Goldfish Swallowing, Neon Indian, Washed Out, DFA, and all things funemployed!

I was originally going to write a post a week or two back about all these sweet bands I found through Wikipedia.  I did this by originally looking up Hot Chip and then clicking through on the "related acts" link to see a bunch of others.  I soon realized that all of them shared a common label, DFA (Death From Above), and consequently downloaded everything from that label.  Then I realized all these bands were supposedly popular freshman year and I was, once again, late to jump on the bandwagon.  But nonetheless, if you were too, I would highly, HIGHLY recommend Out Hud, The Rapture, The Juan MacLean, and Black Leotard Front if you like Hot Chip.  I would also recommend The Knife.  

After my original music idea, I was going to write about the phenomenon of goldfish swallowing (apparently a common frat-party activity) originally popularized in the 1930s by Harvard freshman Lothrop Withington.  I think this is absolutely hilarious/repulsive and I'm confused as to why it was so popular.

Once it became apparent that my thoughts about goldfish swallowing were limited, and thus so too was my ability to write anything about it, I sat here, funemployed and without pants, and waited.  Then, I discovered some new music.  This stuff is actually new.  I hope nobody has heard it yet.  

I was just recently encouraged to listen to Washed Out.  My source told me, "If you like Passion Pit, you may like this."  He then sent me the EP (which has yet to be released?!).  I must say, this stuff is great.  It's sort of MGMT, sort of Passion Pit, all chill.  iTunes calls it "Synth-Pop".  Other people call it "Chill Wave".  I'm not enough of an indie/hipster dude to really know what I'm talking about, but I know enough to like this music and enjoy it for what it is.  Find the "Life of Leisure" EP on a rapidshare feed at your convenience.  To give you an indication of its liveliness, I would not end a pre-game with this music.  I would begin a night with it, and maybe end a night with it, but definitely nothing in the middle.

My enjoyment of Washed Out led me to another artist.  Neon Indian actually came before Washed Out (according to Hipster Runoff), but who really cares?  It's a similar style (Chill Wave) and very enjoyable to listen to.  Both projects aren't quite as lively as Passion Pit or MGMT, but they exude similar musical styles and therefore are very enjoyable.  I loved MGMT but got sick of them fairly quickly.  I think the variety that these bands provide will be quite useful in avoiding such an illness again.  On the pre-game scale, I think Neon Indian would prove to be a good pre-game band throughout most of an entire pre-game session.  Again, snag the EP (Psychic Chasms) on a rapidshare feed.

Enjoy the music.  See you all in a week.