Archive for the 'acoustic' Category

BOTM vol 10

It turns out I am not well suited for waiting patiently.  That being said I’ll get straight to the music in this volume of Best of the Month.  If you’d like to check out all the previous volumes click through this link.

All the tracks in one zip file : here {zshare = left click}

mp3 : Boy Crisis - Dressed to Digress
Love the title, love the opening couple of lines of this song, and love the dance beat that’s draped across the entire song.  Yeah it’s a bit retro eighties, but what isn’t these days?
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mp3 : Death Cab for Cutie - A Movie Script Ending (Acoustic)
This is a great version of this song.  It might even be better than the original album version.  Seriously, this is a wonderful track to have stumbled upon this month.
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mp3 : Gabriella Cilmi - Cry Me A River (Justin Timberlake Cover)
Almost sounds like Mary J. Blige doing a cover of J.Tim.  This track is a solid cover and well worth a download.  It’s always nice to hear popular artists covered by other talented individuals.
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mp3 : Kate Nash - I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (Black Kids Cover)
This is easily one of the best cover songs I’ve heard in awhile.  It’s fun, it’s not too serious, and who doesn’t love to hear Kate’s British pronunciation of “dance”?
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mp3 : Kerli - Walking On Air
I blame this song on the copious amounts of television I consume.  If you think it sounds familiar that’s because this track has been used prominently to promote the upcoming premiere of the show Fringe on Fox.  The chorus is incredibly catchy.
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mp3 : Mates of State - California (Phantom Planet Cover)
I’ve been in love with all things Mates of State for awhile now {their latest album is brilliant}.  I found this older track the other day and it’s a wonderful cover.  It’s just the right amount of melancholy added to the once bright pop song.
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mp3 : Megafaun - Lazy Suicide
At times I have a single track by an artist that doesn’t necessarily warrant a full post, but nonetheless is an incredible song.  This is one of those tracks.  It reminds me a lot everything I loved about O Brother Where Art Thou?
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mp3 : Queen - One Vision
Not the best Queen song ever made, but who could resist putting it in Best of the Month.  I miss the days when Queen and other classic rock gods were all me and my friends listened to.
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mp3 : The Chemists - Toxic (Britney Spears Cover)
For some reason I can’t resist listening to almost anything that involves Ms. Spears.  The chorus in this cover is what made it worth the listen {and the post here on BOTM}.
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mp3 : The Kooks - All That She Wants (Ace of Base Cover)
I’m not sure what it is with me and my love for covers this month.  Regardless for the subliminal reasons I’ve been addicted to cover tracks this is another solid effort.
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mp3 : This Is Ivy League - You and Me and The Moon (Magnetic Fields Cover)
Why not include another cover song?  Really, why not?  This track stays in line with the rest of this list in that it’s mellow, relaxed, and makes for some easy listening.  Enjoy at your leisure.
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mp3 : Thom Yorke - After The Gold Rush (Live)
This track hails from the brilliant appearance Thom made at the Bridge School benefit concert in 2002.  I have the entire recording and it’s amazing {I might be persuaded to post it here}.
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mp3 : Your Vegas - In My Head
This is pop music as it was meant to be made.  Forget what you hear on the top forty, on the crappy local radio station you love, or even from your dorm room neighbors.  This is what pop music should aspire to be.  Solid verses, catchy chorus, hooks you’ll be humming for days.
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That’s all she wrote.  Short and simple on this time around.  Tell your friends.

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BOTM vol 08

I’m actually committing to doing this month’s Best of the Month volume actually at the end of the month {volume 07 came out about five days after April was a bygone, so this is a change of pace}. Once again I present to you the best tracks that I heard during this month. This is my no means a completely exhaustive list of all the great music floating around on the interwebs, but it’s my personal slice of thirteen delicious tracks. Enjoy them on at a time or grab the entire volume in one convenient download. For all previous volumes of this series click here.

All the tracks in one zip file : here {zshare = left click} {link broken}

mp3 : Cloud Cult - Love You All
I’ve been listening to their latest album almost nonstop since I got it a few months back and I’m starting to think that this is my favorite track from the disc. Granted it has arguably the most simple lyrics on the album but the complexity of emotions portrayed through the arrangement is quite amazing.
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mp3 : Coldplay - Can’t Get You Out of My Head (Live Kylie Minogue Cover)
Although they might not be the biggest band of all time I would argue that they just might be the biggest band of this year. They’ve masterfully promoted their new album and somehow they’ve kept the lid on the leaky pipes which plague so many other big bands. This is a great cover.
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mp3 : Coldplay - Viva la Vida
Although Violet Hill was the first single dumped on the world, and the music video for that song is quite well done, I think it’s Viva la Vida which shows a nice maturity for these four boys fronted by Chris Martin. My only question is how they produce the strings in a live setting. Quite a brilliant start for their upcoming album which I am greatly anticipating.
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mp3 : Death Cab for Cutie - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Live Cyndi Lauper Cover)
With all the hype surrounding bigger, or at least more blogged about, acts I feel as if the launch date of the latest DCFC album passed by without much ado. In all actuality I guess I didn’t even post a review {although I love it}. Regardless I love Ben Gibbard’s special take on this classic song.
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mp3 : Emilie Simon - To The Dancers In The Rain (Live)
Sometime during this month I started listening to the more melancholy female singers on the market right now and I found myself falling in love with each of them in turn. Sometimes being sad is what you need to feel and sometimes listening to sad music is the right choice.
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mp3 : Eugene Francis Jr - Poor Me
Kind of like a mashup of Frou Frou with The Shins, Eugene Francis Jr seems like the golden reason to make a sequel to Garden State {if only for the soundtrack}. I love this song.
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mp3 : MSTRKRFT - VUVUVU
I haven’t really listened to this genre of music since the days of undergrad all nighters spent studying architecture. Energy drinks of tomorrow will still fall short of the punch packed into any MSTRKRFT song. Ever.
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mp3 : Regina Spektor - The Call
Although I’m not a big fan of The Chronicles of Narnia movies {they’re a bit childish and the CGI is almost as bad as that found in the new Indiana Jones} it’s quite a treat to hear Regina Spektor on the soundtrack. And I really like the lyrics in this song. Kudos to you Ms. Spektor.
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mp3 : Say Hi - We Lost The Albatross
After dropping the To Your Mom from his title and, arguably, dropping some of the silliness from his musical creations as well, Eric Elbogen’s music has grown up quite a bit. I love this song off his latest album and I hope it’s a sign of even greater ideas yet to come.
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mp3 : Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
I’m officially a sucker for all things Sigur Ros {much to the chagrin of many of my friends}. I don’t know how I first heard of this band from Iceland {a land I’ve long wanted to visit}, but I’ve loved them from that first listen. This song hails from their upcoming album {hot on the heels of their last effort Hvarf/Heim} and they’re giving it away free from their website.
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mp3 : The Flaming Lips - Knives Out (Radiohead Cover)
The Flaming Lips caught my attention when they sang about robot killer Yoshimi {for an entire album} and it’s great to hear them cover another of my favorite bands. This performance hails from a 2002 set they played at the esteemed KCRW studios.
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mp3 : The Magnetic Fields - Too Drunk To Dream
I really hate the latest album by The Magnetic Fields. It was such a departure from the melodramatic beat and cello filled pop of their previous two efforts. Somehow songs from that album keep sneaking into my favorite lists though. It’s as if taken one at a time the songs are alright, but when put together for forty five minutes they’re simply too much to handle.
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mp3 : Weezer - Pink Triangle (Live Acoustic)
I love me some Weezer and I really love what I’ve heard so far from their upcoming album. Pink Triangle hails from what may be my favorite Weezer disc of all time, Pinkerton, and this is a solid live version of the song {even if the crowd gets picked up by the mics a bit much. Cut them some slack, obviously they’re drunk. Right?}
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BOTM vol 02

This months BOTM volume is getting released a bit earlier than would be the normal case. I’ll be travelling this weekend and I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to post again {let alone upload loads of music}. Volume 2 is filled with all the good music I could get my hands on and I tried especially hard to find those tracks which may have slipped by you on the first go round. I understand that not everyone can check every blog every single day, I know I can’t, but hopefully through this mishmash of a collection I’ve found something everyone can enjoy.

And enjoy it you shall. This BOTM volume comes wrapped up in the tape of love. Cheers.

mp3 : Beirut - My Night With the Prostitute from Marseille
mp3 : Bloc Party - Flux (JFK Remix)
mp3 : Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger (Alive Tour)
mp3 : Feist - 1,2,3,4 (Van She Tech Remix)
mp3 : Feist - I Feel It All
mp3 : Gary Lightbody and Lisa Hannigan - Some Surprise
mp3 : Kanye West - Flashing Lights (Mano Uptemp Remix)
mp3 : Radiohead - Blow Out (Live Acoustic) {actually Thom Yorke and some of The Posies}
mp3 : Radiohead - Reckoner
mp3 : Sunset Rubdown - The Taming of the Hands That Came Back To Life

Every single one of these tracks is solid from start to end. I absolutely love the Beirut track and Lisa Hannigan has been on my mind ever since, well, everything she’s ever done. These, my friends, are the best of the month for a reason. They really are the best tracks that I found using the power of the interwebs and other various and sundry means of discovery. If you’re only going to download one track, out of all this goodness, I would recommend the track by Beirut. It really is brilliant.

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Ben’s Brother

So I’ve seen this commercial a lot lately and everytime I think that it sounds like such an amazing song. So I looked it up and found a copy of it, and it is a good song. So here you have it. The Dentyne Ice commercial featuring this band I had never heard of: Ben’s Brother.



I checked out their myspace and their other songs were decent, but not as good as this one. Luckily this is their “new mix” so hopefully they are evolving into this new sound.

mp3 : Ben’s Brother - Stuttering

EDIT : This file will now work with Windows Media Player. I know many of you were having issues getting the file to play using this atrocious media player, but now those should be sorted out. Enjoy the music and if there’s ever a problem feel free to leave a comment.

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No Doubt


When I started this blog I never expected to post anything to do with the band No-Doubt. To be honest I liked their style and their sound a lot more back when Gwen was sporting pink hair and the rest of the band didn’t come across like some punk-rockers in a B-list movie. Apparently they still have an audience somewhere in the world, and guessing from Gwen’s latest solo efforts that somewhere is probably Japan.

This song is from way back, during the era when all you heard in the summer was Sugar Ray, Fastball, the Goo Goo Dolls, and of course No Doubt on the radio. It’s a solid acoustic effort and it showcases the idea that this band is made up of actual musicians, not just eye candy.

mp3 : No Doubt - Ex-Girlfriend (acoustic)

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