Beach House

I mentioned these guys in my little write-up of the Grizzly Bear show a few weeks back - they opened at the Hollywood Palladium. Heard this track on Pitchfork - and apparently you can just download the mp3 for free?! It's pretty sweet.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11647-norway/

Jasmin Ruiz Blasco

Swing by Blasco's blog and check out all the fine work he's been doing - French-style...

http://jasminruizblasco.blogspot.com

My Guilty Pleasure

Moonlight Dance is what I hope they will be playing when they open a Club Med on the moon - I of course will dressed up like a disco-ball on the dance-floor busting cheesy choreographed moves. This track is ridiculous - a perfectly-crafted dance-pop gem that sounds like it came back from the future of 201988, complete with slap-bass.

Behind the times

Not sure what I was doing in 2008 when Passion Pit were apparently blowing minds on the East Coast (no doubt listening to Techno), but I always say better late than never. Actually, it's kind of exciting being late to the party, because if you arrive at the same time as everyone else, you never really know whether you're just caught up in the moment - a moment that will pass - or feeling something deeper. Anyhow, their whole album is simply raucous: synth-laden poppier-than-thou songs for everyone, topped off with something much more intense than whipped cream and cherries - thoughtful lyrics delivered in a register that I dare not attempt in public by Michael Angelakos. The Reeling is a fantastic example of what's on offer here - go forth and listen.

Don't Know Till You Try...

The Postmarks - sublime. Think orchestral rock à la The Last Shadow Puppets, but with the sweetest of sweet lady vocals, courtesy of Tim Yehezkely (that's right, she's called Tim - but she definitely doesn't look like a dude). On the band's website it says, "When Tim Yehezkely sings, clocks stop, people listen, and ice cream refuses to melt" - whatever that means! Personally, I find myself melting quite rapidly as her voice emerges from the thick, textured sounds of "Memoirs At The End Of World". The song I picked out from the album is not necessarily demonstrative of the vibe of the album, but it's a belter - a driving, hypnotic piece that sends shivers up my spine. In this case, you really don't know until you try...

Close to the ground?

The Social Registry - based in Brooklyn, NY - are home to a host of brilliant artists with diverse sounds, such as Psychic Ills, Electroputas, Blood On The Wall, and Gang Gang Dance. They are one of those independent labels that I will always want to follow and it's definitely safe to assume that whatever they put out is going to sound different to the vast majority of what you will come across elsewhere, making them a must-check-this-out destination for anyone with an ear for something fresh. The track I selected from the August released Troubled, Shaken Etc. by UK act Sian Alice Group is something of an enigma. It opens with an insistent vibraphone volley that melts into a beautiful world of softly-distorted keys and a four-to-the-floor ambient bump that gallops - especially when the the afro-rhythmic percussion drops in. Sian Ahern has a haunting voice that floats above it all, and cuts to the core. But this is not music to talk about - go listen, and while you're at it, check out the video too:

“Close To the Ground”

Close to the Ground? More like close to God.

Round-up

This post is just a round-up of some tracks worth mentioning, but more importantly worth listening to. I was recently away for a month and without my laptop (oh my!), and I found myself with rather a lot of time to read. As is my custom, if I'm not able to buy new music to listen to, I'm reading about new releases and making lists of stuff to check out. The following tracks are from several albums I picked up recently, of various genres and moods, and are listed track - band - album:

Close to the Ground - Sian Alice Group - Troubled, Shaken Etc.

Don't Know Till You Try - The Postmarks - Memoirs At The End Of The World

Mirror's Image - The Horrors - Primary Colours

Love Long Distance - The Gossip - Music For Men

Eat Your Heart - Micachu - Jewellery

Quicksand - La Roux - La Roux

Sky Might Fall - Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon (The End Of Day)

The Reeling - Passion Pit - Manners

Moonlight Dance - Sally Shapiro - My Guilty Pleasure

Timebomb - The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules

The Frozen Lake (The Symmetry) - Circulatory System - Signal Morning

All Live But The Ending - Circlesquare - Songs About Dancing And Drugs

Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime - The Field - Yesterday & Today

I'll say a little something about these tracks in the following posts, but for the most part, the music really says it all.

To Be "In The Know"

Hello my friends! My name is Alper Kakir - I am a London-born Persian, and I have spent most of the 26 years of my life so far having so much interest in the worlds of the fashion and the music. I would like to be able to share with you some of my insight, and to hear from you also the opinions of the persons of the world.

For me, to know what they are selling on the most fashionable shopping stores in your city is not to be "in the know". To be "in the know" is not an understanding of what is fashion to the normal persons - it is a state of the mind. The persons that are "in the know" are already wearing what they will be selling in the fashion stores in 1 or 2 years time, and they are listening to the music that is not today playing on the radio and on the television. Unfortunately I am not one of these persons, although I am lucky to know a few persons like this. For the purpose of this blog then, I have chosen the name "Au Courant". The meaning of this very wonderful expression that the English language is borrowing from the French, is up-to-date or with the times.

It is possible for people like you and I to have great style and be very trendy (to be au courant!) by the thinking carefully and the being selective: the fashion industry is taking many ideas from many places and showing it all to us everywhere - on the buses in London, on the large poster-boards in American cities of Los Angeles and New York, and in the beautiful shop displays in Paris, as well as on the television and movie screens across the world. It is up to us to decide what from all this we would like to have for ourselves. I ask of myself and for you too if you like, to be thinking, "What does this shoes say about me? Which color and fabric of scarf will look nice to my shirt? Should I roll up the legs of my new jeans? Why does that person wear such loose-fitting clothes when they are looking like they are having a good body?" When we are using conscious of our appearance, the world is being a more beautiful place, and we can be happy.

To be happy for me is also very important the music, because I like to say the "music is food for the soul". It is not important if one music is fashion or not - there are many musician in this time, and there is something for every person. The most important is for you to feel that this music is somehow giving the nourishment of life to you. I listen to many different styles of music, just as I am liking to wear many different styles of clothing. I like to enjoy the full life, and there are always many occasions for many expressions through the fashion and the music.

That is enough talk of these things for now, but I would let you know what I am thinking for the upcoming months. I would like this blog to be a place that we can share in the love for music and fashion from many places in the world - I will share for you my experiences with such things as the live music, the music from the record shops and internet, and the clothes I am seeing (and wearing!) in the magazines, and on the persons of the cities I am going to. I am now visiting with family in Monte Carlo - it is very fortunate to have my mother living in such a place! We have been spending days by the beach, and taking the car with the roof down along the coast to many beautiful places. I will be visiting Paris for fashion week (ooh la la!), and perhaps taking a week in London before returning to the place I am for this time calling home - Los Angeles. I will leave now for you this quote to think about...

"The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud."

- Coco Chanel