I’d never seen any videos for M. Ward’s music until I came across this on Leo Basica’s blog, and I seriously love this little gem of a video. The song is wonderful, and the animation for the video is quite charming. You know how after watching some music videos, you know that the video will forever after play in your mind when you hear the song, because they just went together so well? This is one of them.
After watching it, you really can’t imagine the video for this song being any other way than exactly this– it’s pretty remarkable how well the tone of the song and the simple, folksy visuals go together. I’ve watched it about four times now, and I actually think the animation gets more charming every time.
I mentioned these guys, a couple of whom were in my high school class (¡hometown heroes!) (I feel an immature urge to do a TRL-style shout-out here), back here, and they just released their first full-length album on Tuesday! I’d been eagerly awaiting it, and I’m already loving it.
Though I personally think it’s an annoying label, I guess it is sort of useful in giving you some sense of their sound, so I’ll go ahead and tell you they are commonly called “alt-country,” but luckily with the added, flattering qualifier that they are “what modern alt-country ought to sound like.” I also read here a description of them being a “synthesis of the two extremes of Neil Young’s yin and yang.”
Here’s an except from one of the reviews that I thought particularly rang true:
“What I like about the record and the band for that matter is that it feels like it actually comes from somewhere, comes from real people. We’re flooded by countless bands with clever names creating sounds in their bedrooms that are nice, passing fancy, but the keepers that we remember over the years are the ones that make personal connections.” [Future Sounds]
Also check out an interview with them on Stark here. (I particularly liked that their interview corroborates my personal opinion that the south has a disproportionate amount of pretty girls.)
The album is available here or on iTunes. Myspace here.
Great song, awesome video, though like the Jay-Z “Hello Brooklyn” video I obsessed over, it’s not the official video. It’s a scene from Les Demoiselles de Rochefort from 1967… check it out and watch at least until the dance number kicks in around 1:00.
Their full-length album came out yesterday, and though I haven’t bought the album yet, because my mac keeps killing all my fun by telling me that my “startup disk is full,” here’s The Tale of the Tape’s concise review, which after listening through the previews on iTunes a few times, I think puts it really well:
“Easily one of our most anticipated records of the year, after several listens Crazy For You lives up to the hype. Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno make it sound so easy on their debut LP, blending 60′s girl-group harmonies with 90′s alt-rock riffs. Cosentino’s simple lyrics, which occasionally border on silly, offer an earnest yet self-assured perspective on yearning and heartache.”
And if I weren”t convinced to check it out by Tale of the Tape, I definitely was by this iTunes review:
Subject line: “I got braces for a second time today”
Review: “But since this album came out today, I’m still calling it the best day ever.”
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Broken Bells = artist/producer Danger Mouse + The Shins’ vocalist James Mercer. That information was about all it took to pique my interest, and I’m happy to report that the assumption was a good one.
Danger Mouse, who has produced everything from rap beats to the Black Keys, reappropriates Mercer’s once-revolutionary, now-predictable (and dare I say worn out?) sound and takes him into a new, more exploratory territory (but don’t worry it’s not tooo out there by any means). So if you were hoping Mercer might one day change your life again, this could be your answer. Give these two songs a listen and see what you think.
But, let me warn you! The videos are bizarre, and I actually didn’t really like them. Except that the second one features Christina Hendricks (aka Joan from Mad Men). I merely posted them so that you could hear the songs… but don’t be scared off if you don’t like the visuals, just keep scrolling and listening and don’t watch the vids.
Perfect summer listening– the bizarre but wonderful Serge Gainsbourg album Aux Armes et Caetera, for which he let a group of Jamaican musicians (including Rita Marley) totally transform his tunes into quirky French-Reggae songs. Here, the song “Lola Rastaquouere.”
Download the whole album on iTunes and prepare for your summer to have not only a new soundtrack, but a new sultry, retro Rasta vibe as well. Bonus points if you get it on vinyl.
(By the way, I’m not sure what exactly this video is, but it’s def not an “official” music video.”)
Above, the first song off the album, “Animal.” Just give it a listen. It’s so ubelievably catchy well-produced, I can’t imagine you won’t like it. I don’t even feel like I need to give a description to entice you, but here’s a hint, if you like Vampire Weekend, Discovery, Passion Pit, and Peter Bjorn and John, or any combination of the above, you’re pretty much gauranteed to like them.
Oh, and there’s no one name Miike in the group. Not even a Mike. It’s comprised of three producers from Stockholm, two of whom worked with Britney and Madonna. Don’t you think it shows that it’s three producers?? The produciton is out of control.
Loving this random act of creativity.
Last year, husband and wife design duo Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp and Sean Ohlenkamp undertook a project to reorganize their bookshelves by color (something I myself do...
Remember this post about posters of collective nouns? At the time, the phrase “a murmuration of starlings,” was one of my favorites, and I liked the accompanying poster as well.
And then today,...
My time to work on Wonderlust has been incredibly pressed recently as things with Cultivate are taking off (very exciting, but very busy!), but I had to share this with you, it’s one of the most...
A delightful, thought-provoking project by designer Ji Lee– a new book called Word as Image. In his words:
“When we were children, letters were like fun toys. We played with them through our...
I love photography like the above… that dinner table in candle light… I have an obsession with shots like that. So it’s particularly awesome when those shots also include your wines!!...
I have a new obsession: this food and nutrition blog called My New Roots. It’s been around for a while, but I just discovered it, and I’ve been staying up at night reading it. Seriously. In...
As Miss Moss said, there have been an influx (onslaught?) of vintage-inspired lookbooks recently, but as Ralph Lauren tends to do, they really nailed the details on making the style of this lookbook for...
What a wonderful, brilliant, cool concept! Sketchtravel is a project that has taken one sketchbook around the world to 60 different famous illustrators, with the end foal of giving money to charity.
Each...
If I knew how to draw and stuff, I would make these for all my friends and family for Christmas. How sweet would that be? Ask them their favorite go-to recipe, illustrate it for them, and frame it! Voila!...
Loving this modern cottage in the woods of Ontario. I’m all for cozy, traditional cottages, but how wonderful to have these giant windows so that during your trip to the woods, you get to see the...
Ah I love fashion week season. So much street style inspiration floating around!! Above were some of my favorite shots from the last week, including, of course, perennial favorites Emmanuelle Alt and...
Recent eye candy favorites posted to the tumblr page. (If you were wondering, is not a real tumblr, but since it’s an image-only page, it was the easiest way to name it after we had to change it...
I am completely taken with these Lightning Series photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto that I understand absolutely nothing about. I think that’s part of why I’m taken with them. The combination...
Today I’m daydreaming of… Greece. I came across the exterior of this house and a couple of interior shots a while ago, and posted them here, and I recently discovered lots more photos, and...
I’m excited about this new site, Art of the Menu, which is compiling menu designs! How fun!
I’m still in love with Cynthia Warren’s menus, which I emailed them to submit to the...
Fell in love with this peak at a Scandinavian summer house shot by Johanna Ekmark. From what I hear, Scandinavians are big on having simple little weekend/summer getaway cottages. I’m a fan of that...
This site is so much fun to browse. Talk about wanderlust. Alistair Sawday, author of the Special Places to Stay travel guides, has a new site called Canopy & Stars that features very off-the-beaten-path,...
Awesome round-up by Street Art Utopia of the 106 best street art photos of 2010. (106… guess they just couldn’t stop at 100?) Check out the gallery for more, these were my favorites out of...
