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.

MP3: The Strokes – “I’ll Try Anything Once (You Only Live Once Demo)”

Love,
Zack

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.

MP3: Atlas Sound (ft. Noah Lennox) – “Walkabout”

[Ed. Note: We'll miss you Lindsay!!!!!!!]

xo,
Linds

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.

.ZIP: All Things Go November Mixtape [mediafire]

MP3: 01: Little Red  – “It’s Alright”
MP3: 02: Girls – “Lust for Life”
MP3: 03: The Dodos – “Walking”
MP3: 04: Volcano Choir – “Island, IS”
MP3: 05: TV on the Radio – “Crying”
MP3: 06: Wave Machines – “I Go I Go I Go”
MP3: 07: Faded Paper Figures – “Logos”
MP3: 08: The National – “Guest Room”
MP3: 09: Mystery Jets – “Half in Love with Elizabeth (Delorean Remix)”
MP3: 10: Fred Falke – “Two Weeks (Fred Falke Remix)”

The All Things Go mixtape has returned.

Love,
Zack

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.

BELIEVE THE HYPE.

MP3: Beach House – “Norway”

xo,
Linds

It ain’t no secret that I have quite the fancy for the Rx Bandits.  I’ll spare you my praise for them since I use every opportunity I can here to let you know that they just happen to be the greatest band in the world.  But seeing as I never gave a proper review for their latest album, Mandala (A+, 10/10, smiley face), I figured I would share this little video of them performing “Mientras La Veo Soñar” at one of their recent California shows.  This clip is pretty exemplary of the performance I saw when I caught them earlier this summer during their stop in Baltimore, although I wasn’t fortunate enough to see frontman Matt Embree jam out with Chris Tsagakis on the drums as he does here.  Enjoy, and don’t forget to grab the track below.

MP3: Rx Bandits – “Mientras La Veo Soñar”

Love,
Adrian

I had a little crisis of conscience a few days back after posting about that Dirty Projectors cover. I decided that it is much better to share music that I like and find interesting with all of you then contribute to more negative shiz on the internet. (I mean, there’s enough of that isn’t there?) So apologies and please know that is what you’ll be seeing from me from this point onwards.

Now about Animal Collective. I am still in the process of learning to genuinely enjoy this band so I am not quite as fanatical as most of their audience tends to be. Even after catching them live at ATP earlier in September, I was still sort of on the fence. But I truly adore Panda Bear and after listening to Merriweather Post Pavilion for the better part of a year, I’m coming around. At dinner the other night, a friend pointed out to me that nearly all their lyrics concern social responsibility and becoming good people, so I think that’s a good starting point from which to listen if you struggle with them as well.

“In the Flowers” is actually quite the love song and if I was forced to make an interpretation, I would say its about the guys missing their wives when they’re on tour. Simple but potent. This particular track has a dark, ominous overtone, which fits perfectly. The dark side of love is being kept from your loved one and missing them; torture in and of itself.

According to Stereogum, the video was directed by Abby Portner (who happens to be Avey Tare’s sis).

MP3: Animal Collective – “In the Flowers”

xo,
Linds

Honestly, this is just an excuse to listen to “Party in the U.S.A.” without losing all credibility, even if Miley admitted she hasn’t even heard a Jay-Z song.

MP3: Miley Cyrus vs. Notorious B.I.G. – “Party and Bullshit in the U.S.A. (Hathbanger Mash-Up Remix)”

Love,
Zack

Here is the thing. I am normally a big fan of covers. I really enjoy hearing well-known familiar lyrics in a different light. But ever so often a song comes along and I think to myself, “Not this one. Please don’t mess with this one.”

And with that being said, Solange Knowles please get your hands off Amber Coffman’s vocals immediately.

WHAT.THE.HELL.

Look. Naturally “Stillness is the Move” has these great R&B overtones so I understand why an R&B artist would want to jack this and try to make it their own. But to turn a song that is so inherently special and unique and wonderful into something that is so standard and typical and just “maybe okay”? Solange Knowles WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?

Coffman’s glorious range is the driving force here and let’s face it; Knowles’ voice simply is no match. Essentially, this cover is stripping the song of all its beauty.

And I do have to offer a sincere apology to Solange because I know that she is probably trying to pay reverence to a form of music that she enjoys. I’m not ignoring this fact and I’m super psyched to see artists attempting to cross genres.

BUT IF IT AIN’T BROKE DON’T FIX IT.

I mean, seriously. (Just not this song. Leave this song alone.)  [Ed. Note: The XXplosive sample in the Solange version is, however, totally fucking awesome.]

MP3: Solange Knowles – Stillness is the Move
MP3: Dirty Projectors – Stillness is the Move

xo,
Linds

Update: Hey!  It looks like they have plans to get back together, whenever that may be.  So I guess this is just supposed to tide us over until then.

It’s strange how sometimes you only start caring about things once they’re gone.  I was never a huge fan of The Starting Line while they were around, but after listening to frontman Kenny Vasoli’s latest work with Person L pretty much non-stop recently, I’ve become intrigued by the former pop-punk giant’s past.  As a result, I’ve learned a lot about the band beyond their first single, “Best of Me,” and discovered the goodness that is their last album, Direction (a strong departure from their sugary pop-punk beginnings to a bit more indie-leaning albeit catchy rock sound).  I guess it’s only appropriate that the guys in TSL just posthumously released Somebody’s Gonna Miss Us, a CD/DVD covering the band’s final show and tour.  Although I haven’t gotten my hands on a copy of it just yet, I have seen a few clips of it online.  The band talks plenty about their tumultuous relationship with MCA/Geffen, so those of you interested in seeing how bands and major labels interacted in the heyday of pop-punk should definitely give the DVD a spin.  Of course, It’s also worth getting for the music.  The band did a good job of picking out the best songs from their repertoire for their last show.  You can check out their last performance of “Something Left to Give” above (featuring some of the bros from Steel Train and Four Year Strong), as well as the audio for the awesome track off Direction below.

MP3: The Starting Line – “Something Left to Give”

Love,
Adrian

I’m not going to lie to you. When I heard the Harlem Shakes broke up, I went through all five stages of grief.

Denial – “IT’S NOT TRUE! Oh wait… it’s on Brooklyn Vegan.”

Anger – “What the… but they JUST released Technicolor Health! I hate them! I’m not listening to any of their solo albums! They are OFF my year-end lists!”

Bargaining – “Well. Maybe they’ll get back together.”

Depression – “I DON’T UNDERSTAND.”

Acceptance – “Hm. I suppose I COULD take one listen to Todd Goldstein’s project ARMS. But just one!”

Now that I have come through the other side of my intense disappointment (Although seriously boys. I wish you could have given each other another chance! Technicolor Health was really outstanding!) I am willing to fully embrace Goldstein’s project.

And I’m quite happy I’ve gotten over it, because… Todd Goldstein is a fairly amazing musician. I loved watching him play on stage (his facial expressions are quite priceless) and his new LP Kids Aflame is real solid. His vocals have sort of a lazy quality about them…. actually, lazy is not really the right word. Perhaps laid-back is better? Look. I’ll level with you. It sounds like he smoked a whole lot of weed right before recording and I absolutely 100% dig it. His lyrics are thoughtful and poetic without the usual sadness that typically accompanies such introspection.

Overall, he might have changed my mind. Instead of missing the Harlem Shakes, I’m now looking forward to seeing ARMS perform live.

MP3: ARMS – “Shitty Little Disco”

xo,
Linds