"Song For Zula" ~ Phosphorescent

So I just discovered this band thanks to another band (Efterklang).  This track is phenomal - simple, chill, and on repeat most of the evening.  Give it a go:

This track is the first single from an upcoming album.  If you check the band's label's website (Dead Oceans), you can snag a couple downloads - different tracks, though.  And if you dig a bit deeper on the site, you can find a little treasure trove of more free tracks from artists such as The Tallest Man On Earth, Gauntlet Hair, and several others I haven't listened to yet but will be checking out in the near future.

"Now my feet are gold, and my heart is white

And we race out on the desert plains all night

See honey, I am not some broken thing

I do not lay here in the dark waiting for thee..."

"Half Acre" ~ Hem

My friend Doug introduced me to this band during a recent LEGO building session (LEGO is cool, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  We were working on this Great Wall of China display for the Cranberry Library.)  Sorry, that's a bit of a non sequitur, but it's a true story.

Anyway, the band plays an incredible Americana style of music, of which this song is the archetype.  Simple, yet poignant, lyrics sung by a fantastic vocalist over beautiful instrumentation evocative of the heartland come together for a tune that will keep you hitting repeat.  The band admits to being influenced by Aaron Copland, and if you're familiar with his work you'll hear the similarities... hmm, I should post some Copland sometime... at any rate, have a listen:

If you like this track, you can find a different song on the band's website, available for free download (yeah, sorry, bait and switch... that song is also good but I felt like posting this one.)

"A man is walking on the highway

A woman stares out at the sea

And light is only now just breaking..."

"Elias" ~ Dispatch

Given my recent track record, and in the interest of more music and less of my ramblings, I'm going to try and post at least every other day, even if it means limited to no commentary.  As such, here's a track off of Dispatch's first release, "Silent Steeples".  The song has powerful roots, which you can learn about in the video below; if it interests you, you can also check out the band's charity, The Elias Fund, which was started to help a man in Zimbabwe provide education for his sons.

"Distance is short when your hand carries what your eye found..."

"All Sense Of Time" ~ David Wax Museum

David Wax Museum are coming back to Pittsburgh to play Club Cafe on Feb 2., a show for which I'm pretty excited.  This might be my favorite track from last year's release, "Knock Knock Get Up"... but it's a fantastic album, so that's a tough call.

I love that David sings most of the song in the low end of his register.  It's a dynamic you don't hear often, and it sets the track apart while drawing focus to the lyrics.

There isn't a lot of web presence for the song, but you can listen through the band's site, and/or check out this concert recording from last fall:

I find the lyrics to be quite powerful, so here they are in their entirety, taken straight from the band's website:

"How beautiful when it rains

You can hear the nighttime sing

It’s eight and then it’s nine o’clock

But I’m still somewhere in between 

Remember half the world

Sets out while half returns

It’s eight and then it’s nine o’clock

The sun has set but still it burns 

Look and see how everything

Dissolves and becomes one

It’s eight and then it’s nine o’clock

The whole night moves in unison 

May we lose all sense of time

May we be patient as a stone

All the time we’re given

Is given to us on loan"

5-23-12 - "Yes, Maria, Yes" ~ David Wax Museum

You guys.  David Wax Museum are back in Pittsburgh tomorrow night for a show at Club Cafe.  Yes, the Boston-based band with the donkey jawbone will be playing at everyone's favorite PGH venue.  Here's a track which epitomizes their Mexo-Americana stylings with an English-language version of a traditional Mexican folk song:

Be sure to check this track and others in their Daytrotter session.  Be sure to check some other sweet performances which are floating around the interwebs, like this NPR Tiny Desk Concert which opens with this tune:

And most of all, be sure to be at Club Cafe tomorrow night at 8 (7 Central).


"...your careless heart invites me in, just to see me go..."

5-7-12 - "Never Be Daunted" ~ Jaymay

Just watched the movie "Happy Thankyou More Please" with Hermano.  (Arrested Development fans will appreciate the reference, especially given that a Bluth is in this film...)  

(source: collider.com)

While the film is far from perfect - you'll have to accept a few far-fetched plot devices and some perhaps trite & overused rom-com cliches - I found it quite enjoyable.  Maybe that can be chalked up to having a crush on Kate Mara (spoiler alert: she can sing, which exponentially magnifies any crush for an audiophile.)

One of the main themes is that we are all worthy of love.  Yes, we all have flaws, sometimes fatal ones.  We all make mistakes, sometimes major ones.  But, if we're willing to look, and willing to demonstrate love to others, we might just find that there are people willing to accept our shortcomings and love us despite them.  And heck, that might just be the inspiration we need to overcome some of those shortcomings and better ourselves.

(source: scriptshadow.blogspot.com)

(cute kid, no?)

Anyway, I've spoken before about the impact a soundtrack can have on a movie, which holds true for this track (and others from Jaymay) and its use in the film.  I'll leave it to you to decide whether to watch the film and discern for yourself the profundity of the song's usage, but the song stands alone just fine:

Don't let fear and doubt hold you back.  Don't give up on your dreams because they haven't come true just yet; don't give up on people just because they've disappointed you; don't give up on yourself even if you've screwed up colossally.  Take a chance, make a move, live your life.  You only get one, and it's beautiful despite the rough spots - make it more so by living to the fullest.

"what are you so afraid of?

why are you feeling scared?

what's the worst that's gonna happen?..."

5-3-12 - "Carry On" ~ Fun.

You guys.  Fun. Is. Spectacular.  A combination of, dare I say, fun melodies with upbeat and catchy instrumentation, topped off with (at least on tracks like this) powerful and introspective lyrics.  They're exploding across the airwaves, on both the indie and popular stations (and fortunately, "We Are Young" hasn't been mutilated for the Top 40 stations like Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know".)


This one (especially the acoustic performance) captures the power of Nate's vocals and the emotion he conveys.  The song's message is one of hope and perseverance.


Sick acoustic version recorded for Record Store Day (4/21/2012):

Fun. - The Ghost That You Are To Me from Record Store Day on Vimeo.


Another sweet acoustic version (marred slightly by a "watermark", unfortunately...)

Album version:

"And it's nice to know
when I was left for dead

I was found and now I don't roam these streets..."

2-25-12 - "Downtown Sugar" ~ The Long Time Darlings

Pittsburgh rockers The Long Time Darlings have been on the fringe of my consciousness for a while now, though I've yet to catch a show.  I picked up a freebie track ("Baby Doll") a while back and it comes up on the ol' iPod from time to time, and I enjoy it every time.  Then, I found out from my boss that guitarist Brian Sproul and his folks are long time* family friends of he and his wife.  Said boss forwarded me the link to this video, and you know what?  It's a pretty great song and a pretty great video.


* - totally unintentional, I swear.


You have to love a band whose info page on facebook includes such gems as "Record Label: Ha-ha! That's hilarious!" and "Band Interests: Beer, vinyl, hockey, whiskey, sex."  Rock bands just wanna have fun, you know.  And hockey is just plain awesome, eh?


So on to the video:

[per Brian, it's "a little risqué".  But only a little. Consider yourselves forewarned.]

"Don't bet against yourself, darling…

push your way to the front."

And you can get both Downtown Sugar and Baby Doll on Bandcamp for FREE.  So yeah, do that.  And  if you like these two tracks, then go buy their album, so they can afford to record more rockin' rock songs.  (Okay, that one was intentional, and I apologize.)

2-24-12 - "Song For You" ~ Jenny & Tyler

Here's one my little brother got me hooked on.  This duo met in college, started playing music together, fell in love, got married, and are living the dream of every hopeless romantic hipster musician.


The song starts out minimally, but builds and builds into a beautifully orchestrated arrangement with rich harmonies and deeply sincere lyrics.  There's not a lot of digging to be done to interpret this track, so just bask in the glow of the love expressed and the joy of the tune, and the sweet music video filmed in Seattle + Silverdale, WA:

Some good live performance videos out there, too.  Here are two good ones:

Also, they have a ton of freebies on their website, for the price of an e-mail address.  Ten songs (okay, two are duplicated, so eight songs) just like that; two more if you go to briterevolution (just now found this site; seems cool) and sign up.  Download and give it a listen, but if you like it, be sure to go back and support the artist financially (always the best policy for facilitating that good music continues to be made!)


(Aside: can I just say that I very much appreciate artists who post lyrics on their own sites?  songmeanings.net is great, but people mishear things a lot even on a site like that.  I just like to know that what I'm hearing is what they're saying, ya know?)


EDIT 2-26-12: oh look, MORE free tunes!  This time on noisetrade.com.

"Hear my song for you

I will not hold my tongue…"

2-5-12 - "Serpents" ~ Sharon Van Etten

This one has caught my ear on 91.3 WYEP a few times lately.  For some reason, it reminds me of Florence + The Machine, but that may just be me.  The song is a driving folk rock tune about snakes, and who doesn't love that?


But seriously, the serpents are a metaphor for the poisonous thoughts left over from a traumatic relationship.  Van Etten's lyrics are a maelstrom of resentment and conciliatory efforts as she tries to come to grips with these emotions.  The harmonies dance a tightrope on the edge of catastrophe, evoking the mental turmoil and dragging the listener along for the ride.

"you hold the mirror well 

to everybody else..."

2-3-12 - "Sequel" ~ TeamMate

Here's a sweet new track from a sweet new band.  A band comprised of Scott Simons, an expatriate of West Virginia who's been living in LA, and Dani Buncher, a Pittsburgher who you might know from my ramblings about Big Hurry and Big Snow Big Thaw (the other two bands for which she is the drummer)  I'm not gonna lie, I'm a bit disappointed this band isn't called "Big TeamMate" or something to that effect...


Oh yeah, and the duo used to date for, like, ten years, so that adds an interesting dynamic.  This is their debut single, just dropped last night.  It deals with their breakup and some of their story, some pretty rough relationship stuff set to infectious upbeat pop sounds.  If this is any indication, they'll be quite a fun show at Brillobox next weekend...

Oh by the way, free download of this track on their facebook page.  Bangarang.


"Sometimes all you've got is too much
sometimes nothing's ever enough..."

1-27-12 - "January Wedding" ~ The Avett Brothers

With a few performances on TV lately and word that their new album is fast approaching, I've been getting excited about The Avett Brothers again lately.  I've waxed eloquent on several previous occasions about the boys, and even posted a song with a month in the title before.  So I'll spare you the rehash of all that, and present you with this sweet, simple love song:


(live)

(album)

"And I was sick with heartache

And she was sick like Audrey Hepburn when I met her...

…no longer does it matter what circumstances we were born in

She knows which birds are singin' 

And the names of the trees where they're performin' in the mornin'…"

1-8-12 - "Innocents Abroad" ~ Meeting Of Important People

If you live in Pittsburgh and missed last night's Brillobox lineup, you should be ashamed.  Or at least saddened.  My first time seeing Whiskey Holler, a fun little outfit with some steel guitar, mini organ, and a hint of banjo.  1,2,3 closed out the night with a bang.  But I was most stoked for Meeting Of Important People's set, and they delivered as usual.


I snagged a couple of concert videos, including I Know Every Street (from their eponymous debut LP), a brand new track extolling the virtues of getting up and dancing (on the proverbial "floor"), and this one - a nod to Mark Twain, and according to the band, their "Pitchfork song."  


Here's my video from last night:

And here's the Draw Us Lines Echo Chamber video - you may recall (but likely don't) that last July, I typed out my internal debate as to whether to post this track or "Oh, Will You Finally Go?" Guess it worked out that I can now post my own concert vid plus this gem:

EDIT (3-2-12):  Here's a link to a video of Josh performing the song solo, which I filmed at the AIR gallery show on 2-18-12:

"and now I'm - I'm runnin' scared
my kitchen cabinets are bare..."

12-27-11 - "Fixin' To Die" ~ G Love

I've been remiss for the bulk of this year in not posting this song.  I first heard it around this time last year, and was spinning it frequently throughout last winter, but apparently never whilst I was pondering which song to select for the day's blog post.  So here you go.

G Love teamed with The Avett Brothers (acting as producers, among other things) on his latest album, and since TAB are pretty swell in my opinion, odds were good that I'd like the collaborative effort as well.  This track is old-fashioned foot-stompin' bluegrassy rock, crying out to the good Lord as he ponders his final days and the fate of his poor children if'n he passes...

(Scott and Seth appear courtesy of their being awesome...)

"Well, I don't mind dyin',
but I hate to leave my children cryin'.."

_____________________________

PS - poke around on philadelphonic.com for some free stuff, if you so desire...

12-22-11 - "Jerusalem" ~ Matisyahu

How do you blend strong convictions and awesome music?  How do you find a broad audience without watering down your message?  I'd say Matisyahu is a good example.

Matisyahu is a great example of an artist who has a polarizing worldview and unabashedly shares it in his lyrics, but his musical prowess is such that folks will listen even if they may not agree with his strong opinions.  Contrast this with some of the "Christian music industry", which are blatant rip-offs of whatever is popular at the moment, but aren't really very talented (let alone original).  I'm not condemning that, because there are certainly enough examples of riding the wave of pop (Britney beget Christina beget Jessica beget Mandy and so on... blonde bubble gum pop must have been selling, eh?  And for the record, despite her awful start with "I'm missing you like candy", Mandy Moore turned out to be IMHO the best of them all.  I mean, she dated JD on Scrubs and Andy Roddick, not to mention the gem of a cover of Rihanna's "Umbrella", which reminds me that her cover of Switchfoot's "Only Hope" is also legit...)

But we're here to talk about Matisyahu.  I love his style.  It draws from many influences without taking too much from any one source, it's upbeat and danceable, and it stimulates positive reflection and actions. Here's a jam which is both a call to action and a reflection on Jewish history:

And while I'm not quite as big on this version, here's a somewhat reworked (I won't quite say remixed) version:

"If I forget the truth then my words won't penetrate
Babylon burning in the place, can't see through the haze..."

12-18-11 - "Whiskey In My Whiskey" ~ The Felice Brothers

A few of my friends (you know who you are) got this song in my head tonight the old fashioned way - by singing it.  The Felice Brothers don't match up to The Avett Brothers (in my humble opinion), but they still put on a rip-roarin' show with some boot-stompin' tunes such as this one.  It's just a little ditty about the inherent evils of cheating on your significant other whilst he is familiarizing himself with the inherent evils of mixing alcohol and guns...

"I put some whiskey into my whiskey

I put some heartbreak into my heart

I make my way across that ole dance floor

And put three rounds Lord, in my Eleanor..."

12-17-11 - "Go Outside" ~ Cults

I suppose it shouldn't be shocking that a band by this name would put out a video based on one of the most chilling events in recent history - a mass suicide/murder by a group of people following a fanatical and charismatic leader.  The video's production is impressive, seamlessly inserting the band members into footage from the cult.  You can read a bit about the making of the video here.

Despite the depressing nature of the video's subject matter, I find the song itself encouraging.  The ultimate message is to live life to the fullest, not to "hole up" or "stay inside and sleep the light away..."  Take advantage of opportunities to see the world, spend time with loved ones, and don't take the little things for granted.  And especially, don't let negative or slothful people get in the way of your own enjoyment of this beautiful world.  At least, that's what I'm getting out of the tune...  

Just the song, without the NBC News commentary and whatnot:

Bonus:  The band is featured in a new holiday episode of Yo Gabba Gabba!, which apparently airs on Nick Jr. tomorrow evening.  So if you enjoy this song, be sure to tune in for that and trip out whilst watching a children's program... you know, if you're into that sort of thing.

"Yeah I know what's good 

Exactly those things night cannot behold..."

12-14-11 - "Cathedrals" ~ Jump, Little Children

Here's a beautiful track from a group who are no longer together.  The subdued string section is woven together with the guitar for a tapestry to backdrop the powerful lyrics. The intensity of the longing to find meaning in life, and find "home", is staggering.  Probably you've had times when you felt that way; I know I have.  There's a lot about the world that is depressing, and even the masterpieces (man-made, like cathedrals, or natural) are prone to decay into entropy.  Yet, the beauty of these things gives us hope, and a desire to preserve the existing wonders of the world, and perhaps to create some new ones.


There are probably ties to human relationships here as well - home doesn't have to be a a physical location; sometimes it's finding the right group of people who make you feel comfortable and loved.


This unofficial fan-made video has some starkly contrasting visuals:

"In the shadows of tall buildings

Of open arches endlessly kneeling

Sonic landscapes echoing vistas

Someone is listening from a safe distance..."

12-09-11 - "Heinrich Maneuver" ~ Interpol

A little late tonight, but only here on the East Coast... 


My favorite Interpol song was always Obstacle 1, but I heard this one on the radio today so it's in my head.  As much as I love living in Pittsburgh, I always love visiting the West Coast, so whenever I'm not there, I'm asking the same question as the band does in this song.


Anyway, without further rambling, here's some rock from the Big Apple:

" 'cause I've got a chance for a sweet saint life..."

12-03-11 - "November Blue" ~ The Avett Brothers

So I intended to be all clever and post this song in November, but I plumb forgot.  Lucky for you, it also mentions December, so I can still use it and feel somewhat clever.  But even if it were May, the song is amazing.

It's from the early days of The Avett Brothers, so it's much more raw than the more polished recordings of the "Emotionalism" and "I and Love and You" albums.  The emotions are just as raw and powerful.  The intensity of the feelings expressed will pull you right into the moment.  Pretty much all of us can relate on some level - whether it be a fleeting crush who doesn't reciprocate, or an extended relationship derailed when one lover moves away.

Here's the Crackerfarm backstage recording of Scotty A. singing the tune, from Kent, OH in 2008 (my bro and some good buddies were at the show, but I missed it).  By the way, Crackerfarm has dozens of similar (and similarly awesome) videos of the Bros. Avett singing stripped down versions of their catalogue - check them all out!

And here's an intimate performance from a stage in a high school in Manhattan - being at a show where they bust out a song like this is just a transcendental experience:

"if I had money, would it all look good

and if I had a job now, like a good man should

if I came to you tomorrow, and said let's run away

Would you roll like the wind does, baby would you stay?"