Long Time Coming...

I've been slacking on the blog posts, so here's a bunch of songs worth a listen (or ten, or more)... to catch us up.

Lord Huron - La Belle Fleur Savage

Off their new release, "Strange Trails."  Best listened to outdoors, by the campfire.

Jessica Pratt - Game That I Play 

Such a unique voice. She recorded this album in her bedroom, and it shows.  Super intimate & personal.  She's playing at Great Scott in Allston in a few weeks, and I'll be sure not to miss it.

Mac DeMarco - Let Her Go

His album "Salad Days" is one I haven't been able to stop listening to for months.  Clean guitars, and a very relaxed vibe.

The Staves - In The Long Run

Three sisters from England who play folk songs in ridiculously perfect harmony.

Hot Chip - Huarache Lights

Guaranteed to put you in a good mood.  Psyched to see them tomorrow night at the House of Blues.

Courtney Barnett - Depreston

One of my favorite songwriters of the past couple years.  She can wittily string together seemingly unrelated, mundane aspects of life into fascintating songs that hit on emotional themes too.  Not to mention the intoxicating guitar distortion...

Father John Misty - Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)

He (and his whole new album, "I Love You, Honeybear") really deserve their own post.  Great, great stuff.  He's the former drummer of Fleet Foxes, and you can hear that influence on this track.

Hurray for the Riff Raff

Hurray for the Riff Raff released a really great LP entitled "Small Town Heroes" at the beginning of this year.  The album sways between upbeat bluegrass tunes and more downtempo, dark ones. The constant throughout it all, though, is lead singer Alynda Lee Segarra's super smooth vocals.  Collectively, it's a really nice work.

Hurray for the Riff Raff

Perhaps the most interesting part of discovering this band was learning about the road (or should I say tracks) that Segarra traveled to found this band & create music.  The following is an excerpt from wuis.org about her journey:

"Alynda Lee Segarra - the singer, songwriter and musical force behind the group - first captured national attention in 2012, when her album Look Out Mama earned glowing reviews.  Born to a Puerto Rican family in the Bronx, Segarra grew up making weekly trips to New York's Lower East Side for punk matinees.  After extensive traveling [including hopping freight trains for years], she found her own musical home in New Orleans."

Now it's time to sit back (preferably on a front porch rocking chair) and take a listen to the band, live in a KEXP session:

Some new favorites.

A couple days ago, I took the initially scary but eventually liberating step of restoring (i.e. deleting) my entire IPod.  I was sick of the same old stuff on it that's been accumulating over the past 5 years.  Now that the clean slate is filled up with new stuff, I've got a whole bunch of random songs to share (in addition to some songs I just haven't been able to get out of my head for a while).

Sylvan Esso - "Uncatena"

Amelia Meath's innocent, folksy vocals laid over infectious beats

Hiss Golden Messenger - "Mahogany Dread"

Classic American roots rock... done right.

Alt-J - "Nara"

Off their newly released EP, "This is All Yours".  If you're short on time, just start the video at 2:55.  Enough said.

FKA Twigs - "Two Weeks"

Listened to this for the first time while on a plane, looking out the window as we soared back and forth between massive cloud formations.  The chorus fit the setting to a tee.

Marissa Nadler - "Drive"

This checks off all of my typical boxes:  sad, haunting lyrics, pedal steel, angelic harmonies... super emo.

Song of the Day: "Advanced Falconry" by Mutual Benefit

Lush & lovely.  No surprise I'm enjoying his stuff, you can really hear the Sufjan influence in the banjo & strings.

Song of the Day: "Matilda" by Alt-J

Was blasting this song in my car while running errands today... Alt-J is a quirky U.K. based band that has gained a bit of a following here in the states as well.

Alt-J

This track is off their 2012 album, An Awesome Wave.  The video's nothing to write home about, but the song is.

The War on Drugs - "Lost in the Dream"

What a brilliant, brilliant album.  The War on Drugs, with lead singer Adam Granduciel, channels all the best parts of 80's rock to create a near-flawless LP that takes the listener on a journey.  

The War on Drugs

It's easy to hear the influence of Springsteen, Hornsby, and Dylan in his songs.  The songs are abound with hazy guitar riffs, saxophone swells, strong piano chords and raw vocals.  It's an infectious rock album which will appeal to generations of music fans (i.e., both us and our Dads).

Also helping their cause:  they're fantastic live.  Watch "Red Eyes" from their live set at KEXP below:

And listen to the 5th track on the album, "Disappearing," below:

Song of the Day: "Visitor" by Hundred Waters

Hundred Waters is a folk/electronic group based in Florida.  I found them randomly clicking around on Spotify the other day, and have since been loving this track.

Band:  Hundred Waters
Song:  Visitor
Best Part of the Track:  The flute overlay at 2 minutes in.