Five Songs I'm Loving This Week

Otay, I think I've finally got EZArchive working, so I can hopefully leave Libsyn for my podcasts.

According to EZArchive, the songs will be posted at reduced quality. If you notice a marked difference between the quality of the songs I've been posting the last few months on Libsyn and the ones I'm posting this week, please let me know. It could be that the songs I'm posting now are just plain low-quality to begin with (I got them free, after-all), but if enough people say the quality is noticeably poor, I'll consider using only Libsyn. I want EZA to work, though, so I can save Libs. for podcasting, and I can podcast more often. Podcasting's the future, y'know.

Five Songs I'm Loving This Week

Track A Tiger, "Sound As Ever"

I don't know what the phrase "sound as ever" means in this song; are they saying they're as sound of mind as ever? sound of body as ever? Is someone named Sound playing a character named Ever in a school play? There is a person named Ever--Ever Carradine is Robert Carradine's daughter. She was in the short-lived show "Lucky". I loved her and John Corbett's hot, but that show got on my nerves after awhile.

Isn't this a lovely alt-country song, though? It reminds me of Hem or Pulaski Heights. I love the violin. I love all violin. That may be a cello, though--It's hard for me to tell. There's no violin credited on their site; only cello. The guitar's beautiful, too. Very strummy, as is a fitting adjective for a guitar. I love the description on their website: "The sound is a little heavier and atmospheric with some extended jams. Maybe Richard and Linda Thompson and the Sea and Cake having drinks in the living room while Low and Sonic Youth make dinner in the kitchen. Fleetwood Mac is out getting more ice." I so want to be in that apartment. The quality of the mp3 may be better on their website. They also have a Myspace. They also have one of the best album-titles I've ever heard, Woke up early the day I died. I think the day I die I want to sleep in. No alarm clocks on that day.


Would number three please step forward?

Young Sportsmen, "Chavez"

This song reminds me of a Foo Fighters song, which is a positive thing in my world-view. It has that quick, driving kind of rock and roll the Foos use. Maybe Young Sportsmen's CD won't take over your computer like The Foo Fighters' In Your Honor does (did? I don't know if they changed it) if you play it in your disc drive. I played their song "Under Rocks and Stars" on my podcast--what a frikkin' awesome song, too. Both songs are from the album The Familiar Glow of Colliding Particles. This song and others are available on their website, and they also have a Myspace.


Young Sportsmen

Early Day Miners, "Return of the Native"

Early Day Miners are on one of my favorite labels, Secretly Canadian, so I've known about them for a few years. This song is hazy and lightly Western, much like the 90's band Mazzy Star, or maybe Cowboy Junkies. Yeah, Cowboy Junkies. The song has just enough percussion to keep us awake, but enough steel pedal to make us want to sleep under stars.

The original mp3 is from their Secretly Canadian page--it's from their recent album Offshore. I also found it on Salon's audio file page (you'll have to go through an ad). The bio on their Myspace likens their music to 80's 4AD, which definitely holds true on some of the Myspace songs, particularly "Sans Revival". Early Day Miners' website.


It's okay, I don't trust the camera either.

El Perro Del Mar, "God Knows (You gotta give to get)"

Despite their name, El Perro Del Mar is not from a predominantly Spanish-speaking country, they're not even a "they". El Perro Del Mar is actually one woman, and she's from Sweden--meaning my fascination with Swedish musicians is allowed to continue. I was beginning to worry--it'd been weeks since I'd downloaded any Swedish musicans' songs.

This song is markedly different than any of the other songs by Swedish musicians I've heard. It's not psychedelic like Soundtrack of Our Lives, not comedic like so many of Jens Lekman's. There's no mention of dancing queens or winners taking it all (sorry I had to). No one saw the sign (sorry--stopping now). It's skips all that and goes straight back to the sixties. In fact, Sarah (the lone member of the band) looks like a pixie from the sixties--a Twiggy for the 2000s. Pitchfork says it all better than I do. The song is from the self-titled LP, and I first heard it on Relevant TV. She has a Myspace and Website.


Sarah Assbring from El Perro Del Mar

The Diggs, "Everyone's Starting Over" (Cassettes Won't Listen remix)

This is all blippy and bleepy--it reminds me of Postal Service or that song I posted a few weeks ago--"Not In Love". I love blippy bleepy things, as long as it's light. I don't care for really loud, really pulsing techno songs. If I start getting flashbacks to the gay clubs I used to go to in the early nineties, then it's too techno. The guy sings in this song that "everything's getting louder". If everything starts to get louder, I start to feel older. Much like a line in this song, I'm tired and it shows...I don't know why I'm always so tired. I guess just working so much, and working at such a tiring job. I'm even too tired to look up the complete name of that "Not In Love" song. Okay, I feel guilty now. It's "Not In Love (Not True)" by Wolfgang. None of this has anything to do with The Diggs, but I like to digress sometimes. "Everyone's Starting Over" is really great--it's light, low-volume electronic music, which is the way I like electronic music. The original version of the song is from the album Commute. A possibly better quality version of the Cassettes Won't Listen mix can be found on the news page of their website under the 8/24 listing. The Diggs also have a Myspace.


The Diggs look like really nice guys.

Neat online radio station I found while looking for the set The Diggs played.

What a great download site.

If this EZArchive thing works out, I may post a podcast next weekend. We'll see. I'm not ugly, but I'm tired and it shows.