Song of the Day: September 15th

Shearwater: "La Dame et la Licorne" from Palo Santo
Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg has an amazing voice. There's no debating that; it's a piercing, pure voice that can't be compared to any other vocalist because it's so unique, only words like sharp, searing, soaring can describe it. But one of the reasons that it is so spectacular is that the band know so perfectly how to use it; in the beginning of his voice starts as a gentle purr over a light piano chords, but suddenly it explodes over the top, then just as rapidly, it returns back to gentle slowly building towards a massive closing crescendo. The piano mirrors the vocals, growing louder and more decisive in its chords; which is really the thing with Meiburg's vocals, they're another instrument.
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Live video

Song of the Day: September 14th

Broken Social Scene: "Anthems for a 17 Year Old Girl" from You Forgot it in People
For a bunch of people in their twenties or older, Broken Social Scene nail the feelings of teenager pretty well here, but it's the style at which they are delivered that really drives things home; Emily Haines' wavering, effects laden vocals display the indecision of youth and the gentle repetition of "park that car, drop that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me" begins slowly, but then reaches an unbelievable height of intensity. The song is basically a banjo an strings with a little percussion, which create a light background that Haines' voice fills like a instrument in itself. The song maybe folkish, but the melody is pure pop. Which suits a band like Broken Social Scene, which has never done what it was supposed to.
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Live version!

Playing for Change

Playing for Change is a project that covers "peace" songs using separately recorded musicians from around the world. If that doesn't make any sense, just watch their video of Bob Marley's "War/No More Trouble" and try to ignore Bono ruining it.

The version of "Stand by Me" is also highly recommended.

Song of the Day: September 12th

Belle & Sebastian: "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying"
from If You're Feeling Sinister
For a songwriter with some of the best one liners in music, Stuart Murdoch really out does himself on this song. From the very first line through the whole song, Murdoch is very self-aware, something more songwriters need to be: "nobody writes them like they used to, so it may as well be me", "think of it this way, you could either be successful or be us" and that's just in the first couple lines. He shifts gears from self-referential to fantastical, telling a fairy tale: "Said the hero in the story, 'it is mightier than swords, I could kill sure but I could only make you cry with these words'". Each line is painstakingly crafted to lead into the next continuing the winding story; usually in songwriting you get great one liners or a great story, Murdoch does the rare and has both.
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Great live version

Beck covering Leonard Cohen

Currently on Beck's website (beck.com) there are two covers of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" and "Master Song" (both originally from Cohen's Songs of Leonard Cohen) and while there's nothing groundbreaking here, it's a pretty fun listen as one of the most interesting musicians around covers one of the best songwriters ever. These are part of the "Beck's Record Club" series that already covered The Velvet Underground & Nico and Skip Spence's Oar and apparently intend to cover all of Songs... too. Beck's band this time includes MGMT, Devandra Banhart, and members of Wolfmother and Little Joy. They update with a new song every Thursday.

Song of the Day: September 11th

The Magnetic Fields: "I Wish I Had an Evil Twin" from i
Stephin Merritt likes to write about fantasies; namely songs about people who want to act out of their situation ("The Nun's Litany", "Busby Berkley Dreams", "Love in the Shadows") and his crowning achievement in this department is this song. No other song I've ever heard more clearly or blatantly expresses repressed human emotion. Who, at some point in their life, wishes they could act with responsibly? Who doesn't want to punch some person they dislike, or talk confidently to a girl they're nervous around? Now some of these feelings are not something we should be experiencing, but we all have them and lines like "sometimes the good life wears thin, I wish I had an evil twin... all men would writhe beneath his scythe" while violent, shows clearly just how despicable humans can be when they get worn down by this world. The gentle stings and plunking keyboards make the song seem ever more consumed with and under current of suppressed frustration and rage.
Watch live!

New Clinic song: "The Lion Tamer"

Vintage keyboard obsessed garage rock band Clinic has released a new song "The Lion Tamer" as part of the Mass Freakout Sampler for the eponymous concert series. The song which features distorted vocals backed by Clinic's typical face paced rhythms, muddy guitar and prominent use of synthasizers. The song has a very low-fi early garage rock feel to it. Clinic is one of those bands that will change the production values and feel of their songs a lot, but the keep the same general style to their music.
Due to how it was released it's impossible to tell if it's part of a new release or not. Stay tuned!
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Song of the Day: September 9th

Akron/Family: "I'll Be On the Water/Running Returning" from Akron/Family
Today I'm cheating a little and doing two songs that appear back to back on Akron/Family's self-titled debut. Though one leads into the other, both musically and lyrically, so well that they really could be considered two parts of the same song.
"I'll Be On the Water" musically is very simple, it's a simple lo-fi acoustic line with ambient bird and wave noises that build ups up into the twangy banjo and clattering, rattling percussion of "Running, Returning". Lyrically, the first song is about realizing you're in love with someone, though written in typically bizarre Akron/Family style ("thinking of you, there's lightning bolts in my chest") while "Running, Returning" is about realizing just how much you love them ("love is on it's way, and it's more than I can see"). That's what's so interesting about the songs, not just how beautiful the music is, but that the songs actually continue not a story, but an emotion. And the band doesn't even bring attention to it, it's simply there. This isn't some prog-rock opera about a robot that thinks it's a human and falls in love with a cat, it's a progression of emotion, of feeling.
Listen: "I'll Be On the Water"
Listen: "Running, Returning"
Bonus: Amazing video of a live version of "Running, Returning" set to a mirrored scenes from Bambi. I know it sounds weird, but it's awesome.

New Los Campesinos! song

"The Sea is a Goof Place to Think of the Future" is a new song from Los Campesinos!, presumable from their already completed, as yet to be titled next album due to be released in early 2010. Though it's entirely possible this is a leftover that won't actually appear on the album, since the band has been know to do that (see: "The International Tweexcore Underground", "How I Taught Myself to Scream").

As for the song... It's interesting. They've slowed down a bit, though they still yell and shred a little at the end, for the most part it's much slower and subdued. Lyrically they're also a little different, less tongue in cheek humorous and more dark and serious. While I'd hate to see them go this direction significantly, they do it pretty well and one or two songs would be nice as a change of pace.

Song of the Day: September 8th

The Avalanches: "Frontier Psychiatrist" from Since I Left You
The Avalanches are collage artists, and "Frontier Psychiatrist" is their masterwork. All their songs seamlessly blend together different samples from countless different sources, most of which no one has ever heard of, which separates them from most other sample happy party artists. This song however, is a different creature than any of their other songs, the music aspect is much like their other songs; sampled beats, strings, horns, and guitars form the background to an insane string of couple word spoken samples so you get a wacko lines like "he was white as a sheet" read by what sounds like some children's book author followed by "and also made false teeth" by some 50s actor. It's just and insane collage of wacky audio samples stuck together perfectly into a coherent song. Throw in horse noises and gunshots and an amazing vinyl scratch breakdown of bird and parrot noises and you've got the craziest sample based song ever. And also the best.
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Song of the Day: September 7th

Animal Collective: "The Purple Bottle" from Feels
"The Purple Bottle" is a love song. And since it's written and performed by Animal Collective, it's a love song quite unlike any other. The interesting thing about the song is just how genuine it is, there's real happiness and joy in this song. From the gigglish "do da do do do do's" to lines like "I talk too much about you" and "I've got a big big big big heart beat, I think you're the sweetest thing" speak of a real love, but also a childlike love. Or perhaps I'm mistaking childlike love for a innocent love. A love not complicated by adult issues, but all about what love should be about: you and your love sharing life together.
Musically the band's style uses their signature rhythm driven sound with rapid click and thumping from the percussion with dreamy guitar bubbling over the top. The band again uses vocals as an instrument, with chanting and a closing vocal breakdown freakout. By that kind of stuff is to be expected with Animal Collective.
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Song of the Day: September 6th

Portishead: "Sour Times" from Dummy
This is a song that hard to forget, which is odd because it's so unassuming. A simple hip-hop beat, a creeping, and slight guitar are all that's really there musically, but perhaps the reason the song is so unforgettable is because of Beth Gibbons. Gibbons mirrors her band in that she, while a phenomenal vocalist, is somewhat unassuming, she doesn't stand out style or talent wise, but the emotion and inflection she puts in her delivery is out of this world. This especially, she really takes things to another level, when she sings "nobody loves me", it sounds like she's really feeling depressed, but then you hear the next verse "like you do" and she genuinely sounds in love. This song, for how simple it appears on the surface, is a complex experience to take in.
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Song of the Day: September 5th

The National: "You've Done it Again Virginia" from Lit Up
Matt Berninger has never been known as cheerful songwriter; he's made his living writing dark, self-deprecating songs about losers and lost loves but "You've Done it Again Virginia" is perhaps his saddest song. It tells of a real tragedy, not heartbreak, but something that really destroys you're life: hopelessness and alcoholism. As the title character Virginia tries to navigate the labyrinths of adult life and love she becomes increasingly desperate and lonely and more and more reliant one alcohol. After a failed date she goes home and consuls herself with drink; eventually her life devolves into nothing but stagnate lifelessness: "if you had another wish to wish, you'd be fun and moving" and blame and self-loathing: "Well you've done it again Virginia, made another masterpiece... how does it feel to be you?".
You may think that when your boyfriend or girlfriend says something mean to you, it's a tragedy, but it's important to have perspective about what real tragedy is and how it can destroy lives, and how important caring and love is. You never know what state someone may be in inside.
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Song of the Day: September 4th

Iron & Wine and Calexico: "16, Maybe Less" from In the Reins
Calexico and Sam Beam were made for each other; both excel in creating music that makes an unobtrusive background that meshes perfectly with the vocals, enhancing them instead of distracting from them. Calexico simply does this on a larger scale with a full band, while Beam does it with just a guitar. As a backing band here, Calexico create a murky country-folk soundscape that fits the songs references to trees and ponds perfectly. Twangy electric and acoustic slide mix with shimmering pedal steel flow over John Convertino's signature hollow drums seamlessly.
Lyrically, the song is one of Beam's best because it's one of the few times he drops his poetic, hyper-literate shtick and writes true human emotions in traditional, American folk song style. The song bleeds regret and nostalgia as Beam begins relating a story of first love, but then changes gears to the climax of the song... "I met my wife at a party when I drank too much, my son is married and tells me we don't talk enough, call it predictable, yesterday my dream was of you". In truly heartbreaking fashion, he contrasts the innocence of youth and the complex sadness of adulthood. The message is this: love is simple and joyful as a child, complex and painful as an adult.
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Best albums of 2009 (so far...)

20. Clark: Totems Flare
19. Woods: Songs of Shame
18. The Pains of Being Pure of Heart
17. Patrick Wolf: The Bachelor
16. The Decemberists: The Hazards of Love
15. The XX: XX
14. Dinosaur Jr: Farm
13. Wild Beasts: Two Dancers
12. Bibio: Ambivalence Avenue
11. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
10. The Antlers: Hospice
09. Circulatory System: Signal Morning
08. Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs
07. Mos Def: The Ecstatic
06. Annie: Don't Stop
05. Fever Ray
04. Camera Obscura: My Maudlin Career
03. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It's Blitz!
02. Mew: No More Stories...
01. The Twilight Sad: Forget the Night Ahead

Click here for brief write ups.