Syncing Sounds with the Season
Our favorite things this week include autumnal music, synth-reggae wake-up calls, and overcaffienated ends of the night.
Our favorite things this week include autumnal music, synth-reggae wake-up calls, and overcaffienated ends of the night.
Falling Leaves in the Heart: It almost kind of feels like fall, which signals the time for the cyclical resurgence of spiced caffeine - a time when Louisianians dress like it's below zero outside. My favorite part of this season is digging into the music that perfectly captures the (eventually) impending winter because I'm more of a fall music fan than a summer music fan. Most of the music I listen to year round floats harmoniously along with winter's unforgiving winds. It's a bit alarming to once again recognize my sick addiction to sad music, but I don't really care when I can take a walk around my neighborhood, listening to Animal Collective's Feels and not sweating a bit. Feels is one album I haven't been able to shake in 2013, along with recordings by Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, James Blake and Arcade Fire. They all share a gloomy atmosphere that's most comforting when it feels the same outside. (Brian Sibile)
Wake-Up Call: This week, I’ve been waking up to Wild Belle’s Isles and Taken By Trees’ Other Worlds. Blending reggae and synth-pop, both albums create an indie island groove, anchored by the smoky, soulful voices of its lead singers. Neither album shouts for attention or attempts too much as the lyrics visit the typical themes of love and loss. Wild Belle’s most upbeat track, “Twisted,” channels Vampire Weekend lounging in a hammock, but the laid back vibe works, especially for easing alarm clock resentments. (Will Halnon)
The Joy of Riffing: The weakness of Chris Hardwick's "The Nerdist" podcast is that he can go riff-happy with cohorts Jonah Ray and Matt Mira. Sometimes it's fun and can help open up interviews as it did with Daniel Radcliffe, who ended up talking about his love of Tom Lehrer and the NFL. But it can also bog down conversations as it did with Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme, who was happy to join in and wittily, aimlessly, ramble around.
That game of wits is exhausting when I want an actual conversation, but Hardwick and Mira found a good home for that giddy, compulsive riffing with @ Midnight, their comedy faux-game show on Comedy Central. It's fun more than funny as comedians fire high-speed gags in the language of social media, with Hardwick revving things further by hosting at an impossible speed. Is it good? Maybe. At its pace, it's hard to tell, but the adrenaline rush is engaging. (Alex Rawls)
