Sleepy March Mix

 

(pic I took at a diner in Brooklyn)

So, I went to New York City last week and it was gorgeous and 77 degrees. When I went shopping, I bought mostly spring dresses. Then I came home and it was rainy, snowy, and in the 30s. I'm wearing sweatpants and a tshirt. Where are you Spring?

Here is a rainy day mix...I'm starting to realize that all my playlists are weather themed lately. I do have some good ideas for my playlist after this, a specific theme. Most of the time I just listen to what feels good :)

Note: "Young Bride" has been stuck in my head for DAYS.

hello droolycats, it is time to talk about Things That Heather Likes! Otherwise known as "heather's latest musical obsessions, you are welcome."

1. "rolling in the deep" by adele
there is not much to say about this song other than "holy fucking shit". i don't know who has pissed her off so much but i would like to have her always be this upset if it will mean more albums like 21. Also, this video, omg etc.


2. jj's album "kills"
okay, so this is a swedish group that takes hot beats from pop music and adds sometimes tweaked, beautiful, ethereal vocals to the mix. think a very restrained girl talk + beach house. I am loving their mixtape kills (download for free).

they have a couple other albums that are less mixtape/sampley but still amazing (jj nº 2 and nº 3)

3. cut copy, "need you now"
there is some sort of neo-disco revival situation happening right now, which simultaneously makes me sort of upset (because, you guys, remember how embarrassing disco was?) and very, very happy. I imagine this is sort of fueled by the success of those 2 MGMT songs. I don't know if this is just a european/uk thing or if it's made it over to the states already, but get your ears excited!


4. the gaslight anthem
I don't know where i've been, but these guys are awesome. American Slang was the first album of theirs I heard, and it's very good, but The '59 Sound is awesome- sort of bruce springsteeny punk. they are also from new jersey. something must be in new jersey's water, or it has something to do with the perpetual smog cloud that lives there.


5. "get some" by lykke li
lykke li's new album is okay - not as good as youth novels, but this track is excellent. i have tickets to see her in april, but it turns out i'll be in spain at a conference. whoops. who wants to come to glasgow and see lykke li for me?


6. summer babes // a mix by sebastian barr
Sebastian is a Stranger From The Internet whose blog I follow; he posted this mix a couple of weeks ago and it's amazing. (it is through his blog that I found out about jj in the first place.) Now that it's warming up and we're all dreaming of summer and/or warmer climes, go download part 1 & part 2

You won't be disappointed. Get your beach hipster on!

Eismelt

Things are melting!

One of our running jokes is that we could probably start a (very strange) band out of the English studies department - we have a lot of people who are/have been in bands! For instance, I just found out that my two supervisors were in a punk band together for a while. To be honest, it's not hard to know people in bands here - almost everyone's in one (or two or three!)

Anyway, whenever someone in the department has a gig, we all usually try to go. Tonight my friend Alan had a gig. We love Alan, he wears Christmas sweaters year-round and spends lots of time staring blankly at the wall looking thoughtful instead of working. Here is his band; he's the singer & guitarist in the video. He sounds nothing like this in real life.


Basically, I had no idea who would follow Alan's melodic indie-folk-in-Christmas-sweaters music, but when Standard Hipsters practically clipped from an American Apparel ad started setting up I had moderately low expectations. They turned out to be this amazing postrock band. I should point out that Mogwai is from Glasgow, so we've got a bit of a postrock tradition here.

I really like postrock but it's difficult to pull it off correctly without being too heavy-handed or contrived. I don't really know how to describe Last Lungs, but you can stream their whole album here.

FLEET FOXES ARE BACK!!

I am beyond stoked.
Helplessness Blues will be released on May 3rd.
Yet another reason to look forward to Springtime. :)

Tour: Tuesday, May 17th they come to Boston! It's at the Orpheum. Tickets for that show just went on sale today at 10am, and are going fast. I just bought two tickets! See you there!

Edit: 2.18.2011
I just wanted to also post the lyrics to this song, because I thought they were pretty good.

another office playlist

Hi.

This is what I've been up to lately:


Oh, and listening to a lot of music - that's right everyone, it's time for another music from the office playlist! I've started writing my thesis, so here's some music I've been listening to while I write.

01 american slang - the gaslight anthem
02 come back home - two door cinema club
03 i am not a robot (clock opera remix) - marina & the diamonds
04 mine is yours (passion pit remix) - cold war kids
05 everywhere - vampire weekend
06 fireworks - whitest boy alive
07 total life forever - foals
08 i'm good, i'm gone - lykke li
09 islands - the xx
10 rome - phoenix
11 royksopp forever - royksopp
12 indestructible - robyn
13 feel it in my bones - tiesto ft. tegan & sara
14 stereo love - edward maya ft. vika jigulin
15 shook (mobb deep and sigur ros remix) - emancipator

CONFESSION TIME: I really, really like to write to pop music and remixes, mostly because it means i can kind of just tune out everything else and just focus on the beats to keep me going. i realize this isn't for everyone, but i think "pop music" can encompass a lot of things without being terrible, so at least give this one a try before you say "heather, what the hell are you doing?"

(i promise to return with something profoundly douchey and pretentious next time.)

So every once in a while the UK music press likes to masturbate all over one or two artists, claiming that they are the best thing to happen since sliced bread. Sometimes this makes them lose credibilty, and sometimes they are absolutely right.

Droolycats, meet Anna Calvi, the current Rising Star of the UK:


This album's not out in the US yet (to the best of my knowledge!) but you can grab it here.

If you liked this, also check out Florence + the Machine's 2009 album Lungs and Lisa Hannigan's (of Damien Rice fame) 2008 album Sea Sew, which was equally gorgeous.

Covers.

Here's my playlist of sweet covers. I found it really hard to narrow down the options for Richie Havens- everything he does is magical. Also, for this live version of "North Country Girl," Pete Townshend stays true to the melody and acoustic guitar part from Dylan's "Girl From the North Country." However, I recommend checking out his recording on the "All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes" album (1982). It's funnier, and much more 80's.

The tracklist (in no particular order) and Youtube playlist can be found below. Enjoy!

1. The Man Who Sold the World - Nirvana
2. North Country Girl - Pete Townshend
3. Rocket Man - Pusifer (Maynard James Keenan & Steven Drozd)
4. Crystalised - Gorillaz
5. Rebellion - Benjamin Francis Leftwich
6. Smooth Criminal - J. Viewz (sassy jazz version)
7. Handle With Care - Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins
8. Mercy Street - Fever Ray
9. Barbarann - The Who
10. Blackbird - Crosby, Stills & Nash
11. Stand By Me - John Lennon
12. Rocky Raccoon - Richie Havens
13. Won't Get Fooled Again - Richie Havens

Riot Grrrls, Pt. 2

Hey All! I'm sorry that I've neglected Droolycat as of late...I promise to contribute more often! Today, I've decided to respond to Heather's challenge with a Riot Grrrl (or at least, women who rock) playlist of my own! I've included a link to each song on YouTube.

Erase Errata - "Tax Dollar"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0nCCKaf5bU

Melt-Banana - "Shield for Your Eyes, A Beast in the Well on Your Hand"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ6Sk8Aj-SQ

Lydia Lunch - "Suicide Ocean"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGmqNi8J3mk

Julie Ruin - "Breakout A-Town"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlr56kDYWvk

X-Ray Spex - "Art-I-Ficial"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abu2otMwDo4

The Pandoras - "It's About Time"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrVsQJgjD98

Cibo Matto - "Birthday Cake"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI5j22h6OdA

Hanin Elias - "No Games No Fun"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgOP4OPEq88

Suffrajett - "Mr. Man"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXA6MqYWrw0

Lolita Storm - "You Make Me High (When You Go Down Low)"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdZlEZ6K5Pw

Destroy All Monsters - "You're Gonna Die"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmsTcey5e20

Lydia Lunch - "This Side of Nowhere" (Lydia Lunch gets two songs on my playlist because she's that awesome)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R5bETC_wvA

Marie Moor - "Pretty Day"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np5nPeW4YbU

Au Pairs - "America"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k2CIcdYNzA

Sea Goats in Space!

Happy Birthday David Bowie! You are one of my favorite musicians of all time. In honor of Bowie, I have created a Capricorn-filled playlist. I wasn't surprised to find that most Capricorn bands seem to be drawn to psychadelic/space-rock, which actually makes this playlist flow pretty well. Even the Del Shannon number has a Jetsons-type jingle in the middle of it.

"Are You A Hypnotist??" ~ The Flaming Lips (lead singer/songwriter Wayne Coyne, born January 13)
"Lady Stardust" ~ David Bowie (born January 8)
"Runaway" ~ Del Shannon (born December 30)
"Astronomy Domine" ~ Pink Floyd (Syd Barrett, born January 6)
"Fever" ~ Elvis Presley (born January 8)
"House of the Rising Sun (Animals Cover)" ~ Joan Baez (born January 9)
"Dazed and Confused" ~ Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page, born January 9)
"Stay With You" ~ John Legend (born December 28)
"Dancing Barefoot" ~ Patti Smith (born December 30)
"Life On Mars" ~ David Bowie
"Andy Warhol" ~ David Bowie
"Space Oddity" ~ David Bowie
"Bowie Song" ~ Flight of the Conchords (Jemaine Clement, born January 10)

Note: This playlist will play all tracks in order, once started.

Had to end with a grand-Bowie-finale. That's pretty freaky, Bowie!