Songs of the Week XXIII
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Matt Smith:
Jamie Berry - Sweet Rascal*
I will never have enough electroswing in my life, never. This is a new favorite of mine, what makes it so special is the vocals sound like they're coming from an old radio. Just a really great and unique song.
Passion Pit - Carried Away
If anyone can explain this song and video to me, it would be very much appreciated. I’ve known about this song for awhile now and keep finding it again hoping I can figure it out. Either way, really catchy song hope you enjoy.
Rehab - Bartender Song
The story of the unfortunate turn events for a country man. I just really like the feel and sound of this song.
Kyle Sousa:
Ray Charles - Georgia On My Mind
This song is a great song covered by many musicians, one of the most notable was the great Ray Charles
Sean Cox:
Foxy Shazam - Oh Lord
Fans of classic rock have found Foxy Shazam who reminds many of the days Queen and Rock n' Roll ruled. Some recognize lead singer Eric Nally from the recent Macklemore single, but the band that has disbanded was able to put out a few albums with track reminding many of the greatest rock anthems.
The Killers - Runaways
The Killers may have to take a spot as my favorite band of all time. Battleborn, Hot Fuss, Sam's Town, and yes, even Space Age hold a special place in my heart. This song is one of the more popular, and recognizable tracks from the band, which I could never grow tired of.
Edgar Castro:
Lisa Germano - Cancer of Everything
Cancer of Everything is one of the tamer songs off of Lisa Germano's Geek the Girl, a semi-autobiographical album concerning themes of physical and mental abuse, low self-esteem, and self-destructive tendencies. Cancer of Everything is notably more lighthearted than pretty much any other song on the album, being somewhat ambivalent in its mocking, self-deprecating tone. This tone sometimes goes past the lyrics and manifests itself in Germano's voice, which shifts to a more sarcastic tone when the speaker criticzes herself.
The most notable part of the song, though, is the violin playing that is a signature sound of Germano's songs. The song overall is your average slowcore fare, comparable to Red House Painters or Slowdive, but both the violin and Germano's vocals set this song and the rest of her music apart from the rest of the genre. Complimented by a very soft guitar and drums, Germano's violin playing gives off a very unique, sophisticated sound that's not often heard from similar songs of other artists.
Death in June - Touch Defiles
Death in June is one of the pioneering bands of the neofolk genre that lies at the intersection of post-punk and folk. The themes, and overall dark, brooding feel is very post-punk, but the prominent use of acoustic guitar and some of the vocals are more reminiscent of folk music, particularly that of Leonard Cohen. The tone of Touch Defiles and the other songs off of Brown Book (especially the title track) is very cultlike, featuring a dark atmosphere and echoing vocals that sometimes sound like they came from a cement basement that serves as a place of worship.
Touch Defiles is characterized by the very dark lyrics delivered by Douglas P., the band's lead singer and only constant member. The instrumentation and manner in which the vocals are delivered mirror their dark content, inheriting the characteristic heavy sound of post-punk while still utilizing the signature instrument of folk music. The lyrics concern the manipulation of the masses by a leader with ill intentions, suggested by the lyrics, "This war of emotion", and the subsequent knowledge of and reaction to that manipulation by the masses: "The passion / The devotion / The knowing / The nothing / The echoes / The names / The sadness / The blame".
Kurt Vile - Wakin on a Pretty Day
Wakin on a Pretty Day has a style very similar to that of your typical Sun Kil Moon song: laid back, meandering, and very long, talking about no one particular thing in great depth. Wakin on a Pretty Day, like Sun Kil Moon's Garden of Lavender, is a song about just living life and enjoying it without worrying too much about anything else. The very bendy guitars and calm tone of the entire song as well as Vile's calm voice suggest as much, too, as does the music video, a time lapse of street artists putting up what would later become the cover of Vile's album.
Demetri Cassidy:
A Silver Mt. Zion - Brothers! Sisters! Small Boats of Fire Are Falling From the Sky!
A Silver Mt. Zion is an art rock band from Montreal. It is worth noting that the group is formed mostly of members from Godspeed You! Black Emperor, a band Edgar and I have recommended in past articles. Unlike that band, this group is more experimental with their sound and style, not just sticking to the usual epic 20-minute compositions. Also, their song titles are strange. Like, very strange.
This song begins with an ambient sound that loops for nearly two minutes before violins start playing over the loop, From there, a piano is also thrown into the mix, along with some guitar noise which continues to get louder as the song goes on. These instruments combined help to give the song a very somber and melancholic atmosphere to it, something that Godspeed doesn't touch upon much in their music.
Panda Bear - I'm Not
Yeah, it's another side project of a band I talked about earlier. Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) is one of the lead vocalists and instrumentalists from the band Animal Collective. This comes from his 2007 solo album, Person Pitch, which is a very good album by the way. Thematically, the album is about dealing with struggles in life and having to make the best of the situations. This song is no exception to the album's formula. At the time of recording, Noah was expecting his first child, which serves the basis for this song. He describes how he's not ready to become a father, but he's still going to deal with it as time goes on. It's simple but very effective. Also, the instrumentals for this song are also worth mentioning as well. Noah took an obscure sample of a British choir, looped it for the entire song, drenched it in reverb, and added drums over the loop. As lazy as it kinda sounds, it makes the song so much better.
Connor Murphy:
Bleached - Next Stop
Reviving the sound of the 90s grunge girl band, Bleached barely even breaks the mold of said bands aside from the fact that they debuted in 2013 with their album "Ride Your Heart". However, despite their lack of originality, this grunge-pop group is charming to me, most likely for nostalgic reasons.
Masters of Reality - Rabbit One
Incredibly repetetive, yet somehow not boring, this Doors(and 60s psychedelic bands in general)-esque song is most likely only appealing to me for nostalgic reasons. There really isn't much lyrically or musicall interesting about this song other than the pairing of a laid back funk style background with traditional blues structured lyrics, which in itself is not that interesting because it was done before, and almost overdone in the 60s.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Biomusicology
This song fades in from the sound of an ocean to a peaceful synth melody. This is quickly replaced by the trademark clean electric guitar chords of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists' brand of punk rock. This is an ode to life in a raw, honest sense. The first verse, beginning with "Had we never come across / the vastness of pavement, / the barrenness of waves and / the grayness of the sea," asks the question "Haven't we always known life is pointless?" and proceeds to follow that up with "Sure, life is pointless but look at all that's wonderful." Later in the song, the lyrics follow up with "In the midst of all of the action / maybe only there found satisfaction," confirming the idea that life, when lived in a determined way, "we will ne'er be broken-hearted." The lyrics also feature references to a variety of poem, such as T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" and Robert Burns' "Ae Fond Kiss". Fantastic ode to life, and to living even when living gets hard. The music, almost punk rock but not quite, features many of TL/Rx's original sounds, but in a much more stripped down way than many of their other songs.
Meeghan Bresnahan:
The Cast of The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical - Tavern Song (Thai Mol Piyas)
I really like this song. It just sounds fun and festive. Besides Frollo in the background being a creep. Plus, you learn some Roma from it.
The Cast of The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical - Esmeralda
I love this song. The beginning is not as good as the end. Michael Arden comes in and then there's all the voice parts going together so perfectly and I get goosebumps because it's so amazing. And the very very ending is that musical thing that's in so many of the songsin the musicaland in the Disney movie too. The song itself, like the words, is actually pretty sad because Esmeralda didn't do anything wrong but Frollo is just a creep and why did Victor Hugo want to mess with my feelings this much. I swear some of the best musical songs actually have the worst plot.
The Cast of The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical - Someday
This song kills my soul. Because, like I said before, Esmeralda didn't do anything wrong. But Ciara Renèe kills it. They cut this song from the Disney movie too. Maybe because it's so sad but it's also so hopeful that this world will get better one day.
*Not on Spotify