Mainstays of my desert island top five, Thrice, recently recorded a Daytrotter Session that was released today. The session is phenominal and includes three tracks from their newest record, Beggars, as well as a Tom Waits cover. Check out Circles. Vocalist and lyricist Dustin Kensrue best described the formation of the song and what it represents lyrically:
“Riley always has the most demo parts to sort through. I put three of his parts together and out came this song. He little added bar at the end of the second measure in the verse was weirding me out at first, but ever since I starting singing over it, I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Lyrically, the song deals with our fascination with “progress” which we seem to loosely identify with change. But true progress requires a set destination, something I feel most of us rarely have in mind when we use the term. I have to reference Chesterton again as the last line of the song is a paraphrase of this quote: “Progress should mean we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision.” -DK”
Danger Mouse and Shins frontman James Mercer have just released the first single from this new side project, Broken Bells. The result is a cool track that is really easy to vibe to and that has been on repeat throughout today. The project allows for both artists to challenge aspects of themselves that would perhaps not fit in their primary ventures, but meld well. Mercer expressed appreciation for this freedom. “When you’re the master of your own domain, it’s easy to fall into patterns. But with this, there was a freedom to try stuff and not worry about what it would mean for this identity I’ve created. And it just sounded cool.”
They will be releasing a 10 song self-titled debut on March 8 so check your local record store for that. For those of you who don’t remember what a cd actually looks like, let alone a physical store that is dedicated to selling tangible music, check it out on itunes.
The band has provided the first single for free. Enjoy.
I still remember walking to my brother’s room when I was in elementary school and seeing numerous Smashing Pumpkins posters covering the walls. In 5th grade the band disbanded and I was lucky enough to attend their second to last show in Chicago. It’s been 9 years since and the band (open to interpretation according to who you ask) has reformed.
At that show in 2000 they had cds handed out for free. Fans were instructed to share the music anyway they could with everybody; including the emerging internet. Billy Corgan has once again returned to the trend of distributing free music with his newest album, Teargarden By Kaleidoscope. This is his response to the fact that people don’t buy albums with the same frequency as they did in the 90s and before. The songs will be released one at a time on the internet and eventually be collected as a box set. This wouldn’t be the first time. So the project began this year and will conclude by 2011 if it all goes right.
Enjoy the song. It’s solid, earnest and has just the right amount of psychedelic rock in it.
If you want to download it, go to to www.smashingpumpkins.com
So after a relatively long silence from L.A. rockers OK GO, they have finally released a new single. It’s called “WTF” and like “Here it goes again” and all of their singles it comes with an awesome/trippy video. Keep it mind this was done in one take. The song is catchy and has a really cool breakdown at around 2 minutes. The video is mesmerizing.
Look for their new album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky on January 12.
Thanksgiving means Chicago Cold, Good Food and Mixtapes
So after spending my entire Tuesday in airports I finally made it home to find out that two excellent new mixtapes had just been released. Chicago hip hop staple, Lupe Fiasco recently announced that he would be releasing a new mixtape around Thanksgiving. The man is clearly motivated, “I gotta really, really go out there and show that I’m nicer than all of them.”
It is a pretty solid complilation and Radiohead fans will especially enjoy the young rapper flowing over the National Anthem from 2000’S Kid A. Unlike the much celebrated The Cool in which Lupe relies heavily on story telling to engage the listener, this is more just a venue to stretch his lyrical and metaphorical abilities. This is about wordplay and demonstrating his skills as an MC. The Mixtape is called “Enemy of the State: A Love Story” and has me really looking forward to his upcoming projects.
Recent signees to FNF, Lupe’s record label, Hey Champ also just released their new mixtape with some very dancy/synthesized remixes of some of their own tracks as well as tweaking favorites by Passion Pit and sharing space with The Cool Kids. I saw these guys play at Lollapalooza this past summer, and was instantly a fan. Their free “re-mixtape”, Winner’s Circle, is worth a download. Check out their video for Cold Dust Girl, which proves what Dave Chappelle said about everything looking better in slow-motion.
