May 2013
6 posts
Weekend Playlist: Vol. 3
Moody and driving are apparently the sonic motifs this week. I must be mad at the recent extra dose of the GOP’s craven, smug, self-righteous indignation. (Though it’s hard to have a bad time when you’re listening to Holy Ghost! or Har Mar Superstar.) Enjoy!
The National - “Sea of Love”
SULK - “The Big Blue”
Mirage - “Let’s Kiss”
...
Track: Lake Isle - "Steel Rails"
<a href=”http://lakeisle.bandcamp.com/track/steel-rails-2” data-mce-href=”http://lakeisle.bandcamp.com/track/steel-rails-2”>Steel Rails by Lake Isle</a>
There wasn’t anyway to cross and so they waited for the freight train to pass. Home was still a long way across the blurred line of steel and commerce.
Weekend Playlist - Vol. 2
Whether you’re in need of a celebratory banger or something mopey because [s]he won’t return your calls and you’re going to die alone and in the company of cats and years-old newspapers, there’s something for whatever you’re feeling this weekend.
FWY! - “Garden Grove”
Houndmouth - “On the Road”
Mariah Carey x Miguel -...
Track: Run The Jewels - "Get It"
The street was empty from Trinity Church to the East River. No suits spewing from the 1-2-3 and no sad-faced men chopping chicken and onions on street carts and no assault rifles dangling lazily from shoulders around the Stock Exchange. There was, as there had always been in some sense, only emptiness and the rustle of dollars in the wind as it funneled down the urban canyons.
Track: Merchandise - "Anxiety's Door"
He hasn’t left the house in days and even the pizza guy is starting to look at him warily, taking his tip slowly and with suspicion, backing away slowly and not turning his back until the door closes.
Weekend Playlist: Vol. 1
So the semester is finally over and the grading’s done and the fast food binge cycle is drawing to a close and I’m instituting a new, hopefully regular thing at Dohaha: the Weekend Playlist. Basically, it’s just a small collection of stuff that’s ready for the party or the drive or the dusk walkabout or whatever it is you’re up to this weekend.
This week’s playlist:
Buffalo Rodeo - “Treehouse”
...
April 2013
7 posts
Track: The Knocks ft. St. Lucia - "Modern Hearts"
She thought back on the past couple years and when she envisioned it she saw one huge beach party, a desperate, endless expanse of cocktails and glowing bar tops and people in headphones spinning knobs for other semi-enthusiastic people in open shirts the color of boredom.
(It’s been a rough couple weeks and I’m heading to Muscat for the weekend. Back to regular posts on Sunday.)
Track: Moodie Black - "Complexion"
<a href=”http://fakefour.bandcamp.com/track/complexion” data-mce-href=”http://fakefour.bandcamp.com/track/complexion”>COMPLEXION by Moodie Black</a>
He always imagined he’d be driving a vintage drop top as he sped away from the flames into the wilderness and humid night. A white 1998 Toyota Tercel were less romantic, perhaps, but the goal, in the end, was...
Video: The National - "Demons"
“I want to exorcise you,” he said, getting up from the table and buttoning his jacket. “Think about it.”
Track: City Society - "Riot Blooms"
They spent the day digging for desert roses, eyes focused on each of their own patches of the wind-beaten expanse. The sunlight encased each of them until everything but heat and sweat and thirst and the repetition of the task became forgotten, mere abstractions.
Also:
Track: Slow Warm Death - "Alone"
<a href=”http://slowwarmdeath.bandcamp.com/track/alone” data-mce-href=”http://slowwarmdeath.bandcamp.com/track/alone”>ALONE by Slow Warm Death</a>
Det. O’Reilly gave one last, long look over the crime scene, the shattered glass on the pavement, the dried blood on the asphalt near the chalk outline. He didn’t envy the coroner on this...
Track: Saskatchewan - "Possession"
Speeding down the highway with bad memories and dusk in the rearview mirror, he drove back toward the city that was just coming to life.
Track: Majical Cloudz - "Childhood's End"
The family prayed, as they always did, in a rough half-circle around the face of the tombstone. They said the Lord’s Prayer together, though the boy always just mouthed the words. Even at ten years old, he didn’t really buy it, and anyhow, the sight of his remaining family chanting in unison struck him as fairly ludicrous, but then again, he knew there were a lot of things he...
March 2013
7 posts
Track: Wildlife Control - "Ages Places"
The cabin vibrates as the engines kick and the plane hurdles forward and he tries not to think of the last person he saw before turning down the corridor to his gate. But one day it will be the last thing he ever thinks of as the heart monitor calls in the nurse staff.
Video: Mooro - "M66R6"
“Who are you talking to?”
“My friend.”
“Where is he?”
“Right next to me. Duh.”
“I see. And what’s your friend’s name?”
“Mr. Patmore.”
“And what do you and, um, Mr. Patmore talk about?”
“Oh, this and that. The weather, the NIKKEI, grilling, the Clippers, whether or not this is a good time...
Track: Light Heat - "And the Birds"
Dawn swept over the shore town, as if the ocean were gleefully lurring the people to wake and face up to their sins.
Track: SWIM - "Creeper"
He is nude, crouching on the floor of the shower that is blackened with mold and time. The shower head is off. The only water is the water that flows down his face. He always knew it would lead to this.
Track: The Black and White Years - "Just Like Old...
Scrolling through the pictures on Facebook wasn’t quite the same as flipping through old photos, like people did a decade ago, though it might as well have been another age altogether. There were no worn edges on the ones she liked; there was no smudged ilfochrome where her fingers would frequently touch his face—only the brief resettling of liquid crystal and the reestablishment of...
Track: Junior Prom - "Sheila Put the Knife Down"
<a href=”http://juniorprom.bandcamp.com/track/sheila-put-the-knife-down” data-mce-href=”http://juniorprom.bandcamp.com/track/sheila-put-the-knife-down”>Sheila Put The Knife Down by Junior Prom</a>
“Darling, you oughtn’t to frown like that. It’s only these damn gossip rags. Don’t put any stock in it. She was having car...
Video: Duke Dumont ft. A*M*E - "Need U (100%)"
and all the kids came to Strasbourg because it was 1518 and they didn’t want to stop partying.
February 2013
9 posts
Track: Chico Mann ft. Kendra Morris - "Same Old...
“Where were you?” he said. He tapped his pack of cigarettes on the bar top.
“Oh, you,” she said, smiling. “Oh, you and your questions.”
Track: Alpine - "Gasoline"
She watches him across the room and if he turns left she will be bold finally; she will ask him if he has a light and she can wing it from there. But if he turns right, if he turns toward the kitchen, if he goes for a beer instead of the punch, she has the dread feeling she will be lost forever.
Track: Active Child - "His Eye Is On the Sparrow"
It rained in the desert all day and they waited under an open tent canvas on a lonely boulder. The covering leaked in spots and this forced everyone to sit apart from each other, divided by slowly accreting bodies of water and the allegro percussion of raindrops. No one spoke and no one knew when the rain would stop.
Track: !!! - "SLYD"
He was going to be late but he didn’t care as he sat up on the seawall and lit another cigarette. The tide was up and a the waves tossed an empty bottle of Olde English 800 into the rocks. He checked his phone: missed calls and texts piling up and he knew she wouldn’t show. He stood and clapped his hands three times and cracked his stiff back and hopped down off the wall, sending a...
Video: James Blake - "Retrograde"
She hasn’t left the bed in days and she can’t remember the last thing she’s eaten that wasn’t a saltine. On the windowsill the cat balances and paws at the dried-out, dead flies entrenched in the runners. He inadvertently opens the curtain a crack and the sliver of light bisects her face and she puts up her hand, too weary to roll over.
Track: Caveman - "In the City"
His face itched with sand and wind and sunrise. The fire was out and the day had already begun to sweep over the sea and the desert. Someone had fallen asleep in his tent and he’d curled up against the night next to the flames and the spent cans and soon he’d be speeding back toward the city and its obligations and brunches and coffees and nodding and oh-yeahs. As he sat up and lit...
Track: Phaseone - "It's Not Forever"
The sound of the bolt sliding back into place filled the space of the predawn residential street and she looked at the key, thinking of tossing it into the holly bush that ran parallel to the front of the house. But she didn’t. She wiped her nose with her sweatshirt sleeve and buried the key in her purse and she half-jogged to the driveway. Once inside the car, she knew she’d have to...
Track: Kavinsky - "ProtoVision (Blood Orange...
They laughed when he bought the synth and the vocoder and they laughed when he bought the Members Only jacket and the Ray Bans and they laughed when he grew the mustache. But, he thought, shutting the trunk of the car, no one will be laughing when I drop these funky beats. I’ll show them. I’ll show them all.
Track: My Bloody Valentine - "Nothing Is"
The wind slowdanced with the tall grass and the pounding of drums, a shared sonic mirage, introduced itself as they neared the crest of the ridge. Spent, desiccated, their shoulders slumped, they crawled up the shallow incline and over the tall grass they saw the valley and the town, what was left of it. They hoped. It is the crime that is its own punishment.
January 2013
12 posts
Track: Tickle Torture - "Together Again"
<a href=”http://tickletorture.bandcamp.com/track/together-agiain” data-mce-href=”http://tickletorture.bandcamp.com/track/together-agiain”>Together Agiain by Tickle Torture</a>
The lights burst like shrapnel as he reaches his left hand back into the limo to help her out of the backseat. He thinks he remembers her name. Smile, wave, nod politely....
Track: Jagwar Ma - "The Throw"
Someone tipped over the tiki torch and a bunch of the wicker furniture went up in flames and no one really cared because it was ugly furniture and because it wasn’t that kind of party.
Track: Nosaj Thing ft. Toro Y Moi - "Try"
“Please,” he said. “Just … please don’t.”
She remained expressionless while silently playing with the keys in her pocket.
Track: Dream Koala - "Ocean"
He’s the last one in the office and he bites his thumbnail and hits POWER on the flatscreen monitor and the industrial-grade hum takes over the floor. It is late on a Friday and he knows, as much as he’d like to, he can’t avoid everything forever, but for now there’s the window overlooking the suburban sprawl of the flat city and he watches the citizenry of light come out...
Track: Disclosure ft. AlunaGeorge - "White Noise"
It took her a while but finally, in the middle of the song, as the party swelled, she leaned in and told him she loved him.
“What?” he said.
“I said I——”
“I can’t hear you babe. Hold on, I just love this song.”
“——”
They went back to dancing as Friday bled into Saturday.
Track: Gracie - "Habits"
The doors crash shut somewhere in the growing distance behind him and the sweat starts to break on his face and it stings in the cold a.m. and his lungs ignite and the burn spreads slowly through his chest and he is going to outrun the dawn because he is not going back to anywhere they are going to be ever again. He’s done with that. The river is up ahead but somehow he is going to outrun...
Track: Bruno Merz - "This Time"
The commuters bounced off each other in the lobby of the train station and she followed him a step behind, her hand firmly in his, until he stopped and saw they were announcing her rail line on the black monitor hanging from the ceiling. TRACK 12 flashed on the top row. She kissed him goodbye and as she turned to go his eyes caught the one-way ticket poking out of her jacket and that made it...
Track: Night Beds - "Ramona"
I’ve been sitting on this one for a little while now for reasons I can’t explain. Maybe it feels kind of like a bittersweet gem you want to keep for yourself, something too beautiful for this fucked up world. Who knows? But I’m posting it now because it’s probably my favorite song I’ve heard so far in this new year and likely going back well into 2012. Or at least...
Track: The Phoz - "Escapism"
<a href=”http://thephoz.bandcamp.com/track/escapism” data-mce-href=”http://thephoz.bandcamp.com/track/escapism”>Escapism by ThePhoz</a>
This new track comes off the new EP from UK artist The Phoz. It’s extremely chilled out and texturally dissonant at the same time as the fuzzy bass interplays with the high-pitched, sharp synth melody. You can download...
Track: MNDR - "Feed Me Diamonds (RAC Mix)"
This reimagining of the dark, downtempo MNDR track as an anguished and funky dance track is one of the catchier songs I’ve heard in a while. There’s a reason it’s been making the blog rounds lately.
Track: Generationals - "Spinoza"
I was a big fan of Generationals’ Actor-Caster in 2011 and enjoyed last year’s EP, and now listening to this song for the past couple of days makes me really look forward to the upcoming Heza. I dare you not to bounce your head around at the desk as you listen to this—that is until it reminds you of all the unrequited love and affection you’ve wasted on your multitude of...
Track: Starfucker - "Leave It All Behind"
I’m glad to start 2013 with this track because, simply put, Starfucker is a fantastic band. Their darkish electro-rock is both hedonistic and tinged with a healthy dose of the sad. “Leave It All Behind” is already one of my favorite pieces they’ve done and it’s off the upcoming album, Miracle Mile (19.2.13).
December 2012
4 posts
Video: Sufjan Stevens - "Mr. Frosty"
I’m heading to Istanbul in a few days for New Year’s and so this is probably going to be my last post of 2012. So. Here’s Frosty the Snowman fighting some zombies in this recent Sufjan Stevens video. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Godspeed.
Best Tracks of 2012
I was going to release the list incrementally, but then I realized I hate when blogs do that. No matter what anyone tells you, coyness isn’t cute. I was also going to stop at 101, like I did with my list last year. Then there were too many good songs so I was going to go with 112, because it’s 2012. That made sense to me. But then I saw I had R. Kelly down at 120 and what’s a...
Track: Guards - "Coming True"
I loved Guards’ eponymous 2010 EP, but this song off their upcoming release is the best thing they’ve done. It’s straightforward, anguished rock in all the best ways.
Video: Shields - "Mezzanine"
This is another one that slipped by me, and then I came across this video. Two words: sock puppets. But for all the video’s enjoyability, it doesn’t nearly do justice to how catchy and addictive this song is. Can’t fault the video for that though; this is a pretty terrific tune.
November 2012
16 posts
Track: Patchwork - "U Were in My Dreams"
This one’s a slow jam from Patchwork. It uses samples and a simple beat to make something surprisingly lush and bittersweet. It’s the sort of song that’s good (or bad) for when you’re missing the hell out of someone. You can find his earlier EP here.
(via Smoke Don’t Smoke)
Track: Sinkane - "Makin' Time"
DFA released the new album Mars from Sinkane, of Yeasayer fame, last month and, after hearing “Jeeper Creeper” on some blogs, I just checked out the whole thing and I was hooked. In particular, “Makin’ Time” is just an all-around infectious jam. It starts modestly, but around :40 the party starts with disco beats and builds from there until things get unbearably...
Track: Lone Doe - "Marion"
<a href=”http://lonedoe.bandcamp.com/track/marion-2” data-mce-href=”http://lonedoe.bandcamp.com/track/marion-2”>Marion by Lone Doe</a>
Came across this yesterday and absolutely love with it. Driving, energetic, and sad, the angst is palpable as it builds up to the chorus: “Marion, Marion, don’t do this to me.” You can find the...
Track: The New Division - "Start Over"
<a href=”http://thenewdivision.bandcamp.com/track/start-over” data-mce-href=”http://thenewdivision.bandcamp.com/track/start-over”>Start Over by The New Division</a>
While Riverside, CA’s The New Division gets no points for originality with their name, it’s at least an accurate assessment of where they’re coming from musically....
Track: Fort Lean - "Envious"
<a href=”http://fortlean.bandcamp.com/track/envious” data-mce-href=”http://fortlean.bandcamp.com/track/envious”>Envious by Fort Lean</a>
I’ve been a fan of these guys since I first heard them last year. They are exuberant, energetic, and angsty enough to give their generally upbeat songs an edge. “Envious” is no exception and, in my opinion,...
