I'm late, very late. I've been on vacation the past two weeks which has upset my regular rhythm some. This week I bring you a playlist with rhythm as a focus (ironic? no). If you're like me you think/thought hip-hop is/was terrible, but this isn't the case at all. You just have to dig for quality, just like any other genre.

Will Brennan is a Gainesville based rapper and quite skillfull at that. We did a "NW4thST Presents..." with him a few weeks ago that we hope to bring to you very soon. Check out his website to find out where you can pick up his mixtape June 11th or where you can see him live next.

This week I bring you electronic and dance music. Magic Man just release there album for free; I've been listening to it really heavily and was thus inspired to bring you an electronic and dance playlist. I've included Oh Fortuna in the playlist; I caught them live at the begining of my first semester at UF and they put on one of the best live shows I've seen put on by a local band. Check out their myspace to find out when you can see them next.

Please don't misinterpret these playlists as a definitive study in any genre. It would simply be impossible for me to put together playlists that would fairly represent all the artists worthwhile in a genre and impossible for you to listen to those playlist before passing away; there's plenty of good music and my tastes are going to be different from yours as well. I simply wish to show you some artists that I think are worth listening to.

That being said, this week I have worked to have a loose focus on some freak folk and psychedelic music that I enjoy listening to. Both Devendra Banhart and Dr. Dog are personal favorites of mine. I also included Levek, a band I consider to be one of Gainesville's best, whose song "NW 4th St." gave the name to this blog.

June 17 2010 (A Focus on Freak Folk and Psychadelic)

 

Words/ Josh Morris

 

There's a maturity in Sean Peck of You're So Cool's voice that is difficult to describe; it lends credence to his lyricism and gives his audience the feeling of listening through an old phonograph to a voice of their grandfather’s youth. This enduring, measured quality is joined by the sweet, even girlish voice of Christie Sentner to create something unbelievably pleasant that effortlessly bridges the gap between the secret and the simple.

We arrived at Sean's house in the early evening and set to work filming "Liar", which he and Christie sang as they strolled down NW 4th Ave (See it: You're So Cool - Liar). For the next song, Sean suggested an abandoned house he knew; it was dark and ominous, despite its peeling yellow paint, and provided the perfect backdrop for “Our Endless Debt."

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This is a project that I started last week for some of my friends that wanted me to share music that I listen to. I'm always down for sharing music with anyone that has the patience to listen to me talk on and on about how they should listen to this band and why. I really wanted to come up with a way to share the music I thought was worthwhile that would require little or no effort on the listeners part, so I sat and brainstormed for a while and Grooveshark came to mind. All my friends would have to do is hit play and listen and its easy for me to put together. I'm going to try to do these weekly and feature some local bands whenever possible. Now I give you the first two installments of the series:

1. New English Folk

2. American Acoustic/Folk

myspace.com/whistlinseanpeck