Monday, April 30, 2012

I Am Learning

That was really good.

Brandon Schott's new multimedia effort Defying Gravity starts today with its first episode and includes a stunning cover of The Blue Nile's I Would Never. One of my favorite things about Brandon is his pure love of music both in its creation and appreciation. This cool episode gives up a glimpse of this love that he pours into everything he does.



Hold the Phone It's So State of the Art

Alright. I've been holding this one in for a while. I'm in love with Gotye's Making Mirrors and I have mixed feelings about it. I've been listening to the crazy huge hit Somebody That I Used to Know for months on satellite radio. At first I'd only listen to the first 30 seconds and give up. Then I gave in. It builds and builds through the Sting-like vocals and what I can only call the tinky music until Kimbra nails it with her painfully short guest appearance. While I believe it is a killer tune worthy of all the attention it's getting, I was pleasantly surprised to hear so many other great tunes on the album.

The true surprise of the whole album is how unashamedly reverent it is to many sounds of decades past, particularly the 80s. It's not only about the new wave that seems to rear its head every few years. Eyes Wide Open follows up Somebody with a clear nod to Peter Gabriel at his best. The Depeche Modey Smoke and Mirrors is next and sets up the three most interesting and probably polarizing songs on the album. I Feel Better sounds like Sly and the Family Stone filtered through 30+ years of indie music. In Your Light is the best yacht rock tune I've heard since the subgenre's heyday, although it starts off scarily enough with a George Michael riff. And State of the Art. What can I say about State of the Art? I just can't decide if they're being cheeky or dead serious about it. It sincerely reminds of listening to and making our own goofy shit with my brother (Way2Poppy) and cousin when we were kids.  The album ends with probably two of the strongest songs Save Me and Bronte. Bronte is just lovely and usually makes we want to listen to the whole damn album again.

At its core Making Mirrors is an electro-pop (gack) album and probably the best since The Postal Service's brilliant Give Up. It's definitely of its time but surprisingly the fact that it evokes such strange bedfellows makes it so damn fun. I feel like a fool smiling every time I hear its genius little moments, but isn't that what it's all about?

Previews
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Butter Wouldn't Melt So I Put It In The Pie

Paul McCartney's Ram is getting remastered "in a variety of formats, from single and double-disc editions to a four-disc box set that includes bonus tracks, a DVD, and a 112-page book." It's out May 22. In the meantime check out the shiny remastered version of intricately silly Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey here.

Pre-order here at Amazon.com

Monday, April 23, 2012

It Calls Your Name

Released well over a year ago, Young the Giant's self-titled debut is quickly becoming one of my favorite albums of the past few years. Of course they're still working it as evidenced by their new video for Apartment, the first song that caught my ear...



The rather understatedly catchy Apartment kicks off an album that can't quite find home with the hipsters or the mainstream yet is quite suitable to the 90s-loving pop enthusiasts that I like to think happen upon this blog on occasion. Turn this one up...



It also doesn't hurt for our readers to know that Jellyfish's own Roger Joseph Manning Jr. played keyboards on Your Side. Bam.

Ignore the rare forays into the trappings of a post-Coldplay musical landscape. They're inevitable and I expect a band of Young the Giant's quality to find a way past them eventually as they realize their own identity. Young the Giant is seemingly worth the early investment.

Official Site
iTunes
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Locked in Orbit

Brandon Schott's up to something...



More soon.

I Just Want To Feel Everything

Fiona Apple returns with another mouthful of an album. June 19 sees the release of The Idler Wheel... with the first single Every Single Night debuting online today.
 

She's not for everybody but that's what makes it work. Here's more of what we know about the new album.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Making Off Like a Lucky Bandit

Download Brendan Benson's new one today!

Get your digital copy What Kind of World 3 days early! Readymade Records is releasing Brendan Benson's What Kind of World by digital copy today: 3 days before it's wider release on April 23rd! 23 April 2012 on Lojinx in UK/Europe and April 24, 2012 on Readymade Records in US


Download here

Thursday, April 19, 2012

She Said Someday Soon The Sun Was Going To Shine

There is probably some rule out there about two McCartney related posts in a row, but that's just the way we roll here at TooPoppy.

Macca has a new video for his song "My Valentine" starring the insanely beautiful Natalie Portman and the insanely insane Johnny Depp. It's a lovely video with both actors signing the lyrics.

While they get an 'A' for effort, it appears they need to brush up on their sign language skills.