Albums for spring.

On to lighter things, I don't usually do album reviews because, well I don't think I am very good at them. I always end up feeling like what I wrote does not really mean anything or don't represent the music the way I would like. However I have been listening to a few new LPs that I feel deserve some limelight. So hopefully this makes some sense. 

SEES THE LIGHT - Le Sera


This is Katy Goodman from the Vivan Girls sophomore album and it is one of the best thing I have heard all year. It has a little bit of everything. It starts out with "Love that's gone" a wearily dreamy song that is one of the best openings of an album I have heard in a while. It's Really nice to wake up too. 

The next four tracks have much more of a driving beat and fuzzy guitars, perfect for staring into the sun. "Break My Hear" starts a trio of much more upbeat songs that I feel represent the better half of the album. Goodman's vocal talents are well illustrated in the chorus plus the song has great pace.

From there the album goes back to the whimsical nature of slowed down LA garage pop with "It's over now" and does not really falter from it for the rest of the album. If your into any the vivian girls, best coast, or are just looking for something new to put on your way to the beach this is your best this spring.

A SLEEP AND A FORGETTING - Islands


The fourth album by the remaing members of The unicorns sounds a lot more grown up than they did in their last 3 albums. This is understandable seeing how Nick Thorburn has just gone through a divorce. The album is not all drowning and self pity but does embody the kind of melancholy that is remarkably uplifting and critical of its own dispar. 


All the songs on the album are masterfully composed and full of depth. If you're into piano pop this album will be a good choice for you. The melodies that Thorburn pulls out of the white and black keys mix perfectly with all the other aspects of the band and produce a sound that is unmistakable yet familiar. 

HAPPY TO SEE YOU- Miike Snow


In their sophomore album the Swedish electro pop trio comprised of Chris Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg, and Andrew Wyatt known as Miike Snow does not bring as many punches as their self titled debut album but still stands on its own feet well.


This is another one that embodies spring yet in a totally different way than the blaring guitars of the surf rock/pop that have become synonymous with the season. It is fun and endearing but does not blast you with a water gun. It's simply not that hot yet. 


The song that stands out the most is "paddling out". It's by no means a bannger or anything but has enough power to get you moving around. I have the deluxe edition which is defiantly worth getting because of the four remixes that come with it that make up for any lack of blasting beats. 


 The best thing about this album is the videos. Check them out. 

Some tips on finding new music.

Many people ask me how I find out about bands or know about new albums by established bands so quickly. The short answer is that I spend a lot of time hunting around the depths of the internet for new music. I listen to four times as much garbage as I do gold, I just download the gold and leave the garbage were it lies.

There are some things you can do to make music discovery a more fluent process. Over the years I have found a bunch of plug-ins and services that make finding the diamonds in the coal mine easier.

Ex.FM

The first thing your going to want to do is install the Ex.FM plugin. Whenever there is a download link for an .MP3 (or other audio formats) it puts a small play button next to it that will allow you to listen to the song without downloading it or leaving the page. It also automatically creates a playlist of any songs on a webpage.

It does a lot of other things but this is the most useful future in my opinion. Which leads me to my next suggestions.

Read music blogs and magazines. 


Seriously this is how I find out about a lot of music. I read a bunch of music blogs. I'm not talking like two or three I subscribe to well over 50+ music RSS feeds. This is were the latest music can be found and were you should look for hidden treasures.

Don't just limit yourself to Pitchforkmedia.com and rollingstone.com/ there are a lot of small blogs out there that do a excellent job.

Here is a list of a few of my favorite blogs.

http://prettymuchamazing.com/
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/
http://this.bigstereo.net/
http://www.quickbeforeitmelts.com/

These are just ones that I like, however different blogs cater to different tastes in music. Finding a few that you can rely on is a bit hard but not impossible.

Hype Machine

Hype Machine is a music blog aggregator. What it does is pulls all the music from thousands of blogs and puts them in one place. Here you can follow music blogs, friends, bands and even custom searches. It's a fantastic way to see what is trending in the bloggerspher.

Typing in bands you like and finding out what music blogs are posting them can help you find some that you might want to pay more attention too.

HypeM is also a great way to find remixes of songs that may have gone a little stale ... if your into that.

Last.FM 

This is by far one of my favorite things on the internet and has been for a while now. After you install a program last.fm tracks everything you listen to and creates radio stations based on that. It's almost like pandora but way better in my opinion. It has been keeping track of what I listen to and as a result has made some pretty awesome recommendations for me.

The secret here is actually going to your recommendation page and checking out what it has waiting for you every now and again.

The thing about last.fm is that you need to let it collect data before it is really useful. So if you want to get into it download the program, set it up to launch at startup and just forget about it. If you don't want people to know what your listening to you can also make your profile private.

While you at it check mine out here

There are of course many other things I do to help me find new stuff like trading music with a group of friends that have similar tastes as I do and other secrets that I am not willing to unveil ... yet.