It’s hard to quantify just how eager I was for Atlas. Real Estate’s self-titled debut was the soundtrack to the winter of my freshman year. In just their first release, they already seemed to encapsulate that jangly “beach pop” sound that’s become a recent obsession in indie music. Their follow-up, Days, landed in 2011 to… Read More
I dread even hearing Conor Oberst’s voice for a minute or two, because it’s difficult not to tense up in anxious fear of the moment he’s going to let loose with a whirlwind of boo-hooing, masturbatory ‘emotion.’ But when he keeps it reined in he’s a competent songwriter (though I can still name a long list… Read More
I originally posted this a few days ago with a lengthy introduction but I took it down because of its many typos. Now it’s back and the only introduction I’m giving it is that at my house back home there are all five One Direction dolls on the premise and since writing this a week… Read More
Artist: The Growlers Album: Gilded Pleasures Label: Everlong Release Date: November 12th, 2013 Genre: Neo-Psychedelic Grade: A- RIYL: Dr. Dog, Ty Segall, 1958 Chevy convertibles, rollies, Endless Summer, and The Cramps As SoCal as they come, garage rockers The Growlers stay true to their “beach goth” roots on their latest EP, Gilded Pleasures. Drenched in… Read More
(Artist: Vic Mensa; Album: Innanetape; Released: 30, September 2013; Grade: B+) You might know him from the (now defunct) band Kids These Days, you might know him from his verse on Cocoa Butter Kisses off of Acid Rap and you might not know him at all, but soon enough you’ll know Vic Mensa for what… Read More
So, while it’s been available to stream online for a while, Darkside’s new album was officially released exactly one week ago. Darkside is the collaboration between Nicolas Jaar, blogosphere-dubbed electronic wünderkid, and guitar prodigy Dave Harrington, and while the two genres that these Brown University classmates represent may seem disparate, don’t write off the… Read More
Two summers ago, amidst my internship with Universal Records, I was told to go downstairs to the lobby and bring up the three tall and hip-looking girls that were due to arrive at any moment. In the elevator ride up to the Universal offices I naively asked the three very-L.A. girls with me why there… Read More
Nick Koenig aka Hot Sugar self-released his EP Made Man TODAY. It features a lot of artists we heard on his “Midi Murder” EP like Antwon, Lakutis, KOOL AD, and Chippy Nonstop. We even hear an extended version of “56k,” which was originally released on “Midi Murder.” Some of my favorite tracks feature new artists… Read More
Khalif Diouf’s new album “Tree House” has a lot going on. The Dark Pop rapper features the work of some awesome producers like Shy Guy, Boody, The Drum, and DE, all of whom work a lot with ambient synthy textures that are defining the trends of today’s developing pop scene. Le1f rose to the spotlight… Read More
With Lil Wayne continuing to refute Earth as his planet of origin, the storied New Orleans hip-hop tradition has taken a bit of a step back in recent years. However, former signee to Wayne’s Young Money label, Curren$y is keeping NOLA well represented in the world of raps. His most recent project, Red Eye, dropped Monday as part of a BitTorrent package of music,… Read More
So we’ve made it. Out of those stormy days of young adolescence and into the somewhat less tumultuous days of young adulthood. For me these years were a time of rapid change, from awkward to nerdy to hard to define. But it was right around this time that I also began to take my music… Read More
