gosh this is fascinating stuff. composer who wrote the music for all those original MTV promos (think astronauts and animations) contributes a few Eno/Byrne-inspired “found vocals” songs to a terrible John Travolta movie. the label loves them and asks for a followup (The General’s Daughter 2!! YES!!), which of course never pans out but ultimately results in a solo album full of fascinating remixes of southern spiritual/blues field recordings. chris douridas has been playing this stuff on kcrw for years, and today i finally tracked it down. and not only is the whole album unbelievably good, but his cuts from the soundtrack are unreal. sadly the guy died a year after this album released. his last major work? the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider video game soundtrack. fascinating.

they’ve been playing the dickens out of this guy on kcrw lately. he’s the former frontman of the brooklyn-based indie rock outfit elefant. which, incidentally, this solo stuff sounds absolutely nothing like. instead of guitar-driven indie pop, he seems to be tapping back into his roots - specifically 1970s argentina. it’s mellow, lovelorn stuff, tho it seems to lack the commitment of somebody who is truly lost without love. like he’s sad, but he thinks he’s hot ish so he’s not too worried about it. i will say tho: the songwriting is solid. the boy can craft a melody. and this particular track, while sounding unironically readymade for a wes anderson soundtrack, is actually pretty smooth. -d

it’s strange for me to hear the name of a band i’ve never heard of three times in one week - once from my best friend from high school during our annual phone chat, once on weekend edition on NPR, and once on KCRW’s top tune podcast. of course it shouldn’t have been strange. apparently these guys are pretty big and i’m just an idiot. which is fine, because the fact that i’m two years late to the game doesn’t make this album rule with any less mercy. -d

*seriously tho, the entire thing is smashing. like, smashing. and the NPR interview is completely charming.

groovy little monday tune from a EP full of the same. i liked their debut from a few years ago, and thought when i heard kcrw starting to give this track serious airplay, that they’d gotten their big break. but apparently these guys are everywhere: on episodes of chuck, reese’s commercials, even [llgugll] starbucks is hawking them. and here i thought they were some cool indie band. apparently i need to watch more tv. and drink more coffee. -d

saw these guys at the troubadour w/ coach last night, and i gotta say, they have to be the happiest, grooviest gang of crazy basque separatists i’ve ever seen. seriously tho, it was the most, fun, carefree and upbeat [natch] show i’ve seen in ages. the crowd was incredible. totally flush with awesome spanish hipsters. (the encore chant quickly gave way to ‘otra! otra!’) basically a huge iberian dance party. i felt like i was back at kapital. -d

*and thanks to kcrw for the free tix. w00t!

they’ve played this 3 mornings running on MBE, and it sticks everytime. i saw the dead weather at the mayan last year. it was entrancing, in a brain-melting, advil-afterwards sort of way. weird. it’s so much heavier than anything i listen to. i don’t know what it is about jack white. something crazy, primal maybe. just love the guy. love almost everything he’s ever laid down. this is from the new dead weather, due out in may. there’s actually a nine inch nails-iness parts of it, which i dig, strangely. dark, driven, solid anyway you look at it. can’t wait to hear the rest. -d

yesterday was a long day. by late afternoon i was strung pretty tight. just before heading off to boxing i’d found a bit of quiet in some kayhan kalhor, so i synced it to the ipod on my way out the door on a plan to loop it for the rest of the evening. and there on the desk the ipod stayed. all night. by the time i was in the car and realized my mistake, i was well on my way, nothing to be done. so i switched on kcrw. and as usual, garth had my back. within 30 seconds he was playing this track from daedelus’ latest. and all was well. -d

the other day i heard a song on kcrw that i kinda liked. at the time i just thought, ‘i kinda like that song.’ cut to yesterday, i’m listening to the new rogue wave album i’ve just downloaded, and what to my wondering ears should i hear but that same song i’d kinda liked a few days earlier but had not recognized as rogue wave. in my defense, i saw these guys last summer, and this is a completely different sound. maybe they had some life changing experiences or something and decided it was time to change direction. either way, a nice dance song on a nice friday afternoon is always a welcome thing. plus that chorus makes me want to play zelda real bad. -d

*also, is it just me or does zach sound a whole lot like ben gibbard here?

the gooniest awesome song of last summer made an unexpected but welcome reappearance this past weekend as the backing track for a ridiculous music video me and my cousins shot in downtown gilbert, AZ (go hawks!). video to come. maybe. but probably not. nobody should ever wear corduroys that tight. least of all me. -d

some actual glitch. from japan even. heard it on kcrw a while back. resurrected this morning. extremely tight. yet another sweet sweet byproduct of garth trinidad taking over the evening dj slot from jason bentley. (M-F, 8-10pm. and if you have to choose one night, make i vinyl tuesday.) -d