An Appetizer (A Small Pre-Meal Jumpoff)

Ah, another week another update, dear readers. I apologize for the longer-than-preferable lapse between posts, but 光陰矢のごとし （kouin ya no gotoshi, literally, “time, like an arrow,” but in this context it means that life is short).

My pictures are slowly uploading now, so I’ll hold off on a full-length post until tomorrow, most likely. I’m rather exhausted now anyway, so it’s best I refrain from writing too much lest I go off on several incoherent tangents about lord knows what.

Please accept this as a token of my appreciation and a reward for actually reading my infrequent musings:

Shugo Tokumaru is a singer-songwriter multi-instrumentalist from Japan who is currently blowing up my iPod playlists and blowing my mind. How can I characterize Shugo Tokumaru? He’s a bit like the Japanese Sufjan Stevens minus the pretension. One writer described him as “Sigur Ros meets Hello Kitty.” While I’m not sure how accurate that description is, I am sure that “Parachute” is beyond catchy and will be stuck in my head for several days to come. Please, please, please enjoy this song and stay tuned for a legitimate update post-haste.

DOWNLOAD: Shugo Tokumaru – \”Parachute\”

The Jumpoff – Volume 2

The Cool Kids are one of the hottest hip-hop duos in the nation right now. Coming from Chicago, these two take the rap game in stride, delivering tongue-in-cheek verses about everything from riding bicycles to playing Street Fighter to saying “What’s up?” to some cuties. Drop in some old school bass, rad synth lines, and you’ve got yourself an instant party starter.

“Delivery Man” is an as-of-yet unreleased cut off of Mountain Dew’s Green Label Sound comp. The video is fire and almost seems reminiscent of the Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff, except with cooler shoes. Put it in your tape deck, roll down the windows, get nice.

DOWNLOAD: The Cool Kids – Delivery Man

The Jumpoff – Volume 1

The Jumpoff – n. – something good or positive. If you approve of something, it becomes the jump-off.

The Jumpoff is a lot of different things to a lot of people. It’s like the thumbs-up for the twenty-first century. In this recurring segment of my blog, I’ll be bringing you everything from music to videos to Aztec gold and more. Why? Because, clearly, I think these things are the jumpoff and I’d like to share them with you.

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For the first edition of The Jumpoff, I would like to share a piece of music that is not only blowing my mind, but tearing up my playlists. Today’s focus is Mt. Desert Island, an up-and-coming indie rock duo consisting of my good friends Jesse Kohn and Bennett Kuhn. Now, now — I know what you’re thinking: “You’re only posting this cause you’re friends with these guys.” Well, I suggest that you bite your tongue and get on this tip on the double because these guys are hot fire.

The duo creates lyrically beautiful and musically compelling songs. Kuhn’s ethereal beats and Kohn’s often wistful lyrics evoke a sort of otherworldly nineteenth century Paris or a long train ride across vast Russian plains with nothing more than a journal in hand and memories in tow. 

“The Waltz,” is a tale of love lost, in which the pair blaze a trail through the intricate architectures of memory with a driving ghosts-having-a-dance-party electronic backdrop and swelling synth lines. Do yourself a favor and blast this while you’re driving down the highway late at night, windows down. You’ll thank me later.

DOWNLOAD: Mt. Desert Island – The Waltz

For more, check out [Mt. Desert Myspace]