Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

Before I start, let me go ahead and tell y'all that I'm not going to post on Labor Day Weekend. Yes, I am skipping a week. Taking a vacation. Going to Dragon*Con! Whoot hoot!

This isn't for another two weeks, so there will be a post next weekend. This won't affect the podcast schedule, either, because the podcast is scheduled for next weekend anyway, not Labor Day weekend.

I'm really mentioning it now in case I forget next weekend :)

Art in Manila, "Set The World On Fire"

I may not have heard of this band until recently (in all fairness, they didn't exist until recently), but I'm certainly very familiar with one of it's members, Orenda Fink. She used to be in a great two-woman band called Azure Ray with another of my favorite musicians, Maria Taylor. There's no bias, either, since they're from my adopted hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, and they made a lot of their music in my real home-state of Georgia. There's no need for bias when the talent is so immense. Both women went on to very fruitful, very creative solo careers, and Orenda solidified her touring band into a full-fledged band, first called Art Belle and recently changed to Art in Manila. The album, sharing the same name as this song, was recorded in Athens, Georgia by another of my favorites, Andy LeMaster of Now It's Overhead. Orenda's considerable talent, the talent of the band she's put together and the producer she chose, pulses through this song, setting a fire wherever it plays.

Myspace
Label Site
Orenda's Website (no site listed for the band)


Art In Manila

The Good Life, "You Don't Feel Like Home To Me"

Weird coincidence: members of Art in Manila have played with The Good Life. Okay, not-so-weird coincidence since they're all on the same label, Saddle Creek. This song is haunting and sad as only a song released by Bright Eyes' home label can be. Haunting and sad can make beautiful music, though, and in this case it makes an elegantly jaded yet imploring swan song to a love he can't go home to.

Label Site (no band website listed)
Myspace


The Good Life

Tegan and Sara, "Back In Your Head"*

Yay! My favorite Canadian lesbian twin sisters recorded a new album! Okay, so I've only heard one song from it (too poor to buy it, too quasi-honorable to just downright download it. I'm sure I could piece it together here and there until I can buy it, though.) This song is just as (I'm sure many people cringe at this word) infectious as all of their previous unbelievably catchy and quirky tunes. This time the catchiness doesn't come from the crank of loud guitars; this song relies on a quirky piano refrain to lock in all of its boppiness. Of course, Tegan's (Sara's? I think Tegan's) voice is as charming as ever, bringing most of the personality evident on the song. It wouldn't be a Tegan and Sara song without that voice, so easily recognizable to any fan.

Website (lots more mp3s from previous albums available here)
Myspace
Video for "Back In Your Head" (and no, I haven't seen that haircut since the early 90's, either. I love you, Tegan, but...)


Tegan and Sara (or maybe Sara and Tegan, I'm not sure)

Also, Tegan and Sara are featured live on The Interface.

*Goodbye Audiofile. I'll remember you always.