Swim Until you can't See Land

Just a quick HOLY SHIT for ya tonight...

Frightened Rabbit's new video for "Swim Until you Can't See Land" is so warm and cozy in the comfiest of ways. Aren't you familiar with those shows you go to when you can't tell who is a bigger fan of whom? You know, the artist is just right in the shit of it, standing in the middle of he crowd, in awe of the lyrics being screamed back at them? It's like that. Plus... This is the coolest flashlight party I've ever seen. God, I can't wait for The Winter of Mixed Drinks. Which comes out in MARCH. Really, Fat Cat Records? Enjoy Scott Hutchison & Co with some other gems...

1. Modern Leper

2. Keep Yourself Warm

3. Behave

Cheers,

Merman

'Tis the Swell Season!

STOP THE PRESSES!

I usually let it go a week, or 3 months, or so until I say anything on here. However, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, (you may recall weeping over their albums together as The Swell Season.. and let us not forget Once) released Strict Joy on the 27th, and subsequently completed my second, and maybe third, life. They got the name right, that's for sure. Their lyrics and melodies swell in the heart and what overflows can only be described as complete and unadulterated joy and sorrow and love and awe. It's quite impressive, really.

It's happy and heartful and souful and haunting; a candid shot of a heart on a sleeve. If you're truly aching for something that will catch all the fish hooks surrounding your heart and tug up the greatest and most genuine ardor lurking under the surface, Strict Joy will have you reaching for a Kleenex and and hand to hold. Still trying to figure out how to speak the fiery Goidelic language of love, maybe this Irishman will look at me with those deep pools of blue green eyes and sing In These Arms.... Sigh.

From Strict Joy:

1. Low Rising
2. Feeling the Pull
3. In These Arms

Cheers,

Merman

Whoaaaa Backlog.

So... It's been a while. HI!

This is what happened: A friend told me, well, he told me didn't like what I wrote. We'll let it be that. Here is how I felt: Stupid. So I stopped writing. Here is what that was: Stupid. Then I read Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions. And I forgot all about my my friend's superiority complex.

This is what it felt like:

I remembered that crazy is awesome. Awesome and crazy are two terms that can sometimes be opposite. The former describing a moment of awe, an impressive and somewhat unimaginable event. The latter usually indicates a negative and uncontrolled aspect of a person or thing. These terms are meant to put people in boxes in which they have either put themselves or someone else has done for them. Vonnegut reminded me that I hate boxes. And also, that sometimes your opinion sucks. I'd like to pay reckless disregard to any opinions of anyone who doesn't think, well, anyone who doesn't think he's any good, and so on. This is an Ode to Vonnegut. An ode is a dedication usually expressed in the form of medias like song, poety, acting, singing, or mixtapes. Definitely mixtapes. It is meant to put someone on a box, instead of in one. Here is one to Kurt Vonnegut.

This is what it sounds like:

1. Rain Machine - Give Blood
2. Surfer Blood- Swim to reach the end
3. Islands - Vapours
4. Karen O & The Kids - Rumpus
5. United State of Electronic - Open your eyes
6. Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension
7. Coco Rosie - Werewolf
8. RJD2 - All for You
9. Fool's Gold - Surprise Hotel
10. Codes in the Clouds - Fractures
11. Yeasayer - Ambling Amp
12. Kings of Convenience - Boat Behind
13. Kurt Vile - Blackberry Song
14. The Cave Singers - Hens of the Woods
15. Broken Social Scene - Hit the Wall

Cheers,

Merman