crystal castles

so i can cross a few things off the getlist of last week: crystal castles, these new puritans, devotchka, the kills. havent gotten to devotchka or the kills, and have only just begun checking out these new puritans (ho hum so far, but its early). the kiss of victory goes to crystal castles though....sweet baby jesus is this a delectable album!!! the synth lines are wonderfully addictive, the abrasive voice of alice practice is used only sparingly, and i just generally have fallen for this album. so heres two tracks to titillate:

crystal castles - vanished
crystal castles - untrust us

vanished is one i had not heard until 2 days ago, but its one of the high points in my opinion. then there is untrust us, which i first heard last summer and was blown away completely and utterly, and have pined for another go at it ever since. it also samples the weird intro from death from above 1979's heads up ep opener 'dead womb'....weird, but in a good way. so enjoy!

effed....

so yeah...lost 3 sweet sixteen teams in the first round...awesome. shouldve known better with the winthrop/george mason game, but western kentucky and san diego?!?! really, who fuckin saw that? and clemson...you fight through to the acc finals and roll over to villanova? im not pleased oliver purnell...

so looking at my bracket makes me want to punch myself in the groin. at least i dont have uconn in the championship game like someone i know....

good and bad

good: a new death cab single, off the soon to be released 'narrow stairs,' is a driving building slow burning epic, quite a new direction, and i hear that it might not be that unusual on the new lp. hmmm... interesting. the title track from transatlanticism definitely found a place in my heart, and i already love the lyrics and overall buildup of this new single, 'i will possess your heart.' check it out, and buy the full length next when it drops in may.

death cab for cutie - i will possess your heart [zshare only]

bad: eating too-old eggs and shitting a lot. yeah. passed on class and pretty much everything today.

worse: dropping my ipod and totally destroying it....now i have to shell out $179 for a replacement. fuck.

because im a nice guy, and in a better mood than my woes of shit and ipods would belie, heres a gem from dc based these united states:

these united states - first sight



one last thing. theres no way in hell i can make it...but i like the poster and im really digging esau mwamwaya at the moment. so if youre in the neighborhood, or on the isle, check out this free show from last.fm, and grab this sweet reinterpretation of m.i.a.'s 'paper planes' by esau:

esau mwamwaya - tengazako (m.i.a. reinterpretation)

the getlist

ive kept my ears to the ground, ive heard the hype, ive had the pleasures of some soundbytes via the lovely hypemachine, and the result is this: my getlist, the shit i want right now:

the teenagers - reality check: ive only been itching for this since last may, when i was first dumbstruck by the homecoming video...the vocals are odd, that will never change, and theyre usually pretty funny, pretty lewd, and you gotta love the parisian accent. the catch is the addictive and danceable droning bass lines and guitar riffs. good ish, heard good remixes of it as well as impeccable fucking a remixes by the teenagers themselves. get on this train if youre not already.

these new puritans - beat pyramid: ive heard a couple tracks, been mildly entertained, this is 60% hype, 25% curiosity, and 15% pure appreciation

she & him - volume 1: mostly that post-sxsw phenomenon (of those who cant attend) which is basically superhypeXcuriosity...maybe with a semisubconscious semantic association with 2007 sxsw breakout matt & kim?? plus, 'she' is zooey deschanel, who was a cute subplot in showtime's 'weeds'

vampire weekend - vampire weekend: so the hype started small on the blogs last summer, with oxford comma and cape cod kwassa kwassa getting passed around. catchy, bouncy, fun. worthy of addition to a mixtape for a dear friend. fast forward, the hype has reached the max: mtv airplay, conan appearance, cover of spin, and the rolling stone benediction. so of course, i have to get my hands on the full length to see if its as good as the summer sampler and the blessings have foretold.

fuck buttons - goodbye blues: every now and then, i just need instrumentals or my head will explode. with ridiculous stacks of shit to read for class, i cant always have lyrics competing for my scattered attention, and fuck buttons doesnt make me want to knife myself like explosions in the sky does. not exactly a searing recommendation is this? well its good shit, if youre into trance inducing yet not over the top electronic instrumentals. probably reaches peak under the influence though.

devotchka - a mad and faithful telling: im not totally sold on devotchka, but how it ends is a pretty solid listen every now and then (the album i mean), with a few songs that knock my socks off, especially the title track. sooo...what better way for devotchka to try to convince me than through a new release, which has even garnered some recommendations from the blogs?

crystal castles - crystal castles: ive needed to hear 'untrust us' in its entirety since around june...still waiting, but its on here, along with alice practice and a few other tracks ive grown to love. abrasive on the first few listens, everything but the vocals have grown on me considerably, to the point of rocking out pretty hard on lonesome drives and long nights at the computer. ready to take the next step and dig right in.

the kills - midnight boom: no idea. ive heard so many respected blogs orgasm over this junk that i have to give it a whirl, if not a recommendation.

the national - boxer (and anything else i can get my grubby fingers on): found one track, mistaken for strangers, over the summer. it was good. found old ep 'cherry tree' on ruckus the next day, and it slowly crashed over me in waves for the ensuing months, each time leaving me more in love with this band for an entirely new reason. found a few bsides and live cuts in the last month, and im still not disappointed. if i could slowly bathe myself in the national all year long id be one happy son of a bitch.

most anticipated show: iron & wine at a sold out memorial hall next month....mmmmmm

also awaiting a chance to see yeasayer at the cradle in early may. havent heard much from them, due to sheer laziness on my part, but ill get around in the interim. why do i want to see them so badly given a handful of listens?

#87.2 - YEASAYER - 2080
by lablogotheque

if thats any taste of whats up, then count me in. mango out.

Bon Iver

So this song is it. Its the one for today, hands down. ive heard great things about this artist, though ive only personally listened to this track, the title track, and seen the video for wolves. the title track is ok, wolves is pretty good, if long. but this one, skinny love, is one of those rare moments of perfection, which are often based in large part on the circumstances of the first listen. find bon iver here. so without further ado:

Bon Iver: Skinny Love

for good measure, the wolves video:

belated, but still here

so this post was just to throw up some photos from the jose show monday night, taken by a girl i met there. as i was putting the pictures into this post though, a friend texted me to inform me that the unidentified murder victim found in the wee hours of the morning yesterday has been identified - eve carson, our student body president, and as far as im concerned, all around nice girl. thats pretty fucking shocking, and chapel hill pd is holding a press conference as i write. so, heres my condolences to the family of eve carson.

the jose show, to return to happier things, was a blast and a half. i got there super early (like 5 hours) because i figured i might as well stay on campus and take care of my readings outside the great hall, as good a place as any. this meant i had the opportunity to watch him run through preshow checks and practice a few songs, and hear a ridiculously loud and unrestrained yawn from the swedish/argentinean folk artist during mic checks. it also meant i was front row for the 500 person show, a small crowd in a pretty small venue, quite conducive to his hushed melodies and pounding climaxes. it was pretty magical for me. of course, there was heartbeats, the knife cover from the bravia advert. i cant remember everything he played, but there was definitely abram, teardrop (massive attack cover), love will tear us apart (joy division cover, which i had coincidentally stumbled upon only two days prior), crosses, stay in the shade, deadweight on velveteen, and others. blessed jose, he played the song which i walked in needing to hear - hand on your heart, a kylie minogue cover which has some special meanings for me. i snagged a sticker and a vinyl/cd combo of 'in our nature', his newest. also of note was the opening act, mia doi todd, of whom id heard nothing before the show. also a folk guitarist of sorts, she was accompanied by a guy playing congas, a weird box, and a tambourine at various points. she also accompanied herself with an accordion-type rig she played by waving her foot up and down over it (rhythmically playing one chord over and over). i particularly liked the opening 'river of life/yes song' and the penultimate 'in the end'. i would recommend checking her out, as well as old jose if youre still unfamiliar. rather than repost their songs, ill just recommend you do like i did, find a few samples on the hype machine, one of the best sources for free songs around.





my only complaint about the show...no 'cycling trivialities'...maybe next time jose.

just to share...one of my absolute highlights of last year was chatting with eve carson about guitar hero at a random party in carrboro right after her election. c'est la vie i guess.

must share...

i absolutely have to put this up...from the unintelligible swedish blog PSL, their musik med video of noah and the whale performing on the street. its a classy song, despite their nurave dayglo getups. enjoy:



and in honor of tomorrow night's jose show, the classic bravia advert:



hopefully ill be able to post some pics tomorrow night...

BLK JKS

According to that infallible resource the Hype Machine, exactly one blog has noted South Africa's BLK JKS...and that's just inappropriate. I read about them in FADER and decided to check them out, only to find a serious lack of coverage. I dug around for a while and found two tracks for download, I can't remember where to save my life. Content yourself with the video for their first single "Lakeside" instead, and try to grab one of the 500 pressings.