Local Natives of Phoenix wear Sleigh Bells made of Santigold.

But not actually.

I don’t know if any of you use this app, but if you don’t and you like music, you should definitely get it ASAP. Songza is an app that’s actually exactly like Pandora, except it matches the time and day to different scenarios you might be in at the moment, ie. working out, studying, hanging out with friends, partying, etc. and then it gives you playlists that have music that’s perfect for the moment. You can also search different genres if you’re not feeling any of the options Songza is giving you, so don’t worry. But anyways, I was browsing through the scenarios the app gave me one day and I decided to listen to the playlist Mainstream Indie, and I loved it so much and it gave me a whole new array of artists to listen to. I personally suggest ALL of the songs, however I decided to share a few of my favorites. The playlist features Vampire Weekend, Passion Pit, Arcade Fire, Lykke Li, and many other similar artists. The songs I chose to share with you all today are Airplanes, Lisztomania, Rill Rill, Disparate Youth, and because I really love this song, I’m adding it last minute, Lonely Boy.

Airplanes // Local Natives

Lisztomania // Phoenix

Rill Rill // Sleigh Bells

Disparate Youth // Santigold

Lonely Boy // The Black Keys

I don’t really know how to describe any of these songs, although they’re great for basically whatever you’re doing, whether you’re taking a nap (like I always am), hanging out with friends, or studying, and if you like Vampire Weekend, Lykke Li, Regina Spektor, MGMT, The Ting Tings, Bon Iver, Miike Snow, Grizzly Bear, etc. then I definitely recommend these five artists and the rest of the Mainstream Indie playlist on Songza–and even if you don’t, the app has such a huge variety of music, it’s great for anyone!

Enjoy!

Emily

Dear and the Headlights was a band from Phoenix, Arizona.

That might have been the saddest thing I read when I first got into Dear and the Headlights. The music is so great, the lyrics are crafted beautifully, the songs harmonize and resonate like an orchestra… and they were a band. They broke up in July of 2011 because what their music had become wasn’t what they started with. They were friends who decided to make a band, got it big, and went sour from within (even though their product was oh-so-sweet.) Oh, well. I could go on about what a tragedy it is, but that isn’t the point of this post. This band is another one of those You Gotta Know musicians in my repertoire.

Saintly Rows (Oh Oh)

Paranoia posed in saintly rows outside my windows
Cacophonous caws, bacterial ponds flap
Pavement moans

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

Caustic alarmed cavernous psalms
They swing from your lips then tie your tongue up like you asked them to
Out come the gaunt ghosts of your thoughts
They’re shrieking in prose and breathing rhymelessness archaic gloom
Cover your mouth, sound trickles down and drips from your chin
Drooling vibrations in an empty room

There just pull your eyelids down they’re begging for your sleep
Find yourself in white stairwell a trembling voice now speaks
Whirring back and forth from firework to figure eight
Now your trembling hands don’t seem so hard to make behave

Paranoia posed in saintly rows outside my windows
Single filed piled while flashing smiles network imposed

Dumbstruck and shoved oxygen snuffed then beg for embrace
Passion like cancer has a wandering eye
Caskets for hands bury your plans right next to your songs
When t-shirt vending is how you spend your time
Out come the gaunt ghosts of your thoughts
They’re shrieking in prose and breathing rhymelessness archaic gloom
Cover your mouth, sound trickles down and drips from your chin
Drooling vibrations in an empty room

There, just pull your eyelids down they’re begging for some sleep
Find yourself in white stairwell a trembling voice now speaks
Whirring back and forth from firework to figure eight
Now your trembling hands don’t seem so hard to make behave

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

Caustic alarmed cavernous psalms they swing from your lips
Then tie your tongue up like you asked them to

Out come the gaunt ghosts of your thoughts
They’re shrieking in prose and breathing rhymlessness archaic gloom

OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH
OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH

Sweet Talk

Oh No!

I Just Do

I hate to run without saying anything more about Dear and the Headlights, but unfortunately they do not tour, they have barely any stock left in their merch store online, and they only have a couple videos online. This is sadly the story of an amazing band cut short, but hopefully you can enjoy their music now as they would have wanted.

Next week, I’ll be reviewing Grouplove, the indie band that isn’t that indie since you know their music from the radio but they still don’t sell out concerts.

New Music Mondays: The Concept & Clock Opera

Hey everybody! Long time, no talk. I sincerely hope winter break treated y’all well because it sure as hell was kind to me. I’m ready to get right back on top of spreading new music to the world. Time to get excited.

First up, “Gimme Twice” from The Concept. They’re a new dance-rock band out of Sweden and I’m love love loving them. The majority of their tracks sound eerily similar to Phoenix, but I don’t mind in the slightest. It’s quality music, even if it’s not crazy-innovative.

Clock Opera is definitely poised to blow up in 2012 and this video for “Once And For All” should do much make you agree with me. I found myself in tears after watching it for the first time, so good luck holding back your own tears!

See ya next week!

Josh

Take Away Shows: Can I go too?

Last week I was skyping with a friend. He is kind of my music guru and always lets me know about new bands he is into and more often than not I like them too. This friend is also an aspiring musician and he was letting me know what was going on in his life as far as his own writing and recording. That is when he told me “My life will be complete when I get to play a take away show.”

Of course I had no idea what a take away show was so he got silent and told me to immediately go to youtube and check it out. So did, then I looked at another, and another, and pretty soon I was no longer skyping with him but instead off in a whole other world thinking of these pop-up concerts.

Since 2006 a man named Vincent Moon has been filming what he calls “take away shows and putting them up on his youtube channel La Blogothéque. Pretty much these shows spring up out of nowhere catching people off guard. Some people see the musicians and have no idea who they are and just walk right by but then there are also many shows that will gather a huge crowd.

Watching these videos I just got that “I want to be there” feeling and I found myself getting super excited.

These are why I love music.

Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago

(best part of this one: look at Justin Vernon’s sweater in the back)

Phoenix: 1901

Beirut: Nantes

Fleet Foxes: Blue Ridge Mountains

The Kooks: Ooh La

I hope you all enjoy these as much as I did. There are about one hundred more out there if you go to the youtube channel!

AND TONIGHT:

BLUE SCHOLARS LIVE AT BU CENTRAL!

I have been waiting all semester for this, I am so excited. Doors open at 8:30, show starts at 9! I hope you all can make it!

Love always,

Lanie Pearl