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happy lights

12 Sep

The lineup for Neil Young’s 25th annual Bridge School Benefit Concert was released last week, and I could not be more floored. Arcade Fire, Mumford and Sons, Foo Fighters… yes please. The only time my dad makes it down to San Francisco each year is not to visit two of his three lovely daughters but rather to see Neil’s (first name basis) annual production as one of his most loyal fans… clearly music runs in my veins.

We make it a family affair with lawn tickets, the perfect picnic, and craftily smuggled in bottles of wine (my mom looks very innocent to security guards). Looking forward to this year more than ever – tickets go on sale Friday on LiveNation so don’t miss out.

Today’s Emo: Junk of the Heart (Happy) / The Kooks

‘I wanna make you happy / I wanna make you feel alive’

I had an epic love affair with The Kook’s first album, Inside In/Inside Out, circling the CD on repeat for days on end while circling the San Francisco streets with my current love at the time, but alas, like most young love, my feelings for the Kooks fizzled with their second release, Konk.

The verdict is still out on their upcoming album release on Tuesday, but if it sounds anything like this syrupy title track, its looking like fluff… feel good puppy fluff. I like that this song openly embraces its sap factor, and its reminding me of simple Beetles love songs. Too many listens, and you are sure to get a toothache, but with moderation the perfect treat. #emo

Today’s Untz: Lights / Ellie Goulding (RAC remix)

‘I had a way then losing it all on my own / I had a heart then but the queen has been overthrown’

The Remix Artist Collective weaves their signature magic with a softer take on one of the most remixed songs of year. I have been rocking out hard to the Bassnector version, but the RAC spins Lights into something you can take with your morning coffee.  I love the flute sounding spirals interspersed throughout, and the preservation of Ellie’s original take. RAC is great at remixing songs without changing their core, just showing them to us from a different angle. #untz

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deep words

9 Sep

Another TUATE post from above, I’m writing this somewhere over middle America. The perfect way to kill time/distract myself from the crying baby on my left, who has already had his diaper changed on the seat next to me twice, and we are only 1.5 hours into the flight. Sigh.

Today’s Emo: Words / Givers

Words / Givers

‘so I choose my words so carefully / like the sun, make it glow, or they glare at me’

This is a song about (surprise) words, and the simple premise that what we say comes back around, so we should proceed with caution. Givers played hard at the Rickshaw Stop Wednesday, and this was one of the songs they rocked out the hardest to, and one of my favorites of the night. The band has a memorizing blonde drummer with hair down her back that she swings around in circles, Animal of the muppets style, when she plays and I think she had more than a few of us ladies in the audience questioning our sexuality by the end of the performance. #emo

Today’s Untz: How Deep is Your Love / The Rapture

‘I’m walking all the time / now you’re walking right next to me’

Nothing like untzing out to yourself on an airplane — this track has me foot tapping in spite of my limited leg room.  How Deep is Your Love is off of Tuesday’s release of The Rapture’s new album, The Grace of your Love, the NY dance-punk group’s first release in five years. Pleased to have. My only concern is how much the chorus of “let me hear that song” resembles Sisqo’s “let me see that thong.” Oh well. #untz

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love rest

7 Sep

Off to see Givers play the Rickshaw Stop with a few of my favorite people tonight, and then hopping on a plane to Chicago for work in the morning. The busy life, musically infused.

Today’s Emo: Beth/Rest (solo piano version) / Bon Iver

‘our love is a star / sure some hazardry / for the light before and after most indefinitely’

Bon Iver takes the least Bon Iver sounding track off his recent album and slows it down, strips off all the overdone sax and zany guitar, and leaves us with some of his best work yet, the kind of music that settles into you while you settle into it, and brings you peace after you stop trying to figure out what the fuck Justin Vernon is saying/singing. I love the contrast of his lows and highs, and the rolling piano builds, love listening to this on repeat as I weave my way into sleep. #emo

Today’s Untz: Love in the Rimini / Peter & the Magician

Another untz pulled straight off my friend’s BlogJuice, and his description (me = lazy/busy): “Enjoy a slightly newish release from the Magician (ex member of Aeroplane). There isn’t much to say about the Magician that hasn’t already been said. He’s amazing and you should always check out his choice mixes.” Done. (Thanks Tom.) #untz

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higher reach

6 Sep

Oh Lake Shasta, the waters where dreams are made. Houseboat, keg, speedboat, wake board, moderate to severe nudity, near constant roof dance party, little sleep and sunrises that were so beautiful I didn’t mind a six something wake up call three mornings in a row just to see that water glisten and breathe it all in. An unbeatable Labor Day weekend with new friends and old. As my dear friend Asanka put it, “Good times. Memories forever.”

And now music to help settle back into real life.

Today’s Emo: Higher Love (Steve Winwood cover) / James Vincent McMorrow

‘there must be a higher love / down in the heart or hidden in the stars above’

One of my favorite Irish singers released this beautiful cover for me to come home to last night, just when I was feeling the earliest signs of fatigue around his album, Early in the Morning. Perfect timing. Peaceful and stripped down, this take of Higher Love showcases McMorrow’s knee buckling falsetto, cut with piano and left simple. The result is something hopeful and stirring, the perfect taste to tide me over til I see James play Slims in a couple of weeks. #emo

Today’s Untz: Reach for Me / Dinka & Danny Inzerillo feat. Hadley

‘I’m losing my cool and I’m shaking like the first time’

We had a single mixed CD on the speedboat on repeat all weekend and this song will now always be associated with the happiest of memories being perched on the front, soaking in sun and wind, amidst the occasional epic wipe out among the wake. Happily received bruises and battle wounds, and a happily received new track from our capitan, Kristian. This song makes me want to dance… on and off a boat. #untz

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start slow kissing

2 Sep

I am heading up to Lake Shasta this afternoon to spend Labor Day weekend laboriously lounging on a couple houseboats with twenty or so friends and soon to be friends for the next few days. Beer, BBQ, sun, skis, tubes, tunes, repeat. Mega speakers in tow, and everything else unplugged. It may not be La Playa, but it will be… El Agua. Signing out til Wednesday, have a happy holiday!

Today’s Emo: Future Starts Slow / The Kills

Future Starts Slow / The Kills

‘if there’s a time when your feelings gone, I wanna feel it’

The Kills provide a slightly sinister, untraditional take on a proclamation of unconditional love with Future Starts Slow. The track is off the half American, half British rock duo’s April album release, Blood Pressures, and has mine rising a bit with its rifts, raw lyrics and sharp vocals. It’s simple, I love the way this song makes me feel. #emo

Today’s Untz: Don’t Stop Kissing / Kaskade Mashup

Kaskade and EDX’s ‘Don’t Stop Dancing’ meets Alex Gaudino’s ‘Kissed’ and the result is a mash up name that looks like its pulled straight from the headlines of a TUATE post, and the perfect track to ease into three days of play. Kaskade released Don’t Stop Kissing in promotion of his headlining run at Identity Fest, and the pull of Saturday’s show at Shoreline almost kept me landlocked from this trip. But I have seen Kaskade throw down his magic, and I haven’t seen the sun rise over a lake in too long. #untz

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stateless sound

31 Aug

Today’s theme, in two acts: songs best played behind closed doors.

Today’s Emo: Bloodstream / Stateless

‘I think I might’ve inhaled you / I can feel you behind my eyes’

An emo from the vault that I have found on repeat as of late… this song has me sighing within the first few key strokes. Bloodstream echos that feeling when love (or lust) washes over you like a drug, leaving you all fuzzy and heavy headed with dazed eyes, at its mercy until you come down.

Stateless is a five piece British electronic rock group that has been around since the early 2000’s. They released a new album out last winter, but I just keep tracing my way back here to curl up. Addicted. #emo

Today’s Untz: The Sound of Violence / Cassius (Aeroplane remix)

‘another night, another day / it’s better this way, let the music play’

A misleading title, because there is nothing but peace and love wrapped up into this remix of a Cassius classic. The lyrics are a little, er, direct, but luckily my mom tends to just read the little blurbs at the top of my posts to keep tabs on what I am up to, instead of delving into the tracks themselves. I suppose today’s blurb doesn’t help my case. So it goes. Tropical and smooth in sound, I would love to settle into this song with a beer on a beach… dare I say, when the sun goes down? #untz

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lucky shooting stars

29 Aug

Sun drenched, music drenched weekend. The best kind.

Today’s Emo: Lucky Now / Ryan Adams

‘and if the lights will draw you in / and the dark will take you down / but love will mend your heart / but only if you’re lucky now’

My feelings about Ryan Adams can be pretty hit or miss (and not just because he sold out in marrying Mandy Moore), but a couple of his songs– Come Pick Me Up and La Cienega Just Smiled— land on my top twenty list. He debuted this new track off his upcoming album, Ashes and Fire, due out October 11th, and it has landed in my hit bucket.

Lucky Now treads back to Ryan’s core strengths – stellar songwriting, beautiful vocals, and signature alt-rock with a tinge of twang rolled in. Basic, simple and fresh, the song relays those moments when you look back to who you were, and trace forward to where you are now, and marvel (perhaps uncomfortably) that you are the same person throughout it all. #emo

Today’s Untz: Shooting Stars / Bag Raiders

Shooting Stars

‘gave my love to a shooting star  / but she moves so fast  / that I can’t keep up’

I had the privilege of seeing this Australian duo shoot stars live on Friday night at the Mezzanine, and they left nothing to be desired. I have already shared my favorite track, Sunlight, but this comes in as a close second. A jingling keys intro shimmies into that elevator jazz rift, made complete with the catchiest of choruses. Catching myself still smiling over it all now. #untz

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turn on the water

26 Aug

This week and the month of August flew by. Summer should be arriving in San Francisco shortly.

Today’s Emo: What the Water Gave Me / Florence + the Machine

What the Water Gave Me / Florence + the Machine

‘so lay me down / let the only sound / be the overflow’

Oh great expectations! My hot anticipation for Florence + the Machine’s follow up to Lungs simmered a bit with this week’s release of her first single, What the Water Gave Me. Things start slow and sprawling, to the point where on first listen I felt I had stumbled upon a miscategorized Sarah McLachlan song, and never fully build into something whole. I keep waiting for a kick to stir me up like Dog Days, or something hauntingly/awakening like Cosmic Love. And waiting. And waiting.

Instead, just left with Florence’s beautiful signature vocals and harp, and an interesting, almost tribal sound. Still worth a share, a listen, and another. And quieter anticipation and hope for more umph with November 7’s release. #emo

Today’s Untz: Turn Me On / David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj

‘come on and turn me on / I’m too young to die’

I got my hands on the new Guetta album and I have to say a lot of it is pretty emo-y for dance. I know he likes to take it Nice and Slow, but who knew Usher was such a softie? Nicki’s steamy Turn Me On is one of the few tracks that is really getting me going the way I expect Guetta to get me going.

With all the auto-tuning you can barely trace this the vocals back to Ms. Minaj (is that you, Gaga?) except for her little signature rap break, and as my friend Derek who tossed me the album put it, Guetta probably could have done better with the likes of a Kelly Rowland who can actually carry a natural tune. I still am loving the sound… turned on for the weekend. #untz

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more than everything

24 Aug

It is a great fall to love music in San Francisco. Bag Raiders, Givers, Bon Iver, James Vincent McMorrow, Little Dragon, Treasure Island, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and Bridge School Benefit Concert all on deck. Sorry wallet. But not really.

Today’s Emo: More Than Life / Whitley

More Than Life / Whitley

‘and we are homeward bound / and I / I want this more than life’

A soft and silvery Pandora find off of my The National radio station the other day, Australian singer Whitley instantly won me over with this hazy lullaby. A crisp voice with a hint of accent, simple words that make me think of home and slow guitar keep the song moving along. Peaceful, sleepy Wednesday morning acoustic to roll up in. #emo

Today’s Untz: Everything / Lips (Christian Strobe remix)

‘it would be everything to me if we could take a holiday / cause you and I bone tired every night isn’t my idea of play’

Lips (aka Stephanie Brown), a whipsy New Zealand turned Brooklynite songbird, and Christian Strobe, a German dj who has worked magic with M83, collide in dreamy untz bliss. The original version of this track left something to be desired, and Strobe leaves that desire fulfilled here, wrapping Everything up in celestial beats that come in waves and leave me wanting to take a holiday.  #untz

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metric givers

22 Aug

I realized my emo has been a little extra emo the past month or so, with lots of tracks about breakups and nostalgia and fourteen year olds addicted to crack. Blog imitates life? While I love to get lost in the complicated side of music, it’s good to remind myself to also get lost in the clap-a-along goofy grin type songs as well. Time to cheer up a bit.

Today’s Emo: Noche Nada / Givers

Insert: Noche Nada by Givers. With an infectious chorus, jamboree beats, and an encouraging tone, I picture this being played in a movie scene, following someone down the street as they have decided to take on some epic life change. Whenever I picture scenes like this they now always star Joseph Gordon Levitt (thanks 500 Days of Summer).

I am seeing this Louisiana indie rock quartet play the Rickshaw Stop in September. When I listen Noche Nada and its building rounds, I picture the singers smiling throughout, and I can’t wait to see it live. Happy #emo

Today’s Untz: Help I’m Alive / Metric (The Twelves remix)

‘hard to be soft / tough to be tender’

One of my favorite Metric songs gets amped up disco style by Brazilian dj duo João Miguel and Luciano Oliveira, so named The Twelves because they were both born on June 12, 1980. A big crew saw them lay out Mighty after Friday of Outside Lands, but I regretably (but probably fortunately) retired to rest up for day two. I heard they nailed it. #untz

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