A Blog by David Phillips

David Phillips for Hook and Line Magazine

David Phillips — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:26:59 +0000

Recently my buddies at Hook and Line asked me to speak about my current favorite artists.....here they are.....and yes the great Peter Lodato is #1:

The Tallest Man on Earth "Theres No Leaving Now" - 2012 LP

David Phillips — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:01:36 +0000

Did you recently Dutch Oven your partner in bed? Did you get a little too tipsy and make some harsh comments?....Have you got her/him (him for beau) flowers multiple times in a row?....Here's something original for that special person....The Tallest Man on Earth is a badass.....Matter of fact this kid is pouring his heart OUt...his most personal feelings right there in the song....And he makes it seem rad.....part Dylan/folk/aucoustic luv songs/unique vox......damn good and super consistent at this point:

LISTEN HERE:

The Tallest Man on Earth "1904" mp3

The Tallest Man on Earth "Theres No Leaving Now" mp3

BUY HERE:

Insound

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros "Here" - 2012 LP

David Phillips — Thu, 24 May 2012 01:09:12 +0000

Goodbye Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros....You've been great...You were the darlings of the underground press.....You made all of us sound so cool when we were the first of our friends to recommend you.....You made me wanna be a hippy....all over again.....I wanted to sell my car and travel by train....grow my hair long (again) and drink beer out a brown paper bag and finger bang hairy bushes.....but...you've been summonsed....The world needs you....Arenas need to be filled....The ranks of Arcade Fire and Coldplay await...Now, there is absolutley nothing wrong with that.....You've got to be a super talented badass band to get that big....This album is spectacular.....The soundtrack of summer 2012 fo'sho'.....In true Edward Sharpe style, these yippies deliver their message of peace, love, and beatles flawlessly.....And now they explode......Such a rad listen:

LISTEN HERE:

Edward Sharp and The Magnetic Zeros "Fiya Wata" mp3

Edward Sharp and The Magnetic Zeros "Dear Believer" mp3

BUY HERE:

Insound

The Walkmen "Heaven" - 2012 LP

David Phillips — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:15 +0000

I've been pretty adamant about my favorite album so far this year.....Father John Misty's "Fear Fun". It's a mastpiece in the vien of a classic Neil Young album or Highway 61 Revisted....It's been the benchmark for me in 2012.....On my walk to the studio this morning I threw on the new Walkmen record....It's close...Damn close, to the best album I've heard this year.....The Walkmen have grown up.....The Walkmen have a progression....starting with Bows & Arrows, then You and Me, then Lisbon.....now Heaven.....each album gets a little better. Heaven sounds like it's title.....orchestral vox/great stories/wall'o sOUnd/modern indie rock/amazing arrangements.....Fleet Foxes, Robin Pecknold even sits in to sing on a track.....Now I wanna run to the studio....I wanna complete every half-way finished project all at once....and dear lawd is there a lot of ace on the Venice b-walk today...i wanna slap them all and take off running like a fiend...ha...oh mane...I've used that before...(who says that twice!?!?!?!).get this:

LISTEN HERE:

The Walkmen "The Love You Love" mp3

The Walkmen "Love is Luck" mp3

BUY HERE:

Insound

Otto Dix - A German Painter and Printmaker December 1891 – 25 July 1969

David Phillips — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:04:50 +0000

wow....No matter how many artists, painters, musicians, I read about there are always ones you miss or just somehow have never heard of.....Otto Dix is one of those artists. This German painter was waaaaaaayyyy ahead of his time and his influence is very evident today....a little Van Gogh a little Crumb:

Venice Art Auctions Inside Google - Venice Beach, CA

David Phillips — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:21:32 +0000

Join me this Sunday inside the new Google Offices for the Venice Art Auctions. I will be showing a painting with a majority of my idols. Ed Ruscha, Laddie John Dill, Robbie Conal.....just to name a few:

The Imps of Marge and Fletch - LA's most unique Photographs

David Phillips — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:28:39 +0000

My buddies in The Imps of Marge and Fletch are undertaking an epic project and need your help. If you wanna have a direct impact on an art project DONATE HERE and they'll send you something rad:

Chromatics "Kill For Love" - 2012 LP

David Phillips — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:00:51 +0000

I didn't sleep last night....when I finally did it wasn't a drift.....it was a heavy fall (underated).....a deep drop....Then a sequence of very very real dreams/nightmares....the kind you swear are real.....I won't go into any details....Teddy Roosevelt said, "People who talk about their dreams are boring people..."....Typically i agree. Coffee, workout, eggs, newspaper, update music....Then my commute to the studio....Was I still asleep? One of the most eerie covers of Neil Young's opus "Into the Black" came on.....Who is this? The Chromatics cover a lot of ground on "Kill For Love"....Originally a noisey punk band....The Chromatics have drastically matured into a high pop/dance beat atmospheric/clean produced/well oiled Portland rock machine.....They've ditched the lo-fi and embraced an adult outlook on indie.....The rest of my ride to work felt like floating and I enjoyed it.......

LISTEN HERE:

Chromatics "Back from the Grave" mp3

Chromatics "Into the Black" mp3

BUY HERE:

Italians Do It Better Records

Nick Waterhouse "Time's All Gone" - 2012 LP

David Phillips — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:41:10 +0000

The late 1920s/early 1930s built the foundation for what would become FM radio. Big Band hits/ragtime/western story time....ahhhh pre-televsion era....Prohibition was ending and radio was hip....mashed potatoes, 5 scotches a night, 12 Chesterfields, then bedtime stories...that's right...you got to behave like a wild man...with your family!!! How did we get here?...How can I turn on the radio now and it sounds like aliens fucking...Like a rusty blender....Just absolute crap....By the 1950s the radio began to shake...to have a little reverb....a backbone...Doo-wop, soul, R&B, and the earliest onset of rockNroll was brewing.....Nick Waterhouse is that exact era....This kid is suppose to be 25?? No way...There is no way he was born in 1987...Just no way....Waterhouse somehow heard that 1950s radio....He has channeled it....Buddy Holly was a hipster. Nick Waterhouse is a hipster. Any DJ on FM radio today is not a hipster because they are not 'hip'.....this is retro/doo-wop/vintage soundin' rock/fun at it's finest:

LISTEN HERE:

Nick Waterhouse "(If) You Want Trouble" mp3

Nick Waterhouse "Say I Wanna Know" mp3

BUY HERE:

Innovative Leisure Records

Mark Lanegan - 4AD Sessions Live

David Phillips — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:23:21 +0000

Whewwwww....man.....Mark Lanegan's new video from his 4AD Sessions is baaaadace: