2-24-12 - "Song For You" ~ Jenny & Tyler

Here's one my little brother got me hooked on.  This duo met in college, started playing music together, fell in love, got married, and are living the dream of every hopeless romantic hipster musician.


The song starts out minimally, but builds and builds into a beautifully orchestrated arrangement with rich harmonies and deeply sincere lyrics.  There's not a lot of digging to be done to interpret this track, so just bask in the glow of the love expressed and the joy of the tune, and the sweet music video filmed in Seattle + Silverdale, WA:

Some good live performance videos out there, too.  Here are two good ones:

Also, they have a ton of freebies on their website, for the price of an e-mail address.  Ten songs (okay, two are duplicated, so eight songs) just like that; two more if you go to briterevolution (just now found this site; seems cool) and sign up.  Download and give it a listen, but if you like it, be sure to go back and support the artist financially (always the best policy for facilitating that good music continues to be made!)


(Aside: can I just say that I very much appreciate artists who post lyrics on their own sites?  songmeanings.net is great, but people mishear things a lot even on a site like that.  I just like to know that what I'm hearing is what they're saying, ya know?)


EDIT 2-26-12: oh look, MORE free tunes!  This time on noisetrade.com.

"Hear my song for you

I will not hold my tongue…"

2-22-11 - "Casimir Pulaski Day" ~ Sufjan Stevens

Not going to say much about this one; it's pretty self-explanatory.  Well actually it's pretty deep and moving, if you just sit back and listen to what he's saying... you'll catch the drift, but still have a lot to think about...

"On the floor at the great divide
With my shirt tucked in and my shoes untied
I am crying in the bathroom..."

2-21-11 - "Three Rounds And A Sound" ~ Blind Pilot

So here's something I've learned over the years - certain TV shows have a knack for using awesome songs in their soundtracks.  The WB / CW network figured out a long time ago that by cross-promoting, they could make both the artists and the shows more popular, and have used it to their advantage on numerous shows.  And of course the other networks do it too.


One of the few shows I watch these days is Chuck.  Perfect blend of drama, comedy, nerdiness, and - guess what - a pretty rockin' soundtrack.  If it weren't for Chuck, I might never have heard this song.  But I did hear it, and it's just beautiful.  


It's open to interpretation, but I'm pretty sure it's a mostly positive love song, spanning various points in a relationship, and looking at a lifelong, ever deepening love.


(only live versions on youtube; check grooveshark or go buy it for the studio recording)

"Soil and six feet under
kept just like we were
before you knew you'd know me
and you know me..."

2-20-11 - "Juggernaut" ~ Five Iron Frenzy

These guys aren't around any more, but they were a lot of fun back when I was in high school and college, and well worth an occasional spin in amongst the newer music I listen to these days.  FIF blended upbeat tunes with humor, and threw in some deep thoughts as well.  This one's about finding a way to overcome the crushing weight of doubt.

"Beneath machinery
specter of treachery,
and I've lost everything;
and I am getting out,
the shadow of my doubt
is suffocating;
my own worst enemy,
this Juggernaut is killing me"

2-18-11 - "Reverie" ~ The Cowboy Relics

In honor of the show I attended this evening, here's one from local Pittsburgh band The Cowboy Relics:


"Reverie" ~ The Cowboy Relics


"...and it's got me runnin'..."

2-17-11 - "New Low" ~ Middle Class Rut

When the band name is this awesome, you know the song is gonna be good.  Ok, maybe not.  But this one has a catchy, driving beat to it, and I think the message is a good one too.  Anyone who's made it to adulthood, gone to college and gotten a "real job", or maybe gotten a "real job" without going to college, will likely find out that things aren't always roses.  The grind of a 9-to-5 desk job can be quite taxing.  The grind of a job involving manual labor can be grueling.  The "rewards" (making money so you can buy things so you can keep up with the Joneses) aren't necessarily worth putting up with things.  And unless you're really lucky, even if you're doing something in which you're interested, you probably will not want to keep doing it 5 days a week for the rest of your life.  


Yet, once we are in the system, and once we've started living the "American Dream", we find it incredibly hard to break free of it (the "middle class rut").  At some point, we each hit a new low - depression stemming from the mundane aspects of bringing home the bacon, putting up with corporate red tape and the inanity of office chatter, having our  efforts go unappreciated, or whatever else it may be.  When we were kids, we dreamt of being astronauts or athletes or movie stars or princesses.  Then, when we became old enough to realize that these were not realistic for most of us, we moved on to more "normal" aspirations.  And even if we've reached these goals, we may find they are not as fulfilling as we had imagined.


To quote a movie you may have seen, " Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy stuff we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact."


Don't let yourself be bogged down in the rut of consumerism, and don't let your life be wasted away working for the man.  If you have a job you can tolerate and it provides for your family and allows you to spend time with people you love doing things you love, great.  But if you're just plugging away to pay for your 789 channels of HD TV and your leased Audi, maybe you should reconsider your priorities, and the true cost of this lifestyle.


One more quote from one of my favorite bands: "Decide what to be, and go be it."


Enough blathering, here's the song:

"After your dreams have all died and morning is in mourning... what are you?"

2-16-11 - "West Coast" ~ Coconut Records

Another one I heard on the radio on a recent trip.  It's amazing how driving around in an unfamiliar place and listening to unfamiliar songs can be such a moving experience.  Try it sometime.


This one's a bit mellow, a bit depressing, but somehow hopeful as well.

"So pack up the bags to beat back the clock,
do I let her sleep or should i wake her up?
you said we both go together if one falls down (...yeah, right...)
I talk out loud like you're still around..."

2-15-11 - "Mountain Man" ~ Crash Kings

Heard this one on XM radio while in Nashville for work a few weeks ago.  One of those songs that hooks you instantly; it's just so darn catchy.  And I've mentioned before that I'm a sucker for a dirty piano riff (wait for it in the chorus).  This is just a trio - keys, bass, and drums.  Yet, they produce a pretty full sound... check the bio on their website for info on just how they pull it off.  

"I’m sittin' on top of a hillside,
there’s a one way path that’s takin me home...
climbin' up to the peak with a blindfold,
bombin' down at the top of my lungs screamin..."

2-14-11 - "9 Crimes" ~ Damien Rice (with Lisa Hannigan)

Damien Rice is an Irish bloke who is also a pretty talented songwriter.  This one is hauntingly beautiful, a tale of love gone awry.


(I recommend listening without watching the video at first - the video is quite interesting but also somewhat strange and may detract from your first listen.)

"It's a small crime and I got no excuse..." 

2-11-11 - "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" ~ Death Cab For Cutie

This one's been in my head all evening.  Just a chill love song.  When you find the right person, you want to stay with them until you both get old, and die, and even after that.

"If heaven and hell decide
That they both are satisfied,
And illuminate the "No's"
On their vacancy signs;
If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks,
Then I'll follow you into the dark..."

2-4-11 - "The High Road" ~ Broken Bells

A collaborative album can sometimes be pretty cool.  Case in point:

"The dawn to end all nights, 
That's all we hoped it was. "

2-2-11 - "Found Out" ~ Big Hurry

Here's another up-and-coming local artist from the Pittsburgh area.  As with New Shouts, my good buddy Jake introduced me to them by inviting me to a show they played recently... and as with New Shouts, I was unable to attend that night but checked them out online and liked what I heard.


This particular track is full of delightful, trippy syncopation.  You can check out more of their stuff on Bandcamp; a couple freebies too!


"Found Out" ~ Big Hurry


"Wrapped a cord around my neck 
to measure all that I had mentioned;
wish that I had wrote it down
or wrapped it up and buried it..."

1-25-11 - "Medicine" ~ Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

You're getting a live video tonight.  Grace Potter & The Nocturnals hail from Vermont, which is a pretty awesome place.  And their music is just plain fun and crazy, which is always a plus.  And Grace's voice is dynamite.  And the drummer's 'stache and expressions are sweet.  What's not to like?

"I stole her bag of rattling bones,
her fast-luck oil and her magic stones;
I swept up her magnetic sand,
I took her love potion and her mojo hand..."

1-24-11 - "New Slang" ~ The Shins

Mellow and brooding.  Just feels like the right song for tonight.

"God speed all the bakers at dawn may they all cut their thumbs, 
And bleed into their buns 'till they melt away. 

I'm looking in on the good life i might be doomed never to find. 
Without a trust or flaming fields am i too dumb to refine?"

1-23-11 - "Letters From The Sky" ~ Civil Twilight

Haunting and powerful testament to eternal love.  

"One of these days the mountains are gonna fall into the sea
and they'll know
that you and i were made for this..."