Singles - New Artist - The Night VI - Thinking of You

December 09, 2014 by David in Music

This band only has a few tracks out at the moment, but I was instantly drawn to this woman's siren: it's a bit raspy yet she hits so many highs and lows. I'm also a sucker for songs of heartbreak especially with a delivery and lyrics like these:

I lay low in my hotel room
thinking of you
when I'm the loneliest i've been
after a few
I'm still thinking of you.
And every time
the pills are trying to hide
this empty bedside.
I'm done with being alone.
I'm still thinking of you.

5 Faves - The Underachievers

November 24, 2014 by David in Music

I love to hear when artists' influences broach the wide realm of music. The Underachievers have a near and dear place to my heart because they told Complex Magazine, "We love Local Natives ridiculously," and Issa said that his favorite band of all time is Fleet Foxes and favorite artist is John Mayer!! So cool to hear that since each of those bands have been so instrumental in my love of music.

Singles - New Artist - Eliot Sumner - Information

November 20, 2014 by David in Music

This song hit me immediately. The synths throughout and the chorus reminded me of The Killers and the heavy continuous bass drum reminds me of Interpol.

The craziest things? 1) That's a female voice. 2) It's Sting's daughter.

Singles - YACHT - Works Like Magic

November 14, 2014 by David in Music

Their new EP is worth a listen in its entirety, but this is one funky ass jam!

Singles - Big K.R.I.T. - Cadillactica

November 08, 2014 by David in Music

 I'll never forget seeing Big K.R.I.T. perform at Austin City Limits in 2012. Within seconds of taking the stage, he just controlled the crowd. He got everyone so pumped up, singing along as he waved his towel and we jumped, hands waving to the rhythm as he viciously sprinted through his rhymes.  It was one of the best performances I've seen by a rapper. All that being said, his new album just came out. The title track is my favorite. King Remembered In Time indeed!

5 Faves - Rome Fortune

November 02, 2014 by David in Music

I've recently been listening incessantly to Atlanta rapper Rome Fortune. He's got this nonchalant Barry White-ish baritone delivery over soothing, futuristic beats. It's a refreshingly original sound.

For fans of: Ab-Soul, Earl Sweatshirt, Danny Brown

My 5 Favorite Tracks:

Best of Arctic Monkeys

October 15, 2014 by David in Music

Whenever I hear Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, Arctic Monkey’s first album from 2006, I am reminded of the chaos and craziness of college. There’s a sense of freedom at college that’s intoxicating and drives you a little bit wild. The sound of this album encapsulated college for me in its fury-filled, punk, and schizophrenic pace. As silly as it sounds to equate college with punk, I felt a sense of rebelliousness in the mistakes I was making free from the gossip and punishment that similar decisions would have created during high school.

Album Reviews - Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

October 01, 2014 by David in Music

Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires of the City is a gorgeous landscape of bright colors and sounds mixed into dark tones that will age with time. Lead singer and songwriter (along with Rostam Batmanglij), Ezra Koenig, is no longer singing about a fucking oxford comma - he’s gotten older and wearier and its effect is apparent. In the first track, “Unbelievers,” Koenig sings, “Got a little soul / The world is a cold, cold place to be / Want a little warmth / but who’s going to save a little warmth for me?…Want a little grace / but who’s going to say a little grace for me?”

His pessimism turns into an obsession with death for the remainder of the album.

Album Review - Frank Ocean - Channel Orange

September 29, 2014 by David in Music

2012 starts and ends with Frank Ocean. Channel Orange is an album that I will play until the day I die. It’s beauty - naked and fragile at times yet full bodied and confident in others - is unlike any other album to compare to in the past decade. Ocean’s falsetto on “Thinkin Bout You” wails in sincerity. His epic “Pyramids” runs a wild gamut of funk, R&B, hip-hop, and electronic elements. I always find it an amazing accomplishment to have a song that’s over 6 minutes (this being 9:53) that I can listen to constantly.

5 Faves - Banks

September 26, 2014 by David in Music

The sultry and smokey voiced beauty Banks overwhelmed my ears for about two weeks straight. Her songs are sedate and the production is sparse as her voice controls the majority of tracks.

"Under the Table" is definitively simple and gorgeous. "Fuck Em Only We Know" is probably the best track name of the year, and "Beggin For Thread" easily her most accessible and catchy.