Polly Pocket Portables.

The cool cats over at Portable.TV reached out a few weeks ago and had us dish about our history, how we came together and in simpler terms, what we're all about. (Basically, this is the internet equivalent of our Barbara Walters interview. We don't explain the drug use. Don't even bother asking.)

See what equipment we use, what we're sacrificing to stick to our guns on only booking music we love, and which we'd have to settle on if we could only pick one of our favorite session tots, and if you make it all the way to the bottom, a cutie patootie picture of the Yellow Ostrich gang that had been collecting dust back in the far caverns of our memory.

Take a peek at the uber-cool site (oober uber huber cool) and dive deep into our faded and dated soul, but whatever you do, don't tell the seven-footer that they called her homely. It's fitting and undeniably true, but we don't want her know how much her cushions are sagging. Mmk?

Live at Bowery Ballroom: Givers

There's one thing that you can't miss when watching Givers live: Taylor Guarisco's face. If you've seen it, you know precisely what I'm talking about; if you haven't, either proceed without knowing or do a small bit of unearthing to find out exactly what we mean.

We're not poking fun or being sly, honest. It's just that these Lousiana pals have an effervesence onstage that when compared to the head bobs and drones and dirty hair forhead swiping of six-foot-somethings yielding guitars and sporting slim white Levis, is forever refreshing. 

 We saw these cool cats a short while back, and in case you can't tell from Tif's flopping in the air like a hair octopus or the rest of the band's open-mouthed enthusiasm, they're a hoot in person. If you ever get the opportunity to see them, take it. Once you see Taylor, you'll know exactly why.

Live at Glasslands: Lands & Peoples

We've held on to this one for a while but now it's time to share. The last time we saw Lands & Peoples they were playing among old knick knacks, rusty horse goblets and one giant wind chime. Though there were no bronze sculptures of humans or gongs nearby on this go around, they treated the audience at Glasslands to some amazing new tunes.

One of those new songs, "Memo", was played for the very first time, and we were there to capture for all.

Enjoy the sights and sounds of Lands & Peoples under the sweaty blue clouds of Glasslands and keep your peepers open for their album "Pop Guilt" out in the next few months. Or look for us to remind you. You know we will.

Sails Away, Sails Away, Sails Away.

If it pours when it rains, we're in a veritable waterfall of spectacular new shit coming from our couchy favorites. We'll dive into this at another time that isn't 9:12 on a coffeeless heatwave morning, but going off of Hooray For Earth's brand new video for the haunting, entrancing "Sails" which just premiered on NPR, we are in for some serious Grade A goodness around these parts.

Coming from a band who created the best music video of all time ever, this one's just as much of a completely mysterious must-watch-'til-the-end mindfuck, but in a whole new way. We knew we adored these fellas, but they're giving us serious reason to have "How Deep Is Your Love" stuck in our heads every time we think of them.

Which, now that I think about it, may not be such a good thing.

UPDATE: Eyugh, looks like NPR are being a bag of dicks about their embed policy. Click the photo, watch the video, etc. etc. amen.

A Handful Of Peeks.

Our homeboys ARMS have been on the couch a record-setting three times, meaning that we're so infatuated by this point, they could finger paint a drawing of red splotches and blue squiggles and we'd post it on here claiming brilliance.

Thankfully, the new trailer for upcoming album Summer Skills is a lot more artistically sound than an elementary school creations by way of goopy handcraft. In this first of three snippets, a businessman tackles the most awkward physical activity on the planet — running with a backpack.

Try that shit. It ain't easy. And he does a pretty bang-up job.

It's just a snippet, but give this humdinger a lookie-loo, and get just as anxious over having to wait to hear its soundtracked song "Fleeced" 'til the next one's released. Keep your pupils peeled to Arms' blog for the goods. We will be doing the same.