Monday, September 27, 2010

All of the rumors keeping me grounded...

I can almost remember loving this song before I loved music. As with any dark, brooding, vampire-loving, black-nail-polish-wearing teenager born in the 80's, I worship The Smiths. I would love to explain why, but it really is because they are The Smiths. To combat my friends that say that Morrissey's solo work sucks, I dare them to listen to this song and not love it. Watching this video makes me long to see the Mozzer live again for the mere insanity of it all.



"... I never said they were completely unfounded."

Friday, September 17, 2010

New iPod = Happy

I bought a bigger iPod Touch and was finally able to sync a ton of music, which included whole catalogs of my favorite artist (Beatles, Stones, The Cure, R.E.M., etc.). I am happy.

The Cure – The Lovecats

Sadly, I couldn’t find the official video for this one. The video is one of the funniest things I have ever seen and the song is amazing in that way that only The Cure and Robert Smith can produce.



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk08Zb6oyf8)

R.E.M. – Driver 8

I started out to include Old 97’s cover of this song because it is seriously rocking, but I couldn’t find a good video of it. So, I thought that since I have yet to include R.E.M., it was about time. Michael Stipe is so cool and this song always sounds amazing.


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm5MjIr9-QY)

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Shout and Rule This Mad World

Hearing Tears for Fears always makes me think of the 80’s, chimps in libraries (everything is better with a monkey), popcorn filled houses, and Val Kilmer at his absolute finest (Oh that genius Chris Knight!). The cover of Songs from the Big Chair is forever etched in my memory. It sat at the front of my record collection due to the number of times that I listened to Head Over Heels. All funny considering that after I bought the tickets to see them, I worried if I was even going to like them. 
 
From the moment Curt Smith came out on stage singing Mad World to rocking out with Roland Orzabal to Shout at the end of the show, it was an fun, electric show that never failed to please. They happily played a combination of their hits (even played Mad World twice – btw, thank you very much!) mixed in with new tunes, which completely sucked me in. Check out the setlist; awesome, no? Both Smith and Orzabal sounded amazing and they played off of each other well to entertain the audience. A happy nod to their reconciliation.

My favorite part: singing along to Head Over Heels with a massive audience. It’s fun to hear how everyone picks up on all the little quirks in the song. I was so full of nostalgia and good feelings, and it felt like everyone else there was in the exact same place. That was pretty amazing in itself. I am so there the next time they come around, and I’m already expanding my Tears for Fears collection.

  Mad World

This song is already amazing, but live it is unbelievably moving. My most listened to song since the concert.



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU68TLWikhM)

Head Over Heels

Always one of my favorite songs and most definitely helped along by the video and the fact that there is a monkey. Sadly, I couldn’t find the video.



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sZzCyJVb4o)

Head Over Heels – The Literal Video Version

I did however find this and cracked up while watching and rewatching it.



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0TYun-Nq1Q)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Listen and Repeat

I’ve been in one of those moods where I can put a song on repeat and listen to it for an hour. That happened with both of my picks this week; both songs are beautiful and honest and I love that.

Augustana – Either Way, I’ll Break Your Heart Someday

About a year ago, I heard Augustana for the first time when I saw them perform with Counting Crows and Michael Franti. It was one of those crazy, fun shows where so many good things were happening that you could barely process it all. I’ve listened to Augustana sporadically, but I’ve never got in to them the way that I thought I should. This song has been on repeat in my car for two days. With the windows down, I have been singing my heart out like it is my own personal anthem.


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JxK4juRnk0)


Brandi Carlile – Oh Dear

After a super stressful day at work and an especially painful workout (after just starting up my work outs again), I laid down on my living room floor with the sunlight beaming in on me, listened to my iPod, and played Bejeweled Blitz. When this song came on, I couldn’t turn it off for a good hour. Again, there was probably some bad singing involved.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SDpZrLciCE)