The Nose Knows

So, the second half of 2012 starts kinda like this...



This may come as some surprise, but I have a very deep weakness for Spanish guitar-type virtuosity. Love that shit. It will totally get you into my panties. NOT THAT I'M WEARING ANY WINK-WINK RAWR! But yeah, love that stuff. So here's some from Brazilian string-strummer Bola Sete, whom I am to understand is one of the best... and Dizzy Gillespie, Vince Guaraldi and Carlos Santana all agreed. Or they just worked with him because he smelled good... that's important, too. But I'm pretty sure it was for the guitar skills... so let's check 'em out, shall we?

Bola Sete - Flamenco (ysi)

Yup, them some skills alright... and if you listen reallllllly closely, you can hear someone in the audience say "Oh, he smells like a delicate flower in the morning dew." Dude had it goin' on...

Blog-achella-geddon 2012!: Get Yo Mope On

Am I going all soft on ya? You be the judge...

I was gonna do a post on Explosions In The Sky, as I like 'em well enough... but I find the post I did on them back in '07 to be hee-larious and you should just read that. Because I KILL ME!

(Slaps knee repeatedly)

Then we have the musical turd burgler known as Afrojack. This video tells you everything you need to know about this assclown...



Yep. Nailed it. Those are all real songs, btw... Just fucktastic shittery, wouldn't you agree?

But hey, I'm sure there are people that would say the same about this next act, but 1) this isn't their blog and 2) I heard they had Herpes...

Mazzy Star



Who they are: You know who they are and you know you fuckin' love "Fade Into You" when you're feelin' all grey and moist so stop hatin', haterz.

What they sound like: You'll be surprised to hear that their new album is being produced by... Afrojack! Ok, not really... Did I get any of you on that one? Huh? Did I? No?

Mazzy Star - Lay Myself Down (ysi)

What I think: I don't think there's anything wrong with liking Mazzy Star. Hope Sandoval has a great voice so fuck off...



See what I did there? Dropped a little 120 Minutes on your ass. Boom. YOU CANNOT RESIST!

Bieber Fever and the Folktronica Flu?

Feeling a case of Bieber Fever coming on, so I'll make this snappy...



Folktronica! That's a pretty stupid made-up word right there... but damn if it isn't a very fucking good way to describe the sound of British act Tunng (the extra "n" makes it extra devil). It's folky, but at the same time very Tronica. BAM! Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself...

Tunng - Wind Up Bird (ysi)

I'm not kidding about the Bieber thing. My nose is running and my left eye is twitching uncontrollably. I know. Weird. Happens when he's in the building. And if you have no idea why Justin Bieber would be in the same building as me... good.

Hey, remember this?

Well, do ya?



Remember Beth Orton? She was pretty cool, right? She started her career by boinking William Orbit, which led to appearances on a couple of his Strange Cargo albums and work with The Chemical Brothers, which made her the hip folk-tronica girl of the late '90s... and then she followed that up with a string of albums that maybe we're quite as electronic as you'd hoped but were still some nice acoustic singer/songwriter stuff with a little bit of synthy goodness. Nice husky voice, too. Remember her? Here's one she first did on the Strange Cargo Hinterland album, then came out with this stripped down version on her own debut record...

(DMCA'd? Really? F to the O.)

Remember that one? Huh?

Wish I had a better running joke for today's post? (You don't have to answer that one, I think we all know what you'll say...)

Music to not do a hell of a lot to

Time to slow it down with some soothing sounds. You are listening to Smooooooooth 102 on your AM dial...



... but I kid. Although this is definitely about as far away from yesterday's tune as you can get. I mean, there's even an accordion and shit. It's new on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood imprint and it's called Half Seas Over. Elan Mehler is a Jazz pianist and Adam McBride Smith is the dreaded "singer-songwriter", and a countrified one at that. Doesn't sound terribly promising, but somehow they make it work quite nicely. Basically you got some acoustic instrumentation, a dude that kinda sounds a little like James Taylor, and some Soul Jazz underpinnings to give it a little extra spice. And did I mention it has some accordion?

Half Seas Over - Sad Mona (ysi)

A bit easy listening, but that's what a Sunday morning (to give you one recommended usage) is for. Back to buzzin' synths and slammin' beats tomorrow... :P

The return of the good-good

All righty, then! Blog-achella is completed, and we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming... which around here is nothing but great music. And I'm gonna begin the return to normalcy with a song I've been dying to share here since Raul Campos dropped it on his show a couple weeks ago...



Thief is a collaboration between a singer/songwriter dude and a couple of the bros from Jazzanova. Now, the cats at Sonar Kollektiv have taken to calling it Nu-Folk, a term I will admit I'm not too comfortable with... cuz, ya know Folk="Kumbaya" and shit... campfires... hippies... (shivers down spine)... so, lets agree not to call it that, and just call it an incredible song...

Thief - Sunchild (ysi)

Just makes ya all warm and fuzzy, don't it? Aw, crap... hippie term! (more shivers)

Blog-achella 08: Feelin' kinda beardy

Because beards are for strokin', yo!

Akron/Family



Who they are: I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say, without doing any research whatsoever, that they are a bunch of dirty hippies.

What they sound like: I think it's most easily summed up as music to kill yourself to veerrrrrrrrrrrry mellow folk.

Akron/Family - Italy (ysi)

What I think: This type of music certainly has it's place, I suppose... I'm seeing some kind of extremely depressing weinie roast under a freeway offramp, but maybe that's just me... it's not exactly what I'm going to Coachella before. Besides, as I've said before, this type of super-quiet stuff tends to get pwned! by the boompboompboomp coming out of the Sahara Tent or by the rawwrararawwwr from the guitars on the Main Stage...

Blog-achella 08: How the heck do you pronounce that?

Don't be scurred, folks, we've got a good one here...

Yoav



Who he is: Singer-songwriter dude from more-or-less all over the world, and I'm sure the ladies (and the gays) will find him quite "dreamy".

What he sounds like: Don't let the singer/songwriter tag and the somewhat moody looking, acoustic-guitar cradling picture scare you... this guy is actually pretty damn cool. Why? 'Cuz he's got a multi-effect pedal and he's not afraid to use it!

Yoav - Club Thing (ysi)

What I think: Yep, all the sounds you heard were made with the acoustic guitar, effected and looped, and homie does it live...



... I'm a sucker for this kind of thing, especially when there's decent songwriting skillz involved, which this guy has. My completely unexpected wanna-see act of the day!

Blog-achella 08: The Oscars rock Coachella... softly...

Okay, I said I watched the Oscars last night... I didn't say anything about paying attention. I didn't even realize that the next Blog-achella act, like, won one. How's that for wacky timing?

The Swell Season



Who they are: The singer from Irish band The Frames and his 19-year-old Czech sex muffin. Nice.

What they sound like: Reaaaaaaalllyy mellow, acoustic and folky. And Oscar-winning! They now have something in common with Juicy J!

The Swell Season - Falling Slowly (ysi)

What I think: It's purdy and all, but trying to see an act that plays music this quiet at Coachella is almost always an act of complete frustration. You either get drowned out by the rawk comin' from the big stage, the boom-boom-boom from the Sahara tent, or the annoying high people who won't just, you know, shut the fuck up for five seconds... so keep that caveat in mind, sucka.

Blog-achella 08: Time to jam, bra!

I think these guys might be on the bill so Jack Johnson has someone to play hacky-sack with...

John Butler Trio



Who they are: Yet another Australian band (although Mr. Butler was born in Cali). Last year it was the Canucks, this year it's the Aussies.

What they sound like: Jam band alert! Lock up your patchouli and/or your bong! 'Cause that shit's gonna get totally bogarted!

John Butler Trio - Better Than (ysi)

What I think: While certainly nothing special, I'll take these guys over the last couple acts any day. As much this is music for dirty, dirty hippies, I can't totally hate on it. (Full disclosure: I totally dug the Spin Doctors when I was in college... hate me!) But maybe I'm defending this because the hipsters are so quick to hate on it, and quite frankly the hip-sters may be an even more pathetic group of losers than the hip-pies (italics added to emphasize cleverness). Discuss...

Let's get cute

Seems to me that Blogger was being all weird yesterday... I'm not sure that the Tuesday post came up properly, so I reposted this morning. It's about Aphex Twin, so scroll down and read that one too if you missed it...



But today's band is far more cute and cuddly than ol' Dick James. They are called Psapp, they are a boy-girl group from the UK and as their website says, they make "little songs with noises poking out". Strangely enough, that's a pretty good description of their sound. Psapp songs are full of boings and squeaks and honks... they like to use toy instruments along with their acoustics and electronics. It would all border on being unsufferably twee if it wasn't so damn catchy and subtly funky. I mean, I first heard them via Gilles Peterson, so there you have it. This song is probably one of their most straightforward, but still has a solid quirky factor...

Psapp - Eating Spiders

Now Wikipedia tells me that the show Grey's Anatomy uses Psapp for their theme song, which still doesn't make me want to watch that piece of crap, but it's nice to know that these good folks are making a little dough.

And since I'm a sucker for cool animated videos, here's "About Fun"...



I figured I owed you some cuteness after "Windowlicker"... :P

Blog-achella '07 - Rufus Wainwright (Fri.) / Gillian Welch (Fri.)

I hope you're wearing clean underwear today, because Coachella is about to rock your pants off!!!

Okay, not really.

Rufus Wainwright

Who he is: Sensitive Canadian-American singer/songwriter... so that means he gets both a hyphen and a slash, which is a lot of damn punctuation.

What he sounds like: I would like to see the Canadian side come out more, and hear beautiful odes he has penned to snowshoes, Gordie Howe and the city of Moose Jaw, but alas, 'tis not to be.

Rufus Wainwright - Going To A Town

What I think: He qualifies for both Canuck-achella AND MellowChella, so how's about that! Bonus points for being a white guy named Rufus.

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Gillian Welch

Who she is: Folk singer gal from Nashville. Plays a mean banjo. Needs better publicity photos.

What she sounds like: Makes our boy Rufus sound like Megadeth.

Gillian Welch - Revelator

What I think: Very nice voice, but seriously... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... not that I have anything against quiet, mellow music, but seriously, MellowChella is just out of control. I'm pretty sure you could go the entire weekend without seeing an act capable of getting your heart rate over 80. Unless you're fat. 'Cuz then the heat and all the walking will make your heart explode. You ever seen a fat person at Coachella? Me neither.

Tomorrow, we finish!

Blog-achella '07 - Damien Rice (Sun.) / Rodrigo Y Gabriela (Sun.)

Acoustic guitars... they can be all soft and sensitive, or they can rock like heavy metal. Don't believe me? You will...

Damien Rice

Who he is: A sensitive, acoustic-type Irishman... meaning he's sensitive and acoustic until he's had a few pints of Guinness, then he smashes his acoustic over yer sensitive skull.

What he sounds like: I've had a couple of pints of Guinness too, so just listen to the dang song already, before I knock yer feckin' teeth in :P

Damien Rice - 9 Crimes

What I think: Hmm, actually the best part of that song is when the girl is singing. She's Lisa Hannigan, his full time collaborator. Of course, he apparently just fired her and she won't be at Coachella. What a cack. That said, I don't mind his his voice too much either, but Coachella + Acoustic = "I can't hear this dude over the bass coming from the Sahara Tent!"... you know this to be true!

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Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Who they are: Two guitarists who met in a Mexican heavy metal band, and then naturally found fame playing acoustic guitar in Ireland. Like always... sheesh... how many more times do I have to hear a story like that?

What they sound like: Like the raddest Spanish guitar you ever heard informed by modern rhythms, which they somehow manage to tap out on the guitar body while simultanaeously shredding the fuck outta their strings. If habanero peppers had a theme song, it would be this...

Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Diablo Rojo

What I think: I absolutely cannot get enough of this. There is great music and then there is instrumental virtuosity... and these kids fall into the latter. Well, both actually... but you get my point ;)

Blog-achella '07 - Nickel Creek (Fri.) / The Nightwatchman (Sat.)

Blog-achella, being the public service that it is, sometimes makes it necessary for me to post music that I wouldn't normally give a rat's ass about. But I do it for the children. We must always think of the children!

Nickel Creek

Who they are: Strangely enough, they hail from Carlsbad, CA...

What they sound like: ... a place I would necessarily identify with acoustic country bluegrass pickin' and grinnin'.

Nickel Creek - When In Rome

What I think: Okay, we get it... the tie-in from Stagecoach. Willie Nelson is one thing, but it's getting kind of silly. Next!

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The Nightwatchman

Who he is: Tom Morello, with a lame alias.

What he sounds like: A bad Johnny Cash impression. Amazingly (me being such an interwebs ninja and all) I couldn't find a single mp3 anywhere to share with you. But the YouTubes came through for me.



What I think:

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Okay, phew... that's done. But that just doesn't seem to be enough for a Friday. You deserve some bonus content... so... Super Mario Brothers!!!!!





Have an awesome weekend. With March Madness and St. Paddy's Day going on at the same time, here's a link that should come in handy on Monday. ;)

Blog-achella '07 - Grizzly Bear (Sun.) / David Guetta (Fri.)

Yesterday's groups were so much better... sigh...

Grizzly Bear

Who they are: A very large carniverous quadrup -- okay, okay they're a band from Brooklyn. 4 guys. And I'm pretty sure there are beards involved.

What they sound like: Very mellow and acoustic. Again! Seriously, if you wanna spend this entire Coachella like, layin' on yer back, lookin' up at the sky and/or the stars and just, you know, BEIN', man... while sensitive, bearded men play sensitive bearded songs, you will have absolutely no problemo. Well, unless someone accidentally steps on your face, that is. Man, do I hate people who lay on the ground at Coachella when it's night and it's dark and my eyes can't see straight anyway... and then I trip over 'em and they look all pissed at ME? Hello, I'm not the dumbass lying on the ground IN THE DARK WITH 60,000 PEOPLE STUMBLING AROUND WASTED OUT OF THEIR MINDS!!! DUMBASS!!! Ahhhhh, that felt good to get out...

Grizzly Bear - Knife

What I think: Huh? What? Sorry, I nodded off there... not bad home listening, though.

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David Guetta

Who he is: A French house DJ, but not of the robot variety, rather of the well... do I have to say it? I mean, look at the picture...

What he sounds like: No, seriously, look at the picture. This dude makes BT look street, and that, my friends, is no easy feat.

David Guetta - The World Is Mine

What I think: See? Told ya. He's so cheesy, he's in cahoots with Oakenfold, and need I say more? Seriously though, between him, and Benassi and Tiesto and Van Dyk, yuck... the Sahara tent is going to be the suck a large portion of the time.

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And finally, check out my music page for another new tune, called Eboa. Kind of a tracky tech-house thing... fo da dancfloor, yo!!! (whatever)

Blog-achella '07 - Gogol Bordello (Fri.) / Jose Gonzalez (Sun.)

To mosh or not to mosh, that is the question...

Gogol Bordello

Who they are: A bunch of Eastern European types from New York City with funny clothes who named their band after a gay Ukrainian writer from the early 19th century.

What they sound like: They call it "Gypsy Punk"... it's loud and shouty and has accordions and violins and um...

Gogol Bordello - Not A Crime

What I think: Um, err... I don't get it. It's like a mosh-pit broke out in Borat's village or something... oh, wait, no... they like country there...

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Jose Gonzalez

Who he is: Argentine dude who grew up in Sweden, got acoustic guitar, rocked softly, did many cover songs and starred on the latest Zero 7 album.

What he sounds like: I'm not making fun here, I promise, but don't you hear a liiiiiiittle bit of Christopher Cross in his voice? Or is it just me?

Jose Gonzalez - Crosses

What I think: Come on, now... just a little, if you listen real hard? No? Anyhoo, dude is cool in my book, although there will be no mosh pits here, unless people are being, like, super ironic.

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Oh, and despite the fact that I work on one of the offending "celebrity news" shows, I just really wish people would leave Britney the fuck alone. I'm somewhat embarrassed to be even a small, unwilling part of the media's stalking of the poor girl. Who's with me on this?

Have a great weekend, kids.