It’s not often that a song makes it directly from my email inbox onto a post in one day, but occasionally a song drifts along and forces me to pass it on. This morning I got a cover of the Killers track When You Were Young as it is reinterpreted by the Noisettes in an in studio live performance across the pond in the UK. I edited the track a bit so all you get is the music {not the intro and outro} and I put it into stereo as I always think it sounds a bit better than when tracks are presented in mono. Enjoy the music, enjoy your weekend.
mp3 : Noisettes - When You Were Young (Killers Cover in the Live Lounge)
While I’m not a huge fan of changing the lyrics to make a cover I’m choosing to overlook that small detail in favor of the original quality of this track. The bridge is delightful. Wait for it.
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The boys behind Lonely Island; Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, are brilliant. There, I said it. They’re quite honestly the best part of SNL in the current season {probably the best parts ever since Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon left the show} and it amazes me how they somehow convince big stars across the board to partner up for a quick song and accompanying music video in the form of a SNL Digital Short. To round out their tour of all that is awesome earlier this year the boys behind The Lonely Island decided to put together a full length album entitled Incredibad (amazon) (itunes) and give all of us fans a full forty two minutes of fun.
mp3 : The Lonely Island - I’m On a Boat (feat T-Pain)
mp3 : The Lonely Island - Lazy Sunday (feat Christ Parnell)
mp3 : The Lonely Island - Boombox (feat Julian Casablancas)
I could have chosen almost any of the nineteen tracks on the album but I thought these three showcase the actual talent behind the music. Granted there’s nothing about putting things in boxes or cleaning something out of your pants mentioned in these songs, but I really think these three are a good sample of the work and musicality that actually go into a creating a great parody. And on top of that Lazy Sunday started the trend, Boombox features one of my favorite artists of all time, and I’m On a Boat had the most ridiculous production budget for an SNL Digital Short I’ve ever seen {not to mention it is quite obviously the best rap/hip hop parody ever created}.
Anyone want to get together and split a bottle of Santana Champ?
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For some reason track seven from Arcade Fire’s first album, 2004’s Funeral (amazon) (itunes), has been stuck in my head for almost a month now. From the repeated and chanted chorus of “ohhh” to the story Win Butler weaves throughout the song I just can’t seem to get it out of my thoughts. So I thought I’d troll the interwebs and find a few various versions of this track to cheer everyone up in what has become a bit of a rough stretch for the world.
mp3 : Arcade Fire - Wake Up
mp3 : Arcade Fire - Wake Up (Live)
mp3 : Arcade Fire - Wake Up (Live Acoustic Sessions Version)
mp3 : Arcade Fire & David Bowie - Wake Up (Live at Fashion Rocks)
Although I really love the album version of Wake Up there’s something about the live energy of the song that really catches my attention. I love how crowds hold onto the “ohhh” and give the track a bit of extra raw power. And let us all be honest for a brief moment, the live version that they played with The David Bowie is absolutely priceless. I mean that guy was in Labyrinth.
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There are some artists that just grab your attention and never let it go no matter what new bands or new albums come along to steal your short term attention. Zach Williams is one of those artists. I first became hip to his sound when he was living in Florida, playing under the moniker Zach Williams and The Ramparts, and only had a few tracks available on his myspace page. Well today I stumbled upon a few of the tracks that I first learned to love about two years ago and I thought I would put them up for everyone to hear.
mp3 : Zach Williams - Across the Bridge (Live at Rockwood)
mp3 : Zach Williams - Fears (Live at Rockwood)
Zach just has a sound that makes me extremely proud to have found his music and, according to the index over at hypem.com, there has yet to be a single other blog on this planet that’s mentioned Zach’s music. Now he lives in New York and plays a variety of intimate shows and you should count yourself lucky to see a live set. If you do happen to drop by a set make sure you talk to Zach after his show, and mention you heard about him here on TWF. I’ve had a few readers do just that and I’m hoping more of you will follow suit.
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The other day I wrote a bit about French Canadien artist Coeur de Pirate and claimed that she was a bit like all the good parts you love about Regina Spektor minus all the annoying songs you don’t appreciate quite as much. Well that got me thinking about another artist that I would file under the same heading. Bosque Brown’s latest album Baby (amazon) is full of songs that may, at times, reference the trademark sound of artists such as Coeur de Pirate and Regina Spektor, but there is another layer to front woman Mara Lee Miller’s sound. This album has some absolutely stunning moments of pure American folk in it and it’s worth listening to every song.
mp3 : Bosque Brown - Went Walking
mp3 : Bosque Brown - This Town
On Went Walking, possibly my favorite track on the album, Mara sings with an overtly melancholic moan that is equal parts depressing and alluring. I love the repeated line “I am coming home.” This Town, track number nine on the album, is a bit on the lighter side and I think it showcases the folk roots of Bosque Brown. For those of you familiar with other artists here on TWF I think Bosque Brown would make an excellent live pairing Josh Garrels or Zach Williams {or both}.
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Due to an awesome comment left a few days ago here at TWF I have had the pleasure of being introduced to a great artist. Coeur de Pirate may sing in a language I understand very little of but her music is quite universal. To be honest I think the self titled album Coeur de Pirate is better than a lot of debut eponymous albums I’ve heard to date. If I was forced to offer up a glib little review this is all I have to say. Take your favorite parts of the Regina Spektor canon {leaving out all the annoying bits}, put them with french vocals, and play that fantasy out for a full half hour.
mp3 : Coeur de Pirate - Comme des Enfants
mp3 : Coeur de Pirate - C’etait Salement Romantique
Trust me when I say that if you like these two tracks you’ll simply love the rest of the album. It really is that good, Canadians seem know what they’re doing. And special thanks to the daring soul who was courageous enough to leave a suggestion. You should thank them too.
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Dear Matt and Kim, I feel compelled to write you a brief and open letter here on the internet. If I could, I would travel back in time and leave this note tucked somewhere amongst your high school yearbooks, but alas we did not attend the same school {and time travel is impossible}, so this meager slice of the web will have to suffice.
Never change. Stay the same forever. Keep making music that’s as good or better than your latest album Grand (amazon) (itunes). It sounds like eight bit Nintendo soundtracks mashed together with dance beats, happiness, and whatever smiles sound like. You have found a sound that is infected with giddy energy and it makes it all but impossible to sit still long enough to write all of this down. You have changed my life forever and I hope that we’ll always stay in touch.
mp3 : Matt and Kim - Daylight
mp3 : Matt and Kim - Cutdown
stay sweet, Billy
{Does anyone have any favorite prototypical yearbook messages? Mine are “stay sweet” “never change” “i signed your crack” and “it was sweet you took your cousin to prom” - anyone have anything better?}
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I’ve had the good fortune of owning a copy of Audrye Sessions’ self titled album, Audrye Sessions (amazon) (itunes), for the past week or so and it’s been getting heavy rotation time in my car. Playing an album in my car, especially multiple times in a row, means that the album is competing with stalwarts like Sufjan Stevens and The Weakerthans. I like to sing along to music in the car and to that end what I usually listen to is what I know I’ll like.
This album is hard to define. From song to song I kept thinking “oh, these guys sound like {insert name of a popular rock band here}.” I think there are moments on this album that they share a sound with The Fray and Coldplay, amongst others, but the band I think they most parallel is Muse. And I say all of these things as compliments, trust me, and yet even with that in mind I can’t quite encapsulate all that Audrye Sessions is. I mean I’d even throw the Beatles and Queen into the mix as obvious influences. It would be best if you simply listen to these tracks and ignore what I’m saying.
mp3 : Audrye Sessions - Dust and Bones
mp3 : Audrye Sessions - Waltz 2 (Elliot Smith Cover)
The first track, Dust and Bones, is the closing song on the album and I must say that it is as close to creating a perfect rock song as you can get. From the intricate intro {which sounds hauntingly like the theme song for Fringe} to the way that the song builds and builds, twice, there’s just not much else you could add to make it into a better song. To be sure, this song is best listened to at a very loud volume and I imagine it translates very well to a live set. The second track is a random cover that I ripped from their myspace page. Elliot Smith was brilliant and it’s always nice to hear a talented band pay some proper respect.
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Let me begin this post by saying that I am risking losing many of my thousands of RSS readers and quite possibly a few fans with this post. Seriously, this could really go either way.
I’ve never been a fan of Animal Collective. Never. To me, and maybe this was generally how I felt back then and not a true representation of how I perceive music today, but when I first heard albums by Animal Collective all I could think was “is this supposed to have any sort of discernible melody or story amongst all this extraneous noise?” And looking back my opinion of Animal Collective of a band hasn’t really changed all that much. On their latest album, Merriweather Post Pavilion (amazon) (itunes), they’ve definitely found a maturity, might I dare say even a musicality that was sorely lacking in much of their previous work. That’s not to say this album is as brilliant as everyone is claiming {I mean honestly, there have been how many blogs already claiming this album as the best of 2009 or even the best of the decade?}, but it is a solid effort. A truly solid effort.
mp3 : Animal Collective - In The Flowers
mp3 : Animal Collective - My Girls
Those are my two favorite tracks of the new album. Respectively they clock in as the first and second track on the disc and I honestly think that the album progressively goes downhill from that point on. What starts as a great exercise in musical layering, melodic interplay, and the clever use of repetitive sounds quickly spirals into abstract moments that leave you wishing that the entire album was as good as those first two songs. But it isn’t. Now granted there are other standout tracks, such as Summertime Clothes and Daily Routine, and Brother Sport has a great lyrical hook, but they just aren’t quite as brilliant as those first two tracks. Let’s hope this album shows the progression of Animal Collective and not the one amazing offering they’ll have before sliding back into their old style of creating music.
Go ahead, prove me wrong with your comments.
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In this day and age when some artists have all but disappeared {Sufjan Stevens}, others continue to put out new albums that are, well, below par {Weezer, The Killers}, and yet others are on possible permanent hiatus {The Strokes}, it can be hard at times to be excited for new music. In fact it can be hard to be excited for music in general.
Fortunately for us all, in this modern desert economy, there exists one bright and shining star that has to date put out two brilliant slices of music for our enjoyment. The second album by Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon, is an EP that has four songs that are each unique pieces of intricate craft work. After his debut album it was apparent that Bon Iver had some serious talent behind the music and this album, Blood Bank (amazon) (itunes), literally raises the bar to a ridiculously height. I wouldn’t be surprised if this EP made it into best of the year lists this time around.
mp3 : Bon Iver - Blood Bank
mp3 : Bon Iver - Babys
The title track, Blood Bank, sounds pretty much like what I expected from a Bon Iver album. What caught me totally by surprise were the three other tracks on the disc. I personally am going to say that Babys is influenced heavily by the sound of Sufjan Stevens and the closing track on the four track EP, Woods, could easily have been recorded with Imogen Heap {and all the vocoder goodness that goes along with that}. This is easily one of the best EPs I have heard in a long time.
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Sea Wolf is essentially the brainchild of Alex Church, a singer songwriter with a true vein of modern indie running through his blood. The story goes that when he couldn’t find a place for his songs with his original band he started touring and playing under the name Sea Wolf with a rotating cast of special guests. Whatever the formula the outcome is simple music that is captivating and elegant. On both of the albums he has released, the EP Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low (amazon) (itunes) and the full length Leaves in the River (amazon) (itunes), Alex finds a voice that is at equal parts melancholy and comforting. If you haven’t heard either of these albums, both of which were released in 2007, then it’s about time you were introduced to Sea Wolf.
mp3 : Sea Wolf - The Garden That You Planted
mp3 : Sea Wolf - You’re a Wolf
The first song hails of the debut EP and the second is the most recognizable track of the follow up full length album. If you like either of these tracks the chances are you’ll like most of what Sea Wolf sounds like.
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And I’m back. This past week, on a delightful Wednesday evening, a coworker and I ventured up north to the far reaches of Fort Wayne to catch a bit of music. Fortunately for me my friend is an avid listener of internet radio and he had stumbled upon this random show featuring Deer Tick at a small little venue named The Brass Rail. In the past few years The Brass Rail has undergone a bit of a management change and while they’re maintaining all their cred as a local watering hole during the early evening they’re looking to up the ante at night and become a premier rock back serving the greater Fort Wayne area.
On this night the cover was three dollars, the beers were a dollar and a half each, and the music was more than worth the long trek back and forth on the frozen evening. Deer Tick lived up to their billing as they played through a set of a southern infused rock with a cover of Bruce Springsteen, another of Sean Kingston, and quite possibly the best live version of La Bamba I have ever heard mixed in just for fun. And the fact that they mananged to cram all of this fun onto a tiny little stage in the corner of The Brass Rail just added to the night.
mp3 : Deer Tick - Ashamed
mp3 : Deer Tick - These Old Shoes
These two songs were both quite brilliant in a live setting, easily surpassing these studio recordings which appear on 2007’s War Elephant (amazon) (itunes). Might I add that the cover shot for this album is quite possibly the best cover shot I’ve ever seen for an album. The playful nature of Deer Tick that presents itself very well in a live setting and I strongly encourage anyone with a chance to catch them live to get out and see a set. It’ll be a fun evening.
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