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Midnight Faces — Feel This Way (via Tangzine)
Saxon Shore co-founder Matthew Warn (known as Matt Doty before he got married) has started a new band called Midnight Faces with Phil Stancil on vocals. Produced by Jason Martin (Starflyer 59, The Drums), their first full-length album, Fornication, will be out June 18.
For those of you used to Saxon Shore, Midnight Faces is decidedly different. While the lyrics may be brooding, the sound is definitely poppy in a good, catchy, easy to listen to kind of way. The Washington, D.C. based duo is booking tours for the U.S., Asia, and Europe.
“Feel This Way” comes from the Midnight Faces EP, which is available for download now.
In other news of Saxon Shore members and members-former, Soporus will be opening for Denison Witmer’s album release show at Johnny Brenda’s on April 27.
Philly Coffee Shop Ranked #1 in America
My favorite neighborhood coffee shop, Ultimo, was ranked #1 in America by TheDailyMeal.com. Now, I don’t know what kind of authority The Daily Meal is, but I’d say that’s pretty good. Hear that America? We have more than cheesesteaks, TastyKakes, and aggressive sports fans here — we have really good coffee served by really nice people in a really cozy spot. Ultimo, thanks for bringing some pride to South Philly. (Photo by aultimo via Flickr)
Like a Lion
We all know that we were lied to at points in our educations — it turns out that Christopher Columbus was a horrible human being (and a product of his time) and the functions of trigonometry will NEVER be useful outside a classroom — but there’s one that gets me, one that really makes me irrationally angry every year:
March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.
First of all, would it not have been easier just to teach us the month that we had to remember, the single word, “March,” than to make us chant this entire phrase?
Secondly, it’s not true! It’s just not true! Where was this phrase created? I grew up 75 miles east west of Philadelphia, the weather patterns are not that different. Why did I fall for it then? Why am I now annually disappointed and enraged? My poor little kindergarten brain won’t let it go.
March is a lion all the way through. It continues to be lion-y into April. It is not the April showers that will bring the May flowers that I am worried about, it is the persistent roaring lion-y wind that I cannot abide! Wind is not lamb-ish!
Perhaps there is a part of the country/world where this phrase (can it even be called a pneumonic device?) applies, but it is not true in the Northeast. Stop teaching it to young impressionable minds. Wind exists. Already living in an angry city, every March (and into April), this makes me shake my fist at the weather and my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Zeamer, whom I adored.
(Lion Cub and Lamb via The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose — I really like the Baby Fox and Baby Porcupine)
NPR First Listen: Kurt Vile, "Wakin on a Pretty Daze"
With sunshine and temperatures that make spring seem like a real possibility, Kurt Vile’s new album Wakin on a Pretty Daze provides a nice sonic backdrop for looking out the window at the green buds on trees and imagining being in a car that’s driving away toward warmth and something different, at least for a little while. Kurt Vile, Wakin on a Pretty Daze, via NPR First Listen
Amazing: Wee-You Things Blocks
Today is the kind of day that I’d be content to stack some blocks and make a world for them. These blocks are brilliant — so many characters to choose from. I think the bear is my favorite.
There are plenty of other ways to learn the alphabet, kiddos, and these will be way more fun for you parents/nannies/sitters.
Like a toddler would need convincing.
(via Swissmiss)
Amazing: frankie magazine
I know I mentioned some magazines recently, but lately this medium has become really interesting and inspiring to me. It might be even a little more fun because the good stuff is hard to get and most of them are bi-monthly or quarterly. It’s a nice change of pace: hunting, purposeful acquisition, anticipation, actual content.
This morning I learned about frankie, an Australian magazine full of pretty much everything I love — design, decorating, crafts, food, fashion, books & film, music. It is a bi-monthly publication that’s in its 52nd issue. Because it’s from around the world, it comes out in Philadelphia seven weeks after it hits the stands in Australia, so we’re pretty much always an issue behind, which somehow endears it to me even more. More excitement. If that really bothers you, they offer digital subscriptions too.
It is sold in one place — one place! — in Philadelphia, which happens to be one block from my office. Guess where I went during my lunch break. And I asked for a bag, so I can keep it looking nice. Maybe I will save it for my trip to Phoenix in a week…
Issue 51 , the one available in the U.S. now (it came out there in December, soon we’ll have their February edition as they put out the next one in April), features Molly Ringwald and Twiggy.
Find frankie near you!
Amazing: These Exist — Ira Glass Pillow
via nprfreshair:
Pillowfaces for all public radio hosts!
The Terry Gross pillow would not look that different:
(via Saratoga News)
But how many other public radio faces would you actually recognize?
Based on their pictures, I want a Carl Kassel pillow.
The Voices of National Public Radio — What Do They Look Like?
Also amusing, Buzzfeed’s How You Think NPR Reporters Look vs. How They Actually Do
Amazing: Dioramas
DiploD and I were at the Mummer’s Museum over the weekend for the beginnings of a birthday party.
While there are many amazing and bizarre elements to gawk at, I became the most excited and mildly obsessed with the dioramas. These tiny Mummers I can get into. Perhaps a new hobby? Maybe not Mummers, per se, but other tiny scenes that commemorate something… Dinoramas?
It seems like it would oddly soothing.
NPR First Listen: Telekinesis, "Dormarion"
Here is my dilemma: It’s a cold, snowy day. Quiet, relaxing, bordering on sad is the mood I am most attracted to today. But since starting the new Telekinesis album, Dormarion, I’ve not been able to turn it off, though it is mostly happy, poppy, fun, and sunny warm-weather-y. And super catchy, especially “Power Lines” and “Wires” — coincidence? — “Ever True,”and the surfy-feeling “Lean on Me.” Despite the overall poppy danceability of the album, with 12 songs in 35 minutes Dormarion manages to hit a few other pleasing notes. The third track, “Ghosts and Creatures,” combines the snowy feeling with some energy and I can see myself listening to that on repeat. “Symphony” hits the sad/longing sound I was looking for, while “Island #4” has the emotion and drama to become an anthem. Also: repeat. Some of the cuts between songs/ordering of tracks seem a bit startling/abrupt, but the songs themselves are really hitting it for me. “You Take it Slowly” is a good ending, summing up the range of the album and also leaving you with a mantra/reminder. I feel a little less old (10pm bedtime) for listening to it and I’m betting that Dormarion’s songs will be included in lots of playlists this year. There’s so much to choose from on just one album.
