Today I woke up to find out the whole new Fleet Foxes album, Helplessness Blues had leaked. I had to have it. Say what you want about the Fleet Foxes. Maybe you’re never in the mood for this kind of music, and consider it too precious or pastoral, but to me the far worse sins in music are being offhand or unenduring. Fleet Foxes and their new album Helplessness Blues are none of these things.
A few people out there have been playing Bedouin Dress or Battery Kinzie, but I’d like to feature the epic, and probably most experimental (and one of two songs with a slash dividing the title of the song in two. See also: The Plains / Bitter Dancer).
This is sing is called The Shrine / An Argument, and clocks in at a humble 8:07. It’s got everything that makes the Fleet Foxes the Fleet Foxes, you know, lovely vocal harmonies, and Robin singing his heart out about nature or some shit. A cover that makes to look like LSD is a required ingredient for enjoying the album. Plus some squalling, discordant horns and some other weird noises. But… would I present this to you if it wasn’t a badass, manly hunk of song? No, I wouldn’t. Be among the first to enjoy this fine song:
[audio:http://thesweetsnob.com/wp-content/uploads/TheShrine_AnArgument.mp3|titles=Fleet Foxes – The Shrine / An Argument]
As a new commuter, I’ve only recently discovered the joy of podcasts. Podcasts are like NPR, but without all the boring stuff, and with a bunch of way cooler stuff.
They soothe me on a ride to the
- I really love the fake-advice driven brotherly hilarity of My Brother, My Brother and Me. Even when what they’re saying isn’t funny, they still think it is and their laughter is infectious.
- Sound Opinions is a great music discovery show out of Chicago… like NPR’s All Songs Considered but less… feeble.
- And everyone who knows podcasts knows about the perfectly thought-provoking Radiolab, but it’s so good I’ll mention it anyway.
But, what I came to talk about is my new love: Coverville!
I just got finished listening to the amazing episode #752: Take my cover requests and that’s not nearly all! In which:
Some band with a girl singer named Snowblink does possibly the coolest Micheal Jackson cover I’ve ever heard with Human Nature, from their all Micheal Jacks Daytrotter Session (starts out good, but blew my mind near the middle). I always liked, but never loved, this song. They breathe new life into it:
[audio:http://thesweetsnob.com/wp-content/uploads/04-Human-Nature.mp3|titles=Snowblink – Human Nature]
A band called Hot Buttered Elvis does a spectacular punk-pop cover of Tainted Love.
[audio:http://thesweetsnob.com/wp-content/uploads/HotButteredElvis-DinnerAndAMonkey-12-TaintedLove.mp3|titles=HotButteredElvis – TaintedLove]
And, some guys named Tree Pit, remind me what a fantastic song Eleanor Rigby is.
Plus, the most polite podcast host ever. This guy is a peach.
This show is great. Subscribe for yourself.
One of my favorite albums last year was the Indie Rock band The Morning Benders’ album Big Echo.
Evidently, Chris Chu, the singer was born in Japan and was excited to play their first scheduled show in Japan, which was cancelled due to the whole Japanese earthquake / tsunami / nuclear disaster / are you sure this isn’t a movie / total unholy clusterfuck with tens of thousands dead. So, they were moved to create an EP and donate the proceeds to disaster relief.
The EP was enough to get me to get off my lazy white-privilege butt and donate a little money (and buy the EP) which I have had the pleasure of listening to several times this morning. I guess I could describe it as a great set of chillwave-style remixes of some of the songs on Big Echo, and a couple of original songs. If you’re a huge fan of Big Echo but have pretty much listened it to death, then it’s a really welcome reprisal of these songs.
If you don’t have any idea what chillwave is, I think it’s best described as elements of downtempo-hip-hop, and spacy crystalline synthy sounds… and often gentle voices. It’s not for everyone, but it’s good makeout music.
I haven’t been able to really digest the two new songs: Better in Blue and Little Riot, but I liked them on first listen and they fit in well with the dreamy feeling of the EP as a whole.
So, have a listen to my favorite remix so far… totally worth checking out on headphones, a remix of Cold War by the band Star Slinger, who I’ve never heard of before but really do the song right:
[audio:http://thesweetsnob.com/wp-content/uploads/01-Cold-War-Star-Slinger-Remix.mp3|titles=The Morning Benders – Cold War (Star Slinger Remix)]
Then, go ahead and donate and get the album. It’s for a good cause.
Props to a local Woodinville distillery for this fantastic idea: they don’t have any aged whiskey yet, because they’re a new distillery, but they’re getting ready to sell their already cool white whiskey(!) along with a mini-barrel aging kit. Great idea, and one that the snob thinks he might participate in.
