overload…
I've spent the last four hours in frantic overload, discovering or rediscovering the following little pieces of heaven on earth:
And I'm finding the Blogger "New Post" procedure to be far too cumbersome to post the hundred thousand sweetnesses I've found this morning. I'm going to go breathe now and I will return later to share the finds...
Meanwhile, enjoy the links...
ukelele…
So here's an interesting find I came across while making a "world" music mix for my friend Boone. (It's a protest mix against the label "world" being used to encompass literally (no pun) a world of music)...
Anyway, from Hawaii, I bring you the (late) Israel Kamikawiwo'ole, playing a "Somewhere Over The Rainbow + What A Wonderful World" medley live...
o.c.m.s.
I don't care what the fags say... There ain't nothing like a banjo. Unless it's a mandolin... But we'll save Chris Thile for a later post. I think these guys are awfully listen-able... Classic instrumentation, good vocal harmonies. And refrains penned by Dylan.
Plus they're trés cute...
Check them out at La Zona Rosa in Austin next Saturday, if you're so inclined...
To avoid any confusion, Mr. Thile is definitely trés cute, too...
meta
Fair warning, fair readers: if you're the owner of a BlogSpot blog, "upgrading your template" when prompted is easy. So easy, in fact, it's easy to make very hard. Especially at 4AM, before you've finished your first cup of coffee. It might make some...of us...want to cry.
This is true, even if your coffee has an extra jolt, like the morning dew currently in my pot.
Fair warning...
i’m (back) from barcelona…
Here's the song, provided to you from the arguably more controlled environment of their album, Let Me Introduce My Friends...
I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona
We're From Barcelona
by I'M FROM BARCELONA
I'm gonna sing this song with all of my friends
and we're I'm from Barcelona
Love is a feeling that we don't understand
but we're gonna give it to ya
We'll aim for the stars
We'll aim for your heart when the night comes
And we'll bring you love
You'll be one of us when the night comes
This band is further evidence supporting my theory that the Swedes, Seasonal Affective Disorder notwithstanding, know how to make chirpy, feel-good pop like nobody else...
i’m from barcelona…
Well, I'm not, and neither are they. But that's what they're called. (They're actually a 29-person "supergroup" from Sweden...) I've been digging their sound for a while now, but I hadn't bothered to check out the band. Then, in an inspired-yet-ultimately unsatisfactory search of Belgian blogs for an explanation of an elusively-titled album in my collection ("Presents", in a folder entitled "Adrian Boult") I found this live acoustic session.
This is one of the coolest little videos I've run across yet...try to see for yourself exactly what they're using to create this Up With People sound and be amazed! SCISSORS PLAY A PART FOR CHRISTSAKES! How awesome...?
Here's I'm From Barcelona, performing "We're From Barcelona"...
And by the way, it was really "Adrian Bouldt" and you'd be scandalized to discover how unhelpful Google is in finding a missing 'd'...
Video shamelessly un-embedded and imported here to the States from a certain podcaster Vox...
jeff mangum
Here's a little clip I stumbled across on YouTube. It's Jeff Mangum singing his outfit's (Neutral Milk Hotel) album's title track (In The Aeroplane Over The Sea), solo. Hella lyrics, y'all, hella lyrics.
Neutral Milk Hotel
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
What a beautiful face
I have found in this place
That is circling all round the sun
What a beautiful dream
That could flash on the screen
In a blink of an eye and be gone from me
Soft and sweet
Let me hold it close and keep it here with me
And one day we will die
And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea
But for now we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see
Love to be
In the arms of all I'm keeping here with me
What a curious life we have found here tonight
There is music that sounds from the street
There are lights in the clouds
Anna's ghost all around
Hear her voice as it's rolling and ringing through me
Soft and sweet
How the notes all bend and reach above the trees
Now how I remember you
How I would push my fingers through
Your mouth to make those muscles move
That made your voice so smooth and sweet
And now we keep where we don't know
All secrets sleep in winter clothes
With one you loved so long ago
Now he don't even know his name
What a beautiful face
I have found in this place
That is circling all round the sun
And when we meet on a cloud
I'll be laughing out loud
I'll be laughing with everyone I see
Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all
Here's to hoping the re-unite...
happy valentine’s day!
I hope everyone is enjoying the Hallmark Holiday today. I have a little treat to post, but unfortunately it's a blogging transgression which is unprecedented in this most formal of online music review houses. (tongue firmly planted in cheek...)
So the last song I posted - the "mood" song - was by Andrew Bird. So is today's track. But I just stumbled upon a pre-release single from his upcoming new album, Armchair Apocrypha. And it's really good! Do check it out, and go be Valentine-y!
Props to Pitchfork. They're good for something, at least.
mood
Here's a mood song because it's past my bed time...
Don't Be Scared
by Andrew Bird
whenever paul thinks of rain, swallows fall in a wave and tap on his window with their beaks. whenever paul thinks of snow, soft winds blow round his head and his phone rings just once late at night-like a bird calling out, "wake up, paul. don't be scared. don't believe you're all alone."
"wake up, paul," whisper clouds rolling by and the seeds falling softly from the branches of the trees.
Sleep tight, fair readers...
you decide, part ii
I'm excited about this morning's comparison. What a great song! We're comparing, of course, Tim Buckley's original version of Song to the Siren with the 1984 version that perhaps made it (very) famous. That one was released by This Mortal Coil, which featured vocals by Liz Fraser from the Cocteau Twins.
Also, just because you're good, I'm going to throw in a version of the song released by The Czars.
Strange thing? When I was preparing my uploads for this post, I decided to give the Czars' version another whirl, since I hadn't heard it in over a year. I think I never gave it a chance last time, because I think it might be my favorite so far. That's saying something, given how much I respect Tim Buckley, and how much I obsessed over TMC's version in the past...
Tim Buckley - Song To The Siren
This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren
As always, fair readers, vote in the comments...