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Castledoor – From LA to my soul

post brought to you by: dyson

The best recommendation services in the world can’t top the human recommendation model. It’s perfect. Someone knows a few bands you like, they calculate it in their heads, and BLAM, the next new love of your musical life is waiting for you to hit play on.

Many companies go out and try to analyze what we might like next based off what we have previously listened to. Some do a great job of this (Echo Nest, Pandora) But their algorithms are missing something big. EMOTION.

Music is a feeling, a passion. I might suggest to someone that a band has moved me to tears and will move them the same way. Over half of the time, I am right. (the other half I send them to the web…)

One lovely woman named Mary Broome is my shining example for this week’s episode. (I don’t have weekly episodes by the way. Just felt like the right random thing to say)

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Why I Love vinyl

post brought to you by: dyson

It’s not new news that vinyl records are becoming popular again. Why? Honestly, I don’t care.

There are a million reasons why I think vinyl has made a comeback into popular “cool” culture. I bought my first record player over a decade ago and have worked it into my every day life. Ok, correction. It has worked it’s way into my every day life.

Here are some random reasons why I could never live without vinyl. (slight exaggeration)

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Kid:Nap:Kin

post brought to you by: dyson

There are bands I listen to once and make a snap judgment if I will be into them or not. If someone showed me one track by Kid:Nap:Kin I would probably pass. All I can say is I am SO glad this wasn’t the case with them.

Kid:Nap:Kin is a Boston born band who has some of the most devoted followers I’ve ever met. Their music is like coffee, beer, or Bob Dylan. You get a little taste and kind of understand the appeal, but know that people are really into it. Then you get the second and third taste and say “HOLY SHIT. I NEED more of this”. Am I comparing Kid:Nap:Kin to a drug? Seems so.

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The National-High Violet and Boxer

post brought to you by: dyson

the_nationalI have impatiently waited for this day to come. Today, May 11th 2010, marks the release of The National’s highly anticipated follow up to “Boxer”, “High Violet”. It’s been here. Not officially, but it’s been here.

Albums leak well before their anticipated release date. This is just a simple fact today. Also, bands decide to release singles as a trickle to entice listeners. I could have grabbed a copy of “High Violet” like so many thousands of people did before the official release. So why did I wait until today to finally give it a proper listen (except the stream they gave us on NYTimes.com and NPR)?

One simple reason: My incredible respect for “Boxer” and the brilliant work of the band and Peter Katis.
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3 words for indie artists

post brought to you by: calmstock

indie_wordsFor the past few years new media guru Chris Brogan has practiced the “My 3 Words” exercise to guide how he conducts his many efforts in the coming year. The idea is to chose 3 resonant words around which you set goals and develop projects. Given our increasingly over-complicated world, I found this to be a fresh way to plan my year as an indie musician and marketer.

As winter turned to spring I began to realize how perfect this exercise is for the indie musician. We’re bombarded every day with new tools, new platforms, new “best” practices. new opportunities and new challenges. “My 3 Words” is a great way to make sense of it all, providing a means to organize, prioritize, and focus. So, without further adieu, my 3 words for 2010 continue to be..,

Content. Network. Equity.

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Little Fish – Baffled and Beat

post brought to you by: dyson

little_fishIf what you crave is straight forward, from the heart, pure, rock and roll, Little Fish is your answer. They fill that musical space better than any band I have come across in a long while. (And doing so without all the bullshit you might typically find clouded about in the music industry.)

I was lucky enough to talk with them on one of the rare days off their label gives them. Juju and Nez shocked me with their honesty and humbleness towards their recent success. They have no reason to be humble. A sold out tour with Hole, their album “Baffled & Beat” produced by Linda Perry (audio on click) that’s about to be released this September, their songs available as Rock Band downloads. They have all the right to be the cocky rock stars one might expect. But they aren’t. They are two rockers who love what they do and are grateful for every moment.

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The Bird & The Hall & The Bee & Oates

post brought to you by: ledyard

bird-bee-hall-oates(post by contributor: Ledyard)

A couple weeks ago, I heard about a project of seemingly uberepic hipster-nerd mind-exploding proportions: The Bird & The Bee (previously known in my world for one of The Aughts’ greatest hooks with ‘Fucking Boyfriend’) had made an album completely made up of songs from the Hall & Oates songbook, lengthily titled “Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates”.

You may ask:
Q: Ledyard, why should I think of this news as Brain-Blowing?

I reply:
A:
Well [insert hip fake online name here], I always thought that The Bird & The Bee have a mildly cool thing going, with a sound that typifies mellow hipness as it stands today. The only drawback (aside from the hook mentioned earlier) is that their songwriting kinda, well, uh…. sucks. However, bring in the greatest pop songcrafters of the late 70’s & early 80’s (excluding Jim Steinman and Don Blackman perhaps) and !like that! you have fun hooky songs fresh out of the oven (albeit reheated 30 years hence) and wrapped in sweet & salty sushi bar indie sheen.

BOOM goes your musicnerdbrain!

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Don’t you know that you’re toxic?

post brought to you by: dyson

britney-toxic
You might see this photo and wonder, “What the hell? I thought this was a respectable music blog??” Well, hopefully it is. And hopefully you’ll hear me out on this one, and probably agree.

‘Toxic’ may be the best example of the perfect pop song I have seen in this decade. New pop music comes and goes and I rarely tap into Top 40 radio. But this song was able to stretch past those Top 40 boundaries and reach all music lovers (snobs and jazzheads alike).

What is so special about this song? Britney has had a career full of singles that people can’t really ignore. They’re catchy pop tunes performed by an attractive woman-girl-lady-female (pick one, I always get it wrong). But ‘Toxic’ has something special. It has every element of a great pop song wrapped into a bundle even a stork would hang on to. (odd reference, I know…)

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Quiet Company – Songs For Staying In

post brought to you by: dyson

quiet_companyDon’t you feel like the luckiest person in the world when great music happens to fall into your lap? Well, I sure do. And it just happened to me.

I was minding my own business, sitting at work, when my friend Gradon decided to shoot something my way. It was a link to the upcoming release of the new Quiet Company EP. I take music recommendations very seriously when they come from folks who have similar musical tastes. So I gave it a quick listen despite all of the work I should have been doing at that point. GOOD THING I DID.

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The influence of Pet Sounds

post brought to you by: dyson

bb_pet-sounds(Ready for the most cliche line ever? Ready, set, go…)
44 years later, the work of musical genius Brian Wilson on Pet Sounds remains as influential as it was the day the record it was released.
(was I right or what?)

That line can be found splattered around thousands of places in print and on the web. But it’s only 3/4 true. The impact Pet Sounds has had on music is actually more prevalent now than it was when it was released. And to confuse you further, that last statement is probably only 1/2 true. Stick with me…

On it’s release, Pet Sounds got some pretty negative reviews. But today if an album comes out and it has great production (or at least a focus on production), it get’s marked up as being influenced by Pet Sounds. If an album comes out that has harmonies on it, well, you can probably guess what’s next. It was supposedly influenced by Pet Sounds.

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Slow Runner – Ghost Rendition

post brought to you by: dyson

slow_runnerSome albums are growers. Some just hit you in that sweet spot you can’t describe in words. The latest EP ‘Ghost Rendition‘ from Slow Runner is one of those albums that bites you in the ass and doesn’t let go. Thing is? The bite is short but very sweet.

With only 3 songs recorded on their latest EP you might think, “Why would I listen to this? The longest song clocks in at 3:01? This won’t even last me one stop on the train!?” In a time where downloading singles is popular, why would you not take the ADD route and get 3 songs that are actually meant to be listened to together?

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Beatles or Stones? Radiohead or…?

post brought to you by: dyson

radiohead_vsThe question of Beatles or Stones is one I love to bring up. It says a lot about a person with how they respond. But we’re in a new era of music. This question holds a lot of weight because the Beatles and Stones are still relevant after all the years passed. I thought it would be relatively simple to translate this question into modern artists. After LOTS of thought and questioning, I find myself singing a completely different tune…

Gradon Tripp was first to bring up (and inspire this post) with the topic of which “new” artists could be used to ask the famous ‘Beatles or Stones’ question. I honestly thought this would be a relatively easy task. But now I’m realizing it is SO far from easy.

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Jim Kroft provides fresh air

post brought to you by: dyson

jim_kroftIt’s hard for me to promote new artists on this site because most times I feel like the guy 15 minutes late to the party. This is not going to stop me from telling you the tale of Jim Kroft.

Jim and I have never met (although I’d kill to). All I know of him is his music, his gorgeous videos, but more importantly, his amazing personality. And this shines through with his incredible enthusiasm for creating and recording his art. The tale of Jim Kroft is really not that different from any other artist out there in the world. He makes music and believes it is something people will enjoy. Well, he is absolutely correct. But he has one HUGE advantage above the rest. Jim is that person out there who you want to approach, not get approached by.

Have some fun and check out his appeal in the DIY video for ‘The Great Doomsday Story’:

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This is O’Spada

post brought to you by: ledyard

O'Spada

Photo by: Pär Olofsson

‘Everything I am, and everything I want to be.
All I want to achieve, I already have in me’

Backed by a thunderous wall of fat synths and kicking bass, sharp guitar and cracking snares, carried on the silvered voice of an agathokakological angel sent from pop heaven on-high, these are the words of O’Spada, and as soon as you hear them you know them to be true.

O’Spada’s sound is the quintessence of fresh. It transports you to the past and future simultaneously, pulls your moneymaker forever in both directions, and forces your surrender on both fronts to the fundamental power of the groove. Listening to O’Spada is a time-quaking, chromosome-shaking mitosis of the soul, proving once again that Sweden is making the best pop music per capita of any country.

Here’s a taste (turn up that bass):

If that doesn’t get you moving, congratulations, you’re a corpse. Thankfully, there are many warm bodies across the globe getting down to this fledgling dance outfit, and after just two stellar singles released (their second, ‘Ten Strikes’, is one of 2009’s most joyous odes to infidelity (listen below), O’Spada has the world hungry for more. With an album set to drop a few months from now, I had the chance to chat with them for an exclusive trans-Atlantic interview.

This is O’Spada.

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Thom Yorke will make beautiful music until he is dead

post brought to you by: ledyard

thom_yorkeno credit for photo but found on this site

Just browsing around the music blogosphere today, I stumbled across a couple new tunes from Mr. Thom Yorke, the frontman for Radiohead and now another band, the newly christened Atoms for Peace (which features Flea on bass… am I the only one that finds Thom and Flea sharing a stage kinda funny? Thom Yorke with a tube sock on his junk?). This time, however, the alien chanter was performing a few songs solo, all of which some intrepid nerd was awesome enough to record. As I sat there watching & listening, I was overwhelmed by the majesty of his songwriting, and was doubly overwhelmed thinking about how LONG I’ve been listening to this man’s every recorded move, and how INCREDIBLY OFTEN I have felt this exact same way about whatever he has to show me. (more…)