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Bands with Ampersands

I found Angus & Julia Stone over at Untitled Records. The Stones are a brother sister duo hailing from Australia. Their song "Silver Coin" exhibits all the features I love in a song, namely strings, melancholy vocals and fabulous violin tuning sounds right at the beginning. If you're looking to listen to a great folksy song, check it out here.

There's also "Bye Bye Bye" by Plants & Animals. They're a Canadian band and the song was featured on Chuck recently, but I only just got around to finding out what it was. It's a pretty amazing song. "Bye Bye Bye" gives you that same sort of awesome feeling that you get when you listen to the Arcade Fire's "Wake Up", which just puts a huge goofy smile on my face anyway. If you too, want to look goofy, you can do so here. In the meantime, I'll embed the video here too, because I wouldn't want your being too lazy to follow the link to keep you from checking it out.



"Silver Coin" by Angus & Julia Stone
A Book Like This, 2009

"Bye Bye Bye" by Plants & Animals
Parc Avenue, 2008

I can always do that reading later...

I decided to take some time and look for new music after all. I certainly have enough reading on Financial Accounting and tax law to do, but it's just not as rewarding as listening to music, as I'm sure pretty much anyone on the face of this planet can agree. As per usual I stopped by betterPropaganda to see what's new and it turns out that I found two songs that are rather great straight away. The first one is called "Symphonies" and it's by Dan Black featuring Kid Cudi. It's Pop with a healthy dose of Hip-Hop and some Electronics beats thrown in for good measure. It's sort of mellow, but also kind of sweeping and generally awesome. I reckon it's a good track to play when the party's winding down. Have a listen and/or download it here.

Next up we have a song by Local Natives. I wrote about them once before. I think they used one of their songs on the TV show Chuck some time last season maybe, but I can't quite remember now. Anyway, the band plays rock, but makes excellent use of orchestral melodies and harmonies. The combination of these elements makes for a really reach listening experience. It's probably best if you have a listen yourselves. Check out "Sun Hands" over here.

"Symphonies" by Dan Black featuring Kid Cudi
Un, 2010

"Sun Hands" by Local Natives
Gorilla Manor, 2010

Yellow Drum Machine

I think this isn't that new, but no matter, it's very entertaining (and cute).



The lack of posts of late is a bit shocking, but it turns out having to do regular reading for classes again sort of limits my time spent checking for new music online.

If you want to know more about the Yellow Drum Machine, go here.

YouTube Disco

Looks like YouTube now has an answer to Pandora and Last.fm. It's called Disco and it essentially does the same thing as Pandora: pick a band and it creates a play list including your selected band and other similar offerings. You can modify it once it starts playing too. It's pretty good and what's especially great about this is that you can use it even if you're outside the US, which can't be said of the other two services. Have at it:

YouTube: Disco

Bird

Found this maybe two days ago. I'm a huge fan of Andrew Bird and this little gem from pitchfork, is pretty awesome.



The original is here.

Post Christmas Pre New Year Goodies

I meant to post this on Christmas day, but turns out that having family over ensures that you are to busy to remember about your blog. There are worse things though and I've got three songs to share with you now. So let's get to it:

I heard the first two songs on a TV show and in a movie. I've been watching Joss Whedon's Dollhouse since it started and it's been pretty underwhelming, to be honest, but as of late it has been much improved. In fact the last few episodes have been pretty exciting, it's too bad it's been cancelled already. In any case, I think two weeks ago they had a really great montage at the end of the episode using Greg Laswell's cover of the song "Your Ghost", originally by Kristin Hersh. I found it here, but I have a feeling it'll be gone soon. I hope you're lucky enough to get it in time. The song and other by Laswell are a little bit more pop, than I normally listen to, that's not a bad thing in this case though. I have a couple more Laswell songs on my computer, but have no clue where they're from. I just saw there's one called "Amazed" over at betterPropaganda. I've never heard it before, so I can't tell you whether it's any good.

The second song is Nick Drake's "'Cello Song". For anyone who's seen the wonderful The Blind Side, you've heard this song in the title sequence. "'Cello Song" is on Drake's 1969 album Five Leaves Left. I actually first heard Nick Drake quite a few years ago on Gilmore Girls. The show used the superb "Pink Moon" (off the eponymous album released in 1972) and I've been listening to that track on and off ever since then. "'Cello Song" and "Pink Moon" both feature simple arrangements allowing Drake's voice to take center stage. I'll post links to the songs on youtube here, since I can't find any place where they are freely available.





Ok the last song is "Your Rocky Spine" by the Great Lake Swimmers. My good friend Pixie told me about this Canadian band over a year ago, but I never really got around to checking them out until a while ago. I have absolutely no idea where I got the song from, but you're in luck because Google led me to this page, where you can get it too. The song's got a banjo and beautiful harmonies, it's a bit melancholy, but in the best way. Have a listen.

"Your Ghost" by Greg Laswell
Covers EP, 2009

"Amazed" by Greg Laswell
Through Toledo, 2006

"Your Rocky Spine" by Great Lake Swimmers
Ongiara, 2007

Homemade

So I'm pretty sure I haven't posted anything since Halloween or some such and I'm just about to head off to Munich for the weekend, but I just heard/saw "White Noise" by Lauren O'Connell over at the J-Walk Blog and I figured I should at least post this before I leave. O'Connell did the song and video in GarageBand and iMovie. It's pretty incredible. I hope you like.

Sufjan Stevens Remixed

They posted about this at the A.V. Club: a Montreal-based producer called Tor remixed a couple tracks off of Sufjan Stevens' album Illinoise and a few other records with Aesop Rock, Outkast and some other artists I'm not familiar with. So far I've only heard the "Star of Wonder/None Shall Pass" remix, but it's really cool, to say the least. The best part is you can get all of the songs for free right here.

In the meantime you can listen to "Star of Wonder/None Shall Pass" right here, it's over on youtube:



"Star of Wonder/None Shall Pass (Tor Remix)" by Sufjan Stevens feat. Aesop Rock
Illinoize, 2009

100th Post

I've been preparing this post for quite a while now. But today seems like the ideal time to actually publish it, seeing as it's Halloween and all. Especially considering that this is my landmark 100th post. I hope they haven't all sucked so far :)

I have a special treat for everyone. This one's courtesy of my bud Ingers (his blog is over here, it's mostly hip-hop stuff). He sent me this brilliant little video the other day. I'm praying really hard this kid Bangs is being serious. Check it out:



Heh.

Now onto other stuff I've picked out

I've been listening to the Headlights for a while. I probably heard them first on Grey's Anatomy or some such, maybe a couple years ago even. In any case they're good and they've had a new album come out earlier this year and there are a few songs on it that are very good. You should have a listen to "Get Going" right here, or if you'd prefer check out "Telephones" and "Secrets" over here. It's pretty happy stuff, which is always nice. I hope you agree.

Next up, I've got Calexico. I've written about them before and I think I mentioned this last time, but I've really had to get used to their music. The first time they came on when I was listening to random tracks on betterPropaganda, I thought they kind of sucked. For a while now though, I have to say I've really started enjoying the music. In fact, now I can't even tell what was off-putting to me at the beginning. It's very calming music. I reckon you should just check out their song "Cruel" for yourselves over here. I think the purty album cover might be influencing me too, but that's definitely not the only nice thing about Calexico.

Speaking of cool album covers. This one from the Horse Feathers album House With No Home is probably even cooler. It reminds me of the abandoned shacks one sees when driving around Vermont in the cold Winter months. I took this fabulous little class my senior year in college called pin-hole photography and we spent a good amount of our time taking pictures of just this sort of rickety old buildings. The song fits the mood pretty well too. It's a bit of a melancholy tune, that captures the solitary winter atmosphere on the cover perfectly. Listen and download here.

Well that's that for now. If I think of anything else I'll be sure to post it asap. Have a good Halloween.

"Get Going" by Headlights
Wildlife, 2009

"Cruel" by Calexico
Garden Ruin, 2006

"Curs in the Weeds" by Horse Feathers
House With No Home, 2008

Camphor and then some

I just realized that I never wrote about the wonderful song "The Sweetest Tooth" by Camphor before. The song has been on my list of staples that I listen to very frequently for a very long time and it's really odd that it should have slipped my mind to post about it on here. It's got all the hallmarks of my favorite kind of song: Strings and smoky vocals. If you like that kind of stuff too I suggest you find some good headphones or turn your stereo up really loud and have a listen.

Because I like the Camphor track above so much, I decided to see what similar tunes betterPropaganda would recommend to me. Turns out The Black Heart Procession is one of the bands it came up with. I'm glad too. "Not Just Words" isn't quite upbeat, but it's sweeping, which can be better. Someone over at the site aptly described their sound as "beautifully bleak and brooding indie rock with a dark side". If that sounds interesting to you, listen here.

There are several songs at the link above. I haven't listened to all of them. "Exit Out" came on randomly. It's an instrumental track and has some of the same qualities as "Not Just Words". Listen and download here. I think I like this one even better than "Not Just Words". When an instrumental track is done well, it's such a pleasure to listen to. I wasn't even really paying attention to the music that was playing on my computer when I heard to song the first time, but I suppose it was good enough to make me stop what I was doing and actually listen to it. There you go. I hope you concur with my feelings about "Exit Out".

I heard Califone for the first time while watching Stranger Than Fiction (which stars Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Emma Thompson). The soundtrack included a song of theirs, whose name I can't recall currently, that was quite pleasant. I found "Wingbone" over at betterPropaganda and I like it even better. It's a very slow and soothing song. It almost feels like you're sitting around with a few good friends jamming. Listen and download here. Incidentally, there's another song available at the same spot, but I cannot report anything as to its quality, you'll have to listen yourselves.

"The Sweetest Tooth" by Camphor
Drawn to Dust, 2008

"Not Just Words" by The Black Heart Procession
The Spell, 2006

"Exit Out" by The Black Heart Procession
Badman Winter 2005 Sampler, 2005

"Wingbone" by Califone
Heron King Blues, 2004

Fall

As you might have guessed, I've been back from vacation for quite some time. I've been in a bit of a procrastinating mood since then. I'm just listening to this rather fabulous song though, so I've become inspired to at least post about that.

I'm talking about Florence and the Machine's "You've Got the Love (the XX Remix)", which you can listen to and download here. There's also a second song called "Kiss With a Fist" (about which I cannot say anything, since I have not listened to it) and a third song called "Cosmic Love" is here. The remix of "You've Got the Love" is killer and the other two songs are great too, they're obviously more melodic though since they haven't been souped up with electronic beats. You'll have to see what you prefer.

On another note, I've been watching trailers for movies lately and the one for Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are is fantastic. What's particularly charming is the Arcade Fire song "Wake Up". It's a couple of years old by now I think. Nevertheless it fits the trailer perfectly and is a good song whether or not you have the images of the movie to go with it or not. If you haven't heard it or like it and want more of it, you can get it here.

Last, but not least for right now, this is not music related. It's just something fun I found on the internet. It's a website called Photo505. The site has a large selection of templates where you can upload your own pictures and have them used in some pretty neat photo effects. Sort of. It's a bit hard to explain, but if you stop by you'll see for yourself. It's a cool way to waste a couple of minutes. Plus, some of the effects, if you use the right picture, turn out pretty stellar. Hope you like.

"You've Got the Love (the XX Remix)" by Florence and the Machine
Lungs, 2009

"Cosmic Love" by Florence and the Machine
Lungs, 2009

"Wake Up" by Arcade Fire
Funeral, 2004

Vacaishun

Well, I'm off to Asia for a month. Weeee! I don't suppose I'll be blogging much, if at all, during that time. I thought I'd give a heads up to the one person who will read this :)

Here's a funny picture for you to laugh (I hope at least chuckle) at.


Until soon then!

Hilltop Hoods and Tone Matrix Extravaganza

A little over a week ago a very good friend of mine asked me to send him some more songs by a really cool Aussie group called Hilltop Hoods. They're a hip-hop act. My other friend Ingers (check his blog) had told me about them, probably about a year ago and I have to say that they're still great to listen to. Evidently Viraj a.k.a. first friend a.k.a. not-Ingers agrees.

The point of that very long winded prelude is that I should write about Hilltop, which I'm obviously doing now. Logic is not my strong suit today. I think I might be too tired. Be that as it may here's "The Hard Road Restrung".



I've been searching the interwebs for good places to get some more Hilltop Hoods tracks, but I have found absolutely nothing. You'll have to purchase things on iTunes or Amazon or what have you. I hope you like the Hilltop stuff. Personally, I go through phases where I listen to lots of hip-hop and if you've ever read this blog before you'll be well informed of my infatuation with strings. So clearly and hip-hop artist who decides to re-record an entire record with full accompaniment from an orchestra is more than fine by me. If you wanna read some more about Hilltop you can go here.

Now this is entirely unrelated. But I found an awesome toy today. It's called the Tone Matrix and what it is, is a simple sinewave synthesizer. Or so the website tells me. In any case, it lets you make very short musical samples. It's fun. To say the least. Go check it out yourselves and if anyone uses this thing as a basis for a bigger musical project, report back, because I would like to see how that turns out. I found the link to this baby over at That's Also Truuuue.

Tone Matrix

Edit: This is entirely unrelated to music - rice paddy art is cool.

Eclectic Catch-Up

This post is beyond overdue and because of that it's also extremely random. I've been saving up things that I've been meaning to write about for a good while now. Consequently there's a veritable plethora of unrelated songs and other music related things to mention. I think I'll just start with the first thing I have noted down and go from there.

I found a really cool iPhone app over at the J-Walk blog. Now, personally I think iPhones are pretty unexciting and kind of a general waste of time, but this app is kind of awesome nonetheless. If you have an iPhone I would seriously consider getting it. So what am I talking about? Well, the app is called Bebot and it's essentially a very cool program that features a little robot who makes sounds and moves according to how you touch the screen. There's a video of how it works over here. If anyone has this or is going to get it, report back. I'd love to know whether it's as cool in real life as it looks online.

Alright, next up are two music videos I found while perusing a list of the "Best Bands of the Decade" (sort of) as determined by various musicians. The consensus is that there isn't one best band, but that seems like a bit of a no-brainer. Anyway, the list is here, if you'd like to see what everyone came up with. The list did have some very nice links to videos of the different artists featured and I discovered some new things.

Namely, this very cool music video for the song "Proof" by I Am Kloot.



The other video is for "Hold the Line" by Major Lazer feat. Mr. Lexx and Santigold. This song isn't necessarily my cup of tea, but the video is absolutely awesome :) Incidentally Diplo makes up half of the Major Lazer duo, I think I've written about him before...



Finally I wanted to share some music that I have been listening to for a really, really long time and that I thoroughly enjoy. I'm talking about Sam Phillips. Some of you might know her as the la-la-la-singer from the WB's Gilmore Girls. Phillips hasn't really released anything new in a good while now, but her older songs are still a real pleasure to listen to. I will admit that a good amount of her work is a bit peculiar and it might not appeal to everyone. There's one song in particular off the album A Boot and a Shoe, which is just fabulous though. Phillips' smokey voice blends beautifully with the cello in "Reflecting Light". Have a listen here, to see what I'm talking about. You can also check out more of her stuff at her official site.

So I've decided to start listing the songs I mention within my posts again at the end, to make finding things easier. This will only be done for mp3s :)

"Reflecting Light" by Sam Phillips
A Boot and a Shoe, 2004

Coo

Mayer Hawthorne is recommended over at betterPropaganda and his song "Maybe So, Maybe No" is the kind of retro cool you want in your music collection. Get it here.

Oh waaaaee wooooooooo!!!!

I've decided to go about getting the rest of the muzak that was on Chuck's finale last week. Can't believe it's been a whole seven days already and we haven't heard about renewals and whatnot yet. Still keeping fingers crossed.

While we're waiting, you can head over to here, where you can get The Thermals' "Now We Can See" or if you'd rather just listen to it first, that can be done at the same place too. Oh there's also a second Thermals song available on that blog, but I can't say whether it's any good because I haven't listened yet. The consensus on the interwebs seems to be that they're a pretty fab band though. Report back if you have any insights.

Next up is "Looking at the Sun" by Gramercy Arms. Found that one here. It's the third song down. I really like this one because it's so cheery.

The next tune is "Christmas TV" by Slow Club. This is another pretty squee-inducing song. I like it. You can get it here. Also I didn't realize that the song used on Chuck was by Slow Club. I had just downloaded another song of theirs called "Dance to the Morning Light" from here and that one is quite lovely too.

Alright there was also some Styx and The Cure in the Chuck finale, but I'll leave you to your own devices to find those. And of course there was some awesome Blind Pilot, but I've already rambled on about them incessantly for a pretty long time, so there's no need to wax poetic about them yet again. If you're looking for their song "3 Rounds and a Sound", which was on the show, or any of the other songs they have, just click on the label at the end of this post and it will take you to anything I've written about them. Easy as pie.

That's that from me for today. Check out the silly song a friend and I made about Chuck (I think it's two posts down). Have a good one!


Edit: Ok I got both the missing songs after all. Styx's "Mr. Roboto" is here and The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love" is here. Enjoy.

USofTara

Seeing as Chuck has stopped being on (hopefully only for the time being), I've started catching up on other shows that I've been meaning to watch. This means that I will probably finally get around to seeing The Wire, of which I've only seen about three episodes I think, but it's good so far. I also caught United States of Tara back when if first came on TV, whenever that was, and stopped watching after a few episodes because I had too many things going on. I'm almost completely caught up with that one now and I actually also heard a cool song on the show, which I thought I'd share with everyone.

Interestingly, United States of Tara also had a Bon Iver song in its eighth episode (this after Chuck has been featuring his excellent songs quasi-weekly). They used "The Wolves (Act I and II)" in a really creepy scene from the son, Marshall's Hell House re-enactment that involved an abortion, which was represented by some nasty looking chopped up liver. You're gonna have to see it for yourselves, but I assume you're sufficiently put off right now to not want to see it. It's a good show though so I suggest having a look-see anyway.

So on to the song that I wanted to post about. "That Knot Unties?" is by David Karsten Daniels and it's a really mellow folksy song. Listen and download here. It was used in a really lovely montage sequence at the end of an episode and it was sort of like a pretty ribbon that tied the whole scene together beautifully. Hope you like it.

Seriously Save Chuck

NBC had better renew this ish after all the time my friend and I just spent on making this video. Hope you like.

Here's the song if you want the tune for your hard drive.
http://www.mediafire.com/?mzztq3dmdtv

If you'd like to download the video, you can do so here. I tried uploading the video to Mediafire, but it kept getting stuck during the verification process. So this is what we're stuck with for now.

Chuckles!!

My favoritest band of the moment was on Chuck. W00t. Alex Patsavas sure knows what she's doing. You can listen to and download Blind Pilot's track "3 Rounds and a Sound" here. That is all. Oh yeah, and I've added the song to my own mp3 player as well, more convenient that way if you just want to listen. Carry on!

PS.: NBC had better renew Chuck or I'm gonna be crazy annoyed. For serious.