photo by Lydia Daniller

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Each and every Friday we deliver songs by local artists. Today’s selection, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Careful With That Hat” by Citay from the 2010 album Dream Get Together on Dead Oceans.

Citay is a 7-piece band living and working out of my previous home of San Francisco, California. Have you been there? It’s a beautiful city — alive and kicking with every branch of culture you could ever want to hang from. The city as it is affectionately referred to is a musical mecca of past and present, consistently spawning some of the left coast’s most intriguing new voices. Citay, formed in 2004 by Ezra Feinberg (Piano Magic) and Tim Green (The Fucking Champs), is one of these bands. Built up around some of the hipp(y)er moments of the past Citay’s sound harnesses the core tools of pop music (guitars, keyboards, percussion) to create melodic Beach Boys-esque psychedelic rock that lingers on the fringes of the modern day Haight-Ashbury strip mall. Dream Get Together marks the band’s third proper release ( an additional album of remixes appeared last year) and second for the ever expanding Dead Oceans label (Dirty Projectors, Califone, Phosphorescent). Something of a concept album the title refers to a songwriting project in which band members and friends (Jens Lekman, Bishop Allen & Stephen McBean to name a few) concocted fantastical meetings of folks both alive and dead. This creative framework coupled with Citay’s propensity for drug-rock’s mellowed atmosphere boils down to a record that is both diverse and, well, at times kinda trippy.

“Careful With That Hat” jumps to life immediately with boppily pleasant bongos and happily tapped xylophone keys that act as a calm, cool breeze before the storm of guitars you just know are on the way. Before you can pull out your umbrella fuzzy electric guitars hit you sideways with the confidence of a coked up 70’s rock god. Initially grounded in the nearly twee ethereal female/male vocals “Careful With that Hat” eventually cuts the cord, exploding into controlled abandon replete with meandering layers of synth, GUITAR and percussion that flirt with disintegration but never see it come to pass –- and that my friends is what we call the sweet spot.

Citay start a new tour at the end of the month. No Seattle date yet exists on their MySpace page, but according to the band’s website, where you can follow the progression of Dream Get Together and the Remix project, they’ll be in the Pacific Northwest in May. For now, here’s a live clip from ‘08 of their song “Little Kingdom”:

Music fanatics everywhere can breathe once again as this week’s new releases promise only the most excellent albums to come in 2010. Prolific folk artist Stephin Merritt has created yet another masterwork with Magnetic Field’s new album, Realism. Releasing 19 albums in 19 years under several get-ups, Realism is as inspirational and instrumentally seductive as Merritt’s latter works, staying true to his pessimistic outlook on love while shifting away from Magnetic Field’s signature abrasive sound. Complete with the flugelhorn, the harpsichord, children’s music and even the author Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) on accordion and backing vocals, Realism is a must-have for any indie folk collection.

Dream pop duo Beach House released their breathtaking third album and debut Sub Pop record, Teen Dream. The whimsical “Norway” and the wandering “Silver Soul” are the star tracks of the nighttime soundtrack, and guarantee to transport any listener to another world. Retribution Gospel Choir focus on big guitars and pop hooks with their second album 2. Unlike their debut, 2 separates the three-piece band from singer/guitarist Alan Sparhawk and bassist Steve Garrington’s former slowcore project, Low, giving them a well-deserved identity of their own.

San Fransisco sextet Citay released their riff heavy, jam monster, Dream Get Together. Influenced by momentous 70s sound, the soft-loud album is epic and energetic, refreshing from much of today’s dismal, downer melodies. Toronto punkers Fucked Up released a double-disc compilation of 25 of their hardest-to-find and uncollected 7″ and 12″ tracks with Couple Tracks: Singles 2002 - 2008, giving mosh pit lovers everywhere more of an excuse to thrash. British producer/multi-instrumentalist Kieran Hebden (a.k.a. Four Tet) explodes into the new year with his fresh and hypnotic fifth studio album There Is Love In You (”Love Cry” was featured as Monday’s Song of the Day). And, Welsh band Los Campesinos! ripen from their giddy pop beginnings with their third album, Romance Is Boring, saturated with fuzzed electric guitar, and catchy strings and horns.

All in all, this is a week of musical awesomeness with power labels generously releasing multiple albums. Sub Pop cranked out AFGCT’s self-titled album, along with those of Beach House and Retribution Gospel Choir. Matador released their various artist salute to the city of Austin, Texas with Casual Victim Pile: Austin 2010 along with Fucked Up’s album. Drag City put out several records, including Major Star’s Return to Form, Scout Niblett’s The Calcination of Scout Niblett and The Red Krayola’s Five American Portraits. Even Thrill Jockey got multiple album action with Chicago Underground Duo’s Boca Negra and Robert A.A. Lowe & Rose Lazar’s Eclipses. Don’t forget to check out Largehearted Boy’s list for even more outstanding records before heading out to your local record shop.

• There was a time when playing on MTV Unplugged carried a weighty value. Clapton’s reimagining of “Layla” for the over-40 set, LL Cool J changing the rap game by taking it unplugged. But MTV went young as most of us grew old, but it reckons that some of those who passed on flannel for khakis will get a kick of the latest Unplugged participant: Vampire Weekend. Click the band’s name to watch the episode.

• The wealth of tribute albums in the market could make anyone’s head spin. From the epic to the gutter, tribute albums range in variety, range, and style. Yet the idea of a new tribute toward the Thin White Duke, David Bowie, is due in May via Manimal Vinyl. The titleless tribute will feature contributions from Vivian Girls, MGMT, and Duran Duran among others. All proceeds will benefit the charity, War Child.

• Although a Smiths reunion seems no closer to happening than when the group first split, former bassist Andy Rourke, who’s maintained a royalty dispute with Morrissey, joined the NYC-based Smiths cover band Sons & Heirs at Brooklyn’s Bell House on Saturday night. Though doubtfully paving the way to friendlier relations, Rourke went so far as to cover a couple of Moz’s solo tunes with the band.

• It’s been a few weeks since a peep from Animal Collective, so allow this newly released video of “Brother Sport” from Merriweather Post Pavilion serve as a refresher:

• Aside from hosting the wonderfully obtuse Spectacle, people may recall that Elvis Costello was and is a recorded musician with a pile of albums to his name. Now it’s time to add the second edition of Costello’s recent live series, Live at Hollywood High, to the top of the stack! The album captures a live 1978 show from Costello (with The Attractions).

• About a year ago, the Bay Area band Citay joined us for a mind-melting in-studio session. Now, they’re ready to release their third LP, Dream Get Together, and have asked their friends Jens Lekman, The Antlers, Suckers, Steve McBean of Black Mountain and Pink Mountaintops, Nicole Atkins, Bishop Allen, Akron/Family, and others to describe what their imagined “dream get togethers” would be. Merrill Garbus of tUnE-YarDs provides the first description on the band’s website and also guests on “Mirror Kisses” from the new album:

• There is a lot to hate Billy Corgan for: making kids whiny in the 90s, walking around with a bulbous head (and that’s not a Jessica Simpson joke), and the inflated size of his ego that grows three sizes larger per day. But then he wakes up one day with an idea that may actually work such as beginning his own label and signing The Germ to that label.

• Vampire Weekend again breathes life into the talk show circuit this week, which still features mostly repeats. But you can see them twice, on Conan and Ferguson if you’re so inclined.

  Monday, January 11

  Conan O’Brien: Vampire Weekend

  Tuesday, January 12

  Carson Daly: The Raveonettes (R)

  Wednesday, January 13

  Carson Daly: Lisa Hannigan (R)

  Thursday, January 14

  David Letterman: The Low Anthem
  Craig Ferguson: Vampire Weekend
  Carson Daly: Pete Yorn (R)

  Friday, January 15

  go see a live show!

photos by Chad Syme

San Francisco’s own Citay is a largely instrumental group started a few years back by Ezra Feinberg and The Fucking Champs’ Tim Green. With such epic, sweeping melodies in mind, the band quickly ballooned into an octet before settling into the current 6-piece form. A classic rock guitarist at heart, Feinberg continues to root the band in the 70’s era while Citay’s overall sound remains essentially timeless. Inherent in the modern, synth-rock laden compositions are the undeniable inspirations of bands like The Byrds and Pink Floyd. Over the course of two full-length records, those inspirations and attention to detailed, 5+ minute songwriting have led to a profound dynamism with songs often spanning the dour and euphoric before reaching their grand conclusions. Following the late 2007 release of Little Kingdom on Dead Oceans, Citay has remained relevant by taking their dynamic sound to the stage, earning them a recent Goldie Award, a yearly prize offered by the San Francisco Bay Guardian that recognizes exceptional performance across the arts. There are currently no upcoming tour dates, but keep up on their website and/or MySpace page for up-to-date information.