Soggy

Sorry to do yet another playlist...but this is a Wednesday people, I have to get my sleep...

"Me And Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin

"By Your Side" by CocoRosie

"About A Girl" by Nirvana

"Beat City" by The Flower Pot Men (A personal favorite)

"Looking Glass Blues" by Charlotte Gainsbourg

-S

My vacation to mordor

Sorry everyone, I'm embarking on an epic journey in to watching the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy. However I also watched The Science of Sleep today. Starring one of my favorite female singers, Charlotte Gainsbourg. I won't be posting about Serge or Charlotte though, but a track from the soundtrack, "Contances" by Dick Annegarn. It is a great little French diddy. I can't listen to it out loud so I can't write much about it (the buddies want to be able to hear about this epic journey to Mordor. However I'll write a little bit about it tomorrow night.

"Contances" by Dick Annegarn from The Science Of Sleep OST

-S

Another place, another name, another sleepless night

The equation: Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck's "Heaven Can Wait" + Alex Turner's (of the Arctic Monkeys) + A Smokey Jazz Club + Scotland + Chicago (the musical, not the band)= Codeine Velvet Club's "Vanity Kills. In reality the singer is actually a duet between Lou Hickey and Jon Lawler (of the Fratellis). The song is super catchy with its kind of hypnotic backing vocals and then entices you with the accents and the showtune-esque melody.

Codeine Velvet Club is new to the music scene but founder Jon Lawler has a pretty established music career with the Fratellis (not one of my favorite bands, although "Whistle For The Choir" is decent-the cuteness factor is off the chart, kinda made me gag not unlike "Hey There Delilah," both continue to be guilty pleasures...). All in all the song makes a pretty big statement for this new Lawler project.

Don't really have much more to say about Codeine Velvet Club other than from what I've heard/seen so far they are a pretty classy band (see: "Hollywood"). I will not be surprised if these guys hit it big in the next year. Look out for them!

"Vanity Kills" by Codeine Velvet Club from Codeine Velvet Club (2009)

"Hollywood" by Codeine Velvet Club from Codeine Velvet Club (2009)

-S

My heart just skipped a beat

So as I was doing just a little poking around for my last post about Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck's new song "Heaven Can Wait" I stumbled upon another fantastic song.

To back-track a little and be a bit more specific, I was looking in to the duet that Lou Reed/Mo Tucker had going on "I'm Sticking With You", the Velvet Underground song (I won't lie, while I am a big VU fan, I heard this particular song first in Juno, I'm a wee-bit embarrassed) What I managed to find through the majesty of the world wide interwebs was another cover of "I'm Sticking With You" done by one of my all time favorite bands, The Decemberists. In this version Colin Meloy/Jenny Conolee duet for a version which, in my humble opinion, rivals the original. Needless to say, the lyrics are cute, far from a masterpiece, but the song is good.

"I'm Sticking With You" by The Decemberists from Always the Bridesmaid: Volume II (2008)

— S

Runs in the family

I took a class called American Literature and Nature this year which focused on American writers who took on the topic of the "Great Outdoors," writers like Henry David Thoreau and William Faulkner.

However that is not what this post is about, it's about a field trip that we took to a mountain in our area (mid-winter mind you) and we also stopped at a little cafe/bookstore/record shop for lunch. While there I talked to my teacher about music (turns out we have a pretty similar taste...she's going to see Pavement in September, I'm exceedingly jealous). One of the musicians we talked about was Serge Gainsbourg (he's great in his own right, listen to "Bonnie and Clyde" with Brigette Bardot). The conversation turned to his daughter Charlotte and her new album IRM produced by Beck (whom I love anyway, Odelay was phenomenal). I ended up just downloading the whole album as soon as I got home and stumbled upon "Heaven Can Wait" a duet she did with Beck.

Led by a punchy piano/drum part the combo of their voices is really what I've been looking for recently (after going on a VU bender and falling in love with Mo Tucker's vocals paired with Lou Reed on "I'm Sticking With You"). Without further adieu, enjoy...

"Heaven Can Wait" — Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck from IRM (2009)

— S