2010 so far
I feel like I should post a little on the music I've done so far this year, as in my free time I've been devouring quite a lot of it. only halfway through this post did I discover the unintentional marriage theme.
SOMMETHING OLD
It started when Dustin played us the A Night At The Opera record at a fantastic New Year's party, which I promptly downloaded because QUEEN! There is nothing better than sitting in a room talking with your friends listening to fantastic old records. I also find it ironic that this is a cross-generational thing with me and my parents: considering how music, technology, attitudes, and the industry have changed, my mother also listened to this Queen record on vinyl in her college apartment in 1981.
Download Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)
SOMETHING NEW
To switch gears radically from awesome rock to folk-indie, Laura Veirs releases July Flame on January 12th. I've had three tracks from this CD--one via Stereogum, two via Amanda--for months now and they're kind of worn out on my iTunes. Now that I have the entire CD, I can safely say nothing disappoints, and though my favorite track may still be Wide-Eyed, Legless---everytime I pause this CD I stop on this song, which has to be more than coincidence. If you like Fionn Regan, Bon Iver, the Decemberists, Andrew Bird....
Download Little Deschutes
SOMETHING BORROWED (two things, actually)
Someone stumbled me, yesterday, this fantastic website--Stereomood.com--and it's amazing! You can search for playlists by mood or activity, so far I've stumbled through 'reading', 'well-read', 'dinner with friends', and 'worried'. It's got a lot of really beautiful music that's not exactly within the mainstream--I follow quite a few music blogs, and after a while they're all "omg animal collective" but this site is very refreshing. They have a lot of beautiful instrumental pieces that I, in my normal music spheres, would never encounter--which is how I found Eluvium. Funny enough he's from Louisville KY (I'm from KY also). I first heard this song on Stereomood, and immediately went out to download his CD, An Accidental Memory In The Case of Death. He has a million CDs and they're all gorgeous. If you like Explosions in the Sky, then you will like this music.
Download Perfect Neglect In A Field of Statues
and whoever posted the Avett Brothers on here a week ago, I've been meaning to find you and say THANK YOU. NPR posted a list of the Top Listener Songs of 2009, so I downloaded them all...well, most of them that I could find...and this song was on there. When I heard it I stopped an played it again. Catchy catchy sadness with a piano! The "Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in--are you aware the shape I'm in? My hands they shake, my head it spins--oh brooklyn, brooklyn, take me in" sings so much as a homage to NYC, a lonesome winter-holiday song, an apology to a former love, a piano ballad, and it reminds me a bit of the Counting Crows "A Long December" in the best way. If I told you all the good lines in this song I'd be telling you the whole song.
Download I and Love and You
SOMETHING BLUE
I'm still giving Marissa Nadler a listen--I found her on Stereomood again, and found her album at a website called Beautiful Albums, which I recommend if you want lovely haunting thoughtful things. Her CD Ballad of Living and Dying intrigued me with its title, and her melancholy sound sounds like large Victorian houses in winter. You know, like when I was little reading Victorian novels and wanted to wander around a British garden in period clothing and read books when it rained. Or maybe that's just me and this song.
Download Undertaker
SOMMETHING OLD
It started when Dustin played us the A Night At The Opera record at a fantastic New Year's party, which I promptly downloaded because QUEEN! There is nothing better than sitting in a room talking with your friends listening to fantastic old records. I also find it ironic that this is a cross-generational thing with me and my parents: considering how music, technology, attitudes, and the industry have changed, my mother also listened to this Queen record on vinyl in her college apartment in 1981.
Download Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)
SOMETHING NEW
To switch gears radically from awesome rock to folk-indie, Laura Veirs releases July Flame on January 12th. I've had three tracks from this CD--one via Stereogum, two via Amanda--for months now and they're kind of worn out on my iTunes. Now that I have the entire CD, I can safely say nothing disappoints, and though my favorite track may still be Wide-Eyed, Legless---everytime I pause this CD I stop on this song, which has to be more than coincidence. If you like Fionn Regan, Bon Iver, the Decemberists, Andrew Bird....
Download Little Deschutes
SOMETHING BORROWED (two things, actually)
Someone stumbled me, yesterday, this fantastic website--Stereomood.com--and it's amazing! You can search for playlists by mood or activity, so far I've stumbled through 'reading', 'well-read', 'dinner with friends', and 'worried'. It's got a lot of really beautiful music that's not exactly within the mainstream--I follow quite a few music blogs, and after a while they're all "omg animal collective" but this site is very refreshing. They have a lot of beautiful instrumental pieces that I, in my normal music spheres, would never encounter--which is how I found Eluvium. Funny enough he's from Louisville KY (I'm from KY also). I first heard this song on Stereomood, and immediately went out to download his CD, An Accidental Memory In The Case of Death. He has a million CDs and they're all gorgeous. If you like Explosions in the Sky, then you will like this music.
Download Perfect Neglect In A Field of Statues
and whoever posted the Avett Brothers on here a week ago, I've been meaning to find you and say THANK YOU. NPR posted a list of the Top Listener Songs of 2009, so I downloaded them all...well, most of them that I could find...and this song was on there. When I heard it I stopped an played it again. Catchy catchy sadness with a piano! The "Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in--are you aware the shape I'm in? My hands they shake, my head it spins--oh brooklyn, brooklyn, take me in" sings so much as a homage to NYC, a lonesome winter-holiday song, an apology to a former love, a piano ballad, and it reminds me a bit of the Counting Crows "A Long December" in the best way. If I told you all the good lines in this song I'd be telling you the whole song.
Download I and Love and You
SOMETHING BLUE
I'm still giving Marissa Nadler a listen--I found her on Stereomood again, and found her album at a website called Beautiful Albums, which I recommend if you want lovely haunting thoughtful things. Her CD Ballad of Living and Dying intrigued me with its title, and her melancholy sound sounds like large Victorian houses in winter. You know, like when I was little reading Victorian novels and wanted to wander around a British garden in period clothing and read books when it rained. Or maybe that's just me and this song.
Download Undertaker