Once every three months I list the best of what I heard in albums/songs/remixes for the quarter. I do this to personally keep up with all the awesome music I hear, as it ultimately helps me at the end of the year when I do my overall listing for the previous twelve months. I also do it to introduce you cool cats to tunes you may have missed independently.
Life is crazy busy right now for me, and as SXSW approaches, it only gets busier. Needless to say, this is my favorite time of year: March in Austin is the real New Year’s for me – springtime, warmer weather, and live music galore! I’m starting my SXSW prep tonight at Lambert’s, a venue I’ve never been to, with Pitchfork darlings Grimes and one of my favorite new groups of last year, Born Gold. The show is sold out, so na na na na boo boo. Unless you have tickets. Then, um, see you there!
Listen to Born Gold’s Bodysongs on Spotify, and check out these crazy awesome Grimes videos.
A friend of mine and I were discussing the awesome awesome lineup for Fun Fun Fun Fest this year, and recently, they announced their schedule for our viewing pleasure. My friend was excited, but admitted he knew only a few bands. Where, he wondered aloud, could he find a comprehensive rundown of each band, a sampling of their musical chops, so he could further educate himself before the finest weekend of his year? I assume the Fun Fun Fun website has such a playlist, and they do, and it’s cool, but I wanted to make my own. So every Friday, from now until the fest (that’s nine weeks), I will be posting a playlist for your educational purposes for each stage and day, excluding the Yellow stage, which is mostly comedy.
This week’s playlist covers the bands playing on the Blue (Hip-Hop/Dance) stage on Sunday – Soul Khan, SPEAK, Bird Peterson, G-Side, Grimes, MNDR, Austra, Baths, Del the Funky Homosapien, Flying Lotus, Diplo, and Odd Future.
Listen to the playlist on Spotify.
My Stage Pick: Baths
Saw this guy last SXSW, and it was pretty phenomenal for just a guy, a laptop, and some knobby board thingy. Baths chops up his songs to a degree that make them constantly engaging, but still utterly danceable. His album Cerluean is one of last year’s best, and his live show is not to be missed.
