Free $2 Amazon Mp3 credit till the end of the day.

Amazon is offering a $2 Mp3 credit when you enter the code FALLMP3S.  You need to use your credit by the end of the day.  May I suggest one of the two dollar classical albums: 99 Must-have Classic Gold, 50 Must-have Strauss Family Masterpieces, or this two hour Beethoven opera, Fidelio.

And while we are on the topic of Amazon classical albums, here is some hilarious cover art:

Maybe someone can explain to me why the production team went with the ass-cello but then played it safe with 66 songs rather than the more obvious choice?

Drive's 80s Branding

Drive made me think of an 80s branded Ghost Dog.  Instead of  Rza jams, we get vocoder and 80s synth plugins.  The movie was fantastic--it had great atmospherics.  Check out this sweet font that overlaid a beautiful nighttime aerial  shot of Los Angeles during the title sequence, made even more excellent by the Kavinsky vocoder soundtrack:

Candy Claws in Los Angeles!!!

The band whom I gushed about in my first blog post ever, will be in Los Angeles at the Echo on Wednesday August 17th for a reasonable $8 cover:  "We so excited."  This band is really worth your ears' careful consideration.  Free high fives for everyone I meet at the show.

Active Child Brings The Falsetto/Harp Joy With Free Shows And New Album

Active Child will delight your ears every Monday of this month for free at the echo. This dude rocks the falsetto like one of my other falsetto heroes, DM Stith.  Pat Grossi uses his falsetto more often than Stith, but I never grew tired of it or thought it grating. The drum pad beats, the harp, and his soaring falsetto were gorgeously overlaid.

Here is a new song off his forthcoming album, You Are All I See.  Listen on repeat!
Active Child - Hanging On by snipelondon

Free New Song From M83, "Midnight City"

"Midnight City" is an amazing track from M83's forthcoming album "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming."  Take a listen and download it for free at soundcloud.com.  The song has the characteristic synthy fullness that has made M83 so great, but it also features Europop-like verses and a killer saxophone outro.


Midnight City by M83

Here is another short preview from the new album:

Free New Music From Washed Out

Washed Out's new album is out today.  This chill bro makes some really great music, and Within Without seems to be no exception.  Sample his song "Amor Fati," the third track on the album, which can be had for free at Amazon.


And here are clips of the rest:

Scandinavian Gold 2: Free Sampler @Amazon

I recommend "Ram Ram" by The Deer Tracks; it's a good mellow song with subdued glitchy beats and a catchy chorus. "Fight For Me" by Wildbirds and Peacedrums is also decent; it is an experimental mix of drums and choir.  The rest while not bad, never matches the quality of the first song.

Mount Eerie And Distorted Gong Feedback

So the Mount Eerie show on Friday was superb.  There are a few videos out there on the internets of it, but this video of the following night at The Che Cafe does the sound much more justice than the others.  These were the first two opening numbers at The Center for Arts in Eagle Rock.  The incredibly loud gong feedback at the beginning made the relative hush of the rest of the glockenspiel-keys-centered show that much more enjoyable.  What a contrast!  Talk-box harmonies were also quite a treat.


Video is from allenhsieh @youtube

Mr. Little Jeans Covers Arcade Fire. Plus Free Show in July

At some point a google image search for "Mr. Little Jeans" stopped producing the Wes Anderson source material: 

And started spamming me with some cute girl with a fake mustache:

I guess I don't really mind.  She does make good music, and she will be performing for free on July 8th at noon on Grand Avenue.

Check out her cover of Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs"

and this little bleep-bloop pop number:

Free and Legal Mp3 "Fireworks" by Polock

Do you like European indie-pop like Phoenix?  If you do, you will probably really enjoy "Fireworks" by Polock, which is free to download right now at Amazon.  Listen! It's sweeeeeede!

Mount Eerie and Nicholas Krgovich tonight in Eagle Rock

Mount Eerie, Key Losers, Nicholas Krgovich, and Catwalk are playing tonight at the Center for Arts in Eagle Rock.

Mount Eerie is the main draw for me. Just check out the impressive critical acclaim at Metacritic.If you like emotional folk music with compelling lyrics and a chance for fuzz you ought to check it out. Listen to the samples of his live performances; it may not be for everyone.

Bad ass song:


Bad ass performances:




Also, Nicholas Krgovich is blow'n my mind with his robo-voiced tunes.  Let it be known that I have always been a sucker for vocoder, but "It Never Was You" is worthy even without modulated vocal delights.  Listen to this; it sounds pretty great to me.

It Never Was You by Nicholas Krgovich by P.W. Elverum & Sun, ltd.

He has been making music with friends under a lot of different names: Gigi, No Kids, P:ano.  Here is some of that music in a 60 minute "Megamix" he put together.
http://soundcloud.com/nk-music/60-minute-megamix
It looks like he even lets you download it for free!

Yo Los Angelenos, Hollywood Bowl Tickets Go on Sale Tomorrow at 10AM

You can get in on some pretty awesome concerts for really cheap (a dollar and seventy-five cents!?) if you are quick enough on the draw.  Philip Glass, here I come.

Here is the bowl's calendar.  The National plays with Neko Case on September 11th; Hall and Oates for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of July; and Rodrigo and Gabriela play the 12th and 13th of August.  Those will cost you more but they will be a lot of fun.  Everything on the Summer and Fall schedule for the bowl goes on sale tomorrow at 10AM PDT so if you want to get in on the cheap seats or the best seats you will need to make your plans quickly.  Most of the shows (all but the lease events) are BYOEverything, and they make great picnic dates/parties; take the subway and walk.

Best of luck.  I hope to see you there.  Maybe we can dance-battle in the aisle.

Edit: Presale password is 90YEARS (thanks, Kesha), but it looks like most of the $1.75 if not all are already gone.  They might release more of those tomorrow morning.

Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest $4 @Amazon & Bear Apparel

Veckatimest is an awesome album that received near universal acclaim--an 85 out of 100 at Metacritic. Get this album, put on a sweet bear-related outfit, and get your harmony on.



In fact, with all the money you'll save on the album, you might as well put together the most ridiculous bear-listening outfit you can conceive.  Below are some helpful suggestions.

Head:  Bear Hug Hat $15.99

Neck:  Bear Claw Pendant $8.99

Torso:  Threadless' "The Eating Habits of Bears" $10

Pelvis:  Nude American Apparel Trunks

Legs:  Pink Bear Socks (with shipping it is too much $16.68)

Feet:  Grizzly Bear Slippers $28

Throw in a case of honey beer, and I should be ready to party after that.  What would your bear outfit be?

Here are some other suggestions:

"Man Up"--Threadless Unicorn Hunter April Fools Shirt Selling Out Fast

This Shirt is beautiful.  Everything from the "I heart boobs" tatt, the American flag boots, baby seal hat, unicorn guts, chainsaw hands, rainbow blood, ass beer--I mean, Come On!

Everybody is Looking Forward to The Weeknd--A Hype Free Album From NSFW Newcomers

The Weeknd make some of the best nsfw soul / R&B music I've heard.  I always appreciate bands/artists that can make autotune and pitch shifting sound authentic and soulful rather than the shallow saccharine drivel it is usually associated with.  Bon Iver's "Woods," for example, uses autotune to create one of the best folk-freak-out a cappella choirs I've heard.  Burial uses it to great effect in songs like "Archangel," sampling and modulating simple emotional fragments--"holding you / kissing you / Tell me I belong."  The Weeknd actually sound a lot like a more coherent Burial.  Even though the songs are not chopped up like Burial and The Weeknd's songs focus on singing rather than the instrumental/sample experimentation of Burail, there is a lot of shared mood and sound between the two.  There are no high bpm's here, but The Weend's smooth and gritty jams still make my feet move, my shoulders bounce, and my fingers flail.
Get the whole album from their website for free.  [NSFW for cursing and nudity] http://the-weeknd.com/


In the immortal words of Rebecca Black, "I don't want this Weeknd to end."

March 2011 Playlist -- Metaphors, Son

Ryan Adams - "Damn Sam"
  "Damn, Sam. I love a woman that rains"

The Magnetic Fields - "The Book of Love"
  "The Book of Love is long and boring / no one can lift the damn thing"

The Mountain Goats - "International Small Arms Traffic"
  "Our love is like the boarder between Greece and Albania"

Okkervil River - "A Stone"
  "You love the hallowest tone / you love a stone"

Andrew Bird - "Sovay"
  "And then a word washed to shore"

The Castanets - "You are the blood"
  "You are the blood flowing through my fingers"

Thee More Shallows - "House Breaks"
  "If You stay awake in this dream, in this dream you're going to die"

Anathallo - "John J. Audubon"
  "Our stories all just sink below the mess of wake the millions of paddled palms our cupped hands make."

Cloud Cult - "Everybody Here Is a Cloud"
  "Everybody Here Is a Cloud / Everybody here will evaporate"

Bon Iver - "Flume"
  "Only love is all maroon / gluey feathers on a flume / Sky is womb"

The National - "Anyone's Ghost"
  "Walk through the Manhattan valleys of the dead / Didn't want to be your ghost"

Gold Panda and SXSW Sampler

Do you like dancing to glitched-out dance music? Do you like free music? I do. Amazon has a free South by Southwest sampler with some great tunes on it. My favorite is the opening track "You" by Gold Panda. The creative use of pitch shifted vocal samples and dynamic beats had me popping and locking in front of the mirror with funkified abandon. I like this sound; I even wrote a song this FAWM called "Crumbs" with a similar formula: take one or two words, tweak them and repeat them. Gold Panda's song is a lot more danceable than mine.

Free and Legal Mp3: Glasser's "Mirrorage"

Glasser's "Mirrorage" is hymnal, danceable, experimental fun. The vocoder at 2:22 is the sickness. Download it for free at Amazon.com

Favorites from FAWM 2011--Good music you haven't heard.

Phlex and Schmuck are bringing the indie-rock freak-out jams:  sounds like a Spiritualized, Yeasayer, Fiery Furnances hippie drum circle on British street drugs no one knows about yet:  Enjoy "Season 3, Episode 1."  Don't do drugs kids.  Listen to this instead; it is much more satisfying.

Evin Wolverton has a gift, and he is sharing it with you; he brings some tasty reverbed-Graceland-like harmonies on this sweet tune:  "In the Midnight Hour."

Timothy Bracken is one of my favorite Fawmers.  His production is always fantastic and his voice is tuneful and full of character.  He has many good offerings this year, and it was hard to choose just one.  So I won't. Check out these killer break-up songs "Still Don't Know," "I Drift Off," and "Shaking Hand."

A Texan known only to me as Nuerdetjuligen wrote one of the funniest songs I heard this FAWM.  It chronicles the moral imperative of a young lass traveling cross-country who feels impelled to put it all "On The Glass"--highly recommended. Nuerdetjuligen also has some great drawl-infused indie-country songs.  "Cleaning Out the Dance Hall" is a standout, featuring one of my favorite rhymes this FAWM--"innuendo/ Nintendo."  To top it off, her voicing reminds me a lil' bit of Jenny Lewis in early Rilo Kiley.

If you like mellow chilled out acoustic guitar songs in the vein of Jose Gonzalez or Nick Drake, you will enjoy "Siren" by Mr. Mikedebenham.  It is a still, quiet beauty.

Kidd is another of my favorite Fawmers this year.  He consistently churned out totally fantastic twee-chill jams.  His song "Leave Me Here I'm Sleeping" sounds like an even more laid-back and stripped down year-2000ish Yo La Tengo.  He also did one of my favorite collaborations this FAWM.  He joined forces with vomvorton to create one of the best Casio-whistling-pop songs I've heard.  Sounds like Bowie on a Casio.  You know that has to be good!

Fawmer Adam Follett, adforperu, is the lead singer for Cats.for.peru and he has a voice that often reminds me of Thom Yorke's own beautiful warble.  His stunning and soaring "Finding Alice" is a perfect case in point.  Too bad there is a little clipping going on.

Alana audirec produced some pretty amazing glitch-pop songs this February.  "Lost at Seen" is my favorite.  Even with her excellent production, it is her unique and beautiful voice that carries her songs.  I recommend this if you like Eisley and computer bleeps.

February 2011 Playlist - A Horse Is a Horse Is a Horse, of Course

There will be a horse in my backyard very shortly. So here for February is a horse-themed mix to prepare me for all those horse-centric moments of the near future.

Two Door Cinema Club--Two Dollars After Code @Amazon

Today you can get Two Door Cinema Club's Tourist History
for two bucks after mp3 credit code VDAYMP3S at Amazon.  It is a good album that is probably best enjoyed by youths who like dancing and upbeat pop-production.  If you are looking for music informed by Father Time and Mama Suffering then maybe this is not the album for you.

Will Stratton Is a Badass . . .

and a kind gentleman to give away his excellent tunes.

Here is another bandcamp freebie, and it will please the folk out of you.  Listen to opening track "You Divers" from Vile Bodies and once you get to the 1:38 mark, you'll see what I mean.  Vile Bodies is one of the best free EPs on bandcamp.  His other albums are certainly worth a listen and a buy.  Stream the beautiful "Who Will" from 2009's No Wonder or check out his latest New Vanguard Blues.

Free and legal Mp3: Ben Talmi - "Scales of a Fish in The Sky"

Who is Ben Talmi?  I don't know--some dude who records music in his bedroom, but his bedroom recordings sound much more polished than your average bedroom tune.  His For the Dreamers EP is a collection of inventive pop tunes with varied beats, moogy goodness, precise guitar work, and enjoyable vocal harmonies.  Mr. Talmi, your songs a good, and more people should hear them. I hope you inspire more like you to pick up their instrument of choice and sing and record a song for its own reward.  Long live bedrock! (RIYL Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie)


Edit: OK, so Ben Talmi is not the anonymous amateur confined to his bedroom and meager recording gear I had imagined him.  He also records music in a studio and sings and writes for Art Decade, a band from Boston.  Here is a pretty fresh video of an Art Decade performance with a string quartet.


Royalty (Acoustic With String Quartet) from Art Decade on Vimeo.

January 2011 Playlist - Ride the New Year Waves

Cold Cave - "Life Magazine (Delorean Remix)"
Tree Wave - "Sleep" [Mp3 via official band site]
Crystal Castles vs. Health - "Crimewave"
Washed Out - "New Theory"
The Crystal Stilts - "Love is a Wave" [Mp3 via stereogum]
Wavves - "Baseball Cards"
The Drums - "Let's Go Surfing"
Surfer Blood - "Floating Vibes"
Ducktails - "Killn' The Vibe (Ft. Panda Bear)"
The Shins - "Black Wave"
The Decemberists - "The Wanting Comes in Waves"