WHY? - Proactive Evolution

| Keith
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

| Keith
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

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Neko Case - Night Still Comes

| Keith
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

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The New Pornographers - High Ticket Attractions

| Kerri

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

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Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union

| Keith
I sense the enemy, they're rustling around in the trees
I thought I had gotten away but the followed me to 02143
Oh, woe, woe is me, no one knows the trouble I see
When they hang Jeff Davis from a sourapple tree, I'll sit beneath the leaves and weep
None of us shall be saved, every man will be a slave
For John Brown's body lies a-mould'ring in the grave and there's rumbling down in the caves
So if it's time for choosing sides, and to show this dirty city how we do the Jersey Slide
And if it deserves a better class of criminal
Then I'ma give it to them tonight
So we'll rally around the flag, rally around the flag
Rally around the flag, boys, rally once again
Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom
Rally around the flag, rally around the flag
Glory, glory, Hallelujah, His truth is marching on

Listening to Ted Leo yesterday got me thinking, for some reason I'm not 100% sure of, Titus Andronicus and their classic 2010 release The Monitor. We've never featured them here, so let's fix that. Today's Most Important, the blistering "A More Perfect Union" which chronicles frontman Patrick Stickles' move from Glen Rock, NJ, to Somerville, MA. Mashed up with a bunch of Civil War references. Oh and bits from Springsteen, Billy Bragg and others. The general theme and style carries through the album and makes for a unique and interesting punk rock adventure.

RIYL: The Hold Steady, Billy Bragg, Japandroids, Cloud Nothings, Ted Leo

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