Song of the Week

Matt Pond is not very cool.  Which makes him sort of cool.  Something like that.  He is apparently too well-adjusted, too suburban, too straightforward guitar-pop to be recognized by the powers that be.  But like many longtime listeners, The D Man enjoys his music anyway.  It's the kind of music that fills in the cracks of your listening habits; throw it on and find immediate comfort no matter the setting.  For example, I have listened to Pond at the gym for a decade.  That makes no intuitive sense.  But Pond's voice, his feel for a nice little hook and melody, sure does.

Check out the lyric video for "Love to Get Used" from his new release, The Lives Inside the Lines in Your Hands.

(More Than) Five Things

(Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine)

A flurry of releases and track leaks necessitate much deserved links.  In the event you have missed some highlights, The D Man is here to point you in the right direction.  Enjoy.

• My Bloody Valentine actually released their second album.  The D Man is still processing his first few listens.  Check out album tracks here.
• David Bowie's new album will hit shelves--and the interweb--this spring.  "Where Are We Now" evokes the icon's wistfulness for his time in Berlin--and his apprehension for his time in the here-and-now.
• James Blake's "Retrograde" is an excellent track from his forthcoming album.
• Foxygen has a great band name in the tradition of Japandroids.  Check out the L.A. classic-twee outfit's latest singles here and here.
• The D Man has really been digging tracks from CHVRCHES and Haim.
• Postal Service released a new track that will be featured on the deluxe reissue of Give Up.
• Youth Lagoon leaked another track from Wondrous Bughouse.
• You do realize that Jim James dropped a solo album, right?  And Johnny Marr, too?
• Ducktails.  Woo-hoo-hoo.
• Bat for Lashes has a new video for "Lilies."  Wild Nothing for "Only Heather."

Song of the Week

Is this guitar heaven?  Well, it's a new Kurt Vile track, so pretty much.  "Wakin On A Pretty Day" is blissed-out guitar magic, another effortless yarn in his unspooling vibe.  It is always exciting when you listen to a track for the first time and instantly know that it will be one of the best tracks of the year.  I could wake up to these guitars for the next month.  The follow-up to Vile's excellent Smoke Ring for My Halo hits the shelves on April 8th.  Vile told Spin that Wakin On A Pretty Daze sounds like Fleetwood Mac's Tusk.  "It's totally our Tusk, but no cheese,  Just rock.  You turn it on and it sounds like me.  But the guitar playing is better and the ideas are new.  It's classic, it's epic, with many more solos."

Grammy Redux

(Frank Ocean at the Grammys)

Enjoy the D Man's Grammy redux.  Nothing eloquent here, just my real-time, off-the-cuff remarks as the show progresses.

• Taylor Swift opens the show with a Mad Hatter-themed performance of "We Are Never Getting Back Together."  It is okay.  I like Swift.  But after watching another night of wannabe epic performances, The D Man is still waiting for anything remotely as interesting as Radiohead's tag-team with the USC marching band in 2009.
• Ed Sheeran is still blowing up.  He was electric when we saw him open for Snow Patrol and had no idea who he was.  Though "The A Team" is a pleasant song, it doesn't help having Sir Elton John at the piano.  He sounds bloated and way past his prime.
• Fun wins an award.  I suppose their singles are decent enough on first listen, but they already seem disposable, so last week.  Not sure how you can throw their entire album on and enjoy it more than once.  (Note: my five-year old enjoys "We Are Young," which seems about right).
• Mrs. D Man on John Mayer: "He has such a giant head and face."  I opt out of my funny comeback regarding his current girlfriend Katy Perry.
• Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley.  Kind of boring.  Did you know Lambert is married to Blake Shelton?  Well, you should know that.
• Miguel is smooth.  He sings his smash R&B hit "Adorn" and sounds pristine. And even skinny Wiz Kalifa's little rap breakdown is fitting.  Nice moment.
• Carrie Underwood wins an award for a completely underwhelming song.  But she is still pretty and classy, so that's something.
• Johnny Depp looks even more like Keith Richard now.
• So Mumford & Sons play their banjos fast.  Sorry, but they just feel like posers.  Though their stuff is decent and middling, their fans act like they have brought something new to the table.  It feels gameplanned by the suits.  Go listen to Whiskeytown.  The Avett Brothers.  Something.
• Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z.  Their performance of "Suit & Tie" confirmed (again) that they are real superstars.
• Chris Brown recently sucker punched Frank Ocean in a studio parking lot.  But Ocean beats him up in the new "Best Urban Contemporary Album" category, whatever that is.
• The Black Keys win a Grammy for "Lonely Boy."  A real rock'n'roll band still selling some records.  Good for them.
• Maroon 5 performs with Alicia Keys.  Do any real men actually buy their records?
• Kelly Clarkson wins for "Stronger."  Didn't that song come out five years ago?  She gives one of the better acceptance speeches, though.  Funny and sincere.
• Rihanna strips down her performance in the hopes she has one of those, "hey, did you see her stripped down performance" moments?  She looks pretty in a black dress with bright red lipstick.  Sometimes that will have to be enough.  Because you know she is back with Chris Brown, right?  Pretty much the biggest douche on the planet.  The fact that she is rolling with him tells you something about her spectacular lack of judgment.
• "No Church in the Wild" wins a Grammy.  Mrs. D Man says: "You can pick Jay-Z's voice out of a lineup."  I'm pretty sure she doesn't mean that as a dig.
• Kelly Clarkson can really sing.  I always say that about people that I don't listen to, but that clearly have some vocal prowess.
• The Bob Marley tribute is mostly fun.  The D Man is not going to lie, it pained me to see Sting shilling on a Bruno Mars song with the genius lyric "your sex takes me to paradise."  But we get to hear "Walking on the Moon" and one of the best bass lines of all time.  So it's a wash. 
• Jack White plays "Love Interruption" and "Freedom at 21."  He still shreds.  He is still cool.
• We skipped right through Hunter Hayes.  God bless the DVR.
• Text from Rizzo: "Prince is a lower case god."  He doesn't hurt this image by employing a needless walking cane during his walk to the microphone.  When Gotye wins "Record of the Year" for "Someone that I Used to Know," he is blinded by Prince's presence and can't stop thanking him.  Prince just makes people do that sort of thing.
• "Take Five."  Nice nod to Dave Brubeck.
• The Levon Helm tribute is great.  "The Weight."  T-Bone Burnett, Zac Brown, Mavis Staples, Brittany Howard, Sir Elton.  Much deserved.
• Frank Ocean leaves the nation scratching their head with his rendition of "Forrest Gump."  Though the visuals are entertaining, the song choice is perplexing.  Channel Orange is an instant classic, you have a chance to introduce yourself to the world, and you choose to sing the 11th best track on your "Best Urban Contemporary Record?"  Methinks he outsmarted himself on this one.
• Of the five albums nominated for "Album of the Year," the worst one wins.  Mumford & Sons' Babel.  The D Man could have lived with Frank Ocean, The Black Keys, or Jack White.  Oh well, you can't expect the The Suburbs scenario every year, or even every decade for that matter.
• Strange ending to the show.  Chuck D (sans Flava Flav) rocks out to a generic rap with LL Cool J.  They throw in a couple nods to MCA, but the Grammys miss a big chance to honor the Beastie Boy the right way.
• Going to bed.

Song of the Week

Frightened Rabbit, that venerable Scottish indie-rock band that always sounds like a Scottish indie-rock band, have just released their fourth studio album stateside.  Pedestrian Verse finds the band feeling generous and expansive.  Having consistently penned some excellent songs--see "Head Rolls Off" and "Swim Until You Can't See Land"--the band's albums are well worth exploring.  Before running off to do that, check out the video for "The Woodpile," where frontman Scott Hutchison walks into a local incident.