My brain is young, my heart can’t think. Mal Blum is 23 years old. Blum sings with a smile, laughing between lines and bantering with the audience during live sets. It reminds me considerably of another NY singer/songwriter at the beginning of her career: Buffalo native Ani DiFranco. Though, I doubt that Blum wants to hear that […]
Category: Pop
The Beach Boys: That’s Why God Made the Radio
Of the many manifestations of California throughout the years – Gold Country (1849), Yosemite Valley & Natural Beauty (1864), Ravaged by Earthquake & Fire (1906), Glamorous Glenn (1947), Anti-War & Free-Speech Protests (1964), Valley Girls (1980), Silicon Valley (1971-present) – perhaps the most valuable & long-lasting image has been that of tanned beauties lounging on […]
The Last Names: Wilderness EP
Yes: Bishop Allen lives, in a way. Aside from working on an, as of yet, unnamed album – two of their members, founder Justin Rice & Butterfly Nets beauty Darby Nowatka have formed The Last Names as a side-project. The Last Names is currently working on both an album, Wilderness, and an ambitious, albeit remarkable, year-long […]
Bishop Allen: November & December EPs
It was 2006. I was an idealistic Californian chasing dreams of utopia on a South facing East Bay hillside. Bishop Allen, a band I had recently discovered, was in the midst of a novel experiment in which they would release a new EP every month for a year. In October of that year I purchased […]
James Rustad: Discography
A little over a month ago Stabarific and I threw a party. I think it was an early birthday celebration at which we sampled three or four different whiskeys and about 20,000 beers… or something like that. Our midnight ghost hunt not withstanding, the greatest surprise of the evening came during a mesmerizing impromptu performance by […]
Kishi Bashi: 151a
While awaiting King Charles‘ release (due in a week), I set out to discover additional music that fell into a similar vein. Coincidentally, I happen to receive a notice that The Barr Brothers would be traveling through Boston, MA and playing a show at the Brighton Music Hall in Allston. The brothers are playing that […]
I am clearly not smart enough to learn how to post things on this blog, but here i am, trying again . . .
DUDE – debut release Yummy new music from The D.
Glee:
If it weren’t for the heavy handedness of the PRC, Glee-East would be the massive sino-pop super-star brother to the American-Pop Hit-Show. Yet, since there is no Glee-East, so we’ll have to explore that which is. The Music of Glee, which is actually the music of American Pop adapted by Hollywood, to produce the music […]
The Shins: Simple Song [Single]
As you may have noticed, I have been taking a break for the beginning of March, I was working on a super-secret project. Well, the project is done and in the mail so, everything is back to normal! What better band to restart bloggin with than one of the best bands every created: The Shins. Their […]
Now That’s What I Call Music! 41
Today (+/- several days) Google launched an all-in-one media storefront called Google Play. For the next undetermined number of days they’re selling media for discounted rates, so I thought I’d peruse the selection for today and to my surprise I found, for the first time, an appropriately priced pop album. $0.25. This, of course would be wholly too […]
Randy Newman: Good Old Boys
The deeper I delve into Randy Newman’s discography, the more I am struck at the incredible extent of his talent. February 1st, 1973: Newman recorded a heavily annotated, 13 track demo for a new concept album he was interested in producing, the kernel being the life and thoughts of a (deep) southern everyman named Johnny […]
Camera Obscura: Let’s Get Out Of This Country
I admit it, I’m a little obsessed with Camera Obscura even though I cannot give a single specific reason why. Their music is subdued, the lyrics should appeal more to a teenage girl than a typical grown man, Tracyanne Campell’s slight accent is nearly unplaceable (though I know they’re from Scotland), and sometimes it seems […]