Writing about music in lieu of human interaction
"The Park" by psych-pop band Secret Cities is actually yesterday's listen; I didn't have time to write about it last night because I was too busy at Troika, Erie, PA's annual Russian cultural festival. They have an ice bar! Secret Cities' 2011 album Strange Hearts (Western Vinyl) was one of the CDs I picked up … Continue reading Daily Listen-Secret Cities-The Park
Today's find, "Brave New Boogie" from the newly released Total Fiction by Los Angeles-via-DC project Reflective Detectives, is the perfect Friday song. Bright and sunny on the surface, with an undercurrent of jaded exhaustion, it captures the feeling (well, at least my feeling) of finishing up the work week and heading into a long Memorial … Continue reading Daily Discovery-Reflective Detectives-Brave New Boogie
Photo courtesy of the group's Facebook page A few weeks ago, I wrote about "A Small Main Waits While The Rain Sizzles On The Tarp," a piece from Music For Megastructures, the new release from the Scottish group L-space on the Last Night From Glasgow label. The band creates dreamy, retrofuturistic songs with a cinematic … Continue reading Better Worlds — A Speculative Q+A With the Utopian Sonic Engineers of L-space
"Thru You," by London producer Scrimshire and featuring the excellent Los Angeles artist Georgia Anne Muldrow on vocals, is one of the first songs released from the upcoming Listeners (Albert's Favourites). A funky rave-up of a track, this one celebrates the power of music to connect us with other people, both physically and spiritually. The … Continue reading Daily Discovery-Scrimshire and Georgia Anne Muldrow-Thru You
Today's listen is once again a nostalgia trip. I just participated in (and lost, as usual) Wednesday night trivia at the dive bar down the street from my apartment. There was a "sound round" tonight, the theme being songs with proper names featured in the title. The Lumineers song that inspired one of the questions … Continue reading Daily Listen-The Lumineers-Angela
Today's find is "Tomorrow" from the newly released Cherrypickers by the Chicago, IL group Jonfin. The song is a relatively straightforward slice of jangly indie pop, but it contains several elements that make it to stand out from the vast, monochrome expanse of bedroom-y pop/rock acts out there. The first is a crystalline, watery lead … Continue reading Daily Discovery-Jonfin-Tomorrow
Today's song makes me think of high school afternoons spent riding around in the backseats of friends' cars; we'd pile in three or four deep on the way to some local fast food restaurant where we'd smash burgers and chicken sandwiches together to form a disgusting calorie-laden mega feast, all the while talking about the … Continue reading Daily Listen-Jukebox The Ghost-Good Day
London singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Jelly Cleaver describes herself as a mix between "Jeff Buckley and Beyonce, or between Joni Mitchell and Ornette Coleman." It's as apt a description as any, since her music pulls from a number of different influences and is truly difficult to categorize. "VI II V," from the new album The Dream Jazz Manifesto, … Continue reading Daily Discovery-Jelly Cleaver-VI II V
Digable Planets-Blowout Comb (1994, Pendulum Records) I bought Blowout Comb a while back because I wanted to be able to tout my cred as a “real” hip-hop fan, and I knew that Digable Planets were considered to be one of the best acts to come out of the 90s “jazz rap” scene. Ironically, I didn’t … Continue reading Digable Planets-Blowout Comb
Today's find is the first track released off the upcoming Grace EP, by Philadelphia, PA-based electronic musician dj haram. "Gemini Rising" is a study in potential energy, somehow accomplishing the near-impossible task of building ever upward without bleeding away tension as it goes. The track follows an airy synthesizer lead that snakes menacing through a … Continue reading Daily Discovery-dj haram-Gemini Rising
Bored In Pittsburgh 