This song is a complete change-up from all the summery fantasticness we’ve been rolling in lately around these parts, but since we last spoke, Colorado Springs (and the whole state) has been wrestling with a major asshole of a wildfire, so when I listen to music lately it’s been a bit melancholy.
I’ve been putting the new song from Seattle’s Ivan & Alyosha on repeat lately to sedate my whirring brain-gears. It is rich with classic, gorgeously bittersweet harmonies and a pensive feel like a slowly-seeping warmth behind your sternum. And man, with Aimee Mann sharing the vocals? Gahh.
After being wooed by the literary nods of their moniker, I’ve been a fan of these guys’ music since I saw them at a day party at SXSW 2011, leading me to include them on my Spring ’11 Used Hearts/Fresh Starts mix. All the music I keep seeking out from them is rich and wonderful: I am trying to recruit them to a Fuel/Friends house concert this fall. Their new record is out August 7, and while you wait you can download some good free stuff on Noisetrade or Bandcamp. So redolent and good.
If you want to help support the fire relief efforts and evacuee support in Colorado (the whole state is fighting nine different fires), consider buying one of the beautifully-designed tshirts put together by a group of local graphic-arts friends at Wild Fire Tees: $20 per shirt, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Colorado Red Cross and our Care & Share Food Banks. In the last 24 hours, they’ve sold over $100,000 worth of shirts, and after they heard that firefighters liked their design, they added an option where you can buy a shirt for one of those guys & gals fighting the good fight. DO IT.
You’re blinded by the dazzling attractiveness of this sextet, no? Wait until you hear them perform a stripped-down, all-acoustic set at my house on Tuesday, August 7! And then add to the mix that Tyler Lyle is flying out from California to open the show, and I think you got yourself the house concert of the summer.
Blind Pilot has been a favorite of mine ever since I heard this song in 2009, via my friend Dainon. Since then, Blind Pilot has continued to release amazing music, and most recently I just saw them wow a crowd of thousands at Red Rocks, opening for The Shins and The Head & The Heart. You also know that Tyler Lyle is one of my favorite new songwriting talents, and I am beyond thrilled to have him coming back.
TICKETS ARE HERE. This will probably fill up (please see the “HOW IT WORKS” segment on the EventBrite page). Whee!
Just to make sure that we get the point that summer starts today, the air along Colorado’s Front Range has been hovering around 100 degrees this week and every time I ride my bike to work or downtown to see a friend, I show up looking red-flushed and sweaty. It’s pretty glorious. Makes me feel like P.E. in the fifth grade all over again (also: remember what tanbark smells like when it gets really hot outside?).
I’ve had so much fun stringing together this mix of songs that are soundtracking the heat thus far. I am driving solo out to Portland (via Rock Springs and Nampa) at the beginning of July, and then roundabout home, close to the ocean out the passenger-window side, all through San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Yosemite, and then some other places we haven’t figured out yet. These are the incandescently sunny tunes that will go with me.
SMOOTH SAILING FROM HERE:
THE FUEL/FRIENDS SUMMER 2012 MIX
Smooth Sailin’ – Mike Clark
One quiet night in May, my friend Conor played me this demo that local treasure Mike Clark had just recorded earlier in the week. There in the darkness, I completely fell in love with this song and everything about it and what I want my summer to sound like. Lazy, appreciative, and unhurried. I turned to Conor as we laid there, and said “Um, I know how my summer mix is starting this year.”
Sebastian – Reptar
Then once you drift off relaxed and smiling, trailing your fingers into the water with that opening Mike Clark song, let’s dig into all the bright, dancey parts of summer. You’ll be humming/whistling/singing the chorus to this one, with that squiggly guitar line that sounds engagingly mischievous.
This Summer – Superchunk
Yep, Superchunk has written the song of the summer. Ocean views, sweaty seats, clear paths, and sleeping bags on the floor. This is your anthem. Go forth; drive fast. “Oh, your shoulders look good to me.”
Who Knew – You Won’t
Effervescently-strummed mandolins should be the official instrument of summer. Every song on this record is delicious.
Nashville – Tyler Lyle
I’ve been spending a whole lot of time lately listening to Tyler Lyle’s wonderfully evocative songwriting, and this one is no exception. In addition to just being tailor-made for backporch listening, I picked this song for the lovely line, “I have only known two teachers in my life, one is summer and one is fall.” Tyler also gives a shout-out to taking his time with paperbacks and boxes of wine, which incidentally are two of my favorite summer activities.
Broadway (feat. No BS! Brass Band) – Black Girls Black Girls are neither black nor girls, but they are friends of friends in Virginia, and they opened some shows for The Head and the Heart earlier this year. This song is swaggery and impudent like a nineteen-year-old, and a ton of fun with that brass band and ragtimey piano.
For You (Travelin’ Bags) – WolfRider
Hailing from the oft-foggy Sebastopol, just north of San Francisco, this band has nonetheless a whistly sunny jam that makes me feel all Foster-The-Peopley, without having to go see that Beach Boys tour.
May This Be Love (Waterfall) (Jimi Hendrix) – Michael Kiwanuka
I knew I wanted to put Michael Kiwanuka on this summer mix because his voice is all warm and redolent, and every time I listen to his record it feels like a still July Sunday afternoon, no matter where the clock and the calendar point. Finding this cover was like a double win.
Swim Club – Cave Singers
I’ll be gettin’ to see these guys on Orcas Island in the San Juans come August, and this song of theirs feels like you are heading out on a dusty road, specifically and precisely: in an old truck, to go fishing.
Late July – Shakey Graves
The way this song starts from squawky, slow blues electric guitar to full-on midnight werewolf yowls seems to perfectly fit in with late July. The word-picture person in me also loves the death-penalty line “to fry like bacon, hang like lace” (if not supporting the general sentiment).
Welfare – Tom Eddy
Another artist I’ll see this summer at Doe Bay Fest – he’s playing the stage on the bluff that overlooks the water under pine trees and I think this sounds just about right.
50 Lashes – Floating Action
The opening beat here makes me do this exceedingly lame little “push-it-down, push-it-back” move with my hands and my hips. You’re so sorry you’re not here to see it.
Stay At Home – Yellow Ostrich
I loved The Format and I miss The Format and this song makes me feel pleasantly awkward and heart-pounding, maybe sophomore-year summer all over again, and like The Format never broke up. I saw Yellow Ostrich opening for Of Monsters & Men recently and whoa, they were a furious explosion.
Anthem – King Tuff
Sub Pop artists King Tuff have a bright orange album cover that makes my head hurt when the sun hits it, and the whole damn album, from these opening notes, is a flawlessly pugilistic summer soundtrack that evokes all the best smartasses like the Dandy Warhols and here, the Stones Roses. Also very good for air-drumming.
Blame It On The Tetons – Modest Mouse
Oldie but a goody, this one feels late-August summery at its essential core, especially once those indulgent strings kick in — like we’re reminiscent for things that haven’t happened yet. I also gravitate strongly towards the lyric, “language is the liquid that we’re all dissolved in.” Summer should be for dissolving.
Must Be In A Good Place Now (Bobby Charles) – Vetiver & Fruit Bats
I’ve been waiting to post this since last September when these two fantastic bands played an in-store together at our rad Twist & Shout Records in Denver, and covered this song. It is perfectly blissful — wild apple trees blooming all around, and catching the sunset in the hills, with those harmonies. So, so good.
Silent Way – Milo Greene
When, when, when we’re older / can I still come over?
Everybody Needs Love – Drive-By Truckers
This expansive, golden song feels rough-hewn and right at that point of acquiescence, unclenching the fists and recognizing all those simple messy feelings. Ah, summer. You siren.
Beacon Hill (Damien Jurado) – The Head and The Heart
One of the best songs from Damien’s Saint Bartlett gets the deluxe three-part harmony singing-on-a-rooftop treatment from one of my favorite bands. I listen to this one a lot; feels spontaneous and full of real joy.
Fatal Shore – Andrew Bird
Y’all: THE NEW ANDREW BIRD RECORD IS FANTASTIC. I have it on constant repeat and will probably tell you more about it at a later point but just go get it now. This luminescent song ends the mix and the evening and the summer by floating off on our backs, eyes upwards towards all those stars.
The 2004 Stars record Set Yourself On Fire splashed with a plunk into my tumult that year like a shimmery, potent anchor of harmonies belying the deeper layers of truth in their music. It remains a hard-and-fast favorite of mine, one that I still put on with regularity (often on long flights, for some reason) and should be part of every music lover’s collection.
In 2007 a remix/cover album of those songs came out called Do You Trust Your Friends?, where the fabulously talented musical community that Stars surrounds themselves with took shots at their own version of those songs, with sharp and illuminated results (I really like Jason Collett‘s contribution, and Apostle of Hustle’s caffeinated take).
This morning, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) tweeted this demo version of the title track that he recorded for the album, and which never appeared. It sounds like a terrific lost Postal Service track, and makes me so happy for interstellar collaborations.
Lately when I cue up music, I find myself craving something rollicking and urgent that will completely take me away for a few minutes from thinking about my past-due grad school paper I have been wrestling vigorously with this week. Did I say wrestling? Oh, I meant beating into bloody submission.
So I keep reaching over and over for the new Langhorne Slim record like a drug because it is a smart, tightly-wound explosion of howl and clatter that I so love Sean and his music for consistently delivering. I’ve been waiting for the follow-up from 2009′s Be Set Free (one of my favorite albums that year), and it’s out this week and it is terrific.
The Way We Move is Langhorne Slim & The Law’s first release on the top-notch Ramseur Records label, most famous for being the historical home of the Avett Brothers, and this record forges a good sonic kinship with their efforts. Man, they can both let out that rootsy, anachronistic howl.
I like this video for it because it captures the frenetic, bouyant energy of a Langhorne Slim show (which I missed last night in Denver, Idontwannatalkaboutit).
LANGHORNE SLIM & THE LAW TOUR #with Ha Ha Tonka
*with Jessica Lea Mayfield
June 7 – Lawrence, KS /// Jackpot Music Hall #
June 8 – St. Louis, MO /// Twangfest @ Duck Room #
June 9 – Nashville, TN /// Mercy Lounge #
June 11 – Atlanta, GA /// The Earl #
June 12 – Durham, NC /// The Casbah #
June 13 – Washington, DC /// Rock And Roll Hotel #
June 14 – New York, NY /// Bowery Ballroom #
June 15 – Philadelphia, PA /// Union Transfer #
June 16 – Philadelphia, PA /// Main St Music (solo in-store 2pm) July 20 – Pittsburgh, PA /// Club Café
July 21 – Indianapolis, IN /// Radio Radio
July 22 – Madison, WI /// High Noon Saloon
July 24 – Boulder, CO /// Boulder Theater
July 25 – Telluride, CO /// Telluride Mtn Village Sunset Series
July 27 – Stanley, ID /// Sawtooth Music Festival
July 28 – Bozeman, MT /// The Filling Station
July 29 – Missoula, MT /// The Palace
July 31 – Bellingham, WA /// Wild Buffalo House of Music
August 2 – Vancouver, BC /// The Media Club
August 3 – Seattle, WA /// Tractor Tavern
August 3-5 – Happy Valley, OR /// Pickathon Festival
August 7 – San Francisco, CA /// The Independent*
August 8 – Los Angeles, CA /// Troubadour*
August 9 – Santa Ana, CA /// The Constellation Room*
August 10 – San Diego, CA /// Casbah*
August 11 – Phoenix, AZ /// Crescent Ballroom*
August 14 – Austin, TX /// The Parish*
August 15 – Denton, TX /// Dan’s Silverleaf*
August 16 – Memphis, TN /// Hi-Tone Café*
August 17 – Louisville, KY /// Headliners Music Hall*
[top photo by my wonderful friend Todd Roeth, who is also responsible for the purdiest images from any interview I’ve ever conducted]
Before the leader of the free world sort of sang this little ditty, Britain’s marvelous Ben Howard took on a cover of Carly Rae Jepsen’s apparent summer smash hit “Call Me Maybe” on the BBC Lounge. Ben Howard was one of my favorite new artists that I featured on my Springtime mix with that stunner “Old Pine” (thanks Rinker), and Ben’s whole debut album Every Kingdom is a slow-building phenom of deeply-seated goodness.
Ben Howard got his footing as part of the Communion Records family, one of my favorite folk labels in the U.K. right now (um, because of their ability to casually make things like thishappen). I got to have beers with one of the founding dudes when I was in London in November, and I was deeply inspired by the slow, community-focused growth of the collective and the consistently terrific sound that they have curated through their Sunday night shows and carefully-signed roster.
I also got word the other day that they’re also opening a Nashville offshoot of Communion Records this Thursday, which, when combined with Third Man, will increase Nashville’s allure to me even more, if that’s possible.
This cover came to me via the laser-eared Adam Sharp, the final track off his new summer(days) 2012 mix. You’re just killing it lately, Sharp.
[if you like world leaders singing The Pop Hits that the kids dig, I still get a kick from these]
See those little dots waaay down there? Yep, that’s The Head and The Heart
Last week I had the distinct joy of seeing my pals The Head and The Heart play at the legendary Red Rocks, sandwiched between Blind Pilot and The Shins (oh what a night!). It’s transitioning towards being a normal thing for them to play huge venues like this one, but for this gal, it still made me smile goofily like a kid on Christmas — seeing their same explosive live performance that first made me notice them two years ago light up those steep rows carved into the rocks, watching 10,000 people dancing along.
Highlights of the set for me included the jubilant “Sounds Like Hallelujah,” which couldn’t help but resonate strongly in that setting (I mean, Red Rocks is where they start each concertgoing season annually with an Easter sunrise service, after all) and a full-band version of the long-favorite unreleased “Gone,” with a stirringly intricate outro (listen: from about 4 minutes onward) that shows a growing depth and continuing intuition to their full-band arrangements. Also, Josiah sang a brand new song from the band that I had never heard before, a bright and big tune called “What’s The Point” that wended its way past ballad and straight towards anthem. It’s exciting to continue to see them as a band and as individuals, finding their voices as songwriters and consistently delivering that goodness to the ears of their fans with passion.
Yeah. That was a good day.
[photos by the stellar Tyler Kalberg. Thanks, buddy.]
Name: Heather Browne Location: Colorado, originally by way of California Giving context to the torrent since 2005.
"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel." —Hunter S. Thompson
Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.
All The Times We Had (with Aimee Mann) – Ivan & Alyosha
Name: Heather Browne
