Keep in mind LYED is a one-man wolf pack and I hadneeded to use yesterday as a day of rest rather than jump the gun on post-SXSW posts. Here we are 24 hours later, and I am back to my normal blogger self again (HURRAH!) What do I mean by that? It means I'm back to provide you with all things music related in which I know you'll appreciate listening to, whether it's through your headphones or car speakers. I had to kick off this week's selection with an all-time favorite introduction "feel good" track since this post is a wee bit on the later side of your Monday. Yes it's a couple months old, but honestly I can't think of a better opening track to this playlist. As always, I hope you dig this week's selection, and if you're still recovering from South By Southwest - there's a light at the end of the tunnel, I promise! I'll save my SXSW experience for another post this week, but if you have Instagram, you can watch a brief summary via @_emiLYED. Feel free to follow! I had a great time at South By Southwest 2015, and was fortunate enough to meet a ton of individuals who shared the same love for music as I do. You'll have to just wait for the highlights that are coming soon. :) P.S. I'm giving away Twin Shadow's new album Eclipse on White Colored Vinyl along with an autographed poster from the man himself.
So I had to put LYED on pause for a bit & left the Lonestar State last Tuesday for a sweet lil va-cay in California. How sweet was it you ask? Well, I was lucky enough to snap this picture of Hendry's Beach in Santa Barbara on a day when it likes to show off its amazing features. I miss it already! While I was "home" I was fortunate enough to catch Ellie Goulding & St. Lucia at the Hollywood Palladium. This was the final stop for the Halcyon Days Tour, and for being a bit under the weather I thought Ellie pulled it off quite well! I must admit, I was EXTREMELY disappointed with the crowd during St. Lucia's set. St. Lucia is an incredible up-and-coming band from New York, and if you haven't heard of them then check out this gem of a song featured below.
This isn't the first I've mentioned about St. Lucia on here, and definitely won't be the last. Since 2012 they've released a self-titled EP plus two EP releases for "We Got It Wrong" & "September" which are all impressive in my opinion. To sum up the experience, hearing their old & unreleased material LIVE exceeded my expectations. Their performance was full of energy and I was very surprised to witness the lack of movement from those in the crowd around me. Then again, leading up to St. Lucia's performance I overheard countless comments and questions regarding this "Saint Lucy or Saint Lucca" band. Anyways, if you ever have the chance to catch St. Lucia live, I highly recommend it! Now back to Ellie Goulding: she put up a good fight overall. Since the first time I saw her live (Coachella 2011), she has grown immensely in stage performance and overall delivery as a musician. I must admit, I was a bit sad about the fact that she only performed one track with her guitar (Guns & Horses) & wished "Your Biggest Mistake" made it onto the set list. Yes, that happens to be my favorite song from her in case you were wondering. ;) The entire performance was a treat from beginning to end, but she won me over with "I Know You Care" from her sophomore release Halcyon which is about her father. I could go on and on about her set which featured everything from her standout cover of Elton John's "Your Song" to "Without Your Love" a song that every individual needs to hear (after a falling out or break-up.)
A few days ago it was announced that Ellie will be touring with Bruno Mars this summer & if you're curious about when and where they'll be playing - click here!
Now for the good part of the post - the music! Since it's been quite some time since you've been given a post full of new tunes, I decided to create a "cheat sheet" aka a playlist via Spotify with 32 tracks that range from new releases to new finds for LYED. Hope this helps with satisfying your craving for new tunes! Enjoy :)
Monday never fails to ignite those manic and stressful emotions, but don't worry - I hopefully have the perfect remedy. The tracks that I've selected below will hopefully tone down your manic day (as they have for me). Make sure to keep an eye out for LYED'S FACEBOOK PAGE, because I tend to post updates on there first.
I am almost 100% sure this is the live version of the track from her recent performance at the iTunes Festival, but it sounds SO GOOD I just had to post it. Earlier today I posted another track from Ellie's forthcoming album titled Halcyon and the full-length will be released A WEEK FROM TOMORROW! To listen to that specific track that I posted - you can go to the FB page for LYED HERE! I am so stinkin' excited for this album. I've been a huge fan of Ellie since she started to pop up in the US, which were through remixes of her hit single "Starry Eyed". Last year I caught three of her live performances (two at festivals, and once at the UCSB hub for FREE thanks to her manager Jamie)! She is such an amazing individual and regardless of what press says about Ellie now that she's in a relationship with Skrillex, you should still respect her for the woman that she has become! I couldn't be happier for Ellie, and I have a good feeling that this album will be one for the books. :)
"ALL" was released as a single about a week ago, and this music video shortly followed. No lie, I was hooked on this track from the very first couple of seconds. This is the type of sound you can get lost in for awhile, and I definitely found myself clicking on the play button after every 4 minutes & 2 seconds had past. Blackbird Blackbird's follow-up release Boracay Planet comes out on October 16th via Lavish Habits.
Flock of Dimes is the side project of Jenn Wasner from Wye Oak. At first I was a bit turned off by the sound of Flock of Dimes because I was used to hearing Wasner's voice paired with dramatic guitar riffs and explosive drum solos. After a few listens everything started to click and I found myself attracted to this Robyn-esque version of Jenn Wasner. This particular track will be released as a single on November 20th via FrenchKiss. Expect to hear the B-side track on the next edition of "B-Sides- The Better Side?" Check out the SoundCloud account for Flock of Dimes where you'll find a handful of other tracks like this one!
The beginning of this track immediately reminded me of Geographer, but gradually takes a different route. This track is a remix of a song off St. Lucia's self-titled debut EP. If you're curious to hear the original then click HERE! I am a big fan of the original but I like the direction that this remix takes.
This isn't necessarily fresh but I just found it the other day & wanted to share it with all of you. I'm not too familiar with Ghost Loft, but that hasn't stopped me from researching them and listening to the tracks on their SoundCloud account. I truly appreciate a track as simple as this, but at the same time it makes me feel like I'm on a good one (if that makes any sense). If Ghost Loft is news to you, then I am very excited! This is definitely something you would find in YouTube Narnia, and if you're not familiar with that - then it's time you do some research! I've posted a couple entries regarding that you can find on this lovely little blog of mine, but have no fear....a new one is on it's way this month. :) Hopefully you enjoy this track from Ghost Loft and check out their SoundCloud account like I did! :)
This is the first track off Lonerism, the follow-up to Tame Impala's 2010 debut Innerspeaker. As of today, Lonerism was is streaming on NPR & i'm currently listening to it as I type this. I'm only a couple songs into the album and already melting into my bed from this psychedelic/feel-good wave that is taking over my computer speakers. Tame Impala is definitely a band that you HAVE to see live. They're definitely one of those bands that have progressed into becoming one of the best live bands today. I was fortunate enough to catch Tame Impala at this year's Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco, and am looking forward to their Philly show in November! Lonerism will be released in the US on October 9th (a week from tomorrow). Although this album has leaked, I am still purchasing a hardcopy it & you should too. Support real music.
Well I'm not going to lie - I cried the first time I watched this video. It's such a powerful video when you truly devote all of your attention to it. It's a rather emotional song alone just by understanding the lyrics, but this video literally sparked the waterworks for me. Polica is currently on tour with Santa Barbara favorites Gardens & Villa (who always put on a great show), and I am definitely making it to their show this Wednesday regardless of how exhausted I feel. Their show is at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, which is a popular venue that I'm quite unfamiliar with (but have heard several great things about it). Also, this is another track that isn't as "fresh" but deserves the attention from your eyes and ears if you haven't checked it out already. Definitely check out POLIÇA on Spotify if you happen to have it or check out the SoundCloud account where you can access not only original tracks from Polica but remixes as well!
