unbelievable

I wonder what I've been up to lately? Clearly I haven't taken the time to post anything sensible in quite a while. In my defense I've been reading up on architecture like crazy the last couple of days because if I'm very lucky, we might look into building a new house some time in the near-ish future. There are some seriously cool things out there. I've mostly been interested in finding out more about green architecture that still looks cool (and isn't horribly unaffordable, that last part being kind of a deal-breaker in a lot of cases). But still, there are some really interesting things out there. Especially, and perhaps to some extent surprisingly, in the realm of pre-fabrication. Google Flatpak (among others) and you too, will be amazed. I kid you not. Unfortunately that stuff isn't available in Europe. Actually I've had to discover that a lot of the architecture around these parts (and I'm talking about both green buildings and regular stuff in general) doesn't quite agree with me. Europeans tend to build really robust looking structures and I like things to look light and transparent, which for the most part isn't done here (except for a few very high-profile architect types who won't be doing anything for me personally. Ever). I think the strict building regulations are to blame at least partially, because I have noticed that most of the things I really like are being built in the warmer climes, where of course it's ok to have a simple brick or concrete wall. Whereas here - good luck trying to get your house approved if you try anything like that. Insulation's a bitch.

Alright though, I'm supposed to be writing about music instead of explaining the intricacies of building codes in Europe. Actually another big reason for the lack of music posting has been my continued obsession with film and television. I'm still watching literally everything out there (Mulholland Dr. finally last night and about to start The Wire). But whatever, it's interesting and that's fine. Also I've been having beef with my teachers at school. They're really annoying and, in my humble opinion, not entirely professional, but that is yet another thing I won't be ranting about. I think I'm all ranted out on that for the moment, even though, there is much more ranting to be done. I might get back to it at a future point in time. If you're lucky I won't though.

Now on to the music. I just got my hands on the new T.I. record, but I haven't listened to it yet at all. But I'm sure it'll be good enough. T.I. isn't really in the vein of most of the things I generally post about on here though anyway, so let's just go ahead and skip that discussion.

Since I've been so architecture/film/telly obsessed lately I only have a tiny bit of music to recommend. As per usual it's from betterPropaganda. The first band I have to pitch is Anathallo, who bP tells me is from Minnesota. In any case they have strings!! harhar. So big surprise that I'm telling you to listen to "The River" here. Still, it's a nice song and it's got a great build-up toward the end where things really get into swing. Actually that reminds me of Gomez's "Notice", which I must have written about at some point - except that I just double checked and I have absolutely somehow managed to completely neglect that song. I'm a little annoyed at myself. I'll try to find it somewhere online for you to listen to or if you're feeling enterprising, maybe you can go find it independently. Anyway the point of bringing up Gomez was to comment on the ridiculously good dissonant instrumental section the song has right towards the end, that I completely adore. I've been listening to that song for a long time now and it still rocks.

So moving on, this is pretty old stuff. But I, for some reason, had always steered clear of Calexico, but then I ended up listening to "Alone Again Or", which, it turns out, I think is quite a good tune. It's a cover, but they've spiced it up by adding a really neat Mexican twist. Just hear for yourselves here, I s'pose.

A song by American Analog Set just came on and I hadn't meant to write about it, but it's really great background music. So if you're into that sort of thing. Go here. Oh yeah, the song is called "Hard to Find".

I was going to write about Friendly Fires next. I'm drawing a complete and utter lack about where I found their song "Paris" (it's a remix by Aeroplane and it features Au Revoir Simone actually). So I can't tell you where you can find the song. You can check out Friendly Fires' myspace, but that particular remix isn't on there, only the original "Paris" track is, which is busier than the remix and I like it less. Dag. I lied. The remix is on there. I just don't know how I got the track onto my computer. I'll leave you to figure that one out if you want it too. Ok well we shall swiftly move on to something else.

The final track I wanted to talk about today is Gravenhurst's "The Diver". It's a very quiet, melancholy sort of tune, but I like that in a tune. Listen and download here, if you so choose.

All the tangents I went on in posting today has reminded me that there's a veritable plethora of music I have yet to talk about on here (namely Gomez, Au Revoir Simone and many others) and it's made me a little nutso just thinking about it. Meaning I will stop now.

I will, however, leave you with this word of advice. This harks back to the green architecture stream of consciousness: go check out Inhabitat. I've linked to it in my essentials list and it truly is a great website. It's most definitely not limited to architecture, although it has some exceedingly cool things of that sort. But essentially it'll tell you about all kinds of exciting and more importantly fabulously cool green products and intiviatives out there. Explore and find out. I hope you'll like it. I'm quasi-obsessed.

And on a final note. Seriously. If anyone has something really cool that I should be listening to, please post. There has been a sort of dearth of new music in my life lately, mostly on account of my having to borrow my sister's woefully small 2GB Zen V Plus (which is currently maxed out with a few choice tunes) until I get my awesome new 32GB Zen X-Fi (for 200 Euros which translates to $20 less than I'd be paying if I got it in the States - which incidentally, is a first in the history of shopping - I mean, something being cheaper in Europe than in the US, it still seems too good to be true). Anyway the point is, I've been yearning for some new things to listen to. Help me out a little, will ya.

mirror's edge

I don't really have much to report on the music front because I've spent too much of my free time recently watching unhealthy amounts of House. Seriously. I've seen every episodes ever. Seasons 1 through 4 including all that's been on so far in season 5. It's not right. But shit happens when you have too much time.

On a side note and completely irrelevant, but, my parents' computer has a German keyboard and now that I'm back on my laptop I find myself mixing up the z and y, as well as the ' and - keys. The number of times I've written zou instead of you in this post is slowlz (SEEEEE) driving me insane. I despise German kezboards thoroughly. Ok I did it on purpose that time, but still.

Anyway to get to the reason I decided to post: I finally got around to playing the Mirror's Edge demo yesterday and it made me remember how much I liked the music from the trailers. So I've been browsing the interwebs to find a sound sample. I've found the music, but nothing to download just yet. But in case you were wondering: the theme song Still Alive is sung my someone called Lisa Miskovsky (who is Swedish or something, I forget now). It's pretty definitely pop-type fare, but with a good dose of mellow electronic music over the top. What I really want to get my hands on is the score sans vocals, but until then, if you do want to have a listen to this stuff, you can find it here.

O_O

I found Breathe Owl Breathe a few days ago over at untitledrecords.com and I quite enjoyed it. They have two of the band's songs on there. They're both good. It's more of my favorite kind of music, i.e. containing strings. If you share my affection for this, then you should check out the songs here.

chirp

Apparently Andrew Bird is releasing his next album this January 27th. Only a couple more months. For those of you out there who want to have an early listen to one of the tracks off Noble Beast go here or if you want it a little more permanently in your collection go here. The song's your pretty usual Bird tune, meaning there are strings and whistling, two things I happen to adore. If you like them too, then I highly recommend you check out the track.

ace

Aceyalone is very, very different from most of the other music I talk about on here - it's hip-hop and the really good kind. I absolutely love the songs "All For U" and "Moonlit Skies", which are available for you to listen to and download here. There are a few other songs too, I haven't listened to all of them, but I remember not liking at least one of them. The two just above are great though. Do yourself a favor and get them.

19 or something

You've probably heard Adele's "Hometown Glory" somewhere before. I feel like it's fairly ubiquitous, although maybe I just made that up or maybe, and this seems even more likely, I just wanted to use that word because it is wonderful. In any case. The song is quite great too. If you're one of those types who doesn't know it or someone who has neglected to add it to their music collection, here's your chance.

Set Free Your Only Son

They featured a rather wonderful song on Bones last week. Generally the show could do with a better music supervisor - to be honest there have been quite a few blunders - but every once in a while they pick something pretty fabulous and Katie Gray's "Set Free" is one of those instances. The song seems like pretty standard singer/songwriter indie fare, but you'll notice pretty quickly that it's infused with some traditional indian musical elements (listen to the back-up vocals. awesome.) Anyway. I really like the tune, you should definitely check it out. You can get it here.

Now that we're on the topic of fabulous music. I heard Jeff Hanson for the first time the other day and I was very pleasantly surprised. It's a little strange because he sounds so much like a woman when he's singing. But then again, the music is great, so I think we can safely forget about that little quirk. You can check him out here. I particularly liked "Your Only Son" btw, so be sure to give that a listen. Hope you like it!

Re: Jenny Lewis

In publishing that last post it occurred to me that I have made a rather egregious error in neglecting to mention Jenny Lewis' collaboration with the Watson Twins until just now. I really, really, really enjoyed that album (Rabbit Fur Coat). The intro, which sadly I can't find on the internet right now, is fabulous. There are, however, two songs available for you to enjoy right here. If you haven't heard either "Rise Up With Fists!" or "Melt Your Heart" you should definitely check it out.

More Starfucker

I already posted about Starfucker once, but I noticed that there's another song by them that you can get for free on the interwebs. This one's called "Pop Song". Get it here.

There was a bunch more stuff that I meant to post about, but I did end up getting a wee bit sidetracked. So I'll probably forget about most of that stuff. No worries though, I'm sure there'll be other stuff coming your way.

Actually I just remembered that I found something off of Jenny Lewis' new album, which will interest you if you know/like Rilo Kiley or Jenny Lewis' previous collaboration with the Watson Twins. In any case, the song is "Acid Tongue" and it's off the eponymous album, her sophomore solo effort. You can listen and download here.

Spoon

As you've probably noticed I haven't updated in a pretty unbelievably long while. I do have some songs to write about, but I want to finalize the list first. In the meantime I have another tune by Spoon that I need to tell you about. I watched Stranger Than Fiction, which was better than I was expecting it to be, and anyway, they used a good number of Spoon songs throughout the film, but this particular one called "The Book I Write" was playing during the end credits. Let me tell you it's a short little thing, but it's very good. Definitely a cheery little number. Listen and download here if you feel like a happy tune. Also. This song comes courtesy of my fabulous googling skills. I hope you're thankful.

Plus 1

I have to add another song. I skipped it earlier, but I'm re-listening just now and I've decided to share it after all. It's "Turn You Inside Out" by Jimmy Edgar. It's definitely a house track. Listen and download here.

Ok I had a mini freak-out when I tagged the post a few seconds ago because it turns out I've posted about Jimmy Edgar before. No repeat post though. Phew. Last time the song was "I Wanna Be Your STD". Heh. Still cracks me up. Anyway, "Turn You Inside Out" is better than that last one. So go listen.

New Propaganda

I finally have a bit of time to update a little on here. We had my sister's wedding a little while ago and then I was in Munich on vacation and we're still rushing from place to place with the new in-laws. But I'm finally spending my first day at home in a while and got to checking out the new recommendations over at betterPropaganda and boy is it a treasure trove this time around. I already found a whole selection of things that I adore. Have a listen for yourselves.

There's a new Cassettes Won't Listen track called "Freeze and Explode". If you've listened to the other songs by the band I've written about you'll know what they sound like. Otherwise, personally I think the music quite resembles The Postal Service, so it's sort of rock infused with some electronic stuff. See what you think.

The second song I discovered is called "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second" by Starfucker. Now, if you know me at all, it'll come as no surprise that I get quite the kick out of the band's name. But I'm glad to report that not only the name of both the band and the song rock, but the sound does to. I especially dig the intro. Listen and download here. Also, I saw that there are two songs listed for download but I haven't had a chance to check out the second one. Feel free to report back if it's any good or perhaps, if it blows.

This next one's a little more house/electronica. The song in question is "Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit. It's a very fun ditty. Get it here.

Now Music Go Music is definitely not for everyone. "Light of Love" is kind of a cheese fest I reckon. The music is actually a fair bit like Abba, so if you're in the mood for an updated and fresh interpretation of 70s pop, have a listen. Beware though, this stuff is way catchy.

I forget whether I've posted about Lambchop before, but I reckon not. Anyway. The band makes very mellow rock or I guess indie music. It's a little like Iron & Wine but different enough to make it worth a listen. Lambchop is available here. I particularly recommend "Slipped Dissolved Loosed".

Ok there are many, many more songs. But I think this will do for now. I'm tired of typing. Hah. Hopefully there will be more posts soon. I have a bit more travelling around Switzerland to do first though. Till then!

Tyler James 2.0

I've been pretty obsessed with the song "Stay Humble" by Tyler James lately. Till now I had to listen to it on his website, which I posted about a while back. But thanks to my mad googling skills I have found an actual mp3. Sweetness I tell you!

Anyhoodle. I've added the song to my little music player on the right. And if you so choose, you may get it for yourself, as well as the other tracks off of Tyler James's EP, here. All you have to do is scroll down a little until you hit that picture of a kid playing the piano. That's Tyler for you.

Radio8bit

Radiohead in and of itself is pretty cool. I think we can agree on that. But, this, this is really effing cool.

Behold the 8-bit version, if you will, of "Nude" by Radiohead.

Everyone's Morning Jacket

"Evil Urges" by My Morning Jacket is a really sweet song and by sweet I mean cool. I just realized that there are some bit string parts, which probably explains at least part of its allure. Mostly I'd say it's the intro that kind of kicks ass though. You had best listen to it yourselves. Available for listening and download here.

Edit: After posting this I saw that I had already written about My Morning Jacket a while back and bitched about how they weren't over on betterPropaganda, well I guess now they are. Good.

Republic Tigers Dance

I already posted about The Republic Tigers, but I just saw that their song "Buildings and Mountains" is featured over at betterPropaganda, so if you haven't checked them out, you definitely need to! Do that here.

Also, if you feel like a little pop. Have a listen to Lykke Li's "Dance Dance Dance".

A Dream

They featured another song by Priscilla Ahn on last week's season finale of Grey's Anatomy and the song, called "A Dream", is really good again. I think Ahn's voice is just lovely. The song's a sort of melancholy little pop tune and it features strings (yay!). If you'd like to have a listen and download it, you can do so here.

Millennium Mambo

I can't remember when I saw Millennium Mambo exactly, but it must have been some time towards the beginning of my time at college. The movie was bizarre to say the least, the kind of film that you only ever want to see once, but that sticks with you for a long time. The plot wasn't very memorable, but the audio visual experience was definitely unique. The whole movie is driven by a very slow electronic soundtrack and especially the beginning and end sequences stand out on account of the music. Obviously, considering that we're talking about a rather obscure Chinese movie here, the music isn't widely available. I did finally manage to find that song from the film's intro. If you'd like a listen to trippy electronica song called "A Pure Person", click here.

Tyler James

I heard this song called "Stay Humble" a while back and finally figured out it was by a guy whose name is Tyler James. Now, unfortunately I haven't been able to find it anywhere to download, but at least we can still listen to it. Either at Tyler James' official site or his myspace page. The song, in case you were wondering, is sort of an indie folksy pop ditty. I guess I listen to a lot of that kind of stuff, so it's pretty similar to a lot of my other recommendations in the past. Tell me if you think it sucks (or kicks butt, whichever).

Mates of State

BetterPropaganda has featured another awesome song this month. Although I haven't really liked the other songs by Mates of State that I've heard so far, "My Only Offer" is really cool. It's just a cute little pop/rock song that I think should be generally pleasing. Listen and download here.

Classical Music

As you might or might not (if you don't personally know me, probably the latter) know, I'm a pretty big fan of classical music. I have a pretty limited selection on my computer, which includes all the important things like the famous Christmas masses and a bevy of other really famous works. Classical music is pretty much the only kind of music I will also listen to on the radio. If you've been in Europe before, you'll know that regular radio stations here suck pretty bad, but the Classical music stations are much more enjoyable. In fact, there's a radio station called Radio Swiss Classic (the name is awful, but the music is quite the opposite) that plays absolutely wonderful music and it's commercial free. The announcements are in German and French or Italian (so if you don't speak any of those languages, you're a bit out of luck), but you can obviously still enjoy the music. Now the really great thing is that you can listen to the station online. Yay! And another good thing is that you can view the site in English (or German or French or Italian), so your potential lack of language knowledge won't be a factor. Now I think it's about time you checked out the station:

Radio Swiss Classic

Alone on a Bicycle for Two

I'm still riding that wave of happy summer-time music and it's good. I've added a bunch of Paolo Nutini to my playlist. There are quite a few songs off his album "These Streets" that are really great. I'm particularly fond of "New Shoes" and "Loving You". Actually there are other songs on that album that are rather splendid too. Unfortunately I don't know a place where you can download songs straight away, but I suggest you stop by Paolo's official site or his myspace to check him out, if you're not familiar with his music.

I also got some music by a lovely little duo called She & Him. The band is made up of a guy called M. Ward and a girl, she's pretty famous mind you, called Zooey Deschanel. I think we've all heard her sing in Elf or on various other occasions and I'd been hoping that she'd have enough sense to make a full length album, which she now has. Yay. So, I kind of forgot about Miss Deschanel's singing chops until I was watching this week's episode of Bones, which saw her real life sister belt out a tune (she's not half bad either) - in any case, I did a bit of snooping and found out about She & Him. Their debut album "Volume One" is quite charming. It's really very different from most anything else out there, but then that was to be expected, seeing as the she part of the band seems to be kind of cooky, in an endearing way. On that note, I suggest you have a listen to some of the tunes on "Volume One". Here's the band's official website and here's their myspace page. That should keep you busy enough.

so..

Today our neighbor's dog Space mauled another neighbor's cat. It was really awful. So to kind of get over it I decided to listen to some of the really cheery music that you can only really truly enjoy on a warm summer day and I found this:

"Simple Things" by dbClifford. It was featured on Brothers & Sisters (a truly fantastic show if you haven't seen it) some time last season and it's one of those really happy songs that lifts your mood pretty much instantly. If you're in need of some mood lifting, check the song out here. Here's db's myspace in case you want to see what his other songs are like.

Hope you enjoy.

Two Things

Haven't found much new music lately, save for two tunes I discovered thanks to Grey's. The first one's sort of a pop ditty, you know the kind that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside and that's kind of empowering. Well, Sara Melson's "Feel It Coming" is sort of like that. Check it out here.

The other song I'm liking a lot lately is "Buildings & Mountains" by The Republic Tigers. With a band name like that your song has got to be a little bit cool, right? I happen to think it is. It's a pretty mellow rock type song with an awesome melody and the chorus gets really fun too. Also there's crazy keyboards or something. Reminds me of "War on Sound" by the Moonbabies. Have a listen.

Ok speaking of the Moonbabies. That song "War on Sound" really, freakin' rocks my socks. It's a really fun song. Definitely check it out.

Haven't posted anything on account of not having anything new that's really awesome. Interestingly though, my friend Zach mentioned Goldfrapp to me the other day and they used a song of theirs on this past week's episode of Grey's, so now I'm listening to that stuff a little bit. It's quite good, although a fair bit slower than I remembered it being. If you want to check it out, I suggest going to good old Google and finding something on the band. Ha. Seems I'm to lazy to direct you to anything concrete.

I'm listening to some old favorites right now (including The Maccabees, but that should hardly be surprising, and a bunch of other bands). Grant Lee Phillips came on a little while back and I know I've posted about him before, but I thought I'd link to one of my favorite songs by him. It's a fairly slow guitar ditty called "Under the Milky Way". Have a listen here. Hope you like.

Pedal Steel Transmission

I just found a lovely song called "Amy" by Pedal Steel Transmission. It's a little country and strangely, it's exactly what I'm in the mood for. The guitar is awesome. Check it out here. There are two other songs available at the same spot and I'm going to have a listen to them right now, we shall see if they're any good.

Background

I was feeling the need for some new electronica/house type stuff yesterday, so I headed on over to betterPropaganda and ended up finding a couple of things that I like. Here's the list:

Probably the best thing I found was Grandadbob. I like the name and that always helps, but beyond that the music is very cool. It's pretty good chill background music. Listen and download here. I like "City Approach" more than "Maybe", but they're definitely both worth a listen.

Next up I should mention John Tejada. His song "Alone With You" isn't quite as good as the Grandadbob stuff above and to be honest, if you're not a big fan of electronic music/house music in general, this song might literally drive you insane. It's one of those endlessly repetitive songs, which personally I think make for some brilliant background music when you're in the mood, but I do know a lot of people who really hate this kind of stuff. Best thing to do, would probably be to have a listen yourself and see how you feel about it.

In my quest yesterday I also stumbled upon a little song called "Slippage" by Landshark. Stylistically, I'd say it's about the same as "Alone With You", so steer clear if repetitive themes and slow progressions annoy the crap out of you, if not, it's available here.

I actually found Barbara Morgenstern a while back, but never posted about her, because, well, her song "The Operator" is, objectively speaking, really kind of stupid. But, for inexplicable reasons, I've grown rather fond of it. The German accent in the English bits (yeah, the main lyrics are all in German and the chorus is in English) is unnerving at best, to me anyway, and yet, it's all strangely lovely. I hope you don't hate it. Listen here.

Finally, since we're on the topic of good electronic music, I have to write about my all time favorite song in this genre. If you know me at all and have had the "good fortune" to attend nams-a-palooza or any other party I've thrown, you will have heard this song and probably found yourself thinking, wow! this is awesome! Ok you probably didn't really pay any attention, but, irregardless, the song's good. I'm talking about Chicane's "Red Skies" of course. Check it out here. I've loved this song for a good number of years now and hope you'll like it too.

I Wanna Be Your...

Ok, so I don't particularly like this song - it's not awful, but not great either - but I had to mention it because, well, it's called "I Wanna Be Your STD". HA. Seriously, it's by some guy called Jimmy Edgar. It's drum-n-bass, but anyway. Check it out here.

Update Update

I've been meaning to post this stuff for literally about two weeks I think, but somehow, I've always managed to avoid. However, I'm currently waiting for CSI:NY to load and it's being painfully slow. Seems like as good a time as any to kick my ass and write this biznatch. Now, if I remember things correctly all of the songs I'm posting about were featured on Grey's at some point or another (pretty recently, I'd say). A fair number of them are more girl-oriented I should think, but in any case, I like them, so here they are.

First off there's The Cake Sale's "Some Surprise". It's a really sweet song. But then again, with a name like The Cake Sale, can your music be anything other than sweet? The song's pretty standard Indie Pop-Rock. Find it here. Also check out the rest of the band's music at their official site, if you feel like it. Report back if it's any good, I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

Next up is Katie Herzig. Her song "Sweeter Than This" is also a pretty saccharine sweet pop ditty. By the way, the singer's last name means cute in Swiss-German. Little factoid you can, nay, should use to impress your friends. Listen to it here or check out her site/myspace if you want to find out more.

Ben's Brother was also featured on the show, specifically their song "Let Me Out". It's your pretty standard pop/rock fare, but it's very nice. Check it out here. Also, seeing as I've been so friggin' lazy about updating, I've had the chance to listen to the rest of their album and it's quite nice overall. I'm fond of the harmonica interlude they have, but that might just be me. If you get the chance to listen to more of their stuff, do!

Finally I wanted to mention "From My Heart to Yours" by Laura Izibor. This girl is a pop/soul (personally I think emphasis on the soul) singer from Dublin. Random, but if the music's good, then what gives. See if you like it for yourselves, here or see her site and myspace.

Alright that's it. Finally!

Opposite Direction

The song "Opposite Direction" by Union of Knives was used in a Grey's episode quite a while ago and I kind of forgot about it, but while re-watching some episodes, I noticed again and it just came up on my playlist, so I thought I'd share. It's a little hard to find a good category to put it in - in general, I'd say it's pretty standard alternative stuff, except that it's running on some really nice electonic beats. Well if you listen to it here, you'll see what I mean.

Awesome Instrumentals + Bjork

I forget how I stumbled upon this, but if you haven't seen Bjork's video for her song "Wanderlust" go do it here. It's crazy. Mind you it'll take a while to load because it's really big, but so worth it.

Moving on to the instrumentals part of the post. I found two folk/experimental instrumentals recently and though I'd share. The first one is "Continental Drift" by Harris Newman and the other one is "Lantern Medley" by Clogs. As I said they're sort of experimental folk, which is kind of an interesting mix. I suppose the best thing to do is to just listen yourselves and see what you think.

Incidentally the score for There Will Be Blood just came on and it kind of goes pretty well with the two instrumentals I just mentioned. The score's really unique in any case, if you haven't seen the movie or heard the music, try to see if you can catch a listen somewhere on the net, it's well worth it.

Kid Cudi

Found this cat over at betterPropaganda. Crookers' remix of Kid Cudi's song "Day N Night" is a great hip-hop tune, which has been given the electronica treatment. You should probably put it on your party playlist. Listen and download here.

Serpentine New Day

Goodness. I've been meaning to post about a lot of things, but for whatever reason I haven't been able to actually make myself do it. Which is a shame. I've been re-watching a bit of Grey's lately and stumbled upon Kate Havnevik's excellent song "New Day" again. I hadn't listened to any Kate stuff recently, but seeing the episode again, reminded me how awesome her stuff is, especially "New Day". I'd say it's sort of more electronic-y than most of her other songs and it's got some insanely brilliant string arrangements (all dissonant and that sort of thing). I love it. If you have never heard it before, you can do that here.

Also I got this song called "Serpentine" by Chris Bathgate a little while ago and it's really wonderful as well. It's a bit of a sad song, but it's got beautiful melodies (and cello - ha I have to stop with all the strings), so check it out here. You can download after you've listened. Good stuff, eh?

Hopefully I'll be less lazy in the near future and post more of the songs I found.

P.S.: "Toothpaste Kisses" just came on and it's still the cutest song ever. Nice.

Toothpaste Kisses

I know I've posted about The Maccabees about 109238109224839457 times. The reason why I'm being annoying about them again is that I've decided to be sneaky and put up the file for downloading. If you haven't gotten the bestest song ever, you can get "Toothpaste Kisses" here.

Priscilla Ahn

Finally got around to acquiring all the songs I didn't have yet from this season of Grey's. There were a number of tunes that I quite like. I'll be posting about them, but I wanted to start off with Priscilla Ahn's "Rain". It's a really wonderfully sweet pop song; it's very slow and it's got strings (yay!). Check it out here.

Santogold

This shiz is featured over at betterPropaganda right now. It's pretty crazy, but somehow I'm really liking it a lot. Santogold makes "bombastic, bass-oriented songs that fuse punk, reggae, grime, and indie rock with electro" - sounds like it must rock, right? Well it does indeed. Listen to and download Xxxchange's remix of Santogold's song "L.E.S. Artistes" right now.

Mood Lifters

For reasons unbeknownst to me (ok so I really do know, but we're not gonna get into it here) I've been a little blue lately and to remedy this, I had a look through my music library to find some uplifting stuff. Mostly funk influenced things, some old stuff mostly. In the process, though, I found some cool things that I think everyone should know about.

Right now, My Morning Jacket came on. I don't think they're very famous or anything, but definitely worth a listen. It's not exceptionally cheerful music, but there's something to it that makes it very enjoyable. I particularly recommend "Wordless Chorus" and "Off the Record" - I'd say the second one's even slightly more upbeat than the former. Both are good though. Well as it turns out, My Morning Jacket aren't over at betterPropaganda. Dang. I wonder where the hell I got them from?! If you feel like listening to them you can still do so at their official site or their myspace. I'm quite pissed they're not at betterPropaganda, I thought for sure they were. Oh well, whatcha gonna do?

On to greener pastures. Mike Doughty is definitely available for download (and it's free!) right here. I've had "Looking at the World from the Bottom of the Well" on my computer for ages and it's good, but I just listened to "27 Jennifers" for the first time today and it's great. Very cheery methinks. Check it out!

Lots more new stuff and some old

I literally have a bevy of new stuff to post about. Went on a music spree the other day and found a whole bunch of new tunes that I like. Here they are. Neon Neon's "I Lust U" is definitely in the pop/electronica genre. It's a fun little ditty. Listen and download here.

Next there is "Rockist Pt. 4" by School of Language, which you can download here. This one, and I'm sure the title of the track clued you in to this, is a rock song.

"Baby C'mon" by Stephen Malkmus is sort of in the same vein as "Rockist Pt. 4". Listen and download here.

Tapes 'n Tapes's "Hang The Mall" also goes well with the previous two songs. Listen and download here.

Next we have Scott Thorough's remix of "Paper Float" by Cassettes Won't Listen. This one's a little more mellow, courtesy of the remix. Listen and download here. I just saw that there are an additional three tracks available at the same link. I haven't listened to them, but will be shortly.

And just to get back to some bands that I've written about pretty incessantly lately... First off, Vampire Weekend. I mentioned these guys in conjunction with their appearance on SNL in early March (if I haven't somehow conned you into watching the spoof of Bravo, you better do it here). In any case, one of the songs they played was "A-Punk", which, on closer listening, I think is quite awesome. I haven't found a place to download it for free, but if you have some extra time I recommend going to listen to it somewhere on the great interwebs.

Back to Hot Hot Heat, I had a closer listen to the other songs of theirs over at betterPropaganda and if you haven't checked them out fully yet, you should definitely listen to "Middle of Nowhere" here. As usual you can also download it there.

Last, but not least. I've spent some more time getting to know The Maccabees and I have to say that they're quite good! So apart from having that wonderful song "Toothpaste Kisses" that I'm still in love with, I now also fancy "Happy Faces". Not sure about this, but it should be available for you to listen to at their official site, in case you haven't acquainted yourself with their music.

Alright, I reckon that's that for this rather lengthy update. Hope you like, be sure to tell me if you thought something really blew. Peace.

The National and Tindersticks and then some

Personally, I think the lead singer from The National has one of the sexiest voices ever. Check out "All the Wine" and you shall see the light. I really dig the song. See if you agree here.

Actually, while you're at it you should also take the time to listen to some Tindersticks. Their song "Trying to Find a Home" (available for download here) is just lovely and wonderful and calming and sweet.

Alright there are a bunch more bands that sort of go nicely with the above two. I found The Silent League while re-listening to The National and Tindersticks. They make orchestral pop. Listen and download their song "Breathe" here.

Also, these two songs are absolutely amazing: "The Ocean" by The Bravery and "To Build a Home" by The Cinematic Orchestra. Once again, thanks Grey's for introducing me. Unfortunately these aren't available for free, although I'd say they're worth forking out a dollar for. Before you do that, though, you can listen to "The Ocean" at The Bravery's official site (it's track 12 on the "The Sun and the Moon" album) and "To Build a Home" is available here. The Cinematic Orchestra's song is probably one of the most brilliant songs I've heard in a long time, apart from "Toothpaste Kisses" by The Maccabees of course. They're very different songs, with "Toothpaste Kisses" being a lot more cheerful I should say, but somehow I reckon they're still kind of similar, I can't quite explain it. In any case The Cinematic Orchestra uses some truly wonderful string arrangements in their song and if you don't know it, you must absolutely check it out. The other songs by the group, also available at the aforementioned link, are quite good too. So have a listen to that also if you have the time. They're quite different from "To Build a Home" though, more jazzy electronica-y, but good, nevertheless.

Paris

Just found this kid over on betterPropaganda (what would I do without that website?). Paris is a really unique rapper. The songs are a lot more political than your average fare, which is not for everyone, but I always like a good song with some substance. I especially like "What Would You Do?" (listen and download here); it reminds me just a little bit of some older stuff like "Auf der dunklen Seite des Mondes (On the Dark Side of the Moon)" by German hip-hoppers Die Firma (The Firm), which was a little conspiracy-theory-crazy, but really awesome at the same time.

More Judah Johnson

I already wrote about "Kisses and Interrogation" by Judah Johnson a while back. However, I went back to listen to the other song that's freely available at betterPropaganda and I have to say that "Little Sounds" is great too. Check it out yourself here.

Mogwai

If you're looking for some really great instrumental rock (I'd say it's a bit melancholic too) then check out Mogwai. Listen and download here. The music's pretty slow and I think you have to be in the mood for it, but when you are it's lovely.

Old Favs: Spoon

You know I was just thinking that most of the music I've been posting is new stuff that I'm discovering every day that I like, but there are in fact so many old favorites that deserve some of my attention too. On that note, I should mention Spoon. They're not one of my all time favorite bands (those include Grant Lee Buffalo and Grant Lee Phillips, Rilo Kiley, the Stereophonics and a bunch of others), but there are a couple of songs of theirs that I think really rock. betterPropaganda has a pretty good number of their songs available for you to listen and if you so choose to download here. I'm a huge fan of "The Underdog" and "The Way We Get By". There are other things to discover too. Enjoy.

Hot Hot Heat

Just stumbled across these guys again while browsing music at betterPropaganda. I've been listening to Hot Hot Heat for a while now, but I saw that I hadn't mentioned them on here quite yet. Definitely check out the song "Goodnight Goodnight". You can listen and download that song here. Other songs available at the same link are "Island of the Honest Man", "Middle of Nowhere" and "Bandages". Hope you like.

Vampire Weekend at SNL

So I know I've posted about Vampire Weekend before, but I just watched the SNL episode from March 8th(? - I think so anyway), ostensibly because my most favoritest person ever (right now anyway), Amy Adams, was the host. To get back to Vampire Weekend - it's official. They're huge nerds. But in a kind of endearing way. It was sort of hysterical watching them hop around on stage. It looked very much like something out of the seventies (although the lead singer's uber tight pants might have had something to do with that also). They didn't play "Oxford Comma", which I previously recommended (probably on account of all the fucks in the lyrics), but they played two other songs that I quite enjoyed. I'm definitely going to check out their album now and you should probably do that also. Oh, I think what I liked most was the lovely string quartet they had joining them. As you know, if there's one thing I'm a sucker for in music, it's string accompaniment. Nice!

By the by, I was just trying to find something from that episode of SNL on their website. But there's nada, nothing, zip, zilch, zero, niet, rien, nichts. Anyway. It's annoying me. Actually that was a bit of a lie. There's one clip of one of the sketches. It spoofs Bravo. I though it was pretty funny. Also, Amy Adams does a mean Heidi Klum. Hehe. Have a look yourself.



Yeah, Amy Poehler rocks my socks. How could anyone forget how awesome she was as Regina's mom in Mean Girls or as Susie in Wet Hot American Summer. Teehee.

Almost forgot about the other thing I wanted to write about. I finally got around to watching Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) yesterday and I have to say it was quite lovely. The cinematography is just wonderful and the score underlines everything beautifully. Definitely worth checking out, if you haven't seen it yet.

Antony

I've been debating for quite some time on whether or not to post about Antony and the Johnsons and I've finally decided that it'd be a good idea even if just to add something a little different to the list of bands I've already written about. Antony and the Johnsons really are very unique. It's a lot slower and more melancholy than the other music on here, especially the more recent stuff. Antony's got a really interesting voice and I'm sure the songs are not for everyone, but have a listen and if you like to you can download from here. I think I like the song "You are my Sister" better than the other one over at betterPropaganda, but, well, you can just decide for yourself.

Dreamscaper

Found this song called "Miniature Fantasy" over at NewGrounds a while ago. It's a fun dance-type number. There are two versions of the song. Listen to and download the shorter version or the longer vinyl mix.

Datarock

I was playing this song earlier today and my mom, of her own volition, commented that she thought it was cool. Hence, I'm pretty sure other people will like it too. Thus, I present "Fa-Fa-Fa" by Datarock. Listen and download here.

Also I should remind anyone who has been silly enough not to heed my advice about The Maccabees in the previous post, that the band really, really is fantastic. Well at least the song "Toothpaste Kisses". GO LISTEN NOW.

CocoRosie

CocoRosie are two sisters, one of whom is an opera singer (the group's music isn't at all operatic though), who make some lovely music. It sort of reminds me a bit of Psapp and maybe Ivy or even a little Imogen Heap. But they're just different enough to make them very exciting indeed. There are three songs to listen to and download here. I recommend "Noah's Ark" and "Good Friday".

Also in my Amy Adams-stalking efforts (have you seen Junebug and Enchanted? The girl is fab.), I found a little behind-the-scenes feature from a photo shoot she did for Elle magazine. The point of this inane little story is that they used the amazing song "Toothpaste Kisses" by an English band called The Maccabees for the video. I haven't found anywhere to download it for free legally, but you should at least listen to it. You can do that here. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed!

Chaotic Eulogies

Dig "One Man" by Eulogies. The bridge is great. Listen and download here.

Also found this song called "Sunday Morning" by K-Os (pronounced chaos, apparently). It's a little hip-hop, but still melodic. Different from other stuff on here. Listen and download.

Andrew Bird has been on my list of favs for a while now I'd say and I just found another song that I hadn't really listened to over at betterPropaganda. The song's called "Nervous Tic". Listen and download here. There are two other songs, namely "Heretics" and "Lull" available for d/l at the same place. Hope you like.

Finally, was listening to The Owls a few minutes ago. Their song "Air" is quite lovely. It's pretty mellow, which is always nice. They're kind of similar to Andrew Bird actually. Available here.

Edit: You know after re-listening to The Owls, I think I have to take that thing about them sounding just a faint bit like Andrew Bird back. They really don't at all. Although I reckon if you like him, then you might like them too. However, whichever band member does the lead vocals for "Air" does sound quite a bit like Dolores O'Riordan, at least when she sings the chorus. In any case, the song is just lovely, so listen to it!

Blonde Redhead

I think Blonde Redhead is another one of the many bands that I heard about because they were featured on Grey's Anatomy. Alex Patsavas, the music supervisor for the show, kind of rocks my socks. Incidentally, she is also the lady behind the music on The OC, Supernatural, Chuck, Gossip Girl, Mad Men and many, many other shows and movies.

Anyway, back to Blonde Redhead. I absolutely adore their song "23" off the eponymous album, which unfortunately is not over at betterPropaganda for download. You can at least have a quick listen to it at the band's music section at their official site though. As for a song that you can download - check out "Misery is a Butterfly". It's a great tune: listen and download here.

Vampire Weekend

The song "Oxford Comma" by Vampire Weekend just came up on my playlist and it reminded me that I wanted to post it a while back. So listen and, as per usual, download here. Oddly enough, when I was over at betterPropaganda to specifically find the band's page, I saw that they were also featured on the front page today. Looks like the editors over there thought it'd be a good idea to pimp them a bit too. Hope you like.

Ewan Pearson

Great little dance number. "Don't Let the Stars Keep Us Tangled Up" by Ewan Pearson feat. Cortney Tidwell. Listen and download here.

Teargas & Plateglass

Ok so this stuff is waaaaay different from anything else on here really. But every once in a while you just have to switch things up. I first heard Teargas & Plateglass when they used one of their songs ("Plague Burial") in the X-Men: The Last Stand trailer and I just had to find out what that song was. Anyway, it's really dark drum-n-bass. Be prepared. Listen and download here.

Milosh, Judah Johnson

Two more dudes I quite like.

Milosh is very chill. Listen and d/l here.

Ditto for Judah Johnson here. "Kisses and Interrogation" is sweet.

Every time I go to write up something, I find about 3-4 other bands that need to get mentioned too. Can't keep up. Fuck it.

Band of Annuals

Check out Band of Horses. Especially "The Funeral". Here.

Ok while finding the link for Band of Horses, I stumbled upon the link to Grand Archives, who are very cool too. Listen and download here. It's only one song, called "Torn Blue Foam Couch", it's a good song though.

Finally, have a listen to the Annuals. They're fab. The music's pretty slow and calm. Hope you like.

You Sissy Scandinavian

I dunno if you've noticed, but Scandinavians kind of rock in the music department. For starters there's the Norwegians: Kate Havnevik has been a huge favorite of mine for a long time now (thanks Grey's for introducing me). You can listen and download here. I think her best song is "New Day", but each song is kind of different and it's nice to just discover the different nuances to each one.

Speaking of Norwegians. I'm also digging Sissy Wish's song "Dwts". Listen and download from here. It's a pretty light and happy song. Good stuff.

In other Scandinavian news, Jens Lekman still rocks my socks. He feels like something out of the 50s, but cookier. I don't think he's for everyone. But just have a listen and if you like you can download from here. I was just trying to think of a favorite song - can't think of one though. Depends on what you're in the mood for.

ALSO: Now, I have absolutely no idea how and when I happened upon the Kings of Convenience. However, they're great. I have the Four Tet remix of their song "Weight of My Words" on my computer and I want to have its babies. Here's the band's official site. I'm sure there's some music on there. Here's their space if you'd prefer. I found a 30 second sample of the particular song I like over at Amazon (you can also buy it there) and here's Four Tet's instrumental remix at youTube. Enjoy.

Brian was Massacred

I'm kind of a little in love with The Brian Jonestown Massacre. The songs are great. Download and listen here. According to betterPropaganda, by the way, these guys have perfected that "mid-60s, Anglo dandy, garage rock retro thing" - whatever that means. Just have a listen anyway.

Chromeo

Found "Fancy Footwork" and the great GunsNBombs remix over at Chromeo's page at betterPropaganda.

Automatically automatic automatic

The Automatic's song "Monster" is featured in DDR, which I'm playing so much these days that I managed to get myself a rather huge blister on my left foot (gross). However, while re-watching some old Bones episodes from earlier in this season, I also noticed that, lo and behold, it was featured in the opening scene of the Halloween episode. In any case, the song is kind of awesome. I haven't found anywhere to download it legally for free. But you can at least listen to it at these locations:

official site
myspace

Down at Mickey Ds

Ok so this song is not actually all that great. But, I really dig the intro and also you just have to love the title - "Down at McDonnellzzzzz". Have a little listen to or download the Electric Six's song over here.

Headlights

Found another great song by The Headlights. Cutesy music. Listen here. The newest song, which is the one I'm talking about specifically, is "Cherry Tulips". But the other two songs available on betterpropaganda ("Put Us Back Together Right" and "Tokyo") are also worth checking out. I also already had a Headlights song in my music library - "Everybody Needs a Fence to Lean On". It's really great too and I've added it to the little music player to the right. It gets good after that slow little intro bit. Hope you like.

Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins

Well, most people might not know this, but this whole Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins is kind of awesome. You should (but probably don't) know Jenny from her awesome band Rilo Kiley, she's their lead singer. In any case, she recorded a fun indie, folksy album together with the Watson Twins called "Rabbit Fur Coat". I love it. Have a listen.

Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins
website
myspace

The whole album is lovely. Although I have to say that I absolutely adore the intro song - it's called "Run Devil Run" and it's really just the three ladies singing that particular phrase in beautiful harmonies. It becomes really awesome when the beats for the next song on the disc, "Big Guns", break.

The Watson Twins sans Jenny Lewis (they're pretty fab too)
website
myspace

I don't know the Watsons that well just yet. I really like the song "Time of My Life" off their "Southern Manners" album, but I'm sure there's plenty more that's good.

and of course Rilo Kiley
website
myspace

I really like pretty much anything Rilo Kiley has done. Some I'm not gonna go into details. Just spend some time getting to know them yourself. Their older stuff is really great.

Meiko

Meiko's another artist that definitely deserves to get a mention on here. Her debut album, which you can listen to in full on her official website, is almost uniformly fantastic. The music is very melodic and mellow, which is just up my alley, but beyond that she has strings! That's something that is always a big draw for me and you'll notice this as I post more things on here. Actually, Let's Go Sailing, who were already featured also fit into this category. Anyway, here's Meiko's myspace in case you'd rather listen to her excellent work on there.

It's hard to pick, which Meiko songs I like best, but I think "Hawaii", "Reasons to Love", "Heard It All Before" and "Under My Bed" are probably my favorites. All of the songs just have a little special something about them and I reckon the best part is just finding that little something that appeals to you personally. Right now I'm listening to "Sleep" and I suddenly find myself very intrigued by it... So I guess, you'd better listen to everything and see for yourself. Hope you enjoy!

dios pickinup silver

dios is a cooky little band I found on betterpropaganda (I think). But anyway, I happened upon them again just now while I was looking at the Silversun Pickups' myspace, which incidentally wasn't cooperating. The point is, I quite like them, even though they're really quite strange. Have a listen. By the by, the Silversun Pickups are great too. "Lazy Eye" is probably their most well known song, but it's also a great song. So, go listen to them too.

Living Shadows

Fabulous photograph featured as a daily deviation on DeviantArt. It's by daaram.

It's awesome. Check it:

Let's Go Sailing

Let's Go Sailing is an, let's face it, awesome band. Should have posted about them a long time ago. Not that I've had this blog for all that long. Anyway. They're fab.

Check out their
myspace
official site

Enjoy.

The Daylights Lie Bleeding

Just found out about this rather fabulous band called The Daylights. Apparently they're on tour with OneRepublic right now, but that's beside the point.

The Daylights' music on their myspace is pretty fabulous, especially the first two songs on the play list. Unfortunately it looks like none of them are available anywhere online. The only songs available are the ones off of their "Shift and Blur" EP, which I'm sure are quite good also, but I'd much rather get my mitts on the ones that I've already listened to and think are awesome. Also I'd like to hear some of their older stuff too, but it's nowhere to be found.

Somebody tell these guys to get a real website with a complete discography and all that.

So actually, I heard about these guys because one of their songs is supposed to be in a recent Christian Slater movie called Love Lies Bleeding. It's not the best of movies, but it was better than I thought it would be. Jenna Dewan is in it too and a bunch of other people I don't know. She was kind of surprising. I went into watching the movie with very low expectations with regards to her acting chops (to date I've only seen her in dance movies like Step Up and Take the Lead - yeah I saw them both, sigh - and well, all she basically had to do was dance her little heart out, which she does very well though). Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by the whole movie. Costumes were good too, although the plot, script and directing could have used some help here and there. Although, I thought the fight choreography was pretty decent. For the most part it actually looked like something that might go down in real life.

Anyway, back to the music. I'm gonna have to look at what other songs were used in the film. I remember thinking a couple of times throughout the movie, that the music was quite agreeable. I'll post again if I find anything particularly noteworthy. Check out the band regardless. They play great indie rock.

ok ikumi

So here's something cool I just discovered on betterPropaganda. Awesome music. Reminds me just a little bit of Postal Service, but I'd say it's a little more mellow than the Service.

Anywho. We're talking about ok ikumi. It's some really lovely chill electronic music. If you're looking for some good comforting background music, this is definitely it. Check it out. I'm a fan :)

Find it online:
ok ikumi website
myspace

Well...

Looks like I finally caved and got myself a blog. Lately I've felt like it'd be nice to post about things that interest me somewhere just to keep track of stuff. So hopefully once I'm done with the work that I'm finishing off right now, I'll be spending some time on here.