Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream

Consider yourself saxrolled.

I mean, it’s just amazing to me. Fake playing the sax and gyrating. Awesome, Moldova, awesome.

Listen to Sunstoke Project & Olia Tira – “Run Away“

You feel that? Yeah, there’s a funky groove in the air and we got to let it percolate.

Tennishero – “Midnight Love”

Smooth as silk synths combined with a captivating riff, Tennishero knows how to do it right.

New Order – “Jetstream (Jacques Lu Cont 2nd Mix)”

Pretty pedestrian mix until you get to about the 1:40 mark, at which the track blossoms into an ethereal, bass-bumping kick ass mix.

Jimmy LaValle, the man behind the music of The Album Leaf, isn’t exactly what I’d call a storyteller. In fact, it wasn’t until a few years ago that LaValle and company actually sang on their records. The popular belief is that if you don’t have lyrics to your songs, then you’re either a jam band or you’re making eclectic ambience/lounge music. Now I’m not going to charge The Album Leaf with such generalizations, but I will write briefly about their latest EP A Chorus of Storytellers.

For me, this album typifies the ‘hit-or-miss’ genre of electronic music. Some songs immediately strike a chord with the listener, while others seem to languish and falter in their transmission. Take for example “Blank Pages”: it’s a melancholy day at some French cafe and the rain is beating down outside. I can see the appeal, but it’s not something I can queue up anytime. Contrast that with the next song on the album “There is a Wind”, a coherent electropop track that has a cheerful lightness that gives it volume. The erratic “Within Dreams” gets wrangled in by the strudel-sweet strings that enter in at about 1:50, while “Stand Still” starts the listener off at the top of a daunting set of stairs and slowly walks her down. The repetition of “Until the Last” drags the listener into a lull, only to be wonderfully awoken by the soft horns and triumphant pianos of a new day. “Almost There” has an unmistakable radio-friendly kitsch, from the skipping drums to the shoegaze vocals.

Get a copy of A Chorus of Storytellers.

Listen to “There is a Wind”

Listen to “Almost There“

Something just doesn’t add up.

Sure, it all starts out innocently enough. Husband and wife duo Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore form a band called Tennis. And they’re from Denver (seems exotic in the music industry). Their name? Riley used to be the No. 2 tennis player in the state. See, something just doesn’t make sense.

They make beautiful music together: Easy, breezy (beautiful, covergirl–anyone get this reference?) 60s pop that was conceived on the high seas (courtesy of Denver Westword):

Spurred by a seven-month sailing trip the two took together on the Eastern seaboard, the couple, started writing songs as “sort of a soundtrack for our experiences,” she explains. After meeting in college, the twosome pulled together money (“inspired by the fact that we had both grown up landlocked,” she notes) and bought an old sailboat in Florida, and then hit the high seas until the money ran out and they landed back in Denver

And I have a little gift for you, from Tennis. Well, kind of. It’s not really from them as so much as it is by them. If you like She & Him, if you like Candie Payne, then you’re going to enjoy the faux lo-fi sound of Tennis. “Marathon” is a doo-wop ditty that will make even the most brash a newborn dilettante. “South Carolina” begins delicately enough, but blossoms into a semi-breakbeat that belies the cute-as-a-button sound. Sure, it may not all add up, but I don’t really care. If it sounds good and rings true, I say keep it comin’.

Listen to “Marathon”

Listen to “South Carolina“

Just to keep you busy on this dreary (in Chicago) Monday:

The Radio Dept. – “Heaven’s on Fire”

From The Radio Dept.’s third album Clinging to a Scheme.

Swedish pop collective Sambassadeur exudes innocent fun, and what’s more fitting for the summer than some more Sambassadeur? It’s a rhetorical question, but the answer is not much.

Their third LP European is due out July 7th on Labrador (respect!), and they’ve released the single “I Can Try” for all to hear.

And here it is.

And you shall enjoy it.

Listen to “I Can Try”

Get started with Sambassadeur here.

I don’t know much about Charlotte collective Campbell the Band, but I know I love their sound. And when it all boils down, isn’t that the most important thing?

I’m reminded of the Art of Fighting when I listen to Campbell the Band: the delicate vocals, the nostalgic content, and the sweet-as-honey guitars that wash over you.

They’ve been kind of enough to stream 6 tracks from the their new album Bear With Us (see below), and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. My personal favorites are “Quickly Growing Old” and “Through Your Veins”, and I love the dark ivory and ebony at the end of “We Are Free”.

Buy Bear With Us (iTunes link)

Bear With Us by Campbell the Band

Yes. This is old news by now.

No. It doesn’t matter.

Yes. You can still thoroughly enjoy this sleepy, swaying, delicate track in all its reverb glory.

Sufjan Stevens – “The Sleeping Red Wolves“

Toronto native and Broken Social Scene contributor (but honestly, who isn’t in BSS?) Jason Collett has struck gold again with his junior LP Rat a Tat Tat. Collett effectively mixes a rugged machismo with an introspective sensitivity that seemingly can only be found up north. Building on the critical acclaim of his sophomore release Here’s to Being Here, Collett throws all the deliciously catchy hooks and head-bopping riffs he’s got into Rat a Tat Tat.

He starts off innocently enough with “Rave on Sad Songs,” a modernized western ballad that evokes the likeness of Josh Ritter. But as the testosterone charged “Lake Superior” rings in, you get the feeling that this album is going to cover quite a bit of musical ground. The album highlight “Love is a Dirty Word” features a trippy bassline that conjures up the sound of Of Montreal, exploding out into a summery chirp of synths and guitars underneath Collett’s best imitation of Bob Dylan. “Bitch City” tones it down a bit with a funky-as-funk guitar laying down the foundation for a soulful easy-listening track. “High Summer” is an AM radio homage, leading into the sparkling intro that begins the straightforward folk ditty “Cold Blue Halo”. But the respite is short, as Collett fires right into the folk-disco (folsco?) throwback “Love is a Chain”. The yearning of “Long May You Love” blends perfectly with the brimming optimism of “The Slowest Dance”, which eventually relents to the resolution that is “Winnipeg Winds” and “Vanderpool Vanderpool”.

Best line: “From the ugly Madam’s gilded room/ The ivories tinkle out a merry tune / While out in the street the Reverend’s gloom / Ain’t saving nobody” (From “Vanderpool Vanderpool”)

Grab a copy of Rat a Tat Tat.

Listen to “Love is a Dirty Word”

Listen to “The Slowest Dance“

Ah, June 14. In the US, this is (not popularly) known as Flag Day. Created by Prez Woodrow Wilson in 1916, Flag Day honors the adoption of the American Flag in 1777. Nevertheless, Flag Day was not officially established until 1949 via an Act of Congress. But it’s all good. We still love ya Woodrow.It’s the thought that counts.

Fun facts:

1. Pennsylvania is the only state in which Flag Day is a state holiday.

2. The longest-running Flag Day parade is held in Quincy, Massachusetts. The first parade was held in 1952.

3. But don’t worry Troy, New York. I haven’t forgotten you. Indeed, Troy,  New York is home to the largest Flag Day parade.

Fun tracks:

1. “Capture the Flag” by Dosh.

2. “White Flag” by Dido.

3. “Ashes of American Flags” by Wilco.

Enjoy!