i keep gettin' closer

i love youth lagoon's whole album, the year of hibernation. you should get it. here's "posters". just wait until about 2:08, and you will be as happy as me.

never gonna reach you

cut copy was one of my favorite shows at acl this year. i adored lead singer, dan whitford's, signature dance move. his arms were out and welcoming, and then they were drawn back in to his chest with passion. what was he saying?...

 ...i think he "need[s] you now"

didn't have to stoop so low

there are a few reasons i like gotye. he's australian. his name is wally. oh, and he has a nice voice.

"somebody that i used to know (feat. kimbra)"

here's the video in case you feel like watching.

i'm bound to keep you right

lovely. that's "katy" for blind pilot. if you ask me, israel nebeker's voice is flawless. i wish i could belt it out like him.

"keep you right"

keep pushing on

to the heroic firemen, who are being spread way too thin in texas this week: "keep pushing on"! and cheers to my favorite fireman, who would be busting his butt, too, if he lived here!

by john maus

i was so special

sxsw friends

it took awhile for toro y moi to grow on me. seeing them at sxsw definitely piqued my interest. well, now. put your bell-bottoms on, let your hair down & strut, i think i like it.

"saturday love"

love of fate

you had to know that i was going to have to talk about ernest's new album.

"amor fati"

you want it, too?

 

spiral galactic

the dream popping band, m83, is getting fans excited with a free track from their upcoming album, hurry up, we're dreaming.

"midnight city"

*addendum, 6 september.
i am loving this track, too! zola jesus' whispery intro reminds me of this movie, big time:

"intro (feat. zola jesus)" by m83

it's real green

cleveland was gorgeous. unlike texas, they had a rainy spring. it was so green and lush i could not stop commenting on it. plus, the temperature was just hot enough during the days and cooled off at night. the way summer should be.

real estate is calming. here's a newbie:

"it's real"

and here's my old favorite, "beach comber"

get carrot balls

if you live in new york city, and you haven't eaten at rice on elizabeth, you are missing out. you'll find my brother there with four iced hibiscus teas. and last summer when jacqui visited us in the city and we ate at rice, guess who sat down right next to us? moby. here are two of my favorites from his latest, destroyed.

"the broken places"

"stella maris"

goin' to cleveland

i chose the right profession. yeah, that's right, i get a summer vacation. this year i'll be in houston, honduras, and cleveland. a summer without beau won't be the same. but at least i'm "goin' home" to see the rest of my family. i cannot wait!

sing it, dan auerbach (he loves ohio, too)!

spinning out, gracefully

i love the lead-in of this new song from my morning jacket. i signed up on their website to get it free, but it never came through. what the heck? maybe you'll have better luck: here.

just some americans rocking out, "circuital" by my morning jacket

roof's half gone

sometimes i have music on my computer for months before i listen to it. so was the case with the suckers' album, wild smile. why did I wait?! i am loving this track from the art-pop quartet. each band member made their own video for this song. here is pan's colorful blob take:
"a mind i knew" by suckers
ps: i hope no one ever tells me my "heart is like a crippled demon". dang.

only for your very space

"calgary" by bon iver

little dragon man

"little man" by little dragon

oh, when the saints

when the saints go machine are an electro-pop quartet. stereogum made an arthur russell reference and when i listened to the song, "pinned", i had to agree. this is the song that i can't stop listening to:

"fail forever"

you know how i feel

new! it's real mellow. perfect.

"eyes be closed" by washed out

it's holdable

i am a huge nerd for fireworks. and for explosions in the sky. what a coincidence then, when one year during south by southwest, explosions in the sky played to the backdrop of fireworks over town lake (pre-lady bird johnson lake). i am thrilled that they are opening for arcade fire this week. the austin quartet's "cathartic mini-symphonies" make for great study-to and vege-to music. i haven't listened to the tracks off of the new album, take care, take care, out this week. but in the meantime, here's a favorite: 

"your hand in mine"

video game music

yeah, it's from a video game soundtrack, portal 2. sounds dumb. maybe that's harsh, it definitely sounds like something i would not like. but i do like this song!

"exile vilify" by the national
(admit it, that song title is straight-up videogamey)

gonna bring you faster

tv on the radio's nine types of light is out and it's all i've been listening to since tuesday! (well, that and "helplessness blues"...) "second song" makes me so glad that these guys are making music together again.

if you've got some time, here you can watch all of their videos:

if i had an orchard

is this them in austin at acl?!

"cosmic folk." it's music to soothe the soul. i feel like bridget and daniel would've loved this album back in their hippie heyday. get your new fleet foxes album, helplessness blues on may 3rd. in the meantime, download this song "helplessness blues" right now:

how about these lyrics: "if i had an orchard i'd work till i'm sore/and you would wait tables and soon run the store"?

i'm the one for him

the beta band broke up years ago. but i didn't know about the british "folktronic" group when they were still playing together.

surely, john put this on a mix because the lyrics speak to his heart.

"she's the one" by the beta band

rick, is that you?

 

zoo kid, archy marshall, is a young one. but he sings with grown man gruff.

(and he looks like rick astley)

"out getting ribs" by zoo kid

i do dream of it

i love this song featured in a commercial and on a john mix. you'll know the riff i like best, it'll be the one that makes your shoulders move. kind of makes you want to buy a buick, doesn't it?

"rocket" by working for a nuclear free city

researched these guys and found this track. how do they know?! 

"sarah dreams of summer"

summer.

want to walk around w/ you

filter posted their top five anticipated shows at coachella this year and it pumped me up on this song again. animal collective kicks ass! put on your summertime clothes and hunt for the breeze...

"summertime clothes"

unplug

one of the things i will miss about south austin is my ability to walk just about anywhere. just heard on kgsr that sarah jaffe is kicking off the unplugged at the grove series on april 14th. yay! i love her voice. (and name... not sure why she wants to change it?!) come unplug with me. i'll walk there.

"clementine" by sarah jaffe

mellow evenings

here's to perfectly temperatured nights (while they last) and having my man around for long weekends! when i want to mellow out, there are certain instrumentals that help me to do just that. these ones are all from soundtracks... recognize them?

anytime will do

tv on the radio played a lot at sxsw, but somehow i never caught them. drats. i am excited about their album, nine types of light, set for release on april 12th. this track is light and easy. and the video will appeal to the sci-fi nerd in you.

"will do"

can't please everyone

a must-see concert friday! i was so-so on the walkmen, but once i saw them live at a kgsr broadcast early in the morning a few years ago, i was hooked. they are incredible live! and, side note: dreamy, too.

"while i shovel the snow"

remain a kid

i am hypnotized by wu lyf (world untie lucifer youth foundation). the website promotes their sounds as heavy pop. it's music "for kids who have the courage to remain kids". are the kids going to take over the world?

"spitting it concrete like the golden sun god"

set you free

i am stressed out. thank god thom yorke is here to distract me.

"lotus flower"

lame... they disabled embedding the video.

download the new radio head album now! http://www.thekingoflimbs.com/

hazy time

csj has introduced me to another doozie: future islands. they describe their music as "post-wave". i'm reminded of depeche mode and new order. i love frontman, herring's, husky voice.

"vireo's eye"

exist in more than time

the dream popping indie rocking canadian band, young galaxy, makes me happy.

 "peripheral visionaries"

you like it? go and get it: peripheral visionaries

"we have everything"

get under cover

remember when we survived a torrential downpour by seeking shelter under an acl tent in order to see devotchka? well, tonight i sought the shelter of my warm apartment, and i'm listening to this new devotchka song and deciding how i feel about the video.

"100 other lovers" by devotchka

rill good

you can be mad at me if you want. but i'll admit it. during sxsw, while i was waiting for bone thugs, i accidentally saw sleigh bells... and they hurt my ears. that's why i was totally surprised when "rill rill" made it onto a npr mix and i loved it. that does not mean, however, that i can tolerate the rest of that noise and go to the concert with my friends.

here's the good song. in video form. "rill rill" by sleigh bells

i would just sing

thanks goes to beau, who shared this song with me.

mike hadreas' voice is haunting. the piano is gorgeous, reminiscent of the cinematic orchestra song i love so much. and although brief, this song stays with you. you'll find "dreem" on the bonus track version of the album, learning, on which the perfume genius, shares his learning with us. it's powerful.

in light of missing my man, the lyrics--as reported on one website--are apropos: "if you were here right now/i wouldn't have to write it down/i would just sing/and let you listen." (it's hard to make them out to see if they are correct, but i like the idea.)

i think i may like the live version best.

"dreem" by perfume genius

ooh la lia

lia ices is a face i am excited to see at sxsw. her new album grown unknown is out this week. and i am loving it! her voice is stunning.

here she is w/ justin vernon of bon iver, "daphne"

and the title track, "grown unknown"

i think this is a great little teaser: 

if you like 'em, go and get 'em: lia ices

everlasting shine

every once and awhile i like to obsess on a mashup. obsess: here's big boi vs. the black keys!

home where you feel love

the sun is out! i almost forgot what it looked like. it's already rejuvenating my allergied, wintered spirits. let's listen to something we can sit on the porch to. these musicians met at an open mic in seattle and are putting their head and their hearts into music like this... 

"down in the valley" by the head and the heart

"lost in my mind" by the head and the heart

free song download at their site: the head and the heart

mock & toof

their pseudonyms warrant a title. producers duncan stump and nick woolfson have done remixes for groups like--one of my favorites--hot chip. this song can be found on the album, tuning echoes. the vocalist's voice reminds me a little bit of karin dreijer andersson's. it might start to grate after awhile, maybe if i listened to this song all the way through... for now, a few minutes of it is head-bopable.

  

"farewell to wendo" by mock & toof

beat it, 2010!

where to begin?... how about with last year's new year's resolution: i wanted to keep track of every concert i attended so i could do an end of the year count. i have been on a concert hiatus since november, but up until that point, i recorded 72 shows (that's with lollapalooza and acl shows clumped together as one show). yikes.

my favorites of 2010:

shows
miike snow @ galaxy backyard & acl
memory tapes/washed out @ klub krucial
beach house/washed out @ emo's
lcd sound system @ stubb's
mumford & sons @ la zona rosa
gogol bordello @ lollapalooza
arcade fire @ lollapalooza
the fuck buttons @ lollapalooza
the foals @ acl
deerhunter @ fun, fun, fun fest
jónsi @ austin music hall
sufjan stevens @ the long center (tie w/ jónsi for most beautiful show of 2010!)

venues
ah, summer in new york. i love you forever: bowery ballroom, music hall of williamsburg & ps1 moma. and in austin: the long center and the parish

songs (they may not have been released in 2010, but that's when i discovered them)
"closet astrologer" by the ruby suns


"modern drift" by efterklang


"go outside" by the cults


"swim until you can't see land" by frightened rabbit


"this is how we walk on the moon" by arthur russell


"i need a dollar" by aloe blacc


"spanish sahara" by the foals


"chinatown" by wild nothing


"frost" by salem



albums of 2010
mumford & sons: sigh no more ("awake my soul")


lcd sound system: this is happening ("dance yrself clean")


beach house: teen dream ("take care")


deerhunter: halcyon digest ("he would have laughed")


the walkmen: lisbon ("blue as your blood")


washed out: life of leisure-ep ("feel it all around")


to my loved ones: i have been blown away by the people in my life this year. i am so blessed. you are the music in my heart!