Maximo Park - Risk to Exist

Ever felt like you're going nowhere, and you need a little help
I felt the same way in my life, that's when your friends improve the hand you're dealt
Now if we extend the situation
To a broad one instead of the self
How can we not extend a hand into the perilous waters of hell

The first cut and title track, from the forthcoming Maximo Park album Risk to Exist, is classic Maximo Park. Their brand of sharp, catchy and smart pop never gets old, and with each album they throw in a few exciting twists and turns to keep us on our toes. I'm excited for more new from them and, hopefully, to finally catch them live.

RIYL: The Jam, Futureheads, We Are Scientists, Field Music, The Cribs

Upcoming Shows

WHY? - Proactive Evolution

I'd be white, weak and blind
The opposite of oxen
Feeling for an exit with
Fingers stiff as branches
Of a tiny bonsai birch
Bark falling off in strips
Leaving nude wood, white
So bright in raw scar-glow
Like a fresco angel, except
Starved and deranged though
And for an exit, trying
Through blindness and time
If I wasn't when I am

I've got a very clear, and very cool memory of one of my first experiences with Oakland's Why?. It comes from back when I first moved to San Francisco from Seattle. I'd just discovered their 2008 release Alopecia and had "The Hallows" in frequent rotation. I remember sitting there on the floor of my new apartment, sun and summer air streaming through open bay windows, listening to Alopecia and dreaming up my SF adventures. Good times. It's been a bit since I'd thought about them, but the couple new tracks I've seen come through lately are great. And today's Most Important, "Proactive Evolution" has piqued my interest quite a bit again. I'm sure I'll remember this for awhile as well, sitting here jamming their catalog as I write this, thinking about this week's upcoming summer adventures in Melbourne.

RIYL: Menomena, Dan Deacon, tUnE-yArDs, YACHT, Dirty Projectors

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Zuzu - What You Want

Go home it's cold
Parents are out
Sneak through the porch
Got your paws on me on the couch
There's nothing in my mind
And yet I can't keep up with your TV-fueled sex drive

Let's kick this week off with a fuzzy, catchy, plucky indie pop song from Liverpool based Zuzu. It's a good un! And comes complete with a terrifically done I ❤️️ Huckabee's inspired video.

RIYL: We Are Scientists, Weezer, Courtney Barnett

Upcoming Shows

Neko Case - Night Still Comes

My brain makes drugs to keep me slow,
A hilarious joke for some dead pharaoh.
But now, not even the masons know
What drug will keep night from coming.

There are so many tools that are made for my hands.
But the tide smashes all my best-laid plans to sand.
And there's always someone to say it's easy for me,
But I revenge myself all over myself.
There's nothing you can say to me.

Kerri's not the only one excited about some new tracks from The New Pornographers, and you can bet I'm jealous and sad I'll be missing them at SXSW. To console myself, I guess I'll just listen to some Neko Case. Her voice always gives me nice little shivers and makes me think of what it'd be like to be a cat getting a scratch in that perfect spot right behind the ears.

BONUS! One of my all time favorite songs, "This Tornado Loves You", performed live:

RIYL: The New Pornographers, Jenny Lewis, Rilo Kiley, Aimee Mann

Upcoming Shows

The New Pornographers - High Ticket Attractions

You can imagine all the factions
That form around high ticket attractions
High on the spirit, hopped up and mystic
After the flame baptism you’re fearless

You know the science of falling
You have your calling
You know the song

The Magna Carta, it’s underwater
We left it there for the sons and the daughters
One day they’ll find it; they’ll be reminded
When we live undersea like we ought to

Didn’t know flying from falling
Clueless the poor thing
Sad to report
Didn’t know losing from learning
Wheels were turning
You know the song

Something new from Canadian supergroup The New Pornographers! With all the breaks this band takes for their solo projects, I haven't seen them all together performing live yet. Excited they'll be at SXSW coming up quick! (Sorry, Keith. One of the many things you'll miss by having to stay and work in Sydney. Thumbs down for impending separation.) Thumbs up for Whiteout Conditions, the seventh studio album from TNP, out in April.

RIYL: Neko Case, Fleetwood Mac, Broken Social Scene

Upcoming Shows