It's only Tuesday and I've already found myself dreaming about the weekend (or the next day that I have off.) As I was doing so, I stumbled across a talented trio from Portland that goes by the name of Blouse. "No Shelter" is the first official single from their forthcoming sophomore album Imporium out 09/17 (via Captured Tracks.) From listening to "No Shelter" alone, I'm definitely looking forward to what the full-length entails. In the meantime, check out this interview with the band on the Captured Tracks website to see what they've been up to and what to expect from Imperium.
The other day while I was restocking vinyl at work, I happened to stumble across the album featured above. Recently our store received about 300 (both new & old) titles due to how well our sales have been in the vinyl class. I have to admit, when I first found out the good news - I was absolutely ecstatic about how convenient this would be (as I tend to spend most of my free time either listening to music or hanging out at record stores.) I'm not saying that my visits to the record shops in the DFW metroplex have been affected in a negative way, because I still make my rounds every now & then. ;) Alright, back to the point of this post. I asked a few co-workers if they were familiar with Ivan & Alyosha, and unfortunately they were in the same boat as me. So as per usual, I decided to do some research on Ivan & Alyosha after my shift ended.
Ivan & Aloysha - "Running For Cover" What I found was an amazing four-piece folk/pop band from Seattle, Washington. "Running For Cover" is the first single off their debut album All The Times We Had. Released back in February, I also found out that this track was previously a free download on iTunes. I especially love the video for this song, and appreciate the simplicity of it. I especially like that it zeros in on all of them during the chorus part, as it's a huge chunk of the song and by doing so - it adds depth. Recently Ivan & Aloysha visited the KEXP studio and performed a handful of songs with Cheryl Waters as the host. Click here to hear "Running For Cover" live!
If you're a fan of I&A after doing your homework (aka listening to the album via Spotify below,) head over to iTunes to buy it like a good human should.
Trust me, you won't regret it.
So in conclusion, I will be picking up this LP immediately. It's a nice medium between Milo Greene & Father John Misty... two bands that I'm a huge fan of. As a debut album, I have to admit that I'm pretty impressed & would love to catch these guys live in the future.
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 :)
Over the past couple of weeks I've made several attempts at creating posts that feature my favorite songs/albums of 2012, but to be honest - 2012 was an AMAZING year for music. There were too many to individually list on a blog post (could you imagine how long the post would be?) From my involvement with this lovely music blog, I was able to find/discover amazing artists such as: ON AN ON, Kill Paris, The Neighbourhood, Jessie Ware, Alt-J, Breton, Star Slinger, CHVRCHES, and more! More specifically, creating posts like "Getting Under The Covers" and "YouTube Narnia" helped expand my appreciation of music by miles. Can't forget how many concerts/festivals I attended in the various cities & states, and that my friends is what made this year AMAZING. If you ever get the chance to see a band live, DON'T PUT IT PAST YOU! Mark my words. New or old, popular or underground.... live music is something I deeply treasure & hope you do too! I was recently asked to guest blog about my Top 10 albums on The Source Weekly, and in addition you can check out what I had to say about my #1 album of 2012 - Halcyon by Ellie Goulding! Special thanks to Ethan Maffey for giving LYED this amazing opportunity! You can check out everything Ethan has posted in terms of "Best Of ____ (aka everything music related)" by clicking HERE! It's a pretty amazing compilation of lists to say the least.
P.S. By clicking on TSW link above, you can see which tracks I picked from my Top 10 favorite albums - definitely worth checking out!
So instead of multiple posts, I decided to sum everything up (that could be accounted for on Spotify) on a Playlist instead! This is a compiled list of songs that were either featured here on LYED or on the FB page for LYED. There's a handful of gems that are on this playlist that might have slipped past LYED posts, my apologies! Although this list is pretty lengthy, it definitely could have been longer because several songs I had blogged about in the past weren't available on Spotify *insert sad emoji face*. If there is a track/artist that I forgot to add on the playlist (which wouldn't surprise me) LET LYED KNOW by posting on LYED'S FB Page, which is less than 40 likes away from 400. I would be more than happy to add your suggestions! :)
PLEASE SPREAD THE LYED LOVE!
So, here is the amazing playlist that best defines LYED (from a Spotify point of view). I hope this playlist brings back old & amazing memories from the past year or attracts you to an artist that you've never heard before! Thanks everyone! XX
To sum things up.. a lot has changed in the past couple of weeks! After 2 and a half months of living in Philadelphia, I made the decision to end my internship at Urban Outfitters Home Office a bit early & move to Fort Worth (Texas)! If you're a bit familiar with Fort Worth, I am now working at this lovely little location situated in the Cultural District!
Feels like I've been playing the catchup game a little too much lately, so I decided to not only add a few songs but also a small Spotify playlist below for your listening pleasure :)
This is for all of you who are just as much of a Foals fan as I am. A few weeks ago Foals stopped by "Later... With Jools Holland" to perform "My Number", a track off their forthcoming album titled Holy Fire. Earlier today Foals dropped the studio version of this track, and am still debating whether I liked the live or studio version better! Just in case you missed the news about "Inhaler" - the first track to be exposed from the upcoming album, check out the official video here! For those of you in the UK, Holy Fire will be released on February 11th & the US release date is February 12th! In my opinion, this is without a doubt one of the top albums to look forward to in 2013, as well as the upcoming albums for ON AN ON & Local Natives!
The xx - "RECONSIDER" (Jamie XX Remix) This is taken from Jamie's recent Boiler Room set, and when he dropped this - it definitely stood out to me. "Reconsider" was a bonus track off The XX's most recent album titled Coexist. I'm sure that last sentence didn't appear as something new to most of you, but if it did - don't worry! I was hoping that Jamie would include a couple snippets from Coexist, but I was a bit floored by the fact that he opened with a remix of "Reconsider". If you missed the live set on Boiler Room TV you can find & listen to the audio HERE! To sum it up, it's 42 minutes & 54 seconds of smooth vibes and relaxing beats that will make your night end on a good note.
The name Kavinsky (aka Vincent Belorgrey) shouldn't come off as "mysterious". If you've seen the movie "Drive" starring Ryan Gosling, then you might be familiar with this tune that's also by Kavinsky.
"NIGHTCALL" Hopefully by now things start to ring a bell ;). BACK TO PROTOVISION.. so it only makes sense to feature a dangerous yet classic car chase throughout the night in this video, because..well...what else do you imagine when you listen to Kavinsky? If you're one who loves a good night-time drive like I do, then you should without a doubt look into more of Kavinsky's material. You're welcome! ;)
Beach Fossils - "CARELESS" This is off the upcoming album Clash The Truth, due out February 19th! I actually found out about this electro-pop group from working at Urban last year, and have been getting into them ever since! It seemed like this band had been weaving in and out of the spotlight lately, but it's probably because the members in Beach Fossils are also involved in side projects such as DIIV (who just wrapped up a small tour supporting one of my favorite bands JAPANDROIDS) & Heavenly Beat! So with all of this in mind, I am a bit curious & excited to hear the new album!
YACHT - "SECOND SUMMER" The dance/indie duo recently celebrated their 10 year anniversary of being a band, believe system, and business! This track was released as well as an intriguing and colorful (to say the least) video to go with it directed by ADHD. It features the well-known YACHT "smiangle" coming to life and moving to the beat. Last week YACHT played a celebratory concert at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, and you can check out the pictures for yourself to see just how a party is thrown via L.A. RECORD. Hope you enjoyed this post! Feel free to check out the mini playlist I made of some stuff that I've been listening to lately, both new & old! I suggest you check out the latest material from Big Boi's album that feature one of my favorite duos - PHANTOGRAM!
About a month ago when freshvibesmonday #16 was posted, I featured a track by Daughter titled "Smother". The track above was released as the proper B-side on October 1st. This track isn't entirely new, but this sharpened studio version is! Reminder, if you live in the Philly area - Daughter will be playing a show at Kung Fu Necktie on October 16th! Daughter has released two EP's titled The Wild Youth and His Young Heart that are AMAZING. You can find Daughter on Spotify or check out their SoundCloud // BandCamp. I love this band for how much power is conveyed through the lead singer's soft voice & their overall sound isn't afraid to tug with your heartstrings (a lot).
This is a band from Brooklyn that I recently stumbled upon via e-mail, and I am glad that I did. This is is definitely 3 minutes & 19 seconds of ear candy, so don't skip this gem! This is the right enough of garage rock that keeps me interested. "Get Lost" is featured on their forthcoming LP Our House on the Hill out on November 13th (via Woodsist). Click here to check out another song called "Moonlight Mile" that's a bit more rugged but still just as good. The Babies just announced a fall tour this is quite lengthy & by clicking on their name above you will find the list of tour dates from their Facebook page!
While I was on my way to work yesterday morning (730am East Coast time) I was looking through my Twitter feed and noticed that Feed Me had posted the official version of his recent collab with Crystal Fighters (who are well known for their perfect mix of Spanish & Basque music). After the first listen I immediately found myself going back to replay the track if that says anything. There are so many different words running through my head when listening to this song that I feel the only way to understand this song is to listen to it yourself.
I was very surprised (in a good way) when I found out that Aeroplane aka Vito De Luca recently remixed one of Kimbra's most popular tracks. If you're digging this track, check out Aeroplane's SoundCloud account for more!
So this track might not be fresh to you, but it is fresh to me! You can never go wrong with a little synth in your life (or a lot for this case). I was recently traveling through YouTube narnia the other day when I found this track.... and then to the right of the video were several other Chrome Canyon tracks that I eventually checked out as well. If you're looking for some futuristic instrumental material to get lost in - here you go!
This is a brand new track that I recently stumbled upon thanks to Pitchfork. It's definitely catchy in that Summer Camp / Envelopes kind of way. This is unfortunately the first I've heard from this Michigan band, and apparently it's been quite awhile since Saturday Looks Good to Me released something (4 years to be exact). This is a great "feel-good" song to include towards the end of the post if I do say so myself.
Ugh I don't know what it is but I sure am hooked on Iggy Azalea. Actually I do know - it's a combination of her voice, style, and the way she raps about whatever is on her mind, literally. Iggy Azalea is about to release her latest mixtape titled TrapGold this coming Thursday & the track/video above is a "teaser" to keep us hanging on until then. She is currently on tour with Rita Ora & will be coming to Philadelphia pretty soon! For more updates regarding this Australian "Rapstress" check out Iggy's Twitter account.
P.S. Today two of my favorite albums were finally released in the US! Halcyon from Ellie Goulding & Lonerism from Tame Impala. Both Halcyon & Lonerism are sophomore albums and do a damn good job at following up to the respected debut albums. Don't forget to check out LYED on Facebook & please share with your friends!
Recently I’ve created a page on Facebook
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