IRON & WINE

The stigma of the term “singer songwriter” is very well deserved, and I know the music scene is flooded with them. (90% of which are difficult to consume).  But as a music lover and someone who truly appreciates the talent it takes to produce it, I hate that I instantly write off  singer songwriters without ever even giving them a chance. It’s like hearing the term “commitment” for most guys in relationships, it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.  Now that I have all of you women rolling your eyes and uttering “pssshhh typical”, let me introduce you to Samuel Beam, better known as Iron & Wine. This singer-songwriter has been around for almost a decade now with his first album “The Creek Drank The Cradle” being released in 2002 by none other than my favourite record label SubPop. Iron & Wine really made his mark when he covered “Such Great Heights” a track made famous by The Postal Service. The interesting thing is that Samuel covered this track before it was even released on The Postal Service’s “Give Up”. Both artists were on Subpop together and the track was originally going to be released as a B-side on Iron & Wine’s debut album. His version was used in the Indie film Garden State and has been the catalyst that drives his popularity. I must admit I’m a little late in the game and just recently discovered Samuel, but I haven’t been able to stop listening to the featured track “Love Vigilantes”.  For as tough as all of us men would like to view ourselves, we all have those tracks that kind of hit a little harder on our sensitive side. “Love Vigilantes” is about a soldier who’s so excited to get home to see his wife and family. It takes you on his journey home and plays on the anticipation of that moment where he will finally get to see their faces. Only to find that when he arrives home his journey had been in a casket, he was coming home to be buried not to be with his family.

“When I walked through the door my wife she lay upon the floor

And with tears her eyes did soar, I did not know why

Then I looked into her hand and I saw the telegram.

Said that I was a brave, brave man, but that I was dead”

Hopefully this track will make you think about your loved ones for a moment and appreciate how precious your life is because of the people in it.

-TYC

HOLY GHOST!

Oh Holy Ghost! where do I start with you. I guess I have a few questions. Are you guys just a one-hit wonder? How can “Hold On” that you produced in 2007 carry you over a 4 year period? You didn’t make a single other track until you released the album “Holy Ghost” in 2011? Wait I’m confused! So let me get this straight, you guys really toured for 4 years playing the same track over and over and over haha? Don’t get me wrong “Hold On” is a fuckin epic track. The single was described by Resident Advisor as "one of the dirtiest little Italo tunes you're likely to hear this year". The drums make you instantly start bobbing your head, then the arpeggiated synth keys drop in followed by a driving synthesized base line and suddenly every white guy in the room finds his way out to the dance floor. I had the unfortunate pleasure of seeing Holy Ghost! live once, and next to Bloc Party it was probably the most boring set I had ever seen. Granted they were opening for Chromeo and maybe I just overlooked them in my shear excitement for the greatest electrofunk duo of all time. Well kind of like you give a jilted ex-lover one more chance to make it work, I’m giving Holy Ghost! one more chance tonight to make it work. If after seeing them tonight at the Music Box, I still walk away yawning and feeling less than satisfied I’m going to have to put Holy Ghost! in the grave, never to be seen of or heard from again. The featured track is what got you to where you are Holy Ghost! don’t you dare let me and everyone else down tonight.

-TYC

LITTLE HURRICANE

I’m in LOVE! I’m in LOVE! And I don’t care who knows it! “One day CC Spina and I are going to get married on top of a mountain and there will be flutes.” Well obviously I’m a little shy about it, but I have fallen in love and I have fallen hard. CC Spina is the beyond gorgeous drummer of a two piece band, Little Hurricane. This grungy, bluesy, rock duo are from San Diego and have only been a band since 2010, but have already created an incredible buzz for themselves. Anthony Catalano better known as “Tone” and Celeste Spina better known as “CC” oddly enough met through an ad that Anthony posted on Craigslist. They instantly bonded over their shared love of vintage equipment and dirty blues. They had only been a band for six months, but somehow managed to win Best New Artist from the San Diego Music Awards in 2010. It’s hard not to fall in love with their sound, they bring a mixture of White Stripes, Black Keys, and all the classic blues bands you’ve ever listened to. My favourite description of the band comes from CC herself when she says “We’re called Little Hurricane because we’re small but powerful”. If you happen to live in LA then you should count yourself lucky because Little Hurricane has a residency at The Bootleg Theatre on Mondays for the entire month of November and the best part is that the show is free. So if you live in LA and you can’t find a way to get your lazy ass to the Bootleg then something is wrong with you. I guarantee they will be selling out larger venues in no time. The featured video is “Give Em Hell” a track that showcases the talented CC playing both mandolin and drums while also laying down some amazing backup vocals along with Tone shredding some sick blues licks. I’m not a hundred percent sold on Tone’s vocals but there is always room to grow and right now Little Hurricane is the most refreshing thing to happen to rock n roll in a society where terrible pop and even worse electronic music is ruling the airwaves. I hope I see a few of you this Monday, but for those of you who can’t make it enjoy this video and these pics.

-TYC

DRAKE

Two posts about The Weeknd/Drake in one week! I guess that’s what happens when you’re about to drop one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year . Drake’s “Take Care” is scheduled to release November 15th worldwide, but it’s been leaked all over the place and has been heard by almost every internet savvy kid out there. Drake to me always fits “it is what it is”. Is Drake a talented rapper? Yes! Are Drake’s flows really sick? Yes! But does everything sound the exact god damn same? AAHHHHH Yes! Drake is good for one thing and one thing only, being featured on other people’s tracks. Now, you Drake supporters might start getting heated, but hear me out for a second. How did Drake get discovered? He was featured on a bunch of Lil Wayne and Young Money tracks. What is Drake’s number one track? “Fancy” which was originally a Mary J. Blige track featuring Drake but didn’t make her album cut. He get’s swallowed up in it by TI and Swizz Beats and it still includes a lot of Mary J. Blige’s original vocals. And I rest my case with what is the hottest Drake track out right now? “Wildfire” by SBTRKT that features Drake. Case closed! But seriously all of Drake’s tracks/flows/raps sound the same the only thing that ever makes them hits are the hooks sung by featuring artists. Anyways now that I’m done bashing Drake (who I think is an incredible lyricist don’t get me wrong) let’s talk about my favorite track off his new record.  “Crew Love” The collaboration of Toronto natives Drake and The Weeknd chalks up to pretty much exactly what I expected from these two dynamic artists. The Weeknd brings his infectious R&B vocals/swag/lyrics while Drake tears it apart with his verses. The beats are some of the simplest beats I’ve heard and yet somehow they sound so full and leave you satisfied. The featured track is a rip off of a radio edit release so please forgive the annoying disc jockey interruption the original is coming soon. “There’s a room full of niggas what are you following me for? It’s cause we blowing like a C4!” In the least hood way possible this kinda describes every relationship I’ve ever been in haha. Enjoy! (Also Featuring Drake Freestyle Live In Toronto with SBTRKT) 
-TYC 

Well Ladies & Gentlemen it doesn’t get much better than this! I’ve seen the featured video more than 100 times and I still get a semi every time. That might be a little graphic, but who would have ever thought Daryl Hall and Chromeo would be the toughest collaboration around? This instant connection was so hott they even ended up touring together in 2010 playing at the Bonaroo Festival in Nashville, Tennessee. Chromeo is the electrofunk brainchild of childhood friends P-Thug and Dave 1 from Toronto, Canada and Daryl Hall is the better half of the greatest “rock soul” pop act of the 1970’s and 80’s Hall & Oates. The premise of this featured video is that Daryl Hall owns this gorgeous house in rural upstate New York with an entire room/barn/incredible studio. Daryl Hall being the badass that he is, invites bands and artists that he digs, to stay with him for the weekend to jam, eat great food, jam, enjoy some cocktails, jam, bullshit about music, and oh yeah jam. They play mostly tracks from both the bands’ hits as well as Hall & Oates’ hits.  If you haven’t checked out DarylsHouse.com you really haven’t lived yet, there’s over 40 different artists featured on his site including bands like Fitz & The Tantrums, Neon Trees, Smokey Robinson and so many more. I know some of you might be weary of Daryl Hall as was I before I really got a chance to discover how truly talented he is. I’ve yet to find any other person that genuinely loves music more than he does. You can see it in his gregarious personality and dedicated passion to experiencing new and different sounds which is why I think Chromeo and Daryl clicked so easily because Daryl was intrigued by the unique electro sounds Chromeo incorporates within their music. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do and maybe even find yourself on Darylshouse.com someday.

-TYC

THE WEEKND

Dry humping, pelvic thrusts, and the art of sensual serenading are the first few things that come to mind when I think of R&B. Usher, R. Kelly, DeAngelo just a few of whom have dominated the sexy genre of rhythm and blues over the last decade or so. But who’s the new face, who’s that up and comer that’s going to melt every 13-35 year old female’s heart, who’s the next artist that’s even going to make the whitest guy in the world feel like he’s got some swag? Welcome THE WEEKND! When Drake isn’t murdering the rap game he’s busy mentoring this up and coming indie R&B singer from Toronto. After slowly leaking a few tracks, mostly showing up on hypem.com, The Weeknd released a nine-song mixtape, “House of Balloons”, in March of 2011 which pretty much hit the scene by storm. Receiving overwhelming rave reviews, The Weeknd instantly became a hit within the indie music scene popping up on almost every media site like pitchfork.com and was blogged about more than Lady Gaga. House Of Ballons is part of a trilogy of mixtapes The Weeknd plans to release, the second of which ‘Thursday” was released earlier in August leaving the third still to come. The Weeknd, however, is fairly elusive and has yet to tour in the US. He planned one show, but quickly backed out with not much of an excuse. I believe it’s all an attempt to build his hype and wait for the opportune moment to unleash his greatness upon us. The few live performances I’ve seen have led me to believe he’s just not quite ready and needs a little more time to perfect his craft. Nonetheless The Weeknd’s music speaks for itself! The featured track "Wicked Games" encompasses every aspect of R&B that I love and yet still manages to be unique, fresh, real and gritty. I love how simple yet powerful the drums are in this track. Enjoy!

-TYC     

WASHED OUT

Chillwave - “makes you feel like you’re sitting on a couch in the sand staring at the beach”.  “I just make cheap music using cheap equipment in my shitty basement”. These are just a few of my favourite quotes describing the genre. The term “Chillwave” is credited to being created by the infamous Carles from hipsterrunoff.com and brought to the forefront of music culture in 2007 by Panda Bear, aka Noah Lennox founder of Animal Collective. With young artists popping out of their parent’s basements at an increasingly rapid rate these days there has been a surge in the Chillwave movement. Toro Y Moi, Neon Indian, Million Young, and Velanova are just a few who have managed to make their presence known in the scene, but the band Washed Out, headed by frontman Earnest Greene, has taken the chillwave movement to the next level. I have to admit I was fairly tentative to this whole Chillwave movement when I first encountered it a few years back and I’m still not completely sold, but after my best friend/roommate bumped it for so long it slowly grew on me.  I remember seeing Earnest for the first time a few years ago at a tiny venue in Los Angeles called The Echo and being far from impressed. Once again they disappointed me at FYF Fest in 2010, but last month in San Diego opening for Cut Copy I finally got it. Well I don’t know if it was as much of me “finally getting it” or Washed Out “finally getting it”. The first time I saw Washed Out it was Earnest Greene on-stage by himself with a keyboard synthesizer and drum machine topped off with a light show that resembled something you would experience at a local kid’s 8^th birthday party. There was a sense that Earnest knew his sound was missing something. Soon after he added his beautiful wife as back up vocalist and occasional keys, a black guy with dreads who plays percussion and takes their street cred through the roof, and finally a new bassist laying down funky simple bass lines. Top it off with a sexy sax solo every now and then like in the featured video and you have a recipe for success. But that’s what music is about, evolving, growing as an artist, finding what direction you want to take your music and that’s why I wanted to share with you Washed Out. Enjoy!

-TYC