Lykke Li – Sadness is a Blessing (music video)

Featuring that smug professor dude from Good Will Hunting, the ever-sexy Lykke Li, dropped this odd yet captivating music video for “Sadness is a Blessing.” Enjoy below.

Youth Lagoons – Cannons

This beautiful song is wringing wet with chlorine and sunscreen, a perfect summer tune.

A Supermarket in California – Allen Ginsburg

  What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for
I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache
self-conscious looking at the full moon.
          In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went
into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
          What peaches and what penumbras!  Whole families
shopping at night!  Aisles full of husbands!  Wives in the
avocados, babies in the tomatoes!--and you, Garcia Lorca, what
were you doing down by the watermelons?

          I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber,
poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery
boys.
          I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the
pork chops?  What price bananas?  Are you my Angel?
          I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans
following you, and followed in my imagination by the store
detective.
          We strode down the open corridors together in our
solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen
delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

          Where are we going, Walt Whitman?  The doors close in
an hour.  Which way does your beard point tonight?
          (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the
supermarket and feel absurd.)
          Will we walk all night through solitary streets?  The
trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we'll both be
lonely.

          Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love
past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?
          Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher,
what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and
you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat
disappear on the black waters of Lethe?

Berkeley, 1955

The Antlers – Rolled Together

Don’t let the wintry album art fool you, Burst Apart is a much warmer affair than 2009’s Hospice. Right in the middle of that is the gospel-tinged “Rolled Together” that starts with a Sigur Ros-style drone and then proceeds to melt your face. The album is streaming over at NPR right now. I recommend you get to that as you ease into this drizzly “Spring” day.

All I could find is this live SXSW version. I prefer the studio one that is playing over at NPR, but this is good listening nonetheless.

Archive: Nirvana – Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

The seventeenth anniversary of his death was a few weeks ago, but this song came up on shuffle, and the video is absolutely essential. Below is the original Leadbelly version (not quite as haunting, but still excellent).

Bon Iver’s Self-Titled Summer Release

Wisconson folkies Bon Iver, creators of our generations great melancholy, winter masterpiece, For Emma, Forever Ago, are releasing a much anticipated follow up June 21. Lead singer, Justin Vernon probably became more famous recently for his work with Gayngs, Volcano Choir, and oh yeah, some dude named Kanye, but I see Bon Iver as his home base. Because he’s given us such prodigious work over the past four or so years, I’ll forgive the Thomas Kinkade-style cover art and dive into all out excitement mode.

The gorgeously pastiche, “The Last Prom on Earth” from his effort with Gayngs last year.

Inspiration

Perfect combo of androgynous cool and mysterious sex appeal.

White Denim – Drug (music video)

D, comes out at the end of May. Till then, let this delightfully bizarre video for “Drug” hold you over. Oh yes, and download this lengthy mixtape of obscure (at least to me) oldies they curated that will rock your car stereo all Spring long.

Gang Gang Dance – Romance Layers

Eye Contact, coming out next month, is one of the most exciting releases of the year. Album opener, “Glass Jar” is a sprawling and psychedelic epic that is sure to top many year end lists. Dripping with synths and lusty vocals, “Romance Layers” is more immediate and draws on some of the soulful and seductive r&b vibes that have been exploding all over the indie world. The song is fantastic. Look for the album May 10.

Yuck – Suicide Policeman

http://vimeo.com/20150091?ab

Here’s a Sunday morning jam, courtesy of the always magnificent Yours Truly.