TUATI archives are on Spotify

13 Aug

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Hi friends! I hope everyone is taking care.

In celebration of TUATI’s upcoming 10th anniversary, I’m emerging from early retirement to share a link so you can stream the archives on Spotify. I pulled out some of the more aggressive Untz for easier listening (sorry Tom!) but there are still 24 hours of music in here… a whole day’s worth of songs to dance your face off, or chill to. The playlist is in chronological order, starting in January 2011 and spanning over four years. I hope this throwback collection brings some cheer to wherever you are sheltering. #theuntzandtheindie
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we were running wild

2 Mar

Today’s Indie: If I Go / Jake McMullen

‘we were both new to this we were running wild / torches in hand we set the world on fire’

Last week I discovered the power of Spotify’s Discovery Weekly playlist feature, and I am elated / borderline freaked out by the magic their algorithm is playing on my music collection. The standout track of many recently unearthed new favorites is this slow strummer by Jake McMullen, a songwriter based in Nashville by way of California.

If I Go is off McMullen’s  2015 EP, Always, and opens as if straight off the editing floor of Bon Iver’s For Emma. When the guitar is met with McMullen’s crisp voice, subtle harmonies and sigh inducing lyrics, this has all the makings of a TUATI classic. To fall, young love, to lose, a sense of an ending… it’s all tangled into the song’s beautiful melody.  #indie

 

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ophelia

5 Feb

‘ you’ve been on my mind, girl, like a drug / heaven help the fool who falls in love’
The Lumineers have kept us waiting — its been almost four years since they gave us the gift of their self titled album. Today the band broke their silence with their first single, Ophelia, off of their upcoming album. After my first few listens, my take is it the same lyrically driven, clap along feel good feet tapping that made me fall in love with the band in the first place, barefoot in a field at the High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy in 2012. Since then I have seen them take the stars down upon the house at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, listened to every live version of the album and delighted in covers like their take on Naive Melody. And then, as the months continued to pass, I kind of forgot about them.
Ophelia, and the April release of their album Cleopatra, will bring one of America’s indie-folk darlings back to front and center stage, and I could not be more excited… and nervous. Will they fail to meet the great expectations their debut created, a la Head and the Heart’s sophomore album, Let’s Be Still, or deliver an even better version of themselves? If Ophelia is any indication, then it sounds like they will be sticking to their traditional sound… after four years of no new material. I have no problem with them playing it a little safe. #indie

whenever I fall

26 Jan

Hi friends. Hi internet. I will make no excuses for not posting in the past several months or proclamations of better ongoing maintenance and a 2016 resurgence of the TUATI blog, because, enough. Instead a really good song. From 2010. Easing back into the music world slowly…

Fall at Your Feet / Boy & Bear

‘let it go / I’ll be there when you call’

It’s fitting I am sharing a Fall at Your Feet cover given that I first heard the song, many, many moons ago when I was in high school, as another cover. James Blunt shared his take during a riveting, and particularly emotional (weren’t they all?) episode of The OC. My poor television choices aside, the song and Blunt’s take on Fall at Your Feet struck and stuck with me the last 10 years, so I was surprised and delighted to stumble upon another re-imagined version from Boy & Bear, an indie-folk-rock group from Australia, on a recently gifted playlist from a friend (thanks Joan!)

A steady strum, strong harmonies, keys and strings for days and just the right amount of twang leading into a triumphant finale, met with my teenage nostalgia — this has all the makings of a TUATI classic. If you like what you hear but want to get back to the modern era, Boy & Bear recently released their newest album, Limit of Love, available on iTunes. #indie

 

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a few good things

12 Nov

Friends, I know it has been far too long since I have posted. Since July, I have crossed the globe to Africa and back, started a new role at work, and gotten engaged to my best friend. So to make up for my absence, sharing a few good things.

Like a Dream / Chelou

‘its not magic, though it feels that’

‘Like a Dream’ is stripped down to just steady tapping, guitar strings and its artist’s sleepy vocals, but in this parred down state, nothing is missing from the song. I have had this one on play all week.

Berlin / Ry X

‘sorry love I’m running home / I’m a child of sun and the stars I love’

With songs with intros out of a Beach House song or Explosions in the Sky track off of Saturday Night Lights, and vocals that draw an unavoidable resemblance to Bon Iver, Ry X’s EP, Berlin, has officially managed to attract my attention – it only took me a year to stumble upon it. The summer 2013 releases’ title track is my favorite of the four, with its beautiful pacing and an ability to be both pleading and subtle at the same time, but the whole EP is worth a solid listen and repeat.

On My Way Home / The Young Folk

‘taking some of my lines, and you make them into your own; turn your back don’t run’

Young Folk is a Dublin “alt-folk” (yes, this is a genre now) band that I stumbled upon on Soundcloud and have been thoroughly enjoying– they captured me with their lively strings and catchy vocals as so many of these types of songs do. The foursome released their debut album, Little Battle, this year.

#indie

this is our garden

22 Jul

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Today’s Indie: Oceans / Coasts

‘we fell in love / right by the ocean / made all our plans / down on the sand’

On first listen this song had me back to watching the sun slip into the Bay with light bouncing off of Baker Beach on a Saturday a few Novembers ago. Unabashedly with its heart on sleeve, Oceans pulls with its first catching chorus, and I have listened to it a dozen times today since my other half shared it this morning.

This is the first I have heard from the band, and I am smitten despite the confusing song/band name combo for the track (is it Coasts’ track Oceans or Oceans’ track Coasts?) A little research has proven that the track Oceans, by Coasts, was released in 2013, but was retouched and re-released for this summer with the help of Alan Moulder (of Foals and Arctic Monkeys fame). The quintet from Bristol reminds me of Geographer meets Chapel Club’s All the Eastern Girls, and brought me to a happy place today. I hope you enjoy. #indie

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drifting / tunnels

7 Jul

Today’s Indie: Drifting / Nate Eiesland

‘but when I looked beside me where you should have been I started drifting’ 

This is what happens when really talented people get away together on a retreat and make music. ON AN ON‘s Nate Eiesland, the producer of Half Moon Run, and Canadian singer STACEY  produced this track on day one of a musician retreat called Red Bricks, which included 15 artists from around North America gathering up in Canada. The song starts out with the all the allure of a love song, but tells the tale of falling out, not in. Eiesland’s voice is as mesmerizing as in Ghosts, and the feeling the song captures reminds me of the National’s classic About Today.

As a bonus track with a little more oomph for your Monday evening, here is the first track released by the Red Bricks artist collective last month, Tunnels. Wish I could grab fourteen of my closet friends casually produce such feats. #indie

Tunnels / Erin Fein & Ryne Estwing

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how will I know

25 Jun

Today’s Indie: How Will I Know / Sam Smith (Whitney Houston cover)

‘I fall in love whenever we meet’

Sam Smith is no stranger to transforming songs with the tone of his voice – when his vocals in Disclosure’s Latch are slowed down and stripped of their beats, it goes from a dance floor anthem to a slow, stirring proclamation of commitment. But to hear him take Whitney’s almost unrecognizable 80’s dance hit of a school girl crush level of adoration, make a few necessary lyrical changes and then ground it into one of the best ballads I have heard this year is unreal. I have had this on repeat all week since my friend Jen sent it my way with the message: “Serious good. So much wow.” Pretty much sums it up. #indie

 

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sleepless, again.

15 May

Today’s Indie (video!): Sleepless / The Tropics

‘when the sun gives off its morning light / you’ve still got sleep in your eyes’

Today I am thrilled to share the brand spanking new first ever official The Tropics music video for my favorite of their songs, Sleepless. I posted about my friend Eric’s band way back in August of 2012 (sorry, they made me take down all my bootleg Soundcloud links on that post) when The Tropics was just getting started in this world and gearing up to play one of their first shows at the Boom Boom room. As you can see, they have come a long way in the last year and a half and have been on to big things like touring and getting sued for their name. Could not be more proud of Eric and the band, or more sure of where they are headed. Bay Area friends, be sure to check them out live at two of my favorite venues, The Great American Music Hall on Wednesday, May 21st, and The Chapel, July 16th.  #indie

I love you when you’re singing that song

6 May

Today’s Indie: Riptide / Gossling (Vance Joy Cover)

‘this cowboy’s running from himself / and she’s been living on the highest shelf”

I am predictably a sucker for this slowed down cover of one of this year’s everywhere songs, Riptide, which I still have a spot for despite serious over exposure (self inflicted and otherwise). Melbourne songstress Gossling puts a puckery sweet spin on Vance Joy’s lyrics and the switch of strings for keys, met with simple tambourine, makes this cover its own. Gossling, aka Helen Croome, released her debut album, Harvest of Gold, in 2013, but this track debuted last week. Enjoy. #indie

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