You Should Be Wilder, You're No Fun At All

I have been crushing on A Fine Frenzy lately. While Jasmine is the music guru 'round these parts, sometimes I get down with it. And the new A Fine Frenzy Album is delicious. Jasmine and I agreed that with her, you either love the song or you hate it. Most of her other albums I've found one or two gems, but hated the rest of the album. Her sound can be that of a Disney princess in a saccharine movie, but most of her new record A Bomb In A Birdcage is light without being sappy and playful without being fake. I just can't get enough.

Here are a few of my favorite tracks:

Fol Chen: Cable TV

Hello Inspiration DC fans, it's Jasmine and I am all set to carry on the IDC legacy while Rebecca is recovering (good, healing vibes are coming your way, Rebecca!).

As you can tell from Rebecca' pics below, we are all snowed in here in DC. This cold and snow can be beautiful, but I am a summer girl through and through, so I've been spending my time mentally being somewhere else. Somewhere warm, with bright colors. And maybe dancing in empty pools. Yeah, that would be nice.

This video is from a group called Fol Chen, on the Asthmatic Kitty label (which was started by Sufjan Stevens, whose name is a little more recognizable). I'm not a huge fan of their other stuff, but this video is really enjoyable.

I really like the stop-motion (or maybe they just took out every other frame, who knows), but I especially appreciate the blue skies and palm trees in the video. I realize that they are singing about going inside and watching TV, which I have been doing plenty of lately, but I prefer to imagine being outside and maybe listening to this song in my car with the windows rolled down. Much nicer, right?

Sondre Lerche: Heartbeat Radio

Its Friday morning. Its about to get real snowy up in here. I'm ready for the week to end. All I can think to do is play Sondre Lerche's Heartbeat Radio over and over again until my boss lets me go home.

Camera Obscura: French Navy

Camera Obscura's video French Navy makes me want to travel around Europe and fall in love. I actually lived 3 blocks from Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, which they show a brief clip of in the music video. The shots of Paris, Barcelona, and Rome bring me back to my study abroad days of running around Europe without a care in the world.

French Music

This week I've been working from home as I recover. And one thing that I love listening to while I work is french music. One of my friends seemed very surprised by this. But to me it makes perfect sense. Unfortunately I do not speak french, so I'm not distracted by the words. They are just like pretty sounds to me. And I just love the mood it creates. This creative fabulous french cafe type mood straight out of a movie. At least thats what I pretend as I listen to it.

One of my favorite french artists (actually she was born in Italy but minor detail) is Carla Bruni. I loved her before she married Nicholas Sarkozy and before she was made popular on the soundtrack of 500 Days of Summer. But that is neither here or there. Her music is just so light and romantic. I especially love the video below and will now imagine whimsical drawings as I walk around my own city.

Another french artist that I love listening to is Charles Trenet. He is like a french Frank Sinatra/Bing Crosby. The big band sounds combined with his rich voice. It just sounds like such beautiful poetry out of a classic movie that I do not understand.





There are a bunch more french artists I listen to, but the last one I'll share is Amelie-les-crayons. I just love the accordion sounds. It feels like I could be walking along the Seine eating a croissant and wearing stripes. I'm cliche I know.

Lisa Mitchell: Clean White Love

I love this video.  This video makes me want to get bangs, wear leggings and red rain boots and write lots of love letters.

Dawn Landes and the WST Band: Young Folks

I mentioned the remix Dawn Landes and the WST Band did on the Peter Bjorn and John song Young Folks yesterday and figured I might as well share. The video isn't really anything much, but I love the spin they put on the song. Especially the strings, I'm a sucker for the strings. I once took cello lessons my senior year of college just to learn the strings. Yeah I know, I was real cool dragging that cello across campus every week. But thats a story for another day. Just enjoy the folksy bluegrass remix of an already amazing song.

Dawn Landes: Straight Lines

I first heard the song Straight Lines by Dawn Landes on a Chrysler Commercial a few days ago.  Yes thats right, we got rid of the DVR and I'm back to watching commercials.  Though maybe its a good thing because I googled the commercial right away and found this song and then this video.  I love the dreamy 60's feel it has and the chill relaxed sound is perfect for these rainy days.  

Also Dawn Landes does a folksy remix of the Peter Bjorn  and John song Young Folks.  I've always loved the song Young folks so this is a fun new version.

Phoenix: Lisztomania

Phoenix is a band I've always been on the fence about.  Sometimes while listening to their songs I wait for the climax to hit......and it never does.  Though I guess that is the beauty of Phoenix too.  It takes me a few listens to get into a Phoenix song for sure.  My friend Katie sent me this video though and I thought it was fun.  Especially the first thirty seconds with the lead in beat and balloon.  Hope this gets you going on a slow Monday morning.

Zee Avi: Bitter Heart

I fell in love with Zee Avi last Christmas with her song No Christmas For Me.  But when I couldn't find anymore songs I honestly forgot about her.  Which is why I was so glad when one of my friends asked me if I had heard of her before.  And what do you know she has an album on iTunes now.  So happy I got a friendly reminder about Zee because her voice is so smooth and beautiful.  In my opinion, she's a little bit Norah, a smidge Madeline, and a touch Billie.  

I'm usually a cautious music buyer, purchasing a couple songs and testing them out for a few days before completing my album.  But with this one I bit the bullet and bought the whole darn thing.  And it was worth every penny.

Eric Hutchinson - OK It's Alright With Me

I know I'm a typography nerd when I fall in love with a music video because of the use of text.  But it also doesn't hurt that I already loved the song.  

As a side note another aspect I really enjoy about the video is that it is very simple and in black and white.  So many music videos these days have all the bells and whistles and I appreciate something that goes the route of a little more subtler.



{thanks Katie!}

The Fabric of Zooey's Life

These days with DVR I hardly ever catch any commercials. But this weekend when I was watching Project Runway, a commercial with Zooey Deschanel caught my eye and I had to stop and watch. I'm glad I did because this cotton commercial with Zooey singing the theme song is just too sweet. And I applaud them for making a commercial worthy of me stopping my DVR for, which is very rare.

Coldplay's Strawberry Swing

Last summer Coldplay's Strawberry Swing was one of my favorite songs.  Now they just released this playful animated music video for the song.  I really like the animation with the chalk drawings, but I'm torn as to whether it fits the song.  Watch it here and decide for yourself.

Phoenix: Rome

I love it when people make their own video mixes to favorite songs.  This is a great one using Phoenix's song Rome with hipster black and white photography.

{Thanks Katie!}

Fanfarlo

With a slow starting Monday I give you this fun video by Fanfarlo, a british indie pop band.

Matt and Kim - Daylight

As of lately I've been obsessed with Matt and Kim and have been jamming to their catchy tune Daylight over and over again.  But I had not checked out their music videos until my friend Katie emailed them to me for my blog.  It seriously makes me love them even more.  Hopefully this gets your Tuesday morning off to a good start.  Thanks Katie!!  Also as a side note if you want to see them in DC they are playing at the Black Cat September 16th.  So get your tickets for ten bucks now.

Arlington: The Rap

So I know We Love DC and DCist have already featured this video.  But because this video is about my old hood (before I moved into the city) and is hilariously funny/true I have to share.

{via We Love DC}

For a sluggish Monday Morning

It is a gross sluggish Monday morning and I'm having a hard time getting going.  This helps with the Monday blues.

Converse Commercial

I've always loved this Converse commercial and this past week I was lucky enough to hear the design firm Psyop who created this spot speak at my conference.  It was really interesting to hear their creative process behind their work.  

They started out having to play off the original print campaign of using the theme of connectivity.  The goal was to give it a very clean simple look, almost like it would be something you could create yourself.  Even though its much much harder than it really deceivingly looks.  And of course they wanted to maintain the rock-star icon look Converse has made for themselves.  I think they did an amazing job with the constraints they had and it makes me want to rock my converses all day long.

Rainy Monday

Turner gave me the Shiny Toy Guns album this weekend and I have to say this is one of my favorite tracks.  The song is pretty fitting today as more showers are expected on this rainy Monday.  The video is a little weird for my tastes but enjoy the song!