Music as soul food.

Often I tend to take in music like soul food. And I think most people do it without even knowing. I personally don't just eat music when I'm sad or lonely, I use it to feed the moment and emboss a feeling. In some instances certain songs won't always work (of course), but there are some songs that work for everything. They are neutral, and emotional, and fill up all the gaps in the air around you.
You must be careful with "soul music". It is easy to become obese and to lose sight of your feet, thus causing you to tumble over. Once on the ground you'll grab for more music and eat until you pass out. You'll wake up and start blabbing about all this great music to everyone, and they turn their heads in disgust while you vomit your soul food and force it back down with a smile. (I know, this sounds gruesome, but I do want you to be careful. So I must warn you of the full repercussions. You could become... A music slob. Most people say snob. But slob it is, nevertheless.)

Here is some food for you to taste slowly and enjoy. Swallow carefully!

Our first course takes some warming up to. It's a good taste though, once you accept it. Trust me.

The waiter was careless with your second course, we'll have to just skip to dessert! What fun!
You'll really enjoy this one:

Now let that sit carefully, have a smoke or a glass of water and think about what you just ate and how great it was.
There's no use in trying to eat more now, you'll need a couple hours to fully digest all of that great music! Only two songs, I know, but they were filling weren't they?
Try not to snack before your next meal, you'll spoil it!

Hear Them Roar: An Ode to Strong Women

Madonna
This woman is 50 years old. Enough said.



M.I.A.
This video is a tribute to decades past; but still fresh to death.



Lauryn Hill
Earth Mama, digging deep.

Lookin' for soul food and a place to eat

A throwback to the greats! I've found myself listening to a lot of classic jazz records lately; call it the end-of-summertime blues. I think there's something so rich and so pure about the way Ray Charles sings this song and it's really a beautiful thing. I guess they call it soul music for a reason.

Jovial!

Delta Spirit's 'Ode to Sunshine' recently came into my hands. I was able to see them live in St. Petersburg in June and I remember this song being pretty powerful. Their live show was excellent, a lot of energy for sure.



They played with Matt Costa the night that I saw them. Costa's 'Unfamiliar Faces' is an upbeat listen, and who doesn't like a nice harmonica solo these days? I would also like to say that New Noise Management has some darn nice guys working for them, and Matt can draw one heck of a hyena!

Such a myriad to choose from

Alright, so this band has been around since 2006 and have played with the likes of Peter Bjorn and John and Hot Chip, but I just recently got the chance to listen to some tracks off of their album Red, Yellow and Blue. Basically, Vampire Weekend minus the whole ivy league thing. Here's a video of the first song on the album, also called 'Red, Yellow and Blue' followed by 'Hedonistic Me' :



They also covered 'Knife' by Grizzly Bear in '06. I just purchased Yellow House on vinyl, which was recorded for the most part in Ed Droste's mother's house right outside of Boston, and it's certainly a good listen that I would recommend checking out.

"Talk to someone when your day goes wrong." -Donnie Love

Well I suppose the torch has been passed in a sense- Isaac, a good friend of mine, offered to let me in on this little blogging operation he has going on. I'm very pleased and can't wait to start sharing. I'll start out by bringing you all the sultry sounds of Chan Marshall of Cat Power on Later with Jools Holland. Enjoy!

Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust , By Sigur Ros.

They are back after the teaser album, Heima, with a completely different project for us to soak our ears in. The album is nearly an hour long, and requires your undivided attention on a first listen (not that this is any different with their other albums).
The beginning of the album is solid. First two tracks are phenomenal. The album moves smoothly and climaxes in the middle with the song "Ára bátur". One of the greatest on the album. From there on out the album is pretty low key, but beautiful none-the-less.
All of the songs were written in 2008, no more than a month before they recorded the album, which I like.

Here you are:
http://www.mediafire.com/?cw2y3mmfbmm

I'm not young enough for love anymore

Wow, it's been a while since a post. Especially from me. So let's get one rolling.

From the jolt and rush of synthesized electronic strings to the hushed, emotive voice of lead singer Anna Persson, the first 25 seconds alone of "Subtle Changes" by Sambassadeur has solidified it's place as one of the best songs of the year. This up-tempo number swells and drives with bombastic glee, accented by a lush arrangement of strings and electronic thumps. The lyrics ache and toil, and while being backed by such a cinematic arrangement, some may be overwhelmed by the production at hand. It's that sweet. Do yourself a favor and check out the entire album "Migration". It's on one of those hyped-up Swedish labels or something.


Subtle Changes

Parades.

So I know a couple of weeks ago I posted about how it seems that Denmark has incredible bands oozing out of its pores, so today as a testament to that statement I present to you all Efterklang. The symphonic sounds they create are simply incredible and never quite go where you want them. Their songs are filled with tiny electronic snippets, strings, horns and beautiful vocals. Their new album Parades is out now in the UK and is available online, and will soon be available in the States. The bits that I've heard are simply breathtaking. Here is a video of the group performing the lead single from the new album "Mirador":


and the wonderfully animated music video for the same song:

Open up your eyeballs wide.

So, I know it has been all of two days since I last posted about my newfound fav Ben Burroughs, but Ben just updated his myspace with four tracks from his forthcoming LP This Is the End. So I figured I could excuse myself with a little blogger indulgence. The songs are exceptional, but as LeVar Burton would say, you don't have to take my word for it...

And God said...

let there be videos of Bruce Springsteen and Arcade Fire

Bruce Stringsteen and Arcade Fire - State trooper
Uploaded by trendwhore

Bruce Stringsteen and Arcade Fire - Keep the car running
Uploaded by trendwhore

...and he saw that they were good.

This must be the place.

So far, no videos have surfaced of what was surely a mind-blowing collaborative performance by Bruce Springsteen and Arcade Fire. Hopefully one does, but until then here is a video of Arcade Fire covering the Talking Heads classic "This Must Be the Place."

Lets run in circles.

There are words that I absolutely refuse to take lightly. For me, the words "genius" and "masterpiece" aren't ones that I typically dole out on any old artist or album. So when I say that I have been listening to Ben Burroughs pretty much non-stop for the past two days and that he is a genius songwriter and has created several masterpiece albums full of beauty and depth, I mean it from the bottom of my heart. Here's a review one of my friends wrote for his first album entitled Sugarbush:


"In April of 2005, in a basement somewhere in Cincinnati, Ohio Ben Burroughs finished recording what would be the first of many notches in his proverbial record release belt over the next couple of years. Titled Sugarbush, it is the story of a family living with, and without, a father, and also husband who has let them down in a big way. Inspired heavily by 60s pop, and 70s folk, as well as current DIY artists such as Phil Elverum and Adrian Orange, Ben recorded Sugarbush in it’s entirety by himself, in his mother’s basement, without any cymbals on his drum kit (a tidbit gone unnoticed until he actually revealed it to me himself.) Wispy guitar noodlings are the first thing we hear on the opening track “As a Film,“ but only for a brief forty-four seconds before being blasted by drowning guitars and a sweeping synth hook that even Kevin Shields would envy, when the albums second track, “Can’t Seem To Stop" actually kicks in. These muffled, death grind guitars sneak their ways into other tracks such as “Meet Me in the Air,” where you don’t even see them coming. Songs, “Sweet Memories,” and “Escape Talk,” are easy listeners, and impressive instrumentally, which ends up being the common thread that holds Sugarbush together. The standout track is found towards the end, titled “Leaving Today.” Charming the listener right away with a haunting waltz worthy of a party in Edward Scissorhands’ courtyard. Ending everything on a relatively melodramatic note, “Remember” gets you thinking: “What if Pink Floyd had written The Wall with only Casio keyboards on hand?” Even if Mr. Burroughs had had a full band of musicians helping him orchestrate every song and nuance on Sugarbush, I’m convinced it couldn't sound any better. Sugarbush is definately a sweet treasure and worth the time."
-Joey Cook, 2007


I would whole-heartedly agree.

Here are two tracks from Sugarbush:
Leaving Today
Sweet Memories

...and two more from Into the Lake:
Treasure City
It's About Time

I wrote about the band Enlou a while back and said that I would post a track from their forthcoming EP the closer it came to being available. Well I cant hold out any longer. Here is a track from their soon to be released EP Passing Islands.

Enlou-Little Owl

The boys also have some live dates, so be sure to check them out:
Oct 20 Fairgrounds Celina, OH
Oct 21 Molly Malones Covington, KY
Oct 26 The Forge Dayton, OH
Jan 18 Stillwater Dayton, OH

Sailing through rainbows.

I'm sure I will add little to the ever ubiquitous discussion on the internet about Radiohead's new album In Rainbows. What can be said that has not been said already?

However after listening to the album about six times through I am thoroughly enjoying it. I will say that I was worried after hearing all the live tracks and videos floating around, and nothing (except the original video of Arpeggi) caught my ear. But as uncanny as it may seem, Radiohead continues to release excellent albums one after the other and all my fears have since been quelled. To me it seems that this is a more settled and peaceful Radiohead, or about as much as we could ever expect from the boys.

When the musical world was riding high on optimism during the dot-com bubble that was soon to burst in the late 90's, they released the dark and dreary masterpiece OK Computer, that is almost more pertinent today than when it was released. Now, some ten years later it seems as though the current culture of war and fear has taken its toll on artists and there is an indecipherable tension in artists albums from The Polyphonic Spree to Arcade Fire. But Radiohead have always peered into the future. Let us hope that what they see is as beautiful and as peaceful, as a rainbow is after the storm.

The wait is over...

Before heading off to work this morning I checked my inbox and sure enough, there it was. In rainbows.

I was just starting high school the last time a Radiohead album was released.

Welcome to the beginning of the end. I can't wait to listen.

You can go home.

I am not even going to attempt to write about what is turning out to be the biggest news in the the music industry at the moment, but if by some chance you have not heard about Radiohead's new album, you can read about it here.

Otherwise...



There are experimental bands, and there are pop bands. Sometimes they are mushed together and make super-band-gravy. Chin Up Chin Up are a band from Chicago that fit the aforementioned description well and they also write songs that feel as if they've been with me all of my life. Kind of like a psychedelically colored blanket that your aunt made you when you were little that you loved, then lost. Lo and behold years later when you discover that oddly colored blanket again you delightfully regain some odd childish part of you that was always there but you had somehow forgotten about. A bit like that.
Lead singer Jeremy Bolen's voice is a bit raspy, soulful and delightfully off kilter and often he is backed by the rest of the band in mantra like sing-alongs. The lyrics and song titles are always clever and witty which is sometimes how their music sounds. Sometimes. The guitars and keyboard parts shift and stutter into each other but always groove and are always fun.

Here is a song from their most recent album, This Harness Can't Ride Anything and one from We Should Never Have Lived Like We Were Skyskrapers.

Chin Up Chin Up-This Harness Can't Ride Anything
Chin Up Chin Up-Why is My Sleeping Bag A Ghetto Muppet

Forever turned out to be too long.

There must be something special in the water over in Denmark. For such a small place, it seems that every time I turn around there is another incredible band popping its young head up on Denmark's shores. The Kissaway Trail is no different. Formerly known as Isles, this five piece from Odense is a group to keep an eye on. Their debut self-titled album was released early this year in Europe through Bella Union, and is currently only available as an import. Their sound inhabits the crossroads where hope and beauty meet, and they have crafted an album that will undoubtedly lift hearts and turn heads.

The Kissaway Trail-La La Song
The Kissaway Trail-It's Close Up Far Away

Ba La Na (and Da and Ya)

Well, I have finally done it. The End of Summer BaLaNa compilation that I have promised you readers is finally here. It proved to be more of a laborious undertaking than I originally thought, but in the end it just made it that much more enjoyable to listen to an hour plus of songs with made up words in them. You can download a zip file of the entire compilation from megaupload, and enjoy it as an ode to the preceding season. Bring on the scarf weather.


Also, I thought that a stuffed-animal riding a sailboat was a pretty good way to say "bon voyage" to summer. Just so you know.


The tracks:

1.La La Song-The Kissaway Trail
2.Ya Ya-Lee Dorsey
3.Breathing Rapture-Le Loup
4.The Rebecca Fantasy-The Polyphonic Spree
5.La Breeze-Simian
6.Head Over Heels-Tears For Fears
7.Can't Get You Out of My Head-Kylie Minogue
8.Don't You (Forget About Me)-Simple Minds
9.You Can Have It All-Yo La Tengo
10.Howling At The Moon (Sha-La-La)-The Ramones
11.Cherry Chapstick-Yo La Tengo
12.Time Wont Let Me Go-The Bravery
13.Falling-Ben Kweller
14.Recycled Air-The Postal Service
15.Too Many Pictures-The Sheds
16.Picture Book-The Kinks
17.Nowhere Man-The Beatles
18.Tom Courtenay-Yo La Tengo
19.Bruised-Ben Folds
20.Section 1 (Have A Day/Celebratory)-The Polyphonic Spree
21.A Long December-Counting Crows
22.The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down-The Band
23.Ooh La La-The Faces

The glitter of possibilities

Anathallo is perhaps one of my favorite bands of all time. They hold a very special place in my heart that I think will never be filled by another band just as there aren't really any other bands that sound like them. I have not listened to them in a while but this past week have been on a kick, and seeing as how they are currently in the studio recording a follow up to Floating World, I thought I'd share a couple of goodies. First, here's a nice video them covering The Books' song "Smells Like Content" from their tour about two years ago. Hopefully this song gets recorded at some point in the time space continuum, but until then this video is a nice representation of both the song (which probably has the best lyrics of any song I've ever heard) and Anathallo's unique interpretation.

Here is a new song called Noni's Field

Another new one called Northern Lights

Also, if you have not done so already, you can check out Anathallo's very own blog, Your Happy Makes Me Go Oldies, which is part information, part nonsensical writing and part YouTube video hound.