Almost Midnight

This is a mix I made a few years back while I was living in Hawaii for a friend of mine in Brooklyn. It's probably still my favorite mix, and it brings back all kinds of nostalgic feelings. It's mostly instrumental, and all really melodic, pretty tracks. This is my mix of choice when I feel like going for a late night walk and just want to soak in memories both pleasant and not. I don't know what else to say. I hope you enjoy.

Almost Midnight

Quite possibly my favorite song of all time, 'Hands' by Four Tet.

Okay - Huggable Dust

Cassady, whose face you see for Land Line's picture, recommended this to me a few weeks ago and I am most grateful. It's really catchy, folkie, melancholy, indie, pop music. The guy has a really unique and quirky voice but it works really great w/ his music. There are some great ideas too that are really simple but bring such a great element to the songs, such as track two where he has a girl call in and sing over an answering machine. Good stuff. I couldn't find a youtube clip or anything to stream, but you can listen to a track if you go to his site.

Okay

Land Line

The project is but a bebe, nevertheless you should check out the song that was just recorded across the hall from my room. Pretty damn legit. I'll keep them linked on my sidebar if you wish to check back for more songs. Let me know what you think, and better yet, add them to yourspace.

Land Line

Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out

Probably in my top 5 favorite records of all time, Yo La Tengo just has a special place in my little heart. It's catchy, it's pretty, it's sad, it's happy, it's noisy--what's not to like? I know that Yo La Tengo is kinda huge in the indie world, but I still feel they're under appreciated and if you've never heard them they are like a mixture of the velvet underground and sonic youth. It's music to fall in love to by hopeless romantics. What else can I say? Check out the clip below, it's amazing!

Yo La Tengo

'You Can Have it All'

El Guincho - Alegranza

Found this guy through pitchfork, and he's great. Basically, think of a latin Panda Bear. Real rhythmic oriented w/ a lot of pretty/funky loops. Perfect for summer.

El Guincho


'Palmitos Park'

Midlake - The Trials of Van Occunpanther

This is one of my recent favorites. It's just so purty; the melodies and instrumentation are second to none, and the drummer is incredible (see video). I decided for this post to just copy and paste from their website (linked below) cause it's pretty accurate:

Every once in a while, a band comes along that undoubtedly evokes something special. You don’t know what it is, but you are certain that they belong set apart from amongst the crowd of musical peers in which they lay.  You quickly find yourself coming to the foregone conclusion that this band’s music is to be revered and will remain relevant for some time to come. Midlake has not only embodied this idealism in the hearts of many already, but with the introduction of their latest album, ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’, they are making it a reality

Midlake


'Young Bride'

DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist - Product Placement

Most of you have probably heard of DJ Shadow (I'll probably post some in the future) and I'm sure you're also somewhat familiar w/ Cut Chemist and his projects (Jurassic 5 mostly), but you may or may not be aware of their collaborative projects. Basically, they've done 3 sets of tours together where they spin the greatest soul/funk records that you've never heard, and it's reaaaaaally great. There's also a great dvd that you can get w/ this cd and it gives you a much better appreciation for what's going on. Check out the clip below.

DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist

Fleet Foxes - Self-titled Debut

This album isn't out yet, but you need to get it as soon as it does. Will probably go down as the best album of 2008. Local Seattle outfit on Subpop has blown up recently after a nice review of their EP on Pitchfork. Think Crosby, Stills and Nash, 4 part melodies, feel good country camp fire gorgeosities. This is a must have.

Fleet Foxes

Pickwick & the Botticellis

Two bands that you will be hearing about in the near future, The Botticellis and Pickwick also happen to be dear friends of mine. The Botticellis are out of the bay area and make beautiful Surf/Pop songs that will have you humming melodies for weeks! Pickwick is a local Seattle indie/folk outfit whose influences range from Bob Dyland to Yo La Tengo. I won't go into detailed descriptions and taint their music, just know that it's really really good! They both will be touring soon and playing together @ Bottom of the Hill in San Fran. If you're in the San Fran/Bay area you should definitely check it out as you won't want to miss it.

Check out their pages and let me know what you think.

Edan - Beauty & the Beat

From the future we go back to everyone's favorite decade, the 60's. The album is pretty much exactly like the album art; psychedelic, heavy, beautiful melodies, and yes, hip-hop's greatest MC's w/ Beatles haircuts. Makes it hard to believe that all the production and rhymes were made by a jewish guy from Boston.

Edan - Beauty & the Beat





The guy dancing...is not Edan, but he's pretty fucking badass.

Deltron 3030

Today, we go back to the future. First up, Deltron 3030; the delicious collaboration of Dan 'The Automator' Nakamura and Del The Funky Homosapien. You may or may not have heard Automator on Dr. Octagon, Lovage, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Gorillaz...etc. Del is also in Hieroglyphics amongst numerous other projects including Gorillaz. This, however, finds both of them at their finest as far as I'm concerned. Nothing quite like quirky futuristic hip-hop, both epic and head-bobbing, mmmm...

Welcome to the year 3030:


'Mastermind'

Panda Bear - Person Pitch

Like Pitchfork, this was easily my favorite album of last year. Panda Bear is the drummer from Animal Collective and you can definitely see the similarities, but this album is definitely unique as well. As my good friend Miguel described to me; think tribal and dub music produced by Four Tet and sung by Brian Wilson. Ummm...ya!

Panda Bear

'Comfy in Nautica'

Animal Collective - Feels

I was a little late to Animal Collective and only was enlightened to 'Feels' recently (thank you Cassady) and my life will never be the same. I don't think an album exist that is so incredibly dreamy and pretty, and simultaneously chaotic and crazy. Yes!

Animal Collective

'Grass'

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

This was the other album that I discovered via NPR's All Songs Considered, it's amazing. It's almost like somebody injected some Al Green into some woodsman from the midwest and gave him an acoustic guitar. These are some really beautiful songs mainly acoustic guitars and minimal percussion w/ this incredible flow of falsetto melodies.

Bon Iver



'Skinny Love'

Augustus Pablo - King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown

I just got this recently and have only listened to it a couple times, but as I drove to coach some hoops games in the middle of our latest snow flurry I became terribly anxious for my Hawaii trip next month and thought that this would do the trick for now. This albums is a collaboration between Augustus Pablo and King Tubby. King Tubby is a supposed godfather of dub music and for those of you (like me) who don't really know what that is let's consult wikipedia:

Dub is a form of music which evolved out of reggae in the 1960s. The dub sound consists predominantly of instrumental remixes of existing recordings and is achieved by significantly manipulating and reshaping the recordings, usually by removing the vocals from an existing music piece, emphasizing the drum and bass frequencies or 'riddim', adding extensive echo and reverb effects, and dubbing occasional snippets of lyrics from the original version.

It is widely accepted that Jamaican musicians Osbourne "King Tubby" Ruddock, and Lee "Scratch" Perry pioneered the style in the 1960s and early 1970s. Ruddock and Perry each called upon the mixing desk as an instrument, with the deejay or "selector" playing the role of the artist or performer. These early 'dub' examples can be looked upon as the prelude to many dance and pop music genres.

Today, the word 'dub' is used widely to describe the re-formatting of music of various genres into typically instrumental, rhythm-centric adaptations.

All that being said, here ya go:

Augustus Pablo

'Theremin'

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Scribble Mural Comic Journal

This is a recent discovery that I found through NPR's All Songs Considered, which reminds me of an album I'll probably put up next. Anyway, these guys are from Philly (Philly kids get at me) and they're like a shoegaze/ambient/dreamy pop band--basically, really great. If you like My Bloody Valentine or the Jesus and Mary Chain you'll like these kids.

A Sunny Day in Glasgow

'Wake Up Pretty' from the above album:

Susumu Yokota - Grinning Cat

I've decided to start a music blog. Mostly, this will be music from my personal collection both old and new that perhaps others of you may be interested in. To start, I decided to have one of my favorite albums of all time by Susumu Yokota. He has many great albums and I may post more in the future unless there's an overwhelming response for more.

I don't really like cats, matter of fact, I'm mildly allergic, but this album is really great. This album is all instrumental w/ a couple of voice samples I suppose. It's just a really pretty record through and through. Do it.

Susumu Yokota


I couldn't find a YouTube clip from this album but this one is another favorite and gives you a good idea of what he's like, although Grinning Cat is quite different: