get motivated!

I don't believe that it's February for several reasons, including but not limited to the unseasonably warm weather/lack of snow, and also the feeling that it "can't possibly be February already!" But somehow it is February, and all the summer wedding related paraphernalia has started to trickle in which is just a little scary (so! many! weddings!). I have a few friends who have been applying/interviewing for new jobs, or just generally in need of a little kick in the pants to keep them going all week. And so, I made them this fairly cheesy mix to push them forwards. A lot of it also literally moves me forward, because half of these songs are on my running mix! Enjoy the (more than) 8tracks below:

cheesy motivational music from thewarehousedream on 8tracks.

the king of carrot flowers, himself

Jeff Mangum held a captive audience at BAM last Friday night. Unlike some other shows I had attended there, no one rushed into the aisles on the main floor or crowded the stage. Everyone remained seated, focused, faced forward to hear every note and see every strum of his guitar. About 1/3 of the way through the set he broke the fourth wall to tell us that "you know, you can yell things at me!" The crowd perked up slightly, but for the most part it was still very reserved. Perhaps the location, perhaps the fact that Jeff Mangum has only recently come out of "seclusion," but the reverence in that theater could be cut with a knife. It had the potential to be a wild sing-a-long. It could have been a crazy dance party. From someone I know who went to the Saturday night show, they had more of a crowding-the-aisles type of experience. Instead, Friday was beautiful and somewhat somber.

The first section of his set was done solo, surrounded by the three guitars he was not currently playing. In this sense, it brought back memories of college and my friend who used to play Neutral Milk Hotel songs late at night on his guitar. But as things progressed, he was joined on stage by horns and accordian -- a piece of the overall sound that I had notably been missing (I wish they had accompanied during King of Carrot Flowers. I love their parts.)

I never really imagined that I would get to see Jeff Mangum play live... that's one to knock off the concert bucket list. I'm not sure if my friends loved it quite as much as I did, but I could point to the backs of a lot of heads that certainly agreed with me. They really were a crowd that looked like NMH fans / BAM patrons, ifyouknowwhatimean.

Opening for Jeff was the current Julian Koster project, The Music Tapes. Their the live act really has more of a "variety show" feeling than your typical concert set and reflects the quirky nature of what they're doing. I'm not sure that I'd recommend them...or not recommend them. It was definitely a unique experience. I'm a big fan of the 7' Tall Metronome (though, I don't understand why the arm doesn't actually keep time properly. If you're going to go to such lengths, you may as well make it be functional). You can see it in the background of the photo above.

12th night...er, day.

Twelve days into 2012, these are the things I've been amusing myself with:

...a (belated) New Year's mix:

Welcoming 2012 from thewarehousedream on 8tracks.

...anticipating the new album from my 2009 album list toppers, Fanfarlo, who have a slightly updated sound:


...and, reliving a highlight of 2011 (and possibly of my entire music-listening, concert-attending life):


Otherwise, I've sort of been hibernating and cooking a lot of things with my CSA vegetable share (still trying to find the best use for turnips... but I love this cauliflower soup!) and watching Downton Abbey and wondering when it will actually look/feel like winter around NY for more than 2 days.

Top Albums of 2011

Happy New Year! I finished writing up this list while I was home in Chicago last week, and have just been very tardy in posting it. Apologies. I would resolve to be a more regular blogger this year, but I fear that it will become a failed resolution pretty quickly, so I'm not making any promises.

After much internal struggle and debate, and attempts to not be overwhelmed/influenced by the zillion other year-end lists... here are my top 10 albums of 2011. If you had asked me 6 months ago, or even 3 months ago (3 days ago?) this list would have looked different. I can't exactly say that this was the same sort of slam-dunk, easy choice as I had last year. Essentially, my problem has been neatly summed up in an AV Club article about Good Records vs Important Albums. Way to be generally, evenly enjoyable, 2011.

10) Noah and the Whale | Last Night On Earth  - A standby ever since it came out, getting consistent plays during my subway commutes to work and appearances on various mixes.


9) The Antlers | Burst Apart  - I should call this section of the list "your last album was impressive in how it was depressing, but this one was happier and I still liked it." Not that this album is particularly joyous, but at least it isn't about watching someone die of cancer.


8) Wye Oak | Civilian  - The title track on this album is one of my favorite songs of the year, too. I listened to it constantly before realizing that I might also like/want to purchase the rest of Wye Oak. It's highly representative of the type of music that I listened to all year, and was a really great album over all.

7) Adele | 21 - Oh, here we go. Here's the depressing/breakup album. You'd think I was chronically plagued by heartache. (I'm not). Something about that process drives musicians to write songs, and sometimes those songs end up being whole albums, and on rare occasion those albums are really great. This is one of those rare times. Clearly appreciated by the music-buying population this year, I think it's well-deserved.

6) TV on the Radio | Nine Types Of Light  - while I sit at work all day, I have a lot of TVoTR-fueled (seated) dance parties. The album just makes you want to wiggle around in your chair (inconspicuously, of course). It has a similar appeal to the other albums they've put out, so it was a solid outing if you already enjoy TVoTR.

5) Childish Gambino | Camp  - if my love for Donald Glover isn't clear yet, then you're not reading closely enough. 2011 has been the year of Donald Glover love around here: meeting him at MSG, seeing him in concert twice, endless dance parties and bike rides on his namesake two-wheeler (yes, my bike really is named for him.) As a person, Donald Glover is smart and hilarious. As a rapper, Childish Gambino is smart and witty, and a little bit gross. But in a good way. He continues his previous themes of loving Asian girls and being a nerdy black kid. He makes more references than Gilmore Girls, and when you can catch them all it's ah-may-zing.

4) The Black Keys | El Camino  - the tour schedule for this album says more about it and the evolution of the Black Keys than anyone could put into words. They're playing an arena tour (Madison Square Garden in NY; the United Center in Chicago; etc). They've gotten big both in popularity and also in their sound. When did it become such mainstream-accessible Rock? Regardless, I spent a solid chunk of time watching the Lonely Boy teaser video for the album before it came out, and the rest of the album managed to also carve out a place into this mix.

3) Bon Iver | Bon Iver  - There is so much talk about Justin Vernon lately with all this Grammy stuff and the Bushmills ads and being friends with Kanye. But I really don't care about any of that. Whether he's writing in complete isolation or giving titles to songs which confuse people unfamiliar with Midwestern geography, his music is what stands out. And once again, it's beautiful.

2) Fleet Foxes | Helplessness Blues  - I often associate certain bands or albums with different seasons. However, having gone through most of the seasons with this album now, I feel that it transcends seasons. And you know, it's full of "I'm in my mid-20's" poignant lyrics.

1) St. Vincent | Strange Mercy  - In trying to create this list, I noted all of the songs on every album which seemed like standouts to me. The types of songs that I get a hankering to listen to or put on mixes, the ones that get stuck in my head from time to time. The songs of Strange Mercy overwhelmed the pack, making it my clear #1 for the year. Annie Clark is a bit odd sometimes, but in an undeniably captivating way.

Other "Good Records" - aka, the honorable mentions this year could easily have all been #11...
Honorable Mentions: Watch the Throne, 12 Desperate Straight Lines,  Angles (it pains me as a Strokes fan to bump you down here, but let's be at least moderately objective), No Color, Yuck.

cut the swag with a fuckin’ knife

The irony of yesterday's massively sold out Childish Gambino show at Terminal 5, was that everyone in attendance had to miss/DVR/download the (pretty hilarious and Donald Glover-heavy) episode of Community that aired last night. But of course, the concert is a non-repeatable experience and I can say pretty confidently now that Camp is going to be an awesome release of 2011. Full of everything you've come to expect from Donald Glover's rap alterego: lots of pop culture references, rapping about girls, and an insane number of asian girl references ("Asian girls everywhere. UCLA.")

This show differed quite a bit from his IAMDONALD tour, mostly in that it was a straight-up concert without any of the comedy bits or video clips. There was an hour-long DJ set by DJ Sosupersam that opened the show, which wasn't bad but also felt way too long. People were mostly into the sections with "Rolling in the Deep" and "Time After Time." Of course, though, Donald Glover stole the show and wove together a solid set of new songs from Camp, stuff from his EP, and some older things. He had seemingly endless amounts of energy and love for NYC.

DJ Sosupersam:

Childish Gambino:

And, a video of a crazy mix of songs he performed, kicking off with the infamous Bitch Look At Me Now (rapping over "Two Weeks"):

that's a wrap

Happy Monday! The world didn't end (again), but CMJ has come and gone once more. I didn't see a lot of bands at CMJ this year, but I still had a couple favorites:

I saw Boy and Bear at Union Hall in Park Slope on Friday night. They headlined a show that also included Conversion Party (who I recently saw open for CYHSY) and WATERS from California (and some other bands, too, I think, who we missed). They're here from Australia(!) and had a really enthusiastic crowd receiving them. I knew next to nothing about them beforehand, but they remind me of Andrew Bird particularly in the vocals.

Boy and Bear:

Conversion Party:

WATERS:

I caught Jape filling in last minute for High Highs at the I Guess I'm Floating showcase at Pianos. They're a Dublin band with charming Irish accents, and some 80s-y synths going on. If it wasn't the middle of the afternoon I suspect some people may have danced around more.



If I had more time, I would have loved to re-catch more of the (good) opening bands I've seen in the past year: Caveman, who played all over during CMJ and I saw open for The Hold Steady recently; Gauntlet Hair, who opened for The Dodos. Oh well, another year...

freak out, freak out, freak outttt

My Last.FM account informs me that my most listened to song in the past 12 months is "Freak Out" by Tapes 'N Tapes. That sounds about right. And I furthered my allegiance to this song on Friday night at their concert at Bowery Ballroom. Their opening bands were mostly agreeable: The Static Jacks had a very...enthusiastic group of (mostly) guys bouncing around up front as if it were some 2002 pop punk concert. Howler was calmer (at least in respect to the crowd), but really solid. 


The last time I saw Tapes 'N Tapes was at Coney Island back in 2006, instigating my love of them. I never got into their 2008 sophomore album Walk it Off, but I've been a strong proponent of Outside. The set felt very The Loon-heavy, which I didn't mind at all, as I still think it was Tapes 'N Tapes at their best. They sounded great on Friday, and had some good jams thrown in there. Pictures, and a disco-ball-filled rendition of On and On, below:

The Static Jacks:

Howler:

Tapes 'N Tapes: