Oh Oh Oh, the Places We'll Go!

Olympia K Records twee-poppers LAKE have been infiltrating my airwaves today- they're like a cross between Belle & Sebastian and any number of lo-fi bands that rely on harmonies and cutesy melodies, etc. I mean, their album, "Oh, the Places We'll Go" is named after Dr. Seuss! This has to tell you something about the band- they don't exactly play death metal. Apparently, they started out as a Fleetwood Mac cover band with the intention of touring casinos across the Northwest and Alaska.. random! They also apparently set out on a tour of retirement homes and assisted living facilities.. well, that's nice, I suppose? Yay for community service. You can listen to some of their songs on their myspace, right here. Also, I've included some cheery little downloads for you all-

MP3:
Oh, the Places We'll Go Catchy, adorable intro track.
Blue Ocean Blue Also catchy- there's even handclaps! Singer sounds a bit like any number of female indie vocalists, but not in a bad way. :)
Counting Slightly more "driving" sound, still not exactly hardcore.
Minor Trip The name of this track should say it all. Sort of trippy, but not to an LSD level. Also, it's got flute! Exciting.

So there's my bit on LAKE, up-and-coming cutesy little twees.

And now, I have one more MP3 for you all! It's by a local band called Wild Orchid Children -it's basically the alter ego of Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground [another local band I will get to eventually!]- both bands share common members, but whereas Kay Kay is poppy and indie, with elements of psychedelia.. Wild Orchid Children is just craziness and chaos. Seriously, like, the Beastie Boys + Jimi Hendrix + all sorts of insanity. I mean, look at this picture: Intense. But! This one song I have here is the one on their EP that is completely the utter opposite of that. It's darling and folksy with some genuine blues/americana roots. It's definitely definitely worth a download and listen.

MP3: Wild Orchid Children- Winds Blow

ps Noel Gallagher disses Kings of Leon, The Killers, etc. But he actually does it with class! Go Noel. Always liked you better than Liam. ;)

pss Isn't this adorable? Asthmatic Kitty Records<3


Up-and-coming blogness: Animal Collective review [Already written, just needs some polishing up!], DM Stith, Mirah, Mt. Eerie, and some crazy free jazz! Oh, and Julian Koster is Insane Pt.2. Whooo!

Music Tapes, pt.1

Lately, I've discovered the complete weirdness of an Elephant Six-er- former Neutral Milk Hotel member and current Music Tapes member- Julian Koster. I'll write more about his completely strange behavior [including playing his saw, badger, in a christmas caroling tour, etc. etc.] and include articles, snippets of strange things he's said [there's quuiiiite a few] and downloads of tracks and links to other nifty things..

But for now! I bring a pretty awesome Music Tapes video, for the cover of the Velvet Underground's "All Tomrorow's Parties":

All Tomorrow's Parties


ps Later I have more Music Tapes, downloads, and LAKE, my new twee-pop discovery. Check back!

I'm getting lost in your cuuuuurls...

No, contrary to the title, it's not quite time for me to geek out about the new Animal Collective, quite yet...

But! I do have a lovely little track to share by a band called Little Wings.
They're part of the Phil Elverum/K-crew-collective.. [I just made up that phrase, but it includes bands like Phil Elverum/Mt.Eerie/The Microphones, Mirah, Thanksgiving, Adrian Orange and all his projects, Karl Blau, etcetc.]

Anyway, here is "Baby Bee" by Little Wings , it's a folksy/cutesy little song that I'm really glad I stumbled upon. You can find more Little Wings songs here and also, another site that's been pretty helpful in finding weird little songs related to this unofficial collective of musicians is Karl Blau's "Kelp Lunacy Advanced Plagiarism Society". There are a whole bunch of strange free downloads on the left column of the page.. some are really good! I particularly enjoyed Karl Blau's "My Name, My Name"- which is a bit reminiscent of Fiddler on the Roof + some sort of psychotropic drug. Always a winning combination! Anyway, you can also just download that here if you don't want to head on over to the site.

ps
Isn't this the most weird-but-still-pretty-precious picture ever?
Little Weird Wings.

Nesey Gallons & Desolation Wilderness. [+update]

First, we have Nesey Gallons, an Elephant 6 Collective-r that seems to be so obscure that I can't find a whole lot on him. However! I did stumble on these videos [thanks phil! :)] and I needed to share! Apparently, Nesey has an album completed, "Eyes & Eyes & Eyes Ago"- recorded last winter, but no one has offered to put it out yet! There may be a self-released 7 inch record once funds become available. I hope!! UPDATE: Taken from a blog of Elephant 6 Collective relation, Optical Atlas : "The little films were shot last spring at julian's house in the Calendar Islands. We could only film things indoors or out of windows as the white beard blazes up in direct sunlight, this therefore is the only reason you do not see the sea but we are surrounded by all of it.

For those who speculate or believe that nesey gallons & julian are all the same things, they're not, we have simply been friends for a long lungy time now, and julian was naturally quite pleased to contribute to a love song about the aurora borealis."

It's really depressing, I can't seem to find mp3s of his songs anywhere! I'm going to try to email him and use my radio station magic powers to get something, but we'll see. Until then, I bring you some youtube videos! Note: I do have mp3's of Aurora Borealis and There Won't Be Any Crows, which I will post for download later today.

My favorite, Aurora Borealis
-Note Julian Koster from the Music Tapes [and Neutral Milk Hotel, back in the day] and the saw!



ps. "julian koster wears false beard tofu pumpkin pie gallons 23rd birthday" are the tags for that. brilliant!

There Won't Be Any Crows




My Swan
-love crazy Julian Koster & the orange snowman in this one..



Unfortunately, Mr. Gallons has just about no places on the internet. There is last.fm but he's sort of nonexistent excluding the videos. Keep an eye out, though!

Next--

I'm pretty much in love with..
Desolation Wilderness, an Olympia band on dear ol' K Records. They have a lovely, dreamy sound that accompanies any quiet night perfectly. They're nice, even in the day I'm sure, though. I listened to their newest release, White Light Strobing last night and I instantly loved it. It's an album for star-gazing, for sure.

Look, even their picture is dreamy!

You can stream the *whole* album on last.fm here! I particularly recommend Jupiter . Lovely!

They also have myspace where you can hear other songs, see tour information, and all that jazz; their official site is this blog .

Come Over In Your Silver Car



And here's a nice instrumental one with a video of some 60's acid jazzercisers... just kidding about the jazzercise. Sorta.

Turquoise and Gold



Upcoming blog fun: The Music Tapes, geeking out over the new Animal Collective, and shameless exploitation of other Pacific Northwest bands. Get pumped!

Oh Shenandoah

Part one of my recent finds--
I bring you, Shenandoah Davis!

We;Camera



Use Your Hands




This version of this song is early and not as polished as the album version, but it's still darling!

Bio.
Listen to more songs!
More listening + a couple free downloads