More than 50 albums came into the studio this week. Hundreds of songs crossed our computer screens. We immerse ourselves in music each week. We pulled together this week, listened to a few dozen together, and selected this weeks songs for New Music Wednesday. Then there are these charished five. The ones we couldn't put down. These are the songs that we are still listening to even when we know that we should be getting to the other 40 albums that came in the mail this week. We couldn't let them go. Now it's your turn to take them.
Eels- Mistakes of my Youth
Mark Everet has always been telling his story. He is an artist that you get to know personally. Each album is like getting a postcard from an old friend. In these postcards he tells you about his relationship with his mother, ( Son of a Bitch) his bouts with depression ( Novocain for the Soul, Suicide Life, etc.) his interests, ( All the Beautiful Things) and his sense of humor about it all ( I like Birds). In his new album The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett, he is writing from his front porch. He is speaking as a sage, embarking wisdom from over 20 years as a professional musician, and 50 years as a human being. No matter what the message is, you feel the joy of looking in the mailbox and seeing that postcard there.
The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett is out April 22 nd.
-Justin Barney
Ratking feat. King Krule- So Sick Stories
The bold-sounding British singer-sonngwriter Archie Marshall (aka King Krule) has always had a passion for hip-hop. This was evident in his loop tape and also with his project under the name Sub Luna City that was released at the start of this year. So when he was featured on labelmate Ratking’s latest single “So Sick Stories” it made a lot of sense. Ratking is a hip-hop group based out of Harlem featuring MCs Wiki and Sporting Life. In this track, it brings a sound that is strictly East Coast. Ratking has always been good at describing a setting rather than creating a story when it comes to their own songwriting, and you can almost feel like you’re in the city that never sleeps in their latest single.
-Jake Kestly
Tie Up the Tides – Quilt
Our own Marcus Doucette wrote up a great article earlier this weekabout a free-spirited band featured on World Café. The name of the group is Quilt, and this indie folk-pop, trio of hipsters from Boston, own a seriously retro vibe. We are digging them so much that they made it onto our weekly list of songs that we can’t stop listening to. Quilt’s album, Held in Splendor, was released in late January via Mexican Summer, and scored high ratings on iTunes, among others. The most popular track on the LP, which was released as a single beforehand, is called “Tie Up the Tides.” This sunny and mellow track has a really vintage feel to it. "Tie Up the Tides" contains a state of dreamy haziness, and possesses psychedelic sounds, thanks to moody reveries and guitar riffs accompanied by melodies of Anna Fox Rochinsk’s almost haunting, yet suave vocals. Quilt released an equally psychedelic video to pair with the song, check it out below!
-Elise Conlin
The Snow- Memory Loss
The Snow is a side-project of three very strong-minded artists that got together in one room and created music in the form of a collage while still making it sound cohesive. The group includes Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing, Dustin Payseur of Beach Fossils, and Andreas Lagerström of Holograms. It is exactly what projects of this nature should sound like. Right from the jump, you can hear Payseur’s input into the song with his lo-fi guitar pattern. As the song progresses a couple measures the listener is brought into Tatum’s ambient instrumentation he brought with him as Lagerstrom’s emotive bellowing yelp vocals comes in as the song really gets going. With a seeming match that has been made in heaven with these artists, their new single “Memory Loss” proves that it very well actually could be.
-Jake Kestly
Future Islands- Seasons (Waiting on You)
Samuel Herring is the rock star that every rock star tries to be. He exudes confidence. If he doesn’t hit a note, who cares? If he dances like a drunken muppet, who cares? He is doing it, and he is doing it with style. I listened to this song 5 times before watching this video and it was hard to understand the rantings and ravings of David Letterman, or the incredible amount of rising hype that the band Future Islands has received from many others. The studio version of the song feels very familiar, and not necessarily in a good way either. The songwriting also isn’t anything spectacular. Then I watched this video. Now I love the song. You will too.
-Justin Barney