Today’s Untz: You Don’t Know Me (Bit Funk Remix) / Portland
Here’s a great remix from Bit Funk. This is such an uplifting and energetic tune with a slow build. I love the chopped up vocals and accompanying piano sounds. I’m no concert clapper (mostly bc people are off beat), but this tune makes me want to put my two hands together, look up at the open sunny sky, and smile. #untz/tom
Today’s Indie: Delivery Shirt Press (Pirate’s Song) / Poet’s Row
‘hot shower then get dressed / but there is tightness in your chest’
Heartfelt Folk. Colorado trifecta Poet’s Row have self defined their genre as such and for the most part it suits them well, but it is the little bite to the vocals of Delivery Shirt Press that got my attention on first listen yesterday. Their sound (impressively) evokes pieces of Colorado cousins Elephant Revival and The Lumineers with a side of Austin’s Wild Child, and I find myself swaying along as I type away about it. You can hear more from this fledgling folk trio and buy their self titled album which was released this March on bandcamp. Hope to be hearing more from them soon! #indie / tory
Today’s Indie: Alive / Empire of the Sun
Here is something bright and cheery to warm things up after my bit-of-a-downer post on The National last week – a song with such a catchy and glee-filled chorus that it is impossible not to instantly take note and smile. Even Lilly, the dog we have been watching this week, perked up her ears and cracked a big smile on hearing this (after she got over her initial annoyance at me for lifting her out of her puppy dreams).
Alive comes from the zany Australian duo Empire of the Sun, who have a new album, Ice on the Dunes, coming out on June 17th on EMI. If the rest of it sounds anything like this initial taste, they are lined up for another hit. Repeat. repeat, repeat. #indie/tory
Today’s Untz: Darius & Crayon / Alicia
Talk about a song that just makes you wish you could escape the grind. Eventually I will free myself of whatever it is we’re “supposed” to do. The time I’m donating now will ultimately bring me to paradise whether it’s mental, physical, or both. For now this song is helping me envision that place.
Here it in Darius’ words:
“Our new single ‘Alicia’ with my friend Le Crayon.
From pointless debates about the existence of aliens to more serious late night/early morning demos sharing, we started to feel that our tastes and ambitions, musicwise, were to get more and more similar. “Alicia” combines this laidback and carefree atmosphere, dreamy slow-mo vibes with a powerful funk groove. May this be the soundtrack of your most perfect day.
Follow us on Facebook”
Darius : www.facebook.com/iamdariusmusic
Le Crayon : www.facebook.com/pages/Le-Crayon/…59778192?fref=ts
Today’s Indie: Demons / The National
‘when I walk into a room / I do not light it up / fuck’
I woke up on this sleepy Tuesday morning elated to find a new track from one of my favorite bands ready for me to devour, but, alas, my elation simmered back down to sleepiness after a listen. While The National has never been known for tearing down a house or slinging catching choruses, and I love them for it, Demons still feels lackluster relative to their other work – a little too monotone, a little too heavy. It is a brave take on dark subject matter (‘I do my crying underwater, I can’t get down any farther’ ) but Demons is just landing me down with its sentiment instead of stirring something up inside of me.
I am still happy to hear Matt’s signature baritone tackle any new material, but I am hoping the rest of forthcoming album, Trouble Will Find Me, due out May 21st, has more of a pull. When Terrible Love came out, it kept me up for days. #indie/tory
Today’s Untz: Fade (Le Youth Remix) / Jakwob
I’m in love with the original track, but came across this remix last week and came away super impressed as Le Youth takes it in an entirely different direction. It gravitates towards a disco influenced old house track. A dance floor heater indeed. #untz/tom
Today’s Untz: Let’s Dance (The Penelopes Remix ) / David Bowie
Nothing like a remixed David Bowie track to get you pumped to escape the work desk and enjoy the freakin weekend. Go ahead and grab the free download too. #untz/tom
Today’s Indie: Medicine / Daughter
‘you could still be what you want to be / what you said you were when you met me’
In this week’s This American Life podcast, one of the contributors, Andrea Seigel, tells a story about how she has spent her life wired to experience ecstatic brain tinging sensations when she hears soothing voices and sounds because of a biological phenomenon known as ASMR. Random, I know. But I love how she describes the sensation she experiences: “I’d get this tingling throughout my skull… like starbursts in my head, starbursts that open on the crown and then sparkle down to the nape, like this warm glittering water rushing under your scalp.”
While I don’t have any sharp heightened brain activity around sound the way it sounds like folks with with ASMR do, I am lovingly familiar with the more subtle influences it can have on my psyche: a rolling wave of calm, an induced deep breath, a longer-than-usual blink to recharge the eyes and soul. The beautiful vocal’s of Daughter’s Elena Tonra have such an effect, and the melancholy sound of Medicine highlights them at their finest. I continue to be transfixed by this British English folk trio since I came across the wonderful song Candles a couple Christmases ago.
Since it IS Friday, I will also share the remix that brought me back to this track in the first place, a great spin by Chainsmokers.
Bonus Track: Medicine / Daughter (The Chainsmokers remix)
#indie/tory
Today’s Indie: Sons and Daughters / The Tropics
‘and oh, oh how we played / oh, oh we should have stayed’
I am delighted to share the newest song from The Tropics, my friend Eric’s band who I introduced last summer with their tracks Running Man and Sleepless. I have heard Sons and Daughters on several occasions live and have been dying to get my hands on a version to play at home on any whim, and here it is: a restless, steady burning track that rustles up bundles of nostalgia for the simpler times in life growing up.
The Tropics’ front lady is Claire George, a 23 year old with an amazing and distinct voice that reminds me of the fierce yet birdlike singing of The Head and the Heart’s Charity Rose Thielien, with the edge of Of Monsters and Men’s Nanna Bryndis Himarsdottir. Her sound met with Eric’s guitar rocking, poncho wearing, mane tossing presence on stage makes for a wonderful performance, and the band has been headlining SF staples of the likes of Bottom of the Hill and Boom Boom Room this winter and spring. You can see one of their shows here and you can download their tracks on Bandcamp here.
This my be my least unbiased post of all time, but trust me on this one anyway. You wont regret it. #indie/tory
Today’s Untz: Bubble Jam /AIMES
“To celebrate my upcoming Mexico gigs I’m giving away this tropical, blissed out track appropriately named the “Bubble Jam” as coined by part time AIMES live band drummer Jesse Brickel AKA Young Yeller .
Out April 1st as a FREE download courtesy of Wonder Stories Records.” The season are a changin. #untz/tom
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