the sun set forever, and we lay together

So there comes a time when I feel like that spoiled kid with tons of toys, and nothing to play with. I was staring at my music library the past couple days and stamping my mental feet. I had nothing to LISTEN TO!! I started hounding friends for suggestions. Luckily, I have some very tolerant friends with very good musical taste. And after spending a lot of time on LaLa listening to some delightful albums, it occurred to me to check up on the bands I had left by the wayside since their last releases. What kind of person am I to forget about those wonderful tickling artists who delighted me just a few months ago? So I buried myself in familiar newness. And here are a few gems.

The Spinto Band enchanted me, like it did many people, with their 2008 release Moonwink. The track Summer Grof was filling me with ear fireworks made of crescendos and carefully calculated bursts of bright energy all summer long. I eagerly awaited more to spin to, and was pleased with the EP that they gave birth to all by themselves, Slim and Slender. It has the same tablespoon by tablespoon dosage of starry eyed staccato beats, and sweeping fits of swimming guitar with controlled, reaching vocals wailing into the setting sun. The opening number, Jackhammer, leaves me feeling like an LP from The Spinto Band will make me even smilier, with its coasting, driven, jangly melodies. Regrettably, the rest of the EP does not make me shimmer with whimsy as much as I hoped, but the succinct taste of things to come does whet my appetite.

This song convinces me that I will never live in a city for very long.

something says she wants you/wont you ever learn?

Jackhammer-The Spinto Band

If I could tackle Liam Finn and thank his Kiwi brain for coming up with such brilliant new music, I would. I’ve been harboring deep love for him ever since his 2007 I’ll Be Lightning sent me whirling with layers and layers of goodness. The man can deliver a powerful, yet subtle, punch of dream-like strangeness that makes sense to people who dream of “oceans of pink lemonade.” He speaks of the things I want to see in my own head. And that is exactly what this son of Crowded House’s lead man Neil Finn (who I do love so) has done again. His recent EP release, Champagne in Seashells with backing vocals by Eliza Jane, shows me that his ability to make me want to jump into tornados and find the pulsating rhythm in the eye of the storm has only increased. Here is the opening track, Plane Crash.

Plane Crash- Liam Finn + Eliza Jane

November is approaching. And I’m depressed about it. Luckily, my friend suggested I finally listen to the Seattle name changers Say Hi (previously Say Hi to Your Mom). Eric Elbogen and friends have undergone some pretty intense aesthetic changes since the formation in 2002, and I’m pleased to have listened to them as they’ve arrived with their March, 2009 release Oohs and Aahs. The album has good beats, and even better lyrics. Elbogen has a talent for fanciful and clever lyrics that make me think about simple things in different ways. With Seasonal Affectiveness Disorder weighing heavily on this cloudy day, I recommend their first real slow track on the album.

I think I will feel better when the winter is gone. And I'll have to repeat it as much as Elbogen does to make myself believe it, too.

November was White, December was Gray- Say Hi