White Arrows

Started to make this post about a band called White Arrows. I couldn't think of anything interesting to say about them and then I read that they were going to be famous because Justin Timberlake tweeted about them and now I still can't think of anything interesting to say about them. I guess I'd be much less ambivalent if Justin Timberlake didn't treat every moment of his life like he was in a talent show. Sure I've seen him out in a T-Shirt and jeans trying to downplay the celebrity lifestyle but I'd like to see him just once take home a fat girl.

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 White Arrows - Fireworks of the Sea

White Arrows - Get Gone

Well goddamn music, you and I certainly have been apart for some time. I was busy filling myself up with real life things like new friends, new places, true love? and brutal uncompromising soulshattering heartbreak. So of course I obviously have nothing left but the internet, my left arm and my ridiculously good taste in music. Recombining these forces wasn't easy but I've discovered a few choice gems I don't mind sharing.

Gauguin feat. Klee(bra)

"Some Slut I Used to Paint"

Probably just gonna skip all the tracks and artists which have played a role in my life the last uh...ok its been awhile. I do just want to give a mention to Gotye/Kimbra's ubiquitous "Someone that I Used to Know" which is going down in indie rock history, whatever the fuck that is as one of the most incredible songs about the end of destructive relationships and in my life as the song I use as a ringtone whenever my ex calls. Incidentally this is also my favorite sub-genre of indie rock and includes masterpieces such as Band of Horses' "The Funeral" and Stars' "Your Ex-Lover is Dead," a perfect song lyrically, which sums up nearly exactly something I know little about - living through a relationship without regret -

There's one thing I want to say, so I'll be brave
You were what I wanted
I gave what I gave
I'm not sorry I met you
I'm not sorry it's over
I'm not sorry there's nothing to save

Um...yes I think that you've nailed the progression, Torquil and Amy. As of 3am last night, I think I've moved on from step three and am ready to start seriously working on step four. Step five is the real kicker though. I'm gonna need a stack of Playboy bunnies, the Spanish soccer team, a growth spurt and my nine iron to get through that.

 "I'm cold, can I borrow your hat?"

"It's not you're hat. I bought it for you when we went to Martha's Vineyard. Now my ears are cold and I want to w-, will you get your hand off my fucking leg!"

Moving on to the latest and greatest from free music on the interweb. Loved Beach House forever and their newest is wonderful.

"My uncle has an awesome house down on Longboat Key. He's having a big party for the races over Memorial Day and wants us to come."

"Florida in June??? Are you kidding me fratster? I'd rather fuck a lobster. Ugh, these dishes are not washing themselves."

Beach House - "Lazuli"

And here's a new band for me. It kinda hits all the usual high spots for me: Swedish, dancey, and a little melancholy. AND IT'S OBVIOUSLY A BREAKUP AND MOVE ON SONG - I GET IT I'M A PONY WITH ONE TRICK O GOD WHY MUST THE SWEDISH HAVE SUCH A STRANGLEHOLD ON THE MELANCHOLY SONG ECONOMY I DEMAND A FULL INVESTIGATION AS SOON AS I STOP CRYING!!!

Fuck you Sweden, you're ugly and you're selfish and you're cold eight months a year!

I'm sooo sorry Sweden. I take everything back. You are the most beautiful blonde five foot four inch country in the world! I love you and your gently rolling lowlands. I promise you I will never set foot in Norway again. Just give me one more chance!

Niki & the Dove - " Tomorrow"

Your mom!

Hey you're pretty sure your mom is your mom and I'm pretty sure this song is out of control. Out of fucking conterl. Good Christ thank you for rocky music.

Mount Saint Helens Vietnam Band - Albatross Albatross Albatross

Fratster is an artist

Haven't been hearing a lot of good shit lately/always. Went to David Bowie or Byrne or something concert at Radio City and it was really white like...the blackup singers were the only non white folks there. I knew about two songs and pretended to know two or three others. I was lying mainly because I had to justify spending $50 on the ticket and because the 50/50 Sprite/Vodka's told me to.

Hot?

Or Alien?

I've been digging Ellie Goulding and Bombay Bicycle Club. Thats not even new news. More British stuff - dunno why I'm into that scene lately - maybe its cuz the Americans are all experimentally lately and shit and its bugging me out!

That Junior Boys track Parallel Lines from the last post is also turning out to be pretty epic.

Becoming an artist!

Available now for free download!

Also decided to f around with some mixing software and make a few tracks. If this sounds like I spent all of 45 minutes making this song, its because I actually spent 15 minutes and am just really gifted.

Fratster - Morethananhouristoolongtospendmakingasong

Ellie Goulding - Guns + Horses

Bombay Bicycle Club - Cancel on Me

Lazy Bitch

I'm not sure how to phrase this any more delicately, but I've been a bit of a lazy bitch lately. Plus all the love throughout the blogosphere for shitty weird-fi bands like Animal Collective, DumDum Girls/Mayfair Set, Wavves has been depressing. Bonus plus, I've also been having sex on a consistent basis with some chick but she left me to go to Mexico with some other dude which is apparently just the sort of inspiration it takes for me to put together a post here.

Seriously WTF guy

Groakies?

Anyhow there is some good new shit out there, so here are a few of the things that I've heard lately worth listening to.

Fanfarlo

Stupid fucking band name that makes shit that sounds way too much like Arcade Fire and Beirut but is actually phenomenal.

Fanfarlo - "I'm a Pilot"

The Answering Machine

You're so money and you don't even know it.

Ma'am, where do all the high school girls hang out around here?

Another pretty much pathetic attempt at a band name. Name aside, they busted out the hook of the year in this track Cliffer. Their other stuff is really good too.

The Answering Machine - "Cliffer"

Phoenix

I am bizarrely in love with the band Phoenix. Basically, if I had to describe the median 50% percentile mean or whatever of my musical spectrum, I'd put Phoenix right there in my sweet spot. Sense any did that make? Anyhow, looks like they have a new track out and it's wonderful.

Phoenix - "1901"

Junior Boys

Another band that's pretty much in that sweet spot for me. Sometimes they miss, but they never shank, and when they nail it (In the Morning), it makes me wonder how 10,000 years ago, their ancestors didn't manage to crush any organism that I could have possibly descended from. Their new tracks are actually sounding pretty good, with this one being the best.

Junior Boys - "Parallel Lines"

Here we go Magic

This ring is not a metaphor.

This jam was the first real cracker of the year for me. Much more interesting rhythmically than Luke Temple's solo stuff. If not for the aforementioned lazybitchiness, this woulda had a full post a month ago, and I'd have perfect abs.

Here we go Magic - "Tunnelvision"

On the radar (I've been sitting still for too long to write anything more about any more bands): CFCF, The XX, Fever Ray, I Blame Coco, Heartless Bastards, Pains of being Pure at Heart

Animal Collective

I still don't get Animal Collective. I don't get the blogboy fascination. I don't get the critical darlingness. I'm more likely to successfully explain string theory to a retarded nine year old Chinese than make any sense of the common obsession with AC.

Rejected album art 1:

Or wait: I have one idea. Have you ever had that feeling that like you're lost and out of touch with shit and can't make sense of life and you tried reading Camus and Judy Blume and Harper's and tripping acid and smoking pot and searching for some experience that felt real or something like there was some piece of information out there that if you could just get your hands on it that maybe then things would all work out?

There is no book out there that everyone else is reading that makes them get it. There is no drug. There is no band. Animal Collective is not the second coming of jack shit. Their music sucks and I can't imagine a single working thinking person out there hearing AC and having any other thought than "What the fuck was that?"

I read the unreadable Pitchfork review and it's not that I disagree or think it to be bad writing or anything but I don't see how anyone who has ever read less than 100,000 words of music criticism could have made it through a paragraph. I didn't just pull that number out of my ass. Indie music has this stupid barrier to entry that punk and metal and rap and electronic and... don't have.

Lower it? Well maybe not, but let's save our exaltations for something that everyone can appreciate.

I guess that's all I really got.

Kanye

Someone stopped Kanye from chewing on his lo-fi vocoder for just long enough to record one really good jam. I dunno if I really really like this song or if I'm just so shocked that it's Kanye doing R & B really well that I think it's a really good song. Really.

"La la la Luke

I am your faaaaa-ther."

Kanye West - Streetlights