While TV Girl’s The Wild, The Innocent, and The TV Shuffle is an album that is built off hundreds upon hundreds of samples, the singing is original and on “It Evaporates” they manage to evoke a blissful 50’s summer vibe a la Grease with soft harmonies and that romantic chord progression that makes you believe that you’re stuck in some Pleasantville town before sex ruined everything. Be sure to check out “Sweaters” one of those perfectly crafted songs that makes you wish it was longer than its running time (1:25). You can find the entire fantastic album for free on Bandcamp as well.
Tag: mp3
Vacationer’s debut LP Gone is aiming to be a great summer album right down to the Instagram friendly artwork. Yet what makes it more intriguing is its Generationals meets Pop Etc. (formerly The Morning Benders) sound, a sort of Con Law and Big Echo Part II if you will. On “Everybody Knows”, the album opener, the arrangement is chock full of summer pitched organs, warm guitar lines, vinyl atmosphere, and a hip-hop beat and vocals that veer from Vampire Weekend prep to surprising Beach Boys harmony. It’s not even far of a stretch to say that this could have been a single on The Avalanches’ Since I Left You album. Also check out the album’s title track “Gone” which builds off of some catchy percussion and features some blissful harmonies.
Everybody Knows- Vacationer
Gone- Vacationer
Listen If You Like: The Generationals, The Morning Benders, Vampire Weekend, The Beach Boys, The Avalanches
“In the twilight glow I seen her/ blue eyes crying in the rain”
The sparsity of “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” is hauntingly beautiful from just the opening lines alone. Excellently placed in the daring (and spare) concept album Red Headed Stranger that brought WIllie Nelson more fame and acclaim the songwriter could have ever dreamed of; it’s one of those few songs, the words spare but overwhelmingly descriptive, that could pass as poetry. It’s a moment that’s lost in time for the poor narrator, a love lost, yet permanently etched in memory, and the song in ours as well. Simply beautiful, honest, and bare.
Heading to work this morning in the big city, there was about the slightest rain overhead, but a sun in the sky. Couldn’t help but think of this song “Pennies From Heaven” by Frank Sinatra from his fantastic Songs For Swingin’ Lovers LP. Surprisingly, the record holds up today, it sounds fresh, the arrangements are alive, even if destined to be mentioned as a “Did I hear that on Mad Men?”. The joy in his voice is contagious, and I’ve included the fantastic “How About You” as well.
The Art of the Mixtape 