Tag Archives: thath

black and white valleys

2 Mar

Short post today because Thursday’s happy hour led to happiest hour. But great music comes in small packages. And sometimes there is clarity in early morning fog.

Today’s Indie: Down in the Valley / The Head and the Heart

‘I saw your face in the crowd and you came out / just like the sun and the moon and the stars at night’

I am going to cheat, and repost the first song I ever posted on this blog way back on  January 16th, 2011. The Head and the Heart captured my heart two years ago, and now they have a music video out for my favorite song that captures everything that I find knee buckling in them. The video shows how far they have come, amongst sound checks, violen strings, wagging dog tails, tambourine screams, stretching alongside battered vans, and snapshots from the live performances I know so well. As I gear up to see them cause me to pass out with joy in the desert sun of Coachella next month, I share the feeling once more. I know there’s California… #indie

Today’s Untz: Black to White / Felix Cartal ft. Miss Palmer

Moving piano, sultry female vocals, and a hook that has any headache transformed into head shake in seconds… this will be on my pre-game playlist for the next few months. And then some. #untz

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lost in the sunrise

14 Oct

I saw Capital Cities and Charlie (wait what) kill it at Public Works last night, and am continuing my music streak with Treasure Island this weekend, while perhaps squeezing in JFK of MSTRKRFT on Saturday night mid festival for good measure. Plus a dear friend in town to visit, and a 26th birthday in the midst of it all. This is going to be a good life.

Today’s Emo: Lost in My Mind / The Head and the Heart

‘how’s that bricklaying comin’ / is your engine still runnin’ / is that bridge getting built / are your hands getting filled’

It has been too long since I have posted some THATH on TUATE, and as I gear up for their set on Sunday of Treasure Island, it only seems fitting to get another of their best embedded up in here and back in my ears.

This track was the group’s first single and has all of the classic Head and the Heart components I love– foot stomping tambourine and lively piano with steady builds and stirring harmonies– all bringing me to the present tense tinged with a bit of the past. I can’t wait to see that ‘OMFG where did these guys come from?!’ look on festival goers faces who breath this track in for the first time, and to sing along with everyone else. #emo

Today’s Untz: Watch the Sun Come Up / Example (Moam remix)

‘hey, good morning / watch the sun come up’

Drawing from the vault for a little guilty pleasure, feel good untz to make the full transition into this weekend. Tiesto’s 2009 Creamfields set has gotten me through some long runs along the Bay and some even longer conversations in my head during these runs. There is a turning point a little over an hour into his set where Tiesto slips from Delirium’s more somber Silence into the signature trickling piano of Example’s Watch the Sun and I always snap out of my thoughts, crack a smile, and get a second wind. I could do without Example’s actual rapping parts, but haven’t found a remix of the track without that I like as much as this Moam work T sampled. Happy Friday. #untz

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whiskey rivers and crystal castles

16 Jan

Emo (pronounced /ˈiːmoʊ/) A style of rock music typically characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics.

Untz The official rave or techno sound of a pulsing beat, usually written with an umlaut (two dots) over the ‘U’.

Greetings to my first posting of the Untz and the Emo. You can expect tri-weekly updates of my favorite dance and indie songs, and perhaps some thoughts on what makes them so great.

Today’s emo: Down in the Valley / The Head and the Heart

To begin, a band I have done nothing but inundate everyone I know with since the first time I heard their album, the Head and the Heart. They may or may not have contributed to the inspiration behind the title of this blog, and are one of the reasons I got inspired enough to create one in the first place. Thus tweetathons, spammy Facebook posts, and enough youtube links in my gchat status to their achingly emo live shows to undoubtedly have trained some of my friends to stop bothering to click on my gchat status forever.

Ryan Adams vocals, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros cacophony of sounds and instruments, and simple yet sigh inducing lyrics (“I know there’s California / Oklahoma / and all of the places I ain’t ever been to / but down in the valley / the whiskey rivers / these are the places you will find me hiding / these are the places I will always go”) have made The Head and the Heart’s debut my favorite album of 2010.

These are the places I will always go. #emo

Today’s untz: Not in Love / Crystal Castles featuring Robert Smith

Risking a bit to have a somewhat emo-y first untz song, but this song has had me rocking out in my cube during the past week, and then wanting to down shots of patron while pre-gaming at a party intentionally hosted without patron this weekend. Crystal Castles borrows the lead singer of the Cure, turning the regular baby cooing like (but still awesome) vocals of this song into something both inteligible and all too tangible. “We were lovers / now we can’t be friends / fascination ends.” Might as well dance it out. #untz

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