Movies of Myself

Sleep on the train to Tokyo, google yourself when you get home.

Okay, so here's the music you're going to be listening to all weekend. Maybe all summer. Are you ready? Get ready.

It's Vampire Weekend + Ra Ra Riot (it's a side project). Throw in some synth, a wee bit of autotune, ease it on down until everything feels alllllright and you've got this band: Discovery.

Their album LP is brilliant, laid back fun times. It's ten short tracks that go by so quickly and so delightfully that, after the last song, I always moan, "Nooo---- over already? Well I guess I'll just have to play it again." And then again. And again.

LP has been getting some extra attention lately because of its slinky cover of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back", but every track on it is worthy of your love. And the Amazon mp3 download of the album is only four freaking dollars. Whoomp, there it is, babies.

Orange Shirt - Discovery

Carby (ft. Ezra Koenig) - Discovery

Slang Tang - Discovery

You've been forewarned of the shake-shakedown.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix - Death Cab For Cutie, July 5th 2009 - Hollywood Bowl

Look, when you see a band play live a dozen times in the space of about five years, you start getting a bit cocky about how well you know their performance style. Their shows start to feel worn in and comfortable. Maybe a little too comfortable. And so it was with my beloved Death Cab. Sure, it's nice to know exactly which lines Ben Gibbard will harmonize in contrast to the album version of "The New Year". But a lot of the wonder wears off as a result. Things get a little repetitious. So how do you change things up for a die-hard hardcore fan like me?

You fricking get the Los Angeles Philharmonic to play backup for you, that's how. Wow. Wow. To say that I was impressed with the DCFC show at the Hollywood Bowl is an almost ludicrous understatement. A couple of days have passed and I still don't fully comprehend it. My boys from Seattle, who couldn't sell out an all ages show at a tiny place in Pomona before Transatlanticism came out. A group whose name drew strange blank stares six years ago when I decided they were my favorite band. My little band whose albums have truly been the soundtrack to my life. Suddenly I was watching them perform with aplomb on a world-famous stage with a world-famous orchestra.

It was completely insane. I just kep thinking, "there is a harpist strumming along to Death Cab. What the eff. Sheet music was printed for a violin part in 'Soul Meets Body'!" "The L.A. Philharmonic had to learn and rehearse Death Cab songs." "A real conductor is conducting DCFC tracks. Oh my god."

It was utterly beautiful. I almost cried aloud in delight (and actually almost just cried) because some of the songs sounded so fresh and surprising in these arrangements. The strings section for "You Can Do Better Than Me" was a revelation. For the first time in a really long time I saw the band members smile with pure, genuine enjoyment.

And of course they cap the whole thing off with a version of "Transatlanticism" that is outright astonishing. A spirited and moving performance of a song that I thought couldn't get any better live (they proved me wrong), set to a gorgeous and perfectly timed fireworks extravaganza. Unbelievable.

I also want to mention how well the openers, The New Pornographers and Tegan & Sara, set the stage for Death Cab. The New Pornos played a short but lovely set which I thoroughly enjoyed despite the absence of my darling Neko Case. And Tegan & Sara? What can I say. These ladies are rock stars. They thoroughly won over the crowd of nearly 18,000 with their music and with their buckets of funny, honest charm. Tegan & Sara got a standing ovation at the end of their set, which is unheard of for an opener, especially at an L.A. concert. I'm so happy for them.

So as you can see, it was definitely one of the best concerts I've been to. Ever. As soon as Death Cab announced this show there wasn't a doubt in my mind that I would be there in Hollywood on Sunday evening. I am grateful and blessed that it was everything I'd barely dared to hope it would be. A night I'll never forget.

I'll leave you with a few Death Cab songs that mean so very much to me.

Lowell, MA - Death Cab For Cutie - The song that made me fall in love with this band. I first heard it at a listening station at the now-defunct Virgin Megastore in Ontario and music was never the same for me again.

Title And Registration - Death Cab For Cutie - The exact story told in this song happened to me. It was 2003, the year this album came out and I was fumbling around in my glove compartment for some DMV papers when I unexpectedly found a little photo wallet with pictures of me and my ex. We'd broken up in the most astonishingly painful manner not long before, so this song resonated in a way I can still barely express.

What Sarah Said - Death Cab For Cutie - This song went a long way towards patching up my heart when they played it at a show at the end of 2006. It was a year marked with death and with an almost excrutiating cloud of loss and regrets for me. They played a super spare version in an almost dark theater and I was never more moved by their words: "Love is watching someone die. So who's gonna watch you die?"

Since You Already Know It

A picture, a poem and a song for summer:

Silence
by: Hayden Carruth

Sometimes we don't say anything. Sometimes
       we sit on the deck and stare at the masses of
goldenrod where the garden used to be
       and watch the color change from day to day,
the high yellow turning to mustard and at last
       to tarnish. Starlings flitter in the branches
of the dead hornbeam by the fence. And are these
       therefore the procedures of defeat? Why am I
saying all this to you anyway since you already
       know it? But of course we always tell
each other what we already know. What else?
       It's the way love is in a late stage of the world.

Motorcycle Drive By - Third Eye Blind

Look out, look at, look at me.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Discussions about my upcoming 4th of July weekend in L.A.:

b: So I'm flying back on Friday night.

a: I'm so excited!

b: Awwww. :)

a: Yeah, because Mom always lets me skip Saturday guitar lessons when you come back!

----.....---.....---.....---

j: We just got a letter from Costco telling us the cookie dough we bought is poisoned with e. coli. Thought you should know we might die.

b: So does that mean I won't be seeing you this weekend?

j: I'm unclear as to whether e. coli entails a lingering death or not, so we might still see you.

----.....---.....---.....---

b: I'll be back down South this weekend. Rolling on dubs!

m: Crap, really? I'm going out of town.

b: Aw, that's okay. You need a vacation.

m: Actually, we're going to Death Valley to visit my step-grandpa.

b: Oh, wow!

m: Yeah, he lives in a trailer and all weekend we play parcheesi and eat Moon Pies.

b: Oh. Wow. 

----.....---.....---.....---

The first two songs in this week's mix were inspired by a Nightwaves dj mix that Steph turned me onto. Now, this to me is the sign of an amazing mix, when the blended collage of sound highlights the samples so well that you want to look up each and every one of them. That is, if you can stop listening to the mix itself. As of now I believe you can find a download link for the mix on the Nightwaves MySpace site (warning: links to a freaking MySpace page.)

Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix) -  The Whitest Boy Alive - An absolutely brilliant remix of a song from Erlend Øye's most recent band. It lends the perfect touch of cool to his expressive singing. It occurs to me as I write this that I might be a little bit in love with him.

Look At Me - Mirrors - I don't know much about this British band but I know that this song is pure synthey goodness. Listen if you liked M83's last record, or if part of your heart still beats for the late 80's/early 90's.

Audacity Of Huge (Feat. Chris Keating of Yeasayer) - Simian Mobile Disco - I'm terribly excited for SMD's new album because I was so darn crazy over their debut that came out in 2007. This song is fairly straightforward dance beats, though with the delightful Chris Keating lending his vocal talents.

Napoleon Says - Phoenix - I've realized that one of the things I enjoy most about Phoenix is their nonsense lyrics. Everything's just on the verge of making sense, like you're somehow immersed deep in a strange, whimsical dream. I think what Phoenix is always saying is to never mind it all, and just dance. I think this song expresses that better than anything.

Well I have been quietly standing in the shade all of my days.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Summer's here. You know, I give summer a lot of flack because I despise hot weather and because each year my nostalgia for childhood summers, i.e. three months of doing absolutely nothing, overwhelms me so. But this year summer makes me happy, makes me feel the sense of rebirth and laughing, blossoming wonder that spring usually gives. Instead of throwing my hands up at our sudden heat wave I think I will make popsicles, dig out all my tank tops and snatch all the lazy lemonade drinking moments I can. Summer always means sweet, soft folksy music to me. Luckily there is great influx of just that kind of sound right now. These songs will be perfect for your picnics under tree shade. They'll let you enjoy long naps in your hammock under the starlight.

Drowning Men - Fanfarlo *

Northern Lights - Bowerbirds

All My Days - Alexi Murdoch (Away We Go OST)

My Friend - Bill Callahan

* Just wanted to mention that Fanfarlo is offering their new album with bonus tracks for only $1 on their website, from now until July 4th. Jen alerted me to this and I'm so glad I took advantage. It's an absolutely fantastic album. Come on, guys--only one measly dollar!

I reach out through the border fence, come down, come talk to me.

Woke up early today and talked to my dad on the phone. He was moving things around in the family room, getting ready to set up his big new flatscreen tv. Happy father's day, indeed. Then I went on a short run around the neighborhood, up around a hummingbird garden and I saw a family walking along, picnic basket and pie box in hand.

I thought a lot about my grandpa, who always encouraged the silly and whimsical making of mud pies along with actual meat pies and fruit pies, and who liked nothing more than the slow savoring of any of the aforementioned kinds. He was also the first to insist when you were due to eat humble pie and it didn't bother him to concede if he needed a slice himself.

He was, perhaps, the most graciously accepting person I've ever known. The least likely to be undone by his frustrations, the most likely to swim along with them and incorporate them into his quiet school of thought. I was thinking, too, that these would be good things for me to learn more about.

And I was listening to this, a song that Peter Gabriel wrote for his daughter (one of my very favorite songs ever, actually) and wishing I could talk to my grandpa just one more time:

Come Talk To Me - Peter Gabriel

If you're lost you can look and you will find me.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Look how young and sweet and skinny my parents look here! Seriously, aren't they the cutest little rails you've ever seen? I don't have any photos of just my father and me at my place, but I think this does nicely. Today's mix is dedicated to my dad, for Father's Day and for his birthday which falls this week, too. It's only fitting, since every shred of musicality I have is owed to him. Between the two of us, we collected hundreds of vinyl records in the eighties and wore through about three different record players. He loves singing, he loves the radio, he loves everything about music and he always made sure it was a big part of our lives. He taught me that the right song can make a wonderful moment that much more perfect and that it can get you through the hardest times, too. Here's a few of our favorite songs from our vinyl spinning days.

Time After Time - Cindy Lauper

I Can Dream About You - Dan Hartman

Pass The Dutchie - Musical Youth

The Greatest Love of All - Whitney Houston

Always, Sometimes, Easy, Time

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

My favorite words this week: canoodling, filibuster, vol-au-vent, salvation, credence, incredulity and, last but not least, takoyaki.

Lowiza - The Lovely Feathers Oh my goodness I love these guys and their new album. The Feathers appeared like a sudden streak of light in the sky in 2006 and then abruptly disappeared. But they are back and they have stories to tell. Listen if you love the Unicorns and Arcade Fire.

Caterpillar - Ed Harcourt I first discovered Ed Harcourt opening for Neil Finn back in the day. He is my not-as-restrained Rufus Wainwright stand-in and he's got a great new EP out now.

Kicking And Screaming - The Presets What I've been dancing to all week :)

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear When a lower quality version of Grizzly Bear's latest leaked a few months ago I banned myself from giving it anything but the most cursory of listens. There is so much here and I'm glad I waited for the official release in all its full glory. Get this and get ready to spend lots of time for it to sink sweetly in.

Crossing Fingers and Wiping Brows

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Hugh Everett III was a physicist who formulated the many worlds theory of quantum physics. Put simply, it is the theory of parallel universes. Every decision we make causes us to branch off so that everything that could possibly happen does happen, somewhere, simultaneously. Everything we are and could be, so close but never touching.

In this world, Hugh had a son named Mark Oliver who was to struggle endlessly in school, find his estranged father dead of a heart attack at the age of 51, and then move across the country to Los Angeles to find a new life. In the years that followed Mark would see his schizophrenic sister die at her own hand and he would nurse his mother through the cancer that would end her life, all while working endlessly with only the tiniest bit of hope.

But in this world, that tiniest bit turned into everything. Mark Oliver Everett (E) is the lead singer and songwriter for the Eels and I have loved him for years for so many reasons. His alter ego M.C. Honky. The crazy and glorious beard he's sported as of late. His utter refusal to ever compromise his artistic beliefs. And, of course, his music. That he has this extraordinary of a history both shocks and humbles me. I am amazed at what he has done.

I highly reccomend E's published memoirs, Things The Grandchildren Should Know. He's an amazing storyteller and the book is funny, sweet, heart-wrenchingly sad and incredibly moving. Also noteworthy if you can find it on your public television station is Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives, a NOVA special that chronicles E's search to learn more about his father's theory. Eels' new album Hombre Lobo is out this week.

Fresh Blood - Eels

Hey Man (Now You're Really Living) - Eels

Trouble With Dreams - Eels

And the days add up to weeks add up to months and add up.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

How is it almost midnight as I write this and yet I haven't done a quarter of the tasks I'd wanted to finish for tonight? How is it that each day (for the most part) flies by like a bullet train and the days all huddle together and suddenly it is almost June? I just want to run out into the windy street and put my hand up against time and say, "come on now. Slow down a little, for crying out loud."

You Go on Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II) - Sunset Rubdown - This song feels the same way I do, I think. The new Sunset Rubdown is seriously blowing my mind with its deliciousness and this track is my favorite so far.

Wide Awake On The Voyage Home - Liam Finn - It's quite nice to see the son of Neil Finn,my favorite singer/songwriter become a talented artist in his own right. There's hints of Elliott Smith to this song and that's about one of the highest compliments I know how to give.

Parentheses - The Blow - This song is just good poppy fun, but there is a part that is so genuinely sweet it always makes me smile:

If something in the deli aisle makes you cry
Of course I'll put my arm around you
And I'll walk you outside
Through the sliding doors
Why would I mind?

Of course.

Death And All His Friends (live) - Coldplay - This free live set from Coldplay's website made me seriously regret not buying tickets for their current tour. Chris Martin's a capella opening from this song makes me remember what great performers they are.

Higher and Higher and Higher

What a lovely Memorial Day weekend. A Nine Inch Nails show,  clams and burgers, the Lakers game (and what a game it was) out on a patio that had heat lamps and a flat screen tv, caffe freddos, time to catch up on reading and writing, lovely macarons, movies and mayhem and lots of semi-inebriated good times, with a little work thrown in for good measure. Throughout the last few days I've been listening endlessly to one album: Manners by Passion Pit.

They're a Massachusetts band with the indie pop electronica sound that seems so popular nowadays (think Phoenix & Cut Copy), done in a superbly fun, sweet, bold and listenable manner. This is great driving music, great barbecue music, great everything music. These are feel-good songs that will hook you know and keep you listening all the rest of the summer. Hope everyone's having a great weekend :)

Make Light - Passion Pit

Little Secrets - Passion Pit

Sleepyhead - Passion Pit

Change your heart, it will astound you.

Okay so this week I have put off spring cleaning yet again, eaten way too much popcorn, continued my research into the legends of Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table and designed two invitations in the space of basically two hours (rad). And I've been astonished at the sudden and renewed onslaught of great new music.

So Bored - Wavves This song basically describes every summer I spent from the age of nine through nineteen.

Boy 1904 - Riceboy Sleeps This project is the vocalist from Sigur Ros recording with his boyfriend, ironically with much fewer vocals than typical Sigur Ros songs. It's truly beautiful stuff.

Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime - The Field This album only has six tracks and yet it is enough. I can't quite pinpoint it, can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something just so cool about this Swedish electronic artist's sound.

Star Eyes (I Can Catch It) (feat. James Mercer) - Sparklehorse & Danger Mouse An incredible project. Besides the lovely James Mercer, the vocal contributors include Wayne Coyne, Jason Lytle, Julian Casablancas & Nina Persson. If you can get this, get it (thanks, N!)

Forever to search for the flame, for home again.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

It's been a long dry spell since my last concert (I think the last one was at the end of March) and, after the glut of shows I saw last year, it seems like an especially long stretch of time. There's a bunch of concerts coming up that I'm slotted to attend and I can't wait. I'm feeling the need to get my indie dance on. Here's a few tracks from artists I'm especially looking forward to seeing.

The Next Time You Say Forever - Neko Case

Milk - Kings Of Leon

Daniel - Bat For Lashes

My Hero (Foo Fighters Cover) - Paramore

Now I know why things aren't as pretty on the inside.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

This week's mix is rather random, I know. I started perusing a site called Blip.fm over the weekend and I got kind of obsessed with watching the dizzying spiral of songs scroll down the front page. I discovered a lot of fun new tracks but really the best part was listening to a slew of forgotten songs. I spent way too much time clicking on Dire Straits picks and you should've seen how strangely excited I was to rediscover songs like Janet Jackson's "I Get Lonely" (srsly, such a solid song). Let me spread some of the love:

Bittersweet - Big Head Todd and the Monsters - I only know one song by these guys, but one is enough. This rocks and brings back a lot of memories, "more sweet than bitter, bitter than sweet".

Lights Out - Santogold Santigold - b: Check this song out! It has me going back to listen to the Santo gold album all over again. y: Oh, this song. It's from a beer commercial. b: Beer? What the fuuu? y: Yeah, um. I think a Bud Light t.v. commercial. b: Crud. (update, apparently she changed her name to Santigold in February)

Sleeper 1972 - Manchester Orchestra - Confession. I cried the first time I heard this song. And maybe the second time, too.

Only - Nine Inch Nails - And yes, this would be my favorite NIN song ever. xoxox

They’re all lined up to watch that movie “Maid in Manhattan.”

Mid Week Mini Music Mix
 .
There's a lot on my mind this week though, frankly, I don't want to think about any of it. Lately I've felt like I'm squeezed up against a wall, and if I could just climb my way over to the other side, things would be a zillion times better. So I will keep heading in that direction and in the meantime, there's no use in being all mopey. Let's have some fun, some silly ridiculous fun.

Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas - Dedicated to a co-worker of mine who is leaving us to attend school at the end of the week. She will be very much missed.

Dreamgirl - The Lonely Island - The end of this song, when Norah Jones sings about the merits of Chex Mix, makes me die with laughter.

Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back) - Eamon - This song is so incredibly cheezy but I like how straightforward and angry it is and, of course, I love the flagrant usage of the word "hoe".

Hurt Feelings - Flight of the Conchords - Damn straight, Flight of the Conchords.

Welcome into the new wave. I guess it's been ten years.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

It's been such a slow, funny and easy week so far. I've been doing a lot of reading and writing, still plugging away at year two of Photo-A-Day and finally starting to just let things take me wherever they may. The warm weather has really put me in a summer mood and all I want is summer things: cold beer, long naps with thin sheets on the bed, sitting around outside shooting the breeze with friends all night and listening to music. Always music. 

Eraser - No Age I'm a bit late posting this since I downloaded this album back in December, but it's been perfect for me lately. It's one of those albums where I can't really make out what they're singing and once in a while that's very good. You just feel the songs out and dance.

I've Got It All(most) - Modest Mouse So loving on this new-esque (it was recorded years ago) Modest Mouse song and it makes me absolutely yearn for a new MM album. It's been far too long.

I Declare A Ceasefire - My Latest Novel I have fallen hard for this Scottish band's sophomore album, especially for this song which has a big, epic building sound and such cool lyrics: "Please put down your guns, lower your weapons. Oh, I declared a change of heart."

Win Park Slope - Gomez Gomez are my homies from a long while back so it is so nice to hear something new and great from them. Their latest album is really creeping under my skin and this song with it's cool instrumentation and slow burn combines the best of Gomez old and new.

Well my heart is where it's always been, my head is somewhere in between.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Look, it's me a zillion years ago! Badass. My bangs: inspiring jealousy amongst the masses. Are they not shiny with glory? Are they not merciful?? I am just starting high school in this photo and I've been thinking about this time in my life a lot lately, mainly because of music. A remastered version of Pearl Jam's 10 was recently released and, of course, a couple of weeks ago we saw the fifteenth anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain. That sent me on a Nirvana binge, which made me so happy.

Because it doesn't matter how much time has passed or what has happened to you. The music that you listened to in high school, that shit stays with you and a part of your heart loves it wildly, no matter how much you've changed. The second one of those songs comes on something inside you clicks on and still says "hell, yes." Luckily for me, this is how my high school years began. I wouldn't change it for anything.

Lithium - Nirvana

Even Flow - Pearl Jam

I Only Said - My Bloody Valentine

Even Better Than the Real Thing - U2

Sky Above Clouds

Do you ever start listening to a song on your computer and then just let the player keep going, because you're busy with other things, and then at one point two songs come on back to back that are beautiful in their own right but together are just deliciously perfect, like someone struck a tuning fork and it rang out exactly at the tone that your heart was humming just then? I mean like this:

Good Lies - The Notwist

Everyone You Know - Now, Now Every Children

He says bad day, looking for the great escape.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

So I spent part of last Sunday at the bookstore and I did this dumb thing where I finished reading a book, one that got me all choked up, and tried to dive right into a new book immediately, about thirty seconds after I finished the first one. Don't do this. It's like putting your napkin down after a yummy, satisfying and very filling meal and plowing straight into another plate full of food. It's ridiculously insulting to everything concerned.

I only got about two chapters into the new book before tossing it down in self-disgust. I started packing my things to leave, only to notice a woman who had sat down about six feet to my right. I was certain that it was my friend Laura who lives thousands of miles away. She was flipping through a cookbook with her head down but it truly seemed like Laura. I just stared at her, willing her to look up and explain what the hell she was doing at a Borders in trash-smelling Milpitas, California.

Of course, it wasn't her and I was just glaring violently at pseudo-Laura for five minutes, at first affronted by her refusal to acknowledge me and then slowly filled with dawning confusion at my bizarre persecution of an innocent stranger. But this was nothing compared to my reaction a minute later when I walked by an old boyfriend of mine browsing the entertainment magazines. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. What on earth was he doing there? Why was everyone stalking me at a stinky bookshop?? Of course, when I actually took a good look, this guy's hair was an awful lot darker than Old Boyfriend's, and again, it wasn't him. I think I was just uber confused because he was wearing a shirt that I also owned. In fact, the shirt I'd worn to bed the night before. I high-tailed it out of there before I tackled my supposed junior high school history teacher in the travel guides section.

I went straight home, turned my stereo on and collapsed in a chair. It was Patrick Watson that came on which was simply perfect. His gorgeous voice and the dreamy, beautiful songs both soothed me and allowed me to come slowly down from the strange, mixed-up state my mind had tangled itself into. These songs are floating on water. They're flying through water. Here's two songs from Watson's newest album, the unbelievably lovely Wooden Arms as well as two reposts which still break my heart.

Fireweed - Patrick Watson

Big Bird In A Small Cage - Patrick Watson

The Great Escape - Patrick Watson

To Build a Home - The Cinematic Orchestra

You'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

These are kumquats from my parents' garden. My sister has just put them up with some salt and set them to preserve in the sun. My mom took the jar from last year, shook it up, pronounced it ready and said I could take it. Last year's jar looks nothing like these. The kumquats are pickled to the point of being unrecognizable, all brown and shriveled from sitting on a brick wall outside for an entire freaking year.

But you mash a couple up into some boiling water, add some honey or sugar if you please and it is just remarkable tart goodness. Very good for your throat, which I appreciate now because my allergies are kinda acting up. I've been all sorts of sipping on it the past week or so while I work on some invitations and sing along to these songs.

Too Much Time - John Vanderslice - I have such a wicked soft spot for the remarkable Vanderslice and his newest album does not disappoint in the least. His songs have flowered into something beautiful.

Nude - Radiohead - I am all sorts of into In Rainbows again lately and feel like the time is really right for it. This is my most recent favorite. Slinky, shrewd Radiohead. Radiohead that has your number.

Wolf Like Me - TV on the Radio - Dead sexy. SO fierce. My absolute favorite TVOR song. This one has to be played loud.

I Was A Kaleidoscope - Death Cab For Cutie - I've loved the lyrics to this one for years.

I put on my overcoat and walked into winter
My teeth chattered rhythms
And they were grouped in twos or threes
Like a morse code message was sent from me to me.

Can you hear my heart beating like a hammer?

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Spring is here. You can practically see things growing and changing each minute. It makes me feel like the whole world is coming back and gives me hope that soon, very soon, I'll be able to say the same thing about myself. Here's some songs that I have been listening to non-stop lately.

Armistice - Phoenix - It is officially safe to say that I am completely obsessed with the latest Phoenix album. Ohmigod SO frickin' good. My only complaint is that it's way too short. I'm going to be dancing to this well on into the summer.

Help I'm Alive - Metric - Emily Haines is a little sexpot here and that's always a good thing, no?

Laid - James - If you know this song, hearing just the first few notes will make you smile again so big you'll look like the biggest and best kind of fool. And if you don't know it, well, you're welcome :)

Lovers Are Losing - Keane - I got really into this track because I heard it so often on the radio at work. It's a lovely, bittersweet song I'd overlooked on the last Keane album, and I'm so glad I got a second with it.

So soldier on, soldier on.

A picture, a poem and a song for spring:

Portrait of a Lady
by: William Carlos Williams

Your thighs are appletrees
whose blossoms touch the sky.
Which sky? The sky
where Watteau hung a lady's
slipper. Your knees
are a southern breeze—or
a gust of snow. Agh! what
sort of man was Fragonard?
—As if that answered
anything.—Ah, yes. Below
the knees, since the tune
drops that way, it is
one of those white summer days,
the tall grass of your ankles
flickers upon the shore—
Which shore?—
the sand clings to my lips—
Which shore?
Agh, petals maybe. How
should I know?
Which shore? Which shore?
—the petals from some hidden
appletree—Which shore?
I said petals from an appletree.

Fitz and the Dizzyspells - Andrew Bird

In Which I Die Of Happiness

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Is this a dream? Death Cab For Cutie at the Bowl with the L.A. Philharmonic?? And Tegan and Sara??? AND the New Pornographers????

Thank you, music gods, for answering prayers that I dared not even pray.

For What Reason - Death Cab For Cutie

One Second - Tegan & Sara

Sing Me Spanish Techno - The New Pornographers

A Thousand Crystal Towers, A Hundred Emerald Cities

I liked Bat For Lashes' first album, Fur and Gold, quite a bit. I thought it was cool and interesting and Natasha Khan's voice was a force to be reckoned with. I was expecting more of the same on her new release, Two Suns. What I wasn't expecting was how her songwriting would've matured by leaps and bounds. The new album is intense, passionate, thoughtful and simply beautiful. These songs showcase her amazing voice in the most perfect way and there are so many moments where it's breathtakingly gorgeous. She's got the skills of all your favorite female singers, for reals. Here are two of my favorites so far from Two Suns:

Glass - Bat For Lashes

Siren Song - Bat For Lashes

Isn't she stunning? Many bonus points for the cover for the album's first single, "Daniel":

We both flail too much to let the other near.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Everything is suddenly in bloom around here and I can't get enough. All I do is wander around taking a million pictures of flowers and, when I'm kept from doing this, it's all I think about. The extra hour of light that daylight savings brought came just at the right time. Everything's starting to look just very fresh and there's lots of great new music to go with it.

1901 - Phoenix - All I have to say is that Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is the best album name ever. Oh god I can't wait.

Everything Is Moving So Fast - Great Lake Swimmers - I've always loved how the singer in this band sounds like he's about to start crying, yet Great Lake Swimmers aren't really emo at all.Their latest is more wonderful folk rock with a seventies golden glow to it.

Beware Your Only Friend - Bonnie Prince Billy - This is the rousing opening track from Will Oldham's latest treasure. Bonne Prince Billy has become somewhat of a musical life coach for me the past year or so.

Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. - Faunts Faunts make lovely eclectronic rock, somewhat in the vein of Cut Copy. Ambient yet intimate. This is from an album so worth getting familiar with.

This is a warning, calling.

The most beautiful thing? Oh, Yogi teabag fortune thingy. What if I'm doing my taxes, eating Nutella out of the jar with a spoon and watching America's Best Dance Crew? Does that still qualify?

I suppose whatever you're doing is the only thing that you could be doing, and to think of it as beautiful, well, certainly that is uplifting and assuaging in many ways.

What I am doing right at this moment is listening to the upcoming sophomore album by Great Northern, a fantastic little band out of L.A. They have both a male and female vocalist whose voices suit each other perfectly (gets me every single time) and their songs are cool and sweet and heartfelt. The whole album is immensely listenable all the way through and I had it on repeat on my iPod for almost a week straight.

There is something about the song "Warning" especially that took hold of me and would not let go, something vulnerable and a little bit sad and anxious that builds up with lovely rolling percussion into something much grander. The album, Remind Me Where The Light Is, comes out in April. Highly recommended.

Warning - Great Northern

Snakes - Great Northern

It's these little things, they can pull you under.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Well, yes, I thought it would be fun to listen to some covers this week. The beauty of covers, of course, is that they are familiar yet surprising at the same time. Sometimes it's quite nice when something takes a little bit of a turn. Like last week I was on the phone with my mom and I was bitching about my night, complaining about how one of the people I was going out with that evening was terribly obnoxious and I was just NOT in the mood to deal with them. Basically, boo hoo, my night's over before it even begins type of stuff.

"You have such an awful temper!" Momo pipes in. "Just like your dad." I surprised myself by contradicting her instead of just passive-aggressively stewing about it. "Actually," I retorted, "I worked overtime today and this person has proven themself to be difficult over numerous occasions and I only found out they were coming at the last minute. I think that's reasonable cause to be unhappy and not anything to do with a tempter tantrum." She then surprised me by acquiescing. "You know what? You're right," she said. "I'm sorry I said that without thinking." For reals, yo.

Take On Me - A.C. Newman (A-Ha cover)

What Hurts The Most - Cascada (Rascall Flats cover)

Sweetness Follows - Sara Quin & Kaki King (R.E.M. Cover)

The Same Old Song - Iron & Wine (The Four Tops Cover)

And the northern sky looked like the end of days.

Last April I was in Southern California and there was a fire. I asked to go see that fire and, afterward, I did not know if I was sorry that we went. It was magnificent and sad and scary and humbling. The thing that sets wildfires apart from most natural disasters is that you can stand quite near and watch them unfold, feel the great force of them, but know that, unless you are living in the hills where they blaze, they most likely cannot touch you.

The other strange thing about wildfires is that everything springs up bright and beautiful in the years that follow, green is greener, trees and plants rich and lush. The land's repeated baptism by fire. Three months after this Sierra Madre fire, Big Sur was up in flames, and I naturally put off a Death Cab for Cutie inspired trip to the area. Perhaps now is the time to venture out and see what the area looks like.

Death Cab just released the video for "Grapevine Fires" and it is a lovely, bittersweet little thing. It makes me think about the things I'd save in a fire.

Grapevine Fires

It's all now to you, there ain't no before.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

I am trying to become a Super Riddler. Here are my first two offerings:

1) What can go all around the world but stay stuck in a corner?

2) What is deaf, dumb and blind but always tells the truth?

*Answers after the mix:

Soft Shock - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - I am really liking the YYYs new album. Liking it enough that I'll actually stop to listen to it once all the way through after every three spins of the latest Neko Case album

Magpie To The Morning - Neko Case Beautifully moving lyrics. This song really showcases my girl's magical voice. My favorite track so far off of Middle Cyclone.

Three Questions - Bonnie Prince Billy - I was pretty late getting to this album but I'm so glad that I'm listening to it now. There's something a little provincial, about his songwriting. It reminds me of storybooks and small villages. I've never loved Bonnie Prince Billy more. These are three very important questions.

Somebody That I Used To Know - Elliott Smith - It's not good to listen to very much Elliott Smith at a time and I'm trying to ration him out to myself very, very carefully. Surely just this little bit can't hurt.

* 1) a stamp 2) a mirror

I Assassin Down The Avenue

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Here's what I listened to before I left for Illinois and when I was there. Chicago sure does inspire some sad songs, although they suited the grey weather quite well. City theme aside, the songs in this little mix actually sound really good together and I think they will make you thoughtful, in a wintery way, wherever you are. I'm still way behind on everything, trying to get my stuff cleaned up and put away so I can be ready to traipse around the Bay Area with Jen & Ryan this weekend. Heck yes :)

Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens

Dear Chicago - Ryan Adams

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart - Wilco

Chicago x 12 - Rogue Wave

Imagine how the world could be, so very fine.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Happy Valentine's Week, my babies. When I was younger I loved Valentine's Day because it made me so happy to write all my friends' names on the little cards we'd give out in class. I also loved Red Hot candies and they were out in full force on that day. Once I got older I was fairly indifferent to February 14th. It was nice, but always seemed like such a hassle. Then, four years ago, I fell in love with this holiday again. Valentine's Day became less of a commercial romantic spectacle to me and more of a day where I celebrated all the good people in my life, sort of a second Thanksgiving. I think I've relinked to that post every year since I wrote it, so sorry for that :P To make up for it, I've put together a little Valentine's mix for you:

Just One Thing - My Morning Jacket - A simple declaration of love from my favorite MMJ album. It's rather melancholy sounding, a little soulful.

Want - Rufus Wainwright - If you want to talk love, I fell hard for this Rufus Wainwright album when it came out a few years ago and I've never tired of it. His lyrics are wry, honest and sweet.

I just want to know
If something's coming for to get me
Tell me, will you make me sad or happy?
And will you settle for love?

Happy Together - The Turtles - One of my favorite childhood songs. So maniacally upbeat and sugary but with something slightly disturbing underneath. Can anyone hear this and not sing along?

El Scorcho - Weezer - :D

Blood Bank - Bon Iver - A subtly tremendous song about the very, very beginnings of love.

Reservations - Wilco - This song says so very, very much to me. It's frank and confessional and, in the end, rather bittersweet. "I've got reservations about so many things, but not about you. This while album is beautiful and heartbreaking, just like this.

Dark Was The Night

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

This past week I've been listening non-stop to a wonderful compilation called Dark Was The Night. It's over thirty amazing tracks, from some of the best artists out there, recorded exclusively for this collection. Dark Was The Night benefits the Red Hot Organization which has supported AIDS research and awareness for the last twenty years. The album will be officially released on February 17th on cd and vinyl and I highly encourage you to pre-order this now. It is so very much worth it. Here's a small sampling of some of my favorite tracks from the collection:

Hey, Snow White - The New Pornographers

Deep Blue Sea - Grizzly Bear

Tightrope - Yeasayer

I was only a baby. Now I am what you made me.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

I've been getting a TON of headaches recently and, with the help of a friend, just figured out that it's most likely because I haven't been drinking enough water. I'm alright during the day, when I guzzle a bunch of hot stuff, but lately once I get home it's like I forget water exists. That must be it, because I haven't made the big move to ditch caffeine as of yet. And it certainly can't be from lack of sleep. I've been sleeping like a sleepy little sleep snake.

My Wife, Lost in the Wild - Beirut Electronic Beirut, a fun and interesting change because the singer's voice sounds a bit like a medieval balladeer's. I also think the title of this song is brilliantly striking.

We Almost Had A Baby - Emmy The Great The first single off Emma-Lee Moss' upcoming debut album sounds sweet and clear and is oh so bitter and honest. I can't wait to hear the rest of what she's done.

The Rake's Song - The Decemberists I am in the mood to hear more of Colin Meloy's stories, especially if they sound like this. Every single "alright" is beautiful to me, although this is a macabre tale of most unforgiveable villainy. Love the bass in this song.

The Girl - The City and Colour This guy is sort of a not-as-spare and clear Bon Iver. There is a deeply melancholy mood overlaying this album, haunting in a way which is somehow too much for me for the most part. But this track is lovely and thoughtful and very much worth the listen.

Last night I dreamt I'd forgotten my name.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

The album I am most anticipating this year is Neko Case's Middle Cyclone, due out in early March. Case's last album, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, is one of my all-time favorites and I cannot say enough about this wondrous lady.

Her songwriting is piercingly honest and lovely and the second one of her songs comes on I get swept up in an inexorable wave of pure feeling. It's simultaneously the saddest and most beautiful thing and very, very few have the same effect on my heart than Neko Case's voice. Here's a track from the upcoming release as well as two dearly beloved favorites:

People Got A Lotta Nerve - Neko Case

I Wish I Was The Moon - Neko Case

That Teenage Feeling - Neko Case

And I love your kind patience.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Crazy stressful week here in Beckieland. I'm planning and hoping for a lot of big changes this year but, in order to make that happen, I guess effort will have to me made? Who knew. While I'm trying to figure everything out I am, of course, also threatening myself with a huge towering fear tsunami composed of possible failures, which I struggle to keep at bay. I accept this, though. I've had wave upon wave of good for so long; weeks like this give clarity and build character. At least the new music releases are still going smoothly. Lots of great albums to listen to lately.

There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve - A. C. Newman Excellent opening track to an album I am really enjoying. A.C. Newman has a unique voice and singing style and I think this album lends itself well to that.

Lion in a Coma - Animal Collective As with all Animal Collective cds it's taking me a while to "get" this. It's starting to click just now and I'm looking forward to a lot more time with these songs.

Dust and Water - Antony & the Johnsons This is spare and dramatic even by Antony standards. It's basically acapella and I think it's quite beautiful.

Anthem Of The Arctic Birds - The Uglysuit I chanced upon this easygoing indie rock group and am so happy with what I've found. Nice layers of sound.

Is this the last part? Here is when we shout.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

I've been super busy this week -- busy becoming a Dance Machine. Seriously, I don't know what happened but all of a sudden I only want to get up offa that thing. Are you ready, guys? Get ready.

Far Away - Cut Copy

Crimewave (Crystal Castles Vs Health) - Crystal Castles

Ready For The Floor - Hot Chip

Say Aha - Santogold

And the band plays some song about forgetting yourself for a while.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Happy New Year, my babies! And what a year it has been. I feel like I learned so much more about myself this year than I ever have, although I've probably said that before and, I hope to the gods, I will say it again.

I am getting ready to get my NYE on in San Francisco tonight, but I thought I'd leave you with some of the songs which iTunes says I listened to most in 2008. All but one of them have been posted before so you've got a second chance to hear them if you didn't the first time around. Hope you all have a safe and lovely New Year's Eve and an incredible year to come!

Sometime Around Midnight - The Airborne Toxic Event While this L.A. band was still just a local group making a name for themselves at Spaceland in Silver Lake, this song somehow got picked up by a number of radio stations. I happened to hear it on 98.7 FM and fell immediately hard in love with it. It's a straightforward, emotionally wrenching song that has a really strong 80's dramatic feel to it.

It is simply about unexpectedly running into someone you used to love, and what happens afterward. If you've been in this position before (and I know many of us have) it will be an arrow straight through your heart:

And when your friends say what is it
you look like you've seen a ghost.

And you walk,
under the streetlights.
And you're too drunk to notice
that everyone is staring at you.
And you don't care what you look like,
the world is falling
around you.

Too Late - M83 I was under the impression for the longest time that this was a sad song. It wasn't until I had listened to it for about 10 months that I realized it was a simple, barely-there song about the sweetness of devotion.

You Came to Me - Beach House My favorite song off of an album that is so incredibly lovely I wish I'd listened to the rest of it more throughout the year. I'm deeply regretting not putting it on my top ten list. I could lose myself in this song (and apparently I have done so 67 times just on my computer alone.) I can't wait to see this band live.

Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping - Grouper Such beautiful. It always makes me just close my eyes and feel good and calm again. This is what my dreams sound like.

So wake up, make up some new song again around the same tune.

A picture, a poem and a song for winter:

Tree
by: Jane Hirshfield

It is foolish
to let a young redwood
grow next to a house.

Even in this
one lifetime,
you will have to choose.

That great calm being,
this clutter of soup pots and books-

Already the first branch-tips brush at the window.
Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life.

Song Of Our So-Called Friend - Okkervil River

So deck those halls, trim those trees.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

I'm getting ready to make some Christmas nutballs with my sister before heading out to pick up some gourmet dog biscuits. The first of my two holiday gatherings will have four dogs in attendance! This is the first year I finished all my Christmas present hullballoo with a couple of days to spare and it is so much more relxing this way. I hope you are all having a safe, warm and happy holidays, no matter what you're doing.

Little St. Nick - The Beach Boys

Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses

Christmas Day - Dido

It's Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) - Death Cab For Cutie

Shout at the world because the world doesn't love you!

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

We're taking things super light and easy this Wednesday because I am still hoping you guys will check out the music in my 2008 Top Ten Albums list and also because the holidays have leaped wildly upon me and I can barely catch my breath. I've got Christmas shopping dates, the office holiday party, a Will Sheff concert and a day trip up to Napa to look forward to in the next few days. Whew.

Two EPs greatly influenced the addition of two albums to my list this year: Los Campesinos! We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed and Coldplay's Prospekt's March. I know it's not really fair to put an album + EP duo on your list, but in a sense this was the truth with these records. The Los Campesinos! crew make me feel liek a teenager again and they've taken over that special place in my heart that used to be devoted to Belle & Sebastian. And to all you Coldplay haters (and dang there are a lot of you) -- Prospekt's March will shut your darn mouth up. Truly a thing of beauty.

Miserabilia - Los Campesinos!

Prospekts March / Poppyfields - Coldplay

Top Ten Albums 2008

And without further ado, my top ten favorite albums of 2008, with a favorite lyric and song from each pick:

10) TV on the Radio - Dear Science,, "Love Dog"

    Curse me out in free verse.
    Wrap me up and reverse this.
    Patience is a virtue
    Until it's silence burns you.

9) Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line, "Oh, La"

    And still so warm, but I'm lonely too,
    Suddenly she is still and says, "I hope that things will be better here."

    Oh, la. We've got a lot to learn from each other.
    We have got to stick together.

8) Viva La Vida - Coldplay, "Death and All His Friends"

    No I don’t want to battle from beginning to end.
    I don’t want a cycle of recycled revenge.
    I don't want to follow Death and all of his friends.

    And in the end
    We lie awake, and we dream of making our escape.

7) Only By The Night - Kings of Leon, "Revelry"

    in the dark of the night
    i can hear you calling my name.
    With the harvest of hearts
    i still feel full of pain.

    So i drink and i smoke
    and i ask if you're ever around
    even though it was me
    who drove us right in the ground.

6) Hold On Now, Youngster... - Los Campesinos!, "Drop It Doe Eyes"

    Turn up on your doorstep
    Feeling like roadkill
    Tasting like postage stamps
    And when I touch you
    You fold up like an envelope
    With everything I ever wrote
    Pouring out of your mouth.

5) Narrow Stairs - Death Cab For Cutie, "Bixby Canyon Bridge" 

    I want to know my fate if I keep up this way.
    It's hard to want to stay awake.

    And everyone you meet they all seem to be asleep.
    You wonder if you're missing your dream.
    You can't see your dream.

4) You & Me - The Walkmen, "Red Moon"

    The stars are cold
    And the air is bright
    And I see you now.
    You shine like the steel on my knife.
    Darkness is wrapped all around me tonight.

    I miss you.
    I miss you, there’s no one else.
    I do.
    I do.

3) The Stand Ins - Okkervil River, "Calling And Not Calling My Ex"

    She was once mine.
    That smile that shines from the glossy magazine that's stuck inside the Sunday Times.
    She was so sweet.
    On Christmas Eve with the snow set deep,
    when we went walking through the pines.
    I had just been fired and her first offer had arrived
    And the new year would see her flying far away from me
    Though I didn't know it at the time.

2) For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver, "re: Stacks" (love this song as much, no -- I love it more, than I did almost a year ago)

    This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization
    It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away
    Your love will be
    Safe with me

1) The Seldom Seen Kid - elbow, "One Day Like This"

   Someone tell me how I feel.
   It's silly wrong but vivid right.
   Oh, kiss me like the final meal.
   Yeah, kiss me like we die tonight.

Lazy

Okay, can someone just please declare it National Stay In Your Pajamas and Sit In The Sun Reading To Your Turtles Day?  Thx.

Easy Does It - Bonnie Prince Billy 

I'm half awake and the world is ending.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Here's this year's third and final installment of Best of the Rest. Seriously, I feel a genuine sadness that these albums just barely got cut from my 2008 Top Ten. My annual albums list is a strange beast and most of the time I'm not even vaguely clear on my criteria for it. I just go with the flow. What does that mean sometimes? Tears. Here's three dearly beloved songs from three smashing records all with their own beauty. The Snow Patrol is all love, Ray LaMontange's voice is a miracle as always and Wolf Parade is cool as any and all get out.

Crack The Shutters - Snow Patrol 

Crack the shutters open wide, I want to bathe you in the light of day
And just watch you as the rays tangle up around your face and body.
I could sit for hours finding new ways to be awed each minute.
Cause the daylight seems to want you just as much as I want you.

Gossip In The Grain - Ray LaMontagne

Says the silly sparrow
'There's gossip in the grain.
Have you heard? Oh, you don't say.'

Someday,
Someday,
A snow shall fill the trees.
You best make warm the eves.

The Grey Estates - Wolf Parade

So let the needle on the compass swing.
Let the iron in your heart's blood ring.
Strike up the band as the ship goes down
And if it's loud enough, they will erase the sound
Of one hundred thousand sad inventions.

La bandera de vida y muerte es parte de toda la gente.

Best of the Rest 2008, Part II

We're getting closer in to my top ten, so the records that these tracks come from are all still highly, highly reccomended.

Samba Vexillographica - Devendra Banhart  This is from a beautiful, soothing album, one that almost makes you feel like you're on vacation, but in some mythical place where seahorses dance around in little lines and each of your friends in waving to you from scattered hammocks. It's best listened to as a whole, but I think this track will give you an idea of what I'm talking about. The best is his little chant about "mantequilla" at the end.

Oliver James - Fleet Foxes This band is the shiz and the only reason they didn't crack my top ten is because all of their songs sound almost exactly the same. Granted, it's a very mountainy echoes cool type of sound, but you really must be in the mood for it. Maybe that's why I like this subtle and haunting song so much. It's their album closer and it leaves quite and impression.

Jodi - The Dodos  I've posted a couple of tracks from this local psychedelic folk-rock duo previously and I really encourage you to check them out. They've got a lot of great percussion on their tracks that holds this fantastic pent up but about to blow out energy. I can't wait to see what they do next.

Granny's Song - The Old Believers This album is brief, but it's sweet, sad and romantic at the same time. Nelson Kempf and Keeley Boyle both provide amazing vocals for songs that feel like they came from the last few hundred years of music. I think this is their strongest track and if you like it, you will love Eight Golden Greats.

You Gotta Be Stronger Than The Story

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

It's been an interesting year for music. After the glorious spoils of 2007 things felt a bit less awe-inspiring, but I also felt like I had more time to absorb albums, which was quite nice. I like to write posts near the end of the year which I call "The Best of the Rest", little collections of songs which I really enjoyed in the past year that come from albums which will not be featured in my annual Top Ten albums list. Here's the first set:

Hologram Buffalo - Brightblack Morning Light This is careless and slinky, folksy and psychedelic and it grows on you like a slow-creeping fever and my god is that wonderful. I think I don't have enough patience to really appreciate BBML's albums, but there is enough goodness there to keep me coming back to them.

Fix It - Ryan Adams & the Cardinals It pains my heart to shut my beloved Ry Ry out of my Top Ten for two years in a row, but these albums just don't have quite the complete and total powers of devastation that I feel he's capable of. Still heart him, though. Ry Ry, I ain't mad at you.

This Is Your Life - The Killers What can I say? That song that goes "are we human or are we dancer?" -- wtf, guys? This, though, this I love. It's got a fun 80's vibe and sounds like a song you would hear at the roller rink. The "wait for something better" part is magickpants.

Dusk Til Dawn - Ladyhawke She is awesome. She just is. There's not enough depth on this dancey album to win my heart over completely, but this song is so incredibly cool. It's a must play for parties.

1, here comes the 2 to the 3 to the 4

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

This is a pre-written post because I'll be driving down to L.A. for Thanksgiving on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to time spent with friends and family, the big turkey dinner and, frankly, a little bit of r&r if I can swing it. The past couple of weeks have been packed in tight and I can't wait for even a few hours of just plain fun :)

On the drive this time I'll be listening to the Super Mash Bros. a mashup group that Steph introduced me to. They're self-described as "Girl Talk's Hot Cousin" and damn is this fun stuff. It's perhaps not quite as intricate as Girl Talk's work, but one amazing track, "Broseidon, Lord of the Brocean" (god, that title rules) manages to combine three of my favorite songs in the space of about 30 seconds.

Broseidon, Lord Of The Brocean - Super Mash Bros.

Tipsy - J-Kwon

Title And Registration - Death Cab For Cutie

Harder Better Faster Stronger - Daft Punk

It was written long ago. It was not for me to know.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

 

The week usually flies by for me but I caught myself bemoaning how slowly the week was dragging along today, probably because I have so many fun things planned over the weekend and also because I'm getting SO excited about the big holiday coming up next week. Thanksgiving has been my absolute favorite holiday for ages. Even driving five hundred miles and slaving over the massive dinner for my whole family the last few years hasn't dampened my spirits. Fall is in the air. I can see and feel it everywhere. Truly, it's quite lovely.

Never Stops - Deerhunter This is a great album but I feel like I'm not getting the most out of it because I listen to this track over and over and over. It's so cool and so insanely addicting. "It never stops."

Face To Face On High Places - School of Seven Bells Ethereal, beautifully uplifting and sweetly moving. You can tell this is a loving tribute to something so very important.

Falling Without Knowing - Tilly & The Wall Synthy and dancey, this reminds me SO much of the new wave bands I used to love. Quite irresistible :)

Draw Down The Stars - Tom McRae This is an old favorite of mine. I was listening to Thom Yorke's The Eraser and my iTunes eventually trickled down to Tom McRae. This is a gentle yet cryptic song that stays with you long after you hear it.

But did you ever, ever notice the kind of thoughts I got?

Mid Week Mini Music Mix
It's all title tracks for this week. I've always found title tracks intriguing and I try to figure out how and why they set the tone for a whole album. I usually don't even come close to an answering, but it's fun to think about.

Title Track - Death Cab For Cutie - Not literally a title track, but I couldn't resist. Old Death Cab lyrics are the shiz.

I See a Darkness - Bonnie Prince Billy Beautiful, beautiful. He sings about the things inside that haunt us all.

the ghost types - bridges and powerlines I got this album last week on a complete whim. I know nothing about this band but I know I can't stop listening to this album. It's sweetly cheery but with a trace of longing running throughout.

Black Pear Tree - The Mountain Goats & Kaki King I absolutely love this first song off of this EP. Kaki King's voice sounds vulnerable and lovely and it's got that spare Mountain Goats sadness very reminiscent of the songs off of Get Lonely. My favorite line: I saw the future in a dream last night. Somebody’s gonna get hurt, somebody’s gonna get hurt. I hope it’s not me. But I suspect it’s going to have to be.

Whenever I come back the air on Railroad is making the same sounds.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

The last couple of years I lived in Southern California I drove, on average, three to four hours each day. It was an enormous pain in the ass, literally and figuratively, and it kind of numbed my soul. The only good thing about it was the ample time it allowed me to listen to music.

Whenever I drive to L.A. on my own I go straight through, no stops. It usually takes about five hours and I'll make an mp3 cd of about a hundred songs to keep me company. These are some of my favorite tracks to listen to on the road:

A Movie Script Ending - Death Cab For Cutie Maybe it's because the chorus repeats the word "highway" over and over, or maybe it's those rolling drumbeats, but this is perfect for driving along the I-5. This song speaks so honestly about going home again.

Pounding - Doves This sounds like pure triumph and is especially good for when the scenery blurs together and you're starting to tire. At 2:42, and again at 3:20, the whole song bursts open and it's just beautiful.

Bird Stealing Bread - Iron & Wine For the more thoughtful, pensive drivetime moments you need a song like this; one that will make you question things and drift through memories good and bad. A track that lets you take advantage of all that time stretched ahead of you, and let the windshield magnify the decisions you've made.

You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's Son - Wolf Parade This song first caught my attention on a road trip, so the car remains my favorite place to listen to it. The lyrics are intense and magnificent:

and I'll build a house inside of you
I'll go in through the mouth
I'll draw three figures on your heart
one of them will be me as a boy
one of them will be me
one of them will be me watching you run
watching you run into the high noon sun

And now even in the darkness I can see how happy you are.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Lots going on right now but I"m just as relaxed as can be about it. So far this week I've already gotten drunk as a skunk and danced my heart out at the Girl Talk show and attended a book club meeting at IHOP (German pancakes, yo). I'll be going down to L.A. for the weekend, but as of today I still haven't decided whether I'll be flying or driving, or where I'm going to stay when I'm there or what I'll be doing at all. And I feel quite good about it all.

Crossed Out Name - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals Cardinals' projects have been mixed for me in the past. I la la LOVED Cold Roses but Jacksonville City Nights is pretty meh. I'm really enjoying Cardinology, though, especially this track which is classic Ryan Adams "I loved a girl and now she's gone" goodness.

The Planets Bend Between Us - Snow Patrol Oh, man. The first time I heard the Snow Patrol song "Chocolate" four years ago it was instant love. But it seems these guys have been getting more and more cheesetastic all the time. But this song from their latest release is just a sweet, simple love song. Very nice.

There It Is - The Old Believers I got this album a few months back, really liked it and now I'm returning to it, which is always a good sign. This lovely couple makes fascinating folk songs that float almost beyond any sense of time.

The Book Of Right-On - Joanna Newsom The inimitable Joanna Newsom. I've been trying to write a lot more lately and have made the decision to attempt NaNoWriMo 2008. Please let me know if you're participating as well :)