New Favorite Song Alert: Two Door Cinema Club

  Two Door Cinema Club- What You Know by Glassnotemusic

I feel like I may be a little late to the game with "What You Know" by Two Door Cinema Club.  Better late than never?  As of right now, it's my new favorite song today.  It's the jam!  The Soundcloud link has been on repeat all day.  I split my time between that and the video, which is pretty cool too.  Oh, and the album is $5 on Amazon.  Done and done!

Way Back Wednesday: Terry Jacks

Ok, so today I am going waaaaay back to 1974.  I was inspired to delve deep into the Yacht Rock collection for a sweet jam for today.  There is actually a pretty nifty story behind "Seasons in the Sun." It was originally recorded in French and translated into a hit by Terry Jacks in 1974.  Terry's version left out that the wife was cheating with the French guy's friend.  That's probably why his version sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.  Other people have also covered the song, including Bad Religion, Nirvana, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and the Beach Boys.  While the song sounds upbeat, it's actually pretty dark:

Good-bye, my wife, I loved you well

Good-bye, my wife, I loved you well, you know,

But I'm taking the train for the Good Lord,

I'm taking the train before yours

But you take whatever train you can;

Goodbye, my wife, I'm going to die,

It's hard to die in springtime, you know,

But I'm leaving for the flowers with my eyes closed, my wife,

Because I closed them so often,

I know you will take care of my soul.

I'd recommend the Nirvana version as well. 

New Music: Cults

I went to see The Vaccines at Amoeba yesterday with my friend, Murph from Hey Cool Kid (check out his blog for all the best new music!), and seeing how jazzed I was on The Vaccines, he recommended that I check out Cults.  He thought I’d like them since I’m super into the retro lo-fi/Wall of Sound stuff.  Well, he was wrong.  I don’t like them; I LOVE them!  How did I not know about this band before?!

Apparently, Cults are the hot new thing after receiving some pretty high marks from Pitchfork.  Their first single, “Go Outside,” was listed in Pitchfork’s Best New Music and they were tagged as one of their Rising Artists before they had even played one live show.  I know why…it’s a really great song!  Not too bad for a couple of 21 year olds New York City transplants from San Diego.  So, here they are, signed to Lily Allen’s label on Columbia, In The Name Of and celebrating the release of their first full-length LP. 

Their music is straight up indie melodic pop music that is heavily influenced by the girl groups from the 60’s.  Madeline Follin’s voice is sugary sweet and haunting at the same time.  And, the music, while still influenced by the 60’s bands, is way heartier and deeper with a lot of texture and layers.  “Never Heal Myself” is a really bittersweet song about not changing for anyone.  “I could try to heal myself and turn around to someone else but I could never be myself so fuck you.”  Uh yeah, not exactly something you would hear The Shirelles sing.  I also really loved “Oh My God,” “Most Wanted” and “Never Saw The Point.”  But, honestly, the entire record is tops for me.

I highly recommend streaming the whole record at their website.  

New Single: Stone Darling "All I Wanna Do"

Kind of obsessed with this song this morning.  I love the simplicity combined with the lo-fi doo wop vibe, and the overall sweetness of the song.  Stone Darling are a local LA band and are busy working on their debut EP now.  If "All I Wanna Do" is where they are going with this, count me in!

New Music: Coldplay

Coldplay released a new song today and I'm sure that soccer moms everywhere just dropped their groceries.  I don't drive a mini-van, but I do like Coldplay.  I know it's probably not the coolest thing to admit, but their first record spent a lot of time in my cd player.  (Ya know, back when people still had cd's).  I'll even fess up to liking their subsequent records...and their live show.  I know, I know...not the coolest thing to reveal, but Chris Martin writes really good songs. 

That said, I'm not sure what to think of their new single, "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall."  The title is two parts TLC, one part Poison and all parts BAD.  The song itself isn't groundbreaking in terms of Coldplay jams, but the title. The freaking title.  I'm having a really hard time getting past it.  I'm sure that someday it will grow on me and I won't ever remember life before "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall."  Until then, the joke's on them.  Or, me.  But, probably all of us.  Thoughts? Comments? Concerns?

Mmmm...Beer.

Truth be told, I’m a bit of a Bud Light gal myself.  But, I can still appreciate a good craft beer.  I may not be able to drink 25 of them like I can a Bud Light on a summer’s day, but tasting all the different flavors and brews is actually kind of fun.  Which is why I’ll be heading to the ColLAboration Pop Up Beer Garden this Saturday.  This is the second in a series of beer gardens hosted by local brewhouses such as Blue Palms Brewhouse in Hollywood, Tony’s Darts Away in Burbank and the Surly Goat in West Hollywood.  I went to the first event, which was hosted by Tony’s Darts Away and it was a good time.  This weekend’s event is hosted by Blue Palms, and is mega-metro accessible (ding ding ding – bonus points).  Ten bucks gets you a glass, which is entry into all future events and is a great way to support your local bars!  See you there!

Way Back Wednesday: Peter Murphy

In honor of the announcement that Peter Murphy is doing an in-store at Amoeba on Sunset on June 16th to support his new album Ninth, I was inspired to reach into the archives and pull out one of my favorite tracks by him.  It was hard to decide since most of Deep brings back very smoky, yet fun memories.  I didn't want to pick the obvious - which is probably more my favorite "Cuts You Up" - so I went with my next favorite from Deep, "Seven Veils."  I'd also like to give a special shout out to "Indigo Eyes" as that is also another fave of mine.  He's playing the Troubadour on Wednesday, June 29th.  Time to pull out my black fishnets!