Kyrie!

Hey folks!


I know that I haven't posted for a while. I have no excuse except the usual ones. Oh well. Suck it up.


Anyway, though, today I'm taking a break from my norm, and posting an explicitly religious song. It's an unusual one, however, and I think that even those of you who aren't Christian can really appreciate it. One reason I'm posting it today is because I'm actually in Austin, Texas (my first time in Texas!) and here with my friend at the True Vineyard office. True Vineyard does great work for women who have been left widowed in Rwanda. You should definitely check them out and help support their mission. Buy some of the REALLY cool things that these women (and others throughout Africa) make to support themselves here.
So, in honor of them and all the work they do in Africa:


GOOD SONG: Kyrie sung by Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin, arr. by Father Guido Haazen

Happy face!

The Missa Luba was a version of the Catholic Latin Mass (so all the words of the songs are in Latin, or some Greek-- like the words of this song "Kyrie, Eleison") that was put together by a Belgian priest named Father Guido Haazen after he traveled to Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the 1950's. The words may all be Latin, but the style is 100% Congolese. It's a great testament to how cultures can blend beautifully and successfully. The version that I linked to, I believe, is the original boys choir that Fr. Haazen assembled, that toured all over the place. The version that I grew up with is actually a slightly later recording, done by the Muungano National Choir from Nairobi, Kenya, which is also really beautiful.

I think that even if you're not Catholic or religious at all, you can really hear the beauty in this song. Their young voices are so pure and gorgeous, and the call and response is cool. 

If you liked this song, definitely check out the Sanctus, too. Stunning. Love the percussion.

Enjoy!

Over and out,

Anna

Let the air waves flow...

I'm back from my month-long blog hiatus. I had a serious existential (or rather blogistential) crisis in which I questioned the value of blogging, whether I wanted to continue, and tried to figure out why I haven't been listening to that much music recently (one big problem: I have so much music on my computer that the guy at the Apple store said I just shouldn't have iTunes open if I want my computer to run properly. Sigh.)


Not all my questions have been answered, but I didn't like being gone for so long. So, I'm back for now, with a new GOOD SONG!

And miles to go before I sleep...

GOOD SONG: Midnight Mile by Lee Fields & The Expressions (original by the Rolling Stones)


This song is from the Lee Fields & The Expressions album "Faithful Man" which came out just a few weeks ago. He sings with the in-house band of his label (Brooklyn's Truth & Soul), who also have played with Adele, Aloe Blacc, Jay-Z, etc. So they're pretty damn good. Which is fitting, since Lee Fields is into his fifth decade of recording and deserves some good musicians backing him up. It's kinda crazy, since he's been making great music for ages, and yet he doesn't even have his own wikipedia page! How crazy is that? Someone should get on that....


His original songs on the album are really fantastic (like the song "You're the Kind of Girl") but I totally fell for this song Rolling Stones cover. It's from their album Sticky Fingers, and it really works as a soul song, even with it's strange, poetic verses seemingly about isolation on the road. 
I love the lyrics:


"When the wind blows and the rain feels cold
with a head full of snow
with a head full of snow
In the window there's a face you know
Don't the night pass slow
Don't the night pass slow

The sound of strangers sending nothing to my mind
Just another mad mad day on the road
I am just living to be lying by your side
But I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road

Made a rag pile of my shiny clothes
Gonna warm my bones,
Gonna warm my bones
I got silence on my radio
Let the air waves flow,
Let the air waves flow
For I'm sleeping under strange strange skies
Just another mad mad day on the road
My dreams are fading down the railway line
I'm just about a moonlight mile down the road

I'm hiding sister and I'm dreaming
I'm riding down your moonlight mile
I'm hiding sister and I'm dreaming
I'm riding down your moonlight mile
There I go now coming home now baby
Yeah, there I go now coming home now baby
Yeah, I'm coming home 'cause

I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road
On down the road, down the road."


It's an interesting choice for a R&B artist to cover, and he does it amazingly well. He gives it a sort of haunting feel, with a heartbeat rhythm to it. That quavering flute in the background is supernatural. It definitely feels like a song to listen to it in the car in the rain, with the wipers on. 


If you liked this song, you might also check out:
Al Green
Otis Redding
Sharon Jones
James Brown
Eli Paperboy Reed

Over and out,
Anna

Sweet Darlin' Girl (A Good Love Song is Hard To Find, Post #2)

I know I missed Valentine's Day. Oh well. Here is another beautiful, wonderful, true love song.

Such a baby face.

GOOD LOVE SONG: Believer by Ben Kweller

This song has some of the beautiful lyrics out there. Here they are in their entirety:

"When you're hurt you heal others.

When you're in need you give.
Because of you I am living the most that I can live.

Oh, sweet darling girl
I'm so glad you found me.
Oh, sweet darling girl
Your power surrounds me.

Remember me, don't forget me,
I have something true.
My path is dark, my steps uncertain, 

Unless I walk with you.

Oh, sweet darling girl
I'm so glad you found me.
Oh, sweet darling girl
Your power surrounds me.

Your power...surrounds me.

You speak to me without speaking.
You touch so I can feel.
With your strength I am stronger, 

at last I know I'm real.

Oh, sweet darling girl
I'm so glad you found me.
Oh, sweet darling girl
Your power surrounds me.

Your power...Oh...

Whoa... sweet darling girl
I'm so glad you found me.
I'm so glad that you found me, yeah you did
And your power surrounds me."

You get a real sense of this woman's beauty and goodness, without any reference to her physical attraction or sexiness or what have you. Kweller has really penned a tribute, not just a love song. It's amazing. And it gets stuck in your head, too. I think the song must be about his wife, Lizzy, who he married a few years back and has two kids with. 

Ben Kweller got into music ages ago with his band Radish, but then hit it big with his solo album "Sha Sha" that came out in 2002. A few more albums have come out since, and his new one "Changing Horses" is due out soon. His voice sounds pretty young and teenage-y, even though I'm sure he's long past his teenage years now. While I don't usually like that type of voice, for some reason, I still like him. This song, though, is definitely one of his deeper and more mature ones.

Enjoy!

If you liked this song, you might also check out:

Ben Folds (they've recorded together)

Guster

Ben Lee (they also have recorded together)

Rhett Miller/ Old 97's

Dr. Dog

Over and out,

Anna

A Good Love Song is Hard To Find, Post #1

So, like last year, this February is love-themed. It's not a unique or surprising theme, but well, I don't care. Suck it up. There's a lot of great music out there about love. This month I'm really trying to limit myself to songs that I think are about REAL love. Not lust. Not infidelity. Not infatuation. Not "liking." LOVE. LURRRRVE.

Dark and brooding much?

First one up: 
GOOD (LOVE) SONG: Into My Arms by Nick Cave


This song is truly one of the most beautiful love songs in the world. Nick Cave's deep, strong voice is amazing and all that, but the lyrics are what make this song amazing. Why so amazing? He speaks about doubt and faith, the desire to protect someone, to walk with someone in the right path, and being with someone forever. 
THAT'S what I'm talkin' bout.


Here are the lyrics, all of em (I couldn't just take one part):


"I don't believe in an interventionist God
But I know, darling, that you do
But if I did I would kneel down and ask Him
Not to intervene when it came to you
Not to touch a hair on your head
To leave you as you are
And if He felt He had to direct you
Then direct you into my arms

Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms

And I don't believe in the existence of angels
But looking at you I wonder if that's true
But if I did I would summon them together
And ask them to watch over you
To each burn a candle for you
To make bright and clear your path
And to walk, like Christ, in grace and love
And guide you into my arms

Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms

But I believe in Love
And I know that you do too
And I believe in some kind of path
That we can walk down, me and you
So keep your candles burning
Make a journey bright and pure
That you'll keep returning
Always and evermore

Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms."


Nick Cave is a badass. So is his band "The Bad Seeds."Nick Cave manages to sound like a lover, a preacher, a prophet, a homeless man, and a rock n'roller all at the same time. The man is incredible. A little background: he was born in Australia, sang in the choir as a boy, and now sings, writes poetry, writes novels, acts, paints, and does lots of cool things. Many of his songs delve into issues of belief/disbelief, sin/redemption, and love/hate. Although he doesn't identify himself as Christian or even strictly religious, he does admit that "there is some divine element going on" within his songs. He isn't afraid to touch the big questions. I HIGHLY recommend most of his stuff. I was going to post his song "Red Right Hand" for Halloween, but I got too lazy. Check it out if you're in for something dark and creepy...


If you liked this song, you might also like:
Tom Waits
Leonard Cohen
Lou Reed
Morphine


Over and out,
Anna

A morsel from Earle

Hey ladies and gentlemen!
I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been working on my school play and things got a bit crazy. So much for my New Years' Resolution, right?
I don't have a full-length post for you right now, but I just thought I'd shoot this one out there:

Justin Townes Earle's new album comes out March 27th, but you can listen to his new single "Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now." Unsurprisingly, it's a but of a melancholy song, but it's beautiful, and definitely worth a listen. I'm a huge fan of his and can't wait for his new album.

Here is this GOOD SONG:
"Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now" by Justin Townes Earle.

Nothing's gonna change and it looks like Justin just don't give a hoot.

Over and out,
Anna

Animal Lover

OK! Really trying to post more, like I said. 
Here goes:


GOOD SONG: Animal Life by Shearwater, from their upcoming album "Animal Joy" (due out next month).
A little bit about Shearwater first. The band's frontman, Jonathan Meiburg,  is obsessed with birds (like my dad!) so they named the band after the bird. A lot of their music has really interesting natural themes, especially bird themes. They focus a lot on the natural world, but not in an annoying, hyper-obsessed enviro-freak kind of way. I respect them for their fascinating and gorgeous and very well-crafted album covers, inserts, and other stuffs that go along with that. There is real craft going on here, folks, on many levels. Meiburg and bandmate Will Sheff were both members of the band Okkervil River, which is also based out of Austin, TX. Their sound is quite different, though, which you might not automatically have expected. Their fourth, fifth, and sixth albums (which were awesome) entitled "Palo Santo," " Rook," and "The Golden Archipelago" respectively, were a sort of trilogy. This new album is a departure from those. 


As for the song: I love Meiburg's voice. And the music builds and swells. I think it would be a good song to run to, if I ever did any running. 

I know. I don't get the tuxedo either. I like the bird, though.

If you liked this song, you might also check out:
The National
Wye Oak (Wye Oak opened for Shearwater)
Midlake
Coldplay (and Shearwater opened for Coldplay)


Over and out,
Anna


P.S. I love this little story about Meiburg coming to D.C.'s Smithsonian Museum:

"I had an amazing experience in D.C.," Meiburg says. "I went into the Natural History Museum and called up a scientist who works there who a paper of his I'd read 15 years ago about specimens of a giant, flightless, extinct bird of prey that he had discovered, basically. And sure enough, he was there, and he came down, and I talked to him about it for about 45 minutes. It was fantastic."

And that was an amazing experience?

"Oh, it was magical," Meiburg says. "I got to see the bones." (from npr.com)

Speak From Your Heart!

Hey there folks! Welcome to 2012. I hope you're prepared to listen to some good music while you wait for the end of the world to roll around.

I promise I will try to be better about posting more good music more regularly this year.

Speaking of good music, Porcelain Raft is releasing a new album "Strange Weekend" on January 24th. Here is a single off the upcoming album that I thought was a great tune. I love the refrain,
"And I don't wanna listen/
Unless you speak from your heart."

GOOD SONG: Unless You Speak From Your Heart by Porcelain Raft

Who is Porcelain Raft, you might well ask. Well, it's one dude whose name is Mauro Remiddi. He was born in Rome (one of my top five places in the world). And that's about all I know about him, folks. Sorry.

Apparently he looks like this.

If you liked this song, you might also check out:

Washed Out

Toro Y Moi

The XX

Panda Bear

Beach House

Over and out,

Anna