The Weekly Dose 04-09-14 (Coachella 2014 edition featuring Future Islands)

So, The Weekly Dose has recently been bi-weekly, at least for this last month, but I’m still trying to do it weekly if possible.  I have a lot of other things going on that come before this blog, but I do like sharing some good music as often as I can.  I usually put this plug at the bottom of each week’s post, but I don’t know if everybody makes it down that far, so if you’re enjoying the playlists that I post here, please let me know what you think in the comments, on Twitter, or on our Facebook page.  I’d like to know what you liked, what you didn’t, and what songs you’d like to hear in the future!  Also, thanks to those who have actually subscribed to this playlist on Spotify. We’ve been gaining a few every week.

The big event for this week, at least for me and thousands of others, is that Coachella starts this coming weekend. I’ll be at weekend two this year, and will be my 10th time attending the festival.  It really is always my favorite time of the year.  Even though I wasn’t initially as excited as I usually would be for the 2014 lineup, there are still dozens of acts that I’ll be seeing, some I’ve seen before (Beck, Arcade Fire), some I’ve been wanting to see for awhile (Little Dragon, Pet Shop Boys), and I’ve made some new discoveries this year as well.

The Weekly Dose 03-25-14 (featuring Tune-Yards)

Featured Artist Of The Week: Tune-Yards

I always think of Tune-Yards as the female equivalent to comedian Reggie Watts, and the music he makes.  Lead singer Merrill Garbus is essentially a one-woman band, or at least that’s how she started out, creating music out of sound loops and layering instruments and vocals on top of each other until the perfect song emerges. “Sunlight” was the first Tune-Yards song I heard back in ’09 or ’10, and it instantly became one of my favorite songs.  In 2011, Tune-Yards released the album W H O K I L L which gave her more exposure, on Sirius radio and online. I also got to see her perform at Coachella that year, which was easily one of my favorite Coachella performances ever.

Now Merrill is back with the brand new song “Water Fountain”, the first track from the upcoming album Nikki Nack which will be released in May.  In addition, you can currently get some extra goodies if you pre-order the album from her website. I already ordered the vinyl, which comes with a CD version of the album, and extra items for the first 100, 200 and 2,000 people who order the album there.

The Weekly Dose 02-24-14

Welcome to the second edition of The Weekly Dose, the Spotify playlist that is updated every week with about an hour’s worth of great music, both new and old.  Thanks to everybody who checked us out in week one.  The idea for this playlist comes from the fact that if I’m not listening to a specific album, I’m usually just shuffling the “favorites” folder on my iPod or Spotify, featuring thousands of my all-time favorite songs.  Because those songs span the decades from the 60’s (or earlier) through today, it’s always an eclectic mix of music.

If you follow The Weekly Dose ON Spotify itself, you’ll notice that the songs will change every week.  There’s currently no need to subscribe to more than the one playlist, although that could change in the future.  A second playlist will debut here soon, and will be an archive featuring all songs from previous weeks for your listening pleasure.  That’s enough explanation for now, let’s get on to this week’s Dose.

Featured Artist of the Week: Courtney Barnett

I’ll admit, I didn’t know much about Courtney Barnett until just recently when I started hearing her songs played on Sirius radio’s station XMU.  Courtney is an Australian singer-songwriter from Melbourne.  She has two EP’s so far, and those two have been combined together into one “double EP” here in the United States.  In addition to getting some radio airplay, she’s also one of just a couple of additions to this year’s Coachella festival since the initial lineup was announced in January.

In addition to two Courtney Barnett songs, this week’s Dose includes a few “flashback” artists spanning the 80’s (Orange Juice), 90’s (Pulp, Jennifer Trynin, Grandaddy) and newer acts like Father John Misty (who had my favorite album of 2012) and last week’s Artist You Should Know: Temples… Give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments, or on our Facebook page.

The Weekly Dose 02-24-14

1. Courtney Barnett – Avant Gardener
2. of Montreal – Famine Affair
3. Tune-Yards – My Country
4. Grandaddy – The Group Who Couldn’t Say
5. MC Honky – What A Bringdown
6. Miike Snow – Song For No One
7. Orange Juice – Rip It Up
8. Courtney Barnett – History Eraser
9. Father John Misty – Funtimes In Babylon
10. Shout Out Louds – The Comeback
11. Puscifer – Dear Brother
12. Pulp – Help The Aged
13. Jennifer Trynin – Better Than Nothing
14. Temples – The Guesser
15. Air Traffic – Just Abuse Me

 

Artist You Should Know : Temples

Temples, out of Kettering, London, is one of the latest bands of the emerging psychedelia scene.  Their music is a throwback to the 60’s rock sound. Being compared to such bands as The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and Small Faces, their debut album Sun Structures definitely reflects this. It’s a strong album throughout with strong lyrics and phenomenal production; this album won’t disappoint.

“The Guesser”, an ear tantalizer, is a strong stand out track with a Guess Who influence. If you’re going to Coachella this year be sure to check them out . Noel Gallagher of Beady Eye (formerly of Oasis) is quoted as saying, “it’s cosmic space music – it should be played on an empty Death Star.”

I think this will be one of the standout performances that people will be talking about afterwards, so don’t miss out.

Temples – “The Guesser”

Playlist: The Best of Beck

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been twenty years since Beck Hansen first hit the airwaves. His single “Loser” was an instant hit, and it sounded like nothing else on the radio at the time. Now, all these years later, Beck is getting ready to release his 12th (!) studio album, Morning Phase,  and his first in six years.

I can’t lie. I’m a huge fan.  In the 90’s, I was a Beck completist, buying every CD, CD single (with several unreleased bonus tracks on each), vinyl albums and EPs.  I first saw him live at the KROQ Weenie Roast in 2004, and later on the Odelay and Guero tours.  In a couple of months, I’ll be seeing him again at this year’s Coachella festival.

Most people either think that Beck is a band (he’s a solo artist), or they only know him from his radio singles (the aforementioned “Loser”, “Where It’s At”, and “Devil’s Haircut”).  With the new album being released next week, I thought I’d throw together this playlist with some of my favorite Beck tracks.  This isn’t a greatest hits compilation, it’s just what I consider some of his best material,  a playlist that could honestly be completely different if I made it tomorrow, given the hundreds of songs he’s recorded over the last two decades!

The Best Of Beck

1. Cold Brains (from Mutations)
2. Que’ Onda Guero (from Guero)
3. The Golden Age (from Sea Change)
4. Hotwax (from Odelay)
5. Go It Alone (from Guero)
6. Beercan (from Mellow Gold)
7. Bottle of Blues (from Mutations)
8. Mixed Bizness (from Midnite Vultures)
9. I Won’t Be Long (single, 2013)
10. Nobody’s Fault But My Own (from Mutations)
11. Lord Only Knows (from Odelay)
12. Modern Guilt (from Modern Guilt)
13. Soul Suckin’ Jerk (from Mellow Gold)
14. Think I’m In Love (from The Information)
15. Pressure Zone (from Midnite Vultures)

What are your favorite Beck songs? Let me know in the comments, on Twitter, or on our Facebook page.  Follow me on Spotify for even more playlists!

Coachella 2010: Day Three

The weird thing about Coachella every year, at least for me, is that even though it’s a three day festival, it never really feels that long.  You would think if you’re spending 8-12 hours a day at a concert, in the sun, doing a lot of walking from stage to stage, that time would go by fairly slow.  But as they say, time flies when you’re having fun, and by the time we got to our last day of Coachella this year, my wife and I were already having a hard time believing that it was almost over.  I started compiling my thoughts on the 2010 Coachella Music and Arts Festival last week.  My reviews of days one and two are still available, if you want to check them out.

After getting to the festival fairly early on our first two days, we decided to sleep a little later on Sunday.  Normally, in the past few years, we would always stay at our hotel from Thursday night to Sunday morning, and check out before heading to the festival for the final day.  The problem with that is that by the time the day was over, we would have to drive home, which is about two hours away, and I would always have trouble staying awake for that drive. This year we decided to stay one extra night, and I’m glad we did.  It really helped out, and made the weekend even more enjoyable than it already would have been.

Coachella 2010: Day Two

If you haven’t yet had the chance, please read my review of Coachella 2010 day one… All caught up? Alright, let’s get going.

After a very packed Friday at Coachella, in terms of music AND people, we had originally planned on getting to the polo fields a little later on Saturday. The first act we wanted to see didn’t even go on until 3 p.m., but despite leaving a little bit later, the parking wasn’t nearly as bad and we made it there around the same time. Being a 3-day only festival this year, there were a few differences from past years. The most noticeable difference was that instead of three separate tickets for the whole weekend, you instead redeemed your one ticket for a wristband that you wore for all three days.

Another difference is that because of the wristband, they were allowing ins and outs. In past years, if you left, there was no getting back in, so you had to make sure that you were ready to leave.

Coachella 2010 : Day One

Well, it’s a been a couple of weeks, so I finally decided to sit down and compile my thoughts about this year’s Coachella Music and Arts Festival, which took place April 16 – 18, 2010 in Indio, CA.  This was the sixth time that I had attended the festival, and it was the fifth year in a row.

From a logistical standpoint, this year’s Coachella was FAR from perfect.  Months before the festival began, people were already upset that there were no single day tickets this year.  If you wanted to attend, you had to purchase a 3-day pass for the whole weekend.  Then, when the first day finally came around, there were problems with parking, ticket/wristband exchange, bands who had to cancel due to the Icelandic volcano, and a huge sold out crowd (75,000 people as opposed to 60,000 or less the last few years).  If you want to read complaints, there are other sites for that, including the official Coachella message board.  While this year WAS a bit unorganized, for me it was one of my favorite years overall, so I’ll focus on the (mostly) positive instead.

This year there was a ferris wheel!

Music Video Of The Week: Spoon – “Written In Reverse”

I’ve been a fan of the band Spoon for awhile now.  They definitely have a unique style all their own.  They’re one of a few of my favorite bands that I’ve never seen in concert.  Well, hopefully that will change in April, because they are playing Coachella this year, and I’ll be there.

The one thing I didn’t know about Spoon until recently was that they’ve actually been around since 1993.  They just recently released their seventh studio album, Transference, and our music video of the week is the first official video from it.  It’s not my favorite song on the new CD, that would be “Mystery Zone,” but it’s still a great one.

Coachella 2010 is now on sale

The Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival has been a yearly tradition for me and my wife. Of the ten years that the festival has been running, I’ve attended five of them. Some years have been amazing (2008), some not so much (2009), but overall, it’s always great to get away for the weekend and see more bands that you could ever imagine in such a short span of time.

This year’s pre-sale officially started this week, if you’re planning on attending the entire weekend.  Single day tickets will most likely be available in January, when the line-up is usually announced.  For the first time, camping in your car will be available, and it’s also the first year that concert goers will be able to go in and out (which will be a big benefit to those camping out for the weekend).