My song of the day is by Valerie June. Her music combines the best elements of rock and roll, pop, and soul in the vein of Jack White or the Black Keys. Her voice is heavy and rich and really all over the board. The title track "Pushin Against a Stone" feels like the Beatles mixed with 60s girl group pop, "You Can't be Told" has a definite rock and roll tinge to it, and other songs get a little bluegrass and folky. You have to listen to the whole album to understand its depth and range. Below are two of my favorites.

I am working on three very big papers, but don't worry, I will be back to my regularly scheduled ultimatums and declarations of love very soon. I just had to share this great song I heard today.

"Worms" by Youth Lagoon was included on Space Project, a 14-song compilation put out on Record Store Day. All of the songs incorporate sounds from outer space. "Worms" utilizes noises from Uranus's rings. I'm not a scientist, so I don't know how that works. But it's great.

You can read a little bit more about it here.

Conor Oberst debuted 7 new songs from is upcoming album, Upside Down Mountain, last Thursday on WNYC's Green Space. You can listen to all of them below.

"Time Forgot"


"Double Life"


"Night At Lake Unknown"


"Lonely At The Top"


"Hundreds of Ways"


"You Are Your Mother's Child"


"Common Knowledge"

I've been listening to the Walkmen a lot lately, and when I say a lot, I mean like a lot. Besides for their last album, Heaven (my album of the year in 2012) and the song, "The Rat" I really hadn't listened to much of their music. I really missed out. They've consistently put out solid album for more than a decade. It's hard to call indie rock bands underrated, because most are, but I feel like the Walkmen don't get the credit they deserve.

The two album I've most enjoyed (also the two albums you should listen to right now) are You & Me and Pussy Cats.

(Pussy Cats is a cover of the exact same album Harry Nilsson and John Lennon put out in 1974. If you haven't heard it listen to it and then listen to The Walkmen's take on it. There's not much difference, but I love them both.)

Seems like a pretty epic day in Des Moines' music scene's history. News broke today that Guided By Voices will have a date here on their upcoming tour and then just minutes later that David Byrne will be the keynote speaker at the Grand Opening of the Des Moines Social Club. Sure, this might be a typical day in Seattle or Austin but around here having two things like that drop before lunch is a huge deal.

Duh.




New album out in June. This is not an April Fools joke. We don't joke about new Jack White albums here.

Love,
Tori

I heard two great songs today.

First Copeland is back from a brief hiatus and are releasing their fifth full length album, out in May. They also released one of the most beautiful songs they've recorded, "Ordinary".



Manchester Orchestra's released their new album, Cope, today! I've just started listening to the whole thing and so far so good (like, really good).
Last night they played an amazing rendition of the the album's title track, "Cope".