Rich Wish from Nicholas Shapiro on Vimeo.

Ha-wow! You had me at soul-clapping suburban lady who looks frightfully like my mother’s best friend. Pitchfork dropped the hot fork on Atlanta’s C Powers a minute ago, but this gray matter expanding homage to my 80s childhood deserves a posting all its own.

Clap it up blonde lady, you know the business!

Tempted and teased you with oOoOO’s track “Seaww” here, and was pleased to find this ketamine slow-jam video  bubbling about on a few other hot-plates.  Quite honestly, the droning vocals and sporadic, strobe-light visuals remind me of trip I took at a rave in Walla Walla, Washington when I was mere freshman in college.  There were back-rubs and I believed my friend to be a queen of some misty kingdom.

Ah drugs, you were great but you’ve been replaced by oOoOO.

oOoOO - NoShore

Source: Pitchfork

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Be impressed not only by the sort of shoegazy rock of Yuck (a band that hasn’t even graced the pages of The Daily Choice yet) but also by this amazing video that features dune buggies in various shades of sepia.

More on these fine folk later.

Georgia from Yuck on Vimeo.

Source: Weekly Tape Deck

If there is a soundtrack to the slowing down of time I believe oOoOO would be given that honor.  I imagine Marty McFly in the muggy confines of the Delorean, the time-space capacitator hummin’ in the background, but instead of jumping into electric fire at 88 miles-per-hour, Mr. McFly hits a slow-mo snag.  All of sudden we aren’t watching Doc Brown, orange jump suit and all being gun-downed by Iranian plutonium smugglers on repeat, oh no, we’re watching Marty McFly get slo-mo super stretched as “NoShore” blasts from his tape deck.

This is some sort of cave-bound folk-rock.  Monotone, spare, a droll bit of song kicked into a slightly higher gear by the presence of a snappy bass line.  My mouth hangs open, somebody catch my drool.

Please.

You might’ve been able to snatch this up from Bathetic’s super limited cassette release, Dark As Night but that day is done my friends.  Now you’ll have to listen to this one song and wish you could have more.

oOoOO - NoShore

Source: Pitchfork

“I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees.”

Not one to cling to the sopping wet coattails of the mainstream, but The National have tickled my fancy for years.

New track of their new album High Violet out on May 11th from 4AD.

Gym rope tingly.

The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio

Source: Pitchfork

It’s no wonder that Girls Names is a duo out of Ireland, as their music almost pulses with the countries vibe.  Though I’ve never been, and I’m sure to come off sounding daft, but from the opening booms of the tom-drum, I can almost feel the lush greens of the Irish countryside.  Toss in those almost tribal sounding guitars lines and I’m breathing in the country air, staring out over the rolling, moss covered hills.

One might wonder why this sort of woodsy bit of propulsion was deemed “Graveyard”, but there’s a certain creaking haunt to lead-singers Cathay Cully’s voice that reminds one of a peat-covered tombstone, a fresh pile of dirt looming above it, a crowd of mourners drifting towards their cars.  It’s creepy, but in that poppy way.

Girls Names - Graveyard

Source: Pitchfork

I find myself so often times stuck in a rut(?) of drone-y fuzz, and sharply punctuated garage rock, and thus when I a simpler bit of music catches my ear, I’m almost required to post it.  Pitchfork turned me on to this Perfume Genius project by Mike Hadreas (a man I know nothing about) and the puddle underneath my feet is slowly growing bigger and bigger as a melt down in to it.  It’s reminiscent of The Mountain Goats and Daniel Johnston in it’s unchecked waver and . It’s an epically told story of just about nothing.  But Hell, when your nothing consists of Joy Division, weed, and a lovely man named Mr. Peterson, you’re contracted by the state of piano ballads to write a somber jingle.

Perfume Genius - Mr. Peterson

Let me just say quickly that I’ve been completely silent on the whole slew of Sasquatch debates pummeling this fabulous site as of late.  Why?  Because, I live in SF and as wonderful as the hot sticky masses of Sasquatch ‘09 sound, I’m so pickled with jealousy, that I’m, oddly, silent.  Forgive me my abstinence, it’s the best for my health.

To help pep me up a bit, I’ve been listening to Japandroids pretty consistently.  I haven’t really figured out how much I love them yet.  They seem too drastically tied to the resurgence of sort of emo-noise rock that’s been smashing on to the shores of, uh, Noah Beach recently, but they certainly have their own thrashy charm.  Their new album caught a big a blast of hipster-cred in the kisser from Pitchfork, so I’m sure you’re scoffing at this post, and marking another check mark next to “Time’s Noah Missed The Boat” on your calender.

It’s okay though, it only hurts for a little bit.

Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire

Japandroids on Myspace

The future is upon, uh, me.

I’m done with just songs and concert previews. I’m moving in to the world of embedded video. I know stone age shit here, but it’s taken me a while to get use to watching concert footage, music videos on such on my computer, so this is a big healthy step for me.

Strangely enough, the oft-maligned Pitchfork has helped me change my thoughts on the matter as they’ve been releasing a series of just brilliant films and live concerts for the perusal of all. One of my favorite bands of the year so far Nodzzz put on this up-beat little set at The Market Hotel in New York and couldn’t help but share it.

Enjoy!

Hey Pitchfork, I get it. You’ve established yourselves as the most critical mother fuckers on the internet… so, could you not aim for being the meanest too? As someone who writes about music, I get that there are albums you don’t like, hell I get it that there are albums you downright abhor. But this review is just mean.

And yeah, I like Noah and the Whale and their record, which you describe as “biting its best sensitive-indie forebears and then puking up all the most superficial chunks.” Eventually you proclaim the band should consider murder-suicide. And for someone who seems to get so little joy out of happy little pop songs, but all the joy in the world destroying those songs — we might recommend a similar path. 

An album and a band doesn’t need to be transformative or replete with a thousand obscure influences to be  worthy of a listen. So folks, ignore Pitchfork and take a listen to Noah and the Whale. They may not be the next Neutral Milk Hotel, but the record sure is fun fun fun!

Damn you Fleet Foxes and your full-length debut–that I cannot stop listening to. I have tried, but somehow, I have still managed to listen to the album a full six times through today-alone. Damn you and your perfect pacific northwest sound, which reminds me of church hymnals sung in cedar churches by earnest hippies. Damn the fact that Pitchfork gave the album a (deserved) 9.0, cementing its spot in the best of end of the year lists, guaranteeing that you will no longer going to be a sweet Seattle secret. But bless you for writing songs that soothe and salve. I thought it would be nearly impossible to top the beauty of “Mykonos” from the Sun Giant EP, but you’ve managed to do so with tunes like “Your Protector” and long time fan favorite “Oliver James.” The success really couldn’t happen to more deserving, talented fellows. So really, Congratulations.