Surfer Blood Debuts Video for “Swim”
West Palm Beach rockers (is that an oxymoron?), Surfer Blood, debuted the music video for “Swim” over at Pitchfork yesterday. I hope this doesn’t mean tighty whities are making a comeback.
Surfer Blood
“If you’re movin’ out to the west/ then you’d better learn how to surf…”
I’ve been to West Palm Beach. And let me just say that my impression of West Palm Beach is diametrically opposed to anything having to do with indie rock. Maybe that’s because I was hanging out with my parents the entire time I was there. Regardless, I was surprised to find out that a) there’s … Read more
MP3 | The Drums – Down By The Water
Recently, we picked The Drums’ “Let’s Go Surfing” as our Jam of the Day for its sporty splendor, an “as good as it gets” pop song. Today, we bring you the latest single from the band’s self-titled debut (out now digitally; in stores September 14th on Downtown Records), a foil of sorts to the aforementioned … Read more
Full Report: Pitchfork Music Fest (Day Three)
Photo credit: Katie Guymon I trekked to Chicago last weekend to attend the Pitchfork Music Fest for the first time ever. Knowing that I’m simply not as quick and nimble as I once was, coupled with the fact that my “bounce back capabilities” aren’t completely intact, I only bought tickets for Sunday’s line-up (what I … Read more
The Best Albums of 2010 | Part One
Artwork credit: Alyssa Shapkoff Over the next four days, we’ll be bringing you our favorite albums of 2010, in no particular order. These are the records that turned round and round throughout our year, and they’ll continue spinning long into 2011. Robyn | Body Talk, Part One (Cherrytree/Interscope) [buy] Robyn, Swedish songstress and dance-pop goddess, … Read more
Concert Photos | Surfer Blood at Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC
All photos by Agatha Donkar Before the show, my favorite Cradle security guy said to me, “Do these guys play surf guitar?” “Nooooooooo,” I said, a little hesitantly, because, well, Surfer Blood doesn’t play surf guitar. They don’t play surf guitar, not exactly. But when they launched in their tight, hour-plus set, the way the … Read more
Contest | Win Tickets to Foals + Surfer Blood + Blondfire at The Pageant on 6/7
We’ve got a good one on Friday night at The Pageant: Foals, Surfer Blood, and Blondfire will kick off the weekend with some indie rock (Doors 7 / Show 8). Foals recently released their third studio album, Holy Fire, and we’ve taken a liking to “My Number.” Shall we? And yes, we have tickets to … Read more
Concert Photos | Foals + Surfer Blood at The Pageant in St. Louis
Yannis Philippakis of Foals | All photos by Jason Gonulsen By now, you’ve heard Foals’ “My Number.” I’m pretty sure of this based on the immediate screams after the British band busted it out as the third song of their set. Foals is somewhat dark (or maybe just pissed off), yet I hear “dance rock” … Read more
Concert Photos | blondfire at The Pageant in St. Louis
All photos by Jason Gonulsen They were the opening band on a triple bill, but Erica Driscoll and blondfire were much more than that at The Pageant on Friday. While Surfer Blood and Foals were also fantastic, blondfire was even better, mostly because of Driscoll’s obvious charisma, a near-perfect cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” and … Read more
Festival Preview | RiotFest Chicago
Photo by Agatha Donkar There’s bands on the RiotFest Chicago — in its 9th year — that everyone is going to see; you don’t need me to tell you about them. Pixies, The Dismemberment Plan, Bob Mould, Public Enemy, Blondie. The Replacements. (And frankly, if you’re not going to RF to see the Replacements, we … Read more
Jam of the Day | Blondfire – Dear In Your Headlights
Erica Driscoll of Blondfire | Photo by Jason Gonulsen I don’t want to be like that I don’t want to be like you The photo above was taken at Blondfire’s last appearance in St. Louis, which happened a year ago at The Pageant when they opened for Surfer Blood and Foals. That’s Erica Driscoll, whose … Read more
Jam of the Day | Boxed Wine – Feral
Photo courtesy of Boxed Wine As a girl who drank her fair share of Franzia in college, the name of this New Jersey foursome immediately caught my eye. Boxed Wine has a new (and free!), five-song EP on the Bandcamps, and it’s as fun and unpretentious as a Chillable Red. It was hard to select … Read more
Our 25 Most Anticipated Albums of 2011 (Quarter 4)
Album art courtesy of Arts & Crafts As we coast into the end of 2011, we have a batch of new contenders for those Best of the Year lists that you’ll soon see on every music blog known to man and woman. Including this one. Here are the top twenty-five albums we’re most looking forward … Read more
LouFest | Day One in Photos
Craig Finn of The Hold Steady | Photo by Louis Kwok “Let this be my annual reminder, that we can all be something bigger,” sang frontman Craig Finn of The Hold Steady during their opening song, “Constructive Summer.” The band from Brooklyn became LouFest’s day one headliners after The Roots had to cancel because of … Read more
Live From LouFest | Surfer Blood
My first thought after Surfer Blood started their set: These dudes are from West Palm Beach? They make music like this in Florida? They care about music in Florida? Guess so. I’ll admit it: I see the draw here, but I’m not 100 percent convinced that this young group is the next best thing. Dom, … Read more
Jam of the Day | The War On Drugs – Baby Missiles
Photo by Graham Tolbert “Baby Missiles” perfectly illustrates everything I adore about musical juxtaposition. ’80s synth pop mixed with country-rock? Yes, please. I’ll have that. The War On Drugs frontman, Adam Granduciel, has a purposefully wobbly delivery on “Baby Missiles” that reminds me a little bit of Mark Knopfler on Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life.” … Read more