most of my friends are musicians

Below are 2 lists, of musicians/bands that are either from my hometown, or go to NYU with me. As of now, the lists only include those whom I know personally (or vaguely--through friends), many of which I have seen play before. I hope you check them out! The links will take you to either their Bandcamp, Myspace page, or Facebook page, where you should be able to stream their music and download some of it too. Hope you have fun ridin' the chillwavves.

some NYU bands/musicians:
Jackpot, Tiger (alt rock)
stryk9 (80's alt-pop)
Big Ups (pop punk)
Clownface (experimental?)
PopStar (chiptune)
MKNZ (electro-house)
Flagland (punk/rock)
Kevin Garrett (singer/songwriter?)
Cheap Blue Yonder (folk-ish)
Kedromelon (chiptune)
*Wait...there are a lot more than this. I can't remember any more right now, but I will add some as soon as I do!

some bands/musicians from my hometown:
Alec Recinos (shoegaze)
Tom Lohrmann (pop rock)
Mercury in Summer (pop rock)
Adam Swink (singer/songwriter)
Jordan Balaber (indie)
Sean Wolford (guitar-rock)
Calm These Waves  (metal?)
The Celestials (experimental???)

*Sorry, I am not good at coming up with simple musical descriptions/genres. Let me know if I got it wrong.
**If you go to NYU/are from my hometown and make music, send me a link to some of your stuff! I'll put it on the list! (Contact me by commenting on this post, through email, or other expectable form of communication).

Life in a Day, Tomorrow in a Year

NYU has many 'satellite' campuses around the world, but the only one that has classes in my major, is Prague. I really want to go. The classes are only offered in the fall, so I would probably have to go next fall, or the one after (but I'd rather do next fall, and take some classes over this summer).
Many of my international friends have told me that Prague is nice, but I shouldn't bother learning the language (Czech)...that is a little sad, but ok. Hopefully, if/when I am studying there, I will have the chance to explore throughout the European Union (now that I will receive my Spanish Citizenship very shortly).

I've been listening to a lot of Washed Out lately. Everyone knows its some of the best music to make love to, it's just sensual//sexy. I mean just look at the cover art on the latest album--sex:

Also, tUnE-yArDs' song, Bizness is brilliant. I recently found out, that she will be performing at the Lincoln Center. Thats a pretty big deal right? The video (below) is similar to performance art, and I just love the sound of the guitar at the beginning. She is beautiful artist, whoo seems to be confident in her style/artwork. You go girl!



Hmm, check this out:
Life in a Day (a movie you can watch on youtube/right here).

*not gunna lie, I haven't watched it yet...but I plan on finishing it soon. For now, enjoy and leave comments about it!

The title reminds me of The Knife album, Tomorrow, in a Year (which I love, and just happened to buy last week). I like to describe the album as an electronic opera. Do you agree? or am I way off?

fall allergens are on the rise

I've been sneezing a ton, I hope its just my allergies....but I haven't been sleeping much--so much work to do! I keep trying to post, but then I run out of time, and then things get really out of date. So, below are a few things I'd like to post.

Random links/videos/shit:
Some cheesy video about living in NYC:


This is a great Tumblr for hipster jokes. It is very timely, and very true: Halloween or Williamsburg 

Another installment of Pitchfork 3D:

*This band is super chill. I love listening to them while doing homework (or while driving--when I had a car, back at home). **This video reminds me of what things look like when in an influenced state of being.

A friend of mine made this twitter, Space Dad. It is a program that he wrote to update every hour, posting random sentences found on the internet. Its pretty funny, check it out!!

If you love dogs as much as I do, you are gunna die from cuteness:
Tompkins square park halloween dog parade photos and more photos. and some suppa cute photos from last year.
This awesome, dog-filled music video, by a band whom I love:


Awwccupy Wall Street  is adorbs, and if you liked that, here are some more animals at OWS!

I am part of the 99%. I like this insight on the truths/myths about OWS.
Here are some inspirational videos about the movement. You go guys, keep it up!

and another #occupy movement, to save the earth:

Peelander Z!!!!!

I just saw this band (at the Bowery Poetry Club). I am pretty sure I can say without a doubt, it was the best concert I have ever been too. I want to see them again.
I'd never even heard any of their music before today, but it wasn't hard to pick up on the lyrics; the song titles gave away 80% of the words.
They were so goofy, and there was so much audience participation (limbo, baseball, bowling, banging on metal bowls, choreographed dancing, and huge index cards with lyrics).

This is a great music video:

*They were dressed up like that for the show (including the squid costume).

John Cage is a hipster genius.

I saw Beirut last thursday at Terminal 5, it was amazing! They are so talented, and just awesome. 
The 2nd best part of the night (1st being Beirut/Zach Condon in his magnificence) was probably either making some new friends in line, or getting Halal gyros after the show. I am in love with Halal food trucks, I wish I didn't have to walk by them so often, the smell of them makes my mouth water. 
Have you seen the new-ish video for Santa-Fe? It made me sad because I love puppies...but I still enjoy it. Watch it below:



I also saw the FLEET FOXES last saturday! I saw them in Brooklyn at the Williamsburg Waterfront, which was beautiful at sunset. You could see Brooklyn Bridge and the landscape of Manhattan against the color-changing sky as the sun set. It was remarkable, as was the music of the Fleet Foxes; their voices/harmonies are so mellow and ghostly, in a great way. 


Below are some other new-ish music videos, by some chill-wave artists that are pretty cool:


I really love this Washed Out video: 
*So0o ChiLL Brah!
**but really, this video is great. Being carefree, finding love within the loneliness of the journey....I feel a deep connection with the character in the video (good acting/directing?), do you feel it too? 


Neon Indian - Polish girl:
*Neon Indian is really getting better/growing up--music-wise.


Explosions in the Sky - Be Comfortable Creature:




Avey Tare - Oliver Twist:


*its a bit disturbing, but its good animation and a great song. 


Best Coast - When I'm With You:

*BestyCoasty is goofy. But I am not gunna lie, I hate clowns--especially ronald mcdonald.

Wavves - Bug:

*lol, oh wavvves!

September in a flash.

Here are some photos my close friend, and fellow NYU Music Technology major, Jacob has taken in the past few weeks. He also has a pretty chill blog, which you should check out (thanks for letting me use your pics brah!).

 Washington Square Park (all day, everyday):

*I love having NYC as a campus, and Washington Square Park as an unofficial 'quad'...I love that there is always at least one random person playing music there. I just wish my dorm was a little bit closer to the Park so that I wouldn't have to run to my morning classes everyday.

Flying Lotus playing at the NYU Mystery Concert @ Le Passion Rouge:

*Yeah, it was pretty sick, I even held FlyLo's hand for a good 5 seconds! Later that night I walked through Greenwich Village with several friends; every time I saw a limo/Escalade/nice car with dark windows I yelled: "is that you FlyLo?!" for no reason really, I guess I thought he'd probs be riding away in a nice car after his performance and I might run into him...

An 'diy/underground/basement punk show' in Bushwick, Brooklyn:

*We were invited by some upperclassmen in MTech to come to a concert/party that a lot of them were playing in. The bands included, Clown Face, Big Ups, Flagland, and maybe someone else? I had lots of fun, especially because there was plenty Jungle Juice, which I like. I am surprised that none of the neighbors called the cops because the music was deafeningly loud (as all hardcore punk shows should be) and there was a ton of 'uninhibited' people in the basement/backyard being rambunctious.

Studio B, the analog studio, on the 8th floor (via NYU Music Technology):

 *our friend Cathy, working on a project for 'Electronic Music Synthesis'

Wow. September is almost over....this week I am going to post a shit-load to make up for all that I haven't--including some disposable pics I took. I hope I get it done (along with all of my homework and essays for school).

smooth sounds for lazy days

Yay, you can listen to the new Beirut album for free on NPR (link)!!!

After listening to that, I went on to check out some other stuff on the NPR Music website, below are some of my great finds!
These great musicians really love what they are doing, its cute how they smile and laugh at each other as they play:



*I also love the sound of the hollow-body guitar, and that the drummer sometimes uses his hands and actual broom-heads to play.

Tiny Desk Concerts of Givers and Y La Bamba and this amazing Spanish guitarist, Milos.

This is good for today:



*man, that is a great song.

Also, I just got Spotify, but I dont really understand it yet, whats the big deal? I get that you can make playlist, and listen to full songs without buying them, but other than that, I dont really understand what the point of having one is.

fuck yeah beach house.

took these pics thursday night at the beach house concert. really wish i had remembered to bring my camera to the AnCo concert, I was right in the front and center for both!

The car we rented to travel through Spain and France with does not receive radio transmission very well, even though it is a pretty nice car...luckily I bought the Beach House and Kings of Convenience CDs, so we have something to listen to, forever (its probably going to get stale pretty quick). 

Really excited for the trip, we start tomorrow morning. But unfortunately, I am starting to feel sick. I woke up very early this morning with a sore throat and sinus congestion. Sucks man. 

Staying in the hotel to rest tonight, found a great Spanish tv station, channel 5. Its like a comedy station or something, and there aren't very many commercials-which is great! Earlier I watched an old Spanish movie (probably from the 60s?) that was hilarious, I wish I knew what it was called.  

I already miss Barcelona, and all of the friends I've made/people I've met. I really really hope that we will be able to stay in-touch and see each other again. I would love the chance to go visit everyone in their home country and then have them come visit me in NYC or DC! That would be so much fun, and maybe cost beneficial (if they let me crash in their place-they can crash at mine).  

I really wanna go outside.

Yo.
I like the aesthetic that the Cults always tend to have. This video seems pretty powerful:




You probably know by now, I <3 Pandy Burr. Can't wait to see AnCo in a week and a half!! Omg, that reminds me that I NEED to get tickets ASAP! I hope I can get another "all-access" pass and get the chance to meet them, it would really make my life, but it would be very hard to control my excitement. I wouldn't want to freak them out...




I like the way he described writing music; it seems like writing music is very personal to him, I 'get' that:

Hey! Its a wonderful kind of day!

I listened to the "Arthur" (the kid's TV show with the Anteater) theme song, I can't believe I still know most of the words! haha, and I forgot how good it is, its like a child-appropriate reggae.

The concert that I worked at on friday for my internship had a really good Spanish reggae band play. I've never been to a reggae concert before....I have never sen so many people with dreadlocks/smoking weed all at the same time in one place. It was an interesting experience, I wish I had taken photos.

http://stereomood.com/activity/summer
^^listening to that right now.

feels like summer. feels good. don't want to go back home that bad. I just want home to come to me...all of my friends and stuff could just suddenly appear and I could live in Barcelona, going out all the time, and doing whatever I felt like. The weather is so great here, right now, sitting on the porch is perfect. However, this week it did rain on wednesday and thursday. We were celebrating a friend's birthday with a party at the beach, but we got poured on around 3 am. It was bad, but we had had a great time anyway.

I think the most exciting thing that has happened this week, would be running into the German boys that I met on Wednesday night twice on thursday! Haha, what are the chances? It was really cute, but I still don't remember their names....oh well, I think they left already. I ran into my favorite of them on the stairs of the Metro, I was going down, and they were going up. They yelled "hey" at me while passing, but I kept walking a little, then turned around and yelled "hey" back. It kinda made my day a little.

No Harm Done.

I just saw the band Cinema dub Monks, at Dostrece, a restaurant/bar/small venue in Barcelona. I still dont really understand, but my internship also has something to do with working there, with the owner....maybe choosing bands to come play? I am not quite sure yet.

Anyway, they people I work with told me I would love it, after they heard some of my music/I told them about what I am studying. I almost didn't go because I was really tired, but I went, and they were right, I loved it.
I think they describe their music as 'experimental Japanese jazz'. Well, it is hard to understand unless you hear it (sorry this isnt the best video):




My roommate (from my home-stay) is a such a great person. I didn't believe her at first when she told me about this song:



*Its an ok song. I just wanna sing with all of my friends too, so I 'get' that.


I feel like listening to this song, its sounds like beautiful sex:




Oh, and this super cheesy dubstep song is great at 0:37 seconds, if you haven't heard it you need to:




Do you like cheesy dupstep?
Who do you think is the 'Prince of Dubstep' (via HRO)?
Do you want to sing with all of your friends (in Barcelona)?
Have you gone to any 'hip' concerts lately?

Jet Laggg

It's 00:00 am in Barcelona right now (gotta get used to military time), and 6:00 pm in the east coast of the USA, oh right. Happy 4th! I have a little jet-lag, but its not as bad as I expected, its just weird...I hate planes, they always hurt my ears, I have ruptured my eardrum--on the right side--at least twice. It didn't rupture this time, thank goodness! But it feels all cloudy/puffy and my hearing is muffled...if that makes sense.  
I promised myself I would start writing blogs in Spanish (and english) as soon as I got to Spain, I will start tomorrow!

I'm listening to Bon Iver right now, I love how soothing it is, but it kinda reminds me of cheesy 80's love ballads. I hope that wasn't the point to it, and I hope I didn't just ruin the album for you.

If you like music blogs, you should follow or 'like' Stereotype Helsinki (link to blog) on Facebook. They upload new videos and links everyday on their facebook page.

Arcade Fire. My friend Patrick is right, Sprawl II is probably the best song on The Suburbs. But thats biased, and the rest are pretty good too--obviously (via the grammys). They supposedly released the short film directed by Spike Jones, Scenes From the Suburbs, on the interwebz. Haha! I found it! It is a available on MUBI.com, here is the link---oh, maybe you have to sign up first, before you can see it. But it is worth it.
Have you seen it? What do you think?

Summertime Clothes, Good Friends, Late Nights.

I finally feel like I can sing along to AnCo without reminiscing about summer. It feels like 'freedom'.
Its perfect, just chillin'-out with friends all night--one of the things I love most about summertime.

Listen to some (new/new-ish) albums in their entirety, you deserve it hear them:
James Blake
Toro y Moi
Smith Westerns
Bon Iver
YACHT
John Maus

**Also, watch some Tiny Desk Concerts on NPR! I need to catch-up on these, there are so many I haven't seen, and they all look amazing.

Fantasy.

I just killed a huge bug with a library book, I feel a little guilty (that i killed it, and that i got the library book dirty). But its too late now.

Anyway, Owen Pallet (aka Final Fantasy) is a wonderful musician! I found out that he plays most of the stringed-instrument arrangments for Arcade Fire.
One of my musician friends is letting me borrow 14 CDs from him, including Final Fantasy, has a good home. I'll definetly give it a good listen this week. By good listen, I mean I'll listen to the album start to finish at least 3 times, untill I understand the meaning of every song. Its kind of excessive, but I feel like thats how one should listen to an album, by really listening (which takes more than one time).  

How do you listen to an album?
I think my favorite way is either in the car, on long rides, or with headphones before I fall asleep.

He has a demo on Soundcloud availble for (free) download. Also, this Pitchfork video of him playing is quite beautiful (the embeded video doesn't work, but that link should take you to the right place!).

Memorial Day Weekend

I went camping with a few friends last night/this morning. It went pretty well; we made our own fire, we cooked hotdogs and beans, roasted marshmallows, hiked, etc. But we had to improvise when we opened up the box with the tent, all of the equiptment was there--except the tent!!!
I've slept on the grass with only a sleeping bag before (which I loved), but there was a chance of thunderstorms last night, and we needed some kind of cover. Luckily, my friends are quite avid campers (via camping for two weeks in the Mountains of West Virginia) and saved our asses. We tied tarps to trees, it ended up pretty nice. But in the morning, the sun came out at 6 AM and bugs started crawling all over us.

I brought my film camera, with one roll of color film. When I remember to go get it developed, I'll post a few photos. Hopefully CVS develops color film, because thats where I bought the it, and I know that they get really angry if you bring them the wrong kind of film or something.

The rest of the weekend will include a few more graduation parties/bbq's, my sister's birthday, and a shit load of final projects that are due this week (I am definetly going to be cramming/procrastinating/and complaining about them for the next few days).

**This song came on while I was driving home today, it kinda fits the mood of the weekend:

Modern Drift

Efterklang is an exceptional group of musicians. My friend Alex, who is an exceptional musician, introduced me to them. Thanks bro!

Fo Reals This Time

That last post was just a joke. This is the real post.

Here is some good music to chill-out to:


I think Yann Tiersen is a musical genius.

Here is some NEW Beirut!

Also, I heard that 'Goblin', the new Tyler, the Creator, album came out yesterday. Pitchfork gave it an 8.0, which is good. I've only heard 'Yonkers' (he eats a bug and then throws up in the music video), its alright--I am not one to judge because I dont know hiphop/rap all that well (I guess because I'm a white chick?). But the ironic thing is that he got arrested yesterday, that was also on Pitchfork.

dont miss this.

The Fleet Foxes are playing live in Texas, and broadcasting the concert online, on NPR tonight (9:30pm) right here! You can also listen to there new album on NPR, here. I will definetly be watching this tonight, I love the Fleet Foxies!

While on the NPR music website, I was checking out what other concerts they have recorded or filmed. My favorite are the Tiny Desk Concerts. I am listening/watching the Mount Kimbie one right now (below). Although dubstep is sometimes cheesy, I love it--when it is done well (like real music/purposeful art). 

They also have a recorded Wavves & Best Coast concert that I went to, it was a lot of fun. When Wavves came on, they threw a ton of beach balls and blow-up aliens into the crowd. Most of them stayed up for a few songs, but by the end there was only one beach ball left. One of the half-deflated aliens landed close to me and I saved it. I kinda felt guilty about it, but it didn't have much air left...I keep it in my closet now.

So Soon.

Somehow it always happens that I cannot make it to make favorite bands' concerts when they come to my area. First with Animal Collective (who will play in Barcelona when I am in DC, and in DC when I am in Barcelona), and now with Bon Iver. *sad face*

But hold on, what is this amazing Northside Festival in Brooklyn?
It lasts from Thursday, July 16th to Sunday the 19th. Wait....I have to go to this: Beirut, Atlas Sound, Wavves, Surfer Blood, Woods, Twin Sister, Teengirl Fantasy, and more!! This might make up for all of the concerts that I am missing over the summer. But I will have to find someone that is willing to travel to NY to see this with me, the same weekend as graduation (hmm, graduation present?).

I can't wait to move into the City, it's going to be amazing! I am so tired of living in a suburb where everything closes at 9pm (DC is only 30 minutes away via metro, but I don't get to go as often as I'd like). I just hope that I am able to limit myself on staying up late and doing crazy things.
I'll probably end up spending all my money on concerts and food. I just sent in my application for housing (for NYU) with my roommate yesterday, I think we are going to get along really well, especially because we like a lot of the same music.   

New Porto!

It says you have to "like" them on Facebook in order to listen their new stuff, but the link on the title of this post should get you there. Portugal. The Man is one of those bands that itsn't really 'relevant' but I still chill out to them. I am really happy to hear new stuff, I hope its good.

Last March I saw them live at the 930 Club with one of my best friends. It was probably one of the best shows I've ever been to, they are such great performers, and the music was even more enticing and edgy (via bass and distortion) when they played. I think they turned their 5 minute songs into 10 minute jams in a lot of different styles (jazz, folk, metal?). But I guess the best part is John Gourley's mustache:

Lookin' funky bb!

Hispter-licious

He has no eyes, just stache.

They took a photo of the crowd durring the show. But I am so disapointed, I was just barely cropped-out of this photo. I was in the front row, all the way to the left (I should have been next to the guy with the scarf). But if you look closely, I am in this pic of the opening band...hidden behind the keyboard.

I was disapointed to find out that they signed to a major record label (Atlantic) last year, but they wrote a long letter (via email list) to their fans about the decision to sign. The letter said something like: 'we've thought it over for a long time, because we've never wanted to be on a major label...but we thought it through...they are going to give us special artistic freedom..and all we want to do it make music, making money is just a benefit...' Then they said really nice stuff like: 'we really appreciate that our fans are happy to see us evolve as musicians...' The letter made me feel a little more confident about their decision.

Then I saw this video (below), and decided I wanted to be best friends with them.