THIS IS RAD + A FRIDAY ROUND UP +

UK Metal band GONGA + Portishead's Beth Gibbons = AMAZING. Throw in the fact that this is a cover of a Black Sabbath song set to a video made up of clips from a '60s horror movie called Black Sabbath, and we truly have a winner here, folks.

I haven't listened to much Chairlift, but I'm really liking this song and video by Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek. The track is off of her upcoming solo debut as Ramona Lisa, called Arcadia. You can stream the album here.

Two of my favorite things in the whole world (food and books) have come together in this new book, Fictitious Dishes: An Album of Literature's Most Memorable Meals, by graphic designer Dinah Fried. I especially love the images from The Bell Jar (above) and The Catcher in the Rye. Learn more about the book by heading to an interview that Fried recently did on NPR.

CHARMING NOISE | MORE NEW MUSIC NEWS

I don't seem to be inspired to write about much other than new music lately. Luckily the music Gods have been kind to us so far this year.

   

I love this Pee-Wee's Playhouse-inspired video from Tune-Yards, who are going to be at (the recently announced) Austin City Limits Music Festival this year! I saw her at Fun Fun Fun Fest a few years ago, and she was great. She's definitely one of the most unique sounds in music right now.

I posted a preview last week of a clip of a new song from Robyn and Röyksopp, and there are now two full songs being streamed on Pop On and On. It's all the electronic-dancey goodness that I wanted it to be.

As previously mentioned, the Austin City Limits Music Festival lineup was announced yesterday! Upon first look, it was a bit of a letdown. I mean, I don't care about Eminem, I just don't, and while I like Outkast, there's no way that I would ever deal with that crowd to see them. But the further down that I got on the list, the better I felt. The Replacements, Spoon, Interpol, Chvrches, St. Vincent, Phantogram, Jenny Lewis, Real Estate, Tune-Yards, Jagwar Ma, Mac Demarco, and Poliça. Not too shabby at all. Plus, smaller bands mean smaller crowds. Always a plus at a ridiculously hot and crowded festival. Much excitement. 

CHARMING NOISE | NEW TUNES

This new clip from the upcoming Robyn and Röyksopp collaboration (how had I not even heard about this?!) is an electronic-dance dream.

 

Don't hate me for being totally into this Lana Del Rey song. Yes, I am one of those indie-music fans who can't help but liking Lana Del Rey. I fully acknowledge that she is a pop culture construct, but whoever is writing her music/managing her career is on top of it. Plus, I think Lana is a lot cleverer than people give her credit for. She is famous for a reason people.

THIS IS RAD + A FRIDAY ROUND UP +

A beautiful lookbook from Elizabeth Suzann.

A new Sharon Van Etten video!

CHARMING NOISE | SXSW 2014 (PT. 3)

Here's the final batch of bands that I hope to see this week at SXSW 2014. I'll let you know who I catch in a post next week!

Sure, I've seen Kurt Vile before, but why would that stop me from fighting crowds to see him again?

This video is weird weird weird, and there's a good chance that that creature will haunt your dreams for many nights to come, but the band is so good that I can't help but keep watching.

CHARMING NOISE | SXSW 2014 (PT. 2)

Here are a few more bands that I hope to be seeing this week during this year's SXSW festival.

The beautiful R&B stylings of Kelela.

I don't really know how to describe Forest Swords, other than that they're weird in the best possible way.

CHARMING NOISE | SXSW 2014 (PT. 1)

Since I'm going to be busy for the next week doing a combination of: 1. enjoying warmer weather, 2. eating a lot of food, and 3. seeing free shows, I thought that I would create a few days worth of posts featuring artists I'm excited to see at SXSW 2014. The chances of me seeing all of them are very slim, but we all need aspirations, right? Here are the first few bands. I'll be back next week with some inevitably mediocre photos taken of the festivities on my iPhone.

No Joy is a fantastic shoegaze-y, psych-y bands of very cool ladies.

EMA is supposed to be kind of a badass live.

I can't get enough of Angel Olsen's 60s psych folk sound.

CHARMING NOISE | GRAB BAG

I'm not going to lie, this is kind of a half-assed post. Half-assed in that I didn't put a lot of effort into it, but not in the way that I genuinely really like everything that I'm posting. This week has been busy so far. I'm in the final steps of interviewing for a job that I'd really like to get and I'm getting ready to head to Austin on Sunday for SXSW 2014 and some sunshine (I swear to god if there is ice on the ground or highs below the 60s, I will lose it). Anyhow, here's a grab bag of musicy goodness. If you're lucky I just might even manage to do a post about who I'd like to see at SXSW this year. Maybe.

Wild Beasts' made an oddly captivating music video.

The first single off of the upcoming Sharon Van Etten record!

Been liking what I've heard off of the new Real Estate album.

How can you not love this video?

GOOD THINGS | NO. 1

// SOME GOOD THINGS FROM AROUND THE INTERNET //

1. Apparently there was something called the Youtube Awards, and bands created music videos live at it. Cool. Spike Jonze shot a video for Arcade Fire's "Afterlife" off of their new album AND it involved Greta Gerwig dancing. How many great things can you pile into one video before my head will explode?

2. I realize that I am super late to the game on this (I'm not as obsessive a blog reader as I was a few years ago) but I finally stumbled upon the truly fantastic blog Note to Self. I may have read through the whole blog in a couple of days...

3. So this weekend, while watching too much TV, we found a special on Nat Geo called "The Secret Life of Dogs." It was so fascinating. Seriously, I could bore you for hours with all of the cool things that I learned, like the fact that dogs might be able to smell cancer. Smell freaking cancer. Mind blown. I love dogs. 

4. I'm sorry to break it to you, but I am 100% one of those awful annoying people who officially gets excited for the holidays as soon as November hits. Feel free to hate me. But first let me tell you how much I love hot chocolate (via Cupcakes and Cashmere), peppermint flavored things, wreaths, holiday movies...

5. My favorite track off of the Chvrches album now has a weird, dark futuristic video. Watch it.