tis the season

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, crisp Kwanzaa, etc. Hope the season treated everyone well. I thankfully received a brand new, pretty decent digital camera, so I should be able to throw a lot more pictures up on this here blog. But for now, a new song! This one is from a band known as American Analog Set, hailing from the Austin, Texas indie scene (spoon, okkervil river, explosions in the sky, etc). This band defines simple, low-fi, mellow music. A great band to listen to when relaxing in a nice heated room on a cold winter day with a cup of hot chocolate. The lyrics are really simple but I like them a lot, so I've decided to post them.

And her mom's from Indiana and she
She married an Asian man and they
They brought her from Japan to be
Happily suburban and I
I met her one summer when I was
I was just visiting ten days
Her wrists were island thin but she
She smiled like her Indy kin
And she's half

She's into strictly rich and
Overworked businessmen
She don't remember when
She used to hold my hands
After the Rollerland
After she closed the stand
Now it's supply and demand
And it just comes down to the math
And she's half

American Analog Set - She's Half

off we go, or so we say

So I have officially decided that my favorite band is most definitely Modest Mouse. Anyone interested in the band should check out this really cool documentary that was shot while they were making the amazing Lonesome Crowded West. Part one of five can be found below.



And my favorite mouse song of late? check it. off "Building Nothing out of Something"

Modest Mouse - Other People's Lives

record year for rainfall

It's raining out. It has been raining for I think three straight days now. I love the warmth for this time of year, but when you wake up at 4 in the afternoon hungover, it's pitch dark, and raining once again, it gets pretty depressing. Luckily, the Decemberists have a new song that can help us share the pain of this rain. This new song on their new series of singles, "Always the Bridesmaid: A Single Series" is shaping up to be one of my favorite Decemberists songs. I saw them the other night at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston and it was an amazing show, with this song being one of the highlights. BTW, These pics were all taken when I was in Chicago for Lollapalooza this summer.





The Decemberists - Record Year

let's try this again

The best music usually rewards repeated listening. A great test to this is animal collective, an extraordinarily strange sounding band that took me quite some time to get into. The interesting thing about animal collective is for such an odd, random sounding band, their music is really centered in pop. Once you've listened to their songs enough to understand it's form this becomes pretty evident, you just need to get use to it. So anyway, my favorite animal collective jam of late has been off their album "Feels" and it's called "The Purple Bottle." Listen to it a few times, check out the cool lyrics, and enjoy.

Animal Colletive - The Purple Bottle

make everyone happy?

Alright, it has been quite some time since I last updated, but the long wait it over! Here's a song for all you folks that includes an awesome, emotional, wierd, guitar solo at the end that I think is amazing. It's a song from the first official Modest Mouse album, called "This is a long drive for someone with nothing to think about." A great title indeed. Lately Modest Mouse has been my favorite band, speaking to me and others who are cynical and like to drink.

Modest Mouse - Make Everyone Happy/Mechanical Birds

It's about that time

It's just about 2:45am right now. So what better song to give you all than Elliott Smith's 2:45am?

Elliott Smith - 2:45 AM

if only you were lonely

Hello all! Today I shall share a nice song to get depressed and drink to, everyone's favorite activity! Bring the kids along! I'm just getting into this band, The Replacements (a punk/post-punk/indie band from the 80s for those that don't know), and this song is apparently a b-side or some kind of rarity. Check it out. btw, if anyone actually reads this blog, feel free to comment or share your blog. It's hard to tell if anyone actually looks at this.

The Replacements - If Only You Were Lonely

And in case your not in the depressed drinking mood...listen to this?

back!

Alright, so it's been quite some time since I last updated this blog. But now that it's summer and I'm still looking for a job, I have a lot of free time on my hand and figured I would start updating again. So without further wait...I present to you....a rare song from one of the world's greatest bands....RADIOHEAD!!!


I saw that Radiohead sticker above in Boston about a year ago and was very excited to see the public support. But anyway, the song I'm sharing is my favorite song off of the second disk of in rainbows b-sides which many people don't have. It's a very emotional, slow, piano driven song that kind of reminds me of their song "True Love Waits" as far as the way Thom Yorke sings it. Check it out below, it's called "Last Flowers." Also, make sure to see Radiohead on their summer tour!

Radiohead - Last Flowers

hey hey hey!

I've been in a very reflective mood tonight, and with that in mind, I figured I'd share not just one, not just two, but an unprecedented 3 songs that remind me of the past, songs from the band that has been there with me the longest, weezer. The casual weezer fan likely doesn't know about the amount of awesome b-sides and demos they have in their catalog, so the songs I'm sharing are three weezer b-sides. The first is a blue album b-side and the other two are pinkerton b-sides. Speaking of weezer, their new album will be coming on June 24th and you can stream the new single on their website, so check that out also. Maybe, just maybe, it will be a return to the weezer glory days...

Weezer - Jamie

Weezer - You Gave Your Love to Me Softly

Weezer - Waiting on You

two days in a row, what more could you want!

You the reader of this may remember earlier in my music blogging career when I shared a song by the band Sea Wolf. Today's song is from the band Irving, whom the singer of Sea Wolf is also in. As where Sea Wolf is very mellow and acoustic, Irving is much more upbeat, poppy, and synthy. So check 'em out!

Irving - The Gentle Preservation of Children's Minds

Also, everyone should check out Ben Gibbard's (Death Cab for Cutie, Postal Service) new side project, "Just Jazzin."

back in action

I have no idea if anyone actually looks at this blog, but regardless, I shall pick up the slack and start updating this more often. Today's treat is some classic indie rock in the form of the band Pavement. This band is extremely influential and a great example of a band that never sold out out despite having some commercial potential. I have a really cool documentary about them, so if anyone that knows me is interested, you can borrow it. It's called "Slow Century." This is from their first and best album, Slanted and Enchanted.

Pavement - In the Mouth of a Desert

rock me momma like a wagon wheel

The song I'm sharing today has an interesting story. The chorus of the song was originally written by Bob Dylan, but the song was never finished. The band Old Crow Medicine Show ended up taking the chorus and writing a few verses to go along with it, creating the song "Wagon Wheel." The version I'm sharing is an Against Me! cover of that song. Enjoy!

Against Me! - Wagon Wheel

get out the guinness

Happy St. Patrick's day weekend to anyone that actually reads this! In respect to this fine holiday, I would like to share my favorite song by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, a song with an awesome Irish style breakdown. Enjoy!

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Timorous Me

there are nights where it all comes on a little bit too bright

If you were to take Bruce Springsteen, combine him with Elvis Costello, and give them lots of drugs, the result would be the Hold Steady. Great musicians, more poetic talk than singing, and a lot of drug references. Check out this song from their newest album, "Boys and Girls in America."

The Hold Steady - Hot Soft Light

years go fast and the days go so slow

I've been in an extremely acoustic mood lately, listening to nothing but acoustic depressingness(this should be a word). Maybe it's the weather. Or the water...
Who knows?!? I can't believe there is only half a semester of school left, this year has flown by. It's kind of depressing, I want summer and everything but feel like there are still things that haven't been accomplished this year and time is trickling away. Anyway, check out this song by this band Sea Wolf. The singer of this band is in another band called Irving that is also pretty awesome. It's indie acoustic goodness.

Sea Wolf - Your a Wolf

narrow stairs

Exciting news: The new Death Cab for Cutie album, "Narrow Stairs," comes out on May 13th! In celebration, here is an old death cab song, 405, acoustic version.

Death Cab for Cutie - 405 (Acoustic)

recover and go

After a long night and a morning hangover, I often get a great feeling of optimism about the upcoming day (that is, once the worst of the hangover is over). Kind of a feeling of infinite possibilities, that today could be one of those days where great things happen. Keeping in that mood, here is a song by the band "Oh No! Oh My!" They kind of remind me of a happier Belle and Sebastien meets Sufjan Stevens. This song definitely could have been on the Juno soundtrack.

Oh No! Oh My! - Walk in the Park

Hello all. It's snowing hard out here in Worcester which reminded me of some cool pics I took from a blizzard a few years ago. The pics above are of the seafront in my home town of Marshfield. Keeping in the winter spirit, here is a great winter song/music video, the Arcade Fire's "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out).



Pianos and winter seem to fit well together, so I suggest people download the song below, "Our Hell" by Emily Haines, another solemn song for winter. Emily Haines is the lead singer of the fast paced Metric, but also has her own solo project that mostly revolves around her and her piano playing. This song is great, check it out.

Emily Haines - Our Hell

When our kite lines first crossed, we tied them into knots

Alright, so here is my first attempt to share some music. Recently I've rediscovered an amazing song by The Shins, "Pink Bullets." I think this may very well be my favorite Shins song. It's from their rarely mentioned second album, "Chutes to Narrow," which I highly suggest picking up if you don't already have it. Anyway, it's a great song with great lyrics, and it has a cool music video that you can view below.



With the Shins in mind, I think anyone who has not heard of the somewhat similarly sounding "Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin" should check them out. I saw this band at Tufts University last year for free and they were awesome. I have a feeling that despite the long name, their indie-pop sound will continue to gather a big following. They have a new CD coming out on April 8th. You can download a live daytrotter session of "Travel Song" from their first album, "Broom" below.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Travel Song

hello!

Hello people that may read this some day! I was really bored today and I've been checking out a lot of music blogs lately, and I decided, "hey, why not create my own blog?" Back in my early high school days I used to rock the live journal and that was a good time for a bit, so this should be even better. I'm not really sure what I will do with this, but for now I'm thinking it will be a combination of random musings, sharing music and music videos, photos, and other such things. So hopefully some people bother to read this and perhaps it will be cool. And perhaps not, but we shall see. I'm completely new to this so I'm still messing with things and figuring out what I can do, so things should only improve. But for now, enjoy!