arimyg

Greetings Cranes,

I wish I could say I’ve returned home from the college semester, filling my new free hours with loads of new music that I just cannot wait to share with you. However, that is not the case, and no one is more sorry about that than I am. I’ve mostly been listening to nostalgia-inducing songs of the past few months, sitting by windows dripping with rain, blending into floral wallpaper, all around feeling sorry for myself, etc. I’ve thrown in a little socializing into the mix too, don’t worry too much. For example I spent the last two hours (two hours?) watching the season premiere of The Bachelorette with some girlfriends. Two hours. Apparently every episode is two hours? You may confirm or deny this, I really have no idea. (Side note: If you’re not rooting for JP you’re a goddamn fool. Or that masked bro, he seems chill/crazy). Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I haven’t been doing much new-music listening, aside from one, rather enjoyable leak of Bon Iver’s new self titled album.

So to be brief, this album is, uh, like, real good.
Like real, good.

Lemme just say real quick that I’m not that Bon Iver-starry-eyed drooling folksy girl that would fawn over anything with the Justin Vernon touch. In fact, I was (as I often am with sophomore albums) rather hesitant and stubborn about it. I went through a Bon Iver phase, for sure, who didn’t?… but I wasn’t obsessed. So listen up when I say that this album impressed me, and I’m being straight with y’all.

I’m fairly confident when I say that this is one of the most successful sophomore albums I know. It retains the beauty and earnestly that defined For Emma, Forever Ago, so you know, the 100% of people who heard that album that liked it will not have too much difficulty getting on board with this new one. Tracks like “Michicant,” and “Holocene” (the latter of which, by the way, is pretty much Vernon’s “Hazelet” IN MY OPINION… no problem there though, that song is dope) are same old, same old. By which I mean fucking great, but nothing new.

But let’s not act like there aren’t a handful of huge “Wait… What the fuck?”-s scattered throughout the album. Not bad “wtf”-s, but rather surprising and totally lovable “wtf”-s. For example, the second track, “Minnesota, WI”… who even’s voice is that? I’m not familiar… And what is that buzzing over my Bon Iverian acoustic plucking? Some sorta crazy electronic bass whatsit? I don’t get it, per se, but I’m into it. And “Lisbon, OH”? Is this… is this an electronic instrumental jam? Go ahead and compare this to its For Emma counterpart, “Team.” I think that might be the most straight-forward cross-album comparison.

And then there’s that closing track. That finale. Whether or not this is Bon Iver’s “LOL-JK!” moment is unclear, but lemme tell you, “Beth / Rest” leaves an impression. I played the start of a song for a friend who, before I even got a chance to explain “Oh yeah, that’s kind of the weirdest new track,” offered something to the effect of “so he’s pulling a Destroyer.” Throwin’ in a little sassy sythn & sax combo, maybe like something you’d here in your neighborhood department store? So Kaputt. But look, my intentions are not to be critical. I think this song is great. I have to admit I actually mostly detest the saxophone, but “Beth / Rest” still leaves such a bizarrely clever impression on me, like a kind of awkward taste in your mouth that leaves you confused and concerned and intrigued. I’m all “Oh shit, what have I even been listening to?” Am I at a wedding in 1983? Am I slow dancing at the prom in Napoleon Dynamite? (…thats a weak cultural reference, but I’m 20 so I can’t really go back too far) NO SERIOUSLY, WHAT HAVE I BEEN LISTENING TO???” So then you listen to it again. And again. And eventually, you’ll get there, you come around to it. The whole album just clicks into place. It’s like Vernon took For Emma, looked at us and said “You like that shit? Well get a load of this! HAH. HAH.” and then created an album full of the same elegance and emotion but, like, with 12 new instruments and some fine, fine production. …And then Apple leaked the whole thing and the universe LOL-ed. Sorry Vernon :/ u rule tho, don’t worry. buy the album in june, bros.

Bon Iver – Calgary

In short, Bon Iver is complex and fucking beautiful, sickly sweet yet confidently confrontational. It snuggles up to you and then punches you in the face. And then gets you an ice pack and kisses you on the cheek. Get into it.

Until next time.

Cheers!

ari &more

That’s it everyone. I’m done with school for the year. I handed in my last paper yesterday afternoon and have been sleeping, listening to music, and watching television ever since! It’s going to be a good ol’ summer, I can feel it. I head back east to CT for a few weeks and then embark on my NYC couch surfing summer adventure! I’ll be working at the Colbert Report and living with about 4 different people throughout the next few months. Should be good times! …I hope they have internet…

So anyway, listen up. I. Love. Wild Beasts. Love ‘em. Can’t get enough of ‘em. “Hooting and Howling” off their 2009 sophomore album was my straight up jam for months. Vocalist (along with other instruments…) Hayden Thorpe has this voice that I can hardly handle. It’s like one part indie, two parts opera and I can’t get enough of it. I haven’t really been able to pinpoint exactly where his vocals take me, but I keep getting visuals of like, the Mediterranean in … like… 800 BCE. Rome. Or Greece maybe. I actually have no fucking idea what I mean by that, but it’s not a stretch for me to have Homer narrate some sexy play in my head about a epic battle or some shit, with Thorpe’s vocals dripping all over it. Let’s move on.

Wild Beasts released their new album Smother today and I’ve been drinking it up like cold bottle of Jarritos limón. As I stated in a snippet about the single “Albatross” a few weeks back here,

After a brief and false-ending drop off, “Albatross” resumes and immediately fills me with… well.. to be honest… it fills me with a deep longing and melancholy that sort of burrows down deep into my chest cavity and starts to gnaw away at my vital organs. Just go with me on this one guys.

Do you feel me or what?

Smother is just… it’s just… beautiful… What else can I say? You can just swim through tracks like “Burning,” or groove out to “Bed of Nails.” Although for the most part Wild Beasts have moved away from the bouncy playfulness present in that latter track that was also common of Two Dancers, they have hardly strayed from their ability to wring pure emotion out of listeners with only minimal prodding of piercing lyrics. In “Lion’s Share,” Thorpe quips, “‘Cause it’s a terrible scare/ but that’s why the dark is there/ see you don’t have to see what you can’t bear.” The album is mostly coated in melancholy, but secretly harbors passion, love, and hopefulness. It’s like a little private thing we’re in on with the band.

The album closes with the 7:33 minute “End Come Soon,” which is, you know, reflexive and cute and shit, but also incredibly thoughtful and elegant and touching and tear-jerking. It’s just an album though! I can just play it again! Stop it you guys! Why are my eyes leaking?

So. That’s all. Go buy it! It’s dope, take it from me. Certified dope.

Happy Summer Vacation everyone! (Or just happy May 10th for you grownups and whatnot)

Cheers!
ari &more

Well, the new tUnE-yArDs album rules. A week after it’s release and I’m still blaring this record on the daily.

On her new album w h o k i l l, Merrill Garbus spends 40 minutes doing what I like best: looping shit. Throughout the album, layers upon layers of noises are piled up to create endless soundscapes, at first seemingly random and rather abrasive. However, these collections of sounds twist and turn into some sort of melody that, God knows how, can for real get stuck in your head. I keep finding myself trying to hum along to heavily-distorted and hard-to-listen-to vocals over blaring saxophone, as is the general feel of “Gangsta”, as if that is even possible. (I fail, of course.) Also note the (French?) police siren that opens the song. I think that acknowledgement alone captures the general essence of tUnE-yArDs sound on w h o k i l l.

On the other hand, maybe you’re familiar with her debut album BiRd-BrAiNs and cannot fathom how she could get more abrasive? Well, to be honest, w h o k i l l is significantly more poppy and smooth. Tracks like “Powa” and “Doorstep” are gentle and generally digestible. With this in mind, tUnE-yArDs sucessfully created a rather diverse and kickbutt album with wide-appeal without losing her crazy cred.

…Cause don’t get me wrong, this chick is still crazy. She writes her most things in up-and-down letters! Her haircut is asymmetrical! Have you seen the video for “Bizness,” the first single from the album that was released in February? Incredible, but undeniably crazy. (And just to be clear, by “crazy” I mean slightly differing from the norm of both mainstream pop and underground indie rock, and thus because I don’t know where she fits I’m going to give her a “crazy” because that’s what I imagine you’ll understand most simply) So yeah, if you haven’t seen it, check it out here:

At this point, “Bizness” is one of my top tracks of the year. It has everything, and then you remember it’s being performed by one lady who you admire more than most musicians today. This track builds it self up from nothing, beginning with a few ‘oohs’ amongst other layered vocal bits. Then add some snare, taps, lyrics, drop the oohs, bring the oohs back, add a bassline, (in that order) and BAM! Funkiest jam of the year. Not to mention it’s beautiful and powerful and flawless.

W h o k i l l is an incredible display of both musicianship and general disregard for the status quo of pop music. Amidst all the looped guitar plucking, distorted whatever, and spoken/shouted word is a fantastically catchy and impressive album. Garbus rules, and that’s that.

Check out these two tracks off the album and then go show tUnE-yArDs some love by purchasing the wholeee thaaang.

tUnE-yArDs - Gangsta

tUnE-yArDs - My Country

Have a good one, y’all.

ari &more

Hey everyone. Fucking listen to this band.

That’s all this post is going to boil down to so I figured I’d just get it all out in the air now.

Here’s some more about it: Dark Dark Dark is a beautiful creation that I wish I had stumbled upon earlier. I was spinning shit down at KSPC on my show last friday when I spotted this album. Now, it actually came out in February, but in case you missed it like I did a few months ago, here’s a second chance to be punched in the face with it! Wild Go, the band’s sophomore album, is an entrancing swirl of exotic-sounding tracks, blending in hints of Balkan tunes and soaring chamber choirs. If Beirut and Elliott Smith were brothers, Dark Dark Dark is their hot younger sister. Or maybe older. Or maybe like, Elliott Smith is the older bro and then Beirut is the younger bro. Yeah that sounds right. To be honest I’m only throwing Elliott in there because I can’t listen to the first 30 seconds of “Daydreaming” without seeing Figure 8 swirls in my eyelids. That piano, man.

I supposed I should also mention here that accordion is my favorite. Thing. Favorite thing. And fortunately there is just the right amount of accordion on this album, adding the perfect dose of Parisian romance to lead singer Nona Marie Invie’s mature and elegant vocals, particularly on “Celebrate”. And the snapping on “In Your Dreams”? WHAT UP!

What I’m trying to say is that Wild Go is a fabulous album that you ought to check out. That shit is dreamy.

& Here’s a track and quick vid for ya, in case you want immediate gratification. Which you do.

Dark Dark Dark – Celebrate

Happy Tuesday!

ari &more

Grass Widow by arimyg
Mmmm, howdy.

How have the children been? Lively? Good. Me too. Or living at least. Time has been flying, y’all. Have you been feeling it? I seem to have misplaced the last few weeks, as the days sped by to a crashing halt last Saturday evening. If you’re following me on twitter, you probably heard me mumbling on about something called “vajammin” all week, whatever that means. Well, let me tell you! This semester I have been helping plan a one day festival that showcased female musicians in an industry that does quite a bit to discourage their involvement. After a panel we put together last Wednesday discussing some of the issues us girls face today (featuring the likes of Allison Wolfe and Angel Deradoorian — I know. We’re all BFFles now and I can hardly contain my excitement), we gathered our instruments and amps for a full day of kickass tunes. To everyone’s excitement, headliners Mirah and Thao performed individual sets as well as a few songs together from their upcoming album. Other performers included Grass Widow, Girl Hands, Slutever, Peter Pants, Summer Twins, and Kitchen Hips.  (You can learn more about the festival at our tumblr!)

I am hard pressed to come up with a favorite act from the day, but I think I have settled on continuing on a bit about Grass Widow in this short little post here. These girls rule. Lillian Maring (drums), Hannah Lew (bass) and Raven Mahon (guitar) got on stage and immediately began weaving their voices together, creating this big ol’ blanket of beauty that settled over the crowd, putting us into a surreal daze of harmony. Don’t let that blanket metaphor fool you, there’s enough bass throbbin’ and drum bangin’ to keep the crowd bouncing about.

Grass Widow cite all-girl rockers The Neo Boys and Kleenex as influces, as well as drawing on them for inspiration and their legacies for support. Last August, they released their second full length album Past Time on Kill Rock Stars, which is a fucking lovely creation. Below is a video someone made of their cover of The Neo Boys’ “Time Keeps Time” from the festival, as well as the track “Shadow” and video for “11 of Diamonds,” both off Past Time Listen to them! A lot! More!

Grass Widow – Shadow

That’s it!

Cheers!

ari &more

As you may of may not have noticed, I was absent from my usual time slot last week due to being a fun and adventurous college student. I was on spring break! Now I know what you’re thinking: beaches, unruly alcoholism, Jersey Shore…. NO. Come on guys, I’m a classy broad. I went on a road trip! Me and 4 friends piled in a big ol’ jeep and drove straight east from Claremont, CA into the American Southwest. What an experience, my friends. Over the course of the week I had about 16,000 new experiences. I went to Las Vegas, Santa Fe, and Phoenix, I saw the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam, I bought a blanket on the street, I went to a Sonic (THEY EXIST!), I drank wine in a tent, I ate a sopaipilla, so many things. It was great, let me assure you.

Anyway, what I have to share with you today is a brief collection of road trippin’ tunes. Now don’t picture me in the passenger seat playing my favorite songs and forcing the rest of the car to just go along with it. These songs all came up organically. To me, they stand as a testament to some sort of natural hand guiding us through the memory-making processes of youthful-livin’. Ari what the fuck are you even talking about. What I’m trying to say is that these songs aren’t specific to my life, or our lives, or our road trip. Collectively, I feel like they highlight the open-road feel from the isolated view of a car, the changing tides of emotions of its passengers, and the general excitement of seeing glorious sights, day in and day out, as accompanied by beautiful tunes. Try and ride with me on this one.

Broken Social Scene – Texico Bitches (Starslinger Remix)
David Bowie – Suffragette City
Devendra Banhart – Lover
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Ffunny Ffrends
Starfucker – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cindy Lauper Cover)
The Cure – Six Different Ways
Lykke Li – Sadness Is A Blessing (Acoustic)
Yeasayer – Crazy (Seal Cover)
Stealers Wheel – Stuck In The Middle With You
Joni Mitchell - California

Aaaaand, that’s all.
Looooove,
ari &more

Happy Tuesday y’all! By the time you see this you’ll probably be mostly all done with Tuesday, in which case all I have to say is Congratulations! You made it! Grab some dinner, watch some NCIS, and fucking go to sleep! …Or perhaps you’ve already resigned to the fact that you’re going to stay on the internet for atleast another 90 minutes, refreshing twitter, reddit, tumblr, or whatever else you do. In which case boy are you in for a treat! I’ve been more or less drowning this week in kickass releases, and I’ve got a few standout tracks to share with you off of a some upcoming albums!

I might as well start off with the one that has been absolutely abusing my mental capacity for acceptable socializing. I just keep whistling it, which is so goddamn obnoxious of me — especially at dining tables and during class. THAT’S RIGHT, I’m referring to “Take Off Your Shirt” off of Bibio’s new album Mind Bokeh! Just for experimentation’s sake I recommend you keep your shirt on for at least the first few seconds of the song, and see how quickly you end up following the title command. Last night I put this song on while sitting at my computer, and ended up getting up, closing the blinds, and dancing about about in my PJ shorts. ‘Cause, ya know, sometimes you just gotta get into it.

Bibio – Take Off Your Shirt

Up next is that throwback-feel new TV On The Radio single, “Will Do”. This song started streaming online 2 weeks ago or so, but it’s been an open tab on my browser ever since then. (Well, to be honest, I got the mp3 and closed it the other day.) Let me just say bluntly that I am basically vomiting of excitement for their upcoming album Nine Types of Light. Have you got that visual? I hope it translated well. “Will Do” has all the best bits of a TV On The Radio track: funky arrangements, soaring vocals, catchy and creative melodies, lyrics that make my brain ooze (in a good way), etc. Get on this shit, mah bros.

TV On The Radio – “Will Do” by Interscope Records

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that “Hooting and Howling” by Wild Beasts was my most quoted track of 2009. Needless to say I was ecstatic when I saw a new Wild Beasts track up yesterday. “Albatross,” the first single off Smother (out May 10), begins off with a moody lead in and then moves straight into Hayden Thorpe’s signature sultry falsetto. After a brief and false-ending drop off, “Albatross” resumes and immediately fills me with… well.. to be honest… it fills me with a deep longing and melancholy that sort of burrows down deep into my chest cavity and starts to gnaw away at my vital organs. Just go with me on this one guys.

Wild Beasts – Albatross by DominoRecordCo

Let’s see, one more shall we? How about “Don’t Stop”, a track of the upcoming album No Color by The Dodos? YEAH LET’S DO IT: This song is dope. From the start you become lost in the swirl of drumstick taps and quick folky guitar. By the time you notice the vocals and electric guitar your already so beyond the “Oh fuck what is this shit? This song is dope.”-stage that you can just begin to sit and absorb… preferably on repeat. And then it just ends, just like that (you’ll know what I mean), and you look back and think “Damn, I wanna see that live.” That’s what will happen. Right. Now.

The Dodos – Don’t Stop

Annnnd, that’s all I’ve got for now! Perhaps I’ll pop in again later this week and throw that Ferraby Lionhart interview up here in an mp3. Thanks to everyone who tuned in last friday!

And too all my fellow PCC Bloggers: Awesome job so far everyone! WHAT A WEEK AMIRITE? Sorite.

And so I leave you with this.

Forever yours,
ari &more

Just popping in to let you guys know that Ferraby Lionheart is going to be on my radio show today at 4PM PST. He’ll play a live set and then sit down with me for a few questions. I’m going to record and hopefully post the interview here for next week, but perhaps I will not… and subsequently you ought to tune in! If youre in the LA area, tune to 88.7FM or stream it online at www.kspc.org.

Ferraby Lionheart – “Harry and Bess”

Much love kiddos,
ari &more

Ari here, your charming new Paper Crane Collective Editor In Chief! HOLY SHIT THAT SOUNDS HUGE. And listen, it is. It’s a huge fucking deal. My life has seemingly been just a long game of paper writing and itunes scrobbling up until this point. Alas, it is now that I have to start really caring. I am now being put up for the world to truly see. Before I was nothing but a staff writer, but now… now… now I come to you as an editor! Oh lord!

So what does this mean? To be honest, not much. You will all continue to worship Tsuru and as far as you’re concerned I’ll become just another PCC blogger. However, behind the scenes, just trust that I am keeping busy (OH BOY AM I BUSY). I hope one day you will learn to love my incomprehensible writing as much as we all love that of Tsuru’s.

It also means that it’s time for me to rebrand. Out with the old, in with the new. I don’t know what it’s going to be yet though, I need more time! So, Some Times will remain, but not for long. You’ll be the first to know.

Because I don’t have a blog to link back to other than the Tsururadio of the past, I reckon I should tell you a little bit about myself before I just up and take control. Many of your new readers and bloggers alike don’t even really know who the fuck ari is (which you should goddamn learn STAT). Let me start by saying that I am pretty awesome. *queue Ego* That’s really all you need to know. However, if you want a little supplementary information, here it is: I am an student at Pomona College in Claremont, CA… just outside of L.A., but hail from Stamford, CT… just outside of NYC. I’m a relatively average girl with a propensity for vulgarity and a decent collection of rings, scarves, and necklaces. I am a Media Studies major, and consequently am romantically involved with every medium from television to print journalism, and I was just yesterday asked to “step up to be our next multi-talented media darling” to replace James Franco (death-by-Oscars) by my pal Hendrik. I work for KSPC 88.7FM Claremont and host a radio show every Friday (see below), and I also work with a group organizing small shows & festivals on my campus. My favorite extracurricular is most certainly sleeping, followed closely by reading my twitterfeed and eating ice cream. I also have a terrible vocabulary and zero free time, so I blog. (LOL WUT? THAT DOESNT MAKE SENSE, ARI.)

Anyway…

So I conclude this particular section of this here post with the unforgettable words of none other than Nicki Minaj: [NOW] WATCH THE QUEEN CONQUER.

Okay, so what have I been listening to lately? Well a little bit of Lykke Li here, some Danielson there, interspersed with some throw-back Wolf Parade and Frog Eyes. I’m just listening through some new Wye Oak and Vivian Girls now with high hopes, but it is indeed too soon to tell! What has been sticking with me most prominently however has been a few key tracks that I’ve been spinning on my radio show (FRIDAY AFTERNOONS, 4-6PM PST, KSCP.ORG!) for the past few weeks. Some of them are older, but nonetheless memorable and timeless to-date. So, for this inaugural post, I am going to leave you with a touch of KSPC featured tunes that have been spinning in my brain for, like, atleast 3 handfuls of days now. And that’s quite a few.

Lovers – Boxer

Destroyer – Bay of Pigs (Detail)

Smith Westerns – Weekend

That’s all for these times, all. I hope you are getting well acquainted with the PCC and I look forward to getting all kinds of feedback, hatemail, love letters, and the like from your readers n collective members.

Forever yours,
ari &more

So I got some new speakers, and now I listen to music in my room with 500% greater satisfaction than I did before. It’s been pretty dope, as you can imagine. Since I’ve gotten my shit together and moved away from my laptop speakers, Radiohead, Toro y Moi, Architecture In Helsinki, The Strokes, and 20 other notable peeps have dropped tunes. Consequently, oh! I’m still sitting in my room, huh!

However, aside from all of these kickass new tunes, I keep finding myself grooving to one album in particular. I know Father Tsuru is missing the soft spot for my man Darwin Deez, particularly after a few too many plays of “Radar Detector,” but I’m kind of crushin’ still. ESPECIALLY AFTER THIS FUCKIN’ DOPE MIXTAPE HE JUST DROPPED! So get this: It’s a concept album… based on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). (Think Gene Wilder, not Johnny Depp). I know right? So yeah, you’re obviously onboard based on that description alone, but then tack on like 700 featured rappers and some of the goofiest lyrics you’ve ever followed willingly. Listening to this album just for the hilarity of Deez & Co’s flows is entirely legitimate. It’s chockfull of pop culture references and silly sexual confessions. Some of my personal favorites include an extended Jimmy Eat World reference on “Pure Imagination Part 2″ and a nonsensical Charlie Brown tribute on “Candyman.”

Oh and it’s called Wonky Beats.

I think I’ve said enough… Grab the single for free here or get the whole damn thing in exchange for “love” here!

That’s all kids!

Love,
ya girl ari