--A
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Knowing someone you love don't feel the same way about ya
I don't think I've posted Kid Cudi before on this blog (maybe in passing). As of now, he is one of my favorite rappers. What I like most is his grounding in the indie rock sound. His music is very reliant on the track as opposed to relying heavily on his lyrical content (which is pretty amazing as well).
Take for example my newest Kid Cudi obsession, "Erase Me." The songs lyrical content is pretty great but it has that classic rock sound if you strip away the vocals. It would be a pretty good stand-alone stadium rock track. Or even his more famous song: "Pursuit Of Happiness." It has a base with the indie rock scene-the collaboration with MGMT and Ratatat helps expand the fan base and the range of his musical ability.
Not really sure where I was going with this post, but I sure do love listening to Kid Cudi.
-S
Monday, August 30, 2010
Hell, I wanna scream
Kind of a short post for today-it's been a long weekend and I need something to ease myself in to another week of classes. The song is by a band I have already posted before but I found a newish track by them. The song is "I Think I Love You" by The Guggenheim Grotto.
The song is odd for them a little bit of a departure from their softer melodies in to this country twang sound. What really gets me are the lyrics which are beautifully written (albeit a little sappy) but it is just so great. "You see it's not that I do or don't believe, it's that I just don't believe in God and aliens and love at first sight." It just sounds beautiful when paired with the steel string guitar and the drums. Mike Lynch who takes the vocal duties on this track just has a voice cut out for country music (and from an Irishman no less!) Enjoy the song and enjoy the week.
-S
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
I think you're the older brother
I found this song today and am quietly obsessed with it. The song is called "Older Brother" by California band Pepper Rabbit. The band releases their new (and first) album Beauregard on October 26th-and after hearing the first song off of the album via HypeMachine I think its going to be really excellent.
The song starts with this little eukelele solo mixed in with drums and a glockenspiel possibly. Overall the instrumentals in the song are very minimalist but it just makes it all the more clean in its composition. Then comes the vocals which are just amazing-its faded a little in the background in to an echo effect (much like the effects used by The Shins). I have not yet had a chance to really read an process the lyrics-the liner notes are still nowhere to be found. The song has this real sway to it that really demands your attention. The song lyrics from what I can hear are pretty sad. What really gets me is the refrain "And I think you're the older brother that I never had, I wish I could reach out and touch you, don't worry I'm not sad, I know you're just where you want to be" That line is just so beautiful-hopefully all of their songs will carry this lyrical weight-my anticipation for the album to come out is palpable right now.
-S
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Such a constant ache in me
Back from a long hiatus in posting! Anyway, I may have mentioned my habit of choosing one or two songs from the masses of albums I download, and letting the rest molder un-listened-to on my computer. If I haven't mentioned it, well... there it is. The plus side of the situation is that sometimes as I idly scroll through my iTunes library, I happen upon something quite nice.
That's what happened with "Complimentary Me" by Elizabeth and the Catapult, a Brooklyn-based trio. Ran across it today during some idle scrolling and was a fan from the get-go. The song's opening definitely sets the tone, with an upbeat harmonica/guitar intro that introduces the folksy, almost western feel (not unlike the stylings of London band Mumford and Sons).
It steadily gets better from there, with Elizabeth Ziman's positively lovely voice and the rollicking, toe-tapping choruses. Ziman's singing has this great clarity, with a slightly breathy edge that borders on that crack-y, riff-y, country-western vocal style (reminds me a little of Flroence Welch of Florence and the Machine). Her lyrics are sweetly perplexed, warmly sad, and altogether charming.
The only thing that bothers me about this song: in the context of the lyrics--"Oh dear me, what a strange peculiar thing that I should always see someone just like me"--doesn't she mean, Complementary Me? Hmm. We'll never know.
--A
Any way you can be found
I gotta say, the more and more music I listen to, the more similarities I find in bands of a specific genre or time. Now, some would say that songs with in a genre should be inherently similar. But often it is not in such a way that makes you think it's so similar you've heard it before. It's almost as if a formula has been laid out and just recycled over and over.
In this case, the song is "Abandon" by French Kicks (another find by fellow editor A). The song just sounds so incredibly familiar that you can almost predict its patterns, its lulls, its crescendos. On the other hand, though, it feels good every time I hear it. I don't mind the patterns; when something works, it truly works. The more I listen, the more it comes into its own... but I just feel as if I've heard it before-and that's fine, it just drives me crazy.
The song starts out with this electric guitar solo coupled with a syncopated clap that grabs you right away-cue drums-cue keyboard... now we are really vibing. However, it doesn't seem to do much from there (but like I said it works). The singer, Nick Stumpf, has this crazy loftiness to his voice (think Fleet Foxes). Granted this isn't the greatest track I've ever heard-but it is jam-worthy and slowly gaining steam on my play count right now.
-S
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Bones bones brittle little bones
This is a pretty feel-good/end-of-the-summer track from Canadian band Islands. I think I've mentioned Islands before (at least in passing or in a playlist). I first caught wind of Islands through a CD swap and frankly, wasn't all that impressed. They were a little generic and, overall, did not do it for me.
However "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby" is a pretty polished and up-beat pop track (credit to fellow editor A for digging it up). Fresh doesn't even begin to describe how the track feels. It kind of has the Brett Dennen happy thing going, and it kind of gives me a toothache in the same way Dennen does (because its way too sweet in its composition). The song also has that same "Electro-Socket Blues" (a Rogue Wave song) thing going in terms of the content of the song. "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby," as far as I can discern, is about eating disorders. The lyrics actually lean towards brilliance: "total void tells me stories/sometimes they make me sorry," sings Nick Diamonds, Islands frontman.
The song is great-enjoy the last bit of summer.
-S
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
He wants to eat to live
Finally the whole new people/new music thing is paying off. The band is called Man Man. At first I was not sure what to think about them. They were described as a vaudevillian viking drunk jazz band-still not sure what that means (my best guess was a combo of Mika, Sigur Ros, and Soul Coughing). Sadly (or maybe thankfully) it fell in to none of those categories.
The song is called Rabbit Habits, and to be perfectly honest I didn't really get the whole intro to the music video so I won't even post it (that is how incredibly uncomfortable it made me for some reason). It has the piano and brass section combo going for it that sounds if anything like this uplifting early morning street music feel. As for the vocals they really just rock this track. I'm not sure what it is about their singer Honus Honus (a pseudonym). His voice just gets you and pulls you in, and, from there, never lets go. Besides those two kind of weak points I'm not sure what it is about the song that really just pulls me in. Enjoy!
-S
Monday, August 23, 2010
Well all I want is to just be free
Couldn't think of what I was going to write about. I haven't really interacted with too many people when it comes to conversations about music. So I'll play a song that I heard about a while back and have been meaning to download/post.
The first song I heard a couple weeks ago on a drive for some late night fast-food. The DJ gets on and says he is going to play a song that was forgotten by the passing of time. It is a pretty archetypal rock song from the late 60's. The song is called "Pushin' Too Hard" by The Seeds. It has the slightest tendency to sound a little bit Doors'y. The lyrics aren't really much to marvel at but its the guitar that sticks out. The rhythm section is pretty basic throughout the song but the lead guitar has these tiny little surf-rock interludes that adds a flavor to the song that takes it out of the realm of the ordinary. They also use these really pleasant harmonies towards the end of their chorus which makes the song what it is.
Now this is a band that I know very little about so I had to trust my personal music bible-wikipedia. Despite what teachers say it is an extremely useful source for finding band info and biographies. What they say is that the band is from the L.A. area which makes sense considering their surf-rock sound. But whats more interesting is the fact that they are considered one of the founders of the garage and punk rock sound (as made famous by the Seattle area music scene).
See, its bands like The Seeds that really make doing this interesting. I find out information that I would normally never have use for or the need to find. I always thought the punk rock sound was an invention of the late 70's and early 80's but it was pioneered as early as the late 60's. That is why I do this-to learn and hopefully help the 10's of people that read this learn a little something.
-S
Sunday, August 22, 2010
I don't do too much talking
First day of college is done-and I am tired as shit. I won't get in to it too much as I have been away for the whole summer (those playlists don't really count in my book as posts). The only note is that the girl down the hall listens to Tegan and Sara, Death Cab, and The Mountain Goats so that could be a goldmine of new music but I assume the radio station will afford me the same opportunity.
Some may say I've already posted this song but I could not pass up an opportunity to post this version. I promise I am not obsessed with the song, I just think it has really stood the test of time.
I guess the first post to kick off the summer will be ripped straight from one of the blogs that I read. This comes straight from DailyBeatz (its ok to repost one of their songs considering they scooped me by only a few hours on some song a couple months back.) The song is a remix of a Nico song (of Andy Warhol superstar "fame"). I first heard her music in the movie The Royal Tenenbaums, the song was These Days, the cinematography was great, and more so I found Nico's voice haunting. So as you can assume I was excited to see someone had remixed the song. In this case by Japanese Electro/Acid-Jazz artist Shinichi Osawa.
The song begins the same with the same iconic rhythm guitar but then quickly diverges into an entirely different experience that runs rampant with vamping and excessive loops. For the most part that is the only change but a tiny change like that coupled with the drum beat and a few synth affects turns the song into another genre and another league. It is with this that I think a song can be given a face-lift to go better with the times. By no means is this a club beat and remix, but it gives it a fresh feel with a song that after a while sounds a little dated. Enjoy the track and be sure (if you haven't already) to listen to the original.
"These Days" by Nico remixed by Shinichi Osawa
(I could not find it on YouTube but here is the link to the DailyBeatz post)
-S
Fun Fact: The song was originally written by Jackson Browne and done by Gregg Allman and Elliot Smith as well (all three versions are very different interpretations)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Last Day Off
My summer ends this coming Saturday then it is off to Ohio.
MY SUMMER SOUNDTRACK Pt. IX
-S
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
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