Ellie Goulding has released a great album. I’m surprised she hasn’t taken off as much in the U.S. as she has in the U.K. Here’s a video of her performing “Starry Eyed” at Glastonbury over the weekend.
Mates Of State are back! I was just having a conversation with someone yesterday about loving songs with lots of handclaps. Here’s a perfect example of that.
Netherfriends are a great band from Chicago. Their older material was pretty reminiscent of Animal Collective, but they’ve obviously expanded from that. Here’s a new video for “Bret Easton Ellis Novel.”
I’ve been a huge fan of Francis And The Lights for a few years now. His new album is fantastic, and he even produced a song on the new Drake album. The most unique things about him were when he had a blog that was just ever single monetary transaction he made and the daily videos of him practicing piano for hours at in the middle of the night. Though he doesn’t do either of those anymore, the music is still fantastic.
The first time I ever saw Crystal Castles was in the summer of 2007, aka the best summer of my life. It was one of the most abrasive, in-your-face performances I had ever seen. When their debut album was coming out about a year later, I wasn’t sure how it would stand up to their live show. The energy translated pretty well and the duo delivered a great album. But their newest album is even better with the addition of gems like “Celestica.” Sure to be near the top of every publication’s “Albums Of The Year” lists.
Ever since watching 500 Days Of Summer, I’ve wanted to get myself some chalkboard walls. Puma apparently had the same idea and created this chalk ping pong table. Yes please.