Tag Archives: kaskade

fire in your eyes

26 Dec

Listening to music and slipping into a peaceful post Christmas holiday coma.

Today’s Emo: Open Eyes (demo) / the xx

‘and my sky / don’t seem so bright / with you by my side / everything will be alright’

Drop everything now – or actually slow everything down – a new xx track  has hit the interwaves. The trio posted the song for free download on their blog yesterday, saying “Open eyes is a demo we did whilst creating our new album, we just wanted to share it with you. xx”

While there is not a lot to this one and I have to turn my speakers on full blast to capture the whispering sound, I am still happily soaking in hints of their signature bass and Romy’s soft as snow vocals, her cooing ‘whoooo” here reminding me of old school Tori Amos. I am left with bated breath for their new album and a fully fleshed out track. #emo

Today’s Untz: Fire in Your New Shoes / Kaskade ft. Dragonette

‘while I light a fire in your new shoes / if you should smile / look so surprised’

A lot of the best songs of the year are already starting to surface in the blogosphere in people’s top 10 of 2011 lists, and while Fire in Your New Shoes came out in 2010, both of it’s artists definitely had big years, and it is great to see it resurfacing. More poppy and playful than most of Kaskade’s new Fire and Ice, and with the perfect slice of Dragonette sass, the song still gets me going. Annnnd the intro makes me want to dance in place, hard, a la Flashdance / Jennifer Beals. #untz

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turn down the love

18 Nov

I am heading down to Monterey for the weekend to run the Big Sur half on Sunday morning, and have been spending the end of the week gathering all my best untz and flashiest indie pop to make an epic playlist to get me through the 13.1. Definitely not a purist who believes running should be silently focused on concentration and meditation… since the whole thing will be OVER by 9:30am, dishing out the loud stuff that keeps my feet off the ground.

Today’s Emo: You Got the Love / the xx (Florence + the Machine cover)

‘sooner or later in life, the things you love you lose / but you’ve got the love I need to see me through’

While my need for new Florence + the Machine has been satiated with the release of Ceremonials, the lack of any new xx has me revisiting old favorites. Florence’s signature harp cut with the Romy and Oliver’s soft yet smoldering vocals and tossed with playful beats is the perfect soundtrack to start your Friday. After all this time it still falls fresh on my ears… but hurry up guys. #emo

Today’s Untz: Turn it Down / Kaskade (Le Castle Vania remix)

‘look before you make your beat loud / can you turn it down’

There is nothing about this song that makes me want to turn it down–it is exactly the kind of sound that will be fueling me through Sunday. Everyone has been talking about how great Kaskade’s new album is and I can’t help but hop on the bandwagon. While I love her, it is refreshing to hear one of Kaskade’s tracks laced with vocals from someone other than Haley, and Le Castle Vania spins a nice little number on the whole thing. The release of Fire and Ice makes me thankful once again that Ryan Raddon forfeited Mormonism for the church of #untz

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go to the lagoon

26 Oct

It is the Wednesday before Halloween, and I find myself without a costume. I would be one of the kids from the Dubstep Xpertz videos, but people would just think I was a Mission hipster/pre-gaming for the Deadmau5 show instead of actually being out for the night as someone else. San Francisco problems.

Today’s Emo: Montana / Youth Lagoon

‘there’s a spirit in Montana and in your chest, a soul / oh what a soul’

I am late on the Youth Lagoon parade but so happy to finally be sharing a track. I have never met someone from Montana I didn’t like (or love) so I was drawn in by song title alone, but stolen away by the song’s pull of piano and whispery, calming vocals. This is the type of music that causes me to slow down for a moment… it makes me feel a lot of things that I can’t quite separate out into pieces, in a good way.

Youth Lagoon is the project of Boise’s Trevor Powers, and Montana is off his recent release, The Year of Hibernation. The 22-year old is playing the Bottom of the Hill on Tuesday, November 1st, a perfect way to cut the work week with some gentle lo-fi bedroom pop musical rumblings. #emo

Today’s Untz: Let Me Go / Kaskade ft. Marcus Bently

I had to run to dinner last night post gushy emo write up and ended up out entirely too late for further considerate listening or pondering, but Nicole (dining and subsequent wine bar mate/best friend) has listened to Kaskade’s new album and assures me that it is amazing, and that this is the best part. #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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swift first aid

6 Apr

Finishing up training for the Santa Cruz half marathon this coming Sunday. Regardless of what happens, a big thank you to the harem of gentlemen who have helped me train – James, Ted, Travis and Dana, as well as Florence + The Machine’s Dog Days and Born to Run‘s Caballo Blanco for inspiration.

Now it’s time to put together the perfect soundtrack. During my first half last November I made a terrible rookie mistake. At mile 10, when I was gearing up to put on some epic Tiesto for the final 3.1 I popped my nano into the top of my sports bra to secure my ponytail. Suddenly things fell quiet. My boobs broke my ipod… my decrepit player from college was no match to water resist the dew.  Thus the last three miles were ran in silent frustration, and while they were actually the fastest in all my training, they were oh so lonely.

This time I have a new nano that clips onto the side of my shorts, I know that peanut butter and banana on toast is good, coffee is bad, and preventative Advil is a must. And I have decided to take all the Untzes posted in the past few months as company. #bringit

Today’s Emo: White Blank Page (Mumford and Sons cover) / Taylor Swift

‘you desired my attention / but denied my affections / my affections’

We all have our guilty pleasures, and one of mine happens to be a squinty eyed twenty one year old country crooner who won me over in a particularly vulnerable point in my life with her first single, Tim McGraw (Oregon country roots can’t be broken). While I found her recent album release to be a disappointment with an angry rant of a song against John Mayer and another whiny yawn inducing lament about her break up with Taylor Lautner some December (a month that Team Jacob fans will celebrate forever) I am back on Team Swift with this heartfelt cover of Mumford and Sons’ classic White Blank Page.

The emotion is real, a female take on the vocals is sweet, and I will let the fact that she accidentally has a bit of a fake English accent in parts slide because I accidentally have a bit of a fake English accent after listening to too much Mumford. A chilling, beautiful song in its own right, it is refreshing to see Taylor make it her own and emote some of her boy angst in a way that I can still adore. #emo

Today’s Untz: Move for First Aid / Deadmau5 vs. Michael Woods (Kasade Remix)

‘waited all week just to get out’

I know I have posted a lot of Deadmau5 and Kaskade lately but I can’t help myself… I had some ideas for today’s untz, but when my friend Jenn sent this track out on an email thread, I dropped everything. Kaskade fold’s Michael Woods’ First Aid into Move for Me, turning the dreamy trance anthem into something a little more urgent and truly movement inducing.

I have seen Kaskade live a couple times now, and interestingly enough beyond having dashing good looks and mad talent, a young Kaskade practiced his mixing skills in the dorms of BYU. As in Brigham Young. A man who can get any party started was ironically raised as a Mormon and spent two years on a mission in Japan before bringing the untz world to its knees. I am glad that instead of creating a family of ten he is creating spectacular mixes like this to help me through my work week, and am open for consideration to be one of his future wives.  #untz

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falling in love is easy

1 Apr

I wrote a while back about the weight of the gift of music. Today it is the weight of the gift of an impromptu invitation to a show.  Instead of catching up on Glee on the couch on Tuesday, I found myself engulfed by friends, hipsters, twelve year olds with Sharpie X’s on the backs of their hands (all age show), and some serious bass at the Bottom of the Hill. Amazing live music and Sierra Nevada was consumed, and the aches of the work week melted away.

Today’s Emo: Easy to Love / Ivan & Alyosha


‘the sky turns black  / we know it will from time to time / and we’ve been through that / and we came out on top because / you’re really easy to love’

I stumbled across this song on Hypem a while back and then totally forgot about it until my friend Morganne shot out an email seeing who wanted to join her in catching an old friend of hers perform who plays drums for Ivan & Aloysha. She thought no one would be interested, and instead instantly got a replies from a really fun crew.

There is no one in the band named Ivan or Aloysha (which I thought sounded kind of Hawaiian?) but rather the name stems from lead characters in in Brothers Karamazov. I never got around to taking Russian Lit so I have little insight into why, but from what I have gathered the two have some serious talks on faith and god, and things get pretty emo.

I&A played some seriously fun upbeat stuff, but I am drawn back to what I was originally was drawn to on Hypem – the simplicity of Easy to Love.  A soft but steady beat, gentle guitar and warm vocals, it’s the kind of song you picture your secretly talented friends pulling together around a campfire with whatever instruments they happen to have on hand. Perfect music for nestling into before bed.  #emo

Today’s Untz: Falling in Love with Brazil (Kaskade mashup) / Haley vs. Deadmau5

‘it’s not like it’s a photograph / something to frame then hang it up on the wall’

Excuse me for trancing my face off and for my inability to miss any obvious opportunity to inject a song title into a post, but it’s hard not to fall in love with this song. All my favorite players in the untz  world combine their musical prowess to make sweet sweet music, this is a chill untz favorite of last year. While Haley has a beautiful voice, it is the first few minutes of the remix that have won me over… the subtle magic Kaskade weaves into Deadmau5′ already outstanding Brazil.

This feels like the perfect track for easing into summer and all of this sun, although the beats fall in trickles like rain. Suppose it works for San Francisco summer. #untz

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