Sufjan Stevens + FlyLo + Here We Go Magic + A Video

Sufjan Stevens :: All Delighted People EP

First off, this is some pretty exciting news... Without any warning, after five years of doing pretty much nothing (yeah he did 4 albums worth of Christmas Carols, but... not exactly what anybody really listens to Sufjan for), Mr. Stevens has just released an EP entitled All Delighted People, but in standard form for him, the EP is a sprawling hour!  He also recently announced some new tour dates, so does this mean there is an album on the way?  Let's hope so.  The press release for this album is about as puzzling to say the least.  Apparently, the album (woops, EP) is "a dramatic homage to the Apocalypse, existential ennui, and Paul Simon’s ‘Sounds of Silence."  It also contains a "17-minute guitar jam-for-single-mothers ‘Djohariah.'"  As is evident from these descriptions, the EP is indeed epic in nature, featuring choirs and more; it features choirs, massive buildups with powerful trumpets in the end (think the his great 'You Are the Blood' from Dark Was the Night), and at times sounds almost Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon-ish to me, with lyrics like "What difference does it make?"  Its also got your great Sufjan acoustic rock, and well, a guitar-jam-solo that is... considerable... in its length to say the least.  Is this as good as some of his previous stuff... probably not, but is certainly pretty wonderful to have some new Sufjan.  You can stream the entire thing below.

Here We Go Magic :: Terminally Chill

Having just released an album, (Pigeons, Secretly Canadian) which I think I posted a track or two from a ways back, the Brooklyn band went on and put out a cover of Neon Indian's 2009 song demonstrative of all the chillwave qualities, "Terminally Chill."  Despite some similar parts, like the backgrund synth, they really put the HWGM touch on it with the backup vocals echoing the lead and repeating and overlapping, as well as the quick repetitive drums.  Enjoy.

mp3: Terminally Chill (Here We Go Magic Cover)

Flying Lotus :: Camera Day

Was releasing one of 2010's best albums (Cosmogramma) enough for LA (woot!) hip-hop/electronic/general bro Flying Lotus enough?  Absolutely not.  He must come back with more!  More the people want!  Well more the people shall have (what else would you expect from the nephew of John and Alice Coltrane, after all he does have to carry the family torch).... he will be releasing Pattern+Grid World, an EP (hopefully of the Sufjan length...) soon enough, and here is the first track from it, "Camera Day."

Flying Lotus - Camera Day (taken from Pattern+Grid World) by Warp Records

Yeasayer :: Madder Red
Finally, although I'm sure you've seen it already, here is the new Yeasayer video for "Madder Red."  It is a perfectly normal video.  There is nothing strange or off putting about it.  Oh wait, this is a Yeasayer video.  Of course it's the weirdest video since you've seen the last Yeasayer video.  Of course it makes you feel sort of like, what just happened, and of course it makes you quite sad on the inside...  Well here it is, starring Kristen Bell.



-- A Teenage Elephant

Tame Impala :: Innerspeaker

Alright, I'm sorry, blah blah blah you know the deal. I've been busy with the end of school, and Finals start tomorrow, but I figured I'd get one post in because it's been way too long and there are three things I MUST SHARE.

Before I start, I realized I never really did a full post about LCD Soundsystem's This is Happening; for now, all that you need to know is that it is probably James Murphy's most complete album, it's probably his best one, and has just about every type of style of song you could want from him, and it is epic (9 songs, 68 minutes epic).  Listen to it now.


Thing Numero Uno: Tame Impala :: Innerspeaker

If you haven't heard this album yet, I, with the power invested in me by the interwebs, command you to go buy/get from a friend/download this album immediately.  It's is awesome.  Awesome enough to invoke expletives when talking about it.  It's got more wah than you can handle, it's got an ample amount of psychedelia infused into it, and it just plain blows your mind in my humble, and not really influential but whatever, opinion.  It seems to have influences from all over the music timeline, like the Doors, Beck, Cream, and most of all in my opinion, the Beatles (but then again who isn't influenced by them).  It really seems to me to be a modern take on the Beatles trippy stuff, and a lot of it really is in the sound of "Within You Without You" (interestingly, that song is very Indian sounding and a lot of this album was recording on the Indian Ocean...).  Bottom line: PICK THIS ALBUM UP IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (I even gave it to my dad to listen to if there are any old fogeys out there reading this... not that my dad is an old fogey or anything... oh boy I hope he doesn't read this...).  My favorite tracks are three in a row in the middle, "Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind", "Solitude is Bliss," and "Jeremy's Storm."  My favorite track on the album though is the last one, "I Don't Really Mind."

mp3: Solitude is Bliss
mp3: I Don't Really Mind (sorry I got a takedown notification from the DMCA for both of those... scary)
yalls can find 'em somewhere else... (i.e. Hypem)

#2: Arcade Fire Singles

I'm pretty positive you have heard these by now, and I posted the clips from them a few weeks ago, but for those of you who have been living in a cave in the past, oh 15 days, here are the new Arcade Fire songs.  Oh, by the way, that was the sound of my drool in anticipation of the new album hitting the ground.

mp3: The Suburbs
mp3: The Month of May  (Sorry more take down notifications)

#3: Broken Bells :: Ghost Inside (Video feat. Christina Hendricks)

Check out the video for the Ghost Inside by Broken Bells.  It's starring Christina Hendricks of Mad Men, but more importantly, of Firefly, which is only one of my favorite shows evah (she plays Mal's "wife" for tose of you that watch the show.  She's back in her sci-fi element with this one...  The video is pretty sweet, and it turns a decent song into a really good video.


--A Teenage Camel (woops wrong animal...)

The Black Keys + Local Natives

The Black Keys :: Tighten Up

I haven't talked about the Black Keys on here before, but there's a first for everything.  At this point they've been around for quite a while (their first release was way back in 2001).  Their blues-rock sound is definitely unique, and surprisingly has not really gotten old.  Here's a cut from their newest album, Brothers.  The album is being produced by Danger Mouse, and, as the wikipedia article about it states, "is amazing."  Also, check out the first two videos from the album featuring Frank the Funkasaurus Rex.  Gotta love it...

mp3: Tighten Up

Tighten Up

Next Girl

Local Natives :: World News

As I'm sure yall know by now, Local Natives are probably my favorite breakout act of '10.  "World News" is one of my favorite tracks from the debut album, and here is the just released video for it!

Oh, I never got to post the video for "Airplanes," and I definitely suggest you check it out.

-- A Teenage Elephant

New Andrew Bird and CONTROVERSIAL (Ooooooh) Video (Plus some Porn! The New Pornographers that is!)

First up - Poetry Time!  Well not really but whatever.

Andrew Bird
Andrew Bird has a new song that is on a forthcoming tribute album to.... Shel Silverstein!  It turns Shel Silverstein was actually not just one of the greatest children's poets ever, but also a Grammy winning songwriter!  The tribute album features songs from other great artists like My Morning Jacket.  This song is really classic Andrew Bird in times of style, and Shel Silverstein's poem couldn't go better with Andrew Bird's wry way of singing rhymes.  It's also great to just hear some new Andrew Bird!
Listen to it over at PMA.

New Pornographers :: Together
New New Pornographers (oh the woes of putting a "new" in your band's name...) up for stream!  The album is orgasmic (sticking with the theme...).  It's that good.  Listen to it here at NPR.

Video Time!

M.I.A. :: Born Free
Now, this video is not for the faint of heart... i.e. not really safe for school/work.  It's got some graphic stuff in it, and I don't really know what to think of it.  If it is supposed to be about the video, than it does a good job, but if it is supposed to be for the song, it does an awful job... upon rewatching it I still barely noticed the song.  Sort of seems like a chance to get "mad blog hits" and "dirt chip publicity" with the potential for a New York Times/New York Mag write up...  The video seems like it is trying to look like it has a "message" but I don't think it really does.  Well directed I guess.... The end reminds me of the scene in the movie Scanners.  Yall know what I am talking about if you have seen it.  AGAIN THIS IS GRAPHIC/very long and not really worth the time...

PLEASE COMMENT AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF THE VIDEO IF YOU TOOK THE TIME TO WATCH.

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.


--A Teenage Elephant

Some New Videos Plus Some Album News

Super Quick Post... First up...
MGMT :: Flash Delirium Video
Here's the video for first single off the duo's next LP, due out on the 13th.  It is nothing less than what you would expect from MGMT (Read: Weird Nonsensical Stuff that is fun to watch and will ultimately freak you out a little bit), and is right up there with the video for "O.N.E." by Yeasayer as weirdest video of 2010.


Titus Andronicus :: A More Perfect Union

A More Perfect Union

Titus Andronicus | MySpace Music Videos
Perhaps not as creative as the previous video (and the lead singer has definitely got to do something about that beard... it's definitely pushing the envelope..), but the song is great and makes up for the, dare I say, mediocre? video.  Best line in the song... "Baby we were born to die."  If you can't tell by that line, the fact that they talk about New Jersey in the song, and that there is a song by them called "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ," then I'll just tell you straight up... they're from New Jersey!  Why, you ask, do I mention this? I actually don't know but I thought I would throw it out there... I do have a cousin form NJ who loves them, so I guess they are kind of his patron band... unrelated though...

LCD Soundsystem :: This is Happening

The LCD Soundsystem album I was talking about in my previous post has just received a title, release date, and album art.  It's called This is Happening, which, as James Murphy always does, walks the line between making fun of being pretentious and actually being pretentious.  Same is true of the album art.  It'll be out on the 18th of May.

And Now For Something Totally Different
Geeks, watch and drool!

So, sorry I haven't had any posts this week... I was incapacitated all week if it is any consolation... I'm not sure why that would stop me from posting but.....

A lot went dooooown this week (including several excellent album releases: Titus Andronicus, Broken Bells, the Morning Benders and more), so here goes it.

MGMT :: Flash Delirium
Definitely the biggest thing of the week, this is the first single from their upcoming album, Congratulations, and I love it.  I think they sort of pulled what Spoon did with Transference in that they tried to go out for a slightly more experimental sound that they almost knew more people wouldn't like it, as if they wanted to reject some of the mainstream success they had.  I would compare its sound most to "The Handshake" from the previous album.  Not sure if I agree with Pitchfork's comparison to the Beatles buttt....
PS Album Artwork Win (I just can't wait to see what is underneath it... more on that in another post).

mp3: Flash Delirium (Yayyy mp3s... they are actually all hotlinked from Pitchfork, thus making it OK with Googlé?)

Light Pollution :: Good Feelings
Some more goodness from the always great Carpark Records.  Anthemic, up-beat, trad indie-guitars... Woohoo!

mp3: Good Feelings

Born Ruffians :: Sole Brother
An enjoyable new release from what I think of as Vampire Weekend replacements... not as great as some of the stuff from their first album but I still enjoyed it.  Slightly slower, a little groovier...

mp3: Sole Brother

Neon Indian :: Sleep Paralyst
Ehhhhh... The track did grow on me though.  Oh and the Wall Street Journal has an article about Chillwave...

mp3: Sleep Paralyst

Yeasayer :: O.N.E.
The new video from Yeasayer is soooo different from all their other videos... it's trippy (*Sarcasm... tone of voice just doesn't come through the interwebs...)!  But yes, it is certainly one of the trippier ones, although it does have a "plot" (but of course the "plot" ends up making no sense).  In a nutshell... creepy guy walks into party, but it looks cool.  Not my favorite song from a very good album (more coming in another post...), but still worth watching.  There is some Tron Chess in it... more on Tron Below


Yeasayer "ONE" By: Radical Friend from ODDBLOOD on Vimeo.





-- A Teenage Elephant


In Other News...
-Stars anounced a new album due out in June
-New Daft Punk can be heard in the epic trailer for Tron Legacy below...
-Also since I put one trailer in, I felt like I would put another in.  If Inception is anywhere near as good as its trailer, it will be unreal.




(Woo, Woo, that's the sound of the Idea Police)

The Delta Mirror! (And New Morning Benders/Broken Social Scene and More)

Hey Readers---


I have an excellent post full of a ton of great music so PLEASE PLEASE listen to it ALL.  I think this post is my best in terms of all the music in it.  PLEASE COMMENT AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK.


Delta Mirror

Just heard these guys for the first time this past week and I love them.  They are another great band hailing from my stomping (or maybe tip-toeing... I don't do a lot of stomping, I'm more mellow...) grounds, LA... And yes I am joking when I use the term stomping grounds.  These guys sound say they are akin to Fuck Buttons and the Big Pink, but to me they are a bit less crowded and certainly more downtempo, making their music seem more pensive more emotional.  Upon further listening, I have realized that each song actually takes place in a different room of a hospital (this will be true of the whole album), which further adds to that strong emotional impact.  This immediately brings to mind Antlers' Hospice, and I think that this is just as moving; another song that I feel is incredibly moving and possibly my favorite song ever, and I'm not one to choose favorites, is LCD Soundsystem's "Someone Great."  If you haven't heard it GO LISTEN TO IT IMMEDIATELY.  Although most of their songs are that slower, affecting feeling that is sometimes only expressed through simpler instruments, they also throw in some glitch, giving them an Interpol/Postal Service cross feeling.  The stuff is really excellent and I really recommend you head over to their MySpace and check out all of their stuff.  Their first album, Machines Will Listen comes out on 3/26 on Lefse Records, and for any of my readers in LA, the will be doing a three week residency at the Echo starting this Tuesday, and you should try to check them out if you can. Please please please go to their MySpace and listen to all of their stuff, it's excellent!

mp3: he was worse than the needle he gave you

mp3: it was dark and I welcome the calm

a song about the end

Morning Benders :: Excuses

  

A bunch of buzz has been going around about the Morning Benders this week, which is making me really happy!  I think these guys are really talented and are going to be a really great band in the coming years.  They are still really young, and I always think it's cool to see people really make an impact of some sort in the music community (did you catch the wishful thinking?).  You can pop over to their site by clicking "more info" in the player above and download the new song for the price of the email.  These guys will be kicking off a tour in New York in a couple of days, and I will definitely looking forward to hopefully seeing them for a second time when they come to LA in March.


Caribou :: Odessa
Caribou just released the video to Odessa, one of my favorite of their tracks.  The video is very interested, not sure of my thoughts on it.  Tell me what you think!   Download the song for an email over at their site.




Broken Social Scene :: World Sick
All You Need to Know
New Broken Social Scene = Epic.
5 Year Wait = Worth It
Give Email = Get Song
May 4 = Forgiveness Rock Record Release
May 3 = Broken Social Scene @ the Fonda

Last but not least
Phoenix :: Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
Phoenix covered Bob Dylan with just Thomas Mars vocal and strumming guitar... 'nuff said.  Some might find it cheesy though...  I absolutely love it.


Download the HQ version over at PMA.

-- A Teenage Elephant (reflecting on this post full of excellent music)

PS Please Please Comment and tell me what you think of everything

New Videos (Animal CollectiveThom Yorke, the Drums, Island)

Animal Collective :: Brothersport

Here's the new video for Animal Collective's Brothersport, off MPP. It features lots of acrylic paint, grotesque animated creatures, two kids, eggs, and more paint. You can watch a slightly higher def version here.

Thom Yorke :: All for the Best

This song is off of a compilation album that came out over the summer last year, and I feel the album and the song did not get much coverage or recognition. The album is made up of a bunch of Mark Mulcahy songs, and this is one of them. This song is truly beautiful in my opinion. The harmonies in it are perfect; in fact, they were sung by Thom Yorke's brother, Andy Yorke. The lyrics and content of the song remind a lot of LCD Soundsystem's "Someone Great" - they both are about losing someone close to you. The album itself was made because of the sudden death of Mark Mulcahay's wife, leaving him to raise his two children alone. The video was released a little while ago, but I just came across it and really enjoyed it, so here it is. Also, the scene underground where they are running through tunnels of bones was almost certainly shot in the Catacombs of Paris, a truly creepy place.

Islands :: No You Don't


Here's the music video for Islands' "No You Don't," off of their newest album, Vapours. The song and the video are about buying drugs from someone you shouldn't buy them from, and then tripping. The protagonist if you will is played by Michael Cera (if you don't know who he is you have probably been living under a rock...).






The Drums :: I Felt Stupid


Here's the new video for the Drums' "I Felt Stupid." The song is very 80's new wave, and certainly sounds like it draws some inspiration from the Cure.

-- A Teenage Elephant

New Stuff From the Knife! (If You Wish to Make an Apple Pie From Scratch, You Must First Invent the Universe)

Earlier today, the Swedish siblings that make up the Knife released a new song called "the Colouring of Pigeons," and it has already become quite a sensation.  It is 11 minutes long, and many people are referring to it as an opus already.  The song stems from an opera project that the Knife are doing and planning on releasing at the beginning of March.  The opera is based off of Darwin's the Origin of Species and everything is supposed to reflect the grand impact and scale of Darwin's work.  The Knife apparently went to the Amazon and used the sounds they heard as inspiration for a lot of the stuff... if you are not getting the picture it is this: the album (by the way it is entitled Tomorrow, In a Year) is supposed to represent the diversity of the world.

The music itself does feel very worldly to me.  The drum beat throughout the song sounds like it is on some sort of tribal drum and time.  The thing that I find really interesting about the song is that even though it is supposed to be very inspired by nature, it does feature electronic noises, in particular a drone-like sound.  I think that it works well because it is something that you are not really expecting in the song, making it grab your attention and set it apart from say the soundtrack to Avatar.

mp3: The Colouring of Pigeons

And now, since we are on the topic of something related for science, I feel obliged to show this video, seeing as I'm a bit of a science-lover.  It came out last year towards the end of the summer and kind of made a big deal, so I'm sure most of you have seen it already, but even if you have it is worth watching again because it is so good.



It features Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking (I am actually currently reading one of his books; if you are at all interested in science, in particular cosmology, I really suggest that you read it - it is called A Brief History of Time), two of the greatest cosmologists/physicists of the past few centuries.  Carl Sagan is certainly one of the most inspiring men in the world; his television show "Cosmos" made many people fall in love who otherwise would not have, just because of his charisma.  This song is genius; the music certainly captures the wonder of space, and the lyrics certainly express why that wonder is present.  The "woop, woop" (I don't really know how to write it) that runs throughout the song certainly captures the weirdness of the universe.  As just a song without any meaning, it would be great but the content of the song, IMHO, makes it one of the best things of 2009. Plus what could be better/funnier than Stephen Hawking rapping/soloing?  I don't know if anybody else is as into it as me, so tell me what you think.

mp3: A Glorious Dawn

-- A Teenage Elephant

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."  -- Carl Sagan

New Videos/New Vampire Weekend Review

I'm going to start a segment that I will try to do weekly/at least I will have a bunch of videos right now because I have just recently started my blog so there is some stuff I need to catch up on but here we go anyways.  The Vampire Weekend review is really late.. but I had to review it anyways.

Small Black :: Despicable Dogs
This is really interesting video by Small Black (who I wrote about in an earlier post).  I don't really know what to say about it/if there is anything to say about it... I think you should just watch it.  It reminds me a little of the Wrestler...  Tell me what you think.  I really love this band and their sound.


Grizzly Bear :: Ready, Able
Veckatimest had to be one of if not my favorite album of 2009.  Everybody about it is awesome, from the album artwork to everything about the songs.  The album flows really well and is truly a full album... both in terms of the sound and the fact that there isn't a single dud on it.  Here is the new video to possible my favorite song on the album, "Ready, Able."  It's a really cool, beautiful, and fun music video to watch.  It must have taken forever with the stop-motion animation, but it looks incredible.

Ready, Able


Vampire Weekend :: Cousins, Horchata
Vampire Weekend is one of my favorite bands - their first album blew my away when I first heard it... I love their multi-instrumental sound and I really feel like all their songs have a lot of emotion/are really fun.  "I Stand Corrected" has got to be my favorite song by them.  They have a second album coming out January 12th on XL Records called Contra.  I've been getting the feeling that it is going to be a sophomore slump... I feel that the first album had a unique sound that duplicating would be pointless and even trying to duplicate wouldn't be very good... It was just a complete album that doesn't need anything else.  They have already released two singles from the new album, the first of which, "Horchata" is pretty stereotypical VW: preppy lyrics (especially the rhyming in the beginning), african sounding drums, preppy sound... but I don't think it's very good.  I don't like the xylophone (is that what it is) in the beginning, the sound of the vocals in the beginning... I feel like they are taking the "We're Preppy, Deal With It" too far, even if they are trying to make a joke out of it.  I do like the part with the violins in the song a bit more, but still as a whole I don't love it.  It has grown on me (it is worth listening to a bunch... I promise your opinions will change) but I don't think it's great.  You can download it for free over at their website.
I like "Cousins" a bit more, but again I feel like it's not as great as the first album, and even if it was...It's been done already!  My theory though is that Vampire Weekend should just not put out any albums.  The first album should be all we have to remember them by...Greatness.  Maybe what I'm saying is crazy and call me an idiot... but that's just what I feel.  If the new album comes out and I love it...I PROMISE I WILL COME BACK AND ISSUE AN APOLOGY.  Plenty of bands have had great first albums and then great second albums, so I understand.  I really love the video for "Cousins" though... It really captures the upbeat-ness and peppy-ness of the song, and is visually awesome.  I'm sure it took loads of time to make, what with the countless arrangements of location, wardrobe etc.

Cousins



mp3: Horchata


Also check out this awesome video for Ambling Alp by Yeasayer in an earlier post.

New Yeasayer

Here is the video for the new Yeasayer song Ambling Alp.  It's a pretty crazy trippy video directed by duo Radical Friend.  If you don't know them they are a psychedelic, electronic and overall sweet Brooklyn band.  They have a new album coming Odd Blood.  Out in February on Secretly Canadian it should be a great follow up to All Hour Cymbals if it holds up to the first single.  You can download the new single over at Yeasayer's website for free. There are also a couple of great remixes, the best of which by Memory Tapes.  Check it all out after the jump.

--A Teenage Elephant

"Ambling Alp"
mp3: Ambling Alp

Ambling Alp - Yeasayer

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Memory Tapes Remix
mp3: Ambling Alp (Memory Tapes Remix)

Ambling Alp (Memory Tapes remi...

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