Album Feature: It's a Wonderful Life

SPARKLEHORSE! I love Sparklehorse, and this album was the album sparked my undying love for them. I knew Danger Mouse really liked them, and I had a song I liked by them, and DM was all into this record so I thought I'd check it out from the library. I had no idea I would totally devour the album and hold it so close to my heart as I do now. I didn't get into it right away, which is what normally happens with great albums, I thought it was a bit slow and didn't suit me too well. I really don't know where my change of heart came from. I just remember the perfect rainy Seattle day and sitting in my room as the whole album played through and I just toally vibed out with it. It's one of those albums that really gets in your head and changes your mood. I get a really wierd feeling when I listen this album, almost like depression, but I'm happy. I really can't describe it, but that's how good this album is!
The mix of lo-fi and high quality recording is perfect, Mark Linkous knows what sounds good and how to get that sound. It starts with the self-titled track which can be equally sad as it can be happy (it's funny like that). It's a little funny at first listen, or it was for me. I couldn't really get into it, probably because it was just so different, but now that's the reason I love that song, there's no other song I've ever heard that sounds at all like it. Then it jumps into the most likely single on the album, Gold Days which also has that happy-or-sad thing going on, but way more poppy with a great instrument called the Mellotron, which totally brings many Sparklehorse songs to life. Every song on this album is great, and features great cameos from PJ Harvey (Piano Fire) and Tom Waits (Dog Door, Morning Hollow) and just amazing production.
The funny thing is, I've noticed when people talk about Sparklehorse they usually talk about every album but this one. It's usually about the simple poppy sound on the first record, or the really eclectic sounding Good Morning Spider, or raving about how great the new album is, but no one really gives the album much attention, which is a shame because in my oppinion it's definitely the most beautiful album, and it's the album that flows the best, song to song. Although it's a good amount darker and more depressing than his other albums, I think that's why it's so good, and I think Mark does the best writing sad and dark music.
I'll give you a few songs to sample from the album, but I highly reccomend that you buy it, it's worth it in the long run.

It's a Wonderful Life
Gold Days
Piano Fire
Eyepennies (sorry about the skipping sound)
Dog Door
King of Nails (Video)

Buy It's a Wonderful Life (You can get a used copy for only 4 bucks!)
And here is an awesome Sparklehorse fansite.

Uninspired

I'm starting to get why it's difficult to post daily, and I understand why a lot more people don't do it. But I'm trucking on with it. Here are some songs I've been enjoying as of late:

Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
Lavender Diamond - Rise in Springtime
Eliott Smith - Christian Brothers
David Bazan - Bands With Managers (Daytrotter Session)
Madvillain - Fancy Clown

Wednsday Rarities

Ok, here are more random songs that aren't really released or are just hard to find or whatever. I'm feeling lazy so I'm not going to write a lot.







Sparklehorse - Return To Me (Live)
I don't know where this was but the qualitiy is really good. They totally re-worked it live. Sounds great.

Built to Spill - Rearrange
It's new. They just released a single, so... yeah, that's what this song is.

Architecture in Helsinki - Heart it Races (YACHT's Should I coo Mix)
I'm not that familiar with them still but I love this song a lot and I love Yacht.

Damien Jurado - Pink Moon (Nick Drake Cover)
mmm... Damien is so good.

Cloud Cult - Mr. Tambourine Man (Live at KEXP)
What an amazing cover. Seriously, if you didn't know you probably couldn't tell it was live. It's on the upcoming Live at KEXP Volume 3 which you should check out here: www.kexp.org. I'm glad this is finally getting released.
Also you should listen to KEXP.

Eye <3 Hip Hop

Time for my lengthy hip-hop post. This is the most I'll have written in a blog I think. For the longest time this year I wasn't really listening to as much Hip-Hop. Nothing grabbed my attention, and I pretended I was still a hip-hop junky by just listening to Atmosphere and MF Doom from time to time (not to say there's anything wrong with listening to them). But just the other night, I put on Danger Mouse and Jemini's Ghetto Pop Life and everything came back. I spent a good few hours in my room digging through my favorite from Wu-Tang, Lyrics Born, Blackalicious and Jurassic 5. I got the soul back! I was so happy, and I still am. I feel like a got a part of me back that was missing awhile.
If you're not really into hip-hop or one of those people who don't listen to it, like at all then I'm aiming to totally change your mind and open your eyes to show you how beautiful it can really be. Sample everything here and listen to it very closely.
I feel a lot of the hip-hop I hear now isn't really hip-hop. It's good but it's strayed away from the real soul of the music is gone. Don't get me wrong, I like Bus Driver and Spank Rock a lot but i feel like they just took parts of hip-hop and pushed it into another subgenre, but I stand behind them 100 percent because artists like them are really pushing music forwards. But I'm here to talk about the real traditional style of MC and DJ Hip-Hop.
I'll start with the first hip-hop album I ever bought, Jurassic 5's "Quality Control". This album changed my life. I heard the Influence and it was something entirely new. Until then all I had heard was Eminem and whatever other shit was playing at the end of the 90's. I was into good hip-hop before I was into good other music. My favorite bands were Linkin Park, Black Eyed Peas (yeah, I loved Elephunk. Wierd.), Jurassic, and Slipknot. I was an odd kid. But that's not the point, the point is Quality Control is still one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever. From front to back the one thing that this album has most is soul and flavor. You can tell by their energy how passionate all members in the group are. The flows are so nice, the 4 MC's compliemnt eachother perfectly and the chemistry is excellent. Here are some of my favorite tracks off that album.
The Influence
Great Expectations
Monkey Bars

Now instead of going on about sperate albums I'm just going to throw down a ton of tracks and talk about those

Lyrics Born - Do That There (Young Einstein Remix)
Oh my lord! Do you hear what he's saying? LB is one of the best MC's of all time, I think. He can sing and rap and he's got some ridiculous lines. This song doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but that doesn't matter. This is him just getting loose and having fun. I recomend you read the lyrics along with the song, it makes it about 10 times more fun. He can cover just about anything, check the Last Trumpet if you don't know already.


Danger Mouse and Jemini - The Only One
This isn't that old, but to me it screams "classic". This kind of song is timeless. That bassline hooks me everytime and then when the verse busts out it gets so live. According to wikipedia they're working on another album which would be great. While Danger Mouse gets around, this is Jemini's only major release, which is a shame because he's got a great style.

Blackalicious - Make You Feel That Way
If this track doesn't make you feel good I don't know what will. For a lot of people I know this is one of the tracks that made them realize hip-hop isn't always as the media portrays it. Plus Gift of Gab is one of my favorite MC's around. To appreciate his raw talent here's a link for the lyrics so you can read a long with the song. Lyrics

Atmosphere - Between the Lines
Atmosphere is also a great gateway drug. They did the Warped Tour and hooked all the angsty teens. Slug's at his best when he's telling stories, which is why this is one of my favorite tracks ever. There's a really powerful theme in the three stories in this song. Plus the beat is nice. Lyrics

The Roots - Act Too (Love of My Life)
Things Fall Apart is the best Roots album in my opinion and this is the best song off that album, so by definition this is my favorite Roots song. Ft. Common. The whole album has a really amazing vibe and groove to it, the production soudns so clean and amazing. I really wish they kept pumping out albums like this.

Well I didn't write as much as I thought I would. I hope you enjoyed this because starting now there's going to be lots more variety in my music posts, and probably more hip-hop.

On another note, I just want to boast about how I will be seeing Wu-Tang Clan at Bumbershoot this year (also Lyrics Born)! I am so excited you don't even know. The whole thing will be a blast, and I will report back with a very long blog recapping the whole three days.

I'm feeling electric!

Today I was going to do a hip-hop related blog, cause I was in my room last night totally digging into Wu-Tang and Lyrics Born, but I find it's easier to blog about what you're listening to at the moment and today I've been really digging electro type grooves and stuff along the lines of Daedelus and J Dilla. Chill out music. Pretty straight forward, I'm just toing to talk about songs I like and why.


J Dilla - Nothing Like This
Jay Dee is one hell of a producer. I can't say I get into all of his stuff, and while his death is tragic I feel he's been overhyped a little. For me each song is hit or miss with him. This song is a huge hit with me. I don't even know where the vocals come from or if they're even sampled but they sound great. One of my favorite things about this track is how it has two vibes going on at once (atleast for me). The pounding drums get me really hyped and vamped up, while the instrumentation in the background is totally soothing. Thank you Stones Throw.
Buy Chrome Children.

Sia - Breathe Me (Ulrich Schnaus Remix)
One of the bonus tracks of Sia's solo album. The originals good but the two remixes I feel are better (the other's a Four Tet remix). Not too much to say here, it's just a cool track. Very cinimatic.
Buy the Colour and the Shape

Madvillain - Great Day (Four Tet Remix)
I've already talked about MF Doom a few times I think. Madvillainy is my favorite hip-hop album ever. This tracks not on there... Whatever. Madvillain's great. THis remix is great. Four Tet is cool. This song has one of my favorite Doom lines ever, just listen for it:
"Last wish, I wish I had two more wishes
And I wish they fix the door to the Matrix, its mad glitches
Spit so many verses sometime my jaw twitches
One thing this party could use is more *ahem*
Booze."
Buy Madvillainy


Daedelus - Something Bells (ft. Pigeon John and Busdriver)
This track is so nuts! I can't stop listening to it. Pigeon John and Busdrivers flows are so different but they work together like lemonade and summer... or other stuff that make the other really good. They go in and out so much you lose track of who's who. And the instrumental, don't even get me started. I have a hard time describing music, and this track's especially hard to capture, but I think that's a good thing. I guess I'd have to call it frantic, but maintained, whatever that means.
Buy Deny the Day's Demise

Caribou - Melody Day
I just heard about Caribou yesterday from my pla Justin, but I've already listened to this track a lot. He was hyped about this song Sunsesame, which I couldn't find, but I got this one and it's pretty great. Apparantly it came out this year... I'll check these guys out more, for sure, especially cause they're coming to town in October.
Buy Andorra

Also, Alex showed me this song by Honeyroot that I've been really getting into lately. Head over to his blog for it, it's really rea: bekindandremind.blogspot.com
That's all for today.

Local Music

Happy one week anniversary! I made it this far, hopefully we'll be celebrating our annual anniversary. I don't see why not.
Today I was looking back at some of the songs I posted and realized they were all probably from guys you've heard of before. I really hoped I'd venture into unknown musical territories with this blog and introduce you to new music. So I'm going to talk about some music from Seattle that you may not know about. No Built to Spill or Death Cab or any of those big guys. I hope you like.

First up
BOAT: I was going to do this blog today on just BOAT because I love them so much and haven't been able to stop listening to them this past week. I saw them a week ago at the Vera Project for the release of their new CD "Let's Drag Our Feet!" and they were stellar (that's also where the picture at the top came from). Super poppy and catchy with loads of hooks in every song. I'm cathing them again at this years Capitol Hill Block Party (which you can expect a lengthy blog afterwards, on the festival with pictures and MP3's. Oo boy, I'm excited). Without further ado here are some songs:
Greasedip Hairlip
The Fercious Sounds of Lobsters and Snakes
Elephant Ears
Buy Let's Drag Our Feet!


Velella Velella: I saw them live at new years a few years back and downloaded what I could. I'll admit I haven't bought their CD yet. I probably should, cause they're really good. For the most part they're instrumental with dancey and ambient instrumentation and some of the coolest bass licks around. Live they have a gazillion intruments on stage and they're always passing things back and forth. They get some crazy sounds that I really dig.
Hey Cuz
Alex Boom Selector
Do Not Fold/Do Not Bend
Buy Bay of Biscay


Natalie Portman's Shaved Head: These guys have been getting a lot of hype around town for awhile. Another band I'm catching at this year's Capitol hill Block Party, and Bumbershoot for that matter. Goofy and dancey to the max. These guys bring the heat, their live shows are so fun. If you like fun and dancing (and who doesn't?) then you'll love these guys. It's pretty wierd actually, my brother and the guitarist, David Price, were really close friends in elemntary and middle school and we're still really good friends with their family, and I watch their hosue and dogs while the family's out of town. They just recently picked up a record deal and are working on a full length debut. Expect to hear about them soon, they are rising stars.
Unfortunately there's no where to buy their music right now, but here are some MP3's.
Beard Lust (Demo)
Doing Coke (Demo)
Sophisticated Side Ponytail (Demo)


Tiny Vipers: Not that familiar with her still, but I saw her awhile ago, and I'm seeing her again pretty soon. She plays really original music with just an acoustic guitar, but I wouldn't call her Singer-songwriter. Her songs have really big and vague themes that she says aren't personal. I always imagine mythology when I listen to her music, which is probably not what any of the songs are about, but to me that's waht my brain clicks to. Sub Pop just put out her debut which you can buy here. Here's some demos.
Shipwreck
They Might Follow You

On another note, I just got a new sidebar thing up of some of the other blogs that I read. You've probably heard of a few, but I really recomend Be Kind and Remind. It's my pla Alex's and we're both struggling for readers... I bet we have the exact same readers, but whatever. He advertised for me, so I thought I would return the favor. But besides him cool, his blog's really great also.

I hope I give you a cabby.

What's a cabby? I know you're wondering that. It's a word we were trying to describe the feeling you get when you shiver, but it's a good kind of shiver. The kind of shiver you get after you it's really cold and you get in bed under a blanket and get all toasty, or, I always get babby's from really powerful songs that make me feel good. When people say "this song gives me the shivers" they're talking about a cabby! I hope you understand what I'm talking about.
So to stress my point furhter I'm going to post 6 songs that give me huuuuuge cabby's and explain how I feel when I listen to them so maybe you can come closer to understanding the wonderful feelings that come from cabby's.
Listen to these songs LOUD

Björk - Joga
This song is so huge. Björk probably gave me the most cabby's that I ever got at a show. Even though I was very very far back and couldn't see much the music was just so epic, I just got so many goosebumps. This song is questionably her best in my oppinion.
Buy Homogenic

Wolf Parade - I'll Believe Anything
One of my all time favorite songs. It's so loud and rambunctious, I always crank this song up when I'm alone in my room and march around screaming along to the words. Once the loud part kicks in that's when the cabby comes. When I'm on the bus and listening to my headphones I'm sure I get a few stares when I listen to this song, because it's just about impossible not to move when I listen to this song.
Buy Apologies to the Queen Mary

Pixies - Where is My Mind
I don't love the Pixies as much as a lot of people, but I still think they're pretty gosh darn good. I remember watching that Coachella documentary and when the Pixies stepped on and played this song. Evenn on DVD the effect on me was huge. Seeing a crowd full of people cooing "ooo-ooo". That is probably the greatest cabby I've ever experienced. I lay on my couch just laughing cause it was so good. It lasted almost the whole song! It was amazing.
Buy Surfer Rosa

Vast Aire and MF Doom - Super Friends (Edan Remix)
Oh I love me some Doom. MF Doom is easily one of my favorite MC's, up there with Gift of Gab and Lyrics Born. I actually haven't heard the original of this track, but I don't think it can be better than this remix. Edan's beat is just so great, it sounds a little jazzy but noisy and electronic.

The Cure - Mint Car
This is one of the happiest songs ever. Another song that makes me look wierd when I listen to my headphones because I usually start running and jumping with happiness.
Buy Galore

Zero 7 - Speed Dial no. 2
The melodies on this song are just perfect. I think a lot of people are nervous about Zero 7 because it's too poppy and seems like... I don't know any adult contemporary artists, but whatever, this song is great. as I said in my previous post, this whole album is amazing. Get it.
Buy When It Falls


Are you getting a cabby? Do you even know what I'm talking about anymore? If you have any further questions about cabby's just send me a comment and ask me about it.