"Don't let me into this year with an empty heart"

Just a quick GOOD SONG post for New Year's Eve:

Empty Hearts by Josh Ritter. ----------> Click on the song, and then click on the link that says "Play Song from MySpace Music." (I'd give you a link to the song on regular ol' YouTube, but they only have acoustic/live versions, which are good but don't give you the full energy of the song.)

It's from Josh Ritter's album "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter," which is a fantastic album. I know it's another Josh Ritter post, but I don't care, it's perfect for New Year's Eve. 

Full heart + dog on chest = recipe for good year

And remember, don't let yourself into this year with an empty heart.

See you in 2011!

Over and out,
Anna

Best of 2010

My 11.5 favoritest albums from 2010, in no particular order...

Arcade Fire- The Suburbs
GOOD SONG: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

Sufjan Stevens- Age of Adz
GOOD SONG: Get Real Get Right

Florence + the Machine- Lungs
GOOD SONG: Hurricane Drunk

Josh Ritter- So Runs The World Away
GODO SONG: The Curse

LCD Soundsystem- This Is Happening
GOOD SONG: I Can Change

Deer Tick- The Black Dirt Sessions
GOOD SONG: Mange

Justin Townes Earle- Harlem River Blues
GOOD SONG: One More Night in Brooklyn

Delta Spirit- History From Below
GOOD SONG: Salt in the Wound

The National- High Violet
GOOD SONG: Bloodbuzz Ohio

The Black Keys- Brothers
GOOD SONG: Ten Cent Pistol

Tallest Man on Earth- The Wild Hunt

GOOD SONG: King of Spain

(note: his EP "Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird" is also awesome and gets an honorary mention on this list. GOOD SONG: Thrown Right At Me)

What were YOUR favoritest? What do you think I left out? What would you not have included?

Over and out,
Anna

P.S. Merry Christmas (it's still Christmas time for another 10 days) and Happy New Year!

Christmas Tunes

Hey there ladies and gentlemen!
So, it's only two days 'til Christmas! I was supposed to drive to upstate NY from NYC this afternoon, but my car died (something wrong with the starter, an antifreeze leak, etc.), SO here I am twiddling my proverbial thumbs in my parents' empty apartment on Bleecker Street. There are two upshots to this:
1) I get to go to my friend Jack's band's show tonight at the Gramercy! The band is called Night Fevers and are definitely worth checking out. I love their song "Way I Am."

2) I have time to post a little Christmas tunes post on ze blog. In general, I prefer more traditional, choral Christmas music. But every once in a while, I come across a Christmas(y) song that is more modern/fun/indie that I actually like.
Here we go:

How come I can't have a child's Christmas in Wales, too?
It's not fair.

GOOD (CHRISTMAS) SONG the first: Child's Christmas In Wales by John Cale, from his album "Paris 1919."
OK, so this song isn't particularly Christmas-y, but it IS based on a short story by Dylan Thomas  by the same name. You should definitely read it. Here is a snippet:

' "Get back to the Presents."
"There were the Useful Presents: engulfing mufflers of the old coach days, and mittens made for giant sloths; zebra scarfs of a substance like silky gum that could be tug-o'-warred down to the galoshes; blinding tam-o'-shanters like patchwork tea cozies and bunny-suited busbies and balaclavas for victims of head-shrinking tribes; from aunts who always wore wool next to the skin there were mustached and rasping vests that made you wonder why the aunts had any skin left at all; and once I had a little crocheted nose bag from an aunt now, alas, no longer whinnying with us. And pictureless books in which small boys, though warned with quotations not to, would skate on Farmer Giles' pond and did and drowned; and books that told me everything about the wasp, except why." '

Anyhoo, the song is a good one. John Cale was one of the founding members of the Velvet Underground. He was Welsh himself, so I guess he identified with the song. Enjoy!

Lookin' good, Sufie. 

GOOD (CHRISTMAS) SONG the second: Star of Wonder by Sufjan Stevens, from his album "Peace: Songs for Christmas, Vol. 5".
I know I've posted about Sufjan before, but I just had to post one of his Christmas songs. He released five(!!) short-ish albums of only Christmas songs, which is typically awesome of him. This song, though, is my favorite of all his Christmas songs, and is definitely in my top five of ALL of his songs. It's an absolutely gorgeous song about the appearance of Christ and the Star of Bethlehem. It sounds like snow falling and stars twinkling and mysterious births. Give it a listen.

Darker My Love pretending to be statues and not fooling anyone.

GOOD (CHRISTMAS) SONG the third: Snow Is Falling by Darker My Love. This song is actually from a Christmas compilation sponsored by Target. Totally random, I know. You can download it for free here: The Christmas Gig. There are actually quite a few fun songs on the sampler, and it's free, so why not?
Another GOOD SONG on there: Party Hard by Little Isidore.


MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL! Safe travels. I hope you enjoy being with your loved ones, eat lots of tasty food, and don't forget the reason for it all.

Over and out,
Anna

Strong Love, Weak Hearts

So a few years ago (November 2007 I think) I saw Dr. Dog live in NYC with a friend of mine. This fantastic band opened for them- the Delta Spirit. I was completely blown away by their energy onstage.
When they came onstage at the end of Dr. Dog's set, to help them sing/play the
GOOD SONG GREAT SONG "Heart It Races"
(originally by Architecture in Helsinki), I knew they were awesome. I eagerly got their album and then even more eagerly awaited more of their stuff. I have not been disappointed. Since then, they've gotten a lot more press but they haven't "sold out" or any of that sort of thing (what does that even mean anyway? Who cares?). This June they released their second album entitled "History From Below," which is fantastic. It's darker than their debut, but they work that quite well.  And I think it's high time their made their debut on AGSIHTF.

What most apartments in Bushwick look like.
Hence the blues. 

The band is originally from San Diego, and they still reside somewhere in Cali, I believe. It's comprised of Mathew Vasquez (vocals), Jon Jameson (bass), Brandon Young (percussion), and Kelly Winrich (other schtuff). Although they may hail from lighthearted SoCal, their songs deal with some heavy stuff. Example: the song "Streetwalker" on their debut album, which dealt with the subject of child prostitution. And the song on "History From Below" entitled "Ballad of Vitaly," which is about a Russian man who kills an air-traffic controller in revenge because... well, it's a long story. A true one. Super dark. But a FANTASTIC ballad.

Anyway, on their new album, I really like this GOOD SONG:  Bushwick Blues

FYI, Bushwick is a neighborhood in Brooklyn. It could easily give one the blues. 

I love the lyrics: 

Because my love is strong/

and my heart is weak/

after all

Anyhoo, if you like these songs, you might also like:

Dr. Dog

Dawes

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Cold War Kids (they toured with them)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (they also toured with them)

Ra Ra Riot

Kelley Stoltz

BUY THEIR MUSIC HERE: Delta Spirit

Over and out,

Anna

P.S. Merry Christmas!!!

Dreamy Folk-Pop for Owls...?

There seems to be a profusion of random bands popping up with animal names (Grizzly Bear, Bear in Heaven, Panda Bear, Shearwater [a kind of bird], Wolf Parade, Dr. Dog, and the list goes on...). One noteworthy animal band out there right now, though, is most definitely Breathe Owl Breathe.

Right now they're rockin the #10 spot on eMusic's charts and for good reason. They seem like a great little musical trio, and their music just makes me happy. Also, after listening to their song "Dragon," I can tell they have a great goofy sense of humor.

The band is comprised of Micah Middaugh (on the guitar, banjo, piano, and "musical toys" section of the band), Andrea Moreno-Beals (on vocals and AMAZING cello), and Trevor Hobbes (on drums and all sorts of random instruments of the percussive persuasion). I believe they're all from Michigan, so I guess this post is yet another Midwest shoutout. 

Jump Owl Jump!

Their album "Magic Central" just came out in September, and it's great. Andrea's voice reminds me a lot of Feist's. Which is always a good thing, right?

The first GOOD SONG of theirs that I wanna recommend is their song "House of Gold." The only version I could find of it is a random live version from a show they did in Ohio, but it's definitely still worth a listen/watch. Here you go: House of Gold. I am digging her backup vocals on this one.

The second GOOD SONG of theirs from "Magic Central" is Swimming. It's quite chill, as a lot of their stuff is, but it's a great song. And, as the lyrics say, I definitely wish I was swimming right now (someplace warm, obviously. The 31 degree weather here is a whole lotta no fun). 

If you like these songs, you might also check out:

Feist

Horse Feathers

Iron & Wine

The Cave Singers

Bonnie "Prince" Billy

The Be-Good Tanyas

Pink & Noseworthy

BUY THEIR MUSIC HERE: Breathe Owl Breathe

Over and out,

Anna 

"No One Ever Does It Like That Anymore"

Despite the fact that Mark Ronson was born in London, I think of him as being a New Yorker. Considering that he went to Collegiate High School in NY, then New York University (my alma mater!) and began his career in my glorious hometown, I don't think that this is a stretch.  He is such an enormously talented DJ/turntabelist/producer, I want him to be a New Yorker. The way he combines different musical traditions/band/sounds in his songs is just plain genius. Granted, his work can be a little hit-or-miss (or mostly miss, if you don't like hip-hop that much), but the stuff of his that DOES work is great.

Ronson, hard at work. 

His new album "Record Collection" just dropped a little while ago, and is a ton of fun. Ronson features of some of the songs, but an insane number of people are involved too, as usual. The record is technically by "Mark Ronson & The International" so I guess "The International" includes all those other folks.
The two best songs on it, that both have amazing videos are:

GOOD SONG #1: Bang Bang Bang (odd mash-up of old commercials, weird Japanese TV-show, and 80's style "futuristic" fun... oh yeah, and Q-Tip!!!)

GOOD SONG #2: The Bike Song (feat. Spank Rock)

One thing that I find interesting about him, though, is that as much as I love a lot of his fun singles (like the ones above), some of my FAVORITE songs of his are his short little instrumental bits that come in between songs on his album, like "Missing Words"  and "Selector" (from this latest album) and "Inversion" and "Diversion" from his previous album "Version."  Inversion is competing with "Can't Hardly Wait" by Justin Townes Earle as my #1 played song.

Anyhoo, hope you enjoy.

If you like these songs, you might also like:

(Note: OK so, since Mark Ronson has no particular style, these rec's run the gamut)

Calvin Harris
A Tribe Called Quest
M.I.A.
Adele
Lily Allen
Duran Duran

BUY HIS MUSIC HERE: MR & the Int.

Over and out,
Anna

Another Bad Day for Justin Townes Earle

Sorry I've been outta commission for a while. Thanksgiving caught me unawares. I promise I'll make it up to you, though. These past couple of weeks I have been listening to a lot of music (especially on my long walks around Manhattan this past weekend). So here goes the next installment:


I find that there are a lot of older songs, especially country songs, that have really fun, upbeat tunes and rythyms, but have depressing-as-hell lyrics (Johnny Cash's "Train of Love" comes to mind). Maybe it's spurred on by a desire to find the silver lining in the situation. Maybe it's more of a desire to mask one's feelings. Maybe it stems from a musical tradition--- traditional Irish folk? Blues? Whatever the reason, a LOT of singers have mastered this marriage of sad lyrics + happy tune. And, Justin Townes Earle, one of my favorite alt-country-folk-rock-whatever-genre-you-wanna-box-him-in singer, has revealed the fact that he is pretty darn good at this as well.

He's feelin' down. I'm feelin' his style.  

His new album, entitled "Harlem River Blues" is amazing, and the title track is what kills me (no pun intended). It's a really fun song, and if you ignore the lyrics, quite uppity. But, of course, when you listen to what he's actually saying, it's kind of a downer. The opening lines?


"Lord, I'm goin' uptown to the Harlem River to drown/
Dirty water gonna cover me over and I'm not gonna make a sound." 

Here is the GOOD SONG: Harlem River Blues


It's clearly about a guy about to go drown himself in the Harlem River, although it's a little unusual as he seems to think that what he's doing is actually *good* for his soul. He wants to avoid trouble in the future by simply killing himself off right now while he's still "good in his grace." Interesting. Doesn't convince me, though, that it's the best idea.
Honestly, this sort of song doesn't really surprise me, coming from Justin Townes Earle. A little background: He's the son of the famous country singer Steve Earle. His middle name is a nod to another famous country singer, Townes Van Zandt (who is so awesome, by the way). He was raised in Nashville, although now he lives in the East Village (near where I was raised, which is I'm sure the reason for his move up north). He got super into drugs in his youth and then got clean. He's on tour right now, although part of his tour had to be postponed as he was arrested in Indianapolis on charges of "battery, public intoxication, and resisting law enforcement." Hmmmm...  Now you see why I'm not so surprised by his happy/sad songs. 
Apparently he decided to back into rehab after that incident. 


He's so freaking talented, I hope he gets himself together and keeps making amazing music, though, because the music world can't have people like him getting arrested all the time. 


If you like this song, you might also like:


Steve Earle (you know, the Dad)
Townes Van Zandt (you know, the namesake)
David Rawlings Machine
Old Crow Medicine Show
The Felice Brothers (I believe he's toured with them)
Those Darlins
Langhorne Slim (I believe he's also toured with him)


BUY HIS MUSIC HERE: tasty music from JTE


Over and out,
Anna


P.S. I feel obligated to mention that his song "Can't Hardly Wait" (no connection to the movie), from his earlier album "Midnight at the Movies" is my NUMBER ONE top played song on my itunes. It's freaking fantastic. No hint of suicidal tendencies on this one, I might add. It's actually a Replacements cover, not an original.
Here is a nice, pared-down, very earnest live version of it, dedicated to the late, great Christ Feinstein, bass-player for Ryan Adams and the Cardinals: Can't Hardly Wait

Good Things, Indeed

So I'm aware that I haven't posted a lot of soul/R&B since my post on Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. This post changes all that. I haven't been able to stop humming these two GOOD SONGS by Aloe Blacc and I thought I would share them with you.

GOOD SONG the first: I Need A Dollar (Who doesn't need a dollar these days?)

This song has the perfect mix of piano, trumpet, and Aloe Blacc's SWEET vocals. Who is Aloe Blacc you might ask? Well, his real name is actually Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III... I don't blame him for changing his name. He is the son of Panamanian immigrants, and a lot of his music has a nice Latin flair to it. He began as a hip-hop/rap artist, but then branched into more retro music, and boy! am I happy about it! He has two albums out now: "Shine Through" (2006) and his most recent album "Good Things," which came out this September (2010). He weaves together R&B, soul, hip-hop, jazz, and salsa influences to make his songs work so damn well.

Mr. Blacc looking pretty snazzy in white.

Good song the second: Loving You Is Killing Me (the song + the lyrics)
Also from "Good Things," this song is just so good, and makes me wanna dance. You can definitely tell he has some real rapper cred here. My favorite line: "How did you get to be so evil, girl?" sung by the falsetto chorus.

If you like this song, you might also like:

John Legend
The Roots
Talib Kweli
People Under the Stairs
Danger Doom/Danger Mouse
Janelle Monae
Al Green
Marvin Gaye

BUY HIS MUSIC HERE: Aloe Blacc!

Over and out,
Anna

Your Video Game Soundtrack

So in my head I like to put together music videos for the music I'm listening to. Often times they include ridiculous, super-choreographed dance sequences that can only happen in my head. Lots of special effects. Engaging story lines. Beautiful people. You know, the works.

My imaginary music videos for the music of Ratatat are no exception. Cool (read: goofy) dances and the whole shabang. 

The one difference: All of my imaginary characters, set, moves, and costumes are stolen from Mario Bros. I freely admit it. Floating gold coins, overalls, and a princess are all extremely important in all my imaginary Ratatat music videos. I can't help it! I dare you to listen to Ratatat and NOT think of video game music. It's impossible. Their music (especially the songs on their earlier albums) is clearly influenced by the crunchy guitars and goofy sound effects you probably grew up hearing on your gameboy/nintendo/other outmoded and obsolete form of entertainment. 

Inspirational stuff.

Try imagining your very own video game music video with this GOOD SONG, from their album entitled "LP3": Shempi

Now, this isn't to say that Ratatat always sounds silly. Plenty of their music is surprisingly sophisticated, and actually moving (for some reason, this GOOD SONG always gets me, even sans lyrics: Breaking Away).  Ratatat is comprised of Mike Stroud (guitar) and Evan Mast (all that other stuff) , and they've got real talent. They met at Skidmore College and recorded their first album entitled, oddly enough, "Ratatat" in 2004. Excluding remix albums, they have four albums out to date: "Ratatat" (2004), "Classics" (2006), "LP3" (2008), and "LP4" (2010). Their first album betrayed their sense of humor, as pretty much all the vocals it included were only silly clips at the beginning and end of songs. The have kept this humor, which makes me like them a whole lot more. 

Serious music for serious people. Clearly.

Their most recent album, "LP4," came out just recently and has carried on their tradition of dance-able but unusual instrumental techno music.  Currently, I'm addicted to this GOOD SONG off the album:
Neckbrace.

You'll probably need a neck brace after bobbing around to that one as many times as I have.

BUY THEIR MUSIC HERE: Ratatat music!

If you liked these songs, you might also like:

LCD Soundsystem
Daft Punk
RJD2
Simian Mobile Disco
Justice

Over and out,
Anna

A great band you probably missed for about 10 years

So this last post for the month of October is dedicated to Luna, a fantastic band that my brothers Daniel and Peter got me into. Yay for recommendation month!

Witty caption

Unfortunately, Luna broke up in 2005, but they're still one of my favorites. They're sorta dreamy, indie rock/pop from the 1990's and 2000's. Dean Wareham, the lead singer, is from New Zealand, but they recorded a bunch of their albums in NYC (right near where I used to live, on Avenue B--- whoot whoot!). I think they were much bigger in Europe than they were here. They made it sorta-kinda-big here in the US, enough to land a pretty sweet opportunity to open for the Velvet Underground on their European tour. In fact, that might have been the spark for them to record a *great* cover of John Lennon's song (which was covered by Lou Reed) "Jealous Guy."See if you can find it yourselves. I have no idea what album it's from (sorry!).

So, the last GOOD SONG for this month is Luna's song "Speedbumps" from their final album "Rendezvous" (2004). It has a very fun intro and beat to it and Dean Wareham's distinctive voice really works well here. The lyrics are about a sense of uncertainty, moving without any clear sense of where, and dissatisfaction.

"I am tired of all of us...

Tell me who I'm supposed to be.
It's raining rain.
It's raining snow.
Tell me where you wanna go."

There are a TON of Luna songs on youTube, but they're mostly live. Check those out if you like what you hear.

By the way, Dean Wareham later married the bassist, Britta Philips, and now they record their own stuff together, as Dean and Britta. Aw.

BUY LUNA'S MUSIC HERE: Luna!

If you like this song, you might also like:

The Go-Betweens
The Lucksmiths
Margot & the Nuclear So-and-So's
Nouvelle Vague

Thus endeth Recommendation Month on AGSIHTF.

Over and out,
Anna

P.S. Happy Halloween!

Bang Bang Bang!

So Recommendation month continues on the AGSIHTF... This week, though, I'm kinda cheating. I know Last.fm isn't really a friend of mine, but I just had to give this website credit for introducing me to so much good music.

The GOOD SONG for this week is FRANKIE'S GUN by the Felice Brothers (I know, I know I just posted about another brothers group, but this one is different I swear).
I don't remember exactly how I came across them on Last.fm, to be honest, but at this point it doesn't matter. They are FANTASTIC!
And what's weirder is that they are from Palenville, New York, which is about 20 minutes from my own house in upstate NY. Palenville is pretty much a nothing little town, so I give it kudos for producing these badasses.

Ok boys I know you're from the sticks, but
it's not THAT hard to find a shower.

How are they badasses, you might ask? Ok, example of their badassery: in 2008 they played at the Newport Folk Festival (of Bobby D infamy) and a huge rainstorm cut off their power. Instead of wussing out and waiting for the power to come back or just cancel, they played a totally acoustic show, jumping off the stage, and mud-puddling it out to the soaking wet and happy crowd.

The band consists of David Turbeville on drums/vocals, Christmas (that is his real name... he used to be a traveling dice player) on bass, and the two brothers Ian (vocals/guitar/piano) and James Felice (accordion/piano/organ), with occasional additions of washboard, horn section, and fiddle. Another brother, Simone Felice, used to be part of the band as well, but left amicably to start his own thang called The Duke and the King (characters from Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn). Although they hail from the Catskills, they moved to NY a few years ago and started playing their ramshackle music in the subway stations. Since then, they've made it big(ger).

Frankie's Gun in particular is a great song. Sounds like the story of a guy in an old-school Mafia drug or booze run, who is taking money off the top to buy his mom and sweetheart nice things. I like the line:

"I saw a man hit my mom one time, really
I hurt him so damn bad
I had to hide in Jersey."


Here is a link to a great live version as well: Frankie's Gun Live. Yay for accordions! I am going to go see them play live at the Rock n Roll Hotel here in DC this coming Friday (the 22nd), along with Adam Haworth Stephens. Nice! Anyone in the area is welcome to join me.

BUY THEIR MUSIC HERE: Felice Bros

If you like them you might also like:

Bob Dylan
Pete Molinari
Avett Brothers
The Duke & The King
Old Crow Medicine Show (they toured with them!)
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band (they also toured with them!)

Over and out,
Anna

Tales of Yore and Country Lore

On continues Recommendation Month on AGSIHTF!

This week's shout out goes to Jessie K. for her awesome recommendation of Seth Lakeman.

How he manages to play the fiddle so well with cold hands,
the world will never know.

Seth Lakeman is a pretty sweet (read: fantastic and award-winning) fiddler from Buckland Monachorum, Devon, England (read: middle of nowhere, English countryside). He originally made it relatively big on the British folk scene while performing with his brothers Sam and Sean (c'mon Mr. and Mrs. Lakeman, you couldn't have picked Gilbert or Theodore or something?).

In 2004 he released his album "Kitty Jay" which was a big success in England, and earned him a Mercury Prize nomination. Many of the songs on the album are folk songs based on stories, legends, and songs from his native Devon. Some of them are a bit morbid/spooky. In fact, the album gets its title from a local legend about a young servant girl who killed herself. A bit depressing, yes, but hey! perfect for getting into the Halloween spirit (ha! spirit! no pun intended).

The pleasant British countryside,
dotted with picturesque suicide graves.

Here is a link to the audio of today's GOOD SONG on youtube, but there are plenty of cool live versions to check out, too. --------- >  Kitty Jay

If you like this song, you might also check out:
(OK, so I wasn't sure what to write here, and so I checked Last.fm to see what it had to say.
Apparently, the following bands are closely linked to Seth Lakeman musically)

The Imagined Village
Peatbog Faeries
3 Daft Monkeys
Shooglenifty
Roddy Woomble


!!!!!!

CLEARLY, Seth has to get a cooler band name, because these freaking blow him outta the water. I think Shooglenifty is my favorite.

BUY HIS MUSIC HERE: Seth Lakeman

Over and out,
Anna

Good Advice

So I've decided this month is recommendation month. Meaning GOOD SONGS that were recommended to yours truly by some of the cool cats I know.


So the GOOD SONG  for today is Spanish Pipedream, originally by John Prine, but covered here by The Avett Brothers (one of my favorite groups EVER). It's from a John Prine tribute album called Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows. Here's the link to the song: Spanish Pipedream
Kudos to Dan C. for recommending this whole album to me.

John Prine: the other "Man in black."

It includes some of the best advice I've seen in a long time:


"Blow up your T.V., throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home,
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches,
Try an' find Jesus on your own."

The Avett Brothers: Man in black. And man in Mickey Mouse.

John Prine was a pretty cool dude, a fantastic country/folk singer-songwriter in the best way. He was almost (but not quite) a contemporary of Bob Dylan's. He co-wrote "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," which is truly one the best and funniest country songs ever written and includes what is quite possibly my favorite country verse ever:


"Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got outta prison.
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But, before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a damned old train."


Ok, not good advice. But still funny. 
Anyhoo, Prine is great. And the Avett Brothers are, too. They have a *huge* cult following, especially down south. Their blend of country-folk-rock-bluegrass-amazingness gets me every time.
Listen to the song. It's a lot of fun. And check out the rest of the tribute album, too. All the songs are covers of Prine songs, by various different bands, so there are a lot of musical styles and genres on there (although there is a definite focus on country/folk, especially the Nashville type), so even if you don't love Prine's style, you might like it anyway.


BUY THE ALBUM HERE: Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows



If you like this song, you might also like:


Neil Young
David Allan Coe
Bob Dylan
The Felice Brothers
Justin Townes Earle
Old Crow Medicine Show
Deer Tick


Over and out,
Anna


P.S. This quote from an Avett Bros. interview will give you an idea why I love them:
" 'I hope truth exists,” says Scott.
Seth looks over with a hard, no-bullshit firmness.
“Music without honesty or hope will leave you empty. We try to avoid that emptiness.' "

Talking Like a Jerk

OK, so because of a sweet hook-up from a friend of a friend, I got to go to Virgin Mobile Free Fest at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, where a whole bunch of bands played outdoors on three different stages. The one I was most excited about (beating out even Yeasayer and Thievery Corporation) was LCD Soundsystem!


I was not disappointed. They played a FANTASTIC set. You can't listen to them and not move. There was one guy in front of me who looked like he had pogo sticks for legs. For a solid hour, which is impressive.


I am aware that LCD Soundsystem (aka James Murphy) is relatively well-known, so this post is not going to be about introducing you to a good song, per say, but rather more of a reminder that the song is good. 

The GOOD SONG for today is Dance Yourself Clean. This song is long, just a warning. But it rewards patient listeners. Halfway through, it REALLY ramps it up.

I suppose one could, potentially, "dance yourself clean"
in a bathtub. Good thinking, James.

What I found interesting was that in between sets concert-goers could text messages to be displayed on huge mega-screens by the stages. Most of the messages were silly or stupid, some were vulgar, some were nonsensical in-jokes, but a few were thought-provoking.  TWO of them touted LCD Soundsystem as the "voice of this generation." I honestly don't know how I feel about that. Or rather, I think I might believe it, but I'm not sure whether I like what our generation is saying. His lyrics are actually very interesting for an "electronica/dance" group, but there's also a real sense of jaded-ness (is that a word?) and disillusionment. Maybe that's a good thing. I don't know. 
But I have to admit I like the lyrics to Dance Yourself Clean, which includes this verse:


"Talking like a jerk,
Except that you're an actual jerk,
and living proof,
that sometimes friends are mean."


And also these words:


"Every night's a different story
It's a thirty-car pile-up with you
Everybody's getting younger
It's the end of an era, it's true."


Although perhaps his song Losing My Edge is the one that most speaks ABOUT this generation (although perhaps not from within said generation), which is particularly funny for those into music. The whole song is about how he is losing his edge, his "cool," his "hipsterness" to those in the younger generation, who idealize and idolize music from the years that they never even witnessed.
The whole lyrics are here, but these are a few choice lines that I like:


"I'm losing my edge. 
To all the kids in Tokyo and Berlin. 
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties. 
But I'm losing my edge. 
I'm losing my edge, but I was there."

and

"I used to work in the record store. 

I had everything before anyone. 
I was there in the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan. 
I was there in Jamaica during the great sound clashes. 
I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988. 
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent. 
And they're actually really, really nice. "

Well anyway, I'm sorry to hear that Mr. Murphy feels that he is losing his edge, but he still makes darn good dance music.


But tell me, dear readers, who do *you* think is the voice of our generation?

BUY HIS MUSIC HERE: LCD Soundsystem

If you like this song, you might also like:

Daft Punk

Hot Chip

!!!

Lonely Dear

Broken Social Scene

Caribou (formerly Manitoba)

Over and out,

Anna

Bluegrass and Tea Leaves

Bluegrass music has been around long enough now for musicians to mess around with it. Play with it. Have some fun. Combine it with rock n' roll. Hip-hop. Gospel. Country. Folk. Classical.

But bluegrass combined with traditional Chinese music? I believe Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet are the first ones to brave that attempt.

And WOW! Does it work!

Abigail understands that liking strange toys is a
 prerequisite for appreciating Asian cultures.

A little explanation: Abigail Washburn is a banjo player and singer from Illinois. Straight-up American. Her bluegrass group called Uncle Earl was a big hit on the scene. However, she spent enough time in living in China after college to learn Mandarin and begin recording in it post-Uncle Earl. In 2004 she went on tour in Tibet with the uber-accomplished members of her quartet, which includes Béla Fleck on banjo, Casey Driessen on violin, and Ben Sollee on cello.

The GOOD SONG for today is Kangding Quingge (Old Timey Dance Party), which is such a fun song. The cello is fantastic. And then she starts singing in Chinese, accompanied by a banjo! It starts to get funkier as you go on. I wish I had something to say about the lyrics... but I have absolutely no idea what she's saying. She's got a nice voice though. 


BUY HER MUSIC HERE: Abigail Washburn!

If you like this song, you might also like:

Joanna Newsom

Chatham County Line

Béla Fleck

Uncle Earl

Chinese music???

Over and out,

Anna