Friday Fascination: Mesita

I'm starting to realize that when I'm not working or at a show, there's a pretty good chance I'm sitting in traffic somewhere. The other day while I was battling traffic on the 405 and listening to the Wild Belle channel on Spotify, I stumbled across a nifty little song called "No Future" by Mesita. I'm not sure if it was the rather appealing loop that started the song off or the way the tempo completely changes after a good 30 seconds that reeled me in. I had no idea who Mesita was, but I wasn't going to let this be the last I heard from this artist. Mesita is the solo project of 25-year-old American musician James Cooley from Denver, Colorado. "No Future" is the opening track on his sophomore album Future Proof, released 10/08/13. I'm definitely fascinated with the direction that this album goes, which is pretty much all over the place. The different influences help make this album exciting, and you'll find the same method in his debut full-length The Coyote (I recommend listening to "The Coyotes.") 

Other favorites from this album include: "Forward" & "Creature." 

Grab Future Proof & other music from Mesita on his BandCamp page by clicking here!

P.S. Stay tuned for next week's "Fresh Vibes Monday" post because one of the songs from Future Proof will be featured on there! Can you guess which one? 

Last Night: Sir Sly @ The Echoplex

Thanks to the amazing blahblahblahscience (B3SCI) - I was given tickets to watch Dead Times, Jaymes Young & Sir Sly at the Echoplex last night! It was my first time catching a show at The Echoplex, which is located next to The Echo (where I caught Little Green Cars a few weeks ago.) The Echoplex has the same dark and intimate vibe as The Echo, but is more of an enlarged basement with a capacity of 700. After a few circles around the block, we finally found parking and made it just in time to catch Jaymes Young for a few songs, including the hypnotizing "Two More Minutes." It's definitely my favorite from his Dark Star EP, and a voice like his is more than refreshing. Make sure to check out the rest of his material by listening below, and grab the EP on iTunes here!

This was the first time I saw Sir Sly in the flesh (I wouldn't count the time I briefly overheard them from the outside of a SXSW showcase while I waited in line for another show.) Let's just say I was floored by the these guys as this was a proper homecoming show. It was more than convincing that these guys are passionate about what they're doing, and it showed in their performance from beginning to the very end. They're two dates away from wrapping up a lengthy tour headlining throughout the US & Europe. Not only did they play material from their Gold EP, but unreleased music as well that I'm itching to get my hands on. 

Tomorrow night (11/24) they're playing at the Constellation Room @ the Observatory in Santa Ana & also at my favorite venue in San Diego, The Casbah on Monday (11/25.) Don't let this opportunity pass you by while they're still playing in small venues! It was a great show all around, and I know this won't be the last time I visit the Echoplex or see these guys again!

Sir Sly Website

Friday Fascination: Temples

Temples are a neo-psychedelic band from the Midlands (England) and don't let the flowers fool you - this band kicks a**. Did this group crawl straight out of the 60's? No, but it sure sounds like they did. Temples have released a handful of impressive singles since making their debut in the fall of last year with "Shelter Song." 

Click here to watch Temples play "Colours To Life" live as apart of a CTRL in Situ session for Topman.

Temples' most recent release "Mesmerise" is an immediate favorite in my book, and has me very excited for the future. Their debut album Sun Structures will be released 02/10/2014 via HEAVENLY RECORDINGS. Preorder it here!  

In the meantime, head over to their SoundCloud page to hear more music from Temples, you won't regret it. 

GL00MSDAY

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past couple of days, you're probably more than aware that the weather (in most places) is a little on the gloomy/chilly/not sunny side. For me personally, I love it. I experienced quite a bit of the "gloom doom" while living in Philadelphia last fall, and sporadically in (Fort Worth) Texas except the humidity level was beyond tolerable. I will admit this weather makes it hard to be productive, and clearly not a "beach day" - so, as I'm writing this underneath layers and layers of blankets - here's what I've been listening to. It's music from bands that I love and pairs perfectly with a cloudy and/or chilly day. Hope y'all enjoy & feel free to share with your friends, family, cats, etc. It's that good. 

5 Tracks You Need To Hear Right Meow

Every now and then I realize that I need to take a night off to *relax* instead of venturing to shows all over LA.Tonight is definitely one of them, and although I would love to either be at the Troubadour watching Foxes or House of Blues on Sunset for Jessie Ware - having a lazy night in is what's on the menu for tonight.    

If you didn't know already - I LOVE FLIGHT FACILITIES. This duo from Australia produced one of my favorite songs (and video) of last year (Clair DeLune ft. Christine Hoberg.) This time they're back with "Stand Still" featuring Micky Green, and definitely resembles something I'd expect from Little Dragon. So yeah, give it a listen & let me know what you think!

"Ooooh you girls you drive me crazy." This song is everything. I've heard about this all-girl band from Brooklyn for quite some time, but it wasn't until I heard this song playing one day at work that I totally fell in love with them. I honestly can't believe I waited this long, these girls are badass. "Crazy" is off Au Revoir Simone's most recent album Move In Spectrums and you can check it out by clicking here!

A few weeks ago I posted about the release of Lovers' most recent album A Friend in The World, and of all the gems I seem to favor "Oh Yeah" the most. Hearing Carolyn Berk sing "I know I got through to you" is haunting and amazing at the same time. 

*FREE DOWNLOAD ALERT* I was looking forward to catching this mesmerizing trio from Nashville who go by the name of BASECAMP at last night's CHVRCHES show (which you'll hear more about in the next post), but due to the awfulness that is Los Angeles traffic- I just missed them *sad emoji* Both CHVRCHES & BASECAMP are making their way east, so if you get the chance, grab a ticket to the show and learn from my mistake - get there early! 

Here's the 1st track from Yujen's debut EP due out sometime in 2014. "Try It Over" features the vocals from fellow Ozzie Chet Faker. Yujen are from Melbourne, and I highly suggest checking out their SoundCloud page to hear more of the band. 

Friday Fascination: Lucius

In all honesty, my blog wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the great friends I have (both URL & IRL) that are as passionate about music as I am. The idea of someone taking a minute out of their day to share a song/album/artist with me is what genuinely makes my day. That's exactly how I found out about Lucius, a band whose members are from all over the US, but currently situated in Brooklyn. With Jess Wolfe & Holly Laessig taking over the reins for the five-piece when it comes to vocals, their sound leaves a sugary sweet yet impactful mark on our eardrums. Lucius released their debut album Wildewoman last month (10/18) on Mom + Pop Records. 

  
For those of you who are fans of The Mynabirds & Wild Belle - Lucius is the band for you. 

Special thanks to Ethan Maffey over at The Source Weekly who in addition to knowing a great deal about music, wrote an awesome review of Polica's latest release Shulamith, which you can read about here! That album is a special one for me, and definitely holds a place on LYED's Top Albums/Songs of this year. Stay tuned!

Other must-listen tracks include: Turn It Around, Tempest, and How Loud Your Heart Gets.

After checking out the full-length above via Spotify, do your ears a favor and grab Wildewoman on iTunes here! 

WEBSITE: http://ilovelucius.com/

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/ilovelucius

YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/luciustunes

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/ilovelucius