Every Friday, Fred Hystere sends a note to fans of the site and streams 10 of his favorite songs…aaaaaand then he takes off his pants on camera and makes up a dance to each song.

27 May 2011

Hello everyone and welcome to The Fredhead Weekend 10: Summer Kickoff Edition!

This time of the year is historically my favorite and it always begins with the beginning of The French Open in Paris. My other huge passion (other than music) is tennis and my favorite city in the world is Paris. Put the two together and you not only have my favorite two weeks in the calendar, but you also have memories of probably the best vacation I’ve ever been on.

Eight or so years ago I went to visit a few close friends that were staying in Paris for the summer and ended up also getting a chance to go to The French Open with my friend Kelly. I still have to pinch myself every time I think back to how lucky I was to have been able to have 2 weeks as perfect as those were. ::le sigh::

The other reason I love this time of the year is because is marks the official beginning of summer! To that end, I’ve decided to pick 10 random songs from the past and present that evoke images of laying on the hot sand at the beach. Ahhhhhh..heaven.

I attempted to tell a story with the songs, just as I try to do every week. Between waking up with a sunny tune from The Cardigans to cruising to the beach with the top down blasting Natalie Imbruglia to turning up the romance with Moloko and sipping on a martini with Supreme Beings Of Leisure, this mix has it all and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Unfortunately, SoundCloud wouldn’t let me upload every song, so I’ve had to stream some of them directly on the site. But I urge you to buy the songs you don’t have, slap em on your iPod and enjoy the 1^st weekend of summer as much as I know I’m going to!

I’m going to take next week off, so there will be no new posts. But have a great week and I will see you all again on the 6th!

Nakedly Yours,

Fred Hystere

 

1. The Cardigans “Carnival”

 

2. Cut Copy “Far Away”

 

3. Foster The People “Helena Beat”

 

4. Graffiti 6 “Lay Me Down”

 

5. Natalie Imbruglia “Lukas”

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6. Alex Winston “Sweet James”

 

7. Feist “Inside and Out”

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8. Moloko “The Only Ones”

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9. Supreme Beings Of Leisure “Catch Me”

 

10. The Mummers “March Of The Dawn”

Elizabeth Warren is an attorney and law professor who was on reportedly on President Obama’s short list of possible nominees to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens about a year ago. In the wake of the country’s financial meltdown a couple of years ago, Warren became very vocal about the need for a consumer protection agency and last fall was actually named by President Obama as Special Advisor for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (aka someone HATED by many Republicans).

A couple of days ago, Warren was called in to testify before a House Oversight subcommittee that was nicknamed “Who’s Watching The Watchmen?” during which Republicans REPEATEDLY got several facts about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wrong. But the  easily got the Black Star of the day easily went to Rep Patrick McHenry (R-NC) for repeatedly calling Warren a liar; 1^st about her testimony in a previous hearing, and then again after Warren objected being made to stay past the 2:15pm previously agreed upon end of the hearing.

MCHENRY: “I’m not trying to cause you problems, Ms. Warren.”

WARREN: “You are causing problems. We had an agreement for a later hearing. Your staff asked us to move around so that we had to change everything on my schedule to try to accommodate your time … We agreed that I would be out of here at 2:15 because there are other things now scheduled at 2:30.”

MCHENRY: “That was a request.”

WARREN: “Congressman, you told us one thing..”

MCHENRY: “I did not tell you anything! You’re making this up, Ms. Warren. This is not the case.”

They were then both interrupted by Eli Cummings, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, who said: “You just accused the lady of lying. I think you need to clear this up with your staff.”

Now, (as if I need to explain why a Republican would treat Elizabeth Warren like garbage) what could McHenry possibly have against the Consumer Protection Bureau?  OHHHHHHH! RIGHT! McHenry took $5,500 from Countrywide’s Political Action Committee, and served in an investigation into CEO payout fraud, of which one of the target companies was..wait for it…COUNTRYWIDE!

I have absolutely no patience for lack of manners above and beyond everything else. Watch McHenry not display any, below.

 

ANR are my Artist of The Day and, considering this is like my 10^th time writing about them on the site, I think it’s about time you began to fucking pay attention to how amazing these guys are, capiche?

As I’ve said before, ANR are a duo from Miami comprised of friends John Hancock and Brian Robertson, who create music that every band they’ve been compared to (Passion Pit, MGMT) should be jealous of. Their debut album, Stay Kids, was released a couple of months ago and it’s a totally sick tour de force of genre-hopping originality. To back up that fact, I just checked, and the only album I’ve listened to more in 2011 is Acrylics’ debut; so that should give you an idea of how well the album wears with repeated listens.

Every song of ANR’s is different than the last and they do a seriously impressive job of seamlessly integrating everything from electronic music to chillwave (I’m really getting sick of that term) to indie rock and even a little Motown into the mix.

My favorite song on Stay Kids is called A Year Of Solitude Pays Off and I’ve convinced myself it’s the perfect anthem for my decidedly abrupt hiatus from having a social life in order to build on my love of writing about music on Fred Hystere. (Yes, I’m aware that I’m taking the title too literally..). No music video has been made for that song yet, BUT…….ANR just released a cute video for the title track off Stay Kids. Take a look at it below.

(PS: Thanks to the always-amazing Beth at the always-amazing Danger Village for giving me the head’s up on the new video!)

*ANR’s debut album, Stay Kids, is out now on 10K Islands.

 

ANR “Stay Kids”

ANR “Stay Kids” Music Video from Jorge Rubiera on Vimeo.

The Hotness is your daily look at 3 new songs that are amazing, essential, and are sure to make you horny. Ok, the last part isn’t necessarily true. But if you don’t like at least one of these three songs, you need to check 1) Your testosterone levels 2) Your estrogen levels 3) Your hearing.

Flashlights are phallicly-shaped battery-operated lights that help you find things in the dark. Oh and they’re also the latest signing to one of Fred Hystere’s favorite record labels, Binary Entertainment. From what I’ve heard, Flashlights’ music seems to go down the chillwave path and throws some synthy beats into the mix. Their latest single is called Holidays and it reminds me a lot of one of another one of my favorite LA-area artists, Let Em Riot. Oh, wait. I just noticed that the band is from Denver, CO and I’m too lazy to delete the last sentence and re-write it. Sorry. Anyway, the real star here is the songwriting. Band members Ethan Converse and Sam Martin’s music is PERFECTLY described as “deliciously sweet glo-fi basement party jams.” How fucking rad is the term GLO-FI?! I love it and I love the music these guys make. I picture their latest single, Holidays, in the background while smoking weed and making out with a hot guy that I just had an amazing conversation with at a party. (Heteros, feel free replace the word ‘guy’ with ‘girl’, obviously). Too bad 1) I don’t smoke weed and 2) rarely have amazing conversations with gay men. ::le sigh:: ANYWAY..get into Flashlights! They rock my shit and will rock yours, too. Check out Holiday, below.

*Flashlights’ debut EP, Hidden Trees, is out 6 June on Binary Entertainment.

http://www.facebook.com/FLASHLIGHTSBAND

 

Flashlights “Holidays”

 

Saskatchewan are an Orlando, FL-based group comprised of Chandler Strang, Michael Serrin, Samuel Semchuck, Josh Orellano & Geramy Layug. It’s great to hear lots of awesome bands coming out of Florida because…ummm.…Ok, I really have no follow-up to that last statement. Anyway.. Usually I HATE using other people’s words to describe a band’s music, but I really like what these guys say about their debut single, Dreamboat, calling it “perfect for that anticipatory drive to the beach, or to accompany those drinks by the pool.” I couldn’t agree more. Dreamboat is THE sound of summer and, with its chugging beat, gorgeous harmonies and infectious chorus, sounds like a Pete Yorn-Fountains of Wayne-Beach Boys orgy. (And, seriously, who doesn’t want to see Pete Yorn naked? Yum). Saskatchewan have been nice enough to offer their eargasmic slice of summer to all of us for F-R-E-E!  And you all know my rule: In exchange for receiving free music, please say thanks to the band by sharing the song on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, your vagina and/or penis.

*Saskatchewan’s debut single, Dreamboat, is available to download for free via the band’s page on BandCamp. (Or by clicking the arrow on the SoundClould player below)

http://ssktchwn.tumblr.com/

 

Saskatchewan “Dreamboat”

 

Vetiver are a San Francisco-based folk-pop band lead by Andy Cabic and also consisting of Otto “Big Baby” Hauser, Daniel Hindman, Bob Parins and Sarah Versprille. I’ve been a fan of Vetiver’s for a few years now and, while they’ve always made gorgeous music, for some reason their latest single, Can’t You Tell, has really spoken to me. The song flows beautifully and wouldn’t be out of place in late 60/early 70s San Francisco. All sorts of images come to mind while listening to Can’t You Tell, but for some reason I keep going back to the idea of being in a small park on a sunny summer day; throwing a tennis ball to the other side of the park and racing my oldest pup Mia to the ball. (Btw, we’ve never done that). Vetiver’s music will give you similar warm thoughts of escaping the craziness of NYC for the laid-back crisp air of the Pacific Northwest. (I think I’m turning in a fucking hippie.) Listen to “Can’t You Tell” below.

*Vetiver’s 4^th album, The Errant Charm, is out 14 June on Sub Pop Records.

http://vetiverse.com/

 

Vetiver “Can’t You Tell”