Los Campesinos! - My Year In Lists (desperate youth, bloodthirsty babes)
She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? (Zooey’s deer-in-headlights expression works in faux-death)
Albert Hammond Jr. -GfC (music visualized)
Sea Wolf - You’re A Wolf (meh to the video, but the song is excellent)
Saves the Day - Shoulder to the Wheel (because they’re still one of my favorite bands)

On their self-titled LP, Fleet Foxes sound like the Beach Boys had they grown up in the middle of a forest instead of a sunny beach. Or like My Morning Jacket if MMJ was made up of classically-trained choir kids. Or The Shins on a granola high. Fleet Foxes paradoxically sound like everyone and no one at the same time.

The group’s main feature is their mastery of vocal harmony. It’s thick and echoing and cathedral-worthy and used more often than not, which makes lead singer Robin Pecknold’s voice that much more powerful and striking when heard on its own.

Several of Fleet Foxes’s songs evoke quasi-nebulous places, like the country road sunset of “Ragged Wood” and the dusty southwestern sprawl of “Your Protector”.

The non-verbal humming on “Heard Them Stirring” completes the overall tapestry of the piece (yes, Fleet Foxes make you use words like ‘tapestry’ - but without gagging) and the short piano addendum to “He Doesn’t Know Why” is downright beautiful.

Tracks like “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” and “Meadowlarks” wouldn’t be out of place in your average New Age shop, but they translate well enough into the indie-folk world to keep people from smashing their heads into the wall from boredom and spite (it may be from the merciful lack of pan flutes and chimes).

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Fleet Foxes dropped 06/03/08.
For the MP3 and video of “White Winter Hymnal” click here.

Elbow - Grounds For Divorce (sepia-toned grit)
CSS - Rat Is Dead [Rage] (Cher’s closet has been raided)
Willoughby - Frankenstein (a whole new world for Frank)
Jamie Lidell - Little Bit of Feel Good (if Stevie Wonder courted unicorns)
Spencer Davis Group - Keep On Running (it’s old but I love it and it’s perfect for summer)

Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma (remarkably Wes Anderson-y)
Throw Me the Statue - Lolita (catchy tune)

A couple visuals to bide me some time while I catch up after slacking. My inbox is stuffed, I have a stack of unopened mail, and I haven’t posted in awhile. This is why I’m not allowed to go out of town.

Updates soon. Probably.

My head is about to explode because I can’t process Lady GaGa’s video for “Just Dance”.

(for a high-res version, click here)

I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be, and I’m not sure if I like it because it’s awesome or because it’s mind-boggling.

I saw it on a video show featuring indie & underground music videos, and the visuals have a hipster/electro aesthetic, but the song at its core is a dance-pop anthem. The lyrics are horrible, drunk-girl babbling, and GaGa sounds quite a bit like Christina Aguilera (which isn’t a bad thing, but not terribly characteristic of the image being portrayed). Basically, it’s a huge mind fuck.

In any case, it’s catchy beyond belief. I wouldn’t be surprised if it become the Hot Summer Jam of 2008.

Finding music videos so you don’t have to sit through twelve hours of bad dating shows to find them yourself.

Band of Horses - No One’s Gonna Love You (surf tackles, candy glass, the Clapper)
Born Ruffians - I Need A Life (classic and new at the same time)
DeVotchKa - The Clockwise Witness (Live on Conan) (making us realize the tuba is under-utilized)
Frightened Rabbit - Head Rolls Off (elementary schools would benefit from in-house rock bands)
The Dodos - Fools (acoustic tunes are rarely this intense)

Owen (aka Mike Kinsella) returned to Madison on May 3, 2008 to play to a cozy crowd at Club 770. Kinsella was in good spirits, happily conversing with the crowd and cracking jokes.

“Sometimes I write a song and it sounds like Sheryl Crow, and I think, ‘This is awful.’ Then I write a song and it sounds like ‘Chocolate Rain’…”

After finishing up a set of his own material, Kinsella decided to throw down a few Fugazi songs, a preview of his upcoming benefit show for CAASE on June 19 at Beat Kitchen in Chicago.

At this show we decided to use the video option on our super-cheap camera and captured Owen performing “The Ghost of What Should Have Been” for your viewing and listening pleasure. Of course, we’re idiots and filmed it portrait style, not realizing we couldn’t rotate it in editing. Oops. Just crane your neck to the left and you won’t even notice.

We had a crazy busy week, hence the lack of posts. Check back for concert reviews for The Bridges/Locksley/Rooney & Owen, as well as a mess of album reviews. Until then, here are some videos to pacify you:

Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (we’ve been waiting for a video since July - it’s finally here)
The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead (Portland at night)
The Wombats - Let’s Dance to Joy Division (love the song to pieces)
The Most Serene Republic - The Men Who Live Upstairs (we’re suckers for boys and girls singing together)
Thrice - Come All You Weary (Live on Conan) (so different, so good)

Residing on an isthmus, the people of Madison, WI can’t help but love a good sea chantey. Lucky for them, Colin Meloy of The Decemberists brought his hyper-literate musical tales to the Barrymore Theatre on April 23, 2008.

The stage was of a simple set-up: a few guitars, a couple of microphones, and a table complete with a bottle of red wine and a framed picture of a sock puppet. Meloy took the stage and filled the remaining space with his signature vocals and oodles of charm.

Some may have had doubts about Meloy’s ability to carry The Decemberists’ dense material as a solo act, but the bespectacled troubadour stripped them down and made them his own without losing the integrity of the original arrangements. This occasionally required the employment of the audience as backup singers and instrument impersonators, but the crowd was more than happy to oblige.

In addition to several crowd favorites, the set also included a few surprises. One was a surprisingly moving rendition of soul legend Sam Cooke’s “Cupid” with opener Laura Gibson (a recording of the song is available on the tour-only EP Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke). The other was a three-part supersong from The Decemberists’ forthcoming album, set for recording later this year. The song has been referred to as “Hazards of Love” and can be heard here.

On the whole, the night was a cozy sing-along, replete with intimate interaction between Meloy and his followers. Laughs were had, requests were taken, and the crowd was treated to the ever-so-rare feeling in live music that they were sharing a night with a roomful of friends rather than an anonymous gathering of individuals dominated by the untouchables on stage.

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PARTIAL SET LIST: Hazards of Love, Cupid, The Sporting Life, Red Right Ankle, The Engine Driver, The Perfect Crime #2

Just a couple things for you kids to check out on this lovely weekend:

1) No Age is offering a free download of “Eraser” from their upcoming release Nouns. You can get it here or listen in the player below. It’s full of jangly summer goodness.

2) More happy summer-friendly music comes your way from Architecture in Helsinki with their tune “Like It Or Not”. The video features some hapless coconuts on an embroidered journey. It takes almost half a minute to get into the actual song, but its worth it.