Perfect music for a dreary Monday morning

I stumbled across the Helios mini-album, Ayres, this morning while searching for a death metal track in my MP3 library. I remember finding the album pleasant but a bit overly sentimental when I first purchased it, but I can't get enough of it this morning. The album is made up of six tracks of piano, acoustic guitar, delicate vocals, and perfectly placed electronics. It sounds like early Boards of Canada recast as Nick Drake. It doesn't sound anything like the Clientele but it gives me the same sad and hazy feeling. Highly recommended as the soundtrack for sitting in the window and watching the rain.

listen to a selection of Helios tracks at his MySpace page
purchase the album on MP3 from Amazon for $5.34

and something older that deserves a place in your collection

I was introduced to Bill Nelson through his synth-pop treat, When Your Dream of Perfect Beauty Comes True, on the recent Junior Boys curated Body Language Vol. 6. The source album, The Love That Whirls (Diary of a Thinking Heart), contains more yummy synth-pop and some beautifully dreamy interludes. It is definitely worth hunting down.

new music you should be listening to

Jamie Lidell's new album Jim. I miss the subtle electronic tweaks of Multiply but this is a wonderfully soulful album.

buy Jim at your local record store or online at Amazon, iTunes, or Bleep.

The new Matmos album Supreme Balloon. This is the best synth centric album I've listened to since Felix Kubin's excellent Matki Wandalki.

buy Supreme Balloon at your local record store or online at Amazon or Matador.

Updated Boston Spring Concert Report

5/9/08 - El Perro Del Mar - Middle East Upstairs
5/15/08 - Raster-Noton artists - Middlesex
5/17/08 - Black Keys - Orpheum
5/18/08 - The Sword - Middle East Downstairs
5/24/08 - The Ocean, Kylesa, Lair of the Minotaur - Church
5/25/08 - Disfear, Trap Them - Great Scott
6/2/08 - M83 - Middle East Downstairs
6/4//08 - Hayden - Great Scott
6/7/08 - Jamie Lidell - Paradise
6/12/08 - Masaki Batoh of Ghost with Helena Espvall, Damon and Naomi - TT's
6/21/08 - Only Living Witness reunion - Middle East Downstairs

Robyn plays the Paradise tonight

The videos I've seen of Robyn's tour so far look amazing. I'm hoping I don't run into anyone I know at the show as I'm going to be shrieking like a schoolgirl and singing along to every song.

Happy Birthday Mikayla

My niece, Mikayla, turned 1 this last week. I think most children enjoy a wider range of music than Raffi and the Wiggles, but parents limit their musical exposure because of their own preconceived notion of what children's music should be. If anything young children are probably more likely to appreciate different sounds for their musical nature than their parents because they don't have years of teaching and cultural reinforcement telling them what is and is not musical. With this in mind I put together a short mix of slightly more adventurous sounds for my favorite one year old.

Happy Birthday Mikayla!

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Person Pitch

I ignored this when it came out as I've never been that impressed by Animal Collective. Finally downloaded it today from eMusic and I'm very impressed. It is a beautifully human album composed of 60's boy group harmonies, found sounds, conventional instruments, and analog electronics. Don't wait as long as I did to listen to this. You'll have a better Summer with this in your car stereo.

Listen to the album at Last.fm