Skip to main content

DIIV

78
DIIV

DIIV
Coming from the late-oughts dream-pop era, this indie guitar-based band first came on my radar with their debut album: 2012's Oshin. One of the most enjoyable & catchiest listens... 'til this day. DIIV started when Zachary Cole Smith got tired of being the touring guitarist for Beach Fossils so he decided to start his own band. The band name is a tribute to the Nirvana song "Dive." Right from the get-go (or is it gecko?) Cole new hot to intertwine guitar & bass in a way that took the listener on a passage of time- what I mean by that is that DIIV's music is more of a sensory-instrumental-trip. Put on your headphones- turn off your mind, relax & float down stream & enjoy the ride. It's gorgeous-melodic-fluid dream-pop. After a bout with heroin addiction & a fling with Sky Ferreira, Zachary Cole Smith got the band together & released 2016's Is The Is Are, a tremendous double-LP (single CD for those still buying {or the ultimate 17-track streamable rock-haze album}). 2019 gave us Deceiver, with this Brooklyn indie rock band proving they still got it with lead single "Skin Game." This band is at times like the heavier shoe-gaze band you always wished would get heavier! (*cough* *cough* Beach House.) DIIV's music shimmers & expands your mind into stratospheres you didn't even think music could take you to. High-five!
It's...
DIIV

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Grouper

 131 Grouper  Grouper Reverb. Echo. Effects. Acoustic. Droney. These are some words you could use to explain Grouper's earlier work. Grouper is the solo project of Liz Harris. Her first album was self-titled & self-released. Grouper's second album was 2006's Way Their Crept . There was something special about that mid-ought's droney-underwater sounding indie. Grouper would go on to release five (!) more albums before I came on board as a fan: 2006's Wide , 2007's Cover The Windows & The Walls , 2008's widely acclaimed Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill & 2011's double-album (but separately released) AIA: Dream Loss & AIA: Alien Observer ... just to be followed up by 2012's double album: Violent Replacement Part I and Violent Replacement Part II . It wasn't until Grouper's more structured-releases that I became a full fledged fan. It was with 2013's The Man Who Died In His Boat that I finally jumped on board as a full-fled...

Billie Holiday

27 Billie Holiday Billie Holiday The first jazz singer to really incorporate blues & move peoples hearts, Billie is immortal. I didn't get into her with her traditional music but rather the 2007 album Remixed and Reimagined . Even through the chops & screws- one thing was unmistakable- that voice- so beautiful, so unique, so pure... She said she tried to sing like a horn & it's evident. She is one of the most accomplish vocal performers of all time. A half-a-century later & her style is still mimicked. Billie is as American as apple pie. In 1935 she was singing at the Apollo Theater. She hopped around labels- Columbia to Decca to Verve- until finding her home. She would battle personal problems (drug use & the like). She would pass away on July 17, 1959. Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington... there's certain artist that are almost as important to American history as they are to the progression of popular music itself. Billie is one of...

Drake

84 Drake Drake It’s not everyday that a rapper comes along & breaks arecord for most Top Ten singles by an artist or band, a record held by The Beatles for 54 years. Drake released his first mixtape in 2006 but he first bust onto the scene (not including his acting career on Degrassi High ) with 2009’s timeless-single “ Best I Ever Had ,” which, with the help of its sexist (but still sexy) video , peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, not bad for a song off a   mixtape: 2009’s So Far Gone . With the unexpected success of the mixtape, the debut album 2010’s Thank MeLater quickly arrived. I didn’t jump on the band wagon until his second album, 2011’s Take Care , which, I will still argue is his best. It probably helps that the title track was produced by one of my favorite DJ’s, ( Jamie xx ). 2013 gave us Nothing Was The Same ,   which proved Drake could really spit bars. His lasting power could no longer be questioned. 2015 gave us If You’re Reading This It’s T...