Autumn (Or What It Feels Like To Fall) Vol. 2

If I had to–and I mean, had to–pick one Season as my favorite, it’d be Fall. Why, you ask? Well, why not? The foliage, the fashion, the faint and freckled ending of a Summer filled with love… I know it sounds silly now, but a long walk on the beach would pale in comparison to a tree-lined street, so forget about showing off your ridiculous tan-line and put some warmer clothes on. Let’s share this moment of clarity as we finally take our sunglasses off. Yes, it’s the end of impulsiveness and the beginning of improvement, the calm and colorful realization that we didn’t really commit to any of our resolutions. Oh, but don’t sweat it. In fact, make like a tree and leave your worries behind. It’s a beautiful mess out there and not even the sidewalks seem to mind… because there is always room to grow, and by that I mean read good-er.

MP3 Yellow Ostrich – Mary
MP3 Nurses – Fever Dreams
MP3 Pepper Rabbit – Dance Card
MP3 Peter Wolf Crier – Beach
MP3 Beirut – The Rip Tide
MP3 Memory Tapes – Yes I Know
MP3 Young Galaxy – Cover Your Tracks
MP3 Slow Club – You, Earth or Ash
MP3 Pieta Brown – Butterfly Blues
MP3 Mates of State – Desire
MP3 Youth Lagoon – Cannons
MP3 Teen Daze – Watch Over Me
MP3 Canon Blue – Indian Summer (Des Moines)
MP3 Bombay Bicycle Club – Lights Out, Words Gone
MP3 Fruit Bats – You’re Too Weird
MP3 Sundress – Derelict
MP3 Megafaun – State Meant
MP3 The Paper Kites – Bloom
MP3 Sóley – Smashed Birds
MP3 Dominant Legs – Calm Down
MP3 Scattered Trees – Where You Came From
MP3 Devon Williams – Tired of Mulling
MP3 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – In A Motel
MP3 Radical Face – Always Gold

Download this mix in its entirety here: Various Artists – Autumn (Or What It Feels Like To Fall) Vol. 2-mfa.rar (175.29 MB)

Spotify Playlist: Autumn (Or What It Feels Like To Fall) Vol. 2

Video: Slow Club – Two Cousins

After a slow summer for new music, the past couple weeks have been bursting with great albums from Wilco, M83, St. Vincent, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and more. In the midst of all that, one album that’s probably flying under the radar for many is Slow Club‘s sophomore album Paradise, which I’ve spent some time with and is pretty damn solid. One of the standouts is opener “Two Cousins” which hits with all the swagger and enthusiasm that made their 2009 debut Yeah So such a delight (plus, the ragtime piano is brilliant). The black-and-white dancey music video is above and you can download the track below.

MP3 Two Cousins

Paradise is out September 12th on Moshi Moshi Records.

Songs For Dreamers (Inception Mix)

This upcoming weekend brings two of my most anticipated events of the summer, Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago and the opening of Inception. It’s been exactly two years since Christopher Nolan’s last opus, The Dark Knight (I remember because that’s also the weekend I got married) and that is one of my favorites movies of all time. I’ve been trying to stay spoiler-free for this one (although I did read a couple of the all-out rave reviews it’s been getting) but from what I know about the film and its exploration into the world of dreams, virtual reality, and existentialism, I’ve made a Inception-inspired mix that you can download below. I myself will be skipping out sometime during Modest Mouse’s set (sorry Brock) on tonight to catch the film. Enjoy!

Songs For Dreamers (Inception Mix)

MP3 M83 – Highway of Endless Dreams
MP3 Belle & Sebastian – I Could Be Dreaming (BBC Session)
MP3 Elliott Smith – A Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity To Be Free
MP3 Wild Nothing – Live in Dreams
MP3 Wolf Parade – We Built Another World
MP3 Slow Club – I Was Unconsious, It Was A Dream
MP3 Franz Ferdinand – Lucid Dreams
MP3 of Montreal – I Was A Landscape In Your Dreams
MP3 Radiohead – Nice Dream
MP3 School of Seven Bells – Half Asleep
MP3 The Zombies – Hung Up On A Dream
MP3 Shout Out Louds – You Are Dreaming
MP3 Pixies – Where Is My Mind
MP3 Sunset Rubdown – Shut Up I Am Dreaming

50 Songs of 2009 (2 of 2)

Here is the much-anticipated conclusion to my top 50 songs of 2009 list (if you haven’t already, take a look at the first 25 and read the foreword/ground rules). These are my favorite 25 songs of the year. As before, there’s a link by each song where you can download/hear the song or you can get all the tracks in a handy zip file by clicking this link. Let me know your favorite songs of the year in the comments. Thanks for reading!

25. Harlem Shakes – Sunlight MP3

Harlem Shakes’ Technicolor Health is full of guitar pop gems, but this one is the most magnetic and irresistible. The bright, radiant guitar / keys combo sprinkles on top of a pulsating beat and an absurdly catchy hook. You almost need to make up a new word for this song, because “catchy” just don’t cut it in describing how freakin’ addicting the song is.

24. Passion Pit – Moth’s Wings MP3

Passion Pit have a wealth of booty-shaking dance-pop tunes, but as seen on this track they can be just as potent with emotionally-resonating power pop. I said: “Moth’s Wings shows that Passion Pit aren’t content to just be that band you hear at hipster dance parties. The song is quite ambitious, the opening melody is played on dulcimer before a huge instrumental swell with expansive synths and jubilant piano. By the end of the song you’ve got pounding drums and chorus of “la la las” filling the sonic landscape. The band pulls off anthemic pop very impressively.

23. A.C. Newman – The Heartbreak Rides Y2B

A.C. Newman puts all of his songwriting craft and pop sensibilities built up from his day job (which is being the primary songwriter of New Pornogoraphers) and delivers one of his most devastatingly beautiful songs ever with “The Heartbreak Rides”. This song slowly unveils itself utilizing a dynamic build-and-release, but once that rousing chorus hits, the song shoots towards the stratosphere and doesn’t look back. It’s a gorgeous song and one that’s infinitely rewarding.

22. Slow Club – It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful MP3

Slow Club’s whimsical, Southern-fried folk-pop songs are rollickin’ good-natured celebrations, played with enthusiasm and a good dose of youthful vigor. I said of the band’s first single, “It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful”: Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor call-and-response vocals play off each other perfectly and the chorus of this song is one of the most infectious things I’ve heard all year. By the end of the song, the band is in full out old-fashioned hoe-down mode (complete with a choir of yelping vocals) and it’s damn-near impossible not to be caught up in the pure jubilance of their sound.

21. God Help The Girl – God Help The Girl MP3

Stuart Murdoch took a break this year from his main gig as the singer/songwriter force behind Belle & Sebastian and worked on a collection of songs for an imaginary (or possibly real) film all sung by girls that he chose from a talent contest. While in theory, this would be nothing more than a frivolous vanity project, it actually produced quite a few amazing pop songs, most notably the title track which stands among Stuart’s finest pop compositions. Catherine Ireton’s upbeat vocals are delightfully alluring, the lovestruck lyrics are funny and charming (“I’ll play his messages / Analyze his intonation / Please stop me there, I’m even boring myself”) and the soaring strings arrangement is absolutely lovely.

I made a 2009 mix!

This is a mix I made of songs from this year that I like. Some of these songs you’ve probably heard, some you might not have. It should fit nicely on a CD and comes embedded with some awesomely patriotic album art (that’s a real, non-photoshopped image by the way). Download the mix below and have a great ID4!

Download 2009 Mix (94.31 MB / 1.2 hours)

Fanfarlo – The Walls Are Coming Down MP3
St. Vincent – Actor Out Of Work
Phoenix – Lasso
A.C. Newman – The Heartbreak Rides MP3
Bat For Lashes – Daniel
The Joy Formidable – Cradle MP3
Slow Club – It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful MP3
Animal Collective – Bluish
Anni Rossi – Wheelpusher MP3
Sunset Rubdown – You Go on Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II) MP3
Passion Pit – Moth’s Wings MP3
God Help The Girl – God Help The Girl
The Thermals – I Called Out Your Name
M. Ward – Jailbird
The Antlers – Two MP3
Cymbals Eat Guitars – Wind Phoenix MP3
Harlem Shakes – Natural Man
The Love Language – Providence MP3
Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others
Loney Dear – I Was Only Going Out

Slow Club

I’ve come across the Sheffield band, Slow Club a few times recently, from friend recommendations, blog posts, and snack ads, so I jumped at the chance to hear their debut album Yeah So? this week. I was, quite frankly, blown away by the band’s sound. From the little I had heard from them, I pigeonholed the band in the burgeoning UK anti-folk scene (among Noah and the Whale and Emmy The Great), but this album has a much more campire sing-a-long, rockabilly feel that places them much closer to The Avett Brothers or more acoustic White Stripes tracks (think “Hotel Yorba”). What’s certain is that these songs are rollickin’, good-natured celebrations, played with enthusiasm and a good dose of youthful vigour. If this band don’t put a smile on your face, I don’t know what will.

The first single from the album is a freewheelin’, playful romp called “It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful”. Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor call-and-response vocals play off each other perfectly and the chorus of this song is one of the most infectious things I’ve heard all year. By the end of the song, the band is in full out old-fashioned hoe-down mode (complete with a choir of yelping vocals) and it’s damn-near impossible not to be caught up in the pure jubilance of their sound. “Because We’re Dead” is another whimsical, Southern-fried folk-pop tune that starts with a softly picked guitar, but builds up to a lively climax with the two vocalist repeating the title line over pounding drums and furiously strummed acoustic guitars.  I can imagine this band absolutely erupts in a live setting (hopefully they’ll soon have enough fans to launch a full-scale U.S. tour). Very highly recommended stuff.

MP3 It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful
MP3 Because We’re Dead

You can pick up Slow Club’s fantastic 2008 EP, Let’s Fall Back In Love at emusic. Yeah So? is set for a UK release this week on Moshi Moshi Records.