Tasseomancy put together a mix for FWBA and that’s exciting for a lot of reasons. Mainly, because they are the first ladies to contribute to the series, and because their mix is fantastic. I’ve been listening to it all morning. I really want to keep the series going this year, it gives me the opportunity to put all these National Geographic scans to good use!

The ladies included tracks from Carly Simon and Kate Bush among others – it seemed to reflect their aesthetic perfectly: otherworldy, synth pop beats, and earthy folk harmonies. If you haven’t yet – pick up their album Ulalume on vinyl and purchase a candle set while you’re at it. Grab the mix at the link below.

Tracklist

01. Mrs. Jumbo – Baby of Mine
02. Lesley Duncan – Love Song
03. Moondog – Bird’s Lament
04. Robbie Basho – Blue Crystal Fire 05. Forest – Graveyard
06. Kate Bush – Suspended in Gaffa
07. Klaus Nomi – Lightning Strikes
08. Carly Simon – Why
09. Antena – Achilles
10. Selda Bagcan – Yaz Gazeteci Yaz
11. Enya – Storms in Africa
12. Philip Glass & Uakti – Metamorphosis
13. Popol Vuh – Kyrie

Download link:

TASSEO MIX

Tags: Tasseomancy, The Mixtape Series

My friend Derrick is quickly becoming my definitive guide to good music/sweet stuff online. He’s like my human Pitchfork. Another great video from Ms Sharon Van Etten for i-D online. So I’m wondering why they call it i-N? Anyway, this song is fantastic, can’t wait for Tramp, is it February 7th yet?

Tags: Sharon Van Etten

Air Drops is an electronic producer whose EP has been floating around for some time. I finally got around to listening it, and it’s amazing. There’s not too much information on him out there- except that he’s from Lancaster. His EP is a worthy grab- and it’s a dollar. Listen to Champion’s Chariot and you’ll know what I mean.

Tags: Air Drops

I got an email from Day Joy – a band from Orlando that explained to me that they’d been featured by a lot of PORTALS contributors, so I was pretty psyched to check them out. One of the members of Day Joy also plays in that awesome band Saskatchewan. Members Peter and Michael formed the project simply by writing songs on their porch, and recording in the living room. The result is fantastic – layered, lush vocals and music that sonically aligns closest with bands like Beach House. You can download their EP here for free.

Day Joy – New Ordinary

update- unreleased track “bone and bloodied”
Bone and bloodied by dayjoymusic

Tags: Day Joy

I used to love the Minneapolis pop act One For the Team, so naturally I’ve been digging these new tracks from Ian Anderson of one of the best blogs out there: Minneapolis Fucking Rocks and Afternoon Records. His latest project Dream Brother gleans from that catchy twinkly-pop sound of One for the Team, but with vocals that sound a  little more like Pepper Rabbit. He has released two tracks featuring John Vanderslice and Paul Sprangers (Free Energy). You can definitely hear that feel-good beach sound from Haunted Heart, thanks to Sprangers eternal summer vibes, whereas Pretty Eyes is more jangly rock & roll/handclaps. Although there is a decent amount of sunshine, mentioned. Listen to Pretty Eyes below and grab both tracks right over here. 

Dream Brother – Pretty Eyes (ft. John Vanderslice)

Tags: Dream Brother

I occassionally post about music and music-related stuff over at Booooooom, and the other day I wrote about the magnificent Diane Cluck and her Song a Week Project. She has until January 30th to reach her goal. Read my piece right over here and listen to the track below.

Tags: Diane Cluck

Delta Spirit have announced their Spring tour dates in support of their upcoming self-titled album due March 13th. They’re doing things a little differently, because you can buy your tickets directly from them and if you do so, you’ll receive a free mp3 to download off their new record. Cutting out the middle man! I love it. I’ve known these guys for a few years now, and my good friend Taylor tours with them so it’s a major bummer they won’t be coming up this way anytime soon. Maybe I’ll make it out to that Minneapolis date.

Can’t wait to hear the new collection of songs, their last two records defined my California experience in a deep way. Songs like “Strange Vine” and “Ransom Man” have embedded themselves into so many of my memories – specifically – driving in Alex’s car because Ode to Sunshine is the only CD he apparently has. It’s probably still in his CD player. Check out someone’s grandpa review the new record above.

Tour Dates

3/19 – Revolution Music Room – Little Rock, AR [Buy Tickets]
3/20 – The Old Rock House – St. Louis, MO [Buy Tickets]
3/21 – Fine Line Music Cafe – Minneapolis, MN [Buy Tickets]
3/22 – Turner Hall – Milwaukee, WI [Buy Tickets]
3/23 – The Metro – Chicago, IL [Buy Tickets]
3/24 – Radio Radio – Indianapolis, IN [Buy Tickets]
3/26 – Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH [Buy Tickets]
3/27 – Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA [Buy Tickets]
3/29 – Webster Hall – New York, NY [Buy Tickets]
3/30 – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA [Buy Tickets]
3/31 – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC [Buy Tickets]
4/02 – Jefferson Theater – Charlottesville, VA [Buy Tickets]
4/03 – Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC [Buy Tickets]
4/04 – The Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC [Buy Tickets]
4/06 – Cannery Ballroom – Nashville, TN [Buy Tickets]
4/07 – Masquerade – Atlanta, GA [Buy Tickets]
4/09 – WorkPlay Theatre – Birmingham, AL [Buy Tickets]
4/10 – One Eyed Jacks – New Orleans, LA [Buy Tickets]
4/12 – Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX [Buy Tickets]
4/13 – Emo’s East – Austin, TX [Buy Tickets]
4/14 – Granada Theatre – Dallas, TX [Buy Tickets]
4/30 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT [Buy Tickets]
5/01 – Fox Theatre – Boulder, CO [Buy Tickets]
5/02 – Neurolux – Boise, ID [Buy Tickets]
5/04 – Neumo’s – Seattle, WA [Buy Tickets]
5/05 – Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR [Buy Tickets]
5/06 – Electric Owl – Vancouver, BC [Buy Tickets]
5/10 – The Fillmore (San Francisco) – San Francisco, CA [Buy Tickets]
5/11 – The Music Box – Hollywood, CA [Buy Tickets]

Tags: Delta Spirit

Young Man is the Yellow Ostrich story- right? A young guy that posts Youtube covers of indie songs then starts putting out original songs and they’re really really good. But I suppose he’s on Frenchkiss so he’s already all set, and with that – promises to put out two LPs over the next 18 months. Can you tell that I’m totally behind on the Young Man thing? He must’ve slipped under my radar this year but I’m just listening to Ideas of Distance and I’m blown away.

I just read an interview with him in Nylon magazine and he described the album as, “ about being in love and how that state is challenged by distance and getting to the transitional point in one’s adult life when decisions about the future must be made, often in relation to another person.” His multitrack harmonies have a youthful spirit to them, I meant it when I said he reminded me of Yellow Ostrich, or even Youth Lagoon. This is bedroom pop at it’s finest.

Young Man – Nothing

Tags: Young Man

Today is the day! And man.. have I been excited to share the news with you all. You might’ve noticed posts on various blogs about PORTALS, well me and 15 other music bloggers have been working steadily for the last three months or so for the launch of this new music experiment. We wanted to create something collaborative, and totally DIY (or rather do-it-together). I think the list of contributors speaks for itself but we all share a common thread: we all love music and we’ve all devoted our lives in some capacity, to sharing it with others. This blog will transcend the usual, hey- check out this sweet mp3! to city-wide showcases, unique collaborations and just an overall community vibe. I’m really honored to be apart of the group of blogs included and I’m just really stoked to see where 2012 will take us.

Click below to take you to our first collective mixtape featuring exclusive tracks from our favorite artists – I chose Jessica Jalbert (naturally).

Tracklist

Short Circles – Dreams & Situation
MedicineHat – Immigration
Ra Cailum – I Long For You
Alligator Indian – Afternoon Abattoir
Lands & Peoples – HUMS
Teen Suicide – Don’t Like Me
You Won’t – Fryer
Jessica Jalbert – No Car
Flashing Red Lights – Brutal Little Things
Yalls – Sayfixed
LUST – Room Sixteen
Caves – 310
PARENTZ – Fly
Kwala – Forest bellows
Shlohmo – Ghosts Pt. 2 (Thrupence Remix)
Beat Culture – Complete Me

List of Blogs:

AWD Castles / East to West / Magic Teepee / Speaker Snacks / Cactus Mouth / Flashlight Tag / Pasta Primavera / Unholy Rhythms / Cool Things I Find / Decoder / Verb/Re/Verb / Dead As Digital / Life Aquatic / Smoke Dont Smoke / Zen Tapes / Friends With Both Arms

Reach us at info@portalsmusic.com

WEBSITE // TWITTER // FACEBOOK 

Tags: Portals

The Shins released a new track entitled Simple Song off their upcoming album Port of Marrow. It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from The Shins, so that’s why this song almost sounds nostalgic to me. Port of Marrow is out March 20th.

Tags: The Shins