r.e.m. : that someone is you (video)

james franco: getting weirder, less relatable and more lovable every day.

pacific air : float + roses (stream)

some nice, airy indie-pop. feeling it.

   Float by Pacific Air Music

   Roses by Pacific Air Music

dungeonesse : drive you crazy (video)

pitchfork did well in describing this somewhere between grimes and passion pit. not quite as memorable as the either of those touchstones, but equally infectious. i've listened to it about 20 times in the last 24 hours.

local natives : breakers (video)

this song.

emily moldy : my own one (video)

i heard this song on a nature valley granola thins commercial, so take that for what it's worth.

night moves : country queen (video)

another one of my favorite records of the year.

the national : i'll see you in my dreams

the national covered an old-timey song by isham jones for boardwalk empire, and they pretty much nailed it. i could listen to a whole album of the national covering songs like this. have a hear over here.

ke$ha : die young (amas)

ke$ha performed on the american music awards last night. it was perfect, per usual. and while she occasionally dips into the durrty end of the spectrum, i can't fault her for it because it seems like it's true to her personality. you know how christina aguilera was "xtina" for awhile, and had a pierced chin and nappy braids and wore chaps and pretended to ass grind her way to female empowerment, but everyone (hopefully) knew it was a marketing gimmick and in no way reflected an actual aspect of her personality? well i feel like that's who ke$ha actually is. but also, ke$ha has about 100 times more compositional talent than aguiera and probably 85% of the vocal talent. i guess what i'm trying to say is that if you don't get ke$ha, then i don't get you.

shuffle surprise : racing in the street ('78) by bruce springsteen

one of those boss songs that cuts you right to the core.

the babies : moonlight mile + get lost (stream)

#garagerock.
   THE BABIES - "Moonlight Mile" by WOODSIST

   The Babies - Get Lost by WOODSIST

night beds : even if we try (video)

very weird video for a pretty arresting song. keep an eye on this kid.

ra ra riot : beta love (mp3)

ra ra riot's third album will be out in 2013, but here's the first single. hearing a bit of discovery on this one. click the link below to download.

ra ra riot :: beta love

widowspeak : ballad of the golden hour (mp3)

just a pretty little folk song.

widowspeak :: ballad of the golden hour

guards : coming true (stream)

one of the most infectiously excellent singles i've heard this year. it reminds me a bit of spacehog's "in the meantime" and some of the great better than ezra singles of the late 90s.

the walkmen : we can't be beat (blogotheque)

dirty projectors : about to die (letterman)

this album took awhile to get into, but it's been one of the most rewarding listens of the year. watch the band perform one of the standout tracks below.

theme park : wax + milk (stream)

theme park are a new band from london with a debut coming out next summer. pretty straightforward pop in the vein of the mystery jets. you won't find much substance here, but they sure are catchy.

   Theme Park - Wax by Cooperative Music Spain

   Milk by Theme Park

icona pop : good for you (stream)

icona pop's breakout hit "i love it" kind of turned me off the band in that the song's catchiness was only matched by how annoying it was. but "good for you" is a jam. it's got this la roux meets tegan and sara meets passion pit vibe going on, and it's working. very worth checking out.

possible reasons to have sex

if you like your movies on the slightly twee side, submarine (on instant netflix now) is worth checking out. funny and sweet.

jim james : know til now (mp3)

trippy new jam from my morning jacket front man jim james.

 

(photo taken from patagonia's instagram)

daniel rossen : not coming back (stream)

this is another of grizzly bear guitarist daniel rossen's demos. he's said it's a throwaway track, as he took parts/ideas from it and turned them into different songs on his recently released solo ep and grizzly bear's recently released fourth album. now i'm not sure which songs this track was split into, but to me this rough demo sounds better than a lot of what's on both those albums. wish we could have heard it fully fleshed out as its own song.

   Not Coming Back by drossenbro

kate boy : northern lights (video)

sounds kind of like tegan (or sara) singing over the knife. big hook on that chorus.

father john misty on city of music

he plays two acoustic numbers, the wonderful "hollywood forever cemetery sings" and new/unreleased track "i love you, honeybear".

sufjan stevens : silver and gold (video)

set to appear on his upcoming christmas box set. i sure do miss this style of sufjan song (no offense, Age of Adz fans).

ke$ha : die young (video)

but for real this song is the jam.

adam green + binki shapiro : here i am (mp3)

quite the lovely little duet.

 

earl sweatshirt : chum (stream)

earl sweatshirt is a member of the odd future collective, which is a group i generally think is not worth the hype. or maybe it's just group "frontman" tyler the creator that brings them down for me. that guy is a wang. but my distaste for tyler is doesn't seem to be able to outweigh my enjoyment of the music coming out of his fellow bandmates (not much more needs to be said about frank ocean, also a part of the odd future crew, who is generally accepted to be pretty great (and i mostly agree)). this track by fellow odd futurer earl sweatshirt is pretty great, too. it locks into a great little sample and, unlike tyler, not a sexual slur in sight.

vampire weekend : unbelievers (kimmel)

vw performed a brand new song, presumably set to appear on their upcoming lp3. it's a pretty straightforward little diddy, although i imagine it will be dressed up a bit more on the album. it sounds a little thin here.