top 5 songs for the week for 25 march 2013

1. savages - she will



Debut LP Silence Yourself will be out on May 7 in the US via Matador.

2. kisses - huddle



Long time fans of the feature (all zero of you) will recognize Kisses from previous posts. Their sophomore album Kids in LA comes out May 14 on Cascine Records

3. girls - alex



4. tame impala - why won't they talk to me?



5. kurt vile - never run away



The first single off Kurt Vile's new album Walking on a Pretty Daze, out April 9 via Matador.

top 5 songs of the week for 18 march 2013

1. Yellow Red Sparks - Yellow Red Sparks

It's song 5 but I'm including the entire album streaming on SoundCloud for your listening pleasure.



2. Male Bonding - Bones



3. Tame Impala - Apocalypse Dreams



4. The Specials and Fun Boy Three - The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)



5. Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta

In honor of the fact that I just discovered series 8 of Peep Show is available on Hulu Plus. You can try Hulu Plus for free for two weeks by clicking HERE.

top 5 of the week for 24 february 2012

1. belle and sebastian - get me away i'm dying


2. trailer trash tracys - candy girl


3. here we go magic - tunnelvision


4. bon iver - blood bank


5. kurt vile - jesus fever

top 5 of the week for 17 february 2012

1. porcelain raft - despite everything


2. olivia tremor control - a peculiar noise called train director


3. the soft moon - total decay


4. tape deck mountain - p.i.


5. braids - lemonade

special top 5 - valentine's day edition

A special Valentine's Day edition of the top 5. Mostly songs about romances that don't work out but one semi-happy song did manage to slip in there.

1. neon indian - fallout


2. music go music - light of love


3. radio dept. - the worst taste in music


4. magnetic fields - i think i need a new heart


5. cloud nothings - even if it worked out

top 5 of the week for 10 february 2012

After last week's dedication to pyromania, I decided to make this week's playlist an ode to mental illness.

1. sonic youth - schizophrenia


2. deerhunter - agoraphobia


3. rolling stones - 19th nervous breakdown


4. jimmy hendrix - manic depression


5. of montreal - a sentence of sorts in kongsvinger


BONUS : Here's a bonus video about a man with a love of fire.

talking heads - burning down the house

top 5 of the week for 27 january 2012

1. masonic - way down avenue


It seems after Jennifer Christen left the band, Masonic re-recorded all the songs from their debut album with a new vocalist. The new girl wasn't nearly as good. Unfortunately, it's rare to find the originals on the internet so you'll have to put up with this.

2. sonic youth - schizophrenia


3. raveonettes - apparitions


4. spoon - got nuffin


5. braveyoung - we are lonely animals

---

Buy stuff online? Why not join ebates and get cashback with every purchase. Search for things on the internet? Bing rewards you for every search and lets you earn gift cards and other rewards. Click on the buttons below to join.

top 5 of the week for 20 january 2012

1. the circulatory system - the spinning continuous


2. sonic youth - superstar


3. soul coughing - circles


There's also a great Cartoon Network Groovies video with the Flintstones and this song but it seems to have been wiped from the internet.

4. olivia tremor control - define a transparent dream


5. explosions in the sky - first breath after coma

---

Buy stuff online? Why not join ebates and get cashback with every purchase. Search for things on the internet? Bing rewards you for every search and lets you earn gift cards and other rewards. Click on the buttons below to join.

top 5 of the week for 13 january 2012

I got some unpleasant news this week. Apparently my high blood pressure has the docs concerned enough that they've put me on medication to lower it. So here's a top 5 songs about hearts and heart problems.

1. the magnetic fields - i think i need a new heart


2. telekinesis! - calling all doctors


3. the national - looking for astronauts


4. paul westerberg - dyslexic heart


5. japandroids - young hearts spark fire

top 5 of the week for 30 december 2011

New Year's Eve eve. Here's 5 of Elliott Smith covering other artists and bands.

1. elliott smith - when i paint my masterpiece (bob dylan cover)


2. elliott smith - trouble (cat stevens cover)


3. elliott smith - these days (jackson browne cover)


4. elliott smith - care of cell 44 (zombies cover)


5. elliott smith - for no one (beatles cover)


And a bonus:
6. metric - between the bars (elliott smith cover)

top 5 of the week for 23 december 2011

Sorry I didn't end up putting up a top 5 for last week. After finishing my seminar paper, I decided to take a break from the world for awhile. Yes, I'm still alive and kicking.

I bet you were expecting a holiday playlist from me. Well, there are music services to fill your head with Christmas music. Either that or you can step into any department store in American right now and get your fill. Instead, a theme playlist. Can you guess?[1]

1. islands - swans (life after death)


2. camera obscura - let's get out of this country


3. of montreal - a sentence of sorts in kongsvinger


4. modest mouse - world at large


5. led zeppelin - going to california

---

[1] No, it's not that they all suck, funny guy.

top 5 for the week of 9 december 2011

Originally I was going to post a playlist with a theme. But then I stumbled upon Pretty Much Amazing's Best Songs of 2011 playlist on spotify. So instead I'll share 5 of my favorite songs that I discovered on it.

1. tyler, the creator - yonkers


I've actually enjoyed Goblin before PMA's list came out. This is probably my favorite track on the album because of its calm, controlled insanity.

2. cass mccombs - county line


Another track I'd heard a few times before I saw the list. Can't remember who gave it away for free on the internet. Chill song nonetheless.

3. penguin prison - don't fuck with my money


There's something amusingly cheesy about this song. It recollects 80s synth pop but not nearly as cleverly, adroitly, or creatively as Twin Shadow. This is pure fluff. I'll probably forget about it in a week. Too bad the rest of the world won't do the same with that damn Foster the People song.

4. cold cave - the great pan is dead


A certain louse won't let me embed the version set to scenes of Oldboy but you can enjoy it here.[1] I was supposed to see Cold Cave and the Radio Dept. play in Dallas on 7 November but the Radio Dept. couldn't get a visa and the tour was cancelled. That seems to happen a lot to Scandinavian bands. My ACL after party tickets to see the Raveonettes a couple of years ago were cancelled for the same reason. Oh, and this Cold Cave song is pretty nifty, too.

5. the vaccines - if you wanna


In it's poppiness and simplicity, it kind of reminds me of the Ramones. Not as edgy or great as the Ramones. But it kinda reminds me of them.

---

[1] Oldboy is one mindfuck of a movie. Definitely, definitely worth seeing. But be prepared to be deeply disturbed. All of Chan Wook Park's Revenge trilogy is worth seeing (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance).

top 5 for the week of 2 december 2011

There are rumors swirling that snow may be coming to Austin this Monday or Tuesday. So in honor of the possibility of flakes, here are 5 of my top tracks about winter, the cold, and snow. Now with commentary![1]

1. bon iver - blood bank
Youtube and soundcloud are being ultra lame. No one has the full song available to listen to that I can also embed. Rather than subjecting you to some crappy version with the last 20 to 35 seconds cut off, just click here and ignore the long dead air at the end.

Probably my number one favorite cold-weather themed song of the moment. Winter and the cold reinforcing themes of isolation, loneliness, and loss. Fantastic stuff. Though, to be honest, all of For Emma, Forever Ago probably qualifies for that honor. Plus, you got to love a guy of Justin Vernon's stature in the music biz who basically tells the Grammys to go eat a D.[2]

2. fleet foxes - white winter hymnal


Blood Bank had to displace this simple but utterly profound little tune. It's just the same 52 words repeated three times but wow, so evocative.

3. mystery jets - flakes


Probably one of the saddest break up songs of all time. It makes my cry every time I listen to it (including this one). I came across the Mystery Jets and this tune for the first time on a now defunct music blog called Good Weather for Airstrikes. Good Weather is also where I came across Passion Pit and Sleepyhead about 2 years or so before they exploded. The guy who maintained the blog said he was shutting it down in order to pursue a full time gig promoting Passion Pit. If that's true, he did one helluva job. I'm not as keen on Passion Pit as I once was and the third LP from the Mystery Jets wasn't as great but oh, there was a time in the early aughts before you guys had heard of either of them...[3]

4. the decemberists - the crane wife 1 & 2


This album was my first experience with The Decemberists. Their brand of baroque pop and $5 words isn't for everybody but I like them. This song (in 3 parts, only 1 and 2 are included here; part 3 is a separate track that opens the album). Based on a Japanese folk tale, it's about profoundly screwing up a relationship by not seeing the forest for for the trees so this number touches on a number of themes dear to me.

5. the depreciation guild - november


I'm a huge fan of this now broken up band. Fronted by dreamy front man Kurt Feldman (who also gigs as the full-time drummer for another of my faves, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart), The Depreciation Guild mixed 8bit fun with shoegaze earnestness. I hadn't heard of them before they opened for the Pains and Cymbals Eat Guitars on the 2009 tour. I was so psyched to see TPBPH and CEG together that I traveled to Dallas on a Thursday night from Austin to see them. They were playing Friday night in Austin but that Saturday was the LSAT. From time to time I do try to be somewhat responsible. But only sometimes. This band was an amazing and pleasant surprise.[4]

---

[1] If you like the commentary, let me know and I'll try to make it a regular thing on the top 5. I of course planned to provide some justifications when I debuted my favorite albums of the year at the end of the month but I thought I'd debut the feature here during week 1.
[2] His sophomore LP is nominated for a number of awards and egomaniac Kanye West pulled him into the studio to work on My Dark Twisted Fantasy. "Lost in the World" is basically just Kanye ripping off the genius of Justin's "The Woods", the last track on the same amazing EP that "Blood Bank" opens (reworked as "Still" on the Justin Vernon side project Volcano Choir with Collections of Colonies of Bees), and replacing all the understated power and simple, profound beauty with his usual bombast, over-production and Kanye-centric worldview.
[3] Yes, I did just hipster you ironically. That's meta-ironic for you. Alanis Morissette's song writers just collapsed into a singularity created with that level of actual irony. And isn't that ironic, don't you think? Maybe just a little too ironic? Fuck you, those jokes are still funny a decade and a half later. Or maybe they're just too obscure for you? Bazinga!!!
[4] Kind of like Here We Go Magic opening for Grizzly Bear at The Parish. But that's a-nother story. You win two internets if you got that reference before clicking on the link.

top 5 for the week of 25 november 2011

1. the mary onettes - dare


2. boat club - memories


3. the pains of being pure at heart - young adult friction


4. the clientele - (i can't seem to) make you mine


5. veronica falls - wedding day

top 5 for the week of 18 november 2011

1. valley of the giants - whaling tale


2. the decemberists - mariner's revenge song


3. jens lekman - i don't know what to do with this information (maida vale session)
Jens Lekman - 'I Don't Know What To Do With This Information' (Maida Vale Session) by stripeyjumper

4. florence + the machine - hurricane drunk


5. the depreciation guild - my chariot

top 5 for the week of 11 november 2011

Sorry this is coming out so late. It's the end of the Fall semester here in law school and things are getting quite hectic.

1. gauntlet hair - top bunk


2. veronica falls - found love in a graveyard


3. girls - my ma


4. twin sister - the other side of your face


5. memoryhouse - lately

top 5 for the week of 4 november 2011

1. girls - honey bunny


2. craft spells - the fog rose high


3. the dø - sex on fire (kings of leon cover)


4. cloud nothings - no future/no past
Cloud Nothings, "No Future/No Past" by The FADER

5. pepper rabbit - murder room

top 5 for the week of 28 october 2011

1. telekinesis! - please ask for help


I've linked to this instead of the official music video because I hate edited versions of songs, especially when they censor a minor, single curse like "can't see shit." But the video is pretty cool visually so you can also view it here.

2. chromatics - kill for love


3. mazzy star - common burn
Mazzy Star - Common Burn by weallwantsome1

4. active child - diamond heart

I try very hard to let you listen to each song without leaving the page, but this new one from Active Child is so great I wanted to make sure you get the opportunity to heart it. Right now it's exclusively available at stereogum without an embedded player option so just follow the link and enjoy.

5. friends - i'm his girl


PS I hope you guys are appreciating the fact that I'm trying to focus more on 2011 releases.

top 5 for the week of 21 october 2011

Sorry this didn't appear on Friday. I've been fighting the sickness all week.

1. st. vincent - strange mercy

2. ting tings - hang it up

3. veronica falls - bad feeling

4. ganglians - drop the act

5. shimmering stars - i'm gonna try

top 5 for the week of 14 october 2011

1. acid house kings - under water

2. letting up despite great faults - if you're here today

3. veronica falls - the fountain

4. james pants - clouds over the pacific

5. apparat - ash/black veil