Author: Jennifer

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Lungs and Limbs, Lifelike

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lifelike2

Lungs and Limbs are from San Francisco, CA. Lifelike is their first EP.

I’ve been listening to it on and off for a few days now. I keep drifting back to it as a palate cleanser. It’s pop music, light enough to encourage repeat listening, but there’s some thudding drums and reverb in there to add some weight and texture.

This is So Sweet, the first song, and, as it happens, the one that hooked me:

I’m also fond of Kaleidoscope, because I’m intrigued by the way they use light as a metaphor in the lyrics, and strategically deploy bright shining synth tones throughout the song:

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Two Songs From: Killing Kuddles

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Ok kids. We’re switching gears. Putting the ethereal experimental noise back on the shelf and taking down the obnoxious noisy punk rock with a little bit of folky swing winding through it.

Killing Kuddles are from Atlanta, and today we’re going to listen to Sinking Ship and Dirty Mouth from Sinking Ship, from an EP they put out this summer.

Sinking Ship is also the first song, and when the guitars kicked in I just kind of smiled and nodded, because awww, yeah. Put this on your roadtrip playlist when you blow out of town in search of a fresh start.

Dirty Mouth has a little bit of rockabilly flavor – but is played at breakneck punk speed. Mostly about cursing and staying up late and trying to not let your mom know you get up to those kinds of shenanigans.

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Video: Missy Elliott feat. Pharrell Williams, WTF (Where They From)

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As April tweeted a few days ago: The Queen is back.

Here are Missy Elliott and Pharrell Williams with WTF (Where They From) and a video that includes a broad variety of hot dance moves, amazing costumes, and even some puppets. The parts of New York City visible in the background are not where I am from, but – those places, or places like them, felt like home for a long time.

Missy Elliott - WTF (Where They From) ft. Pharrell Williams [Official Video]

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Video: Brooks & Dunn, Boot Scootin’ Boogie

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I’ve recently taken up square dancing, and, while Brooks & Dunn‘s Boot Scootin’ Boogie hasn’t been on during class (yet), it invariably serves as my internal soundtrack.

Also, check out that hair and . . . well, pretty everything happening in this video. The ’90s, it was a time, y’all.

Brooks & Dunn - Boot Scootin' Boogie

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Jump, Little Children: Cathedrals

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Shortly after 9/11, a friend of mine heard a drag queen perform Cathedrals by Jump, Little Children at an open mic night in New York. Her retelling of the scene was so vivid that ever since then, I have associated the song with the aftermath of that day, as well as the message I saw scrawled on a dusty car in Lower Manhattan: You can knock us down, but you can’t knock us out.

Our hearts and thoughts are with you, Paris, and Beirut, and all the places where terrible people have done such awful things.

Jump Little Children - Cathedrals

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Trick Mist, Jars in Rows

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trickmist

Trick Mist is Gavin Murray, Irishman residing in Manchester, England. Jars in Rows is his debut EP, and it’s an unusual but awesome fusion of electronica/experimental noise and traditional Irish sounds.

Here are some examples:

Tampering Happy, was made with a violin he found in a trashcan he found outside his apartment – in pristine condition! – which is – ok, bear with me here – a bit like a sea shanty, deconstructed and filtered through a film noir lens.

Your Brass Angel is a spare, delicate, tune, shot through with steady shimmery tones, balanced by clacks and pings and the solid basso of his voice. It’s hard to describe, other than to say I really enjoyed sitting in his tiny oddly decorated Buckyball of sound.

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AF THE NAYSAYER feat. Shizuku Kawahara, R-96

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AF THE NAYSAYER is one of my favorite beatmakers, and he’s back again with a new tune. R-96 is a collaboration with Shizuku Kawahara of tinörks. It’s a rollercoaster, but a very chill one.

Check it out:

Also, special alert to our Southern readers, he’s helping Step Pepper Records celebrate their 5th birthday tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 14) in Birmingham, AL, so get out and join the party if you can.

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Johnny Cash and June Carter, Jackson

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Dad would have been 74 today. Johnny Cash was one of his favorite singers, by himself and with others. I picked this one to play for him today because both June and Johnny are in such fine form, clearly enjoying themselves and the song. Happy Birthday, Daddy. Miss you.

Johnny Cash and June Carter - "Jackson"

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Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, The Traveling Kind

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This is the title track for Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell‘s most recent joint effort, The Traveling Kind. I had been listening to it somewhat obsessively just before I left New York – as anthem, as inspiration, as comfort, as reminder that I am the traveling kind – and a couple days ago, after a particularly long day, it popped up on shuffle while I was in the car, as if the universe wanted to remind me I really did take the right path.

And if I needed that reminder, maybe some of you fellow travelers do too. So here it is. Enjoy, darlings.

Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell - The Traveling Kind