Julie Doiron - Heart & Crime

When you're in the mood for something soft, something true, and something with a hint of sweet sadness, I've got a treat for you. (And yes, that is the cover art)


Maybe I love you too much...

Full of pianos, soft and unobtrusive female vocals, and lovely strummed guitars, and the occasional harmonica (and horn!) this album is a treat for relaxing. Throw it on in the tub, when you're letting yourself be calm in the water. Throw it on when you can't sleep because you're trying to fix your sleep schedule, but you're too wound up, and need something to calm down to. Throw it on when you wake up in the morning, wake up real slow. She's got a beautiful voice, and I'm not one for female vocals. It's like morphine candy, in the form of an album. You'll relax and feel real good. It's like a female city and color, but with much more slowcore influence. So maybe it's a female bon iver, that might be a better comparison to make. She sings about loving you maybe too much, about things she's done, and about her life, about broken hearts. It's simple, honest, lyrically one of the most beautiful albums I might have in my collection. She has a lovely way of singing anything, and calming it down, making it something real, something lovely.

"Jackson C. Frank" by Jackson C. Frank

Sometimes I forget that I listen to folk music primarily. I mean, I love punk rock so bad. It holds my hand and leads me down a path I need to walk. It's my best friend when I need a shoulder to cry on. Punk rock means the world to me, but folk is the universe.

Which is cheesy and self-centered, but oh well.

This is Jackson C. Frank. To quote from wikipedia:

When Jackson Frank was 11, a furnace exploded at his school, sending a ball of flames down corridors until it ended up in Frank's music classroom in the Cleveland Hill Elementary School in Cheektowaga, New York. The fire killed eighteen of his fellow students and burned over more than half his body. It was during his time in the hospital that he was first introduced to playing music, when a teacher, Charlie Castelli, brought in an acoustic guitar to keep Frank occupied during his recovery. When he was 21, he was awarded an insurance check of $110,500 for his injuries, giving him enough to "catch a boat to England."

His songs are beautiful, and if you enjoy this, I highly recommend you obtain "Blues Run the Game" as well.

Just your shadow on the window
And your step on down the hall
You never wanted me babe
You never knew me at all

volcano choir - unmap

Good morning, it's 448am. I still haven't slept. Personally, I want to cook and waltz around my kitchen, but that's just not hip now is it?


gosh it's so beautiful
I'm a big fan of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver, Mount Vernon, DeYarmond Edison) and this is the perfect late-night, haven't-slept, won't-sleep, can't-sleep album. Filled with slow, ethereal vocals that Justin's real, real good at, and slow beats, soft pianos, and then some other random instruments just thrown on in, this is like the winter version of a Sunn O))) album, if sunn o))) had a baby with, well, bon iver... It's good study music, you'll zone out, and it's good late night laying in bed and just thinking music. It's perfect music for really any sort of soft, toned down sort of situation. You can drink your green tea and stare out into the night to it, you can watch the stars in a hoodie and pajama pants (I am rocking the UT lounge pants so hard right now) to it, or you can wake up nice and slow to it... and hug your blankets, waiting for that sleep that isn't going to visit you for a very, long time. Turn the AC way down to 50, it's like an icy lake in the moonlight, and baby, it's cold in the middle of summer.

Anchor & Braille - Felt

There's a baby downstairs that won't stop crying and all I want to do is nap for fuck's sake.
just download ittttt
Anchor & Braille is the side project of the singer of Anberlin (and I don't remember his name but it's not that important) and it's just a dude with a guitar (I seem to be stuck on listening to that kind of thing lately) who writes some reaaaallly catchy songs. Super indie - 18k listeners on last.fm, nobody will know who that beautiful man writing sweet songs is that you're listening to, but you'll love every fucking second o it.

preeeeview, whatever it issss.

Sorry about the lack of posts. It's been a fucking ridiculous week.

anthony green - avalon

i'm really sick, guys. i'm sorry about lack of posts. so all i've been doing is sleeping and listening to this.
get this!
anthony green is the guy with the amazing voice from circa survive, and early saosin. this is an acoustic record he put out. it's beautiful. perfect for sleeping and chilling to. very easy to learn, i'm sure, so pull out your guitars and learn some campfire songs. it's catchy and easy to sing, and She Loves Me So will woo any girl's pants off. I promise.

Flowers From The Man Who Shot Your Cousin - Hapless

What a beautiful record this is. It calms you down, it's folky, and it's beautiful. Perfect for calming the shit down.
get this!

Hapless starts all lovely and slow, and the opening song, The Branch, sets the tone. The second track, I Do Not Love You Anymore is bitter, open, and slightly rude. It's about a girl who dresses likes a whore, and clearly Morgan Caris (the guy who uses this moniker) likes classy women. It has soft, soft melodies, beautifully ambient guitars, and honest lyrics. This is an album that is honest, bare-bones folky-ness. It's approved for starbucks - and honestly, I think they should play it. It's also an album for early mornings, when you're laying covered up in blankets and it's cold out and you're barely awake and you left your tea on your bedside table and it's kind of cold too and you don't really want to open your eyes so you're just gonna stay right here half awake and listen to this. It has a surprisingly high number of listeners on last.fm (75K) but you know what? I bet you're going to be the only one of your friends who has Actually heard this. (And the only one who is deep enough to appreciate it)



Also sorry it's been a rough couple of days - thursday was hectic, friday i was in ATL, and i know it's late-ish on saturday but FUCK i'm so tired and sore. Jacob Bannon, thank you. <3

Justin Vernon - Self Record

I'm going to go back to what I was doing now. Excuse the Circa Survive and Snowing posts, I can be a little emotional.

get it
Many of you may already know of Justin Vernon - the guy who uses the moniker Bon Iver. This is the more lo-fi, more heartfelt, more truthful folky side of him. He self released these songs, and to be honest, it's a beautiful record. Very similar to Bon Iver, but the guitarwork is a little different. He sings longer, rawer songs, and the outcome is a gorgeous album that you can play with all your hipster friends in starbucks as you discuss existentialism and how drunk you got that one night with that one girl from that one band who nobody else knows (because you pretty much made the story up.) He's a little more experimentally focused here, just pouring all his feelings into writing and singing and creating, which is more than you'll ever do. The vocals sound a little rougher, a little lower pitched, and slightly more folky. Listen to this, because you probably don't have it.

Adrian Orange - Bitches Is Lord

Alright, what the fuck, I left this morning with 80 views and come back to 163 (edit: 195? double edit: 212? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?) This means that a) Joe is still shitting up this blog and not tagging things and b) o_e_c is posting (and not being an asshole... :|) c) I AM WORTH READING DAMNIT READ ME!!

SO I SHOULD WRITE SOMETHING BECAUSE OTHERWISE I WILL HAVE NOT CONTRIBUTED TO MY OWN FUCKING BLOG AS MUCH AS THOSE TWO JERKS HAVE.

So. I'll give you this shit, because nobody ever listens to him enough.


Mediafire.

Adrian Orange is basically the dude from Thanksgiving. Well, it is the dude from Thanksgiving. You don't know who Thanksgiving is? Man, you fucking suck. This album is full of hipster mumbling and guitar strumming, and is under 20k listeners on last.fm. It's lo-fi as fuck, and I'm pretty sure this man is strung the hell out while he's writing, because most of it sounds like a man mumbling to himself (but the difference between you and him is that he's not doing it to be ironic) and trying to play his heart out on guitar, but he's just too damn drunk to do it properly. Too many cheap beers? Probably. Basically, sounds like a better version of you, a more heartfelt Bright Eyes (also more out of tune and way less upbeat), and maybe a drunker and mopier Mountain Goats (dunno, I kind of fucking hate them)... ohhhhhh, I forgot, you can play this in starbucks when you feel like ordering a tall cinnamon latte and moping in the corner. This is an album to pull down your cardigan sleeves to, and cry when that new girl in the Try Me Bicycle post leaves you (because you're too fucking cool and her hipbones started to really hurt... and you listen to more mainstream music than she does, asshole.... My blog is here to help you win her back.) The vocals will win you some new hipster pussy, every girl loves men who can't sing in one octave without their voice cracking and have to falter every three seconds. Basically fucking listen to this to be depressed and chill in starbucks. It's an album that will make you wanna watch some hipster documentary on global warming or whatever the fuck really depresses you. It's like watching somebody break a beautiful ten thousand dollar fixie, in slow motion, going office space on it's ass. I dare you to not feel sad and listen to this. Or maybe go camping (if you can brave the outside long enough) and keep this on. Learn the songs, bed some new girl. That other one was too edgy for you, you need a nice librarian type anyway.