A new Song of the Day (back to its old spot in the late evening…guess some things never change?), coming right up. Via the a’ight remake of “Footloose,” it’s the captivating tune…
“Little Lovin’” by Lissie!
So I didn’t think much of the “Footloose” remake (then again, years ago when I watched bits and pieces of the original with my dad, I didn’t think much of that either), which I didn’t technically sit down to watch, but was in the room while it was being viewed by the rest of my family, so I basically saw the whole thing anyhow. Anyways, what caught my attention the most was this gorgeous song by folk rock singer Lissie, someone who I had heard of a bit before now, but whose music hadn’t reached my ears until I heard it in the movie. Lissie (whose real name is Elizabeth Maurus) delivers a fearless, haunting vocal, and the song is full of both relentless energy and chilling depth. It’s a song I can’t get enough of right now, pretty much.
More exciting posts are to come. Thanks for reading and listening!
It’s the first post of 2012! And after a barrage of list-based posts at the end of last year, I’m returning to one of this blog’s classic features…the Song of the Day. (As usual, it’s posted at night. I really need to get to doing these in the morning…then they’ll actually be a true Song of the Day for once.) Today, take a listen to…
“The Daily Mail” by Radiohead!
This song, a B-side released by the band last month, is more of a side of Radiohead that we don’t often get to see, and it’s something they should try more often, I think. It kind of harks back to their earlier stuff (in fact, it’s a bit reminiscent of “OK Computer,” before they went in a completely different, experimental direction after that), starting with just a stark, arresting piano line and then having Thom Yorke’s haunting vocals enter in. (He’s rarely delivered a more effective, heartrending vocal in recent years than he does here.) Eventually the full sound kicks in towards the song’s second half, but it’s a controlled explosion, with a deeply melodic quality that you don’t always get in Radiohead’s work. The guitars, the horns, the lyrics…everything combines to make a truly terrific musical experience.
A small preview of what’s coming soon:
A new theme! I’ve grown quite fond of the one I’m using now, but it’s always fun to shake things up, and I think I’ve found a new blog theme that will work quite nicely. Look for it in the coming days (though knowing me, it will probably be much sooner than that…)
The first new Artist Spotlight of 2012. I’m still brainstorming who it will be (I’ve got a long list in mind, but I haven’t done this feature for a while), but it will be a good one.
A potential new feature…there’s one highlighting live performances that I think I want to try out.
As always, thanks for reading. 2012 is going to be a great year, and I hope to make the next few months on Harmony Avenue as jam-packed with good music as I can.
Alas, aside from the last lingering remnants of my “Sing-Off” recaps, I haven’t posted much else lately. Here’s a Song of the Day to whet your whistle (and for those of you who feel a bit oversaturated with holiday tunes, it’s a normal one this time around), and coming hopefully today or tomorrow, I’ll be making a Sketches post highlighting my all-time favorite Christmas albums. (This post will serve as a replacement for the round of holiday album reviews I had planned.) But for now, let me share with you…
“Robots” by Dan Mangan!
I was introduced to this song thanks to a coworker’s iPod that was playing at work. (This is the great place where I work, btw.) It’s a fairly enigmatic tune, but still incredibly emotionally resonant nonetheless. According to a comment on this song’s entry on my favorite lyrics site, SongMeanings, Dan once said in an interview that this song was inspired by having to live without a broken cell phone for a few days. Not sure if this is completely accurate, but it does make sense, and whatever this song was written about, it’s a gorgeous ride nonetheless. I especially love the last part, where the lines “Robots need love too/They want to be loved by you…” are repeated quite a few times, with a chorus joining in with Dan to sing the song out. It’s a beautiful mix of melancholy and celebration.
See you soon with more posts, both Christmas-themed and otherwise. Thanks for reading!
I haven’t posted since my “Sing-Off” finale recap last week (and there’ll be another coming up momentarily…I know, I know, I said I wasn’t going to do one for the Christmas special tonight, but I guess I just couldn’t resist), so here’s a great Christmas song for your listening pleasure…
“Christmas Without You” by OneRepublic!
Chances are you’re already pretty familiar with OneRepublic, even if you don’t know it. They’re fronted by pop hitmaker Ryan Tedder (who’s produced and co-written songs for huge artists like Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson, and Adele), and they’re the band behind the megahit “Apologize” (I prefer their slightly more stripped-down album version than the overproduced/overplayed collaboration on it with Timbaland), and ubiquitous recent pop radio staples like “All The Right Moves,” “Good Life,” and of course, “Secrets.” (AKA the song with the electric-sounding violins at the beginning, that’s been in everything from “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” to, memorably, “30 Rock.”) Sadly, because those songs are all so prevalent on the radio, or have been at one time, their credibility as a talented, unique band has kind of suffered. However, I absolutely love both their albums, and they really have a lot more to offer than their poppier, hit-making stuff. Case in point: this gem of a holiday tune right here. The production is very intimate and piano-driven, and it’s a nice kind of shift in feel for the band. Ryan sells the vocal perfectly, and there’s some delicious pop-soul style backing vocals that really add to it in a great way. And of course, even though it’s a song more about missing someone than the Christmas season specifically…it still brings a palpable, warm sense of holiday spirit, while still sounding like the kind of song you’d be comfortable playing year round.
See you in a bit with a short but sweet “Sing-Off Christmas” recap. It ain’t over til it’s over!
That’s my extremely low-budget attempt at trying to make these anniversary week posts all shiny. Anyways, here is the first of four (maybe more, but probably four, and what the heck am I rhyming for?) commemorative posts, all with some type of connection to music or artists I shared in my first month of blogging here. Today, celebrating one of my first Songs of the Day, the beautiful “Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)”, we turn the Artist Spotlight onto…
Laura Marling!
Laura is an immensely talented English singer-songwriter who’s only 21 years old. To say the maturity of someone’s music belies their years has become a bit of a cliche when it comes to younger musicians, but with Laura, it’s absolutely the truth. I was literally shocked to find out her age when I was looking her up on Wikipedia a year or so ago, after I had fallen hard for her songs. I could not believe that this kind of beautiful music was coming from someone scarcely a year or so older than I am. Age shouldn’t be a factor when it comes to good music, really, but looking at Laura’s body of work, it’s incredibly impressive that a 21-year-old could have come this far, so early in her life. It never fails to boggle my mind.
“Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)” was one of the Laura Marling songs I found, right after I first started checking out her music, seeing her name around the Internet (due to her Mercury Prize nominations and general positive buzz) and being curious about just how good she was. I have of course already posted about it, but it doesn’t hurt to share it again…
Her second album, “I Speak Because I Can,” which that song came from, is an absolute gem (no wonder it attracted Mercury Prize attention…P.S., the Mercury Prize is one of Britain’s most prestigious music awards, given to the best album of the year from the UK and Ireland. Laura has been shortlisted for her first two albums). It’s strikingly unique, but also warm and familiar. Here’s the firecracker opening track, called “Devil’s Spoke” (sorry the sound isn’t perfect…I would have linked the official video but her label inexplicably removed its US availability on YouTube):
Here’s another beautiful cut from that album, “Rambling Man.” It shows off her knack for starting off songs soft and fragile at times, then bringing in the full band to create an amazing atmosphere:
And one more of my big favorites, the title track, naturally called “I Speak Because I Can.” It’s sweeping, beautifully evocative, and absolutely addicting, all in one. (I love the line: “I speak because I can, to anyone I trust enough to listen/You speak because you can, to anyone who will hear what you say.”)
I actually wasn’t familiar with Laura’s first album until just recently. It was actually the first album I came in contact with…a good friend of mine recommended Laura’s music to me, and I was hooked…but one of the songs had the F-word in it (I’m one of those pesky people that doesn’t listen to those kinds of songs…sorry), and for some reason I was a dork and it took me a while to dive into Laura’s music again, after I checked out “I Speak Because I Can.” Anyways, just recently, I decided to take another look at “Alas, I Cannot Swim,” her debut album (in fact, right now, I’m listening to clips from it for the first time), and it’s just as terrific. Here’s one of my absolute favorites from it, a gorgeous song called “Ghosts.” The lyrics are riveting and poetic, and the instrumentation is just perfect:
Here’s another great song from her debut that I may have just listened to (part of) for the first time, called “My Manic & I.” I’ll be listening to the whole song soon, probably about the same time as you.
Laura’s music is folk with an edge…there’s the traditional guitar/vocal framework that has helped shape the world of folk music for many years now, but she also adds something new, almost intangible to the mix that really makes her music shine. It’s not quite modernized folk…it feels very old-school in many ways…but perhaps it’s reimagined folk in a sense. Here’s a lively number from her new album (“A Creature I Don’t Know”), called “The Muse.” There’s a bit of jazz influence in there, which I love.
And finally, an absolute tour de force also from her latest album. It absolutely blew me away on first listen…and to be honest, my reaction hasn’t really changed after listening to it quite a few times. It starts off in one place…and ends up somewhere entirely new and even more amazing. Here’s “Sophia”:
Laura is an artist full of depth, life, and beauty. I’m happy to finally be able to share much more of her music with you. Thanks for reading, and be sure to comment and enter the giveaway! Happy Anniversary Week.
My usual recap of “The Sing-Off” (which, let’s face it, tends to take over this blog a bit when it’s on, though I’ll hopefully be able to remedy that now that I have some more free time) will most likely come tomorrow morning as once again I won’t be able to watch it live (darn lack of DVR!) and I’ll have to catch it via Hulu again, but getting back to our regularly scheduled programming, here’s two songs of the day, coincidentally by two British acts. One of them will probably be new to you, and as for the other, if you haven’t heard of them, you haven’t just been living under a rock, you’ve been living under a rock AND you hit your head on it on the way in. First off…
“Young Love” by Mystery Jets (feat. Laura Marling)!
This song is by British indie band Mystery Jets, and I actually found out about it in a roundabout way…I was looking up “Way Back Into Love” (kind of what serves as the theme song from a very fun film, “Music & Lyrics,” which starred Hugh Grant & Drew Barrymore) on Wikipedia for some reason (is there ever ANY explainable reason I look up something on Wikipedia? Probably not), and the article mentioned something about the chorus for this song might have borrowed/stolen the melody from “Way Back Into Love.” Luckily, the article also mentioned that “Young Love” featured an artist I absolutely adore, Laura Marling, and upon reading that I knew I had to check the song out. (My curiosity combined with my Laura Marling love to lead me to that point.) It’s a catchy, lively song that combines some nice elements of both the modern and the old-school, and it’s made even better by Laura’s amazing appearance towards the latter half. (It’s already a great song on its own, but Laura’s effortlessly alluring vocals put it over the top.) The melody in the chorus does admittedly sound a bit similar to “Way Back Into Love,” but none of that gets in the way of what ends up being an utterly infectious, terrific song. (Also, this reminds me I need to check out more of Mystery Jets’ music.) Now, to a fairly recent song by an English music legend…
“Fine Line” by Paul McCartney!
At the time I discovered this song, I was already somewhat familiar with Sir Paul’s 2005 comeback album of sorts, “Chaos and Creation in the Backyard,” but I hadn’t listened to anywhere near all the songs on it, which is why this firecracker of an opening track passed me by until a few months ago. I think this was another song that came out thanks to a random Wikipedia search (I was maybe looking up Paul McCartney singles, perhaps? I’m not sure), funnily enough. (I also heard it playing at work a few days after I had downloaded it, which was an interesting coincidence.) This album signaled an artistic rebirth in many ways for Paul (it was a critical and commercial success and continued to show he had lots of life beyond his work with the Beatles), and this song is a sign of that revitalization. Paul sounds great, the songwriting is top-notch, and it’s just an energetic, addicting tune.
See you soon with more posts, including (but not limited to) my Episode 5 “Sing-Off” recap. As is always the case…thanks for reading!
Here’s a quick post in honor of Feist’s new album (her first in four years!!) coming out tomorrow worldwide. A while ago me, my sister, and her/our friend (hope that’s remotely close to proper grammar) did a summer series of covers. Here’s a gem from Feist’s last album (which was “The Reminder”), called “The Park.” My version is from a different viewpoint than Feist’s original, and hopefully I communicated that OK. Enjoy!
P.S.: My “Sing-Off” recap for the week will be a little late this time around, due to previous engagements.
So I recently made a personal queue of posts I’d like to make on this blog in the near-future. I came up with about 15…so yeah. I need to get around to posting much more regularly. My “Behind The Hymns” post for this past Sunday is forthcoming, but for now, here’s a lovely Song of the Day…
“How Come You Never Go There” by Feist!
I’ve been a huge fan of Feist’s for a while now (ever since her last album, “The Reminder,” came out back in 2007 and its lead single, the irresistibly catchy “1234,” took the world by storm, me included), and this is the first full-length taste from her upcoming album, “Metals.” New material from Feist (her first name is Leslie, and she’s Canadian, for those of you who might not have heard of her) has been quite a long time coming, and this new single of hers is incredibly captivating. It’s subtle and alluringly complex, but also very infectious and inviting at the same time. The lyrics are very ambiguous, but also very poetic. “Jazzy” is a word I don’t like to throw around too much (as others tend to do), but that’s a quality I’d say this song has in a way. It moves along at a sultry kind of shuffle, and Feist’s vocals are in top form. Her phrasing is fascinating, and the purity in her tone really helps hit this song home. This song keeps getting better and better for me with each listen (and there have been quite a few listens on my iPod/iTunes the past week or so), and if it’s a sign of things to come, I simply can’t wait for “Metals” to arrive.
Since, as usual, I haven’t posted in a while, here’s not one Song of the Day…but two! They’re very nicely contrasting in style, and they’ve been on my mind (and in my ears) for a while. The first song? How about a little…
“Keep Your Head Up” by Andy Grammer!
A good friend, who’s now living and working as a sound engineer in the very entertainment-filled city of Branson, Missouri, actually tipped me off to this song, and Andy Grammer’s music in general. (He also was lucky enough to be able to attend an Andy Grammer/Natasha Bedingfield/Kate Voegele concert a month or two ago.) This song is very upbeat and positive, but what I really love about it, and a lot of Andy’s music that I’ve heard, is that it balances that positivity and catchiness with a nice sense of depth and maturity. It’s a very happy song that will most likely get stuck in your head (and keep your finger glued to the repeat button), but it has substance and a little something that keeps it from being too sticky-sweet, like some upbeat songs can tend to be. It also helps that Andy’s voice is soaring and very easy on the ears…it’s a great balance of textures, and it works very nicely for this song.
Now, for a more introspective offering…
“Landfill” by Daughter!
This was the Indie Spotlight Free Download on iTunes a week or two ago, and even though I got it for free (you can too…this SoundCloud widget includes a download link), I would have gladly paid quite a bit of money for it. It’s a gorgeous, heartbreaking, beautifully fragile song, full of warmth, longing, and soul. (Enough descriptors there for you? Whew.) The lyrics are very powerful…the crux of the song comes at the end of each chorus, when Daughter (AKA Elena Tonra) sings the very relatable line, “I want you so much…but I hate your guts.” The duality of desire and bitterness over a love lost is a very striking one, and it, along with Elena’s stunningly pure, expressive voice, and the beautifully stark instrumentation, makes for an unforgettable listening experience.
See y’all soon with some more new posts (in fact, if all goes to plan I should be introducing an intriguing new weekly feature tomorrow), and quite possibly, a new blog theme. Stay tuned for more musical goodness here at Harmony Avenue.
Hey, I’m back with a new Artist Spotlight. Alas, as always, it has been too long. This post is a milestone for Harmony Avenue…it’s this blog’s 50th post. More celebration of that to come…but first, let’s jump right into talking about an artist I’ve been wanting to spotlight for quite a while now, the amazing…
Alyse Black!
Alyse is a dynamic indie singer-songwriter with a very engaging, interesting artistic vibe. Her music is warm, playful, passionate, unique, alluring…sometimes all at once. I stumbled upon her music while on a road trip with my family through California and Washington up to Spokane (where I lived when I was little for about 4 years, and where a good portion of my family still lives). I was in our hotel room in Spokane, after a long day which included a whirlwind 2-hour visit to Seattle. (Not. Enough. Time. City. So. Awesome.) (Oh, and trying to get out of Seattle traffic when you’re in a hurry? NOT fun.) Since I’m the Wikipedia-browsing fiend that I am, I was looking at the article for Pike Place Market, and since I had seen a few really cool buskers on the street while we were walking to Pike Place, I took special interest in that section. Alyse’s name was mentioned among the many performers that have graced Pike Place, and for some reason (maybe the description of her of “alternative jazz-pop singer-songwriter,” AKA “a combo of genres that Brandon adores”?), I clicked through to her own Wikipedia article, and subsequently started dipping my toes into her music. (There’s also some interesting biographical info on her Wikipedia page…such as the fact that Alyse actually worked in the corporate world before deciding to pursue her passion, music.) Thanks to the fact that the article mentions it “won the 2007 Billboard World Song Contest in the jazz category,” this was the first song of hers I listened to (seen here in a live version, as the studio version isn’t quite embeddable here):
That was the only interaction I had with Alyse’s music for a bit, until late in the fall of 2009, when I was starting out my freshman year at BYU, she came up with a special offer for her fans…to buy one or both of her CDs (“Too Much and Too Lovely” and “Hold Onto This”) for any price. Being a college freshman at the time (I rarely had any money to buy new music), I jumped on this, wanting to hear more of Alyse, and soon I was hearing her two albums for the first time. I really loved what I heard, and as always, the rest is history.
Alyse counts the likes of Regina Spektor, Fiona Apple, and Norah Jones among her influences, and while you can certainly hear that sort of atmosphere in her work, she’s created a sound that’s really all her own. Her rich voice is full of character and charm, and it’s a key to bringing her music to life. “Mesmerizing” would be a great word to describe her music…it’s captivating and Alyse really puts her all into every song she creates, even when it’s something more upbeat, such as this fun little number from her debut album, called “Complete With Sound Effects” (sorry for the pictures of random people…you don’t really need to watch the video, per se…but this was the only way I could embed this song):
One of the press quotes on Alyse’s homepage says, “Boy, she’s got a sexy voice” (that would be courtesy of Back Beat Seattle). She uses it to devastating effect on the very slow-burning, breathlessly inviting “Willowing.” (Alyse herself has described it as a song that requires a shower afterwards. )
Some of her other ballads take a different kind of flavor…they’re similarly stripped-down, but they’re also very vulnerable and introspective as well. Take this beauty from her second album, a song called “B-17 Bomber Girl”:
Here’s another example of that captivating sense of vulnerability and honesty, taken from (naturally) her recent extended-play called “The Honesty EP.” (It’s so named partly because of the concept behind its production…Alyse essentially went back to basics and often sings on it with little more than a piano backing her.) The song is “Dim The Lights.”
One of the many reasons that I love Alyse’s music is that her whole artistic sensibility is very uplifting and positive. Her song aren’t always “happy” songs, per se…but they bring a smile to my face (or heart) in some way. Here’s two songs that embody that quality very well…”Wild Child” from her second album, and “Watch Me Jump,” the opening track off “The Honesty EP.”
Finally, even when she’s taking on others’ songs, Alyse’s passion and love for music, as well as her top-notch, authentic artistry, really shines through. Last year she did a little covers series on her YouTube page, and here’s her stunning version of a Regina Spektor tune you may be familiar with:
Alyse is that special kind of artist with the type of music that just begs to be explored and listened to again and again. It’s very individual and unique, and it’s definitely not like much out there in the music world right now, but it speaks to the listener in a very profound way, and that’s a quality that shouldn’t be taken for granted. I highly urge you to check out more of her music, and you can find her website here.
So this is my 50th post on Harmony Avenue. Months ago back in October, when I was starting this little experiment off, I never could have imagined I’d make it all the way to 50. Being the small operation this is (it’s just me, blogging, whenever I feel the fancy to), and looking at my past blogging activities (none of my previous blogs have ever had this many posts or been updated this regularly, at least for this amount of time), that’s a huge milestone for me. It’s been a terrific experience running this site, and although I’m planning to leave on a mission before the year is out, I hope to continue sharing music (and my thoughts on it) for a long time to come. A special thanks to those who have helped get me to this point:
The good folks at WordPress, who of course host this blog (for free!), and make it as easy as pie to post, share, and shape this blog into exactly what I want it to be.
Sites like YouTube, SoundCloud, and Grooveshark, that help make sharing music simple, universal, and incredibly accessible. Harmony Avenue wouldn’t be the same without them.
Although I thanked her at the end of last year (in my end of 2010 spiel), I’d like to take another opportunity to give a shout-out to the amazing Julia Barry, who helped set up an interview AND give-away here on Harmony Avenue (as well as inspiring an album review I did of her last album, “Once, or Twice”). That was back when this blog was still in its infancy (well, even more infant than it is now ), and it really gave me a boost of confidence, and a feeling that this music blog endeavor could actually be worthwhile. Thank you, Julia, for the terrific music you create, and for seeking me out on Twitter in the first place.
Any of you who have ever read this blog, even if it’s just been a post, a paragraph, or a sentence. I harbor no illusions about my readership…it’s rather small, spotty, and potentially nonexistent, and I’m pretty sure at least half of the views I get are by spammers and the like…but I know at least some of you reading this are humans, and I’d like to thank you for taking your time to read what I have to say (and share, music-wise). It means a lot to me.
Making it to 50 posts is great, but I won’t stop here. I hope to continue making this blog better, and finding lots of new artists, songs, and music to share. As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for listening. See y’all soon with a new post, and for now, Happy 50!
