Five Songs I'm Loving This Week

(Sorry for the delay--Blogger was down last night)

Syntax, "Pride"

This song's been around for a few years (since '04), but I just downloaded it, so it's sort of new. I've been listening to a tiny snippit of it for a few weeks now (which doesn't mean it can't be a "song I'm loving this week"!) but when I downloaded it, I neglected to change the tag, so it only showed up by song title. No band name listed. I've been running around for weeks now thinking "Man, I love that Pride song. Too bad I don't know anything about it and only have a minute-long snippet." Well, this week I decided I was going to take back the song! I was going to give it my best effort and find a complete copy with the band name listed. Of course Google gave me lots of hits for "Pride (In The Name of Love)". Thanks Google--I first heard that song over 20 years ago. I'm fine as far as that song goes. Thanks to the fine folks at hype.non-standard.net, though, I found the original snipped I'd downloaded. It was cake (and ice cream with cherry topping) to find the band and a full mp3 from there. Yay for me! Yay for diligence!

"Pride" is alot different from the other songs of theirs I heard; the others seem to be more electronica oriented. I like electronica, but I love the soulfulness and earnestness of this song. Even if it's an anomoly amoung their other songs, it's a wonderful anomoly (frome the album Meccano Mind).


cover of Meccano Mind

Their website is down, but here's a fan's Myspace. This site leads to another Myspace for a band called Fatal which has at least one of the members of Syntax, Jan Burton. There's not a lot of information on Fatal, though (the website listed isn't valid), so I don't know if the other member of Syntax is in Fatal.

Oh well, I have the one song, anyway.






The Decemberists, "O Valencia"

Okay. I haven't liked The Decemberists until now. I've found the previous songs I've heard to be whiny and unbearably pretentious (when you like the kind of music I do, you learn to put up with a bit of pretentiousness). But!!! I am an open-minded person. I listen to politicians when they talk, though I know it's most likely bullshit. I don't laugh uproariously (out loud) when employers say they have their employees' best interests at heart, and I'll listen to music from a band I usually don't like. It's happened many times--I love one song and hate another from the same group of musicians. I'd only be hurting myself if I ignored this song based solely on my opinion of other songs I'd heard. So, I gave it a chance, and I'm glad I did--it's a really good song, with virtually no pretentiousness (from the album The Crane Wife).


cover, The Crane Wife

Their Website and Myspace



Kapow! Music, "Surfear"

I don't understand the name of the band or the song, but that's okay. As I said earlier, I like electronica. I like it much like I like iguanas. I'd never have an iguana as a pet (they get up to 6 feet!), but I like them and like to be around them for small amounts of time. Similarly, I like electronica, but I'm not going to bring it home, raise it and bring it to the vet regularly.

Once in awhile, though, an electronica song will get me in a certain way. The last one was the James Figurine song I posted a few weeks ago (I love that song. It's still posted--I can't bear to take it down). This song, "Surfear", has got me also.

It has no lyrics--the only thing for me to latch on to are the myriad, weird keyboard lines. They're frikkin' quirky! Yes, I said quirky. I know alot of people don't put stock in the word "quirky" as an accurate description, but I'm not sure what else to call it. It's enjoyably weird; therefore, it's quirky (from Ambient: Music For Computer Games).

John Ribo, AKA the guy who is Kapow! Music

Their Myspace and their Website.


Josephine Sweet, "Sad Refrain"

This is the alias of singer-songwriter D. Mangione, from Birmingham, Alabama. I've known D. for almost 17 years. I became friends with one of her best friends from high school, and their circle of friends adopted me. I was always a little different because I didn't go to their high school, and therefore could read (it's a joke with their high school--they all had t-shirts that read "If you can read this you didn't go to Trussville high school). I remember I had some other friends who lived in the same apartment complex as she and her family did, and instead of going to school, I'd disappear there for days at a time (if anyone needs to know why it took me 10 years to get through college, that's a good example of one of the reasons) and hang out with them and drink.

She was playing guitar and singing back then, and I remember I'd bug her to play the same songs over and over. In hindsight, I bet my constant requests probably did annoy her; those songs had very emotional meaning for her, and I'm sure they brought up difficult memories for her each time she played them. Back then I was drunk most of the time, though, and all I knew was I I thought those songs were pretty.

Choosing the song I was going to use for this post was difficult. It was a draw between this song and "Hearts To Hearts". I was going to use the second song because I couldn't stop singing it and it mentions another friend of mine, Jean-Paul. In the end, though, "Sad Refrain" is a little mellower and a little sadder (though they're all very reflective) and I thought it might make a better intro to her music. She has one of the most beautiful voices I've heard--I really miss being in someone's apartment and hearing her play just a few feet away.


D. Mangione, AKA Josephine Sweet

Her Myspace and Website. More information can be found here.


Retro-Song:

Elf Power, "Why Can't I Touch It"

(Insert Mark Foley joke if you wish. Hey--it's timely, at least.)

I love Elf Power, but I actually just heard this song for the first time recently. It's from their 2002 album Nothing's Going To Happen. They have a lot of cds in their roster, so it's going to take me awhile to catch up with all of them.

This song is a little different than some of their others; where many of their other songs I can describe as "druid rock", there's nothing ancient about this song. It's a pretty traditional rock song, which is something I want once in awhile. Part of the reason for the difference is that this is a cover; it was originally done by The Buzzcocks. The bass line is fantastic--probably responsible for some hearing loss, but once in awhile i've just gotta tear up my mp3 player, y'know? (I realize I describe them as "druid rock", yet there's a song on this album called "Hot Love". Sounds more Van Halen than Old Celtic, but whatever.)



Elf Power

Their Website and Myspace.

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Too tired to do podcast. Too tired to finish Tori review. I also didn't vacuum or wash all the clothes I needed to. For that I apologize to myself and the world in general. I'll do better. I did hang a curtain in my kitchen, though! (cue loud applause).

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