There’s this really cool project going on from some cool people I know. Tom Williams (from Radio Exile), a writer, Sarah Mulligan, a photographer, Rahawa Haile, a filmmaker, and Chris Miller are going on a roadtrip to find out where the music industry is in 2010 and where it’s going. Like the writers, I really believe 2010 is a landmark year in music just by all the epic albums coming out this year and the ones that have already been released. They’re comparing it to Chuck Klosterman’s writing, so that can’t be a bad thing at all. Either way, these group of people are embarking on a seriously cool music journey across the United States, and I support it.

They’re raising funds for the roadtrip and the first print of the books over at Kickstarter. If you don’t know what Kickstarter is, you should probably visit it first to get familiar. There’s always some really cool projects going on over there. Their journey will take them through New York City, Richmond, Chapel Hill, Athens (GA), New Orleans, Austin, Monterrey (Mexico), and Nashville and up to South By Southwest in Austin. Hopefully I’ll run into them in Austin. Check out the Kickstarter page below and their Tumblr where they’re documenting the roadtrip.

Kickstarter: Sound Through Sight
Tumblr: Sound Through Sight

I listened to Everybody, Come Outside and it’s a beautifully layered dreamy-pop album. Restrained when it has to be, but shows it’s louder side on “This Land Used to Be My Land” and “Southern Ocean”. I had it on repeat for weeks before seeing them live last year, and it grew on me as a record that felt like veteran musicians who meticulously crafted this album. The album’s finale, a track called “I Feel Like I’m a Million Years Old” is a 13 minute piece that takes you out of your consciousness and in to another world.

So when I got to see them live at the Drunken Unicorn, I found it surprising to see the boys who make up Pomegranates are barely 20 years old (Only one had a 21+ wristband, if I remember correctly). It turns out their album isn’t a fluke as their live show is just as dreamy as the record. So I definitely recommend them as show to check out in SXSW. I posted the lead track from the record below, but you really need to check out the whole thing.

Download: Pomegranates- Everybody, Come Outside!

I know, right? First there was talk about their hip-hop collaborations, and then you have Dan Auerbach’s solo album (which is great, by the way). The keys are busy as they have another studio album out on May 18. Will it be highly produced like Attack and Release? Will we ever hear raw Black Keys like The Big Come Up again? Will they cover The Beatles again? Only one track on it was produced by Danger Mouse, who helmed Attack and Release. We’ll see, but if we get anything like Dan Auerbach’s “Keep it Hid” from his solo album, I think we’ll be good hands.

Oh and that album art above; apparently that is the album art. Soak it in, it’s pretty great. And pretty straightforward. You almost know exactly what you’re getting into there.

So imagine my excitement as I’m listening along to the outrageously amazing epic of album from Jersey natives Titus Andronicus when I hear the sweet vocals of Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak fame. I know you can’t really imagine it, but I was pretty surprised to hear her contribution to this album.

Even without a lot of other contributions, The Monitor is a pretty great album on it’s own. And what follows The Monitor? A Monitour, of course! I’m really not joking. They’re going to be stopping by The 529 on April 29 here in Atlanta and I will definitely be there to check out their crazy live show.

Download: Titus Andronicus- To Old Friends and New

This segment of Yeah Wow (the segment in which I talk about upcoming acts that I’m really excited about) focuses around Class Actress, the group fronted by female vocalist Elizabeth Harper.

Journal of Ardency, their debut, features dreamy vocals by Harper set on top of gorgeous synth-pop backgrounds. You can tell the band has it’s influences from M83 to Garbage among others. And is it bad that listening to the 7 minute “Someone Real” gives me reminders of LCD Soundsystem? I don’t think so at all.

You can download the whole EP (I highly recommend it) from Chris Taylor’s (from Grizzly Bear) Terrible Records label on iTunes, but here’s a taste of what you’ll hear.

Download: Class Actress- Journal of Ardency

Stop the presses! Bruce Willis, fresh off the blow of terrible write-ups for Cop Out, has decided to go all Die Hard and star in a Gorillaz video. In case you haven’t heard the track yet, Stylo is the first single off a Plastic Beach, the follow up to Demon Days. The track features some sweet Bobby Womack vocals (he apparently only did the tracks on Plastic Beach because his daughter is a fan of Gorillaz) and Mos Def phoning in his part (it literally sounds like he is doing is vocals from a phone).

Watch closely and you’ll see Stylo fly through a billboard for Superfast Jelly Fish, the most-likely second single from Plastic Beach. The album itself is pretty good too, but i’m a sucker for anything Damon Albarn is invested in. Would it kill him to bring Blur on tour to the US? Apparently.

Watch (HD): Gorillaz- Stylo

There was only ONE band that we found on 6th street in Austin last year giving away free hugs and that was Quiet Company. They showed us their video on a PSP, and invited us to their last SXSW show on a lonely Sunday night after SXSW when everyone had already left Austin. And then they serenaded us with their pop music.

Who are they? Well, one of the best pop outfits I’ve heard in recent years. Quiet Company is led by Taylor Muse their latest album Everyone You Love With Be Happy Soon was one of my favorite releases of 2009 and is on repeat on my iTunes constantly.

If I remember, I believe they’re playing a lot of shows at SXSW this year, and I’ll definitely be at at least one of those. Maybe two.

Twitter: Quiet Company on Twitter
Download: Quiet Company- It’s Better to Spend Money Like There’s No Tomorrow Than Spend Tonight Like There’s No Money

We’re less than two weeks away from the South By Southwest Music/Film/Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. I’ll be there from March 12th-22nd for both the Interactive festival and the 5 amazing-non-stop music festival. I’ll be writing about all the shows I see along with lots of pictures from the week. We might even talk to some bands. As we get closer, each day I’ll be posting about a band that I’m looking forward to seeing at SXSW. And I’ll put up my usual playlist as well.

The great thing about being in Austin that week is that you’ll see a lot of bands that you wanted to and also discover a bunch of new bands whose records you’ll be playing all year long (and everyone else will too). Here is my short list of bands that I’m hoping to catch this year: Spoon, Surfer Blood, Those Darlins, Lovely Feathers, Pomogranates, Broken Social Scene, Delta Spirit, Quiet Company, The Rural Alberta Advantage, She & Him, Rogue Wave, Golden Filter, Neon Indian, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Suckers, Antlers, Real Estate, The XX, The Drums, Wave Machines, Wye Oak, Morning Benders, Local Natives, Bear in Heaven, Titus Andronicus and Brasstronaut just to name a few.

If that list looks as daunting to you as it does to me, then that’s good.

So it’s been a few years since we’ve heard from The Radio Dept. I’ve had a love affair with their sound since 2003’s Lesser Matters. Their new album Clinging to a Scheme is being released in April, and it’s good. I thought I’d share an MP3 from the album, but you really have to check out this dreampop album for yourself.

Download: The Radio Dept. – Heaven’s on Fire

Welcome Back! I know I’ve neglected this page terribly over the past few months. Well, it was mostly because I was working on what you see here. But more importantly, i’m going to get back to posting frequently, and with SXSW coming up in a few weeks, you’ll see A LOT of updates as I’ll be heading to Austin with a couple of friends to take pictures and experience the best music festival of the year.

I’ve switched to a new host, so I’m still migrating content from the old site into this one, so it’ll slowly be coming over. If you have your RSS set to the old site, you might have to resubscribe to the new one. The layout we have now works better for some of the content I like to post. You’ll notice there’s now separate pages at the top for some other content that I’ll be posting.

Thanks for stopping by again, and hopefully you’ll return to check out more.

Tim