foster the funeral

16 Mar

Despite the shitty weather (or perhaps because of it, it’s San Francisco) it is starting to feel like spring. On Monday’s evening run I caught the surfers bobbing about in the water at the base of the bridge for the first time since last fall, taking advantage of the extra hour of light. Love is in the air with spring romances and engagements in full bloom a la Bambi. And yet, rain rain rain. Accordingly a surprisingly upbeat emo for the season, and a more somber untz for the weather.

Today’s Emo: Helena Beat / Foster the People

‘yeah yeah and I’m alright/ I took a sip of something poison but I’ll hold on tight’

Heralded as the perfect replacement for MGMT’s mismanagement, with a bit of Gorillaz sass and a hint of Adam Levine’s chops, LA born Foster the People are having a moment. The band’s EP, Pumped Up Kicks, debuted to internet acclaim in January, and will be followed by a full length album, Torches, at the end of May.

Like Cults, the indie trio has steadily garnered a crew of faithful online followers via lots of hearting on Hypem, and will be showcasing their stuff live at some of the season’s top festivals before the debut. Torches will come with perfect timing for summer… this music makes me want to kick my shoes off, sprawl out in the grass at Fort Mason and a sip on a cold one.  #emo

Today’s Untz: Funeral (Butch Clancy remix) / Band of Horses


‘I’m coming up only to hold you under / I’m coming up only to show you wrong‘

The original version of Funeral has been following me around everywhere I go lately, to the point where I feel it in my bones. The release of this remix seems like a sign… I don’t know how I feel about it, but I know it’s worth sharing. A pretty amazing feat to inject dubstep into one of the most emo/haunting songs of all time, but I think Butch Clancy does a good job of doing it, considering what a hard task he is taking on. I am just not sure if a song like Funeral should be tampered with.

During the intro I always picture two people in a pool of water, someone emerging up to pull the other down with them. There is something so eerily beautiful about the song, and this isn’t lost here, it’s just different. #untz

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sleeping dragons

14 Mar

Last fall I was excited for the extra sleep daylight savings provided when we all fell back an hour. Then it got dark at 5, and that hour stopped feeling so sweet. This morning’s alarm was brutal, but I am thankful for the opportunity to take my end of day commute and evening runs out from under the cover of darkness. Make light.

Today’s Emo: Sleeping Lessons (RAC remix) / The Shins


‘and glow / glow / melt and flow / eviscerate your fragile frame / and spill it out on ragged floor / a thousand different versions of yourself’

RAC gently folds in something warm into the Shin’s already fantastic Sleeping Lessons, crafting a remix that awakens my soul while drifting me away into sleepy musical bliss. Known for capitalizing on a song’s subtle nuances, Remix Artist Collective takes a fresh approach on the art of the remix: “I strive to create remixes for music lovers who want to hear the song re-invented, not just re-interpreted and chopped up,” RAC founder Andre Anjos says, “I hope people experience the original songs in a different way that not only complements the original, but takes them somewhere else.”

Andre is originally from Portugal but currently resides in Portland, Oregon, and has enlisted Andrew Maury and Karl Kling into the collective. The group of twenty somethings have worked magic on Phoenix’s Armistice, Chromeo’s Fancy Footwork and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero’s Home. All refreshing, but Sleeping Lessons takes me somewhere else. #emo

Today’s Untz: Hello / Martin Solveig & Dragonette

‘you’re alright but I’m here darling to enjoy the party’

The perfect weekend anthem, Hello captures those nights when you are out dancing with your girlfriends and aren’t interested in getting distracted by engaging with the opposite sex. I believe Dane Cook said it best with, “…let’s go dance tonight! Fuck guys tonight. Let’s just stand in a circle around our shoes and our pocketbooks and lets just dance. And if guys come near us we’ll tazer them. No guys.”

Dragonette is an indie band from Canada that has also done some killer collaborations with Kaskade, and Martin Solveig is dj gold from Paris. There are dozens of Hello remixes out there, but I keep going back to the original. The song’s music video is also a treat – Solveig takes on Bob Sinclair in a tennis match. Lycra, short shorts, bad pony tails… #untz


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star fetish

11 Mar

It’s the Friday before Saint Patrick’s Day which means a weekend of merriness, day drinking, beer that stains your teeth green and pinching. This will happen all over again on the actual Saint Patty’s day and then again the weekend after. So it goes. I am in the middle of reading Slaughterhouse-Five, and want to follow every thought with ‘so it goes.’

Today’s Emo: Death as a Fetish / Starfucker

 

I saw Starfucker play all of two songs Wednesday night thanks to totally miscalculating  when they would take the stage. During the majority of their show I was down the street drinking beer from a boot and eating delicious German food, killing time before their show. So it goes. I had the best kind of company, the two songs were good and as a consolation I got to meet the band/get my album signed. The boys look like babies so perhaps this is why they decided to play a headlining show at the Rickshaw Stop at nine pm. School night.

Death as a Fetish is surprisingly upbeat for having a morbid (if not kinky) title.  I’d like the sound to follow me around on a sunny weekend adventure somewhere warm and outdoors. I realize I originally introduced STRFKR as an untz, but their new album is decidedly more mellow than their earlier stuff. Reptilian, which is a slimy sounding title for an album with such smooth beats, is phenomenal – Passion Pit meets Miike Snow meets chill instrumental djs like Germany Germany.  Starfucked. #emo

Today’s Untz: Stars (LAZRtag remix) / The xx

‘and I can draw the line on the first date/ I’ll let you cross it / let you take every line I’ve got‘

The xx is one of my favorite bands, Stars is one of my favorite songs, and this is a stellar remix. The underlining theme of Stars takes you to a place that we’ve all been to– that dizzy feeling when you are hitting it off perfectly on a first date, your subsequent decision to not put out because you really like this person, and the inevitable allowance to lose yourself in the moment because Stars don’t shine for the very first time very often, and deserve to be celebrated. LAZRtag transforms the whispy song into something dance worthy and the beats at the end have a hint of Kaskade’s trance inducing sound. Celestial. #untz

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stop your body

9 Mar

[guest post by Kurt Soller]

Today’s post injects some East Coast influence into both the Untz and the Emo. The same boy who introduced me to Vampire Weekend during a sun soaked Mexican spring break and Francis and the Lights last fall contributes two bands I have never heard before but instantly love. It doesn’t hurt that the boy can write, having taken on the pages of Newsweek, Esquire, and New York Mag.

I am also not the least bit surprised that his untz involves roaming the streets very late after a night of play. Great taste and thoughtful words… enjoy. And thanks ‘Tugs. – Tor

Today’s Emo: Your Body is a Machine / The Good Natured

‘we are influenced by self-love and benevolence / narcissism’s overwhelming / vanity is quite exhausting / self-indulgent, hedonistic, blame it all on your upbringing’

I don’t remember how I first found this song, but I do know this: when I went searching for more information on The Good Natured and the indie-pretty Sarah McIntosh, she had just launched her band’s website that day – on March 8th. Needless to say, if she’s anything like her fellow label ladies (Bat for Lashes and Lily Allen, to name a few) or any of the other fierce front women that seem to be farmed in the UK these days, we can expect true greatness. Florence, batten down the hatches!

I’m especially digging the song above because it hides emo-romance beneath lively beats and a constantly-changing cadence. It also doesn’t hurt that there’s a gothic, Crystal Castles-inspired undertone to all this, another group that starts my mind racing toward darkness every single time. #emo

Today’s Untz: Stop and Stare / Fenech-Soler

‘the city, it sleeps, not knowing the reason why‘

Growing up, everyone always mispronounced my name as Soler (Solar?) and for some reason, even now, I’ve always remembered that. So I was originally drawn to Fenech-Soler when I saw their name – my mistaken name – while reading Kitsune Maison’s stellar online journal.

Soon, I forgot all about the name bullshit and was pulled into this U.K. band’s hypnotizing electro-pop. Like La Roux or Ellie Goulding, I like the glam sensibility that underlines pulsing techno beats. This time, it’s absolutely a dude’s game, with a chorus that’s booming with brio; Ben Duffy is one energetic lead vocalist, and I’m eager for the band to head on their first U.S. tour. After struggling over which of their songs would be the most weekend-worthy, I settled on the one above. It’s an up-all-night anthem about losing track of time, wandering around the city and, perhaps even, forgetting how to pronounce your own name. #untz

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when I’m undercover

7 Mar

Too much of a weekend to write much of an intro, but always time for songs. The flames lyrics below are especially relevant to Saturday as I learned to dip my finger in 100 proof liquor, set finger on fire, shoot the liquor, and then extinguish my finger. When trying this yourself, do not accidentally spit out shot onto open flame (Peter).

Today’s Emo: When I’m Small / Phantogram


‘and bring me to the fire  / throw me into the flames‘

My first few listens of this song left me transfixed by its sultry sound. Then I actually listened to the words and realized there is no expression of desire in the song, but rather a fierce expression of the opposite… ‘I’d rather die than to be with you…’ Ahem. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful song, and if you listen closely a couple of minutes in you can hear the basic tune from Little Mermaid’s “Part of Your World” repeating in the background. Really.

This electro pop duo from Saratoga Springs have been busting beats together since middle school, but officially gave Phantogram a go in ’07. When I’m Small was recently featured in the terrible, hot mess of an MTV show Skins and subsequently has garnered considerable buzz. Dreamy beats and soft vocals with an xx vibe… I can see why, and expect to be hearing more from Phantogram soon. #emo

Todays’ Untz: Undercover Martin (Passion Pit Remix)/ Two Door Cinema Club


‘and she spoke words that would melt in your hands / and she spoke words of wisdom‘

Another Two Door Cinema Club song because I cannot get enough of this Irish band’s debut album, and this song with a side of Egg McMuffin seriously woke me up for a day on slopes on Saturday morning. To bump up the already beat driven song I found this awesome Passion Pit remix.

Two Door is playing the Filmore before they come find me in the desert in April, so if you are planning to skip Coachella but take advantage of the epic influx of shows in the Bay the weeks pre/post Coachella, get this on your list. #untz

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mornin’ parade

4 Mar

Nothing beats receiving the gift of music, except perhaps being the giver of music because the receiver has you in mind every time they hear your song for a long time, sometimes forever. I can still remember my high school algebra study buddy who burned me my first Death Cab for Cutie CD, and the thrill of opening a package of three mixes from a friend during a very homesick freshman year of college to discover Stars. Bon Iver’s album For Emma will forever both haunt me and make me smile over the set of hands that presented it to me.

In a world of itunes, instant downloads and Hype Machine, there is something pretty sweet about opening a CD case with a handwritten note etched inside from someone you care about. Today’s Wolf Parade track is the result of one of these said gifts. I feel lucky to have received it and happy to share it.

Today’s Emo: This Heart’s on Fire / Wolf Parade


‘sometimes we rock and roll / sometimes we stay at home / and it’s just fine / this heart’s on fire‘

It always throws me when I can’t pinpoint why I like a  song, but in this case I have to default to the fact that listening to this makes me happy. An old song that is new to me, the track is off of Wolf Parade’s debut album back in ’05. The Canadian foursome have been playing in enough packs (couldn’t resist) to be considered a supergroup, with members involved in Handsome Furs, Frog Eyes, and Swan Lake.  Animal fetish?

Sadly, I have joined the parade right as it is coming to a close – the group recently announced they are going on indefinite hiatus to work on individual projects, but will be playing one last show at Sasquatch in May. Catch them while you can. #emo

Today’s Untz: Mornin / Star Slinger


‘give me your sweet face / all laid up next to mine‘

I apologize for a slightly sleepy untz for a Friday, but just turn that speaker up.  A bro on my soccer team tipped me towards Star Slinger via a tweet (thanks Victor) and this has fittingly become my go-to morning commute song for the past few days. Delicious electro indie hip hop for breakfast. Truly I am wasting this gem with a dreary muni ride as my backdrop, as it would be better served in the comforts of bed durin a blurry eyed Sunday morning for two. Noted. #untz

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girl in the deep

2 Mar

Rain in San Francisco during the week = fresh pow in Tahoe for the weekend. Lemons into lemonade.

Today’s Emo: Girl in the War / Josh Ritter


‘but I got a girl in the war, Paul her eyes are like champagne / they sparkle, bubble over, in the morning all you got is rain‘

I haven’t come across any compelling indie this week so I defer to a  favorite from the vault. My love of emo originated from singer/song writers, and Josh Ritter is one of the best I know. The simplicity of sound and its contrast to the complexity in meaning make 2006’s Girl in the War captivating. Iraq, Bush, the apostles, faith, love, loss… interpret the words as you wish, or stop thinking and just listen. And listen. #emo

Today’s Untz: Rolling in the Deep (Adele Cover) / Mike Posner

‘there’s a fire starting in my heart / reaching a fever pitch /  it’s bringing me out the dark‘

Came across this track and was like, Mike Posner covering Adele?  Oh please. Then I started listening to it and was like oh, pleased. Until now I really have had nothing pleasant to say about Mr. Posner. I think that ‘Cooler Than Me’ is one of the more annoying songs of last year and that the the ’10 frat grad was more than a little self indulgent in wearing his Duke jacket in his Please Don’t Go video.

However, this effort shows talent is talent, and that I need to tone down the hating… after all I was in a sorority myself (sigh). Posner makes his take on Rolling in the Deep believable. Surprisingly heartfelt vocals, nice trickles of untz, a steady beat, and a touch of the original Adele perfectly woven in. Reminds me a little of the xx’s take on Florence and the Machine’s You Got the Love. Repeat repeat repeat. #untz

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a cold glass of milk

28 Feb
It’s the end of the month, which means the paying of bills and receiving of paychecks and the subtle reminder that things keep moving forward. Blame it on the 28 days, but February blew by. I am coming off an I Love the Bay week, from prancing around to the Hood Internet at the Rickshaw Stop and an unexpected Irish pop show at Slims, to a sunset run to the GG Bridge, brunch at the Ferry Building, and too many drinks in the Mission. My life is enriched with exceptional people and a beautiful backdrop. And music. #emo intro
[note – couldn’t get SoundCloud to behave on the CWK song, but it remains my player of choice]

‘bulldozer / step up this is going to hurt / gnash your teeth, take a bite of the dirt‘

I have to share a pure, unmixed Cold War Kids song because despite what critics may say, their new album is really something and Bulldozer is my favorite track. It is a bit sappy, a bit much, but just listen to it. Arcing vocals, gritty industrial drums, and a sinister rolling bass build into a crazy rush. And then it slows down a bit. And then does it again. Beautiful destruction.
If a love has to be bulldozed in order to to start over, I’d imagine it to be rebuilt on a pretty rocky foundation. But I like the idea of being willing to try. #emo

Today’s Untz: Keyboard Milk / Royksopp

I was fucking around on Hypem on Friday afternoon and eyeing the clock for freedom, when I stumbled upon Keyboard Milk. It started simply enough, and I began to carry on my activities on my own keyboard.  By minute two I had stopped my four window multitasking, halted gchat communication, and deserted my half finished proposal to let this song wash over me in its entirety. Layer by layer.

By around 4:55, you feel like you are swept into the kind of musical celebration played at the end of a SNES Final Fantasy game that you just poured 100 hours of your life into in order to save the kingdom from evil (not that I know from experience what this could be like). Triumphant, majestic, warm.  Royksopp self identifies as a “two-headed norwegian monster, dealing within the realm of contemporary electronic music.” Fitting. Thirsty. #untz

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midas radio

25 Feb
Friday brings a chance for San Francisco’s first snow in 35 years and the Untz and the Emo’s inaugural guest post. My favorite Irish lass Laura has graciously contributed a European influence of untz. Please imagine the most delightful accent while reading about it, especially during the part where she says “then you’re sorted!” On my end, some chill inducing new TV on the Radio. Bundle up and enjoy.

Today’s Emo: Will Do / TV on the Radio
‘I’d like to collapse with you and ease you against this sound / I think we’re compatible / I see that you think I’m wrong’

Addicted. TV on the Radio quietly debuted this slow jam on Wednesday via Seattle’s radio station 107.7 The End (yes, the station that the Real World Seattle crew worked at). I am possessed by the tinkering music box opening, mellow beats, and subtle assurance the song carries itself with. Will Do perfectly depicts that uneasy feeling of getting into a new relationship when you know all too well how it can pan out. I can relate.

The Brooklyn born indie rock band re-emerges after a two plus year hiatus, with their latest album ‘Nine Types of Light’ set for release on April 12th. They face great expectations, with 2008’s ‘Dear Science’ claiming album of the year by Rolling Stone, the Guardian, and Spin, but this single suggests they are on the right track. Excited. #emo

Today’s Untz: Midas Touch (Starskee remix) / Midnight Star

‘I’ve got the midas touch, baby / let me touch your body and your soul’

It was a Belgium friend who introduced me to this song– and I am forever grateful. It was during a little techno road trip that I fell in love with it. Who doesn’t love a good road trip with a well thought out playlist? For the car you need the right amount of #untz with #emo, then you’re sorted! He and his friend were singing along to this song like it was in their blood… and I’ve come to learn that those Belgians know their music! The myth behind ‘The Midas Touch’ comes from King Midas who turns everything into gold with a single touch. Not bad if you ask me! And the Starskees remix uses this metaphor when touching ones ‘body and soul’. The beat itself introduces a spell bound feeling that really adds to the lyrics. In short, this song will not have you pumping the air into a sweat, but it’s a happy go lucky, bob your head, close your eyes and wear a smile kinda tune. #untz from Laura

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sky germany

23 Feb

I took Monday’s holiday as a holiday from the blog, as I spent too much of the weekend playing to type anything up. My friend Alex was in town visiting from New York, and oh the trouble we found ourselves in after finishing a bottle of wine before even making it to dinner on Friday night. Accordingly, a couple more chill Wednesday tracks to balance out my inner untz and emo.

Today’s Emo: Animal (Miike Snow cover) / Sky Ferreira

 

‘in your eyes I see the eyes of somebody who could be strong, tell me if I’m wrong / now I’m pulling your disguise up / are you free or are you tied up‘

Sky Ferriera is a hot mess of an 18 year old from LA who has a background in gospel and the voice of a slightly devious angel. I came across her lighthearted first single, 17, last year and while I was impressed with her pipes and those pouty lips, I was left uninspired by the song itself… perhaps because I am no longer sneaking around using a fake ID (‘mom and dad don’t understand / she got so many older friends‘). Then I came across the young Ferreira’s slow take on Miike Snow’s anthem Animal and got chills. Who knew this song could be so pretty? The girl has a stunning voice projecting some serious soul for her age and this is one of my favorite covers… ever.

Sky has an EP set for release on March 22nd, and if she can find the proper backdrop for her talent, she could bypass the whole pop tart route altogether. From what I have sampled it sounds like she still has a way to go, so until she matures a bit I think her next move should just be covering the entire album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Just imagine her take on Rome. #emo

Today’s Untz: Take Your Time / Germany Germany

 

I love the feeling of good fortune experienced from coming across a great song by an artist you haven’t heard before. I discovered this gentle untz track on Hypem and felt like I’d just stumbled across some bills on the sidewalk. Take Your Time rolls out layer upon layer of of dreamy synth and digital guitar cut with keys. Happiness in a sound cloud, I want to drink it up. Germany Germany is a Canadian dj named Drew Harris. He places his sound somewhere in between Crystal Castles and Postal Service (last Twitter update, ‘the district sleeps alone tonight’), and while the track is unique, I completely agree with his self categorization. A perfect blend of sounds, listen to Take Your Time a few times and try not to smile. #untz

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