#1: So, on my theme of being a 15 year old girl, this song makes me smile:
#2: Phish with Alison Kraus is really delightful. Something I didn't know- Jonathan Frakes plays trumpet on the "Hoist" album.
#3: I've been having a hard time figuring out why I like Dashboard Confessional's first four albums so much and his last two less so. Tonight I have figured it out. There is just less injury. "If You Can't Leave It Be" is a pretty great example of the urgency that was around in those earlier albums.
So, I took a little over a week off of project 2010 to catch up with some podcasts and listen to some music that just suited my fancy. Now I'm back in the early I's.
#1: The Rooney song "I'm A Terrible Person" isn't the greatest song ever, but sometimes it just suits my mood- and maybe even describes some of my actions. Oh well.
#2: "I'm Amazed" by My Morning Jacket is perennially on any playlist I have made over the past couple of years.
#3: I love this song. It sounds like 1987.
#4: I feel like I got a lot of Wilco today- which is fantastic! Plus it's always nice to know Jeff Tweedy loves you. I think that might be a continuing theme of his music...
#1: On Blink-182's eponymous album it is as if they actually found talent. They were fun and amusing before, but then this album is something different, and shows something different. "I Miss You" is what's making me thinking this.
#2: There were albums that I listened to a lot. I mean A LOT. Pretty constantly. Then after a couple a years I just stop listening to them totally, and can go for years without listening to it again. Incubus' Make Yourself is totally like that. I must have listened to that album 50-100 times over a couple years but haven't listened to it all the way through in years. Maybe on a big car trip.
#3: Guster's "I Spy" is great. I'm still not 100% sure what it's about. I think I know, but maybe it's what I want it to be. I do know that May parade is Gay parade live... This isn't a great version of it.
#4: Is there a place for someone like Harry Chapin in music today?
#5: Listened to three different versions of "I Want You" today. Couldn't help myself.
#1: The Early November is totally a band that I have listened to more of since I've started this project. I really seem to like them every time they come up. Today I listened to "I don't know how to say this."
#2: Ben Kweller just has such a unique voice. The second I start to hear him sing I totally know that it's him. Not a ton of people like that. Today I listened to "I don't know why." Not my favorite of his but still.
#3: R.E.M.'s Monster still sounds great. It has to be at least 15 years. Probably more. After "I don't sleep but I dream" I was startled when Star 69 didn't come on immediately afterward. Yet another odd thing about this project, I suppose.
#4: One of the things I like about Straylight Run is that sometimes you get Matt doing the vocals, sometimes his sister, and sometimes they sing together. There are a few bands where different songs have different lead vocalists (I listened to Out Of Time this weekend and forgot that on at least a couple of tracks Michael Stipes gave up the microphone). I think in a lot of cases this really works and lets the band expand their sound. I listened to "I don't want this anymore."
#5: Heard my favorite Conor Oberst song (solo, not Bright Eyes):
#6: Since I'm a sucker for war protest songs, I was all happy about Country Joe & the Fish singing "I feel like I'm fixing to die rag."
I'm on 2,746 of 7,178. Don't really feel like I'm getting closer to finishing.
#1: I really like Muse. I'm not sure why. I think it's maybe because they are one of a very few bands that still make music that could still be called Rock and Roll. Maybe not. Maybe it's just because they're music is interesting, and you can belt it out in a car.
#2: In 1996 my friend Rachel wore a Live T-shirt a lot this one particular summer. Not all the time, but it was a distinctive shirt, and pretty cool. Whenever I hear Live I think of her.
#3: I have way too many favorite R.E.M. songs, but any song with Superman is a winner. Really.
#4: Wilco's "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" has already become a classic in my head. I don't know what an aquarium drinker is, but I assume I am one.
#5: "I and Love and You" by The Avett Brothers. Find it. Listen to it. Love it.
#1: I'm surprised more people don't know about The Go! Team. They are an incredibly fun band. I first saw them live about 5 years ago at a festival outside of Cleveland that was the Thursday before Lollapalooza. They grabbed a bunch of bands that were on their way to Chicago for the weekend and it was a great line-up and a lot of fun. For some reason it wasn't really successful, which is too bad.
The Go! Team's live show was full of energy and everyone in the audience was dancing and seemed to really be enjoying themselves. Ladyflash is just superhuman in my mind, in terms of how much she puts into her performance. This is all my way of saying that today I heard "Huddle Formation" which made me want to go out for a run.
This is just a clip at them performing at Lolla in 2008 (I was actually there). The sound is Terrible, but watch her move!
Here is "Huddle Formation."
#2: The Killers album "Day and Age" took me a while to warm up to. I loved their first two albums, but this just seemed totally different, until I realized it was just an all out dance album. "Human" isn't my favorite, but it's still pretty good.
#3: Sharon Jones is amazing. Her voice is killer. I love it.
#4: Bob Dylan's "Hurricane" is a pretty catchy song about social injustice. But long. Really long.
#1: For some reason I consider anything that R.E.M. did after "Monster" to be late R.E.M. Ridiculous, I know, but really at that point R.E.M. stayed great but much of the world seemed to have lost track of them. This is all my way of saying "Hope" off of "Up" is great. I love it. Unfortunately I couldn't find a version to embed, so you'll just have to trust me on this.
#2: "Horchata" by Vampire Weekend. Horchata is non-alcoholic. Gotta be honest, makes the song less fun for me, but like all Vampire Weekend songs I'm not 100% sure what this song is really about.
#3: Nothing is more fun than getting through a totally random 9 second track in the middle of everything else. Here it is for your enjoyment:
#4: Today I've been hearing a lot of Beck. Apparently he likes writing song titles that start with the letter H. The sentence "I'm the enchanting wizard of rhythm" is pretty great.
#5: And I've been hearing even more R.E.M. I'm up to maybe four R.E.M. songs so far. Scratch that. I'm up to five. Really. Almost half of an R.E.M. album at this point. And nothing from before "New Adventures in Hi-Fi." Crazy.
#6: I think I've talked about how much I love Snow Patrol when just one random song of theirs comes on. Can't really explain it. Today was "How to be Dead." I think I just enjoy how this song feels like it is building and building until it... well doesn't quite explode, but it does go somewhere.
Today I made it to 2654 of 7,132. The newest album on my ipod is The National's "Boxer." It's really great but again I'm super late to the game. The new Paste Magazine Sampler should be getting on my ipod pretty soon, and I can't wait for that.
#1: Weezer's "Heart." Not sure if it's really a good song, but it's definitely an interesting song about music. I recommend a listen.
#2: I think Jose Gonzalez's cover of "Heartbeats" is better than the original. I also love this ad that uses is. Sorry, I know, commercialism is bad. But still (watch in higher quality if you can):
#3: The song whereby I fell in love with Wilco:
#4: A Phish song I will never get tired of:
#5: The more I listen to the Girls album, the more I like it. His voice is really great.
#6: 3 great Help songs in a row- "Help Me Rhonda" by The Beach Boys, "Help Me" by Joni Mitchell, and "Help" by The Beatles. Hooray!
#1: Somehow I have Rihanna's "Hatin On the Club" on my iPod. I have exactly zero idea how it got there. Also- not very catchy. And at 4:30 it's at least a minute too long.
#2: Poe's entire "Haunted" album is really interesting. Especially because it's tied to one of my favorite books, House of Leaves.
#3: Listening to "Have a Day" by The Polyphonic Spree reminded me that they are still on the short lists of bands (can you really even call them a band?) that I have yet to see.
#4: Over a year later I am still in love with Fleet Foxes:
#5: Every time Sufjan Stevens comes on I get really excited. Today was "He Woke Me Up Again." It's strange to me that it feels like so few people know about Sufjan. Among my good friends we are pretty cultish, but I say his name in front of other people and they have never heard of him. Oh well.
So, I've been listening to a lot of music, and many times the experience has been quite disjointed with totally different styles of song coming one after the other with nothing in common but the fact that their titles are in alphabetical order.
During this process, every once and a while something like this will come up:
and it becomes strikingly clear how amazing The Beatles really are. Especially when the next song is something that may or may not be in German and is definitely lousy by Len.
So, for the first time I actually heard a certain lyric correctly, and it floored me. Every time I hear Snow Patrol I always think "who is this? I really like it..."
So, imagine my surprise when I heard "Hands Open" name check Sufjan Stevens. Crazy.
Obviously, I have made it to the H's,. I'm at 2,336 of 7,088. So, a third of the way there....
So I was taking a little break from Project 2010 and blogging for a bit while I caught up on some stuff that I put on my iPod (the newer Shout Out Louds album, some Super 400, The Rentals) as well as some podcasts. Then today I continued down the list of songs and have been delighted.
It is as if every song that starts with Girls is fantastic. Here's what I mean:
"The Girl's Distracted" is my favorite Saturday Looks Good To Me song:
Matthew Sweet's "Girlfriend" will get me every time, and I kind of can't believe that it was 1991:
"Girls and Boys" by Blur. Do I even need to comment?
OK, so done with the Firsts and heading through the rest of the F's. I hit 1,827 of 6,892. Here are some of today's highlights:
Here's The Streets "Fit But Don't You Know It." Maybe I'm obsessing over this song right now because I've been watching Skins like crazy lately, or maybe it's because it's a a great song. You be the judge.
Also Today I got a little distracted by listening to Natalie Merchant's new album:. It's delightful.
"Float On" by Modest Mouse always improves my mood, and makes me want to move, it's also part of one of my favorite 4 song progressions on any album, ever:
I haven't given Travis the love that they deserve. Today I listened to "Flowers In the Window."
Bon Iver's Flume ended up on any mix tape that I made last year:
Wow. 90 days of listening to my iPod in order of song title, yet I'm only on the F's. Oh well. Here are some comments on some things that I've listened to today, which brought me deep into the "Firsts".
I'll spare you the R.E.M. "Finest Worksong," but that doesn't mean I didn't love listening to it.
"Fire and Rain" is one of those songs that I thought I liked more than I actually like. It's always longer than I think it is, and slower than I think it's going to be. See for yourself:
On the other hand "Fire Island, AK" by The Long Winters gets better every time. Also the lead singer of The Long Winters has been hanging with John Hodgeman, which makes him even cooler in my nerdy mind.
Fireworks is one of my favorite Animal Collective songs that isn't on Merriweather.
I have posted this video before because it is maybe my favorite video in the history of the world to go with a song that I am in love with. Hooray for Bright Eyes!
And yet another song I love came up today- again, I know I've posted about Noah and the Whale before, but today was actually "First Days of Spring" day, which it totally is. Apt. Although I'm not going through a horrifying break up at the moment. Here's hoping!
So I've been going through the F's at a pretty decent clip. I'm at 1,766 of 6,870. Yesterday I spent the entire day listening to 90 Dashboard Confessional songs in preparation for a show I'm going to in a couple of weeks.
I really enjoyed Fields Of Coal by And You Will Know Us... I couldn't find anything decent to embed so follow the link.
Classic Beastie Boys always makes me feel like I'm back in middle school again- in the best possible way.
Honestly, they won't change your life:
Is it just me or does Yeasayer sound a bit like Rusted Root?
So today I ended the E's and moved into the F's and mad it to 1,708 of 6,854. Here a selection of what I listened to today:
I have an unnatural love of Straylight Run. When we get to the S's I'll do an entire post on the Straylight Run / Brand New / Taking Back Sunday nexus. I'll also talk more about them when I get to a song off of "Prepare to be Wrong" which is an album that I love for both its music and its politics, but for now I'll just give you "Existentialism On Prom Night."
The answer to the question is yes:
And I love this song. I love this video. Very angry. Very cool.
More REM. Cause I love them. And you do too.
I find I have no idea what this song means, but I'm still positive that it is as relevant today as it was in 1986.
Dog's Eye View. Did anyone even know that they existed even in 1995? Well, I did. For some reason I really liked "Everything Falls Apart," and now that I'm listening to it I realize it. It's catchy. It's true. Maybe the tempo should be a little quicker, but who am I to judge. In fact, I'm hitting repeat.
By the way, now that I'm watching this video I realize why all of my clothes from high school are still too big for me.
While everything is falling apart for Dog's Eye View, Motion City Soundtrack thinks that everything is alright. Bad play on words, but it is my favorite Motion City song.
Let me extol the virtues of Lilly Allen. She's great. There it is. "everything's wonderful" is a wonderful rant about the way the world works today.
and just to restore some of my terribly damaged indie cred here is Interpol's Evil.
OK, so things have been busy. Not sure how great my updating will be for the next week or three. Here goes nothing:
One of the really interesting things about this project is that some bands just sound a little bit better when you're not listening to an entire 50 minutes of them at a stretch. I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business / The Early November totally fits into this category for me. Every time one of their songs pop up I really like it, yet I seem to be loath to just listen to one of their albums straight though, and as much as I really love The Decembrists, I think I like them more when they just pop up randomly for 3-6 minutes and then go away for a little bit. Today I heard "The Engine Driver" from The Decembrists.
One of the really great things about this project is finding songs that I may have overlooked. For example some songs might be on a Say Anything double album that at some times might be a little bit grating. On the other hand, apparently "Every Man Has A Molly" is somewhere in there. and yes, we all do.
Today I listened to two different versions of 10,000 Maniacs "Eat For Two." One was the original album version and the other was the MTV Unplugged version. (Sidenote- the Unplugged shows were really great, and it's a shame that MTV decided that music wasn't a really interesting thing to have on TV. Oh well. Not an original thought by any means, but there it is).
The two versions could not be more different. Sure, same words, same band, same singer, but the album version is much faster and practically uptempo, where the Unplugged version is mournful. The Unplugged version seems much more faithful to the feeling of the lyrics of the song, but the album version also has its merits (by the way, it's off of Blind Man's Zoo).
Sodastream is a guitar player and cello player from Australia. I have their album "The Hill For Company." I saw them opening for Saturday Looks Good to Me in an Ann Arbor, Michigan basement several years ago. Today I listened to "A Drum" and it is just an incredibly beautiful song. The vocals for this duo are just really wonderful. I couldn't find anything good to embed, but the link above sends you to their discography page and has lots of tracks that you can listen to.
In the same vein of kinda mellow songs, I got to Dashboard Confessional's "Dusk and Summer." I have a pretty strong love for Dashboard. His "So Impossible" EP's is one of my favorite song cycles.
Started the "E's" today with R.E.M.'s "E-Bow The Letter." I think I talked about R.E.M. yesterday, so I'll give it a rest for a minute.
Apparently bands were really into E songs with hyphens, because I also heard Beck's E-Pro. Who doesn't love a little bit of Beck on a Thursday?
Finally, I heard Iron and Wine's "Each Coming Night." Samuel Beam makes some really beautiful music, and this is a really good example of what he does. I think a lot of people would recognize he cover of "Such Great Heights" that was on the Garden State soundtrack.
Today I got to song 1,458 of 6,804 on my iPod. This brought be through Dreaming songs and into Driving songs.
OK. I know. People hate the Dave Matthews Band. I get it. I do. But they have some songs that I really enjoy. Today I got to "The Dreaming Tree" which is one of those songs that I really like. I apologize. I know I'm not supposed to.
I also got to Sufjan's "That Dress Looks Nice on You," which, of course, made me really happy.
I also happen to really like Brandon Boyd of Incubus' voice. I've been hearing a lot of his songs, and every time I've enjoyed it. Today i heard "Drive"
I know I have already documented my R.E.M. love. But today was "Drive." How do I not share that?
Finally, I heard something and had to check to see what the heck it was. I was incredibly surprised at the answer. Like shocked. This is Bright Eyes?
I've taken a few days off of Project 2010 to listen to the new Paste sampler as well as to do stuff over the weekend. Also, work has been crazy busy, but today I got back on track. So far not too many standouts, but there was this:
The Refreshments are ridiculous. That's really all I have to say about that, but they are fun. I can't pretend as if this is actually a good song, but I do enjoy it. It is certainly no "Banditos":
Also heard one of my favorite Phish songs today, "Down With Disease." You can probably pinpoint the year this video was made just by looking at it.
I was actually surprised by how few songs started with the word "down" as opposed to "do" or "don't."
And also apparently stuck in the 1990's for the moment as I sang every word to Oasis' "Don't Look Back In Anger." Even weirder, I totally have that jacket that Noel Gallagher is wearing, and I wear it all the time. Mine is definitely not as old as this song is.
Speaking of the 90's, another of the "Don'ts" I listened to is Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop." I know, I know, the song is much older than that, but I associate the song with Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, since it was the campaign's theme song. It was also the time that they came back together for a couple of years. Anyways, makes me think back to a time where things were about to go on an upswing, and I'm hoping that's where we are again in history.
Then, I somehow spent the rest of the afternoon listening to this. It's a compilation of different Code Talking stations. I find it equal parts creepy and fascinating. One of the tapes from The Conet Project was the inspiration for the title of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album, and an piece of that code talker is on the album (track 4 on the site).
Today I continued my love affair with Nada Surf. Heard "Do It Again" which isn't technically the title track to "The Weight Is a Gift," but still has the lyric that the album's title comes from.
The Flaming Lips put on one of the best shows I have ever gone to. It was like going to an idealized, yet twisted, New Years celebration. It was entirely about being happy and having a good time. There are people in costumes dancing on stage, confetti, MASSIVE balloons and thousands of fans dancing and jumping and singing non-stop. Beyond that, they are one of the most original bands of our time. So, hearing "Do You Realize," the song that really brought me back to The Flaming Lips was a welcome moment this morning.
Wow. Well, today has been unexpectedly good (a weird thing to say when listening to your own iPod, but whatever). Also hit "Do You Want To" by Franz Ferdinand. Made me want to get up and dance. Of course I didn't.
I got to song #1,384 of 6,779 and made if from the "Do's to the "Don'ts)
A quick refresher intro: Starting January 1st I've been listening to my iPod in alphabetic order by song (thus, Project 2010). I've been talking about certain songs or random thoughts that occur as I proceed through this project. At this point i'm pretty deep into the D's, and it's already looking like this will drag into 2011. Today I got to song 1,340 of 6,779.
Now to our regularly scheduled programming:
Every Indie Boy knows and loves Belle and Sabastian. OK, every 32 year old Indie Boy knows and loves Belle and Sabastian. Pretty early in the day I got to "Dirty Dream Number Two," which is a pretty respectable song by them. At some point I should do an all-out salute to them, but for today you'll just get this:
Not too much longer I got to The All-American Rejects "Dirty Little Secret." I have no shame about enjoying The All-American Rejects. They are poppy, hooky, and fun. In addition, I actually really like this video for some reason.
Lately, anytime I hear The Postal Service I think, "when will they come out with another album?" The answer keeps looking like never, which is unfortunate. Give Up was such a great album, and getting something else comparable would be welcome:
Did I mention that I had a ton of R.E.M. on my iPod? I do. I think barely a day goes by where I don't hear at least one R.E.M. song. Not that I'm complaining.
I will complain that I listened to Phish perform "The Divided Sky" twice in a row for almost a half hour (and I wonder why I'm not getting through a lot of songs). I didn't realize that the one 14 minute version was over, and that the 18 minute version began. It's a great jam, just not twice in a row.
So, today started with "The Difference" by The Wallflowers. It brought me back to 1996 and BELTING out the song while driving around, and I am a terrible singer. Terrible. Like so incredibly bad, but this song still rocks after 14 years, and I almost started belting it out in my cubicle.
I also really like The Mountain Goats song "Dilaudid." There are really intense strings:
Honestly, made very little progress today- hope tomorrow goes better.
Today I only got to song 1,303 of 6,779. I think I added more songs this weekend than I was able to listen to today, so I might be losing a bit of ground. I put Freestyle Whales onto my ITunes the other day and I am really enjoying their album.
One of the things I really like about this project is that it gives me an opportunity to find some songs that I may have overlooked, either because they are on albums that I didn't listen to much or because they were buried somewhere in an album where I was no longer paying much attention. One such song is Animal Collective's "Derek" which is off of "Strawberry Jam." I've listened to "Merriweather Post Pavilion" about 100 times and "Strawberry Jam" about 3 times. So, I was pretty happy with this find.
I love Bob Dylan, but at around minute eight of Desolation Row I'm ready for something else to be going on.
Another artist that I seem to have a lot of on my iPod is Beck. Almost every time I hit one of his songs I'm pretty happy about it. Definitely loved "Devil's Haircut" today.
Finally, I got to hear "Dialtone" by Saturday Looks Good to Me. Saturday Looks Good To Me is a Detroit area band that I saw several times when I lived in Michigan. They always put on a really fun show and were one of those bands that always seemed to be having a party on stage with a plethora of band members participating. I couldn't find a good version of "Dialtone" to embed, so here's a link:
My last song for today was "Decatur" by Sufjan Stevens. I am in love with Sufjan. For those who are not familiar, Sufjan sings beautiful songs about love, loss, adventures, history, and places. I was able to see him last year at All Tomorrow's Parties New York, and it was one of the most amazing shows I've ever been to. He played his album, Seven Swans, from beginning to end, and the thousand people in the room were so quiet that if anyone spoke at a normal voice almost the entire room was able to hear them. His performance was hypnotic. This is "To Be Alone With You" which is on Seven Swans
Sufjan followed up Seven Swans with Michigan- an album about Michigan and then Illinois. Illinois is one of my favorite albums of all time. The stories he tells in his songs are so beautiful, sad, happy, and interesting. "Decatur" is one of my favorites- "Stephen A Douglas is the great debater Abraham Lincoln is the great emancipator." No one else in the world would fit that into a song about a trip with their stepmother:
Finally, this is Casmir Pulaski Day. Every time I hear this song I get really sad and happy at the same time.
So, there is my little salute to Sufjan Stevens. He deserves a lot more- but this is what I've got.
Today was a really great day of music. I made it through a ton of songs and hit on a bunch of songs that I really, really love. I'm now on 1,257 of 6,714.
I was surprised to find a really great cover of Phish singing "A Day In The Life" live. It was really well done, and you can hear the crowd singing along. It definitely put a smile on my face.
A discovery- I have two The Mars Volta CD's. Everything about The Mars Volta points to the fact that I should really enjoy them. They mix a lot of things in that I like about other bands- long songs with jams, horns, and interesting orchestration. However, every time I hit one of their songs I find myself just waiting for it to end. Right now I am litening to the 12 minute long "Day of the Baphomets." And. It. Just. Will. Not. End.
I talk quite a bit about R.E.M. I will talk about them even more as things go on. Today got to "Daysleeper," which is yet another amazing song by them.
Also, hit The White Stripes "Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground." The White Stripes are just an all around great rock duo and when this song came on it made me happy and bob my head. Nothing wrong with that.
"Dear Anonymous" by Juliana Hatfield came up today as well. I just find that interesting, because every time I hear her I think a little bit about My So-Called Life. I definitely like that show a little too much, and probably watch TV just a little too much.
Made it to "Debaser" by The Pixies which added to my good day of music- I really find myself digging the D's.
"A Decade Under The Influence" might be my favorite Taking Back Sunday tune. Lyrics like "Close your eyes, just settle," "My worst brings out the best in you," and "I've got a bad feeling about this" all (sadly) appeal to me.
Got to listen to "Dance Music" by The Mountain Goats. Really like them, really like this song. I couldn't resist watching a sock puppet perform this. I'm never sure if people have too much time on their hands or are just more productive with their time than I am. Who's to say?
Also, got to "Dark Too Early" by Mezzanine Owls. I really their sound a lot. I couldn't find that song, but here's "Coyote."
Finally, as I said before, I don't really like OKGO's new album- but who can resist a little Rube Goldberg? Not me!
Sometimes you just want to yell. Like really yell. Or at least listen to someone yell, and that is where Taking Back Sunday comes in. OK, they are not one of the best or even better bands to come around, but when I'm in the right mood I love listening to them. Today I hit "Cute without the E." It is probably the perfect example of what I love about them (but I can totally respect you not being into it at all).
Also today, Cuyahoga from R.E.M. Growing up in Cuyahoga County in Ohio, I always get a little bit excited about this song, and seeing R.E.M. play it live in Cuyahoga County was amazing. The crowd went crazy. Probably the only place on Eath that the crowd goes wild over that song.
honestly, didn't make a lot of progress today. I'm only on 1,162 of 6,714 but I did listen to the new Gorillaz album and the new Broken Bells album. I was lukewarm on both.
#1. Did not realize that Dolly Parton sang with Norah Jones on "Creepin' In" until today.
#2. I love Death Cab for Cutie. I have a really great memory of going to see them live, and laying on the lawn and staring at stars with my friends. Perfect. Here's "Crooked Teeth."
Today was a pretty darn good day of music. I made it to song 1,100 out of 6,714.
I have already professed my love of Nada Surf in this blog, but every time they pop up during Project 2010, I keep wondering why I am not listening to them all the time. Concrete Bed was the first song for today and it was great. It has a great tune and simple lyrics that make you think but not too much.
That was followed by "Confetti" by the Lemonheads. Another great, uptempo tune by a band that I used to listen to all the time. (sorry, they don't allow embedding)
This was then followed by the Better Than Ezra version of "Conjunction Junction" which is a good reminder for me. Here's the original:
(If you were wondering, the streak ended when "Conquering Fools" by O.A.R. came on. Thank goodness it was only a five minute version of the song)
However, then Motion City Soundtrack came up with "The Conversation." I have talked earlier about my Motion City soundtrack love. This is the slowest song of theirs that I like. I don't know why I like songs about love gone wrong so much...
Finally, The Streets deserve a lot more space than I am going to give them. The Streets is Mike Skinner. He is quite obviously British. His songs and albums tell some pretty interesting stories while making you bob your head to the beat. "Could Well Be In" is a pretty good example of the kind of thing that he does. The song comes off "A Grand Don't Come For Free" which is an album that goes through a day in the life where the protagonist of the album has 1,000 pounds stolen from him. Or gone missing. Or something. Anyways, it's a great album. Here's "Could Well Be In."
I really like the Ben Folds song, "Cologne." It comes in a couple of parks, and is one of the few of his slower songs that I really enjoy. I enjoy his reference to that female astronaut who drove overnight wearing a diaper, but my favorite lyric involves thinking about having an imaginary conversation. There is something about thinking about that that really strikes a chord with me for some reason.
There is a special satisfaction to listening to Eric Cartman sing "Come Sail Away," still.
The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart put out an album for the sad indie boy in us all. Here's "Come Saturday."
OK, I've gotten to song 1,000 on my iPod of 6,714 (and growing- most recently I added Beach House). After listening to a lot of songs involving Closer, I've instead decided to talk for a minute about The Long Winters. The Long Winters are a Seattle band with kind of a folky sound fronted by John Roderick. I just really enjoy their stuff, so here are a few examples:
Also, i've decided to stop posting the list, pretty much because it was eating a lot of my time, so there should be more posting about bands and my thoughts as I go along.
Natalie Merchant and Michael Stipe! When They sing together it is magic for me. Spectacular early 90's magic. Especially since they sang together at Bill Clinton's inauguration. What could be more wonderfully 90's than that? In one day I got to hear it happen twice! Once on a "Campfire Song" for about 10 seconds and once on "Candy Everybody Wants" where Michael Stipe screws up the lyrics (which just makes me like it more)
Casmir Pulaski Day is another beautiful Sufjan Stevens song. It makes me want to love and cry.
Ever since I heard "Brown Eyed Girl" I have loved Van Morisson. I have also had a long standing love of The West Wing. Then they came together:
How many songs can Rusted Root possible have? I feel like something of theirs is coming up every 20 minutes or something. It's insane.
Here's the list: Call and Answer - Barenaked Ladies Call Me Calmly - Barenaked Ladies Call Me Papa - Donavon Frankenreiter Call Your Boys - Iron & Wine The Calling - Santana Featuring Eric Clapton Calling All Cops - Motion City Soundtrack Calling All Crows - State Radio Calluses - Harry Chapin Camaro - Kings Of Leon Cambridge - Motion City Soundtrack Camera - R.E.M. Camisado - Panic! At The Disco A Campfire Song - 10,000 Maniacs Campus - Vampire Weekend Can You Feel The Love Tonight - Lion King Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles Can't Con An Honest John - The Streets Can't Finish What You Started - Motion City Soundtrack Can't Seem To Find - moe. Can't Stop - Love Arcade Can't Stop Partying - Weezer Can't Take It - The All-American Rejects Canceled Check - Beck Candy- Love Arcade Candy Everybody Wants - 10,000 Maniacs Candy Everybody Wants - 10,000 Maniacs and Michael Stipe Candy Man - Grateful Dead Candyman - Cornershop Cannonball - The Breeders Cape Canaveral - Conor Oberst Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - Vampire Weekend Capital H - Motion City Soundrack Captain - Dave Matthews Band The Captain - Guster The Captain - Ingram Hill Captain America - moe. Car Crash - Our Lady Peace The Car In 20 - The Early November The Car Song - The Cat Empire Car Thief - Beastie Boys Caravan - Van Morrison Carefree - The Refreshments Careful - Guster Carey - Joni Mitchell Caring Is Creepy - The Shins Carlos - Pete Yorn Carnival - Natalie Merchant Carnival - Our Lady Peace Carnival Of Sorts - R.E.M. Carnival Town - Norah Jones Caroline, No - The Beach Boys Carousel - Iron & Wine Carries On - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros Carry Me - Malcolm Middleton Carry That Weight - The Beatles Carry This Picture - Dashboard Confessional Carrying Cathy - Ben Folds
Made it to 750 songs today, and finished the B's and entered the C's. In celebration, I'm sharing most of the songs about California I listened to today, because there are a ton of them. Most of them are pretty great, too. Something about the state seems to inspire people to sing. So, here it is:
One more thing- Spike Jonze + Weezer = Amazing (although let's face it, Spike Jonze + Almost Anything = Amazing)
Here's the list:
Bruised - The Bens Bryn - Vampire Weekend Bubble Toes - Jack Johnson Bubblegoose - Wyclef Jean Buddy Holly - Weezer Buffalo Soldier - Bob Marley Bug - Phish The Bugaloos - Collective Soul Buggin' - The Flaming Lips Build A Levee - Natalie Merchant Build God, Then We'll Talk - Panic! At The DIsco Build It Up, Tear It Down - Fatboy Slim Build That Wall - Aimee Mann Building A Mystery - Sarah McLachlan Bukowski - Modest Mouse Bull Black Nova - Wilco Bulletproof And Bleeding - Dog's Eye View Bullets In The Fire - Rusted Root Bulls In Brooklyn - The Academy Is... Bully of New York - Ana Egge Bunny Ain't No Kind Of Rider - Of Montreal Burn It Clean - Mudhuney Burn To Shine - Ben Harper Burndt Jamb - Weezer The Burning City Smoking - Kevin Devine Burning Down - R.E.M. Burning Hell - R.E.M. Burning Man - Third Eye Blind Burrito - Pete Yorn Bury Me - Guster Bury Me With It - Modest Mouse Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Indigo Girls Busted - Matchbox Twenty Busted Stuff - Dave Matthews Band But It's Better If You Do - Panic! At The Disco But When The Little Fellow Came - I can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business Butter The Soul - Cornershop Butterflies & HUrricanes - Muse Butterfly - Donavon Frankenreiter Butterfly - Weezer Butterfly in Reverse - Counting Crwos Buttoned Down - Straylight Run Buy American - The Refreshments By And By - Lay Low Bye Bye Baby - OK Go C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips - OK Go C"Mere - Interpol C'mon - Guster C'mon Daddy - The Lemonheads Cabbage Town - Conor Oberst Cable TV - Fol Chen The Cage - Cryptacize The Cage - Travis The Calendar Hung Itself - Bright Eyes Calgone - Incubus California - Joni Mitchell California - Phantom Planet California Dreamin' - The Beach Boys California Dreamin' - The Mamas & The Papas California English - Vampire Weekend California Girls - The Beach Boys California Stars - Billy Bragg & Wilco California Waiting - The Kings of Leon
Today was a day of Broken, Brooklyn, Brothers, and Brown. Kevin Devine is pretty much a folk singer, and I really tend to like his music. Somehow he hooked up with Brand New, whose music (which I talked about in the last post) is very different than his.
Pretty recently (a week or two?) Animal Collective came out with a video for Brother Sport. Kinda weird, kinda fun.
and those are really my thoughts for today. I'll try to get through more in the coming days... here's the list:
Brokedown Palace - Grateful Dead Broken - Jack Johnson Broken Arrows - Jose Gonzalez Broken Beads - The New Pornographers Broken Bottle - Pete Yorn Broken Drum - Beck Broken Heart - Motion City Soundtrack Broken Record - The Refreshments Broken Train - Beck Brooklyn Blues - The Postal Service Brooklyn Boy - Kevin Devine Broom People - The Mountain Goats Bros - Panda Bear Brother - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros Brother Sport - Animal Collective Brothers On A Hotel Bed - Death Cab For Cutie Brown Eyed Blues - Ben Harper Brown-Eyed Woman - Grateful Dead Brownsville Girl - Bob Dylan
This is one of my go-to albums. It is full of politics, and punk sentiments while being musically interesting, if not catchy. The songs range from summer romance to ineffectual protest to being a little too old to be living the way you are. There isn't one song of filler and it makes you want to sing along. Here are some selections:
Brand New - Deja Entendu This is another one of my favorite albums. It is the apex of Brand New's career in my opinion. Their sounds are so vocally interesting, rotating between hurt, bitterness, anger, and pride. This is also one of my favorite bands lyrically, with just so many great lines that can be used to describe yourself. "I am the brick that shattered all of your dreams." "Call me a safe bet, I'm betting I'm not." "I am all you ever wanted, what all the other boys all promised." OK. Maybe I wouldn't describe myself this way, but you get what I'm saying. Here are some selections:
Here's the list: Born On The Bayou - John Fogerty Born On The FM Waves - Against Me! Born on The FM Waves - Ben Lee Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell Bottle Of Blues - Beck Bottle Rocket - The Go! Team Bought A Bride - Brand New Boulevard Of Broken Dreams - Green Day Bouncing Around the Room - Phish (X3!) Bound - Matt Costa A Bower Scene - The Decembrists Bowl Of Oranges - Bright Eyes Box Of Rain - Grateful Dead Box Set - Barenaked Ladies The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel Boxing - Ben Folds Five Boy - The Magic Numbers The Boy Done Wrong Again - Belle & Sebastian Boy In The Well - R.E.M. The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot - Brand New Boy With A Barbie - Ben Lee Boy With A Coin - Iron & Wine The Boy With The Arab Strap - Belle & Sebastian Brad Logan - Rancid The Bradley - Further Seems Forever Brain Damage - Pink Floyd Brainwashct - Ben Folds Brand New Day - Van Morrison Brand New Sun - Jason Lytle Brass In Pocket - The Pretenders Brass Monkey - Beastie Boys Break Me - The Lemonheads Break On Through - The Doors Break Your Heart - Barenaked Ladies Break Your Heart - Natalie Merchant Breakdown - Jack Johnson Breakdown - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Breakfast At Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something Breakin' - The All-American Rejects Breakin' Me - Jonny Lang Breaking The Habit - Linkin Park Breakout - Foo Fighters Breastplate Of St. Patrick - O'Malley's March The Breeze - Bill Callahan Brian And Robert - Phish Brian Wilson - Barenaked Ladies Brick - Ben Folds Five Bride & Bridle - The Long Winters Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel The Brilliant Dance - Dashboard Confessional (X2) Brimful Of Asha - Cornershop Bring Back The Sun - Our Lady Peace Bring me my Bride - Stephen Sondheim Bring The Funk - Ben Harper The Bringer - Elfin Saddle Broad Majestic Shannon - O'Malley's March
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