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Posts Tagged ‘folk’

Odds N Ends Vol. 5: Catching Up…

May 10th, 2010 No comments

In an effort to prove that we’re not completely out of the loop when it comes to what’s been making waves within the music blog scene in recent weeks, enjoy this quick run-through of some of the more high profile new videos/ releases we’ve missed out on commenting on due to…uh, we’ll just say “real life” (and a few WordPress issues) getting in the way:

Sleigh Bells “Tell Em”

Anything you’ll ever read about this Brooklyn boy/girl noise-pop duo (vocalist Alexis Krauss and songwriter/ guitarist/ producer Derek E. Miller) is bound to note the band’s love for insane volume levels just as much as it’ll hype how crazily infectious the tunes hidden beneath all the ear-punishing distortion are.

Believe these words on both accounts.

“Tell Em”, the first single from the Sleigh Bells’ debut album Treats (due May 11th on Mom + Pop/ N.E.E.T.), may lead to one having early deafness, but bet you won’t be able to resist repeat doses of it’s rat-a-tat drum, turned-up-to-eleven guitar riffage and laser sound effects assault, nor Krauss’ pureform coos sweetly encouraging today’s young’uns “you can do your best today” betwixt it all.

Last summer’s chillwave/ glo-fi movement taught us the glories of music that was meek-sounding, of shitty quality and awesome; expect the upcoming warm weather season to be all about start-up bands/ acts co-signing the equally awesome louder-than-loud and shitty quality formula of the Bells.

DL: “Tell Em” (alt)

Christina Aguilera “Not Myself Tonight”

We’ll politely decline from adding to the increasingly tiring “Is she copying Gaga?” rattle concerning Aguilera‘s new (meh) one, and just say this: when it comes to desperate slutty Christina, we’d rather give “Dirrty” a re-spin.

Is it bad that we wish we could just fast-forward to the next Aguilera album era already?

Christina’s Bionic drops June 8th.

Ciara featuring Ludacris “Ride”

Looking to get her career back on track after the commercial fumble that was her last album (2009′s Fantasy Ride), Ciara smartly hearkens back to a previous career highlight on new single “Ride”, re-heating the winning, “seductive ‘crunk & b’ crawl + Ludacris cameo” formula of “Oh” with an extra slathering of naughty sex kitten on top of it.

“I can do it up and down/ I can do circles/ To him I’m a gymnast/ This one is my circus,” she sings, nicely illustrating such bedroom talents with a slew of eye-popping body gyrations (amongst other “I’m not a little girl anymore” visuals) in the accompanying video.

Yeah, the hook claims it’s the “beat” that she’s riding “like a mother-[bleeping] freak”, but a ten-year-old could figure out what she’s really talking about.

Eminem “Not Afraid”

Capping months of track-owning guest appearances on joints alongside Drake & Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne and B.o.B (not to mention the killer freestyle track “Despicable”), Em‘s “Not Afraid”, the first taste off his next full length Recovery, lands as another lyrical stunner, with him surprisingly coming across as equally compelling when preaching positive about living a “clean” lifestyle as he does when he’s flexing his more loony and murderous-minded material.

Only problem is, while we’re excited to hear he’s become aware of how awful the various “accents” and pop star/ tabloid staple-spoofing had become, “Not Afraid” feels less and less interesting with each successive listen (maybe it’s that ’80′s arena rock-styled hook), and we’re not necessarily sure we’re ready for an entire album of Eminem getting all uplifting on us.

Surely Kim has done something scandalous in recent years to inspire at least one Recovery song that throws back to his bat-shit crazy rhymes.

Josh Ritter “Another New World”

From the critically-acclaimed folk singer-songwriter‘s newly released sixth set So Runs The World Away (currently streaming in full over at NPR.org), a seven-minute-long story song set atop beautifully sedative acoustic guitar pluckings and dreamily sirenic muted horns about an Arctic explorer and his crew and the tragic horrors that befall them in the midst of a voyage in search of the “new world”.

Doesn’t sound like your cup of tea? Take a chance and hit ‘Play’ and you’ll be surprised how misty-eyed you get once it gets to the part where the protagonist is forced to set fire to his beloved ship in order to stay alive.

DL: “Another New World (Daytrotter Performance)” (alt)

Beyonce “Why Don’t You Love Me”

Most attention concerning this final single from the nearly two-year-old I Am…Sasha Fierce will more than certainly fall on it’s strange, but definitely sexy, retro-themed video (with Bey once-again rocking the Bettie Page ’50′s pin-up look) rather than the song itself; but the cut (co-penned by sister Solange) manages to be somewhat fascinating in it’s own right with the steely-voiced diva turning herself inside-out trying to figure out why a man would choose to willfully bypass such a catch (especially one with “beauty”, “class”, “style” and, most importantly”, “ass”) to a tightly-wound ’60′s soul strut.

Drake “Over (Larrikin’s ‘Go Insane’ Remix)”

Lastly, here’s one more addition to the five hundred other remixes/ covers/ revisions of Drake’s “Over” currently circulating throughout the Web: a delightfully dizzying B-more club re-haul by DJ Larrikin.

DL: “Over (Larrikin’s ‘Go Insane’ Remix)” (alt)

Weinland “I’m Sure It Helps”

November 11th, 2009 No comments

weinland“She won’t be waiting/ You’re lost but she’s found”? “Helpful is hurtful when life’s inside out”? “Know what you’re building will fall to the ground”?

With cryptically depressing lyrics like these, Portland, Oregon indie-folk band Weinland‘s “I’m Sure It Helps” may not seem to be the most uplifting song choice, but damn if the melancholic beauty brought forth in the song’s gorgeous, woodsy twang and the hushed, plaintive delivery spewing from behind the thick beard of lead singer/ guitarist’s Adam Shearer aren’t the most soothing marriage of sounds to chill back to when hiding away from the autumn cold.

Pair those elements up with a visually stunning, and quite tender, semi-computer animated video that finds them stare down a herd of buffalo (who they eventually befriend and share a campfire with), and this 2009 break-out band triumphantly succeed in stealing away our hearts.

From their latest album, Breaks In The Sun.

Pearl Jam “Just Breathe”

September 26th, 2009 1 comment

pearl jamJust as we had finally started to come around to the seemingly bizarro reality of Pearl Jam being the cats behind this past summer’s irresistibly catchy rocker “The Fixer” (and don’t act like you didn’t have a hard time pairing the band with the feel-good single either), the grunge godfathers go and throw us another mind-jumbling curveball by including an actual LOVE BALLAD on their newest release, Backspacer. And by love ballad, we don’t mean a depressing romantic lament that would have fit in line with everything we’ve come to expect from PJ after all these years; no, with the beautifully folksy “Just Breathe”, they’ve created something that could perfectly soundtrack the walk down the aisle of your wedding!!!

Supported by a lightly orchestrated, country-tinged frame of tender acoustic guitar flickerings and cinematic strings (yes, strings!!) that prettily nail a rustic-like serenity, Eddie Vedder’s hardened growl is leavened with vulnerability as he pauses for a moment of self-reflection at the mid-life point. Realizing how fortunate he is to be able to “count on both hands the ones I love” when others have to settle for one or none at all, he’s moved to pull his lover to the side to announce his appreciation for her presence in his life.

How amazing it is to hear this mucho masculine-sounding man’s man get in touch with his sensitive side, his apologizing for any previous lack of clarity concerning his feelings for her (“Did I say that I need you?/ Did I say that I want you?/ Oh, if I didn’t I’m a fool, you see/ No one knows this more than me/ And I come clean, ah…”), touching pleas for her to “Stay with me…” and lump-in-throat-evoking final couplet of “Hold me ’til I die/ Meet me on the other side” all enough to mist up anyone’s eyes.

Find out about Backspacer‘s purchasing info via the band’s website.

“Just Breathe”:

“The Fixer”:

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Hayden “Barely Friends”

November 28th, 2008 No comments

Perfectly capturing the wintry gloom that lurks around the calendar corner in it’s wistful, alt-country melancholy, Canadian singer-songwriter Hayden‘s somber “Barely Friends” rides atop an endless roll of down-home twang, it’s steady strums and touches of harmonica and distant pedal-steel serving an effective backdrop to his internal rue.

What’s suddenly got the guy in such a miserable state of mind that he can barely utter lyrics above a shameful mumble? The sighting of a former flame the week before, which instantly shot wince-inducing memories of how their union went awry back to the surface. “The truth is you just weren’t the one”, he can admit…now. But way back when, he could only muster up a series of weak lies as explanation for why they couldn’t be; in the end, he now realizes, probably hurting her far more than if he had just confessed to her the real reason he was breaking things off in the first place.

Overwhelmed with wanting to right the past wrong (both to mend a heart he left torn and assuage his own guilty conscience), Hayden ponders over whether he should have just walked up to her and informed her of the long-held truth when he happened upon her that night, perhaps opening conversation up by oh-so-”smoothly” fibbing about how fetching she looked when fixed against the star-lit skies before dishing out a lengthy apology concerning the way he dismissed her all that time ago. Alas he didn’t, and that decision now has him facing an entire future overcast with an even weightier sense of regret.

A beautiful slice of intimate, folk-baked songcraft, “Barely Friends” proves that sometimes it’s the heartbreak-ER that can ultimately end up the bigger loser.

From Hayden’s latest album, In Field & Town.

DL: “Barely Friends” (alt)