Suburban sprawl seemed like an unlikely target for inspiration and an album worth of material when Arcade Fire announced their third LP, The Suburbs, in May. We’ve seen them tackle the complexities of youth, family and death (Funeral) and monopolizing institutions (Neon Bible), but strip malls and housing developments? The Suburbs is an ode to
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hey, you guys! surprise! i’m broadcasting on a thursday. i had a string of bad luck the past two tuesdays (cable guy broke our internet last week, car broke down so i was stranded in new haven this week), so i figured i’d show you all how much i appreciate you for listening. i’ll return
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mp3 of this show available here. you guys. it is so hot outside. i’m actually sweating here in my air-conditioned room, it’s that hot out. ridiculous. let’s cool off with some hazy summer jams, shall we? LET’S GO. 1. vampire weekend – diplomat’s son 2. samuel – i heart ny 3. the black keys –
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you guys! i have been gone for so long! i missed you so much! it’s great to be back! can you tell that i am excited?!?! (!) for real, though, i haven’t had a show in about a month. and of course i heard so many great songs in that month that i cannot wait to share with you this evening. good to be back.
hey, you guys! so summer is just around the corner! summer vacation is so close, i can taste it. (it tastes a lot like a gin & tonic.)
anyway, i just wanted to let you guys know that what’s good will be taking the briefest of summer breaks for the next couple of weeks. tuesday, june 8, is my LAST DAY OF SCHOOL of my first year teaching. as you can imagine, i am going to party that night. i am going to party hard that night. as much as i would love to live-dj said partying, i will likely be at a bar and unable to do so. SAD FACE. please excuse my absence on that night and understand that I DESERVE THIS.
the week after that, june 15, i have a previously-scheduled meeting which i must attend during my tuesday timeslot. so, unfortunately, no show that night, either.
but i’ll be back! i promise! mark your calendars for june 22. that’s when i return. i’m sure i’ll have A TON of great music to share with you guys from the past couple of weeks. and don’t worry! i’ll keep blogging my little heart out. i’ll let you know about new tracks, post some album reviews, and maybe even some show reviews. WHO KNOWS!
enjoy your start of summer. i know i will.
Maya’s got the world at her fingertips as of late with a rock-infused single and its ginger-hating video. She followed that up with her poppiest tune to date, surprise-attacked a Sleigh Bells show in Brooklyn and gave details on the release of her new album, /\/\/\Y/\.
BREATHE, M.I.A.
Now, the indie hip-hop goddess has landed the cover story of the coming week’s New York Times Magazine, a sprawling, nine-page profile of arguably the hottest and biggest woman in music today.
Check it out while you wait for /\/\/\Y/\‘s release via her label N.E.E.T. on July 13.
Arcade Fire have been very secretive about the release of their new single. Here’s what we knew, before today: the A-side would be “The Suburbs” with “Month of May” as the b-side. It would be available on 12″ vinyl. It had a reported release date of June 1.
Well, all of that info became moot today when the two songs leaked online. Some independent record stores in the US and the UK stocked the 12″ single a little early and, naturally, some radio DJs (namely BBC1) got their hands on it.
“The Suburbs” is a sprawling, escalating piano ballad, akin to “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels).” “Month of May” has a harder, edgier rock sound. Listen to them both via the links below. Buy the 12″ at your local premature-stocking indie record store or anywhere else on Tuesday. No word yet on a full-length LP from the Canadian troupe, but with tons of festival dates lined up for the summer, I doubt these two songs are all we’re hear from Win Butler & cetera.
Discuss in comments.
you guys! the sun is shining, it is HOT outside and with memorial day weekend coming up in just three days, it is safe to say SUMMER IS HERE! so join me tonight as i ring in the beautiful season with the best summer jams. i’m talking breezy, sunny songs that you want to blast with the windows down while driving to the beach. say hello to summer with me and TUNE IN.
you guys! it’s been so long! i feel like i haven’t broadcast in AGES! well, here goes. what’s good! again! i missed you guys. so much great music to play for you tonight. so many great stories to tell. so much to do! so little time! let’s get to it.
Artist: LCD Soundsystem Title: This is Happening Release Date: May 18 Label: DFA Last we heard from James Murphy, he was brooding about New York bringing him down and pontificating on the “Us vs. Them” mentality of the world. 2007’s Sound of Silver was a breakthrough record for LCD Soundsystem, an indie dance smash with
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Artist: Sleigh Bells Title: Treats Label: N.E.E.T./Mom & Pop Release Date: May 11 Has there been a buzzier band in recent memory than Sleigh Bells? The noise-pop duo of Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller exploded into the blogosphere last October with a handful of CMJ shows scattered throughout their stomping grounds of Brooklyn and a
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On today’s audiocandy+radio, Paige played the morning benders’ “I Was Wrong” from their 2008 debut, Talking Through Tin Cans. She mentioned the band’s re-worked version of the song, which they call the “Nico Version.”
the morning benders (again, so stubborn with the lowercase letters) recorded this new version of the song for an exclusive iTunes Live Sessions EP. As Paige said, this beautiful acoustic ballad is testament to just how brilliant Chris Chu and company are as musical artists. They took an upbeat piano and guitar sing-along and stripped it down to its bare necessities and adding a double dose of emotion. You can hear the heartbreak in Chu’s voice as he recalls, “I’ve seen love kick a man while he’s down when you think that you’re alone,” and later when he argues “I’ve been waiting too patiently for life to turn its back on me and not just go my way.”
Check out “I Was Wrong (Nico Version)” here.
Artist: The National
Title: High Violet
Release Date: May 11
Label: 4AD
Tucked eight songs deep into The National’s fifth LP, High Violet, is a slow burner that bottles up everything about this band into five-and-a-half minutes of bliss. A slow, melodic lullaby of piano and acoustic guitar waltz with Matt Berninger’s moody baritone and subtle drum beats. “We don’t bleed when we don’t fight/Go ahead, go ahead, lose our shirts in the fire tonight,” Berninger croons while the music swells behind him.
It’s a song you’d expect to build and build before exploding into something heavier towards the end, but it never happens. Berninger’s vocals grow more eager and yearning as the song rolls along, but this song is a slow jam in true National fashion. We’re left with something that’s beautiful in its simplicity.
The National have become masters of this game – making lush rock songs that don’t ever really rock. High Violet feels like a natural follow-up to 2007’s Boxer – we have the same brooding melodies littered with raw emotion. Take “Afraid of Everyone,” which features backup vocals by Sufjan Stevens. A slow guitar riff opens into Berninger’s paranoia: “With my kid on my shoulders I try/Not to hurt anybody I love/But I don’t have the drugs to sort it out.” It’s not until the 1:15 mark that we get percussion and more guitar, making “Afraid of Everyone” one of many slow-builders scattered throughout High Violet.
The band – made up of Berninger, Bryce and Aaron Dessner (twins) and Bryan and Scott Devendorf (brothers) – do branch out from what has become that very formulaic sound of theirs. On album opener “Terrible Love,” we’re given distorted, glitchy guitar riffs that fit the song’s eerie, maybe-I’m-better-off-without-drugs tone. “But I won’t follow you into the rabbit hole,” Berninger solemnly chants while a persistent, thumping beat swirls up, making this a perfect driving song.
It’s tough to pick out a weak spot on this record – most songs flow seamlessly into each other and High Violet really does feel like a meticulous, planned-out work of art. A couple of songs – “Anyone’s Ghost” comes to mind right away – are weaker than the ones surrounding them. That’s not to say they’re bad songs. They’re not. But when you’ve got gems like “Runaway” and the gorgeous, fall-in-love-with-me “Conversation 16,” there are going to be natural low points on the record.
The album closes with “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks,” a song the band have been kicking around a live shows for a while now. It’s a slow ballad with simple piano chord progression, strings and, perhaps, Berninger’s most emotional-sounding vocals on the album. “All the very best of us/string ourselves up for love.” The song sounds like a band that has mastered its signature sound, a band that has grown comfortable with that sound.
And as the song closes out with lyrics like “Oh, the waters are rising/There’s still no surprising you,” we can’t help but feel like this is The National’s message to us: this is our sound, we’re sticking with it. And we’re here to stay.
Rating: 8.9/10
When Brooklyn outfit Detachment Kit split, two of its members, Charlie Davis and Ian Menard, weren’t quite ready to hang up their guitars. They grabbed good friend Jess Birch and formed Bronze, a still-Brooklyn-based baby band with a grown-up sound.
Charlie and Ian left behind the grungy, lo-fi slowcore of Detachment Kit for deeper, multi-layered grooves with Bronze. Their self-titled debut EP, just five songs long, offers a wide spectrum of sound that shows a ton of promise.
We’ve got Beach House-esque dream pop with “Deep Freeze” and light, breezy summer fare with “Sunny Day,” which sounds like a tossed-away b-side from Delorean’s Subiza. “Count to Two” gives us something heavier and shows why the band were openers for buzzed-about (and James Murphy produced) Free Energy earlier this year. “Sara Lisa” closes it all out with a taut package of all of the above.
But the real charmer here is the opener, “Horses.” It kicks in with the space-to-Earth broadcast from NASA’s Apollo 8 mission, when man first left Earth’s orbit. The fuzzy voice is slowly overcome by dueling guitar riffs and finally fades out into a blissful explosion of sunny pop. “Take a ride with me tonight/Are we ever gonna feel alright?” the lyrics ask. Yes, we are.
Check out Bronze’s MySpace and download their debut EP for free on their website.
hey, you guys! i have completely lost my voice! it is literally down to a whisper. so unfortunately, i won’t be able to do any talking in between songs tonight. i’ll just play all the way through the playlist posted below. tune in. enjoy it. music, music, music.
First impressions are everything, so it’s a good thing Spanish foursome Delorean chose “Stay Close” as the opener for the sprawling album Subiza.
It’s a majestic song, full of washed-out vocals and house beats and beach synths. “Now I’m lost/Why can’t I reach you?” the band asks in its Animal-Collective-esque harmony, before a rapid-fire chorus of “Get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up.” Think Merriweather Post Pavilion’s “Brothersport” meets a house DJ stoned out of his mind on a Barcelona beach.
hey, you guys! tonight’s the last thursday edition of what’s good. SAD FACE. i’ll miss thursdays. but we still have tuesdays! tune in, this one’s FOR YOU.
download mp3 of this show HERE.
Sleigh Bells’ highly-anticipated debut, “Treats,” is quickly approaching its May 11 release. In anticipation, the Brooklyn duo have released the lead track from the album, “Tell ‘Em.”
hey, guys! what a terrible day of teaching. worst day of the year by far. BUT! i get to end all of those sorrows with some great music and share it with you! tune in to what’s good from 6-8, right here.
Artist: the morning benders
Title: Big Echo
Label: Rough Trade
Release Date: March 9
hey, you guys! i’ve got some good news and some bad news. click through to get the news.
hey, you guys! happy saturday! i’m throwing down/djing a dance party at my house tonight (hi, welcome to CLUB HEATH.), and i wanted you all to be a part of it! so i’ll be broadcasting all of the sick beats live for you all to enjoy. if you’ve got some friends over, turn down the lights, turn up the speakers and GET READY TO DANCE.
hey, you guys! great show lined up for tonight. grab some friends! gather ’round! tune in! love it! cherish it! forever!
hey, you guys! man am i CRAVING the weekend like you wouldn’t believe right now. so, in that spirit, tonight will be DANCE NIGHT on what’s good. i’ve got a ton of great remixes/mashups lined up for the next two hours, so get your dancing shoes on and throw yourself an end-of-week dance party.
hey, you guys! fever’s gone! but i’ve got this persistent cough and nagging congestion that just won’t quit! oh well. must plow forward with life anyway. TONS of great stuff for you guys tonight. new broken social scene (!) and lcd soundsystem (!!) tracks for you. come back at 6!
you guys. i missed work today. i’ve got a fever of 102 degrees and body aches are controlling my body. BUT I WILL NOT BE KEPT DOWN BY ILLNESS. i’ll still be here from 6-8, spinning some great music for you. so tune in. pity me. make me some soup. whatever.
Hey, you guys! Back in school from spring break has me all sorts of miserable, but I’ll try to not let that spoil the fun tonight! Tune in at 6 for two hours of great jams and killer beats.
this weather is incredible, you guys! it’s currently sunny and 70 degrees. now THIS is spring break. it’s supposed to continue for the next few days, so to get myself and everyone else AMPED for a killer weekend with weather full of win, let’s do another SO MUCH SUNSHINE edition of what’s good. get your sunglasses on, get outside and enjoy this!
Hey, you guys! It’s a gross and rainy day here in CT. And I’ve got a nasty cold. BUT! I’m on spring break! So no work! And this show! Honestly, with this show, life’s great. The greatest. Headphones UP! (I apologize if I’m nonsensical. Sudafed and Robotussin will do that to you!)
Hey, you guys! I missed you over the last week! BUT I’M BACK! Get ready for a great two hours of music. SO MUCH good stuff to play for you tonight. Headphones UP!
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