Listen and Love

Today's Listen and Love: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's self-titled 2009 release.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Everything With You [mp3]
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - This Love is Fucking Right! [mp3]

My Body is a Cage

We all might be re-enjoying "Wake Up" because of that cute as punch trailer for Where the Wild Things Are, but "My Body is a Cage" has been the Arcade Fire track on my repeat lately.

Arcade Fire - My Body is a Cage [mp3]

Divine

The exact word I would use to describe multilingual Sebastien Tellier's new song "Kilometer" is divine. There's no doubt in my mind that last year's Sexuality was off the hook. Production by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk fame probably didn't hurt. In conjunction with MGMT's Oracular Spectacular, it really did make 2008 the year of synthesizers. Now in 2009 I'm still finding new reasons to appreciate the French electro-pop conductor. Plus, you know I lose it when A-Trak lays his magic on anything.

Sebastien Tellier - Divine [mp3]
Sebastien Tellier - Kilometer (A-Trak Remix) [mp3]
One HOT piece

Sebastien and Mr. Oizo are like BFFs. It makes total sense, no?

Good, Friday I'm in Holy Week

I wouldn't classify myself as highly religious, but I can still observe Jesus' crucifixion and subsequent resurrection (or whatever your beliefs may be) with some great tunes. P.T. = Paschal Triduum = Party Time? Sidenote: I chose a random picture because my photographic search of "Good Friday'" kind of scared me.

Here's all the tracks I've been loving on lately. Some old, some new, all radical.

Good, Friday I'm in Holy Week Mixtape

The Thermals - Now We Can See [mp3]
The White Stripes - Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground [mp3]
Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al
Yeah I've got P Simon on here, but can you really hate on this song? WWJD?
Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance (Grandtheft Remix) [mp3]
Like anything LL, so much fun
IAMX - Kingdom of Welcome Addiction
IAMX ft. Imogen Heap - My Secret Friend [mp3]
Handsome Furs - I'm Confused [mp3]
Deerhunter - Never Stops [mp3]
Kings of Leon - Fans (Live on Radio One) [mp3]
I might love on this live version more than the original
Conor Oberst - Eagle on a Pole
Buy the new album when it comes out, you won't regret it

Come As You Are

This week (April 8th) marked the 15th Anniversary of Kurt Cobain's untimely death. It's hard to believe it was so long ago that the influential Nirvana frontman took his own life, leaving behind a wife, daughter, and promising career. I won't pretend to understand suicide, or get existential on y'all. I'll just put some classic Nevermind on and smell a little like teen spirit in Kurt's honor.

Nirvana - Come as You Are [mp3]
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Live) [mp3]
Nirvana - Rape Me [mp3]
Nirvana - The Man Who Sold the World [mp3]
Besides Nevermind, Nirvana's Unplugged in New York has to be my most coveted release from the guys. My dad hooked me on it. We still sing along to their pitch-perfect covers of Bowie and The Vaselines.

Bands Who Love On Nirvana Too:
Via Audio / Someone Still Loves you Boris Yeltsin - Heart-Shaped Box [mp3]
Cibo Matto - About a Girl [mp3]
Sinead O'Conner - All Apologies [mp3]
Polyphonic Spree - Lithium [mp3]
Ben Gibbard - All Apologies [mp3]
Terry Urban - Lithium (Trendy Trash Remix) [mp3]

Take a few hours to put on old flannel, blame shit on your parents, and generally get your teenage angst on. Or you could go out and see About a Son, the documentary of Kurt's rollercoaster life. I highly recommend both.

Bonus: Tom Waits - Nirvana [mp3]

This is Not a Love Story, It's a Story About Love

Thanks to an anonymous friend out there, I was reminded of the amazing teaser trailer for 500 Days of Summer. Shorter than the official full-length I posted yesterday, but equally as powerful thanks to Temper Trap, and their single "Sweet Disposition." The Melbourne (and soon to be London) based band is beyond buzzworthy. Just this March they completed their debut album, rocked a bunch of US cities, and inspired a fan campaign to get them SXSW placement. After playing the bigger than life V Festival in Australia this month, they guys will head to Europe to promote both their new single "Science of Fear" and perhaps take over the world.



From the band's website:

The monumental ‘Science of Fear’ is the band’s debut UK single and is already registering spins on the BBC’S Radio 1 playlist, whilst also spending five consecutive weeks on Australian tastemaker station Triple J’s most played list. This eye of the perfect ‘musical’ storm contrasts markedly with the hypnotic and gliding melodic spell of ‘Sweet Disposition’, but is equally a watershed mark for the act and further confirmation of this band’s refusal to be stymied by genre, expectation or any such ties that bind so many others on this brilliant album.

Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition [mp3]

Bonus: She & Him - I Was Made for You [mp3]