stay open

so i don't really know who rhye is, and a cursory webernet search has provided with no exposition beyond hints at an LA-based duo that value their anonymity. what i do know is that open cuts through a musicblogop4ksphere that's become dominated with #ldr style pretentiousness / deadmau5 mindless bopping with an honesty, clarity and soul i missed so much. it's so tastefully minimal, letting each instrument and note hold its own life, i know i'll be listening over and over. please please have a listen before it gets skrillexed with the "drops" and the "wubs" or whatever the fuck passes for music these days. there's a video that goes along with the song, but it's a tad racy, and my mother's been seen round these here parts from time to time, so let's watch that one on our own time, shall we.

rhye - open

fresh off the boat: tennis 'young and old'

you guys, i did a bad thing?

i found out that tennis' latest, unreleased album young and old had leaked online, and putting on my very best danny ocean, went right ahead and stole it for myself. of course they unintentionally guilt tripped the hell out of me right after, so i feel bad now? but i pre-ordered it on vinyl too, so i guess i don't feel bad after all? i don't know. it's all very confuzzling.

ANYHOW i think this post is intended to be an impromptu album review, so i s'pose i should do some actual reviewing. um... i guess it's really good? high fives and thumbs up and good number ratings abound. i'm always worried when bands i'm rather fond of make their try at a sophomore album - there's always the worry it won't pluck your heartstrings the same way the first one did. it's kinda like getting back together with an ex - there's the familiarity, and you know you like 'em because you did before, but what if the same magic isn't there? what if they changed and you don't like 'em now? what if they didn't change and now they're boring? what if this metaphor gets away from me?

young and old is produced by patrick carney, who in his part time bangs the drums for this lil band you may not have heard of. that black keys sound is just layered all over the album - the buzz over alaina's voice has been reduced to a light, vinyl-style crackle, which lets it grow into something a little more powerful (see the chorus on petition for an example), while BK's penchant for simple, repetitive and utterly addictive melodies is reproduced here in full. the subject matter has shifted substantially - from sandy shores and rainy squalls, we've shifted to something definitely more landlocked, though that certainly isn't a bad thing. and overall production value hasn't hurt their sound in the slightest. while i'll certainly stay nostalgic for cape dory's basement recording feel, young and old just sounds so much better when played with a little stereo weight behind it.

the verdict? great album, can't recommend it enough. it's a quality stand-alone release that steps out on its own without trying to assume the place of, or break too far away from, their debut. it's streaming RIGHT NOW over at pitchfork, so maybe take a gander?

all of this is moot because i won't say anything bad about alaina anyways.

bring, bring the thunder

everybody's freaking the hell out about purity ring.

there was a bizarre little blogger's post-new year's movement declaring them the 'sound of 2012', and the other bloggers couldn't stand for such a declaration because they weren't behind it, and have come down firmly on an opposing declaration that purity ring is 'overrated' and 'derivative' and other such blogger buzz-words. meanwhile i'm still dating things with an '11 and am more likely to be able to tell you what month it is in skyrim than this earthly plane.

anyhow, under all of this is some really neat dreamy synth-pop that's not afraid to push some boundaries when it comes to tempo and traditional song structure. ungirthed has already made the rounds, but here's some other options - a little darker, a little more likely to weird out your roommate. should it catch your fancy, i wholly recommend their remix work. you know how the internet works, you find it for once.

purity ring - bellspeak


purity ring - lofticries

o hai there 2012

 
absence. family christmas, new year's, general apathy. no apologies.

i don't believe in year-end lists, the same way i don't believe in assigning music to a number or a number to music. arbitrary, subjective, pretentious, mindless - adjectives abound. i like music and music likes me.

here's RAC's 2011 hypem mix. it's your new year's eve playlist, two days too late. it's currently been embedded by some trickery that makes it impossible to embed elsewhere (or at least with my 10th grade comp science talents) but, well, click the link, free download, play loud, love.

thank me later


RAC - hypem 2011 zeitgeist mix

getting me down

jesus.

pick yourself up and get out on that dancefloor. south yorkshire's blawan has put out a couple of housey post-dubstepish tracks this year that caught my ear, but god damn if this one just won't get out of my head. it's like reznor and ross' social network soundtrack, with that deep dark bass and precision electro, but just packed full of energy in a way that doesn't overdose the track with sugar - and rounded out with vocals that carry just enough modification to match the overall tone.

just make sure to listen on a decent set of speaker/headphones, and press repeat in advance. just save yourself the trouble.

blawan - getting me down

gonna go fishing, down by the sea

see, wherever human being have been around
you see rectangles and straight lines
'cause we're always trying to straighten things out
and so, that's the very mark of our presence
i don't know why we do it
it's always been a puzzle to me

it's something of a throwback, i know. but it still makes me awful happy.

blithe field - bible school

she made me love

what's a 'grammy'?

bon iver - love more (sharon van etten cover)