Pretty Goes with Pretty

Long Live Pretty Goes with Pretty

In an act of consolidation that has been many years overdue, I'll now be doing all of my primary blogging through my tumblr account, which as of now has just been renamed Pretty Goes with Pretty—so bookmark the new url and/or update your RSS feeds if you still read blogs that way.

I've had an affinity for this site for a long time, always aspiring to be more prolific here, less prolific elsewhere, etc. But the truth is that it's quite difficult to stay prolific on one site and be on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook—all of which are beguiling enough that I don't want to abandon any of them for different reasons. I'm tired of being a jack of all platforms, master of none. So, if a format is to be abandoned, I realize it's this one.

That's not to say Pretty Goes with Pretty is dead. It's just at a new url. The tone and content will change to match the platform—there will be reblogs, there will be fewer downloadable mp3s, there will be no more weekly soundtracks nor monthly rundowns. That said, there will be more content overall, and more varied. There will still be lots of music to listen to, and lots of words to read. There will be art. There will be television and movies, maybe. There will be whatever I want there to be.

Hopefully you already follow me there or on Twitter. Judging by my daily stats, the vast majority of visitors here are just hunting for mp3s anyway—and that's not who I've ever wanted to cater to. It is my hope that renewed efforts at Tumblr and Twitter will result in what I most want out of writing about music—conversation. Join me.

This Week's Soundtrack

Iron & Wine: The Creek Drank the Cradle, Kiss Each Other Clean, and Our Endless Numbered Days
Heartless Bastards: Arrow
Belle and Sebastian: The Boy with the Arab Strap
Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks (2)
Hospitality: s/t
Zomes: Improvisations
Cate le Bon: Cyrk
First Aid Kit: The Lion's Roar
Beach House: Devotion
Simon & Garfunkel: Sounds of Silence
Feist: Metals

Belle and Sebastian: The Boy With The Arab Strap

 

In Search Of...

...something new...went to NPR to listen to the new Sharon Van Etten but it did not feel like the right record for me at that moment, so I clicked off after a few songs...switched to Heartless Bastards' Arrow, since it was there on the NPR page—a band I've never heard before but this was nice enough, though a day later I don't really remember it other than the singer had a compelling and strong voice...was reminded that I wanted to hear First Aid Kit's new album—a band I've never heard of until hearing "Emmylou" on the internet somewhere; it reminded me of 2010's Chapin Sisters record, which is not a bad thing, but like the Van Etten it just wasn't sitting well with my mood so I turned it off...later in the day I finally put on Of Montreal's Paralytic Stalks—I say finally because I acquired it a few days ago from a publicist but have not been enthused enough to actually listen to it, despite past fandom; I doubt I'll put it on again (does anyone need more Of Montreal at this point?)...tried the new Hospitality record on Matador; was sort of ambivalent to individual tracks I'd heard previously but liked the overall album more, and will probably go back to it...wished I had the new Jason Urick album but I don't (yet)...which reminded me to look into what Thrill Jockey has been up to lately, so I sampled a few mp3s on their site from two groups I'd never heard of, Imbogodom and Pontiak, neither of which did it for me...but I have a lot of faith in Thrill Jockey so I noted some other new releases and headed to Spotify, where I tried out a new album by a band called Rhyton which was kinda aimless instrumental spacey psych jams, didn't reel me in...and finally one more Thrill Jockey release Zomes' Improvisations, which is guitar-based ambient and more up my alley—finally!

All the albums I'm looking forward to don't come out for another month. It's only early February—there's still a chance for me to keep up with music in 2012, so please tell me what I new stuff I should be hearing.

Jason Urick: The Crying Song (Album Mix)

First Aid Kit: Emmylou

January Mix

I didn't hear a lot of new albums this month, but I did keep up pretty well with hearing new tracks via PR and my favorite blogs. Here's a mix of favorite finds, old and new, that I haven't already written about this month. Special shoutout to the blogs who hepped me to some of these tracks—Aquarium Drunkard (Reparata & the Delrons), For the Sake of the Song (White Fence, Etta James, and Woodpigeon), and the Rising Storm (Dave Davies). (I came across the rest via Pitchfork and innumerable other blogs in my RSS feed.) This mix is best played in order.

Juliana Barwick: Never Change

Etta James: Seven Day Fool

Disappears: Replicate

Zammuto: F U C-3PO

White Fence: When There Is No Crowd

Dave Davies: Do You Wish to Be a Man

Woodpigeon: For Paolo

Lower Dens: Brains

Reparata and the Delrons: Boys and Girls

Also of note, I wrote about three more songs I heard this month that I thought were great: The Shins' "Simple Song"; the Dirty Three's "Rising Below"; and Julia Holter's "Marienbad."

January Soundtrack

# of unique albums played from beginning to end: 33

Albums broken down by decade/year:

• 2012: 0
• 2011: 7
• 2010: 3
• 00s: 14
• 90s: 1
• 80s: 1 (Chopin recording)
• 70s: 3
• 60s: 2
• 50s: 2

Albums broken down by genre:

• Indie: 21
• 60s rock: 2
• 70s rock: 2
• Ambient: 2
• Children's: 1
• Classical: 1
• Electronic: 1
• Jazz: 1
• Oldies: 1

# of albums played multiple times: 5 (* denotes albums acquired this month)

• Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring for My Halo* (8)
• The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient* (7)
• The Radio Dept.: Clinging to a Scheme (4)
• Pernice Brothers: Overcome by Happiness (2)
• V/A: Play Music (Orange Sessions 2) (2)

# of albums played over multiple weeks: 4

• The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient (4)
• Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring for My Halo (3)
• The Radio Dept.: Clinging to a Scheme (2)
• V/A: Play Music (Orange Sessions 2) (2)

January was indie rock month. After spending a lot of 2011 listening to a lot of ambient and electronic music—and doing a little extra binging toward the end of the year—my inner pendulum seems to have swung in the other direction. It probably has something to do with hearing new songs by a lot of old favorites—the Shins, Andrew Bird, Dr. Dog—all of which helped push me toward familiar albums in my library for much of this month.

The Radio Dept: Domestic Scene

Junip: In Every Direction

The Shins: Phantom Limb

Spoon: The Ghost Of You Lingers

My Listening Hours: January

Here's the big "duh" comment of the month: I purchased almost no new-to-me albums this month, but for the two that I did, I feel much more connected to them than a lot of other recent acquisitions—as evidenced by the handful of blog posts I did around each. Even when I got hungry for something new, I just wound up going back to one of these or even older albums. (I like both of these records, though I feel like I'll be returning to Slave Ambient a lot more in the future.)

The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient
A confident band that has their sound down so perfectly, so effortlessly, that I almost question whether or not they're pushing themselves hard enough. Great record. [Review.] 

The War on Drugs: I Was There

Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring for My Halo
When Vile picks up the pace even a little bit, he reaches something that I find really compelling. I like this record but I've found that with repeated listens the downer tracks start to drag. [More thoughts.]

Kurt Vile: Jesus Fever

This Week's Soundtrack

The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient (2)
Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Nicolas Jaar: Space is Only Noise
Jason Urick: Husbands
Unknown Mortal Orchestra: s/t
The New Pornographers: Electric Version

It feels strange whenever I listen to one of the New Pornographers' first three albums from beginning to end. I bought all three albums more or less at the same time a few years back, and I've played them on shuffle ever since. Listening to Electric Version sometimes feels weirdly exhausting, despite it containing many of my favorite songs. It is relentlessly upbeat—something they tempered starting with Twin Cinema. As much as I love Electric Version (it's top three, maybe top two for me), it thrives best on a song-by-song basis. The parts are better than the sum.

The New Pornographers: From Blown Speakers

This Week's Soundtrack

Jens Lekman: Night Falls Over Kortedala
Les Paul and Mary Ford: Best of the Capitol Masters
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient
Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring for My Halo (2)
Sharon Van Etten: Epic
V/A: Play Music (Orange Sessions 2)
Feist: Let It Die, Metals, and The Reminder
Junip: Fields
The Radio Dept.: Clinging to a Scheme (2)
Pernice Brothers: Overcome by Happiness (2) and The World Won't End

If you've been reading the blog all week you could predict what I've been listening to: Kurt Vile, the War on Drugs, and the Pernice Brothers. Toss in a kids' album and some of this family's "comfort food" music (Les Paul, Feist, Radio Dept.), and you've sewn up the week. I've been in a very "indie rock" sort of mood lately—not a lot of the ambient and electronica that I was gorging on toward the end of the year. I'm sure the pendulum will swing back in the other direction soon. Since I'm still on a Pernice Brothers kick, here's another one:

Pernice Brothers: 7:30

 

I Want to Be with You So Bad

I've been listening to so many sandy voiced songwriters doused in a morass of atmosphere that when the Pernice Brothers' "Wait to Stop" came up on shuffle the other day, the clarity of Pernice's creamy voice, perfect melody, and lush strings knocked me over as if I were hearing it for the first time.

Of course it wasn't my first time. The album from which it came, 1998's Overcome By Happiness, is among my all-time favorites. Though I don't listen to it with as much frequency these days, I must have played it monthly, weekly, daily (along with Joe Pernice's prior effort, the Scud Mountain Boys' Massachussetts) for about five years straight. Massachussetts seems to have retained a touch more glow of acclaim all these years later, but Overcome By Happiness is a pop masterpiece.

I've been singing "Wait to Stop" to myself ever since hearing it this week. My wife noticed me singing it while I was doing the dishes last night and she asked, "Why don't you listen to this kind of music anymore?" It's a good question! My answer being... I don't know, is anyone making great yet simple pop as good as this right now? Overcome by Happiness is like a perfect soufflé—its ingredients are no mystery, but the execution is unparalleled.

Pernice Brothers: Wait To Stop

Monkey Song aka Cattle Call

A couple of vintage Eddy Arnold tracks appear on the playlist my wife and I have devised for Cooper (i.e. mostly oldies that may as well be made for kids). He hadn't really acknowledged them before, until last week when I discerned that his request for "monkey song" was actually Arnold's "The Cattle Call."

Eddy Arnold: The Cattle Call

Here's a clip of Arnold performing the song for a television show back in 1956, followed by a few bonus clips just for the hell of it.