Playlist #49

1. Shadow - Wild Nothing
2. Midnight Song - Wild Nothing
3. Only Heather - Wild Nothing
4. Disappear Always - Wild Nothing
5. The Blue Dress - Wild Nothing
6. BEACH FOSSILS [Pretty much everything they've done so far (Beach Fossils, What a Pleasure EP, Clash the Truth). I found out about them through DIIV's (thanks, Kevin for recommending these guys) Wikipedia page, and I'm absolutely glad that I did. They're not out-of-this-world amazing or anything of the sort, but I haven't been able to stop listening to them for the past few days. They have a fairly consistent sound; they're somewhat like a dream pop version of The Drums. They also remind me of post-punk/New Wave bands like The Wake (in fact, they've released a cover of "Plastic Flowers") and Orange Juice as well. Standout tracks include: "Calyer", "Generational Synthetic", and "In Vertigo" (which features Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead; one of my absolute favorite vocalists of any genre, all mesmerizin' and shit). Overall, mellow and catchy, for the lack of better terms.
7. The SinKing - Crystal Stilts
8. Verdant Gaze - Crystal Stilts
9. Departure - Crystal Stilts (Once again, shout out to Kevin for showing me this song. After hearing it, I was hoping for the rest of the album to be an Unknown Pleasures Jr. But to my dismay, it wasn't quite that. Still worth a listen though. It's more post-punk as opposed to post-punk revival, which you wouldn't expect in this decade, so that's refreshing.)
10. Oshin - DIIV (entire album) (Pretty similar to Beach Fossils, which makes sense considering that the dude who started DIIV is also a Beach Fossils guitarist. A little more dream pop than Beach fossils, however.)
11. Seventeen - Youth Lagoon [Found out about Youth Lagoon after watching the video for Inuition's "Imagining" and learning where the song's sample came from (great, heartfelt song by the way). Youth Lagoon's music is minimalist, hypnotic, and has an ethereal quality to it. In other words, his music visualized is some hipster vagabond dude exploring the forest, washing his face in the river, and pondering about life and metaphysics and shit.)
12. Cannons - Youth Lagoon
13. only tomorrow - My Bloody Valentine [Loveless is one of my favorite albums and I was excited when they dropped this album out of the blue (which is funny, because the album cover is blue...lol?), 22 years after Loveless. Being that the many comedians and Twitter personalities that I follow are like 30's+, my feed went crazy when it dropped because these people have actually waited for a very long time, so I can't even imagine their excitement. Anyway, I was very happy to hear that they've pretty much kept absolutely true to their sound. Shoegazey as fuck since '88.)
14. who sees you - My Bloody Valentine
15. if i am - My Bloody Valentine
16. Fastlane - The Internet
17. Resurrection (DJ Honda Remix) - Common
18. Traveling Man - Mos Def & DJ Honda

Playlist #48

1. Gold Soul Theory - The Underachievers
2. Silent Song - Daniel Rossen (A great album by one of the Grizzly Bear vocalists. Such a pleasant surprise to find this shortly after listening to the amazing Shields.)
3. Return to Form - Daniel Rossen
4. Golden Mile - Daniel Rossen
5. Say That - Toro Y Moi
6. Cola - Toro Y Moi
7. High Living - Toro Y Moi
8. Nissim - The Gaslamp Killer (Finally had the chance to check out The Low End Theory, but this dude wasn't there...)
9. Ancora Qui - Elisa Toffoli (Off of the Django Unchained soundtrack.)
10. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (cover) - Kendra Morris
11. Frontin' (9th Wonder Remix)- The Neptunes Ft. Jay-Z
12. The High Road - Broken Bells
13. Mongrel Heart - Broken Bells
14. The Mall & Misery - Broken Bells
15. Description of a Fool [Groove Armada's Acoustic Mix] - A Tribe Called Quest
16. Unorthodox - Joey Bada$$
17. That's That - DOOM
18. The Sound is God - Exile
19. Misty - Johnny Mathis
20. The Moon of Manakoora - Les Paul & Mary Ford
21. Now I'm a Fool - Eagles of Death Metal
22. Girl From the North Country (Johnny Cash version) - Bob Dylan
23. Maria - The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Playlist #47 (Happy NYE!)

1. Hollis - Machinedrum
2. From The Greatest Origins - Sweet Valley (Wavves' Nathan Williams and his brother are back with Jenova, their second Sweet Valley release. It's just as good, if not better, than the first. It's free on their Bandcamp, I think. Thanks to Damaris for posting this on Tumblr!)
3. The Alternate Earth - Sweet Valley
4. Hurricane - Sweet Valley
5. Wide Eyes - Local Natives
6. Cards and Quarters - Local Natives
7. Breakers - Local Natives
8. Sorry For The Delay - Grizzly Bear (Horn of Plenty-like Grizzly Bear, in that it's mostly acoustic, lo-fi, and pretty much Ed Droste solo material.)
9. Repeating The Circle - Ceremony (Some good post-punk from the modern era; similar to pre-Unknown Pleasures Joy Division when they were a little less dark. Also reminiscent of Devo's stuff.)
10. Brace Yourself - Ceremony
11. Nosebleed - Ceremony
12.  Quarantine - Ceremony
13. Motion Picture Soundtrack - Radiohead (One of the greatest Radiohead songs ever. The Kid A version and the '95 acoustic version both. Just...damn.)
14. Khangregation - Soul Khan (The token hip hop song on this playlist. Khan used to be a battle rapper and his wordplay was off the charts. This definitely holds true in the songs I've heard from him. Oh, and a Tobias Funke reference is always a plus.)

Playlist #46

Just realized the predominance of electronic/hip hop music in this playlist, with the exception of a token post rock song. Well, enjoy! And Merry Christmas Eve, to all religious and secular folk alike.

1. Default - Atoms for Peace (Can't wait for the album!!)
2. So Many Details - Toro Y Moi
3. Getting There - Flying Lotus Ft. Niki Randa
4. Heave(n) - Flying Lotus
5. me Yesterday//Corded - Flying Lotus
6. Immaculation - Captain Murphy Ft. Azizi Gibson & Jeremiah Jae
7. The Prisoner - Captain Murphy
8. LVL - A$AP Rocky (Clams Casino beats are just too damn good.)
9. Phoenix - A$AP Rocky (Likewise for Dangermouse.)
10. Suddenly - A$AP Rocky
11. Run or Fly - Pro Era (R.I.P. to Capital Steez who passed away earlier today. Dude was younger than me, damn.)
12. F A Rap Critic - Pro Era
13. Bun N Cheese - Pro Era
14. Little Pleasures - Tokimonsta Ft. Gavin Turek
15. Darkest (Dim) - Tokimonsta Ft. Gavin Turek
16. Day Job - Tokimonsta
17. The Keeper - Bonobo Ft. Andreya Triana
18. Cream Soda (Pt. 2) - Machinedrum
19. Icya - Machinedrum
20. Countchocula - Machinedrum
21. Def In It - Machinedrum
22. Uptown - Machinedrum
23. Realization - Machinedrum
24. Kids World - Machinedrum
25. We Drift Like Worried Fire - Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Playlist #45

WINTER BREAK HAS BEGUN!!! Really looking forward to this one. But without further ado...

1. In My Continental - Atmosphere
2. Michael A Grammar - Broadcast
3. Transmission (Joy Division cover) - Low (A slowcore cover of a fast-paced JD song; great in an entirely different way)
4. In Limbo - Radiohead
5. Arise, Awake - Paul Banks
6. Streetwalker - Delta Spirit
7. Natural Anthem - The Postal Service [Heard this on KUCR and it took me back to high school. Revisited this album, but turns out that this is the only song I still like. Someone should capitalize on the indie breakcore (MY TERM DONT STEEL) sound that this song has going on.]
8. Last Post on the Bugle - The Libertines
9. Everything Toro y Moi. So bummed that I hadn't given his stuff a listen any earlier, but so not bummed because his music is so damn good. So far I have his 2 main albums, Body Angles, and Freaking Out. If he has any other standout works I might've missed, let me know!
10. Small Time Shot Away - Massive Attack
11. Floating World - Bowery Electric
12. I Quit Girls - Japandroids (I think 50% of their appeal is the cool-ass name.)
13. Wet Hair - Japandroids
14. Heart Sweats - Japandroids
15. For Real - Okkervil River
16. A Glow - Okkervil River
17. Movement and Location - Punch Brothers (PROGRESSIVE BLUEGRASS FOO)
18. Who's Feeling Young Now - Punch Brothers
19. Kid A (Radiohead cover) - Punch Brothers (Oh, man. Do they do this song justice.)
20. Patient - Twin Shadow [Dude is making New Wave music in 2012. Or as one might call it...New New Wave (MY TErM DONT STAEL)]
21. Mirror in the Dark - Twin Shadow
22. Lines - Big Boi Ft. A$AP Rocky & Phantogram [Yeah, Big Boi had a number of indie dudes (Wavves, Phantogram, Little Dragon, on his new album so I had to give it a listen.]
23. Shoes for Running - Big Boi Ft. B.O.B. & Wavves
24. Descending - Big Boi Ft. Little Dragon (The outro track and also my favorite. It's pretty much a downtempo Little Dragon song with Big Boi saying like 2 sentences at the end.)
25. Breezeblocks - Alt-J (Besides the fact that this guy sounds like Adam Sandler in some parts of the song, a nice tune, nonetheless.)
26. Cold (entire album) - Be Forest (Serendipitously discovered this band as I came across their cover of Japandroid's 'I Quit Girls' on Youtube. They're an indie band from Italy and I've been listening to them non-stop. Sound is a delicate mixture between shoegaze and post-punk, like The Horrors.)
27. Hanged Man - Be Forest (Favorite of their songs so far.)
28. I.O. - Be Forest
29. True Love Will Find You In The End - Daniel Johnston
30. Mighty Morphin Foreskin - Captain Murphy (AKA FLYING LOTUS. AW SHIT, YOUR SECRET IDENTITY HAS BEEN COMPROMISED, MR. LOTUS. Oh, everyone already knew? Nvm :/ Anyway, the whole Duality mixtape is awesome.)

Return from an 8 month hiatus! + Playlist #44

Oh man, so it's been 8 months since my last post on Blogspot and even longer since the last post that wasn't just a playlist. So briefly, this summer wasn't exactly ideal; plans for summer school and internships unfortunately fell through, leaving my unproductive ass at home without much to do. But then again, I moved out of that shittily-managed apartment, a countless number of L.A. trips were made, my brother and I effectively utilized our Universal Studios passes, the Lakers got Dwight, I discovered the amazing UCB Theater, went to Conan again, and MET AUBREY PLAZA. Now, I am back at school, currently obsessed with The Wire and Homeland, well-settled into my new job as an RA, and finals are just next week.

1. Waves - Joey Bada$$
2. DSL (Da Special List) - Joey Bada$$
3. Arrested Development - Kool AD (of Das Racist)
4. Brand New Dance - Das Racist
5. Drift Dive - The Antlers
6. Nothing Ever Happened - Deerhunter
7. Desire Lines - Deerhunter
8. Hazel St. - Deerhunter
9. Phantom Other - Department of Eagles
10. No Name #3 - Elliott Smith
11. Cough Coughing - Menomena
12. Hippies is Punks - Wavves
13. Life Like Weeds - Modest Mouse
14. Fog - Radiohead
15. Aftermath - Tricky
16. Lonerism (entire album) - Tame Impala
17. You Should All Be Murdered - Another Sunny Day
18. Grown Up - Danny Brown
19. Yellow Elevator #2 - The Black Angels
20. Fields - XXYYXX
21. Brainy - The National
22. Corporeal - Broadcast
23. Lights Out - Broadcast
24. Barkpench - Zeroh
25. Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now) - Portugal. The Man