Hello My Old Heart

(Compiled March 1, 2012)

Spotify playlist (not all tracks show up…see full list below):

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Life of a Crime– Geographer (off new album, Myth)   SEEING THEM THIS SATURDAY!! (huge grin)

Hello My Old Heart- The Oh Hellos

King and Lionheart– Of Monsters and Men  (can’t WAIT to see them at the end of the month! SOOOOOO STOKED….)

Daydream– Youth Lagoon

Spitting Fire– The Boxer Rebellion

In Love, Not Limbo– Of Oceans

Cold Days from the Birdhouse- The Twilight Sad  (seeing them next week in SF! Heard they were amazing live. LE SWEEEEEET.)

Love Love Love– Of Monsters and Men

Tightrope– Walk the Moon

And if my heart should somehow stop– James Vincent McMarrow

Strange fits- The Darcys   (can listen to the song on my Spotify playlist)

A Far-off Hope– Josh Garrels

Wicked games (the Weekend cover)– Coeur de Pirate

Head Rolls Off– Frightened Rabbit

Sloom– Of Monsters and Men 

Open House– Bombay Bicycle Club

Early in the morning, I come calling– James Vincent McMarrow

Black Betty and the Moon– The Horrible Crows

Little Talks– Of Monsters and Men

We are the Tide– Blind Pilot

Untitled #27– The Twilight Sad

*All songs available in my dropbox and on my Spotify acount!

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Geographer  (with Chain Gang of 1974 and Miniatures tigers)- The Independent (3/3/12)

Having listened to Geographer’s EP (Animal Shapes) and first CD (Innocent Ghosts) NON-STOP ever since I found out about them in November (from Tanyawan Norachit at the WU LYF show!), I was SO AMPED to see them live at The Independent (my FAVORITE small music venue in San Francisco). PLUS, Geographer had just come out with a second album, Myth, that I was diligently listening to on Spotify days leading up to show.  ‘Life of a Crime,’ ‘The Myth of Youth,’ ‘Lover’s Game,’ ‘Blinders‘ and ‘Kaleidoscope‘ are some of my favorite gems off that album. ‘Life of a Crime’ definitely became one of my THEME SONGS. The lyrics were on constant replay in my mind:

“But there is nothing here to hold on to, except the possibilities
When I was young, I had a vision…
Said this life was made for the LIVING…if this is life AT ALL.”      (Could not be MORE in sync with my mentality right now…”

Of the openers (Chain Gang of 1974 and Miniature Tigers) for Geographer that night, I must admit that I was really not impressed by Chain Gang of 1974. I was not really feeling their sound at all. Plus, the band members seemed disjointed from one another. Although, if anything, the lead singer was super animated and his spastic dancing was quite HILARIOUS to watch. I honestly could NOT take this dude seriously, and I was looking around the room to see if anyone else had the same thoughts. His dance moves were THAT ridiculous.  And…it got EVEN BETTER. After a few songs, he jumps of the stage (pretty much right were I was standing) and starts working his way through the crowd, trying to get his flirt on. BUT, some of the ladies (red-haired chick in the black) were NOT having it (see picture below). HAHA. I thoroughly enjoyed taking a step back and soaking in the whole spectacle. Pretty damn comical to say the least.

The best part of Chain Gang’s performance is when they brought a saxophone player out for one their songs. That dude was BADASS (see pic below). Brings back a lil’ nostalgia for when I used to ROCK THE SAX back in the day. HELL YEAH!

Miniature Tigers was the other opener for Geographer.  They’re an indie rock/pop band from Brooklyn, NY that was recently on tour with Ben Folds in February.  I enjoyed their sound much more than Chain Gang of 1974. Not KILLER, but still pretty good.

Waiting for Geographer to come on, I met two awesome chicks (Cori Freeland and Lissette Herzel) that were FRONT & CENTER with me as well.  They both had mentioned that their work (SAY media) had a private party with Geographer and Bombay Bicycle Club a week earlier. WHAT?! I need to CRASH those kinds of parties!! Although, I probably would have a better chance of running into them on the streets of SF…since they live there and are posting photographs on facebook of them in the city. In fact, I was told that they often frequent the SF t-shirt store, San Franpsycho, and are good buddies with the owners.

I was SO STOKED when Geographer came out and OPENED WITH ‘Life of a Crime.’ Could not have BEEN more epic. They alternated back and forth with old songs and new songs, playing ‘Verona,’ ‘Kaleidoscopes‘, ‘Kites,’ ‘Myth of a Youth‘…and then Cori and I started jumping up and down when we first heard the intro of ‘Original Sin‘!!! We were talking about how that was one of our favorites…and she mentioned how disappointed she was when they didn’t play it at her work party. Both of us were in a crazy lil’ trance for that song- hands planted on stage, heads bobbing up-and-down/side-to-side like bobble heads. ROCK ON.

Love the intro line of ‘Kaleidoscopes‘:

“Now it’s gone. Turn the page…In a year we won’t remember what we meant to say.
So fill mine…Tell me why. We’re looking through kaleidoscopes at each other trying to see inside.”

I was a little upset that they didn’t play ‘Night Winds‘ or ‘Atmosphere,’ two of my other favorites. However, they did play a song from their Innocent Ghosts album: ‘Can’t you wait,’ which was a nice unexpected treat. Mike Deni (Vocals, Guitar, Keys, Synths, Bass) asked the crowd about the Innocent Ghosts album and was surprised that anyone even knew about it.

He is SO TALENTED….and I absolutely loved watching the magical layers of sounds that he created and layers into his incredible vocals. Geographer = Bubbly synths, pulsating cello, and hauntingly whimsical falsetto.  I am STILL disoriented from the magic. They are by far one of my favorite bands…and they LIVE IN SF! In fact, they love San Francisco so much that that Mike announced feeling “homesick” after only being on the road for two days.  I surely hope I get to RUN INTO them one day…

I’m so glad I got the EPIC ENCORE of ‘Paris‘ on video. Check it out!  :)

See my facebook album for more pics!