The Graveyard Kids - Gravyard Kids: EP

Brooklyn trio, The Graveyard Kids, offer their most polished sound to date, after releasing a three-song self-titled EP for free last week. The group finds itself condensing into a three-piece - guitarist Jeremy Kolker put down the axe and picked up his native sticks for this one - and the band has found themselves more breathing room. Lead singer/guitarist, Chadbourne Oliver, lets his intricate chord progressions shimmer, while bassist Jordan Smith flies funky underneath it all. Kolker's harmonies give a weirdness to the classic rock poppiness that lurks underneath Oliver's songwriting, giving these songs a flare of strange familiarity. All three songs are perfectly concocted, and the formation of the three-piece allows each musician to highlight different parts of the song. The EP's standout track, "Stay Young", boasts a mantra for a chorus (credited to GYK friend and supporter, Howard Reyes), as Oliver sings, "Stay, stay young until your whole song is sung." Lucky for fans of the GYK, it doesn't seem as if their whole song is sung, and based off the tightness and quality of the EP, we're glad there's more to come (rhyme!)

5 Songs You'll Need Before Winter

Hello all,

I thought I'd start the music blog up again, for a few reasons. After bumping around a few part-time jobs, I find myself in the all-too-convenient position of being unemployed (again).  I wanted to spend my time writing about the things I love, to feel productive in between those mindless job applications. Even if this blog never really takes off, at least it will become a timeline of my interests, with more space to expand on my ideas than Facebook or another site would allow. Also, back when underthepurplesun was more of a "shady" (cough*cough illegal) place to post music, it did have some great support from friends near and far. Unfortunately it seems that the days of mediafire links and rapidshare pages have come to an end. I could roll the dice, but honestly I don't feel like fucking with the FDA. Instead I'm going to shift the focus of this blog into music review, music appreciation, and, the thing that keeps all aspiring musicians going, music discovery. Instead of talking about the latest Yeasayer or Fleet Foxes album (why go to me when you can go to Pitchfork?), I thought it'd suit me and you, the reader, best to focus on music that is more locally based and has more to gain by my personal recognition. Hopefully it serves that purpose.

Anyways, to start things off I thought I'd begin with a fun list of sorts. Since the weather has been nothing short of apocalyptic, and since my short-term memory is nothing short of shot, I wanted to have a homage to the songs that kept me going during these last few months. These songs will be quite an eclectic collection, but for the summer of 2012 they have never been more relevant in my life. I hope you enjoy and hope you keep reading!


5. DUSTY SPRINGFIELD - "SON OF A PREACHER MAN"

What says summer more than a feel-good mo-town jam from the 1960s? For those of you who are thinking, "Wow, I know this song! But from where?" The answer is, "Probably from the classic Tarantino film Pulp Fiction! You know, that scene where Vincent Vega a.k.a. John Travolta goes to pick up Mia for their night out? This is the song that plays while ole' Vega fixes himself a drink downstairs!" Anyways, that's certainly what comes to mind whenever I hear this jam. I've seen Pulp Fiction a couple of times, most recently this summer. Thanks to Spotify I was able to immediately check out the movie's soundtrack. After a few times through, this song became one of my favorites to listen to on repeat and a summer song. I hope it will for you - after all, Springfield was in the class with Carol King and co., a real staple of good-feel mo-town from the olden days.

4. NAKED EYES - "THERE'S ALWAYS SOMETHING THERE TO REMIND ME"

I'm usually not a fan of anything 80s, but this past summer I grew a deep soft-spot for anything with a delicious melody. This song is, of course, extremely melodic - but it's mostly due to the back story of this song that makes it a staple of summer '12 for me. This past summer, me and a few of my best friends took a van across country for 5 weeks, and during that period we were without an iPod cord, or CD player. We were pretty much stuck in the vehicle's time period (`94), and we lived and died by the "Scan" feature on the radio (you take for granted the gadgets and gizmos that cars come equipped with nowadays). Anyways, this song came on a few times, and it became an instant sing-a-long. When you depend on the radio as much as we did, you start to realize how much you appreciate a song you actually KNOW. This song kind've stuck around since that trip, and since 80s songs are somehow inherently nostalgic, I thought I'd include it in this list. Fun fact that I found out white researching this tune: did not know that it was a remake from an old 1960s performed by Lou Johnson, which is obviously a lot less electronic and much more soulful. It doesn't have the vocal glaze that makes me love the Naked Eyes' version, but it's definitely a great song in its own merit. It also plays to the fact that all good songs are re-used, and that creative freedom allows any one artist to revitalize a song years after it becomes irrelevant. The last thing I'll say about this pick is that I could very well put songs on this list based on that road-trip, most notably top 40 hits like "Call Me Maybe" and "Somebody I Used to Know", which I must have heard literally 150 times throughout those 5 weeks. Instead I'll leave you with this (somewhat) more dense pop song, and leave my road-trip jams be for this list's sake.

3. THE STROKES - "UNDER CONTROL"

Okay. I'll be the first to admit. When everyone was on their Strokes stroke (see that?) back in the early/mid 2000s I was too busy sucking up all the post-rock I could and never really gave them a chance. Of course I knew about their hits, but I didn't realize about all the hidden gems that lay within their albums. They really are a modern day Beatles, and "Under Control" in particular reminds me of something Lennon/McCartney would have written has they been born 50 years later. Also, how reminiscent are guitarists Nick Valensi/ Albert Hammond Jr. to the KING of the melodic pop riff, George Harrison? (Not sure who plays the lead in the middle of this song, but either way its a perfect example of how simple, melodic guitar leads can bring a song to a new level). I started getting more into the Strokes this past summer, and this song has always stuck out to me. Simple pop songs are something that I was against for a long time for some odd reason. Sometimes music is like a diet - you can't always have vegetables and high-end gourmet shit, sometimes you need to throw some candy in the mix. And that's what pop music is to me - candy. I'll always have a soft spot for guitar-driven pop, and this song certainly fits the mold.

2. BLACK SABBATH - "NATIONAL ACROBAT"

You want riffs? Tony Iommi's gotchu. This song is rifftastic and one of the better under-appreciated Sabbath songs in their vast discography. It's progressive Sabbath at it's best with Iommi and Geezer Butler (that's right, the bassist's name from Black Sabbath is fuckin' Geezer) leading the song. What I love most about this song though is how it breaks its minor-pentatonic mood about 3/4ths through the song and gets all major. It totally changes the feeling of the song - but not for long. After their little major progression the song snorts a huge line of the best coke in Cuba and starts to SHRED. It reminds me of a time that I was up in the Catskills at my friend's glorious cabin (there was no coke involved, sorry folks). It was one of those moments where you're starting to become a little tipsy and you get on a band bender - in this case it was all Black Sabbath. I have a memory of blasting this song into the night - one of those ideal summer nights - and the great feeling of listening to good ole' rock n' roll as a young adult. That's probably why this song sticks out to me most, but looking back at the subtle musicality of it, there's definitely more than one reason why this song withstands the test of time.

1. TY SEGALL BAND - "WAVE GOODBYE"

In my most humble opinion, Ty Segall is the new king on the garage-rock scene. For years I've been following his career and have grown more excited on each release - he seems to refine his own sound but keeps the same energy, and his passions leaks out of the speakers. He's a goddamn machine, and as long as I've been follwoing him, he's shown no signs of slowing down (please don't, Ty). On this release, under the moniker Ty Segall Band, he takes his touring band and releases a record that's a lot jammier, much heavier, and definitely less pre-meditated. It works like hell however, and on "Wave Goodbye" you get the grittiness of crunch garage-rock with a little bit of psychedelia and a mix of screaming/soothing vocals. The song climaxes at the end with a double guitar solo (highly reminiscent of Sabbath actually) that perks up your ears and immediately throws you into the moment of the song. I can't tell you how many times I've visualized the band playing this song in my room or car - it just begs you to think of it live, and that's what I love about Ty's music. As soon as the song cuts out you hear an ecstatic Ty shout, "FUCK YEAH!" - the perfect epitome of the feel-good causal-ness that makes garage-rock my newest infatuation. I also had the pleasure of seeing Ty Segall and his band headline a show this past summer with Thee Oh Sees (yeah the show fucking rocked). He played this song and of course, the crowd felt and loved the energy. Ty's going to continue doing big things, and it's songs like this that will stick with me forever, always reminding me of this past summer.

Well, there you have it, folks. There could very well be a dozen or so more songs on this list, but I doubt that most of you care about reading a novel blog post. If you made it this far, thanks! Keep coming back for music updates and I'll try and give this blog some lovin' every day.

-Skjeet