Sabbatical...

So no updates I apologize but many things have come up that required my attention. I'm in the process of putting up a website for Tastemakers Music Magazine, Northeastern's music magazine. Learning wordpress has given me some more perspective on the whole blogging thing and I've decided once this website goes live I'm going to redo hippomusic in wordpress and make it incredibly sexy. I might have some free time in procrastinating my finals to get a post or two up, but expect a brand new hippomusic in early summer.

In the mean time here's a band I've had on repeat for awhile. Check em out.

Okkervil River - Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
Okkervil River - Unless It's Kicks
Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines

Yall.....

So yall may notice a bit of a different look on the homepage. Steven was a beast and tackled the html coding I couldn't fix. Points for Steven. But back to why you all (and by all I mean the few readers we have) come here. I read pitchfork daily. No surprise there. Recently pitchfork nominated Antony and the Johnons new album, The Crying Light, as an album to check out of the new year and as he has one of the most unique voices out now a days, so I checked it out. If any of you are familiar with the track "Blind" from last years Hercules and Love Affair album, that was him...

Hegarty's trembling voice gracefully moves over soft textures of piano and strings in the opening track "Her Eyes are Underneath the Ground". A lone clarinet even sneaks its way in after the chorus finishes. With a voice as nonpareil as Antony Hegarty, I feel it's hard to go wrong. With a heavy folk and almost classical feel, The Crying Light lays a canvas with clarinets, strings, saxophone, recorders and piano which varies from lush textures to barely felt harmonies. Annoyingly, most the track titles seems to be taken from the first lines of the song. I also find that because his voice is so unique, many of the songs can sound similar. I personally preferred Hegarty in the electric disco groove of Hercules and Love Affair, but who am I.

The whole album has a very nature vibe to it as can been seen in the music video for Epilepsy is Dancing (via Pitchfork.tv)

I'm putting the mp3 to Epilepsy Is Dancing, which you can also hear above, and the track One Dove. I dig the scalar string runs and the saxophone. Hegarty also lays some nice vocal harmonies near the beginning. And I'm throwing in Blind because its such a damn good track. Enjoy.

Antony and the Johnsons - Epilepsy is Dancing

Antony and the Johnsons - One Dove

Hercules and Love Affair - Blind

Mountain Dew music?!

Now longer by request.... My post!

Here's something interesting! Mountain Dew has its own label and is sponsoring several artists including Matt & Kim and The Cool Kids. But by far the most interesting (and catchy) song in their lineup is Big Bills by Flosstradamus feat. Caroline Polachek. With a name like Flosstradamus, it's not entirely surprising that the song (and the members themselves) remind me of Chromeo. It also doesn't help when you're friends on myspace either...



Big Bills has floating synths, a simple dance beat, and a simple and extremely catchy chorus. This inlcuding Caroline Polachek's sultry voice mixed with the right amount of muffledness make for a great (but cheesy) pop song. All in all, it's a pretty straightforward dance/pop track that has a ability to get stuck in your head for a long time. Also, this song is playing on repeat as I write this post, although it's no My Girls. Not bad for Flosstradamus's first real song, eh? Well Flosstradmaus is 2 DJs and 4 turntables with some decent dance remixes and look forward to hearing them in a commercial (along with Andrew Bird, though hopefully not the same one). Also if you haven't heard of Caroline Polachek, you've probably heard her. She's the singer in Chairlift, the band that did the song Bruises, which was featured in the iPod nano commercials with the rainbow selection of nanos that bleed their own colors. Here's the retro video:

Back into the swing of things...

I must apologize for the delay in posting. I was taking a much needed break during the winter while planning on resuming once the school year started, but thanks to school that didn't happen. But I'll try to get organized and get some regular posting in. In my absence some highly anticipated albums have been released and shaken things up in the music world. I'll start off with Animal Collective...

Before Merriweather Post Pavillion I had simply written Animal Collective off as hipster hype. Their last album, Strawberry Jam just never reached me. It's off-beat loops and weird noises left me unsettled. Just watch the music video for "Peacebone" on youtube and you'll see what I mean. It's just damn weird. So when their latest album came out and started to get a shit load of hype, I was skeptical to say the least. Now I should probably mention I've listened to the song "My Girls" over a 100 times in the last few days. I just leave it on repeat. But seriously, check them out. The album is full of contrasting songs full of loops and and sweet rhythms that will keep you interested throughout its entirety. "My Girls" is an early favorite with fem-pop lyrics and bridge that will make you want to cry its so good. "Daily Routine" also stood out with its offbeat rhythm and high pitched keyboard loop. In every piece I've found some unique use of a sample or vocals in each song. 

My favorite whistling/violinist/singer/songwriter Andrew Bird also recently released The Noble Beast. From his previous works, The Noble Beast, shows to serve how technique has developed and matured. As you may know, Andrew Bird's music consists of crafting lush textures he floats his lyrics of off. While heavily influenced by folk/bohemian music, The Noble Beast has its pop moments which have landed the album #19 on Billboard. Pretty exciting for the indie world. A listen to a few of the tracks on the cd such as "Anonanimal" explains what the hype is all about. Bird is a genius with words. His lyrics flow with such poetiscism, at times its hard to distinguish his voice in the texture of the piece. Oh and I'm calling it now. Oh No will be in a commercial. I guarantee it. 

That's all for now. I promise to have some more posts up this week so check back often. Peace yall. 

Animal Collective - My Girls

Animal Collective - Daily Routine

Andrew Bird - Oh No!

Andrew Bird - Anonanimal