2-12-12 - "Settler" ~ Balmorhea

I found this band on thesixtyone the other day (a site worth checking out - fun way to discover new tunes).  They're an instrumental outfit from Texas, named after a small town quite a ways away from the bigger cities.  Their sound, however, is much larger than their namesake.

Balmorhea (pronounced Bal-moor-ay) bring lush orchestration and soaring melodies, reminiscent of carefree summer days.  This track features a backbone of piano with strings along for the ride.  A subtle guitar breakdown  laced with ethereal vocal harmonies gives you a breather before the climax, when the pace picks up and claps join the strings and vocals in a manner reminiscent of The David Wax Museum.  This type of tune could easily be part of a movie soundtrack, but stands alone as well:

11-12-11 - "Sequestered In Memphis" ~ The Hold Steady

In honor of a show I didn't attend in Pittsburgh tonight, here's a track about, well, falling in with the wrong kind of girl, getting picked up by the cops for questioning, and... you'll catch on pretty quick, I'd imagine.  Some of my friends really love The Hold Steady, and I went to see them a while back last time they were in town, and they're not bad, but not my personal favorite style of music either.  Enjoyable performance, just not quite in my wheelhouse.  This one was my favorite song they performed.  Catchy rock tune with humorous lyrics and a nice background piano riff.  Check it:

"In bar light she looked all right

In daylight she looked desperate

That's all right, I was desperate too

I'm getting pretty sick of this interview…"

9-14-11 - "Polish Girl" ~ Neon Indian

This one is delightfully trippy, and the video matches that vibe.  I'm not quite sure what's going on in the song or the video, but this is one case where I'm fine with just enjoying the beat for now, and I'm sure everything will become clear next time I drop acid... wait I've never done that and don't intend to start.  And despite the fact that Neon Indian has a song titled "Should Have Taken Acid With You", I'm sure he hasn't either.  Drugs are bad, boys and girls.


Anyway, apparently there's this girl, see, and she hails from the land of halushki and pierogies n'at, which is fine by me.  Many Pittsburghers enjoy these fine Polish cuisines, and as a resident of neighborhood of Polish Hill(ish), I count myself as one of them.  So the girl cooked some Polish sausage and pierogies for Neon Indian, who in turn wrote this song to commemorate a lovely evening... yeah, that's a solid interpretation of the song.  I'm gonna roll with it.  Enjoy:

7-7-11 - "Breakfast At Tiffany's" ~ Deep Blue Something

I've been on a bit of a '90s kick lately, so here's another sweet song you probably heard on the radio back then.  Deep Blue Something might qualify as a one hit wonder, but man it was a good one.  Supremely catchy tune, and I never got sick of it.  Probably ought to watch the movie sometime...

"I see you, the only one who knew me
but now your eyes see through me
I guess I was wrong..."

5-30-11 - "Cry, Cry, Cry" ~ Nicole Atkins

It shares a name with an old classic, but this song is pretty new and fresh.  Nicole Atkins opened for The Avett Brothers at the show I attended in Pittsburgh on Friday, and she was pretty good.  This one was lots of fun, although I couldn't find a decent video of the live performance from Pittsburgh, so I just found a solo acoustic version as the bonus video - highlights a pretty sweet voice.  Sounds like she walked in on a lover as he was cheating... yeesh.


Album:

Acoustic Solo:

"Every one stumbles in spite of themselves 
but you're holding the cards and not sharing the wealth..."