Friending

If anyone actually follows this blog, you might have noticed that I disappeared and have been pretty absent to the blogosphere world since moving to Atlanta. I've tried to figure out why I stopped writing when I enjoyed it so much before. I think maybe it's because I just haven't been interested in writing down my thoughts on music and haven't wanted to share it. I should be writing more, but I just haven't wanted to. It's almost as if I feel like nobody would even read it and maybe it makes me feel more alone than I already do. I can't tell you how many people have told me that I should join a church or some other sort of social group, but I think when you move to a city and want to meet people, you have to do it your way otherwise you're not being yourself. And for me, going to see bands is my "social group". Even if some times I don't strike up conversations with people, it's ok. At the end of it, at least I know I'm doing this my way. With all that said, I've actually been having fun and have seen some really great bands... some have been great, and some have sucked. But the good ones... the good ones are well worth the awkwardness of standing in a crowded room alone, staring enviously at people there with friends. Every time I go to a show, I get stronger and feel better about my situation. I'm not sure if any of this even makes sense, but I feel like each time I go to a show alone I'm crossing over 1 more hurdle to self acceptance and each show I go to, I seem to focus more on the music and less on feeling sad for the fact that I'm there alone. I have seen more concerts since I've moved to ATL than I did in the first 4 months of 2011 while living in Austin. I thought going to shows along would be my guaranteed way to meet people, but how is that possible when I won't even talk to anyone? I mean, I do talk to people, I'm just a little hesitant to. In any case, I think I've snapped out of this fog I've been in and hope to start up blogging again, and more importantly "friending" again. So there is that... it's been a strange and difficult transition for me, but I have learned way more about myself than I thought I would. And somehow writing all of this down is helping me make more sense of it all. I'm constantly battling with my self confidence each time I step out of my apartment, but it's getting better every day and I think things can only get better from here. So my friends, this is where I am in life and on that note I'm going to end this overthought blog with a song from a band I'm going to see tomorrow night, Gold Leaves:

FFF... Fantastic Fall Forecast

I have to say this summer there have been some pretty incredible music discoveries for me and fall album previews. And what's even better is most of the music releases that are top on my list are from bands that will be coming to Atlanta in the next few months. It's been a pretty disappointing summer for live music here, but I'm hoping the fall will make up for it.

I think the show I'm most excited to see is actually in Athens next month- Toro y Moi, Bass Drum of Death, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. You all know how much I love BDD, but Unknown Mortal Orchestra is a band that came into my radar this summer. Foggy, lo-fi at it's greatest, garage rawness to a T. I'm a little in awe of how great this band is. Everytime I listen to them, I feel all fuzzy and warm inside and I always have a smile on face... So, this show is going to be pretty big and I can't wait to see it... not only to see all 3 bands, but to go to Athens for the first time with my dear friend (ERIN) who will be making her ATL debut from NYC.

Yourstru.ly Presents: UMO "How Can You Luv Me" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - 'Ffunny Ffrends' from Bowlegs on Vimeo.

Next on the list of Fall shows to come is Girls. They are finally releasing another full length album in September and will be playing in ATL the day after their album releases... perfect timing I must say. I can't tell you how much I love Girls and Christopher Owens. He's truly a poet, and together with his side kick they really make some incredible music. I honestly believe that Girls will be a band that will be immortalized and just might be the modern day "Led Zeppelin" for me. A few weeks ago they released their new sing, Vomit, and below is the music video:


Of course I've got to throw in some electro/low-wave stuff in the summer mix, so some other bands I've been listening to that will also be coming to ATL in September are Hooray for Earth, Gardens & Villa, and The War on Drugs.

Hooray For Earth - True Loves from Dovecote Records on Vimeo.

The War on Drugs "Baby Missiles" from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

And finally is a show I recently saw, White Fence. I've loved WF for a while now and have always wondered what a live show would be like... and I finally experienced it. I really admire the musicians behind bands such as White Fence/Wild Nothing, because they record their albums as a sort of a one man band by creating most of the sounds themselves, but have a full band backing them up when they play live shows. It's incredible and actually makes the show more interesting because the songs you know and love from their albums sound the same, yet different live. I actually prefer that. To be suprised at a show, and not know what the heck the band will sound like.

I've got high hopes for the album releases in the fall, and more importantly for the shows I'm planning to see in the next few months. I'll say it again as I've said before, there really is no better feeling than seeing a live show and walking away thinking that you just saw greatness from a band you either loved or were just starting to...

Atlanta... it's not Austin

Well I've been in Atlanta for just about 3 months now and it sure has been the most difficult change I've even experienced. Not only do I miss my family and friends, but I miss my old city, Austin. I miss all the little things about it, but mostly I miss the live music. It really is such a unique city and I think that's why so many bands come to play there. Atlanta, well is not Austin. The music scene is seriously lacking, I mean really lacking. I know I know, I'm probably not trying hard enough to get into the local music scene OR finding the right spots, but at this point I'm a little over it. And before you say anything, I am still new to this city so give me a break :)

About a month ago I got up enough courage to go to my first show in Atlanta since I moved here... and it was actually a great show. I saw the Generationals at a venue called the Earl in East Atlanta. The venue was pretty much like The Parish but a little smaller. The crowd wasn't what I was expecting at all... kind of a college, preppy crowd. But the Generationals sound great live and I really like their new album, a lot actually... perfect summer soundtrack. I did like the venue and I know there are several other venues that I'd like, but it seems like the summer here has been a huge dud. None of the bands I've been listening to are coming here.... why???? Oh well... I shouldn't complain, but damn it's hard not to when I used to see so many shows in Austin. God I miss you.

So enough of my pitty party for one. I've been a little out of touch with blogging and sharing what I'm listening to since I moved here. I think it's been a bit hard to find some inspiration to write, maybe because I haven't had a great live show experience in a while. There really is no better way to become an instant fan of a band than the feeling you get after you see them perform live. Unfortunately, I haven't had that feeling in a while in a few months, but there have been a few great albums that came out recently that have been on repeat in my head...

Cults, "Cults": their full length album just came out a few weeks ago and shit, it's good. I mean, probably the best album I've heard this year. Every song is great and they have such a great sound... very retro and soulful almost. I really admire the girl singer because she is able to change her singing voice from one song to the next. It's a great album and I wish I would have paid more attention to their set when I saw them at Fun Fun Fest last year.
Latest tracks by cultscultscults

Bass Drum of Death: I'll skip writing about them since I wrote about them last month, but definitely my favorite discovery so far this year.

Bon Iver, "Bon Iver": so I have always liked them but never actually got any of there stuff. Their second album came out this week and it's incredible, I mean some of the most beautiful music your ears will hear. Every song tells a different story and although some of the lyrics are a bit hard to make out, I still can't help but feel moved by the music and lyrics. I probably shouldn't listen to it at work, all I end up doing is crying because the music is so beautiful it's hard not to get swept up in it. I have a feeling this album will be on the top of all the 2011 music list picks for a while and it rightly should.


This song isn't from their new album, but I love it, and now I have a crush on Justin Vernon.

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All these bands have completely different sounds from each other, but I feel like each of these albums can help compliment the emotional roller coaster that has been my life since April. Cults is perfect for listening to when I need to dance around a little bit and listen to some chick rock. Bass Drum of Death, well perfect for when I'm angry and just need to listen to some rock and roll. And then Bon Iver... for a good cry and to help calm me down. The power of music will forever help me get through times in life.. good or bad, sad or happy.

Anyways, that's all I got for now. I'm just waiting for, well I'm not entirely sure but whatever it is, I'm sure it's in a song somewhere.

BTW... aka bands to watch

Here I go again... waiting too long to write and forgetting to log all the bands and songs I'm obsessed with. It's been a little more difficult to keep tabs of new music since I moved. I listen to the radio all day at work and since I moved I can't turn the music up as loud as before. Oh well...

In any case, I've been purchasing lots of new vinyl. And when I say new, I mean vinyl from new/current bands. I just recently upgrade my record player to one that you can convert vinyl to MP3's! Totally awesome! So screw iTunes... I might as well by the vinyl and then convert it to MP3's! More bang for my buck :) So a few new albums I purchased I've been so excited about! Bass Drum of Death is one of them. Of course, I heard then one day listening to xmu and can't get enough. Finally I gave in and purchased their album. Man is it good, especially on vinyl! They are a cross between Ty Segall and Waaves... which are both bands that I love. Incredible garage rock with lots of raw beats. I think this band is from Mississippi or somewhere in the south and you can totally hear the southern 70's garage rock influence.

Find more artists like BASS DRUM OF DEATH at Myspace Music

I think these guys are really going to blow up. They played a show in Atlanta a few weeks ago but I didn't make it out.... I'm sure I will regret it in 3 months when they start to get some buzz.

Another album that I've been obsessing over is the new Kurt Vile. Unfortunately, I only purchased the MP3... I can only imagine how good it would sound on vinyl. I think the reason why this album is so good is the flow of each song into the next and the beautiful piano in each song. This album is pretty folky and sort of Wilco-ish. More acoustic and piano driven than I'm used to hearing from him. Each song is written so well with so much meaning in the lyrics and you can really hear it. Listening to the album all the way through, I find myself feeling so many different emotions and reactions. Some songs make me reminiscent of college, others incredibly happy, but there's one that makes me cry, "On Tour". I think this song sums up how I'm feeling right now in my life. I know I'm totally interpretting the song in my own way, but that's the magic of music. Sometimes a song meaning is what you make of it. Who cares what the song really means, what matters is how it makes you feel and react. I think that's why music means so much to me. Whenever I'm having trouble admitting to myself how good or bad my life is, all I need to do is listen to music, get lost in the beats, and let the feelings and emotions flow through...

Well Hi ole' friend

Hi again... I'm back. I've missed you. A lot has happened since I last wrote. Lots of life changes. I moved from Austin, TX to Atlanta, GA... big change. Luckily, I left Austin with a bang and got to enjoy SXSW 1 more time as an Austinite.

This years festival was like no other from years past... so many people, more free shows than official ones, and too many rowdy drunks for that city. I think I did it right though and posted up at a few places rather than run around to different venues and try to make every show that I wanted to see.

I didn't see as much as I should have, but that's ok. The beauty of music festivals is, you'll see the bands you missed another time. So I have a few festival favorites, and here they are
-Atlas Sound: (a.k.a Bradford Cox of Deerhunter, a.k.a. my music idol). This show was unbelievable... I walked away feeling like a better person after seeing first hand Braddy work his magic on stage. Every time I listen to him I always wonder how that dude can create such magical harmonies and beats. Atlas Sound is completely different than Deerhunter, but in a good way. It's Bradford at his best, by himself with just a guitar, some weird foot petal thing, and a harmonica. This show really gave me a sense of how he creates his music. Several times during this set he would stand up (while the back beats were going), run off to the drums in the back of the stage (which weren't even his), and just start banging on them. UGH... I could really go on forever about him, but I should stop.

-Small Black: These guys are GREAT! Dance/chill wave music by definition. Prior to seeing them live I wondered how they could perform live... like did they use real instruments or was the band like Washed Out, a guy with his computer singing. Well Small Black was a band, with lots of impressive instruments and they put on a great show. You could tell they were having fun.


-Summer Camp: One of my fav radio bloggers, Gorilla vs Bear, was having a SXSW day party and Summer Camp was there. I heard this band a few months ago on blog radio and really hadn't heard anything like them before. It's hard to describe their sound... Dance/poppy with soul. The band is just a girl singing and playing some weird keyboard and a guy with a guitar. The girl has an incredible voice and they sound even better live. They are awesome and if you don't have their stuff, GET IT.



The Soft Moon: I can't get enough of new wave and it makes me happy when bands these days do it right... and The Soft Moon is one of those bands. There music is complex, instrumental, and they really get it. You can definitely tell they were influenced by Joy Division and I can't help but get lost in the beats when I listen to them. I'm so glad I got to see them at the Gorilla vs Bear party because I would have been disappointed in myself if I didn't. I have to say I wasn't expecting these guys to look the way they did... a bit older than you'd expect for a band that is just now starting out, but it makes perfect sense given their sound. In any case, they were great and I can't get enough of their sound. It's dark, industrial, and chaotic.



Even though I didn't see as many bands this year, the shows I saw were great and the goods shows I was able to get close enough to the stage to see, which is important. Now that I'm not in Austin all I can think about is the next band I get to see live. And I can't wait!

Sometimes it's better the second time...

So Deerhunter is definitely one of my favorite bands, I think I've dedicated more blogs about them than any other band. When I saw the line up for FFFest 2010 I about fell over in my chair when I saw they were on the line-up. Every single album they have is solid; packed with beautifully written songs and amazing instrumental parts. I think this is why I like them so much... the beautiful lyrics (and voice) and the songs that end with minute long instrumental parts. It's so easy to get lost in them. In any case, back to the point... I saw them at FFFest and wasn't necessarily disappointed in their performance, I think I was just hoping for more. I probably put too many hopes in the experience. Maybe I thought after seeing them live (for the first time) I'd walk away feeling more spiratually connected to them or something. But that didn't happen. And I honestly don't know that I've ever felt that way after seeing a band at a festival.

So a few weeks went by after the festival and I kept wishing for more. Frankly praying for another chance to see them, and soon. But it didn't happen. I just had to accept it and wait until they came to Austin again. But then, I got word that my potential move to Atlanta (aka their home town) was official thus making my prayers come true. OF COURSE I'll see them again, either at a live show OR (fingers crossed) sitting next to me at a bar. Who knows, maybe they read my blog and think "ohh, we gotta meet THAT girl."

Anyways, I checked out the pitchfork website yesterday and there was a post that Deerhunter recorded a live show at an Apple Store in NYC. Kinda random, but cool. I've heard the live version of Helicopter and well let's just say, it's way better live than on the album. Well today I finally downloaded the 8 song EP and wow, it is GREAT. It really and truly sounds EXACTLY like their set at FFFest (minus the cheers from people at the apple store... lucky jerks). So listening to these live songs makes me really happy, and makes me appreciate the FFFest show. Even if it didn't give me the feeling I wanted, it was still great and listening to this live recorded album makes me appreciate that show even more. Even if I could barely see them through the lights and smoke, I sure did hear them... And that was well worth the wait.

So at the end of the day, hearing this live concert recording of Deerhunter not only makes me happy, but makes me think of all those other bands that I gave up on after seeing a live show that I didn't particularly like. Maybe "sometimes it's better the second time..."

Big happenings...

Saw the first show of 2011 last week... Wavves and Best Coast at Emos. I was pretty excited to see them. After FFFest I needed to see them again up close because both of their albums were on my repeat playlists last year. I absolutely hated that they were playing at Emo's, because everytime I see a show there I question myself as to why wasted my money/time. But this time I figured I'd give Emo's one last chance to change my mind. Well, sadly I'll never go to Emo's again... Even if it's a great band. I'll just suffer and wait to see them elsewhere. It's unfortunate that so many great bands are booked there instead of the Mohawk (because the hawk is by far the best live music venue in Austin). It's incredibly hard to hear anything at Emos', even standing right next to the speaker. It sucks... spending $20 to see a band you LOVE and walking away being disappointed, not by the performance of the band, but by the sound quality. Anyways, even though the Emo's show sucked, I'm still glad I got to see Wavves and Best Coast. In my opinion, Wavves put on a better show. Maybe because they play music that you can pump your fists to and yell/sing. Even though I'm still a little disappointed in the show, sometimes it's not about that... sometimes it's about the overall experience. Because afterall if you are at a show with a great group of friends and have a great time, that's really all that matters. And I certainly had A GREAT TIME.

And speaking of bands I LOVE... My fav band of 2k10, Wild Nothing, is FINALLY playing in Austin. I just can't believe it took so long for me to see them. I am in love with their dreamy/synth/pop sound and I still listen to their records on repeat... just listening to them over and over. Everytime I listen to them I feel like I'm floating on a cloud, it's so dreamy. You just have NO idea how much I love this band. Luckily they are NOT playing at Emo's, otherwise I'd cry. In any case, they are the only band that I love that I haven't seen yet... actually take that back, I still haven't seen The Drums :( Wild Nothing is playing tonight at Red 7, which is a bit weird considering that place usually has metal bands play. It should be interesting... I'm going to geek out when they play.

Wild Nothing - Chinatown from Jack Tatum on Vimeo.

In other BIG news, I visited Atlanta this week and found the local college radio station. They played some Weekend, Wild Nothing, AND every other song was either Deerhunter or Atlas Sound (they are from ATL). It makes me very happy that the indie college station was playing some Bradford Cox. I always wondered if the local indie folks that live in ATL actually appreciated him, and apparently they do!!

Well, that's all I got today. Super excited about the show tonight. Hopefully they don't cancel, considering it snowed here last night (which has the city in a panic because it never snows).

Until next time, K-spot is snowed in.

Riding the wave into 2011

Hello blogosphere, I've missed you... it's been a while since I last posted. This year has started off a bit crazy, and I've been a little unmotivated to write anything. Maybe because I haven't been inspired or found any good new music worth writing about. Well, I finally found something pretty great.

For those who know me, I am constantly listening to xmu and each day for about 2 hours they have a different "blog radio" DJ. These bloggers play whatever they want to, and I usually find myself making notes of "music to download". I'd certainly like to take created for a lot of the new bands I write about, but mostly I hear them first from blog radio.

Anyways, the other day one of the bloggers played this song called "Knock Out" by Air Waves. For a few days I couldn't get this song out of my head. I kept going to iTunes and would think about DLing the whole album, but didn't want to waste $9.99 on an album with only 1 good song. Finally, I went for it. And let me tell you, completely worth it. I can't really describe the sound of the band nor try to compare them to another band. All I can say is I love their sound... incredible lead singer voice, heavy bass, and flirty guitar sound. The lead singer's voice is a mix between Beach House and Lower Dens... deeper female voice, unique and great. Apparently they might be located in Austin?!? Check em out below:

Find more artists like Airwaves at Myspace Music

Find more artists like Airwaves at Myspace Music

Of course, they played a show last night and I missed it. BUT they will probably be back for SXSW, which will be better because I can see them doing a set alone. I can't get enough of them, their album is great and I highly recommend getting it.

That's all I got for now. There are a few other bands I'm excited about, but Air Waves tops my list. Great way to start the year.

Until next time-
KSpot out!