Music Monday :: 6 of my go-to “downtime” artists

“Downtime” artists being those I typically listen to while doing homework or solitary computer projects or things (craft projects in the more hands-on sense, at least detailed ones, often require slightly more rousing music for me; for example, painting the leather used to make my Dany armor top could be done to this, as that was more straightforward, but painting the pink silk-type stuff had full-on Ellie Goulding/Metric/Eisley accompaniment) or going to sleep.  This is not to say they are boring or even universally mellow, no, but they are just tonally right for these moments.

6. Laura Gibson
(Linked is her song “Come by Storm.”)  It’s really not a surprise that all of these artists frequently appear on my mixes; other than the fact that I love them, they are good complements.  Laura Gibson particularly is very effective at this; her songs are rarely manic, often relaxed, and have a nice twang-but-not-too-much-twang to them.

5. Angus and Julia Stone
(Linked is their song “Draw Your Swords.”)  Some of their songs, particularly the up-sides on A Book Like This, tend to be a bit more enthusiastic than a lot of the pieces that are on this list, but some of their songs are pleasantly not-that.  Even with a side of melancholy.  Introspective melancholy tends to lend itself well to downtime.

4. Julia Stone
(Linked is her song “Winter on the Weekend.”)  And some of these downtime songs are downright dark.  This one (though not all of Julia Stone’s collection) is a prime example.  Piano is also a theme.

3. The Swell Season
(Linked is their song “The Moon.”)  Honestly, these two make the greatest downtime music ever, between the uncheerfulness and the great harmonies and the calm pace that sometimes heats up into full-on passion but not that often and the guitar and the piano.

2. Glen Hansard
(Linked is his song “Talking With the Wolves.”)  This is a slightly faster pace than a lot of these songs.  But I think another key point to this list is emotional sincerity or something.  Which is definitely evident here.

1. Markéta Irglová
(Linked is her song “Let Me Fall in Love.”)  But this one is pure everything on this list.  It is melancholy and piano-driven and just lovely.  Simple, but excellent.

–your fangirl heroine.

Music Monday :: it’s iTunes stats time again.

• 38% are by at least partially female bands or female artists.
• The multiple songs by the same female artists break down like this: 3% Lana del Ray (all of which are different versions of the same song from The Great Gatsby), 3% Disney or Nickelodeon girl artists (Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato), 2% P!nk, 2% Taylor Swift, 2% the Band Perry, 2% Carrie Underwood, 2% the Lumineers.
• 3% of the songs on this list are memes (“Gangnam Style,” “Thrift Shop,” and “Harlem Shake”).
• No one artist appears more than 3% of the time.
• 23% of the songs are by artists I have never consciously heard of before in my life.
• I own exactly 1 of these songs, and not even the version that is currently listed on the charts (“I Need Your Love” which is technically Calvin Harris but is also featuring Ellie Goulding).

–your fangirl heroine.

Music Monday :: my thoughts on Volume Three

I do not give any damns.  I adore She & Him and all of their vintage cuteness.

“I’ve Got Your Number, Son.”  Beautiful retro piano and what sounds like Zooey’s doing… kind of a female Elvis backed by female chorusing Beach Boys?  I dig it.  That’s all there is to that.

“Never Wanted Your Love.”  I love that adorable high-low almost pop thing that some girls can do with their voice, and Zooey is great at it.  This isn’t quite as overtly kitsch as the first track (not that overt kitsch is a bad thing it’s a lovely thing really) but it is still just sweet and charming.  She & Him is one of the only bands I listen to that is overtly, consistently happy.  They have some slow songs, and the lyrics may be sort of bittersweet sometimes, but gosh, the overall tone of their stuff is so much more upbeat than other things.

“Baby.”  Oh, look, a precious cover!  Wherein it is a duet and M. Ward is being fabulous.  This is a tune written by George Morton, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich, i.e. it is excellent true-retro.

“I Could’ve Been Your Girl.”  This has been a really excellent year for retro surfer guitar appearing in records.  I’m not a hundred percent sure how being someone’s girl and being someone’s four-leaf clover are equivalent, but it rhymes and I guess it’s cute and I guess it’d make more sense if I understood cute romantic talking.

“Turn to White.”  Slow it down a bit.  This is like the kind of semi-schmaltzy whatnot that you could ironically lay over a scene of Don Draper wandering in a crowd at the end of an episode, and everyone else would be smiling and having a good time with others and he’d be alone with his hands in his pocket and/or holding a cigarette pensively.

“Somebody Sweet to Talk To.”  I think the thing is that when I listen to She & Him, I feel like maybe the world isn’t a horrible place.  I get sort of stupidly optimistic and I kind of like it.

“Something’s Haunting You.”  And this is yet another of those songs that does not match its title tonally.  This is much cheerier than any song that has the word “haunting” in it has a right to be, but that’s okay.  I mean, not all hauntings are gloomy, right?  That one ghost in Cordelia’s apartment turned out to be pretty okay, for example.  This feels a little kitsch for him, but ghosts aren’t inherently bad.  I fully understand that they mean haunting in the metaphorical way, but I don’t care.

“Together.”  Oh!  Suddenly it sounds like the 1970s.  Like a movie about roller skates from the 1970s.  Oddly, I don’t mean this as a bad thing.  “Yes, we all go through it together and we all go at it alone.“  I like this a lot, actually.

“Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me.”  This was originally a song performed by Karen Chandler.  And while I didn’t know that name necessarily, I definitely know I’ve heard this song before.  It feels like pure fifties sappiness, and I keep needing to repeat that right now I actually don’t mind that?  This is the kind of music I grew up listening to, so it gives me a lot of warm fuzzies.

“Snow Queen.”  Among other things, “I’m so cold, but I’m nice beneath the ice.”  Oh my gosh, though, this is a weird combination of like… four different periods of my life all brought together into one charming little tune.

“Sunday Girl.”  Oh, a Blondie song.  I didn’t know that until right now because I actually don’t know anything about Blondie, but I approve on principle.  Also, this is involving Zooey singing in French and that is another thing I always love, especially because I can actually translate a little bit of it and that’s exciting.

“London.”  Slowing it down again.  And this is the closest to gloomy they get, which is to say not really that gloomy at all but it actually says the word gloomy in the lyrics so it sort of counts, perhaps.

“Shadow of Love.”  Still slow, and “there’s no tomorrow for me and you,” so this is the song that plays over the parting couple in a sunset in a retro movie, where one or both parties are riding motorcycles in opposite directions sadly as they acknowledge that it cannot be and the wind blows in their hair.

“Reprise (I Could’ve Been Your Girl).”  This is the end of an Ann-Margret movie, pretty much.  And that’s okay by me.

–your fangirl heroine.

Music Monday :: my thoughts on Mosquito

Hi, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  I am so happy that they have a new album, because I like having things to listen to over and over and I listen to everything I have of theirs over and over.

“Sacrilege.”  I acquired this in its single release and have already fanmixed with it, but wow, I love it.  I think it is one of those songs that is actually perfect for soundtracks, because it has the right vibe of retro and alt and dark and… maybe that’s just the kind of soundtrack I like, I don’t know.  Also choirs make things sound epic and creepy.

“Subway.”  Ooh, this is a lovely and creepy start to a song.  This is what I like about Karen O’s voice: it often sounds like a grown-up version of a creepy ghost child, or if a grown-up version of a creepy ghost child was just slightly going through a rebellious artist phase.  Also, New York songs are always nice to have.

“Mosquito.”  Oh, this is… helpful for me, yes.  Guess who can almost assuredly find a use for a song that includes the lyric “he’ll suck your blood, suck your blood, he’ll suck your blood, suck your, suck your, suck your blood“?  Because psh, the mosquito can totally be a metaphor.

“Under the Earth.”  Hm, this is different.  “Down, down under the earth goes another lover“?  Oh, well, hi, I can groove on this.  It sounds like a funky combination of the seventies and a video game (but not a video game from the seventies) and I’m grooving on it.

“Slave.”  …whoops.  This isn’t pinging me necessarily in a specific specific way, but it’s definitely pinging me in general directions (which happen to be general directions I tend to be in a lot when getting pinged by music, of course).  And now I’m feeling a lot of feelings, and that’s not good, and I like that this sounds like a video game remix too.

“These Paths.”  I’m not sure what this is a combination of, but I like it.  This song is definitely not for everyone, it is weird, but I like weird things, so it works out.

“Area 52.”  Oh, it’s pretty much… straight-up about aliens.  It’s not metaphorical or vague or anything.  That is refreshing and fun and I like that they’re just going for it.  Also, this one sounds just like a video game, full stop.

“Buried Alive.”  Damn it, you guys, what are you doing to me.  I’m not usually into rap stuff, but I like this pretty okay, and this has absolutely everything to do with the creepy monsters-related lyrical content.

“Always.”  And this is very simple and repetitive without being annoyingly so.  I enjoy the undertones of sixties pop songs back there, they remind me of my childhood (is that a strange thought?) and then with the slightly echoey modern vocals, it’s a nice combination and one that’s strangely comforting.

“Despair.”  I am going to make a list someday of songs that do this, go completely against their titles by means of their tone.  That guitar riff sounds like a movie about cowboys that you’d make in the days of surfer movies.  “Through the darkness and the light, some sun has got to rise.”  That’s a lovely thought, guys, I dig it.  This is really very endearing.

“Wedding Song.”  I definitely heard this track on someone else’s fanmix on 8tracks one time recently, but I don’t care I adooore it.  Here, have some lyrics and you’ll know why, perhaps.  Also, I like songs with creepy ambient outdoor noises in them, because that just adds a horror-movie ambiance.  And I like songs that are called something but the lyrics do not even allude to the title at all unless you really dig around and explicate the hell out of it.

–your fangirl heroine.

Music Monday :: 5 grandly orchestrated songs by lady artists

5. “Lullaby For An Insomniac,” Kate Nash
This is cheating, though, isn’t it?  She’s doing the majority of the song a capella.  But around 2:30, it turns into a shockingly vibrant and almost Disneyesque orchestral arrangement of the melody, and that is lovely and awesome.

4. ‘The Valley,” Eisley
Remember?  I will put this song everywhere!  It does have wonderful orchestration, though.  String instruments are my favorite!  (I am hearing word that the new album may have lots of excellent orchestration also, so I am excited.)

3. “They Can’t If You Don’t Let Them,” A Fine Frenzy
I mentioned recently that I can’t stop listening to Pines.  I feel compelled to play it most times I scroll past it on my iPod or even think about it (I am probably going to turn it on once I am done blogging in a few minutes) because I just… love it a lot.  This song is definitely a standout, though, just because it is so very different from every other track and because it is eligible for this list.

2. “When We Were Young,” Sucré
The first time I heard this song, I had one of those jaw-dropping moments.  (This is a predictable list, like a lot of these lists are.)  But the level of orchestration on this is insane and beautiful.

1. “Love You More,” the Pierces
This song’s grandness is more retro; there’s more guitar and build in that way, but like these other tracks, it is stunningly enveloping when played on a good loud speaker, particularly when it gets to the chorus.  (Also, plus bonus points for being really pretty morbid.)

–your fangirl heroine.

Music Monday :: 5 more songs that feature eponymously on albums

5. “The Crane Wife,” the Decemberists
You’ll notice the link is split up here, and that is because this album is named not after one song, but technically three (two that are in one 11+ minute track).  That’s a special level of eponymous naming.

4. “Advisory Committee,” Mirah
This is a relatively mellow list of songs, actually.  And that’s cool.  Mellow songs are not necessarily as conducive when doing things like driving or cleaning, but they are very well-suited to things like studying, reading, painting, and napping, so that’s fun.

3, 2. “Combinations” and “The Valley,” Eisley
Surprising no one, right yes.  While “The Valley” is on the grander side, “Combinations” is maybe the most mellow track on that whole album.  Also it’s a really cute track.

1. “A Book Like This,” Angus & Julia Stone
More lovely mellowness.  Poetic but not too abstract, which is fun.

–your fangirl heroine.

Music Monday :: 5 of my favorite unreleased (or unavailable on iTunes) tracks by my favorite lady singers/bands

5. “Big Loud Racket,” Elizabeth and the Catapult”
As live recordings go, this one is pretty clear and good, even if it doesn’t get volume in the same way as a studio recording.  This song has sass and attitude, and those are two of the reasons I adore it.

4. “Part of His Heart,” Fiona Landers
I am honestly not sure what Fiona Landers has been up to in recent years, musically.  I got her EP in high school and I still love-love-love it, and I’m obsessed with the few unreleased tracks of hers I’ve found on YouTube and stuff, and I would love to spend more money on her music if given the opportunity.  C’est la vie.

3. “Black & Gold,” Ellie Goulding”
Definitely the more dance-electronic of the items on this list, but I have not been able to stop listening to this song lately.  I enjoy when dance-electronic songs are also potentially a bit dark, and this is definitely that.  Also, this song has some excellent harmonies, and that rocks.

2. “Little Red,” Kate Nash
AZ Lyrics says this is on Made of Bricks, but I guess that applies to the UK release or some such, because it’s definitely not available anywhere on iTunes.  That is a damn shame, because this song is piano and Kate’s lovely voice and a certain level of melancholia and another level of whimsy.

1. “Pretender,” Eisley
(I don’t know, just ignore the video slideshow if you don’t want to see the kids of Eisley as, well, kids.)  You can download old Eisley EPs off of Strange Yellow Patterns, and that’s totally awesome, but this song is definitely not available on iTunes either.  It is a fabulous, dark song, though, and well worth a listen.

–your fangirl heroine.

Music Monday :: 5 more more examples of instrumental music that isn’t a score

Or rather, 3 examples of instrumental music that is from the score to a musical (not a film score, which is all or mostly instrumental) and 2 more that are just “regular’ songs without words.

5. “Last Fall,” Markéta Irglová
This is another one of those I-will-mention-it-forever songs.  Because it is haunting and wonderful.

4. “Dance of the Gray Whales,” A Fine Frenzy
Pines came out last year but I didn’t get it until a couple weeks ago, hence the lack of review of it; I am nonetheless obsessed with it lately.  I have been playing it far too often, for a lot of reasons, and it made me smile like crazy when one of the tracks was pure-instrumental.

3. “Depraved Heart Murder at Sanitarium Square,” Repo! The Genetic Opera
I don’t really care.  I actually think this (which is kind of akin to an overture, I guess, which normally I wouldn’t count for this kind of list but this one can count because it is both randomly located in the middle of the album and over top of some ridiculous cartoons) is a beautiful piece of music.  It may have to do with the cello action involved.

2. “American Dancing,” The Light in the Piazza
Definitely the cutest song on this list, and there are other mostly-instrumental moments in this show, but this one doesn’t have talking over it or anything and yeah, this list just needed something cute.

1. “Jackie’s Last Dance,” The Wild Party (Lippa)
I recently listened to this album on a whim after at least a year of not listening to it and it sort of kicked me in the face, metaphorically speaking.  It is a lovely work, and this track is creepy and wonderful.

–your fangirl heroine.

Music Monday :: my tentative top 10 Eisley songs

I’m pretty sure it’s no secret around these parts that I love Eisley like I love no other band.  They worked their way into my tentative “favorite band” spot shortly after I heard Room Noises and I know it wasn’t just an impulse because that was years ago and it’s still counting.  (Things I love sometimes go through phases, but once I get really and truly attached to something, especially something I classify as my capital-F Favorite, it isn’t like to change easily.  This is why I’ve had the same favorite movie since I was thirteen.)  Anyway, Eisley announced today that their newest album drops at the end of May and I am very excited about it so I thought that it’s time for a retrospective of sorts!

I say tentative top 10 because honestly, there is not a song by these guys that I don’t love with all my heart.  These just tend to be the ones that I flock to the most.  (And it is no coincidence that so many of these are ones I’ve mixed with.)

10. “Just Like We Do“
I always have to include this song because it’s the one that’s responsible for my being interested.  One of my darling friends had it on a mix she gave me, and I’m sure she didn’t expect me to latch on as hard as I did, but soon I was buying the full album and listening to it far too often (or, I mean, if that was possible, which it’s not, so).  Thanks, friend!

9. “Blackened Crown“
Two of the reasons I love Eisley the most is they are often quite whimsical and sometimes surprisingly dark.  This song exemplifies both things.  This is a very simple song most of the time, really, and you can’t even find the EP it’s from on iTunes or anything, but it’s lovely in every way.

8. “The Valley“
Clearly the band likes this track too, since one of their EPs is named for a lyric and their third full-length is named for the song overall.  (I am also including the music video link for this one and not just a link of someone uploading the song with album cover because it is probably my all-time favorite music video of all time.  For reasons that are very obvious.)  I find this song a surprisingly good driving jam; this song is ladylike but with an edge kind of.

7. “Lights Out“
The newest addition to this list, but as the liveblogging of this EP that I did attested to, this song hits so many of my lyrical triggers.  It is also full of harmonies, which are another of the reasons that I love Eisley so much.  I am the biggest sucker for harmonies, especially lady harmonies, that has been.  Or at least that I know of in my life.

6. “Brightly Wound“
This is probably the most straight-up happy of the songs that are on my list.  It’s very cute and much, much happier than a lot of songs that I consider my favorites just overall in the world.  Also, this song mentions fireflies and dragons both, so it’s kind of a given.

5. “Mr. Moon“
(I am not sure why the majority of this video lays the sound over a picture of a little boy in the woods, but hey.)  This song also mentions fireflies, and maybe that’s why it first caught my special attention, but the fact remains that it is a truly beautiful track.

4. “Marvelous Things“
For some reason, my iPod was accidentally on shuffle the first time I played Room Noises the whole way through, so the last track I heard was this one.  And I will not soon forget it, because those last notes being the last thing I heard was stunning and actually sent chills through me.

3. “Invasion“
Well, this song is (still) the ringtone on my cell phone.  Of course it’s this high.  Also I just love that this is a song that exists.  (And I will include the music video for it as well, since it’s so creepy and beautiful.  I don’t watch music videos hardly ever, but I partake of the ones these guys produce gleefully and often.)

2. “Better Love“
This is more of a “rock song” than a lot of theirs are, but it still has their beautiful harmonies and their beautiful somewhat-darkness.  And this is one of my number one jams.  Stop everything (except for driving and such things, those things continue) and just enjoy and quasi-rock out.

1. “I Could Be There For You“
In short, duh.

–your fangirl heroine.

Music Monday :: 5 dubstep remixes because that’s the mood I’m in

5. “Human,” Ellie Goulding (Format Dubstep remix)
I said last time how many Ellie Goulding dubstep remixes there are, and that’s still true.  There aren’t too many remixes of tracks off Halcyon that I’ve found, though some of the tracks have a little dubstep to them just naturally, and about half of them are different remixes of “Lights,” but nonetheless, Ellie Goulding dubstep is the easiest dubstep I’ve found.  This particular mix isn’t too too grungy for most of it, and you can still hear original instrumentation in parts, though it’s one of those that’s mostly chorus and beats.

4. “The Perfect Crime #2,” the Decemberists (Junior Boys remix)
This one doesn’t say the word dubstep anywhere on it, but upon taking a listen I can say that it definitely is.  (There’s a whole proper EP of remixes of this song; the vocals on this one don’t come in till nearly 3 minutes, and it turns a song that’s less than 5 minutes long into 7:28 with the remixing.  And that’s definitely a dubstep thing to do.)

3. “Almost Lover,” A Fine Frenzy (PKMFH remix)
This is, in its original, a very delicate song, and there are still hints of delicacy in the remix (the occasional glimpse of piano in dubstep is one of my favorite things).  This sounds like a cyberpunk futureverse love song and I really like that.

2. “Plug in Baby,” Muse (Sizzez remix)
And here’s more of that piano thing.  This song is creepy to begin with, but for some reason making it sound, again, like a cyberpunk futureverse kind of situation makes it even creepier and possibly more appropriate.  After all, dubstep makes it sound like an apocalypse, and this is a song for an apocalypse if ever there was.

1. “Ambulance,” Eisley (Quartz DnB remix)
I didn’t find any good Eisley dubstep the last time I really went looking, so this was a pretty exciting find.  Putting the instrumentals over the beats and changing the tempo like this sort of makes it sound like a song that would be over the dramatic end montage of an episode of Sailor Moon (Serena and Darien would look longingly at each other, Amy would read a book and then stare out the window, Lita would wander around in the rain or something, oh and Hotaru would sit in her room full of lamps and look sad).  And that’s meant as a compliment.

–your fangirl heroine.