NPR is streaming the new Beach House album, Bloom. It’s fantastic and moody, which Beach House is so good at.

I found out about Tame Impala recently while listening to KCRW – yes, on the radio. How old fashioned of me. I’m into their psychedelic feel and their Beatles-esque vocals. They describe themselves as “psychedelic hypno-groove melodic rock music”, which is awesome. They just completed a new album that I can’t wait to hear.

I’m working on a new mix but haven’t had the time to finish it yet, so in the meantime here are some songs I’m loving lately by awesome ladies:

A new song from Fiona Apple, Every Single Night, from her upcoming album. At first I was thrown off by how different she sounds, but then quickly fell in love and listened to it over and over and over and over… My alarm is set to buy tickets to her July show tomorrow!

An ass kicking Record Store Day release from St. Vincent, Krokodil. Also released on the same 7″ is another great new song, Grot. I’m into this more agressive direction, for sure.

I came across Emily and The Woods on Spotify as someone who sounds like The Staves, and I’m in love with her quiet, pretty songs and her thick English accent that comes through.

I’ve been meaning to post this for a few weeks now, but Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear/The Department of Eagles has a new solo EP, Silent Hour/Golden Mile and my only complaint is that I wish it was at least twice as long because it’s just so incredibly beautiful. I love this man and everything he does. My favorite song is above, Up On High. When the strings come in it’s just perfection. Hear the whole album on Spotify, and watch a beautiful live performance below for Pitchfork Weekly in a church.

Jessica introduced me to Other Lives this week, and of course they played at Coachella but I had no idea who they were at the time. They’re incredible and actually sound a bit like Lost In The Trees to me, but with completely different Thom Yorke-like (albiet a touch deeper) lead vocals. Tamer Animals is a fantastic album that I’ve had on repeat.

I’m going to sign off of this mediocre at best blogging week because tomorrow we head off to Coachella. The most common response to me telling friends that we’re going is “YOU guys are going?” Yes. We hate crowds, blazing sun, drunk people, people in general honestly, and spending ridiculous amounts of money on an experience, but I do love music more than most things in life and it seems like something you have to do at least once when you live in LA. Though I’m nervous that I’ll be annoyed beyond belief, going through the set times that were just released and figuring out who we’ll see has me so pumped up. I’m going to OD on good music. Here’s who I’m excited to see, below. We probably won’t see them all, but hopefully many of them.

The Black Angels

Neon Indian

Mazzy Star

M83

Feist

Radiohead

Andrew Bird

tUnE-yArDs

St Vincent (who were both most excited to see!)

The Head and The Heart (playing at the same time as tUnE-yArDs, arrrggg)

Beirut (playing at the same time as the only show Will cares about all weekend, Company Flow. Bummer, they put on such a good show.)

Gotye (I only like half of the new album, but I figure he probably puts on a good show)

First Aid Kit (most excited about #2)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Much like I collect beautiful songs, a close companion to that collection is beautiful harmonies. A lot of things influenced that, namely being in choir for many years, but the biggest influence is my mother. My mom may have not passed down to me much traditional motherly-like knowledge, but I’m most grateful for the fact that she gave me the gift of song. I have vivid memories of sitting next to her in the car as a kid listening to her quickly find the harmony to any song you could ever think of. She passed that obsession onto me and I am such a sucker for a song with beautiful layers of voices – even if it’s outside of my usual genres. Digging through my music and collecting a few new favorites, I put together a collection of great harmonies to share – most on the slow, folk side, a plucking guitar theme running through most of them. Definitely let me know if there’s anyone out there I need to check out who would fit on my list.

1. Buffalo Mountain Man
2. Mexico The Staves*
3. a swallow song mimi & richard fariña
4. Funeral Beat Peggy Sue
5. Burn That Broken Bed Iron and Wine | Calexico
6. In the Morning First Aid Kit
7. Kingdom Come The Civil Wars
8. Undertow Warpaint
9. Casimir Pulaski Day Sufjan Stevens
10. Gold Interference
11. Someone You’d Admire Fleet Foxes
12. Worried Mind Blues Ida
13. Love That Conquers The Swell Season
14. Bleecker Street Simon & Garfunkel
15. Plans (Grizzly Bear cover) Band of Horses
16. 24-25 Kings Of Convenience
17. Tomorrow Tomorrow Elliott Smith
18. Guinnevere Crosby, Stills & Nash

Harmony from shespeaksoceans on 8tracks.

Last Thursday I was on Spotify going down a rabbit hole of listening to bands I like and then checking out the related artists, which is my favorite way to find bands I’ve never heard before lately. This lead me to discover Lost In The Trees, which I loved instantly. I found their website and it just so happened they were playing that very night at the Echo, so I got Jessica on board to get tickets with me. A totally impulsive plan, which I’m not usually in the habit of these days, but an awesome decision. It was one of those shows where I stood with my mouth ajar in awe the whole time, the kind of show where everyone else in the room disappears and you’re kind of hovering with the music. They are so powerful on stage, so many instruments and energy. They’ve got a touch of Andrew Bird and Sufjan Stevens and some other magic that’s all their own.  They’re touring with Poor Moon, a new band with two Fleet Foxes members that also put on an excellent show, so definitely check it out if the tour is coming your way!

Spotify links for the two bands if you want to listen before you buy: Lost In The Trees, Poor Moon.

On such a ladies kick the past few months, is it just me or are we having kind of a ’90s girl rock/folk revival? Or maybe it’s just that I am? Resisting my annual urge to learn to play the guitar again. On repeat, a little late on hearing some of these:

The new Grimes album, Visions, is amazing, and even better is the new video for Oblivion. So many dance parties in my living room this weekend thanks to it. I love the juxtaposition of the documentary-style shots of her dancing around real people at events and the super-slick strobe light shots in the locker room. I’m fairly certain that Claire and I would have been besties in high school.

Ever since Andrea shared a Frankie Rose song on her blog, I’ve been obsessively listening to their new album, Interstellar – at least three times a day. You can listen to the album on Spotify, but you should definitely buy it, guys. It’s so good.