laura gibson: beasts of seasons.

dl: LAURA GIBSON - Spirited (alt)
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Laura Gibson's latest offering is the perfect album for citizens of snowglobes. Beasts of Seasons, produced by Tucker Martine (Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists), finds Gibson prancing through an acoustic and ethereal landscape like a less jarring, slightly less majestic Joanna Newsom. Everyone needs that one album to listen to while curled up in blankets, and you'd be damn smart to choose this as yours.

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- BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT -

winter of our discontent: the itms!! winter mixtape.

Am I the only nerd who gets really annoyed when people misuse the phrase "winter of our discontent"? It doesn't mean that things are fucking sad, assholes. Winter = END, therefore the phrase means "now is the end of our unhappiness". All the bullshit was made into a glorious summer, and everything got totally awesome. What don't you get about that? While we're at it, "wherefore art thou" means "why are you", as in "Romeo, oh Romeo, why the fuck do you gots to be Romeo? Shit would be mad easier if you wasn't." Now that I've gotten my Shakespeare lesson out of my system, let's continue...

EDIT: Apparently my high school English teacher was a dirty liar. Susan "You Can't B. Serious" Anthony of Surfing the Third Wave has chimed in with her scholarly take on the phrase:

"Actually, 'winter of our discontent' is a negative. The original Shakespeare goes, 'Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this son of York."'As in, 'We Yorks were so discontent during Henry VI's reign that it was like winter, but now it's summer because my brother's on the throne.' So, it is usually misread, since people cut off the second part of the line, but while the line is positive, 'winter' is still negative, a period of discontent."

Sort of negates the theme a bit, but it doesn't change the fact that the music is fucking fantastic.

One of my favorite songs of 2008 was Passion Pit's "Better Things", eventually released on the Chunk of Change EP. It goes a little something like this--"Baby don't be unhappy, Baby don't be sad. Better things are coming, I swear there's truth in that." Those lyrics came to me when I really needed to hear them, and I feel like that sentiment (more than ever) needs to echo throughout the world. Though the song doesn't appear below, it provided inspiration for my choices. For those who are wary of being overly optimistic, keep in mind that most of the songs are for the purpose of catharsis.

Without further ado (about nothing), I present to you the ITMS!! winter mixtape. Did somebody say mixtape? Yes. Each side lasts for under 30 minutes and could literally be recorded onto a C60 cassette tape. This was really important to me for some reason, even though I have no intent to bring cassettes back.

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SIDE A (DOWNLOAD ZIP OF THIS SIDE)
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1. Y LA BAMBA - Alida St. (alt): I am totally gay for Luz Elena Mendoza's voice and her band Y La Bamba. If I got stranded in winter for my entire life and could only bring one album, there's no doubt that it'd be Alida St. And if I lived in Portland, there's no doubt that I'd be at every Y La Bamba show. (BUY IT - SPACE IT)

2. GHOST BEES - Vampires of the West Coast (alt): If whoever banished me to live in winter forever was nice enough to let me bring two albums, I would also bring Ghost Bees' Tasseomancy. Twin sisters Sari and Romy Lightman have vocals that just melt together and simultaneously melt my heart with the sorrowful tales they weave. (BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT)

3. LOCAL NATIVES - Airplanes (alt): Considering that the lead singer annunciates every single other word in this song, it frustrates me that I can't tell whether the chorus states "I want you back" or "I want you bad". In fact, it might be both. I choose to revel in the ambiguity--the singer was feeling such strong emotions that he couldn't even finish his words. (SITE IT - SPACE IT - FACE IT - HYPE IT)

4. WOULD-BE-GOODS - Vivre Sa Vie (alt): I don't know French, but I bet this song is very deep and interesting. (BUY IT - SITE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT)

5. MARCHING BAND - Make No Plans (alt): I first fell in love with Marching Band from an early version of "Travel In Time". To my surprise, their album Spark Large isn't very wintry at all, but this song makes the cut. I'm not sure why the mp3 cuts out at the end, but let's just pretend it's quirky and cute, eh? (BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT)

6. DARK DARK DARK - Trouble No More (alt): I feel so lame saying that this is one of the "darker" moments of the mixtape, but it actually is. (BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT)

7. AVIARY GHOST - Somewhere Else (alt): This is proof that things are going to get better. After receiving a promo e-mail, I got sad that I couldn't afford to buy Aviary Ghost's Memory is a Hallway. In writing this post, I discovered that the album is free if you sign up for their e-mail list. Best late Christmas present ever! (BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - FACE IT - HYPE IT)

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SIDE B (DOWNLOAD ZIP OF THIS SIDE)

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1. THE NEW UP - Just Because (alt): ES Pitcher's voice is reminiscent of the great female pop-rock vocalists of the '90s--Shirley Manson, Courtney Love, Gwen Stefani, and a part of me likes to think that she'd spit on me for saying that. Can't get enough. (BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT)

2. THE LUCKSMITHS - A Sobering Thought (Just When One Was Needed) (alt): Though this song has the word "sober" in the title, all I want to do is get drunk with a group of friends and sing along. This would require me having friends who actually knew the words, but I'd settle for everyone mumbling through as long as we all put our arms around one another and jumped around a bit. (BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT)

3. MONSTERS ARE WAITING - I Wanna Be Adored (alt): I don't know why, but this song gets a lot sexier with a female vocalist. Perhaps it's just the arrangement. Is it sacrilege to say I like this more than the original? Probably. (BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT)

4. THE BPA f/ EMMY THE GREAT - Seattle (alt): Holy shit. Best song ever. I've loved Emmy ever since "My Party Is Better Than Yours", and it's great to hear her conquer a poppier sound. (BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT)

5. ITS A BUFFALO - Marbles (alt): This is a song about losing your marbles (for when you want to indulge a little in your craziness). It makes me want to dance like a Muppet so hard. (BUY IT - SPACE IT)

6. THE CONTOURS - First I Look at the Purse (alt): The Contours may not be the most famous of Motown's all-male groups, but they had a huge hit with "Do You Love Me?" "Purse" was a modest hit, and is mostly known by the J. Geils Band's cover. Thanks to Funky16corners for this one! (BUY IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT)

hello, blue roses: shadow falls.

HELLO, BLUE ROSES just may be the lamest selection for my return to the world of aural-blogging.

A quick glance at Hype Machine leads me to believe that I wasn't the only one who got an indie-boner when "Shadow Falls" popped into the ol' digi-box. To sum the nine posts...Hello, Blue Roses is a duo of IRL boos Sydney Vermont (Bonaparte) and Dan Bejar (The New Pornographers, Destroyer, Swan Lake). Their album is out through Locust Music on January 22, 2007. Something about harsh pastoral '80s reality, blah blah. It's pretty.

Honestly, that's all you really need to know about this song. It's fucking pretty. Winter is approaching and if it's getting chilly in your parts, I strongly recommend wrapping yourself in a blanket and listening to this song on repeat. Cuddling is suggested. Moping about having no one to cuddle with is encouraged (when necessary).

I wish I could say more about this song given that I've been replaying it for a few weeks, but nothing more really needs to be said. Pretty pretty pretty.

d/l: HELLO, BLUE ROSES - Shadow Falls (YSI)
(sweet indie-pop for winter blanket-time)
- site it - space it - hype it -

WEBBYVANDERQUACKIN': If you're upset by the lack of bootyshakin' jam in this post, perhaps you should check out Leif's remix of Todosantos at BIGSTEREO.