Song of the Day

Archive for September, 2010

I’m so busy lately I haven’t had much time to post music. And right now I only have enough time to toss this video up. And add some band links. Sorry so short. Enjoy!

Mackintosh Braun – Official Website, Last.fm, MySpace.

S. Carey, (Sean Carey), is a just a guy who studied classical percussion music, drummed for the Bon Iver band and now has produced a debut album with a delicate but controlled sound with more contemporary floral patterns. The album All We Grow was just released and appears to be making some waves. Slant Magazine wrote this interesting article about Mr. S. Carey giving him 4 out of 5 stars.

Another song of Carey’s that I recommend hearing is his song In the Stream. According to the titles of the songs and the album title and cover it appears that the album is a beautiful examination of youth spent in the great outdoors jumping into lakes, floating down streams, and playing in the dirt with your hands without any cares in the world. It’s a nice place to be.

I’m a big fan of anyone who plays piano in contemporary music. His voice also reminds me of Jose Gonzalez a little bit, who is another musician that I also admire. I wish there was a greater use of classical piano in pop music today. I know there are already many artists using it, but I think there needs to be more. Vanessa Carlton has the right idea, and I remember Guns and Roses’ November Rain song so well. I can also thank Coldplay and The Fray. But I’m still waiting for a piano track by Kanye West, Kid Cudi, or B.O.B. But what would REALLY be awesome would be for some hard core rap-hiphop groups and heavy country singers to start using piano. I think then I’d be really happy, because I think right now there’s some kind of stigma about the piano, like it’s an instrument that can’t be used synonymous with the word hardcore or heavy.

Thank you S. Carey, I love your piano sounds, please, let the music continue.

More links on S.Carey, on his Official Website, MySpace, Last.fm, Slant, Indie Music Filter, and StereoGum.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros is an ensemble band that emerged in 2007 and put out two albums in 2009. They are touring the US right now and have a unique pop folk sound. I had this song in my playlist somehow and I don’t even know how I got it.

After looking at the band bio and pictures you might think the band time warped straight from the 60′s in their big white bus to spread a message of poor hygiene, unprotected sex, and ignorant bliss. If so you might be right, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy their music right?

If this band was a movie I don’t think it would take place in the 60′s. Instead it would take place today but feature main characters who, like Austen Powers, were either frozen in time for 50 years or who wish they could go back in time 50 years.

The big question I have is, if all the band members were born 50 years ago, would they be using graphic design, fonts, album art, and filming equipment from 1910? Could the band be classified as a new kind of musical Amish contingent that refuses to use any technology that wasn’t produced after 1968? I’m so curious now if the lead singers in the band have the latest iPhone G4. That’d be so funny.

If you think that’s funny, read this Wikipedia description of the Origin of the band.

After breaking up with his girlfriend, moving out of his house, and leaving a 12-step program for addiction (he left, as he has said, to live in a more honest reaction to the truth of the moment, not be bound to certain behaviors by fear-based dogma), Ebert began work on a book about a messianic figure named Edward Sharpe. According to Ebert, Sharpe “was sent down to Earth to kinda heal and save mankind…but he kept getting distracted by girls and falling in love.”

I mean no disrespect, I’m just fascinated by the psychology of people in a band formed because they thought a guy was a messiah.

Band links: Official site, MySpace, Last.fm, Facebook, and Wikipedia.

Here’s two other songs of theirs you should hear:

Die Tonight Live Forever
Obsession

I love this song by InnerPartySystem. The band released their self-titled album in 2008 and has an EP out along with a string of remixes of Popular songs.

The sound on most of their other tracks come across as rave music with a real band accompaniment, which is credit to them for incorporating complex audio programming with their music. They can be easily categorized because of their heavy use of electronic synthesized sounds but nonetheless produce good music.

I like them for the massiveness of their sound and respect them for their smart lyrical messages. There are too many bands out there that sing about the most meaningless stuff, which detracts from the music, especially if they sound like they’re really passionate about something that is totally vain, mundane, self-absorbed or shallow. Their name refers to the Orwell classic 1984 but in the best of ways of course.

InnerPartySystem websites: Official Site, MySpace, Last.fm, PureVolume.

Indie singer songwriter Maria Taylor originally from Birmingham Alabama has been making music for many years now. She’s a member of the musical duo Azure Ray but has released several solo albums. This song, is off of her debut solo album 11:11.

A lot of Maria’s songs have been featured on popular Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs sitcom soundtracks along with other TV spots. So if you haven’t heard of her, if you like watching shows about doctors then maybe you’ve already heard one of her songs before.

Here’s a couple other songs of hers that you should check out.
Time Lapse Lifeline
Cartoons and Forever Plans
Orchids
Clean Getaway

If you like my Song of the Day blog, please pass on the love and share it with your music loving friends. Doesn’t it feel good to share.

Other sites for Maria Taylor on MySpace, on Last.fm, and on Wikipedia.

The music of Basement Jaxx is difficult to characterize, although overwhelmingly their songs would fall in the dance category. But the range of sound they produce and the diversity of sounds, rhythm, and elements of their songs make them one of the most interesting bands I know. I assume you already know this band and perhaps love some of their songs. Here’s a short list of some more of their songs that you might also love. Enjoy!

Do Your Thing
Good Luck
Where’s Your Head At
Feelings Gone
Romeo
My Turn
Plug It In

And here’s a list of more links to Basement Jaxx’s websites.
Basement Jaxx on their website, MySpace, AstralWerks, and Last.fm.

The Canadian indie rock band Jets Overhead not only has great music but is also nice enough to give out some of their music for free for download. Listen to their entire latest album No Nations and get their track “No Nation” for free.

Be sure to check out my favorite song of theirs “Sure Sign” too!

Other music videos by Jets Overhead:
No Nations
Seems So Far
I Should Be Born

Jets Overhead formed in 2003 and released their first album Bridges in 2006. Both albums are excellent, but I recommend checking out their latest album first with the links above.

More songs and info on Jets Overhead at their website, MySpace, and Last.fm.

The band “The xx” is from the UK and is so strange but beautiful. Are they indie, are they pop, are they soul, are they new age? Well, that’s what their MySpace page said, but whatever, music is what it is, I think it’s better to describe a bands music using the greatest number of nonsensical and disjointed words and sentences as possible. That way you’re able to accurately put your entire and complete impression of the music on paper and to have also made a total incomprehensible mess in the process.

I think Islands is the best song of theirs I’ve heard so far, but their song Crystalized also is amazing in several ways. I find the skill in their music in how it can be so good despite it’s slow, minimalistic, and repetitive nature. That it holds you in suspense of even the smallest changes in their songs. That, because of it’s uniqueness you’re pulled into it and experience the music in a different way.

After reading the review on Pitchfork, which stated that all of their songs are exclusively about sex, I decided that their entire album is perfect music for playing when you’re in your bed, and not alone there in your bed, and while you’re not sleeping but sweating (I know you know what I know I know you know I know I’m saying).

So I hope now, after my subliminal messages, The xx’s music will slowly creep into your subconscious mind and create a comfortable little place in your music collection so that you can enjoy it as often as humanly possible (I think you get my drift now). Perhaps there’s something to what Pitchfork said in their review, and perhaps the secret to unlocking the mystery messages in their songs can be decoded through some Tom Hanksian means that simultaneously alienates you from ancient religious doctrine and lets you open up some old mechanical artifact that’s been stored in a cathedral somewhere for centuries. And the key to this tremendous task lies in the name of the band itself. Synchronize your watches, you now have 9 minutes and 47 seconds to decode the message. “Good luck my friends!”

Anyway, I’m babbling. Listen to more of this band’s songs before you buy their album, because maybe you’ll have second thoughts about it after listening to the other two songs below. Or maybe you should watch these videos when you’re in your room and not alone (hint, hint), and maybe it would change your perspective on whether you like them or not.

Other music videos by The xx:
Crystalized
Basic Space

More songs and info on The xx at their website, MySpace, and Last.fm, Pitchfork.

This song caught me the first time I heard it. But with each new listen, I feel more and more compelled to dance, it’s just too lively. The track is by Mistabishi, an electronic music Drum and Bass DJ from the UK who put out an album last year after getting signed onto Hospital Records an indie Drum n Bass label out of Forest Hill, South London.

To a non drum and bass listener perhaps “it’s all electronic” to me. But because of the easy of accessibility of computers, mixers, and music making software, I’d say that if anything more and more artists will begin incorporating electronic sounds and components into their music, and without a doubt the sub genres of music these days are ever-expanding and new genres are forming all the time, so why not try some new flavors because they aren’t going away anytime soon.

I don’t normally listen to drum and bass but somehow I found this song and it stuck on me. Especially once it finishes developing.

To get a better taste of the rest of Mistabishi’s music, have a listen to this track No Matter What which in large part responsible for Mistabishi’s success after it made some waves in the UK’s DnB crowd.

Another interesting song and music video is Printer Jam in which he uses the various sounds a printer makes to create the entire soundscape of the track. It’s also just an interesting video.

Although I can’t vouch for a lot of his other songs since I get lost in the speed of a lot of Drum and Bass songs, here’s the list of links to find and listen to more of Mistabishi’s stuff. It sounds like he’ll have some new material out soon as well, so keep an eye on this guy.

Find more of Mistabishi’s indie drum and bass music on MySpace.com, Last.fm, Hospital Records, and YouTube.

Buy this song: From Memory (Matrix Remix) on iTunes

Here’s the indie rock band Cold War Kids, maybe you’ve heard of them, maybe you haven’t. I like them. And a ton of the songs off their latest EP Behave Yourself just make me wooo and aaaahhhh. Here’s a list of the woooers and aaahhhers.

Santa Ana Winds
Coffee Spoon
This song Audience in this post … and…
Oh oops! That’s it! Because there’s only 5 songs on the EP! But wait, don’t worry, there’s a lot more fun to be had! They’ve got a bunch of other great tracks off their albums Cops & Robbers and Loyalty To Loyalty. You gotta love ‘em. Here they are.

Hospital Beds
Something Is Not Right With Me
Hang Me Up To Dry

Oh that’s tasty.

Why do I like Cold War Kids? Because they don’t look like a Coke advertisement, they yell, their songs aren’t polished to a high production T, by the sound of it they probably don’t care what their critics say, and they play with soul. Also, it disgusts me when any band represents themselves as super big, amazing, popular, or larger than life in their music, their videos, or the way they dress and act. It upsets me because it tells a lie, distorts reality, makes people idolize singers and try to be something that is not humanly possible in their pursuit to be like that person. Also, anytime a singer is representing that they are amazing and sing about how big and great they are it means they’re also saying they are better than all the other musicians out there. They want us to believe they don’t pull their pants down to go to the bathroom like everyone else. And to me, Cold War Kids is one of the bands that’s the most far removed from that marketing idiocracy. Just look at their album covers! They look like kids drawings. They don’t have self-glorifying images of themselves on there do they? They’re not making themselves feel big by making you feel small are they.

Of course in addition to all of that their music just plain kicks ass. Here’s their links.

Their website, a cool interactive website they made that lets you combine over 24 different instruments and toggle members of their band on and off while you listen, Last.fm, and Wikipedia.

Buy this: Behave Yourself – EP on iTunes