Unless you’re hipster 1.0, deep in the bowels of Portland, listening to your phonograph, drinking organic Chai while grooming your beard and waxing your moustache, you’ve probably heard rumblings about U2’s recent record release campaign. Partnering with Apple, the favorite sons of Ireland (narrowly beating out Danny Boy) distributed their new album to over 500 million listeners for FREE. The new album, Songs of Innocence, magically appeared in iTunes libraries around the world; meanwhile the band and Apple awaited a certain tidal wave of applause from fans and critics. Continue Reading

Until very recently the term “ACL” only brought to mind the sun-scorched dusty fields of Zilker park in Austin, Texas, and the annual music festival that draws crowds of thousands to inhale said dust and chase it with $9 plastic cups of Heineken…Austin City Limits. However, a short while ago my association with the acronym shifted drastically, focusing sharply on the medical version…Anterior Cruciate Ligament. The shift was brought on by a cross-field run in a coed soccer game, during which I took a “misstep” which cause my knee to bend left-to-right, versus the conventional (and highly preferable) front-to-back. I had not anticipated my knee’s decision to try something new and innovative thus my reaction wasn’t nearly as subdued and polished and I would have hoped. Here is how I wish I had handled myself. Continue Reading

AUGUST 2014

1. Sylvan Esso | Hey Mami
2. Shamir | I Know It’s a Good Thing
3. clipping | Body and Blood
4. Bear in Heaven | If I Were to Lie
5. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Impossible Request (Alternate Version)
6. A Sunny Day in Glasgow | Golden Waves
7. HAERTS | Wings
8. Makthaverskan | Asleep
9. The Rentals | 1000 Seasons
10. Parquet Courts | Black and White (7-Inch Version)
11. Ty Segall | The Hand
12. White Fence | Sandra (When the Earth Dies)
13. Mac DeMarco | Passing Out Pieces
14. In The Valley Below | Neverminders
15. Spoon | New York Kiss
16. Jenny Lewis | Head Underwater
17. Beck | Heaven’s Ladder
18. Conor Oberst | Enola Gay
19. Alex G | Serpent is Lord
20. Perfume Genius | Queen
21. The Antlers | Palace

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