Generationals - Put a Light On

Jam: Put a Light On
Good to jam with: A good mood

The Generationals is a band from New Orleans that you may remember from my short review back in December of their awesomely upbeat single, "When They Fight, They Fight".  I'm pretty happy to give them a full feature with today's jam because it's been quite a while since I've been this stoked about a song. Their single, "Put a Light On", seems to have all of the elements that make up what is good. What is good, my jammers might ask? Well, allow me a minute to break this down for you...

Good is when you can listen to a song and automatically be in a better mood. Good is when you find a song that produces endless summertime-fun images and repeats them in your head while listening. Good is when you combine chilled out vocals with a badass beat that makes you feel young and alive and cooler than everyone else driving around you because you know they can't possibly be having as much fun as you currently are while you're jamming to your highest jammability. Good is also when you have two cute dudes singing to you, but hey, good is also subjective, so see for yourself.

Foxygen - San Francisco

Jam: San Francisco
Good to jam when: City Strolling

Foxygen is a cool band on the rise from California, which doesn't come as a surprise after listening to the chorus of today's jam repeat "I left my love in San Francisco" with a suave and classy tone. The dreaminess that resonates in this song makes me automatically think it will pair perfectly with a sunny-day stroll through the city. In fact, the song even seems to have an ability to time warp you back to the 60's, causing your daydreams to wander to a time when things moved slower and when priorities were set aside to enjoy the present. At least, that's what I imagine it was like in the 60's with all that hippie love and "make love not war" talk resonating around.

Surprisingly, Foxygen has just recently gained a heavy following from their recent performance at South by Southwest this year, even though they originally formed back in 2005. Following from SXSW, the duo composed of Jonathan Rado and Sam France has been asked to play at Austin City Limits Music Festival this year in October and has been labeled by Pitchfork as some of the "best new music" to look out for.  My suggestion is to keep these guys on your heavy radar, listen to "San Francisco", and maybe walk a little slower today. You never know, it could be good for you.

A Guide to Coachella's Lineup 2013

Photo Cred: LA Times

Calling all Coachellan's! I'm here to serve as a last minute guide to your upcoming, awesome weekend at Coachella. Unfortunately, I won't be attending this event, but I decided I would live vicariously through others and give you guys a rundown of which bands to see. It's a pretty stellar lineup, so it would be pretty hard to screw it up by missing great bands on any day, but I know if I was in attendance, there are certain acts I'd be sure to see. See my daily breakdown below and live it up for all of us lame-o's over here who are missing out. 

Friday:

• Tegan and Sara
• Foals
• Band of Horses
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Beach House
• Modest Mouse
• Local Natives
• Four Tet
• Passion Pit
• Of Monsters and Men
• Alt-J
• Metric
• Divine Fits
• Stars
• Polica
• Jake Bugg
• The Shouting Matches
• Youth Lagoon
• Lord Huron

Saturday: 

• Phoenix
• Sigur Ros
• The XX
• Two Door Cinema Club
• The Postal Service
• Grizzly Bear
• Yeasayer
• Hot Chip
• Major Lazer
• Cafe Tacvba
• Bat for Lashes
• Wild Nothing
• Theophilus London

Sunday: 

• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Vampire Weekend
• Father John Misty
• Pretty Lights
• Tame Impala
• James Blake
• The Lumineers
• Kurt Vile and the Violators
• Grimes
• DIIV
• The Airborne Toxic Event
• Cloud Nothings
• Little Green Cars
• Wild Belle

Foals - My Number / Late Night

Jam: My Number / Late Night
Good to jam for: A good time

Guys, the recent love that I have developed for this UK band is raging. If you haven't heard of Foals, you need to get on the bandwagon quick because these guys are almost too good to be true. Their music is dark and sexy, at times upbeat, filled with punchy-rock and slight funk sensations throughout their medleys that are guaranteed to produce a good time. 

I had to do a dual post because I was on the fence about which song to feature, as the two I chose are so very different, but so important for you guys to hear at the same time. Mostly because the two are perfect showcases for this bands ability to diversify into different categories of emotion. "My Number" will get you going without a doubt. It's catchy and upbeat with a solid sound throughout that transmits an energy to everyone in the room without anyone's permission, yet simultaneously at no one's resistance. On the other hand, Foals gives us "Late Night" which features this dark and sexy side of the band that just feels so right. It unfolds like a story, climaxing at the end with an amazing guitar solo, and everything about it is just dark and perfect. It's even a bit dangerous because this is one of those songs that will make you want to do bad things and feel no remorse. I mean, if I were ever to rob a bank, I'd probably listen to this song in my getaway car feeling no emotion as to all the families that are now left starving at my benefit. I'm not planning on robbing a bank anytime soon, or causing any families to go starving. Come on, guys, you know I wouldn't do that. I'm just sayin', this song is pretty powerful. Check out the two features of today posted below and rest assured if you like what you're hearing, as the entirety of their new album, Holy Fire, is not set out to disappoint.

Ivan & Alyosha - All The Times We Had

Jam: All the Times We Had
Good to jam with: April Showers

Ivan & Alyosha is a new, folk-pop quartet from Seattle that's creating mellow jams that are easy to listen to without getting upset. In fact, they'll probably cause just the opposite effect. I found this out personally on my way to work in annoying, Tuesday morning traffic when listening to today's jam, "All the Times We Had". Even on this particularly rainy, April day in Austin, this song seemed to wash away any "Damn-it's-only-Tuesday" blues I had going on. This one seemed rather fitting for today's mood, however, there are more upbeat songs on the album that are equally as appealing. In fact, this band had me circling "Fathers Be Kind" for quite a while before I decided to dig a little deeper to find today's gem. On the other hand, I will admit that there's nothing overly spectacular or groundbreaking to their new album, All the Times We Had, released in February, but sometimes it's the simplicity of an album or a song that's the sole reason for attraction. I mean, take the case of The Lumineers. Their song "Ho Hey" could have been written and recorded by a bunch of kids at summer camp surrounded by a bonfire, but that didn't stop the people from loving it, did it? Alright, well that might be a little extreme, but you get the point. Simplicity can be good, my jammer friends. Enjoy.

The Morning Benders - Excuses

Jam: Excuses
Good to jam when: Swinging In A Hammock

Today's jam titled, "Excuses", off The Morning Bender's Big Echo album released in 2009, is an oldie, but goodie. I don't know about you guys, but this song just makes me want to transport to a hammock in the middle of a Spring-weathered field leaving all priorities and problems behind. The song unfolds like a story and, consequentially, it kind of makes you want to be in one. There's even kind of a cheesy happiness to this song that makes me first question why I'm posting this for a hot minute, but then the chorus picks back up and I suddenly lose my thoughts of doubt and imagine myself skipping happily in a field of rare sunflowers and everything is all good again. Take it as you wish, but I think it's pretty delightful. 

Apparently, The Morning Benders are now going by the name of POP ETC and their hit single "Speak Up" was featured on the hit, teen flick I know you love to hate: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2. As I discover this, I find that suddenly the rare sunflowers I was skipping through a minute ago are fading rather quickly. On the plus side, they did go on tour with a pretty stellar lineup of people when still going by the name of The Morning Benders. Some of these include The Black Keys, Grizzly Bear, Ra Ra Riot, Yo La Tengo, Yeasayer and Broken Bells. So I guess what I'm getting at here is that you should probably stick to the old stuff if you're going to listen to these guys, and you should probably do that happily, like in a meadow or something. 

Born Ruffians - With Her Shadow

Jam: With Her Shadow
Good to jam when: Cruising With Sunshine

Born Ruffians is a Canadian band that's been around since 2004, fixing to release their fourth album, Birthmarks, on April 16 this year. I personally haven't heard of them until their few releases, such as today's jam, "With Her Shadow", and others like "Needle" have blown up all over the music world lately. After keeping those two tracks on high repeat on the late, I've begun to highly anticipate the release of Birthmarks to see what these guys have to show. To me, they seem to give off an older-sounding Ra Ra Riot vibe with a combination of producing upbeat, Givers-style jams. If I were them, I think I'd remain in that "shadow" ;). Let's just hope they can keep their consistency throughout their new album to come in April. Keep a lookout for these guys. If you haven't heard of them by now, I'm thinkin' you surely will shortly. 

Born Ruffians by j a m m a b l e s