I realize that it is in fact Tuesday, and not Monday. Just go with it.
I know I'm a bit behind the times with this, but over the weekend I finally watched the superb indie flick Once.
If you have never seen it, do so immediately. Then read about the filming process and the backgrounds of the two main characters and prepare to be even more amazed. Then buy the soundtrack. And then go see the Broadway show version that was recently nominated for 11 Tony awards (and take me with you!).
The soundtrack consists of all of the songs that are featured in the film, all written and composed by the two stars and real-life musicians of the movie, Glen Hansard and Marketa Iglova.
The song "Falling Slowly" won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for the 2008 Grammy award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture.
The soundtrack itself was also nominated for the 2008 Grammy award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture (I told you I was a little behind).
The songs are both beautiful and raw, combining Glen Hansard's powerful voice and guitar playing, and Marketa Iglova's soft vocals and extraordinary piano melodies.
The duo have also collaborated and recorded songs together under the name The Swell Season. Glen Hansard was also the lead vocalist for the band The Frames, has contributed on manycollaborationalbums, and is releasing a solo album next month; while Marketa Iglova recently released her own solo album. Together or on their own, these two create some magnificent music, although I don't think anything will be able to surpass their collaboration on this soundtrack.
Spoiler alert! If you don't feel like waiting, here is what is in store for next week: Animal Kingdom. Love.
This week I'm going to stray away from my usual indie-folk gobbledygook (yes, that is an actual word) and pass along another recommendation from this guy (he knows his stuff), for British punk-rock band, Sharks.
Drawing inspiration from the Brisith punk-rock band, The Clash, as well as others, these guys are helping to restore the good name of punk music.
Check out their debut full-length album, No Gods, described by Entertainment Focus as "...timeless melodies with an explosive edge tempered by intricate riffing and hypnotic harmonies. It's pure, poetic, and powerful."
There are many people who upon first hearing Sucré will
think “That voice sounds so familiar...” and for very good reason.
Sucré is a collaboration between Stacy King, one of the
talented DuPree siblings that compose the band Eisley; her husband Darren King,
the drummer for MuteMath; and Jeremy Larson, a talented multi-instrumentalist
and arranger. And it is indeed an extraordinary collaboration. Stacy, of
course, contributes her trademark melodic vocals, but the arrangements by
Jeremy Larson, with the addition of strings on almost all their songs just
takes it to a whole other level of magic.
Their first album, AMinor Bird, was released last week in conjunction with the kickoff of their
small tour (next time, make your way to the Northeast please!), and is already
getting a fair bit of attention.
Anyone who is a fan of Eisley will enjoy this more
sophisticated version. It’s music to fall asleep and dream to, as perfectly
evidenced by their music video for the song When
We Were Young.
You can download the first song off the album, Hiding Out, for free, right here.
Fun fact: I actually first learned of Sucré as a result of
Jeremy Larson’s wife, Elsie, who is pretty well-known herself for her shop and
blog. Check them out (you know, if you enjoy DIY, fashion, photography, and
recipes)!
I decided to play catch-up for music monday and fill you in on what I have been listening to so far this lovely spring we have been having (other than Mates of State).
Any of these artists/albums will clear out the winter cobwebs in your head and help to jumpstart your week.
The Shins - Port of Morrow
I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I forgot just how wonderful the Shins are. But I remembered pretty quickly with the recent release of their new album, Port of Morrow, their first in about five years.
This is a must-listen for any Shins fan or anyone looking for some new lazy, spring afternoon listening.
The Shins - Simple Song
Tennis
This husband-wife duo started making music together following a 7-month sailing expedition. It may just be my imagination, but their songs do tend to have a nautical feel...definitely worthy of a sunny spring or summer day. Especially if you're sailing!
Tennis - Origins
Band of Skulls - Sweet Sour
I recently became enthralled by Band of Skulls' 2009 debut album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, and have now become just as enthuthiastic about their sophmore album Sweet Sour. Their music reminds me of a grungier version of Arcade Fire (although feel free to disagree with me on that); great mix of rock and indie-folk.
Band of Skulls - Sweet Sour
The Head and the Heart
This indie-folk band from Seattle has a great mixture of instruments and strong vocals. Judging by the caliber of bands that they have opened for (My Morning Jacket, Iron & Wine, The Decembrists, The Low ANthem, and fellow Seattle-ites, Death Cab for Cutie) this is a band to keep your eye on.
The Head and the Heart - Down in the Valley
The Hunger Games (Songs from District 12 and Beyond)
The Hunger Games trilogy and film have certainly been causing a big stir lately in the pop-culture world, and one recent addition to the Hunger Games-mania is the album The Hunger Games (Songs from District 12 and Beyond), artists such as Arcade Fire, The Low Anthem, Maroon 5, The Civil Wars, The Decembrists, and a few other big names as well as up-and-comer's.
Whether or not you are a fan of the books and film, this is a great album featuring a variety of talented artists who all wrote original songs relating to the story of the books/movie.
Arcade Fire - Abraham's Daughter
Edith Piaf
If you have never had the pleasure of listening to this French icon's one-of-a-kind voice, then please correct this error immediately.
If you enjoy jazz music, then why not kick it up a notch with some French jazz?
Edith Piaf - La Vie en Rose
Gotye - Making Mirrors
I was a little hesitant about Gotye a few months ago, but after giving his sophmore album (another five year album gap) a couple of listens, I jumped on the bandwagon.
If you are looking for something fun and a little different, give this album a go.
The Paper Kites is a folk band (what can I say, I have a genre) from Melbourne, Australia, and I can not possibly think of names to better suit their band name or the title of their new EP Woodland.
Their songs conjure up images of running through fields and woods barefoot and free.
Their music videos live up to the pictures that their songs paint.
These songs will make you smile. You will also probably have the sudden urge to build a fort, explore the woods, fly a kite, and construct a tin-can phone.
And if you're looking for a playmate to talk to on the other end of the tin can in a fort in the woods...you know where to find me.
Okay, well, not a boy, but rather BOY, the German duo Valeska Steiner and Sonja Glass...another musical gem I discovered courtesy of You, Me, and Charlie.
These lovely ladies' debut album Mutual Friends is not yet available in the US, but that hasn't kept me from rummaging up every song of theirs that I could. And I love what I've found!
There's some songs that are boppy and delightfully catchy, like "Little Numbers"
I don't know about you, but I definitely want to start carrying around a mini piano with me everywhere I go.
Others, are insightful and relatable, but still beautifully catchy, like "Army" and "Skin".
But I think my favorite thing about many of their songs, like "Waitress" and "Drive Darling" is that they express a lot of the same sentiments that I have about life right now too. Songs about trying to find yourself as you make that transition into the real world, setting off on your own, and waiting for your life to really start.
These lovely songstresses write beautiful songs that I think just about everyone can relate to, or at the very least will make you smile.
I'm "waiting for things to explode" for these gals when the rest of the world gets a taste of their music!
Have you ever heard of Lissie? Well, you should, cause she is awesome. She's totally taking names and making a name for herself.
She is (as I'm starting to notice most of the artists that I feature are) a folk-rock singer who has found indie-fame with both her 2010 album, Catching a Tiger, which manages to be eclectic, upbeat, and sweetly forlorn all at the same time, and her 2011 covers EP, Covered Up With Flowers, which features live covers from Kid Cudi to Metallica to Lady GaGa.
Look and listen!!
I can't wait to see what Lissie produces for her next album that will be released this year!
It’s certainly not a secret how much I enjoy jazz and “big-band” music; Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Etta James, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra...I could listen to them and only them for the rest of my life.
I also love Paris and the fact that many of these artists spent time in that magickal city and their music was influenced by those times.
I recently watched Midnight in Paris (wonderful, watch it if you haven’t yet) and probably fell in love with the soundtrack more than I did with the actual film!
What other movie scores and soundtracks are just as wonderful as the film?
There is something very bittersweet about January; no holiday season to look forward to anymore, but a perfect time for fresh starts, new beginnings, and quiet clarity.
And with that unsolicited moment of reflection, I'm going back to my weekly New Music Monday posts.
Ben Howard is a "indie-folk" singer-songwriter from Devon England. I recently learned of him from the my favorite-est website of all time (that I will tell you about tomorrow), and instantly fell in adoration with his voice (very James Morrison-esque), and simply the feel of his music.
I love how he seems so gosh-darn happy
His album, Every Kingdom, has great variety, from serene and mysterious, to stirring and heartening.
I know that I technically already talked about this, but I can not help it, I just keep listening to Mylo Xyloto from start to finish, over and over again. I never tire of it.
When you listen to the album in its entirety, you can feel the story behind the songs. You experience the struggle of love in a time of hardship and the hope for a brighter future.
Not many bands and artists commit to the tall-order of making a concept album anymore. But Coldplay did, and they did it in such a way that is truly tremendous.
Also, I love all of the Peter Pan references. Simply another way in which these songs fly you to another world.
Fall brings many a’wondrous thing. Leaves changing colors, pumpkins and apples galore, snuggle-y weather, and some great new music releases. Rather than featuring the latest artist I have been listening, I thought I would mention my favorite new albums from some of my already-favorite artists. So here you go (in no particular order):
Feist – Metals
Feist is probably most widely known for the hit “1234” from her 2007 album, The Reminder, which was featured on a popular iPod Nano commercial. If you are looking for another “1234”-type song, this album isn’t for you. If you are looking for an even more soulful album than the 2007 hit, you have come to the right place.
Having been recorded on a cliff in Big Sur, it almost seems as if the ocean winds have seeped into Metals. Some songs are bare and simple with just Feist’s sweet voice and a guitar, others consist of rising melodies, percussion, and strings. Each song on its own takes you on a journey, one that you don’t really want to come back from, but woven together, the album takes you straight to those famous rocky cliffs, and let’s you stay there. But my favorite song, by far, is Cicadas and Gulls. Described as “the early morning song”, it is a song for sunrises and sweet goodbyes.
It is clear by Metals that Feist’s continuing evolution as an artist means that we can only expect increasingly wonderful music from her.
blink-182 – Neighborhoods
Anyone who was over the age of 8 in the 90’s has a strong fondness for blink-182. Their music was a late 90’s staple, hands-down one of the defining bands for that time period. Since then, these guys have been through a lot while on an indefinite (now finite) hiatus, including side-projects and a plane crash.
Now back and raring to go with the album Neighborhoods, it’s clear that I’m not the only one who did some growing-up since the last blink album. This album showcases the best of the boys that we knew and loved years ago, but it has a more mature sound than what we’ve seen from them in the past.
Welcome back to the neighborhood. It was worth the wait.
Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto
Do I really need to explain this one?
It’s Coldplay.
It’s Coldplay doing a concept album.
It’s Coldplay doing a “love story with a happy ending” in a “dystopian-urban environment” concept album.
It’s Coldplay doing a “love story with a happy ending” in a “dystopian-urban environment” concept album, inspired by 1970’s New York City graffiti.
It’s Coldplay doing a “love story with a happy ending” in a “dystopian-urban environment” concept album, inspired by 1970’s New York City graffiti, that just dropped today and I’m already in love.
What more explanation do you need?
Oh, okay, fine, here:
I think Rollingstone put it best when it described the album as "a bear-hug for bear-market society".
She & Him – A Very She & Him Christmas
Again, this was just released today and I feel that there is no greater explanation for its wonderfulness other than the fact that it is Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward singing Christmas songs. I’m a particular fan of the good ol’ classics on here: “Have Yourself and a Merry Little Christmas” and “The Christmas Song”
Let me reiterate: Zooey. Singing. Christmas Songs.
If you are one of those people right now saying either a. “But it’s October” or b. “I hate Christmas music”. I challenge you here and now to listen to the album first, then you can go ahead be a Grinch all you want
Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials
Okay, this one I am kind of cheating on since it doesn’t come out for another week still.
But, but, but I have already listened to “Shake It Out” and “What the Water Gave Me” about 100 times each already!
Florence Welch can do no wrong in my eyes. Lungs is hard to beat, but I will not be surprised if Ceremonials blows it out of the water. Then I can say the water gave me lungs (yea, I don’t know either…just go with it).
Honorable Mentions: Jack’s Mannequin’s People and Things (Andrew McMahon I will always cherish our time together, but you lost me along the way somewhere), MuteMath’s Odd Soul (good, but perfect example of a band that is failing to really evolve with each record), and Ryan Adams’ Ashes and Fire (simply on here because I heard it’s great, I just have listened to it yet)
What new albums have you heard and loved this fall?
Another Monday. Another awesome little lady from overseas. Denmark to be exact.
Agnes Obel’s debut album Philharmonics was released in several European countries one year ago, and it only took 4 months for it to become a certified Double-Platinum album. Shortly after that, Agnes Obel made her US debut.
What drew me in when I first heard her song Riverside (on Revenge…which you need to see if you haven’t yet) was how haunting both her voice and piano melodies were. Haunting in such a beautiful way that it was almost reminiscent of a lullaby…but it was like a grown-up lullaby.
I was not disappointed when I listened to all of the other songs on Philharmonics since they all have that same simple, but lingering, feel to the melodies and lyrics. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that several songs on the album are simply instrumental pieces featuring only the piano.
This became very fitting after I later learned that Agnes herself has said: “I put a long time before writing texts because the music seems to tell already a story, to project images….The piano and the singing are two equal things to me – maybe not inseparable but very connected. You can say they are like two equal voices."
And I do find that both her voice and her piano are equal voices, coming together to tell one story in her songs. Even her instrumental pieces seem to communicate her message better than most words could.
To me, this album is a wonderful example of what music is at its core: A way to tell a story and share a sentiment using your melodies, your voice, and your words.
Laura Marling is a folk singer from across the pond.
She's been making a name for herself in England since before she was even old enough to go in the clubs where she performed.
So it shouldn't be a surprise that she has three full-studio albums and she is only 21 years old, but every time I listen to her wise-beyond-her-years lyrics, I have to remind myself.
I also have to remind myself that I'm not listening to Joni Mitchell. The similarity in voice between the two folk singers, one renowned and the other just starting to be introduced to the world, is astounding in my opinion.
But don't just take my word for it. Listen for yourself.
