Music and Listening

Some random sharing and listening to Good Music.

[musicandlistening]

Rick and Morty x Run The Jewels: Oh Mama | Adult Swim

Directed by Juan Meza-León. From the album Run The Jewels 3. Adult Swim Festival featuring Run The Jewels is coming to Downtown LA on October 6-7. For more i...

[musicandlistening]

Do Hollywood by The Lemon Twigs

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

Born roughly 60 years ago and just now leaving their teens, the Long Island D'Addario brothers bring some fresh tracks inspired by the greats of their time. Melodic, harmonic, and baroque pop grafted from likes of Brian Wilson, Harry Nilsson, and The Beatles.

Their first studio album, 2016's Do Hollywood, boasts bombastic tunes with prodigious instrumentation and arrangements, performed almost entirely by the brothers themselves. The album makes for a bizarre and exhilarating debut; nearly every track is a smashing success that’ll be stuck in my eardrums for weeks.

The word most befitting the duo’s first appearance: intimidating.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, Finn Wolfhard.

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[musicandlistening]

Yellow and Such by Gus Dapperton

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

Self-produced and self-released, a 20-year-old Gus Dapperton made his first EP Yellow and Such last year. Shortly afterward he released "Prune, You Talk Funny". Gus has been dabbling in music for years and it shows. Crisp, catchy, and cool like his fashion sense, his dance moves, and that incredible name: Gus Dapperton.

Yellow and Such has four dreamy pop tracks that are so undeniably groovy. Coupled with cinematic videos that reveal a big personality reminiscent of a Hunky Dory David Bowie, it's difficult not to be excited. Chill vibes for us and a great future for this kid.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, Spotify.

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[musicandlistening]

Flower Boy by Tyler, The Creator

Good Music Monday (On A Wednesday)

An Appetizer

The Plug

When Flower Boy came out in 2017 I was not a Tyler, The Creator fan. Tyler is leader of the rap collective Odd Future (Earl Sweatshirt, Frank Ocean), owner of a goofy clothing line Golf Wang, creator of a music festival called the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, and has been featured or starred in multiple television programs. Mad props. But my goodness, he was annoying.

Tyler has always had talent. He uses witty bars, catchy beats, and quality features in all of his music. But before Flower Boy, Tyler leaned heavily on the attention-grabbing antics of his persona, lyrics, and music videos (event this appetizer). Now that he has realigned his talents to emphasize expression over shock-value, Tyler finally has my attention.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, Tyler.

x | o | x

[musicandlistening]

Lotta Sea Lice by Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

The two chillest and quirkiest shredders on the planet have released a collaborative album. Half the world is certainly not far enough to prevent the formation of what hindsight declares an inevitable friendship. Hailing from Melbourne, Australia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania respectively, Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile share a hankering for mellow and insightful songwriting along guitar-driven, folksy rock.

Lotta Sea Lice comes as each individual artist's career is in the midst of a heyday, and it seems to be a simple byproduct of their mutual admiration. We didn't ask for it; they didn't need it; joyfully for all parties, it exists. Two talented souls of similar ilk whose light-hearted nature and masterclass songwriting is on full display as the duo playfully exchanges lines and riffs.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, Court and Kurt.

x | o | x | o | x

[musicandlistening]

The OOZ by King Krule

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

By 2013, the gifted, enigmatic and then 19-year-old Brit Archy Marshall had already found international attention with various EP's and the first King Krule album, 6 Feet Beneath The Moon. Since then, he has purposefully maintained a low profile while perfecting and expanding his art. Bless him.

King Krule's second album under that moniker, The OOZ, combines flavors of jazz, punk, and trip-hop into a dark, gritty, discordant and melodious mood. To sink into the album is to take a stroll through London backstreets at night where obfuscation, sensuality, and humanity oozes past shadowed doorways and window sills into the streets with you.

Unsettling and intoxicating, The OOZ is far more interesting than anything else you may be listening to.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, Cousin Jack.

x | o | x

[musicandlistening]

MASSEDUCTION by St. Vincent

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

MASSEDUCTION is aptly named. It bursts through neon tights and nurse's outfits with seductive tales of sex, drugs, and rock & roll alongside visions of the aftermath. Anne Clark's latest is a glamorous pop masterpiece that is not the least bit simple. Songs of fight and forfeit. Songs of love and loss. Highly addictive beats and conflicted commentary.

Following her future-cult album, St. Vincent, and her trapped-suburbanite album, Strange Mercy, the female shredder shows us what it is like to be a mouth-watering superstar. It's perfect. And it's twisted.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, Annie.

x | o

[musicandlistening]

american dream by LCD Soundsystem

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

Seven years after the fantastic final album This Is Happening, LCD Soundsystem is back! For much of the past year, LCD been touring and headlining music festivals all over and have been met rapturously.

The man behind and in front of the LCD Soundsystem moniker is the helplessly cool and conscientious James Murphy. During his leave of absence, Murphy's unrecorded catalog swelled; fortunately, he decided with a little help from his band and fans and David Bowie to press them to vinyl.

Like their previous albums (Sound of Silver for instance), the fourth LCD Soundsystem album american dream is full of danceable punk. The songs thoughtfully and expertly quip with loss and time spent—always being cool.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, LCD.

x | o | x

[musicandlistening]

Melodrama by Lorde

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

Lorde — the underdog from New Zealand who brought us a definitive depiction of the modern teenage experience in Pure Heroine, subverting the glamorous pop of Taylor Swift and Katy Perry types — is back. Now 20, Ella gives us her experience of entering adulthood and womanhood.

Masterclass pounding pop. As before: pounding pop with interesting lyrics! These songs are personal stories of self-discovery through love lost, loneliness, and "Hard Feelings" while commenting on a generation. Melodrama is a musical dessert with substance.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, NZ.

x | o

[musicandlistening]

Making Mirrors by Gotye

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

2011's Grammy-winning hit single and the viral music video for "Somebody That I Used To Know" (ft. Kimbra) may be all the exposure most filthy casuals have to Gotye and the album Making Mirrors. But Gotye is chock-full of solid tracks and wields a proven pop-sensibility! (A truly kick-ass catalogue of music videos to boot! Take Hearts A Mess from his previous album, Like Drawing Blood, for example.)

5 years after his previous album, Gotye released this collection of introspective and reflective pop rock pieces. The Belgian-born Australia, Wouter De Backer, created the tracks for Making Mirrors on his parents' farm in a barn-turned-studio: songs of solid-rock'n'self-doubt, break-out break-up pop, prophetic and convicting time-lapse music, uncomfortably uplifting pop, and beyond. There's plenty to see here as Gotye provides an incredible breadth of tonal options in percussion and rhythm, in synthetic and acoustic riffs, and in the harrowing howls and winds that blow through the background. All of this underpinned by his enrapturous voice.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, Hannah Rose.

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[musicandlistening]

No Shape by Perfume Genius

Good Music Monday (on a Tuesday)

An Appetizer

The Plug

Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas) is back at it. This time with a grander vision yet subtler sounds. The quality production, thoughtful arrangements, and the vulnerable quirks put on display by Perfume Genius demonstrate the blossoming of his talents.

Bombastic. Mellow. Dense. Sparse. Invigorating. Heart-wrenching. Unsettling. Magnificent. No Shape is an emotional musical journey worth taking.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, Mike.

x | o | x

[musicandlistening]

DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

New Kung Fu Kenny! Kendrick is back. Kendrick is king.

The follow-up to To Pimp A Butterfly, DAMN, is less focused on a specific narrative than his previous masterworks. Less focused, but no less powerful or conceptual. Contradiction and confusion and polarizing forces surface in the lyrics and emotion of this album. No one does it like Kendrick. Raw, dense, poignant, and transcendental.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, Duckworth.

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[musicandlistening]

Dirty Projectors by Dirty Projectors

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

The Dirty Projectors, the epitome of hipster indie music that most hipsters can't handle for its weirdness. David Longstreth operates as the frontman to an everchanging supporting lineup, yet always features wildly eclectic and expiremental pop rock arrangements supporting singular melodies.

David released the eponymous Dirty Projectors album this past February in the wake of a bitter breakup with former bandmate Amber Coffman. In each track of this album, David remembers and ruminates over the terminated relationship. It's honest and emotional and as unique as ever.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, Jake.

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[musicandlistening]

Person Pitch by Panda Bear

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

Panda Bear: a spirit animal favourite and the bizarre mastermind behind many a catchy avant-pop tunes. Some know him from the experimental pop group Animal Collective, and many more have heard his voice on Daft Punk's song "Doin' It Right." If your tastes haven't been quite eclectic enough to venture into Noah Lennox's (Panda Bear's) forest then you're in for a treat. Just be prepared for an astounding number of noises and you might not have a bad trip.

Panda Bear released Person Pitch ten years ago today on March 20th, 2007. Critically acclaimed, the album has been a prominent influence in the indie music scene and every hipster-music-snob magazine considers it one of the greatest albums to come out of the 2000's. Panda Bear layers sugary hooks and lollipop beats beautifully. After one too many bamboo shoots, he adds those layers again. Once the nausea of motion sickness passes it truly becomes sweet, sweet music.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, Tyler.

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[musicandlistening]

Masterpiece by Big Thief

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

The songwriting of Adrianne Lenker powers the folk rock band Big Thief from the Big Apple. Several years ago Lenker teamed up with guitarist Buck Meek and more recently bassist Max Oleartchik and drummer James Krivchenia to become Big Thief. Last year their debut album Masterpiece came out on Saddle Creek Records.

Songs about life, real love, and little occurrences all spun out in damn good poetry. Put together over warm music that has all the simple trappings of your favorite indie folk outfit: another solid album to soundtrack the scenes of life's highway.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks again, Jackson.

x | o

[musicandlistening]

Post by Björk

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

Björk is weird, occasionally a bit weirder than I can handle. The Icelandic singer-songwriter/producer has many bizarre styles that make her a singular artist. Her vocalization, melodies, and fashion never cease to intrigue. And on her 1995 album, Post, Björk puts her life and emotions up for stellar display with diverse offerings in art pop, electronica, and industrial rock.

Björk gives us Post two years after moving from her home in Iceland to London and launching her prolific solo career. Exciting, experimental, scary, and strange: the songs relate her emotions and experiences during those years back to her homeland and her broader, worldwide audience. Each track holds an incredibly unique sound; both for its time and in its influences. And the Björk-ian element throughout manages to coalesce into one fantastic piece of art.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, AURORA.

x | o

[musicandlistening]

Abbey Road by The Beatles

Good Music Monday

An Appetizer

The Plug

The Beatles. Abbey Road. Faces, sounds, and images so iconic and worldwide that one can hardly make meaningful comparisons. Christ, you know it ain’t easy!

Though it was the eleventh and second to last album released by The Beatles, Abbey Road was the last time Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr shared a studio (Abbey Road Studio in this instance). And what a last hurrah it was!

There’s nearly too much to say about Abbey Road and certainly too much to say in these paragraphs. Complete with an unmistakable intro (Come Together); sublime love ballads (Something), bewildering peculiarities (Octopus’s Garden), 17th-century poetry masterfully put to music (Golden Slumbers), and an inconceivably satisfying finale (Abbey Road Medley); each member notably contributes their share to the marvelous whole.

Even for those that think The Beatles are old and lame or that their good ideas were borrowed or that they’re simply overhyped after all these years, it’s hard to deny something as substantial as Abbey Road and it’s impossible to deny their influence. In The End… The Beatles made a lot of love.

Listen With:

Apple Music | Spotify

Did you actually read that? I'm amazed. Here's more if you're keen: Good Electronic | Good Folk | Good Hip Hop | Good Pop | Good Rock Have good music to share with me? Please do: Share Good Music

Thanks, dad.

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