Mother Don't Worry...

While the softer album version of this song, "Upwards Over the Mountain," is beautiful and much more in the style of Iron & Wine as we know him, this live recording (which, you should not worry, is excellent quality), is a crisp take on the song. And it truly shows what Samuel Beam can really do with his voice...Niiiiice.

Enjoy!

I'd Be OK with Being Kicked in the Face by One of These.

audiobullys - only man from EL NINO on Vimeo.

EPID Live Again!

Ready yourselves for concert photos & regalement. Sufficeth to say, for the time being, that Elvis Perkins in Dearland puts on a damn good show, with brass marching through the audience, feet stomping, a very hoppy percussionist, swaying & rock-n-rolling bromances, and the lovely & intense vocal stylings of the talented Mr. Perkins.

"I'll Be Arriving" stole the show both nights, although the emotion behind Perkins' "Ash Wednesday" (a song about the loss of his parents), was definitely one that should not be dismissed (particularly at the Friday night show).

As I told Kinsey, the EPID drummer, I hate it when they leave. My soul, and excuse my emotional investment, reacts to their music as it would a Lost Love.

And man, oh man, it truly is better to have loved.

And in this case, I do believe I will continue doing so for evermore.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes

Yeah, I know...I'm a bit late on this one. These guys have been playing many of the top US music festivals this year. I was introduced to their goodness by a friend, and they fit right in with my heavy indie folk obsession (you can see the attraction once you understand my obsession with Elvis Perkins in Dearland, who, btw, I just saw at NYC's The Bell House back to back on 4/23 & 4/24).

They have a good bit of variation in regards to their style. Check out their album From Below to see for yourself.

Here are a few samples of their wonderful sounds:

"40 Day Dream"


"Jade"


"Kisses Over Babylon"

Video Game Reminiscent

I've had Vampire Weekend's "Horchata"---off their most recent album, Contra---stuck in my head since yesterday.  After verse 1, however, I completely lose the tune to the subconscious takeover of Super Mario 3's Underground theme.  Listen to "Horchata," and at 0:21 you'll see why.  Now I'm working in Garageband to produce a mashup.  Having never used the program before, it's taking a lot longer than I'd like, but I'll get through it.  I'm always mashing up songs in my head, or with my roomie (we have completely different repertoires, so when one of us starts singing a tune, the other will join in with a similar but completely different song).  I hope to produce a great number of mashups for FoP posting in the future, so I figure this is a good time to start.

There's another song that takes me back to my days of Super Nintendo funtimes, and that's Omarion's "Ice Box."  Have a quick listen to the intro:



Sound familiar?  Try this on for size (it gets really obvious at 0:59):



Yes, that's Donkey Kong Country's Underwater theme, "Aquatic Ambience," by David Wise & Robin Beanland.

Please post comments if you have more!

Snack Your Eyes 2

Romantic dreams via stop-motion genius:



Oren Lavie's "Her Morning Elegance"

Snack Your Eyes

I stumbled across this video on an art blog, and I fell in love.  The band, Hold Your Horses, is one I hadn't heard of before, so I can't comment on their repertoire quite yet.  This song, "70 Million," has nothing spectacularly new in the sound.  Still, it is upbeat & enjoyable, as is the video.  Vibrant with color, and humorous in its portrayals of these known pieces, the video, by L'Ogre Productions, is wonderful eye-candy:



If you need help placing some of the pieces featured in the video, see here!