Volume 81: Alcoholic Faith Mission

Some band names are just too hard to figure out, so much so that I'd rather just copy and paste what I've read about this entry's name:

          "The name of the band is more of an ironic corruption of “apostolic faith mission,” than a nod to the over-indulgence it implies. It’s from a neon sign in Brooklyn from which Thorben Seierø Jensen and Sune Sølund set off on their search for a musical road-less-traveled."

That is way different than any interpretation my mind could have come up with. The beginning of this song starts off differently than how the rest of the song goes. It starts off a little faster paced then what comes by the time the song gets into its chorus. Then it gets picked up again with clapping (whether it be from a drum pad or actual hands making the sound). The song will definitely stand out and stick in your head for those reasons and also because it is just really good.

Hip Hop Wednesday: Volume 13: Childish Gambino

Most people know him as Donald Glover on NBC's Community, one of the best shows on tv right now, or as a writer on 30 Rock. What most don't know is that he also does stand up comedy and raps. He does all three extremely well. The reason for his hip hop success, at least in my opinion, is his intelligence level. Meaning he doesn't need to talk about weed, women (in other words), or drugs with excess vulgarity. He uses pop culture references and other notions to get across similar meanings. It just sounds better in the way that he does it.

For example:

       E.e. Cumming's on her face, now that's poetry in motion

Now that line may be disgusting to some, but it is quite hilarious and inventive to turn such a lewd act into such "poetry".

       And my clique make that dinero, so its time to meet the fockers

 In this instance he goes with dinero in a multitude of ways, as in spanish for money but sounds like De Niro. It's references like these that give his songs something different to look forward to. He also ends the track by alluding to the cult tv show Freaks and Geeks and how his clique (Community) should get canceled just like it because of Community's similarly low ratings but strong fan base.

You can download his latest EP here http://www.mediafire.com/?wf3jfc451d7ax0x which features the track below.

Volume 80: The Dark Water Hymnal

The setting in which The Dark Water Hymnal decided to play "Whole City Glows" for this version seems to be someone's backyard. Allowing the song to have a natural feel to it and playing off of natural acoustics. The song itself is great and then you add in the raw performance and it just adds something special.

It has kind of an up beat Bon Iver feel to it; maybe cross Bon Iver with Fanfarlo and their love child would be this....? Either way, it is a very well done version and sets the bar pretty high for any future live endeavors they are set to take on.

Volume 79: Young Man

Young Man's (aka Colin Caulfield) "Bedtime" is a quick (1:50) instrumental track that just happens to have a great feel to it. It was apparently featured on MTV's new show "Skins" but I've only ever seen like five minutes of that show so I don't know what context it played under.

To me, it feels like a great song to just lay down to and put on repeat while you space out. It's kind of crazy to have a track so short when most instrumentals that evoke emotions take somewhere in the four to six minute range, yet this song achieves it so quickly.

Volume 78: The Thoughts

On first thought (no pun intended with the band name), a song title "Orange Sky" reminds me of Alexi Murdoch. Mainly because his song by that name is fantastic and pretty well known. The Thoughts offer up a track of the same name but with no connection whatsoever.

With great strings accompanied by a powerful vocal, The Thoughts' "Orange Sky" is a fantastic track all in its own right. Very powerful strings (when aren't strings powerful though?) really elevate this track's intensity and keeps you gripped until the end. The song's natural crescendo is also on point for keeping and heightening that intensity throughout.

Volume 77: Starfucker

Starfucker just recently released their second album Reptilians. I've had the chance to run through it a few times and I keep coming back to "Bury Us Alive" but that's not to say I don't love the rest of the album. It's just a great track. Great beat, great vibe, just everything about it. They are currently on tour playing and promoting the new album. From what I've read, they seem to be putting on great show after great show.

Hopefully you'll be lucky enough to have them in your town shortly. You can head over to their myspace page, ,to see their upcoming shows.

Hip Hop Wednesday: Volume 12: B.o.B

B.o.B aka Bobby Ray is pretty well known for his popular singles, but most don't hear his best work. His mixtapes contain most of his better work. Sometimes you have to give the labels what they want, pop singles, but that doesn't stop rappers from putting out mixtapes with material that they wanted to do.

B.o.B also doesn't get the credit he deserves for being a talented musician. He also plays guitar in addition to rapping and singing. It's a different side to a rapper that most (almost all) don't have. One of his tracks, "Letters from Vietnam", is the prime example of this. In fact, when you hear it I would bet that you wouldn't believe that it was him singing and playing guitar. I'll put both a live and studio version on here so you can here it acoustic and then with the full band and also see him play the guitar. So here's to shedding a little light on his not-as-appreciated talents.

Volume 76: Owen Pallett

Sometimes a cover can be good enough to take the original's spot. Although it's not really up to me to determine such a thing, I feel as if Owen Pallett's version of "Peach Plum Pear" is better than Joanna Newsome's. Now they are very similar, as they should be, but when you see Owen perform it live it seems to transcend the original. He uses a loop pedal in order to play various arrangements on the violin in order for the song to keep its totality.

It really is a sight to behold. Owen also has a hilarious explanation/story behind covering the song in the video below. I'll also add in an original from him to give you a sense of his style.

Volume 75: Lissie

Every now and then I'll go on YouTube looking for different covers. By different I mean turning a hip hop song into a rock one or vice versa. Just something that is out of the ordinary. A few months ago I ran across a cover of Kid Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness" by Lissie. This then led me to checking out her original work.

That is where I found her opening track "Record Collector" off her debut album Catching A Tiger. This track just has a great feel to it. It has a bit of everything in it which is ideal for an opening track. It allows you to know what is in store for you over the next 45-ish minutes. Below are both the cover and her opening track.

Volume 74: Dresden

Technology has really changed the world. Nowadays bands can start a myspace music page, put their songs on youtube (sidenote: I uploaded this song for them just to feature it on here, that's how crazy it is today), and just about anything you can imagine to get their name out there. So it would seem like getting yourself heard is pretty easy right? Well sometimes, but a lot of the times great bands slip through and hardly get the attention they deserve. Such is the case with Dresden.

Upon last glance, they are still unsigned and after you hear the track below you'll probably be thinking the same thing I did, "How the hell have they not been signed yet?" On their similar artists map lies Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, and The Cure. There are others but for the track "Scars", nothing fits better than those great 80s bands. On my first listen I could have sworn this was from that era and it was just some sort of remix I ran across. Nope. Purely original material. Talent always rises to the top, and it would seem that their shot (getting signed) should be sooner than later.

Volume 73: Sleigh Bells

Sleigh Bells have been described to me as "loud noises". As much as I want to think of the obvious reference to Anchorman, I tend to refer back to when my parents heard me listening to Korn (can't do a backwards R on here, at least I don't think so I apologize) in middle school. Yes, I used to listen to them, way back in the day. Anyways, my parents would just tell me how it sounds like loud noises and not much else.

It's not really fair to call any music "loud noises" because at some point someone put some kind of work into it to make it, so it at least deserves something better than that. Sleigh Bells are so much more than just their loud nature. They have great rhythms and great riffs that are good letting go to (such as this one in "Riot Rhythm"). Because as someone once said, "We all go a little crazy sometimes." So you need a song or two to just let loose to and Sleigh Bells do precisely that.

Volume 72: This Will Destroy You

It's hard to find really good instrumental music. Let me rephrase that, it's hard to find instrumental music that can truly evoke emotions. Lyrics are what usually generates feelings in listeners; sometimes the music can but most music with a voice usually centers around the lyrics trying to move someone.

This Will Destroy You's "Quiet" is a song that just evokes tons of emotions and when you hear it you know that there may never be any lyrics that could improve the song. Some fans get upset when you compare them to Explosions in the Sky and while I understand that, it is a pretty fair comparison at least for this song. So here's a studio version of "Quiet" for comparison's sake.

Volume 71: The Migrant

The Migrant is the name of Bjarke Bendtsen's folk band. On The Migrant's website http://themigrant.net/ you can actually stream the entire debut album Travels in Lowland, which is pretty awesome because finding it anywhere else is pretty hard.

The beginning of "Nothing But Clues" reminds me of "Haiti" by Arcade Fire. I hope that if you hear the same thing that you can separate the two songs because this Migrant track is really good. In case you like this track make sure to go over to their site and listen to the rest of it and even grab a copy for your collection.

Volume 70: James Blake

This guy seems to have emerged as the indie scene's biggest new star. To attest to this, his recently announced tour went on sale today and literally sold out a minute after they were available (for big city shows). They went on sale at 12:00pm today and were gone at 12:01pm (this is from a first hand account of someone trying to buy a ticket for the Bowery Ballroom show). Not to mention he is achieving such a status at age 22 and with only one album released (the self titled just came out a month ago). To build such a name for himself in such limited time is quite impressive.

The next thing to do is describe his music. It would be something of the soft-ambient-electronica variety. Even though that isn't really a real variety, it seems to fit. His video also seems to have that same kind of element. Instead of softening the sounds, he blurs the image as to show you that it's there but not really see it clear enough to give it perfect distinction. Regardless, seeing this sound achieved live must be quite a site to see.

Volume 69: M83

Some music is just hard to describe. You can give it limitless adjectives, whether they are actual terms or faux-genres. In this case, the latter is probably more appropriate. I have whittled this track down to soft-epic-electronica. That's not to say that the entire M83 catalog fits into such a faux-genre. It would seem like soft and epic are conflicting ideologies, but it just seems to be to fitting not to use it. "We Own The Sky" has soft vocals and an electronic track that is epic.

The songs other controversy (well, of sorts) is its video. A lot of people don't like the main music video for it so I figured I'd use it's highest rated alternate, which seems to fit more appropriately. You can easily find the other version on youtube if you wish to see what I'm talking about. Regardless, this track is an instant add to the daily playlist if it isn't on there already so go hit play and dig in.

Volume 68: Middle Brother

The latest indie folk-rock super group, Middle Brother, consists of John J. McCauley III (of Deer Tick), Taylor Goldsmith (of Dawes), and Matt Vasquez (of Delta Spirit). With all three having similar sounds in their main bands, this collaboration seemed like it would easily work and just create top notch music. And their self-titled release, which just came out last Tuesday, achieved just that.

On first listen, you truly hear that good southern-folk-rock vibe. The band mates do a great job of rotating the vocals and not allow for just one voice to dominate the album, which seems like it would be a difficult task but they easily break down that barrier. It also gives it a refreshing sound to hear more than one voice over an entire album. They also cover different tempos from slower acoustic tracks like "Daydreaming" to the faster paced ones like "Me, Me, Me".

After being able to listen to it for the past week or so, "Middle Brother" has been a standout track to me, which kind of looks funny on iTunes to Middle Brother under the song/artist/album columns. But in order to get the full feel of the band you need to hear the entire album so you can hear the various voices that this group brings to the table.

Volume 67: Banjo or Freakout

Banjo or Freakout is probably one of the better artist names I've ever come across. The upcoming self-titled album is set to be released tomorrow, so I figured I'd put the debut single, "105", on here and get the name out there.

It's soft and not over-bearing on the ears, but still captivates your attention. In what could be described as a "dream-pop ballad", the single really gives you a sense of what to expect from the album.

Volume 66: Wye Oak

With their new album set to come out this Tuesday (March 8th), Wye Oak's Civilian is going to be one you need to pick up. This male/female duo create a lot of sound for being just a two member group. Obviously a production studio can help with that, but have no fear because the live acoustic version of the title track is just as compelling as its studio counterpart.

As strong as the musical arrangement is, the vocals are right on par. Not straining, not over sung, just beautifully delicate and just right. Up first is the album version followed by the aforementioned live acoustic version for you comparative pleasure.

Hip Hop Wednesday: Volume 11: OFWGKTA

Odd Future (aka Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) has probably become the hottest topic of discussion in the music industry the last few weeks. They made a ridiculous tv debut on the Fallon show and just got their own skit on Funny or Die, which makes fun of major record labels (appropriately so).

The hard part is picking out a track to describe them. They are a deep group, consisting of Tyler The Creator, Hodgy Beats, Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis, Mike G, Frank Ocean, Jet Age of Tomorrow, Left Brain, Syd Bennett, Jasper Dolphin, Left Brain, and Taco Bennett. Then there are groups within their group like MellowHype (Hodgy Beats and Left Brain) and EarlWolf (Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt). I can't even think of how that Venn diagram would look.

I picked their Fallon performance and Tyler the Creator's hit, "Yonkers", which is blowing up. So enjoy 'em.

Volume 65: Dirty Projectors

Off of their 2009 album Bitte Orca, comes the track "No Intention". Dirty Projectors have released what seems like an album a year for the last seven years or so and with such an extensive catalog in such a short amount of time, some tracks may get lost.

Dirty Projectors have a well known knack for not having a specific genre. The most common description they get is probably "experimental rock". I've never been sure what that means but I guess it kind of works. I guess you should try them out below and see what you can come up with for them.