Laymen Terms - 'Nothing Will Change'
Another retrospective Bandcamp release. This post-emo cut is from 2004, but hasn't aged badly at all.
Little Marie - 'Stanley Quinn Falls in Love Again'
Little Marie conjures up quite a lot of mournful atmosphere despite the bare minimalist aesthetics of her debut Bitter EP. If you like your indie folk strange, spacey and sad, be sure to pick this one up.
Leave Chris Brown Alone!
Please. Really… Just, please.
I cannot get over all of these girls pleading with me—and other bloggers—to just leave Chris Brown alone. It’s like the whole “Leave Brittney Alone!” thing all over again, except this time it’s not even funny; it’s scary. Because these girls—most of them young, but yes, some of them grown—seem to think that it’s okay to get hit and sent to the hospital as long as you’re with some kind of “hottie” like Brown.
After Rhianna filed charges against Brown for putting her in said hospital, she became a media pariah. Instead of the darling she’d been for years (and with good reason; she happens to be pretty amazing), she was blamed for the hits that Brown’s career took, and people even took to blaming her, claiming that she must have provoked the attack.
Let me tell you something: nothing you do provokes an attack. A person is in control of his or her own body and actions, and unless he or she is already physically attacking you or your child and you need to block the person, you have no right to raise a hand. EVER. Nothing he or she does can make you do that; only YOU can do that. It’s that simple.
Yet fans say Brown should be forgiven now, that his “personal life” has nothing to do with his career (in fact, it does; most performers use their personal life for their songs all the time—and if you didn’t want them to mix, you should refrain from becoming a celebrity in the first place. It’s an old and tired argument, but it’s true.), and that enough time has passed. Just how long is enough before you get to make millions and awards again after you’ve beat the crap out of your lover, anyway? Does anyone know?
I say a couple of years is not long enough, and I also say that allowing Brown to violate his restraining order in order to perform was a complete joke. A joke! Could you imagine anyone other than a celebrity being allowed to violate his restraining order? Or getting an award after such an act, for that matter? One friend argued with me, asking how I’d like to not be able to get a job based on my past—and I told her that everyone faces that. Everyone! Anyone else with a felony charge might be denied employment, but not Brown. He gets awarded a Grammy instead and we all get to celebrate an abusive man, while women who’ve been abused are essentially told, once again, that they don’t matter.
Ghost of York - 'Streets'
Gently mournful post-rock. The perfect music to dream of monsters to. Strange, subtle beasts are born between the notes.
Galaxies - 'Sailing'
Mm, toy pianos and '80s synth beats. The found-object vintage aesthetic certainly has its charms, especially when it's wrapped around floaty pop tunes.
Daniel James Eaton - The Year of Songs
DJE is taking his guitar and his ambition and hitting the four-track every day of the year. Starting with December 16th of last month, he's recorded a new song every day. He plans to continue until next December, when he'll have 365 demos in his catalogue. Quite a prolific fellow. Here's the take from his second day of the project.
The Conjugal Visits - 'Ripped at the Seams'
The Conjugal Visits play the sort of meaty, dirty garage rock that makes it difficult to sit still while listening. Awfully fun retro-grit. Check out track one off their totally free Pet Snake EP.
Constellation of Cars - '3 Chords'
Here's a gentle melancholy for a warm Saturday. The Moon Gaze sampler offers three free songs from Colorado Springs artists. This is track one: '3 Chords' by Constellation of Cars off their recent EP The Ambiguous U.
We Are Not A Glum Lot - "You Lack Itamotua"
Lo-fi DIY math pop? Recorded on cassette? I'll take it. I am not sure what Itamotua is but I am sure they are correct that I have none.
OneRepublic - "Apologize" (live)
The Colorado Springs band OneRepublic broke MySpace records back in the early aughts by becoming the most popular unsigned act in the website's history as of then. Even if you don't think you've heard of OneRepublic, you've almost definitely heard their breakout single "Apologize" somewhere in the airwaves. You know, the one where they lop the first syllable off the title word in the actual lyrics. Too late to 'pologize indeed. Here's a video of OneRepublic performing "Apologize" live. There are cellos and candles and crucifixes; it looks a lot like church only not everyone there is bored.