'cause I'm looking out for #1.

Call it Drag, Witch House, Haunted House, what-you-will, etc. (http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7806-ghosts-in-the-machine/),
but no matter what, I'm really digging what these kids are up to.
My friend Max turned me onto Blackbird Blackbird sometime ago and now I'm turning you on to it.

Also, there's more free tracks from the band here:
http://byebyeblackbird.bandcamp.com/

Yeah, your confidence is gone and your friends are no friends at all.

I don't know much about Eamon McGrath yet, but that doesn't stop his album from kicking my butt.
Punk-blues-folk-rock?
Certainly.
Love its' rawness.
Have a listen to the first track:

http://www.myspace.com/eamonmcgrath
http://whitewhale.ca/label/artist/eamonmcgrath/

Trying hard to find a better place and a better state of mind.

Song of the day from my favorite (mini) album of the week.
Due out on Frenchkiss in the early fall.

Also, here's what our little spread from an impromptu party on a Friday afternoon for a hip bachelor on a rooftop of a music studio in Soho looks like.
Check out the tiny cassette player by the buns. It rocked out a serious booty mix.

http://frenchkissrecords.com/bands/profile/young_man/
http://pitchfork.com/news/39453-new-release-young-man-iboyi-ep/

Stay cool.

Back in NYC from the Bahamas and though I'm getting a little butt kicking from work, trying my best to retain some of that sunny mellow vibe.
Fortunately the album "Next Stop...Soweto Vol.3" is really helping with that.
So super amazingly good. Pick it up.

http://www.nextstopsoweto-3.com/
http://www.strut-records.com/node/362

Ruffling the feathers.

An article in this month's XLR8R and tons of amazing people participating, both new and old (Flying Lotus, Daedelus, Shlomo, Toro Y Moi, Baths, Shigeto, Bibio), in this scene.
I've loved this kind of music for years and seen this thing coming down the pipeline for awhile now.
Super glad to see it's positive, vibrant and blooming.
Keep it up, you weirdo beat-heads.

http://www.anticon.com/index.php?section=artist&target=Baths&js=yes

XLR8R "Beat Happening":
http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2010/07/beat-happening-seeds-planted-fly

Happy jokes/on rooftops/life in a day.

Allmusic's review of the album said this: 
"An easy to make comparison would be to say Casiokids are Hot Chip but with Jónsi of Sigur Rós on vocals -- more like early Hot Chip when they were still a bit goofy and fun, though, not the current model."
While I think that's a pretty fair take, at the same time, it might be selling it a little short. 
I'd encourage you to check it out. It's really growing on me.

I look a little tongue-tied.

Sometimes a band's name can be a detriment in me checking them out.
That was definitely the case with We Were Promised Jetpacks.
I kept hearing about them but envisioned them to be some twee-pop cutesy outfit.
That is until Bryan Ray kept telling me to check the album ("These Four Walls") out, which I eventually did.
It came out last year, I got into it last year and now I'm revisiting it again.
Felt like giving it some attention to those who might not know of it.
Have a listen:

http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/artist.php/we+were+promised+jetpacks?
http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/release.php?id=293

You don't believe in superstition.

I absolutely love Here We Go Magic's last album, so it was with some disappointment that I found myself having a harder time getting into their most recent one called Pigeons.
What really happens though is that this one is trickier to reveal itself, so give it some time, as it'll pull through for you.
Now I absolutely love it.

Check out this track where they fall into a lovely Neu! hook:

http://www.secretlycanadian.com/artist.php?name=herewegomagic
http://westernvinyl.com/artists/HWGM.html