Final Post

This is my final post, so I want to end in on a really personal note and just show all of my favorite albums. These albums made me really into music, and made me start this blog. Whether they're my favorite albums because of the discography, band, album art, or the time in my life I first listened to it, they all mean so much to me.

Bands Bands Bands!!!!

Here's an awesome collection of bands I'm really into that made me want to start this blog. It's amazing how much we can communicate with music- through music, talking about music..... and it's crazy how all of our tastes are totally different, and how some of us have such a similar taste that we can relate to them. Here are some other really neat collections as well....

104.5 Block Party

104.5's block party was this past weekend at the pier in Philly. The turnout was great- maybe 500 people showed up. Catfish and the Bottlemen sadly only played for less than a half hour, as their set was only 5 songs long. The wait between them and Banks was about 50 minutes, but when Banks came on, she dominated. Banks is very synth oriented, and there was a drummer, a keyboard player, and the singer. It's possible she was singing over her own voice on a track in the background, but either way, her songs were captured perfectly on stage. I wasn't very into the artist before she came on, but her performance was amazing and  she played the longest and had the best turn out.

BANKS - Beggin For Thread (Official Music Video)
Catfish and the Bottlemen - Kathleen

Glass Animals

Glass Animals are an indie rock band, that has become increasingly popular. Their music is very dreamy and pop, and the music videos are incredibly strange. Gooey is very popular, reaching 3 million views on Youtube. Psylla's music video is also worth watching as well. Their sound is similar to that of Alt-J.

The Shaky Knees

This is a music festival that will be in Atlanta, GA May 8-10. I want to go so bad, and I only used to live four hours from there! The lineup is unbelievable: The Strokes, Tame Impala, Wilco, Neutral Milk Hotel, Interpol, Kaiser Chiefs.... even lesser known but still great bands like Real Estate. Here's the official website to grab some tickets. http://shakykneesfestival.com/

The Vaccines

This is a very unique indie rock band with a unique sound. The Vaccines rely on the older, simple sounds and song formations of 60s beach bands, such as The Beach Boys. The songs are short, catchy, upbeat, and fun. Their new album, English Graffiti, is being premiered on the official website.
Here's a couple of The Vaccines' popular songs, a good tribute to the beach rock that used to be so popular, mixed with the indie 'Coachella' sound that made them become so successful.

The Vaccines - If You Wanna
The Vaccines - Norgaard
The Vaccines - Teenage Icon

Tycho-Awake

The new album Awake has been released, and Tycho is on tour for it now. Get tickets here.Tycho has a dreamy, electro-pop sound. As an artist, Tycho has beautiful graphics for the albums. Listen to the entire album here. 

Record Store Day is April 18th!!!

South Street in Philadelphia is having a record store day this weekend. So if you have a record player, are wanting to buy a record player, or looking for new records, then this is where you need to be this weekend. Tons of collections of both popular and obscure albums. Here is the list of stores that will be participating: Participant List

The Desired Effect

Remember The Killers? That one band from middle school that you and your friends played over and over? Well, looks like a new album is being released in 2015. Not by the group (shame), but the lead singer, Brandon Flowerss, will release The Desired Effect on May 18th.
The Killers - Mr. Brightside
The Killers - Somebody Told Me
Brandon Flowers - Can't Deny My Love (The Desired Effect Single)

Montage Of Heck, a Kurt Cobain Documentary

Ok, so I don't know about you guys, but Nirvana was one of the best bands in the past few decades. Legendary. Nirvana single handedly started the 90s trend of fashion and music, called grunge. Kurt Cobain was God to some, and now 20 years later is still praised as a crazy, artistic, unique rock legend. Smells Like Teen Spirit is the anthem of teens for generations passed and generations to come. Cobain captured his following with teen rebellion and anger so perfectly with his greasy hair and striped sweater. Sadly, Cobain committed suicide on April 5, 1994. Nirvana was so legendary, Cobain was so legendary, and now for the first time, Nirvana fans will get an inside look on what Cobain was like with unseen footage form his life and his music in a new documentary, Montage Of Heck. It's been released in Italy, but the U.S release date has not been given yet.  This documentary will capture the essence of the rise and fall of one of the greatest teen anthem bands, Nirvana.
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Nirvana - Come As You Are
Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box

Biggest Selling Album of the Decade...?

This album beat the record sales of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, according to NME news. . This is also a nice band to follow up from talking about Alt-J, because their popularity soared through social media, specifically Tumblr, just the same. This band is Arctic Monkey's AM album. With it being the best selling album of the decade, most have already heard it. In case you haven't, check out Do I Wanna Know? (165,000,000 views!)
I first heard Arctic Monkeys when they were still looking for their sound. They were following Fall Out Boy's path of songs that are full sentences. If you love this album, check out the songs from their roots, especially the album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.
Arctic Monkeys - 'Fluorescent Adolescent' (2007)
Arctic Monkeys - Teddy Picker (2007)
Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down

Alt-J

Alt-J has been very popular on Tumblr for almost over a year now. The 'oil spill' album cover has been used and seen on blogs everywhere. They've been called the 'next Radiohead' by some music sites. Honestly I think that's pretty accurate, their music is subtle, background music, and sometimes slightly morose. Their most popular song is Breezeblocks. Alt-J recently played at Coachella, which just ended this week.

No Pier Pressure

The Beach Boys were a popular band in the 60s known for their surf style type of rock music. Famous songs include Kokomo, Wouldn't It Be Nice, and Fun Fun Fun. Now 50+ years later, the band's main leader is producing a brand new album in today's modern music scene. It's interesting to watch fame come and go with 'celebrities' such as Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, or even bands that were the hype all at once, and became old news just as fast. And then you got an old surf rock 60s musician still playing music and selling his albums. Very cool. Preview No pier Pressure here.

Psychedelic

I've chosen psychedelic as today's topic because I've recently discovered Of Montreal, a rock band ironically from Georgia. Their song 'Gronlandic Edit' is extremely trippy, in music and art, and takes more of a 60s approach, fitting in seamlessly with the psychedelic scene. Gronlandic Edit pays tribute to The Beatles's Yellow Submarine movie, which if you haven't seen it already, you're missing out. Here's a small clip. Take a trip back to this era with a modern twist to some old news:)
Gronlandic Edit- Of Montreal
Yellow Submarine- The Beatles (movie clip)

Yellow Submarine

Gronlandic Edit

Muse's New Album

Muse has taken a little break from their music career, but are coming back in full swing with their new album Drones, to be released June 8, 2015. Muse is an English rock band formed in 1994. Some of their greatest hits include Madness, Supermassive Black Hole (featured on Twilight), and Thoughts of a Dying Atheist. Personally, their best album was Absolution released in 2001. The cool thing about this band is they offer complex piano riffs like a recital instead of a modern rock band. Their music does not follow the standard verse-chorus-bridge using 3-5 chords...They are all over the place with strong vocals and finely written guitar and piano parts. In their 2cd Law, they began relying more on an electronic sound. I'm interested in what they come up with in the new album....
Check out Muse's newest song, Psycho.

Hot Sugar

Following the smooth trance- pseudo electronic sound of MACINTOSH PLUS, Hot Sugar is a unique artist with trippy loops and unorthodox music videos, Such as Your Nails Look So Pretty. His music can put you into another world, and though he has no lyrics, his song titles are odd, such as  The Girl Who Stole My Tomagachi. His entire album of Seductive Nightmares is moody, electronic, and otherworld-like. I recommend 2:40-3:00....
Your Nails Look So Pretty
Seductive Nightmares

vaporwave

This is only a song, but vaporwave is a popular genre that's a half joke/all online. Vaporwave is categorized by aesthetic and nostalgia, usually with bad photoshop edits of water, classic sculptures, and random languages.  The music is a sampling of multiple tracks, loops, and from multiple genres. this song by Macintosh Plus, from the album Floral Shoppe, is a sample of Diana Ross's It's Your Move, slowed and edited. To some it may be elevator music, but to others it may be a very chilled, relaxed, trippy song from a very different, obscured type of genre that exists only via the internet.

MACINTOSH PLUS - リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー
It's Your Move- Diana Ross

Youtube Covers

This post is a little different because I want to pay homage to good song covers. It takes a lot of practice to try and recreate a song, because there's so much room for error. Everyone's style sounds different, and especially with vocals, listeners are looking for an exact rendition of their favorite song, and are usually disappointed if the cover isn't identical. Anyways, fishelmar does covers of The Doors, Nirvana, and The Beatles. He plays piano, guitar, bass, drums, and sings vocals. It is insane how much he can sound like Jim Morrison and re create grunge sound of Kurt Cobain.
Love Me Two Times- The Doors
I Will- The Beatles. Listen to the original version and this one at the same time. Completely identical.
Dumb Nirvana

The Strokes

If you're into the garage rock sound, you should check out The Strokes. They're kind of old news, and their last album, Comedown Machine,was released back in 2013, but every song they have delivers. This band went from garage rock, electronic, and back to their roots in indie rock. Lead singer Julian Casablancas has also branched out into a solo career. The Strokes will be playing at The Shaky Knees and Big Guava Festival this year.

classic Strokes: Last night

from the album Angles: Life Is Simple In The Moonlight

from the album Comedown Machine: Tap Out

Going Local

This past Friday, a local band played at Creep Records in Philadelphia. They are Aspiga,  a punk/alternative band that has recently released a new album, What Happened To You? You can find them on Spotify, and also at local gigs around the northeast area.

Welcome To The Sympathy Party

Users

Florence and the Machine

Florence and the Machine has an album coming out soon in June. I actually don't know much about this band, but their new single is so mesmerizing. Watch the music video for it, What Kind Of Man, here. This is a music review blog, but I have to go over the music video briefly; it makes the song. The aesthetic value and artistic direction is similar -and as powerful- as the music video to Sia's Chandelier. Now that song is old news, but in a way it's revived in Florence's new single. The cinematography is visually appealing, and the choreography is a little obscure, and paired with Florence Welch's voice, it becomes a powerful single that readily looks toward to their new album release in June. Florence and the Machine fan or not, definitely give this song a listen.

Modest Mouse's New Album Release

For the first post, just to get started, I'll talk about a band that has an album coming out in the next month- Modest Mouse. If anyone listens to 104.5, then I hope you're not already sick of hearing their new song, Lampshades On Fire, play on repeat. If you haven't heard it, you can listen to it here. Iconic Modest Mouse is a raspy, raw lead singer, trumpets, and very thoughtful lyrics. No mushy love lyrics, or vague lyrics that have been written a thousand different ways by a thousand different bands. Her is a verse from one of their older songs, Blame It On The Tetons:

"All them eager actors gladly taking credit 

for the lines created by the people tucked away from sight 

is just a window from the room we're bound to. 

If you find a way out, oh would you just let me know how? "

Modest Mouse's new album Strangers To Ourselves will be released in March of 2015.