Molly Nilsson - The Travels

I met Molly Nilsson in San Francisco in 2011 after she played a show at El Rio during her first US tour. Like many people, I had originally heard of her as "that artist that John Maus covered on his popular song "">Hey Moon" (it turns out that he didn't even really cover the song...she sent him an mp3 of the song and he just sang his vocals over it). After doing a little YouTube search for her name I was pleasantly surprised to find that she's released a treasure trove of incredibly well written songs and music videos.

In October of last year Molly invited me to go on tour with her in California and I gladly accepted. I became her de facto "chauffeur, merch guy, and stand-in tour manager." I'd never done anything like this before mind you, but it somehow worked out perfectly. While driving through the hot sloping hillsides of the California Grapevine, Molly played for me a tropical yet darkly tinted gem called Philadelphia from her then-upcoming album, which you can listen to below.

Molly Nilsson - "Philadelphia"

Molly writes all her own songs, plays all her own instruments, started her own record label, releases and promotes her own albums, does all her own tour management and often tours by herself...she somehow does everything. And friendship aside, I think she literally might be the most under-appreciated songwriter alive today. But nevermind that...I have a feeling she prefers it that way.

Her brand new album "The Travels" is out now via Dark Skies Association and can be purchased here.



Baby your love is bigger than a football field
I'm the hooligan of your heart
Sometimes we win but sometimes we lose our dreams
But i always wear the colours of your team

I hope you die by my side
The two of us at the exact same time
I hope we die long from now
The two of us at the exact same time

The Knife - New Unreleased Song

For those who aren't already counting down the days, Swedish electronic music duo and brilliant media mockers The Knife are prepping to release a new album on April 9. It's called "Shaking the Habitual", is over 100 minutes long, is their first since 2006's highly regarded "Silent Shout". I've heard snippets of all the songs and though there seems to be some pretty bizarre shit on there, there are also at least a couple more accessible electro-pop gems on there. The song I'm posting below titled "A Tooth for an Eye" just leaked and is one of those gems. I'm obsessed with hit. Listened to it on repeat yesterday for an hour straight while driving around the city. It will probably get taken down by Google pretty soon so check it out while you can:

The Knife - A Tooth for an Eye

Mice Parade

This is my first blog post in over two years. Life has been a real roller coaster the last couple years but I will spare you the details for now. After all, this is a blog about music and movies, not my public diary. But in a nutshell, I stopped blogging because I got wrapped up in "other stuff", Google started taking down my songs, and also because I am not Tavi Gevinson and blogging simply doesn't pay my bills. But over time I realized there's something cathartic about writing and sharing things I like with others, so maybe there will be more to come.

I first met Adam Pierce - the New York based percussionist/multi instrumentalist of the band Mice Parade - about 8 years ago after they played a show at The Black Cat in Washington DC. I was obsessed with the band at the time, and after the show I convinced my girlfriend at the time to come over and meet him. I was extremely intoxicated, and took it upon myself to write down my myspace music link for him and basically told him that we should "play music together sometime." I think he was insulted by my gesture to play music with an amateur like me, and though it's probably one of the dumbest things I've ever done, I remember him being kind of a prick about it.

It turns out that Mice Parade has a long history of dickishness (search "mice parade" in the interview link), but as long as they're making good music then I don't care how they act. I hadn't listened to the band for years, but after Pfork recently trashed their new album, I decided to give it a listen and was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I think it may be one of the most underrated albums I've heard in a long time. Have a listen to one of the standout tracks "The Chill House":

Mice Parade - "The Chill House"

Contact me or leave a note if you want me to post the entire album.



PS - check out this short Vice documentary about this crazy guy that injects snake venom daily and looks half his age: