BitchyVeganSoundtrack

The weather is somewhere between post-apocalyptic and next natural disaster story today. I have since deemed it my, “spring cleaning” day… which I have since turned into my watch 30 Rock and listen to good music while picking up one thing every 45 mins or so… oops.

Today’s finds give us a good mix of old (meaning not really old at all) and new to my world. The first is Dawes and upon hearing them I felt the need to instantly compare them to Seryn (a band I posted about a few months ago… SO GOOD.) they have the same kind of rustic vibe. Dawes takes a hold of that bold all-in singing style that pulls you in… and without ever intending to, you catch yourself wishing you instantly knew the words so that you could see along. Yums.

(Also… it should be noted that they are all sexy as hell.)

You might know these next guys simply because some jackass at the water cooler was cool for the day and mass emailed you this video. The guys behind it are known as The Daylights and they are scrumptious. Sure, it doesn’t HURT that they possibly made the modern day equivalent of a Romeo & Juliet porch proposal… adorbs. Listen to the rest of the album so that they aren’t lost in the curse of a viral video for eternity…

First of all, can I just make a quick shout out to the kids in a basement somewhere trying to think of a band name. GOOGLE IT BEFORE YOU PLOP IT ON AN ALBUM DAMN IT!!! A band I tried to track down today (and this is the 800th time this has happened during this project) had the name… wait for it… “Database”… now kids, what the HELL do you think happens when a music blogger wants to hear what you have to offer and puts something like, “DATABASE” into a computer search engine. ARGGGGGH! That’s what happens, argh. Imagine trying “Database, music” hahahaaha! Sorry, band that might be possibly my new favorites, I am NEVER going to find you because you forgot about the INTERNET!! Blerg. Ok, I am done with ranting… onto bands I COULD find

David Berkeley reminds me instantly of The Mountain Goats… only slowed down and given a little bit more of a mushy heart. It’s that certain vocal squeak that makes a guy seem like he isn’t a total dick. I don’t know how to describe it but I definitely heard it in The Mountain Goats and I hear it again for the first time since with Mr.Berkeley. He’s sincere and has been recognized for those same sincere lyrics time and time again. If people were more apt to listen to good music on the radio, this guy would be on it. Nothing not to like, it’s as easy as that.

David Wax Museum consists of a core including a dude with a degree from Harvard and a chick from Wellesley. In my experience, smart people know what they are doing when it comes to a lot of stuff (dumbest sounding sentence ever written). Either way, these two took their big ol’ brain boxes and instead of… oh I dunno, making money with those super expensive degrees of theirs, they probably decided a big middle finger to the parents would be to form a band. Well, it’s a good thing they are fun, maybe their parents won’t kill them until they’ve at least gotten through watching an entire show. It’s upbeat latin/folk/country/total clusterfuck of fun. Enjoy!

Ummm I have NO idea where either of these bands get their drugs, but they must be good… Like REALLY good. Ummm… like the kind that Charlie Sheen gets.

This first guy was completely unknown to me and the minute I read his sad little bio about working in a vegan restaurant and making music with no money, I had to dig around. I watched a few things and couldn’t help thinking he is what Pedro and Napolean’s baby would look/dance/sing like. Sure, he’s scary, like weird and thinks too weird for me to comprehend-scary… but he’s damn good at making the pop musics. I like him. I just don’t … ya know… wanna eat vegan food with him anytime soon.

These next guys also spend time with Charlie Sheen or his dealer … or something. You might already know them form the “Combination Pizza Hut/Taco Bell” jam. At least, that’s the presence they had until now on my iPod. I did some more digging for the blog to see if maybe that one jam wasn’t indicative of the rest of their collection. Nope, it is. They have songs like, “Chicken and Meat” that are equally as emotionally moving as the Taco Bell song. But, alas, everyone needs a laugh every now and then… why not let these guys give it to you in the form of drug fueled munchie ridiculousness?

You wish you had Charlie Sheen’s dealer’s phone number now, don’t you?

Officially my latest post ever… clocking in at 8 o’clock after spending all day driving to and from Orlando in torrential downpour to reconnect with a friend from Korea who was in the area interviewing. Needless to say, I was not able to/didn’t want to even imagine what it would take to post from an iPhone… but I ALMOST did. So for the 5 of you who read this, if it’s the thought that counts, then count that shit damn it!

For starters… why the SHITCUSS has no one pinned me to the ground and forced me to listen to Dan Bern?! Completely and 500% totally up my alley. This guy should be all up in my iPod, making out with it, winning at it etc etc. He is fun and his voice is lovely and folk makes me feel like sitting in a small room with a record player… assuming I wasn’t a teacher and could afford such things. Anyway, if I could, this guy would dominate it for days and days…

Also, this Danny Malone guy… I likes him very muchly. OK, I initially loved him for his bio. which included this bit, “Danny owns all of his own dance moves, none borrowed and none stolen. Moves so powerful they have brought peace to warring peoples, joy to the depressed, and a cure for sickness.” In other words, don’t flake on your bio, bands. It might just get you a second listen from a blogger in the middle of craptown Florida with little to no influence on the music community… so THERE! Write funny bios damn it. I will be more likely to want you in my life.

Oh yeah, he’s like real good too. Like a more upbeat Elliott Smith… the subdued vocals that are a little Built to Spill/Oh No! Oh My!-esque? That’s where my head/ears took it anyway. He’s lovely. Listen and I’ll prove it!

Don’t get wrong, I love love love this project I have embarked on… but I definitely love it even more when I get to reiterate about bands that I have loved for awhile and feel aren’t as stupid famous as they should be. The two bands today are ones that deserve the whole world… well… according to my iPod and I.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. probably scooped up a few more thousand fans or so at SxSW and it’s no doubt just the beginning of what will be a kick ass career (even with the most ironic name ever … Everything is Illuminated, anyone?). They are fun and delightful and I was two seconds from posting about them right before this project took over. So I was overly excited to see they were playing SxSW and I would be able to spread my love of them after all

Listen and TRY not to think they are cooler than you.

Damien Jurado has sung me to sleep on more than one occassion… not the kind of music that you put to bore you to sleep, the kind that slowly rocks you back and forth and fills your dreams with awesomesauce. He has one of those voices that haunts and soothes much like Iron & Wine. Love, love, love.

Today is full of some seriously disturbing bands… ok well one is just a little strange in their affinity for playing notorious cult leader speeches in the background of their songs and the other is a dude (Alfred Darlington) who looks like he should be hanging out inside a Jane Austen book (name doesn’t help). Luckily both bands have one thing in common… they make some awesome musica… even if they kinda creep me out.

Oh and if you noticed, we finished with the C’s! The rest of them were honestly kind of painful or simply a genre I don’t enjoy. Cults were the last to make the cut… go you, scary band.

This next guy is so far from modern in appearance that you would NEVER think this music comes from inside his renaissance decorated brain box…. but, it does. Also, the video has raindrops dancing with smiley faces. Yes, I am that easy. Fuck you.

SMILING RAINDROPS!!! (Also… over 800k views… who the hell is this dude?!)

Oh Hi… I suck. I completely got lost in the insanity that is the week before spring break while trying to teach students to do a science fair in 2 days. Fucking death. I will not forget again… I think : )

For today as a fix… I give you four stellar bands! Mostly because if I don’t catch up I will be doing this project until the sun blows up and we all die and no one cares about SxSW or bands with various animals in their names…

Annnnyway… Let’s do this! Because I need to get back to the autistic student who is trying to stab another with a glue stick.

Cloud Control are weird. This video will serve as proof. Like Yeasayer, they manage to be amazeballs and it then makes up for the fact that their brains are a little mushy from an acid trip of a video.

Seeeeee….?

Ok, Cloud Nothings… if you haven’t heard of them yet, this won’t be the first and last time… they are blog fodder and have been for months. I like em’ lots. They sound rough and have that slight high school pop-punk vocal quality that makes me wish I didn’t have responsibilities (like that whole glue stick kid problem). UNFORTUNATELY their video is gross. I hate it. The guy looks gross in a wig with a braid and they eat it and I don’t get it and it ACTUALLY MADE ME GAG at the thought of that girl eating wig hair. GROSS. Lucky they sound like fun in my ear box.

Cold War Kids should go without mentioning as they have lived on mine (and should already live on everyone’s) iPods. They are amazeballs and have a distinct sound that creates that moment when you hear them and go, “This is definitely Cold War Kids”. I find comfort in bands that I can identify in the background of a movie or in a coffeeshop. Much like say… Modest Mouse… the vocals jump into your face and scream, “you will remember me, I am AWESOMESAUCE!”

Listen to my old favorite, and if it doesn’t become one of your own favorites, you are lame.

And now for a little electronic end to your day with, “Computer Magic”… the most honest name for an electronic act I have ever seen. It IS computer magic. Or something… like talent. The girl (Danz… yep, one name… admit it, you feel uncool now) can make some serious computer magic that makes you want to walk outside and be all happy about nature and leaves and shit. Who knows… maybe that’s just me.

Either way, love it.

Pray I make it to Friday kids…

Lots of class in today’s selections… get it? Because they both have class in their names? Yeah, I know. I am witty as shit.

Needless to say this is a day for pretending it is anything but a Monday, it is instead a day for shaking your booty in your cubicle and looking at the 2nd day of spring through your tiny window (or the window you barely see over all the other cubicles). Both of these bands will have you suddenly feeling a bit sexier… even in pleated khakis! That’s right, office boy, you too can be the hotness. Put these jammy jams on that iPod and play them just loud enough to be heard at the water cooler and I bet someone will want to have the sex with you.

Speaking of sex, my weekend was filled with learning that this whole, “boyfriend” business is nonsense. It’s filled with expectations and permanent weekend plans… ew. I instead opted for suggesting we just keep it, “casual”… ladies… this is like a permanent booty call while maintaining a social life. Fucking brilliance…. I think.

Either way… yay for sex (the safe kind) and yay for music that makes you want to have some. Now go, office boys and girls, dance like everyone is watching… because they are.

Class Actress is up first with her dancey jams. The girl is sexy without being a gidget… which is a rarity in the dance-pop world. She brings a sass in the lower bass notes that are like nothing I have ever heard in something that made me want to shake it… I heart her. Listen!

And now… boys you might already be familiar with due to their kick ass ability to remix something delicious into something even MORE delicious… which is harder than you think. I often hate the world of remixes unless I hear the remixed version of a song FIRST. Then I usually end up disliking the original… it’s a catch 22. These boys, however, manage to win me over with their stuff every time. Their little diddy, “I’ll Get You” is delightful and will make you happy in your pants.

Happy Monday betches.

Ok… as far as both of these bands go… you should know them. You NEED to know them. They will make your life infinitely better. You will dance and not know why, you will have sex with only attractive people, you will make comical jokes and people will generally love you more.

Chromeo have been a sweet, sweet deep love of mine for a long time. They make songs that are fun and full of delight. There isn’t much more to say about these two poster children of indie-electronic divinity. I will love them long time.

Cisco Adler and the Pigeons… Well, he’s real ugly so at least you know that I don’t like him for those reasons. He has musical family roots in his father, Lou Adler and he’s been using them ever since his days in Whitestarr. Luckily, he’s good. Should he ever read this, I’m sorry… your hair/facial hair combination is sincerely ridiculous. Fix it. Look less homeless… in the meantime, keep making awesomeness with all your super cool famous friends. Ok? neato.

Now take the advice of both of these bands and get sexy tonight… or something.

For the first time since I started this project, I am only posting ONE musical act today. Mainly because I feel like my stress levels at work are causing me to hate everything I come across… and that’s just not fair. I will give them a better shot tomorrow… assuming I haven’t killed one of my students by then.

Oh… and just so you have an IDEA of what it’s like to teach the science fair process to learning disabled middle and high school students… here is the worst event of today. A student who has ONE week to complete his entire project (because he slacked off for 5 weeks) was supposed to bring in some things to attempt to cook in a solar oven, easy enough. No. He brings in COOKED BAGELS AND COOKIES FROM THE BAKERY!!! My head exploded and it took everything in me not to throw him somewhere. Anywhere.

Needless to say the SxSW list had a big task in front of it today as I needed an artist that would mellow me out… again.

I found that in a Mr.Chris Bathgate and his folk loveliness… sprinkled with a tinge of sex appeal. His voice is instantly soothing and one that I am excited to add to the collection as I find myself lacking in good male folk that isn’t either backed by a band or in my old rotation (i.e. Iron & Wine). It has a vocal rawness that I can’t describe only to say that it’s haunting AND sincere… I adore it.

So congrats to him for being the only person that I’ve never met who could almost bring me back to normal brain functioning today. Yay.

Listen and adore the plinkety-plink (yes.) of guitars and a voice that will demand your attention.

Also, grab the CD on April 26th… I bet it’s worth it.