R.I.P. Lou Reed (1924 - 2013)

Lou Reed passed away yesterday. Obviously The Velvet Underground had a huge impact on rock musicians far and wide. Brian Eno famously said "The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band." You can read plenty of articles about his life and death here, here, or any number of other places, so I'll just post a few of my favorite songs.


What I assume is the most well-known Velvet Underground song



 Another favorite of mine



And because I'll sneak M. Ward in any place I can... M. Ward covering "Pale Blue Eyes"



And the first Lou Reed song I remember hearing. I remember my parents playing this song in the car when I was young, which in hindsight is kinda weird...

My Top 50 Albums of 2012 (1-5)

We're finally down to my five favorite albums of 2012. As I mentioned in the first post, this was a great year for new music. If you missed my first three installments of the list here are the links: 31-50, 16-30, and 6-15. These five albums were ones that I just found myself listening to over and over again this year. Here are my top five of 2012:

5) M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion

I've probably written about M. Ward a dozen or so times since I started this blog. You can search his name in the upper left corner or look here if you want to verify that, but it has been a lot. On last.fm I listened to M. Ward more than twice as often as any other artist that year and that doesn't even take into account that this album was in my car CD player for about four straight months after it was released. That gives you the background for how I'm approaching this album. I was almost certainly going to love it as soon as the release was announced. Despite that, it took me a while to really warm up to the album. At first I liked it but didn't love it. However, the more I listened, the more it grew on me and now it is probably my second or third favorite of his records (with "Post-War" firmly entrenched as one of my 2 or 3 favorite records ever). If I had to pick a favorite track, it would probably be "The First Time I Ran Away", but unlike a lot of the albums ranked this high, there really isn't one or two tracks that stick out. The album flows from song to song with each step along the way a big part of what makes it so enjoyable.


4) Milo Greene - Milo Greene

Like Rilo Kiley, Milo Greene is a band masquerading as a person. I think I read somewhere that Milo Greene was a name they had invented as a fake PR person so that they seemed more professional before starting this band. Anyhow the band is a five member indie folk/indie pop group based out of Los Angeles. Four of the five members take turns sharing leading and backing vocal duties. In lesser hands that could harm the product, but as is you barely notice who is or isn't stepping forward at any one time. The harmonies present throughout each song are gorgeous. There are 13 tracks on the album, four of which are transitions between songs. Of the other 9, there isn't a dud in the bunch. "1957" is my favorite track, followed by "Cutty Love" and "Silent Way", but I'd be content recommending any of six other songs as well to someone wanting to hear what Milo Greene sounded like. This was the band's debut album and it kind of surprises me that the band hasn't gotten more notice from it.

3) Field Report - Field Report

Field Report is a band led by Chris Porterfield (an anagram of his last name). I wrote a good deal about Field Report when I first discovered them back in May. To rehash that a bit, back in 2006 Porterfield was in a band called DeYarmond Edison with Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver), and three members of what became Megafaun. DeYarmond Edison seems to be the rare pre-super group like Park Ave. Since then, Porterfield recorded some things under the name Conrad Plymouth too. However, I was unfamiliar with him until hearing the Field Report demos back in May and being absolutely floored by them. The closest genre is probably folk, but that's too simple. It's more like hushed rock with folk influences. Porterfield's lyrics are a large part of what takes these songs from really good to great. He tells stories with his lyrics while still managing to make them sound like they fit the song just perfectly. I remember reading that the first track "Fergus Falls" is about a pregnant woman he saw with a boyfriend who seemed like kind of a jerk. "Taking Alcatraz," my favorite track from the album is about Richard Oakes, a Native American activist who led a group that took control of Alcatraz from 1969-1971. Some albums just seem to be made for particular places or times. I've found this album is the perfect album for a long Fall walk, something I have put to use several times.

2) Cold Specks - I Predict A Graceful Expulsion

I've been wrestling with the positions of these top two albums for a while, not fully deciding on an order until right now. Last night I planned to have this album number one, so maybe this should be considered something more like 1b. Cold Specks is the project of Al Spx, a Canadian based out of London. She describes her music as doom-soul. Allmusic describes it as a mix of "Southern soul, Tom Waits/Jeff Buckley inspired blues, and goth-tinged indie folk." The songs are usually pretty sparse sounding with percussion playing a big part. A good deal of other instruments contribute over that. Her voice though is something else. There is so much feeling and emotion that pours out of it as she sings. "Blank Maps" still manages to basically stop me in my tracks any time I hear it, and it may be my favorite song released this year. "Holland" and "Elephant Head" are two other standout tracks, but her voice is enough to make every song on the album something to pay attention to. This is Cold Specks' debut album and even more so than some of the other debuts on here, it'll be really exciting to see how she follows this album up. Based on this one and that voice of hers, I've got a lot of confidence that there is a lot of great music still to come from her in the future.


AND

NOW

MY

NUMBER

ONE

ALBUM

OF

2012

IS

.

.

.

1) First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar

First Aid Kit are two Swedish sisters who make some of the best folk/country songs around at only 19 and 22 years old. Despite their age, through interviews and their songs you can tell that they have an immense appreciation for the artists that came before them. They first gained some attention back in 2008 when they posted a YouTube video of themselves covering Fleet Foxes' "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" out in the woods. The video (here) now has almost 3.5 million views and led to a performance of the song with Fleet Foxes. Their song "Emmylou" pays tribute to Emmylou Harris, June Carter, Gram Parsons, and Johnny Cash in what is one of my favorite songs of the year. The song "Blue" shows off their lyric writing abilities with painful lines like "The only man you ever loved / you thought was gonna marry you / died in a car accident when he was only 22 / Then you just decided love wasn't for you / And every year since then has proved it to be true." The album was produced by Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes and features his fellow bandmate Conor Oberst on the last track, "King Of The World." The album was released in January, and I immediately fell in love with it. Sometimes having almost a year with new music coming out every week can make an album fade from consciousness a bit and lose some of its initial excitement, but I kept coming back to this one over and over and plan to continue doing so in the future.


It wouldn't be right to talk about all of these amazing albums without sharing them with you. Like the past three installments of my countdown, below is a way to stream songs from each of today's albums. And if you use Spotify, you can find a playlist with all of the albums I listed (minus I think two which weren't on there) in order for easy access by clicking here. I hope you enjoyed the countdown and possibly learned of a new band or two. I look forward to pouring over other best of lists in the next few days and taking a break from 2012 music to listen to some other things too.

Feel free to tell me what you think either in the comments or by email listed on the right hand side of the page. Which albums did I leave off that you would have included in your list? Does anybody else have a list of their favorites they'd like to share?

Sasquatch Review: Day Three

If you missed my reviews of day one and day two, you can see them here and here.

We kicked off Sunday by checking out the Seattle indie folk/pop band Hey Marseilles. Hey Marseilles is probably my favorite band that I discovered prior to the festival by listening to performing artists I was unfamiliar with. Their album "To Travels & Trunks" from 2008 has some insanely catchy songs. If you're unfamiliar with the band, I recommend checking out "Rio" (below) and "Cannonballs."



After Hey Marseilles, we stuck around and saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. on the main stage. Then, I had one of the tougher decisions of the weekend with Hospitality and Trampled by Turtles performing at the same time. Since Hospitality has released one of my favorite albums so far this year, I headed over to another stage to catch the first 2/3's or so of their set. They put on a fun show that I was glad I was able to catch. I made sure to head back to the main stage to see at least a bit of Trampled by Turtles, and I was pleased to be reminded of home by the Minnesota bluegrass band.



The crowd and band both seemed to be loving the music and atmosphere. The band really seemed to be able to command the large crowd of the main stage better than almost any other early afternoon band all weekend. After Trampled By Turtles, Blind Pilot slowed things down on the main stage. Their album was a pleasant surprise to me last year, and while the energy was lower than that of Trampled by Turtles, the songs were great. Next, we headed over to another stage to see The War On Drugs on a side stage before returning to the main stage for the rest of the night. I didn't know any music by The War On Drugs, but I really enjoyed their set, and I plan on checking out more of their music now.

Anyone who has read this blog for a while or knows me well probably knows that M. Ward is my favorite artist (and it's not all that close). So I'm probably not coming at this in the most unbiased manner, but I thought M. Ward killed it in his set. It was the first set on the main stage that we decided to actually get close to the stage rather than remaining on the hill. As M. Ward tends to do at shows, the talking between songs was minimal and instead his set was just packed full of songs. Considering the shorter set times at a festival, I love this approach, and he was able to pack a ton of songs into his allotted time. He also seemed to cater to the festival atmosphere by focusing on more of his upbeat tunes and on those that allowed him to really rock out on guitar (which he is fantastic at doing). Another thing I love about M. Ward is how much he shows his appreciation for other artists, and during his set I counted 5 covers (including John Fahey's "Bean Vine Blues No. 2," Daniel Johnston's "To Go Home," and Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven"). This was my third time seeing M. Ward live (fourth if you count with Monsters of Folk), and each time he has really delivered.

After M. Ward, we stayed down by the stage for Seattle indie folk band The Head and the Heart. I really enjoyed their debut album, which was re-released on Sub Pop last year, so I was looking forward to seeing them. However, I had no idea how lucky I'd be to see them at Sasquatch as opposed to another venue. There was such an incredible mutual love and appreciation going back and forth between the band and the crowd the whole set. It was obvious that the band loved being able to play before such a huge and affectionate audience in their home state. They played a great set made all the better by enjoying it in that specific environment. Violinist / sometimes vocalist Charity Rose Thielen was actually moved to tears saying thank you for everyone's support at the end of the set.

After the excitement of M. Ward and The Head and the Heart sets was Beirut. I think Beirut could put on a really fun show, but unfortunately it just seemed like the wrong time and wrong place for me. Between being a bit tired and people talking over the sound of the music, the set just didn't work for me. However, it wouldn't deter me from going to see Beirut another time. One of the people behind me was actually saying that Beirut played one of his favorite shows ever at real small and intimate venue but that he wasn't too into the set going on at the time.

However, after Beirut's set was one of my most anticipated sets of the weekend, Bon Iver's. Extremely long time readers of the blog may remember that my very first post was inspired by Bon Iver. While the setting didn't seem to work to Beirut's advantage, it was perfect for Bon Iver. The sun had gone down, creating a perfect darkness to accentuate the lights on stage and draw all focus there. Where people had talked over Beirut, Bon Iver played louder and people talked less. I know there is a lot of backlash to Bon Iver's music and Justin Vernon's quick rise in popularity, but I love the way he has chosen to handle his new found fame and how humble he seems to remain about all of it. Justin Vernon many times mentioned how humbling it was to be playing in such a gorgeous place in front of such a large crowd. In terms of the actual music, I'm not a good enough writer to really do it justice, but if you think you might want to see Bon Iver perform live, all I can do is urge you to act on that. I had sky-high expectations for seeing Bon Iver, and every single one of them was met. It was an absolutely wonderful way to cap off the third night of the festival.



SUNDAY SUMMARY

Artists I saw: Hey Marseilles, Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr, Hospitality, Trampled By Turtles, Blind Pilot, The War On Drugs, M. Ward, The Head & The Heart, Beirut, and Bon Iver

Favorite sets: M. Ward and Bon Iver

Below is "I Get Ideas", one of my favorite tracks from M. Ward's new album. It's a cover song that has been done by many people, but I was most familiar with Louis Armstrong's version. If you haven't heard the full album yet, it looks like you can stream the whole thing here.



Bon Iver released my second favorite album last year, and in that post, I included the beautiful video for "Holocene," which features a little boy walking through picturesque Iceland. Since I already posted that one, here's the track "Towers," which follows someone on the opposite end of the life spectrum doing... I have no idea.



I'll be back in a day or two with the final Sasquatch post from the weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day from No, The Moon Ain't Romantic

I know everyone has different feelings about Valentine's Day as a holiday. It has never particularly been one of my favorites, so I can relate to anyone that doesn't feel like listening to love songs today. However, it's hard to deny that there is a whole lot of good music out there that's appropriate to today. Therefore, I couldn't resist putting together a list of a few. Here are 6 of my favorites along with a particularly good quote from each song.

For any Parks & Recreation fans (and really if you aren't, you should re-evaluate some things in your life), the picture on the left is from this site. They've got quite a few good ones, so check them out. I've also found some cool Valentine's in these places if you like Lost, Community, Fringe,
or just generally nerdy things. Anyhow, onto the music!


First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes

Yours was the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
I don't know where I am, I don't know where I've been
But I know where I want to go

I'll Be Yr Bird by M. Ward

Then when there's no one to care
I could protect you like I've always been there.
I'll become your bear.

Such Great Heights by The Postal Service

I am thinking it's a sign
That the freckles in our eyes
Are mirror images and when we kiss
They're perfectly aligned

Kathleen by Josh Ritter

All the other girls here are stars, you are the Northern Lights
They try to shine in through your curtains, you're too close and too bright
They try and they try, but everything that they do
Is the ghost of a trace of a pale imitation of you

(What an insanely good way to start a song...)


We're So Far Away by Mae

Did you know how you would move me, did you know?
Did you know how you would move me?
Well, I don't even think so,
but the moment's magic swept us away.
And it's so close, but we're so far away.

(I really wish I could find a non-live version of this song, but this one is pretty good. This whole album is gorgeous and really recommended if you haven't heard it)

John Hughes Endings by Hanalei

Two arrows struck when their eyes first crossed paths
They were paralyzed by each other causing cupid's content
He broke the stare shyly, she brushed her hair from her face
They were pulled to each other by the center of the room

John Hughes Endings
(I hope this player works, but it is way too hard to find Hanalei's music. It always frustrates me that they aren't bigger. One of my absolute favorite artists.)

---

As a little bonus, that I forgot about until right before posting this, here is Colin Meloy covering Sam Cooke's classic "Cupid"

New M. Ward music!

A little over a week ago, M. Ward announced that he would be releasing a new album, "A Wasteland Companion," on April 10. That was fantastic news in its own right, but today we get our first taste of what the album will sound like. He released a music video for the song "The First Time I Ran Away." The style of the video is very similar to his video for "Chinese Translation" (and according to Pitchfork they were directed by the same person).

As for the sound, the song starts with M. Ward's (should be) trademarked soft guitar playing. If he ever made an entirely instrumental album, I could probably just listen to it on repeat as a soundtrack to my life. But I digress... "The First Time I Ran Away" consists of verses detailing two times the singer ran away, and his hopes for the final time. The structure is similar to the storytelling elements in songs like "Sad, Sad Song" from "Transfiguration of Vincent" and "Chinese Translation" from the "Post-War" album. The sound reminds me a bit more like those two albums than like his most recent, "Hold Time."

"A Wasteland Companion" can be pre-ordered from the Merge Records store (allegedly with a free poster tossed in). If the price seems a little steep there, I'm sure you can always wait and get it cheaper from Amazon or another outlet. M. Ward also has a string of U.S. tour dates in April and May (as well as some non-U.S. ones before that) that you can check out here. I'm planning to get tickets to go see him at First Avenue in Minneapolis on May 24.

And I've rambled enough, so without further ado, here's the first taste of "A Wasteland Companion." I hope YouTube's servers are up to the task of handling how many times I plan to listen to this song between now and April 10...


And if you feel like singing along... here is what I've gathered are the lyrics from listening to the video. So they could be off a bit, but I think they're close...

The first time I ran away I saw faces in the trees
I heard voices in the stormy sea, ooooooooh
(by the waterfall)

The second time I ran away I saw warriors on the train
catching tigers by the tail
They sang ooooooooh

Cause the way they look at you as if you were a stranger
The way they talk to you as if you were a child
(by the waterfall)

The last time I run away, well I hope it is with you
Will you let me show you where to run?
(by the waterfall)

And for comparison (and because it's an awesome song), here is the video for "Chinese Translation" as well.

Countdown to M. Ward: 1 Day

We're almost there guys! Today's album is "Post-War" which was released in 2006. I love every M. Ward album, but Post-War may just be my favorite album ever. Now obviously, I'm an M. Ward homer, but it received pretty universal acclaim when it was released, so I'm not thinks Post-War was a great album. The album is certainly his most accessible and is where I would recommend those new to his music start before branching off into his other releases.

I've previously (sort of) written about the songs "Chinese Translation" and "Poison Cup", so I'll move in a different direction today. That being said, more than half of the tracks either have a 4.5 or 5 star rating on my iTunes, so there is no shortage of good ones to choose from, which means due to my indecisiveness, I won't be able to pick just one.

The first track is a song called "Requiem," which is one of the more upbeat songs he has recorded. Lyrically the song is exactly what the title suggests, a requiem for someone who "was a good man and now he's gone." The video feels just as nostalgic as the music. Check it out!



The second track is one of my favorite short songs ever. It clocks in at under 1:45 and leaves you wanting more when it ends. The song is "Magic Trick." The actual track has the feeling of a group of people getting together and just starting to have fun messing around playing something they all know. In it the refrain is:

She's got one magic trick
Just one and that's it
She disappears

I found a live version on YouTube in which he changes this from third person to first, which I love. I'm sure everyone has known someone that seemed that way and most people have probably felt that way about themselves at time. I know I'm guilty of "disappearing" a lot. The acoustic version is really slowed down and a very different song, so I really recommend finding the original to listen to as well. In all honestly you'll probably like it more than this acoustic one, but I feel like posting this one now. Anyhow, enjoy and come back tomorrow for the final installment in the "Countdown to M. Ward" series when the countdown hits zero!

Countdown to M. Ward: 2 Days

Thursdays are a bit too busy, so I won't be able to do much more than post a song today, but we're down to 2 days!

Today's song is from the 2005 album "Transistor Radio." I debated between two different songs to post, but I'm going to have to go with "Paul's Song." The song features a great pedal steel guitar and seems to be about life on the road. The song features the great refrain of:

"Well every town is all the same
when you've left your heart in the Portland rain."

It's a feeling that is plenty easy to relate to for anyone who has been traveling or just far from somewhere that they wished they were instead. I've only been able to visit Portland once in my life, but I loved it, which probably contributes to my enjoyment of this particular song. Anyhow, give the song a listen because it is a great one!

Countdown to M. Ward: 3 Days

The countdown is down to just 3 days! Today's album is M. Ward's 3rd studio album "Transfiguration of Vincent." As Wikipedia (and I'm sure countless other outlets) has pointed out, the title is a nod to John Fahey's 1965 album "The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death." M. Ward has drawn more inspiration than just album titles from Fahey. His style of guitar playing, especially on instrumental tracks that show up on each of his albums to date, is very reminiscent of Fahey's style. I was unfamiliar with Fahey until a few years back when I explored his music after seeing articles referencing him as an inspiration for M. Ward. If you're looking for a good example of this style, check out M. Ward's "Duet for Guitars #3" from this album or John Fahey's "On the Sunny Side of the Ocean" from his previously mentioned album.

Transfiguration of Vincent is also M. Ward's the first album to feature a band. Many of the songs are still pretty subdued, which I know can turn off some people, but there are enough foot-stompers in there too. Best I can tell, this album also started a trend of M. Ward placing one or two cover songs on every album. This album features a neat version of David Bowie's "Let's Dance." I'm not overly familiar with Bowie's work, but M. Ward does a great job transforming this particular song.

I said yesterday that the name O'Brien would reappear today, and I'm nothing if not a man of my word. The song I'm choosing for today is "Vincent O'Brien," my favorite track from the album. If you're starting to put the pieces together, you might realize that the album title is probably a reference to the same friend of Ward (just as yesterday's track was). But since I have no real inside knowledge of what these songs or albums are actually about, there's no point speculating. What I do know is that "Vincent O'Brien" is one of his catchier songs and does a great job of showcasing what M. Ward is about vocally, instrumentally, and lyrically.

If there are any other M. Ward fans out there, I'd love to hear what songs are your favorites from these albums, or if there are other songs these remind you of, or really anything. These comments sections must feel awfully lonely rarely being visited. Anyhow, enjoy "Vincent O'Brien"!

Countdown to M. Ward: 4 Days

With the countdown down to 4 days, we continue on to M. Ward's second album, 2001's "End of Amnesia." For some reason this album actually took me a lot longer to get into than some of the others. Just like "Duet for Guitars #2" before it, "End of Amnesia" is a mostly stripped down sound with just M. Ward and his guitar. Despite M. Ward hailing from the Pacific Northwest, I can't help but feel like this album would be a perfect soundtrack to a lazy afternoon in the rural south. It's the type of album that I can put on and just get lost listening to, really not having a care in the world while it plays.

I wrote a short little post last month about the song "Carolina" from this album. Despite taking a while to warm up to the rest of the album, that song has been one of my absolute favorites since I first heard it.

Another favorite is the album closer "O'Brien/O'Brien's Nocturne." The name will come up again in tomorrow's post. I've read before that O'Brien was a close friend of his that passed away (although I'm not sure where I read this). In the song, M. Ward reminisces about times with his friend and remarks that O'Brien could "always make a string buzz like it was still 1989." That quality of making music that takes you back to an older time is something M. Ward has clearly picked up on himself and is one of the reasons it is so easy to listen to his songs again and again.

Below is a live version of the first part of the song that he performed on Austin City Limits with Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes. It's a really beautiful version of the song. I'd recommend checking out the full version somewhere too that features an instrumental outro. Til tomorrow... enjoy!

Countdown to M. Ward: 5 Days

I'm going to see M. Ward in Rockford, Illinois this Saturday. As he just so happens to be my favorite artist, and I've only seen him live once (plus one time with Monsters of Folk), I'm pretty excited. Therefore, I decided to do a countdown to the show, with a new song each day from each of his 6 full length albums. The posts will likely be short since I'm still pretty swamped with school right now, but hopefully they'll be a nice short diversion each day.

M. Ward's first full-length release was "Duet for Guitars #2" in 1999. The album is a pretty stripped down, lo-fi, folk sound of just Matt and his guitar. It wasn't until 2006's "Post War" that he really added much more instrumentation. Because of that I know some people find his early music too slow and boring. In terms of being introduced to his material, I wouldn't recommend starting with this album, but that voice and the sweet guitar playing should be enough to keep you hooked and coming back if you're already a fan.

It appears that one of my favorite songs on the album is actually a bonus track that may not have been on the original album, but oh well it's on there now, so it still counts. Below is "Were You There?" The song is a back and forth between the singer and an unknown person (or being) in which the singer asks if the person was around for various moments of the earth's creation. I'm not sure if there is a deeper meaning to it all, but either way I find it to be a catchy little ditty. Enjoy!

Christmas Came Early This Year

I mentioned it on Facebook when I first downloaded the She & Him Christmas album, but usually I'm opposed to Christmas music before December. This has nothing to do with me being anti-Christmas or anything like that. It's actually pretty similar to why I don't listen to the radio much. Stores and restaurants start pumping Christmas music in around Halloween, which means everywhere you go you end up hearing the same songs over and over again for 2+ months. If they did this with any other type of music, I'd probably be annoyed by it too.

With that out of the way though, I can make an exception to this usual rule when it involves listening to new music by She & Him. The album, A Very She & Him Christmas, consists of 12 covers of Christmas songs ranging from the classics you'd expect (like Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, The Christmas Song, and Sleigh Ride) to a couple others that are less familiar (or at least were to me, like The Christmas Waltz and Christmas Wish). Most of the songs feature Zooey Deschanel singing, but M. Ward gets into the mix on a few tracks too (which you may have guessed are my early favorites). If you enjoy She & Him, or just have a soft-spot for Christmas music, the album should be a welcome addition to your listening rotation.

Below you can listen to (and I believe download), The Christmas Waltz, the lead track on the album.

She & Him - The Christmas Waltz by MergeRecords

If you want to hold off on listening to the album until closer to Christmas, I won't hold it against you. However, you can currently download it for only $5 at Amazon, so I'd recommend at least buying it now if you'll want it for Christmas time. If you're more interested in the physical album and some other goodies, you can get that along with She & Him wrapping paper or a hat and mittens in the Merge Records store. And in keeping with the Christmas spirit, a portion of the proceeds go to 826 National, a non-profit organization that runs writing and tutoring centers in cities across the US that also help encourage creativity among the nation's youth. So basically, you can't go wrong buying the album.

I've already wracked up 3 listens in as many days. I obviously won't listen to it every day between now and Christmas, but the album is sure to get regular listens and become a Christmas favorite of mine for years to come. So whether you listen now or later, hopefully it'll bring you a little Christmas cheer!

Carolina by M. Ward

I can't do a real post because I'm working on homework that will still take me a while more. However, I've been listening to a bunch of M. Ward while I work, and when Carolina came on it made me stop to listen. It has always been one of my favorites, and it sounded extra good tonight, so I thought I'd post it quick.

Carolina is from M. Ward's "End of Amnesia" album, which I used to not care for too much (even though I was obsessed with everything else he had done), but the album has really grown on me over the last year or so. Anyhow, I'm back to work. Enjoy!

My 100,000th Scrobble on Last.fm

This milestone kinda snuck up on me. I knew it was coming up, but when I plugged in my iPod it had 130 or so backed up which left me 17 short of 100,000. Despite there being little logic, reason, or real importance behind it, I decided I should make sure my 100,000th song was a good one. However, deciding on one single song to take that importance was too much for me to handle, so I figured I'd pick 5 songs I love by artists I love to sandwich #100,000. So... here they are:

99,998 - Skinny Love by Bon Iver
This song was the song that inspired my first ever blog post. It's my most scrobbled song on Last.fm, and just a song that makes me stop and take notice every time I hear it. I still hate that I haven't seen Bon Iver perform live, but I did see Justin Vernon perform with his old high school jazz band a few years back, which remains to this day my favorite concert I've been to. All in all, a perfect song from a perfect album.



99,999 - The Gardner by Tallest Man On Earth
This song is apparently my 6th most scrobbled. It's my favorite song by Tallest Man On Earth, and I'm sure I could just listen to it on repeat and never get tired of it. I love the progression of the lyrics throughout the song. It was also one of the first several songs I based a blog post around.



100,000 - Poison Cup by M. Ward
The big round number... Well it pretty much had to be by M. Ward. I've played his songs more times than my second and third most played artists combined. He is without a doubt, far and away, absolutely, positively my favorite artist (I thought about throwing more descriptors in there, but was having a hard time coming up with them). I've got plenty of reasons for that, but the rest of it is just one of those things that probably can't be explained. His music just connects with me in a way that no other artist's music does. My favorite song of his changes from time to time (with about 10 other potential #1s), but Poison Cup is such a fantastic lead track on Post-War, which just so happens to be my favorite album. A more than deserving track number 100,000.



100,001 - The Twist by Frightened Rabbit
I guess this one is a little bit of a dark horse here in the big 5. It is (only?) tied for 19th among my most played songs. With that being said, Frightened Rabbit really forced its way into my top artists over the last couple years. Midnight Organ Fight is in my top 3 or so favorite albums ever and at times feels like it could be #1. I think I've listened to it on every car trip over 3 hours or so that I've made in the last 3 years (and there have been a lot of them). This is another album where my favorite track changes all the time. There are 5 others I could have chosen to represent Frightened Rabbit that would have seemed just as appropriate.



100,002 - Tangled Up In Blue by Bob Dylan
Picking 5 songs instead of one was supposed to make this an easier endeavor, but I still feel bad not including Tom Waits or Hanalei, but at least Waits got the blog named after one of his song. As for Hanalei, until he/they can come up with a reliable way of convincing me they are still a band, they'll have to deal with it. Anyhow, I got introduced to Dylan in undergrad and shortly after really jumped right in with my listening. Obviously I didn't get to experience growing up during the height of Dylan-mania (which I like to think I would have been drawn to instead of The Beatles or Stones or whoever else), but I find myself endlessly fascinated by the man (which I satisfied through books and movies) and the music (which I satisfied through, well, the music). Getting a chance to see him perform last year was really fantastic even if he is getting on in years. There are other Dylan songs I could have picked, but I didn't. Tangled Up In Blue it is.



If anyone managed to stick around through that, thanks for indulging my overinflated sense of significance that I assign to something so trivial as a number on a web page adding another digit.

If you guys had to choose 1 song, or 5 songs (or any other number that you deem to be appropriate), which songs would you choose?

"A sip or a spoonful won't do. No I want it all."

I've recently been watching a lot of the TV show Veronica Mars on Netflix instant stream. I was skeptical when I started, but enough friends recommended it to me that I thought I should give it a shot, and I'm glad I did. However, Netflix recently said they'd be taking it off instant stream by July 1, so it has caused me to really ramp up my watching to try to squeeze all 3 seasons of the show in before they take it down. Well I just finished episode 8 of season 3, and could not have been more pleased at their choice of song at the end, "Poison Cup" by M. Ward.

Yesterday's long rambling post had "Chinese Translation" as the song at the end because I think it is M. Ward's most accessible song, it is one of only 2 of his with an official video, and it's just a really good song as well. With that said, if I had to choose a favorite by him it would be "Poison Cup" (although there are several others in the running).

I don't really feel like writing a long post tonight, so without further ado here's "Poison Cup" by M. Ward, and I'm back to trying to finish up Veronica Mars (only 12 episodes to go!):

Why M. Ward is the Greatest Musical Artist Ever

Because I said so. Really, that’s why. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling myself any more of an authority on music than anyone else. I just think that music is such a personal and subjective thing. Who can really say why people are drawn to certain artists or say that they are wrong for that. The Beatles vs. Stones argument has waged on for years likely due to this. Both were great artists and both connected with a whole lot of people, so I’m sure for many, either one was the greatest artist of all-time, and those people wouldn't be wrong. Does the fact that so many people think The Beatles are the greatest ever make it more true than if just one person thinks some obscure basement band is? I don’t think so. I can give reasons for why I love M. Ward, like his raspy voice, his brilliant guitar playing, his lyrics, the fact that he never seems fully comfortable in the spotlight, the area he's from, and on and on, but I don't think any of that would really get to why he's my favorite because I could come up with similar reasons I like other artists too.

This approach is somewhat strange to me since so much of my life is based on a belief in objective truth, hard evidence, and supporting facts. It's why I majored in Statistics and Philosophy as an undergrad. Both disciplines allowed you to sift through the noise in the world to actually make sense of it. But art in all of its many forms doesn’t feel this way to me. Lost is my favorite TV show of all-time. I agree that other shows had better acting, better writing, better special effects, more resolution when they finished, and so on. But that doesn’t change that my experience with the show was better than with any other show (although Arrested Development is likely close). I can see the flaws that other people point out, but they aren’t that important to me. The show engaged me in a way that no other show has done, and that is what’s important to me. It made me think beyond just the hour I was watching. It had me going back to re-watch old episodes and old seasons. It got me to research topics in the show, to read books that were name dropped, to dig deeper into the names and mythology that were used.

When I was an undergrad at UW-Madison, I took a class called African American Music History (or something to that effect). To this day, I think it is my favorite class I’ve taken at any level. A large part of this is due to the professor that taught the course. I can’t remember how he phrased it exactly, or the exact context, but one day he kinda stopped what we were doing, and you could tell he had something he really wanted to share. The take-away was him strongly encouraging us to never dismiss something out of hand. The particular focus here, as I recall, was pop music or hip hop or other forms that people dismiss as unimportant, or just bad. His point was that if somebody likes the music (which with Top 40 hits is clearly the case), there has to be something of value there. Maybe the musician doesn’t write their own lyrics, or play their own instruments, or their voice is auto-tuned to be almost unrecognizable, but people like it, and there is a reason for that. There is something of worth there, maybe with the actual artist whose name is on the song, maybe something the people behind the scenes in the studio are doing, or who knows what else. The point is, just saying “I hate Lady Gaga, her music is terrible, how could anybody listen to it?” is a little disingenuous if you actually think about it. Clearly a lot of people really like Lady Gaga and there must be a reason. You personally may not enjoy listening to it, but that doesn’t mean that it has no worth.

This particular speech of the professor, whose name I forgot (but thanks to Google is Alexander Shashko), is probably the one thing that has stuck with me more than anything else in my years of education. Maybe it’s an aside to the original post, but I think it’s important. There’s just too much negativity in the world. Bon Iver released their new album recently, and it has received some rave reviews. As is so often the case, there is backlash against it then. Reading comments to one review, there were several people who wanted to talk about how boring the music was and how they didn’t see how people could listen to it. They wanted to let everyone know how pretentious Justin Vernon is with his lyrics. I wonder why that’s the case. Why can’t some people like Bon Iver, and if you personally don’t, that’s fine? You shouldn’t need to tell people that they shouldn’t either. Music isn't logical. There is no way to prove an artist is good or bad and that others need to agree.

This post started about M. Ward, so let me share one of my (many) favorite songs of his below:



I’ve avoided writing about M. Ward for a long time because I knew that the eventual post to do it would run too long. Here I am, 700 some words in and I haven’t even really talked about him. I planned on going into all sorts of details about just how much I like him, giving plenty of reasons, listing songs and albums and other projects he has been involved in, but that’s fine that I didn't get to it. Some other day I’ll get around to it, but for now I wanted to get this little rant off my chest, and let everyone know that M. Ward is the greatest musical artist of all-time. So are a lot of other musicians. I’d love to hear who they are in the comments.

Bright Sunny Day Music from She & Him

There are very few artists who seem as perfect for a sunny day as She & Him. A while ago, I posted that Otis Redding was one of my sunny day artists, and She & Him is right up there with him. Today we had temperatures pushing 70, which was a welcome change from a gloomy day before. That combined with a Twins win over the Yankees (an oh so rare occurrence) has me in a perfect She & Him mood.

She & Him are a (grammatically disastrous) collaboration between actress Zooey Deschanel (a personal favorite of mine) and M. Ward (my favorite musician), so it's little surprise that the pairing is a favorite of mine as well. The two met on the set of the movie The Go Getter, which starred Zooey, and featured a soundtrack by M. Ward. They teamed up for a cover of a song called "When I Get To The Border" that ran over the closing credits. Zooey revealed to M. Ward that she had recorded some songs on her own, and he wanted to properly record them, and thus the group was born. I will have what will likely be an exceedingly (and to most people unnecessarily) long M. Ward post at some point, but for now, just enjoy the video below for the song "In The Sun" and think about happy, sunny times with lots of Twins victories over the Yankees!

She & Him - In The Sun from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Hopefully writing this is enough of a positive distraction after the Twins game. Back to homework!