Saket Vora

While much of the country has already been through the wringer of a heat wave, San Francisco just now got its first taste of one. It got up to 95 in the City and was hovering at triple digits down in Cupertino in the late afternoon.

And it is a balmy night — at 12:45am it’s around 85°F in my room. This brings to mind a song I’ve been wanting to post ever since summer was on the horizon, but now it’s finally appropriate:

Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes

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This one comes with a hat tip to my buddy John, who always is listening to something new and cool. Delorean (yes, named after that car with the flux capacitor) hails from Spain where they found success in re-imagining the local dance music scene. The end result to my ears is music that is upbeat but not frenetic, easy to listen to but intricate in their drum beats and sampling. Upon first listen, I was reminded most of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion but these guys are much more consistent and accessible.

Here are two songs for you to check out:

Delorean – Real Love

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Delorean – Infinite Desert

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Heads up Bay Area folks – Delorean is coming to the Great American Music Hall on Wednesday, November 10th. Who wants to come with?

Stars, a longtime indie pop band out of Canada, released their eighth album or so this past June called The Five Ghosts & The Seance. I heard it via Troy one night and it caught my ears.  The sound and harmonies of the two lead vocalists really shine here, and the penchant for swelling flourishes remain true to the Stars’ style (see the near end of Fixed). The theme of ‘ghosts’ run through out the album, which actually reminds me also of the Freelance Whales’ Weathervanes. Try these two songs:

Stars – Dead Hearts

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Stars – Fixed

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Back at the Yeasayer concert, I mentioned the opening band, Sleigh Bells. It raised our eyebrows, largely because it was unusual to see so much sound come from just two people on stage. Who triggered the air raid siren? There is a guitarist, and a singer, backed up by what’s likely a Mac laptop somewhere in the shadows. The hype machine on indie music blogs has been firing away on all cylinders with this duo, but I mention them here more as a curiosity because much of their debut album, Treats, makes my ears ring upon prolonged listening. It’s deafening, distortion heavy guitars meets dance-pop minded vocals, if that makes any sense at all. As the NY Times review said, “The tracks don’t just rock — they detonate.”

One song that managed to burrow its way into my head is Kids. It’s summertime, so let’s hit the beach. From the coy “did I forget my sunglasses? No…got ‘em” to the surging melody, the song begs for repeat listens. Or maybe that’s the mush-that-used-to-be-my-brain talking.

Sleigh Bells – Kids

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One thing is for sure — there certainly nothing else like this sound anywhere else right now.

My friend Dustin, who is back in the Bay Area this summer from Waterloo for another internship stint with us in iPodland, went to a concert last week to see Plants and Animals. He left discovering a new great band – Lost in the Trees from our very own Chapel Hill, NC!

Lost in the Trees brings the full arrangement to the stage, with violins, cellos, piano, horns, surging guitars and plucked banjos. There is baroque classical inspiration here (two of the tracks are sweeping classical arrangements that would fit right in with a Bach compilation) intersecting with folk. There is a dark and brooding manner about many of the songs, but the whole production is so aurally intriguing that I can’t help but be drawn in.

Note to my friends back home — Lost in the Trees will be playing at the Arts Center in Carrboro on Thursday, June 3rd it’s apparently a Planned Parenthood benefit, but if that’s weird for you then they will be at TRKfest in Pittsboro on June 26th).

Here’s the title track of their new album, All Alone in an Empty House:

Lost In The Trees – All Alone in an Empty House by antirecords

And here’s another, called Walk Around the Lake:

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I wonder if they could open for the Decemberists on their next tour — would be rather fitting, right?

Over the last weekend I finally got around to listening to an album that Troy recommended – “Tourist History” by Two Door Cinema Club. I put it on while making breakfast on a sunny Saturday morning, and what a way to start the day! It’s impossible not to tap your feet to this and feel a bounce in your step. Upbeat tempos, insanely catchy riffs, and a smooth electropop feel. You’ve got to give these guys a try.

Two Door Cinema Club – What You Know

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A couple months ago, Joseph recommended the new Yeasayer album, and over the weekend I saw them live at the Fillmore in the City. Last week, he recommended Gorilla Manor, the debut album of the band Local Natives.

And it’s practically the only thing I’ve listened to since then. It’s an incredible debut album — one in which all the songs are good. Other reviewers have name dropped these names, but it’s fair — the vocal harmonies are reminiscent of the Fleet Foxes, and the instrumentation reminds me a bit of the Arcade Fire or Grizzly Bear. And unlike some of the other artists I’ve highlighted here, these guys know how to rock — just listen to the end of Sun Hands or Shape Shifter.

I’ll spare you from having me list out all the tracks I like from this album (the first six tracks are strong, plus there is a cover of the Talking Heads’ Warning Sign), and instead highlight one in particular – Who Knows, Who Cares. There are some songs that I immediately connect with on a deeper level; songs that are so compelling to me for reasons I can’t always explain. 41 by Dave Matthews Band, There There by Radiohead, The Predatory Wasps of the Palisades by Sufjan Stevens, Sæglópur by Sigur Ros, The Trapeze Swinger by Iron & Wine, All My Friends by LCD Soundsystem, all come to mind. I have a feeling that Who Knows, Who Cares will join that list. Maybe it has to do with the feeling of when I first listened to it — cruising down 280-South with the sunroof open, the California sun streaming in, the green hills surrounding me. By the time the song entered its final moments, I could not help but join in at the top of my lungs.

Local Natives – Who Knows, Who Cares

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With this album, summer has arrived.

(Hey NC friends — Local Natives is playing on May 4th at the Local 506 in Chapel Hill. Please check them out!

I might have said this before, but as far as music discovery goes, Last.fm works way better for me than it’s more recognized competitor, Pandora. I came across a band called Freelance Whales a couple weeks ago via the site, and sought them out. True, it has a decidedly indie name, but the music reminds me of Death Cab / Postal Service, but with more varied instrumentation ala notes of Sufjan. Two of their songs, named Generator ^ First Floor and Generator ^ Second Floor are scarily effective earworms for me. I can’t stop listening to the first one, even though it feels almost like a song fragment than a fully fleshed out idea. It’s just so evocative for me.

Freelance Whales – Generator ^ First Floor

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We get up early just to start cranking the generator
Our limbs have been asleep we need to get the blood back in them
We’re finding every day several ways that we could be friends

We keep on churning and the lights inside the house turn on
And in our native language we are chanting ancient songs
And when we quiet down the house chants on without us

“Hannah” is bubbling with energy, and “Starring”, and “Location” are also nice.

I came across the xx a few months back while perusing some of the music recap articles of 2009. It’s mood music for the nighttime. For an essentially new band, the finished result is remarkably well constructed, and it’s interesting to see the ‘less is more’ approach still alive in a time when anything seems to go.

The xx – Intro

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Another tracks to check out are Islands, Crystalised, and Heart Skipped a Beat.

Bonus track for Greg – gotta give credit to Troy for finding this. here’s a sweet remix of DMX and the XX. I never thought I’d read those two artists in the same sentence! Caution: NSFW.

On last Monday night I headed up with a bunch of friends to see Fanfarlo in concert at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. I wrote about this wonderful band earlier, and if you haven’t checked them out yet I encourage you to do so — got all my roommates and more friends listening to them out here. It was a bit chaotic because people were all coming up from different directions and times, but six of us made it there early enough to get some Korean food (Michael was dying for some bibimbap). We got to the venue in time for the last few songs from the opener. We also met up with Joey, his girlfriend, and more folks from Apple, and I went and got Wendy from the 2nd floor balcony.

photo by John Shen

It was great to see Fanfarlo live — especially to see how much (or how little) of the instrumentation you hear on the tracks translate to the live performance. The songs have a lot of great rhythm to them. The band played briskly through their set, pulling in a few songs from older EPs. They came back for a quick encore, which ended in a rousing edition of Fire Escape. We milled around after the show, taking in the music hall. It’s neat with these small bands — the bandmembers just came out after the show into the audience area and mingled with people.

The journey home took a few turns. I accidentally ended up on the Bay Bridge after dropping John’s friend off, and ended up doubling back via Treasure Island. We actually stopped and took in a great nighttime view of the San Francisco skyline, glowing in the darkness.

This was the first concert I had been to in a long time, and hopefully just the beginning of a good year of events.

New music on the street! Joseph recommended their new album Odd Blood to me on Monday, and I just bought it that night off Amazon for $4. I had never heard of Yeasayer before, but I had a lot of fun exploring this album. It’s kinda like you if you took Animal Collective, mixed in the pop of Passion Pit, then added a dash of — dare I say it? — Radiohead (see the song ‘Strange Reunions’ for the last reference. The first track is one of the most bizarre opening tracks I’ve ever heard, but thankfully it doesn’t set the tone for the rest of the album.

Here’s a track called Love Me Girl.

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Other standouts for me include I Remember, Rome (for a funky swing feel), and Madder Red.

While skimming through some “top N” lists of favorite music of 2009, I saw a band called Fanfarlo pop up a few times and the description of their music was enough to warrant a listen. I used Lala and its 25 free credits for new users to check out their album Reservoir. And ended up buying it soon after.

At times it feels like a less extravagant Arcade Fire (but not in a bad way), but also notes of Eisley or The National (ok, maybe a stretch there). Lyrically the songs have a lot of depth as well.

Fanfarlo – The Walls Are Coming Down

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The Walls Are Coming Down

They swallowed it whole, they went for the gold for the gold
We fall for the same lies, we all have the same shoes to fit
The preachers and books of your empire will fight here alone
Some day they will be forgotten and die one by one

The walls the walls are coming down, the here and now is coming round
It will some day let you down
The ships the ships are coming in, the great ideas are wearing thin
There is nothing left to do

For atoms have gone as far as atoms will go
Your books write themselves, they line up in row after row

The walls the walls are coming down, the here and now is coming round
It will some day let you down
The ships the ships are coming in, the great ideas are wearing thin
There is nothing left to do

Back on Thanksgiving day, I found an article exploring NPR listener’s best music picks of 2009 at the year’s halfway point. I recognized several names on the list and laughed a little, remarking to Michael, Karla, and Troy how we sorta fit right into the NPR demographic. They saw the list, and agreed. We made our way through the list while cooking that evening’s dishes, but later two songs remained lodged in my head: No Intention by the Dirty Projectors and Blood Bank by Bon Iver. I’ve found myself playing these two a lot these past few days as we’ve entered the last stretch towards winter closure. They certainly elicit different moods, but there is something to Dave Longstreth’s wandering voice and lyrics in No Intention and Justin Vernon’s striving vocals and vivid narrative in Blood Bank that I can’t get enough of.

Dirty Projectors – No Intention

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Bon Iver – Blood Bank

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Now, I can just see Jordan’s eyes roll at my very mention of Dirty Projectors — a band he’s been namedropping for months now — but I listened to the rest of Bitte Orca and didn’t find the others as memorable. Bon Iver is a band that I’ve been wanting to explore, and this seems like a good entry point.

No Intention

The renegade feeling satisfied
You blinked and closed your eyes
You like the feeling of Saturday
You love the danger in the night
The restless corpse is collapsed wind
The breath is daffodil
What not become what is lapsing
Into the universal fill
Or maybe just

No intention
Or maybe just
No intention

When I am full with endeavor
Nothing can stop gestalt
The freshness of my reality
Makes me feel tingly and hot
When you wake up shouting “Idea!”
Is that a punishment?
You represent saying, “I’m real,”
But is that what you meant
Maybe you meant

No intention
Maybe you meant
No intention

Blood Bank

Well I met you at the blood bank
We were looking at the bags
Wondering if any of the colors
Matched any of the names we knew on the tags
You said “see look, that’s yours!
Stacked on top with your brother’s
See how the resemble one another
Even in their plastic little covers”

And I said I know it well

That secret that you know
But don’t know how to tell
It f$@!s with your honor
And it teases your head
But you know that it’s good girl
’cause it’s running you with red

Then the snow started falling
We were stuck out in your car
You were rubbing both of my hands
Chewing on a candy bar

You said “ain’t this just like the present
To be showing up like this”
As the moon waned to crescent
We started to kiss

And I said I know it well

That secret that we know
That we don’t know how to tell
I’m in love with your honor
I’m in love with your cheeks
What’s that noise up the stairs, babe?
Is that Christmas morning creaks?

And I said I know it well
I know it well …