Random Dan

It’s Monday, boohoo! But I’m not going to dwell on the negative and just move right onto the positive. And what is that you may ask? Maybe the fact that it’s RANDOM PLAYLIST MONDAY!! Hip-hip-hurray! Without further ado, here it is, on this lovely freezing cold day.

1. Piano Song – Meiko (I really like her if you’re into that cheery indie girl stuff)
2. Peace Train – Cat Stevens
3. Steady On – Shawn Colvin (this is quite the gloomy, folky playlist)
4. Two – The Antlers
5. Train in the Distance – Paul Simon
6. Coat Hook – Fionn Regan
7. Fantasy Man – Swell Season (a perfect song for the weather today)
8. Heavy Soup – Cornershop (also perfect)
9. Joy to the World – Arthur & Friends (getting into that Christmas mood)
10. Road Regrets – Dan Mangan

So that was a pretty awesome Random Playlist, although there isn’t really anything new on it, it was pretty old-school. So I am going to resort back to Dan Mangan. Now I know I’m always talking about him, but there is a video of his I’ve been wanting to show for a while, plus you can’t really get tired of Dan Mangan. Road Regrets is by far one of my favourite Dan Mangan songs, actually it’s one of my favourite songs over-all, and the video really lives up to the greatness of the song. So, without any more delay, here is the video for Road Regrets.

It’s a really clever video, and extremely cute too. It could also be one of those short animated videos at the beginning of some movies. What I don’t understand is why isn’t music like this more  popular? Why isn’t the Indie industry the main industry? It is so interesting and so in-depth and in my opinion knocks the socks off of the main-stream industry but for some reason never seems to be completely accepted. Well, for all those people for completely missing out because you don’t get to see gems like the fantasic Mr. Mangan. I think that is all of my music rant for the day, so until next time, have  a great night and talk to you soon!

To The Dogs Or Whoever

Okay, so this Monday really sucks. Not only is it the very first day of the week, which never works out well, but I also happen to have a sucky cold. How much do colds suck! Your all snuffly and sneezy, and feel really crappy, but yet you’re not flat out sick. It really sucks, but maybe some good music will change things. Get ready for what I hope to be a pretty awesome Random Playlist!

1. The Temptaion of Adam – Josh Ritter
2. September Lily – Hawksley Workman (I’ve been in a very Hawksley mood lately, he’s perfect for fall)
3. The Second Cigarette – The Burning Hell
4. Hollerado Land – Hollerado (this a great new Indie boy band I’ve discovered)
5. Semi Suite – Tom Waits (you gotta’ love yourself some Tom, especially on a sick day)
6. The Ecstacy of Dancing Fleas – Penguin Cafe Orchestra (you also gotta’ love yourself some Penguin when your sick too, it’s also very good for studying)
7. That’s Amore – Dean Martin (enough said)
8. Poli High – Harry Nilsson (if you haven’t ever heard The Point, get on it, as a kid it was one of my favourite things to listen to, and still is)
9. He Drinks Gas – Donovan Woods
10. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen (the perfect way to end a random playlist)

So, this was a pretty good playlist, if not a little strange. And after reviewing all possibilities I think Josh Ritter is perfect for today. Nothing fixes a cold better than a folky indie guy, in my not-so humble opinion anyway.

Once again, my dad discovered Josh Ritter, right after his CD The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter came out in 2007. After listenening to his CD’s, The Historical Conquest is for sure my favourite. I really love the Bob Dylan-esque country twang, but mixed in with a little more folk. He’s always really reminded me of Fionn Regan in that way. In The Historical Conquest of Josh Ritter, I find each song just gets better and better. I’m especially a fan of To The Dogs or Whoever, The Next To The Last Romantic, The Temptation Of Adam, and Still Beating. Below is the video for The Temptation Of Adam. It has a real old-timey feel, which makes sense because I find his music has this old country blues thing going on.

I think it’s a really interesting video, and his voice is really something else. His lyrics are really interesting to, if you actually listen to them. Not quite what you’d expect him to be singing about. Plus, after watching this video I started to see a bit of a resemblance to Horse Feathers, both in voice and looks. I hope you enjoy the video and the artist, he’s pretty awesome. And I’ll talk to you later, ’cause it’s nap time.

Lowside Of The Road

It’s Saturday, and a deliciously rainy and miserable one at that. And to perfectly match that cold, miserable, gloomy day I have the perfect topic. This is one I’ve discussed quite a few times, so bear with me and “come on up to the house”. Yes, that’s right, Tom Waits is the topic for the day. If I could talk about him every day I would, but sadly I can’t so I guess I’ll just have to make the most of this post.

Over the past month I’ve bcome even more into Tom Waits than I thought possible. I’ve been starting to explore some of his stuff, other than Heart of Saturday Night. And it turns out it just gets better. Who knew? I’ve been especially in love with Closing Time these days, and most of all Ol’ 55. What I love most about Tom though, is the fact that he can be so many different people, yet still be Tom Waits. I mean would you think the same guy who wrote the unbelievably sweet and sad San Diego Serenade could also write the unbelievably creepy What’s He Building? Or the same guy who sang Ol’ 55 in a lovely and angelic way (can you say that about the devil himself?), can also sing Anywhere I Lay My Head with the craziest growl I’ve ever heard. I’m reading a biography about him right now written by Barney Hoskyns where Tom talks about truths and how sometimes it’s best to let people create their own visions of you. Well reading this biography has changed some of my views of him. I guess I always picture Waits as this young and handsome bad-ass musician who smoked a lot of cigarettes and sang in a lot of dingy bars. Like the guy on the cover of Heart Of Saturday Night who looked young and mysterious and like he really didn’t give a damn what other people thought. And I guess at one point he could have been this guy, but I never imagined Tom Waits married with three kids (how cool would that be, oh yeah Tom Waits is my dad, no big deal). In my head I’m still going to keep my picture though.

Below I’ve decided to show you what I think is a fan-made video although I can’t quite tell. It’s for Come On Up To The House, another of my very favourite Waits songs. It’s funny just today I realized my mom, dad and I all want Tom Waits songs for our funerals. My mom, Come On Up To The House, my dad, Anywhere I Lay My Head (so everyone marches out when the horns come in at the end) and me, San Diego Serenade. We really are quite the die-hard family (haha, get it die-hard..funeral, probably not my best joke). But back to the video. It’ really something else. If it is a fan-based video, well, I’m impressed.

The concept of the video is pretty simple, but there’s something so perfect about the tattoos. At first you think oh this is cool, and the effect grows more and more until (for me anyways) you’re kind of brought to this feeling of…happiness. Like everything somehow seems really right and perfect (cheesy I know). The video reall is quite ingenious. The haunting tattoos and his perfectly fantasic growl are a odd mixture but they make something pretty special. Plus the lyrics to the song are really something else. I especially love the line “Come down off that cross, we can use the wood”, whether he means it politically, religiously or any other way, it’s a pretty great line. With that I am going to say goodnight until next time.

P.S. Saw “Easy A” last night, it was very fantastic in a quirky kind of way.

P.P.S. Check out his website here, it’s actually really cool, especially the wit & wisdom section.

Cuntry Boys & City Girls

It’s Monday and I’ve just endured one of a rural towns greatest jewels, the annual fair. And what does this great event have you might ask. Well it has horse pulls, truck pulls (which I thought was going to be farmers trying to pull trucks, turns out it’s just trucks pulling weight, not quite as exciting), medicore and overly priced rides, so much deepfried food I think I broke out just from being there and the cherry on top, the demolition derby. Now if you don’t know what that is, don’t be ashamed, in fact be very happy you have no idea what it is. But I’m going to burst your little happy bubble and tell. Basically the demolition derby is cars smahing into cars, “smashy smashy” as one car fondly put it. It’s where people gather to drink and smoke and until they pass out. And I literally mean until they pass out. Atleast one person does every year. It’s sort of like a morbid disturbed small town ritual. But it was back to normality again at school today. Stressful, fluorescent light normality, but normality all the same. And the topper of this very normal day, Radom Playlist Monday. So I’m going to stop my incessant chatter and get right to it.

1. Heavy Soup – Cornershop (the perfect start to a random playlist)

2. Cousins – Vampire Weekend

3. The City – Sarah Harmer

4. Sweet Baby James – Taylor (’cause everyone needs some sweet baby James)

5. Cuntry Boys & City Girls – The Fratellis (their pretty super awesome and the title goes along pretty well with the fair, there’s not much like a Cuntry Boy)

6. Bright Future – Bowerbirds

7. ‘Til You Come Home – Peter Katz (this is a very, very sweet song)

8. It’s All Been Done – Barenaked Ladies

9. A Thousand Suns – Hey Rosetta!

10. Ashes to Ashes – Danny Michel (this is super great. You take a momumental artist like Bowie and than a budding artist like say Danny and get him to cover this monumental artist and what do you get but a pretty darn awesome covers CD)

This might have been one of my favourite random playlists. It has all the great components of a pretty awesome playlist. I think I’m going to go for Vampire Weekend today. The video for Cousins is pretty amusing and it’s a great band. I’ve already ranted far to much on Vampire Weekend so I’m just going to show the video and you can see the greatness all for yourselves.

I would love to bang on things going down a street to. Especially sped up like that. I am so tired tonight though that I must go to bed (yeah I know it’s only 8:30, what can I say) so until tomorrow, Goodnight and dream all about Vampire Weekend.

Eyes Full Of Horse Feathers

It’s Wednesday. Half way through my Hillside week and I have the perfect half-way through band. This is a band that like The Wooden Sky I knew I liked going in but left loving. They blew me away with the beautiful melodies and haunting voices. Horse Feathers combines a whole bunch of techniques to create a really beautiful sound. Some of these including cello, violin and Justin Ringles impossibly hauting and lovely voice. All three of these pieces not to mention the rest of the band are what make Horse Feathers a great live show and a great recording.

But a difficulty arose when I consulted the Hillside schedule to see who was playing and when. The insane schedulers of the Hillside scheduling department put Zeus and Horse Feathers on at the same time Sunday afternoon at 2:00. Now I don’t who did that, but I know I was mad about it. I just couldn’t decide who I would go see. In the end I decided Zeus (even though I’d already seen them twice, this was based purely on weather because Horse Feathers was on the main stage and that can be little risky). But than Sunday came around and it was a gorgeous day and I was back at base one. So I thought go see a few songs of Zeus (just to say I’d been there and than head off to the main stage for Horse Feathers). Well that was the perfect solution. I saw my favourtie Zeus song Kindergarten done, and than a whole lotta’ Horse Feathers.

That afternoon was gloriously sunny with a slight breeze so I sat on my mat and watched Horse Feathers lemonade in one hand, dumplings in the other (if you hadn’t already noticed this festival is mainly about food and the food you’re eating at certain performances, it’s quite an art to plan the perfect meal for the perfect show). People dozed around me sleepily swaying to the music and clapping along. Of course I was completely present for the whole show (no dozing here).

I was completely awed by the band and the music which made me wonder, how to do so many great bands come out of Portland, Oregon and why don’t I live there? I mean what’s so great about Portland, the Pacific ocean air must really get to all the people. Transforming them from fishermen (and women) to budding musicians creating soft indie, folk, country music. That’s certainly what Horse Feathers creates. At first I pinned them as a “country” band and than realized no, their far from that. More a folky, country band. Song titles like Curs In The Weeds don’t really help them from not being named a country band though.

So, if you’re looking for a Horse Feathers introduction I’d try checking out Eyes Full Of Rose and Curs In The Weeds first. And then just dive right in and download a CD. I’m really loving House With No Home right now but be sure to checkout their others to (oh and if you know where I can find a vinyl copy of it let me know, I missed them at the merch tent and couldn’t get it ).

For now though, check out the video for Curs In The Weeds. It’s a simple video and simply lovely song.

So enjoy the rest of your rainy Wednesday and check out more Horse Feathers, but for now have a goodnight until next time.

It’s Creepy Out There

It’s Monday, once again. The only upside for Monday (for me anyway and hopefully you) is *drumroll please*, yes you got it Random Playlist Monday! Hooray! So sit back, relax and enjoy as my music library astounds you (hopefully in a good way).

1.  Heads Will Roll – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

2.  Make You Crazy (feat.Femi Kuti) – Brett Dennen

3.  Semi Suite – Tom Waits (sleepy time for me)

4.  You Got Growing Up To Do – Joshua Radin (awesome song, featured on my duets playlist)

5.  Liar – Mumford & Sons

6.  Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite – Across The Universe (fantastic movie)

7.  What’s He Building In There – Tom Waits (I guess it’s a Tom day. This song used to always freak me out)

8.  Loddy Lo – Chubby Checker (another one of my guys. His is one of my favourite record covers)

9. Whole Lotta Losin’ – Monsters Of Folk (the perfect combination of folky guys)

10. I’m Not Gonna Beg – Natalie Merchant

Okay, so I’m thinking that wasn’t my best, but it could have been worse. More of my happy old guys which is always good. A little Monsters Of Folk thrown in there and than a whole lotta Tom. I’m actually thinking Tom is perfect today.

The song Semi Suite is one of my favourites from what I call my  “sleepy CD”. For some reason I always fall asleep to it. I never would have called Tom a soothing kind of guy. Anyone who can play a good devil shouldn’t be lullaby material, but somehow he is. Trust me. But today I’d like to talk about What’s He Building In There. When I was little my dad was a huge Tom fan (and still is) and he always used to play this song. It really freaked me out and when it was dark I had to switch the song. I have to admit even now I’m freaked. Tom was a big deal at my house and he still is. I guess when I was still little one of my parents friends got one extra ticket to see Tom and my dad got it. I think to this day my mom is still bitter and I would be too. I think of all the musicians I want to see, Tom is number 1 (well except for The Pogues). Featured below is What’s He Building In There. Prepared to get freaked out. Really listen to the lyrics there quite strange.

It really is a weird video. Truly creepy.

Time With Consequence

Okay, so it’s Saturday, how exciting, but this Saturday I’m in a slightly melancholy mood so I’m going to go a little quieter today. For my quieter day, I’m thinking Alexi Murdoch (which is what I usually think). I think I’ve mentioned him in a few other posts but today is completely devoted to him. Of all the artists I play Alexi is one of my very favourites.

I disocvered him 2 Christmas’ ago at a really bad time and Alexi Murdoch was the the perfect cure. Although none of his songs are upbeat, something about them just makes me feel right. His one and only CD Time Without Consequence (although in my not so humble opinion I think time always has a consequence, although that may be to deep of a subject for right now) is one of the greatest things in the world. At first the only song I listened to was Orange Sky which my mom fondly calls the “crying song” because like I said that was a bad time. About a year ago I started to listen to the rest of the CD and realized all of it is good. Of all his songs my very favourites have to be Orange Sky, All My Days, and Song For You. The Ragged Sea is probably my favourite song. Sadly it’s not part of the CD but from the movie Away We Go *which is one of my favourite movies, I highly recommend it). He does most of the soundtrack and there couldn’t be a more perfect person for it.

There’s something about his voice and songs that just makes everything seem so simple just while you’re listening to it (of course than it ends and life goes back to the crazy thing it is).What I mean is he provides this simple and calm oasis and sometimes that’s just what everyone needs. You know how some songs just let you take a deep breath and relax for a second, well his beatuiful voice has the power to do that. He also manages to prove my point that most great things come from Scotland. I really must go sometime (of course I’ve already told you my man Scotland fantasies). I find he’s also incredibly soothing to watch. You know how some people just have this came aura around them, well I think Alexi has that (although of course I don’t actually know him).

Did you get the chills from that, because I did. His voice is so undescribly soothing, it really makes me feel like everything is okay (and trust me Alexi that’s quite a feet to accomplish). Plus I’d say he’s also pretty easy to watch, which is always a good thing. Enjoy Alexi today and hopefully everyday. Remember when you need a little soothing he’s your man (I wish he always was).

P.S. his last.fm radio is also fantastic, which is always a good sign.

My Frenzy

So, I’m having trouble writing a post today. Weird? I think so. Anyways, here’s a video, maybe it will strick inspiration for tomorrow…

I’m really in love with this song. It really hits something deep for me, I don’t know why. For me it brings back alot of memories, but not necessarily usual ones. Her voice does cool things, and it seems a little than her usual stuff. Anyways, enjoy the song and look up more A Fine Frenzy, everything she does it uber-great.

P.S. sorry about the bummer posts lately, don’t know what my problem is. I’ll try to get back into the swing of things. I guess I’ve just been in a frenzy (and not a fine one). I think I just need sleep.

Fink Is The Thing

I’m not in the mood for a lot of writing today, but I hate to miss a post, so I’m just going to show a video. And a really pretty song and voice.

This was a band I found on one of iTunes song of the weeks. Their called Fink and at first I wasn’t so sure about them or the song, but the more I listened to it the more it grew on me. You may ask why I got it in the first place but it was free and I couldn’t resist. He’s actually pretty good, he has this great folky Coldplay thing going on and once again he’s from the UK. Something about the song I’m featuring (This Is The Thing) is really pretty and kind of gives me this shivering thing. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. It may take a few times for you to enjoy it. You could also try another song like Pretty Little Thing or If I Had A Million. Anyways, hope you enjoy, talk to you later.

The videos nothing spectacular although I find it interesting to see what someone looks like and he looks pretty normal to me. I think he’ssitting in his home and maybe the woman is his wife? She isn’t a great actor, her movements are strange and she has alot of outfit changes. Anyways, just listen to his voice.

Sleepy Tom

It’s been almost a week since my last post. I just didn’t get a chance in between being sick with the flu and being piled with homework. It’s now the weekend, and I have time for a post. I’ve been debating all day what to write about. In the end I decided today was a good day for Tom Waits.

As a kid my parents always played Tom Waits. It used to really freak me out, especially What’s He building In There? from Mule Variations. I remember asking my dad multiple times to switch the song because it freaked me out too much. As a little kid I didn’t really get Tom and his music. That deep, husky voice is enough to scare anyone. One of my friends always says it sounds like he’s singing in the bath tub. I always thought that was pretty funny and kind of true.

When I was around 10 I discovered The Heart Of Saturday Night which became my lullaby for years, literally. For quite a while I fell asleep to that CD every night. I still do sometimes and it never fails (I think sleep therapists need to start using that one). I’ve always had troubles falling asleep and weirdly enough, Tom never failed me.  In this CD his voice is much softer which may be one of the reasons I fall asleep to it. When I was little and falling asleep I used to always picture Tom young, like the picture on the cover of the CD (possibly a scary picture?). When I tell people that I fall asleep to it they think I’m kidding, I mean I guess it’s a little weird, but that’s me. I definitely march to my own drum (is that the saying?).

As I’ve gotten older I’ve started to appreciate Tom Waits even more and not just for the one CD. What’s He Building In There? doesn’t freak me out like it used to and I’ve started to listen to his CD’s not  just to fall asleep (I’m not sure if he would take that as a compliment). Another one of my favourite CD’s is Closing Time. I recently got a new cousin named Rosie and for the Rosie CD I made her I included Tom’s Rosie from that CD (that was a lot of Rosie’s!). On The Heart Of Saturday Night my favourite songs are the Heart Of Saturday Night, San Diego Serenade and Fumblin’ With The Blues. I never got much farther then that song and can’t say I know much of the ending really. I was usually asleep around Diamonds On The Windshield. I mean how could you not want to fall asleep to a song talking about a cold well digger’s ass?

I’m sure I will continue to talk about Tom. Maybe more of him and his not so sleepy music. For now enjoy the song I’ve posted and try falling asleep. Close your eyes and mellow out to that lovely melodic voice.

If you haven’t already purchased The Heart Of Saturday Night I highly recommend you go and check it out and while you’re there pick up his other CD’s too.