[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

44 plays

Opened up my Gmail today to a brand new track entitled “Gaucho” from the Dave Matthews Band and well…fuck yeah! This track is fantastic. The acoustic guitar riff at its core features some of Dave’s fastest rhythm picking since “The Stone. Oh and did I mention that there’s chanting school kids providing vocals over a Carter Beauford drum solo?  It’s like “The Stone” and Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” had a baby. In closing I’d like to reiterate: fuck yeah!

I’ve always been a fan of the relic look on electric guitars, especially Telecasters, but the Fender Custom Shop relics always seemed too…unauthentic to me. Well, at least until I saw this. This Fender Custom Shop Jazzmaster might be one of the sexiest looking guitars I’ve ever seen.

I don’t think I’ve posted any bands from Australia lately. Luckily alternative/indie rockers The Jezabels are talented enough to hold down the scene for the entire continent. Fronted by the strong vocals of singer Hayley Mary and backed by the jazz-infused rock drumming of Nik Kaloper The Jezabels have released three EPs since 2009 and one full length album, 2011’s The Prisoner, on which this song, “Easy to Love” is featured as a bonus track.

The Jezabels just finished up a stint of US touring with some other folks who have had the indie scene abuzz, including 34th & Now, Las Vegas’ own Imagine Dragons. While the US dates are done, if you happen to be in Europe, you can catch The Jezabels in select cities through early June.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

170 plays

Blunderbuss, the latest album from Jack White, completely blows away any of his previous work. The album sees White embracing some rockabilly twang and making his white Billy Gibbons/Bo Diddley Gretsch live up to it’s namesakes. Here’s “I’m Shakin.”

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

21 plays

Here’s Geographer with “Verona” off their Animal Shapes EP. I’ve been listening to this a lot while studying this week and it’s definitely worth checking out.

In preparation for the next open mic night this semester, Krystal, who I performed with last time, and I have decided to start a Youtube Channel called Acoustic MDs where we take requests and post covers. Here’s our first one, a cover of Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Rihanna’s “Run This Town.”

Edit: Here’s a link to the YouTube video. I’ll post the link up for Acoustic MDs once we have it set up.

Parks and Rec

  • Chris: (holds up book titled Limb-itless)
  • Chris: I am engrossed in this book.
  • Chris: It's the true story of a woman born with no arms and no legs who attempts to swim the English channel.
  • April: That's impossible.
  • Chris: Oh she drowned IMMEDIATELY.
  • Chris: ...it's kind of a sad story.
Is this a frickin’ carob chip? What are you trying to buy our love with hippie chocolate…ya IDIOT?!
Schmidt, New Girl
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

108,705 plays

I was searching for Ko Ko’s track “Float” to post up and came across it on Shuffle Play Repeat, who had such a good description of it I had to quote them: “A gorgeous dream of a track that kicks off with an infectious whistle and floats on. The problem with it is that it’s such a calm track that it almost goes unnoticed forcing me to replay it several times, which thinking about it is probably a good thing.”

One of the two songs I couldn’t find on Spotify for the most recent playlist, here’s Australian indie rockers Bluejuice with “Act Yr Age” off their 2011 album Company. I still can’t decide if this video is hilarious or disturbing but the song is definitely catchy.

As promised here’s the latest playlist 34th & Now: Perception Action Mediation featuring some solid new indie/alt tracks and bands—I’m pretty sure most are new while a few are just new to me. They’re in no particular order so skip around at will but there were two tracks I wanted to include that I couldn’t find on Spotify so I’ve linked to them in the tracklist below.

Tracklist:
Gemini Club - By Surprise
The Jezabels - Endless Summer
The Jezabels - Easy to Love
The Concept - Gimme Twice
Geographer - Lover’s Game
Geographer - Verona
Electric Guest - American Daydream
Daughter - Medicine
Pegasus Bridge - Like Dogs
Xylos - Summerlong
Damien Jurado - Museum of Flight
Damien Jurado - Nothing is the News
Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love
Ed Sheeran - A Team
Greg Laswell - Landline
The Lumineers - Ho Hey
Battleships - Collision (Head On)
The Heartbreaks - Delay, Delay
Ko Ko - Float
Bluejuice - Act Yr Age


At the moment I find myself diving headlong into a sea of new music in what could perhaps be considered a self investigation of perception-action mediation. Hey, I’m in the neurology/psychiatry block right now—sue me. If you don’t happen to be a medical student or psychology major…this picture pretty much sums it up. Expect a new 34th & Now: Spotify playlist in a bit featuring some of my favorite new discoveries.

At the moment I find myself diving headlong into a sea of new music in what could perhaps be considered a self investigation of perception-action mediation. Hey, I’m in the neurology/psychiatry block right now—sue me. If you don’t happen to be a medical student or psychology major…this picture pretty much sums it up.

Expect a new 34th & Now: Spotify playlist in a bit featuring some of my favorite new discoveries.

But I can’t help the feeling
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turn and run
It wears me out
It wears me out
Radiohead, Fake Plastic Trees

Coming off the 2009 loss of drummer Allen Shellenberger to malignant glioma and newly signed to Megaforce Records (Warren Hayens, Cyndi Lauper, The Black Crowes), alternative rockers Lit are back in the studio finishing up work on their latest studio album The View From The Bottom.

The first single “You Tonight,” released on iTunes May 1st, shows the band has not only rallied but seemingly found the winning formula that earned them eleven movie soundtrack appearances between 2000 and 2002 and made songs like”My Own Worst Enemy,”“Lipstick and Bruises,” and “Last Time Again”hits.

Maybe it’s because ”My Own Worst Enemy” was one of the first songs I ever learned to rock out on the drums, but I’m pretty excited about this album.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

91 plays

Canadian rockers Metric are back with a new single, “Youth Without Youth” off their upcoming album Synthetica. Synthetica is slated to release June 12th. Check it out.