Are you the type of worry wort who gets all worked up when there’s a war going on and people are shooting rockets at nuclear power plants? Just crank up this banger from Funny Face House and forget about your woes for a tight 2:42. Named after uncle Kurt’s favorite saying for times like these, this catchy as hell garage pop number brings to mind another one of his classic bits: could it BE any fuzzier?
Note to the art department – insert a picture of Chandler from Friends with a Vonnegut mustache and hair photoshopped onto him.
No, it could not be any fuzzier, and that’s a good thing because all that fuzz makes it feel like youthful abandonment and summer nights where we’re all going to live forever – and that’s a vibe we all need right now.
Week Ender – Funny Face House
Thursdays With J.R. – Skinny Dippers
Thursdays with J.R. is our new weekly column from lifelong musician and lifelong-er music fan J.R. McIntire, drummer of Arctic Char and multi-instrumentalist on more projects than we have bandwidth to list.
This week my ears were lucky enough to strip down and dive into the track “Through Tryin'” by Skinny Dippers. Though the title seems dire, the music opens quite optimistically. Cleanly picked guitars wind around the upbeat melody of the bass and tight poppy rhythm of the drums. Whether the vocals are doubled or not, they partner with the mix beautifully. Vocals these days are usually more front forward in the mix but these surround your headspace, drawing you into every word. The lyrics tell a story of someone who is fed up while also honest and relatable. He speaks of things we all have gone through or are going through currently while using descriptive details that put you there. It’s not you, it’s me but seriously I’m not good and we’re not good, so hence you cant be good for me. The tag line is beautiful but solidifies the idea that the storyteller is done putting energy towards this relationship. “Tryin'” is repeated as the bridge builds towards the finale chorus resembling the frustrating cycle of constantly forcing something that just isn’t healthy for anyone. This reminds the listener, hey in case you forgot, I’m done. The song slowly untethers to a beautiful acoustic outro chorus that shows the vocals ARE doubled and just as pretty sharing the mix with the one guitar. Where you may expect it to fade out, a resounding chord with the entire band is our ender. A very pleasing tune, thank you Skinny Dippers. Some great content on their Soundcloud as well, give it a spin, clothing optional.
Mike’s Monday Muse – Bessie Smith
The Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith was singing about racism, poverty and social injustices 100 years ago and has influenced Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, Shemekia Copeland, Beyonce and so many others. NPR wrote, “By singing about black lives with care and conviction, Smith and her sister classic blues women Ma Rainey, Alberta Hunter and Sippie Wallace advanced the revolutionary idea that black lives mattered — and specifically, that black women’s lives mattered.”
Time After Time
Hello friends old and new. After a refreshing 8.5 year nap, we’re back to talk about the music that we like with you, the people we like. We’ll have an emphasis on artists you don’t know about yet, people you may have missed the first time around, old favorites you’ve lost touch with and whatever else catches our fancy.
On Vacation
...mother fucking paparazzi up in my mother fucking leisure....
We’re on vacation. Be back on July 5th. Turn off your computer and go outside or something.
Jeff Mills & His Vinyl/CD Release on One Disc
You got data bits in my vinyl! You got vinyl in my data bits!
We don’t follow DJ culture all too closely, so we have never heard of Jeff Mills, but our hats are off to him for pioneering this little bit of awesome. A limited edition with a vinyl pressing on one side and a CD mix on the other. Check out the full story over at psfk.com.
Stop Motion Friday
Uh.....Hammer Time?
Today we show you two recent videos that rely on the age old technology of stop motion, only without all that inconvenient clay. One is by some wunderkids of viral marketing and the other is by an albino senior citizen from Mali whose video we find a whole lot more creative with the technique, but has about 1/10th the views of the other group’s video. Check ’em out below and let us know what you think in the comments.
Gaslight Anthem’s – “American Slang” Out Now
Soundtrack to Summer 2010? Quite possibly.
The Gaslight Anthem drop their third album today, want to listen to it streaming in it’s entirety?
A Different Kind of Summertime Blues – The Woes On Tour Now
Joey Lawrence and Keanu Reeves have been singing their praises for years.
One of our absolutely favorite live bands of all time, Brooklyn’s The Woes is bringing the goods and the goodness to a few select cities starting today. Known for occasionally backing up Elvis Perkins in Dreamland on tour and for kicking eighteen kinds of ass in their own sets, the Woes somehow remain one of the most criminally un-famous bands of our generation. So we’re doing our small part to change that.
Check out the list of lucky towns and a video of the band in full ass-kicking glory after the jump.