Something For The Ladies

Miguel - “Party Life” Perfect song for reflecting on...

cxianet — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:37:06 -0500

Perfect song for reflecting on last night and preparing for this weekend.

Miguel has released three excellent three-song mini-mixtapes this year (for free!), and you should download all three of them right now.

Nylo - “Attention” Nylo is a Chi-town girl with a...

cxianet — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:39:10 -0500

Nylo - “Attention”

Nylo is a Chi-town girl with a voice that always sounds like her heart is breaking.

Her 5-song EP is up for free on Soundcloud. Go grab it.

Killer Mike - “Reagan” Killer Mike is absolutely on...

cxianet — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:55:49 -0500

Killer Mike - “Reagan”

Killer Mike is absolutely on top of his shit throughout the entire album, but I’m sitting here listening to “Reagan”, and I feel like my insides are being shredded to bits. It really pisses me off when people denounce rap music as being all about mistreating women or drinking champagne or using Kanye West as the exception to the rule. Mike speaks with such conviction, such anger on this track, and I can’t help but feel angry and upset and hopeless, too. Please; four sweaty boys with guitars got nothing on this.

Spiritualized - “Too Late” Perfect music for a late...

cxianet — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:25:28 -0500

Spiritualized - “Too Late”

Perfect music for a late night with the windows open and a slight breeze coming through.

The Oh Hello’s - “Lay Me Down” Oh hey guys....

inscien — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:55:00 -0500

The Oh Hello’s - “Lay Me Down”

Oh hey guys. Long time no music. Here’s some deliciousness I found on Spotify the other day. The entire album is pay what you want on their website. Go check it out!

The Lumineers - “Flapper Girl” I just feel like...

cxianet — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:05:02 -0500

The Lumineers - “Flapper Girl”

I just feel like lying out on the field next to the library in the sun and falling asleep to this love song that sounds just like America. Today, I am yearning to return to the open fields and warm weather of Texas.

Tree - “All” That saxophone is breaking my...

cxianet — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:19:30 -0500

Tree - “All”

That saxophone is breaking my heart.

Download the entire Sunday School mixtape via Fake Shore Drive for free!

Metric - “Youth Without Youth” Emily Haines is among...

cxianet — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:57:07 -0500

Metric - “Youth Without Youth”

Emily Haines is among the best frontmen working today and here’s why. After writing and performing one of the songs that I truly feel defines a large part of my generation, she branched off with Jimmy Shaw to create a project that stands alone. Metric is a band that believes in evolution, and as time has gone on, they’ve embraced the largeness of their music, creating songs that are meant to be played live, to stomp along with and shout to. From their early days, Metric hasn’t been shy about politics, and with “Youth Without Youth”, Shaw and Haines have penned a song that is enormously sad disguised as an absolute banger. Haines has one of those voices that can fluctuate between fragility and anger and expresses them all while baiting the audience with lines like “Jump with me on the count of three.”

I’m glad to see in the comments for the track on Soundcloud that the song’s being compared to Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Nirvana. I think comparisons are lazy ways to describe music, but it’s even stupider that female vocalists are constantly being compared to other female vocalists. Haines proves that she’s among the best, male or female, and I’m glad that we’re finally getting closer to just enjoying the rock and roll.

Ramona Falls - “Spore” I’ve been a huge fan of...

arrondissement — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:37:00 -0500

Ramona Falls - “Spore”

I’ve been a huge fan of Menomena for ages, so naturally Brent Knopf’s departure saddened me to an extent. However, I became quite curious about the projects he decided to pursue, particularly Ramona Falls. “Spore” is a track off of the upcoming album Prophet. It’s simultaneously new and familiar. Hey, everyone! My birthday’s coming up soon. Would it be inappropriate to ask the internet for this album as a gift? Thanks in advance, y’all.

The Dandy Warhols - “Enjoy Yourself” So long as...

cxianet — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:24:34 -0500

The Dandy Warhols - “Enjoy Yourself”

So long as we’re talking about bands that made our adolescent years more bearable, The Dandy Warhols released an album two days ago called This Machine. The Dandy Warhols that I originally fell in love with played music for boys in their early twenties about the simple life and girls they liked. But Courtney Taylor-Taylor is now in his forties, and his band’s settled for more of a mature alternative rock sound. Taylor-Taylor’s not quite ready to let go of the past through, as he nostalgically jokes, “I used to be hot, used to be a little slut”. With old age comes (some sort of) wisdom; enjoy your youth while you can, kids.

Harvey Danger – “What You Live By” The year was 2005. I was in...

draxiom — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:36:00 -0500

Harvey Danger – “What You Live By”

The year was 2005. I was in my last year at middle school, and looking back, I was having a shitty time. It was nowhere near as shitty of a time I was about to have in high school, but in middle school I just wasn’t happy. I had just gotten into music for the first time, and I liked god-awful alt bands like every other eighth grader did; Breaking Benjamin and the like.

But in 2005, Little By Little dropped online for free, and by some providence, 13 year-old Adam stumbled upon the group Harvey Danger. Even though I was a huge Smashing Pumpkins rocker (still am) and didn’t give a flying fuck about music that didn’t cave your eardrums in, This super-clean alternative pop nonsense was so sweet to my ears and made me feel such a strong and pure happiness that I had to rethink everything I ever listened to (I think all of the SFTL staff had an album like this). From that I found a need to search for music that made me really feel things, and thanks to that one album I am the hipster asshole who is typing this into Tumblr today, seven years later.

Of course (since this story is tragic and unhappy) they ultimately failed. Being where I am today, I guess I just regret not doing something, anything to curb their demise. I mean, I was 13, but I didn’t do anything for years knowing that they were failing. I never told my friends about them, I never wanted to go to a concert of theirs, I never spent a dime on any of their albums, and, worse yet, I’m willing to bet that a lot of people didn’t do the same things that I didn’t do. And, so it goes, the first band I fell in love with turned into the one-hit-wonder that nobody ever cared about. I guess somewhere deep down I feel like I as a fan had the power to change that, and I’ve never gotten over how much I failed them.

I know this won’t do them any good now, but the last time I mentioned them we had like 150 folllowers and I was butchering the word “nostalgia,” so maybe airing out my grief in front of an audience of a quarter million people makes up for all those years of theft and negligence. Probably not, but it’s pretty much all I’ve got.

So, uh, thanks for the tunes, guys. Really helped me through middle and high school.

I’m sorry.

The Quakers – “Smoke” It’s April and I hate...

draxiom — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 19:48:00 -0500

The Quakers – “Smoke”

It’s April and I hate superlatives. That being said, unless Danger Mouse, Jack White, and Kanye all produce four albums each this summer, this thing they call “Quakers” (earthquakes, not Pennsylvanians) is absolutely going to go down as one of the ten best-produced albums of the year.

La Sera - “I Can’t Keep You in My Mind” La...

cxianet — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:01:10 -0500

La Sera - “I Can’t Keep You in My Mind”

La Sera is the artist name of Vivian Girls’ Katy Goodman’s solo project, and her second album is titled Sees the Light. The title perfectly describes the type of breakup album that Goodman’s written. She sounds understandably sad that the relationship is over, but incredibly accepting that the breakup had to happen; the ending is bittersweet for her. Lyrics aside, the clangy and repetitive guitar makes for some really nice classic pop sounding songs. Clocking in at just around thirty minutes, Sees the Light is an absolute delight to listen to.

Newtimers - “January Love” Who’d have thought...

cxianet — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:57:52 -0500

Newtimers - “January Love”

Who’d have thought that such a funky R&B track would have come out of Sweden? Indeed, singer Andreas Cavaco provides the silky voice layered over producer Tim Lundblad’s beats and they hail from the beautiful city of Stockholm. Stockholm winters can be brutal, and Cavaco and Lundblad have got the track to warm you right up next to your honey. Even if I’m a few months late to this, who doesn’t want a cuddle with their boo even in April?

Check out the yus remix, too. It does some different things and morphs it into a totally different track perfect for late night chillin’.

Major Lazer - “Get Free (feat. Amber of Dirty...

cxianet — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:16:49 -0500

Major Lazer - “Get Free (feat. Amber of Dirty Projectors)”

Good morning. Start your morning off right with a dreamy, chilled out tune from Diplo and Switch. Amber Coffman’s got such a lovely voice that you’ve got to wonder why she doesn’t sing more on Dirty Projectors’ tracks.

Download the track along with the Bonde do Role remix for free right here.

Sleater-Kinney - “Jumpers” My falling shape will...

cxianet — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:58:43 -0500

Sleater-Kinney - “Jumpers”

My falling shape will draw a line between the blue of sea and sky. I’m not a bird; I’m not a plane.

Hospitality - “All Day Today” Opening for Wild Flag...

cxianet — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:34:42 -0500

Hospitality - “All Day Today”

Opening for Wild Flag is no easy feat, but Hospitality was more than up to the challenge last Thursday in Chicago. Bloggers might call them twee, but that doesn’t give the band nearly enough credit. The band’s got a little edge to them, too; listen to the lyrics and you’ll find references to naughty sexual acts or watch them live and see lead-singer Amber Papini pull off a leather jacket just as well as Carrie Brownstein (no easy feat). I complimented Amber after the show who was manning merch, and she graciously thanked me and smiled despite my tongue-tied muddling of their label (Merge, not Wichita) and lack of cash to actually buy merch. I bought the album a couple of days later, and I highly recommend you do, too. 2012 has been a little quiet for me in terms of releases, but Hospitality is phenomenal.

Carousel - “Where Have You Gone” Normally, I shy...

arrondissement — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:58:00 -0500

Carousel - “Where Have You Gone”

Normally, I shy away from the spring and summer seasons and stay indoors. I loathe the heat and the humidity that always make me wonder how I ended up in the state of Texas. However, it seems as though these warmer months make for the perfect backdrop for airy tunes such as this one. “Where Have You Gone” takes me back to long, summer nights spent chasing fireflies and living in my own little world filled with, well, love. I guess spring and summer aren’t so bad after all.

BBU - “26th & Cali” While there’s been an...

cxianet — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:00:00 -0500

BBU - “26th & Cali”

While there’s been an incredible amount of buzz lately surrounding Harlem rappers like A$AP Rocky and Azealia Banks or the West Coast’s Black Hippy, the Midwestern city of Chicago has been insultingly left out of the mix. bell hooks is an embodiment of the city in the sense that BBU spits rhymes about politics. The mixtape goes between the extremes of hilarious and depressing, starting with a spoken word piece from a high schooler at Lincoln Park High School and ending with a jab at Nicki Minaj. “26th and Cali” is one of the finest songs ever written about the city of Chicago. It’s up on Bandcamp for free right now; you’d be stupid to not grab it and have a listen for yourself.

Miike Snow - “Pretender” Man, do Swedes really know...

soundsofsilvazws — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:49:00 -0500

Miike Snow - “Pretender”

Man, do Swedes really know how to make great pop music.

Miike Snow just released Happy to You, and it’s one of the most interesting releases you’ll hear all year, but definitely one that will have you busting a move. Also, in even cooler news, Miike Snow, along with a bunch of the other extremely talented Swedish indie artists, banded together to form a brand new record label called INGRID.