Five Songs I'm Loving This Week

Hello. How is everyone today? This is my "Lola got no sleep last night, slept only a little today, and wants to go to sleep really badly right now" post. Wow, that's a lot for a post to be. I hope it's up to the challenge.

It's okay--this post is a rock. It is an island. It has its books and its poetry to protect it. Okay, so this version of "I Am a Rock" is not as good as the original. In fact, it doesn't seem to be trying to top the original. But you know what? It's THE FRIKKIN' CHURCH!! I love The Church. It's not the most perfect version, but it's them, and listen to that bass! I'm not sure how long Copy,right? will have the song listed, but I'll check in a few days, and if it's not listed any longer I'll change the link to a Lola link.

I know that a lot of people reflexively shun country music. I'm here to proselytize that I, too, used to be that way. But then I discovered Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, Jr., Johnny Cash, and then later on the wonderful world of Alt-Country. Now my eyes are open and part of me belongs to country. I can't stand the gross urban cowboy crap they play on the radio, but as far as newer mainstream country goes I like Roseanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Allison Kraus, The Dixie Chicks and a few more. Today I am going to talk about The Dixie Chicks new song "Lullaby". Firstly let's say The Dixie Chicks deserve all of our respect. Even if you don't like their music (which I do), they had the courage to stand up to all the other kids in Country Music High and assert their viewpoint, getting shunned in return. What they've given back to us and the country music community is a very beautiful song. The song isn't a concrete story--there isn't a protagonist, or a plot like some of their story-songs. This song is more of a wish--the wish of someone who has something special.

This is a pretty song. It's called "Lively Chase" and it's by Portastatic. Listen to the flute on it. (I think that's a flute). The song is mainly composed of what my untrained mind interprets as a flute and its use has a beautiful effect. I don't come across that many completely instrumental songs on the blogs I read, but this one doesn't need vocals. It works just as it is. Their website. Their label website.


Portastatic

Hopefully this has nothing to do with the book series Left Behind. If it does, I apologize, and I'd be really surprised. Jose Gonzalez is from Sweden and Zero 7 are Brits. I don't think they're your usual apocalypse connoiseurs, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyways, the song is called "Left Behind". It's a very short, (but not a snippet--I'm fairly sure it actually ends) instrumental (another instrumental--v. unusual!) song. Their Myspace.


Zero 7, The Garden album cover

Retro song:

The Honorary Title, "Snow Day". I first heard about them awhile ago (my blog knows how long but I'm too tired to look it up) when I heard "Bridge and Tunnel". That's such a great song--I still play it quite a bit. I found "Snow Day" on a blog recently--unfortunately it's been removed (as I expected it would be after two months). The album is from 2004, but it's been reissued with bonus songs/material. (It's cheaper on their label's site, but I couldn't get the direct link to work). This song has become another of my favorite songs, though. Their website.


The Honorary Title

Bonus:

Oh my God. Love it, be it and live it while you can.

Five Songs I'm Loving This Week

I'm here--I promise. I'll be here for the next three hours trying to sort out the songs I've listed and figure out what to write about them. Awww--you're still not upset about me missing last week, are you? I'm sorry! Here--have a Hello Kitty sticker. What? Oh, you want Chococat? Sure! Here's a cute sticker with Chococat on the cover. What? No, you can't have the whole sheet of stickers! Don't be greedy! What have I tried to teach you?


Chococat

Anyways, I am sorry I missed last week and was late with this week. I was...distracted. Unfortunately, the source of my distraction is no longer a regular fixture in my life, so, more time for music. And lonely nights. And maybe Solitaire. Really I worry about Chester (one of my cats). I keep telling him not to get too attached--men come and go, but Deli-Cat is forever. Unfortunately he never listens. I see the tears glinting off the food bowl.

Okay, so I'm here. I've eaten and I'm now drinking General Foods International House Cappucino. Hey--don't judge! I was too tired/poor to go to Starhucks or the U.C. I take what I can get. Only a fool demands what she can't possibly get. Ya da ya da.

So, here we go. GET READY FOR CERULEAN'S LOVE OF MUSIC, MAY 22, 2006!!!!! (Eh, at least I tried to generate some excitement.)

*Starts to hyper-ventilate*


Sonic Youth, from Rhapsody.com

I love Sonic Youth! I love Sonic Youth! I don't know which song to talk about. I really wanted to post "Torquoise Boy", but is that available? *Nope..hello, Yousendit* Oh!!! I love "Incinerate"!!! I do believe in this Rapture, also. Ah hell--you all decide. I'm going to get a--

"Brandy Alexander" by The Walkmen is just frikkin' excellent. I loved them when I first heard "The Rat" (and I have banged my head against someone's door before--a long, long time ago) and so far I feel the same way about the songs I've heard. Most people are posting "Louisiana", which is a great song, but I took the hype-standard weblink least clicked on, or however that poem goes. *Bops head to song*

I get a lot of music through Myspace. I know a lot of people just delete those messages and friend requests, but I'm here to tell you: don't. Don't do it. Fight the temptation. If you listen to them you'll like a lot of them and love a few. It's worth listening to a dozen bands to get to one you love (I know--I do). Kite Flying Society e-mailed me, and with a name like that I couldn't not listen to their songs. The song I liked the best, "6000 Shipwrecks" is not available for download on their Myspace, but is available on "Cable and Tweed". This song makes me happy. Like the way "Yellow Submarine" made me feel when I was eight...or on drugs. Listen to the songs on Myspace, too, and use Hype Standard to find more songs by them. They're awesome.

I'd never paid attention to Gomez before. I would always think "what a silly name". I heard them on a podcast, though, and the songs I heard really stood out to me; particulary "See The World". It's a very pretty, slightly folky song. Don't let the French scare you--just scroll down to the bottom--you'll see the mp3s.

Oh wait...for her last song, Lola's going into SQUEALY GIRL MODE AGAIN! Oh! Oh! Oh! I love Snow Patrol. I love, love, love them. I want to shag them and make them mine. "Hands Open" is from their new album Eyes Open (see a pattern?). I want to shag this song and make it mine. It's a little harder than most of the songs off of "Final Straw", but that's okay with me. I have room in my heart (and my bed) for both the poetic, sensitive songs and the bang-worthy guitar spectacles.


Snow Patrol, from OMG.com

I think I feel faint.

Bonus: I can't find this for download anywhere, but I'm just all head over heels for Brandtson's song "Earthquakes and Sharks". It can be heard on their Myspace site.

Until next boy rant...(I promise I haven't been drinking).

Five songs post will be delayed until tomorrow. Don't ask me why. Not unless I freely tell you.

Not even one song?

Sigh...I had a very busy week and the busiest weekend I've had in months. One of the unfortunate outcomes of this is I haven't listened to much music and I'm absolutely frikkin' exhausted.

So, at the risk of riot and possible mass-suicide, I'm going to skip this week's Five Songs post.

Simmer down, folks! It'll be back next week! Just think of it as a mini-Lent; you're doing without something you love for one week.

I'll be back, I promise. Maybe I'll bring back presents--like little plastic mermaids from the corner store. Who knows--maybe they'll start talking to you and someone'll make a short-lived T.V. show out of it. It's happened, y'know.

Okay, that's all. I just wanted to apologize and explain.

I really liked what little I heard of The Go-Betweens. They have two songs I love--"Darlinghurst Nights" and "The Statue". I'm sure there's more I'd love; I just haven't had the opportunity to hear it.

Glen McLennan from The Go-Betweens dies

Podcast!!

Also, I uploaded this for a friend, so I might as well post it here too. It's an awesome cover of The Cars' awesome song "Misfit Kid". It's by Jon Auer. I got it from a Cars Tribute album I bought from Not Lame.

Five Songs I'm Loving This Week

I first bought Elf Power's 2000 CD Elf Power, Elf Power, Winter Is Coming based on an Amazon suggestion. I didn't even bother to listen to any of the songs; I just knew I couldn't possibly not like a band named Elf Power. I was right--not only did I like the cd, I thought it was the awesomest druid rock ever!! (Only some of the proggiest music of the 70's might've surpassed it in sheer prog-ness, but not in quality). So they had a lot going for them. They were from Georgia too, and that's always a plus to me. We're like the mafia--we take care of our own.


Elf Power

They've had a lot of albums since then, and their new CD is called Back To The Web. I've only heard a few of the songs (I will order the cd soon) and I've liked what I've heard. Most blogs are posting "An Old Familiar Scene", which is a great song, but I saw one blog posted a different song. It's called "Come Lie Down With Me (And Sing My Song)". It shows that while they might not be as pre-Christian era sounding as they were before, they still have great music.

I know I've written about Bishop Allen before ('cause they're a great band) but it's been awhile, and guess what? They have like 50 new EPS!! Yay! "The Monitor" is from the March EP. They never take themselves too seriously (even when they're covering "Eve of Destruction") but they're never half-hearted either. They play their music more than whole-heartedly and I listen to it in the same manner. While you're at their site, download all the songs they have--"Things Are What You Make Of Them" is the song I posted much much long ago. If you're so inclined, look at their Myspace site, also. Question to Bishop Allen: When are you going to have another full-length cd?

The next song isn't druid rock, or done by former druid-rockers. It's not whimsical, but it is a very beautiful song. It's called "Naomi" and it's by Chad King. Someone's no friend of his--combine that with a steel petal guitar and you got one twangy, sad song. (Scroll down almost to the bottom and click the little tiny symbol by the song's name).


Chad King's Well, Hell album cover

I'm a sucker for vocals that are kind of sung/shouted (witness my devotion to Mates of State and love of Ween). "Love Is For The Birds, Not The Bees" is shouted by the lead singer of The Spelling Bees with exuberance, and the song seems to be built on video game samples. In short, I love it. (Click on media, then Spelling Bees).

I don't if it's just 'cause I was born in the 70's, or maybe Neil Diamond is really my father (would be an improvement) but I like a lot of songs with the word "babe" in it. I generally don't like the kind of guys who use the word "babe", but maybe I'm just searching for my inner ho-skank. It's possible. Anyway, Ian Moore wants to drink up his babe in his song "New Day". He also likes to drink coffee, but I'm not sure if that's related to drinking up his babe. The song follows the dark, isolated country sound of artists like M. Ward and Tim Easton. I'm a sucker for dark, lonely cowboy music.

The last song is going to be a retro song (yes, Lola ran out of songs. Leave her alone. She works hard to bring you these songs.)

Heidi Berry was one of my favorite musicians in the 90's (she still is, but she hasn't done much since the 90's). She was originally on the 4AD label, which since I was prone to dramatics and loved music that made me depressed, was my favorite label. Plus they just had really awesome music (This Mortal Coil, His Name Is Alive, Kristen Hersh). So, Heidi Berry was on my short list of "people who are too awesome to be mere humans". and Yay! Blogger seems to think I've never posted any of her songs before, so I will not be repeating myself by posting this. There are so many songs I love by her that it is hard to pick just one, so I will probably include another one of her songs in a future post. For now, though, I'll upload "Washington Square". It's highly indicative of her talent and the quality of her music. If you don't like this song then I doubt you'd like the rest of her catalog.


Heidi Berry's collection, Pomegranate

Five Songs I'm Loving This Week

Ooh...this is the fun part of my music post. This is the part where I get to find out which website I got each song from. Generally I try to make a note of it: when I write the song down I'll put beside it "from Good Weather", "from Chromewaves" or just to challenge myself, something completely unintelligible which usually turns out to mean "downloaded it from musicmatch". This time I apparently just seemed intent on getting the songs written down. I've got plenty of songs, but not where nary a one comes from (wow...I just channeled some distant relative).

I do know I heard The Weepies from Myspace. The name of the band leaves a little bit to be desired (I always want to put eye drops in my eyes whenever I think of it) but the songwriting is very accomplished, and particularIy "Gotta Have You" is a very lovely front-porch kind of alt-country song. If the Dixie Chicks got very introspective with their songwriting, they might write songs like this one.

Peter Walker's song "What Do I Know". is about as opposite from The Weepies as you can get without being hip-hop. I like a lot of different styles--alt-country, guitar-oriented indie music and occasionally really cheesy 80s music (don't tell--ah hell; everyone already knows). Anyhow, this squarely falls into the guitar-oriented indie categorly. It's short and it doesn't relent, and is all the better for it. The song reminds me of something Ted Leo would do, which equals an endorsement from me.


Peter Walker, from his site

This is a pretty awesome song. It's called "Pulaski Heights" and the band is Venice is Sinking. Cool name, huh? Also, I'm not just bragging because I'm from Georgia, but man, Athens has a very impressive musical outcropping. There are so many good bands there. I'm sure there are bad bands, too, but Athens knows how to weed those out, I'm sure. The violin in this song is absolutely awesome. The whole song, from the opening guitar parts to the end with the voices blending, backs me into the wall and doesn't relent. It's impossible to ignore this song. Their website is Venice Is Sinking, and their Myspace is listed below.


Venice Is Sinking, from their Myspace

Though my infatuation with the White Stripes ended with their first album ("Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" is still a kick-ass song), I read a few articles on his side project, The Raconteurs and was interested to hear them. I knew that Brendon Benson was in the band also, and I just think he's awesome. So, I listened to a few of their songs, and hey--they're pretty kick-ass, too! I'm quite fond of "Intimate Secretary" (I'm only going to keep this up about a month. All cease and desist letters need to go to ceruleanlobster@yahoo.com )

Um...Song number five is gone because it's been removed from all the other sites I saw it on, and I get nervous. So, instead I'll go ahead and post this song. I was going to wait until next week, but now's a good time. I've never heard My Chemical Romance (Omigod they just look they're trying so hard to be goth-emo) but I like String Quartet's version of their song "I'm Not Okay, I Promise". Now I have to listen to the original (damn goth-emo children).


String Quartet, A Tribute To My Chemical Romance

The End


Also, Podcast! I meant to write out the entire playlist on there, but I accidently hit enter. Oops.

PODCAST! A REAL, PROFESSIONAL PODCAST!!

Here's the RSS feed

Okay, well it's kind of rough around the edges (and there's a message from the software company overlaying soeme parts--I'll probably buy the actual version soon) but I'll get better.

Please listen to it--I'm paying $5 a month to host the podcast, plus I'l be paying $49 to buy the software.

It's so much fun, though!

*If anyone doesn't know how to download podcasts, please let me know and I'll help you. Also, you can download just the mp3 here

***

Five Songs I'm Loving This Week

It's 5:57 p.m. on a Saturday. I am trying desperately to wake up. I was trying to wake up before I went to sleep this afternoon. Now I'm just tired and groggy. I'm also making tea, the good kind--it tastes much better than the Wikipedia entry would lead you to think. I'm doing laundry (there is no good kind of laundry). I'm lamenting the fact that I need to eat vegetables for dinner (to balance out the utter unhealthiness of my lunch) and wondering if I'm too sleepy to be trusted in the kitchen.

I'm also working on my music post (obviously). I am not ever, ever ever going to attempt to post as many songs as I did last week. It was an experiment and one which needs no duplication to verify the difficulty of. It was a logistical nightmare. I was fixing broken links for hours! If I ever get to the point where I'm hosting all of my mp3s, something like that might be more manageable. For now, I'll stick with my usual 5-7.

The first song will wake me up. It's by a band I fell in love with a few years ago when their debut Logic Will Break Your Heart was released. How could I not love that

album title? And they had a song (one of my favorites) called "Lola, Stars and Stripes". I loved the album so much I went out and bought the cd (Okay, well Amazon

did all of the leg work, but damnit! I had to pick it up from the post office!).

So of course I'm really excited for their new album to come out. Without Feathers is not coming out until May, but one song is available, and it's freakin' awesome. It's called "In The Beginning", and it's available here, and also on their Myspace.

The next song also gets the distinction of being the song title of the month (at least until another one catches my interest): The Late Cord, "My Most Meaningful Relationships Are With Dead People". It's dire, mournful, gothic cowboy music. One of my favorite genres. (I love the description of the town the band's from: "God, cows, and crude". Yes, this is America, folks. Where no matter what drug/drink you do, eventually you will wake up in a cow pasture--it's happened to me.) Mp3 also available on their website.


The Late Cord

The All Mighty Whispers really like Saturday. I can't say I disagree. Since I started working full-time frikkin' forever and ago, I've become quite fond of Saturday. It's really the only day I acknowledge. On Sunday they apparently take to their bed, which is a fine way to spend a Sunday. Anyway, I really like this song, even without my strong identification with the lyrics. It's called "Thinking Saturday With A Whisper". There's not a lot online about them, but who knows--maybe I'll start a revolution with this post. I know--funny. (Their website)

As an aside, you know how when you overcook vegetables they get all limp and stuck together? Yeah, that happened.

I've developed a major fondness for the next song. It's called "Stay" (click on the link then right-click and hit "save as") and it's by Marykate O'Neil (yes, I keep thinking Olsen also, but thank every God and Goddess it's not). It's poppy, but not annoyingly poppy. There's purpose to its poppiness. The name of the album is funny--it's 1-800-Bankrupt. Hopefully I'll never have cause to find out if that's a real number.

Marykate O'Neil, from her website

The last song isn't poppy, but I learned to divest my musical tastes long ago, so I listened to them. The song's called (take a breath) "Seventy-Four Seventy-Five and it's by Shearwater. It's got a beatiful horn part (don't ask me what kind of horn. I wish I knew) and some nice piano. There's something almost sad and gothic about parts of it. Gothic done 70's style. I can't understand the lyrics at all, so if anyone can contribute any insight into what the heck he's talking about, that'd be great.

Extra: The Flaming Lips, "Do You Realize" (Postal Service Mix)...Just

because it exists...

Because I love Madonna and sometimes hip-hop is the only thing that'll cheer me, here's a remix of "Hung-Up" by someone/someones named Diplo. This is for my livejournal friend Jen, who's seeing Madonna live.

It's 8:42. I'm almost done with the post. Now I have to upload it to all three blogs. I'm using an uploading program called w.bloggar, but so far I can only get it to post to livejournal. It's a nifty editor, though, so I like it for that alone.

I don't think I've said this before, but thank you to the musicians whose songs I post and the blog proprietors whose mp3s I poach :)