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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

we were running wild

2 Mar

Today’s Indie: If I Go / Jake McMullen

https://soundcloud.com/jakemcmullen/if-i-go

‘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

https://soundcloud.com/folk-radio-uk/the-young-folk-way-home

‘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

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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wrecking ball

12 Dec

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Today’s Indie: Wrecking Ball / London Grammar (Miley Cyrus cover)

‘we clawed, we chained our hearts in vain / we jumped never asking why’

Guilty pleasure confession time: I like Wrecking Ball. I can’t help it. Great discovery time: I love this London Grammar cover of Ms. Crazy’s track, which takes Miley’s foundation of this compelling ballad and its beautiful lyrics, and makes it sound stunning on the ears, washed clean of the guilt and naked thrusting around on a ball. #indie/tory

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see you on a dark night

25 Oct

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Today’s Indie: Oblivion / Wilsen (Grimes cover)

‘I will wait forever, always looking straight / thinking, counting, all the hours you wait’

While spending the afternoon seeking inspiration for my office halloween party and scanning endless Pinterst boards of spider ridden cobwebs and pumpkins with exasperated expressions, this unexpected cover of Grime’s classic Oblivion came on and immediately gave me pause; I found myself taken by hearing such a shrill and sprawling song performed with such restraint. In the NY based folk group Wilsen’s take the track comes across as a little dark, while sounding silvery on the ears via font woman Tasmin Wilson’s lush vocals.

How apt to hear an eerie cover in the week leading up to All Hallo’s Eve, a holiday which has become about dressing up as someone you are not, temporarily taking someone else’s identity as your own. Loving the way Wilsen is wearing this one. #indie

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let’s be still

9 Oct

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Today’s Indie: Gone / The Head and the Heart

‘so don’t send me no postcards telling me you miss me / ’cause I’m trying here’

The Head and the Heart is streaming their full album, Let’s Be Still, on Rolling Stone this week before its release on Tuesday and accordingly I ended yesterday evening curled up in bed with a glass of red wine, giving it that critical first listen and my full attention. I smiled, I sighed, I cringed, but overall, I am very proud of my favorite Seattle sextet, and what they have accomplished with their sophomore effort.  While the buttered up pop debacle Summertime feels like a terribly poor use of Charity’s talents, the album is a flush with heart pullers and show stoppers, including last week’s TUATI feature, Another Story.

But the most telling song of how far the band has come on the new album is surprisingly not new at all, but rather something I first heard live at Coachella in the spring of 2012, the album’s final track, Gone. The song has progressed immensely since the initial version I took in in the desert sun, coming together in a calculated and remastered manner that shows THATH’s evolution as a band. From the detail of the gentle string plucks in its initial moments to Jonathan’s restraint ladden opening vocals giving way to a perfectly harmonized crescendo and all the way through the string and piano laced break to the tremble inducing finale, the finished version of Gone is a culmination of every band member at their best. I see great days ahead.  #indie

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old love / new love

19 Sep

Today’s Indie: Old Love / New Love / Twin Shadow

‘what am I supposed to say / an old love called me yesterday / and she sounds so sweet’

Just had an “oh no, I haven’t posted in a week” moment, so here we go, briefly but with love and the catchiest of beats. Twin Shadow has released Old Love / New Love for Grand Theft Auto V’s soundtrack and while I can’t imagine jacking cars off the streets of LA to this song, I can definitely imagine busting a move or lacing up the sneakers for a spirited run. With an 80’s vibe met with a present  feel, and the relatable lyrics of a blast from the past unexpectedly turning your world upside down, I can see why the track is blowing up the interweb this week. #indie

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