Let's Be Independent Together...

An Adventure Into Whatever We Become

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Beirut - Nantes The Flying Club Cup,

'Well it's been a long time, long time now, Since I've seen you smile. And I'll gamble away my fright, And I'll gamble away my time.' Such a solemn melancholy. The wail of prolonged sadness and the crippling pain of long unrequited feelings echoes in his heart. He is the shadowy figure in the corner of the dark, deserted and smoke filled bar, only the silence of his pain fills the room. It's been a long time. Such melancholy.

'Nobody raise their voices, Just another night in Nantes'

It's been a long night yet he remains.

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Mumm-Ra - She's Got You High These Things Move In Threes, 2007 (Columbia)

I won't lie to you as that would be foolish, but this is one of my favourite tracks of all time.

A bold statement, I know.

From the eternal pain of unrequited teenage heartache to the bliss of bright lights and mental states of no compare, this song has always been exactly what I needed at the time. A song that speaks to you in extremes of emotion; a song that speaks to one's heart with such honest words and resonates with one's very core. The purest emotional medicine. The bliss, the pain and the fear. The greatest joy and the deepest low. Few songs can so reassure you and makes you feel understood, that your pain is shared in all men and that the longing is not in vain. That love is real, alive and burning true in all of us. Some songs just feel like they were written for you.

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

The Polyphonic Spree - Light & Day - The Beginning Stages Of...The Polyphonic Spree, 2002 (Hollywood / Good)

Brick by brick is laid by delicate hands until one crashes mind first into a wall of pure joy, of hope and a sense of togetherness. The Polyphonic Spree sing like every note and every sylable is a celebration of the wonder of humanity with every performance being the next in an eternal series of rituals. Tim DeLaughter leads his band of merry men and women robed like the preacher he truly is, bringing an god-given energy and a feeling of brotherhood. 'Light & Day' is a hand waiting to be shaken, an invitation to cast aside religion, cast aside politics and just to give oneself over to joy and happiness. In the beauty of such pure musical pleasure why would one care for such earthly things.

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Los Campesinos!

(Wichita / Arts & Crafts)

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

I won this rather fetching Alabama Shakes poster in an NME competition on Twitter today. A wonderful band. It's from their recent gig at The Boston Arms for the NME Awards Shows. Now it will take a proud place with my ever growing poster collection.

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Dog Is Dead - Glockenspiel Song Your Childhood EP, 2011 (Atlantic Records)

An amazing live band, very looking forward to seeing them again soon.

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Allo Darlin' - Dreaming Allo Darlin', 2010 (FortunaPOP! Records)

A wonderfully hope-filled track that will fill you with quite bliss.

Enjoy.

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Animal Collective - The Softest Voice

Sung Tongs, 2004 (FatCat)

So beautiful.

That's all I have to say.

Wow.

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Top Ten: Indie Vegans

I, for one, am a fan of my meat and can not imagine a life without the daily enjoyment of eating a slaughtered animal. Some people though, for reasons of their own, abhor the killing of animals and the intake into their bodies of another creature's flesh. Some of this people are also Indie. Here are a few of the better ones.

  10. Thom Yorke (Radiohead)

  9. Nick Zinner (The Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

  8. Brian Bell (Weezer)

  7. Morrissey (The Smiths)

  6. Jaime Hince (The Kills)

  5. Alan Donohoe (The Rakes)

  4. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (At The Drive-In/The Mars Volta)

  3. Fiona Apple

  2. Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes)

  1. Johnny Marr (The Smiths/Electronic/The The/Modest Mouse/The Cribs)

Calling this a Top Ten is a little bit misleading; it would more aptly be called 'Top Ten That I Was Able To Find With The Minimal Research I Was Bothered To Waste My Time Doing'. That would have been an overly long and purely constructed title though so I think I'll just suffer through the moral pains of publishing this as it is: a lie.

Oh well.

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Japandroids - Post Nothing

Released: 2009 Label: Polyvinyl Records

I don't know if you noticed, actually I high doubt that you did, but the first thing I ever posted in this Tumblr-ific blog was the first single from this very album. Why did I choose to pop the metaphorically sacred cherry of this endeavor with that song, of all the songs I could have, say, cherry-picked from. Why did I choose that one? Hmm, lets begin.

Shortly before the release of this very album the band had actually decided to call it quits (if you read my first ever post you would already know that, wouldn't you?); unknown to them at the time, they were about to make a reasonably big splash in the damp, dingy world of Independent music. Out of the desperationof a 'well fuck it, lets go out with a bang' they made a very loud noise indeed, one that made quite an impression and a lasting one at that. Producing an album of teen-angst filled Noise-Pop it seems they perfectly captured the zeitgeist of a disenfranchised generation. Each song is an ode and an anthem for this very moment, for now.

Take the first single Young Hearts Spark Fires, for example, with its cries and laments 'Ohh, we used to dream, now we worry about dying' mixed efficiently with a beautiful touch of optimism in the dark with the rapturous chorus, 'YOUNG HEARTS! SPARK FIRES! OHH YEAH! OHH YEAH!', and the confident boasts of 'Well you can keep tomorrow,  after tonight we're not gonna need it'; this all being summed up with sigh 'I just wanna worry about the sunshine girls...'. If there is a soul alive who doesn't sympathise with the sentiment then they truly do not know what it is to be human.

This album is a flash of pure energy, despair and youthful optimism; one which it is impossible not to enjoy.

Rating (?/5):   4.7

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Dag För Dag - Ring Me, Elise

Boo, 2010 (Snavely Construction Records)

FUCK.

Just discovered these.

Wow.

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Yuck - Get Away

Yuck, 2011 (Fat Possum/Mercury)

It sounds like the '90s all over again.

It lives on in their soul.

Wonderful.

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Avi Buffalo

(Sub Pop)

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Of Montreal T-Shirt

Of Montreal T-Shirt

Price: $20.00 (with MP3 Download )

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Over And Over Again (Lost & Found)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, 2005 (Self Released)

One of my favourtie bands and one of my favourite songs. Simply Outstanding.

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Bear In Heaven

(Dreamboat Records)

[letsbeindependenttogether-blog]

Taken By Trees - My Boys (Animal Collective cover)

East Of Eden, 2009 (Rough Trade)

A wonderful little cover of a now classic Animal Collective track. Uplifting, gentle and a slight departure from the original, highlighting the quality of the song with its perfect ability to transcend genres.