The Swell Season's Oscar winning song "Falling Slowly" is one of the more beautiful love songs I've had the pleasure of listening to while staring dreamily out a rain sluiced car window. It's been a while since I've listened to this song, but that is at it should be. I've overplayed too many songs I find beautiful and emotionally compelling, and they lose their impact for when they might be more needed. "Falling Slowly" is not currently loaded onto my I-tunes and I think I shall leave it that way until the song becomes a situational necessity. If you are not familiar with this song, download it at once.
I was aware this album had come out and meant to purchase it during my next music supplementing visit to Easy Street Records. Before that happened, I chanced to hear an interview on NPR that increased my interest in this album, not just because they played excerpts from some lovely songs, but because the interview included some painfully intimate moments from Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. The brief story of their relationship is that they both starred in the poignant musical "Once". They had a relationship, it died, they continued on to make their second album.
The part I remember most from this interview was a moment where the interviewer asked Glen who these songs were about - clearly expecting him to name Marketa, which he did. Marketa exclaimed that she didn't know that. I believe that we are all voyeurs, and generally I think we feel secretly ashamed of this and often, unable to control it. However, during this interview, I felt priveledged to be a rubbernecker to someone's emotional hurt. Both Glen and Marketa opened themselves up frankly and without rancour during the interview, and I felt that it was their choice to let us in so that their art was better understood. I recommend going to the NPR website, where you can listen to this revealing interview (not salaciously revealing, but one of those wonderful moments that make you feel that you are allowed into a talented person's emotional landscape and it opens the music and it's meaning to you...sort of like a drop of water opening up a scotch in a way that enhances the flavor of the scotch to a better understanding of its complexities. Heh. Whatever. Maybe that's a dumb analogy.)
Either way, this is a beautiful, low key album. I recommend it, back story or no.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Cave Singers - Welcome Joy
My current favorite album. I heard one of these songs on the radio, and knew immediately that I wanted the entire album. I was perfectly correct in that assumption, as, once bought, I found that every song on the album was wanted. On The Cave Singer's label's (Matador) website, they describe the Welcome Joy as "deliciously atumnal" which is apt. It's one of those albums that makes me feel like everything is going to be all right, and a crisp fall day infuses me with that same full feeling of gratitude and wholeness. There's something warm, optimistic and hopeful about the album. There are standout songs and some are more rollicking than others, but every song has a quality that blends it cohesively to the whole of the album. Welcome Joy's only fault might be that the songs blend too well at times. Stand outs for me are: Leap and Hen of the Woods (Hen of the Woods is, I think, my favorite - it is achingly beautiful) but every song is outstanding and having a favorite is like being given the delightful choice of which type of pie you would like best for dessert.
The Fleet Foxes 2008 album, Fleet Foxes, has a clear influence, as the folk inflected songs here are also strong on harmonies and melody. However, while the Fleet Foxes album was studied and intricate, Welcome Joy has a spontaneity to it's warmth that allows it to be merely influenced by Fleet Foxes, taking a similar asthetic then following forks and bumps along different branches.
The Fleet Foxes 2008 album, Fleet Foxes, has a clear influence, as the folk inflected songs here are also strong on harmonies and melody. However, while the Fleet Foxes album was studied and intricate, Welcome Joy has a spontaneity to it's warmth that allows it to be merely influenced by Fleet Foxes, taking a similar asthetic then following forks and bumps along different branches.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Like Hematite
Something is wrong today. My limbs and my central nervous system - while admitting a past acquaintance with each other - are not currently speaking. I don't care how rigorously my heart is pumping vital life force to my arms and legs, they are deaf to the encouragement and apparently incapable of peeling themselves back up from the couch after I got home from November's CD spree and plopped myself down upon it. I believe it to be the particular plight of a relatively new government worker unaccustomed to random holidays in the middle of the week, such as Veteran's Day, and the narcotic effects of such. Still, something feels wrong today because each of my limbs have taken upon the density of hematite.
Today I bought my first Beatles album. Ever. I am a mildly music obsessed thirty-one year old and I did not own a Beatles album. I bought The White Album because of the bitching album artwork. I WILL play it. I will play BOTH CDs. MORE THAN ONCE. But not today. It seems too much to ask a girl to buy AND listen to my first ever Beatle's album on the same day. It would seem like I CARED or that I was RELENTING in my avowed indifference to them. I thought about picking up Bob Dylan's Christmas album today too, but I will wait to buy that, and Tori's Christmas album, after Thanksgiving. Since I get wildly angry every time I hear Christmas music in stores before Thanksgiving, purchasing two Christmas albums on November 11 would have been tantamount to gathering together everything that is pure and holy and pouring pig's blood over it at the prom. But the two albums are on my to-buy list, since my next CD shopping spree is necessarily a couple paychecks away, which places it firmly post-Thanksgiving. I must be getting old. I'm putting Christmas albums on my list.
Twenty-five Kick-ass Exercise Songs
1. Cobrastyle - Robyn
2. Stronger - Kanye West
3. That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
4. Wishing Well - The Airborne Toxic Event
5. Help, I'm Alive - Metric
6. Atlas - Battles
7. Mausam & Escape - A.R. Rahman (even with wierd folksy beginning)
8. Firestarter - Prodigy
9. Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode
10. Game Set and Match - The Herbaliser
11. California Uber Alles - Dead Kennedys
12. Letter From An Occupant - The New Pornographers
13. I'm So Excited - Le Tigre
14. Boyz - M.I.A.
15. Heartbeats - The Knife
16. Diablo Rojo - Rodrigo Y Gabriela
17. Blind - Hercules and Love Affair
18. Dancing With Myself -Billy Idol
19. Dr. Yang - Ben Folds
20. Touches You - Mika
21. Shut the Club Down - Girl Talk
22. Womanizer - Britney Spears
23. Big Pimpin' - Jay-Z and UGK
24. Don't Ask Me - Public Image Ltd.
25. Finally - Ce Ce Penington
Today I bought my first Beatles album. Ever. I am a mildly music obsessed thirty-one year old and I did not own a Beatles album. I bought The White Album because of the bitching album artwork. I WILL play it. I will play BOTH CDs. MORE THAN ONCE. But not today. It seems too much to ask a girl to buy AND listen to my first ever Beatle's album on the same day. It would seem like I CARED or that I was RELENTING in my avowed indifference to them. I thought about picking up Bob Dylan's Christmas album today too, but I will wait to buy that, and Tori's Christmas album, after Thanksgiving. Since I get wildly angry every time I hear Christmas music in stores before Thanksgiving, purchasing two Christmas albums on November 11 would have been tantamount to gathering together everything that is pure and holy and pouring pig's blood over it at the prom. But the two albums are on my to-buy list, since my next CD shopping spree is necessarily a couple paychecks away, which places it firmly post-Thanksgiving. I must be getting old. I'm putting Christmas albums on my list.
Twenty-five Kick-ass Exercise Songs
1. Cobrastyle - Robyn
2. Stronger - Kanye West
3. That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
4. Wishing Well - The Airborne Toxic Event
5. Help, I'm Alive - Metric
6. Atlas - Battles
7. Mausam & Escape - A.R. Rahman (even with wierd folksy beginning)
8. Firestarter - Prodigy
9. Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode
10. Game Set and Match - The Herbaliser
11. California Uber Alles - Dead Kennedys
12. Letter From An Occupant - The New Pornographers
13. I'm So Excited - Le Tigre
14. Boyz - M.I.A.
15. Heartbeats - The Knife
16. Diablo Rojo - Rodrigo Y Gabriela
17. Blind - Hercules and Love Affair
18. Dancing With Myself -Billy Idol
19. Dr. Yang - Ben Folds
20. Touches You - Mika
21. Shut the Club Down - Girl Talk
22. Womanizer - Britney Spears
23. Big Pimpin' - Jay-Z and UGK
24. Don't Ask Me - Public Image Ltd.
25. Finally - Ce Ce Penington
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Summer Playlist 2009
This is a great summer mix. Even though after I put it together, I realized that some of the songs reference winter or the darkening of lights...but whatever. The whole mix SOUNDS like it is really about fun and summer and whimsy. Also, I realized I need to drop a few of these songs from the mix cd circuit. I've overused several of them. Resolution time!!!!!
RESOLUTION 1: Okay, this will be (I swear) the last time I use 'Fidelity', 'It's All Good', 'That's It, I Quit, I'm Movin' On' and 'Travelin' Man' in a mix. I think in the future, if I am going to reference a year in the title of my playlist I really should make at least a third of the playlist contain songs that are from the year referenced, nitpicky I know. Perhaps I should have just called this CD "A Summer Mix". This playlist only has two songs from 2009. But let's not let that deter us from the awesomeness that is this mix, or deny the validation behind the miriad of times I've played it, but in the future I vow to be more current if a mix references a year. I could just change the title, you say? But I can't, it's been burned, inked with a sharpie and passed on. There is no going back.
Summer Mix '09
1. Lights Out (Diplo's Panda Bear Mix) - Santogold
2. Always a Friend - Alejandro Escovedo
3. Fidelity - Regina Spektor (why do I insist? I mean, its not like this song isn't also overplayed everywhere else too)
4. Watch the Sunrise - Big Star
5. I Don't Know - Lisa Hannigan
6. I Don't Love Anyone - Belle and Sebastian
7. Honky Tonkin' - Joe Ely
8. Travelin' Man - Dolly Parton (seriously, though it's getting banned, I have NEVER gotten sick of this song)
9. Why Look at the Moon - The Waterboys
10. Polite Dance Song - The Bird and the Bee (2009 entry #1)
11. A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
12. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall (too obvious, too four summers ago, I should ban this one too because it too has made numerous appearances outside of enough, I just didn't think to mention it above. Seriously, though, I LOVE this song.)
13. Just A Little Bit - Etta James
14. Iko Iko - Cyndi Lauper
15. Jambalaya (On the Bayou) - Hank Williams
16. Bad Things - Jace Everett (2009 entry #2. And also perhaps the very first television theme song that I have listened to voluntarily, and added to my record collection, that I first heard as a television theme song.)
17. I Can't Dance - Gram Parsons
18. Certainly Cliquot - Robyn Hitchcock (I wish I hadn't used this song...the only one I didn't end up liking in the mix. But now it's flawed presence is as much a part of the mix as the one-two finishing punch of "I'm Allright" followed by "It's All Good". I like the song, just not here. Maybe it's there to remind me to avoid songs with jarring voices that declare in a strange and deep voice-over "she uncorked herself/teeth spilling from her nostrils" while a small chorus cheerfully chirps "she's certainly cliquot/she's certainly cruel". I think lately I've just been liking the word Cliquot, and thought I'd put it here. BAD choice, Shannon. Beirut has a good song called "Cliquot". It's a good word. It's a particular vintage of wine, I believe, but it has a beautiful staccato quality. I fell victim to the title, and forced it into the playlist...sigh.)
19. Outbound Plane - Nanci Griffith (last time I use this song, too)
20. That's It, I Quit, I'm Movin' On - Sam Cooke (last time!!!!!)
21. Telegraph - Ochestral Manoevers in the Dark
22. Just A Ride - Jem
23. Little Yellow Spider - Devendra Banhart
24. I'm Allright - The Go-Betweens
25. It's All Good (with Damien Dempsey) - Sinead O'Connor (LAST TIME)
This is a self-indulgent mix. Half of these are just, plain and simple, MY favorite songs to bop in the sunshine in the car too. Of course I give this my extra fancy AAA mix rating, but I need to open these playlists up a little more.
Funny story about how this mix came about, by the way. I wanted to give this guy a mix tape for summer - he mentioned, mumbled actually, about looking for summer type music in a cd store - so I thought, aha! I will make him a summer mix. I don't know if he is the type who likes mixes because he always burns me entire albums, but I was trying something new. So I put together the mix, loved it so much I listened to it thirty times before giving it to him. So, then, when I handed it to him I mumbled "I made a summer mix for everyone. I decided you get one" because I thought I might like him and didn't want to admit to making him a mix CD - because mix CDs are SIGNIFICANT, you know? I just sort of tossed it in his lap. Do I really like him? We-ell, I don't really know - but not enough or too much to admit to making him a mix cd. So THEN after I said that, I realized that it was kind of a good idea to make a summer mix CD, so even though summer is half over, I am going to start handing out the mix. Then I wasn't lying. I do stand by it even if it is mostly indulgence. (P.S. I did hand it out to like two other people, but continued to listen to it myself for the rest of the summer. And I know now that I DO NOT like him like him, if you know what I mean, so THANK GOD I didn't admit to making him a personalized mix CD.)
RESOLUTION 1: Okay, this will be (I swear) the last time I use 'Fidelity', 'It's All Good', 'That's It, I Quit, I'm Movin' On' and 'Travelin' Man' in a mix. I think in the future, if I am going to reference a year in the title of my playlist I really should make at least a third of the playlist contain songs that are from the year referenced, nitpicky I know. Perhaps I should have just called this CD "A Summer Mix". This playlist only has two songs from 2009. But let's not let that deter us from the awesomeness that is this mix, or deny the validation behind the miriad of times I've played it, but in the future I vow to be more current if a mix references a year. I could just change the title, you say? But I can't, it's been burned, inked with a sharpie and passed on. There is no going back.
Summer Mix '09
1. Lights Out (Diplo's Panda Bear Mix) - Santogold
2. Always a Friend - Alejandro Escovedo
3. Fidelity - Regina Spektor (why do I insist? I mean, its not like this song isn't also overplayed everywhere else too)
4. Watch the Sunrise - Big Star
5. I Don't Know - Lisa Hannigan
6. I Don't Love Anyone - Belle and Sebastian
7. Honky Tonkin' - Joe Ely
8. Travelin' Man - Dolly Parton (seriously, though it's getting banned, I have NEVER gotten sick of this song)
9. Why Look at the Moon - The Waterboys
10. Polite Dance Song - The Bird and the Bee (2009 entry #1)
11. A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
12. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall (too obvious, too four summers ago, I should ban this one too because it too has made numerous appearances outside of enough, I just didn't think to mention it above. Seriously, though, I LOVE this song.)
13. Just A Little Bit - Etta James
14. Iko Iko - Cyndi Lauper
15. Jambalaya (On the Bayou) - Hank Williams
16. Bad Things - Jace Everett (2009 entry #2. And also perhaps the very first television theme song that I have listened to voluntarily, and added to my record collection, that I first heard as a television theme song.)
17. I Can't Dance - Gram Parsons
18. Certainly Cliquot - Robyn Hitchcock (I wish I hadn't used this song...the only one I didn't end up liking in the mix. But now it's flawed presence is as much a part of the mix as the one-two finishing punch of "I'm Allright" followed by "It's All Good". I like the song, just not here. Maybe it's there to remind me to avoid songs with jarring voices that declare in a strange and deep voice-over "she uncorked herself/teeth spilling from her nostrils" while a small chorus cheerfully chirps "she's certainly cliquot/she's certainly cruel". I think lately I've just been liking the word Cliquot, and thought I'd put it here. BAD choice, Shannon. Beirut has a good song called "Cliquot". It's a good word. It's a particular vintage of wine, I believe, but it has a beautiful staccato quality. I fell victim to the title, and forced it into the playlist...sigh.)
19. Outbound Plane - Nanci Griffith (last time I use this song, too)
20. That's It, I Quit, I'm Movin' On - Sam Cooke (last time!!!!!)
21. Telegraph - Ochestral Manoevers in the Dark
22. Just A Ride - Jem
23. Little Yellow Spider - Devendra Banhart
24. I'm Allright - The Go-Betweens
25. It's All Good (with Damien Dempsey) - Sinead O'Connor (LAST TIME)
This is a self-indulgent mix. Half of these are just, plain and simple, MY favorite songs to bop in the sunshine in the car too. Of course I give this my extra fancy AAA mix rating, but I need to open these playlists up a little more.
Funny story about how this mix came about, by the way. I wanted to give this guy a mix tape for summer - he mentioned, mumbled actually, about looking for summer type music in a cd store - so I thought, aha! I will make him a summer mix. I don't know if he is the type who likes mixes because he always burns me entire albums, but I was trying something new. So I put together the mix, loved it so much I listened to it thirty times before giving it to him. So, then, when I handed it to him I mumbled "I made a summer mix for everyone. I decided you get one" because I thought I might like him and didn't want to admit to making him a mix CD - because mix CDs are SIGNIFICANT, you know? I just sort of tossed it in his lap. Do I really like him? We-ell, I don't really know - but not enough or too much to admit to making him a mix cd. So THEN after I said that, I realized that it was kind of a good idea to make a summer mix CD, so even though summer is half over, I am going to start handing out the mix. Then I wasn't lying. I do stand by it even if it is mostly indulgence. (P.S. I did hand it out to like two other people, but continued to listen to it myself for the rest of the summer. And I know now that I DO NOT like him like him, if you know what I mean, so THANK GOD I didn't admit to making him a personalized mix CD.)
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