Vetiver - "Can't You Tell"

Sub Pop has released the first single from Vetiver's forthcoming fifth album, The Errant Charm, due out on June 14th. "Can't You Tell," the third track off the album, commences with a solo reverb-backed organ and proceeds to open up with a wide spectrum of sounds, some of which come as a surprise to the Vetiverse. While the acoustic guitar is a staple of Andy Cabic's recording, the track's drum loop and swirling backdrop of effected keyboards are unfamiliar additions to the usual acoustic instrument-oriented production. Cabic wrote much of The Errant Charm's songs while walking the streets of San Francisco and the hazy and lightly psychedelic "Can't You Tell" fits nicely into that backstory, operating with a movement both casual and unhurried.

Review: Generationals :: Actor-Caster

Actor-Caster is a collection of pop confections of the highest sugary order: honey-dripped melodies, choruses that crave to be sung out open windows, and foot-tapping rhythms all colored with a timeless and genre-spanning palette of tones and influences. From their 2009 debut Con Law to 2010's Trust EP and now Actor-Caster, New Orleans' Generationals have maintained an astonishingly consistent and high level of creativity. 26 songs into their young careers and the songwriting core of Grant Widmer and Ted Joyner have yet to make one false move. Instead, the duo have demonstrated a near insatiable appetite for explosive and dynamic pop music.

Bandwidth Temporarily Maxed Out

Dearest Readers,

Everybody Taste's bandwidth is temporarily maxed out, meaning all mp3s are currently inaccessible. We'll have the music up and running again shortly. While you wait, please check out our newest mixtape—Teenage Dreams, So Hard To Beat—which I've uploaded via a third party. UPDATE: MP3s are back up and running!

Sincerely,
Everybody Taste

Mixtape: Teenage Dreams, So Hard To Beat

... the only words I want on my tombstone, apart from my name, are: "Teenage Dreams, So Hard To Beat." What more do you need? — John Peel

One of my all-time favorite styles of music is power pop: a 1960s-inspired rock genre typically comprised of driving drum beats, sharp vocal melodies, and straightforward minimalist arrangements. It's pop music that goes straight for the kill shot—the immediate hook and connection. What I find particularly engaging is the small shaded region where punk rock and power pop overlap into a sharp and deadly force. Not every song on this mix fits neatly under the umbrella of punk or power pop, but for this listener, they all make that immediate and holy pit-in-your-stomach musical communion with a ferocious and intoxicating force—those youthful exploratory moments when you realize you've discovered something truly great.

Sexy Vinyl: All Tiny Creatures :: Harbors 2xLP

My eyes nearly melted when I gazed upon the 2xLP gatefold packaging of Harbors, the debut record from Wisconsin quartet All Tiny Creatures. The band—led by Thomas Wincek of Volcano Choir—and its label Hometapes clearly spared no expense in putting together this inspiring packaging. The stunning artwork here was designed by Portland artist and designer Aaron Draplin of Draplin Design. The album's 11 songs come on two 45 RPM 12" LPs in two separate opaque color sets, which contain at random either a blue and yellow or a green and red combination.

Obviously, the packaging would prove irrelevant if it didn't contain music as equally memorable and masterful. Thankfully, the band is All Tiny Creatures and they deliver with a sound straight from another world: an intricately layered and mesmerizing concoction that proves to be just as brightly colored as Draplin's visual work. Harbors is out on March 29th, but you can pre-order now directly from Hometapes. If you're looking to start or improve upon your vinyl collection, it seems we've found your centerpiece.


All Tiny Creatures - "An Iris (Feat. Justin Vernon)" (from Harbors)
All Tiny Creatures - "Glass Bubbles" (from Harbors)

New YACHT - "Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)"

"The earth, the earth, the earth is on fire. We don't have no daughter. Let the motherfucker burn." YACHT's Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans have returned with “Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire),” the first single off their forthcoming Shangri-La LP, out June 21st on DFA Records. The duo's signature brand of apocalyptic sci-fi funk is as interesting and dynamic as ever on this synth-drenched disco gem.

YACHT - “Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)” (from Shangri-La)

Bill Callahan - "Baby’s Breath”

"She was not a weed, she was a flower," sings Bill Callahan in his simultaneously cold and affective, deeply toned talk-sing voice. The brilliant mind behind Smog returns with a new LP, Apocalypse, on April 19th via Drag City. On "Baby's Breath," the contrast between Callahan's simple finger-picked acoustic guitar and the sparse backdrop of a fleeting electric's abstract dissonances create a scene that is as beautiful as it is chilling. (Photo by Laurent Orseau)

Bill Callahan - "Baby's Breath" (from Apocalypse)

My Morning Jacket: A Game Changer

My Morning Jacket is that rare contemporary band that's built their reputation and immense following without one hit single. A band with a unique sound that—instead of being pigeonholed—is accepted and lauded by a wide range of fans: metal heads, folkies, Dead Heads, Southern rock enthusiasts, the alternative and indie crowds, and even a few soul fans. The Net Generation may have missed out on the stadium-sized rock shows of the 1970s, but thankfully, we have a more than capable substitute in Yim Yames and company. In celebration of the band's sixth studio album together, Circuital, I thought I'd share two live cuts that helped shape my adoration for the band.

Streaming/Fondling: The Big Name Drop

The world may be falling apart around us, but that hasn't stopped some beautiful new tunes from arriving at our digital doorsteps. This week's edition of Streaming/Fondling is heavy on big names like the Fleet Foxes, TV On The Radio and blog-sensation turned Columbia Records signees Cults. In the coming weeks and months, I expect we'll also have new tracks from Everybody Taste favorites Vetiver and Bon Iver, who both recently finished up new albums. Here it goes:

High Highs: A Lush Electro-Acoustic Wonderland

New York by-way-of Australia duo High Highs meld electronic soundscapes with acoustic guitar-driven pop to charming and rich ends. The three songs the band has posted for download—which at various turns recall a softer, more song-driven Radiohead—are all expertly crafted, vocally lush, and highly atmospheric works that excel in their unhurried dream-like states.

High Highs - "Horses"
High Highs - "Flowers Bloom"
High Highs - "Open Season"

The Keys - "I Don't Wanna Cry"

The Keys were a British power-pop group with sharp Beatles-inspired melodies that released their only album in 1981 on A&M Records. However, despite a fistful of capable singles, production by Joe Jackson, and excellent reviews, album sales were dismal and the group broke up soon after in 1983. If you dig power-pop in the vein of Gentleman Jesse & His Men, The Exploding Hearts, and The Vapors, you'll find a treasure trove of treats in The Keys' debut. Although you'll have to find a bootleg ripped from vinyl, as the record has never been reissued digitally or onto CD. "I Don't Wanna Cry," the band's most well known single, features an incredible vocal melody and performance that's both instantaneously addictive and re-playable.

The Keys - "I Don't Wanna Cry"

Review: Starfucker :: Reptilians

Pre-ordering: the moment when fandom and excitement take over frugality and rational lines of thought. Should I really be paying $20 for an album I've never actually heard? No one likes throwing away their weekend beer money on a nice single and an accompanying assortment of crap filler. I've made that mistake before, and perhaps that's why I'm so wholly enamored with Starfucker's Polyvinyl debut, Reptilians. Because the sexy tease of a shiny single, pretty artwork, and clear vinyl are surpassed by the album's tapestry of 11 interconnected songs: simultaneously life-affirming and existentially contemplative synth-pop that races forward where it should drag and fist-pumps where it should be reaching for the box of tissues.

Freddie Scott - "(You) Got What I Need"

It never ceases to amaze me how a simple riff or melody can seemingly transcend space and time. In 1968, Freddie Scott released the song "(You) Got What I Need." Somehow, it wasn't a hit for Scott, who had already scored a top-ten single with "Hey, Girl."  However, twenty-one years later, as a reinterpreted by hip-hop comedian Biz Markie, the song would reach #9 on the Billboard charts and become an indelible cultural touchstone for an entire generation of MTV-watching youths. It's the same piano hook and largely the same chorus, simply re-imagined with Biz's verse-by-verse story of finding his girlfriend kissing a man she'd told him was "just a friend." That simple hook now stirs up countless memories over various decades, including actor Jeff Goldblum's recent Harry Caray-inspired take on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Freddie Scott - "(You) Got What I Need"
Jeff Goldblum, Biz Markie, and The Roots - "Just A Friend" (Live on Late Night)

Mighty Clouds - "Spell It Out"

I'm a few months late to this party, but apparently Fred Thomas—the creative mind behind the excellent Saturday Looks Good To Me—released a record with singer Betty Marie Barnes as the Mighty Clouds. The duo's self-titled LP is out now on Polyvinyl and contains Thomas's unabashedly poppy approach to songwriting along with an assortment of 60s-tinged vocal melodies, which Barnes fills out beautifully with her bright tone. If Thomas's songs are the mashed potatoes, Barnes' voice is the gravy on top that enriches everything below. Grab the album digitally via Bandcamp or on vinyl at Polyvinyl.

Mighty Clouds - "Spell It Out" (from Mighty Clouds)

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears :: Scandalous

It's heavy, it's loud and it's funky. Black Joe Lewis and his band of Honeybears have returned with their second full-length album, Scandalous, produced again by Spoon's Jim Eno. If this is soul music, there's nothing smooth about it. Lewis just isn't a smooth guy. He attacks his music with jagged guitar riffs and a raspy throated and emotive yell of a singing voice. The songwriting here is nothing new, but with his backbone of talented Honeybears behind him at every turn, the passionate Lewis turns Scandalous into a seriously jarring record: an overwhelmingly physical force of funk and blues that will turn you loose on the dance floor until the sweat is pouring off your forehead and your muscles are begging for respite. Buy this record. Then see this man live.

Black Joe Lewis - "Black Snake" (from Scandalous)


Black Joe Lewis - "I'm Broke" (Live at Woxy Lounge)

Justin Hinds & The Dominoes - "Carry Go Bring Home"

There's perhaps no musical genre—at least in my personal experience—quite as relentlessly upbeat and cheerful as ska: the bright horns, walking bass line, the jazz and blues inspired fluidity of movement. As the winter and rain continue to linger in Portland, I find myself continuing to go back to the likes of Don Drummond, Dandy Livingstone, the Skatalites, and more modern ska incarnations, like the Slackers. However, few songs have ever hit me quite like Justin Hinds & the Dominoes' "Carry Go Bring Home," a number one hit in Jamaica in 1963. I originally heard the track in Whit Stillman's impeccable 1998 cult classic, The Last Days of Disco, and have been unable to escape its grasp ever since. In the song's chorus, Hinds asks, "How long shall the wicked reign over my people?" Instead of anger or sadness, he inflects the song with an uplifting energy that creates a hopeful tone about as potent and intoxicating as music gets.

Justin Hinds & The Dominoes - "Carry Go Bring Home"

Oregon Bike Trails - "Swimsuit"

Oregon Bike Trails is the moniker of Santa Monica musician Zach Yudin. However, instead of allusions to Oregon's lush green forested landscapes, Yudin's music is brimful of California sunshine. On the track "Swimsuit" you can almost feel the sand between your toes and the salt water on your tongue. Colored by a lo-fi reggae-tinged guitar rhythm and Yudin's reverb-coated vocals, this bedroom pop floats along with the ease of a cool summer breeze. If you dig, and you will, head to Yudin's bandcamp for a few more freebies. (via)

Oregon Bike Trails - "Swimsuit" 

Help Kickstart Johnny Corndawg's Down On The Bikini Line

Nashville's Johnny Corndawg—whom you may have heard sing a verse on Middle Brother's "Middle Brother" song—plays a classic country and western style of music suffused with whip-smart but often out of left field and hilarious lyrics, as on the crooned "Silver Pantie Liners" or "The Life Of A Bear." He's an absolute one of a kind talent and he's gearing up to put out what he calls "the best thing I've ever done," Down On The Bikini Line. However, putting out an album is a costly task, so Corndawg is using Kickstarter to get the necessary funds together to release the record. If you dig "The Life Of A Bear" as much as I do, you can help out by simply pre-ordering the record digitally for $10, on CD for $20 or on vinyl for $30. If you need more convincing, watch Corndawg drunkenly serenade strangers in his Kickstarter video and grab his free session over at the Daytrotter studios.

Johnny Corndawg - "The Life Of A Bear" (from Down On The Bikini Line)
Johnny Corndawg - "Night Rider" (from Water Friends For?)

TV Torso :: Status Quo Vadis

Austin's TV Torso are a rhythmic tornado contained within jagged slices of guitar, rumbling drums, and the throaty vocals of Matt Oliver. Recorded entirely to analog tape at the band's home studio Big Orange, TV Torso's six-song debut EP Status Quo Vadis is a warmly toned work of sharp angles and layered guitar lines that at times recall an unmuzzled, younger Spoon. While a sense of wandering permeates throughout the EP, the songs are nevertheless quick to the task at hand, instantaneously accessible and enjoyable at every turn.

Catch the band performing on their home turf this week at SXSW. Download the EP at their Bandcamp for free or buy it on 12" vinyl.

TV Torso - "Elegy" (from Status Quo Vadis)
TV Torso - "Nobodies" (from Status Quo Vadis)

(Photo by Nick Simonite)

Natural Child To Release Full-Length Debut, 1971

Nashville band Natural Child have two Twitter accounts: @naturalchild420 and @naturalchild69. Their label, Infinity Cat, just announced the release date for the band's debut full-length, 1971: it's 4/20. You know what my favorite song by Natural Child is? "Crack Mountain," which boasts the chorus, "I've been smoking crack with my friends." My point is you can't escape the band's endless jokes about sex and drugs, but underneath that veneer of depravity lies a wholly formidable rock and roll band equipped with swampy stadium-sized bass and guitar riffs, sledgehammer drums, and the kind of vocal melodies and lyrics that are as easy to remember as they're impossible to forget. When I put on Natural Child, no one screams "Welcome To The Thunderdome," but it absolutely feels like someone should. This is wild and unholy rock and roll and it's safe to say 1971 is now officially Everybody Taste's most anticipated release of 2011. Hear the first taste of the record below.

Natural Child - "Hard Workin' Man" (from 1971)

Streaming/Fondling: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Crystal Stilts, Holy Ghost! & Black Lips

Welcome to another edition of Streaming and Fondling, where we post amazing songs that you can't have (yet). This edition of teases includes brand spanking new jams from Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Crystal Stilts, Holy Ghost! and The Black Lips.

Video: Port St. Willow - "Stay Even"

Shaking Through is an incredible web series that gives emerging independent artists the chance to record in a top of the line studio with top-tier talent. And that's not all. It gives fans an incredibly intimate window to peak inside the minutiae of the recording process. We've seen Sharon Van Etten achieve otherworldly greatness inside this studio and we've experienced awesome collaborations like Floating Action's Seth Kauffman produced by Dr. Dog's Scott McMicken. The series' latest episode features Portland, Oregon's Nick Principe—who records under the moniker Port St. Willow—being produced by his childhood friend Peter Silberman of everybody's favorite Antlers. As usual, the music created within this collaborative experience is a treasure worth watching unfold.

Port St. Willow - "Stay Even" (Shaking Through)

Stone Darling - "All I Wanna Do"

The whispery, harmony-glazed "All I Wanna Do" by Los Angeles band Stone Darling is the kind of lush and gorgeous pop confection that only takes a few seconds to forever nestle itself inside your collective consciousness. "Sing a simple song," Sly Stone once said. Here, Stone Darling turn simplicity into a dynamic mood-changing force of pop gold. All aboard.

Stone Darling - "All I Wanna Do"

Video: Generationals - "Ten-Twenty-Ten"

Ther are few things over at Everybody Taste that we love more than New Orleans' Generationals. Here's the opening track, "Ten-Twenty-Ten," off the band's forthcoming LP Actor-Caster. The album is due out March 29th on the consistently great Park The Van. Now do yourself a favor and bounce along to this fine pop gem.

Generationals - "Greenleaf" (from Actor-Caster)

"Ten-Twenty-Ten" by Generationals by forcefieldpr

Mixtape: Coffee For Breakfast, Please

Kyle MacLachlan - "Diane, it's 8 AM..."

Hugh Masakela - "A Cheeka Laka Laka"

Tapes 'n Tapes - "One In The World"

Body Language - "Social Studies"

Donora - "I Think I Love You"

Dawes - "Hey Lover" --> "Blake Mills - "Hey Lover" --> Dawes - "Hey Lover"

Cotton Jones - "Lune Chatter"

The Replacements - "Kids Don't Follow Intro"

Natural Child - "Crack Mountain"

The Death Set - "Negative Thinking"

Gold Motel - "Slow Emergency"

Mary Wells - "You Beat Me To The Punch"

Jessica Lea Mayfield - "Words of Love" (Buddy Holly)

Raveonettes - "Red Tan"

New Animal - "Nightmares of Candy Yang & The Black Italian"

Paul Westerberg - "...we're very loud and spirited..."

Middle Brother - "Portland" (The Replacements)

Cass McCombs - "County Line"

Coffee For Breakfast, Please.mp3

Thanks to Root Strata Blog for the "Diane" recordings and The Voice Project for the Dawes cover. "Hooray Coffee" is a print by artist Nate Duval. Order from his awesome store here.

Review: Yuck :: Yuck

In hindsight, nothing about the 90s seemed especially timeless: it was more like a continuous flood of trends, one after the other coming in successive waves. Yet, here we stand today with a tide filled anew with that decade's heavy slosh of guitar tones and riffs. Of course, upon reflection, it makes sense: there was a whole generation that learned how to play guitar and write songs listening to bands like Dinosaur Jr, Nirvana, and Galaxie 500. What's most surprising though about this second time around is how good it sounds—again.

Nothing Lasts Forever, But I Will Always Love You: Harry Nilsson covered

Harry Nilsson was an unbelievable songwriter. And quite the character. Explaing the concept behind his 1971 album The Point—a fable about the only round-headed person in the Pointed Village—Nilsson said: "I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to a point. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's a point to it." You said it, Harry.

Invisible Children Presents The Silver Series at SXSW

Nada over at Friends With Both Arms has put together a four day street performance series at SXSW this year in honor of the 25th anniversary of the festival and the 25th year of the devastating war in East Africa. The Silver Series will feature 25 musicians and bands including Everybody Taste favorites Vandaveer, Jesse Woods, Lord Huron, Deer Tick and Middle Brother busking in the streets of Austin for the Invisible Children charity. The performances will take place in Republic Square Park, so please go and support a great cause. La Blogotheque will also be along for the ride capturing a few of the performances to video. It's entirely free, though any contribution you can make to the charity would be greatly appreciated. Check below for the entire schedule. If like me, you're unable to make it to SXSW this year, cover your eyes—you don't want to know how many great acts your missing.

Vandaveer - "Concerning Past & Future Conquests" (from Dig Down Deep)

Portland's Rumble :: FREE show tonight!

Local Portland bands The Harvey Girls and Orca Team will be playing a free show tonight along with Belgian band the Tellers at Holocene for Portland's monthly Rumble showcase. From the dreamy and experimental electro-pop of The Harvey Girls to the classic bass-driven rock sound of Orca Team and quirky acoustic Violent Femmes-recalling folk of the Tellers, the show should be an entirely eclectic and fun time. It's 21+, free, and sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon (Portland's Best Refreshment). What more do you need to know? Just that the show starts at 9.

Orca Team - "Let It Go" (from Let It Go)
The Harvey Girls - "Goodbye Horses" (Q Lazzarus cover)
The Tellers - "Second Category" (from Hands Full of Ink)

Pitchfork's Anti-Folk Outlook: What's New vs What's Derivative

It's a sham that the evaluation of music is so closely associated with the taste and king making of “cool.” That certain aesthetics and cultural identities are so closely associated with certain types of alternative and independent music is absolutely inevitable, but when it comes to listening to music and evaluating it for its worth, it’s profoundly disappointing to learn certain bands and their albums are simply ignored because they lack identifiable factors of that niche brand of "cool" that is so rigorously developed and sold. I’m writing because one of the year’s best albums may not even be reviewed by what most consider the leading voice in online music criticism—and perhaps music criticism in general—and it’s a giant gaping hole in what’s touted as journalism.

Review: Middle Brother:: Middle Brother

Cream were dubbed the world's first supergroup; The Highwaymen were country’s; and then there was the Traveling Wilburys, perhaps the greatest of them all: a band comprised of George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison. Harrison, one of the Fab Four, once admitted that he never knew what it felt like to play in a band until the Traveling Wilburys. Supergroups were once something to behold, but the magic and allure faded with bands like Velvet Revolver and Audioslave acting more as life rafts for aging rock stars than outlets born of creative desire. Monsters of Folk—three of folk rock’s brightest stars rekindling the magic of a shared tour—sounded so promising on paper, but the record came out flat and contrived. Save for the single "Say Yes," the album was three songwriters trading songs with no discernable input from one another.

Digging For Covers: M. Ward

M. Ward can make any song his own. He's proven that with an eclectic mix of covers that include straight ahead rockers like Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Green River," reinterpreting the dance funk of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" and wandering inside the otherworldly minds of Joanna Newsom and Daniel Johnston. Ward's prowess as a guitarist and arranger along with his darkly emotive and distinctive vocals have a way of translating any song into an incredibly intimate and hushed classic. Here are a couple old favorites that reintroduced themselves to me this morning. (Photo: Steve Gullick)

M. Ward - "Let My Love Open The Door" (Pete Townshend)
M. Ward Feat. Beth Orton- "Buckets of Rain" (Bob Dylan)
M. Ward - "Pale Blue Eyes" (The Velvet Underground)

M. Ward - "Bye Bye Love" (Everly Brothers)

Tim Cohen :: Magic Trick

I'll take the wide-eyed psychedelic pop wanderings of San Franciscans like Sonny Smith, the Sandwitches, Thee Oh Sees and Fresh and Onlys over the inundated hipster shores of Brooklyn any day. Whereas fads and trends have the tendency to dominate much of the independent New York music scene, the indie pop coming out of San Francisco of late has had a convincingly timeless tint. Fresh off his success with the Fresh and Onlys' latest LP Play It Strange (and its searing anthemic single "Waterfall"), bandleader Tim Cohen has thrown another fistful of sonic treats into the world via his third solo LP, Magic Trick. "What's the matter? You've never seen a man on fire? / Bring me water, if you want to keep me alive," sings Cohen on album standout "I Am Never Going To Die." The line is a typically humor-filled punch-line delivered with the songwriter's sly insight and melancholic disposition. Especially rich here is Cohen's voice, dipped in sweet reverb and delivered in a casual and deep resonance—a tone simultaneously warm in familiarity and refreshing in its distinctiveness. The album is out now on Brooklyn label Captured Tracks (yes, I know, geographic generalizations never really work out).

Tim Cohen - "Don't Give Up" (from Magic Trick)