Archive for February, 2010

The New Pornographers – Your Hands (Together)

Together album art

I have to say I like this better than all the New Pornographers stuff I’ve heard. I don’t know what it is about it exactly – maybe it’s less dominated by the vocals. They are from Vancouver, so this is sort of an (unintentional) nod to the Olympics. This album will be released May 4th on the same label as Shearwater, Matador records (or maybe 4AD, wikipedia page is confusing me.)

Source: http://www.weallwantsomeone.org/

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Retribution Gospel Choir – Hide it Away

2 album art

You may recognize the lead singer here from the band Low. The bassist is also from Low. This song is a nice change from what he usually sings with Low, but the rest of their stuff is fairly angry. This is their second studio album.

Source: http://blog.kexp.org/

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Vacation

So I don’t really know why the site went down yesterday, so hopefully it won’t happen again. Sorry to those of you dedicated followers who noticed.

This is also to let you know that Lucas and I will be taking a break for the next couple of days to go up to Vermont for some skiing and time with the family. We’ll probably also get some tennis in, so the fluke game I got to play in January is going to pay off I think.

Anyway, I’m gonna try to roll out some songs while I’m away, so there shouldn’t be any downtime.

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Chromeo – Night by Night

N/A album art

I know a few people out there who will really like this – I happen to be one of those people – but if you aren’t I’m sorry for you. Chromeo is a rare Jewish and Arabian duo from Montreal. You probably know them, so I’m not going to embarrass myself by proving how little I actually know myself. Just enjoy the song. Pretty tight video, too, btw.


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Morning Benders – Excuses

Big Echo album art

I’m finally submitting to the hype for this Morning Benders song. This release seems to be a viral sort of marketing stunt, and it seems to have caught on. Pretty much every blog I turned to for new music had posted this. I’m not in love – it’s a fairly refreshing sound but just not that interesting to me. And yeah, I do get that it sounds like it could be from the 60’s. As a side note – I’ll never give into any hype about Beach House. Why is that Norway song so popular? I hate it.

Source: http://stereogum.com

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Son Lux – Weapons V

Weapons - EP album art
Son Lux – Weapons V
Album: Weapons – EP

I have a frustrating experience with Son Lux, a pianist who just released his second EP. I’ve posted him before here but almost without fail his songs make me want something more. He has parts in all of his songs that floor me, but have the unfortunate effect of building up my hopes. This song is a good example where the first 20 secs build up my expectations and he certainly develops the song but it never reaches the point where I feel satisfied. Another good example is this piece which blows me away, but makes me wish he’d continue with that style and develop the piece rather than reiterating on the same theme for six remixed songs (which is what the EP is).

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Rufus Wainwright – Oh What a World

Want One album art

Going way back for this one. My friend Jeff introduced me to Rufus Wainwright in 2004 with this song. We listened to this on our way down to Miami for the summer. Wainwright uses an arrangement of Ravel’s Bolero as the accompaniment in this, which is really all it took to sell me. Wainwright’s next album is supposed to be released this Spring.

Source: Jefe

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They Might Be Giants – Am I Awake

Indestructible Object album art
They Might Be Giants – Am I Awake
Album: Indestructible Object

Sorry for the no post yesterday. A rule of thumb is if it’s a holiday, even a lame one like Presidents’ day, then Rock and Rowe is also on vacation — usually in some virtual land far away like Azeroth or in today’s case Omega 4. I’m coming back with an old song that adequately expresses my inner nerd. This was intended to be a back up song, and with it being 3:20 in the morning and me having no clue what to post it meets fits that category. That being said I think it will also be a fitting song for my day at work in t minus 5 hours as well so I feel pretty good about my selection.

Source:

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Wim Mertens – Struggle for Pleasure

The Belly of an Architect album art
Wim Mertens – Struggle for Pleasure
Album: The Belly of an Architect

Surprise! Now you’ve got some classical music mixed in with the rest of these. I think this isn’t too far out, actually. Found this using Grooveshark’s radio feature, based on Kyle’s Ludovico Einaudi suggestion (which was also good). This was written as a stand alone piece by a Belgian composer named Wim Mertens. It was written in 1983 but you’d think it was written for an indie French movie at the turn of the century based on the heavy Phillip Glass minimalism and Yann Tiersen-like flowing melody. I hope you guys like this as much as I do. Feel free to yell at me in the comments if you don’t.

Source: www.grooveshark.com

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Efterklang – Modern Drift

Magic Chairs album art
Efterklang – Modern Drift
Album: Magic Chairs

Efterklang is a Danish indie rock group that has been a while but is getting some decent blog coverage for their album that is being released on the 23rd this month. On a scale of bored | interested | excited, I’m interested.



Source: http://umstrum.com/2010/02/08/efterklang/

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