First up is Yelle with the song ‘Ce Jeu.’

This music video combines fashion, french fries, plastic dinosaurs and electro pop beats. Hello, heaven? Yeah, go ahead and take me now. I’m ready. Swoon.

Next up is Tokyo Police Club with ‘Your English is Good.’ On tour now!

And noooow here is Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros with ‘40 Day Dream.’ I would like to go to their parties. They’re on tour now too!

And here is Bear Hands with ‘What a Drag.’ It took me a few times of listening to this to really enjoy it but now I’m hooked.

The cherry on your music cake – A lovely image from the UK artist Gemma Correll. Check out her etsy!

Yeah, there are no surprises here, folks.

I just watched the video for Neon Trees’ ‘Animal.’ You watch it now too:

I first heard this song about 3 months ago and its poppy, ear-catching tune had me staying in the car to listen even when I had reached my destination. I am not too thrilled by the video – the whole thing feels pretty hollow but let’s take a moment to relish in the lead singer’s Danzig hair! Whether or not he even knows who Danzig is, I just don’t care. I do feel like he would get on my nerves the same way that Pete Wentz would at a party. Thank goodness I am not cool enough to ever be invited to a party where either of these men will be in attendance. And they even have people in animal masks – I have seen that horse head so many bloody times now – it seems to be an indie favorite – but it all started here for me:

Born Ruffians – “This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life”

“I need to know who I am
and what I’m going to do while I’m on earth
I need to understand
everything and everybody’s lives

I need to get up tomorrow
I have to mail that letter and pay that bill
deadlines, deadlines, deadlines
write that essay, and pray on the windowsill

lines, lines jump from line to line
just one, do one at a time
this one’s all about mine mine mine
solve one try then keep on trying
i’m sculpting my philosophy
in patterns going 1,2,3
I’m trying your monogamy
in increments of 1 through 3

I need to eat I’m hungry
I’ll grab a bight of a BLT
That’s all I want right now…
With some juice, no… coffee.

I need a girlfriend, I’m lonely
Someone to love me and fuck me
I need to get laid immediately
But also someone to fulfill my needs

I need success to be wealthy
I’m hanging on to my simplicity
I need a nice car and nice clothes
Fatter lips and a smaller nose
I need to learn I need to grow
I want to know. No no no no no no no no
I need nice hair… no women
Nice hair, then women. Until then…

lines, lines jump from line to line
just one, do one at a time
this one’s all about mine mine mine
solve one try then keep on trying
I’m sculpting my philosophy
in patterns going 1,2,3
I’m trying post modernity
in increments of 1 through 3″

They will be playing at Great Scott in Boston, MA on June 20th. Check out their myspace for more tour dates! This song says it all for me today. x

Youtube won’t let me embed the video. So click HERE to watch it. Be ready for some awkward dancing!

And if you haven’t seen Charlyne and Channing Tatum  in this Cinemash Dirty Dancing video well you are in for a treat:

I missed the first act, Brookyln-based Suckers, but didn’t miss the frontman after the show who was downing Jägerbombs as eyeliner was streaming down his sweaty face. He ended up ripping down some garland that was hung behind the stage and throwing it around his head to act like a headdress. So, what I am trying to say is, I wish I had seen this band play live.

I was at the back for Local Natives, mostly because I injured my foot last week and was concerned some peppy dancer might further the damage. They were very tight and pretty enthusiastic, swapping mics and having fun onstage. Everyone had a good sing-a-long to “Sun Hands” and I was very happy when they played my other favorite tune, “Wide Eyes.” If it hadn’t been for the numerous college kids tweeting and texting about the show (instead of actually watching it) and yelling at each other “I AM HAVING A GREAT TIME! AREN’T YOU?” it may have been close to a perfect time. I even bought a shirt. Now for some music…

They’re on tour now and a lot of the shows are selling out, so if you like what you hear and they are coming to your town, grab a ticket!

My heart belongs to the city of Boston; there is no doubt. No other city makes it flutter the way Boston does. The extreme ups and downs of city life are what have plunged me into my manic relationship with Boston – The frigid weather, the mind-melting heat of summer, the rats poking around old apartment buildings, the smelly garbage piles on Allston’s streets, the cool, stale air in subway trains… the docks down by the Charles River in the afternoon in spring, the big, bright, retro bulbs of liquor stores that cast red light through brownstone bay windows, the endless supply of well-crafted beer, the smell of laundry creeping up out of apartment buildings during winter…

It’s a dreamy nightmare that I am madly in love with. After NYC, I hopped on a bus and made the five hour drive to Boston. I was greeted  by my good friend, Ernie who I stayed with during my time there. If it wasn’t enough to just see him, he also supplied me with a fresh stack of comics and graphic novels every night and his amazing girlfriend cooked heavenly tasting meals for me. My first morning in Boston, I woke up and drank iced coffee and ate fruit salad and banana bread while reading Vol. 2 of The Fart Party (LOVE IT.) on their balcony. Beauty.

Over the course of five days, I saw my hilarious friend Mike play in his band Born of Thunder (BOT) upstairs at Charlie’s Kitchen. He is the man who introduced me to the world of Manowar, just so you can understand a bit about him and BOT (AWESOME). I hung out with my always-inspiring friend Betsy, who laid down some tempting offers for me to move back there – I think everybody I saw there was trying to do this in some way. I visited with other friends who my heart had been aching for, which led to us drinking three pitchers of Spring Training IPA from Cambridge Brewing Company (CBC) and then holding hands while telling each other we love one another multiple times. And it wasn’t just the beer talking – I LOVE THOSE LADIES. I also 100% endorse any beer from CBC. The head brewer Will is one of the only people in Boston who urged me to go back to NZ four years ago. Thanks, Will!

So, it was a beautiful time.

When I got back to Carrboro, NC (where I now reside), I was greeted with so much love it nearly choked me up. I hadn’t realized how much I had already made an impact on people and vice versa. To think I had just moved here in Nov. 2009 was crazy. It also made me realize that there will always be hard times when you first move somewhere without knowing anyone, but those can melt away pretty easily. Lovely.

Apologies for the delayed post. Things have been quite busy lately for me. Who knew applying for grad school and trying to start a band would be so time consuming?!

I went to NYC to see Hot Chip with one of my very good friends, Miss Wolf. You can see pics of our trip here and here. We ate and drank our way around Manhattan. A sesame bagel with veggie tofu cream cheese and a giant iced coffee is the breakfast of champions. We made a trip to Jonathan Levine Gallery, as per my employer’s suggestion. I especially enjoyed the Date Farmers‘ exhibition, Smother Your Mother.

I met up with SakiWaki, the driving force of IHeartCoolStuff.com and we spent some quality time together waiting in line to get sketches from Alex Pardee and Dave Correia who are touring around the USA on the Sketch4Sketch tour. It’s simple – if you sketch them something, they’ll give you a couple of sketches in return. My sketch was a poor looking representation of a shirt I designed for Makeshift but they humored me, saying it was quite lovely and then they drew a couple of crazy looking narwhals in return.

Next Post (tomorrow I promise): Boston and Local Natives. Yum Yum.

I’ve been in a music frenzy lately. Although how long does the word “lately” denote? Perhaps it would be more accurate to use “most of my life” instead of “lately.”

Here are some bands you should check out:

Future Islands

I saw these guys live in Chapel Hill not too long ago and it was brilliant. The lead singer is super theatrical in his movements and crowd interaction and I love it. Plus, his voice is what I imagine an energetic pit bull who drank a lot of whiskey would sound like. They’re about to start a tour in May!

Let’s Wrestle

I saw these guys play with The White Rabbits at The Local 506 in Chapel Hill (my new Whammy Bar - my new Great Scott). I hung out with them while they were in town before they embarked on a further tour of the USA. They are quite talented and singer Wes has a ridiculously impressive knowledge of music. If you see them, offer them some tea, but make sure it’s proper tea and you don’t just serve them a tea bag in a tea pot. They might get upset with you.

Titus Andronicus

I just saw this band play last night and really dug it. They’ve been getting some well deserved plays on Sirius XMU, which is where I first heard them. Initially they reminded me of Against Me. After going along to their show, I’ve decided that the singer is like a more rockin’ Conor Oberst with the looks of a more bearded Daniel Faraday. Whatdya think? They’re touring now, so check ‘em out!

Now for something a little more poppy hipster accessible:

Free Energy

I like their song “Bang Pop” which you can listen to on their myspace. Not sure  if I am totally digging this one, but I’ll let you all have a listen and see what you think. They’re on tour in the USA at the moment. I haven’t seen them live yet but will let you know when I do!

T.S.

You can also check out the interview I did with Tourettes for The Big Idea.

The other day, on a mission to find my mom the perfect birthday gift, I went into one of my favorite shops in Carrboro, Nested. While there, I recognized some art by 64 colors on an awesome shopping bag.

The company that makes them is Blue Q and they have a wide and varied range of products. Some I really dig and others… not so much. I picked up a tote bag and a water bottle. The water bottle is BPA free and is stainless steel and decorated with lead-free inks! Huzzah, what a find! It’s also pretty awesome that their bags are made from 95% recycled woven polypropylene aaaand that 1% of the sale of their bags and water bottles go to support the work of The Nature Conservancy.

I ended up buying my mom a lovely dish towel, which was hand-woven in India and screenprinted with water-based, non-toxic inks. Lovin’ it. Good job, Blue Q.

NOW FOR SOME AMAZING MUSIC. If you can go to a live show of King Khan and the Shrines, do it.