The Colourist (Self-Titled)

There are moments where I wonder if I have equal passion for both folk and pop. These moments, usually prompted by a brilliant or catchy pop release, are fleeting. Pop over folk? Folk over pop? In the end, it doesn't matter. I, luckily, do not have to sell my soul out to either genre. But yet, the reason folk does capture a large part of my soul is the solid, passionate, thoughtful music the artists release. I can listen to a folk album and have a general expectation the album will be, for the most part, exceptional. I'm often not disappointed, even with such high expectations.

I have the opposite hopes for indie pop albums. I generally expect one fantastic song, that I can stream over and over again, until it is beaten to death by mainstream radio play and friends roll their eyes at me when I "act all hipster" about it. There is nothing rewarding for me when I am passionate about pop.

The Colourist is my current exception.

Their debut, self-titled album, tricks my brain into believing it's summer (it's not), believing it's warm enough to have my sunroof open (no, not really), and believing my morning and/or evening commutes are not terrible (they are). I'm not sure what sort of magical land my brain is now a citizen of, but I can't get enough of this album and the emotions it forces me to feel.

A few weeks ago, I saw a "hipster bro" on U Street carrying a vinyl copy of the album. I hadn't listened to it yet, but I had an idea of what to expect, based on what "hipster bros" skew towards. As far as pop goes, there's nothing new about The Colourist. I may be harsh, but their indie-pop, teetering on electronica, sound is not profound or revolutionary.

Their execution of this album, however, is.

Grouplove is an obsession people apparently have. As in, the band selling out three nights at 9:30 Club actually happened? Tongue Tied was everyone's anthem of Summer 2011, 2012 or 2013, depending on the platform they used for musical discovery. It's arguably one of the greatest songs of this decade, or even the millennium. But, the rest of Grouplove's work? It falls entirely flat on its own and especially in comparison to Tongue Tied. I'm not sure how the success of one song carries this band to such fame and every time I contemplate the phenomenon, I am fascinated.

I'm picking on Grouplove but the indie-pop circuit is full of albums consisting of one song, inspirational enough to be escalated to the mainstream airwaves, and mediocrity otherwise. Off the top of my head, I can think of the following that are guilty of this cookie-cutter formula: The Naked and Famous, Atlas Genius, Gold Fields, The Neighborhood, and Wild Cub, with the recent exceptions being CHVRCHES, Foster the People and Bastille.

Give The Colourist three months. In three months, during the height of summer, if this band isn't on the playlists for rooftop happy hours, beach trips, or various other activities, I will feel personally betrayed and once again, let down by the pop genre. The Colourist's self-titled is an anomaly that deserves to be worshiped by hipster bros, music snobs and tweens alike.

Little Games, the first track and first single, may be the Tongue Tied of Summer 2014, 2015 and 2016. It's about as flirty but with a more challenging dynamic, that will rouse those in "it's complicated" scenarios. "Am I your hit and run?" is the best one-phrase summation of what this song is trying to evoke.

Wishing Wells should be the mantra of this city for the next few months, "I'm sick of hearing what if, what if, just follow what you feel". At this point, at least 80% of the city has heard this sentiment, as I routinely belt the hook while driving through the streets of downtown (with my sunroof open, of course).

A few songs in and I figured the descent into mediocrity would begin. However, We Won't Go Home and Yes Yes bring their own unique jams to the table and could equally stand out as young adult anthems. We Won't Go Home is such a fantastic example of how both lead vocalists, Adam Castilla and Maya Tuttle, provoke each other to shine. In most bands with female and male lead vocalists, I feel one normally stands out over the other and that doesn't happen here. Yes Yes, as poppy and trite as it sounds, offers this piece of strikingly insightful wisdom: "you've been down for days and days but searching for another won't fix a thing." It's a reminder of where I've been lately and I can't help but agree wholeheartedly.

After five upbeat songs, Stray Away showcases the style range of Castilla and Tuttle. An acoustic offering, with soothing harmonies and bittersweet lyrics, it's the right time to take a break and come down from the high of the first half.

The ninth track, Fix This is the peak of not just The Colourist but of all indie pop to be released this year. The drama, the desperation and the determination are intrinsically woven with a cheery sound but remain obvious. The song is another example of The Colourist singing to lessons needing to be learned in our young adult years, "I thought love was a fight, you could tear each other down, then come back to life. I guess I don't always live." As much as Tuttle almost gives up, she's a rock in the chorus, stubbornly refusing to let her love go. If I royally fuck things up with my boyfriend, this song will be an olive branch - it's that fitting and that genuine.

Put The Fire Out does not work as an ending song, if only because I'm pumped up enough to expect more. On the upside, I can always re-stream the album and often find myself doing just that.

Listen to The Colourist's self-titled album on Spotify and purchase it on Amazon. A few tracks from the album are also available on Soundcloud.

[Guest Post] Authenticity of Modern Pop Music - Words by Issac Purton of EmpireXL

I know things have been quiet lately. I'm currently in Colombia taking a much needed trip away from DC life. As much as I love this city, the pressure to escape has been escalating. Because I'll be gone for a week and work has kept me extra busy, I've reached out to a few friends to see if they'd like to guest post here. 

My undergrad friend and former roommate, Issac Purton, was happy to oblige. His blog, EmpireXL, is an exploration of music and creativity. His guest post is a critical and clever reflection of the authenticity of modern pop and the implications on music now and in the future. Enjoy! 

***

If there’s a problem with modern pop (and that’s a big if, mind you) it’s not that no one writes their own songs anymore. The idea of authenticity, and the lack thereof, gets batted around by people in thick-framed eyeglasses as the determinant of what makes a song great. One’s experiences, the theory goes, fuels one’s writing, and makes the final product superior by virtue of it being ‘real’. This is why people dismissed Lana Del Rey when they found out her name was Elizabeth Grant, and why people, faces hazed by smoke, still listen to Robert Johnson’s 31 songs on vinyl. This ignores, of course, the fact that Ms. Grant probably wrote more of her material than Mr. Johnson did.

Authenticity is an artifact of delivery, not origin. Presidents aren’t hailed as great orators because of how well they write their speeches; I don’t think a single President in the last half-century has written a single word they’ve spoken in front of an audience. Similarly, the singers we respect most, Elvis & Sinatra, for example, never wrote a word or note of their own material. Hell, Paul Anka, of all people, is the one who wrote “My Way”, a song that people seem to hold as Sinatra’s spoken motto.

Most pop songs are written with the universal in mind. This is why so many of them revolve around love, be it young, puppy, or on sight: it’s a fair bet that everyone has been in love at least once, and that’s exactly who the target audience of pop music is: everyone. Pop music, in the corporate sense, is designed to appeal to the broadest group of people possible, which is why artifacts of music that organically (more-or-less) gained popularity get assimilated into it. It’s important to remember that Auto-Tune, as an audible effect, only got popular because an engineer screwed up the effects on a Cher song.

The thing about music being written about universals like love (or death/murder (country), heartbreak (blues, jazz), depression (blues), etc, etc) is that you don’t need to have written it to relate to and express it. Frank Sinatra didn’t need to write a whole album’s worth of songs about being miserable: instead, he could draw from a whole catalog of standards to construct the definitive heartbreak album, In The Wee Small Hours (an album beloved by Tom Waits, a hipster idol if there ever was one). The question of who wrote a song like “What Is This Thing Called Love?” is an issue for trivia enthusiasts and accountants only; it has no relevance whatsoever on the quality of the piece itself.

This applies to music in a broader sense as well. If a song is truly well written and able to communicate its emotion or sensation of choice, it follows that someone else can pick it up and make it their own. The content of the song can trump the performer (as is often the case with “Hallelujah”, which sounds beautiful in almost any context) or the performer can change a song completely, and bring something new out of it. A performer can elevate a song, and a song can elevate the performer. This doesn’t have anything to do with authenticity: it has to do with what’s written and who’s speaking.

My go to for this point is to look at the music of The Band. I can’t stand most of their performances (due mainly to the obnoxious production), but performances like this one prove that there’s something there, beyond the production and, maybe, even the performance itself. A song can have a life of its own, and in that context it doesn’t matter what its origin was, or whether the original writer was heartbroken, half-in-the-bag, bleeding out from the chest, or whatever. What matters is what’s written.

In the consideration of modern pop, the problem is not that modern stars aren’t writing their own material, or even that they aren’t making it their own. Quite simply, it’s that the singers aren’t really the focus any more. They’re the performers, sure, but the publicity that surrounds them is usually more significant than their concerts. The real stars these days are the producers. They’re the core musicians, and they’re the source of the main divide between singer and audience in modern pop: Auto-Tune.

Auto-Tune was the unstated dream of every producer, manager, and engineer in the world before its invention, and now that it exists you’ll never hear a truly human voice in the Pop Top 10 ever again. The brilliant producers labels have at their disposal have achieved the dream of turning even the human voice into a synthesizable instrument, something that doesn’t rely on the caprice of a performer and whether they’re on the right combination of uppers and downers for the day. It’s a fantasy world where the singer only has to be in the studio for half-an-hour, at most, before the work of finalizing one’s masterpiece can begin. If vocoders weren’t so comical I’m sure labels would have washed their hands of pop stars decades ago (Casablanca probably tried).

A lack of authenticity, of a certain tragic origin story, isn’t the problem with modern pop. That’s been the state of affairs since pop music got its start in the 1950s and things were doing just fine. The problem we’re facing now is a lack of humanity, where the worst part of electronica (the vocals) got mixed with hip-hop’s emphasis on the producer/DJ as a major part of a performance.

This is not to say that Auto-Tune can’t be used well; it can, and can even, like a guitar pedal, express emotion in a way that’s unfamiliar and exciting. As an audible effect it’s no more horrific than something like ADT. The problem is when it’s used to smooth a vocal performance into an uncanny territory that’s almost, but not quite, entirely inhuman. The problem is when it gets used in country music, basically.

This is, of course, assuming there’s a problem with modern pop music at all. It’s not like previous decades of music didn’t see plenty of chaff rise into the Top 10 of the charts. The difference between then and now, quite possibly, is simple perspective. The bad music was forgotten, and the good lived forever. The same will likely be true 20 years from now, with the mediocre being cast into the margins of history and the brilliant living on in our classic rock radio stations (or Spotify playlists, whatever).

Or maybe the next wave of music will be so bizarrely alien to us that we’ll rush to Miley Cyrus’s side, apology in hand and tears in our eyes. If you thought Imagine Dragons was irritating, imagine what your children will be showing you.

Do The Right Thing by AgesandAges and Dirty Flag by Arkomo

What is your ideal concert ticket? I must admit, I cannot be more excited for Lady Lamb the Beekeeper opening for Typhoon in March. Last year I promised myself I would see Lady Lamb in concert if she ever swung by DC, but with Typhoon, one of my favorite bands? I am crawling in my skin with anticipation. While DC often gets great lineups, the Pacific Northwest is a mecca of amazing bands who all seem so supportive of each other. It's common for me to writhe in envy when I see some of the shows gracing Seattle's presence. Modern Kin with Radiation City? Cataldo with Hey Marseilles? I wish.

Portland's AgesandAges is following up 2011's Alright You Restless, with a new album, Divisionary, set to release on March 25th. I'm currently stuck on their current single, Do The Right Thing. While I found the song almost obnoxiously preachy upon first listen, I decided to listen again. For some reason, this song has a knack for hitting the right heartstrings and cultivating earworms. There's a simple lesson the song is trying to convey: "do the right thing, do it all the time, make yourself right, never mind them, don't you know you're not the only one suffering." The lyrics are a mantra that will not leave my mind. With a large-band, pop-folk sound, that anyone could find easy to listen to, in addition to the positive moral taught, I vote everyone streams this track and uses it as inspiration in their day to day lives.

AgesandAges is heading up north to Seattle on January 19th to play with Typhoon and on February 28th for an album release show. The opening act for the album release show is Arkomo, whose track Dirty Flag, is another heavily played song in my current rotation. See, Seattle really does get the best power lineups.

Dirty Flag is experimental without being hard to connect to. While not normally my style of music, delicate harmonies, soft beats and too many techniques to count keep the song fresh and unique. Picturing a flag, slightly dampened with age, waving in the air, sometimes smoothly, sometimes jagged, could be thought of as an accurate visual description. Arkomo is a solo project from Sam Anderson, who is the cellist in Hey Marseilles, among other Seattle area  music projects. Obviously, Anderson has a wide range of talent and it's great to hear something so different.

Listen to Do They Right Thing on Soundcloud and Dirty Flag on Soundcloud or Bandcamp. If you're in the Seattle area, catch the two at their show on February 28th at BARBOZA.
 

This Is The River by Fair Oaks

I am so over the Polar Vortex. Temperatures in the teens are far too cold for this mild-weather-loving Seattle girl to handle. Hell, I'd almost take back DC Summer of 2012, with it's one-hundred-degrees, can't walk two blocks outside without keeling over, miserable, heat and humidity. Can spring be here already? This weekend was an unfair tease, especially while being sick inside.

Currently, I'm away from the frigidness with a cup of coffee and the album, This Is The River by Fair Oaks. Recently released in mid-January, this was an undertaking that was three years in the making and by golly does it sound that way. Taking inspiration from the Mississippi River, This Is The River, hinges the gap between the seasons and is a perfect segway into the spring. I can't help but reminiscence about past warmer weather adventures too: patio brunches, street festivals, outdoor markets, bookstore hops, and picnics. Add in a little vintage charm and I've done as good as I can describing the appeal of this album.

With a twee pop folk sound, accompanied by the occasional trumpet and french horn, led by dueling male and female vocals, the best two comparisons to Fair Oaks I could offer up would be Del Water Gap or Aiden Knight. However, there's a little bit of Radiation City with the retro glam, some Typhoon when I hear the trumpet blare, The Research when songs are especially twee and a lot of other folk and/or alternative influences that strike me at short, random instances.  I haven't enjoyed an album so multidimensional and so full of pleasant surprises in a long time.

The album starts out with a rolling folk sound, with See What the Sun Gave. If there's anything that can persevere through the cold, this song is likely it. The piano and harmonies from both the male and female vocalists, create the sunny feeling one would find from a Slow Club track. Coming Through gives off a much more old-time blues vibe at first but flows into lush harmonies and trumpet backings. This Is The River (I, II, III) is seven minutes long and is an enchanting love letter to the Mississippi.

Duluth (Pull Me Into Your Soul) and Omaha (You Give Me The Feelings), are also love letters to their respective midwest cities. With Omaha, there's this light happiness that reminds me of some of Cataldo's work on Prison Boxing, a very high praise in my book. I like the comparisons the lyrics put forth: Omaha gives the feelings to help get along but alcohol kicks in the shins and chases down the hall. What are they saying? Is Omaha a better drug for releasing that carefree attitude that comes with drinking or does Omaha inspire the foolish drunken tendencies in the first place? I may never know but I always smile (and dance a bit) when I play this track.

Listen to This Is The River on bandcamp and while you're there, purchase the album. For a hard copy, the album is available in the band's store. While it is early on in the year, I already have my first contender for album of the year.
 

[Local] Black Checker, Grand Piano and The Fed @ The Wonderland Ballroom

Two big goals this year: discover more local music and see more local shows. While I am forever on the hunt for the DC folk scene (which does, absolutely, exist), the district is home to many fantastic bands that fall way outside of this genre. In a city known for gogo but with a large punk rock and dance pop presence, I would be missing out if I limited my love for local music to just the folk bands.

Bar shows are criminally underrated as activities within my circle of friends. Occasionally, I can rally the troops and get enough people out to support great bands playing our usual haunts. Solly's, Wonderland, Looking Glass Lounge and The Pinch are all favorites of ours, yet we rarely partake in the shows that grace these venues' stages.

Last Thursday, I gathered up a crowd of friends to see Black Checker, Grand Piano and The Fed put on a no-cover show at Wonderland. With tacos before at El Chucho, the night felt like a celebration of what makes our neighborhood area such a great place to live.

The Fed opened first. While I've never personally been to one of their shows, they seem to be an institution around here, playing shows in Ward 1 on a regular basis. Described as a blend between blues and punk rock, their sound is one anyone could really appreciate.

Grand Piano, a rock and roll band with many influences, played next. The Pittsburgh band killed it on stage, as all of a sudden the crowd at Wonderland was dancing along to their sax-heavy tracks. This band sort of caught us off guard too. Were they heading in a ska direction? Earlier on in the set, we said no but as the songs continued, we definitely felt a ska vibe. In my opinion, that is never a bad thing. Even without heavy vocals, there was an endearing distinction between their short songs. A few songs were played off of their latest Bug EP, including Army Ants, Lighting Bug and Lady Bug that really charmed the group over. At this point in the night, I felt like I had won. My friends were enjoying the music and there was hope bar shows could be a regular activity for us.

Of course, the band I was anticipating the most was Black Checker, a local pop punk rock outfit. Their EP, Fast, released during the end of 2013, was streamed many times while I was hiding out in rural Virginia for work. In my opinion, there's nothing quite like a little local music to ease the homesickness and this show reminded me why I love being in DC so much on the weeknights. Despite being the last band on the ticket, at 11PM on a weeknight, the crowd was still flush with excitement and engagement. Black Checker played most (if not all) of the EP, including my favorite track, Bagel Girl.

After the show, this thought still remains: will we ever know which local bagel shop barista inspired Bagel Girl? I don't know. If we're looking at quirky bagel shops in the area, my guess would be a girl from So's Your Mom, in Adams Morgan.

All in all, this (coupled with a few whiskey sours) was a good way to spend a Thursday night in this city. I'm looking forward to hopefully catching Black Checker again at The Velvet Lounge sometime in March and just attending more local shows in general.

Coffee by Sylvan Esso

We've made it to Friday afternoon. This week was only a little bit hectic. The DC area experienced the closest thing to a real snowstorm in years. With slushy streets and frozen temperatures well in the single-digits, the Polar Vortex 2.0. came, saw and conquered. I went stir-crazy working from home two days in a row and came back to the office to deliver an hour long presentation (my first!). Last night was a late night with friends. It's 1:45PM on Friday and I can finally breathe this week.

While I'm tempted to walk over to Starbucks for a 2PM coffee fix, I'm holding steady for now and playing Sylvan Esso on repeat.

Where have we heard Sylvan Esso before? In September the due opened for Volcano Choir where I was immediately enamored and vowed to catch them again if they ever headlined. With lush vocals and catchy dance beats, Hey Mami and Play It Right were streamed to the point of wear. Sadly, up until now, these two songs and their concert sets were about the only material coming forth. I bought tickets to see them at DC9 on Tuesday -- where/when else would I hear more of their music?

Today is a great day, as a new track, Coffee, was released yesterday. Coffee is more mellow than Hey Mami or Play It Right but that's not a bad thing. In fact, I'm relieved that the band can execute perfect dance anthems and more quiet pop. I can't help but to notice and love the percussion here - especially how much the xylophone stands out.

"Get up, get down" is repetitive. It's almost as if the entire song is composed of just that line. Coffee, as a substance, does bring us up until we reach the epitome of a mid-day high and subsequently crash hard. Coffee, as the song, is gentle. The more I listen, the better I feel but it's a very gradual climb.

Listen to Coffee on bandcamp. If you're in the DC area, I highly reccomend attending their show at DC9 on Tuesday, with local artist, PLOY. Come say hi. It's going to be a great time.

Mix: The World Takes (Winter 2014)

(jumping on the seasonal playlist bandwagon)

Winter is here. I'm shivering with every step away from my apartment building door and huddling indoors as much as I can. There's no sign of summer anywhere, even if we were blessed with those two seventy degree days last week. I'm ready for the hibernation. Give me cuddling and netflix over heading out to the bars any night now. 

This season will pass quickly. There's my looming trip to Colombia on the horizon and pushing through the last few weeks of an out-of-town work project. With any luck, Spring will be here upon our arrival back from abroad. I'm not saying I want Winter to come and go, but it's by far my least favorite season. 

This mix flows well. I'm no longer pretending that songs fit together on a mix - these ones do. The artists represented here are both new and old loves. The cover art I whipped up is from a photo I took on the Amtrak up to Boston. I found the Lower Trenton Bridge to be intriguing and beautiful in its own way. 

1. City By The Sea - Fort Frances
2. Step Out - Jose Gonzalez 
3. If This Is Your Love - Andrew Austin
4. Feel For Me - Foy Vance
5. Will It Grow - Jakob Dylan
6. She Wants to Know - Half Moon Run
7. Cuckoo Song - A Silent Film
8. Holding On For Life - Broken Bells
9. Bad Kingdom - Moderat
10. Drop the Game - Flume, Chet Faker
11. You As You Were - Shearwater
12. Two Winters - Wyatt Overman
13. The Line - The Eastern Sea
14. Mask - Folly and the Hunter
15. Taft - Donovan Woods
16. Setting Our Tables - The Last Bison

Spotify 

In Now And Then by Cataldo

CATALDO – LP4 COMING 2014 from Tyler Kalberg on Vimeo.

Eric Anderson, the multi-instrumentalist and lyricist behind Cataldo, knows how to craft albums with insanely brilliant songs about the trials and tribulations of life and love. Prison Boxing, released in 2011, features nine tracks with notions of hopeless romanticism, clever metaphors, and vivid imagery that has listeners both aspiring to find magic and staying realistic. I had this album on repeat for most of the year.

It was announced a few months ago that we'd see another album from Cataldo, Gilded Oldies, in the new year. I'm already anticipating this album to be one of my favorites of 2014. Unfortunately, March 4 is still two months away.

To hold us over, MAGNET Magazine premiered a track off of the album. In Now And Then stays true to Cataldo's distinct style and sound, yet also feels more mature. There's the opening piano and drum bit with a lush rhythm that has me tapping and nodding along. The trumpets are a treat that build up to the best instrumental portions presented in these three minutes. Lyrically, there's not as much to offer but I don't feel as if I'm missing out. "I'll be in now and then" continues with Anderson's apparent tradition of vague lyrics that are likely attributable to failed relationships. These emotions aren't trivial ones. "I'll be in now and then" could represent that sinking feeling in my stomach as I wander the streets of my neighborhood, anticipating the dreaded moment where I'll see an ex-boyfriend. Replace "Rebecca, Rebecca, Rebecca" with the name of any ex-boyfriend or girlfriend and this song just became easy to relate to.

Listen to In Now And Then over on MAGNET Magazine's online site. Join me as I count down the days until Gilded Oldies is released.

The Songs of 2013

I want to thank this year for being the year that threw me back into music. When I reflect upon how I became invested in music in the first place, 2006 and 2008 have always been the defining years. I need to add 2013 to that list.

While I've been sharing my favorite songs and albums that were released in 2013, I have a few honorable mentions from prior years that I feel obligated to mention: A New Kind of House EP by Typhoon; The Match by The Eastern Sea; everything Lord Huron; So Far We Are by The French Kicks; The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit; Valley Maker's Self Titled album; Prison Boxing by Cataldo; all of Justin Vernon's prior projects, Counting Sheep by The Crane Wives and Through The Deep, Dark Valley by The Oh Hello's. As always, Rilo Kiley and The Format will always be significant, no matter the year.

Back to the present, this year is the year. Bastille's Pompeii was the most played song, according to my last.fm account. I still can't get sick of it, despite the radio play. r/comeonandslam reminded me that regardless of my folk or music-snobbery leanings, sometimes one of my favorite songs will end up being a Space Jam/ Radioactive mash-up. Whatever. Jumper Cables by Widower, complete with bloodsugar references, was written about me (or, in reality, a girl who could be my best friend). I rarely have a song fit me to a tee that well. When I first heard Hannah Hunt, courtesy of Vampire Weekend, I actually cried.

Pop and mainstream music were also constants and I'm not ashamed. I loved the new Gavin DeGraw singles and drove four hours to my alma mater to see him in concert back in February. J. Cole's Crooked Smile brought back TLC with a bang. I devoured the new Ron Pope song and fully intend to see his show at DC9, even though I'll be surrounded by teenage girls. I am sort of ashamed over having Pitbull and Ke$ha's Timber on this list but I can't stop dancing in my car when I hear it on the radio. 

If I could, I would add every song released this year from Typhoon, Valley Maker, Folly and The Hunter, Volcano Choir, Hey Marseilles and Pickwick to this list. Did I just give away my top 6 albums? Yes.

I tried narrowing this down to just one-hundred and I couldn't make it happen. There's no order - throw these on shuffle and enjoy the ride.

Round I:

Opportunist by Miyazaki

Love Lost by Roo and the Howl**
Gallup, MN by The Shouting Matches
Chicago by Fort Frances**
Best I Ever Had by Gavin DeGraw
Braving the Wind by The Sun Kite
Prom Night by Anamanaguchi
Moonless by Blatant Neon Ion**
Watch for Deer at Dawn by Folly and the Hunter
Well, You Left by Rilo Kiley
Foreign Bodies by Radiation City
Radioactive Slam by MuhLurs**
I Dreamt Blues by Vikesh Kapoor
Something to Get You By by Genders
Somebody to Love by Valerie June
Hannah Hunt by Vampire Weekend (<3)
Halls of Columbia by Pickwick
Burn by Ellie Goulding
If I Could Change Your Mind by HAIM
The Mission by Valley Maker**
Song For Zula by Phosphorescent
Tiff (feat. Justin Vernon) by POLIÇA
Casino (Bad Things) by Houndmouth
Comrade by Volcano Choir
Royals by Lorde
Bird Balloons by Lady Lamb the Beekeeper
Thinking About You by Typhoon
Step Out by Jose Gonzalez
Change by Churchill
Bad Kingdom by Moderat
Hurricane by MS MR
Young Fathers by Typhoon
I Have Been Lost by The Petticoat Tearoom

Round II
City By The Sea by Fort Frances
Byegone by Volcano Choir
I Remember You by Rilo Kiley
100 Years by Typhoon
East Coast Girl by Cayucas
Ivory Black by Seryn
Brother by Swear and Shake
Chain My Name by POLIÇA
Inside Out by Andrew Austin
Still by Daughter
Bang by Elin Ruth
The Round by Pickwick
Only Time by Valley Maker**
Tall Tall Shadow by Basia Balut
When We Fall by Timshel
Good Times by The Changing Colors
Everlasting Arms by Vampire Weekend
Promise of Lakes by Luray
Stay Awake by Ellie Goulding, Madeon
Dead Man's Dance by Bradford Loomis
Science/Visions by CHVRCHES
Jumper Cable by Widower
Blankets by Matthew Fowler
Modern Jesus by Portugal. The Man
Hey Stranger by Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers
Move by Mausi
A Clear Mind, A Better Time by Del Water Gap**
Blood & Bones by Paper Bird
Bright Stars Burning by Hey Marseilles
Agape by Bear's Den
Sex by The 1975
Step Into My Life (Restless) by Marshall Lewis**
Wake Me Up by Avicii

Round III
Possible Deaths by Typhoon
Little Too Late by Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers
Lick My Wounds by Ron Pope
Drop The Game by Flume, Chet Faker
Line of Fire by Junip
Crooked Smile by J. Cole, TLC
Bagel Girl by Black Checker
Put On, Cologne by Donovan Woods
Recovery by Frank Turner
Obey Your Guns by Matrimony
Ever Loved Once by Blitzen Trapper
Island by Wyatt Overman
Sask by Donovan Woods
Wildewoman by Lucius
Inside My Head by The Parkington Sisters
Play It Right by Sylvan Esso
Abandon by Modern Kin
Wyoming by Water Liars
Cherry Blossoms by Night Beds
The Fold by Ivan & Alyosha
Call Me In The Afternoon by Half Moon Run
You Don't Love Me Like You Used To by The Lone Bellow
The Breach by Dustin Tebbutt
Little Numbers by BOY
Sonsick by San Fermin
Heart Beats by Hey Marseilles
Acetate by Volcano Choir
Love of a Life by Kelijet, X Ambassadors
The Wire by HAIM

Round IV
Ships Pass by Paul Cook and the Chronicles
Wax & Wane by Alana Henderson
Dreaming by Smallpools
Low Wishes by Air Review
Never Wanted Your Love by She & Him
Fifth In Line to the Throne by Camera Obscura
Fireworks at Night by Campfire Ok
San Francisco by The Mowgli's
Timber by Pitbull, Ke$ha
The Great Northwest by Mighty Oaks
Of Space and Time by City and Colour
Dreams of Cannilbalism by Typhoon
Bad Habit by Foals
Out of My League by Fitz and the Tantrums
Weight by Mikal Cronin
Tides by Hey Marseilles
Closed Hand, Full of Friends by Foy Vance
Jack and Jill by Jon Morgan**
Ghost by Folly and the Hunter
Dear Pressure by Miracles of Modern Science
From This Valley by The Civil Wars
Moth In The Porch Light by Folly and the Hunter
Pompeii by Bastille
Wait Up For You by The Belle Game
North Carolina by Little Chief
Thunder Clatter by Wild Cub
Need The Sun To Break by James Bay
Summer Jam by Twinsmith
Grace For Saints and Ramblers by Iron & Wine
Riptide by Vance Joy
Faultlines by Field Division**

** Not Available on Spotify, therefore linked.

Sonsick by San Fermin

No posts in November? Life has been kicking my ass lately on pretty much all fronts: 70 hour work weeks and commuting to a client four hours away on a weekly basis, getting back into running, going to and hosting random events with friends, and unsuccessfully fading away on a boy who refused to be faded away on. It's November 30th and I have not only survived this month but I've come out on top. I don't want this outlet to go away when I'm stressed but it's been difficult to find inspiration in even music these past few weeks.

I've had the usual staples on repeat - there's been a lot of Lord Huron and Valley Maker, which despite my adoration, do nothing but further the depressive cycle. I'm positive I've streamed Grace for Saints and Ramblers, Keep Yourself Warm and I Need My Girl about a hundred times a piece. Several other tracks have been sprinkled through this scrobbled history. I've kinda-sorta-actually fallen in love with someone else's playlist for a change. This "Morning Commute" mix, by Melissa Ecker, has held together my sanity while driving the total of eight hours to and from the middle-of-nowhere, Virginia each week.

While there are many gems to be found on her list, Sonsick by San Fermin was the song that shouldn't have grown on me the way it did. When driving long distances, I tend to tune out a bit more than normal. There's no reason to be as hyper aware of my surroundings as I would be during my normal commute. During one morning, around 6:30AM, the track didn't at all capture my attention until the chorus, which is purely shrill but in a pleasant way. At the time, I needed to identify the song and to remind myself to listen to it again at a later point. Dozens of streams later and I'm obsessed.

I've talked at length about end of summer songs and this one also fits that bill when reflecting upon my disastrous summer of flings, false hopes and ultimate disappointments - "it's a summer kind of sickness". Transitioning into slowing down and caring about other human beings again (other than just myself) has been a refreshing, but weird process. "I'll fall for you soon enough, I resolve to love" is an ongoing mantra right now. I want to give up the emotional shitshow. I want to get attached to people again. My friends alone in this city are worth it.

The overlapping and warring thoughts in the chorus ground me when I start to panic about extending an olive branch to those in my life I want to keep around for a long time.

"Oho, don't be scared / That it's a harder kind of feel
Hold on tight / You must hold on unless you're in it
Ease your mind / And when you think, you're thinking clear
It's alright / You're really tied up and committed
Won’t you say? / But it’s an awful lot of talk
Stop the fight / Before the fire burns too quickly
Don't be scared / Why do you wanna hurt at all?
Hurts all right / Someone's summer kind of sickness"

The rest of the song progresses into whimsical thoughts about future plans and settling. The picture it paints is simplicity at its finest but absolutely mediocre: "Maybe find a place where we could rest/ when we're old enough/ we can have a dog and all the rest/ we can live it up/ all dressed in my Sunday best." I question whether slowing down and caring is really all that.

Listen to Sonsick when you want a little bit of confusing comfort playing in the background of your life.

Headlights by Get Dressed

When I was only a lowly teenager, I began my delve into local music. One of my favorite Seattle bands from around this time was an indie-rock outfit, Get Dressed. A song of theirs, Headlights, became a favorite of mine. Throughout the years, this song has remained with me and has never quite been forgotten. On a sad day back before grad school, my desktop computer finally died. With it, I lost my entire music collection. Nowadays, that's not the worst thing in the world, with Spotify and other comprehensive music players. However, a few tracks were lost, to never be resurfaced. Headlights was one.

Get Dressed broke up in 2008. I remember seeing flyers for their last show at The Vera Project. To listen to this song, I searched everywhere (from Myspace to Lineout to ReverbNation). I even pleaded with my friends on facebook. No luck anywhere.

In a little twist of irony (or something), I reclaimed Headlights when my current computer crashed. I'm debating getting a Chromebook and decided to check out Google Play. When Google Music first came out, I uploaded much of my old music collection on a whim. I had forgotten all about this. Several scrolls down the page, Headlights was there.

I couldn't be any happier.

The opening riffs hook me every time. The repetition of the chorus is the portion of the song I used to sing in my head when I hadn't listened to the track in a while: "and, we move slowly and slowly and slow". The way they portray a mediocre relationship - it could be on every teenager's life soundtrack. We've all experienced this sort of lackluster, even if we're hoping for more. Get Dressed was easy to relate to, non-pretentious and the local act you hoped would make it somewhere.

Listen to Headlights. I did the world a favor and uploaded a copy to Grooveshark. It's worth the four minutes (and a few replays).

(image above via Lineout)

Mix: Falling Into Fall

(jumping on the seasonal playlist bandwagon)

I'd like to think this mix is synonymous with autumn, as with the fall weather, I couldn't really make up my mind with what direction to go in. Should I cling to Summer or dive head first into Winter? There's a little bit of everything here, somehow, I'm convinced it ties together.

I love fall: pumpkin spice lattes, hot chocolate, apple cider, college football, sweatshirts, the last hookups, those little pumpkin branches from Trader Joe's, turning off the ac unit, cuddling, slower days, longer nights, open patios, and really long walks. Since I'm a Seattle native, I much prefer the crisp cool weather to the miserable district heat.

1. Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You - Arctic Monkeys 
2. Even Better Yet - The Format
3. Don't Get Too Close - Nathaniel Rateliff 
4. Hey Stranger - Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers 
5. Bikes - Lucy Rose
6. Promise of Lakes - Luray
7. Tessellate - Ellie Goulding
8. Play It Right - Sylvan Esso
9. Tight Rope (Live) - Yeasayer
10. World News - Local Natives
11. The Hurry And The Harm - City and Colour
12. The Breach - Dustin Tebbutt
13. Alaskans - Volcano Choir
14. Love You to Pieces - Jeremy Messersmith 
15. When You Have Arrived - Campfire Ok
16. Hunger and Thirst - Typhoon
17. I Don't Need to Know - Daniel Blue with Meagan Grandall 

Spotify

Pieces & Places: Coffy Cafe

(let's discuss the music I hear in district-area bars, coffee shops and other fine establishments)

Coffy Cafe is one of my three favorite coffee shops in this city. Being from Seattle, I'm extraordinarily picky with both how the coffee is and the overall feel to a place. Coffy has a special place in my heart - the board game group I'm a part of meets here every Wednesday. The coffee is fantastic, the crepes are delicious, the service is top-notch and the best part? It's mod themed. As a thrifter, collector and lover of mid-century-modern vintage decor, I am in heaven.

Date: August 25, 2013. 

Time: Early-mid afternoon. 

Vibe: Mostly the Sunday working crowd. Things are pretty quiet.
Drink of Choice: Large Iced Americano, extra-ice. 

Rio by Hey Marseilles - "Borders can keep me if Rio will have me to dance and to drown." 

I always thought of Hey Marseilles as Seattle's music sweethearts. Rio is one of those songs that instantly brightens my day. The minute I hear the clapping, I smile. 

Reach Out and Touch Someone's Hand by Cataldo - "there's no doubt, it's time to make some new plans." 

Prison Boxing is truly one of the greatest albums to ever exist. Reach Out and Touch Someone's Hand is one of those tracks I always forget to listen to, since it's at the end of the album. I find it honestly hard to move on from Don't Lose That Feeling. But, hearing the song out and about makes me realize how much I've been missing out on.

Way Back When by Kodaline - "Those will be the days that won my soul."

I've barely given Kodaline a listen in the past and that's a shame. This song fit in well here - it has a more old-fashioned sound than a lot of indie-folk nowadays. When I looked this song up, I wasn't entirely sure it'd be modern. 

Verdict: Unfortunately, the music was turned down shortly after deciding to write this. As much as I want them to play 1960's and 1970's music to go with the theme, I'll never be upset with a typical Seattle-esque coffee shop playlist.

I encourage everyone to check out what Coffy Cafe has to offer. If you're ever here on a Wednesday around seven, you'll find me with the board game crew in the back.

Pieces & Places: The Red Derby

(let's discuss the music I hear in district-area bars, coffee shops and other fine establishments)

First of all, I'm going to throw out a disclaimer. I just spent six hours at The Red Derby drinking for a great cause. This is my friend group's usual hang out for many reasons. There's an amazing rooftop, decent food, properly made drinks and the perfect CoHeights/ Petworth vibe. However, it's also a fantastic place because of all they do for charity. Today, if consuming drinks off of a certain beer list, all the proceeds went to Dash DC. It was the excuse we needed to meet up and get our day drinking on. 

Without further ado, it's time for the first round of "Overheard At":

Date: August 4, 2013.

Time: Around 3:30.

Vibe: Post-brunch, casual weekend drinking, enjoying the best DC summer weather we've had yet.
Drink of Choice: PBR. So much PBR.

The Playlist:
Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional - "my hopes are so high, that your kiss might kill me. So won't you kill me?"

Dramatic, much? I think this was the song that sold me on this blog series idea. The choice was the right amount of emo and flashback for the mid-twenties post-brunch crowd. While I was never into Dashboard myself, other members of my group were getting deep and nostalgic.

Swing, Swing by All American Rejects - "Days swiftly come and go. I'm dreaming of her. She's seeing other guys. Emotions they stir."
While Dashboard was everyone else's middle school flashback, this was mine. I don't even know what else to say.

Islands in the Sun by Weezer - "And it makes me feel so fine, I can't control my brain."
Honestly, if it ain't Buddy Holly, I'm going to tune out any Weezer that gets played.

Kids by MGMT - "A family of tree wanted, to be haunted."
Man, MGMT. This is my high school flashback. The only problem is, MGMT put out a grand total of three good songs. Kids is on the bottom of that list. Time to Pretend would have been more well-suited, as it really should be the CoHeights "hipster" anthem.

Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer - "Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight."
Me: "THIS IS THE GREATEST LOVE SONG EVER WRITTEN"
I don't think there's any other 90's song that gives us as many feelings as this one. The girl in this song seems to be on one really great date. From now on, it's going to serve as my dating litmus test. If you can't make the fireflies dance, you're out of my love life.

Polish Girl by Neon Indian - "never said, but nearly sung about a million different ways."
This played downstairs. I knew I knew this song, but I couldn't put a finger on it. I hid in the stairwell for about 30 seconds wanting to figure it out. I tagged it in my phone note as "some weird electronics song that I know but can't place. Doi doi doi doi doi doi". The best part is, I googled "sounds like M83" and found it. Yeah...

Verdict: Thanks, Red Derby for playing an elecletic mix of songs that somehow sounded right in a playlist together. It was the feel-good amount of nostalgia and feelings. Or, maybe, we were all a little tipsy off of $3 mimosas and PBRs.

Please consider a donation to Dash DC, a local nonprofit providing "relief to survivors of domestic and sexual violence, through emergency and long-term safe housing, and innovative homelessness prevention services." And, of course, stop by The Red Derby for an effortless time.

[Local] Hand-Me-Down Cardigans by The Raised By Wolves

(via DC Music Download)

I have a bad habit of not associating certain songs with certain people. Once upon a time, this was true only for guys I was dating. However, when I confessed this tendency to my friend Adam, he was a little miffed that I didn't have a song for him. It was a fair point. I'm highly emotionally invested in music and if I'm at all close to a person, friend-wise or otherwise, I should be able to have a song that reminds me of them.

Frequently, I meet a person and I immediately know "their song". Sometimes, in other cases, it takes a few months before "their song" shows up on shuffle. More rarely, I'm convinced "their song" does not exist. 

With one of my friends, his song didn't really exist until today. 

The Raised By Wolves are a local Maryland/DC band that just popped up on my radar a few hours ago, via DC Music Download. Their debut album, Sadie Hawkins, was released today. It's a fantastic array of experimental, indie-pop-rock. I really appreciate albums that I can leave on in the background while focusing at work, but also have the occasional song or two that pulls me out of the "Excel trance". 

When I heard Hand-Me-Down Cardigans, I stopped searching through my email inbox and immediately went straight to the lyrics page. It was a strange visceral reaction but I quickly knew who this song reminded me of. This makes sense, but there's a distinct feeling of "district" feelings/relationships/friendships sprinkled throughout the lyrics. 

[She was standing alone again in that little black dress

And if she became a silhouette, that would have been best

Because I was cut from a different cloth]

[There lives a stranger inside of me that you will never know

Because a heavy hard heart is worth its weight in gold]

[And I never didn't love a girl who loved me first

And I could never be your one and only

Be your one and only lonely one]

To all the dudes I've been friends with here, this song reminds me of one of you. Is this blog getting a little too personal? Quite possibly. 

You can download Hand-Me-Down Cardigans and the entire Sadie Hawkins album (for free, or pay as you wish) on The Raised By Wolves' bandcamp page. Maybe, one of their songs will remind you of someone too.