When he released it back at the end of September, we talked about Rostam Batmanglij’s “Wood,” claiming that it sounded like “…it could be a thrown away Vampire Weekend track…, with bubbling drums, sprightly strings, and a voice that sounds vaguely like Ezra Koenig’s.” Now the multi-instrumentalist has released a second single, this one entitled “Don’t Let It Get To You.” Not unlike his previous single – or the work of his main band – “Don’t Let It Get To You” is a marriage of influences, a litany of textures and sounds.
If these two tracks are headed toward something larger, I don’t know of it. Perhaps Rostam is just content to release free material on him own in between his other projects. And I think we’d all be fine with that if it were the case.
Vampire Weekend, in and of itself, seems to be a fairly hardworking entity. The band tours a fair bit, and is apparently working on a follow-up to 2009′s Grammy nominated Contra. And of the members of Vampire Weekend, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij seems to be the hardest working. He was/is half of the duo Discovery with Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot, he released that single last summer with Bethany Cosentino and Kid Cudi, and now he’s got a new single out, this one entitled “Wood.”
“Wood” clocks in at nearly 6 minutes, and it sounds like it could be a thrown away Vampire Weekend track at first, with bubbling drums, sprightly strings, and a voice that sounds vaguely like Ezra Koenig’s. It’s not, obviously, or else we’d be talking about the new Vampire Weekend track. Rostam himself didn’t provide much of an explanation on his Tumblr page. Just a sentence about a new song, and signing off. It doesn’t need much explanation. Like most of Vampire Weekend’s material, it doesn’t require in-depth listening. Just sit back and let it roll right over top of you.
Guards released one of the best EPs of 2010. (There’s that regret coming up again.) The self-titled, seven song EP was the perfect introduction to Richie James Follin’s hazy pop project; as a sort of follow up he just released a digital 7″ (which doesn’t make sense, we know) that consists of three covers. There’s “Taxi Cab” from Vampire Weekend, Metallica’s “Motorbreath” and a cover of M.I.A.’s “Born Free.” It’s impossible to say that Guards isn’t well-versed in a diverse musical spectrum.
The Metallica and Vampire Weekend covers are slower versions than the originals; the M.I.A. cover is the stand out of these three for me. It’s more in line with what I enjoyed about last year’s EP. Not that I needed it to be; I just think this one worked best.
Head over to Guards’ Bandcamp to grab the other two covers. If you’re on the East side of the Atlantic, Guards has some dates in the next couple of weeks. Make sure to check them out as well.
The second part of our look at our favorite albums of the past year takes us from 10 to 6, with the remaining albums tomorrow. We hope everyone is having an excellent week to this point.
The second album from this Austin, TX trio is a bombastic, smug shamble of an album, held together loosely with spit and scotch tape; it sounds like everything could fall apart at anytime, which sounded great to us. -A
Stepping past the haze and feedback that saturated their first album, San Diego’s Crocodiles proved that they were not, in fact, just another Wavves. Sleep Forever is well-rounded, displaying excellent songwriting and hooks while still retaining some of the noise that got them to this point. -A
To those who say The Suburbs wasn’t a great album, I ask this – what if it wasn’t Arcade Fire who gave it to us? In a year that started slow but ended fraught with excellent music, Arcade Fire deserve this top ten spot due to their typically excellent work. -D
Despite – or perhaps because of – the fact that Vampire Weekend has become one of the biggest indie bands around, with their music soundtracking myriad movies and commercials, it became lost that Contra is actually a pretty damn good album. -A
Perhaps we’re biased. Champ hasn’t shown up on a lot of year-end best-of lists, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. But we can’t be alone in thinking this was an immensely enjoyable and logical step-forward for a rather talented band that resides often within a genre that isn’t quite conducive to lauding. -D
It’s been a long time coming, really. This is our very first mix in all our long months of existence. We’ve talked about the vast majority of these tracks at one point or another here on the blog, but we’ve arranged them in such a way as to produce maximum listening pleasure. (That’s not a lie. I’ve had this on repeat for about 2 weeks now.) You can get each track individually if you want to, or there’s a convenient zip file at the bottom if you just want to get them all in one shot.
Leave some love if you’re feeling up to it. Leave some hatred for leaving off a good song. Just get outside with some cold beverages, good friends and this mix. Turn it up loud. Do some daydrinking. Enjoy the rest of the summer.
001: Joywave - Ridge/Traveling At The Speed Of Light 7"
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Upcoming Western NY Concerts
NOTE: Concerts are in Rochester unless otherwise noted.
1/5: Les Racquet
1/12: Joywave with Old Tapes, Dave & Marissa
1/13: The Dads
1/14: My Brightest Diamond
1/17: Josh Netsky Band with Cuddle Magic
1/18: Tycho (Buffalo)
1/26: Avicii
1/26: A$AP Rocky (Buffalo)
1/28: The Crystal Method (Syracuse)
2/11: Blind Pilot (Ithaca)
2/22: William Fitzsimmons
2/24: Mike Doughty
2/25: Charles Bradley (Buffalo)
2/29: Summer People
3/3: Matthew Good
3/5: Evening Man
3/23: The Men
3/30: tympanogram’s 3rd Birthday with Born Gold, Old Tapes, TBA
4/20: fun.
4/23: Cults (Buffalo)
5/6: Bear In Heaven (Ithaca)
5/7: M83 (Buffalo)
an examination used to test the condition of the middle ear and mobility of the eardrum, and the conduction bones by creating variations of air pressure in the ear canal.
Basically, it sounded like a cool name for a blog intended to be primarily about music. We’d both had other blogs previously, but over beers it was decided that more damage could be done as a joint venture. And here we are.
We share a passion for the undiscovered and under-appreciated, and hope that you’ll be able to find something you love as well.
Disclaimer
The music offered on this blog is for sampling purposes only. If you enjoy something you hear here, please go out and buy the music, see a show, or purchase some merchandise. Posted mp3s are available for a limited period of time only.
If there are any materials featured here that are your intellectual property, and you would prefer them removed, please notify us and we will be happy to oblige.
Contact Us
Do you have an artist or band you think we should hear? Please feel free to let us know and we'd be glad to give it a listen.
Submissions can be sent here, or email us for an address if you wish to send physical submissions.
Please note that we try our hardest to respond to all submissions, but we get a lot of requests, so we will get back to you as soon as we can.
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About the Author: Dave
I like music. I can't describe how I came to like the music I do, because I don't know how or why, I just do.
Many years ago, Napoleon's brother, my great-great-great-great-great-great Grandfather, came to America. He was asked his name on Ellis Island while being processed as an immigrant. Not understanding English, he was under the impression that he was being asked how he had arrived in the new land. So he turned around and pointed at the sea vessel and said, 'LaBarge.'
About the Author: Andy
I come by my music taste of my own free will. My friends listened to 2Pac, my parents to contemporary Christian and me? Sunny Day Real Estate. I can’t explain it.
“Music, true music, not just rock ’n’ roll, it chooses you. It lives in your car, or alone, listening to your headphones…” - Lester Bangs
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![mix cover [mp3/mix] Tympanogram Summer Mix: post spring](http://tympanogram.com/files/mix-cover.jpg "mix cover")
