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OMG guys, I’m like totally crushing so hard.
I caught You Can Be A Wesley at last night’s Boston-to-Austin event at Great Scott and after two of my other favorite acts in Boston, Old Jack and Aloud, tore up the stage. The event was a promo for the Boston-to-Austin party at this year’s South By Southwest in Austin, and is featuring some really great bands.
At the show two things happened: 1) I fell in love YCBAW‘s lead singer, Saara Untracht-Oakner, and 2) I found another awesome new local band to rave about on my blog.
YCBAW play a really nice stripped-down sort of indie-pop. It’s upbeat and fun, but still maintains a touch of rawness/lo-fi fidelity that too many others in the genre are lacking. Check out the new video for ‘Old in Florida’ below, and also make sure you listen to ‘Creatures’ to hear Saara belt it on the chorus.
“Old In Florida” by You Can Be A Wesley from loroto on Vimeo.
Shows Streaming Music by .
Of the many Vivian Girls spin-offs, the mild chill-wave-esque pop of Frankie Rose and the Outs is one of my very favorites. Spin has the new album, ‘Interstellar’, streaming on their website.
Pitchfork has been kind enough to let us stream the new album ‘Angles of Darkness, Demons of Light II’ from the seminal drone/dark instrumental band Earth. Listen below:
Earth: Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II by pitchfork
Streaming Music by .
Watch the love of my life, Aubrey Plaza, star as a totally regular human woman in this new video from ex-Fleet Foxes drummer J. Tillman and his new band Father John Misty (via Hear Ya):
Boston Garage rockers The Fagettes have a new video out for their track ‘When I’m with You’ which you can check out below (via BostonBandCrush):
The Fagettes – When I’m With You from Peaches on Vimeo.
Finally, and I have no idea how I ended up linked to this, Bachelorette is an electronic artist from Christchurch, New Zealand who has been absolutely blowing my mind this week. Check out the video for ‘Polarity Party’ here:
Streaming Music by .
I initially resisted posting this video because the name of the song is the grammar equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. It drives me crazy that the song rocks so hard that I would be doing my loyal readers a disservice by abstaining. Check it out below:
**Update** Mark from the comments notes that the unusual spelling of ‘I Fink You Freeky’ likely stems from the fact that Afrikaans doesn’t have a ‘th’ sound. You learn something new every day, huh? Thanks Mark!
Streaming Music by .
Nicolas Jaar is one of my favorite artists right now (I’ve been listening to a ton of minimal electronic music), and his new music video for ‘Materials’ is equal parts disturbing, haunting, and beautiful. Check it out below:
Streaming Music by .
Start the month off right:
Check out this avant-pop/electronic album by Boston-local band The Craters:
Check out the video for ‘You’ll See’ by French Indi-pop group Baden Baden:
The stirring video from Feist‘s ‘The Bad in Each Other’:
Electro-pop artist Class Actress‘s video for ‘Keep You’:
Streaming Music by .
Sunday night, after a long weekend skiing with the bros from my office (my knuckles were sore from so must fist-bumping), it was good to get back in my element for a night of garage/experimental pop at the Paradise. I am excited to say that this is the first concert I’ve been to where I’ve bought records from all three bands performing (in this case 2 LPs and a 7 in) because all of the bands were so high quality that I couldn’t afford not to.
First, things first, stop whatever you’re doing and go listen to Porcelain Raft. The project of Mauro Remiddi, who hales from London via Italy, is an interesting mix of experimental rock and solid indi-pop. The day after the show, pitchfork posted a review of Porcelain Rafts’ debut record, ‘Strange Weekend’, giving it a solid 7.4, and RSL blog posted a highlight piece, and I felt thoroughly scooped. The music is seriously beautiful, and it wasn’t long after the set that I was already texting most of my friends obnoxious and incomprehensible things like “OMG!!! PORCELAIN RAFT.” Check out ‘Put Me To Sleep’ below, and keep your ears open for them because I predict they will be one of the next-big-things of 2012.
Put Me To Sleep by Porcelain Raft
Bleached play a spunky straight-up garage pop lead by two chick singers (one with a phenomenal-looking top-of-the-head blonde ponytail) and some kid who can play the drums like a motherfucking riot (sorry). Twitter friends with Bethany Consentino of Best Coast for obvious reasons, these kids put on a set that was just plain fun. Check out the music video for the infectious jam ‘Think of You’ below:
Finally, Smith Westerns, came out and rocked the house. I’ve been listening to Smith Westerns for a while now, but this is the first time I’ve seen them play live. They played a tight set with some interesting moments, though the lead singer, Cullen Omori, was clearly fucked up to appropriately rock-star levels. Their sound is tight, clear, and sophisticated garage pop. I’m happy to see that they’ve made the transition from lo-fi wunderkind to serious (musically if not emotionally) rock stars without too much trouble. Definitely worth checking out live, and give ‘Smile’ off their new record ‘Dye it Blonde’ below:
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/smith-westerns/smile[/soundcloud]
Concert Review by .
Check out this epic time-lapse video featuring M83‘s ‘Outro’ as the soundtrack. Definitely worth a few minutes.
Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.
Streaming Music by .
I’m going on a ski trip with my office this weekend, and I’m pretty disappointed I’ll have to spend the whole weekend fist-bumping the bros while everyone else gets to go to these great concerts.
Friday January 27
The Hood Internet, mashup kings of the internet, are playing Middle East downstairs. Tickets are $15, and available here.
Saturday January 28
The sweet and soft-singing Coeur de Pirate, wonderfully french/Canadian, will be at Brighton Music Hall. Tickets are $15 and can be obtained here.
Monday January 29
The next big thing in rap, A$AP Rocky, is playing Middle East Downstairs on Monday. This is going to be a pretty wild show so come early and wear clothes you don’t mind smelling like weed for the next 6 weeks. Tickets are $20 and surprisingly haven’t sold out yet. Get one here.
‘Sprawl of Glass’ by The Hood Internet is probably my favorite mashup of all time.
GREAT COVER by Coeur de Pirate
Shows by .
In keeping with Sweden’s habit of turning out phenomenal folk artists (see The Tallest Man on Earth), First Aid Kit are a sister-sister duo from the land of Ikea and I’ve been looking forward to their hot-off-the-presses release, ‘The Lions Roar’ for a couple of months now.
Even better news: First Aid Kit are playing Coachella on Sunday and I plan on annoying the hell out of my friends to make sure we’re up early enough to catch them. Check out the title track from their new album below!
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