A Cabin in the Woods

photo courtesy of www.recordstore.co.uk

I downloaded a few Bon Iver songs from Daytrotter this morning. I've been hearing all of this buzz about them so I figured I'd see what all the fuss is about. Plus, didn't one of the band members go to LU?

Anyway, so far the music is pretty good. Melancholic, autumnal, honest. Makes me think of a gray day in New England or something. (Since, you know, I've been to New England...) The instrumentation is simple - the piano, acoustic guitar, bass and emotional (though somewhat hard to understand) vocals never compete with each other, but seem as harmonious as shades of a sunset.

There is something so raw and elemental about the music. It constantly quivers between man and nature; between the lonely songwriter trying to make sense of life and the vast and timeless quality of an environment that is somehow comforting in its impartiality.

I didn't read the Daytrotter article until this point, because I wanted to have an unbiased reaction. After reading it, though, it suddenly strikes me how sad the music is. It is the music of loss, of an emptiness that ironically fills the singer up until the music is choked out of him. It is music that is can only be truly sung on the floor, and yet, the album, "For Emma, Forever Ago," is a tangible result of his grieving process and a symbol of his recovery. Though the music is absolutely heartbreaking, an underlying whisper that says that life will go on keeps the music from being hopeless. The singer bleeds, he falls apart, but he is never falls so far that he is irretrievably lost.

The tracks I downloaded were:
"Flume"
"Lump Sum"
"Re Stacks"
"Creature Fear"

Here is a link to the Daytrotter article and song downloads. It is free to download, and perfectly legal since Daytrotter records all of the sessions that they post.

No place like it, afterall...

And...breathe.

After one of the longest, most stubbornly unending winter terms ever, I am finally home. It is absolutely wonderful. (And I am yet again reminded how much I love my family and dog)

So, here's an homage to home for those of you who are there, and break in general for those of you who are roaming somewhere else.

"Home," Mark Broussard (full song)

Home - Marc Broussard

"Homeward Bound," Simon and Garfunkel (clip)

Homeward Bound - Simon & Garfunkel

"Country Roads (Take Me Home)," John Denver (full song)

COUNTRY ROADS (TAKE ME HOME) - JOHN DENVER

Wooo!

Officially done with winter term classes! Here's a little celebratory music for on campus people who are or soon will be sharing in my euphoria. This song never fails to make me smile. And rock out.

"I Believe in a Thing Called Love," The Darkness, I think it's a live version (full song)

I Believe in a thing called love - The darkness

Sometimes you find things when you least expect them...

I was reading friends' LJs, dicking around online and the like, when I decided that it was a little too quiet (this happens a lot). My ears, though pretty bad at hearing most things, have an uncanny ability to realize when there is a lack of music. I threw on my Pandora, which was set to The Shins radio.

First, was "Saint Simon," one of my favorite tracks by the Shins. Then, a song came on by the Beatles that I had never heard. Being relatively familiar with the Beatles, I was slightly surprised that this song was a stranger, especially since it sounded so mainstream. (Though, I'll be the first to admit that my Beatles knowledge is nowhere near complete) It is "I'll Follow the Sun," and it is quite cute.

I am writing this instead of doing more work...and I'm okay with that

For some reason, amazing songs from my past have been popping up on my internet radio recently. They have provided undefinable solace in the stressful, confusing and altogether crazy time known as the end of winter term senior year. As I teeter on the verge of some major life decisions, spend WAY too much time in the library and push myself to just.keep.going, these songs stop me dead in my tracks and remind me that there is more to life than grades and practicality and being figured out...and that it is okay to slow down every once in a while.

Here are a couple that I heard this morning (I guess it's morning now):

"Mad World," Gary Jules (full song)
This one is a hauntingly beautiful song that seems so multifaceted, so fragile, so constantly in flux that it slips through one's fingers, offering only a glimpse of beauty before becoming obscured in layers of melancholy and irony. Apparently, it's also from the film "Donnie Darko."

Mad World - Gary Jules

"Colorblind," Counting Crows (full song)
I can't believe that this song is by Counting Crows. Nothing against the Crows, it just seems uncharacteristic. It was on a mix CD that my friend who had awesome and very before-her-time music taste made me in high school. Something about the collision of sad and hopeful motifs makes it really poignant, like a post-storm sky in which rays of sunlight struggle to break through the gloom.

Colorblind - Counting Crows

Woah.

I forgot how amazing this song is.

"No One Knows," Queens of the Stone Age (full song)

No One Knows - Queens Of The Stone Age

"We'll go dancing in the dark, walking through the park and reminiscing"

I thought I would revisit some old friends. Most of these songs are from artists that I got into in high school or my early college years. Somehow, as I find my almost graduated self coming out on the other side of this weird ride that is the educational system, such songs from the past are like life preservers in a sea of many uncertainties.

"Dead Passengers," Sondre Lerche (full song)
I feel almost like Lerche and I have grown up together, even though we've never met. His music has carried me through teen angst, college stress, emotional meltdowns and the like. Conversely, I have witnessed his transition from a gangly, young indie singer-songwriter to sophisticated, cross-genre musician.

Dead Passengers - Sondre Lerche

"Run," Snow Patrol (full song)
I discovered Snow Patrol my freshman year of college. There is a somewhat dorky reason why I like this song so much, which I won't share. If you were around then, you probably know what I'm talking about.

Run - Snow Patrol

"Yellow," Coldplay (full song)
I sang this song in my high school POPS concert senior year. It was actually kind of a fluke. I waited too long to find musicians to accompany me, so I asked my friends who were in a band together what they knew how to play. Turns out, it was this song, and turns out, I became deeply connected with it.

Yellow - Coldplay

"Seven Nation Army," The White Stripes (full song)
I thought that The White Stripes were the shit in high school. This song was a favorite.

Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes