Psychedelic music has always seemed both outdated and futuristic. I don’t know what it is about the subgenre but it doesn’t seem to fit in as well as other genres do. But I guess that’s why it is so attractive to who it is attractive to. It’s not an outcast genre but it definitely divides while quickly bringing together those who appreciate it. Whatever the case, psychedelia-tinged music doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere anytime soon because at least Crystal Stilts will be keeping it well and alive. 

Crystal Stilts hail from New York, New York where they were formed in 2003 by vocalist Brad Hargett and guitarist JB Townsend. Around 2008, they added three more members in the  form of keyboardist Kyle Forester, bassist Andy Adler, and drummer Keegan Cooke. They released their debut LP, Alight of Night, in 2008 and have been psyching people out ever since. 

This album is just strange and it certainly ain’t for your friends who are partial to the mainstream because it’s everything but mainstream. Crystal Stilts works by creating echoic surf-type rock (though I wouldn’t outrightly call it surfer rock), which wavers and sparkles. Then they add Brad Hargrett’s completely amelodic and difficult to distinguish vocals over their wavering/sparkling sound and the results are truly psychedelic. Overall the band commits less to melodies and more to moods. The mood is fazed out and barely attentive. Crystal Stilt’s music floats along rather lazily even when they turn up the energy a bit. It’s all very lazy summer afternoon music. 

Crystal Stilts have since released a sophomore album, In Love with Oblivion, and from what I’ve heard they actually turn up the energy on that in a very significant way. So if you’re not quite into Alight of Night don’t give up on them because they’re a fantastic band even if they’re not for everybody. 

spotify link

THE SOUND: post punk, noise pop, use of hand bells, male vocalist with a low range and barely distinguishable voice, amelodic vocals, use of standard rock instrumentation, elements of surf rock, elements of psychedelia and dream pop, lazy summer music. Album lasts 37 minutes. 

Tracklisting:

1. The Dazzled
2. Crystal Stilts
3. Graveyard Orbit
4. Prismatic Room
5. The Sinking
6. Departure
7. Shattered Shine
8. Verdant Gaze
9. Bright Night
10. Spiral Transit
11. The City In the Sea

Today has been a busy day and I’m featuring an incredibly short EP (only four original songs) but what if I told you the album’s 20 or so minutes might be the best ones of your day so far? You’d like that, right?! Sweet because I think I’m in love with Woodkid. 

Woodkid is the stage name of music video director Yoann Lemoine. Though he works with a lot of Americans, Lemoine actually hails from France. Over the past 3 years, Lemoine has made quite a name for himself by directing music videos like Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream”, Lana Del Rey’s “Born to Die”, and Drake’s “Take Care”. His view is very elegant, epic, and wide in scope. There are many slow widening shots, slow focusing shots, and his mood behind the camera is slow in general but like I said, it’s so elegant. 

It’s no surprise that the way he visualizes things would become a part of the way he makes his music. Iron is very regal and Lemoine utilizes brass sections, grand pianos, string sections and the results are small and easy to digest pieces that sound like excerpts from Sufjan Steven’s “All Delighted People”. The eponymous “Iron” begins the album with a sort of war cry. At first it’s hard to tell if Lemoine is completely singing in English but it’s not disorienting as much as it is lilting and entrancing. In fact, he only sings in English. “Brooklyn” is much more reserved and turns out to be an acoustic treatise on just how in love Lemoine is with the city. “Baltimore’s Fireflies” reminds me of a song from Amélie except with words. Those words are stumbled over as Lemoine struggles to accept a break up. The cello ties in with the piano and horns and it’s almost hard to swallow the sadness of this song. Finally there is “Wasteland”, which is very French as it jaunts along. Here Lemoine’s accent is the heaviest and it’s 10x more comforting than it is at all irksome. 

At the center of Iron is the most overwhelming worry and melancholy with just a sprinkle of hope.  When it comes down to it Woodkid’s music is beyond beautiful. His vision is so pure and whatever world he lives in must have been gorgeous before the encroaching darkness came upon it. Indeed, this album is so poetic it might make you poetic. 

p.S. The remixes are both fantastic. 

spotify link

THE SOUND: experimental, use of a variety of instruments, use of world percussion instruments, use of brass instruments, male vocalist with a low range, use of acoustic guitar, use of stringed instruments (especially the cello), mixture of simplicity and complexity. Album lasts 24 minutes. 

Tracklisting:

1. Iron
2. Brooklyn
3. Baltimore’s Fireflies
4. Wasteland
5. Iron (Mystery Jets Remix)
6. Iron (Gucci Vamp Remix)

I was going to write a really thoughtful paragraph about how folk music is America’s way of expressing a history that may be short but is as rich as the histories of other nations. Then Spotify interrupted my Joan Baez-listening to advertise a workout mix using Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” as the background music. So I’m starting my morning off with a small tragedy haha It was terrible you guys!

Anyways, on to Ms. Joan Baez. Joan Baez is among one of the greatest singer-songwriters and social activists of the last 50 years. Baez came to prominence in the early 1960s as a veritable “Queen of Folk”. At the tender age of 19 she released her debut album, Joan Baez, and within 2 years she had three Gold albums. Though Baez wrote her own original songs she was most famous for her interpretation of folk songs from Spanish, English, and American culture. In many ways, Baez catalogued and re-popularized music that wasn’t written by composers or producers but normal people and I think that speaks to how deeply intertwined her career is with social justice causes as well. 

This album is very Julie London. I know, Ms. London, was a blues and jazz singer. However, Julie London and Joan Baez are similar in just how little instrumentation they use in their music and how dependent they are on using their voice as more than a vehicle for words but as an instrument in and of itself. This album is instrumentally bare with no percussion and the use of only two acoustic guitars. Those guitars were complemented by Baez’s pure, almost operatic soprano vocal range. By manipulating her voice’s vibrato she instrumentalizes it (yeah, I definitely made up that word). Half of the fascination with this album wasn’t just the heart-breaking/nostalgia-invoking folk music but the sense of wonder Baez created simply through her voice. 

Trust me, every folk singer that you like today was influenced by Joan Baez. Fleet Foxes, The Wailin’ Jennys, Cotton Jones, etc. She defined the genre and as I always say…start at the beginning! Enjoy!

spotify link

THE SOUND:  folk music, female vocalist with a soprano range and strong vibrato, use of guitars only, use of finger-picking guitar technique, traditional songs, Spanish folk songs, English folk songs, American folk songs. Album lasts 46 minutes. 

Tracklisting:

1. Silver Dagger
2. East Virginia
3. Fare Thee Well (10,000 Miles)
4. House of the Rising Sun
5. All My Trials
6. Wildwood Flowers
7. Donna Donna 
8. John Riley
9. Rake and Rambling Boy
10. Little Moses
11. Mary Hamilton
12. Henry Martin
13. El Preso Numero Nueve
14. Girl of Constant Sorrow
15. I Know You Rider
16. John Riley (Extended Version)

We are halfway through the week! I hope those of you in school are having a great day (to be further improved by some great music) and that the rest of you bums are out of bed! As I type this from my own bed, I’m reminded of just how little time I have left before the hard work begins. In less than two weeks I’ll be attending my first day of graduate school at NYU! It’s a lot to take in but if I want to write about music professionally then I believe journalism school is the one of the best places to get started. In any case, when I’m not “journalism-schooling” I’m still writing for this blog! So, to the post!

First, a huge thank you to lehotshit for introducing me to Frost. You guys should follow them! Frost is a Norwegian band that formed in 1997. Originally the lineup consisted of vocalist Aggie Peterson and DJ Rune Lindbæk. Rune departed two years later when Peterson began working with artist/electronic musician Per Martinsen. In fact, two of Frost’s three albums are the work of Peterson and Martinson so at this point it’s safe to say that’s the more official lineup. Love! Revolution! is the band’s most recent album, so let’s give it a spin. 

Frost is noted for their atmospheric brand of electropop, which they themselves have referred to as “upbeat space-pop”. It’s a very accurate description! This LP is a combination of thumping bass lines, ricocheting synth lines, movie-inspired but non-kitschy space sounds, and the sweet vocalizations of Aggie Peterson. It’s an interesting mix but it undoubtedly works on the dancefloor. There is the slightest hint of 90s inspired electronica to be found in between the lines and only someone who had been incredibly obsessed with Ace of Base as a child (yours truly) could pick up on it. Frost’s music harkens back to the era of positive, saccharine electronic music of the past that we’ve forgotten (though there’s a little darkness to be found) and it’s that quality that makes their music so attractive. 

If you like what you hear, you’re in luck! Frost will be releasing their highly-anticipated fourth studio album, Radiomagnetic, on September 17th and I think we’re going to see a completely different side of this band. I’m hoping they’ll unleash the dark side they only hint at on Love! Revolution!. All the pieces are there, they just need to be assembled carefully. In the meantime give, this album a spin. It’s the most natural kind of pick-me up!

spotify link

THE SOUND: electronic music, heavy music, upbeat music, lyrics that tell a story, female vocalist with a medium to high range, dance music, positive music, love as a theme, similar to Goldfrapp, use of backup vocalists, use of synthesizers, ambient music, somewhat reminiscent of 90s dance music, space-pop, subtle influence of hip-hop. Album lasts 50 minutes. 

Tracklisting:

1. Intro 
2. Modesty
3. Free Your Heart
4. Spare Some Time
5. Sleepwalker
6. Easy 
7. One Hundred Years
8. Messages
9. Shift Your Weight
10. Days Like This
11. Train Stop
12. Follow

Happy New Music Tuesday, everyone! The most valuable day in the music industry is Tuesday and somewhere something amazing is being released whether we’re aware of it or not. Pretty exciting, right?! However, I’m not focusing on anyone new today. In fact, Emily Wells has been performing for 13 years! I first heard her on Pandora my freshman year of college and became obsessed with “Mt. Washington”. To this day it can instantly take me back to my weekly walks across a nearly empty campus to my stat lab on a fall afternoon. 

Emily Wells is a noted multi-instrumentalist. She began playing the violin at age 4 and since then has picked up the glockenspiel, analog synthesizers, guitar, banjo, and toy piano. Her music also employs studio/live musicians on drums but for the most part she’s doing it all. Throughout her career, Ms. Wells has been a self-starter. She doesn’t use pre-recorded loops on stage because she prefers to create them live. Additionally, she began self-releasing albums at age 13 and of her nine albums and EPs only three have been professionally released. It’s really quite inspiring how hard she works!

The brand of folk music presented on Beautiful Sleepyhead and the Laughing Yaks is different from your run-of-the-mill folk. While Wells employs all the instruments we’ve come to expect with this genre she also brings her own quirky and dramatic flair to the table. She employs gorgeous, heartbreaking string arrangements that bring a tear to the eye and delicate hand bells to make her music bright and warm. What’s more, Emily Wells really has a way with words. Her lyrical imagery is incredibly strong and memorable. Beautiful Sleepyhead is a wonderfully-spun treatise on love and death and every good music collection needs that type of album. 

To those of you who become enamored with this album it’s not currently available on Spotify but it can be found on iTunes…or through other means. However, Ms. Wells’ newest album, Mama, is on Spotify if you’d rather start there. In other news, next New Music Tuesday will see the release of Wild Nothing’s new album Nocturne and I couldn’t be more excited!!!! For now let us ply ourselves on the not-so-oldies until a new batch of fresh music comes in. 

iTunes link

THE SOUND: folk, abstract folk, somewhat dark lyrics, female vocalist with a medium to high range and a shaky voice, use of stringed instruments, use of guitar, use of strong but simple percussion, lyrics that tell a story, romantic lyrics, elements of electronica,  death as a theme, love as a theme, somewhat influenced by the blues, philosophical lyrics. Album lasts 51 minutes. 

Tracklisting:

1. Mt. Washington
2. 50 Year Love Affair
3. Fountain of Youth
4. Waltz of the Dearly Beloved
5. Big Love Lullaby
6. Actions Debut Rendezvous
7. Supermarket
8. This Momar
9. Oh My God I Miss You
10. The Laughing Yaks
11. My Tin Car
12. View From a Blind Eye
13. 1000 Year War
14. Dr. Hubris and his Vile of Tur