My Chromatics Reunion Ever listen to a song or a band and then forget about them for, like, five years? I think, ironically, that in the Spotify age of easy access to music, this type of things happens more, rather than less, often. In 2007, my roommate shared with me (on a USB drive, no less!) The Chromatics' cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill". I listened to it repeatedly for weeks, then never again for half a decade. Even while living in Chicago when the Chromatics came to town for Pitchfork, I didn't even connect the name of the band with that great song from my past, so erased were they from my memory. This week, Sam Tai helped me right this wrong. A great reunion.
"Baby", Donnie and Joe Emerson
I don't remember all too many moments in my music past when I felt like my jaw actually dropped, but the first time I heard "Baby" by Donnie and Joe Emerson was definitely one of them. That voice is so oddly beautiful, and the phrasing of the vocals, not to mention the simplicity of the instrumentation, is invitingly strange and off-kilter. I should mention that I was exposed to this song during the wonderful wedding scene in Celeste and Jesse Forever.
OLYMPIXXX 2012 Me and my friends threw an Olympics-themed house party and it was the first party gig for Mighty Narrow. There was an impromptu soul-train dance line during my chopped-up "Paris". Someone did the worm. I let a drunk woman wear my headphones and then she tried to fuck with my controller. I yelled at her. My friend may have scored himself a date. In Boston. People went wild for the Whitney medley. The night ended with a cumbia dance-off and a few people getting sick. In the morning, I thought our car had been stolen. Nah. Just towed. Good party though.
The Final Saxophone Scene in The Conversation
good kid, M.A.A.D City, Kendrick Lamar
I spent the better part of a day listening to this album, and then checked in with it again often in the weeks and months that followed. K.Dot killed it. It's my favorite album of the year. I wrote about it here.
Shut Down the Streets, A.C. Newman
Many have noted that Newman's style has shifted from explosive power-pop to folk-pop, more restrained and careful. This shift explains why I prefer his latest solo release to the New Pornographer's Together, which I found overbearing. We went to see him at the Empty Bottle. It was a decent show, but Emma and I agreed that he's a studio musician through and through. There's no matching the quality of singing and overall sound he and his band achieve on the opening "I'm Not Talking", my favorite from the album.
Performing "The World's Greatest" with our Third Grade Class
We did it for our Dia de la Madre assembly last Spring. I played guitar and accompanied over a hundred of our third-graders as they traded verses and then came together for a stirring repeat of the chorus. Anyone who's ever heard this song knows that, when paired with adorable children, its emotional power cannot be denied. Even one of my eight-year-old students got choked up during an early morning rehearsal. I had to coax her out of the room just to get on the bus for a field trip.
Production Credits
Teaching myself some (very basic) basics and putting together a few tracks based on beats and samples I cut up on Garage Band. It's rudimentary, but it excites me to consider how much more I have to learn and grow with this particular style of music. I put together the track below for a call put out on soul-sides, and realized I never showed it to anyone besides the site's creator, Oliver Wang.
Gossamer, Passion Pit
If I consider how much I like an album based on how often I listen to it when it is first released, this one might not necessarily be an obvious choice. But it was one of the best sophomore album surprises I'd ever had (my expectations were low, as I wrote here). Accounts from my brother claim that "Constant Conversations" was a highlight of their live act on tour.
A Thing Called Divine Fits, Divine Fits
We'll be listening to this one on the drive back to Chicago tomorrow morning. An awesome mix of quirky synths and driving drums and bass. Did I mention how much I love Britt Daniel's vocals?
OLYMPIXXX 2012 Me and my friends threw an Olympics-themed house party and it was the first party gig for Mighty Narrow. There was an impromptu soul-train dance line during my chopped-up "Paris". Someone did the worm. I let a drunk woman wear my headphones and then she tried to fuck with my controller. I yelled at her. My friend may have scored himself a date. In Boston. People went wild for the Whitney medley. The night ended with a cumbia dance-off and a few people getting sick. In the morning, I thought our car had been stolen. Nah. Just towed. Good party though.
The Final Saxophone Scene in The Conversation
good kid, M.A.A.D City, Kendrick Lamar
I spent the better part of a day listening to this album, and then checked in with it again often in the weeks and months that followed. K.Dot killed it. It's my favorite album of the year. I wrote about it here.
Shut Down the Streets, A.C. Newman
Many have noted that Newman's style has shifted from explosive power-pop to folk-pop, more restrained and careful. This shift explains why I prefer his latest solo release to the New Pornographer's Together, which I found overbearing. We went to see him at the Empty Bottle. It was a decent show, but Emma and I agreed that he's a studio musician through and through. There's no matching the quality of singing and overall sound he and his band achieve on the opening "I'm Not Talking", my favorite from the album.
Performing "The World's Greatest" with our Third Grade Class
We did it for our Dia de la Madre assembly last Spring. I played guitar and accompanied over a hundred of our third-graders as they traded verses and then came together for a stirring repeat of the chorus. Anyone who's ever heard this song knows that, when paired with adorable children, its emotional power cannot be denied. Even one of my eight-year-old students got choked up during an early morning rehearsal. I had to coax her out of the room just to get on the bus for a field trip.
Production Credits
Teaching myself some (very basic) basics and putting together a few tracks based on beats and samples I cut up on Garage Band. It's rudimentary, but it excites me to consider how much more I have to learn and grow with this particular style of music. I put together the track below for a call put out on soul-sides, and realized I never showed it to anyone besides the site's creator, Oliver Wang.
Gossamer, Passion Pit
If I consider how much I like an album based on how often I listen to it when it is first released, this one might not necessarily be an obvious choice. But it was one of the best sophomore album surprises I'd ever had (my expectations were low, as I wrote here). Accounts from my brother claim that "Constant Conversations" was a highlight of their live act on tour.
A Thing Called Divine Fits, Divine Fits
We'll be listening to this one on the drive back to Chicago tomorrow morning. An awesome mix of quirky synths and driving drums and bass. Did I mention how much I love Britt Daniel's vocals?
