Deafheaven: Roads to Judah
Deafheaven was initially George Clark (vocals) and Kerry McCoy (guitar), and now includes Joey Bautista (guitar), Derek Prine (bass), and Korey Severson (drums). They are from San Francisco, and Roads to Judah is their debut album. And oh, what an album it is, too. I guess technically their genre is metal, or hardcore, or something … Read more
Hella Better Dancer: Living Room
Hella Better Dancer is Tilly Scantlebury (Vocals/Guitar), Josh Cohen (Bass), Soph Nathan (Lead Guitar/BVs), and Chris O’Driscoll (Drums). They are from London, and Living Room is the dreamy, melancholy, low-fi masterpiece they recorded using just the internal mic on a laptop. It is only about ten minutes long, but it is a very beautiful ten … Read more
Residency with a Twist: Rock for a Difference Los Angeles with Decoded
Decoded will be in residence at Amplyfi on Thursdays for the month of May, and they’re doing something special with it: every show will conclude with a raffle, and the proceeds from the raffle will go to a local charity. This weeks recipient is CreateNow, and you can see the full list of bands and … Read more
Deathline: Ten of Clubs
This is 10 of Clubs, a song by Deathline, who are Jennie Werlemar (Vocals/Bass) and Kaoru Sato (Guitar/Programming). They are from London, and they can shred. They also warm the cockles of the cold heart of your aging gothy correspondent. Major grinning at the computer screen and chair dancing happening here. I’m ready to dig … Read more
Video Grab Bag: The Beastie Boys
I’m pretty sure this was the first video I ever watched on MTV, somewhere around 1986-1987: I have to confess, you guys, I was 11 or 12 and had very Victorian sensibilities and had just no idea what to do with what had just happened on my television screen. Actually, my grandmother’s television … Read more
Y’all Need to Listen To This: Father John Misty, Fear Fun
Fear Fun, by Father John Misty (aka J. Tillman) is: the soundtrack for an adventure. Not the twee hipster kind either; to paraphrase NTSIB-friend Cam Rogers, this is music for the bad ideas that will end in bruises. Or possibly with In-and-Out fries, consumed slowly while perched on the hood of a van, watching the … Read more
Jonathan Coulton: First of May
Jonathan Coulton just put a new record out and is about to head out on tour. This is a classic of his oeuvre:
Shana Falana: In the Light
I have a mix I call “Chill Out Drown Out” for when I need to, well, chill out, and also drown out extraneous noise around me. Its music that enables me to calm down and concentrate on important tasks like memorizing the finer points of real property law, or, you know, just provides a chunk … Read more
Band I Really Love: The Magnetic Fields
The Magnetic Fields: because nobody else does hilarious, cranky, sweet, biting, romantic songs like Stephin Merritt (vocals/ukelele/harmonioum/keyboard) and his merry crew, aka Claudia Gonson (vocals/percussion/piano), Sam Davol (cello/flute), John Woo (banjo/guitar) and Shirley Simms (vocals/autoharp/ukelele). For example, Andrew in Drag, from their latest record, Love at the Bottom of the Sea. It’s been stuck in … Read more
Y’all Need to Listen to This: JJAMZ
First, an introduction. Some of you may recognize those faces, but, for those of you that don’t, they are, from left to right: James B. Valentine (Maroon 5), Alex Greenwald (Phantom Planet, Mark Ronson & The Business INTL), Z Berg (The Like), Michael Runion (solo artist, The Chances) and Jason Boesel (solo artist, Rilo Kiley, … Read more