One of my favorite political terms is "lame duck." Like so many other things in politics, it doesn't make much sense, but truly is a great image.
As of today, I am a lame duck. After three years of running wiux dot org to the ground, the time has come (I'm graduating), and two extremely wonderful, talented people will take over, starting May, and continue to produce the stellar content that you've all come to expect from this website.
Regardless, it's Monday, so of course I have some music for you.
One of the first lessons my mom taught me was to never drink and drive. Pretty weird advice for a five-year-old who had no concept of alcohol, nor the imagination that she would ever operate a motor vehicle. Anyway, in this new track from Car Sear Headrest, the message is pretty similar to my mom's. Lead singer Will Toledo wrote a song apologizing for his past reckless behavior, singing you can't "rationalize it." The song also has one of my favorite lyrics I've heard this year, "I have become such a negative person/it was all just an act/it was all so easily stripped away." So good. Good song, great band, new record coming out in May, keep those eyes out for it.
My favorite commentary I saw on this track was in Stereogum, comparing the song to Brand New's "Seventy Times 7": "Both songs are about really, really, really hating a band; in the case of Brand New, that band is Taking Back Sunday. In the case of PUP, that band is their own." Perfect song for when your head in running in a million different directions.
Porches was one of the best bands I saw at SXSW a few weeks ago. Their latest record, Pool, sounds incredible live, but it's "Headsgiving" that I can't stop listening to. It's something about singing "what did you do when you wanted to die" and then going into that awesome riff and then "and then you wake up and you don't want to die anymore/it's happened before." Take your sappy Michael Bublé love songs and throw them away.
Ayyyyy you head about the good news? TLOP is on Spotify.
For a few years, American rock music has been pretty dead. There haven't been too many new and particularly noteworthy or exciting bands. Enter Kevin Morby. He has this Dylan-esque snarl and rich lyrics, plus in "Dorothy," the horns add a whole new layer that makes his music so fresh sounding. His newest record comes out 4/15.
Frankie Cosmos' latest came out on April Fool's Day, but no joke it's great. (Sorry) "Embody" is one of the best on the album. It's a love song to friendship, which has gotta be the best kind of love song there is.
