Because sometimes you just want friends to tell you about cool things… the Brew House team offers up its weekly mix of author-supported goodness.
Album: Katy B – “On A Mission”
Mark’s post about the beauty of dancing got me thinking about which albums are the most danceable, start to finish. Daft Punk, Hot Chip, and LCD Soundsystem have each crafted outrageously dance-y records in the past few years, but I think Robyn’s “Body Talk” wins, followed by Katy B’s debut full-length, “On A Mission.”
Every Monday morning. Music so good… it must be shared.
This week: “Lighthouse” — NewVillager, from their debut album of the same name.
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Because sometimes you just want friends to tell you about cool things… the Brew House team offers up its weekly mix of author-supported goodness.
Here in Texas, and I suppose anywhere that might have a large Hispanic population, or even at one of those hardcore grocery stores along the lines of Whole Foods or Wild Oats, we are fortunate to have MexiCoke, the Mexican version of Coke. I thank the Lord for this creation.
Let me say this first: I love pop/soda or whatever you want to call it. Ever since I more or less gave it up in high school because I was brainwashed into thinking it would make be a better runner,* pop has been a luxury. I drink it maybe two or three times a week and look forward to it the same way I do a great meal, perhaps more so on really sunny, hot days.
Every Monday morning. Music so good… it must be shared.
This week: “Salina” — The Avett Brothers, from the album, Emotionalism
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There’s nothing wrong with Ryan Gosling.
Gosling is a household name, face, and body. Fashion-forward straight men love him for his style and everyone else loves him for his everything else. From The Notebook to Half Nelson to Blue Valentine to Drive, the blue-eyed Canuck has dabbled in quite a few corners of the movie — and music — business and done a damn good job of it.
Because sometimes you just want friends to tell you about cool things… the Brew House team offers up its weekly mix of author-supported goodness.
Grammy Performance: Taylor Swift
Am I endorsing Taylor Swift? Well, sort of. Is this a tepid recommendation of someone who already gets way too much pub? Probably. Did I still enjoy Taylor’s live rendition of her hit song “Mean” at the Grammys? Well, yes. I couldn’t help it. And my Twitter feed seemed to agree.
Every Monday morning. Music so good… it must be shared.
This week: “Think Long” — Mates of State, from the album, Bring it Back
From this past week: The quasi-Lawrence duo will be playing Middle of the Map Fest this April in Kansas City.
Because sometimes you just want friends to tell you about cool things… the Brew House team offers up its weekly mix of author-supported goodness.
Live music performances: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
I must admit: I rarely watch late-night television. I can’t remember the last time I watched Leno or Letterman, and my samplings of Jimmy Fallon have mostly been limited to some viral highlights — like the time he went full Neil Young and performed “Whip My Hair” with Bruce Springsteen. Thing is, I don’t think this is changing, either. And, yet, I’m still an all-time sucker for a solid live-music performance. And on Thursday, someone pointed out that Fallon’s NBC website archives all the performances into an easy playlist.*
It was a dark Friday night, a long drive home from a high school basketball game on the outskirts of Kansas City, and I began to fiddle with the radio. It’s strange. In Kansas City, the radio formats change so often, with so much predictability (and yet, no creativity), that sometimes it’s hard to figure out what station is playing what.
Wait? Is that a top-40 station now? Wait, classic rock? Another one? Aren’t there like six of those? And must they all have “Bad to the Bone” in rotation at all times?
One of the latest to change — a station called 99.7 The Point — purports to play “Today’s Best Music.” This is, of course, a pretty vague description. And considering the station was playing “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” a few minutes ago, it’s not even really all that accurate. And yet, there’s one thing that doesn’t change in Kansas City radio: the country stations.
Every Monday morning. Music so good… it must be shared.
This week: “Simple Song” — The Shins, from the album, Port of Morrow.
Somewhere along the line, as the years stacked up, the Shins became one of those bands that “just went away.” The Shins’ last album — Wincing the Night Away — came out in January of 2007 (really, five years ago), with the first single (“Phantom Limb”) finding its way online two months before that. James Mercer, bearded frontman of the Portland outfit, has stayed busy, of course. He collaborated with Danger Mouse on the side project, “Broken Bells”, and you may have seen him pop up for a predictable cameo on the first season of Portlandia.
But finally, on Jan. 9, the band released “Simple Song,” the first single off its new album, Port of Morrow, to be released in March. The band has been idle for five years. And the lineup, save Mercer, has totally turned over. But “Simple Song” still sounds like what you’d expect a Shins single to sound like. And this, I think, is a good thing.
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