Pink Mountaintops - Holiday

On the Metro-North upstate yesterday, I listened to Pink Mountaintops Outside Love (for the hundredth time in the last few weeks). Later in the day, as our crew trickled in and we began to settle into the weekend, my friend Andy said “Hey, have you been listening to this band Pink Mountaintops?”  I love when an album is so good that your music-loving friends find it on their own and it becomes in instant point of connection.

Everyone I love deserves a holiday in the sun almost every day

Bruce Springsteen - Independence Day (Live)

I’m off to the Hudson Valley and out of range for the weekend. Happy Indepence Day, everyone.

The Books - Be Good To Them Always

A great track from Nick and Paul — my favorites.

Image from the band’s website.

N.A.S.A. - Gifted ft. Kanye West, Santogold and Lykke Li

This is an early release from a collaborative album by DJ’s Zegon and Squeak E. Clean, better known as N.A.S.A. (North America/South America). The vision of the album is to bring together sounds and styles from a variety of backgrounds - try Tom Waits with Kool Keith or Seu Jorge with Chuck D as examples of from the project. The effort has spanned a long time, but February we can expect to see the album, “The Spirit of Apollo,” in stores. “Gifted” is clearly one of the more marketable songs on the album. Regardless, it is catchy and nice to hear Kanye’s real voice again. More info:

http://www.myspace.com/nasa

via earsofthebeholder

tuneage:

Discovery - “Orange Shirt”

Discovery is the unlikely side project built from members of two bands I wouldn’t necessarily have put together: Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot. This odd couple doesn’t just work, it kills. Their debut album, the coyly titled LP, is a blast from start to finish. Drenched in synthesizers and handclaps (with no shortage of Auto-Tune), the music doesn’t sound like Vampire Weekend or Ra Ra Riot, but rather has a more trippy, R&B-cum-indie vibe that’s near impossible to get out of my head. LP should prove to be one of the summer’s most fun albums, so track down a copy when it’s released on July 7th.

Wilco - Wilco The Song

In honor of today’s official release of Wilco (The Album). I’m a sucker for ironic(?) self-reference.

Photo credit: wilcoworld.net