_Lykke Li – “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” (Live Cover)

After exploding the charts up with her first album “Youth Novels” one would assume that it’s time to take a break and relax a bit. Lykke Li is doing the exact opposite, she’s getting back on the wagon train and making more music. Even though this track is a cover of an excellent Shirelles song. It’s always nice to hear a new take on a personal favorite. Especially when done by Lykke Li! Her voice is hardly there, but profound at the same time. It’s an excellent contrast. It’s also nice to see that she is capable of making music on a sentimental side and that she is able to deviate from her Indie roots and come out with something meaningful and deep.

Check out the video here to see her perform it live in a strange candlelit setting, shot with a very obscure angle. Hopefully Lykke Li keeps up the great work. She has a very ecclectic side to her music, making her stand apart from everything else out there in the indie music scene. This cover is just one great example her uniqueness. She can take a more upbeat song and give it an entirely new edge.

Lykke Li – Will You Still Love Me TomorrowStream

_Animal Collective – Graze

Animal Collective has yet again released another single off their up and coming EP Fall Be Kind. This one is called “Graze“. In this track you notice Animal Collective not deviating too far from their experimental roots.

The song starts slow, with echoeing vocals playfully chattering back and forth, accompanied by a soft string section and the inconsistant clatter of something that sounds like wooden sticks. Dave Portner or Avey Tare’s voice reaches quite an intensity, which is uncharacteristic of his usual harmonization. The song works great as an introduction because at the last minute or so it breaks down into an epic wood flute solo, to sort of amp up the energy and add in some melody to the otherwise vocally charged track.

The depth and focus of just the two tracks i’ve heard so far gives a clear indication that this will be a very experimental album, based mostly off sounds and noises versus melody and tempo. It will be interesting to see how it fares against their earlier work. Look for the EP to be released November 23rd over the internet and by physical copy December 14th.

Listen: (more…)

_Animal Collective – Bleeding (Live)

Animal Collective are stated as one of the most successful psychaelic bands in the modern days. They have an uncanny ability to create vivid, astmospheric music, summoning all sorts of moods and trippy feelings. Here is a sneak peak off their upcoming EP it’s a song entitled Bleeding. Which kind of fits the mood here. If bleeding to death were music, this might be it. Thinking of good friends, fond memories etc, then finally accepting that death is inevitable and envisioning your world crashing down all around you. These are all the moods that Animal Collective are experts at invoking into the audience.

The song stretches out to be around ten minutes long, and would seem best fit in a live setting versus listening to it on an ipod or stereo. But I’d suggest hallucinogen drugs and a free thought process, one in which to allow yourself to wander and almost become the music. Either way it would be fun and interesting to see this performed live as there are plenty of strange and eerie noises coming from this quartet.

Animal Collective – “Bleeding”Stream

_Solid Gold – Matter of Time

Minneapolis dark synth pop band Solid Gold has been on our radar for quite some time now. We’ve also had several opportunities to chat with these fine young gentlemen about their lives as musicians twice, back in our Mossip days. Also, me being a Minneapolis native i am a huge fan of their work and am always anxious to hear anything new from them.

Here is a new single from them entitled “Matter of Time”. In this track Solid Gold sticks with what they know and that’s creating lush ethereal dreamscapes accompanied by melancholic lyrics. Take a listen, you will notice their style hasn’t changed much. But, why change what is already very very exceptional, right?

All their success so far is astounding, especially since they were just signed to Green Label Sound home of fellow synther’s such as Matt & Kim and Chairlift. It’s great to see these guys still making some awesome music and I hope to see plenty more now with Green Label backing them as a record company.

Solid Gold – Matter of TimeStream

_Yeasayer – Ambling Alp

The experimental group Yeasayer just released a brand new single from their soon to be released album Odd Blood. The song is entitled Ambling Alp. Which seems to be a very fitting title for this interestingly arranged song. The term ambling essentially means moving in a lateral motion at a slower four beat pace. The song starts off adhering to those characteristics at a slower pace and eventually evolves to be more pop structured. Lead singer Chris Keating’s voice croons in an almost 80′s-esque pop singer tone which benefits the organic drum beat extremely well. But don’t worry the song still falls well into the experimental genre, particularly the beginning and the end of the song is where it’s most noticeably weird.

Yeasayer has a unique and approachable sound and when speaking in terms of psychedelic/experimental music they seem to be holstered securely at being the shining light of that genre. If you really want a psychedelic trip for the ears without alot of nonsense  that this genre can sometimes spawn, Yeasayer is definitely a band worth listening to.

Yeasayer – Ambling Alp Stream

_Total Babe Plays 7th Street Entry (Interview) – Part 2

V&V: I don’t know if you had a chance to check out the blog within the last couple of weeks. But I wrote a little preview about you guys and mentioned your style/genre. I referred to it as Dream pop with a stylized folk structure. Would you say this is accurate?

TB: I think we are all pretty bad at describing ourselves. But yeah that’s accurate.

V&V: what lead you all to start collaborating as a band?

TB: What lead us….Well…… We’d all been working on different projects that kind of fell apart. Then we all got together and tried again and it worked. And we knew Jordan who is really great at guitar. We started off by trying classical, acoustic Classical, and then finally settled on our current sound and got lucky. Our current drummer has been with us for about 5 months now the other one left the band. He is actually the longest we’ve had a drummer.

V&V: That’s surprising. Who would not be in a band that books shows regularly??

TB: I think he left our band to be in a Sublime cover band.

V&V: I bet he’s regretting that decision now.

TB: Well we felt bad, we talked to him last night and he asked if we were playing any shows. And we told him we just played in the First Avenue main room w/ Drinking with Ian. And he was just kind of like “oohh”. But he’s cool and congratulated us. (more…)

_Total Babe Plays 7th Street Entry – Part 1

With cold weather inching closer by the passing minute it’s nice to be able to cozy up to some warm and comfy music to sort of compensate for the cold climates. Bands like Total Babe, give off that warm sensation that is undeniably needed in the brutal winters of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

We here at Vinyl and Vodka had a chance to see them perform live in Minneapolis at a venue called the 7th Street Entry, and also sit down and have a chat with them about their experiences as musicians.

Their set was only about 5 to 6 songs, but in my opinion was the perfect amount played. They don’t give away too much by playing everything on their list and they leave just a little up to the listener’s interpretation. Their stage presence seemed spot on they came out and played their music very efficiently. They didn’t interact with the crowd as much as desired but after all, they are musicians not comedians. By watching them play, their orchestration, vocals and all around presentation was straight forward without any buffer to fill gaps of sorts. Which proves they know what they are doing, they are being musicians and are coming out there on stage to put on a show for us the listeners. They understand that and execute it extremely well. (more…)

_N.E.R.D. – Soldier (feat. Santigold)

N.E.R.D. is a clever acronym for No One Ever Really Dies which coincedentally fits into the groups 8-bit style. Just check out their website for some nostalgic fun. After a 4 year hiatus and the release of their CD Seeing Sounds off record label Star Track Entertainment, the band is still releasing music due to the energy of their fans.

They just released a new single featuring indie pop star Santigold called “Soldier”. In this song they portray the fact that alot of their influence comes from old school gaming. The bassline is chopped up and rugged and has a vintage nintendo game feel while splicing in a bit of a reggae tone for the melody and utilizing Santigold’s unique voice to give it that rough and tumble effect. I like their choice of using Santigold on this track because the title pretty much says it all. If I were to make a song entitled Soldier i’d definitely use Santigold, she fits into that urban warrior style seamlessly. All in all it’s nice to see these guys coming back after a break and making music for their fans and keeping them happy. Talk about your all around good guy type of band.

N.E.R.D. – “Soldier” (feat. Santigold)Stream