Here's a pretty sweet song I heard on a rerun of How I Met Your Mother. I'm not too snobbish to discover tunes through TV shows, so if you're that kind of hipster, deal with it.
A.C. (Carl) Newman may or may not be a familiar name to you (he wasn't to me, but that's just because I hadn't done my research until tonight). This guy is a founding member of The New Pornographers (hmm, I can tell from listening to this song, now that I know...) and what's more, he's CANADIAN. Just like Robin in the show, eh?
Anyway, I like the song. It's catchy, but not too catchy; has pretty solid / motivational lyrics, and anchors a poignant scene in the show (but definitely stands up without the show... just sayin', it's one of those songs... like how "Rivers and Roads" was used in the final scene of the show Chuck.)
"I was a silent partner, I know the part of the forest where you shouldn't go..."
I have several good reasons (at least in my own mind) to post this song tonight:
1) Today was the first day with a legitimate snowfall in Pittsburgh since last winter. Just my luck it was the morning I had to go to work... I swear, people in this city forget how to drive in inclement weather every summer. But I love snow even when it means extra traffic headaches and waking up earlier to shovel. It's better though when you can go sledding and whatnot, so who wants to quit our jobs and just enjoy the best part of the year, eh?
In honor of several of my friends who trekked to various locales over the past few days to catch Bon Iver in concert, here's the epic leadoff track from the recent self-titled release. I wasn't able to make one of the shows, but NPR did the world a solid by streaming last night's DC show live and leaving it up for us schmucks who missed it to catch later. Definitely worth your time, some evening when you can just sit back and soak it in.
The song features rolling percussion, reminiscent of a drum corps from the Civil War, muted horns creating a surreal sensation, and of course, Justin Vernon's soaring falsetto. Lyrically, it's pretty cryptic, yet beautiful. Vernon said in a recent interview that the song was inspired by the happenstance of working with a close friend of Heath Ledger's when the actor died, and the town from which Ledger had come. The emotions of loss and the conceptualizing of a town form the foundation for the rest of this amazing album...
"in a mother, out a moth furling forests for the soft gotta know been led aloft..." _______________________________
EDIT 8-6-11: my friend Jake, who attended the DC show on Monday, posted a video of this song from the show! Check it out on Youtube (embedding not so much working right now)
Wow, I went six months without posting a second song by Mother Mother. Wrecking Ball is one of their more accessible and poppy songs; this one is not quite so much (but it's not their weirdest, either... I may post one of those one of these days...)
The band frequently deals with issues of self image, self worth, societal flaws, mortality, etc. There's room for interpretation here, but the gist is that the nature of our physical existence is fleeting, and our bodies are imperfect and prone to decay and fail. I suppose they're making a statement about the true value of a person being the mind and soul, and/or looking forward to an afterlife... what do you think?
"I've grown tired of this body cumbersome and heavy body..."
Once again, mi hermano comes through with a sweet, sweet song for me to use here. This one is just full of beautiful harmonies. It's about the transience of life and relationships, and dealing with separation from family and close friends.
Video version is probably my favorite, featuring just the voices and a guitar, and shot in a tunnel which makes for some incredible acoustical effects... album version linked below for contrast / for those who want to hear a little more instrumentation and a more polished recording.
This is one of my favorite Coldplay songs. The lyrics are intriguing and pack a punch, the beat drives the song, and the music just rocks. There's also an acoustic version floating around out there (second video - somebody made a fan video set to it) that I just discovered and love as well... just the piano and Chris Martin's vocals, which allows the emotion to shine through and provides for a dirty piano interlude. Which, of course, is one of my favorite things in life.
"You might be a big fish In a little pond Doesn't mean you've won 'Cause a long may come A bigger one..."
This is another song I heard whilst bumming around the Pacific Northwest last summer. Mother Mother is an eclectic indie pop/rock band from the Vancouver area, and this song was quite enough hook to get me to check out the rest of their work. They definitely have a healthy dose of weird (not so much in this song), but that makes them fun and differentiates them from some more, well, boring bands out there.
What's this song about? Well, to quote the illustrious Daniel Ocean, "I got into a self-destructive pattern."
"You gotta see the artistry in tearing the place apart with me, baby..."
