Minds On Music

very hot take:

What a tough one. Kanye is one of the few artists that are impervious to hot takes. I could say he’s more important than Michael Jackson OR that he’s wild overrated. Either way I’m in the right.

To be clear, he is the most important artist of our lifetime. 

favorite black + white photo:

favorite song:

*Jay-Z voice* Yo fuck you, Ryo, first and foremost. For making me do this shit. Muh'fucker.

This really has to break down into a top 3 because Kanye’s career is storied. My favorite three are a chronological redemption tale told in three acts. In it, our hero is weighed down by his own ambition and overcomes his obstacles despite himself. He even finds love at the end.

“Can’t Tell Me Nothing”

“Runaway”

“Bound 2″

least favorite song:

I’m just going to say it once: We really didn’t need “Drunk and Hot Girls.”

have i ever seen them live:

When the Yeezus tour dates were announced I saw that Seattle was the opening date and knew I had to be there. 

I almost saw him once before back in, like, 2006 when my friend (now girlfriend) tried to persuade me to catch his set at Bumbershoot but I wasn’t interested. Yung Cam was an idiot.

favorite band member:

dream collaboration:

I would love to hear Yeezus team up with Zuse.

how many of their albums i have:

All hotel room bibles should be replaced with Kanye West’s discography.

I have them all, mostly on CDs. 

best merch:

It’s hard to pick from the entire Yeezus collection because it’s been out for like two years and it’s still hot. I love this sweatshirt because it promotes a major performance that a ton of people petitioned against but happened anyway and was transcendent. 

favorite album:

A valid argument can be made for each one but today it’s Late Registration.

minion(s):

very hot take:

Talking Heads were the Hot Chip of their time.

favorite black + white photo:

favorite song:

I’m partial to “As She Was” because it’s the first song on the first LP of their’s I listened to in its entirety. I know it’s a big sloppy obvious fan fav but I’m only human, you know?

least favorite song:

Honestly, I’m not familiar enough with their discography to make this decision so I’m just going to pick one at random.

“Take Me To The River” is, by far, their worst song. It’s like, c’mon guys. What are you doing? smdh

have i ever seen them live:

I have NOT.

favorite band member:

I know David Byrne is the Justin Timberlake of the group but I’m throwing a curve-ball (my specialty) and going with Tina Weymouth. She was in Talking Heads AND Gorillaz! Very fire and classic career.

dream collaboration:

Courtney Barnett.

how many of their albums i have:

I have Little Creatures on vinyl and a few others in my iTunes. 

best merch:

I like the simplicity of this lil’ guy.

favorite album:

Gotta go with Little Creatures because it’s the soundtrack of polo shirts tucked into khakis. 

minion(s):

Just The Tape is a great new project where people can submit themed mixtapes about anything at all. Country and rap? Hell yeah. Twenty-something ennui? Of course. 

The site launched last night and I was fortunate enough to be part of the first round of tapes. Mine is about where Dad Rock is headed in the next decade or so, and I haven’t been this pleased with a piece of my own writing since I waxed poetic about St. Vincent artwork earlier this year.

Alvvays - Alvvays

Ariana Grande - My Everything

The Bug - Angels & Devils

Caribou - Our Love

DJ Dodger Stadium - Friends of Mine

Falty DL - In the Wild

Joyce Manor - Never Hungover Again

Jenny Lewis - The Voyager

The Juan MacLean - In a Dream

Museum of Love - Museum of Love

Rustie - The Green Language

Young Thug & Metro Boomin’ - Metro Thuggin’

I wrote my first longform article about St. Vincent’s album artwork for Unrecorded. Click-through the image to read it. I recommend sitting down with a hot cup of coffee and a snack. 

Platter Chatter

Welcome to the first entry of our newest column, Platter Chatter, devoted to noteworthy and exciting physical music releases. 

Yesterday I bought the excellent new TacocaT album, NVM, from Sonic Boom in Ballard, Washington. I was actually planning to buy it since last week, when I first heard the album and the sun came out for the first time in Seattle since 2014. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the packaging of the album, though. The liner notes are packed with notes and jokes from the band, and they made the executive decision to forego having a Side A and B in order to have a Side Gumball and Glitter, respectively.

But the vinyl itself, a vibrant bubblegum pink, added a lot to the experience. If you’re a fan of summery garage rock/pop punk (self-described “equal parts Kurt and Courtney”), head over to Hardly Art’s webstore and grab a copy of this album. 

I wrote my first longform article about St. Vincent’s album artwork for Unrecorded. Click-through the image to read it. I recommend sitting down with a hot cup of coffee and a snack. 

Françoise Hardy - Le temps de l’amour

I know little of the French language. In fact, the only bit that’s stuck with me is a line from a Muzzy commercial I was exposed to as a child, which I would later proudly exclaim to French speakers only to find out that I was saying “I am a little girl” the whole time.

Personal mortification aside, and onto the task at hand, I can confidently say I know even less about Françoise Hardy than I do about French. I came across a reissuing of a self-titled compilation one afternoon and found her music to be pleasant enough. From this particular reissue, I’ve selected “Le temps de l’amour”.

Compared to the rest of what I’ve heard from Hardy’s songbook, “Le temps de l’amour” is unusually modern. Her other songs are dated, like a Sinatra collection. But here, the bassline is omnipotent and the wiry guitar strums with an indignantly surf-rock ‘tude. In the first few seconds the percussion sounds warlike.

What I can gather from the title is that Hardy is addressing her love, maybe saying they are her love or she is their love, but is forceful about it. As if Hardy pulls up on a cream colored moped and nonchalantly presses you for a cigarette. She’s not asking, she’s telling. Françoise is on her worst behavio(u)r right now and she’s the only one aware of it. She’s Thelma and Louise.

Hardy is enigmatic to you. She’s reminiscing about memories you haven’t even created yet. Her voice is calm warmth. You ask her to repeat herself a few times.

There is charm to Hardy that’s elusive at first but slowly becomes more evident. She’s eye-rolling to the fact that she’s singing about love in the language of love to her love. The moment everything starts to make sense Hardy is over this bullshit. She stomps on the cigarette butt and glides away.

I know, I know another dumb list to throw on the ever-growing mound of dumb lists. I’m sorry.

But this past year I worked an office job where I was able to stream music for practically 40 hours per week, giving me ample time to explore and connect with more music than ever before. I want to share my findings, not in an unquantifiable list of “Bests,” but just what I returned to most of the time.

So, in one fell swoop, here are my favorite releases  - albums, EPs, mixtapes - from this past year. Thank you for reading.

The MWC’s Favorite Artworks of 2013

Contest: Win Listen Before You Buy’s Top 31 Albums Of 2013!

St. Vincent announced her new album today and, while I am completely beside myself with excitement about the prospect of new material from Annie Clark, I must admit her promotional image is making February feel so much farther away. 

I was drawn to the vibrancy of her first three albums and her lyrical creativity, but her last solo release was the “Krokodil” 7”, which was unrelentingly heavy by comparison. I’ve been essentially wondering if that will carry into her next album for the last year and a half, and this photograph confirms a cool aversion to the floating potpourri of sounds she’s recorded in the past. 

We’re over the halfway point, y’all. To celebrate, we’ve added a limited amount of the Unrecorded Compilation for $7 (over 50% off!).

The compilation includes tracks donated by the following artists, some of which are rare or unreleased:

Keep Shelly in Athens 

Postiljonen

Baby Alpaca

Pure Bathing Culture

Joywave

WILSEN

Freddie Dickson

South of France

Xander the Great

Beat Club

Badboxes

KOPPS

FI/SHE/S

The Miracals

LA Font

Lincoln Jesser

Battle Lines

Cruiser

Doe Paoro

Ang Low

Greyjoy