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...)

NEW ARCADE FIRE! (Yes, this deserves full caps)

Sorry I haven't posts recently, I've just been really busy (and will be for the next few weekends).  Huge news though, and when I heard this I just had to post it... New Arcade Fire!  After posting that a single would be released soon in a letter to the interwebs, the indie giants have just released clips from the single.  Check out the two tantalizing snippets (and the accompanying indie shot) below... I'm drooling with anticipation.

-- An Apologetic Teenage Elephant
(Apologetic for the lack of posts of course)

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

Las Robertas and Red Tide (via Bandcamp)

I don't know if you guys know of this website, but it's pretty cool.  It's called Bandcamp, and it's for bands who want to share there music with others.  First up...

Red Tide :: Red Tide EP

This is some very good electronic/ambient/lo-fi stuff.  The EP (which can be listened to and downloaded below) starts off with a very mellow intro track, and then moves into more three more guitar based and catchy lo-fi style tunes.  "Parcel" starts out with a very Animal Collective-esque vocal sample and then has a very simple yet well done synthesizer come in, and finally having the vocals and drums come in at once.  The next two songs are slower, more effect/synth laden and leave you with the feeling that the album is more of the electronic/ambient style than the middle three songs give.  "It's Mine" slowly builds up, featuring what sounds like some hand drums until it cuts to some weird sound effects at the end.  The last song, "Love Email" has got marracas moaned vocals over a cool repeating guitar and bass riff, until the slightly (blues-y/jazz-y?) drums come in.  This song has also got some cool harmonies and sweet guitar solo/jam, and is probably my favorite.  

Las Robertas :: Cry Out Loud

Another lo-fi garage girl band in the style of Dum Dum Girls, Best Coast, and Pearl Harbor.  These girls though are latina (out of Costa Rica I believe).  There sound is a little too fuzzy and the vocals sound a bit too washed out to me; for me this makes it seem sort of messy and disorganized, which sometimes can work but for this I feel it doesn't.  Some people (big people... think HipsterRunoff and GorillaVsBear) think they are poised to be the next thing, and the EP is on Bandcamp, so here it is...

--A Teenage Elephant

4 Albums that Should Be On Your Radar (And May Not Be)

Here are four albums that are potentially under your radar but should be on it!

Swim by Caribou

This one may not be under you radar as Dan Smaith (Caribou) has been around for a while, but his latest release is great.  It's a bit of a fusion of many different styles, but it does not at all feel disorganized; instead it feels like every song was meticulously crafted.  Effects that wash out the music last just as long as they should, the drum beats are smooth and relaxed, and overall the album has a warm summery (slightly, dare I say, chillwave?) feel.  Also, the way refrains repeat but get changed up by effects gives some of the songs a slightly house feel.  My favorites: "Leave House" and "Sun"

Avi  Buffalo by Avi Buffalo

Chances are this one is under the radar for you (if not for the post I put up about him/them the other day), but they are certainly reaching buzzband status in LA.  These guys/guy (Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg AKA Avi Buffalo plus his band) are super young, fresh out of Millikan High in Los Angeles (Go LA bands!), and they certainly sound young, although not in a negative way.  It's not their musical composition, but the tone of their songs.  They have a happy feel, although it does not feel poppy and silly (think Matt and Kim).  They sing on the song "Jessica" - I still want to leave my mark / show you that I fit the part / Remember when we talked on that /  and it made you laugh.  The lyrics don't sound like they were just hashed out in minutes, they feel like they were thought about and the music is slow yet with joy, again making it seem thoughtful not immature.  It feels much more structured and cleaner, making it musically sound mature (if that makes any sense).  My favorites: "Jessica" and "One Last"


Clinging to a Scheme by Radio Dept.

These guys are Swedish and have been around for 13 years (!), yet this is just their third (!) album.  I'd never heard of them before, but when I came across this album I felt I had to share it.  It's really short, clocking in at 35 minutes despite being 10 songs.  Each song feels compact and like everything in it has a purpose, which is impressive seeing it could be easy to go overboard and make a very long album when working on it for 4 years.  They have a sort of dreamy pop sound.  Don't know what else to say but it's great!  Favorties: "This Time Around" and "The Video Dept."

Machines that Listen by the Delta Mirror

More LA for yall!  I talked about these guys a while ago, and this album is a little over a month old, but it would be easy to miss.  It's in some ways an "experimental album" in that each song takes place in a different room of a hospital.  In some ways it reminds me of the album Hospice by Antlers because of this, although the sound is very different.  To be honest, it is easy not to notice the hospital part.  The album has a very glitch/electronic sound.  Check it out!  (Plus it's got some sweet album art).  Favorites: "A Song About the End" and "We Got It All"

-- A Teenage Elephant

Tell me what you think of these!  (Please?)

Avi Buffalo, Beach Fossils, and the Talking Heads!

First up...
Avi Buffalo :: What's It In For

I never really got to talk about Avi Buffalo on here for one reason or another, but here's a big one!  With their freshmen (and they're actually about to be freshmen in college... that's how young they are) try just out on Sub Pop, they are starting to make the splash they deserve.  They just put this color saturated video out for their song "What's It in For."  You've got some cool cgi flowers sprouting to match the happy, playing music in the field vibe that comes with their laid back but still joyous guitars/vocals.  It's also slightly anthemic.  Visual treat if I may say so.
mp3: What's It In For

Beach Fossils :: Daydream, Youth
The parallels to Beach House are just too numerous... BEACH House/BEACH Fossils, DayDREAM/Teen DREAM, YOUTH/TEEN Dream, you get the idea.  Good thing their music doesn't really sound alike... we'd have a case of copycats on our hands...  Beach Fossil really nail down the lo-fi sound in my opinion; if Titus Andronicus are at the energetic (maybe more punk/garage rock) end of the lo-fi scale, then these guys are at the mellow, laid back, dream-pop end of the scale.  They've got the reverbed vocals (sounds a lot like Small Black vocals actually), but their music sounds a lot more organized and thought out than a lot of garage rockers (think Wavves).  Good stuff.
mp3: Youth
mp3: Daydream

TALKING HEADS BLOWOUT!!!!!!!!!
You may ask yourself, well why are the Talking Heads on this blog?  You may ask yourself, well how did I get here to this blog?  Well it's the same as it ever was... there's damn good music.  And you may ask yourself, well why is a new music blogger writing about old music?  Because I'm burning down the rules of music blogging (and because I was listen to the Talking Heads a lot this weekend)!  So, Qu'est-ce que c'est? Since I don't want to bore all of you too much with old (even if it's incredible) music, I'll just post covers to make it seem newer, one song that is about somebody involved with the Talking Heads, and the David Byrne-Dirty Projectors collaboration from Dark Was the Night!


Here's your music, pack up your iPod/laptop, time to listen to some really good music!


mp3: Psycho Killer (Cage the Elephant - Talking Heads Cover) (This one is not very good but whatever)
mp3: Warning Sign (Local Natives - Talking Heads Cover)
mp3: Pulling Up the Roots (The Morning Benders - Talking Heads Cover)
mp3: Naive Melody (Arcade Fire - Talking Heads Cover)
mp3: This Must Be the Place (MGMT - Talking Heads Cover)
mp3: Knotty Pine (David Byrne/Dirty Projectors)
mp3: Brian Eno (MGMT) Link Coming/ I'm too lazy just check it out it's one of the album highlights


For those of you who didn't figure it out, everything in that section was a variant of a Talking Heads lyric except the second to last sentence.


And Just Because It's hilarious/great...
 


--A (Psycho Killer) Teenage Elephant

PS This post is... Once In a Lifetime...  too many puns to handle.

Fol Chen

Yesterday (super briefly), I mentioned the Fol Chen EP, and in the past couple days it has really blown up... BUZZBAND ALERT!!!!!!!!!!

  Now, I'd like to really push it to you guys because it's great.  It's five songs, three of which are remixes of the first, the other being a cover of the first.  Right off the bat, the Fol Chen version has this deep, strange voice and heavy drum beat/bass.  Then the vocals and other instruments come on, and it turns into a catchy pop song, and finally you have a nice part where all the instruments cut out and you have a little piano riff.  Really varied song, really good... then you have the remixes and cover, which give you four completely different and new takes.    Bonus: Fol Chen is an LA band.

The first Baths remix is a house, trance take on the song, with heavily reverbed vocals and synth pads.  Then the other Baths remix is also very different.  It's got vocals that shutter in and out giving the entire song an incredibly staccato feel.  The Keepaway remix starts out with the original drumbeat, but then goes and plays with changing up the drum beat and using synths for the instrumental parts.  It may be more of a traditional remix, but it is still very different from the original and other two remixes on the album.  Finally, there is the Karin Tatoyan cover, which is the most drastically different.  It starts out with a long, drone drum intro, and then a sort of 80's/8bit synth comes in.  Next in, the vocals, which have a very, very different take on the vocals.  They are the main emphasis of the song, with the other instruments pretty much relegated (poor word choice...) to the background.  They are not sung with a poppy feel, but with a feeling of longing and melancholy that is most evident as she almost begs "All I want is to see your face" and observes "everything is in ruins."

I really recommend you guys go over to folchen.com and download the whole EP for free (and the weird video that comes with it...  it's also below).  I'll give you a track or two here.

mp3: In Ruins
mp3: In Ruins (Kerin Tatoyan Cover)


Check out the Holy Ghost! remix of LCD Soundsystem's "Drunk Girls."  The two will be touring together this summer, and they are both on LCD Soundsystem front man's label DFA Records.  Oh, I've been listening to the new LCD Soundsystem album a ton, and it's great!  With the exception of Drunk Girls, every track is fantastic.  More on it when it actually comes out in May.
mp3: Drunk Girls (Holy Ghost! Remix)

-- A Teenage Elephant