Happy Monday! As always, this week's playlist is rich in gems including the latest from Young Wonder, Gengahr, and Torres who each have records coming out very, very soon. I was recently introduced to "Calling Out" by indie-pop act Monakr from Chicago, and without hesitation added it to the playlist. In addition, Bay area newbies No Vacation & Hazel English caught my attention immediately upon first listen. These are definitely two bands I'm getting excited to watch as they grow. Although Hazel English only has one song exposed on SoundCloud, No Vacation has several including an album titled Amo XO.
Highlight of the playlist definitely goes to the silky vibes delivered by Leyya in "Superego."
Thanks to Ruth Radelet from CHROMATICS for letting me use the image above, if you didn't already know - they have an album coming out as well. Listen to their latest release "In Films" below.
P.S. An EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS to everyone who came out on Friday for the first ever We The Beat x Let Your Ears Decide show at Blind Tiger in Santa Barbara featuring JMSN, Olivver the Kid, and Harvey Leche! Your support means more than anything! xxxo
Snapped this image on my way to San Diego on Friday for CRSSD festival.
Not to take away from this week's playlist, but I had a great time at Day 1 of the 1st annual CRSSD Festival in San Diego this last weekend. Despite having to exist in a heatwave, I caught a handful of amazing acts and experienced both Giraffage & James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem) play in tents that were back-to-back at the same time. For a brief recap of highlights, visit the LYED Facebook page.
Anyways, back to the music.
This playlist is one for the books, but can we please still talk about Tame Impala's nearly 8 minute track that's borderline flawless. Man have I missed that band. Upon first listen, take advice from the song title and just let the track happen. Last night The Preatures uploaded their entire album to SoundCloud, and "Cruel" is one of my favorite tracks ever so I definitely made room for it. Young Wonder keeps getting better & better with every release, and "Enchanted" is one of their most promising tracks yet. As always, keep a lookout for additions that take place until Wednesday night. Hope you dig this playlist as much as I do!
It's a new week, filled with new music, and all you have to do is click above to listen to this week's selection to get your week started off on the right foot. Face it, Mondays have never been better. Which song was your favorite? Don't hesitate to submit your personal favorites to letyourearsdecide at gmail dot com.
Welp, it's that time of the year again when music writers & bloggers from all over post their "end of the year" lists. Last year I was a little late to the party, so this year I'm doing things a little different. Below are 16 EP's (also known as Extended Play) from this year that we really had a thing for. Most of these EP's were the first proper release from the artist, or were a form of a follow-up to the last studio release. They're in no specific order, although I will say one thing - Phantogram's self-titled release & Young Wonder's sophomore EP didn't make it far from leaving the repeat button.
I'm well aware that I'm might be leaving out a few from the list, but hey I'm not trying to post a novel here. Feel free to leave your thoughts/comments/concerns below &
I'll be honest with you guys, it takes a LOT for me to consider a remix when I'm already a fan of the original. This goes to show, that as an avid Ellie Goulding fan... I've only considered a small handful of remixes of her material. The first one that cracked my complicated style was Blackmill's Dubstep remix of EG's stellar cover of "Your Song" originally performed by the one & only Elton John.
True life: I still melt every time I hear this song. Since then I've totally opened up to remixes, it just takes a good solid listen or seven to figure out what it is that I love about it in comparison to the original. Sometimes it's amazing, and sometimes it's just god awful. Here are a few current remixes that I've stumbled across by luck, and hey - they're pretty good regardless of the mood you're in.
Enjoy! xx
First off, this is a free download, so definitely grab it while you have the opportunity to! I love this stripped down version of the track from Young Wonder's recently released EP titled Show Your Bones Check out the video for the original track here! As I've admitted on previous posts, I've fallen in love with Feel Good Lost & what they've done in terms of directing videos for Young Wonder!
P.S. Still obsessed with this video for "Time" that's also featured on Show Your Teeth.
I consider myself blessed to work in an environment that plays music that I can appreciate just like this remix by Ryan Hemsworth featuring Angel Haze of Cat Power's "Manhattan."
being one of the several tracks that are featured in our daily mixes each week. "Manhattan" is my favorite track off CP's latest studio release Sun, and honestly it took me a few listens...but hey, you can now colored me ecstatic because I love this remix.
Another free download that I am currently in love with. I love that Tycho can take a song and still include a little something-something that makes you automatically think "wow that kind of sounds like Tycho." It's 100% instrumental, and I'm 100% in love with it.
Truth be told, I first heard this Jacob Plant remix of Iggy Azalea's "Work" before I actually heard the original several months ago. I can't imagine ending this post on a better note then with this gem of a remix. Hopefully this will be one of the tracks that will hit you the same it did for me. I can't help but start every "getting ready" process without this remix, it's just that good.
So I'm a little slow at this whole "blog" thing, and recently found out what ICYMI meant, very clever guys... so here's my edition of ICYSU - In Case You're Still Up ;) You heard it here first (hopefully.) el oh elz
Here's a few gems that I'm currently digging on at the moment & felt like sharing with y'all!
P.S. We're almost at 500 Likes over on Facebook, please feel free to keep spreading the word about Let Your Ears Decide. It means a lot!
I know, I know... I've already posted about this magnificent song, but I have a good reason as to why I'm talking about it ... again. Today we were graced with the official music video for "Home", the first single off Austra's sophomore release Olympia, and boy was it a good one. Not only does the video feature EVERY member of the band, but timed in a manner that when each member appeared in the video, their instrumental (or lyrical) contribution to the song started.....yes, I went there in the realm of nerding out on a music video. Yesterday via Austra's Facebook page we were given a fair warning that the video would be released today, as well as "A simple and intimate concept, we hoped to capture the sadness and longing of the track in one take through a two-way mirror." Simple & intimate indeed. You can pre-order Olympia now on iTunes, Domino Records, or over at Paper Bag Records!
Right before these two head on tour together, Marina (of Marina and the Diamonds) & Charli XCX released "Just Desserts"earlier today. Tomorrow night (May 2nd) they play in Seattle, Washington & if you're curious to see if they're coming your way - here ya go!
They're both experts in making pop music & writing about the ultimate heartbreak in their own unique way.. but to have both of them on a single track is every girl (or guys) dream. Also, Charli XCX's debut album True Romance was released this past month and take my word for it - for a debut album it's pretty solid from beginning to end.. listen to it on Spotify now!
P.S. You can download "Just Desserts" for free here!
Through an exchange of e-mails with a friend a few weeks ago, it was brought to my attention that I needed to check out Young Galaxy & i'm glad that I did. I'm a huge fan of their latest studio release Ultramarine that dropped just last week via Paper Bag Records! This is album number 4 for the Montreal 5-piece, and after you listen to it (featured below) I highly recommend checking out their previous albums!
Gearing up for the release of their sophomore EP Show Your Bones, Young Wonder was nice enough to let us in on another new song called "Electrified". It's been a solid year since the release of their self-titled debut EP & in less than a week Show Your Bones will be officially here (May 6th) via Feel Good Lost Records! In case you missed it (or are not familiar with LYED on Facebook) YW released a stellar music video for the first single off SYB called "Time". It's without a doubt one of the best & most impressive music videos (along with "Home" by Austra) released this year, check it out here!
Hope all of you had an amazing Halloween (that is if you choose to celebrate it)! My night didn't go so well, made dinner and proceeded to feel a bit ill - then it went downhill from there. ANYWAYS, I was unable to attend work today at the Home Office (sad face) so I spent all day in bed resting where I watched Anchorman (a fave of mine) and "surfed the web" for new music. Lots of great music released this week & I have featured them on the Facebook Page for
ALSO! As someone who generally gets picked to play the music for the day in the studio, I'm always searching for some upbeat dance-y tracks that are fun - so feel free to send anything that you might have in mind. Lots of Gigamesh, 90s hip hop, Grimes, Cut Copy to help give you an idea of what I'm looking for :)
Just released this morning, I haven't been able to take this lovely song from YW off repeat. :) This song is seriously magical and for some reason that is what first comes to mind when I try to describe this song. The video is a bit emotional as it portrays a funeral for a beloved cat. Maybe it's because I'm so deeply attached to my cat Mumford that I imagined myself in her shoe's? Ah, either way this is worth watching & please share this song with your friends or fellow music aficionado's ;).
An interesting track that I recently stumbled across & thought I would share with all of you reading this. Very experimental & a bit Crystal Castles-ish, but I definitely found my ears absorbing it from beginning to end. So what exactly is White Car? "Electronic Body & Soul" is what you'll find on their SoundCloud page. & I definitely agree.
P.S. This duo is from Los Angeles! Check them out!
This week Calvin Harris released his debut album 18 Months, and "Thinking About You" is the last track on it. It's an incredible album with several expected songs that have taken over our playlists over the past "18 months" (which is the time duration for when this album was made). I am OBSESSED with this track and most definitely the album as well, but for me personally this track snuck out of nowhere. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention? Maybe Calvin Harris saved this track best for last for a reason. Who knows, but this song puts me on Cloud 9.
Be sure to check out this trio from Tokyo's SoundCloud account for more space-y electronic tracks that go well with the night time. Jesse Ruins were featured on Some Velvet Mixtapes earlier this week & you can check out their mixtape by clicking HERE!
I might be 20 steps behind the other music blogs, but you know what - WHO CARES? I definitely do not. Let Your Ears Decide was created strictly as a way to share what I'm into at the moment. I'm always on the lookout for new gems from my favorite or fresh artists, but I still appreciate a find that has some mileage on it :)
Maybe it's the crazy weather, but who knows - I'm in a mhanks to Sandy, I decided to make this post relevant to 2 events/things/whatchamacallit-s that are currently being celebrated at the moment. Those two things are:
The SF Giants winning the World Series (again)!
&
HALLOWEEN!
If you were thinking that I was going to dedicate this post to a variety of spooky songs & baseball victory chants - sorry for the confusion. If you haven't caught on from my previous posts, I'm a cheesy one so I decided to make this post "all things orange-related". You won't be disappointed, I had a lot of fun with this post to be honest. I might have kept the descriptions or personal responses short, but keep in mind it took some genuine brainstorming to take place.
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK PLEASE!! :) LET'S GET TO 360 ASAP!
I can remember the first time that I heard this track, and immediately featured in a post on LYED because of how excited I felt about this band. Several months later, and I am still just as giddy about this duo from Ireland!
Just in case you might be unfamiliar with this track - Gardens & Villa is an amazing band from where I recently moved from (Santa Barbara, California). G&V isn't a stranger to LYED, as I featured their recent Fleetwood Mac cover & a couple of over songs over the past couple of months.
Since living on the East Coast, I am definitely guilty of living vicariously through Devonte Hayes aka Blood Orange Instagram account. I'm a huge fan of Blood Orange's 2011 debut album Coastal Grooves, and recently he's held responsible for the success of
I'm not sure how you feel about The Chemical Brothers - but they never fail to feed my soul. This track is off their 1999 album Surrender which also features another favorite of mine "Hey Boy Hey Girl" & "Let Forever Be".
Seriously, what happened to these guys? If you're unfamiliar with Discovery, please check into them - they have been a favorite of mine for a couple of years now. It's a group that incorporates just enough of Caribou & mysteriousness at the same time. :)
Of course I had to include something from Frank Ocean's brilliant debut album Channel Orange. This album puts a smile on face because of how many positive and great memories I have related to this album. More specifically when I visited my friend Mallory in Los Angeles one day this album was everything we listened to whether we were in the car or hanging out at her house. 'Twas a good day. One thing about this amazing song is how it perfectly transitions into "Pyramids", which is one of my FAVORITE tracks off this album.
After announcing that the next album for Tame Impala will be released sometime in October of this year, TI was nice enough to release a track that will be featured on Lonerism. If you're into psychedelic rock, then this band from Australia is the one for you. They have a light yet eclectic sound, and it won't be long before you find yourself hypnotized by the sound of Kevin Parker's voice. Their 2010 debut album Innerspeaker is definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.
If you haven't already noticed, I can't get enough of this pop/electronic duo from Cork, Ireland. "Flesh" is another track off their recent self-titled EP that's available for a couple bucks on their
bandcamp account. Young Wonder is definitely worth checking out, otherwise I wouldn't blog about them so much. If you're a fan of Purity Ring or Modeselektor, then you will fall in love with Young Wonder. I recently discovered that they had a station on Pandora, and let's just say I "liked" almost every other song that appeared.
This is the second single off Swing Lo Magellan, the sixth studio album from the experimental rock band that will be released in the US tomorrow (Tuesday)! If there's one thing you should know about Dirty Projectors, don't be surprised if you're thrown off in a middle of a song. For example, "Dance For You" is like a cross-country road trip. It literally goes everywhere in terms of the melody, but manages to make it back to square one for the last 40-45 seconds of the track.
Not long ago Charli XCX released a free mixtape Heartbreaks and Earthquakes on her website. All you have to do is submit your e-mail address, and in return the download for the mixtape will be waiting for you in your inbox. The mixtape features a handful of new songs, that are for the most part: covers/remixes (the mixtape starts off with Charli XCX's energetic cover of Blood Orange's "Champagne Coast".) The track I chose to feature is an original track from Blood Diamonds aka Michael Diamond from Vancouver. It's sassy, and you're going to like it.
*Just a heads up that this is my favorite track of this post. "Jamaica" is the 2nd single off Idea of Happiness; the long awaited full-length from the Australian four-piece Van She. They're signed to Modular Recordings, which is the home to several other bands/artists such as Ladyhawke, The Presets, Chromeo, Cut Copy, Tame Impala, and moooore! The best description I could find for Van She was from the Modular website aka Modular People, stating that they "bridge the musical gap between boldly adventurous shoegaze and danceable glint disco".
Tomorrow is a big day for album releases in the US, and lucky enough Idea of Happiness will be one of them! WOOO.
No joke, this is the one track that I've heard about the most since talks of Gossamer appeared. The 2nd full length from Passion Pit will be released on July 24th, and "Constant Conversations" is the third track to be released from it. The most recent track to be released before CC is "I'll Be Alright", and it is legitimately a 180 of "Constant Conversations" in terms of how it sounds. This doesn't mean that the tone of the track is any different from the other, Gossamer is an album in which Michael Angelakos vilifies himself. In short, "Constant Conversations" is what I would call a delicate soul caught in a pool of the deadliest vices that are saying "whoa-oh-oooh".
AHHHHHH. :) Let's just say I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up when I found out that The Early November were reuniting after a 4 year break-up. Yes there were other projects to fill the void (I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business, Ace Enders and a Million Different People, and Joe joined Hellogoodbye until this year). I'm sure your reaction could relate to mine if you were raised on Drive-Thru Records (back when Drive-Thru Records had bands such as Senses Fail, Midtown, Homegrown, Something Corporate, etc). In Currents is the product of the reunion and is also the 3rd full length album from The Early November. TEN is now on Rise Records, AND THE ALBUM COMES OUT TOMORROW! I apologize for getting a little over-the-top but my #1 favorite song to this day is "Baby Blue" by them, and this particular clip from a Drive-Thru Records DVD of the guys goofing around to the song is the icing on the cake.
Happy Monday to all of you reading this! This past weekend was one of the best weekends for live music in the US with the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival held in Manchester, Tennesse and the Electric Daisy Carnival taking place in Las Vegas. One can only imagine how many new tracks were dropped, so until we know - enjoy some fresh tunes!
Here's a new track from the lovely Lucy Rose. I adore how this track throws me off a bit just like "Red Face" did when I first listened to it. She has such a beautiful voice, and a sweet person when you meet her. Crossing my fingers that Lucy Rose will join Bombay Bicycle Club when they come back to the west coast part of their tour this fall! She opened for BBC earlier this year during their US tour and played a small solo set that was absolutely beautiful. I can only imagine how it will sound with a full band behind her.
If you've had the chance to read previous posts on my blog, you would know that this isn't the first time i've ranted about them. This duo from Ireland has had my full-attention since they released their self-titled debut EP a couple of months ago. In this particular track, "Lucky One" I admire the CocoRosie flavored vocals that are paired with experimental vibes.
MMMMM ready for new music from Metric? Their upcoming album Synthetica is on the verge of being released, and lovely little leaks made their way onto YouTube. The diversity of this album has me drawn to it in it's entirety. This particular track just amazes me for some reason. Emily Haines is one of the darkest lyricists that are overlooked due to the melodies/instruments played against here. I believe that this is the album were a lot of expressions become more apparent and shit really gets real.
If I'm not obsessing over 80's influenced electronic music, then there's a huge chance I'm probably tapping my foot to a track that makes you want to roll down the windows while driving on the 101 southbound. Seapony is a group that is fairly new to my eyes and ears. This trio formed in 2010, and their sophomore album titled Falling will be released in the fall (September) on an independent label "Hardly Art" that was founded by Subpop. If you have the time, check out the website for Hardly Art- lots of underground artists that are worth checking out like La Sera, The Moondoggies, and more!
This particular track has been around for quite some time, but it was only a week ago when 2:54 released an official music video for the track. The video I featured above is about 2 weeks old, but I feel like it does the track some justice. Let's just say that whenever I include 2:54 in a playlist, you'll find bands like Warpaint, The Horrors, and Still Corners.
Laura Marling "I SPEAK BECAUSE I CAN" (Live at Coachella 2012)
If I had time to make a full-blown Bonnaroo flavored post featuring my picks to see: this lovely lady named Laura Marling would be one of the first few listed. Her talent seriously gives me the chills, therefore almost every song I hear I generally fall prey to. Laura Marling has collaborated on a few tracks with Mumford & Sons, and she's released 3 albums in the last 4 years. Pretty impressive for a 22 year-old folk musician, right? Unfortunately I missed out on her set from Coachella, but she will be making her way to Santa Barbara in the next couple of weeks thankfully.
Ah Grand Resort, I like you. This is a lo-fi gem that has me dreaming about something beautiful whenever I listen to it. Another summer vibe that makes me wish I'd finish the last of my schoolwork already. Grand Resort consists of Andrés M. Pichardo & promotes the sound of Grand Resort as "tropigaze". I definitely have to agree with you on that. Can't wait to hear more!
L$D - "DON'T SMOKE MY BLUNT BITCH"
If you're feeling a little plain jane these days with your music selection, why not check out Grimes, Kreayshawn, Blood Diamonds....or better yet, L$D which features all of them plus Lady Tragik. They recently released a track titled "DON'T SMOKE MY BLUNT BITCH" and according to a tweet from Grimes herself, the track was recorded in 10 minutes. Check out the video below for the track that took about an hour to make, it's definitely what people would call a good time nowadays (or going apeshit) . If you think about the background of each individual in L$D, this is quite a collaboration. In fact, it's a bit genius. L$D has all of the bases covered to make catchy tracks and shoot hip videos that make you feel like you're missing out on something big...because you are.
