Harvest of Gold

This week it's all about the indie music, Baby. (Yes, I did just call you baby.) There's some rock and dance vibes plus a little bit of folk to keep it interesting. We talk about the 3 As: Avocados, Afterlife, and Alt-J.

October has been treating us well, wouldn't you agree? Although, it isn't over yet. This week, Jagwar Ma's Let Her Go gets a remix by Jagwar Yew. This Australian trio out of Sydney is already stirring up some waves from down under. Their new remix EP is out now. Check it out. (Here)

Kurt Vile also released a new song, Feel My Pain and it's available for free download. Download by clicking the link.

The new Los Campesinos! video for Avocado, Baby is here. The line: "I feel like I'm the host of a terrible game show" inspired the whole video, which is directed by Craig Roberts. (Watch)

Pitchfork did an interview with frontman, Gareth Campesinos!, and talked about the kind of music they'd turn to when faced with different circumstances for their feature called Situation Critical. Here's an excerpt: (Read)

Pitchfork: You're picking out songs for your own funeral...

Gareth: One song I definitely want played is “Three Lions”, which was England's official European Championship song in 1996 and the World Cup song in 1998. It’s properly euphoric and arguably my favorite ever song. I'd also want “Here” by Pavement, because it’s a really beautiful song and obviously very appropriate with its “everything’s ending here” coda. 

And I can’t do this interview and not talk about the Beautiful South, because they are like my Beatles. If it wasn’t for Morrissey, I think Beautiful South frontman Paul Heaton would have been Morrissey. I love the Smiths, don’t get me wrong, but I think he’s 10 times the lyricist that Morrissey is. But he’s never been attractive or played the game or been cool or dressed well or anything like that. The Beautiful South are what I’d bring my kids up on.  

There’s a track off their first album called “Love Is”, and toward the end it deals with how, when you’re in a band, people think they care about you but in reality you’re just somebody who writes songs and they don’t really care about you as a person. So it goes, “Here’s the invitation to this caring nation/ Twenty-five years from now, will you come to my cremation?” It’s an appropriate sentiment. It’d be a nice send off if I was lowered into the grave or thrown into the sea.

Read More.

Coachella: Step Up For The Cool Cats

April has crept upon us which means Coachella is right around the corner. Coachella has become one of the biggest festivals that draws in a huge crowd of people from all over the world. Tickets for the first weekend actually sold out in merely 15 minutes. That's crazy! But if you're one of the 80-85,000 (approx.) who will be attending, make sure you've got everything you're going to need prepared by now... if you're one of the overtly excited ones or maybe you just want to get things prepared early and be hassle-free the day itself. Hey, whatever floats your boat. It's important to have some essential things when you're going to music festivals. It's 3 days of live music under the sun, you're going to need a few things. Here are just a few that I feel the need for: comfortable shoes/booties, a hat, sunglasses, camera/s, and sunscreen. Last year, it actually rained on the first weekend and was extremely hot on the second weekend, so I guess it could go either way with the weather. But it looks like it's going to be a good one this summer. 

With over 170 performers in this year's line-up, it's hard to choose which bands you'll want to see. Here's the short list of who I'm excited to watch (via live stream). But be sure to check out up and coming bands as well like The Neighbourhood, Palma Violets, Divine Fits, Little Green Cars, Guards, DIIV, and many more. And check out the playlist I've made to get you pumped up for Coachella.

Coachella 2013 from leicamont on 8tracks Radio.

Thoughts on Coachella in a different post.

5 Bands You Should Be Listening To (La Blogotheque Edition)

La Blogotheque has been one of my favorite things in the world. It's a series of video sessions with musicians in unorthodox places. For almost 7 years, these Take Away Shows, Les Concerts à Emporter, have managed to have famous bands such as Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Phoenix, Bon Iver, etc. It's my favorite thing to watch these popular bands perform in the strangest places. Vampire Weekend played in a deserted backyard with their drummer banging on trash cans as his drums, Mumford & Sons serenaded a random Parisian outside her window, while Noah and the Whale got on a train and started playing their songs. I love it. I love it all.

Here are 5 bands you should be listening to in their Take Away Shows. Trust me, you'll like them and maybe fall in love with them like I have already.

1. The Lumineers

2. Alabama Shakes

3. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

4. Alt-J (∆)

5. Yeasayer 

Laneway Festival Singapore 2013 Pt. 2

KINGS OF CONVENIENCE

POLIÇA

OF MONSTERS AND MEN

More photos below of Kimbra, Gotye, and more.

Laneway Festival Singapore 2013

It's my first music festival and my spirits are soaring!

    I flew to Singapore along with two of my friends on the 25th of January, just a day before Laneway Festival. It was our first Laneway and we were extremely excited. We took the train to Marina Bay and when we stepped out of the station, it was scorching hot. The sun was literally burning us. We did not expect the heat to be that scalding. Mental note #1: Bikini tops should've been worn instead. There was a long line to enter the festival grounds but it didn't really take too long to get inside. When we eventually made our way in, Kings of Convenience was already on stage. There were already people settled down on their mats and enjoying the music. Mental note #2: Bring a mat/towel or something to lay on the grass for you to sit on (if you don't want to sit on the grass itself). Since the sun decided to stay out until 7pm, there's always a long queue for refreshments. This brings me to my mental note #3: Buy water outside of the festival because they only serve Fiji water which costs 5 SGD. Nobody should be paying that much for a 500ml bottle of water. But you're left paying for it anyway because the heat is dehydrating you quickly. Don't let the heat get to you, you'll miss all the fun. One thing we were right in doing was taking note of set times of bands we wanted to see, thus sort of scheduling when we'll eat and when we'll head to the crowd for a good view. Which reminds me, mental note #4: Once you're in a good spot, if someone's trying to squeeze in to get in front of you, don't play nice next time. You were there first. And lastly, mental note #5: Sing and dance like nobody's watching. 

    I had favorites that I was eager to watch which included Of Monsters and Men, Kimbra, Tame Impala, and Gotye. But I was really looking forward to seeing Alt-J (∆). They're my current band crush and to see them perform live would be absolutely amazing. 

    Photographs of the performances will be on the next blog post. 

Always ready with my Lomokino.

Our little spot at the shaded area by the curbside.

$40 for these bands shirts. No, thank you. Although I really wanted to buy Alt-J's shirt (not pictured above).

Listen to Money by The Drums.

   

How do I move on? (Thoughts After Laneway Festival and Big Night Out)

          It's been two days since I got back from Singapore a.k.a. my personal trip to indie music haven and I don't know how I could even move on from such a euphoric experience.

          From the moment I found out that Vampire Weekend are going to play at Fort Canning Park on January 30, without a shadow of a doubt, I said to myself that I am going to this concert. I've never felt so certain and so sure of anything. You have to know, Vampire Weekend is my favorite band, ever! I mean, I do love a lot of bands and artists but nothing else compares to my love for Vampire Weekend. I love their music. I love their sound. I love them as a band. And I love them individually. This band just means a lot to me. My blog's namesake is actually from one of their first songs. My point here is: I cannot for the life of me miss this concert.

          I don't know how but somehow, everything fell into place. I went with two of my friends to Singapore solely for the purpose of attending Laneway Festival 2013 and Big Night Out, which was the concert Vampire Weekend was going to play. It was just our luck that Laneway Festival was 4 days before the Vampire Weekend concert so we took advantage of it and decided to go to both. We flew on the 25th and left midnight of the 31st of January. In that span of six days, I've seen my favorite band play live, seen my current band crushes, and discovered amazing talents. I was on a high. I never thought I would actually be able to experience what I've been through in these past few days. I've always dreamt of going to music festivals and see great bands play live. To finally fulfill this longing is quite unbelievably wonderful. It's the best feeling ever. I remembering uttering, "I belong here. I love this scene!" What a cliche, I know. But 100% true. It was 12 hours of live music from 14 bands for Laneway Festival and 3 big bands for Big Night Out. It was so surreal. I'm glad nobody pinched me in case it was all but a dream.

          I can't stress enough about how incredible the trip was. I repeatedly said, "I'm so happy! I'm so happy!" and jumping up and down like a little girl whose been fed a ton of chocolates. I was elated. I was blissful. I was flying. At this point, I've reached my highest of highs. So how do I go on from being extremely ecstatic to an incredibly dull life the next day? Should I simply pretend that it was just a typical thing to do and really not that exciting as I make it to be when in reality, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me? Life's quite cruel sometimes. But I'm not complaining. I get life. Sometimes it's awesome. Sometimes it's difficult. But most of the time it's dull, repetitive, and mundane.

          Now that I'm back home, I'm still hungover and I feel like I will never recover. Is that bad or just completely childish? I have never been in a situation like this before and I'm stuck. Will this feeling go away in a couple of days? I guess sooner or later it will. But right now, I'm not ready to move on just yet. Let me sulk for a while because I know it will be quite a long time before something as marvelous as this comes along my way again.

Listen to Walcott by Vampire Weekend.

Breakfast and Music

A smoothie and a great album,  that's how everyone should start their days. It's a great combination and just puts you in a very pleasant vibe. And, you can never go wrong with The Beatles. I've been making a lot of these smoothies these past few days because 1) we have an abundance of fruits at my place, 2) they're easy to make, and 3) they taste really good. I just love these. They're absolutely amazing plus extremely healthy. Get on it!

Current band crush/es:

Alt-j and Alabama Shakes. Listen to them. You might like them too. Check out Alt-j's Matilda and Alabama Shakes' Hold On.

Listen to this playlist I've put together. Enjoy.