Morning Mix 11/20/09

After three straight days of driving 50 miles in traffic back and forth to the suburbs for training (teaching this week after attending last week), I was finally back on the train this morning. You SoCalers who drive every day don't realize how nice it is to live close to reliable and clean public transportation.

• In the Flowers - Animal Collective
• The King of Carrot Flowers - Neutral Milk Hotel
• Blue Spark - X
• Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before - the Smiths
• Not Even Jail - Interpol
• Pandora's Box - Throwing Muses
• Seems So - the Apples in Stereo
• Can You Feel It - the Apples in Stereo

I think that's the first time since I've started this that I've had two songs from the same band back to back. First time Animal Collective has popped up as well, the first track from what will probably be my album of the year, in a close race with Dirty Projectors.

Morning Mix 11/16/09

Back from training and back on the train. Here's today's lineup:

• Human Being - the Beta Band
• Ballad of the Lonely Argonaut - Beulah
• Bye Bye Badman - the Stone Roses
• Ex-Girl Collection - the Wrens
• Things Are Getting Better - the High Dials
  
• Lay - the Peels
• Tin Pan Alley - the Apples in Stereo
• 9-9 - R.E.M.
• Alone Again Or - Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs
  

A bunch of tracks that are arguably the best on their respective albums. Still not sure how the Peels never made it, with Robyn Miller's voice and good looks. I've seen six of these acts in concert, and I skipped the one chance I had to see Matthew Sweet.

Here's the High Dials. This is the only good version of this song that I can find on Youtube, but it really doesn't do justice to the live version, which is an incredible 10 minute jam.

Top 10 Albums of 2007 - #6: The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder

After a five year hiatus, which saw side projects from both Hilarie Sidney and Robert Schneider, as well as the end of their marriage, the Apples In Stereo returned with arguably their best album yet, and while Sidney is no longer a full fledged member of the band, she lends vocals to a couple of the many excellent tracks on this album.

Every AiS record has sounded a little bit different than the one before. From the jangly pop of Tone Soul Evolution and Fun Trick Noisemaker, to the lilting pop of Her Wallpaper Reverie, to the feedback drenched Beach Boys melodies of Velocity of Sound, they've managed to alter their sound just enough to let you know that they had evolved since the last time you heard them. New Magnetic Wonder showcases Schneider's experiments with vocoders and other bits of technology, while still calling back to their past, maintaining the framework of melodic psych-pop that has shaped every album to a varying degree.

There's a little bit of everything here. The opener "Can You Feel It" would have sounded at home on Fun Trick Noisemaker. The more raw "Skyway" follows, a track that could have had a home on Velocity. "Same Old Drag" and "Play Tough" bust out the harmonies that were so prevelant on Tone Soul, while "Sun is Out" opens as a lo-fi low tempo track right out of Wallpaper, before becoming a campfire style sing-along. Sidney pitches in with Sundaal Song and Sunday Sounds. It's like a greatest hits album of all new material, if that makes any sense.

The album is replete with short little song breaks (Don't download this album unless you can get it for one price, and don't get it from Emusic). There's 24 tracks, but it plays as something closer to a tradition 12-14 track album. And typical of AiS, it's all stuff that really transfers well live. They put on a great show, and they're someone you should check out if you get the chance.

Here's Same Old Drag; Can You Feel It?; and a live acoustic version of Skyway:

While I'm back on the subject of music...

...It's getting to be good concert season again, and there are finally a bunch of good acts coming to town. So far I'm set to see:

The Shins at the Congress Theater:



The Apples in Stereo at Subterranean:



And the Walkmen at Schuba's: