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.