Monday is Memorial Day mix (Part 2)

This is the second installment of my Memorial Day mix, which will happen every, um, Memorial Day. Take a look back at last year’s mix here (sorry, the mp3s no longer work…can’t just leave them up forever!). We Knox Roadians hope you’re all having fantastic Memorial Day weekends. Last year I started off […]

In Case You Missed It: Week In Review

It’s reaaaaallly hard for me not to talk about the NBA finals here (go Celtics), but I think I filled my basketball quota a couple Week In Reviews ago. Meanwhile, I’m already talking about basketball. Sorry. Umm let’s see, what important stuff happened this week that would cause you to miss Knox Road? […]

Phenomenal Video Saturday: Scott Stapp wills the Marlins to WIN

Scott Stapp sits down on the plush chair in the corner of the living room — the one with the flowers — and takes a sip of his Monster energy drink. A few feet away, a microphone stand has just come to rest. Gobs of spittle drip from the microphone’s casing onto the carpet. […]

[MP3] Taken By Trees: "Anna (CFCF remix)"

I posted this song on our Tumblr earlier today (well, yesterday now) and it got a pretty great response, SO…I want to let you guys in on the fun. “Anna” was one of my favorite songs of 2009, and I know it was one of Jamie’s as well, as Taken By Trees’ East […]

[Abby's Road] Summertime, and the living is easy?

While I can appreciate the beauty of a jumpin’ fish and a nap on a warm day, I am not a fan of the summer months, in DC anyway. If you’ve ever experienced the sticky un-pleasantries of living as a skint undergraduate in a sweltering, almost windowless, 2nd floor row-house apartment with no AC, a place so hot that your lifeblood (read: ramen) has to be eaten in front of an oscillating fan at midnight in a getup consisting of underpants and maybe a sweatband, you know of the embarrassing hell I speak. Public transport of any kind, mid-July? No, thank you. Only because of my 2009 European holiday travel snarl due to the east coast Snowpocalypse did I have some (recent) complaints about winter weather. I quite enjoy the snow and the cold and the frosty breeze of autumn and early spring. Despite my respectable, adult comforts like central air conditioning nowadays, summer remains nothing more than a necessary evil; a fiery bridge I must drag my feet across from one season to another, more reasonable one.

It’s quite ironic then that I, without reluctance, have planned a road trip this Memorial Day weekend from DC (it was 90 degrees when I began writing this, mind you) to a show situated on a stage in the woods in Tallahassee, taking a pit stop breather, in of all places, Savannah, Georgia. I am risking life and limb on fabled swamp monsters and, more realistically, monster mosquitoes. And the heat? It is sure to be unspeakable. One of the few gifts that makes the summer bearable is the music I unearth and experience while in its molten grasp and, in my defense, this trip is music-driven. More anon.

As the stank of June, July and August envelops me, specific songs seem to crawl out of hibernation and worm their way into my head and heart for a short time; long enough to make me forget (a little) about the sweat stains forming on a blouse or the rat’s nest my smooth hair morphed into moments after stepping into the humidity. By the end of August/early September, after they’ve done their job, they fade out as quietly as they faded in. These are songs that, over time, have come to rescue me; pacify my bad summer attitude. I can’t say that I crave them at any other time, really. They aren’t literally about the summer months, but remind me of something that happened while they were once playing. In 2009, Melissa Block had a lovely series about summer songs. She asked a variety of people (interviewees, the listening public, celebs) about their ultimate summer song. I anxiously waited for her reports and marveled at the reasons behind why a specific song was someone’s favorite. Many of the contributors recalled a past summer’s day indelibly burned in their memory because of the music in the background. Just like me.

Continue reading [Abby’s Road] Summertime, and the living is easy?

[Notable Album Release] William Brittelle - Television Landscape

Totally obsessed; wholly impressed. NYC composer William Brittelle is releasing his sophomore effort, Television Landscape, on July 27 via New Amsterdam Records. Mixing autotune vocals with classical, jazz, and modern pop instrumentation, Brittelle is truly one-of-a-kind. Don’t try limiting his music or having any expectations of Television Landscape, because they’ll be trashed immediately. He thrives off […]

[MP3] Sweet Track: "Upon Joining The Army"

After reading the short blurb for Sweet Track, a highly unknown artist with a mere 52 plays scrobbled on last.fm, I was…confused:

Some where between the lost tapes of your youth and the controversy of chillwave fits Sweet Track, creating that irritatingly familiar yet new sound that’s made for basking in comfortable nostalgia […]

[MP3] Club 8: “Shape Up!”

Club 8, another in the long line of excellent Swede pop purveyors, just released one of my favorite tracks off their latest album, The People’s Record, for free download. (We’re so used to getting tracks before the album release nowadays that this technique seems archaic, but hey, why not?). It’s titled “Shape Up!” and […]

Spring Summer

I’ve had this one sitting around for a little while, but now that we’ve received 100 degree weather and cooling thunderstorms on back-to-back days I figured it was a good time to post about an artist named “Spring Summer”…don’t you agree? What can I say, I’m a man with a plan!

Spring Summer, […]

[MP3 + Video] Marina and the Diamonds covers 3OH3! and Katy Perry's "Starstrukk"

Stirring, raw piano rendition of the mega-popular song. Marina’s having a hard time doing much wrong in my book (plus her book – nice publicity stunt).

Do I need to write more here? Does it matter? Will you read my writing? How much can I describe a song, much less a cover, without getting […]