I have been in a sonic adventure all week long.
When I discovered I could torrent music, I immediately downloaded at least ten great albums I can listen to when I make my daily commute. These albums that include The Beatles’ White Album, Tame Impala’s Currents and Eraserheads’ compilations Anthology 1 & 2 made my trips a different experience each day and helped kill time during my one hour long travels.
A highlight of my adventure was when me and my friend got the chance to meet and sit down with Clem Castro of Orange and Lemons and The Camerawalls over the weekend. He was in town as his solo project Dragonfly Collector promoting his crowd-funded album The World is Your Oyster. I bought his LP and I’ve been listening to it all week long. But that wasn’t all I was I was obsessing. I was listening to a lot of Beach Boys too and immersed myself in the genius of Brian Wilson’s Smile project. I had a sound trip with Os Mutantes, an influential 1960’s Brazilian psychedelic rock band that I simply adore.
Since I’ve been listening to a lot of these unusual music, I was having a hard time choosing who my next Artist of the Week will be. I wanted it to be someone who is timely, interesting, relevant and relatable. So I decided to feature the artist whose music is more timely and relatable now to anyone and especially for me this week; Car Seat Headrest.
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I discovered Car Seat Headrest a few weeks ago when he released his album Teens of Denial. The album debuted this week on the Billboard 200 at 180 but is expected to climb in the following months when his music spreads wider. Just like any successful dissatisfied youth, Will Toledo created a band and put out all his teenage angst into songs. His band Car Seat Headrest is the hottest rock band right now and will prove to be very successful.
Will Toledo is ahead of the pack as an imaginative singer-songwriter, capable of crafting dynamic indie rock. He blends cracked pop oddity with emotional directness like an angry Belle and Sebastian. His lyrics are rapaciously intelligent and self-aware like Morrissey, and his baritone voice cracks and weaves through the mic with the fierceness like Jim Morrison and Julian Casablancas. Will Toledo’s is this generation’s answer to Kurt Cobain.
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Will is a true independent musician having started recording vocals at the back seat of his car (hence the name Car Seat Headrest) and producing the music using a software in his room’s computer. In May 2010,, Toledo issued his first Car Seat Headrest album 1, with 2, 3, and 4 all appearing within the next three months. He made the albums available in his online store while sheepishly warning the potential customers the songs were “not very good”. But with March 2011's My Back Is Killing Me Baby, Toledo finally made an album he felt didn't require a warning about its inferior quality, and Car Seat Headrest began winning the attention of critics and lo-fi fans around the world with the album Twin Fantasy, released in November 2011. Since then, Headrest didn’t miss a beat.
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In late May 2016, Toledo released his new album, Teens of Denial. The album, which melded lo-fi noise making with melodic, lean and ambitious production, made music news headlines shortly before its release. One of the tracks in the album Just What I Needed/Not What I Needed sampled a few bars from the 1978 Cars song Just What I Needed. At the last minute, Cars frontman and songwriter Ric Ocasek declined permission and pulled out the albums from the record store. The initial run of the album on vinyl and CD had to be destroyed, and Will Toledo had to rework the song. In spite of everything, Will Toledo still had critics and new fans adoring his music. Car Seat Headrest is definitely the voice of this generation’s intellectual and depressive dissatisfied youth.
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#y101fm #alwaysfirst #artistoftheweek