O.N.E.

Yeasayer’s second album, ‘Odd Blood’, will be released in a few days (Feb 9th). I previously posted about one of the tracks, ‘Ambling Alps’, and here is another one I like. ‘O.N.E.’ continues on the sunnier side of sounds for these fellas. These boys have slightly reinvented themselves as purveyors of skiffly, electro pop. It’s all rhythmic and catchy for Yeasayer, though through their lyrics we see the glimpses of the deep brooding they served us with prior, as Keating (in his ever brilliant voice) sings, ‘You don’t move me anymore/And I’m glad that you don’t/Cause I can’t have you anymore’. It’s a nice mix of emotions.

Yeasayer - O.N.E.

On Board With My Girls

On most ‘best of’ lists for 2009, Animal Collective’s eighth studio album, ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’, was #1. And many of that album’s tracks were on people’s ‘best songs’ lists, primarily, ‘My Girls’. I never sat down and gave ‘Merriweather’ a proper listen, not sure when I will, and I’ve only heard a scattering of the tracks. But one day my friend Jon told me to listen to ‘My Girls’. I did just that, and liked it, but only recently have I started to really enjoy the song (perhaps because I hear it everywhere). Call me late to the table, but here it is. ‘My Girls’ is a great track because it builds up from a synth splattered whisper that rummages till the end of the song, though on top of it soft booms of percussion and vocalized choruses grow in a communal, washing wave of sounds.

Animal Collective - My Girls

Earthquakes & Sharks To Start Us Off

‘Earthquakes and Sharks’ by Brandston is a really old song. They played it an episode of O.C. way back when. But it shuffled on my iTunes and I wanted to post it because it’s a lot of fun. It tells the sunny tale of a man traveling to Mexico and California but getting into the worst luck every possible way. It’s upbeat, open and plays with jangly, sharp guitars. The track is one of those summer songs you drive to with the top down.

Brandston - Earthquakes and Sharks

The Rocky Road To Dublin

As mentioned before, I’ve always loved Irisk Folk music. There has always been something nostalgic, sad and beautiful about it. As one of the readers of this blog wrote when I posted ‘On Raglan Road’ by The Dubliners, ‘It’s the deep sadness with the promise of joy that is most attractive about Irish folk’ (thanks R Frederick). I couldn’t have said it better but I don’t think I could ever describe how it makes me feel. Another great song I love is ‘The Rocky Road To Dublin’ by The Dubliners. The song flushes my imagination with visions of old Irish countrysides perfumed with sea water, filled with young, porcelain skinned maidens dancing in green pastures, in circles, holding hands, celebrating a bustling festival. Perhaps it’s all those old medieval movies that fill my head with that. Either way, I was returned to this song again as it was featured in ‘Sherlock Holmes’, which I recently saw. ‘Rocky Road To Dublin’ is a 19th century Irish song written by D.K. Gavan, ‘The Galway Poet’, for the English performer, ‘Harry Clifton’. It tells of a man’s experience as he travels from Tuam to Liverpool. The song was recited a few times in James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’.

The Dubliners - The Rocky Road To Dublin

Vampire Weekend Gives Up The Gun

The #1 album in America is Vampire Weekend’s second outing, ‘Contra’. After giving it a listen I didn’t really like it. And this coming from a serious Vampire Weekend fan. I can’t say why exactly. They keep fenced in to the same sound as their first record; a mixture of indie and afro pop, though ‘Contra’ ventures into the realm of reggae, electro and calypso. Given the similar aesthetic it was a given I’d like it. Not so. I feel the new songs aren’t as catchy, driven or interesting. The only track I absolutely love is ‘Giving Up The Gun’, by far the most ‘accessible’ and ‘mainstream’ of the songs. It’s a great one actually. I love the frantic and thick start/stop of the drums, Ezra Koenig’s always smooth and youthful vocals, Rostam Batmanglij’s colorful and lush arrangements, and the simple rhyming of the verses.

Vampire Weekend - Giving Up The Gun (Removed upon request)

Cinnamon Chasers

I found this video on one of the blogs I read about videos made using the Canon 5D Mark II, and this one is pretty great, I love it. It’s far superior to the short video I made (still editing) entitled ‘A Weekend In The City’. But since it was the first one I ever did, I’ll let it slide. The colors, idea, actress, and editing in this are all brilliant. I’ve watched it over and over again today. The music video is for a group called Cinnamon Chasers and this is for their song, ‘Luv Deluxe’. Don’t know much about the band except that they are an electro ethereal (made that up) band from London.

http://www.vimeo.com/6540668

Cinnamon Chasers - Luv Deluxe

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson is just one fella. His track, ‘The Debtor’, is full of lush sounds, overdubs, backings from TV On The Radio and Grizzly Bear. Not much to say so have a listen.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - The Debtor

Fink

Most songs by singer/songwriters are carried by their voice. The different chords and melodies on an acoustic guitar only provide a certain amount of variation, but the singer’s voice really defines the track. English songwriter, Fink, sings his compositions with a scratched, bluesy, heavy husk that carries the emotions in the words he pens to a point where you can feel his introspection, running thoughts and trembling memories.

Fink - This Is The Thing

Eyes Wider Than Before

The next few posts are going to be soft, sentimental, singer/songwriter fare like the below post. I’ve been catching up on Season 3 of ‘Friday Night Lights’ and it has some great tracks. This one is ‘Eyes Wider Than Before’ by Scott Matthews. Matthews is an English artist and his debut was ‘Passing Strangers’ released in 2006. He sings in a fragile voice but picks up during the chorus with the great ability to stretch poignant words with his vocal range.

Scott Matthews - Eyes Wider Than Before

Sad Brad Smith

I watched ‘Up In The Air’ the other day and although I liked it I didn’t think it was as amazing as the hype has made it to be. There was a scene in the movie, which I think was the center point of the story, where Sad Brad Smith’s song, ‘Help Yourself’, plays over. It was a really beautiful scene. The film has a pretty solid soundtrack, but this song sticks out. In fact, during the movie/scene I had to take out my phone and use Shazam to make sure I got the track’s name.

Director, Jason Reitman, caught Sad Brad’s show at a Chicago coffee shop upon recommendation, liked what he heard and asked him to write a song for the film, ‘Help Yourself’ was the result and I think a real contender for Best Original Song. It’s a melancholy melody with a sadness that fits the style of the film.

Sad Brad Smith - Help Yourself

Das Spiegel

I love when I find a song in my music collection that I had never heard before or was aware that existed. That’s rare, so it’s a nice welcome when it happens. And such a thing happened on the plane on my way back from Pakistan. Bored of my playlists, I switched the iPod to shuffle and The Chemical Brother’s song ‘Das Spiegel’ came on. The song is from their 2007 album, ‘We Are The Night’. Das Spiegel means ‘The Mirror’ in German, though they use incorrect grammar in spelling it. Either way, it’s a nicely bleeped filled, minimalist house track.

The Chemical Brothers - Das Spiegel

Vacances

Happy New Year (16 days late). I was on vacation visiting family in Pakistan and thus the absence of posts. But here we go. I’m going to post a few tracks that were prevalent on my trip. They’re varying in age, but all great.

The first one is Of Montreal’s cover of M.I.A.’s track ‘Jimmy’, which itself is a cover of ‘Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy Aaja’, by Parvati Khan for the 1982 Bollywood film ‘Disco Dancer’. That itself is copied from the French pop song, ‘T’es Ok’. All the Jimmy tunes feature a disco aesthetic but Of Montreal’s is particularly great. They make it slower and thicker and lead singer Kevin Barnes sings in a sultry whisper.

Of Montreal - Jimmy

Next up we have a track by one of my favorite bands, Beirut. ‘My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille’ is off of Beirut’s double EP from last year, ‘March of the Zapotec/Holland’. The first being Beirut tracks, while ‘Holland’ is attributed to ‘Realpeople’, Zach Condon’s bedroom electro pop pseudonym before Beirut. As such, the tracks on ‘Holland’ are a mix of classic Beirut folk and electronic music. It’s pretty great and ‘My Night…’ is one of my favorite Beirut tracks ever. Condon sings in his haunting, deep voice, with lyrics reminiscent of the past. The title itself reminds me of the writers of the Lost Generation in the 1920s living as expatriates in France. I imagine that time to feel something like this song.

Beirut - My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille

Lastly is a track by indie singer Bon Iver. Hadn’t heard this one before but listened to it while driving in my cousin Adnan’s car. Love it. It’s filled with heartache, longing, introspection, sadness and hope.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

My List

As the decade is winding down the world has been aflush with ‘top #/favorite lists’. I always find such lists hard to do as I feel there is more I want to fit in them, that some items could rotate, depending on my mood or point in life. As such, I wasn’t going to do a top 10/20, etc, albums of the decade. But, I was thinking about it the other day and I’m going to list my favorite albums of the decade. Not necessarily by musical technicality or popularity, but really just the ones that meant the most to me in the past ten years, the ones that defined specific, special or important parts of my life. They shouldn’t come as a surprise. So here they are in no particular order.

1. The Strokes - Is This It

2. The Killers - Hot Fuss

3. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

4. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

5. Chromeo - Fancy Footwork

6. The Postal Service - Give Up

7. Daft Punk - Discovery

8. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

9. Spoon - Kill The Moonlight

10. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

11. Ryan Adams - Gold

12. Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism

13. The Kooks - Inside In/Inside Out

14. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

15. Justice - Cross

Turning Of The Tide

I heard this song on the car radio and Shazamed it. ‘Turning of the Tide’ is by Richard Thompson. I had never heard of him before. He’s a musician from England who’s been active since the 60s. He writes singer/songwriter fare and is apparently known as one of the best acoustic guitarists, which this song certainly solidifies. I really love the song. The speed and thickness of the acoustic guitar, the quick lyrics, the deepness in Thompson’s voice, the lyrics about a girl with many lovers.

Richard Thompson - Turning Of The Tide

Grum’s Bad Romance

I’m not particularly a fan of Lady GaGa, she’s alright enough for crafting really popular pop music. Her new single, ‘Bad Romance’, is not bad, save for the weird gurgling noises in the beginning. Either way, Grum does a great mix of the song, making it tremendously better. He leaves out the extraneous parts of the track, focusing on the better points, (such as the chorus) and adds his style of layering; deep, thick, electronic melodies over the original.

Lady GaGa - Bad Romance (Grum Remix)

Here Comes Your Man

As I’ve mentioned plenty of times on this blog (here and here), ‘500 Days of Summer’ was one of my favorite movies of the year. Brilliant on so many levels. I just watched it again and as before really loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s cover of the Pixies’ song ‘Here Comes Your Man’, during kareoke, particularly when he screams ‘Outside there’s a boxcar waiting’. The title of the track is also fitting to that part of the movie.

Pixies - Here Comes Your Man

A Stornoway Is Coming

Oh how I love music like this. Stornoway is a new band from Oxford, England, though named after a town in the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. They play folk pop with open pastural inspiration. It makes you feel youthful, nostalgic, and wanting to square dance around in circles in a sawdust laden beer hall. It’s that type of music that comes from another time.

Stornoway - Zorbing

Hot Chip’s Transmission

Joy Divison; one of my favorite bands. Hot Chip; one of my favorite bands. Put them together, well, that’s pretty great. A while back Hot Chip covered Joy Division’s song ‘Transmission’. I like it a lot. Hot Chip keeps the same melody as the original but makes it their own by converting it into an electro, disco-esque tune. I’ve always loved Alexis Taylor’s vocals and that’s no different here. They’re softer and soothing when compared to Ian Curtis’, who sings with grit, anger and depression. But Taylors’ are better matched to the new melody. Looking forward to their new album next year.

Hot Chip - Transmission

Joy Division - Transmission

HURTS

HURTS, from Manchester; moody, gloomy, dreary, but touched with a little hope, all descriptions that encompass HURTS’ music. The group is another one slated by the BBC to be a standout band in the upcoming year. HURTS is making themselves known through their dark, brooding, synth pop track, ‘Wonderful Life’ .

HURTS - Wonderful Life

Girl Is On My Mind

I’m really liking the track, ‘Girl Is On My Mind’, by The Black Keys off of their 2004 album, ‘Rubber Factory’. It’s a perfect track done in their blues-rock aestheic, with aggressively distorted guitars and cymbal and snare seizures, that create for an extremely raw sound.

The Black Keys - Girl Is On My Mind