[I'm posting this a few days after originally putting it together. Been busy]
Working in a bar has its ups and downs. The night before Thanksgiving falls on both sides of that line. On the positive it’s one of the busiest nights of the year so the environment is more intense than usual, a change of pace is always welcome. The negative being that the majority of kids are home from out of town and feel it necessary to act like they are three years old with complete disregard for anyone or anything around them. By the end of the night it takes everything I have left not to just take out all of my frustration on someone before the doors are locked. Tonight was no exception.
This is far from a typical playlist. This is one collection of songs I may only listen to a handful of times throughout the year. I apologize to anyone who isn’t into hardcore or screamo, there was a time when this music was my everything and there is something about each of these songs that whenever I put them on just sets my heart in a better place, getting me jacked up and motivated to forget anything that is negative and unhealthy from my usually positive optimistic self. Judge me if you want but these song I will always love.
The third installment in the “Waves” series is the slightly minimalistic title track. Again we see the key elements of what is now becoming the Jhameel “Sound” slightly shifted. This one sways a bit closer to “White Lies” than with “Collision” just a bit more stripped down to the basics. Everything fantastic remains intact just sparingly.
I had a chance to talk with Jhameel a few weeks ago just before the “Waves” release and he mentioned that an acoustic “Dylan-esc” track was going to be one of the five songs to be released which is what I”m really looking forward to about this series since “The Soldier’s Daughter” was my second favorite song on “The Human Condition” (of course “Shut-Up” is number one!).
I feel like I’ve been rather late to the party with Hey Rosetta! having only been listening to them for a month or so. “Bandages” was my toe in the water with these Canadians, I caught the live video and instantly jumped on the Hey Rosetta! bandwagon…Hey Rosetta! are magical.
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My love for Grandpa Was A Lion continues to grow. Check out my post for this and the other new track “Back To The Future” here.
There are few bands I expect the scene to embrace more than Cheerleader in 2012. They’ve got the texture, the vibe, and songs strong enough to listen to on repeat. All things Indie and all things Brooklyn, only these guys are out of Connecticut which for some reason makes Cheerleader even sexier.
Sure “Bummed” sounds like the A-typical indie song but that’s what makes it so great in the first place. Don’t let that discourage you from giving this solid song a few plays throughout the day. I have a feeling when things warm back up this will make it’s way on many a playlist(yeah I’m already looking past the cold. If I pretend it’s not going to happen maybe by some miracle it won’t happen).
There is much to be attracted to about Ohbijou‘s “Niagara” yet all I notice is how magnetizing Casey Mecija‘s voice is. Sure it is far from being a secret how good she sounds but more so than usual she stands out on this one.
Typically I start listening to new music when I get home from work at three in the morning and it’s not uncommon for me to fall asleep while sitting at the computer. Ten or fifteen songs will drift past me before I realize I’ve even fallen asleep, then I’ll try to shake myself awake for a few minutes before forcing myself to jump into bed. Very rarely amidst my uncontrolled slumber a song will still stand out in my ears enough to stir me awake. Oddly with it’s natural passive quietness “Water In The Eyes Of Man” is one of those few songs that has caught my attention amidst such conditions. The subconscious is an incredible thing and apparently loves music as much as I do. This is the first I’ve heard from the side project of The Shaky Hands‘ Nicholas and Nathan Delffs. I can really get into this sound… I”m really looking forward to grabbing the album and hearing what else they have to offer.
Gregory Alan Isakov is one of the better songwriters around. If you’re in the right mindset for this song I hope you’re as floored by it as I am. It’s somber and resigned and absolutely perfect!
Here’s a video of another great song from Drew Grow
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That is it for today.
All Songs are for promotional purposes. If you or an artist you represent would like to have something removed email me at heycoolkid@yahoo.com and I’ll get it taken down shortly.
If you are making a mixtape I dare you to find a better side-one track-one than “Summer Song!” I heard Fair Fjola‘s “No One Gets Any” for the first time early Monday morning and it’s pretty much all I’ve listened to since. As a matter of fact it’s so good when I was looking over this mix I had eight songs from them on deck to be added. I have a feeling this collective out of Warsaw,IN will be spreading like wildfire in the very near future.This is probably the best song to introduce Fair Fjola to you.
New Navy‘s “Tapioca” is a catchy mix of ambient lead and what feels like one seamless three minute hook. These guys are a band out of Sydney who have been building quite a buzz over the last year . Read more about them here.
Longwave‘s been part of my life for nearly ten years now. When I lived on the east coast everyone knew who they were but here in the midwest they seem to be nearly unknown amongst the scene psyche, it’s strange how much great music remains confined by geographic limitations, it’s a sad reality that is happening less and less but for bands in the late nineties that chose not to conform to the mainstream/Clear-channel mold it was the biggest obstacle for them to overcome. I recently featured a track fromHurricane Bells which is now the main focus of Longwave‘s founder Steve Schiltz, which not only is great music in its own right it also proves without a doubt that the guy is still capable of creating amazing music
Don’t let the folky americana instrumentation fool you, the swelling vocals have a purely sixties soul that channels some of the great great blues singers and that is the lifeblood of this band. My only fear is that people will automatically want to categorize Lord Heron next to Fleet Foxes, not that it would be terrible thing but there is a lot more potential here than with the slightly overrated Fleet Foxes. No offense to FF fans, I have always enjoyed their music I just think they are a band whose premature elevation may have caused them to peak far sooner than they would have had they been given four more years to develop a bit less one-sided sound. (I feel the same way about Mumford And Sons) Check the footage from this live take over here.
I am one hundred percent geeked out about TV Ghost. They are out of Lafayette and play shows around town often yet I’ve somehow missed every show they’ve been on the bill for. I’m not even sure how I got my hands on this track but from the second it came on I was stoked beyond belief. There have been an unlimited amount of bands who have tried getting this sound right but none of them have come close to doing it justice the way that TV Ghost do. Each time I listen to “Doppleganger” I feel like I’m having sex on a spaceship while watching a Charles Manson documentary after free basing twelve shots of espresso… Fact.
I was trying to explain TV Ghost to a friend last week and the only comparison I could come up with immediately was think a surfed out Cap’n Jazz mixed with The Mae Shi… he had no idea what I was talking about, often times I don’t either. Since I look for any excuse possible to listen to The Mae Shi here is “PWND” from 2008′s “HLLYH”
I heard this song over the summer and no one in the car knew who the hell it was. Some mix cd with no track list, it’s been driving me crazy ever since. I stumbled over it on Electric Panda last week…thank god for the internet… I should have known they were from Brooklyn.
“Give Me A Chance“ by Hawaii’s Stoner Showers sounds like some eighties synth take on Panda Bear. I really dig how precise everything is as opposed to muddy like other similar songs in the whole chillwave genre. I feel like Stoner Showers are pushing things in a more spaced out direction than hiding behind the noise which is a direction few artists have had the balls to do this year. Don’t rock the boat right? If the music’s good then it shouldn’t matter, “Give Me A Chance” is really good.
I’m always keeping my ear out for new Wise Blood tracks. “Solo” came to me by way of a free fall compilation that Dovecoat Records gave out a few weeks ago. “Solo” is just another reminder that I can not wait for a new Christopher Laufman full length!
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.All songs are for promotional use only. If you are/represent and artist who would like content removed send me an email at Heycoolkid@yahoo.com and I’ll take it down immediately.
