The Digital Outhouse

Jenny Lewis “Acid Tongue”

The evolution of musical preferences for an individual is, often times, a nightmare-filled journey through several bad iterations of Kidz Bop. That’s just the way it works, unless you’re lucky enough to have a musical mentor who steers you towards the Rolling Stones rather than the Black Eyed Peas early on in life (obviously, I wasn’t so fortunate).

The funny thing is (much like your high school reputation) certain preferences (or in the case of high school, embarrassing moments) never fade away. Rather, they grab hold of you like a parasite and stick around for the ride. I’m not going to get into my wonderful High School experience (it really was quite thrilling), but I will say this: I used to listen to this.

Now I listen to Jenny Lewis. Acoustic guitars and female vocalists. Some things never change.

Toro Y Moi “Before I’m Done”

Toro Y Moi’s Underneath The Pine was hailed as one of 2011’s best albums by faux-music experts everywhere (I use this term specifically because I am a bit skeptical that anyone can claim to be an expert on music since it’s so subjective, but I may be alone in that school of thought, so whatever). What does this fact have to do with today’s post? Nothing, but I couldn’t really figure out a better way to introduce the song while simultaneously slipping in a bit of opinionated prose.

But as a self-proclaimed musical connoisseur, I must admit this particular Toro Y Moi track is one of my favorites because of how Chaz utilizes his nylon-stringed guitar (or his friend’s, I guess I shouldn’t assume that he owns it), and blends it with his signature sound to produce some super-chilled out shit. 

Mondialito “L’azur”

I haven’t been on a French music spree for any particular reason other than that I’ve been trying to simulate the unambiguously peaceful ambience that radiates from Parisian cafe’s (while sipping on some Starbucks instant coffee, no less), in my daily life.

I will not comment on whether or not this has been successful, but I will share a French word I learned from a good friend of mine.

“Merde”.

Which roughly translates to “shit”. So please,  go forth and spread the merde.

SoKo “I Thought I was An Alien”

Stéphanie Sokolinski has been a popular name in the international realm (how America-centric of me to say) since 2007, but her lovely voice has only recently made its way to my ears. This shouldn’t be a surprise.

This lighthearted song eloquently paints the picture of a love-struck couple dancing away their fears and insecurities in tandem (which I’m hoping looks something like this). 

SoKo’s debut album (apparently I’m not that late) was released just 6 days ago. I recommend giving it a listen. No, really.