Day 209: Ironically, this chapter has nothing to do with the 1994 Bad Religion album of the same name. As I alluded to yesterday, this chapter offers another chance to revisit some of those more recent entries into my music collection. But first, there is something else that you should know about me. I currently subscribe to exactly two print magazine. One is Scientific America. The other is Entertainment Weekly. It must have been around 2009 when I started taking the magazine, and almost immediately I found a glowing review for a little indie film with a non-linear timeline about a couple that got together in part due to their shared interest in the band The Smiths (could it be any more in my wheel-house?) The film was the quite enjoyable "500 Days of Summer," which contained, in additional to several Smiths songs, today's song, "Us" from Regina Spektor's 2003 album "Soviet Kitsch." To me the song has this sweeping, epic feel, yet it is still a great little pop-song. It feels like a big gift that comes in a little package. I also just love the chorus, "We're living in a den of thieves. Rummaging for answers in the pages. We're living in a den of thieves. And it's contagious." Yes, it most certainly is.
04/28/2015
Day 210: One day while at Toyota, another CD showed up at my desk, courtesy of Kimber Stamm. This time, it was certainly a band that I had newer heard of, some band called "Elvis Perkins in Dearland," a folk-rock project fronted by... Elvis Perkins. Now, I have borrowed a lot of CDs from people over the years, but rarely was a band come completely out of the blue to impress me the way that this band did. The entire record has this cool, retro vibe with a great mix of instrumentation like the upright bass, harmonica, organ, and maybe even a trombone in there. Today, I wanted to highlight the first track on the album, "Shampoo." This song just shouts "cool" to me, even if it is too cool to say so by itself. "You are worth your weight in gold. You are worth your weight in sorrow baby. Though you will never know why."
04/29/2015
Day 211: I mentioned by in the fall that one of my favorite new acts is The Shins. For today's song, I thought that I would highlight a song from what is in my opinion is their best album: "Gone for Good," off from the 2003 album "Chutes Too Narrow." I have always liked the sound of the song, with the alt-country slide guitar, but I realize now that I never really paid that close of attention to the lyrics. Upon closer inspection, it is essentially a break-up song: "I find a fatal flaw In the logic of love, and go out of my head." Based on my affinity for unrequited love songs, it is no surprise that this is perhaps my favorite Shins song. I guess I go out of my head a bit as well.
04/30/2015
Day 212: I feel like the indie rock band The Decemberists are one of those acts that I have heard a lot about, but that I really don't know that much about. I had heard several of their songs, but none of them really made a strong impression on me. That was until I heard today's track, "Why We Fight" from the 2011 album "The King is Dead." I think that I probably heard the song several times before I really even knew who it was. Once I realized that the fun mix of alt-country and folk-rock of this song was The Decemberists, I had a kind of "oh, I get it now," type of reaction. The song itself sounds almost militaristic: "And when we die, we will die with our arms unbound. And this is why, this is why we fight." Is it perhaps a non-protest folk song? Yeah, probably not, but no matter there intension, I am not going to fight it.
05/01/2015
Day 213: In the midst of the folk-rock revolution that seems to be taking place around us, one song that has really stuck out to me is today's song, "Ho Hey" from The Lumineers. I think that I may have first run across this band from a performance that they did on some award show that may have even been The Grammys, and the tune really stuck with me. Then, there was a time I was on a business trip with two members of my group (Tim and Nik) when we decided to leave downtown D.C. during rush hour in an attempt to catch a flight... that departed from Baltimore... 2 hours later. In theory, we had enough time to get there, but our collective phones were telling us that we would most likely arrive just about the time the flight was going to leave. During the drive, as we fought through traffic and watched the departure time draw closer, this song came on and the three of us (mostly Tim) started quietly chanting "Hey!.... Ho!" along with the radio. It was strangely cathartic, and I am sure that on some level we were thinking that night: "I don't know where I belong. I don't know where I went wrong." We missed the flight and had to stay an additional night near BWI, but I will always associate this song with that long, futile drive.
05/02/2015
Day 214: The Canadian band Arcade Fire to me is strangely like Radiohead. They are both kind of high concept art-rock act. I like both bands a lot, but at the same time, it is a little tough sometimes to point to more than a few songs of theirs that really stand out above the rest. On some level that is good, because on some level ALL their songs are good. But, for a project like this, I seem to have a hard time highlighting any specific song. I decided that I wanted to include one more song from Arcade Fire, and I kept thinking about "the really gothic sounding song that starts with the awesome pipe organ... that I think is off from Neon Bible." Well, as it turns out, that song is called "Intervention," and it is, in fact, off of the 2007 album "Neon Bible." And, I think that we all can agree that it opens with an awesome pipe organ line. Oh, yeah!
05/03/2015
Day 215: When I started this project, I figured that I might leave a slot or two open for newer songs that may not have even been released yet when I first started putting the schedule together last summer. As of December, I did not have that open slot, but when I received The Afghan Whigs 2014 album "Do To The Beast" for Christmas, after a few listens, I knew a little space would need to be created to wedge a newer song in. I didn't even know that this album existed until I saw it on a list of "best of" albums of 2014. I was a little skeptical at first since I have already called out the Whigs as a One-Album-Wonder, but "Do To The Beast" has perhaps changed my mind. Today's song "Algiers," is a subdued but intense little gem that combines a great acoustic guitar line with Greg Dulli's cool falsetto and some of his razor sharp lyrics: "Dream, dream your sins away. Sin your dreams away." I am sorry that I doubted.
05/04/2015
Day 216: A few years ago I turned on the rarely used TV in our bedroom while I was getting dressed and the TV happened to be tuned to MTV or VH1 or some music station. Oddly, they were actually playing music videos (who knew?) That day I saw a new video for a song that I had never heard of, today's song, "Somebody That I Used to Know," by Gotye. I was instantly transfixed by the haunting duet with its use of the xylophone (very Psychedelic Furs-esque) and spare guitar. Fortunately, I realized that that TV is still hooked up to an old TiVo, so I was able to rewind and confirm the name of the artist, which came in handy when I downloaded the song a few hours later. Within a few months, the song was literally everywhere to the point where there were YouTube videos about guys that claim to hate the song, you still belt out the chours once it arrives. I feel slightly Guilty for liking the song as much as I do, but I still think it is a cool concept and cool execution of the song. If you have to have a song stuck in your head for a while, well, I think that you could do worse.
05/05/2015
Day 217: Yesterday I mentioned how I felt a little guilty about liking a certain song by Gotye. Well, as I close down this chapter on some of my new favorite songs, I have another confession to make: I also kind of like Adele. Jen and I did not really realize it at the time, but we first heard Adele on yet another performance on So You Think That You Can Dance. It was in Season 4 when Mia Michaels choreographed a piece for Katee and eventual winner Joshua to "Hometown Glory." But it wasn't really until the release of Adele's sophomore album "21" that I really took notice. It seemed like Jen had purchased the album a little ahead of most people and when I actually sat down and listened to it, I was really blown away by the super-old-school yet totally modern feel to all of her music. I also totally respect Adele's m.o. of not really seeming to care about marketing herself like a normal pop-star; she just sings the crap out of well written songs and let's the chips fall where they may. You don't need to worry about sizzle when you had good steak. So, for today's song I would like to feature my favorite song off of "21," "Rumour Has It" (spelled the British way, of course).
For the last two days, I have alluded to the idea that there are several entries into my music collection that perhaps I am not super-proud of. Everyone has their Guilty Pleasures in life, and it stands to reason that there are a fair share in mine (and I am sure your) musical libraries. So with my next chapter, I will look to explore these little gems in more detail.
No comments:
Post a Comment