Month: May 2006

New Sleeping At Last Songs!

Sleeping At Last are one of my favorite rock bands making music right now. Their music has as much emotional and mass appeal as any band I’ve heard, and they are probably the nicest musicians I’ve ever met. They’re story is quite interesting too, they were actually discovered by Billy Corgan (the Billy Corgan) at a club in Chicago. They were quickly put on Interscope Records, and recorded one album with them (“Ghosts”). Overall though, they were unhappy with the lack of interest and financial backing from Interscope. For their next album they are self-releasing, which is a bold move for them but one I think will pay off.

Back to the music, they claim Sunny Day Real Estate, U2, and Radiohead as their main influences, and their sound stems from all three of those bands. The new songs off Keep No Score nicely show the two sides of Sleeping At Last. “Needle and Thread” is a passionate and epic ballad that Coldplay would dream to make, while Envelopes evokes Bends-era Radiohead and the intensity of Sunny Day Real Estate. Both songs are highly recommended of course. Good work, guys!

*update – The band just asked me to put a different song in place of the two I had up. You can still preview Needle and Thread and Envelopes here (and I highly suggest you do), but they just sent me this song and told me they’d like it to be shared. I’ve only had the chance to listen to this song a couple times, but I can tell you its fantastic. The ending part seems like it could be on the latest Sigur Ros album, and the vocal performance is amazing.

MP3 Careful Hands

Here’s my favorite song off their previous album:
MP3 Night Must End

Go to their myspace to hear more.
Pre-order their new album.

I’m having a bit of internet problems which may mean my posts will be up late at night instead of early in the morning. That 13 hour time difference really kills you sometime.

Shearwater

Shearwater is a band I’ve been meaning to write about since late last year. Their Thieves EP and especially the song “Mountain Laurel” first sparked my interest in the band. The song starts off with a pretty banjo melody and and grows to include rolling drums, triumphant vocals, and what might-or-might-not be a bagpipe.

It was later that I made the connection between them and the Okkervill River, of whose album I immediately fell in love with. This month saw the release of their sixth album, Palo Santo, and I’ve had a little time now to process it. The song “Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five” was an immediate favorite and is easily one my favorite piano-centric rock song that has been released this year (hopefully muse will soon have another in that category). “Red Sea, Black Sea” is another standout on the album and they together are probably the most upbeat songs on Palo Santo. Each song though, is beautifully constructed. You can buy the album here.

From Palo Santo (2006):
MP3 Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five
MP3 Red Sea, Black Sea

From Thieves EP (2005):
MP3 Mountain Laurel
MP3 I Can’t Wait

Be Shearwater’s friend.
Read Pitchfork’s Review.

The Amazing Pilots

I recently read an interview with Gary Lightbody in Harp Magazine, where he made a statement about the Snow Patrol’s emotional honesty saying, “Most Irish singer-songwriters have a sincerity and also a darkness in their work” and that “If my mom didn’t think I was being honest, she’d kick my ass.” This is evident in the band, The Amazing Pilots, who are a band made up of two brothers from Dublin.

What the band lacks in numbers, it makes up in its instrumentation and sincerity. “The Price of Winter” features piano, accordion, and strings and talks about separation within relationships. While this song is upbeat and opitmistic, “All My Wasted Days” is a dark, sorrowful song about lonliness and regret, told with moody guitars and textured synthesizers.

MP3 The Price of Winter
MP3 All My Wasted Days

Visit The Amazing Pilots myspace.

"I heard there was a secret chord…"


I can now say that thanks to Dodge, I’ve listened to nearly every version ever of the song Hallelujah. Is it the best song ever? I think it probably is. It’s the most moving, emotional, beautiful song ever written. Of course, Leornard Cohen wrote the song, but really it never realized its full potential till Jeff Buckley sang those first words.

What’s interesting about the covers, is that all of them (besides Bob Dylan’s, who features Cohen, and a couple others) are actually covering Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah. It’s the definitive version, there’s no question. One of my favorites in the group is from an artist named Elisa. Her voice is perfect for the song and she adds a very poignant church organ to the song. Kathryn Williams does a similar take where she adds a fitting cello in the background. The best piano version of the song isn’t Rufus Wainwright’s, as some of you may believe. It’s from an arist named Lucky Jim.

Before you go download those songs at MOKB, watch this youtube video of Jeff Buckley playing Hallelujah on a French Television station. It’s stunning.

Scrubs Soundtrack – Volume 2

Scrubs is one of the most enjoyable comedies on TV right now. It also has one of the best soundtracks on TV (with Zach Braff on board it’s easy to see why). While I doubt this soundtrack is going to be the next “Garden State”, it does give a good sampler of some of the better singer-songwriter type artists out there right now along with a mixture of fun pop/rock bands.

The first half of the CD is all fantastic, the Old 97’s track being the standout for me. Here’s three songs I’m sure you’ll enjoy (I’ll probably be posting on some of the other bands featured here in the future).

MP3 Old 97’s – Question
MP3 Elefant – Why
MP3 Joseph Arthur – In The Sun

Buy it here.
Sorry for the late post today, I’m leaving for Australia in less than two days so there’s alot of last minute stuff to get done.

The Format – Dog Problems

Everyone has their guilty pleasures, for Stereogum its Nelly Furtado. For me, it’s The Format. But they’re so darn infectious that its hard to call it guilty. Unlike their last album, though The Format have a few songs that show a majorly expanded sound. “Dog Problems” sounds like lounge (very good lounge, that is), and as Nathaniel from I Guess I’m Floating pointed out that Time Bomb has a glam, Queen-like sound. Go there to download those two songs.

“She Doesn’t Get It” for me should be the pop hit of the summer. It’s as catchy as “Swing, Swing” and as fun as “Stacy’s Mom”. And it has bells and handclaps. What more do you need? Download the whole album here, its going to be released July 11th, but I guess they got antsy and made it available online early!

MP3 She Doesn’t Get It
MP3 The Compromise
MP3 Oceans

-Go to their myspace!
-Check out this complete twee-rific collage my girlfriend made to the B&S song, “Judy and the Dream of Horses.”

Review of iTunes Celebrity Playlists

In the past I’ve done reviews of iTunes Celebrity Playlists, but lately I haven’t been keeping up on it much so I’m compiling a few of the latest ones here. Each comes with a sample MP3 from their list.

Josh Schwartz (Creator of The O.C.) – This list has got to be good right? Well mostly. Josh lists some great artists (primarilly classic) but plays it safe most of the time by picking out the most recognizable song from bands like The Pixies and Wilco. Giving props to Rogue Wave, picking my favorite Bob Dylan song, and including an fantastic Buckley tune raise the playlist grade to a B+.

MP3 Jeff Buckley – Just Like A Woman (Live)

Ashlee Simpson – I went into this list preparing for Jennifer Garner badness, but her choices actually show a some attempt to vary herself (Rosie Thomas, Bjork, Bob Marley). Then again, her descriptions are vague and unmeaningful. For the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’s “Maps” she says – “This song is sexy. It’s just a great song.” By not attempting to promote herself and by showing she doesn’t listen to any artists as bad as herself she earns a B-

MP3 Bjork – All Is Full Of Love

Sondre Lerche – This list is interesting because the majority of the songs on it I’m not familiar with. Sondre obviously has a more broad scope on music than I probably ever will. His descriptions are very well-written. Putting Chet Baker in between a Kayne West and My Bloody Valentine song is brilliant. A

MP3 My Bloody Valentine – Sometimes

Deborah Hary (of Blondie) – Deborah Harry’s playlist is short and includes more misses than hits. If your going to include the most popular tracks from both Missy Elliott and Eminem than at least have something interesting to say about them… I really like the White Stripes song she picked though and Antony & the Johnsons is a good addition. C

MP3 Antony & The Johnsons – Hope There’s Someone

Mandy Moore – It looks like Zach Braff’s music choice is rubbing off on Mandy. She picks out her favorite songs from Imogen Heap, The Weepies, Hem, and Sufjan Stevens which makes for an acoustic album that puts its focus on great vocal performances. The song descriptions are very personal and seem honest (which also fits the theme/mood of her selections). Not bad for someone who’s last acting job was in Brother Bear 2 A+

MP3 The Weepies – Gotta Have You

Go to iTunes and read some more Celebrity Playlists. Purchase some songs from the above artists while your at it!

Danielson

The first thing you hear when you put in Danielson’s new CD, is a pretty falsetto-ed voice and an acoustic guitar. You might think your going to be listening to a pleasant, Christian folk CD. After about 20 seconds, when loud drums, guitar, bells, and high-schreechy voices all kick it at once you’ll either throw the CD across the room or continue listening. I suggest the latter.

After you get used to brother Daniel’s voice, you’ll grow to love these epic building songs. It rocks much harder but is also much more of an acquired taste than Sufjan Stevens, if you want to make that comparison (Sufjan appears on a few tracks as well as 33 other guests). At times you think Danielson is channeling classic rock influences like Led Zeppelin, Rush, and even Styx (a cover of Come, Sail Away would fit seemlessly on this album). Overall, I think this is one of the best and most complete albums of the year. Here’s a couple tracks for sampling

MP3 Ship The Majestic Suffix
MP3 Did I Step On Your Trumpet

In other news:
-Wanna download video straight from Youtube, Google Video, or anywhere else that embeds video. Go here! Of course, this, like so many other wonderful things, is exclusive for Firefox users.

–Good Weather For Airstrikes has Bloc Party’s Coachella set and new We Are Scientists!

–My Old Kentucky Blog keeps the covers coming. Who knew there was 29 versions of Love Will Tear Us Apart…

Two Songs, Two Memories

The two artists I’m featuring today are from bands that I don’t consider too high on an artistic level, but they both have some nostalgic value. High schoolers are graduating this week, and both these artists remind me of some fun times in high school. If you ever (regrettably) jammed to the music of Chris Carraba or Tom Delonge, then maybe this music will bring back similar good memories for you.

Blink-182 was the fun-time, rockin’ party band growing up. I know, they basically wrote the same simple punk song over and over, but it was catchy and great for road trips. One particular road trip I remember, occurred after a tournament for our school’s golf team, of which I was a member (could I be a bigger dork.) We found out that the team was going to State due to a miraculous ball-bouncing-off-a-tree-to-land-next-to-the-pin-shot, and the whole ride home we listened to “Rock Show” over and over. While you would imagine this would have been incredibly annoying after an hour, we couldn’t help but singing in unison everytime the chorus came on. Angels and Airwaves are about the closest thing you can find to Blink-182 now and here’s their first single.

MP3 The Adventure

In addition to listening to Dashboard Confessional during my “emo phase” around sophomore year, I saw Dashboard Confessional at University of Illinois a couple years back at a free concert. While the concert itself wasn’t too memorable, I spoke to my girlfriend for the first time at that show. Here’s Dashboard Confessional’s new single:

MP3 Don’t Wait

buy here