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..."
A lot of times, I go with the upbeat, catchy single when first posting an artist on this site. I was tempted to do the same with Madi Diaz, but I'm going a different direction (I can always post more of her stuff later.) My buddy and I basically just discovered Diaz by checking the Club Cafe concert calendar and reading a writeup in the Pittsburgh City Paper, and dropped by her show last Wednesday. It was a near miss, as we both had had a lot going on and were not really in the mood to go out to a midweek show, but we sucked it up and ended up having a great time.
Diaz has a voice that grips you, and her partnership with guitarist/songwriting collaborator Kyle Ryan manages to fill the stage and the room like an aurora fills the sky. Diaz uses a synthesizer to flesh out the sound while playing acoustic guitar, creating a rich background for the vocals.
This song relays the emotions of a somewhat one-sided relationship; Diaz wants more but her counterpart displays inconsistent maturity and fails to put forth the effort to develop a deeper connection. The gentle indie-pop chording sets the foundation for the crescendo of emotion as Diaz wrestles with the delicate situation and exhorts her lover to go all in.
Live at Club Cafe:
Solo performance live in studio:
Album version (you can find the whole album on madidiaz's youtube channel - well worth a listen!):
"So am I fighting a boy, or am I fighting a man
which side will I see when you show up again
the man don’t wanna tell me but at least he’ll try
'cause the boy ain’t hanging 'round tonight..."
EDIT 2-1-12 - get Madi's new album, Plastic Moon, on Amazon for $5 throughout the month of February. It's legit.
Oh, just one I heard on the radio several times... it has an interesting blend of instrumentation, including marimbas (or some such instrument) and guitar, creating a bit of a haunting feel. Seems she's crushing on a contract killer, or maybe he's a literal bullfighter, not quite sure...
After several years with other bands, Taylor has been putting out solo albums lately. Seems Miss Taylor has also been involved in some Bright Eyes recordings and concerts, so that's kinda cool...
Oh, and she kinda looks like Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity from The Matrix...)
Here's a super catchy track from Alexander Ebert (he of Edward Sharpe AND the Magnetic Zeros). No, it's not about Charlie Sheen "winning". Pretty much just a call for love and peace, perhaps with a little bit of tongue-in-cheek praise of the American Dream thrown in...
Live/Acoustic/Solo/Guitar:
"Do you know the way, the things to say, the way to win the game of life? I should know better..."
This one is just a girl and her guitar, and it can hit you hard if you let it. There are lots of songs about love, and they cover a plethora of aspects of it. This one deals with the power of love, the beauty of it when we give it, and the chaos it can create when coupled with the fallibility of our human nature. Life's greatest joys come from love, and life's greatest sorrows as well...
I'd heard of Brooke Fraser before, but never really heard her music until something my brother said today got me to look it up. She's got some talent, that's for sure. This song hit me hardest - C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors, and was one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. I kind of wish Fraser had come up with a better name for the song, but other than that, it's gold. The first verse is almost a verbatim Lewis quote, and it sets up the entire song's existential pondering. If you listen and think, maybe you'll have an epiphany... or maybe you'll just dig the music.
"Am I lost, or just less found, on the straight or on the roundabout of the wrong way? is this a soul that stirs in me? is it breaking free, wanting to come alive? 'cause my comfort would prefer for me to be numb, and avoid the impending birth of who I was born to become..."
"And when you cry, a piece of my heart dies, knowing that I may have been the cause; if you were to leave, fulfill someone else's dreams, I think I might totally be lost..."
Seth Avett is my favorite member of the Avett Brothers. Well, except for Scott, who's pretty awesome, but no, Seth really is my favorite... barely. I don't know what it is exactly, but something about his lyrics and his stage presence and even his off-stage presence just clicks with me... probably the vibe of slightly shy, slightly socially awkward... the brothers are great at foot-stomping romps, but both are also skilled at mellow, introspective tunes, and Seth's writing in particular resonates for me.
Darling is a side project of Seth's, where for his first two albums, he basically sat in his kitchen with a 4-track cassette recorder and did everything himself. This recording method made for a very raw, imperfect sound, but for me that just serves to accentuate the lyrics which delve into the frailty of the human condition. This particular track, however, is from his third album, which is a lot more polished.
The sharp and cynical lyrics evoke a recent breakup, where the wounds are still open, and the singer is convinced that love is a farce. Yet, the last verse still rings with a glimmer of hope...
(live performance on youtube:) (gotta respect a man that can sing and play guitar whilst walking backwards, eh? additional symbolism...?)
"I'm laughing so hard my sides start to split well I cannot be told and I will not admit that no one else thinks it's a joke... well, at least I'm right about love..."
