The New City Subterraneans

Today’s Tune to Boom: Fleet Foxes - A Shrine/An Argument (via J. Maston)

A morality commentary or tale of love-loss?  Visions of a natural order or a chaotic trip from another realm?  One thing is certain, this video’s artistic glamour, shaded similar to a certain Japanese Anime film about a princess, viciously rises above most common forms of dribble that pollute the interwebz.  Tune in, scope the vid, and make your own interpretation.  Oh, and the song itself?  Well, it emanates a disheveled brutality interwoven with a harmonic grace unparalleled.  Sheer beauty. (via N.M. Dube)

Poem of the Day: ‘Old Yellar dreams of days when they wasn’t just whistlin’ dixie

Today’s poem comes in the form of a video.  I tried to find the actual poem to post as well but my efforts proved unsuccessful.  This reading is from a 1994 episode of MTV Unplugged: Spoken Word III (yes kids, MTV did have some cool shit back in the day).  Although this is the first installment of Beatty, trust that plenty of his prose and poetry will be featured on our blog.  He truly embodies the art, his art, and the understanding of the human condition that we aim to analyze at NewCitySub’s.  Oh yeah, he’s also one funny motherfucker.  Enjoi.  (via N.M. Dube)

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Thoughts?  Email correspondance to newcitysubs@gmail.com 

Today’s Tune to Boom: Ray LaMontagne - Jolene
 

The first time I heard Ray LaMontagne I was quite unimpressed.  He stumbled on stage, forgot the words to his first song twice, and had to turn and ask his drummer where the fuck he was and what the fuck he was doing.  I was unimpressed for merely a moment.  As he fell into rhythm and revealed one of the most strikingly magnificent voices to date, I became instantly enthralled.  Love and its torment emanate from his raspy earthen tones like the rustic Mainer himself sits drunkenly strumming on the curb of your eardrum.  Although he has found popularity in indy folk circles, he is still immensely under-appreciated in the music world.  Keeping in mind the full circle of writing, playing, and recording his own tunes, listen to this little gem from the country boy of the Northeast.  Sit back, hang on his melodies, and enjoy the brutally honest tales of love lost and found.

Today’s Tune to Boom: Jake One (feat. Freeway and Brother Ali) - The Truth

From the grimy mind of superproducer Jake One, “The Truth” beacons a new era in Hip Hop.  Jake One’s acclaimed White Van Music LP compiles artistry from all reaches of the rap game to promote the common ground and shared unity that music brings together.  This track features one of Rap’s grittiest street emcees alongside the half-white/half-black legally blind albino Reverend Sharpton of Hip Hop.  Freeway and Brother Ali’s collaboration on this street banger force the faces of hiphopheads into the pavement realness in the rap game.

Today’s Tune to Boom: Quicksilver Messenger Service - Mona (Live 1969)

As one of the top “hippie bands” out of the Bay Area throughout the 60s and 70s, QSM not only played alongside some of the most influential bands to ever take stage but should also be considered one of the greats.  Similar to their Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane counterparts, Quicksilver Messenger service ushered in a new folk-rock sound intertwined with psychedelic swinging rhythms.  Clutching to their indy roots, QSM became the last San Francisco hold out in the hippie scene until finally signing with Capitol Records in 1967.  Throw on your set of Bose, slap that volume knob, and fall into a trance with the psychedelic sounds of some of the greats.  (And the live footage also deserves some scrutiny)

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Thoughts?  Email correspondance to newcitysubs@gmail.com