New Francis and the Lights Album

New York

Francis and the Lights first caught my attention on a mixtape from a friend, and I posted his song "LIME" back in February '09. Just recently he started streaming his newest album, It'll Be Better, and it's fabulous. There's a strange, comfortable, uniqueness in his music that will stick with you. It's the smartest dance-pop music I've heard in a long time, and I'm happy to spread the word if you're unfamiliar. Enjoy a listen to the new album below. :)

New LCD Soundsystem Album Streaming

LCD Soundsystem has a new, and likely final, album called This is my Happening being released on May 17 (EU) and May 18 (US). Apparently, LCD threw a secret show in NY a few days ago where he gave out this new album and asked the crowd not to leak it before the official release. I think there were a few hours before it was found online, so LCD Soundsystem decided to pull an MGMT and stream it themselves (only MGMT's player allows you to select the song you want to hear, where LCD's player starts on song one and plays through, with only play and pause controls available).

As soon as I saw it available yesterday on twitter I did two things: I retweeted it, and I listened. I actually listened for several consecutive hours, and determined myself to be a fan of the new album. It seemed to me that the more I listened to it, the more I liked it. I definitely feel like the whole album as a single piece of artwork has an identifiable sound. Listen for yourself HERE, and then check out all of LCD Soundsystem's upcoming shows, including at Chicago's Metro and Pitchfork.

Some Upcoming Music to be Excited About

So, this time the lovely folks at Pitchfork put together a list of Spring releases, and I captured some of my favorites below. Click HERE to see the full list.

4/6
Doves: The Places Between: The Best of Doves
Dr. Dog: Shame, Shame

4/13
Arctic Monkeys: My Propeller 10"
Four Tet: Sing 12"
Freelance Whales: Weathervanes
MGMT: Congratulations

4/17 - RECORD STORE DAY
Beach House: Zebra 12"
Bloc Party: Silent Alarm
Bon Iver/Peter Gabriel: Split 7"
Bright Eyes: Fevers and Mirrors
CocoRosie: "Lemonade" b/w "Surfer Girl"
Crystal Castles: "Doe Deer" 12"
Deerhoof: Apple O'
Deerhoof: Green Cosmos
Modest Mouse: The Moon and Antarctica
The Mountain Goats: The Life of the World to Come
Pavement: Quarantine the Past
Simian Mobile Disco: Attack Decay Sustain Release
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

4/20
The Apples in Stereo: Travellers in Time and SpacePlants and Animals: La La Land

4/26
The Dead Weather: "Die by the Drop"

4/27
Frightened Rabbit: Nothing Like You 7"

5/4
Broken Social Scene: Forgiveness Rock Record
The Hold Steady: Heaven Is Whenever
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: I Learned the Hard Way

5/11
CocoRosie: Grey Oceans
The Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards
Sleigh Bells: Treats

5/18
The Black Keys: BrothersThe Depreciation Guild: Spirit Youth
LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening

6/8
The Chemical Brothers: Further
Deer Tick: The Black Dirt Sessions
Delorean: Subiza
Here We Go Magic: PigeonsNada Surf: If I Had a Hi-Fi
Rooney: Eureka
Sia: We Are Born
Tokyo Police Club: Champ

Greenland Is Melting, a New Love of Mine

Gainesville, FL

I am a twitter lover. I've made so many fabulous connections and received SO much music and recommendations through the twitter for this blog = LOVE. Well, today I requested on twitter that if you were in/knew of a band that offers their album for FREE, to please send it my way so I could add it to the section of my blog that lists FREE albums (see the left sidebar). Pretty quickly, I heard from Greenland is Melting. Of course, I wanted to listen to it before I posted it, and I immediately loved it.

If you're a fan of Ha Ha Tonka or The Avett Brothers, you will be a fan of Greenland is Melting's album "Our Hearts are Gold, Our Grass is Blue" too. Beautiful harmonies, lovely bluegrass instrumentation, and lyrics like "no, we don't have the songs for the radio, but we have songs for the basement that our friends know" fill the album. Click HERE to listen to and/or download their album. It's FREE, or for a donation. You wont regret it.

Enjoy! :)

Best Album Finds of 2009

I'm not going to do a "Top 10 albums of 2009" list because I listened to a LOT of really good albums throughout the year, but most of them only once or twice due to my crazy don't-have-time-to-listen-to-full-albums-enough-to-fall-in-love-with-them lifestyle. Since many of these albums COULD have made my top 10, and since I didn't even get to listen to all the albums I wanted to, I simply will not rank them. I'd hate to look back later this year, after I fall in love with an album that was made in 2009, and know that I didn't included it in my "Top 10 albums of 2009." So, I officially declare that I will author an annual "Best Album Finds of YEAR" list. Enjoy!

WARNING: Some of my favorite album finds of 2009 weren't made in 2009. I'm ok with that; just happy I finally found them.

Mugison's Mugiboogie is my favorite find of 2009 (even though it was released in 2008). This album is AMAZING. I discovered my love for this album on January 9, 2009, when I featured his song Mugiboogie. It was then that I first declared him a "versatile, boundary-less, unpredictable, master of sound." I encourage you to stop reading this post, click HERE, and listen to this album now (you can also download it for FREE!). This blog post will be here when you're done.


The Blow's Paper Television is chuck full of fun. Another album I highly recommend. I'm pretty late to the Paper Television party, since this album came out in 2006, but again - better late than never. You can listen to it HERE.


Although I discovered Of Montreal's Skeletal Lamping on December 27, 2008, it was still one of my absolute top albums of 2009, so I'm including it. F.A.B.ulous. Also one of my absolute favorite live shows of 2009. Listen to it HERE.


Ok, so I now realize that most of my favorite albums of 2009 were birthed earlier than 2009, so in order to get to some more current albums, I'm going to list a few more personal classics that I found-and-loved last year.

Passion Pit's Chunk of Change
Friendly Fires' Friendly Fires
Langhorne Slim's Langhorne Slim
Foals' Antidotes
Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid
Lykke Li's Youth Novels

I love Animal Collective's Merriweather Pavilion from beginning to end. This made a lot of folks' top album lists, and for good reason. My goodness, if you haven't heard it yet, click HERE and get started!


Absolutely LOVE Golden Silver's True Romance. Kind of surprised I haven't heard more about them yet, but I'm ok assuming I'm an early adapter. :) Listen to them HERE and see if you agree.


Liam Finn and Eliza Jane's Champagne in Seashells is a love-at-first-listen album. I'm a big fan of Liam Finn's I'll Be Lightning, and this EP just confirmed that I'm a big Liam Finn fan in general. Check it out HERE.


Florence and the Machine's Lungs - Love her voice, her energy, her enthusiasm, and most importantly - her music! I'm a fan :) Listen to the album HERE.


I'd heard for-EVER about the supposed greatness of The Decemberists, and it wasn't until I listened to The Decemberists' Hazards of Love in that I understood why. AMAZING. Definitely a top find of 2009. I suggest you listen all the way through, which you can do HERE.


Other albums that maybe should be on here, but I haven't listened to enough to fully endorse include:

Muse's The Resistance
Girls' Album
Bat for Lashes' Two Suns

I can imagine your internal dialogue at this point might look something like this:

"Jiminy Cricket Tracy, you're obsessed with music and listen to it constantly,
how can this be it?! wtf"

It saddens me that my stupid life got in the way of actually listening, reviewing and becoming obsessed with a LOT more albums from 2009, but do not fear for 2010. I have aggressive goals to not only stay on top of all the fabulous 2010 releases, but to also catch up on all the great stuff I missed in 2009. Therefore, plan to see more old stuff on the list next year, and hopefully a shit more albums too.


Until then, thanks for reading and please feel encouraged to send me whatever album recommendations you have.

Upcoming Album Releases to be Excited About

So, the very fine blog Consequence of Sound posted a pretty thorough list of album releases for Q1 2010. I highlighted what I'm most excited for below, and you can check out the full list HERE.

1/12/10
Ringo Starr - Y Not [Hip-O Records]
Vampire Weekend - Contra [XL]


12/19/10
Editors - In This Light And On This Evening [Fader]
Eels - End Times [Vagrant]
Fredrik - Trilogi [Kora Records]
Spoon - Transference [Merge]


1/26/10
Animal Collective - Campfire Songs [Reissue] [Paw Tracks] Beach House - Teen Dream [Sub Pop]
David Bowie - A Reality Tour [ISO]
Four Tet - There Is Love In You [Domino Records]
Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring [Arts&Crafts]


2/9/10
AM - Future Sons & Daughters [Filter Recordings]
David Bowie - David Bowie: Deluxe Edition [Decca/Universal]
Galactic - Ya-Ka-May [Anti-]
Hot Chip - One Life Stand [Astralwerks]
Yeasayer - Odd Blood [Secretly Canadian]


2/23/10
April Smith & The Great Picture Show - Songs For a Sinking Ship
David Byrne & Fatboy Slim - Here Lives Love [Nonesuch Records]
Xiu Xiu - Dear God, I Hate Myself [Kill Rock Stars]


3/2/10
Rogue Wave - Permalight [Bushfire]
The Whigs - In The Dark [ATO Records]

3/9/10
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat The Devil’s Tattoo [Abstract Dragon]
Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks [FatCat Records]
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach [EMI]
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks [Matador Records]


3/16/10
The White Stripes - White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights [Third Man]


3/23/10
Goldfrapp - Head First [Mute Records]
She & Him - Volume Two [Merge]

Recommended Song of the Day

Montreal, Canada

11/25/09: Neighborhood #2 (Laika), by Arcade Fire

Listen to it HERE

Ok, so I LOVE Arcade Fire. The only reason I haven't featured them before is because I couldn't chose which song to feature! I finally just picked one, literally. If you like this song, and for some reason haven't heard of Arcade Fire, I strongly encourage you to listen to their albums Funeral and Neon Bible. LOVE. SO excited for their upcoming album!

Enjoy!

Tracy :)

Recommended Song of the Day

Chicago, IL

8/4/09: Speak Plainly, Diana, by Joe Pug

Listen to it HERE

I like a lot of this CHICAGO ARTIST's music, but this song always catches me right away. Hear more of him HERE and see him live Saturday at Lollapalooza, right after Langhorne Slim!

SO excited.

Tracy :)

Recommended Song of the Day

Springfield, MO

6/16/09: Walking on the Devil's Backbone, by Ha Ha Tonka

Listen to it HERE

OK - this band is amazing. I saw their sold-out record release show in Chicago on Monday at Schubas, and I HIGHLY suggest you change whatever plans you have when these guys are in town so that you can GO TO THEIR SHOW. You will not regret it. I promise.

AMAZINGLY talented musicians, with such fun and exciting energy - SO worth a late weeknight out.

Their new album, "Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South" is officially released today, so click their pic to hear more or the album cover below to learn more.

Enjoy! and You're Welcome.

Tracy :)

props to KM

Recommended Song of the Day

Seattle, WA

6/14/09: Back Before We Were Brittle, by Say Hi

Listen to it HERE

If you like the song, check out their album The Wishes and the Glitch.

Enjoy!

Tracy :)

Recommended Song of the Day

Portland/San Francisco

6/11/09: Strange Kicks, by 31knots

Listen to it HERE

I recommend many a songs of their album Worried Well. Check 'em out, yo.

Enjoy!

Tracy :)

Recommended Song of the Day

Manchester, UK

5/30/09: Starlings, by Elbow

Listen to it HERE

Check out Grounds for Divorce too! LOVE good music.
I'd recommend checking out their album The Seldom Seen Kid. Good find!

Apparently they're opening for Coldplay in July at Alpine Valley in WI...

(OK, so I'm continuing to listen to them as I'm writing this post, and I've only made it to An Audience With the Pope and at this point they'd have to really jump the shark for this to NOT be one of my favorite album finds of '09. Check 'em out people.)

Enjoy!

Tracy :)

Recommended Song of the Day

4/10/09: I'll be Lightning, by Liam Finn

I've been listening to his album "I'll Be Lightning" for months now and I really enjoy it. I just couldn't narrow it down to one. Well, at about 4:15 into this one, the song clearly got my vote.

Enjoy!

Tracy :)

New Zealand

Recommended Song of the Day

4/6/09: God?, by The Dodos

I really like this band! If you like Yeasayer, Iron and Wine and/or The Decemberists you probably will too! It took me a while to pick which ONE song to post, so feel encouraged to check out their whole album, Visiter.

Tracy :)
San Fran, CA

Recommended Song of the Day

3/9/09: Friday's Dust, by Doves

I really like a lot of songs off of their The Last Broadcast album, but this one made it as my song o' the day because I have such a weakness for bringing clarinets and flutes into music the way this song has. LOVE it :)

If you like what you hear in Friday's Dust, I encourage you to check out others on this album. It's been pouring through my headphones all day.

Enjoy!

Tracy :)

UK

Album News!

Passion Pit announced their first, full-length album Manners will be released 5/26!

LOVE Passion Pit.

Check out more details here.

Good Music

Hi all :)

I know I've already posted about Friendly Fires (props again to MW), but I'm now taking this moment to strongly suggest their album Friendly Fires. Every time a song off this album comes on, I'm racing to minimize the right windows so I can see who it is. LOVE it. You're welcome.

UK

Recommended Song of the Day

1/21/09: Big Big Love, by Foals

I'm a fan of their whole album, Antidotes.

Tracy :)

UK

Recommended Song of the Day!!!

1/17/09: In My Little Thatched Hut, by The Fiery Furnaces

LISTEN TO THIS SONG!

It was love at first downbeat, and fanatic obsession by the last. It's a stark whirlwind of sound. I absolutely cannot describe this, I can only tell you how very much I love it.

This song is, in fact, why my blog header reads, "Music per Diem. You're Welcome."

Enjoy!

Tracy :)
NY, NY

Check out their album, Bitter Tea.

Recommended Song of the Day and oh-so-much-more.

1/9/09: Mugiboogie, by Mugison

Ok people. My song of the day is by Mugison, and his album Mugiboogie is fucking phenomenal. Would I lie to you?

He is such an amazingly talented individual that if I ever execute my backup life plan, which is to travel the world reproducing with insanely smart and talented people to create a mini-herd of smarter and more talented versions of myself (muwahahahaha) – IF I ever execute my plan, Mugison would be my baby daddy. He is a versatile, boundary-less, unpredictable, master of sound. I was, at SEVERAL points throughout the album, shocked. The change of direction from song to song is equivalent to listening to a whole different artist; I actually found myself double checking that it was indeed Mugison still playing.

Please, for the love of good music, listen to this man and appreciate what he’s brought into this world. This blog’s purpose is to spread good music. This is me, spreading.

Oh, and he's from Iceland! wtf?

Enjoy!

Tracy :)

PS I was going to include my favorite songs off the album, but I refuse as I sincerely endorse listening to the whole album through.

PPS If you knew about Mugison and didn’t share him with me, please just unfacebook friend me. Jerk. If you know about him and don’t appreciate the wonderfulness that is Mugiboogie, why do you even read this blog? Seriously, the market researcher in me wants to know, why do you read this blog?


BECAUSE I am not a writer, I feel I haven’t done this album justice. I’m including reviews from others for your reference.

"Mugison has often been stamped as the Icelandic Beck,
but on his fourth album, he edges onto John Lennon's turf."
|Spin Magazine|Stacy Anderson|


"If you dumped blues, power pop, psych rock and heavy metal
into a transmogrifying machine, the machine would rumble mysteriously,
then spit out a brightly colored block of a hitherto unimagined polymer
known as Mugison."
|Paste Magazine|Brian Howe|


"..... is undeniably original, sometimes hard to listen to,
but always interesting. Mugison's interpretation of rock 'n' roll
lands somewhere between Ryan Adams and the Pixies,
with extended instrumental interludes that highlight his singularity as an artist."
|Prefix Magazine|Mike Burr|


"This, his third album, is steeped in a rich brew of drink, love, women and religion.
Opener 'Mugiboogie' sounds like a statement of intent,
slinging together beefy Hammond organ chords with stomping beats
that are part glam rock and part Battles."
|Art Rocker|Gareth Mytton|


"an iniorating, electric listen...
landing a devastating punch with this unclassifiable new record.
Worth so much more than a fleeting investigation."
|Clash Music|