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Progression

This entry charts the progression of what for all intents and purposes essentially was a relationship. It begins with the excitement of something new. The phone calls. The text messages. The concerts. The late summer nights. The jokes. The kisses snuck around corners. The photobooths.

Then it moves on to the confusion. The fights. The silence.

The denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression.

Then finally, acceptance of what for all intents and purposes essentially was the inevitable, eventual, drawn-out end.

I was in love.

These are my feelings. In order. From beginning to end. August 2010 to March 2011.

Progression:

Listen here: http://grooveshark.com/playlist/Progression/56621234

“Starstrukk” by 3Oh!3 (feat. Katy Perry)

“Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry

“Little Secrets” (Penguin Prison Remix/Cover) by Passion Pit

“Ride Frindship” by Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt

“Diet Mtn Dew” by Lana Del Rey

“Fake Empire” by The National

“USA Boys” by Health

“Cuddle Fuddle” by Passion Pit

“Your Visits Are Getting Shorter” by Bloc Party

“Soft Shock” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

“Just Didn’t Need to Know” by The Shivers

“Just a Friend” by Biz Markie, covered by Lissy Trullie

“Naive” by The Kooks, covered by Lily Allen

“Hope You’re Happy Now” by The Sounds

“For Reasons Unknown” by The Killers

“When I’m Small” by Phantogram

“You Know You’re Not Dead” by Broken Records

“Dry Your Eyes” by The Streets

“So This is Goodbye” by William Fitzsimmons (Pink Ganter remix)

“Starstrukk” by 3Oh!3, cover by Marina and the Diamonds

“Sister Wife” by Alex Winston

The first thing I have to write is that I keep thinking that I have a friend named Alex Winston. Then I remember that I don’t. :/

Anyway, before I research her beyond the little blurb on Neon Gold Records‘ blog, I want to give my initial response to her song “Sister Wife.”

Alex Winston’s voice made me think of Ke$ha. I don’t mean that in a bad way either. (I know that Ke$ha doesn’t necessarily have the best reputation in the music world, and even less so in the indie music world.) It’s just that Alex Winston’s voice has that high-pitched, staccato sound that also gives her a 1999-2001 European electro, semi-trip hop (but not low and breathy enough) feel. Essentially, when I don’t think of Ke$ha, I think of various European singers such as Sia.

Like Ellie Goulding, Alex Winston has that electropop + an occasional acoustic guitar riff style.

“Sister Wife” is an airy electropop-based ballad toward Winston’s competitor for an object of affection. The heavy use of bass and floor tom beats is balanced out by the cloud of tinkering piano notes combined with stronger chord loops, the barely audible guitar riff repetition, and Winston’s high-pitched voice.

Going beyond my “First Listen” notes, here’s a few bits about her from her Wikipedia page :

Apparently, despite the very European feel of her song and voice, she’s actually from Michigan. Also, she’s working with the Knocks, a pretty big name production team that, when not making their own songs such as “Make It Better,” does tons of remixes!

I can’t wait to see her perform at SXSW this year!

Take a listen here: http://www.myspace.com/AlexWinston

Matt and Kim at the Fillmore

Matt and Kim performed at the Fillmore in San Francisco last Thursday!

The backdrop on stage was a shiny green fabric, and there were colorful squares on stands behind Matt and Kim.  The squares lit up in time with the songs and gave the show an awesome effect when combined with the changes between red, blue, and white light!

The duo delighted the crowd with their dialogue between sets.  Kim even asked the audience to crowdsurf a beer over to her!

My favorite part was when Kim got into the crowd and was dancing while standing on audience members’ hands!  Then, Matt talked about how the next song they were going to play is one of those songs you can listen to when you’re feeling down and out, and the sky’s all grey, and you really need something to make you feel loads better.  He kept teasing the crowd by playing increasingly complex piano sequences until he finally plucked the eight first notes of “Daylight”!

Here are some pictures I took at the concert.  You can see more at my photoblog berniesamson.blogspot.com

Passion Pit “Dreams (Cranberries cover)”

If you haven’t already figured it out, I love covers. There’s just something about one band performing another band’s song, especially if it’s done in a style vastly different from the original band’s.

When I bought the Passion Pit CD, I was lucky enough to find the Limited Edition version that has “stripped down” versions of two songs and the band’s cover of “Dreams” by the Cranberries!

Just the concept of Passion Pit covering a Cranberries song made me squirm in the Amoeba Records aisle.  One of my current favorite bands covering a song by a band I’ve loved since I was a little 4-year-old was a collision of my personal musical history!

Passion Pit’s electropop style made the song’s beginning, especially the synthesizer riff repetition, sound like an 80s hit.  The drums were done in basically the same style as the original.  However, you are reminded that this is a Passion Pit cover made in the time of bands like Arcade Fire at the 1:30 point when the choir-like wails combine with the layered synthesizer chords.

“Dreams” as covered by Passion Pit took sounds from the 80s, 90s, and today to piece together an opus of auditory and musically historical pleasure.

Is it true???

Wondering when Kitten, one of my favorite bands, is going to perform in SF again (or LA whenever I’m back home), I went on their Myspace page.  While scrolling through the site, the word “indie” caught my eye in the “Type of Label” section.  Having been used to them being unsigned, I had one of those double-take moments and re-read that part then looked up to see that it said “Record Label: The Control Group”!

Does this mean that Kitten’s been recently signed onto the same label that produces Kings of Leon?

The SXSW rule is really proving itself!  (My apologies, I mean, “the correlation is really showing the possibility of a causal connection, but the direction or even the variable is not yet determined.”)  Either way, the band is really making a name for itself!  I’m extremely happy that one of my favorite bands is really moving forward in the music industry!

Lana Del Rey “Diet Mtn Dew”

There are many reasons I like “Diet Mtn Dew” by Lana Del Rey.  First of all, the sound is a mixture of Sneaker Pimps’s trip-hop style, Sia‘s fullness, and Mozella‘s soul.

Another reason I like this song is that it mentions NYC.  I mean, I kind of have a soft spot for New York.  However, that aspect of my listening habits is for another blog post.

Anyway, “Diet Mtn Dew” is one of those songs you can play during a lazy Sunday afternoon while lounging on your couch with the window open a few inches to let the white linen curtains softly flutter.  It’s relaxing.  Just keep your tea next to you on the coffee table.  Yes, that mod Ethan Allen coffee table.  You’re just sitting there in your Banana Republic blouse that’s a shade between soft yellow and barely green.  Lips parted slightly like you’re Scarlett Johansson.

That’s how you listen to this song.

http://www.myspace.com/lizzygrant

Here is a Youtube video for the song.  I’d rather link you guys directly to Lana Del Rey’s site for music.  However, I’m not sure if her Myspace page has “Diet Mtn Dew” because the music player is not showing up completely.

Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt

When you hear “[ride friendship.],” you will think “it is like Broken Social Scene but on coke. Yes, that is exactly what you will think because I am you, and you are me.

If you listen to them, you will realize that the previous paragraphs is 99% perfect, with the missing 1% attributed to the fact that the second sentence is actually a run on.

Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt is one of those bands that you cannot, should not, must not feel content with only listening to on the radio/computer/Myspace/etc. You have to go to their shows to get the full effect.

What are you missing out on by just listening to them while sitting at home or in your car?

The light up snow men.  The Christmas lights.  The box of costumes.  The sax player in a kangaroo suit.  The huge blanket lined with lights used to envelope the crowd as it is told to belt “YOU MAKE MY HEART EXPLODE!”

THE PARTICIPATION.

If Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt were a mass media/communications term, they would be actually be a sentence that involved “convergence,” “participatory culture,” “synergy,” and “web 2.0.”  They really change concert-going from a technically passive internalizing of a music event to a forty-five minute indoctrination into the new style of fan involvement.

The singer does not even stand on stage.  In fact, he is in the crowd actually telling everyone to come closer, to leave no empty space between itself and the adventure.

Click here to start your road to a complete experience of them.

P.S. How could you NOT want to see a band with “Pigeon”  and “Dance” in their name?

P.P.S. Can I have my media studies degree now, please?

Mr. Little Jeans – “Faking Gold”

What I first noticed about “Faking Gold” by Mr. Little Jeans is the singer’s sensual, smooth voice.  It’s not “sensual” and “smooth” in a soul way but in an electropop Goldfrapp or triphop Sneaker Pimps manner.  In fact, her music sounds like the electropop version of Kitten or The Like!  It’s as if someone took Kitten and the Like’s faster songs and added electropop beats over their lofi indie rock rhythm.

In fact, the initial twenty-five seconds of my  first listen made me think Mr. Little Jeans was simply an electropop musician.  The drum machine-sounding drums combined with the spacey keyboard notes and the warbley static at the thirteen second mark are very reminiscent of Goldfrapp’s style.  However, past the twenty-five second mark, a guitar riff comes in and reveals that Mr. Little Jeans blends indie rock with electropop.

It also doesn’t hurt that Mr. Little Jeans did a cover of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.”

Have your own listen at myspace.com/mrlittlejeans100

Robots in Disguise

Let me set the scene.

It was 2006.  I was 16, sitting in my living room doing homework.  My big black Sony stereo with the two feet tall box speakers that started everything (Music Starved, BoxSpeaker, my interest in my internship, my hours of searching for and listening to music online, my changing of plans for flights back to LA to accommodate bands’ concerts, probably even the whole point of who I am today) was playing tuned into either Indie 103.1 or KXLU 88.9 (these details escape me, but judging from the lack of static, it was most likely Indie).

Anyway, there I was sitting doing homework when an amazing song came on, sending its electronic beats through the speakers to my ears.  I immediately pushed the red dot button on the stereo that meant “Record” to capture that magic on cassette.  Later, I tried to type in the lyrics that I could hear to find out the song title and band.  However, for some reason I kept getting death metal bands.   It must have been because of the “Do or die” part.  It was kind of hard to get any other lyrics because the section I was able to record was mostly in French.  Anyway, after much searching, I finally found out that the song I heard was “DIY” by Robots in Disguise.

Now, if you know me personally, you’ll be aware of my love of robots and electropop.  The girl duo that is Robots in Disguise bridged my two loves of robots and electropop to make a mellow track that really shows its ambient European electronica influence.

Fast forward to today when they are working on their fourth album and have songs that exhibit a riot grrl feel such as “We’re in the Music Biz.”  This band is versatile and fun!

Check them out here: myspace.com/robotsindisguise and robotsindisguise.co.uk