Gorilla vs. Bear posted their “Best Songs of 2009″ list earlier this week and Wavves “No Hope Kids” was on both. Looking back on the year, I still dig Wavves and don’t really care about all the bullshit arguments that everyone seemed to get into about this project. I actually like the music BECAUSE it has the super-stoner lazy feel and all in all I think I have ended up feeling rather bad for Nathan Williams; who (while may need to be put into rehab) was obviously ill-equipped to handle that kind of public attention/bashing. Point blank, he’s really a kid. And blah blah “don’t get into this business if you can’t handle it” blah blah blah I KNOW… BUT. I doubt he ever in a million years expected to stir up that kind of public outrage. And if I ever had a chance to chat with him, I’d tell him at the end of the day it’s just a bunch of geeks sitting behind their computer screens arguing semantics who don’t make music of their own. (I’ll include myself in that category as well.)
Sargent House has got an ear for fantastic music. Their roster’s chock-full of kick-ass artists like Rx Bandits, Good Old War, These Arms Are Snakes, Tera Melos — all different as hell but amazing in their own rights. Anyways, considering how awesome all these dudes are, I figured I’d check out some of their label mates that I wasn’t too familiar with. Now I can’t stop listening to Fang Island.
Fang Island’s got a bit of everything I could ask for in a band. Their music’s both frantic and uplifting, a bit like the frenzied cheerfulness of Los Campesinos after downing a couple of Red Bulls. But there’s more to them than that. You can tell from the full-band harmonies, prog-pop guitar riffs, and borderline arena rock solos that Fang Island is on top of their game. I’ve never come across such a combination of seemingly different musical styles pulled together so well, and I doubt I ever will again. Of the songs I’ve found, “Daisy” seems to be my favorite of the bunch. Grab it below.
I’m well aware that I may be jumping the gun in the titling of this post, but some of us just can’t wait to surrender ourselves to the glory that is Friday. Some of us also happen to be writing posts on a mix of the same name. ATG friend and favorite Will Eastman is here to cure all your work-related woes with Annihilate the Weekend, a thirty-six minute ode to raging. Annihilate features remixes by Will himself as well as dance, punk, and indie favorites that should keep everybody more than satisfied. Head on over to the Blisspop blog for the track-listing.
This weekend happens to be special for Mr. Eastman. On December 11th, he’ll be releasing his single, “Feelin’,” on iTunes and Amazon. Make sure to grab that when Friday rolls around. For those of you who can’t wait, the track (as well as remixes by DC natives Nadastrom, Tittsworth, and Dmerit) is available for early download over at Beatport.
Congrats to the greatest musical duo of all time, Daryl Hall and John Oates, on their much-belated Grammy nomination for “Sara Smile.” The song itself may have been released back in 1976, but the award is for its rendition on 2008’s Live at the Troubadour (you know, the CD/DVD we gave away a while back). I’m pretty sure there’s no excuse for never having heard this song before, but just in case grab it below. I’m going to go now before I link toamillionotherH&Osongs.
Turns out I didn’t listen to much music while I was on my travels aside from the occasional Thai cover band rocking a serious Taylor Swift cover. But the first thing that awaited me upon my return was a shiny new copy of Animal Collective’s Fall Be Kind EP. (Many thanks to my friends at Motormouth Media.) I seem to be on a serious AnCo binge as of late as I consider whether or not to make a year-end list and if so, will this list include Merriweather Post Pavilion?
As I mentioned before, I don’t always find Animal Collective to be the easiest of listens but I would be lying if I said “What Would I Want? Sky” has not been on constant repeat the last couple of days. I can’t stop listening to it. Not only does this track include the distinction of containing the first legally cleared Grateful Dead sample (from “Unbroken Chain”) but I would even go so far as to say it’s the most listenable song I’ve ever heard from this group.
While the rest of the EP has a much darker tone than MPP, which I actually am kind of enjoying as it’s rather seasonally appropriate, “What Would I Want? Sky” is melodically joyous. No doubt the lyrics contain the frantic energy of trying to focus, but I’ve come to think of it as a celebration of attempt; a sort of “journey that matters not the destination” type of message.
If there are two things we here at ATG love, it’s music and DC. When we get the opportunity to talk about both in a post, you know we’ll take it. For that reason I’m proud to announce the birth of the Blisspop blog. For those of you don’t hail from our nation’s capital, Blisspop is the project of DC’s resident/favorite DJ, Will Eastman. The man hosts dance parties year round in the DC area under the Blisspop banner, bringing along some of his favorite bands and DJ’s along for the ride. Now that Blisspop’s made a home for itself on the interwebs, you can keep better track of what Mr. Eastman’s up to as well as snag exclusive downloads from other artists that carry the Blisspop spirit. Below you can check out Classixx’s remix of Yacht’s “Psychic City”, one of the latest features on the new site.
If you find yourself in the DC area this weekend, then go and check out Blisspop’s next party over at the Black Cat this Saturday, November 28th. Yes Giantess will be showing some love with their own DJ Set along with Will, so you don’t want to miss it.
I found this old demo over at The World Forgot a few weeks back, and have been playing it pretty heavily recently, especially given my recent obsession with all things Julian Casablancas. I absolutely adore Phrazes for the Young, but still prefer my Julian in Strokes form, especially on this absolutely stunning demo the band released on their myspace way way back. This stripped down demo, which mimics “You Only Live Once”, reveals the band in their simplest and most vulnerable form. I long for another Strokes album, but until then Julian’s new work, and this beautiful track, will have to do.
I know we are just getting to know each other but sadly, I will not be around for the next two weeks. Why? CAUSE I’M GOING TO THAILAND! I am so excited that I look like a 5 year old kid at Christmas.
To truly honor the spirit of this epic trip (not to mention my first vacay in two years), I have decided it should be internet free. Yes, this is making my palms sweat a little. No, I would never leave you without a parting gift.
Since I’ve already spoken of my love for both Atlas Sound and Panda Bear, what better way to leave you then with these two forces COMBINED?! “Walkabout” is on Atlas Sound’s new album Logos but Bradford Cox previously released it over the summer. If you read the extensive and utterly charming interview that Pitchfork posted this week, Cox goes through the album track by track and discusses “Walkabout” at length and said he created this song with the listener’s happiness in mind.
Whenever “Walkabout” is playing, I do, in fact, find it literally impossible to be unhappy. Therefore, even though it’s not necessarily a “new” tune, it really captures the spirit of how I’m feeling today on the verge of an adventure. Plus, it’s one of my favorite songs of the whole year. I hope you enjoy and I’ll get back to posting as soon as I return.
The time-honored tradition of the All Things Go Mixtape has returned, albeit in a new form. Instead of its themed predecessors, the new ATG mixtape will be released each month and will stay somewhat within a general motif or mood, but will not be constrained by a specific theme.
We kick the new monthly mixtape series off with the November mixtape, which features a cozy combo of memorable bands and warm, fuzzy newcomers. We start off with Little Red, a band I keep thinking I’ve posted about, but really never got around to it. “It’s Alright” sounds like it was birthed out of the early sixties pure, unadulterated soulful pop era. Next up is “Lust For Life” by new indie darlings, Girls, followed by The Dodos “Walking”, which is one of the band’s more perfectly crafted melodies. Justin Vernon delivers the fourth track, “Island, IS” with his new side project, Volcano Choir (which I discussed here). TV on the Radio’s “Crying” clocks in at number five, and was a song that I completely let slip through the cracks until very recently, and the same goes for all of Dear Science,. What a mistake that was.
The second half of the mixtape gets a bit more interesting, starting with Wave Machines’ bouncy “I Go I Go I Go” followed by quite possibly my favorite song on the mixtape, Faded Paper Figures’ “Logos”. I don’t know much about the group (other than that they sound quite a bit like Fujiya & Miyagi, Postal Service, and heaven), but I love what I’ve heard thus far. The National’s “Guest Room” is an absolute classic, and finds its way onto the mixtape as the eighth track. The last two tracks, “Half in Love with Elizabeth (Delorean Remix)” and “Two Weeks (Fred Falke Remix)” are a bit more synth-driven than the rest, but I wanted to share with you two of my favorite remixes in the whole wide internetz. As usual, you can grab the mix as a .zip or download each song individually.
Normally I would tell you all to beware of those musical projects that are crazily over-hyped. They only tend to disappoint in the end.
But around a month ago, Sub Pop filtered out Teen Dream, the new LP from Beach House, to a few select bloggers who immediately began tweeting that it was sure to be the best album of 2010. Then Ed Droste from Grizzly Bear got in on that action and said it was actually one of the ten best albums of his entire life.
Naturally I was completely jealous and moped about, enraged that I had to wait for January to roll around. UNTIL TODAY.
Victoria and Alex were lovely enough to post their new single “Norway” on the interwebz and give the blood-thirsty crowd a taste of what’s to come.
I won’t say too much about the song as it’s already been written up to death. But I will say this.
All Things Go is:
Zack Friendly - Washington, DC
Adrian Maseda - London, England
Lindsay Hood - New York, NY
Nick Cafritz - Washington, DC
Disclaimer:
All of the music files featured on this site are for sampling only. If you like any of the songs, please go buy the albums. If you are the owner of a music file or picture featured on this site and would like it removed, please contact us at allthingsgoblog@gmail.com and we will gladly remove them.
Posted by Zack 
Posted by Adrian 1.jpg "will eastman")
Posted by Adrian 
