Things I Have Done So Far This Summer, The Honest Version

Written:
Album review: Sondre Lerche – Sondre Lerche (QRO)
Interview: Kid Sister (The Creators Project)

Visited:
Hogwarts

Read:
Eating the Dinosaur – Chuck Klosterman
French translation of the first Percy Jackson book
The Partly Cloudy Patriot – Sarah Vowell
One-Hit Wonder – Lisa Jewell
Size 12 Is Not Fat – Meg Cabot
Werewolves In Their Youth – Michael Chabon
A Visit From the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan
Bossypants – Tina Fey
Talking To Girls About Duran Duran – Rob Sheffield
French translation of the Princess Diaries 1/2 books, compiled
Kafka On The Shore – Haruki Murakami
The Wordy Shipmates – Sarah Vowell
The Infinite Wisdom of Harriet Rose – Diana Janney
Slacker Girl – Alexandra Koslow
The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History – Jonathan Franzen
Girl With Curious Hair – David Foster Wallace

Seen in theaters:
Bridesmaids
X-Men: First Class
Midnight In Paris
Beginners

Watched:
Party Down complete series rewatch
The IT Crowd S4
Portlandia
Parks and Recreation S2 rewatch with extended versions/deleted scenes
Undeclared
Louie S1
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret

Surprisingly not watched yet:
Gossip Girl S4
Cougartown
Pretty Little Liars
Teen Wolf

Had:
No life

The Long-Awaited Clips Update

Album review: Yelle – Safari Disco Club (American Noise)

Photos: The Apache Relay in-store at Grimey’s (Nashville for Free)

Album review: The Kills – Blood Pressures (American Noise)

Album review: The Apache Relay – American Nomad (American Songwriter)

Photos: Yelawolf at Mercy Lounge (American Noise)

Photos: Destroyer and The War on Drugs at Mercy Lounge (American Songwriter)

Photos: Vanderbilt University’s Rites of Spring, featuring Public Enemy, the National, Matt and Kim, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, and Kid Cudi (American Songwriter)

Live: A-Trak and Kid Sister at Limelight (American Noise)

Photos: Pete Yorn and Ben Kweller at the Wildhorse Saloon (American Songwriter)

Album review: Augustana – Augustana (American Noise)

Album review: The Wombats – This Modern Glitch (American Songwriter)

Music Diary Project Day 1

Every day this week, I’ll be chronicling what music I listen to for the Music Diary Project.

Oberhofer 2/12/2011

I checked Twitter first thing this morning and Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino had posted a new song, so I listened to that. Soon after that, I felt compelled to make a slightly delayed playlist for the first quarter of 2011, which ended up looking like this:

1. Cut Copy – Need You Now
2. Theophilus London – Why Even Try? (ft. Sara Quin)
3. Oberhofer – Away FRM U
4. The Kills – Satellite
5. Die Antwoord – Rich Bitch
6. Arveene & Misk – Love & Lust
7. MSTRKRFT – Beards Again
8. Childish Gambino – Freaks & Geeks
9. Chromeo – Hot Mess
10. Das Racist – Swate
11. Kid Sister – Gucci Rag Top (ft. Gucci Mane)
12. Architecture in Helsinki – Contact High
13. Peter Bjorn and John – Breaker Breaker
14. Anna Calvi – Blackout
15. James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream

These tracks aren’t in the order of how much I like them, I just hastily threw together what I thought would sound the best. I know some of these are on albums that came out last year, but I’m going with single/song releases. A twelve track mix probably would have been better, but oh well. You can listen to all of the songs here.

For the rest of the day, I’ve been working on my review of the Kills’ new album Blood Pressures, which drops tomorrow. I’ll be sharing my full thoughts on it soon enough, but it’s definitely very different from their previous material. I did take a break at 6 to go see the Apache Relay perform at Grimey’s. They’re a great alt-country band from Nashville, and I highly recommend their new album that’s dropping next week.

Bonus picture of what I ate for lunch. Multigrain toast with cream cheese/pesto spread, smoked salmon, and poached egg.

Top Eight Thursday: 27 January 2011

1. Chromeo – Fancy Footwork (Live from Montreal)
2. Bag Raiders – Sunlight
3. Kid Sister – Gucci Rag Top (ft. Gucci Mane)
4. Cut Copy – Take Me Over
5. Theophilus London – Why Even Try (ft. Sara Quin) [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Kanye West – Get Em High (A-Trak remix)
7. Toro y Moi – Still Sound [VIDEO]
8. Yelle – Safari Disco Club

Listen here

Can’t stop the dance! I’m really looking forward to hearing more from Theophilus London now that he has a record deal. This collaboration with half of Tegan and Sara is an interesting preview. Also, I don’t know where Yelle has been hiding, but the full album had better be out soon.

Update – Kid Sister

I’m now a contributor at American Noise, and my review of Kid Sister’s Kiss Kiss Kiss mixtape was posted today.

Following 2009’s full-length debut Ultraviolet, Kid Sister is back with more buoyant club rap on new mixtape Kiss Kiss Kiss. Mixed by renowned DJ and Fool’s Gold Records co-founder Nick Catchdubs, Kiss Kiss Kiss features new songs and reimagined versions of previously released material from the Chicago rapper.

The punchy title track opens the mixtape, promising “No baloney, no B.S.” The next cut, the fast-paced “Work Them,” makes it clear that Kid Sister—real name Melisa Young—is serious about that.

I definitely recommend this mixtape, which you can download for free here. Additionally, the full version of one of the standout tracks, “Gucci Rag Top,” was released today.

Top Eight Thursday: 1 July 2010

1. Das Racist – “Fake Patois”
2. Kid Sister – “Right Hand Hi”
3. Das Racist – “Nutmeg”
4. Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg – “California Gurls (MSTRKRFT Remix)”
5. Dirty Projectors + Björk – “On and Ever Onward”
6. Kid Sister ft. Kanye West – “Pro Nails”
7. Local Natives – “Sun Hands”
8. Local Natives – “Airplanes”

Listen here

A wish I could use right now would be for more Local Natives in my life.