Mutemath - Changes

Stay where you like
They won't care
You pay for the right
But what is there?
When every place in the world
Is all built up
Every space in the herd
Is all filled up

So yesterday Kerri covered one of our favorites, TøP, and although she didn't pick the song I would have ("Ode To Sleep" FTW) she did a great job. With one teensy, weensy, oversight: she missed the great collaboration that dropped the night before. TøP teamed up with their tour-mates Mutemath to reimagine some of their hits. It's wonderful and you can read more about it here. It also sounds like they had a great time on tour. If you've never seen TøP or Mutemath, do yourself a big favor and do it, they're both amazing live. Seriously, I can't really think of two better live acts.

I've been a fan of Mutemath from the beginning, and have listened to them grow and change over the years. They've covered a lot of musical ground and have done it with style, talent and a unique polish that works like steel thread that ties it all together. They're latest work has swung towards the electronic and groovy, but still sounds like Mutemath, as is clearly evident in today's MIS "Changes".

RIYL: Joywave, Minus The Bear, Pinback, Colony House, Manchester Orchestra

Upcoming Shows

Nick Murphy - Stop Me

Keep waking up in the night
When my ears turn red
I heard some shit that I said
You're probably trying to be nice
I'm not cold, I just been through way worse times

I'm not dreaming now
I'm in control
You can't bring me down

You can't stop me, I made it this far
Alright
I can't help it
Got things I need to do
Before I wait on you, oh

Nick Murphy is a conceptual singer-songwriter with an electronic twist. Formerly recording/releasing as Chet Faker, the Australian decided to move forward with his given name instead. Fittingly, the video for his 2014 hit "Talk is Cheap" showed the metaphoric life and death of the artist. "Stop Me" is the first single for the upcoming album by Murphy, and has a double-length version to the one included here, which he says is the yang to the first half's ying. I chose the radio-length version instead, since I often don't have patience for an 8 minute track, but it's really beautiful if you want to go ahead and add it to your personal playlist.  

RIYL:  Glass Animals, alt-J, Jagwar Ma, Flume, Bastille

Upcoming Shows

The Faint - Young & Realistic

Your lows were low, I was familiar
Bulgarian choirs in your head
The clouds were black but not forever
You'll wake up better like I said
Remember how it was when we first met
It was impossible to know what you were thinking
Every other girl, afraid of the world
Second-guessing every movement that they're making

You're not the type to go looking for flaws
You don't have to skewer somebody's passion
Competitive cats can fight cats
While you're in a deep conversation

I'm a big fan of The Faint's work, but, sadly I guess, they've been mostly slipping past my radar for years. I've given their last few albums a cursory listen, and I've seen them a couple times. Which is always a blast. But I felt they've never been able to capture the fun, late 80's awesomeness they had with Blank Wave Arcade, Danse Macabre and, maybe a bit less so, Wet From Birth.

Still, feeling nostalgic, I checked out their retrospective album Capsule:1999-2016 for fun. And look what I found! I a couple new songs that DO, very much so, capture that sound. First up, our Most Important today. "Young & Realistic" is Danse Macabre The Faint, striking a great balance between song and dance. It's got all the bells and whistles; a lilting bassline, pew-pew synths, robo vocals, dark wave breakdowns, etc. Red Flag would be proud to have released this one. 

BONUS TRACK

Then there is "Skylab1979" that hits on a more straightforward industrial sound, that might not quite ring as true as "Young & Realistic" but makes for a fun throwback, for sure.

Upcoming Shows