Top 5 Songs Of The Week (Valentine's Day Edition)

Last night we decided to come out of winter hibernation and make a night of it instead of staying in, as it's so tempting to do on such frigid Fridays. Since we had already made plans earlier in the week to hit up Asterisk's latest gallery opening with Justin, we thought we'd try and hit up one of the restaurants that we had not yet tried in Tremont. This however proved to be a little more difficult than we thought because of our last minute nature -- most places were booked solid. So we figured we would try our luck at La Tortilla Feliz, having heard lots of good things. Unfortunately, this idea wasn't a success -- apparently La Tortilla Feliz is closed again. Of course we didn't discover this news until we were actually passing the vacant restaurant. . .

We were left disappointed and hungry but quickly decided to head to The Tremont Tap House. It is great when life presents you with a challenge yet cooperates with you, leaving you with an outcome even better than originally anticipated. This was our 3rd time at the tap house (actually Kelly's 4th, she went there for a Sunday Brunch without me once) and they continue to make us want to return again and again. Between their delicious burgers (I had an awesome blue burger that I am going to dream about until I have one again), those great pretzels and of course their top notch beer selection.
After stuffing ourselves, we headed to over to asterisk which is by far our favorite gallery in Tremont. They always have the most unique shows -- last night's being the opening for the new show Thrice is Nice. We were fortunate enough to run into several friends while having the opportunity to meet Dana Depew, the owner himself (who he is a really nice guy) as well as the artist Michelle Murphy (who is really sweet and very talented). Her Nobody Says I Love You pubic art project. is definitely worth checking out.
While speaking to Michelle, we learned that The Vine and The Bean Cafe (aka Lucky's eastside edition) is having a special Valentine's Day Dinner -- we did not even know that they were having one but are super excited that they're now open. As far as our Valentine's Day plans, we are looking forward to heading over to L'Albatros Brasserie and hope that it hits the spot as the hype would suggest.

For now, we hope you're enjoying this "holiday" whether it's with with friends, family, or a significant other :)

5. (mp3) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday Distortion pop à la Jesus and Mary Chain, but even more so their sound seems like it could be on the Labrador label, home to such indie twee fuzz pop bands as Club 8, LoveNinjas, Radio Dept., Sambassadeur, etc. etc. (there seriously are so many great bands on that label). Unlike those Swedish bands, this one is from New York.

4. (mp3) A Time & A Place - Love Triangle This Scottish foursome are the latest band to join the ranks of the awesome Team Love roster, not to be confused with this very cool local Team Love. They make acoustic pop music that has an edge, be careful not to prick your fingers on this one because it is not as smooth as it appears. We think it reminds us of Frightened Rabbit meets The Delgados.

3. (mp3) Alice Russell - Got The Hunger Kelly remarked as we were listening to this song "What is with the all these British girls and their soul?" That is a great question: where do they get it from? In case you don't see where we're going, Alice Russell is British and a soulstress -- this girl has even perfomed with The Roots and De La Soul. She is coming to the states this March, no date in C-town but she is slotted to play in Pittsburgh's The Club Cafe on March 11th.

2. (mp3) Weinland - I'm Sure It Helps First not to be confused with Weiland, this band is a five piece hailing from Portland, Oregon. Kelly and I both believe this music just sounds like something that would come from that state. It's rustic, simple and yet so beautiful. The sounds of Neil Young, Amandine and M. Ward come to mind.

1. (mp3) Chester French - She Loves Everybody The other night after we had just finished watching a dvr'd episode of Gossip Girl we were flipping threw the channels and headed over mtv 2. Every once in awhile we like to give mtv 2 a chance on the offhand chance we might see a cool video like we used to in our youth or at least see some band we knew about awhile back start to get big. Lucky for us when we flipped over we caught the video for this song. We had downloaded this track about 6 months ago but had not listened to it since. Check out this video to see what happens when two guys who are bored at Harvard decide to start making music and then Kanye happens to like what you are doing.

Chester French - New Music - More Music Videos