Often times with all the Rihannas, Biebers, Gagas and Taylor Swifts running around on Grammy night, it’s easy for the indie artists to get lost in the shuffle.  Fortunately with the help of Stephen Colbert, the Best Alternative Music Album category got some love on mainstream television (though let’s face it, as indie artists go Vampire Weekend, The Black Keys, and Arcade Fire are pretty well known).

Where is the love, though for the soundtracks, scores and songs written for films or television?  Right here, my friends, right here….
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It gives me great pleasure to present to you my very first mixtape and interview from a music supervisor – one that I not only admire professionally, but who also happens to be a really funny, opinionated, and all around awesome person.  She’s most known for her work on (500) Days of Summer and Dollhouse, but Andrea von Foerster has music supervised films and TV shows all over the map, and contributed to tent pole series like Grey’s Anatomy, The OC, and Supernatural. A self-proclaimed “music nerd” von Foerster knows how to use music to tell a story on film – Broken Social Scene did the score for her most recent film, It’s Kind of A Funny Story, which also features music by White Hinterland and The Middle East – and in mixtape form.

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Photo credit: Future Sounds

Like certain music blogs or labels, we all have those friends that we can turn to for a good band recommendation.  More often than not, when those people tell you that a band is good – they are right.  That is precisely how I became acquainted with Bay Area indie rockers, Picture Atlantic.  Somewhere between winding down from a California tour this past August and pushing through the final stages of a brand new EP titled When Everything Is Numbers, band members Nik Bartunek and Ryan Blair were able to put together a gut squirming mixtape definitely evocative of their own raw, emotive sound.  In it they reflect on the tricky part of growing up that I like to call “freshman year of life.”  Rather than elaborate myself, I’ll let Nik and Ryan explain what they’ve called “22 Going On 40 – The Soundtrack For Growing Up.” And make sure to check out a couple of Picture Atlantic’s own tunes at the end of the article – a free download of “Muses” as well as a track off their new EP!

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The Adventures of Pete & Pete aired from 1993 – 1996, which for me was roughly third through sixth grade. Like most things during that era, the details are now a bit fuzzy, but the emotions remain clear. I remember worshiping Little Pete and wanting to have adventures like his. I remember looking up to Big Pete and wishing I had a big brother too. I remember high school seeming like a million years away.

A few weeks ago a friend revealed that she had the first couple seasons on DVD. Naturally we watched a few episodes. As the credits rolled at the end of one of them, a familiar band name jumped out at me: The Magnetic Fields . I was stunned. Here I was watching something that aired almost a decade ago, using music still popular today. Not long after this, I stumbled across a cover of the theme song, “Hey Sandy,” recently done by the band Grand Lake – 6 blogs had featured the track. Memories were flooding back and with them a new awareness of just how big a part of the series the music was.

In my research for this article I found an interview done by Robert Agnello – another musician/artist involved in the show – with creators Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi in October 2008. Over a decade over the show went off the air, it’s clear that Pete and Pete still holds a special place in all of their hearts. In the interview they chat about various aspects of the show, with a focus on the music. Agnello begins the discussion by recounting:

“I’ll always remember talking to you about doing music for you guys and I think it was you Will who said, ‘go listen to Yo LaTengo and The Lemonheads.’”

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If you’re an LA denizen and you haven’t heard of Mystery Claws, you will soon. Comprised of rockers Julia Bembenek and Matt Kivel (Princeton) and featuring drummer Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint), the band’s first single, “Flashlights” premiered on Stereogum late April and now their debut album Hydaspia (on Easter Everywhere Records) is on the market.

In the spirit of the season, band member Julia Bembenek was kind enough to throw together a BBQ mixtape for Tadpole Audio. I grabbed a meal with her a few days before their kickin’ record release party this past weekend at Pehrspace to chat about it…

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