar. This'll be playing throughout my apartment and office throughout December!

feist * metals

!!!!!!

All I have to say is thank goodness I just sit around at a computer all day. 

Feist's new album Metals comes out October 4th and I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy. I'm absolutely smitten with single #1 (How Come You Never Go There) so when I got the chance to preview more songs from the album live I knew I had to go. 

Jackie and I headed to Village Studios yesterday to be part of a small audience for a Yahoo! Music / Starbucks in-studio session. We were about 5 feet from miss Leslie Feist herself and she didn't disappoint. Not one bit. Her voice defines "songbird" and seeing her play the guitar that close up was pretty inspiring. The chords she uses are pretty standard, but it's what she does in-between the chords that makes her an artist I can appreciate.

I wish I could have snapped a few photos from the night but cameras and cell phones were prohibited. We walked away with Starbucks/Yahoo goodie bags (as if the evening wasn't enough to brag about, right?) and I made a pact with myself to do more awesomely free things from now on.

The Yahoo! Music session will be streaming in all Starbucks locations in September and will go live on Yahoo! Music afterwards. Go see if you can find me...I'll be the little Asian with a goofy grin on her face.

How Come You Never Go There

 This just made my Friday afternoon. I'm listening on repeat.

How Come You Never Go There by Feist

Can't wait for this entire album!

Can it Be?

 

Laura Marling has an amazing new single out (Sophia) and you can hear it on KCRW's site. A modern day Joni Mitchell...what do you think? If you're in town on Sept. 17th, get tickets to see her at the Hollywood Cemetery and tell me how it went!

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I recently had a conversation with my boss about how fleeting today's music can be. How come there aren't any legendary bands that came out in the 2000's? Did we run out things to sing about? Have all the good songs been written? Who is going to be OUR Elton John? Where is our Beatles? Our Joni? Just a thought....

Finally!

My favorite lady is back! According to this article, she'll be coming out with her fourth album, "Metals" in October. I can't wait. 

You'll know where I'll be November 12th!

Here's a little teaser...

Seattle on the Mind

Posting a little something so that you know that I really didn't die. Absence of posts are due to a mix of a lot going on and laziness...I'll be back into the swing of things sooner than later.

Being back in Seattle for a split second inspired me to ride my bike again. With the exception of today, I have ridden my bike to work for the last two weeks (even in the rain - boom shakalaka!)  My Seattle weekend has also gotten me listening to KEXP again, hence this video from an in-studio session with Seattle-band, Lemolo. I've been doing some research on video styles for an on-going project at work, and I really dig this look/feel. If you see any other good music video-esque acoustic sessions on the internets, send them my way!

On another note, happy friday! My sister officially graduates this weekend and she's celebrating by jumping out of a plane with my dad on Sunday. This weekend is going to be fun!

Elbow

These guys are going to be a Coachella this weekend. Just one of the bands I'm excited to see...kind of Coldplay-esque, eh?

TV on the Radio

Found this song via Captain Obvious' latest "mixtape" and I'm a little obsessed. Putting this on my Summer 2011 rotation right next to The Naked and Famous and The Belle Brigade.

TV on the Radio - Caffeinated Consciousness

PS: IT'S FRIDAY! I feel like this:

Another Stellar Album Preview from KCRW

KCRW is streaming The Belle Brigade's new album, out April 12th! To me, this is what Summer sounds like.

Track listing
1. Sweet Louise
2. Where Not To Look For Freedom
3. Losers
4. Belt Of Orion
5. Shirt
6. Lucky Guy
7. Lonely Lonely
8. Punchline
9. Rusted Wheel
10. My Goodness
11. Fasten You To Me

Click to listen!