Monday, July 26, 2010

Like Liberty

The sky has gotten way more awesome, as have bells.

On my flight home from Italy a couple weeks ago, I was bored with the in-flight movies (Alice in Wonderland isn't as good on a tiny screen without 3D effects). I changed to the music channels and found a new collaboration between two artists I like. Danger Mouse (Grey album- mix of Jay-Z's The Black Album and The Beatles The White Album) meets James Mercer (lead singer, guitar for The Shins) to make the best kind of bells- Broken Bells.



I can't get over how much I'm digging this band. The Shins are one of my favorite bands, and this self-titled album is like an edgier, electronic-infused version of The Shins. Since the plane, I've been listening to the album on The Hype Machine. I'm keeping my eyes peeled at the record stores for this gem.

Some cool tracks to listen for:
The High Road
The Ghost Inside
Vaporize

New, like woah!

Most of the music I've purchased over the past 3 years has been on vinyl. Being in Thailand was like constant withdrawal from music. While on a road trip, I stopped to pick up my records and record player from my sister in Waco, TX. I waited with anticipation for a week while I made my way back to MA. When I finally got there, I found that my record player was broken- externally, internally. Painful.

Last week I made the best purchases of the whole summer: a new record player and 5 new records. Instead of being big and bulky like my last record player, this one is compact and portable (like a boombox, but way cooler). It even has a hookup so I can convert my records to mp3s. Seriously, best purchase ever.

My new records

Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavillion
Vampire Weekend- Contra
MGMT- Congratulations


The Dead Weather- Sea of Cowards
The Black Keys- The Big Come Up

I'm obsessed with liner notes- gives the music more depth and gives me something interesting to read. And in the case of MGMT's Congratulations, the liner notes are just plain awesome, with lines like...
It's Working: Love? Or Confusion? Reality? Contusion? Subterranea or Sub-fusion. The Quest begins.

Long Time, No See

Yep, double meaning. Typical.

Hey, Bonnaroo. Long time, no see. 2006, when I last went to 'Roo, was a major change for this mega-festival because they changed the make-up of their market by adding a new class act headliner: Radiohead. But I hadn't been back until this year. And as much as I thought changed between 2004 and 2006, even more changed between 2004 and 2010...