Even if you haven't heard Matthew's music, there's something to grasp onto from just looking at him. No shoes necessary, perfectly on-point blue jeans, a sleep-ready henley, a haircut that's more Men's Vogue than musician and a handle on an instrument most typically used in folksy-throwback bands on Mercury Lounge's stage. Multidimensional in the finest of senses, it's tough to figure out what this guy's all about on the surface. And, as one of the kindest people we've ever met and deepest artists we've ever worked with, his music has a particular uncommonness that keeps us coming back for more.

Which, if your extend of knowledge about him still brims at the photos above, should change now. Now-now. Now-now-now-now-now. There are few people in this world who can master a spot-on Ginuwine cover or write a song called "Luminescent Braid" that's actually a chunk of musical poetry, and I'm confident in saying that Matthew might be the only name in that sliver between circles in the venn diagram of aforementioned skills. We're told he'll be bringing his weekly Washington D.C.-based Family Hemerlein showcases our way this year, and you can bet your butts we'll be urging the lot of you to come along with us. He may be far away for now, but soon, he'll be ours once again.

 

Couch Session #40: Tan Vampires

We just rarely find a band that sparks,
that certain song that lights an empty room left dark.
But with Tan Vampires, it was akin to a needle in hay,
that led us to their brilliant record all the way.
We're not religious, we don't believe in some things,
save for evolution, and perhaps birds and the bees,
but we wait and we wait while trying to find the right bands,
looking for that fit that's no less than iron clad,
and with these guys, we knew. It's that visceral tick,
the moment when everything seems to just click,
and even though we knew we were in love from the start,
it's their live performance that makes this stuff true art.
Jake's voice is undeniably special, just give it an ear —
he's the type whose shower singing will be the best thing you've heard all year.
Toy keyboards, accordions, a sack full of small cups —
even their instruments were a sign that we were in luck.
With dittys that share a border between heartfelt and sweet,
some sad, some reflective, but altogether a treat,
there were simply too many songs to capture, we got overwhelmed,
trying to pick a favorite was a decision we'd prefer not to helm.
So we recorded a bunch, and took the best out for you.
Here they are, Tan Vampires, a band it's time you knew:

MP3s

Tan Vampires - "Digital Rot (live on Big Ugly Yellow Couch)"

Tan Vampires - "Fool (live on Big Ugly Yellow Couch)"

Tan Vampires - "Threads (live on Big Ugly Yellow Couch)"

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website

ARMS - Summer Skills

The Antlers - Burst Apart

Yellow Ostrich - The Mistress

Wye Oak - Civilian

Hooray for Earth - True Loves

St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

Wilco - The Whole Love

Milagres - Glowing Mouth

Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See

Phantogram - Nightlife EP

Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

Boy & Bear - Moonfire

Foster The People - Torches

Kanye West and Jay-Z - Watch The Throne

Adele - 21

tUnE-YarDs - whokill

Drake - Take Care

We leave you with one last thing, our Spotify playlist of some of our favorite tracks from the year.

Big Ugly Yellow Couch 2011 Favorites

See you in 2012,

Donald and Carlye

When we recorded Santah's "Teeth" on our smushy furniture a jillion moons ago, the after effect was similar to being bathed in goosebumps. It was the first time they had captured it, and something about that moment and the song and especially that moment was inherently special. It was so special! Like, if the couch were to die, we're pretty sure that recording would flash before it's cushioned eyes before it met its maker in old furniture heaven. 

It's for that exact reason that we couldn't be more excited to debut the proper recording of that track from our dear friends right here on Big Ugly's web headquarters. Their EP will be out this Spring — their full length, White Noise Bed, is sold out on vinyl but is still available on CD —  and we'd be more than happy if every single song was just this on repeat. Just "Teeth," six times in a row. Maybe seven, if we want to get crazy with it.

The band have been touring like crazy and have a big-time show in Chicago this Thursday night, so if you're not lucky enough to be spending wintertime in the Midwest and wearing a sleeping bag as outerwear, be sure to keep a lookyloo out for their constant travels next year and beyond.

Also, fun fact: Did you know mammals are the only type of animals to have differentiated teeth? Neither did I. Just another perk of being on e-mail chains with these dudes. Even if it wiped away my dreams of one day having a tiger for a dentist.

Teeth by Santah

 Couch Session #39: Fort Lean

There are times when you meet someone who just gets it,
like you're on the same page; any difference, forget it.
Say, a lady in line, just as confused with a long wait,
or a friend at a deli, who also thinks matzo balls are great.
Fort Lean are just that, a gang of new pals that are swell,
who are fun and silly and fit in perfectly well.
We feel like there's some possibility, in a Rick Moranis-led world,
we could shrink them down, make 'em tiny, give it a whirl.
They could fit on our couch as a miniature mascot clan,
like The Roots on Fallon, but our literal house band.
But, whether they're small or big, mustachioed or not,
this is one band whose tunes we have not forgot.
"Beach Holiday" is fitting for both their song and their style,
as each tune feels like tropical breeze paired with a smile.
They even made a glitter home for a funky drum pad,
like a birdhouse for their craft, only totally rad.
We could talk all day about giggling or their music or more,
or even the glitter we happily left dotted across the floor,
but we'd rather have you hear their tunes stripped down this moment,
so kick back, turn it up, and let those boys of Fort Lean show it:

MP3

Fort Lean - "Beach Holiday (live on Big Ugly Yellow Couch)"

Fort Lean - "Perfect (live on Big Ugly Yellow Couch)"

Fort Lean - "Dreams (live on Big Ugly Yellow Couch)" 

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bandcamp

Never mind that I showed up 40 minutes late and wound up being seated so close to Bela Fleck that he probably could have scolded me, I realized one thing while spacing the fuck out to drum machines and harmonicas and gut-string instruments: seeing a band like that makes me, in a way, almost never want to go back to Mercury Lounge again.

Now, before an indie mob starts drawing literal pitchforks and I'm thought to undermine this entire furniture endeavor, you gotta realize that we silently made it an intergral part of the site to not pay attention to boundary lines and not make booking decisions based on who gets placed in what genre. That's how we've been lucky enough to capture everything from an electronic duo to an Australian folk-rock band to a multi-talented violinist, all of which, in a way, now fit a different category in and of themselves. 

I'll save that discussion for another day, as this story's not about that. It's about costly, ticketed, sit-down theatre shows being an entirely different beast I completely forgot about, and didn't realize until last night that I miss altogether. 

At a show like this, there are no cell phones shrink-raying and dip-dying the entire experience into a clickable image with a two-sentence update. No one's at the back bar talking too loudly, nobody's e-mailing their co-worker about tomorrow's meeting, not a soul is updating Facebook during a song. At the least, there's a some rowdy grandfather cheering every Future Man solo; at most, there's a curious amount of audience-led eyefucking. (Ladies, if you get dumped, put on some makeup go to a banjo concert. Trust me.)

To be at a show where one band member is legit dressed like a pirate, another holds a record amount of GRAMMYs but you'd never recognize him on the street and people give more of a shit about their African instrument documentary than how their Twitter handle is spelled is refreshing. It's real. And, it makes me want to see more shows like this. 

After all, you know no one in that audience was holding up an iPad to snap a couple pics.

It's no secret that we've been a long time supporter of this band, and not just because they were one of the first to plop down on the couch way back in February of 2010. Since then — and good lord, has that been a long time — ARMS has grown to include 4 lovely appendages: Todd, Matty, Tlaecal and Dave.

The band has kind of become an unofficial mascot for us, minus the furry costumes and t-shirt guns and things. They are the only band to have not one, but two couch sessions, and even stopped by last winter to grace us with a cover of the Mariah Carey classic "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Or, as they put it, Todd's Great Grandmother's favorite Jewish holiday song.

 
And, since we clearly can't keep quiet about the band that represents the breadth of our site, we trekked out last Friday night as ARMS played to a packed house at Glasslands. The record release show was a joy to witness, to say the very least, as you'll see below in the videos for "Fleeced" and "Three Mile Island".

Don't miss the MP3 for a more lively take on the title track, and in terms of take homes, be sure to pick up the best little nugget to come out all holiday season: Summer Skills.

MP3

ARMS - "Fleeced (live at glasslands)"

ARMS - "Three Mile Island (live at glasslands)"

ARMS - "Summer Skills (live at glasslands)"

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 bandcamp

Couch Session #38: Port St. Willow 

I'm not one to say I don't like a big show,
fireworks, lights, that whole rodeo,
when it's big it's best, or at least most the time,
with quainter things being lost in decline.
But there's those few solemn moments, often heard on a whim,
that draw you in hopelessly, where you simply give in.
A voice like a dewy morning paired with reflections of the past,
he's the summation of what you'd hear looking out a window with rain falling fast.
We ate bagels and talked, on that dark summer night,
recording three songs under one dim light.
With praise from a much-love Antlers-ian pal,
whose alongside presence alone shows his morale,
having Port St. Willow over was quite a breeze,
akin to picturesque wind blowing through the trees.
Enough with the weather, we get it, we know,
We just think this one's beautiful, this intimate show.
So close your eyes, breathe deep, like a yoga class but without strain,
and take a listen to Port St. Willow and these stunning refrains:

MP3

Port St. Willow - "Holiday (live on Big Ugly Yellow Couch)"

Port St. Willow - "Stay Even (live on Big Ugly Yellow Couch)"

Port St. Willow - "Amawalk (live on Big Ugly Yellow Couch)"

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bandcamp

From calculating tips with electronic devices to a pathetic inability to easily count beyond fingers and toes, we're no expert at mathematics. But, when it comes to combining something we love with something we crazy-adore, it's one of those magical combinations like vanilla frosting and pretzel sticks that just works perfectly, seamlessly, and in that edible case, so insanely tastily.

Jumbling into that heap of glory is the fact that our near, dear friends Santah have paid a long awaited stop to our other favorite session site Daytrotter, and we're throwing a streamer-filled, oversized balloon parade in our minds for how excited the two of us are.

We've adored these kiddos from Canopy Club to Pianos, from down-the-street buds to long-distance friends and, fittingly, from neighbors to cousins, and couldn't give a bigger stamp of approval for you to download these tunes lickety-split if we had a first grade teacher's drawer of gold stars and blue ribbons to seal it properly.

Or, if their timeless doodle wasn't a drawing based on a lil' portrait of our own.

Go, look, listen, stop reading, and run.

 Look, ma! We're on the radio!

As you can tell, us couchfolk are just squealing with glee over our newest radio-based venuture with those good eggs over at eMusic. Thanks to their expansive library, we were able to scrobble together some of our favorite songs from a whole long list of artists who have plopped onto those worn-in yellow cushions, as well as those we've spent days listening to with our tushies tucked there ourselves.

(We may not technically be having a pop superstar listening to their hit single on Z100 type of a moment, this is as close as we're gonna get to it, so we're going wild with it while we can.)

Get as close to sneaking into our musical libraries as possible by tuning in to hear everything from Yellow Ostrich and Spoon to J. Irvin Dally and Buddy Guy, all on one fun nifty station. Acesss it with your eMusic account, or sign up for a free one and get 10 hours of free radio listening time.

It's so grand, you won't want to get in a car and turn the dial ever again. Just don't blame any budding agoraphobia on us, k?