33 posts tagged “music”
"The Rhumb Line is waiting there too, you know it's worth the night's we wait there" -- St Peter's Day Festival, Ra Ra Riot
The melodies linger in my head long after the last track has played. The tracks are orchestral, yet danceable (if you so choose). The lyrics are focused and descriptive, each line a snapshot that brings to mind the pain, tragedy and joy that the band must have experienced as it made this album. I can't say for certain that the band worked through it's grief by making this album, but it certainly feels that way, and if so it is a stronger album because of it.
The Top Ten Albums of 2008
- The Rhumb Line by Ra Ra Riot
- The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit
- Brighter Than Creation's Dark by The Drive By Truckers
- Dear, Science by TV on The Radio
- For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver
- The Odd Couple by Gnarls Barkley
- Real Emotional Trash by Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
- Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes
- Santogold by Santogold
- Stay Positive by The Hold Steady
- Loyalty to Loyalty by Cold War Kids
- Evil Urges by My Morning Jacket
- Rook by Shearwater
- Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend
According to Last.fm
My most played albums of the last-twelve months filtered for those released this year looks like this:
- The Rhumb Line by Ra Ra Riot
- The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit
- The Odd Couple by Gnarls Barkley
- Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend
- Modern Guilt by Beck
- Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes
- Narrow Stairs by Death Cab for Cutie
- Stay Positive by The Hold Steady
- For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver
- Wagonwheel Blues by The War on Drugs
"Until you see that you deserve better/I'm gonna lay right into you."
You should know the drill by now, so let's dive right in.
This week's list is built around the White Stripes' 'You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As Your Told)' from the
- You Don't Know What Love Is by the White Stripes
- Fluorescent Adolescent by Arctic Monkeys
- Dashboard by Modest Mouse
- Australia by The Shins
- Gold Lion by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Say It Ain't So by Weezer
- Loser by Beck
- The Distance by Cake
- Run by Gnarls Barkley
- In Bloom by Nirvana
I think this is a pretty solid play list from top to bottom. Many of them are album or artist favorites. Even the Arctic Monkeys' tune, who iTunes continues to foist on me, is catchy enough that I didn't feel like skipping it. 'Dashboard' by Modest Mouse comes in with the most plays, but 'Say It Ain't So' by Weezer is my favorite song on the list. 'Gold Lion' has the least plays, but is one of my favorite Yeah Yea
"I could be there when you land"
Each Friday I'll post a playlist built using the iTunes Genius feature based on the first song I find myself singing that morning.
This morning I woke up with Franz Ferdinand's 'Eleanor Put Your Boots Back On' on my lips even as my eyes were still opening.
Here's what iTunes did with it:
- Eleanor Put Your Boots Back On by Franz Ferdiand
- I Summon You by Spoon
- Ocean of Noise by The Arcade Fire
- 505 by the Arctic Monkeys
- Summersong by The Decemberists
- Turn Into by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Hands by The Raconteurs
- Barely Legal by The Strokes
- Jacqueline by Franz Ferdinand
- Energy by Apples in Stereo
'Eleanor' might be one of the best, but underrated Franz Ferdiand songs. It is very different from their usual dance-rock forte, but I've always liked it since the first listen, and it is probably my favorite song of the list. According to iTunes the track with the most plays is 'Ocean of Noise' which is not surprsing, because iTunes seems to love the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. The song with the least plays is '505' by The Artic Monkeys. It's been played one time back in July of 2007.
The Apples in Stereo track, 'Energy' is a free download when you install Amazon.com's MP3 downloader, but I already owned--and loved--the entire album.
"Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?/Can I handle the seasons of my life?"
I've seen this done on a few other sites and liked the idea enough to post my own version.
The way my version will work is I'll build an iTunes Genius playlist based on the first song I find myself singing Friday mornings.
This week's list is built around 'Landslide' as recorded by the Smashing Pumpkins. It's originally a Fleetwood Mac song, and has been covered by the Dixie Chicks as well as others.
The song has been in my head since Tuesday night. Shouldn't be hard to guess why.
- Landslide by Smashing Pumpkins
- Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town by Pearl Jam
- Rape Me by Nirvana
- I Will Survive by Cake (another cover)
- Last Nite by The Strokes
- You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As Your Told) by The White Stripes
- Perfect by Smashing Pumpkins
- Rebellion (Lies) by The Arcade Fire
- Blister in the Sun by The Viloent Femmes
- Phantom Limb by The Shins
The most-played track on the list is 'You Don't Know What Love Is' from the Icky Thump album. My favorite track on the list is 'Rebellion (Lies)' from The Arcade Fire's brilliant Funeral.
"I don't know why I/ Feel so tongue tied."
I've seen this done on a few other sites and liked the idea enough to post my own version.
The way my version will work is I'll build an iTunes Genius playlist based on the first song I find myself singing Friday mornings.
Today's edition is built around Myxomatosis by Radiohead from their album Hail to the Thief.
- Myxomatosis by Radiohead
- Friend of Mine by The National
- Youthless by Beck
- Touch Me I'm Going To Scream, Pt. 1 by My Morning Jacket
- And It Rained All Night by Thom Yorke
- Dollars & Cents by Radiohead
- I've Seen Enough by Cold War Kids
- Nature Springs by The Good, The Bad & The Queen
- Razz by Kings of Leon
- Obsatcle 2 by Interpol
Myxomatosis is one of my favorite songs, but another goodie from this list is the My Morning Jacket track. The most-played track is Nature Springs, but honestly until I heard it I couldn't have told you a thing about the song. Another oddity brought to you by the iTunes shuffling algorithim.
Instead it is a brilliant study of life and death with music at its heart. At times laugh-out-loud funny, and downright sad at others, Young@Heart is a deeply moving and satisfying film.
Music is an important part of my life, and to see the impact music continues to have on adults several generations older than me is inspiring. Music carries them through their lives, through love and loss. Music empowers them to keep going when most of us wouldn't.
At some point this week I reached 10,000 scrobbles on Last.fm. I thought it would be the perfect time to look back over my listening history(as documented by last.fm, more on that later) and see what I can discern from it.
The top five artists in my library are:
- Radiohead
- Kings of Leon
- Modest Mouse
- The White Stripes
- Mike Doughty
Mike Doughty, on the other hand, has only 71 tracks. He truly is one of my favorite artists, though I prefer his early solo work (and his work with Soul Coughing) more than his most recent stuff.
The top five tracks tell a different story. They are:
- 'Disaster' -- The Besnard Lakes
- 'Plasticities' -- Andrew Bird
- 'Neon Bible' -- Arcade Fire
- 'Another Travelin' Song' -- Bright Eyes
- 'Fans' -- Kings of Leon
Finally, the top five albums in my library according to Last.fm are:
- Because of the Times -- Kings of Leon
- Armchair Apocrypha -- Andrew Bird
- Sky Blue Sky -- Wilco
- Cease to Begin -- Band of Horses
- Neon Bible -- The Arcade Fire
The problem with all of these lists can be ascribed to the fact that for the first few months of my Last.fm subscription I didn't own an iPod. I still listened to CDs and mostly in my car. The only things being added to Last.fm at the time were tracks listened to on my computer, which were few. Even when I bought my iPod I wasn't as good about scrobbling tracks to the site as I am now. I'm almost adamant about it these days, and get quite upset when I realize something I'm listening too won't be logged on the site.
In another 10,000 tracks or so I'll take another look, and see if a clearer picture has been painted of my listening habits.
- Brighter Than Creation's Dark -- Drive-By Truckers
- The Midnight Organ Fight -- Frightened Rabbit
- The Odd Couple -- Gnarls Barkley
- For Emma, Forever Ago -- Bon Iver
- Parc Avenue -- Plants and Animals
- Real Emotional Trash -- Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks
- Santogold -- Santogold
- Feed The Animals -- Girl Talk
- Evil Urges -- My Morning Jacket
- Narrow Stairs -- Death Cab for Cutie
Something that strikes me about this list is the number of albums purchased from eMusic. Seven of the albums on the list are from the site. I don't know if this means the music selection on the site is getting better, or if my taste is being skewed by the site. I do know I would not have discovered Frightened Rabbit or Plants and Animals without the site.
The last two albums on the list are positioned so because of their relative newness. I can say without a doubt that by year's end the My Morning Jacket album will rank much higher. Narrow Stairs may climb, but I can't be sure yet. We'll just have to see.
Speaking of year's end, I also see Brighter Than Creation's Dark sticking at the top for the entire year.
This song has been putting a smile on my face with every listen.
Sure, Frightened Rabbit aren't the first band to explore loneliness, horniness, or emptiness in song, just like they aren't the first set of siblings to decide to jam together, but their jangly melodies claw their way inside your brain just the same, making them latest in a long line of Glasgow bands to effortlessly combine celebratory sonics and miserablist lyrics into something singular.
-Rebecca Raber, April 14, 2008 -- Pitchfork.com
Perhaps you've heard of Muxtape, the latest darling of the musically inclined web crowd. It's a neat interface for sharing your music, mixtape style.
The last mixtape I made was for a girl in a Mississippi city three hours away from my home in Baton Rouge close to 13 years ago. She and I made a lot of mixtapes that summer. Swapping them on weekends when one of us would drive in to see the other. They were actual tapes too, made on a dual cassette boombox. Pressing play on one tape, record on the other. Some of the songs were recorded straight from my local rock station100.7 The Tiger, or, better yet, the Zephyr out of New Orleans if the wind was right and the sky was clear.
I really want to make a Muxtape, but I have so much music now that almost nothing stands out. I've probably bought over twenty albums in 2008 so far. I like most of them. Some of them I've spun only once before moving on to the next one. Maybe I'll give those another listen, maybe I won't. I can think of at least two that were added to my iTunes library this year that I haven't even listened to.
Before digital music vendors like iTunes (if you must), eMusic and now AmazonMP3, I bought two-thirds less music than I do now. This meant I was spending a lot of time with each individual record. Getting into the nuances, finding the hidden gyms. I played most of those early albums so many times, that it's impossible for me, even now, not to think of the next song as the previous one fades out (Soul Coughing's "Soft Serve" will always make me think of "White Girl"). Now when I buy two or three albums in a single click, I may spend a day with one album, the next with another.
I applaud the fact that this allows for more experimentation with my music. I've bought several albums from eMusic that I would have passed over easily in a traditional record store. Most of those times I've been rewarded with the discovery of a great new artist. However I lament that I care about less music as a result. In order for a song to earn a place on a mixtape, it has to carry some significance. My relationship with most of the music in my collection is insignificant.
To combat this syndrome, I've been using a method similar to Daytrotter.com's Progressive Reviews, which involves spending an entire week with a single album. It's the way I used to listen to music before I bought an iPod. One album on endless repeat. Of course back then my commute was a lot longer: 40 minutes one way versus about 15, so it takes a few trips to even get through an album. Last week it was Destroyer's Rubies. This week it's Parc Avenue by Plants and Animals. Nothing drastic has happened, but I do appreciate the songs more on the third or fourth listen. Maybe one of them will make it onto a Muxtape before the RIAA takes the site down.
