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..."

12-08-11 - "Heavy" ~ Collective Soul

When I decided to post a Collective Soul song tonight, I could have gotten cute again and picked "December"... but I didn't.  This song is pretty heavy (sorry, had to be done), dealing with an overbearing relationship.  Pretty straightforward lyrically; you won't get much exposition from me tonight.


The song is a great example of late '90s / early '00s rock, and sounds excellent through a good set of speakers where the stereo effects can fully hit you.  Also, here's a kinda cool acoustic version performed in the desert in Morocco:

(look for other tracks performed similarly in Morocco... good stuff!)

And here's the studio recording:

"Hold me up to those whom you've deceived

promises you break you still believe…"

11-24-11 - "Wagon Wheel" ~ Old Crow Medicine Show

Holiday Quickie.  Here's a track that was cobbled together from the strains of a chorus composed by Bob Dylan.  Nostalgic and regretful, but with a hopeful attitude toward the future, the protagonist seeks redemption and rebirth as his journey to his hometown acts as a metaphor for his turning from evil, self-sabotaging ways and returning to his roots...

"North country winters keep a'gettin me

lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave

but I ain't goin' back to livin' that old life no more..."

"...and if I die in Raleigh, at least I will die free..."

10-18-11 - "Black Day In December" ~ Said The Whale

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..."

______________________________

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.

10-2-11 - "Ulysses" ~ Josh Garrels

My cousin posted this on Facebook the other day (yes, Facebook is evil, but we're in too deep at this point... discussion for another day.)  The song is rife with intricately woven metaphors drawn from Homer's "Odyssey" - 'Ulysses' is the Latin version of the Greek name 'Odysseus'.  If you've read the Odyssey, seen a film adaptation, or are otherwise at least familiar with the tale, you'll catch the aspects of the epic tale... storms, shipwrecks, and sirens.


The lyrics about being tied to the mast and pointed home resonate.  If you don't know of the "Siren song", it was an irresistible melody sung by the mythical creatures which lured many sailors and their ships to doom, smashed on the rocks of the Sirens' lair.  Odysseus had his crew plug their ears so as to not be lured by the song and lash him to the mast so he could hear the song but not act on the temptation to seek it out.  Thus, he heard the beauty of the song without succumbing to the trap.


You know by now that I'm a piano guy, and I love the album version which is piano-driven, but I just might love the acoustic guitar version with no other instrumentation even more.  That's the version I heard first, and it lets the emotion in the vocals really shine through... let me know which you prefer.


Album Version:

Live in NYC:

"So tie me to the mast of this old ship and point me home…"

9-1-11 - "Red Hollow Road" ~ Big Snow Big Thaw

Saw these folks down at Howler's tonight.  Turns out Dani, the drummer from one of my favorite local bands, Big Hurry, rocks the percussion for another Big Band also.  The styles are not quite opposite endes of the spectrum, but perhaps something like fuchsia vs. chartreuse.  A brisk walk dahn the Bloomfield Bridge was worth the effort, as the boys and girl of Big Snow Big Thaw brought a foot-stompin' bluegrassy party to Pittsburgh's Little Italy.  


Sorry to say I wimped out and didn't stick around for Hotel Lights and Sleepy V, but hey, I'm a corporate whore headed to work by 7:30 and as it is I'm up after midnight.  It's on my to-do list to make it up to those bands by checking them out.  Also to come into some money so I can just go to shows and not worry about being up for work in the morning...


Anyway, about the song.  I haven't quite had an epiphany about the precise meaning of the lyrics just yet, but there's clearly some intense stuff going on, what with the devil, desert sun, never meeting his love, and foreboding talk of graves.  


"Red Hollow Road" ~ Big Snow Big Thaw (bandcamp - 2 free tracks, although not this one, or you can just get the whole 8-song dual EP for $5)


"...boy, I got this demon beat..."

8-23-11 - "Repatriated" ~ Handsome Furs

Sometimes a song just grabs your ear and won't let go.  I heard this on my commute home today, and fortunately caught the name so I could look it up when I got home.  It's catchy musically and thought-provoking lyrically, which if you've been paying attention you'll know is one of my favorite combinations.


I'll leave to your interpretation the precise meaning of the lyrics, but I think they're certainly a rally cry against apathy...

"The frozen land
I'm never going back there
It was a lie, a lie believing itself..."

7-10-11 - "Under Streetlights" ~ Brooke Annibale

Here's another local artist who's pretty great, and one of eight artists featured on the new DrawUsLines Echo Chamber CD I picked up at their birthday concert last night. Brooke Annibale plays some refreshingly chill guitars and sings beautiful lyrics with breathy, soulful vocals.  I actually haven't seen her play live (she wasn't one of the performers last night), but I'll have to catch her one of these days.


This one is a wistful lament for a lover long gone.  Not sure whether there's a breakup involved, or just distance causing a rift, but either way Annibale is not merely mourning, but hopeful for reuniting and rekindling the romance...

"Under Streetlights" (Echo Chamber session)


"through the dark night,
two hours 'til sunrise
I can't forget your eyes..."

6-29-11 - "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) ~ The Proclaimers

This is gonna get complicated.  But hopefully also fun.  Bear with me (or just scroll down and watch/listen to the song.)


I watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother tonight with my brother.  The episode featured this song* as a cassette single that got stuck in a character's car stereo and was thus the only thing they could listen to for the bulk of 199,999 miles put on the vehicle.


This song is great.  It's also featured on a countdown list called The 100 Worst Songs Ever.  That's how you know it's legit.


My college uses this song as an icebreaker for incoming freshman classes, by making upperclassmen, faculty and staff get on stage and do a choreographed dance (teaching such moves as the prairie dog and frantic skiier to the 1000 freshmen).  Sentimental memories there for me... I wish I had this on video.  It's quite a sight to behold.


The song is not only insanely catchy and a testament to true love, it's also educational.  I just learned the meaning of the word "haver", and I bet you didn't know the definition until you clicked that link, either!


The Proclaimers are a band comprised primarily of blond Scottish twins.  Guys, not girls... and pretty dorky guys at that.  But come on, who doesn't love twins?  or dorks?  It's pretty great watching the one stand behind the other's shoulder and sing the echos / harmonies in the music video....


OH!  Did I mention that Johnny Depp is in the video?  Guess the song made the soundtrack of 1993's "Benny and Joon" starring everyone's favorite actor...

In conclusion, this may in fact be The Best Song Ever.  Or maybe it's not, but it's still pretty great, eh?


"If I get drunk well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you
And if I haver yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's havering to you..."


* - downside of Blogger: they are in bed with YouTube and do not allow embedding of videos from other sites like Vimeo.  Why can't we all get along?

5-19-11 - "Another New World" ~ Josh Ritter

I'm hitting the road, first good long trip in a while.  Pittsburgh to Vermont, solo, just me and the yellow lines and some great music (like the fresh albums I scored yesterday).  I'm quite ready for some time for introspection and reflection, so the drive time will be perfect.  Planned stops include Lake Placid - site of the Miracle On Ice, Magic Hat Brewery in Burlington, and probably Ben & Jerry's too.  


But you don't care about that, you care about the song.  This one's about a journey, so it's fitting for the day my trip kicks off.  Pretty potent lyrics; I'm quoting the beginning below to not spoil the later parts of the ballad.  It's haunting, both lyrically and musically... probably influenced by Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee" (apparently the last poem he wrote...)  Here you go, some good ol' Josh Ritter:

"The leading lights of the age all wondered among themselves what I would do next,
After all that I'd found, in my circles around the world, was there anything left?
'Gentlemen,' I said, 'I've studied the maps, and if what I am thinking is right,
There's another new world, at the top of the world, for whoever can break through the ice,'

I looked 'round the room, in that way I once had, and I saw that they wanted belief,
So I said, 'All I've got are my guts and my God,' then I paused, 'and the Annabel Lee.'"

5-3-11 - "Chicago" ~ Sufjan Stevens

I'm nothing if not predictable.  Well, hopefully I'm not too predictable with the ASOD choices... but yeah, I'm in Chicago for a work conference, thus you're getting a song about Chicago.  It's a great song, about a rockin' road trip that turns into a journey of self-reflection and discovery... or something like that.

"I made a lot of mistakes
in my mind, in my mind..."