Jolene

Continuing in the trend of songs that I really like, here is Jolene by CAKE. Definitely one of my favorite songs. It's off that album Motorcade of Generosity. If you are looking for some CAKE, check out the album Comfort Eagle, it's my favorite by them.

Happy Spring break

My podcast

So, taking a page from my friend Elise, I now have a music feed. I'm really excited about this new way to share the music I love with my friends. I'll most likely be talking about the bands that I post in the feed here, so keep tuned for good times. I'll be updating the feed probably every day or every few days with a song or two.

Here is a quick run down of what's happened so far.

Rashiban - Asian Kung-fu Generation: Great song from an amazing Electric rock band. The thing I like about it is the varying structure and crazy energy.

Breaking your mama's back - Slow runner: Their tagline is, "Music for walking down the street in slow motion. Most of their cd is generally indie, but this song is amazing. It makes me think of Pinback(Penelope) cross Minus the bear(specifically Absinthe Party) times insanity. Such a great song

Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse - Minus the Bear: One of the best songs I've heard. It has amazing build starting with a relaxed intro segueing into a very fun and energetic song that still focuses around the guitar riff from the intro. The lyrics and singer really help to bring it all together with Minus' slightly depressive or resigned feel.

Someone to Love - Fountains of Wayne: Remember that band that did Stacy's Mom? Well it turns out that they are actually a good band. Who would have thought. This song is off their new cd, Traffic and Weather, which is coming out soon.(You can get the Single now from iTunes and other various stores) I usually find a few songs I really like of each cd of theirs so I'm looking forward to this one.

In the Aeroplane over the Sea, Holland, 1945 - Neutral Milk Hotel: Neutral Milk Hotel is one of my favorite bands, but they have a sound that some people really don't like(the singer has a "unique" voice). These two are the most "accessible" from the amazing cd, In the Aeroplane over the Sea. If you like the songs definitely check out the rest of the album.

Sorry for the long post, they will be shorter in the future.

-Alex

Snow Patrol

It's late so I'm going to make this post short. Snow Patrol is fucking awesome. I can't really describe the sound, but it is exactly what I want to listen to right now. Perhaps a more rockish Pinback. I don't really know, but I love it.

James Hurst

I've recently run into an artist that I really like. He's a little artist that releases under creative commons lisencing so his songs are free to download. His name is James Hurst. The time I heard about him was when I found a you tube video of his song Cherryade. I think the video is really stupid, but the song is great. I next found his website where you can download his ep. I really love the song Happy Lonely, but all four of them are pretty good.

-Alex

I'll follow you into the dark.

One of the songs that I have been listening to a lot in the past few weeks is “I will follow you into the dark” by Death Cab for Cutie. I have always been kinda prejudiced against D-Cab because right when I got into indie, they were getting popular and being shunned as sell-outs. Recently though, I’ve been listening to them and I like some of their stuff. The thing I really like about this song is the way the guitar is just enough to give a good background to the song, but the lyrics are definitely the most important part. And frankly, I love the refrain of the song. What can I say; I’m a bit of a romantic.

Another song that I’ve been listening to a bit is “Fortress”, a great one by Pinback, one of my favorite bands. I originally loved them for “Penelope”, which is still a great song, but “Fortress” and the version of “Seville” off the Penelope EP are flat out amazing.

Failure to Please

Last week I went to the Decemberists concert. Frankly, I was disappointed. I have always been kinda on the edge with the Decemberists, but there are a few songs by them that I really love, and those songs just keep bringing me back. However, I guess this concert was meant to promote the new cd, so they didn’t play any of the songs I wanted to hear until the encore. I think that this is a problem with a lot of concerts and why I don’t like them all that much. I got to a concert wanting to hear the songs I liked the band for; I don’t want to hear an hour and a half of music I don’t know. I could hear music I don’t know for five bucks at some random bar. If I’m going to pay $20 or more I want to hear the music that made me like the band in the first place (although I do like to hear a few new songs).

Out of all the concerts I’ve been to, my favorite was Interpol, mostly because they played the songs that I went to hear. I can still remember the energy that filled the Agora when the bass line of “Evil” started pumping through the speakers. That is how a show should be. It should be fun and all the bands best songs, not some marketing device to get kids to buy the new cd. But that’s just my opinion.

Song of the Week

As can be seen by the date on my last submission, I haven’t been very productive lately at least when it comes to creative output. However, I have been going through a lot of new music, so I figure I might share my thoughts on some of it. First off, one of my major views on music has changed recently. I realized that I had been unfairly avoiding some very good music that has much potential for enjoyment, emo music. Now before you take that the wrong way, let me qualify this statement. In the past, I have rejected emo as an entire genre, but recently I have come to see that as with any genre, there is good music and there is bad music. One band that I have found I really liked is Jack’s mannequin. This band is actually just the lead singer from Something Corporate. He plays mostly damn good piano rock that is emo do to the lyrics (which do get on my nerves every now and then).

But that’s not the point of this post. I listen to a lot of new music, and my most listened tends to change week to week. I’m going to start posting about an artist or song of the week to talk about whatever new stuff I have really liked. So for this post, I’m going to talk about Imogen Heap.

I’m sure most of you have heard something sung by her, even if you didn’t know it. She is the singer in the group Frou Frou, and their song “Let go” was one of the better songs on the Garden State soundtrack. I first heard of her as an artist at an accapella concert when Case in Point sang “Hide and Seek”. The song was pretty amazing and I soon after looked into the rest of her work. “Hide and Seek” is now one of my favorite songs and I strongly recommend it. In case you are interested, her music is firmly inside indie, focusing on her vocals (although she can sometimes sound like a man), with the accompaniment tending towards electronica (“Goodnight and Go” sounds a little like postal service). In general I like her work, but sadly not all of it is as good as “Hide and Seek”.

See you next week