8/6/2018// This week’s music recommendation –
Will Joseph Cook – Take Me Dancing
Will Joseph Cook’s 2016 album, Sweet Dreamer, came to me on a recent youtube trip on which I was playing every music video that the website tossed in my direction. This music video and of course, the song that drives it, absolutely breathed life into my lazy lungs with the child-like joy that plays all throughout its 3 minutes, 46 seconds. The outro is so optimistic, I always feel like busting out of my house and repeating it to the first person I see. We could swing to Americana/I don’t need much to make a difference/Take me dancing
5/8/2017// This week’s music recommendation –
Caleb Groh – Thunder At
This song hails from Caleb Groh’s second full album, Ocelot. It popped up on my recommended playlist a few days ago and it hasn’t stopped popping up since. I’m no fan of the word funky and I’m trying very, very hard to think of a word that is not “funky,” but it’s really the best adjective to describe Thunder At‘s rhythm. It’s so different and fun that every listen feels like a new one. Caleb’s vocals bounce off the inside of the tune and make singing along feel like a luxury – Destiny’s a diamond/and my heart an island/I hear a boom and a holler and a clickety-clack/here I was wonderin’ where my thunder was at
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4/30/2017 // This week’s music recommendation –
Jukebox the Ghost – Stay the Night
Jukebox the Ghost hasn’t not been on my main playlists in a very long time. Their caffeinated piano pop sound always deserves repeat (repeat repeat) listens, and after I was lucky enough to see them in concert last year, there was no going back. Their newest single, Stay the Night, is beyond belt-worthy and I’ve actually had to take it away from myself after listening to it ninety-three times a day for the first two weeks it was out. But just because I have made this a special occasion song for myself doesn’t mean you shouldn’t indulge yourself. Plus, if you think the Oh, I really want you/oh I really want you baaabe/ bit tastes a little like Queen? Queen references are never a mistake with these kiddos. Bless ’em.
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3/31/2017 // This week’s music recommendation –
COIN – Feeling
So! I did not mean to recommend this song today. I went to COIN’s spotify page to add a link to their song Talk Too Much (which, by the way, is incredible, check this thing out), but when I was there I saw that they had released a new single today! So anyway, change of plans, because Feeling is as much a banger as I’ve come to expect from these kids. COIN formed just recently in 2012 and is the proud father (and father and father and father) of a whole bunch of singles, one full album, and another on the way. While I listen and re-listen to this song to learn all the lyrics by heart, I’m currently more than happy to scream out the opening lines: I’m feeling you/can you feel it too/I want you/was missing you/now I’m wishing I never knew your name
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3/22/2017 // This week’s music recommendation –
The Correspondents – Finally
The Correspondents are an English two-piece team that plays electro-swing music. If that term feels a little weird to you, imagine someone playing Fred Astaire music, but pitched up in a club in a very hipster part of town while someone plays a fire percussion track. It’s not the best description I’ve ever written, but it’s definitely some of the most fun music out there. The mood to their music is similar to their lead singer’s dancing style – eclectic, incredible, and a little bit what-the-crap-is-this. My favorite part to sing along to in this song: I find out/that I’ve got the means to turn it inside out/shedding a layer of skin/clean slate/I can finally breathe again
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3/6/2017 // This week’s music recommendation –
Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness – Fire Escape
Spotify blessed me by suggesting this track a little bit ago. If you’re looking for a song to encourage you to do that thing (give a speech, love confession, home construction? I don’t know what your hobbies are), then this is the one. Not that I would know, but it’s also a great one to shout out of your windows while pretending that you’re doing something much more victorious than literally just driving to drive down the nearest country road you could find. (This is the same artist that gave us Cecilia and the Satellite) The chorus: you’re my number one/you’re the reason I’m still up at dawn/just to see your face
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2/27/17 // This week’s music recommendation –
Birdtalker – Heavy
I just heard this song for the first time last week, and I fell in love with it. Birdtalker is a five-piece band from Nashville, and their uplifting folk tunes are the kind that you want to follow you around for the rest of the day. My favorite bit of Heavy is this – did you lose that love/or have you never had it/are you feeling sad because you did a bad thing/leave what’s heavy/what’s heavy behind
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2/6/17 // This week’s music recommendation –
Kishi Bashi – Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It!
This song has been my go-to for the past two weeks as the perfect song to put on a show to in the car. Kishi Bashi is Kaoru Ishibashi’s stage name and the name attached to some of the most inventinve, charming, and all-around incredible music I’ve heard recently. Synth music meets string music meets Shins meets Matt and Kim? Nah scratch that, this is something all new. My favorite verse from Philosophize In It! is the sappiest one – between you and me/who’s crazier for the other one?/it’s me/it’s you/no/it’s me
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1/28/17 // This week’s music recommendation –
The Family Crest – Love Don’t Go
I had the honor of seeing this seven-piece squad of prodigies last March. Based on that experience, I would strongly recommend The Family Crest to anyone interested in passionate singing, beautiful harmonies, or falling in love with cello players. All their songs have a mood and atmosphere all their own, but I chose this one because I’m in love with these lyrics: so take your shaking bones/and step out on your own/the winter never stops
Just {Blank} To Be Here 