Winter is the New Summer Site and Podcast

So the pretty lil event site Winter is the New Summer that Devin and I have been working on has officially launched in full! Whoo! Let's have a 750ml salute to that! We did a soft launch in October, then last week we introduced the poster concept and from this week on until the end of winter we will have a different member of the Portland scene acting as a Poster Boy or Poster Girl, holding up our event picks of the week, this week being Rocky formerly of the Hush and currently of Wampire and Union Jacks. Scroll around on the page and you'll find hidden easter eggs like exclusive podcasts, youtube clips of bad jokes, brand new MP3s from Portland bands and a host more of goodies. Outside of the site, we will be offering free clothes check weekly at certain parties so that you can safely strip off all your layers and party in your summertime clothes all winter long! Shall be a fun winter! Or shall I say summer? Anyways, we update the site every Wednesday. I made a podcast for this week which you can find below. 

Tracklist:

"Stillness Is the Move" - Dirty Projectors

"What You Say is What You Are" - Bobby Birdman

"Party in the USA" - Miley Cyrus

"My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix)" - Feist

"40 Day Dream" - Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros

"Tik Tok (P Diddy)" - Ke$ha

"Electric Feel" - MGMT

"1901" - Phoenix

"You're a Jerk" - New Boyz

"Swing Tree" - Discovery

"Boy Toy" Starfucker/Pyramiddd

"Heartbeats" - The Knife

"Best I Ever Had" - Drake

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" - Joy Division

"Milk and Honey" - The Red River

"Tiny Dancer" - Elton John

Download Winter is the New Summer Podcast MP3

"Stillness Is the Move" - Dirty Projectors

Everyone's going apeshit over Solange's cover of Dirty Projectors' "Stillness is the Move," which made me happy for the reason that it brought the original song back to the forefront of mind. I woke up many a day to the sound of this track blasting from the record player this summer which I have to say is a pretty pleasant way to wake no matter the volume. 

I was first introduced to the track a little before the album dropped, Erik of Hot Victory, Guidance Counselor and my most beloved late night food cart Potato Champion gleefully exclaimed how they went all Mariah on the track and then promptly pumped it from the fry cart's stereo. This was before the cart had to let go of their proper outdoor sound system due to neighbor complaints. Ahhh, summer and open windows...

Anyways, I must add my favorite Solange offering has to be her debut single with rapper N.O.R.E. I recommend perusing it on Youtube. Also, check her twitter. I am still a mighty vocal opponent of joining twitter, but damn I do love her tweets which often concern tours, her son and things aimed at the names we all know like A-Trak, KidSister and Jeremy Scott.

"What You Say is What You Are" - Bobby Birdman

I first heard this Bobby Birdman track when he played Rotture this summer and it was easy to so instantly sing along with which I loved loved loved. The same amore is extended to the lyrics as well. Late int he summer I stopped by E*Rock's to pick up a cord for my lights that I'd left after doing a shoot with him a few weeks prior. Eric was busy assembling New Moods CDs for press mail-outs, so I snagged myself a copy then and have been spinning it ever since.

"Party in the USA" - Miley Cyrus

When I saw this was number 1 on itunes back on the first of September, I knew I must check it out. Miley's pretty hit or miss. Ranging from the fantastic "See You Again" (so good Health and I geeked out about it in the interview I did with them for Pitchfork) to the 'good, but not my thing' "The Climb." This. This is cheesy. This is perfection. PERFECTION! She is able to hit every demographic in the course of three minutes and 23 seconds. By mentioning Jay-Z she (or rather the song's producer Dr. Luke) checks the rap/hip-hop box align with her faux-rap deliver that check the adult contemporary box by sounding quite a bit like Barenaked Ladies. Seriously, just relisten to their song "Pinch Me." She retains a country twang in her voice (especially on the stilettos line) and the song is just pure pop. Even the bridge makes me salivate (and that's where a lot of pop songs can lose me).

"40 Day Dream" - Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros

Thank you Marisa for giving me a ride home. Thank you for playing this fabulous song along the way. My mom is convinced that if you combine three songs on the Beatles' White Album, you will get this song. She says she's going to prove it. My breath isn't bated, it's lost -- from dancing and singing along to this beautiful, sassy ballad. They're coming to Portland on December 9th at the Doug Fir. I have grand visions of draping them in a blanket, sprinkling them with confetti that will never wash out and decorating the immediate area with white felt haphazardly-sewn cloud pillows. For a photo. Not just because. I swear.

"My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix)" - Feist

Classic. So good. Track number 2 - "Falcon Jab" on Ratatat's LP3 reminds me a bit of it.

"Tik Tok (P Diddy)" - Ke$ha

You know what they say, while the cat's away, the mice will play. While Uffie is off having her baby, the door has been opened for Kesha to take the stage, half rapping trashy lyrics (that are a little bit more skanktified than typical Top 40, but not as "Rated-X" as Uffie goes) with pretty much the exact same delivery method as the Parisian dweller. But you know what, I don't think it's only Uffie becoming a mama that set the stage for Kesha to steal her thunder on a more mainstream level, no, I think it's that much delayed Uffie Lp that still hasn't seen the light of day, despite initially being slated for release in 2007. And if anyone's gonna be raking in the dough, I'd prefer it to be the original instead of the rip-off. Come back Lil' Uff, come back. God to think - when Uffie next does it will actually, literally be a come back. I mean that's the only way to truly classify it since she has gone away on maternity leave. Who would've thought back in 2006 that Uffie would be primed for a comeback? That a situation would present itself that you would be mentioning [read: typing] "Uffie" and "comeback" in the same sentence?

Without Flo Rida, Ke$ha wouldn't be primed for launch. Can someone give Uffie a hook la M.I.A. on "Swagger Like Us?" Say, for that comeback. Gah! M.I.A. and Uffie both mamas. My head is exploding. Let's us move on…

"Electric Feel" - MGMT

I resisted for so long. So long! But I finally gave into the ways of MGMT. Our relationship first began on itunes, precisely them being a free single. Then evolved to me deleting "Time to Pretend," skipping them when they played Holocene with Yeasayer and skipping them at the Playboy party during SXSW 2008. But then a little concert by the likes Cut Off Your Hands at the Doug Fir was saved!, SAVED! I tell you by the sound guy playing this song overhead and forcing me to finally give into MGMT irresistible pop ways.

"1901" - Phoenix

Thank you for coming back Phoenix. I've missed you since catching at the Wonder all those years ago in 2006. Sincerely. Thank you for coming back with an album that has soundtracked many a fun thing. Riding around in a van with US Royalty in New York this summer, my 24th birthday this year. I just saw the car commercial last night that uses them. Congrats on getting some licensing money! The album is so good that I'm having a dance party on Monday Dcember 14th, the night you skip Portland that consists of us just playing your album from start to finish. It's at the Green House. You're welcome to come, everyone is. Then you're free to go to your Seattle show on the 15th. I might.

"You're a Jerk" - New Boyz

I have a theory. New Boyz and Portland band Congratulations are engaged in a lyric battle over who can be more repetitive. Take a listen to this track and then try to find anyone of theirs. Can you here the competition?

Anyways, this song i not complete with out the dance moves. Sporting perhaps the weakest lyrics since Soulja Boy's "Crank Dat," comes yet another single prettily packaged with it's own craze inspiring dance. Do you know how to jerk? Do the reject? The dip? The UFO? I highly recommend watching the "Teach Me How to Jerk" instructional video on Youtube. I also recommend skipping ahead to 6:11 and seeing a five year named Christ Twice do the dance, if only for his name alone.

"Swing Tree" - Discovery

The sum of two parts is greater than those parts alone, especially in the case of Discovery. I don't particularly care for Vampire Weekend nor Ra Ra Riot, from which the lads of Discovery hail from, but hey, I gave into MGMT, anything is possible.

On a cursed road-trip from Seattle to Portland with Chona for MFNW this year, this came on from an i-pod. Really good. A couple of people had told me it was a sucky side-project. I would have to disagree, at least in the case of this song. It is soooo good! Not all that complex, but so many layers that would sway you into thinking it is. It's a victory in pop for a song to be both simple and complex, not to mention infection and this synthy jam is all of those things.

"Boy Toy" Starfucker/Pyramiddd

Oh Starfucker! I mean Pyramiddd! Do I have to call you that?

You can feel the blood pumping, the air pumping through those lungs that are so beautifully sang about within this ditty. I wish this would become a playas anthem. Like get sampled in some hit rap song - the part "just love for the game." I can almost here "I'm not a player I just crush a lot" following it. Will someone make that mashup? Then orchestrate a video that would include Josh dressed up with gold chains around his neck? And maybe a blue flag hanging out his backside, but only on his left side, yeah that's his Cripps side…

"Heartbeats" - The Knife

This song will never cease to bring me joy. That is all. Actually, I remember playing it at a houseshow last summer on request of one of the bands (Princeton from LA) and the drummer from another band on the bill promptly came and harassed me for playing such a dated song. It's damn good Andy Parker, no matter the date. Now that's all.

"Best I Ever Had" - Drake

Devin likes rap. A lot. He likes Drake. A lot. First jewel case CD he's bought in quite some time and I'm oh so happy about that purchase because it enabled my introduction to Drake. A week after first hearing this song I was perusing the Billboard Hot 100 charts and was amazed that an artist by the name of Drake had managed to snag four spots in the top 20 and without me even knowing who they are as that much of a chart coup would signify a cultural phenomenon. Where had I been to miss such a thing? (Well in the woods teaching science for 7 week straight, but…) And then I thought back. "I know this person!" and all was restored to well-being in the world. Yes, it was that big of an event.

And to add, I'm so glad I got the unfiltered introduction, rather than first hearing it by way of the clean radio version. The word "fucking" in the chorus is kinda what make the song worth it.

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" - Joy Division

Whenever I hear Joy Division or New Order my mind travels back to the days of yore i.e. this past summer. So dumb, so epic, so summer. Pretty much every night we'd hop the fence at Creston and do a bit of night swimming. Not just us, but lots of other groups too. On any given night there could be four different groups of people that had descended on that pool for revelry, bringing along booze and pool toys. Turn on the water slide (which you could and at 3am you found yourself in a very packed, very surreal moment. Well pretty much every Wednesday the cops would bust it. Like clockwork. And one night we pulled up to find Alley (next week's poster holder for Winter is the New Summer) and friends dancing atop her car to "Temptation" by New Order (MP3), without a care for the houses they were parked next too. We mage it to the pool, over the fence and got a bottle of champagne champagne (so nice, you have to say it twice) cracked before two officers joined into our mix.

So sonic. So nostalgic. So essential.

"Milk and Honey" - The Red River

Ummm… well pretty much all of my interactions with the southern California crew that is the Red River have been of the obnoxious sort, most recently walking into a room where the dudes of the band were passing around an etch-a-sketch of a penis they'd drawn. Commendable… Not. But! - this song is! Their songs have never really reached me until now. It came across as frat folk, informed by nature, but the kind of perspective gained from assigned reading. However, this… This is… it. As simply put as that. It's a simple song, except not. It's charming, honest and warm. Well much more that those words too, but I don't want my description to turn into a term paper.

"Tiny Dancer" - Elton John

Oh, Papa Elton. Be still my beating heart. This takes me back to summer drives. Takes me back onstage with Gregg Gillis during his MFNW 2009 set, takes me to a lot of things. Especially the scene, well not so much scene, but all of Almost Famous with Kate Hudson dancing whimsically around to the tune pre-A-Rod. Oh damn redhead boys. Patrick Fugit, you will be my forever crush! Anywaysss, this song gives me ideas for next summer, but hey! Winter is the new summer, so maybe you'll find me dancing in a tutu at houseshows and proper venues in the very near future. Actually you will. I just bought a load of pink tulle at Mill's End with a 30% off coupon.

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The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. But your only limit is your soul.