an eventful night.

Wednesday night, Blitzen Trapper played a show in Milwaukee and I previewed it for 88nine. I was lucky enough to sit in on the three-song pre-show performance in the Radio Milwaukee studios and meet the band. They were all pretty down to business and straight-faced guys, but nonetheless extremely down to earth. As Eric Earley fiddled with his harmonica, Marty Marquis took sips out of his boxed water and Drew Laughery danced along with his apple shaker. Although only three of the six members were christening the new intimate recording studio at 88nine, they proved that a little can go a long way for Blitzen Trapper. They played "Evening Star," "Dragon's Song" and "The Tree" and they were all stunningly beautiful. Needless to say, their performance at Turner Hall Ballroom was an extension of that.


Before Blitzen Trapper went on though, Avi Buffalo took his turn. I've listened to Avi for a while now, but became more involved once I saw the band open for Modest Mouse at Summerfest. THEY WERE SO GOOD.

Right around the time Blitzen Trapper was doing their encore, my friend spotted Avi over by the bar. He was wandering aimlessly by himself in a cute pair of overalls and looked lost. So I went over to him and tried to put him at ease by telling him how insanely talented he is. I started talking about how the band's sound reminds me of my favorite band, Wilco, particularly their insanely talented guitarist, Nels Cline. His jaw dropped and he told me that Nels is basically his hero, which does not surprise me. Then he asked me how old I was. I told him I am 19. "Me too!" he exclaimed. From there, we talked about what music we've been into lately, him losing a band member recently and the fact that it's been a long tour for him and he's ready to go home and write some music. We said our goodbyes when a tiny fan club ran up to him with t-shirts and sharpies. He told me it was nice meeting me and if I ever get to Long Beach that I should get a hold of him. Avi Buffalo, you are a nice guy.

Here's a video of one of my favorite Avi Buffalo songs, "Remember Last Time." It's definitely Wilco-esque to me and each riff is just gorgeous. Don't you agree?

Daytrotter the movie!

Forget about the Facebook movie, a much more important film is coming out about Daytrotter, a website that promotes artists through its one-of-a-kind live recordings.Daytrotter has been a staple bookmark page for me for a growing number of reasons. The artists' recordings are in their rawest form and each artist is drawn a completely original piece of artwork to fit their personality. Daytrotter has been a refuge for artists who may not receieve as much attention as they should - a place for them to flourish. Enough of me talking about it though, watch this trailer and then go download the latest recordings from the site...for free.

girls, girls, girls.

Last fall I went through a Girls phase. As soon as I was introduced to them I was hooked. There's something so mesmerizing about the carefully crafted painful lyrics Christopher Owens cries paired with the dreamy California guitar riffs. As usual, time went on and my band ADD kicked in...shafting Girls to the bottom of my playlist. I was reunited with them last weekend at Pitchfork and it was blissful, to say the least. Pitchfork posted this video of him trying out some country for once, which was not a mistake. Beautiful!

Also this Yours Truly video of "Laura" couldn't have come at a better time.

Yours Truly Presents: Girls "Laura" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

88nine's SoundBoard.

Here's another one of my posts for 88nine's Soundboard. I talk about Best Coast and her awesomeness.

Dr. Dog has the blues.

Philly folk blues rockers Dr. Dog talk about their album , particularly the song "I only wear blue."
(Which happens to be my favorite song.)
Lead man Scott "Taxi" McMicken glasses definitely fit his personality.

sue me.

So I cheated on my blog...with Radio Milwaukee.

paper mache is back.

So the talented Kid Cudi, Best Coast's lo-fi lady Bethany Cosentino and Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij collaborated in a big way to show the world they love Converse. The song is called "All Summer." It makes you just want to go eat a bowl of cereal and then maybe do some vacuuming.

She&Him transcend time again.

Zooey Deschanel and M. ward have decided to transcend time yet again. In their new video "Thieves" you can hardly tell what era they're in. Partially because they are kids throughout the video too, disguising their age to keep the mystery alive. Honestly that is my favorite part of She&Him - the ambiguity. This video encompasses them as artists, as critics continually try to peg their indie genre and continually fail. Congratulations She&Him, you're still timeless.

She & Him - Thieves from Merge Records on Vimeo.

"Boyfriend"

Some vimeo user by the moniker of "Theo Anthony" made this brilliant video
along to Best Coast's "Boyfriend." It made my day so hopefully it makes yours.

BOYFRIEND://best_coast from Theo Anthony on Vimeo.

EchoMix1

The Morning Benders decided to produce 32 minutes of pure happiness for the sake of summer.
All while on tour in Europe! Frontman Chris Chu did the album art too. I swear these people are
not human.It's called EchoMix1 and you can download it on saymayday.com.

Here's the track list:
1. Steve Martin & Bernadette Peters “Tonight You Belong To Me“
2. Xavier Cugat “Perfidia (Instrumental)“
3. The Avalanches “Since I Left You“
4. The Radio Dept “Where Damage Isn’t Already Done“
5. The Walkmen “There Goes My Baby (The Drifters Cover)“
6. Bibio “Lovers’ Carvings“
7. The Morning Benders “Have One On Me (Joanna Newsom / J Dilla Cover)“
8. Twin Sister “Lady Daydream (Cassette Version)“
9. Arthur Russell “Lucky Cloud“
10. Blur “Caravan“
11. Smokey Robinson and The Miracles “Ooo Baby Baby”
I think it pretty much speaks for itself. Screams for itself.

Win Butler chats about the new record.

Win Butler went on camera to talk about The Suburbs, Arcade Fire's upcoming album. I cannot wait.
Although this one wasn't recorded in an old church like Neon Bible, I'm sure there will still be a lot of eccentricity to it.
They know what they're doing.



"I think that in life in general you want to understand where you came from and where you are...
part of writing is to understanding where you are. It's kind of like putting old photos in a book." -Win Butler

King of the Beach!

"You're never going to stop KING OF THE BEACH!!"
Although their album isn't due out until August 3, I've given the new Wavves album a listen and it makes me want to drive around windows down blasting it, stomp on the sand dance crazy to it and shake my best friends silly to it.
Nathan Williams and his San Diego entourage virtually transport you to the West Coast with their new catchy (slightly more flirty) album King of the Beach.
Yours Truly put together a stellar video describing their approach to the album and what it really meant to them. It's obvious they were going for a different aesthetic than their 2008 self-titled release. Don't worry, the noise pop and low-fi jams are still prominent in the best way possible. But this time around the boys added a more dynamic sound, playing with sha-la's and wee oooh's a lot more.
Key tracks: When Will You Come, Baby Say Goodbye, King of the Beach, Mickey Mouse...heck, they're all freaking awesome.