Akira and Grapevine Fires

Last night I watched Akira for the very first time; this morning I finished reading the essay by Thomas Lamarre titled Born of Trauma: Akira and Capitalist Modes of Destruction. This evening I watched the new Death Cab video of “Grapevine Fires” and couldnt help but make a comparison between the atomic/psychic bomb theme of destruction or the idea of nuclear apocalypse within the popular Japanese Manga, and the atrocities of the depressed american heart within this video. God Damn, Ben.

Metric, Eat Me Alive

Dearest Emily,

I can’t take this any longer.

It’s been years since our last encounter.

Was it with Death From Above? Was that the last time? Or was it the time you kicked over the keyboard? Or the time your energy short circuited the power output?

Please hurry, I need this album and another performance to quench my incredible thirst.

-withindianlove

Metric – Help I’m Alive

Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – Crowd Surf Off A Cliff

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero

 

I’m sure we have all been incredibly anxious to hear the musical creations coming out of the house in rural texas where the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been cooped up in for the past while, mixing together their upcoming album which is due to be released on April 14th. There hadn’t been much talk going on about the album until the LP title “It’s Blitz” got announced on stereogum a few weeks ago. Hype is coming full stream now that the first single “Zero” has been released early this morning. Synthesizers have replaced the classic distorted guitar riffs that they usually do so well in this song, but I love it! I can already sense the repeat plays at bars/clubs over the summer months.  ”Dance worthy”?

i HIGHLY recommend just streaming the song from their myspace for much better quality than the link I will post

BUT, if you insist on having a bad quality mp3. here you go:

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero

Eef Barzelay

Man, its such a nice feeling when I only JUST discover music that has been around for a long time, it gives me this surge of realization that there is still a ton of incredible music out there waiting for me to discover. Anyway, many of you may already know of Eef Barzelay, and if so, it would of been AWESOME if you had told me about him a few YEARS ago, but, you know what, its okay. Anyway, I do know Clem Snide, and Eef Barzelay is in fact the lead singer and main creative drive of the band Clem Snide. WHO KNEW! I listened to the 2006 LP release of Bitter Honey before his recently released Lose Big, and instantly fell in love with Barzelay immediately after his classic-whiny-in-a-good-way-indie-folk-voice sang the very first verse of the very first song, “Ballad of Bitter Honey”, which goes: “That was my ass you saw bouncing, next to Ludacris. It was only on screen for a second, but it was kinda hard to miss. And all those other hoochie skanks, they ain’t got shit on me. And one of Nelly’s bodyguards, he totally agreed.”. Anyways, I’m really happy about finding this stuff, its good music to help you get through the last little stretch of this cold/grey/gloomy winter.

I feel like a lot of the people I’m speaking through in these songs are yearning for some sort of liberation,” he continues. “Each song is like its own character that’s a part of me as well. Like a lot of my Clem Snide material, Lose Big gravitates towards older, simpler music because I’m a traditionalist in the spirit of Hank Williams, Neil Young and Bob Dylan. The difference is that lyrically, it’s more ‘grown up’ and has intimate songs that I wrote between the living room and the bedroom.” – website

enjoy! enjoy! enjoy!!!!

Eef Barzelay – Well

Eef Barzelay – Ballad of Bitter Honey

Bat for Lashes–Two Suns

I woke up this morning to one of the most exciting, unexpected surprises: a TWO SUNS preview! I could not sit STILL in my 8 a.m class this morning just thinking about the intrigue and inspiration which was sitting in the form of 104 yet listened to mega bites of the second Bat for Lashes LP Two Suns.

Natasha Khan left absolutely everyone dying for more of her haunting vocals and interesting instrument choices after her first LP release of Fur and Gold. Thanks to Benny, who was lucky enough to be living in Montreal over a year ago when she stopped by here, I was able to stumble through a short, awkward, and studdery conversation for long enough to blurt out my intense admiration of her on the phone! After that she went on to tour with Radiohead, after Thom Yorke dropped her name on a celebrity playlist he created for iTunes a while back.

The official release of Two Suns is set for April 6th, and after my first two listens, I already highly recommend purchasing it when it finally drops. The music has a definite maturity and growth present since Fur and Gold, but the staple soft/dark/eeriness is obviously still there throughout the album. Though there is a much larger electronic presence which gives everything a little more of a Kate Bush tinge, which is not even remotely close to being a bad thing. 

 

Bat For Lashes – Two Planets

Bat For Lashes – Glass

 

 

also, check out the newly rejuvenated website filled with artwork and all: here

Steam from the cup and snow on the path, the seasons have changed from present to past

photo

“It’s like when you put instant rice pudding mix in a bowl in the microwave and push the button, and you take the cover off when it rings, and there you’ve got rice pudding. I mean, what happens in between the time when you push the switch and when the microwave rings? You can’t tell what’s going on under the cover. Maybe the instant rice pudding first turns into macaroni gratin in the darkness when nobody’s looking and only then turns back into rice pudding. We think it’s only natural to get rice pudding after we put rice pudding mix in the microwave and the bell rings, but to me, that is just a presumption. I would be kind of relieved if, every once in a while, after you put rice pudding mix in the microwave and it rang and you opened the top, you got macaroni gratin. I suppose I’d be shocked, of course, but I don’t know, I think I’d be kind of relieved too. Or at least I think I wouldn’t be too upset, because that would feel, in some ways, a whole lot more real.”
- Haruki Murakami

Bon Iver – The Park (Feist Cover)

Florence and the Machine

I cannot get ENOUGH of Florence and the Machine, everything they do is just completely awesome and completely refreshing. Although the wait and anticipation for an LP is almost deadly, they’ve kept me quite intrigued with the numerous (and sometimes slightly humorous) covers being put out (including Mystery Jets, Kelly Clarkson and even Beirut), and the minuscule amount of songs put out on the Kiss With A Fist and Dog Days Are Over. Its artists like this that would be the one and only source of motivation for a venture down to the UK. I’m super anxious for more, and you should be too, listen!

Florence and the Machine – Dog Days Are Over

Florence and the Machine – Postcards From Italy (Beirut Cover)

website

Dark Was The Night

Hello everyone! A lack of inspiration has been the direct cause of the lack of recent updates again, I’m sorry.

I am getting verrrry verrrrry anxious for the February 16th release of Dark Was The Night, the Red Hot Charity album produced by The Nationals Aaron and Bryce Dessner. I know most of you have heard probably bits and pieces of conversation floating around about the album and the surrounding anticipation, BUT, none the less, if you haven’t: I’ve gotten a sneak peak of the songs, and LET ME TELL YOU, you should be excited as well! This is a charity album unlike any other, it’s not just a few name drops here and there, but the entire album is a mix of incredible artists releasing songs for the cause, and not only that, but we have quite a few (unexpected and undoubtly amazing) compilations between artists including Sufjan & Buck 65, Justing Vernon (Bon Iver) & Aaron Dessner (The National), Conor Oberst & Gillan Welch, Grizzly Bear & Feist, Ben Gibbard & Feist, and MORE. Please, Please promote the cause, dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS, pre-order the record online here. Or wait until the 17th (official North American release date) to purchase, WELL WORTH IT, on SO many levels. Red Hot was nice enough to supply music bloggers with a widget creation, SO you guys can hear three of the songs below (edit: I am not computer smart enough to figure out how to make my ‘widget’ appear and have also had the same problem with my last.fm widget so if ANYONE knows how, let me know!), i will redirect all of you to the myspace page where you can listen to a few of the songs! enjoy!

track listing:

Disc One

1. “Knotty Pine” – Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
2. “Cello Song” – The Books featuring Joses Gonzalez
3. “Train Song” – Feist and Ben Gibbard
4. “Brackett, WI” – Bon Iver
5. “Deep Blue Sea” – Grizzly Bear
6. “So Far Around The Bend” – The National
7. “Tightrope” – Yeasayer
8. “Feeling Good” – My Brightest Diamond
9. “Dark Was The Night” – Kronos Quartet
10. “I Was Young When I Left Home” – Antony with Bryce Dessner
11. “Big Red Machine” – Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner
12. “Sleepless” – The Decemberists
13. “Die” – Iron & Wine
14. “Service Bell” – Grizzly Bear + Feist
15. “You Are The Blood” – Sufjan Stevens

Disc Two

1. “Well-Alright” – Spoon
2. “Lenin” – Arcade Fire
3. “Mimizan” – Beirut
4. “El Caporal” – My Morning Jacket
5. “Inspiration Information” – Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
6. “With A Girl Like You” – Dave Sitek
7. “Blood Pt. 2″ – Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
8. “Hey, Snow White” – The New Pornographers
9. “Gentle Hour” – Yo La Tengo
10. “Amazing Grace” – Cat Power
11. “Happiness” – Riceboy Sleeps
12. “Another Saturday” – Stuart Murdoch
13. “The Giant Of Illinois” – Andrew Bird
14. “Lua” – Conor Oberst with Gillian Welch
15. “When The Road Runs Out” – Blonde Redhead & Devastations
16. “Love Vs. Porn” – Kevin Drew

hmmmm, covering the most blogged songs, sure will get some attention:

Ruby Isle – Skinny Love (Bon Iver Cover)

Ruby Isle – White Winter Hymnal (Fleet Foxes Cover)

What does everyone think?

Lisandro Aristimuño

I’ve never really had any sort of desire to see Argentina, or really any part of South America for that matter. South East Asia has sort of destroyed any other travel-desire I could have, tunnel vision, you know? Also, not to mention, I met an… interesting (and after a few days), incredibly…irritating… Argentinian man while I was in Australia, which didn’t help much with pushing me in any sort of Argentina-oriented direction. ANYWAYS, what I’m trying to say, is that has ALL CHANGED since my ears have been exposed to Lisandro Aristimuño, a 29 year old folk-electro-fusion artist based in Argentina. It completely bewilders me that absolutely NO ONE has talked about this guy! He is incredible! Come On! I cooked an incredible meal tonight with his album Ese Asunto de la Ventana in the background, its THAT kind of music…, the kind of music that cooks an incredible meal! Please listen to him, please please, it’s taking everything in me not to fly down there and start up a Lisandro Aristimuño-promotion in North America-Campaign. Also, you can get a bunch of songs free on last.fm!

Lisandro Aristimuño – Algún Lado

Lisandro Aristimuño – Demasiado

Lisandro Aristimuño – El Plástico De Tu Perfume

myspace