Surfer Blood On Daytrotter

Head over to Daytrotter to download the 4-song session including: Floating Vibes, Harmonix, Anchorage, and Twin Peaks.  Perfect close-out-the-summer jams...

A Short Thesis

A moment to discuss just what it is I'm doing here.  Music is subjective.  On every level.  What may register as noisy garbage to one may touch the deepest part of another's subconscious.  What one may deem "cheesy, corporately manufactured tripe" may be the music that kept a socially outcast teenager from jumping off into the proverbial deep end.

I will never rate music here.  I don't even know how to begin to think of music in terms of a scientifically arrived at numerical score.  Not that there is anything wrong with music critics who do such.  Admittedly, often times I will not even read a review if it's been given a bad score.  Shame on me.

All I know is the music that reaches me.  Sometimes it is dissonant.  Crawling under my skin and irritating me until it actually scratches that itch that I did not even know existed.  Sometimes it transports me instantaneously to a realm where everything is absolutely perfect and I would be willing to convert immediately to whatever sonic religion birthed it deep in the psyche of the artist.

There is no universal reason for you, the reader/listener to give my ramblings and personal tastes here any credence; except for those of you who know me personally and (im?)possibly trust my judgment (I hesistate to use the word).  After all, music subtracted from relationship is a sad place.  Potentially beautiful yes, but lonely nonetheless.  (Sidenote: This is why people say things like, "You have to listen to this part, it's amazing!"  Even though you, the listener have no choice in the matter and are only (usually) annoyed at their evangelical zeal over the chorus/verse/etc. in question.  We enjoy best that which we share with others.  See: laughter, sex, food, film, vacations, etc.)

What am I saying here? What am I saying? 

Essentially that the music I enjoy and that touches me on a deep, visceral, and even spiritual level is that which I cover here.  Think of me as the person who says, "Oh my God, you have to listen to this!  It will blow you away."  Except that I won't be sitting there with you in you living room or office or car offering the inevitable, "This is the best part!"  The music offered up here is nothing if not that which I find to be compelling on the deepest level of myself that is easily/daily accessed.  And I cannot help but share it.

If you find something of what I find in it.  If it reaches some inner part of you that transforms you into a child or a zealot or a time traveler or a sage.  If the joy we share reveals a deeper truth we share as humans.  Then it has been worth it. 

As some of my favorite musicians Over the Rhine have said, "Quiet music should be played loud...still waters run deep."

Baths Video: Lovely Bloodflow

Great song. Amazing video. [via pitchfork.tv]

New Sufjan Stevens EP Streaming and Available for Download

The new EP is "built around two different versions of Sufjan’s long-form epic ballad All Delighted People, a dramatic homage to the Apocalypse, existential ennui, and Paul Simon’s Sounds of Silence."  Uh, yes, that sounds amazing...

Free Download from Chapel Club

Oh man, this is soooo good.  Get it here.

Bieber Rós

Question: What would Justin Bieber sound like slowed down by 800%?

Answer: A lot like Sigur Rós.  And pretty cool actually.

Hear for yourself...
J. BIEBZ - U SMILE 800% SLOWER by Shamantis

Toby Martin of Youth Group Goes Solo, Covers The Jesus & Mary Chain's "Sometimes Always"

I love Youth Group but they are on hiatus for all of 2010 according to their website.  Good news is Toby Martin is doing some solo stuff!  Not sure if this material will be released and really bummed I don't live in Australia and am thus unable to check out his free September residency.  All is not lost however!  You can head over to his Myspace and check out the two new songs streaming there entitled, "Albion Park Safety Ramp" and "Paris Song."

You can also enjoy this amazing cover of The JAMC song, "Sometimes Always," performed by Martin and Sarah Kelly of The Red Sun Band.

Ryan Bingham Bootleg Videos Preview New Album - Junky Star

The T Bone Burnett-produced Junky Star (out August 31 via Lost Highway) is the latest LP from Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses. To whet fans’ appetites, the Oscar-winning singer/songwriter (Crazy Heart) is previewing all 12 of the LP’s songs through the “Bingham Bootleg Video Series.” Each video will feature an unreleased, acoustic version of a Junky Star track, starting with “Depression.” Says Bingham, “All these songs are about the past couple years, traveling around the country, the people I’ve met, and the state the country is in. ‘Depression’ is actually a love story that takes place during the time of the Great Depression, yet the irony is in the idea that we can still somehow find ourselves identifying with it today.” - from Magnet

Ghostly Essentials: Rarities One

I have become a total slut for this record label.  All you have to do is sign up for their email address here and they'll send you some tasty rarities and a discount code for 10% off your next order at The Ghostly Store. Speaking of "rarities," remember this?  It was a good one...

Colour Revolt Streaming New Album In Full

It's epic and dirty.  Just the way we like it.  Stream 'The Cradle' via Spinner.

Adult Swim Offers Free Albums

Ever wonder where all that rad "bumper" music on Adult Swim comes from?  Guess what?  They offer tons of it.  For free!  Right HERE.  Some of my favorite selections are "Adult Swim Singles Program" and "Ghostly Swim", the former offering tracks from the likes of Washed Out and LCD Soundsystem and the latter being 19 tracks all from one of my favorite record labels - home to School of Seven Bells, Tycho, and tons of other great artists - Ghostly International.

What are you waiting for??  Go discover some free music!

Pale Sketcher - "Can I Go Now (Gone Version)"

"As the first single released in advance of Jesu: Pale Sketches DeMixed, Justin K. Broadrick’s Ghostly debut as Pale Sketcher, “Can I Go Now (Gone Version)” is more than a fine introduction. The track contains everything Pale Sketcher does best: trash-compactor beats, gently swelling synth pads, and an air of beautiful, post-apocalyptic decay. Broadrick’s vocals float above it all, vocoded and reverbed, lending a touch of humanity to the song’s mechanized melancholy.

Danish duo Syntaks’ remix of “Can I Go Now” employs a double-time rhythm and a cloud of shoegazey guitars to bring the track to ethereal new heights; while Donnacha Costello’s take tosses Broadrick’s vocal into a pool of sky-blue synthesizers, recalling Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works while adding a romantic tilt to the song’s downcast melody." - from Ghostly International

Release date is August 10...check it out HERE.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs - On NPR's First Listen

If you haven't already illegally downloaded it, NPR's First Listen is offering up a chance to preview the entire record by streaming it right here.  Enjoy!