Video, upcoming releases, Tour kibbe Video, upcoming releases, Tour kibbe

[Watch] Phases - "I'm In Love With My Life" (Official Video)

I am a sucker for electro-pop so it's no shocker here that I took to LA quartet Phases baaaasically immediately. This was especially the case with their track, "I'm In Love With My Life", which is one of three that the band have unveiled from their forthcoming album. Honestly, if you're not in love with your life after the first spin of this tune, then maybe you need to book an intense partying session with Andrew WK to work through your issues. Seriously (well, sort of anyway). It's as bright and bubblegumtastic as it is infectious. At any rate, if anyone from the foursome looks familiar to you at all that's because peppered amongst the lineup are former members of Rilo Kiley, Phantom Planet, and The Like. You may have also known them in their former incarnation as JJAMZ. 

I am heartbroken to say that I won't be able to make it out next Tuesday (7/21) to their show at The Studio at Webster Hall. If I could clone myself so I could be there AND at Prospect Park Bandshell for Interpol with Sprout I would be all over this. If you're in the NYC area you should definitely come out.  If you're not in the greater NYC area, the band is on the road in North America through mid-August, so head over to their website and see if they're coming soon to a town near you. 

You should check out their other two tracks as well: "Betty Blue" and "Cooler".

Read More
festivals, News, Video, Tour kibbe festivals, News, Video, Tour kibbe

[Watch] Mew - "Witness"

Mew have released their official video for, "Witness", which features a group of devoted fans that the band invited to take part in the filming. The track comes from their latest album, + -, which is out now. 

In addition to recently confirming a late appearance at this summer's Green Man Festival the band has announced that they will host two very special nights at London's Village Underground called "An Evening With Mew" this December. Dates are below. 

21.08.15  - POWYS  Green Man Festival

14.12.15 - LONDON  Village Underground

15.12.15  -  LONDON Village Underground

 

Read More
SKOA Radio kibbe SKOA Radio kibbe

Some Kind of Awesome Radio - 07/11/2015

Typing up all the show notes this week for once because I love you, fam. 

YES! I'M ACTUALLY DOING SHOW NOTES FOR THIS WEEK! #sorrynotsorry but like I said in this week's episode I've been dealing with a bit of blogger burnout and even though doing the show is very therapeutic for me when you see how thorough I intend to be moving forward you will understand why I put this off for as long as I could. Again, I really appreciate those of you who listen and never get the promised show notes. NO MORE BROKEN PROMISES! Just quality #content in addition to a bunch of other new things in the works right now. 

Hope you enjoyed this weeks show! Feel free to drop a comment here or hit me up on Twitter. I'd love to hear what you thought of this week's picks!

Until next week!

<3

@kibbe!

BONUS JUST FOR YOU FAM! I'm also making playlists on Spotify for every single show. NO SHUFFLE THO BECAUSE THAT'S CHEATING! Additionally, as the shows become available on iTunes I will update each post with a link to the show for your listening pleasure. Enjoy! 

Read More
Record Store Day, News kibbe Record Store Day, News kibbe

[Record Store Day 2015] Fun Things To Talk About With Strangers While You're In Line Waiting to buy Records

Davie Grohl says buying records on Record Store Day is serious business. I guess it is these days, huh? 

I'm not sure what Record Store Day is like anywhere other than in NYC, but here it's nuts. My fondest RSD memory was back in 2011 when I rolled up to Sound Fix (RIP) at 8am and stood in line with Alex and Sami from CoS for 2 hours until the store opened. It was a brutal 2 hours because the night prior Sprout and I had gone out with Fitts from The Kickdrums and had more Jameson than people who needed to get up early (or be alive for that matter) should every drink. Even still, despite the worst hangovers of our lifetimes (it is now the one we have compared every other hangover to ever since) it's hard not to think fondly of the moments where we were gushing about the releases we were hoping to get, the Sound Fix folks bringing coffee and pastries for all of us waiting in line, and the overall sense of community that is felt on this and every Record Store Day since.

Record Store Day is a my favorite day to celebrate my favorite thing with my closest friends. Unfortunately, not everyone has a built in posse to roll up to those long RSD lines. You may heading out to RSD solo. Even if you're not, this is a rare opportunity that comes once a year to meet a chunk of people all at once that have presumably the same interests as you, so instead of burying your face in your phone, take advantage of the situation and strike up a conversation!

First impressions are important and we want everyone to know how you're some kind of awesome, so here are some fun things Sprout and I will hopefully be discussing with strangers outside of Rough Trade tomorrow:

  • Phonograph records were originally pressed onto shellac! However during World War II the United States declared that shellac was a strategic material for the war and due to scarcity records started being pressed into vinyl, which is what is still used today. (Yale)
  • Some folks in the universe claim that the best way to clean your records is by using wood glue and a credit card:

Warning: this guy does not feel the same about this method:  

  • Trying to put a price tag on music is complicated as hell, honestly. The history of it is pretty fascinating though. (Pitchfork)
  • The first thing ever recorded was Ben Franklin singing/shouting Mary Had A Little Lamb and it was recorded onto a tin cylinder. (LiveScience)

PS this is what it sounded like:

If that tickled your fancy, this guy shows how Edison did the recording on the cylinders that they recorded to at the time:

If you haven't made your list and checked it twice you need to do so because being unprepared can result in heartbreak so check out the Official List of Record Store Day Special Releases. There are lots of things going on tomorrow in celebration of the happiest day of the year so maybe see what your local store is doing. There's a TON of stuff going on in NYC that you should check out if you're in the area. 

Don't forget to be VERY POLITE to the people working at your record store tomorrow because there is no doubt that they will be stressed out of their minds by the swarms of people coming out. Obviously be nice to your fellow shoppers, too. Some of us are short and can't reach the overhead shelves so offer to help out if you see someone struggling (Sprout was my savior last year with this). Who knows, maybe all these sweet tips will land you a record store bae (sorry, I had to).

And if you're going out for Record Store Day so you can buy a bunch of the ultra limited runs so you can put them up on eBay, please comment below so I can find you and slap you. 

 

Read More
Night Out kibbe Night Out kibbe

[Night Out] Big Data @ Bowery Ballroom (3/24/2015)

The irony was not lost on me last Tuesday night as I stood inside the Bowery Ballroom grinning ear to ear as the sweet sounds of Big Data washed over me and cheered amongst enthusiastic newcomers to the brilliance that is the work of my "broadband bud" Alan Wilkis.

(As longtime readers know, when the SKOA family chooses to champion an artist, we are in it for the long haul with them. We shout your name from the rooftops to anyone who will hear us, we celebrate every success no matter the size, and we patiently wait for the day when everyone else finally sees what we see in them: that they are some kind of awesome. A reminder: as nice as it may seem to have the bragging rights of knowing them before anyone else did, at the end of the day their success is our greatest pleasure and the most important thing to us.)

A little back story here: In early 2010, Rocko discovered this really great remix of RJD2 - "The Shining Path" which was done by none other than Mr. Alan Wilkis. After some digging we learned that he had also been working with The Kickdrums, which essentially sealed the deal for us in terms of giving him our full support. Alan proved to be a really chill dude who was even up for grabbing drinks with strangers from the internet the first time Rocko ever came to hang in NYC with the family.

I call him my "broadband bud" because other than bumping into Alan a few times at shows or the occasional bar, the extent to our friendship has been strictly digital. This is not a complaint, it's just how life is now. These days you make a brief physical connection to someone once and thanks to the power of the internet it's possible to never really shake certain people. Mind you, this isn't all THAT uncommon in the music business, but it still doesn't make the concept any less silly. In addition to the ongoing support for his many remixes and projects on the site, myself and the rest of the SKOA family have mostly exchanged a few tweets, likes, and emails over the course of our 5 year friendship. That all said, as I stood in front of him last night snapping photos feeling prouder of him than I have of my own accomplishments in the past 5 years, I couldn't help but laugh at myself and what our society has become with help from our good ol' friend technology.

As you will soon learn from hearing his debut album, 2.0, or experiencing his thought provoking live show, my broadband bud Alan shares the same conflicted feelings that I do about where we are in this new age of technology. We all want to feel connected, but there are so many complicated icky things that come with being a citizen of the internet, especially now more than ever. The Siri-esque AI that MCs Big Data's show last night was certainly not one to shy away from bringing up topics such as the data mining that is used by websites to sell products to us, claiming that they "know us" as if they were our "friends". You're probably being delivered one of those fun ads on this very page that you're reading, in fact. (Sorry.)

After the band closed out the evening with their breakout hit, "Dangerous", I queued the coat check line, enduring the incessant gushing of a new fan with unfortunately bad breath. I pondered whether to seek out Alan and congratulate him based on the newfound invalidity my relationship suddenly felt that was brought on in part by the very experience that he had been responsible for delivering that evening. I was very uneasy because I have always taken the approach to celebrate and embrace the majority of what the internet has to offer, but I worried that maybe my approach was, if I may attempt to make a pun here, dangerous, because it has slowly made so many aspects of my life such enormous gray areas, relationships included. Then I considered that whatever way I have been internetting brought me to this moment of self-reflection by means of someone who I considered an albeit casual friend, so maybe the internet couldn't be all that bad.

I ushered some girls who had been attempting to talk to me throughout the opening bands back upstairs so they could meet Alan. One actually gushed to him that she thought he was going to be the next LCD Soundsystem. It was a pretty adorable moment. After I had a brief rock mama moment with Alan, my new friends wanted wanted to make sure they could tag me in their Instagram photos so presumably we would be tied together to this one moment indefinitely on the internet (btw - I'm the one snapping photos in that photo, obvi). 

It's weird how I never even thought twice about this kind of interaction until this show, but I guess that just means that 2.0 really does sink in when you're not caught up in all of the uncontrollable hip shaking that occurs when listening to it.

If it's not clear by now, you really need to give 2.0 a spin if you haven't already over on Spotify or via the Rdio player below. You can also be amazing and pick it up on iTunes. 

Read More
SKOA Mixtapes Guest User SKOA Mixtapes Guest User

[SKOA Mixtape] "Love to Love U" - Sexy Songs for Valentine's Day Mix from SproutDr

With Valentine's Day approaching the sexy beasts here at SKoA want to spread some love to our fellow freaks in the sheets.

We are creatures. Sensual, enigmatic, primal creatures who are happily motivated and aroused by textures, sound patterns, and colors. "Sexy times" with oneself, a partner, or perhaps even an orgy (oh behave! ....or don't) may summon your inner mixtape making master to create the ultimate come-hither soundtrack. Here's an inviting peek into some salacious tracks that may stir your wanton soul.

So don't make me beg (or do if that's your thing) you to listen to my list of eargasms. Go ahead get turned on and be my Valentine.

XoXo Sproutdr XoXo

Read More
Reviews Guest User Reviews Guest User

[Review] Father John Misty - 'I Love You, Honeybear'

Father John Misty is in love, or out of love, or in love with love.  I Love You, Honeybear scrutinizes the roller coaster of an enigma we call love from both an observer’s and a participant’s point of view.

The ethereal Josh Tillman a.k.a. Father John Misty released his second studio album on Tuesday charmingly titled I Love You, Honey Bear. His pragmatic lyrics roll out playfully like a familiar nostalgia of a hippie’s fringe dragging across your goose bumped skin. Each song’s progressive melody takes you on a serendipitous ride. You can’t help but instinctively sway back and forth feeling your knees turn to syrup.

I sat with glorious anticipation as the opening track "I Love You, Honeybear" played. Just as I expected, I could feel the silly, sloppy look on my face better known as “the love grin” taking up residence on my lips.  Let’s just say it’s not difficult to fall in love with Josh. Songs like “When You're Smiling And Astride Me”, and “The Ideal Husband“ are where he honestly expresses the realness of loving someone despite faults, fear, and idiosyncrasies.  The old cliché “The moment you came to, I swore I would change” hits home in "Strange Encounter" with its guitar riffs and percussion making your soul a tad more aware.

A welcomed lyricist for our time, Father John Misty sings without blinders all the while with a candid accuracy. In “Bored in the USA”, Josh mellifluously serenades us (piano in stride) with the words, “Is this the part where I get all I ever wanted…Who said that? Can I get my money back?” A song wrapped in the theme of complacency, and disillusionment comes complete with audience laughter and applause.  The album’s ending track, “I Went to the Store One Day" shuffles in a light of hope for the love naysayers. This song in particular stirred part of me that secretly hides due to relationships lost, disappointments in love, and missed opportunities. Easily relating to the words, “And now in just one year’s time I've become jealous, rail thin and prone to paranoia when I'm stoned-this isn't true love someone ought to put me in a home…. Say do you wanna get married...?" was a gentle reminder of just how tumultuous and delightful love can actually be.  Perhaps I do long for someone who can make me feel the way this album makes me feel.  I Love You, Honeybear is the perfect remedy for all the cynical and disconnected hearts who long for someone to make them believe in these lyrics: “Don’t let me die in a hospital; I’ll save the big one for the last time we make love…all because I went to the store one day…”

Father John Misty is playing at Rough Trade in BK on Feb 12 and The Bowery Ballroom on Feb 14th. 

Have a listen to I Love You, Honeybear below. If you love it as much as we did, make sure to

Read More
Reviews kibbe Reviews kibbe

[Download] Ain't No Love - "Cry in the Rain"

Ain't No Love source: Facebook 

Thoroughly enjoying all of this great new music coming from our norther neighbors lately! Canadian electro-hop trio Ain't No Love are the latest and greatest of the maple-leaf musicians that I have been fortunate to find gracing my eardrums this week. The trio, which is comprised of Roland ‘1990’ Broere and Elias ‘Beanz’ McBean, alongside singer Saidah Conrad, are prepping for a March release of their latest EP, Plummet. This newest track, "Cry In The Rain", is the 3rd that they've blessed the internet with so far. The track was produced by Avenue, who has been on his a-game recently with his remixes for Tobtok, Miami Horrow, Lemaitre, and Penguin Prison.  

SPOILER ALERT: I've listened to Plummet like 8 times already and I can't get enough of it, so you are going to want to keep your eyes and ears here for more info on these guys. 

In the meantime, enjoy "Cry In The Rain" below and feel free to grab it for the actual retail price of $FREE.99. 

Read More