PM [Pop Music]

Just So You Know

2011-04-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

This blog died when Lala.com died. It was not a coincidence. Without a plausible way to stream my song of the day for free, I was left with the yawntastic prospect of simply writing about music. Who wants to read that? Go to Pitchfork or Stereogum if that's your thing. I blame Apple. Yes, the computer company. Apple bought Lala.com and then shut it down. Thanks, guys!

Anyway, I have a new blog that's not really about music. It's actually kind of about technology right now. It will morph into other things as my interests shift, and that's kind of the point. Check it out if you're interested.

The Radio Dept. - Heaven's On Fire

2010-04-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

Enjoy.

Heaven's On Fire - The Radio D...

Zero

2010-04-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

I keep coming back to this song today. We'll take that as a sign.

Enjoy.

Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Piano Fire

2010-04-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to my iTunes library on shuffle for the last few hours. "Piano Fire" by Sparklehorse just came on. This is the first Sparklehorse song I ever heard, and I've been in love with them ever since.

Enjoy. RIP Mark Linkous.

Piano Fire - Sparklehorse

Tremé

2010-04-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you keep up with TV at all, but unless you've sworn it off completely for the last 10 years, I'm sure you've heard of the now-defunct HBO series The Wire. Well David Simon, the creator of The Wire, has just begun a new series on HBO called Tremé, set in the New Orleans neighborhood of the same name in the months directly following Hurricane Katrina. The third episode of the series airs tonight, and I've got to tell you, the show is fantastic. Even if you don't know anything about New Orleans, the acting, story, and music are enough to keep you coming back.

And, since this is a music blog, it's the latter I want to focus on tonight. The highlight of the first episode of Tremé, at least to me, was when the radio DJ character Davis plays an amazing Dixieland jazz song by Louis Prima, "Buona Sera," over a montage of various characters and scenes from the city. Respect to David Simon for letting the song play in its entirety.

I know this isn't pop music, but we're not philistines here. Besides, you've got to hear this song.

Enjoy. And watch Tremé.

Buona Sera - Louis Prima

Swim

2010-04-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

My computer has been "in the shop" for most of this week. I won't bore you with the details, suffice it to say that what was once a slow and dying relic is now a fine piece of finished finery.

UPGRADES!

Even if I'd had the old relic in hand, this week would have been just as uneventful. The only sounds coming from my speakers for the last 4 days have been those of The National's May 11th release High Violet. I can't post any of that here yet, at least not legally, but you can stream the album in its entirety by clicking right here. This might be the album of the year, folks. At the very least, it's everything I wanted it to be, which doesn't happen very often.

I did manage to pull myself away from Matt Berninger's dulcid tones today long enough to check out Caribou's newest release Swim.

Here's the thing. I don't normally care for dance/electro/house music. I grew up on a steady diet of guitar rock. I don't stray easily from that formula. Radiohead's Kid A was probably my first major departure, but even that only had one true "dance" track on it, and who doesn't like "Idioteque?" Caribou's last record Andorra was a brilliant tribute to the psychedelic pop/rock of the 1960's, so you can imagine my surprise when I turned on the first track of Swim and heard "Odessa" for the first time. It's straight up house music.

And even more surprising is that I liked it. A lot. Caribou just has a way of pulling you into his songs regardless of the genre. And although each Caribou record to date has been focused around a different genre, the identity of the artist has never once been lost in the mix, so that you're not listening to a psych pop record or a 70's rock record or a dance/house record, but a Caribou record. I really don't know of any other way to put it.

So, for your listening pleasure, here's "Odessa," the first track from Caribou's new album Swim. Enjoy.

Odessa - Caribou

We Grew Up In Spite of It

2010-04-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

You knew it was going to happen eventually. It will probably happen again. Sufjan Stevens, y'all.

Enjoy.

Romulus - Sufjan Stevens

Happy Record Store Day

2010-04-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

Today was Record Store Day. I came away with some major swag, though none of it was specific to the occasion. The only exclusive release I was interested in was already sold out by the time I arrived. Ah well. I still spent the day listening to some of my favorite albums on vinyl for the first time, which is always nice.

In other news, I discovered Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson's solo album Go tonight. In addition to what you'd expect from a solo album by the front man for Sigur Rós (the word bombast comes to mind), about half of the tracks are pretty much Sigur Rós does disco, which is oddly enjoyable. To show you what I mean, take a listen to the first track off the album, "Go Do." As always, enjoy.

Go do - Jónsi

Black and White Horse

2010-04-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

Beach House has been in regular rotation for the last few weeks. Here's why.

Enjoy.

Zebra - Beach House

The Tallest Man On Earth

2010-04-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

There's a new album out by The Tallest Man On Earth called The Wild Hunt. It's really good. Sure, there are obvious comparisons to Bob Dylan to be made, but that's not what we're about here. Besides, I love Bob Dylan.

Tonight's song is the seventh track from this album "Love is All." Enjoy.

Love Is All - The Tallest Man ...

Forgive My Absence

2010-04-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

I've been sick. I haven't done anything the last 3 days except lay in bed and watch The Wire. There are worse ways to spend your time, but it helps not to have an unending river of mucus pouring from your nose and eyeballs.

I was able to get out of the house this afternoon and go grocery shopping. The first song that played on my iPod when I started up the car was "She's the One" by Caribou. I haven't listened to Andorra in quite a while, and honestly, I wasn't crazy about it back then. Now I can't imagine what it is I didn't like. It's accessible. It's interesting. It's fun to listen to. It's...well, it's just good.

Check out "She's the One" on the PM Playlist to your right. Then go obtain a copy of Andorra and check that out, too.

Sweet Marie...

2010-04-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

...there's a hole where your heart should be

Sweet Marie - The Anniversary

An Argyle Sweater And A Smile

2010-04-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend is addicted to The National's Alligator. I know the feeling. In honor of this awesome, and kind of hot turn of events, tonight's song is one of my favorites from that particular record. Enjoy.

Baby We’ll Be Fine - The Natio...

2010-03-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

Listening to Volcano Choir tonight. Join me.

Pro tip: Way better with headphones.

Island, IS - Volcano Choir

Elliott Smith Revisited (and Reissued)

2010-03-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

Kill Rock Stars is reissuing two Elliott Smith albums - Roman Candle and From A Basement On The Hill - on April 6th. You can pre-order them from the Kill Rock Stars website on vinyl or on CD.

Elliott Smith's work is near and dear to my heart. Oddly enough, the only two albums of his that I never really fell in love with were Roman Candle and From A Basement On The Hill. It could be that I never gave either of these records a fair shake, or it could be that every time I have a desire to listen to Elliott Smith, I automatically go to Either/Or or XO or Figure 8. Well tonight, I made it my mission to go back and really give Roman Candle and Basement a chance. Unfortunately, I don't even have Roman Candle on my iPod, so Basement will have to do for now.

Tonight's song is what I'm listening to at this very moment. The first track from Basement On The Hill "Coast to Coast." I can't stream it directly from here, but I was able to add it to the PM Playlist to your right. Enjoy.

Panda Bear On My Patio

2010-03-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful spring day in Austin, guys. I've been sitting on my patio taking in the view (see above) with my two pups, drinking a few beers and listening to music - allergies be damned. We get a small window here between winter and summer. I don't know if you can call it spring, really, but it will have to do, and you have to make the most of it while it's here. In a couple of weeks it will be too hot to breathe, and that will last until the end of September, when it will suddenly be rainy, chilly, and bleak. Austin is a peculiar place for weather, but since I'm not 70 years old I don't particularly care to blog about it any further.

This small window - this "spring" - fosters a very specific mood that can only be accompanied by a few select artists. One such artist is Panda Bear. Noah Lennox has been a huge part of facilitating today's pleasantries, and so I'd like to share a bit of the love here. Enjoy - not just the music, but these beautiful days. They help make up the good part of life.

Bros (Album Version) - Panda B...

BSS - 7/4 (Shoreline)

2010-03-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

New Broken Social Scene album out 5/4. In the meantime, "Shoreline" should tide you over.

7/4 (Shoreline) - Broken Socia...

Terrible Love

2010-03-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

Lala.com is down, so I can't stream anything or add anything to my playlist tonight. Instead I'll leave you with a video of The National performing "Terrible Love" on Jimmy Fallon. Their new album High Violet comes out 5/11, and I can't wait.

Our Slow Car Ride

2010-03-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year since I posted here. I think we got off on the wrong foot, really. I had a very specific picture in my head of what I wanted this blog to be, and it wasn't turning out that way. Instead of trying to get it on track or adapting my plan, I just lost interest and quit. I suppose it happens to the best of us (probably not the best of us, but you know what I mean).

Well, I'm back. I've decided this blog isn't really about me having something to say. About music, about life, about anything. You've read it all before, and from much better writers.

I'm going through a transitional period right now. For the first time I recognize myself as an adult, and I'm trying to figure out what that means. I'll be thirty years old next year. Contrary to what I've been told by others who have already lived it, it did not "fly by." It was slow, tedious, and painful - in the best of ways. I've learned so many hard lessons these last five or six years I don't even recognize myself anymore. I was so afraid of that happening, but now that it's here I'm not scared. I'm excited.

I'm listening to a lot of music right now. There was about a ten month period, shortly after I abandoned this blog, where I had all but stopped. I didn't buy any new records or go to any shows. My free time was spent watching TV and playing video games. In a word, I was absent. It's always like that before these transitional periods arrive. I enter this form of stasis where I just exist inside of a vanilla shell. I used to think it was depression, but I'm not so sure about that anymore. Let's call it hibernation. And right now I'm very much awake.

This blog isn't about me having anything to say. It's about me sharing the music that soundtracks my life. I don't have to comment on it or critique it. Most days I won't even explain it. It'll just be here, waiting to be heard, and if I feel like sharing a thought or a story, I will. I've got enough work to do in my life right now. I don't want to add another chore. I just want to take this time to listen, and have you listen along with me. This is our slow car ride together. Enjoy it.

Hellhole Ratrace - Girls

Hell or High Water

2009-04-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

My buddy Jon Meek did some studio work on the new As Cities Burn record Hell or High Water. He played keys on at least one of the tracks, and I think that's awesome.

So here's my plug. As Cities Burn has been a solid band for several years, even when they were starting out as a hardcore, or dare I say, screamo (ugh) band back in the first part of the decade. Since that time, they've relentlessly toured the country and honed their sound to become one of the better indie rock outfits around today. I saw them live in the Fall of 2008 at Red 7 in downtown Austin, and they were incredible. Jon Meek has been involved in several outstanding musical projects, sadly none of which took wing because of circumstance, and is a master of keys. I mean, the man can tickle a mean ivory or two.

Go support a good band and a good friend. Buy the new As Cities Burn record Hell or High Water.

'84 Sheepdog - As Cities Burn

Growing Pains?

2009-04-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

I've been going through quite the nostalgic period lately. I think I'm finally starting to pull out of it, but I have noticed that the older I get, the more these phases occur, and the longer they last. Perhaps that's because I have more experiences to nostalgize (<------not a real word), or perhaps it's because I'm slowly losing the drive to adapt to new things. Becoming "set in my ways," as they say.

I don't know, part of me becomes angry when I think about this. Another part of me doesn't mind so much. It's all part of the inner conflict of not just growing older, but growing up. The irony here is that being afraid of change is a change for me. I used to get bored with the old, but now I find myself being bored with the new.

These past few weeks, as I've shuffled through my iPod library in traffic (<-----not safe), more often than not I've chosen those records that I've been listening to for a decade now instead of the record that came out last week. I've even gone back and added songs and records that I was into in high school, which means, because my iPod stays pretty much full, I had to delete newer stuff to make room. Whereas a couple of years ago, this decision would've tortured me, now I don't even give it a second thought.

The discipline of staying current with new musical trends is less and less of a priority for me, and the necessity of treasuring my tried and true musical gems has begun to take its place. The role of music in my life is morphing into something else - almost as a comforter or a distraction instead of a challenge or an exercise.

A song has to grab me, and I mean really grab me, for me to spend my time exploring it and falling in love with it. Is this unfortunate, or is this the place I've been looking for all along? Knowing what I like and being ok with it. Is it complacency, or is it an earned respite?

I'm not sure, but I know that it feels good to be here, at least for now. I'll let you know how I feel next week.

The song of the night is Morrissey's "Something is Squeezing My Skull" from his new album Years of Refusal, because I like the way he sings the word "skull." Enjoy.

Something Is Squeezing My Skul...

RIP The Delgados

2009-04-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

Every Friday night, I will post a favorite song by a defunct artist. Sometimes I will write, sometimes not. Tonight, I'm not feeling very articulate, so I'll just say this -

The Delgados were a really good band.

The Light Before We Land - The...

Kingdom of Rust

2009-04-16T17:56:00.000-07:00

The new Doves album came out this week. I've only listened to it all the way through once, but I can already tell you that it's probably the best and most accessible Doves album to date.

Superior to most other Brit Rock bands in their vein, Doves create lush, spacey rock anthems that reach all the way to the back of the room. On Kingdom of Rust, we see them becoming a bit more fun and playful with their songs, while still maintaining that head-swelling drone that they're best known for. I haven't listened to this enough to write a fair review, but I wanted to at least leave you with the first single from this album, the title track "Kingdom of Rust." Enjoy.

Kingdom Of Rust - Doves

Texas Tea

2009-04-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

There were signs posted in the first floor lobby of the building where I work that read:

SICK OF THE BAILOUTS???

JOIN US AT THE "DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS TAX DAY TEA PARTY!!"

So, here's the thing.

The Boston Tea Party was a historically important event because it was in protest of "taxation without representation." Not only do we have representation now - we vote for elected officials who then legislate (presumably) based on the values and convictions that they initially campaigned on, and we know what they're about (again, presumably) before they get into a position where they can influence policy - but the reason tea was thrown into the bay as opposed to anything else was because drinking tea was part of the social culture of pre-Revolutionary War America. It was a big deal to throw crates full of tea into the water - wasting tea for almost any reason was sacrilege.

But now? In 2009?

Who cares?

My quarrel is not with people protesting. I say good for them. My quarrel is with the unoriginality of it all. Do something relevant, people. Make your own mark in history. This is just boring.

And if you don't believe me, I submit to you Joe Strummer's take on all of this, who was far more political (and awesome) than I. He said it first and said it best.

I'm So Bored With The U.S.A. -...

Rugburn and Chaos

2009-04-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend and I spent the evening assembling furniture on the living room floor. That's not a euphemism. On hands and knees, pushing in cam locks with our thumbs, I thought it only appropriate that we soundtrack all that rugburn and chaos with a bit of Raw Power. I like to be pumped up when I take on tedious domestic manual labor. Makes me feel less emasculated.

We ended up listening to Johnny Cash's American IV instead, which is still pretty manly but in a different way. But since this is my blog, and there's no girlfriend's nerves to consider here, I'm exercising my passive aggressive veto power and bringing on the destruction.

Now go get on your living room floor and screw something.

Search And Destroy - The Stoog...

Trade-Offs and Things Lost

2009-04-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

I don't have any cohesive thoughts on it just yet, having finished reading it about 2 minutes ago, but Harry Crews' memoir A Childhood really got my wheels turning, mostly about my heritage and my childhood and how things change but never really get better because of the inevitable trade-offs that we make.

What I mean is, less than a hundred years ago, members of my family, some of whom are still alive, lived in self-made homes with no wiring or plumbing. They lost siblings just barely old enough to walk to illnesses that can be cured today by getting a shot or taking a pill. They had chickens living under their houses that they fed through holes in the floor. They paid the doctor with jams or fresh vegetables. Their lives were unimaginably hard - almost to a mythological degree. They had to do terrible, horrible things to survive, but they did them because they had to, and that was that.

On the backs of those people, and on the backs of every generation since then, was laid the foundation for modern America, and subsequently the modern world, that we live in today. Every generation wants to make life better for the generation that follows it. And so we find cures and invent and advance and try and fail and try and fail until we succeed and then we take that success and try and fail and try and fail until we make it even more successful, and so on. In so little time, we've moved so far beyond where we were back then, that now, as I said, it all seems like a myth. Like the stories our grandmothers and grandfathers tell couldn't possibly be true. Not in this world.

Harry Crews makes a very good observation early on in his book when he talks about the day his Uncle Alton took him to meet some old friends of his father. Harry never knew his father, as he died when Harry was only a few months old, so one day, on the front porch of his Uncle Alton's old house, he asked his uncle to tell him something about him. Instead of doing what any one of us might do and floundering his way through a few piecemeal memories, his uncle took him out to where some of Harry's father's old friends were known to congregate, and the stories commenced.

As Harry listens to the men, he thinks about how no one will be able to tell these kinds of stories about him when he is old. His life has been scattered across so many acquaintances and unnamed places that if it weren't for the books he'd written, you'd scarcely know he'd ever existed. Not so with these old men. They were rooted and grown right where they sat, and their connections to the people around them ran deep and long. They knew everything about each other. It was just the way things were during those times, when life was too hard not to be in each other's business. People couldn't survive on their own, isolated from their neighbors. It just wasn't done.

I don't have to explain how that's changed. We all know how. But I think there's something to be said for what's been lost in exchange for an easier life. Yeah, we can go down to the doctor's office and get a prescription and not have to worry about dying from simple infections. We can get from one place to another quickly and without much preparation or thought. We have running water and electricity that gives us the ability to hole up inside our apartments for days on end without having to ever see the sun. We can live our lives never really having to know anybody and still get by, and even be successful.

All of that has its definite advantages, but in an attempt to gain these advantages, I'm afraid that we inadvertently laid the idea of real community on the bargaining table. We move from place to place and job to job and clique to clique, never really planting roots or investing in anything except ourselves. And in our society, this is acceptable and even expected. You can't sit still for too long or you're seen as backwards or unambitious or lazy. Even in the south, where some of those old ways still exist, it's hard to find anyone under the age of thirty that wants to stay in their small towns. There's a drive to move away and make something of ourselves.

Listen, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I did it myself, and I think an important part of growing up is trying to find yourself and all that that entails. I'm just saying, I wish it didn't have to start so early, and I wish it wasn't driven so hard into us that we have to be better than our parents and we have to make the world better for our kids. I wish we'd had that stillness and patience instilled in us that only comes from pain and struggling and scrapings with death - so many scrapings that you no longer feared it but accepted it as just another thing that happens.

And maybe that's it - maybe we never became familiar enough with death that we learned to accept it. Maybe we're all running around with such blind fury because we're scared it might catch up to us if we ever stop. But it's not something that chases you, and it's not something that you're running toward. It just is. Life is a binary state - you're either alive or you aren't. That's it.

I don't know why I got off on that. Like I said, my thoughts about this are a bit fragmented. I'm just thinking about how I wish that one day, there will be a group of old men sitting around a table in the back of an old country store playing dominoes and telling stories about me to my kid. It won't happen because the world is different now, and tonight, that makes me sad.

The song that happens to be sound tracking these reflections tonight is Iron & Wine's "Sodom, South Georgia." One of my favorites. Enjoy.

Sodom, South Georgia - Iron & ...

A Word of Advice

2009-04-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

Do this -

Get your keys
Walk outside
Get in your car
Roll down the windows
Drive toward the lights
And play this song:

Don't Save Us Fom The Fames - ...

RIP Kurt

2009-04-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

I was just reminded that this week marks the 15th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's "suicide." Technically, it was on April 5th, but what's a day or 5 among friends? I must've known somehow that the anniversary was coming up because I've been listening to Nevermind intermittently for a couple of weeks now on my way back and forth to work.

Even if you never liked Nirvana, it's hard to deny that they were one of the most influential and Earth-shattering bands of the 20th century. Hell, almost every song on Nevermind has reached classic status since its release 18 years ago. Plus, how many artists can you name that could've actually written any of those songs back then? "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is practically the de facto anthem of Gen Xers everywhere.

Nirvana hit the top of the charts at a pivotal time for rock and roll, bringing a much higher profile to independent music that has snowballed its way out of the underground and onto our car commercials and prime time TV dramas. (Just last night, The National's "Fake Empire" soundtracked the dramatic conclusion to the season premiere of "Southland")

On a sidenote - the process of achieving this higher profile has unfortunately been at the expense of most of the major labels, who care less and less about the art of music, and more and more about formulaic branding. It's important to note that this was really starting to take hold around the same time Nevermind exploded all over the charts. Popular music became worse and worse, while independent music became a haven for pop music lovers everywhere, which probably would not have been possible without the commercial success of bands like Nirvana.

I don't remember the day Kurt Cobain died. I wasn't allowed to listen to rock music in those days, and I really didn't know anything about Nirvana except there was a naked baby on the cover of one of their CDs, and they represented everything about young people in those days that my evangelical culture was against. It wasn't until my junior year of high school that Nirvana's songs finally took root in my rebellious/bored/angry/frustrated/ambivalent teenage heart. That root, with its thousands of augmentations, has grown into a huge part of who I am today. I wouldn't be the same without it.

And so, on this sad and necessary occasion, I leave you with this - my favorite Nirvana song. I know you remember it.

Lithium - Nirvana