Photo: Michael Dubin

Kristine Flaherty, better known by her stage name K.Flay, is one of the most talented burgeoning female rappers around. 2010 was a breakout year for the Stanford grad; she collaborated with French cello/violin duo SomethingALaMode on their hit song “5am” and released her mixtape Mashed Potatoes. She’s drawn comparisons to Liz Phair, Fiona Apple and Missy Elliot, and has already performed alongside big name acts like Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and 3OH!3.

Check out her interview:

Check out her rapping over a sample of Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks.” There’s something about her voice that reminds me of Mike Posner…

[Via OscarandAnder & OUT]

Now that 2010 has arrived, most of the major music publications have finished putting out their picks for the top albums of 2009.  Each newspaper, magazine, and blog uses their own criteria to determine their rankings, leading to an infinite amount of subjectivity.  In the words of my boy Alex, these lists are more or less “an exercise in futility.”  2009 did have its share of great, universally acclaimed albums (you’d be hard-pressed to find an indie outfit that didn’t list Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Phoenix, or Dirty Projectors in their top ten), but there were more than a handful of albums that flew below the radar.  Here are the top ten LPs that fell through the cracks in ’09:

10.  The Slew — 100%

What do you get when you combine legendary turntablist Kid Koala with the former rhythm section of Wolfmother?  Add DJ Dynomite D to the mix and you have The Slew.  This project was berthed with the goal of producing a soundtrack for a Jay Rowlands documentary, but when production on the documentary was halted in 2005, The Slew kept going.  Their debut, 100%, showcases the talent of each member in this unlikely collaboration.  Kid Koala distributed this album at no cost during the entirety of September.  If you weren’t able to get a copy then, grab one now and give it a spin.

9.  Amanda Blank — I Love You

2009 saw the full length debut of Amanda Blank.  The Philly-bred, foul-mouthed female MC had already created a name for herself in the Mid-Atlantic region from her frequent collaborations with fellow Illadelphians, namely Diplo and Spank Rock.  She paid her dues on the show circuit and dropped raunchy verses on a healthy batch of remixes, further establishing herself in the Bmore club/electro/booty bass scene.  After seeing this chick live, I couldn’t wait for her debut album to drop.  While this album is far from perfect, it is a solid debut and has more than a few tracks that will end up on at least one of your playlists.  Her flow is unreal, and her tracks are littered with catchy hooks.  I am certain that one of the reasons this album failed to make a lot of noise was due to the fact that I Love You did not satisfy the taste-engineers over at Pitchfork Media.  I think they panned Blank’s debut because she did not fit nicely into Pitchfork’s album review formula (as understood by Carles, author of the famous weblog HIPSTER RUNOFF):

[(LABEL x Hometown)² ± previous album's standards + Obscurity Factor x Perceived Authenticity] = Pitchfork Rating

Alright, enough ranting about Pitchfork.  This album has collaborations from Spank Rock and Chuck Inglish of The Cool Kids.  Pick it up.  It’s well worth a Hamilton.

8.  Kasabian — West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Falling prey to a similar curse, Kasabian’s third album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum did not end up on many “best of” lists despite topping the charts in the UK and going Platinum. Tom Meighan’s haunting vocals are the backbone of the album, and the boys continue to develop their modern psychedelia sound with this release.  Actress Rosario Dawson contributes impressive vocals on “West Ryder Silver Bullet,” not to mention that this LP was produced by industry vet Dan “the Automator” Nakamura whose résumé should be reason enough for you to give this album a listen.

7.  Tiga — Ciao!

Tiga’s second full length album dropped in 2009.  Once again, Tiga employed the production expertise of the Deweale brothers (Soulwax, 2 Many DJ’s) and included guest contributions by James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) and Jason ‘Gonzales’ Beck.  This album showcases a (slightly) more mature Tiga, but still reminds us of what he has been doing to keep Montreal dance floors rocking for years.  His hypersexualized, glamorous vocals overlay the bumping, bass-driven grooves on Ciao!.  Due to the electro-banger recession of 2009, this album was less relevant to the blogosphere than it would have been in years past. If electro is more than a passing fad for you, I wholeheartedly recommend picking this one up.

6. Men Without Pants — Naturally

Originally slated for a 2008 release, I don’t know anyone outside of the industry that was able to get a hold of Men Without Pants’ debut album Naturally until April of 2009.  Men Without Pants is the lovechild of Dan the Automator and Russell Simins.  No, not Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam.  Russell Simins, one third of The John Spencer Blues Explosion.  Simins’ well-known precision on drums and Automator’s programming genius make this album one brisk dive into a pool of what Spin Magazine has labeled “sex-dappled blues-rocktronica.”  These veterans didn’t go it alone, though.  They enlisted help from Sean Lennon, Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), half of The Mooney Suzuki, Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto), Gillian Riberts (string arranger for Yeah Yeah Yeahs), and a gaggle of others.  All in all, it’s a trashy good time.

5. Little Boots — Hands

Victoria “Little Boots” Hekseth seems to be a polarizing force in certain music writing circles.  Her self-styled, poppy sound fared well on the UK charts this past year and received generally positive reviews, but it was notably absent from most year-end lists.  The album is chock-full of electropop goodies and shows a lot promise from the young Brit. Hands includes a duet with Philip Oakley (The Human League), as well as composition and production credits from Joe Goddard (Hot Chip), Greg Kutstin (The Bird and the Bee), Jas Shaw (Simian Mobile Disco), and famed UK bootlegger Roy Kerr.  Little Boots is often mentioned in the same sentence as Lady GaGa and La Roux front woman Elly Jackson, but do not be mistaken.  While she is similarly unapologetic for her pop sound, she has a carefully crafted style of her own that shines through on Hands.

4. Dan Auerbach — Keep It Hid

Dan Auerbach, best known as the singing, guitar-playing half of The Black Keys, ventures out on his own for the first time with Keep It Hid. Although his solo debut shows remnants of his stint with The Black Keys, this album features much more melodious compositions, each recorded in his custom-built studio which he has named “Akron Analog.”  Akron because it’s in the singer’s hometown of Akron, Ohio, and Analog because he uses mostly vintage, analog equipment.  His decision to branch out and pursue his interests in old-time blues, r&b, bluegrass, and 70′s rock proved to be a good one, as each track on Keep It Hid offers something new and captivating.

3.  YACHT — See Mystery Lights

Formerly Jona Bechtolt’s solo project, YACHT has officially become a duo with the release of See Mystery Lights. Claire L. Evans has been permanently added and provides vocals on this upbeat electronic LP.  Bechtolt is no stranger to this boy/girl formula, as he used to be the beat man behind Khaela Maricich as part of The Blow.  He split from The Blow in 2007 to focus his energies on YACHT, but it appears he has gone back to his blueprint for success by adding a new front woman.  The cheery, energetic tracks on See Mystery Lights seem almost like a 21st century Tom Tom Club. Check it out.

2.  Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse — Dark Night of the Soul

Albums can be overlooked for any number of reasons.  In the case of Dark Night of the Soul, it may have been passed by due to the fact that it was never actually released.  In fact, as it stands, this album may never be released.  A dispute with the EMI group landed the LP in legal purgatory, where it still remains.  This is more than unfortunate, because this album truly is one of the best of 2009.  The list of contributors is ridiculous: James Mercer (The Shins), The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals), Julian Casablancas (The Strokes), Frank Black (The Pixies), Iggy Pop, Nina Persson (The Cardigans), Scott Spillane (Neutral Milk Hotel), and many more.  Legendary filmmaker and artist David Lynch constructed a book of photos (over 100) to coincide with the music as a “visual narrative.”  If you know anything about Danger Mouse, you know he found a way to get this album to the people.  He “released” the album in the form of the photo book (limited edition) or an album poster.  Both versions come complete with a blank CD-R and a note: “For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.”  Somehow, this album is scattered all over the internets.  Google is your friend.

1. jj — jj n° 2

Newcomers jj generated quite the buzz when their tracks began circulating the net, yet they maintained an enigmatic quality by revealing very little.  Signed to The Tough Alliance’s label Sincerely Yours, the Gothenburg-based jj first drew attention by releasing their own interpretation of Lil Wayne’s smash hit “Lollipop,” titled “Ecstasy.”  jj n° 2 features melodic pop enveloped by a dreamy, echoey Balearic aura that seems in line with other Sincerely Yours releases, but maintains a sound that is decidedly unique.  While this album was not totally overlooked, it did not get the universal acclaim and attention that it deserved.  In late December, jj signed to the Secretly Canadian record label and announced plans for their second LP to be released in March 2010.  jj n° 2 may, in fact, be my top album of 2009, not just the top album that was overlooked.

I’m no expert here. I’m simply and honestly telling you the songs that I loved this past year – polls, charts, blogs, magazines aside. I avoided adding/removing songs just to reach some practical number, so there are only 24.

Here we go with the very subjective and biased Top 24 Songs of 2009!

24. ‘This God Damn House’ – The Low Anthem
Ok, so yes this is a 2007 song, but this version is from the August HearYa Live Sessions. I watched Ben Knox Miller perform this live at Bonnaroo, and it involved whistling and two cell phones for some funky reverb and overall amazement. Slow, endearing, and heartbreaking.

23. ‘Devout’ – Islands
To some, Islands’ third album Vapours was disappointing, but this song is a sure highlight. Yes there’s a bit more pop than usual, but that’s not such a bad thing after all.

22. ‘Boys Boys Boys’ – Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga

I had a love hate relationship with this chick for a while, but we’ve finally come around, she and I.

After incessant demands to play this song from my roommate and best friend Kristen, it dawned on me that this song, in all its clichés and questionable claims about boys and girls, is absolutely fantastic. She’s turned out as many hits as Talyor Swift, if not more. But I can’t really stand Swift’s music, so I say, Lady Gaga for the win.

The Lady’s got talent, there is no denying it – drink a little, dance a lot, listen to this song.

21. ‘Wet Hair’ – Japandroids
Newly discovered by a playlist given to me by a good friend. It’s been a while since I’ve come across a good punk band since… I don’t know, Brand New’s Your Favorite Weapon (yeah, I went there). So, so simple but full enough for me. Plus you got those cutesy lyrics that work so well with gang vocals and angular guitars. “Let’s get to France so we can french kiss some French girls!”

20. ‘Daylight’ – Matt & Kim
I met this couple two years ago at ‘Cuse, and I saw why they have so much fun. Couldn’t have be more enthusiastic to play a show with a 20-person crowd. Doesn’t it sound like Matt is smiling when he sings? It’s because he is. Their sound has certainly matured since then their self-titled, and I love this track off of Grand.

Bonus: Be sure to check out the Troublemaker remix of ‘Daylight’ featuring De La Soul

19. ‘Lust for Life’ – Girls

Christopher Owens and JR White of Girls

Need a little light in your life? Give this song a play, and you feel like you’re in a soft glow photo with a Free People model in the summertime… in the 1920s. Did I mention Jay Gatsby’s there, too? Bottom line: this song is euphoric.

18. ‘My Girls’ – Animal Collective
They’ve finally broken into the realm of mainstream. Did all the acid-dropping hipsters die? No! It pleases the masses: AC’s trademark repetition, a handful of appeal, and free flowing transitions that make me want to do drugs. Just kidding. Fun fact: I once compared this song to Marxism in a philosophy paper and got an A.

17. ‘Stuntin’ Like My Daddy’ – Lil Wayne & Birdman ft. Okkervil River by Team Teamwork
Whew! That’s a mouthful. Team Teamwork’s Good-ass Remixes took the best of hip hop and combined them with the best of indie rock. The result? A whole lotta wonderful.

16. ‘Heartbreaker’ – John Legend feat. MSTRKRFT
Poppy, a little jazzy and a good beat. In other words, it’s catchy as all hell. John Legend’s voice is like butter.

15.  ’Goji Berries’ – Rubik
These Swedish rockers took my heart when I discovered this song. Talk about great transitions. From beginning to end, I think this song is masterful – demanding and noisy to cotton candy sweet then a little rag time followed by some intense horn work.

14. ‘Temazcal’ – Monsters of Folk
The beast breathes sweetly and sadly with this ballad. My favorite track of the highly anticipated debut album, and it’s nothing short of beautiful in a heavy sort of way.

13. ‘Gifted’ – N.A.S.A. feat. Kanye West, Santigold, and Lykke Li
The favorite track of beat bumpers in outer space. Fast paced and sparkling with the fluidity of boom-pow songbird Lykke Li.

12. ‘Hoochie Coo’ – Black Keys feat. Mos Def and Jim Jones

Blakroc's Mos Def

Can you say, power trio? I’ve been a long time fan of Black Keys, and this collaboration (along with the many collaborations on Blakroc) makes for a great song. Bluesy pulsing with the oh-so-cool vocals of Dan Auerbach and Jim Jones coupled with none other than Mos Def.

11. ‘Make Her Say’ – KiD CuDi feat. Kanye West, Common, and Lady Gaga
A little raciness is best justified with cleverness. This song is quiet and slow but gives us all a big boom. It’s a little amazing in that nature. The sample of Lady Gaga is taken from her acoustic version of ‘Poker Face,’ which is one fierce display of her musicianship.

10. ‘Knotty Pine’ – Dirty Projectors feat. David Bryne
Short, sweet, and upbeat. Angel Deradoorian’s voice is phenomenal. Not the best example of their usual amazing harmonizing skills, but still lovable.

9. ‘Best I Ever Had’ – Drake

Jimmy? Last time I knew you were in a wheelchair! It’s hard to drop your child star rep, but Drake has earned himself respect in the realm of music. Sometimes I get Degrassi flashbacks when I listen to him, but that’s going away. Fan favorite, also my favorite.

8. ‘So Insane’ – Discovery

Rostam Batmanglij (from Vampire Weekend) and Wes Miles (from Ra Ra Riot) make up Discovery

Who knew that the synthesis of Ra Ra Riot and Vampire Weekend would actually involve synths? Well, it’s love for me, and this song particularly is a sort of anthem for the spirited youth with big hearts. Uplifting and fun, not too fast but quick enough… like a college hookup.

7. ‘So Far Around the Bend’ – The National
Yes, another one from Dark Was The Night. Nostalgic meets a folky march to make for one hell of a song. I like how he seems to really have the girl pegged in this song. It’s personal, but thankfully not too delicate.

6. ‘Foreground’ – Grizzly Bear
Veckatimest took flight this year, and undoubtedly there were some gems on this baby like ‘Two Weeks’ and ‘While You Wait for the Others.’ But, this song is quite possibly one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard in some time. It’s a subdued side of the Griz, but still has a low growl that separates it from the saps.

5. ‘Soft Shock (Them Jeans Acoustic Remix)’ – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I do really love the original, but there’s something about this remix that has me 100 percent hooked. The timpani, the bongos, the strings. They soften the song, which sort of make the shock bigger. It tugs at my heart a bit, but keeps me smiling.

4. ‘Little Secrets’ – Passion Pit
This was my ringtone for the whole summer and then some… even my mom was dancing when I got a call. Falsettos and synth riffs reminiscent of an old Sega game, who knew it would sound so good? Passion Pit did.  Good job, fellas, Boston’s proud!

3. ’1901′ – Phoenix

Phoenix

From one of my favorite albums of the year! Yeah it’s in a car ad now, but what can you do? Kings of Leon’s ‘Molly’s Chambers’ was featured in a car commercial about 4 years ago, and they didn’t die and go to mainstream hell… just purgatory (we’re praying for you, Aha Shake Heartbreak was phenomenal!). It’s well composed, brilliantly repetitive, and with just enough pop to keep it up. Fun fact: when Phoenix performed on SNL this year, they were the only band to play three sets besides U2.

2. ‘What Would I Want? Sky’ – Animal Collective
This was a late comer in the running, so I apologize for the double Animal Collective, but they are my favorite. I was somewhat disappointed with Merriweather in its entirety, so this song was a great surprise off of their Fall Be Kind EP. I’m no Dead head, but it’s noteworthy to mention that this track is the first ever to have a licensed sample from the Grateful Dead (‘Unbroken Chain’). It’s dreamy, swirly and floaty, what else would you expect from these crazies?

… Drum roll (thanks for sticking with me)…

1. ‘Dominoes’ – The Big Pink
A bit of an underdog, but I couldn’t stop playing it since I first heard it. I would sing it around my apartment without knowing more words than, “These girls fall like dooominoooooess.” What is it about this song? I can’t really point it out, even though I feel like I should have more justification, being my favorite song of the entire year and all. It’s sort of like my girl crush on Zooey Deschannel. She’s above average but not drop dead anything, yet I love her more than a straight girl should ever love a girl celebrity. There’s my analogy, because I don’t have real words for this song.

OK, So there you have it. I’m sure you will disagree (and hopefully agree a little, too). Happy New Year!

You do a lot of questionable things with a few beers in you walking down Boston’s Commonwealth Ave. at 3 a.m. Sometimes you think it’s good idea to down a giant 5-dollar sausage from Che-Chi’s or piss in a public alleyway… I don’t know, sometimes it just makes sense.

It was one of those nights, and my friends and I were butchering an impromptu version of ‘Knife.’  We decided that it wasn’t even a song, but a movement. Then I saw them live for the first time at Bonnaroo, covered in sweaty filth (which made sand floors a really poor choice), but when the waltzing strings of ‘Lullaby’ started, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t even normal; the performance was inhuman.

Grizzly Bear is a funny name for such a calm and refined band. When my friend told her mom she was going to a Grizzly Bear show, the response was utter disgust – to think we’d find entertainment in watching ferocious animals claw each other.

Not to say they lack ferocity. I saw Grizzly Bear the second time around at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, and I’ve never been so undividedly engaged, even with the audience seated the entire time (except when we started dancing to the closer ‘On a Neck, On a Spit’). Grizzly Bear has a mesmerizing sort of style — beautiful in sound, stealthy with instrumentals and haunting in harmony.

After the show I was able to (obnoxiously) flag down Chris Taylor, the square-jawed blondie responsible for the oh-oo-oh-oo-ohwah in ‘Knife’ as well as other wonderful harmonizations, bass and wind instruments. Chris is a person of impressive skill and kind demeanor. I shook his hand and before I knew it, he’d politely agreed to a phone interview. I didn’t jump up and down until I left the theatre.

To me, it’s safe to say the world (at least the blogging world) has fallen in love with Grizzly Bear, but in talking with Chris we focused less on the group and more on him. He has teamed up with Lust Boys’ Ethan Silverman to create Terrible Records in which they will release a series of 20 split 7 inches. The first of these comes out today, October 13th. It’s entitled CANT and features Arthur Russell and Chris Taylor himself.

Be sure to check it out! But first read this interview with Chris Taylor to learn more about Terrible Records, his musical background, his childhood dreams, and his love for cooking. (Endearing, right?!)

Courtney Allessio: Was there a turning point in your lifetime where you knew that music was going to be a life long thing, like that was going to be your career?

Chris Taylor: There was a point at 16 where I decided that’s what I really, really wanted to do; the only thing I wanted to do. I went to [NYU], and started studying in the jazz performance department. I transferred to the audio engineering department. I didn’t want to study music; it was a really bad thing to do for music, really unmusical to study it. Once I wasn’t playing jazz, which was what I had been doing really seriously up until that point, I didn’t really know what else I was equip to give musically… so I had a little bit of a period in the middle of college up until a year after college where I was just like, I don’t know how I’m going to be able to play music. So I was like, I guess I’ll just record people? I had this band with Chris Bear the drummer that had this noisy, punkier sound where I played bass. And I was in this noise trio thing where I played horns and petals and made a lot of crazy sounds. I started developing both of those things until eventually both of those things became what I do in [Grizzly Bear], which I didn’t expect.

So I had a period where I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, I thought I was just going to do it for fun, which was kind of bummer a for me because I had spent so many years planning on being a musician, and I thought, now what? I was confused, I just kind of kept going until I found something to do. I’m very happy I was able to continue on playing music.

CA: When did you team up with Grizzly Bear?

CT: A year after I graduated so 2004. Ed [Droste] was recording a record in his bedroom, and Chris came to help finish the record and we were like, we need to make a band out of this. So we became the live band. It was the three of us for a couple of months for a handful of shows, and then Daniel Rossen joined, and we went on tour.

CA: One of my favorite songs is the alternative version of ‘Shift.’ And there’s all the other songs you’ve re-recorded off of Horn of Plenty, do you plan on re-approaching any more songs? I know there’ s also ‘Fix It’ and ‘Alligator.’

CT: ‘Alligator’ we did for the Friend EP… and then ‘Fix It,’ I don’t think we’ll re-record it, but we do a different version of it live. We came up with pretty different arrangements for the songs from the album… because the arrangements off of Yellow House have a lot of stuff. We’d record things and then when it came to playing it, we’d be like, “uuuuhhh… wait, we can’t play that.” And the Friend EP, these [live] versions came out so different that we preferred them to the album versions, so we thought it would be cool to record them to make a document, a casual EP thing.

CA: So Terrible Records is this independent label that you’ve started, how do you go about signing on new bands? Do you look for them yourself or do they seek you out knowing you’ve started your own company?

CT: I have enough people that I’ve wanted to record… It’s part of the idea as to why we started the label – I had so many people I wanted to work with. I don’t have time do full albums with everyone, so I thought the 7 inch idea was kind of a cool way for me to record a bunch of people and sort of make a little art-book collection of split 7 inches with my favorite bands right now. It’s just going to be 20 split 7 inches, so forty bands altogether. I sort of pair bands that are more well known with those many people don’t know about but should. They’re musically appropriate for each other, it’s not like randomness.

CA: It’s a great idea. If you have the connections to do what you want with music, then you might as well do it.

CT: It’s pretty easy. I was talking to Zach Condon from Beirut who has his own label…we were talking about how it’s a good thing to remove the middleman, and I was like, “You’re right, it totally is, I should just do that.” … Knowing a lot of bands I really want to work with was the impetus to start [the label], so it was a pretty natural thing. When people are contacting us it’s awesome, but at least for now we’re not looking to become Merge Records or Domino, we are just looking to put things out for fun. When the label has to support the band, and the band gets let down, it’s such a horrible thing. I never want to be that for anybody; that’s the last thing I want to be. I want bands to walk away from the experience and be like, “I’m really glad I did that, I’m proud of that, that was cool.” And that’s it, no crap where [the label’s] not taking care of you, or you’re not getting paid enough. I just want all that stuff out of the equation – it’s so unmusical and it really sucks the joy out of it sometimes. That’s the idea, to put the joy back into the whole process and make it into a hand-made dinner party, like everyone’s there to eat some good food.

CA: So that name. Terrible Records, is it irony?

CT: Terrible is my nickname I’ve had for years. A lot of my friends call me Terrible. And…

CA: Wait, why is that your nickname?

CT: I don’t know! I think it’s supposed to be kind of, tongue-and-cheek. I’m a pretty pleasant guy, it’s meant to be a joke. It’s kind of like some weird, superhero alter ego. I was actually calling my solo stuff ‘Terrible,’ and I thought it was cool, but the name was too good for a label. Terrible Records was just too funny, even my dad liked it.

CA: For your own solo release, did you have a certain aim in mind when you made this music since you are already so well associated with Grizzly Bear?

CT: Yeah, there’s definitely a thing like, I don’t think anyone in the band would want to play my songs. It’s my chance to do what I want to do. I had a lot of ideas, and I just don’t feel like doing it with three other people… It’s just fun, kind of liberating.

CA: You produce, you have a record label now and you’re in band, how do you separate your own personal life from your career?

CT: It’s not like I’m a workaholic, but I’m just so excited to do so many things right now that I can’t help but to just do it. It keeps me really busy. An opportunity comes up… and I can’t pass it up. It feels like an addiction or something, but it’s also one of things that you can’t do forever, I don’t think. I’m kind of surprised at myself, of how much I end up working on music. I definitely need a vacation. Like really bad. I had a vacation scheduled, and then Jamie Lidell asked me to produce his record and I was like, “I have to do that.” So I cancelled my vacation. Sometimes I don’t think I balance [life] too well to be honest. There are just so many cool opportunities coming up, it’s hard to turn away from them. I care for my family of course, and I have friends, very good friends I’m fortunate to have. So I think do a fine job myself.

CA: You are in fifth grade, what did you want to be? Or anytime pre-16 years-old, before you knew music was going to be your career.

CT: I remember being in preschool or earlier and thinking, I want to grow up and be a dolphin. I quickly understood that it didn’t sound right. I think I left the slate blank for a while and didn’t worry about it. I’m saying really young, like three years old. I’ve always been a very fascinated person, always fascinated with things that appeal to the senses, I guess I was thinking a little too outside the box.

CA: What are your top five favorite albums either of all time or just you’re recently into?

CT: I’ll name a general top five favorites musicians maybe. In no particular order: Arthur Russell, Neil Young, Prince, Radiohead and the Beatles.

CA: So I’ve been really sick lately… I was wondering, especially for you doing vocals and lots of wind instruments, what do you do when you have a cold and you have to perform?

CT: We’re really militant about killing the cold. Dr. Taylor would recommend lots of zinc… drinking a lot of water, taking multivitamins… sometimes if all else fails, drinking a ton of whiskey and going to bed with a bunch of blankets. Jameson is the preferred brand because you’ll wake up feeling refreshed in the morning. We’re just really serious about killing it. TT & the Bears in Boston is the only place we’ve ever cancelled a show because Ed’s voice was gone; it was gone. We tried to play in Providence, and it was just hilarious. Luckily it hasn’t happened since.

CA: Random, what’s your favorite type of food?

CT: Whoa. I really love food. I’m actually working on a cookbook. I’m really, really into cooking. Dinner parties, I know it was sort of a random analogy, but it’s one of my favorite gatherings. I constantly go back to homemade pasta as being one of my favorite foods; it’s really one of the most delightful things of all shapes. After that I don’t know, pizza I’ve always liked pizza.

CA: What kind of sauce for the pasta?

CT: Truffle oil is delicious, red sauce is also delicious. I’m down with a white sauce, or sort of a cream sauce with red wine and mushrooms and shallots.

We went off on a food tangent for a while. (I may be the least focused interviewer ever.) I asked some other basics, and fun fact: Grizzly Bear once performed on the bottom of a ship in Switzerland.

So clearly Chris Taylor is just an ordinary guy of extraordinary ability. If you haven’t listened to Grizzly Bear yet, shame on you. But here’s your chance to get a fresh start and listen to the very first of the Terrible Records 7 inch series. Check Jetcomx for updates on Terrible Records, and be sure treat your ears to CANT today!

Currently on their North American tour, Grizzly Bear made an appearance last night on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. They played their hit song from Veckatimest, “Two Weeks,” with Beach House member Victoria Legrand. Legrand is also featured with Grizzly Bear on the song “Slow Life,” which is part of the upcoming soundtrack for Twilight: New Moon. Check it out.

Yessss, it’s finally Friday. This week, we’ve got Chromeo, Kanye West, Fatboy Slim, Grizzly Bear, Dead Prez, MSTRKRFT, Phoenix and more. I’m definitely a huge fan of LMFAO’s remix of Kanye’s “Paranoid.” It’s about 700 times better than the original. Also, this week, I’ve included a mash-up that’s too good to have left out. It’s The Hood Internet’s “Two Weeks of Hip-hop,” which is a mash-up of Grizzly Bear and Dead Prez. Have an awesome Columbus Day weekend, and enjoy.

Blurtt Co-Founder/CEO Nikhil Sethi

There once was a time when people sent postcards to friends, family members, and significant others in order to share their thoughts, experiences, ideas, and emotions. Now fast forward to today — when was the last time you sent out a postcard in the mail? It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Well, one man is on a mission to try and change all of that. Recently, Jetcomx was lucky enough to chat with Nikhil Sethi, co-founder/CEO of blurtt.

Andrew Boni: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. Why don’t you go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself. Where do you call home? What school do you do to? What are you studying?
Nikhil Sethi: My names Nikhil Sethi, I grew up around the Bay Area, a little bit from San Francisco, in a small town called Saratoga. Currently I’m going to school at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL studying Electrical Engineering and Law.

AB: Alright, so give us the low-down on blurtt. Maybe some people have heard of it, while others haven’t. What exactly is blurtt? What does blurtt do? What makes it special?

NS: So blurtt.com is tackling the problem of creating emotion in day to day communication. You may go online and send a few emails to your friends, or send a couple of text messages, but its not easy to quickly get across real emotion. We’ve created a simple, easy to use online interface that lets you send real, printed postcards with YOUR handwriting to your friends anywhere in the world. The best part is you don’t even need to know your friend’s addresses to send a postcard to them. As long as they are on Facebook or Twitter, or even have an email address, it’s easy to send them a message on a real postcard that has real emotional impact, as its something that arrives to them in a physical form.

Blurtt is ushering in a new era of retro technology

AB: Pretty clever. So when and how did you come up with the concept behind blurtt? Was it like a cliche light-bulb-over-the-head moment? Or was it an idea that kind of came to fruition over a long period of time?

NS: So i I was actually in the shower one day, and at the time I had a friend that lived in New York. We would always exchange emails and text messages, but after awhile that just got dull and unappealing. So we started writing letters and postcards, and eventually the pain of getting materials, keeping an address-book, finding stamps, and actually going to the post office grew on me. I knew there had to be a better way. So with blurtt, we automate all the headache associated with sending physical media in the mail, and just leave you with more time to be creative in writing and decorating your messages.

AB: How did you come up with the name? Were the two Ts intentional? Or was it a case of blurt.com being taken?
NS: Haha, good question. The idea behind the name blurtt is really back to trying to create as simple an experience for the user as possible. We want people to be able to send physical mail as easily as you send an email or text message today. Just blurtt it out. You can think of postcards as the retro Twitter, accept you have a lot more than 140 characters in which to express yourself. The two t’s worked well in our logo design so we left it.

AB: Is blurtt the first startup that you’ve been involved with? Or have you been with others in the past?
NS: Blurtt is the second company I’ve started. I started a company called ublot back in high school. Ublot was built around my personal frustration with trying to write a book. I wanted to get multiple authors to work on a single piece of fiction with me. In the end we had thousands of stories and millions of words written.

AB: That’s awesome. On blurtt’s website, there are several other people listed as part of the company. What’s the story behind them? How did you meet these people? Are they lifelong friends, or more along the lines of strictly business partners?
NS: Blurtt was built by myself and my co-founder Kuba Tymula, we met at Northwestern, while he was getting his MBA from Kellogg. We worked well together and decided to start blurtt. Eventually we got to the point where we hired a few other team members to help us with graphic design and some of the more complicated automated print and delivery systems we built. All in all we’ve all become quite close friends.

AB: Was it hard to raise the necessary capital to get blurtt off of the ground/up and running?
NS: Not at all, that’s one of the best decisions I made with blurtt. We never raised any money. We bootstrapped the entire thing. Eventually as we scale and add more components to our business there may be an opportunity for us to raise some capital. But I am a firm believer in the idea that you should build out as much of your business as you can and start getting some revenue in before you start running around pitching to VCs. All too often entrepreneurs focus on the, “How much money they can I raise?” question versus the “How good of a product can I build?” question, early on in their startup’s life.

AB: I’ve read somewhere that blurtt will plant a tree for every postcard sent. Tell us more about the environmentally friendly side of blurtt.
We love trees. And aim to plant more than we consume through our postcards. Its a win-win situation.

AB: Good point. Where do you see yourself and blurtt in a year from now? How about 3 years?
NS: A year from now I’d like to have planted half a million trees through blurtt and our ongoing relationship with American Forests. The best part of running blurtt is being able to use our brand and awareness to solve bigger and more pressing problems. Three years from now I’d like that number to pass a few million new trees.

AB: Explain to us the different types of blurtts that exist (blurttences, photography, etc).
NS: So we have a number of different categories of designs that you can use on your blurtt. From vector art, to photography, to blurttences which are essentially clever sentences you can write onto the front of the postcards or choose some from our existing catalog. We have domestic USA blurtts which send for $.99 INCLUDING postage, and international blurtts that go for $1.50 same deal. We are working on adding a few new types in the next few weeks. I’ll give you a clue: sparkles.

One of Nikhil's favorite blurtts

AB: Blurtt has a huge database of designs. What are your some of your favorite ones?
Oh man, that’s a tough choice. I like one photography one of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge, and one of the blurttences that says “AHH SPIDER POISON IS PEOPLE POISON!”

AB: Have you yourself created any designs? If so, can we take a look?
NS: Haha, yeah I’ve been into photography ever since I can imagine. Although im probably not the best by any standards. One of my favorites is one I took of my piano on a dark day. Another is one I took high in the mountains in northern India. Art is a big part of blurtt, not only do we want to create smiles on the receiving end of the postcard, but also use postcards as a new means to spread the amazing creativity that artists have come up with online. For every blurtt sent out, our designers get a cut.

AB: Blurtt’s central idea revolves around sharing messages and artwork with others. Without artists, blurtt couldn’t really function. How do you find your artists? Is it difficult to sustain an active artistic community within blurtt?
NS: You know, I really thought that would be a big challenge for us when building blurtt. But artist communities are very tight and connected. When you get one artist on board and in love with the postcards, they tend to tell their friends, and even send some of their artist buddies a couple postcards!

Also by using our API, other websites can integrate the postcard sending functionality into their own domain and for their own users. This way artists can participate with blurtt not necessarily though blurtt.com

AB: Would you ever consider bringing in a celebrity artist to create some designs? Maybe someone like David Choe? Or even Banksy?
NS: Yeah, we are definitely open to talking with celebrity designers that can use blurtt to spread word about a new gallery or exhibition.

A piano on a dark day

AB: The new API stuff that you guys are rolling out seems pretty neat. What are some other ways that you are trying to make Blurtt more interactive?
NS: So the API is one aspect. It can be integrated in a really quick and easy way as a small piece of code you add to your site, and blurtt will pickup every image on your page and overlay a small stamp, allowing your users to send your content as a postcard, bringing you dollars. But also can be integrated in a much deeper level, where our whole interface can be embedded into your website, allowing for full control around the creation of the postcards. We handle the printing and mailing.

AB: Nowadays it seems like everyone is leveraging the popularity of Twitter. How is blurtt taking advantage of it?
NS: So we’ve made it super easy to send postcards through twitter. All you have to do is follow @blurtt, and tweet “@blurtt @yourfriend Hey, how are you?” And blurtt will take this and automatically create a postcard for you!

You’ll get a DM with a link to your blurtt, where you can customize it further, add a longer message, and checkout. That simple.

And now for a few off-topic questions:

AB: What are your thoughts on Kanye West’s latest stunt with Taylor Swift at the VMAs?
NS: That was a nightmare. I hope he was on something that skewed his judgment. If I was him, I would go buy some remote island and live there for the rest of my life.

AB: Give us your top 3 albums of 2009.
NS: Top 3 would have to be “My Maudlin Career” by Camera Obscura, “Veckatimest” by Grizzly Bear, and “Merriweather Post Pavillion” by Animal Collective.

AB: Who deserves the title of best new artist of 2009?
NS: Hm, you know 2009 isn’t over yet, so I’m going to wait to answer that one.

You can follow Nikhil Sethi here on Twitter.

Send out a free blurtt! Use the code jetcomx at checkout.

It beats me how it happened, but America has developed this ridiculous propensity for blood-sucking entertainment.

Without decent explanation, I can’t bring myself to see the Twilight movie nor do I want to read the books. But the soundtrack for New Moon (the next movie of the Twilight trilogy) has just been finalized, and the track list has really got my interest.

It features brand new singles from big names like Lykke Li and one-of-a kind duets from not only Bon Iver and St. Vincent but also  a [what I'm predicting to be genius] collaboration between Grizzly Bear and Beach House.

Take a peek, or a good look if you’re so inclined:

01 Death Cab for Cutie: “Meet Me on the Equinox”
02 Band of Skulls: “Friends”
03 Thom Yorke: “Hearing Damage”
04 Lykke Li: “Possibility”
05 The Killers: “A White Demon Love Song”
06 Anya Marina: “Satellite Heart”
07 Muse: “I Belong to You (New Moon Remix)”
08 Bon Iver and St. Vincent: “Rosyln”
09 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: “Done All Wrong”
10 Hurricane Bells: “Monsters”
11 Sea Wolf: “The Violet Hour”
12 OK Go: “Shooting the Moon”
13 Grizzly Bear: “Slow Life” [ft. Beach House's Victoria Legrand]
14 Editors: “No Sound But the Wind”
15 Alexandre Desplat: “New Moon (The Meadow)”

Look for its release on October 20th.

New Moon hits the theaters November 20th.

Brooklyn-based indie rock foursome Grizzly Bear just released their latest music video for their song “While You Wait for the Others.” The video was directed by Sean Pecknold, perhaps best known for creating Fleet Foxes’ “White Winter Hymnal” music video. Fun fact: his brother is the bushy-bearded Robin Pecknold, frontman of Fleet Foxes.

Sean Pecknold’s filming style is definitely one of the more distinct ones out there, since he makes heavy use of stop motion and overall weirdness (Is that even a valid technique?). I mean, in this video alone there is a masked fencer interacting with alarm clocks, parakeets, bunnies, elephants, kickballs, fake dogs, and creepy-looking naked dolls. Let’s not even get into the clay-mation, nightmare-inducing video for “White Winter Hymnal.”

Anyway, watch Grizzly Bear’s music video and let us know what you think.

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Image courtesy of DoubtfulSounds

17 Hours have never passed so quickly. Maybe it was the stop at Sonic that kept us going (us New Englanders think of it as some Holy Grail of fast food), but most likely it was the excitement of Bonnaroo finally becoming a reality. Honestly, I feel like my visit in Manchester, TN was a fantasy I dreamt up for my own fun. But it happened, and I have the lime green wristband, 3D ticket, and tie-dye t-shirt to prove it.

Even when you talk with people who went, Bonnaroo is hard to describe. If there’s a God, I hope heaven is a big ol’ Bonnaroo in the sky (sure as hell I’d go to church more often). Some friends from Boston College plus some and I all arrived around 5 am on Thursday, pitching our tent and canopy by the light of the sunrise. We napped, and then the adventure officially started.

Here’s the layout of Bonnaroo, 700 acres of former farming lands: Centeroo is an area where all the stages are located and carnival-like vendors. That majestic red archway you see in your friends’ Facebook albums? That’s the entrance to Centeroo. They sell anything from traditional pizza to deep fried gator, and as far as souvenirs go, buy a cool band posters or a didgeridoo. When and if you go, make sure to stop at the Wonder Waffle stand to get the hot waffle sandwich: a cube of vanilla ice cream between two thick waffles smothered in chocolate syrup. Surrounding Centeroo are all the campsites grouped by movie titles and divided by that movie’s characters. Ours was Pussy Galore in the James Bond area… we all got a kick out of that. Port-a-potties are located throughout, and you get used to peeing in the dark after the first two nights. Showering is a no-no. I mean you can for a little less then 10 bucks, but if you’re going to Bonnaroo you might as well do it up right.

Say hi to my friends Kristen and Josh.

Bands play all the time, til everyone’s strung out at 4 am and dancing their asses off. But considering an audience of 75,000 sticky-sweaty people, getting to the front can be a complicated process. Due to a string of great shows on Saturday, we made it to the front for some out-of-this-world entertainment. We edged in the side of This Tent as Bon Iver’s falsettos shivered my bones in 80-degree humidity. He closed with ‘Wolves,’ having the audience sing over and over “What might have been lost” until we were shouting the line 10,000 strong. At that point the crowd headed out and we headed in, close to front row for Of Montreal. I had already seen them in April at Paradise Rock Lounge in Boston, so I was expecting an identical set. Same costumes, different experience. There’s just something about seeing Kevin Barnes in a smoking (literally emitting smoke) fur poncho doing the cha-cha in broad daylight as a brontosaurus with giant arms catapults balls into the audience. After bopping around to ‘Rapture Rapes the Muses’ and grooving out to ‘A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger,’ they smashed their instruments in a distortioned cacophony that simply defines Of Montreal, and proceeded to hurl their bodies atop the audience to crowd surf.

Here’s a taste of a live Of Montreal show that I recorded at the Paradise show, apologies for the quality.

Barnes once explained his performance style in an interview with the Daytrotter crew:

I’ve always loved the theatrical side of performing. I never really got into the whole indie rock approach of taking the stage in your street clothes and just playing the songs. That isn’t fun for me. I really want to put on a performance that people will remember. That means considering the visual aspect of things. I hate going to see shows that just have this static image. I think it’s important to have lots of movement on stage, lots of changes in the images you present to the audience.

Of Montreal

The Decmeberists were up next. If I had to narrow it down, I went to Bonnaroo mainly to see Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Of Montreal, Phoenix and MGMT. The Decemberists were my favorite show at Bonnaroo 2009. A fan informed me that their set was a straight play through of their latest album The Hazards of Love, and they did so without conversation or even a pause. Dark lighting, robotic dancing, violent timpani banging followed by a half-hour encore of fan favorites, which showed a lighter side of congenial performance. I can’t tell you the set list, and I don’t know the names of the band members without Google-ing them, but I can tell you it was just phenomenal.

In the flesh, the Decemberists

This article could easily be longer than a senior thesis. To list my favorite performances is like naming all of the places in the world I’d like to visit – it’s endless and actually sort of boring to everyone but me. The last thing I want to squeeze in here is a note about the people. For four glorious days, I shared a really strange freedom with tens of thousands of other people from all walks of life, ranging from all ages, with different intentions. I watched teeny boppers play around in the mushroom fountain, babies strapped onto ambitious parents, young bucks drinking beers with their friends, and I particularly remember these two middle-aged women swaying their arms with floor-length dresses and mom haircuts. The Healing Shaman was seen daily, carrying a sign advertising his services, doing yoga and chanting “heeemmehpennay, huuuuhhhh” behind us as we walked to Centeroo. There were bearded men wiggling their hips to sound checks, and a man whose bad trip required 8 paramedics and a needle to a neck.

Everyone was just really satisfied to live in a tent, meet new people, and listen to good music.

In your lifetime, go to Bonnaroo. If you’ve already gone, you don’t need to me to tell you to do it again. It is beyond an experience.

Heeemmehpennay, Huuuuhhhh. Photo Cred: Evan Waters