Fuck Yeah

Shifty Dual Month Annual Album Reviews™- April & May: Shifty Returns With a Vengeance Part 2.A.iii of 4

I didn't make a list thing in April because I didn't have the time to make one. I'm gonna put that right here. Cool. There was a lot of good music that came out the past two months.

Due to the fact that I featured two months of music in this Rundown Overview, I separated the music by month. The same prison rules apply to these Monthly Rundown Overviews. If I like a music it goes under the #thingsiliked section and it also gets one Shifty Seal of Approval™. If I really liked a music, then it goes under the #thingsilikedliked section, and OH MY GOD!!!!!!!! IT GETS TWO SHIFTY SEALS OF APPROVAL™!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU BASED SHIFTY AND THANK YOU BASED SEALS!!!!!!!! This is what a Shifty Seal of Approval™ looks like:

It is cute and you want one

April Music

#thingsiliked

Speedy Ortiz- Foil Dear
Very fierce. Sadie Dupuis is a great lyricist and this album features some of her best to date. Only a genius would be in a Pavement cover band called Babement. The only reason why I didn't love this album is because I felt like the the guitars weren't as dynamic on this album.
#I'mNotBossyI'mTheBoss

Toro y Moi- What For?
Toro y Moi is trying to go back to the simpler times. It's kind of a return to his roots simply because this album sounds the most similar to the music that was on June 2009. And I love it because that's a damn good album, and so is this. I wouldn't call this Chill Wave though..... it's more complicated than that.
#IWishMyNameWasChazwickBundick

Waxahatchee-Ivy Tripp

Katie Crutchfield has been making some sweet DIY music for a while now. She just signed to Merge and her new album features her at her most confident. She is not one to be triffled with and Ivy Tripp is her loudest battle cry yet. 

#CheckOutHerOldBandPsEliot

#AlsoCheckOutHerSistersBandSwearin

My Pal Jens (Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Jens)

Oh, You're So Dreamy Jens

In the past year, I have fallen deeply and madly in love with my pal Jens. Oh Jens, who has been there for me when I have needed him most. Jens, who has held me in my weaker times and cheered me on in my better times. I am writing of course about the delightful Swedish singer, Jens Lekman.

At first, our relationship was tumultuous. He sang to me about not being able to love enough. I recoiled, as I had been burned before. He portrayed himself as flighty and impetuous. He couldn't promise love. He couldn't help himself. And I can't help myself when it comes to the sensitive emotional types. Sure he sang about Julie. And Lisa. And Nina...and Kirsten, Jennifer, Erica, and even Immanuel. Jens has a complicated past, but we can move past that.

Jens brings more than just heartache and indecision, his ballads bring adventure. He takes the dangerous black cabs in Sweden. He's politically active. Jens spends time with his little sister, even if it is to teach her about unstoppable sorrow. He knows how to turn a girl down and move on.  He writes me postcards every week. If I ever have a moral quandary, all I have to do is ask What Would Jens Do?  And if I ever need a stranger to sing at my wedding, Jens will have to pull double duty as stranger and groom. Basically, Jens is the complete package with a heart full of fire.

I must confess a slight ruse here. My passionate confession of my love for Jens is not entirely pure and honest. My feelings are of course, I mean who wouldn't feel this way about him? But I tell you these thoughts not just to get them off my chest but to persuade you. Jens is a native of Gothenberg. Sweden, and most of his performances take place in his home country, or elsewhere in Europe. Every few years he makes it over to America to share his gift with the New World. What I ask of you is to give him a little encouragement to visit stateside. Buy his cd's, his lp's, his ep's, and even his 7''. Buy a copy of  I Don't Know What Love Is or Night Falls Over Kortedala, or be riskier with his early material When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog or the Maple Leaves EP.  Luckily enough for you we have a wide selection here at Von's Records, and a staff that has mostly accepted his love. So come on down to Von's and return the favor to the Swedish dreamboat you surely now have a burning desire for.

Bonus Footage of Jens Actually Singing at a Wedding