Five songs I've been listening to a lot recently, in no particular order

1. Start a War, by the National

I like this song a lot.  It's good writing music, and it's racked up 23 plays in iTunes since I added it about a week ago.  I think the singer's voice is perfectly suited to this kind of song - wistful, sad, resigned.  It builds but never breaks, and there's an anxiety in that which fits in the context of the song.  I like the simplicity of the guitar throughout, and the simplicity of the lyrics, this line in particular: You were always weird, but I never had to hold you by the edges like I do now.

2. Breakeven, by the Script

Probably the thing that bothers me most about this song is that "breakeven" is one word when it should clearly be two.  This is a radio song, and a sad pop breakup song, but I've listened to it a lot anyway.  It's incredibly wistful and catchy.  And I like the line, "What am I gonna do when the best part of me was always you?" It's a little trite, but whatever.  There's a truth in that.  Besides, radio is so awful this month that I feel excused in finding the best in the middle of all the bad.

3. Beaming, by Quiet Science

I first heard this song on a long car ride with Ben.  It was on a mix he had made for a friend, and the title was "Everything is gonna be alright (?)" with the artist simply listed as "?".  There's only one or two sites on Google that will turn up if you search for the lyrics.  But it's by a band called Quiet Science, and it's a very pretty song.  With very pretty, simple lyrics that are hard to find.

4. Look at Miss Ohio, by the New Frontiers (Gillian Welch cover)

I still haven't looked up the original version of this song, for which I feel kind of bad.  I also don't really understand it.  But it reminds me of the color palette of the mid-1900s, and I love the line, "I wanna do right, but not right now."

5. Drumming Song, by Florence and the Machine

This song is just mad excitement.  Louder than sirens, louder than bells, sweeter than heaven and hotter than hell.

By the way, we're sorry that we can't get mp3's up on this page.  We don't want to be sketchy and it's just difficult to find a good file hosting site.

Love,

Sarah

Get PSYCHED!

A few notes:
1) This mix is inspired by a TV series called How I Met Your Mother. If you've never seen it, go see it. One of the characters insists that a great mix should be "all rise, all the time". While I do not 100% agree with this, it has spawned the collection of songs you are now experiencing.

2) I made this as a mix for my sister, so no judging me on the Katy Perry or N'sync!

3) ARE YOU READY?!?!?!?!?!?

Tracks:

You Give Love A Bad Name
Carry On My Wayward Son
Don't Stop Believin'
Hot N Cold
Mr. Brightside
The Middle
Somebody Told Me
Jamie All Over
I Woke Up In A Car
19-2000
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Digital Get Down
Harder To Breathe
The Boys Of Summer
I Want You Back
I Believe In A Thing Called Love
Grace Kelly

Right, so other than that, I'm not sure what else there is to say about this group of songs. If you want to experience it properly, you will begin AND end it with Bon Jovi, because...well...why not?

For "Carry On" I have but this to say: My favorite experience with this song was when Rock Band 3 (I think) came out. I held up the expert mode bass part while a group of somewhat drunken friends performed (quite accurately) the vocals, guitars, and drums. Picture, if you will, a 300 pound man belting this song at the top of his lungs into a tiny fake microphone...

No pump-up mix would be complete without Don't Stop Believin'. You better sing along in your car.

Hot N Cold. Yeah, I know, Katy Perry, I'm a dude, how can I? Well, get over it.

I know I've broken some very dearly held mix rules by including two Killers songs. But they are both great, and they both get your heart going.

Pop-Rock, Arena Rock, Pop, Techno, anything with a ballin' beat and some screamin' lyrics, and it's all set for a "Get Psyched" mix. If anyone ever reads this, shoot me a comment with a track listing of what YOU would put on an ALL RISE ALL THE TIME mix!!!

Comfort music

A couple months ago, Michelle Branch was playing at a city event near me. I got really excited, but when I told my friends, their reactions ranged from indifferent to condescending. I can't blame them. Michelle Branch writes her own songs (or at least did originally) and is, I think, an at least relatively talented musician, but she's definitely a producer of radio hits, pure pop and country. Wikipedia tells me that she opened for Hanson in 2000. In 2001, I had no regard for Hanson one way or the other, but I loved Michelle Branch.

"The Spirit Room" wasn't the first CD I ever received, but it was probably the first one that wasn't a "NOW" volume or a Spice Girls album (the Sailor Moon soundtrack is its own entity, not subject to normal rules of classification). "Everywhere" was certainly the first music video I ever saw all the way through. I listened to it with my friend Jenn. She and I tried to record a cover of "Everywhere" together, sitting on the floor of the back room of my house singing into a boom box's tape recorder. But playing it back, our voices sounded thin and desperate without instrumental backing, and we abandoned the project. Her favorite song was "Something to Sleep To," whereas I liked the two singles, "All You Wanted" and "Everywhere," with "Sweet Misery" coming in third even when I couldn't understand the lyrics.

My most vivid memory of "The Spirit Room" is listening to it on my best friend's Walkman on the way back from the fifth grade trip to historic Williamsburg. We were on a charter bus, and I leaned against the window. The rainbow specks on the grey seats, no seatbelts, the wide aisles, and the chatter of everyone else; and I sat alone and happy, listened to the whole thing through twice.

Years later, I bought and listened to her second album, "Hotel Paper." I liked the story in the liner notes that she had written some of the songs on hotel stationery while touring. And I loved certain songs, with "Tuesday Morning" and (again) the single "Are You Happy Now" being my favorite.

But it doesn't touch me as much as "The Spirit Room" does. When I hear the first chords of "All You Wanted," I am comforted, I am safe. It might not be "good" music, and her lyrics might be a little trite. But it's the music that first introduced me to music, that led to the passionate love I have for music today and indirectly to so much else, including my having any interest in Ben in the first place, and the creation of this blog. And it's the music that introduced me to songs about love, which is an important detail in its own right.

You're everywhere to me, and when I close my eyes it's you I see.

You're everything I know that makes me believe I'm not alone,

I'm not alone.

Love,

Sarah

5:00 on a ... what day is it?

I am sitting here at 5 pm on this wednesday in a pool of gray light as the day ends. I am typing one-handed because Sarah is asleep on my arm. Currently the soundtrack of our lives is the achingly beautiful soundtrack for the game Braid, which Nathan (my oldest and best friend) is playing across from me on the couch. One might call this a perfect moment.

I don't have any particular songs today. I am not inspired to go single-handedly (literally) find an example of Braid's soundtrack. I have been trying to listen a bit less and write more. (I write songs) I am sure tomorrow or the next day or next week Sarah will have a thousand new songs to write about and love. I am just here to reflect on this moment, because it feels significant.

A few sidenotes: if by magic you find this, the original blog is over on wordpress; we are working on moving it over here. http://skepticatfirst.wordpress.com/

Also, this is a music blog, we write about what we listen to and love, so if you love music, check in occasionally and see if you find something new.

EDIT: the soundtrack to braid can be found here

Music is the best kind of gift

CDs I asked for, and received, this Christmas morning:

Son of Evil Reindeer and Ya'll Get Scared Now, Ya Hear! by The Reindeer Section
This Side and Why Should the Fire Die? by Nickel Creek
Not All Who Wander Are Lot by Chris Thile
Far by Regina Spektor
Winter Songs by the women of the Hotel Cafe
The soundtrack to 500 Days of Summer
The soundtrack to Battlestar Galactica (Season One)
Quelqu'un M'a Dit by Carla Bruni
Slice by Five for Fighting (actually this is my dad's but I stole it briefly to put it onto my computer)

There's a reason I asked for each of these, however tenuous those reasons may be. One of my summer creative writing teachers, the inimitable Barry Yeoman, used to put on the Chris Thile CD while we walked around the room getting ready to write. I thought I'd like the Reindeer Section because I love Snow Patrol (Ben and I saw them in Nashville!) and Gary Lightbody's voice, and so far I do. I had one Carla Bruni song and loved her voice, so that's the reason for that. Nickel Creek comes from Chris Thile and from a childhood love for their first album; Battlestar Galactica soundtrack comes from Battlestar Galactica being awesome. The soundtrack to 500 Days of Summer makes the movie, and it was a great movie. I saw Ingrid Michaelson, Meiko, and two other women in the Hotel Cafe tour a little over a year ago, and it was a fantastic concert. All the women on that CD are so talented, and it is (as the title promises) a lovely collection of winter songs.

I obviously haven't been able to listen to all of this yet. I'm listening to the first Reindeer Section album now, and I like it. It's not amazing, but it's good. I've listened to smatterings of the others (I'm so late on the Regina Spektor that I've heard practically the whole thing legally over the internet) and I am excited for the music and the mix CD material that these will provide.

Today, by the way, was a wonderful day. Merry christmas, world. :)

Don't get me wrong, I'll never say never.
'Cause though love can change the weather
no act of God can pull me away from you.

-Five for Fighting

a few things about m83

M83 came out with their album "Saturdays=Youth" last year, and it was widely hailed by many of the more legitimate music blogs I read as one of the best albums of the year. I tend to not listen to electronic music much, and M83 leans enough in that direction that I never bought the album.

I have heard, however, two songs from it - admittedly the two songs that it's probably most well known for - "We Own the Sky" and "Graveyard Girl." As a song alone, I like "Graveyard Girl" a little better than "We Own the Sky," but the video for "We Own the Sky" is bizarre and wonderful. It is full of hipster children cavorting in a meadow, and the colors are lovely. I'm pretty sure it will make you smile. Here it is:

See it here!

My original point was to write about "Graveyard Girl," but I got distracted trying to find a video for it, because we haven't figured out a way to upload mp3's yet, and put up the video for "We Own the Sky" because it is awesome. But. I heard "Graveyard Girl" quite a while ago, and liked it immediately. This was partially because it's an lively, pretty song and I like its beats and all the strange twisting little melodies that run through it. Ben could probably describe it better than I can, musically. The other reason I liked it was the monologue that runs through the middle, which is as follows, spoken in the increasingly urgent voice of a teenage girl:

"I'm going to jump the walls and run. I wonder if they'll miss me. I won't miss them. The cemetery is my home; I want to be a part of it, invisible even to the night. Then I'll read poetry to the stones. Maybe someday I can be one of them, wise and silent, waiting for someone to love me, waiting for someone to kiss me. I'm fifteen years old and I feel it's already too late to live. Don't you?"

I immediately loved this when I first heard it. Then I listened to it again and realized that it was cliched, melodramatic, "emo"...then I listened to it again and realized that was why I loved it. It's evocative writing, but it's not amazing. It's something that a fifteen-year-old would write, trying to express ideas that were too big for her to put into words, and I understand that feeling. And I understand the feeling in that last sentence, "I'm fifteen years old and I feel it's already too late to live." It's pretty melodramatic, yes, but there's this sense sometimes that I think everyone gets, of being stuck in a situation or place that seems hopeless or stagnant, with an unimportant life ahead of you, no chance to "live." Apart from liking the sound of the song, that's the reason I like "Graveyard Girl" - I think it rings true for a fifteen-year-old girl. Here's a video that I haven't watched all of, so you don't have to either if you don't want to.

Love, Sarah

Grizzly Bears (with coats)

As a student at Belmont University in Nashville, I have to take a class called Studio Production. This class examines production techniques for various styles and genres of music. As part of our tutelage, we write “song journals” for various songs. Each person in the class is given the opportunity to bring in a song that they feel exemplifies excellent (or unique) production. I am working on one of these right now.

This particular collection of song journal songs is not some of my favorite music ever, but it did bring to my attention two songs/artists that I felt were worth mentioning.

The first is the song "2 weeks" by the band Grizzly Bears. Now, for those of you who know me, this band is already endeared to me by the mere mention of bears. But on top of that, their sound is really quite excellent. You can find them here and here.
They feature very melodic vocals, lots of interesting bells and whistles in the backgrounds, and a wonderful sense of syncopation over straight rhythms.

The second song from our listening journal is entitled "Black Duck Blues" by The Young Republic. LINK!

Acoustic intro, raunchy guitar tone, and a story about rum-running to boot? I love this song. The Young Republic are also Tennessee natives. They have a very bluesy storytelling vibe about them that I greatly appreciate in bands.

Anyway, gotta go finish my actual work now, check out those two bands!

~Ben