The Look Back

Some great stuff has been appearing as of late which will put 2010 in line with some of the better musical years of the last decade.  Be sure to get out and see Crazy Heart if you have any interest what so ever in country music or the superb acting of Jeff Bridges.

Frida Hyvönen – Jesus Was a Crossmaker

A cover of a Judee Sill original song written by her and Graham Nash in the early 70’s.  Saying the song is a simple rendition is to do it a disservice as it is a very emotional song that might be subdued in part by the musical arrangement but one that you get lost in soon enough.  That might be a huge pile of BS but just listen and get back to me on that one.

The Rural Alberta Advantage – Don’t Haunt This Place

Being out sick yesterday I spent the good portion of the day laying around on the couch catching up on season two of the AMC series “Breaking Bad”.  The show’s first season brought enough action/drama/suspense that I didn’t know how season two could do anything to top it.  The season has brought deeply evident changes in the emotional states of the characters involved in the show and you can’t help but start to feel for those characters and the huge amounts of stress, anger and hurt they are going through.  It takes a toll on you as you watch it episode after episode.  Perhaps that is why it’s a series best enjoyed week to week.  That said this song is one that hits again on the topic of a broken relationship.  Yet it does it with an upbeat drum part and ends with hope that maybe things might work out as both parties are aware that they need to come to agreements on things in a relationship.  I’m just hoping that Breaking Bad can come to a similar resolve when it wraps up for the last time.

Vampire Weekend – Cousins

I didn’t post anything from their 2008 debut album as they were the kings of indie fandom those first few months of the year and I was growing weary of the hype, however well deserved it may have been.  I’m not sure why I’m changing my tone here as these guys are even bigger than ever and just had the number one album on the Billboard charts.  It’s probably mostly because I had this song tagged back in December and never got a chance to post it.  Download it, love it, buy the album and continue to keep this album above Ke$ha.

Jeff Bridges aka Bad Black – Fallin’ & Flying

I’ve made no qualms about expressing my utter contempt and hatred of all things Avatar.  One of the first things critics (yes, there are many despite the $$$ this abomination has taken in) point to is the generic story line.  “Crazy Heart” ultimately has a fairly standard story line as well if you break it down to a pitch line.  I won’t do that here for those of you who might actually go see the movie even though it is fairly obvious.  That said the real strength of this movie and what makes the story work are the characters, acting and small plot points that make you keep watching.  Jeff Bridges pulls off the best acting of the year by far in his portrayal of “Bad Black” a down and out country music singer who has lost his direction, and fame, and now must play in bowling alleys and saloons to support him.  The song here is one of the songs from “Bad Black” that is played a few times in the movie. It will surely get stuck in your head and is one of the best songs on a superb soundtrack.  Beyond Jeff Bridges take on the role the biggest surprise for me was seeing Colin Farrell play the part of a fictional Tim McGraw type country singer.  The singing is all real and is the highlight of a very enjoyable movie all around.

It’s back.  After a wedding, php hack to my WordPress install that lead to Google blacklisting my site(update your install, kids!) and Christmas I’ve got things sorted out and will post a few songs that have been going through my ears lately.

The Big Pink – Dominos

I listened to this on repeat for about a week in early December.  Similar to how Passion Pit took a few months to get picked up by stations such as KROQ and played to oblivion I predict this track will be next, if it hasn’t hit already. It is a truly great rock track and one I can see every fratbro in the Mid-West fully embracing.  These guys HAVE to get bigger in the current landscape of music.  It’s destiny.

Sleigh Bells – Crown on the Ground

This came out of nowhere in October and I was hooked beyond belief.  It was one of those instances where I tracked down every single song I could find online (no official EP as of yet) and couldn’t get enough.  The duo consists of the former drummer of Poison the Well (Note: I saw those guys open up for Cursive back in the day at the Glasshouse and couldn’t believe the hardcore kids “singing” along to their screams.  It was frightening.) and a former bubblegum pop girl group singer.  The amount of distortion gives you a “what is this crap doing to my headphones” feeling but then everything is brought together so well that you know it is meant to be and not a setting you just messed up.  They then go a completely different direction when they break out another song on their demo with “Ring Ring”.  Very minimal distortion and a catchy chorus you will find lingering for a week or more.  I can’t wait for the actual release whenever that might be.

The xx – Shelter

Just like The Big Pink this UK group snuck up on me.  I was disillusioned with the various bands making debuts from August thru October so I didn’t pay attention to this until a little before Thanksgiving.  It’s now the go to work CD to listen to from start to finish.  It becomes one song when I passively listen to it.  This might not sound like a ringing endorsement but it is.  This is one of those songs that do stick out besides the other obvious choice in “VCR”.  If I ever do a “Best of 2009” this will be high on my list.

Taylor Swift – You Belong With Me

I have a whole wedding post half way finished where I discuss all the various songs that were either played at the wedding or used for something related to the wedding.  This song would fit in that category since it was the song I heard over and over on our honeymoon in Hawaii.  Our rental car had no tape deck or audio input port so we were stuck with the radio.  Being on the Big Island this meant smooth jazz or a modern country station.  I picked the modern country station and soon realized it was like any other FM station playing the “hits”.  This means playing 15 songs on repeat with commercials thrown in for good measure and a canned DJ making a quip about how great the previous song is.  Taylor Swift stood out though and this song soon became the anthem of the trip for me, to the wife’s chagrin.  (I’m also pretty sure Taylor Swift won’t be with any of the above mentioned bands on blogs anytime soon.)