“I don’t wanna have to get a real job, I wanna go on tour, and I’m cool with being broke if that’s what it means or work freelance in-between or doing whatever. I just wanna play.” – Ralph Nicasto - Boxed Wine
There aren’t many bands I want bigger things to happen for than Boxed Wine.They are super positive dudes who have spent the last fifteen months, day-in and day-out, putting in tireless work to make music that they seem to thoroughly dig playing, and they do it with complete awareness of the current mindset towards the genre they loosely fit into. Continue reading →
There is nothing i enjoy more than meeting up with friends at dusk and heading out on a late night drive through the country. Conversations are better, time feels like it doesn’t exist, the world feels like it’s full of possibilities, and the stress of day to day monotony are forgotten completely. It’s the only place i truly feel free, where i finally believe that anything can happen, where my friends and I strip away all pretensions and feel truly alive.
Before heading out there are a few necessities that must never be overlooked; Redbull (or your choice of energy drink), Nicotine (pick your poison), something for the munchies, something to pass around (i’m not condoning or promoting but from personal experience having something….um… light-able(?)….. guarantees a solid cruise to go from being just something to pass the time to epic), and the all coveted “cruising mix”. I have hundreds of mixes that i’ve refused to discard even though at least three tracks on each disc are unlistenable due to scratches from floating around on the floorboard of my car. Each of those discs has it’s own story, it’s own memory , and all i’ve got to do is slip it in and turn the volume up and have that precise night come flooding back to me.
The problem with putting a mix like this up is that the unknowns which go into a perfectly made mix cannot be accounted for, i’ll never be able to bring in that intimacy through a high speed connection. You have to know who will be with you and what they are currently digging, which bands are overrated to them, which ones are underrated, genres they don’t respect, pop songs that they secretly enjoy, and most importantly you need to know when it comes down to that final drag of the ride when all words fall silent and your heading back home, minds in quiet contentment, that the songs playing are going to truly encapsulate a feeling between the group of you at that exact moment. This is not always easy to do. Inevitably there will always be at least one person who is foreign to the group and who probably doesn’t enjoy anything outside of corporate mainstream radio and you have to make sure that songs make the mix which they will appreciate because if one person isn’t enjoying themselves it doesn’t take much for them to upset the vibe between everyone else.
There are three parts to a night cruise. There’s the departure; everyone in good spirits high in everyday conversation and only needing the mix to send of a solid vibe to set the tone for the entire journey without being too weighed down not to allow it to slip off into the ether. The settling in; this is where the music works more as a guide, both for conversations and for emotions. I usually use this part of the mix to bring up songs that we haven’t heard in a while, songs that we may normal be “too cool” for but given the right opportunity with a couple good friends they can be great tracks to sing along with. And then the third being the introspective part of the drive where conversations become more personal and where you have the unique chance to take a look inside yourself as a collective. The third part also being where at least one person inevitably falls asleep. When looking back on past nights out it’s amazing how much the bond as friends becomes strengthened and on more occassions than i can count how many crushes and friendships have moved on to something more tangible all from the right songs and where you end up sitting along the way.
Although this mix could feasably be something i would immedietely burn up and take out tonight it’s also only a guideline. an example of a good way to go about planning a night journey through the country. Hopefully a few of these songs will make it onto your own mix before heading out with friends.
For some reason i kept thinking this was geologist instead of geographer, once that confusion was cleared up i was able to actually enjoy this one. Not to say that had weitz put it out it would have been any less than good but i’m not sure my brain could really grasp that much of a genre shift from the ac camp. I’m still not sure why i was so confused in the first place. Either way i think this is a pretty fabulous track one.
About fifteen minutes into The Sinking of Santa Isabel and i’d already stopped the movie to google the soundtrack. The entire thing was done by Sam Means, half of the format whom i had nearly forgotten, . Hell if it weren’t for that one line in on your porch i probably wouldn’t even know the guys name. Which is kind of sad to admit since the format were my first steps away from my sheltered meaningless existence of commercial radio appreciation. I mean the play counts on interventions and lullabies is in the hundred plus range on my original 20g and i’m willing to bet that nearly all of those came in the summer of 2004. When the format broke up everything i read and heard said that sam had gotten burnt out and wasn’t playing music anymore and foolishly when Fun (which i’m a fan of) started dropping tracks off i started believing that Nate Ruess was the creative power behind the format who had simply lost his desire to create indie songs (blasphemous i know but his pop stuff really is rather decent). Sometimes i’m REALLY glad to be wrong and Sam Means makes me overflow with gladness. This is the direction the format should have been going instead of dog problems. Oh sam… you’ve been missed.
If you need a refresher here you go…
When making a top five side-one-track-one list the first single most definitely would be on it
And this one makes my top fifty song of all-time list
*This video reminds me of two things. one there’s always some idiot crowd surfing during the sad depressing song that everyone else is trying to sing along with (i secretly hope they get dropped every time) and that i use to have that vision street wear poster on my wall when i was in first grade.
Just like Manchester Orchestra who are neither from Manchester or an orchestra California wives aren’t Californian or wives. What they are instead is a band out of Chicago that are on my must see live list.
From what i’ve heard if you missed out on thao at sxsw (like me) apparently you missed the best performer all week. that’s the word on the street anyways and if there’s one thing i’ve learned about words on the street if it comes to bands, parties, or one way streets it’s usually true.
This song does effectively make me wish that i were in fact swimming and i’ve got this sneaky suspicion from the vibe this song puts out that it would feel good
9. Alex Drumm- Sparks in the grass
This one was on the other songs music sampler as well and it’s nothing short of fantastic.
I’m really not sure why this ones on the playlist. It sounds like fifty other songs and came out like two years ago. For some reason this song came up on shuffle last week and put me in a better mood which is good enough for me.
So, lord willing, i’ll be moving with my girlfriend and best friend to Austin before august. This song sums up basically what i think about everyday when it comes to my motivation for leaving the sorrowful midwest.
Occasionally i find the need to call my brother in Bloomington at four in the morning to tell him about some song that i don’t think can wait for him to hear, this is one of those songs. It’s also one of those songs that come up and i immediately want to put it on repeat and start burning en-mass for friends. Hell this song is so good i want to burn it for people who aren’t even my friends. And it’s all on a free download that Andrew Boze put up for free last week. If you don’t appreciate this song here’s something to think over
“I count no one as being familiar with it who has not at the same time been profoundly wounded and at some time been profoundly delighted by every word in it: for only then may he enjoy the privilege of reverentially participating in the halcyon element out of which that work was born” Nietzsche wrote that when discussing those who may not have understood or enjoyed his work Zarathustra. And yes I’m comfortable comparing make that call to Nietzsche, that’s how good i think this song is.
Here’s another one you shouldn’t hesitate to download as well. It’s my favorite BRM song so far and one of the few i’ve paid to download this year (worth every sweet penny too). This song is just another example of his ability to write flawlessly perfect lyrics. Can’t wait to get it on vinyl : the parts you can stand free bandcamp download
At a festival a few years ago a friend mistakenly had me wait front row for what we thought was alexisonfire. It didn’t take long at all for my little emo heart to be broken when we realized that we were in fact watching tv on the radio instead. Since then i’ve come to accept that it was not the bands fault that i was disappointed it was in fact my friends. After giving the guys a fair shake it turned out they were in fact pretty good and still are. I still haven’t seen alexisonfire live, these days i’d probably enjoy tv on radio more but i’d definitely still like the chance to make the comparison
This song seems almost hypocritical being on the same playlist as no nostalgia.I picture this song being played around a campfire after the party crowd has gone to sleep. It just seems like one of those songs that gets played at the end of the night because it just wasn’t fitting with the optimistic drinking earlier in the evening. One of those songs that gets played and the second it’s over maybe a word or two is said and then everyone just stays quite for a long while knowing that even though their life’s not better for having heard it we’re all glad that we did.
This is what i love about the pains of being pure at heart: They put out music regularly, they’re easy to catch live, and they’re consistent with their sound without seeming redundant. Say no to love seems a little less rushed than they’re previous material but still outside the realm of needing to use the kiss of death and say they’ve “matured” which i hope never happens for the pains.
I’m going to skip past the fact that why? probably are the most talented lyric writers around and just say this; Every time i hear some album that sounds like three minute track after three minute track of some garbage rapper freestyling over garbage (bought) beats i can’t help but think about how much those pretentious, often times highly praised for no comprehensible reason (ahem vibe), rappers wish they were half as talented as why? . Why? actually say something and they say it really well.
Need more proof? probably not if you don’t live under a rock but here you go-
When i started making this list i was searching for “party talk” and talk talk came up. Not too many bands get less credit for what’s popular in the scene right now than these guys. Seriously if i hear one more person reference Talking heads (three talk references?… completely unintentional) i may just snap. i feel the same way about talking heads as i do about radiohead…they’re a safe band to give credit to who really don’t do anything for me. Although there’s a huge difference in my mind between those two bands, i may not like either one of them but at least i know that radiohead is hugely talented i just don’t personally like them. Talking heads! not even close! at best i’ll concede that they were a good band (lower case g) and if one more person puts a live album of theirs on as background music i may end up lighting someones apartment on fire!
The Maccabees’ best love song since their last love song. “first love, lost love, only love, it’s only love” is one of my favorite breakup lines ever written. There’s something to be said about choosing one person over another and making it poetic, the Maccabees are poets.
Working in a bar frequented by middle-class american college kids who prefer prefab outfits of matching polo’s makes me think of this song which may not have been exactly what Winston intended when she wrote it but whatever.
that’s it for March. if you represent an artist whose songs are on this page and would like it removed i’ll be more than happy to both oblige and never recommend their music in a positive light again, that’s the agreement. I completely agree with bands making money so they continue making art but spreading some free love from time to time is really the most humble and appreciated thing i’ve come to love about bands. Also if there’s any music i’m missing or missing the point on here’s the comments section… i’m listening:)
