Even if you're already getting a bit tired of listening to "Two Weeks" off of Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest(though I, for one, am not), I'd still strongly encourage you to watch this GORGEOUS animated fan video made by some fella named Gabe Askew. I've watched it so many times today I'm surprised I didn't break the Internet. Someone had the time, will, and ability to make this for free and in his spare time, and to that I say, "YES." Love, lurve, squee...!
Ugh. So. I had a fairly lengthy post in mind for today, but then I went and waaaay overdid it at the gym; consequently, I haven't been able to do much more than laze around my house, whining like a little punk. I blame Beth Ditto. Working out while listening to "2012" gave me the very false notion that my abs could handle the most terrible trial I put them through today. Lessons were learned, friends. Lessons were most certainly, most painfully, most nauseatingly learned...
(Please note that this video is the best of what was available to me, and although the sound quality is surprisingly good for a bootleg, I really wish it zoomed in closer on the band. If you haven't seen it, then trust that watching Beth Ditto work a stage is a marvelous thing.)
I simply cannot get enough of Iron and Wine's cover of New Order's "Love Vigilantes." You can find it on Around the Bend - a brilliant collection of previously unreleased singles and b-sides that came out a few months ago. The whole album is lovely, but this song in particular is the bee's knees. Oh, la.
Although I wasn't so much sold on Bowerbirds' newest album, Upper Air, when I first heard it, I did peg it for a grower album. (Meaning, if I listened to it enough, I'd realize how good it really is.) And after many, many hours in the air, on a bus, and waiting in airports, I was allowed the time to realize that my initial speculations were correct. I listened to Upper Air almost exclusively during my recent travels, and now I like it quite a little bit, "Northern Lights" in particular. Enjoy:
I've been enjoying It's Frightening - White Rabbits' sophomore album - quite a bit recently, so when my husband discovered they were playing a teeny tiny venue, that my buddy's band was opening, and that the cover charge was negligible, you can understand that we jumped at the chance. I wasn't really sure what to expect of them live so my expectations were slightly tempered, however, they rawked and I was exceedingly pleased.
You don't get a full appreciation for how percussively raucous this band is until you see them perform. Most of the time they play with two drummers and at one point they use as many as three, lending them this pulsing, vaguely tribal sound that I really dig. You'll get the general idea of this from watching their performance on David Letterman, however, imagine listening to this in a space only slightly larger than my living room. My ears! They ring!
Besides being a more consistent blogger, I've spent much of my first week of summer vacation giving my house a deep and thorough cleaning - tackling nooks and crannies that haven't been cleaned in at least a year, if not much longer. And in the words of Captain Walter E. Kurtz, "I've seen horrors..."
So maybe it hasn't been too terribly pleasant, but wadding in the muck and the grime has given me a chance to catch up on some new music I've been saving but haven't had the time to give a close listen to. In fact, I've sampled so many new things that I'm thinking about making this a weekly event (though we'll see how that goes...).
Anyway, one of my favorite new bands is Slow Club. I've already written about them once over here, but I think they're so nice I've decided to post on them twice. They're British, fun, a touch quirky, and sound a little like Tilly and the Wall. So, really - what's not to love?
I don't know about you, but all this beautiful weather puts me in a mood for singing, and this song is my perfect storm: one of my all-time favorite songs sung by one of my all-time favorite voices. As far as I'm concerned, "Feeling Good" is one of those sacred things only a precious few people should ever even consider attempting, and Shara Worden does more than do it justice. She annihilates it.
Word is that Worden likes to end her shows with this song but had never recorded it, so when Aaron and Bruce Dessner of The National were collecting songs for their Dark Was the Night compilation - the proceeds of which are going towards AIDS awareness - this song was one of the ones they knew they had to get. Thankfully, she agreed to donate it, which means that I can now listen to it whenever I want and often on a loop. (Sorry, husband.)
Since I'm still neck-deep in painfully poorly written rough drafts, I don't really have the finger mobility required to type very much at all. Thus, today you're getting get a song. Alright? Alright...
Fanfarlo is one of my favorite new bands, and I think you might like them too. They're London-based and sound a bit like David Byrne channeling Arcade Fire, so if that's the sort of thing that sounds interesting to you, then you might want to check them out. The album's called Reservoir, and it's fast become one of my favorite LPs to come out this year. It's too cool for school, kids. Observe:
I've always been more aware of Ben Kweller than I've ever been much of a fan; however, his newest album, Changing Horses, has changed all that around. He hails from Texas, so I suppose it's not too much of a surprise that he'd eventually try his hand at making a country album. The surprising thing is that I LOVE it. ...Me. The girl who hates most anything even remotely twangy. Who ever would have thunk it?
Anyway, Gram Parsons would be proud is my larger point.
I adore every single thing about Andrew Bird, so it's hardly a surprise that I love his newest endeavor, Noble Beast. As is his custom, the album is full of whistling, various stringed instruments and quirky lyrics, but it is a bit of a departure in that it feels a bit more accessible to a wider audience than much of his previous work has been. I must admit that I miss the epic, slow building ballads a bit, but it's a gorgeous album all the same. And while there's plenty to love here, "Effigy" is my current favorite.
(And, might I mention, it's worth seeing through to the end, since the end's the best part. His dreamy face that can serenade me with violins and la-da-das as often as it pleases!)
