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..."
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.
Since I just poured my heart out about life, love, and blogging, I'm going to do a quickie post to let you know about some free tunes from Pittsburgh / NYC band 1,2,3 - they just dropped a freebie EP which was originally conceived as a few lullaby tunes for the niece of one of the band members, but they decided to share it with us.
You can read about it and get the download link here; it's definitely some chill but sweet stuff. Early indicators are that the first track, "Riding The Wooly Bug To Dreamland", is my fave of the five, so we'll call that today's song, but the others ain't half bad either. I may drop this EP into my iTunes sleep playlist tonight and see if it works better than my standards at putting me out...
If you like these tunes, go pick up the band's album and support their future endeavors! The ever-evolving music industry is using the power of the internet to allow bands to do stuff like this, but those bands still need to pay the bills for studio time and whatnot in order to continue bringing you the tunes. So, whether it's this band or others, take advantage of the free songs, but also be sure to support bands you love so they can keep making awesome music!
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:
A few months ago, I saw a pretty swell show at Thunderbird. I already told you a bit about it, as it featured local Pittsburgh favorites Big Hurry and new to me but quickly growing on me These Animals. However, I hadn't gotten around to posting about the third band... until now.
Field Mouse, like These Animals, hail from NYC... Brooklyn, to be precise. Field Mouse, like Big Hurry*, are a four-piece group with two dudes and two chicks. Unlike Big Hurry, the chicks are lead vox and bass, rather than vox and drums. Unlike These Animals, Field Mouse are a single specific species. Their tunes could be classified as "dreampop", and in fact have been so classified. This one's a new one, quite engaging, with lyrics worth pondering, and lo and behold, you can get it FREE on Bandcamp:
"all the fires I start I'll put out on my own..."
* - more correctly, Big Hurry was a four piece outfit half comprised of ladies and half comprised of dudes. But then Andy moved deep in the heart of Texas, and now the ratio is 2 / 1. But hey, I was going based on the way things were in August, and trying for literary effect! ___________________________________________
This summer, I went to a show to see a favorite local band, and was introduced to some great music from New York City in the process. These Animals came back to Pittsburgh to again share the stage with Big Hurry on Friday, and they were even better than before (maybe because I know the songs now). Here's one of their songs, filmed at the show at Brillobox:
If you want to hear the song with less of the fuzzy concert reverb, check this studio session video:
I know it's not December yet, but I'm going with this song because it's probably my favorite by Said The Whale, who played an intimate show in Pittsburgh last night. They actually didn't have this one on the set list, but I sweet-talked singer/guitarist/songwriter Ben into an encore, and it was spectacular. He was standing right in front of me with his acoustic guitar, and Jaycelyn added some restrained notes from the xylophone while Spencer and Andrew (drummer from fellow Vancouver band We Are The City) worked in some gentle percussion, punctuated by a single water bottle cap explosion from Tyler (songwriter/guitarist/singer of many other tracks). I'm honestly not sure if bassist Nathan was playing for this one or just standing there looking pretty, but either way, he was a big part of the evening as well!
I'm rambling, but it was one of the most fun shows I've been to, made all the more special by the bands' willingness to talk with me and some other fans (who drove 2 hours from Punxsutawney to be there) afterward. Their month-long round-the-continent road trip is impressive, with shows just about every night (sometimes to less than packed houses, like a Monday night in a town 2500 miles from their home), and I'm sure they were tired, but they still went out of their way to interact with the audience.
The song tells the tale of a storm in December of 2006 which ravaged the old-growth forest and other parts of Stanley Park (my favorite part of Vancouver). It's a sad story, but there's a hopeful glimmer shining through the darkness as the mermaid and old man characters pray for the park, its inhabitants, and the city.
Album version:
Live performance in Stanley Park:
"She sees the worst is yet to come
A big wave on the horizon
The first wind blowing in
Left Stanley's soldiers felled and broken...
Her own sisters and her brothers
And ten thousand friends and lovers
A black day in December..."
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BONUS: I posted "The Light Is You" way back in January, and last night I got a video of the band performing it - check it out.
Oh, just a little jam for you tonight. Instrumental, más o menos. With synthy, crunchy guitars and the roar of the wildcat, it's just loads of fun hitting your eardrums. The duo from Brooklyn is fairly new to me, but after refreshing my Garden State soundtrack kick a few days ago, I thought I'd trust a tweet from the film's writer/director/star, Zach Braff, and check these guys out. They may not ever top my list of favorite artists of all time, but I'll certainly give them some digital spins in the future...
This track is a swell album closer. It brings the themes of "Weathervanes" together, and just has the right feel for it. My opinion of the debut album by Freelance Whales is that it's pretty neat, and I recommend you check it out; especially if you like this track or "Generator^First Floor" which kicks off the album and which I posted a while back.
Well it took me a month to get around to posting these guys after seeing them in August, but they're swell and rumor has it they're coming back to Pittsburgh in October to help celebrate Big Hurry's new EP release! That show promises to be pretty OK, so mark 10/21 on your calendars.
These Animals hail from Brooklyn and play tunes that will make you want to do that funky hipster thing where you're not quite dancing but can't stay still. Check this one out; it's got some words of wisdom to go along with the groove:
"she told me before
'love's like the weather
when it rains, it pours
but the sunshine is better'..." _______________________________________________________
EDIT 10-24-11
Check out my YouTube video from Friday Night's show at Brillobox in Pittsburgh:
Found this one thanks to the good people at Tympanogram. The ethereal feel of the song is crafted from a dirty little piano hook slathered over a sparse drum loop, and the mournful vocals float above like the morning fog over the Allegheny River... or perhaps I should say the Charles, seeing as Leisure hail from Boston.
The lyrics paint a picture of entropic developments, perhaps the waning of a fiery relationship.
EDIT 1-3-12: Check out this awesome stripped-down (can't say "acoustic" because the guitar is still wired, but it's sans electronic effects) performance!
"And when the rain comes down and hits us
We'll be dying just to live..."
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Oh hey so check Leisure's Bandcamp page for 2 free songs! (not this one, but hey, still freebies and if you like this track you might like those ones too.) Also of note, apparently they played in London tonight and play in NYC tomorrow... not messing around with those travel plans...
This is one of my favorite S&G songs. Then again, therearemany... but we're talking about this one. The guitar, the vocals, the lyrics... it's all just perfect. Poetic, too, though you'd never guess it by the song title. I'll let you formulate your own opinion; give it a listen or three and let me know what you think:
"And the train is gone suddenly
On wheels clicking silently
Like a gently tapping litany,
And he holds his crayon rosary
Tighter in his hand..."
Quickie tonight, because I just got home from a very awesome show featuring NYC bands These Animals and Field Mouse along with local favorite Big Hurry. I went for Big Hurry, but came away a fan of all three bands. Due to the laid back atmosphere and light midweek crowd, I got to chat with members of each band, and they were just swell. If you're on the East Coast, Field Mouse and These Animals are playing DC tomorrow, and These Animals have a couple more dates this week - worth catching if you're nearby.
In honor of the spectacular cover BH played, here's the original version of "I Would Die 4 U" by Prince:
"I'm not your lover I'm not your friend I am something that you'll never comprehend..."
Any day you have a chance to move a sofa with a pull-out mattress down a fire escape AND see Big Hurry in concert has to go down as one of the better days it is possible to have on this earth. Turns out the other two bands were legit tonight, too (The Long Time Darlings and The Harlan Twins - we'll likely talk about each of them some time soon). BH brought the energy tonight to a packed and sweaty house at Brillobox, and it was good to see their full electric set after they hit an acoustic home run a few weeks ago at the Draw Us Lines birthday bash.
(photo from the acoustic set 7-9-11)
I got to talk to a few of the band members, and they're pretty swell folks. Additional evidence can be found here (a hilarious interview after a recent show they played in NYC). I gotta say, I'm disappointed they weren't able to resurrect "Found Out" for me after I asked them about it at the last show, but I'm holding out hope that it will resurface at a future show.
It's hard to pick just one song to highlight when you love them all, but I'm going with Save Your Breath tonight.
Acoustic "Echo Chamber" version, courtesy of Draw Us Lines (you gotta love the way Dani does percussion for their acoustic stuff; I know my drummer friend Jake does!):
We're going with a showtune tonight. Why? Because the movie was on TV today, it's a fun film and great memory from childhood, and the song is just darn catchy. If you haven't seen Newsies, I must recommend it - it's a chance to see Christian Bale in action long before Batman Begins, Patrick Bateman, or Pocahontas (yea, he was a voice in a Disney animated film!) He even sings in the movie. Of course, it was geared towards a fairly young audience, but it's a good story about poor working boys in 1899 New York who were forced to make a stand when the newspaper moguls raised prices on the "papes" which provided their livelihood. Full disclosure, the movie didn't get great reviews, but I still like it and (most of) the songs are pretty good.
This song comes right after the newsboy union has taken a stand against the scabs who start selling papers during the strike, found themselves at a disadvantage until the Brooklyn newsies came to their aid, and have made the front page of their ally / reporter friend Denton's paper (an upstart rival to Pulitzer and Hearst's heavyweights New York World and New York Journal):
"I gotta be either dead or dreamin' 'Cause look at that pape with my face beamin'
Tomorrow they may wrap fishes in it
But I was a star for one whole minute!"
I love the lyrical play in this one. It's a kind of depressing, yet hopeful song, and they borrow a couple lines you'll recognize from other tunes. I think the intent is to convey that no matter how much is wrong in the world, there is beauty and joy to be found, and the ultimate point of life is the journey into the great unknown...
A quiet tune, set to some pretty guitar strumming.
"Just follow the stars and speeding red cars Into the great unknown..."
