NEW FEATURE -- MAKEOUT JAM OF THE WEEK

The Makeout Jam is potentially the most important key to turning our global society from one of greed to one of total love!

The Makeout Jam is a cultural staple of our times! Teenagers everywhere achieve ultimate happiness basking in its warmth! 

The Makeout Jam happens to be my favorite musical genre!  

Ladies and Gentlemen, here's to the Makeout Jam!  

Makeout Jam of the Week: M83 - "kim & jessie"

This one is definitely in the running for Makeout Jam of the CENTURY. From their most recent album, saturdays=youth, an entire album of Makeout Jams!!! Can't recommend this one highly enough, folks. ALSO--DC-area people: this band will be playing at the Black Cat on Thursday, Nov. 13th!! Go see them. I'll see you there. 

LIL' WAYNE IS THE NEW CREEPY JESUS

Listen to the bass on "A Milli" and tell me It's not true. 

FLEET FOXES

FLEET FOXES! Where have I been on this one? I am a procrastinator by nature, so I tend to miss the boat on a lot. For example, and maybe as your faithful blogger I shouldn't be revealing this, but--[whispers]--I didn't listen to Animal Collective 'til Strawberry Jam...
Yes, that's a truism. Meaning it's true. Nonetheless, we have an album and a band to discuss, so enough about me. These guys are beautiful. I imagine this is what your parents sound like to you when you're a small blanketed baby, Fleet Foxes have that kind of blood-borne familiarity. There's nothing quite like a bunch of grown men letting loose in three-part harmony...first you're thinking, "Oh, OK, beards. They're dirty and uncouth." Then they open their mouths simultaneously and sound like a tri-tonal trumpet leading an orchestra of bells and BAM! You've got an instant sunrise soundtrack. And isn't that what life is all about, when you get down to it? It's an elfin March morning, everyone! Spring is coming!!

BURIAL

Maybe it's just my infantile yearning for the oceanic sensation of the womb, or maybe it's because I've switched from drinking coffee to tea, but something has made my mind go all mooshy for dreamy, drifting, warm, synth-washed stuff lately. Some of Flying Lotus' stuff fits that bill, but even his songs that don't are relentlessly awesome and, while not akin to merging with a hot bath, will take you on a weird-but-catchy prenatal journey. Both of his albums--1983 and Los Angeles--are worth getting your hands on, especially the latter. More on the Lotus later...he's gonna have to be a longer post. Burial's latest record, Untrue, does fit the aforementioned bill. It is darkly beautiful--surprisingly so--even if you enter the arrangement expecting the best. The lyrics toy with dancefloor inanity, but that seems to mesh well (for some reason...) with the ghost ship synths and skeleton beats. Each track is a sticky hive of murmuring bliss, a barely-conscious sonic revelation. This record will take you underground, and, as I said before, what lurks there is very surprising. All in all, this isn't yer average dance record. Put it on the next time it rains and make sure you stand in a bucket, 'cause you're gonna fucking melt.

ROCKNOCEROS

Rocknoceros is a children's band--BUT, they are a children's band that sounds a lot like early-Who, Mod-ish, Unit 4+2-style acoustic British Pop. They have an album called "Dark Side of the Moon Bounce". They have a song called "I Wish We Used the Metric System". Some of their songs--"Dear Abby", "Virginia", "Gravity"--are...goddamit, they're just really choice jam-o's. They write articulate, catchy songs that teach kids Spanish, counting, and, most importantly, to participate in their local rock scene!! They are firm believers in the intelligence and ability of children!! YES!!!

An excerpt from "Col. Purple Turtle":

Colonel Purple Turtle

Keeps a Purple Turtle journal

Some of their songs, like "The Train Song" or "Wee Go Potty", might be a little too kid-oriented for more mature audiences. That said, the latter of those features a sick fucking chorus. Here are the lyrics of that chorus:

Wee go potty

Wee wee wee wee go potty

Oh, and there's a dreamy, Pink Floyd/Flaming Lips-worthy keyboard solo, too. Please check them out. You can listen free on their website.

Special thanks to Becca Bird for turning me on to this'n!!

STARDEATH AND WHITE DWARFS

Anyone who enjoys weirdos from Oklahoma city owes it to themselves to check out the myspace of a band called Stardeath and White Dwarfs, in particular the track "Point It At Another". In fact, anyone who enjoys weirdos, or laser orgies, or awesome, awesome, AWESOME space rock does as well. Yes, their name is a mouthful and that can be a hurdle in gaining new fans, but ***DO NOT*** let that stop you from listening to this band. You may be saying, "Why didn't they just name the band STARDEATH and be done with it? That's totally sick!!" Well, you're right, but it's irrelevant. Nirvana is a stupid name for a band, too. I'm not saying these guys are the next Nirvana, but I WILL say that they are opening for The Flaming Lips at their New Years Eve OKC show. Did I mention the laser orgies? 

Poster for OKC New Years Show......Wonderous.  

Also, here's band-member Dennis on the band's name, for you curious readers out there: "I had a dream that me and Casey were flying on a dying star through the centre of the Earth. We came out of one side, and we were at the dawn of creation, getting ready to play a show in front of God and the Devil that was set to open up the new universe. Once we realised that a dying star was a white dwarf, the rest was easy." 

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE

Every year, when the Fall rolls around, just betwixt the Moon When the Deer Paw the Earth and the Moon of Popping Trees, my brain stops running circles around itself and I find myself listening to Six Organs of Admittance. Generally, Six Organs is a guy named Ben Chasny and kind of reminds me of a Volcano-Rim Sacrifice, or a Dying Sun-Core Revolution, or maybe a Blood Red Lighthouse or an Energy Beacon atop the Pyramid of Cheops. Then there are the songs that are so deeply intimate, just Chasny and his guitar, that they drive you to make music, or at least in my case, to pine for musical prowess. Every single one of this guy's albums is worth checking out, as are all the bands he's involved with (Current 93, Comets On Fire, August Born). Collect all his split-7"s and CD-R albums. Brew yourself a very very strong cup of tea, put Six Organs in your headphones, and watch the universe draw up her veil.