The ukuleles are alive with the sound of music

LP is not the rapper El-P.  Although I think she should collaborate with Killer Mike.  She is also not 'like a cross between a young Bob Dylan' and anyone else.  I'm looking at you ACL artist page.  Her look does resemble Jimmie Hendrix and her sound a ukulele wielding Florence and the Machine/Joplin hybrid.  Not my words.  The music blends beautiful, rich vocals and a very talented band.  The result being a smashing success.   LP is playing ACL on the Venture stage at 2:30pm on Friday.  I'll leave you with LP's cover of Widow.

Without you I'm just bones

Michael Kiwanuka's parents escaped Uganda in the 70s, fleeing Idi Amin's regime, and settled in London, where Michael gorged on a steady diet of Nirvana and Radiohead. Not that you could tell from listening to his throwback soulful tunes, more reminiscent of Curtis Mayfield than anything else. While he follows the footsteps of Amy Whinehouse, Adele and a host of other British soul singers, his approach somehow feels more pure, less packaged for the masses.

His 2012 release is called Home Again, listen to it. He just released a video for his song Bones. Using an aged look they manage to capture the sadness of being on the road and really missing someone. We've all been there...

Kiwanuka will be here for ACL playing the Austin Ventures Stage at 4.30 on Saturday. No word on any night shows yet, but keep your ears peeled.

The Animals Never Knew We Were There

Band of Horses' new album will be out soon and yesterday they released the first video single, Knock Knock.   The video is a throwback to the projector run educationals of the 60s and 70s.  Musically, the pep level has increased substantially since their last album.  My guess is that new album will plant them firmly in the mainstream and increase the size of their font on festival posters by 5 - 10 points.  Enjoy!

Traveling, I Love You But United You're Bringing Me Down

My plan was to post the new Dean's List single.  Their latest track represents an evolution from party rap to a more serious introspection about partiers growing older.  Then United canceled my flight to Austin and I needed something with more cheer (Constanza).  DJ Zebra to the rescue.  The Paris DJ is releasing a collaborative album in Oct and dropped the first video single earlier this month.  The group is called Zebra and Bagad Katraez.  The song reminds me of Rubblebucket and the cinematic montage in the video was just the pick-me-up I needed.  If everything goes according to plan, I'll be jamming to Zebra in the car from Dallas to Austin later this afternoon.  You should check out the Dean's List single I mentioned too,  it's called Hennessy at Cookouts and you can find it here.

Ain't no man in this world who could pull me down from my Dark Star

Fresh from the bakery, boys and girls. Today, Poliça released their brand new video for Dark Star,  part of their amazing debut Give You The Ghost. Also today they are releasing an EP of remixes of Dark Star, including mixes by Gardens & Villa, and Alluxe. The video is nothing groundbreaking, except that the song is awesome and you can watch Channy Leaneagh prance and dance around for 3 minutes 50 second while holding the Light of Eärendil (bonus nerd points to whoever gets the reference)... adorable overload.

Enjoy!

Dancing Girls, Puppets, and Turntables

...Oh my.

Kid Koala is a Ninja Tune DJ.  He's famous for hosting sans dance parties called music to draw by and for being a graphic novelist.  Koala also worked on lovage, which came up in recent LC conversation.  His new album, 12-bit Blues, uses an Emu-SP1200 sampler to push blues far deeper down the rabbit hole than the Black Keys ever dreamed possible.  12-bit Blues is due next month, but the first video dropped a couple of days ago.

Cut open my sternum and poke

I know I'm a little late for the Purity Ring party. I don't care. I can't stop playing this album. Do yourself a favor and listen to it if you haven't already.

The song is Fineshrine from their debut album Shrines. I don't think they're coming to Austin any time soon, which is a shame. The video is gorgeous and it's directed by Young Replicant, a production team in L.A. that has directed stuff for Baths and M83 before.


Purity Ring - Fineshrine from Young Replicant on Vimeo.

Beats of the Southern Wild

Willy Moon favors brevity, with songs well short of the Zappa zone.  To accomodate him: 

Single Railroad Track  

Rockabilly Jesus Walks

Listen, order here.

and if you're still not sold, maybe Mr White can convince you...