July 31st, 2008
Old posts
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07.31.08I see you in your room, you’re wearing your bedroom costume
Well I’m having trouble sleeping lately, I’m not sure why it might have something to do with me completely screwing up my body clock or it could just be because it has been so boiling hot that my body feels like it’s attached to a furnace. I’m not sure.
I figured it was time for another music post, I’m probably going to make it a regular thing, I get through new music pretty quickly and I hear it’s good to share these days. I’ve spent most of these sleepless nights in bed with my headphones on listening to music at full volume I’m probably breaking my eardrums to be fair but it just never seems the same unless I hear it loud enough to burst a blood vessel. So this is my sleepless summer nights playlist.Download links underneath song samples (right click - save file as)
Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head have been on my musical radar for a fair few months but I hadn’t taken the chance to listen to them enough if I’m honest, though with song titles like ‘Beard Lust’ I knew I had to give them a go. The release of their album ‘Glistening Pleasure’ seemed like a good excuse to me and what can I say, I’ve fallen in love with them.
Their songs remind me of a less slutty ‘Gravy Train!!!!’ and ‘Gameboy/Gamegirl’ with a slight witty edge, there’s a joyful and playfulness to their songs with sometimes slightly out of tune vocals but it works perfectly. I am very glad to say that the album hasn’t been overproduced which in this case is good. They’re the sort of band that shouldn’t be perfect and actually you really should go buy the album it’s a great danceable little thing with barely any bad songs on it.‘Bedroom Costume’ is in my opinion probably the most danceable song on the album, with a 1950’s sounding chorus line that you can’t help wanting to dance around too. It’s a gleeful little number about mutual peeping toms.
‘Beard Lust’ has to be a favorite just from the topic alone, because we all know everyone loves a hipster with a beard. I also wonder if it is the only song in existence that covers the topic of beards, I’m not sure but I’d hazard a guess that it probably is. Again it’s a happy song with imperfect vocals, the song completely changes at around the 2 minute mark though and is probably when it really comes into its own for me. Go beard love!Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Bedroom Costume - Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head
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Beard Lust - Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head
I would say I got over ‘The Dresden Dolls’ a long long time ago, however I decided to give Amanda Palmer’s solo effort, ‘Who Killed Amanda Palmer’ a go anyway. I wouldn’t say it was a change of pace for her at all, and to be honest most of the songs may as well have been released as a Dresden Dolls album. This doesn’t mean they aren’t good songs in themselves, it just means it seems like more of the same from Palmer which probably isn’t a bad thing, when you’ve found a formula that works stick to it but even so I would have liked to have seen something different from her.
If I am honest most of the album is a bit low tempo for me, it does however make good night time listening especially during this hot, sticky summer nights. Two of the songs on the album really stand out for me, they are the most upbeat sounding even if they actually have rather dark, depressing lyrics. It almost makes me feel bad for wanting to tap my foot to them.‘Runs in the family’ is a ditty of a song with repeating beats with vocals that flow through them perfectly, it reminds me of various Dresden Dolls songs but still stands up on it’s own. It is about allergies, aliments, and various other things that seem to effect families that and wanting someone to fill you up.
‘Oasis’ is by far the happiest song on the entire album when I first heard the opening notes it made me smile, the tune itself is perfect and there is a point in the song where retro style backing vocals get overlaid with Palmer’s singing and it all comes together wonderfully. However the song itself isn’t a happy one, the lyrics are about rape and abortion it tells an interesting story of a girl at a party who becomes pregnant but doesn’t care because she’s sent a letter to Oasis. All of this aside however the song itself is magical sounding.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Runs in the Family - Amanda Palmer
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PNAU are an Australian dance music duo, who released their self titled album last year however their popularity has been slowly building around the internet and my like for their album has also been slowly growing. Other than the fact that they are both rather attractive the album itself is also pretty good though I have to admit I dismissed it the first time I listened to it, but it keeps cropping up on shuffle and I keep adding stars to songs.‘Embrace’ is by far my favorite on the album and features the amazing ‘LadyHawke’, the song itself is a slow builder but is totally worth it. The chorus is a joy to listen to and have a very familiar feeling to them, as though you’ve heard them somewhere before. Give it a try it might take you a while to fall in love with it, but you defiantly will.
‘Lover’ is also a standout track on the album for me, it has a more dance feel to it than Embrace and is a good song for the dance floor, again it’s a slow builder with a long musical intro that has plenty of electronic blips to keep you entertained. When the lyrics kick in however is when the song starts to work, there aren’t much in way of actual lyrics but what there is there is rather sweet. The song itself takes various twists and turns which I enjoy in a song.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
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Finally, it’s time for something a little bit different. I don’t like Hip Hop, at all really however I do love a good remix and a good mash0up even if said genre is involved. Which leads me to E=603 has been compared to another mashup artist I like ‘Girl Talk’ where I can defiantly see the similarities between the two I have to say that I have listened to E=603’s latest album ‘Something for Everyone’ a whole lot more than I have listened to Girl Talk’s latest.
E=603, cuts together hip hop and R&B tracks laying them over indie and dance numbers, the songs are constantly changing which means there is little way to get bored and they are really great to dance to. The album has no gaps between songs and each one follows on from the last wonderfully, also the great thing is it is available in full for free on E=603’s site, go and download it here and eagerly await the new one that is supposed to be released this month.‘Crunk Colony’ starts off like the kind of song I would hate, that is until ‘The Postal Service’ backing kicks in after that is just a whole mp3 of amazing with the bleepy beats of The Postal Service merging into the guitar riffs of ‘The Strokes’ and it is this kind of thing that makes rap music listenable to me. Give it a go, you’ll be surprised.
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