Happy Mother's Day Weekend! In celebration, I downloaded two complete albums today--to show I'm old(er) and hip(per): the new Paul Simon and Beirut albums. You'll find a song from each below. We're heading off to a watermelon festival in a little bit for good, sticky, old timey fun, so on to the music. Oh, I'm supposed to tell everyone that we watched the Tom Sawyer-end of an HD Rush concert last night, and Geddy Lee was playing through a front loading washer dryer. I'm betting this would have made some sense if we had tuned in before the last 5 minutes, but then again, I would have had to watch more Rush. Yeah, that's fine.
Song 132: Ashley Monroe, "Satisfied." This is the free download of the week. If Anna Nalick were twangy, younger and slightly less talented, this could be her. Hey, it's free! And, the answer is that nobody ain't satisfied because we live under capitalism. See iTunes.
Song 133: Beirut, "Scenic World." Found this under new releases, and it's totally awesomely beautiful. A world music soundscape complete with accordians, synthesizers, and plaintive vocals. To my ears, it seems fairly original, which is a novel idea in today's indie landscape. I have no idea who this group is, but they rock!
Song 134: Paul Simon, "Father and Daughter." I love Paul Simon, can't help it. This is a very touching song, especially on a family weekend. I don't particularly like Brian Eno, but there's a nice wash of sound textures to this and other songs that can likely be credited to him. This song reminds me a great deal of Richard Wilbur's "The Writer"--a poem that like this song makes me tear up.
Song 135: The Rakes, "Work, Work, Work (Pub Club Sleep)" I don't remember downloading this. It has an overly long intro, standard 80s retro rock feel (with more cursing, though). An okay though basically forgettable song. If you lived in London, you could see them "play in a cave whilst eating a kebab." I admit that would pick this song up--a lot!!
230 to go.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Friday, May 12, 2006
Songs One-Hundred Twenty Five to Thirty-One
Ack. I don't know where I am in this thing, but whilst I wait for my son's underwear to dry for an overnight at the local gym (Note to self--buy more underwear for son, for god's sake), I'll knock out a couple tunes. But not before adding that it seems wrong that all my "vacation" days are spent on doctors' appts and laundry. At least I got a pedicure.
Song 125: The Spinto Band, "Oh Mandy." Not the Barry Manilow song--more twee (can you imagine?) and with faux-mandolins, I think. Turns "Mandy" into a three syllable name at points. Very post-post. I heard a bit today on the radio whilst driving to the doctor about some online emo band name generator. I thought of it during this song. Here are two: http://members.aol.com/Valdes379/EmoGame.html and http://emo.t-error-ist.de/index.php?l=en
Song 126: Deerhoof, "Twin Killers." This is an awesome song. The opening guitar is backed by a landing flying saucer, and the little girl singer is balanced by perfectly angry, retro rock. It sounds like Cake without horns, fronted by a girl. Well done.
Song 127: Brendan Benson, "Cold Hands (Warm Heart)." Pleasant post-MOR. The instrumentation has a nice lyrical quality at points but at other points it's a bit overcooked. Listening to this, I can tell that Jack White is the king of the Raconteurs, since little of Mr. Benson seems to emerge.
Song 128: Rosa Chance Well, "Bell's Inn." This is a pretty song. It reminds me of another artist, but I can't place it right now. It has a slight alt-country flavor but takes this in a non-pandering direction that's nice. Their official website seems to have died, which doesn't bode well for the band, I guess.
Song 129: The Delgados, "All You Need is Hate." What a great slogan. The song begins with a wonderfully positive swell that is undercut by the lyrics--which are too, too true: "hate is all around." The dissonance between lyrics and music is reminiscent of "Dear God." The band has recently broken up, so maybe they needed a bit more than hate. Still, it's a cool song!
Song 130: Rogue Wave, "Publish My Love." The song balances its emo-ness with a wall of sound in a good way that adds some depth--though it has a hint of Coldplay about it. Very guitar-y. The singer seems in angry, guitar-y love with another, a love that cannot be "published." Clearly, they've never heard of the Star.
Song 131: Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy." I downloaded this song a while back pre-the Gnarls Barkley fever, based solely on the name. Who doesn't love Sir Charles? Though I would argue one could form a tribute band around him, as we all know now, this is a Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo project. Absolutely awesome!! It's driving, lilting, surprising Brit-Soul feeling. Out of all the songs in this post, it is the must listen.
234 to go.
Song 125: The Spinto Band, "Oh Mandy." Not the Barry Manilow song--more twee (can you imagine?) and with faux-mandolins, I think. Turns "Mandy" into a three syllable name at points. Very post-post. I heard a bit today on the radio whilst driving to the doctor about some online emo band name generator. I thought of it during this song. Here are two: http://members.aol.com/Valdes379/EmoGame.html and http://emo.t-error-ist.de/index.php?l=en
Song 126: Deerhoof, "Twin Killers." This is an awesome song. The opening guitar is backed by a landing flying saucer, and the little girl singer is balanced by perfectly angry, retro rock. It sounds like Cake without horns, fronted by a girl. Well done.
Song 127: Brendan Benson, "Cold Hands (Warm Heart)." Pleasant post-MOR. The instrumentation has a nice lyrical quality at points but at other points it's a bit overcooked. Listening to this, I can tell that Jack White is the king of the Raconteurs, since little of Mr. Benson seems to emerge.
Song 128: Rosa Chance Well, "Bell's Inn." This is a pretty song. It reminds me of another artist, but I can't place it right now. It has a slight alt-country flavor but takes this in a non-pandering direction that's nice. Their official website seems to have died, which doesn't bode well for the band, I guess.
Song 129: The Delgados, "All You Need is Hate." What a great slogan. The song begins with a wonderfully positive swell that is undercut by the lyrics--which are too, too true: "hate is all around." The dissonance between lyrics and music is reminiscent of "Dear God." The band has recently broken up, so maybe they needed a bit more than hate. Still, it's a cool song!
Song 130: Rogue Wave, "Publish My Love." The song balances its emo-ness with a wall of sound in a good way that adds some depth--though it has a hint of Coldplay about it. Very guitar-y. The singer seems in angry, guitar-y love with another, a love that cannot be "published." Clearly, they've never heard of the Star.
Song 131: Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy." I downloaded this song a while back pre-the Gnarls Barkley fever, based solely on the name. Who doesn't love Sir Charles? Though I would argue one could form a tribute band around him, as we all know now, this is a Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo project. Absolutely awesome!! It's driving, lilting, surprising Brit-Soul feeling. Out of all the songs in this post, it is the must listen.
234 to go.
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