Here’s a piece on on The Besnard Lakes’ “Disaster” from its album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse, for NPR’s Song of the Day. To listen to the song and read the essay go here.
Continue reading NPR Song Of The Day: The Besnard Lakes, ‘Disaster’
Okay so they’re not really that old. I am behind the curve, but that is sort of the point of my occasional confessional “old things that are new to me.” So beyond being aware of their name for awhile, I think I am really only hearing Okkervil River for the first time recently. So when a remastered “deluxe” edition of their 2005 album Black Sheep Boy came across my desk the other day I decided to give them a go. Between the great artwork on the packaging and the opening title track I was hooked.
Sort of a mixture of summery indie pop and darker, Neil Young-inspired alt-country rock, this band, led by singer-songwriter Will Sheff is able to be infectiously melodic, emotionally visceral and yet still rock out with solid authority. Despite coming to them later than most, gotta say they’re pretty great.
Here is the video for the second track on the album, “For Real.” Its not my favourite song on the album by any means…in fact it sort of is the one radio-friendly, made for climatic titular scene at the end of a Greys Anatomy episode, but still not bad. I wish they had other songs I could more easily link to. Alas…
[youtube]JDd4KezAFv8[/youtube]
One band I’ve been going back to a lot these days, Peter Bjorn & John seems to be blowing up with the youngsters right now. There has been a lot of buzz around this Sweedish chamber pop group with a love for sweet melodies. Their third album Writer’s Block came out in Europe last fall and has been out here in the States since early January, but everyone seems to be digging them, without any over hype burnout. … and rightfully so.
The trio capture a healthy mixture of ’60s rock, new wave, and power pop but put just enough of their own spin on it to allow them to bubble to the top into something a bit more original. Nothing overtly groundbreaking here, but just some really catchy and flawless tunes.
They have been making the public radio and indie radio circuit plugging their album and upcoming tour, from NPR, to KCRW to even AOL Music’s Spinner.com and subsequent podcast The Interface. It was there I came across their brief stripped down performance. Here are two of those songs, including the infectiously perfect pop gem, and break out hit single “Young Folks.” Download full podcast here.
And we’re back! With the second installment of the year long series hello.music. We proudly present to you this months release: Clouded Spaces, Falling Skies.
February is an extra special month, because this album was created not only for our monthly EP release but also for the RPM Challenge, an effort to get musicians to create an album from scratch in only 28 days. It’s been a busy month, but we think we have stepped it up and elevated our own sense of quality. Check it out, tell your friends, enemies, families, cohorts, cronies, etc…
To hear all of our music, you can also subscribe to our monthly released podcast of all our albums here. Or find us at iTunes here. Feel free to leave comments, and let us know what you think.
UPDATE: At the beginning of the month, NPR’s All Songs Considered host, and All Things Considered director Bob Boilen did a really great feature on the RPM Challenge. Now that the month is over, he follows up with NPR’s Melissa Block and RPM organizer, Dave Karlotski about the experience. You can check out both stories here. And while you’re at it, take a look and a listen to other friends’ efforts: Robin Hilton, Bob Boilen, Thomas Pierce. ~HelloMike
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Temporary Setback :: January 2007
Clouded Spaces, Falling Skies :: February 2007
First Pull Up, Second Pull Down, Third Take Away :: March 2007
Ancient Telephones :: April 2007
The Cavalry Arrived Again :: May 2007
Designed In Anticipation Of His Centennial Years :: June 2007
The Rundown :: July 2007
The Ninth Great Fire :: August 2007
Empty Bottles And Dog-Eared Books :: September 2007
I Can Fix Things In The Morning :: October 2007
We Are Full Of Useful Noise :: November 2007
The Last Duel :: December 2007
It’s come down to the wire. With a last minute entry I have an all new version of “Morning Tiger” a song I wrote awhile back but shelved when I couldn’t think of how to expand or write lyrics for it.
I always loved the ending swell of synths and keyboards. It was very cinematic in a Jim O’Rourke kind of way (listen to his album Eureka for proof).
Anyway, a friend and co-worker said he loved it and wanted to take a crack at the lyrics and melody. When it came back from Robin, I wasn’t sure what to expect because we had never collaborated musically before. But his vocals and general tweaks to the mix really brought out the best in this song. Normally when I write, it had always been with my former bandmates in mind: writing for our former singer Kelley Gaunt, or a groove with Aryn and Greg in mind, or to serve as an improv vehicle for me.
So in a way it was strange to hear a song I had conceived alone in my bedroom or living room turn into something new and different. It might be one of my new favourites now.
We’ve got roughly 2 nights left to make any last minute things on these songs, pick our song order, album cover etc. Get the champagne ready.
Many people (well the 2 people who read this site not named Aryn or Greg) might have figured out by now that I work for as a production assistant for NPR…specifically podcasting. One of the myriad projects I work on is an original to podcast show called NPR Playback. This concept was pitched to our podcasting illuminati to come up with a way to curate a podcast that looks into the NPR archives.
I came up with the idea to look back a quarter century after determining that the connective spine would have to give the listener a logical timeline so they were not alienated by strange time jumps or unmeaningful anniversaries. There is something simple and clean about that 25 year mark: a quarter century has in some ways a special ring to it in a way that is much more meaningful than those 18th year rememberances.
Every month looks back 25 years on sort of rolling calendar (in this month’s case February 2007 equated to February 1982) so that whatever month it was, we would have some new story to tell. What has been interesting is hearing the ebb and flow of news, politics and social trends and how they all interlock and evolve over time.
Today we finally published the February 1982 episode. Now in our sixth month we have started to get a bit of traction on the potential this podcast can have in showcasing weird and offbeat stories from the past. Think of it like “NPR Loves the 80’s!”
Take a listen here…or for all the past episodes, subscribe by pasting this link here into iTunes. Hope you enjoy.
Greetings friends… it is Sunday early evening and I have spent a majority of the snowy cold weekend inside reading, writing, composing, recording, mixing, mastering and then rerecording, remixing and so on and on and on. But by my calendar widget, we have less than 3 days to finish the album in a month as part of the RPM Challenge.
I will save my reaction and pep talk for another post but needless to say its been incredibly fun, challenging and all encompassing to put the music first for the first time in a long time.
Here is yet another song I created today while taking a break from mastering other things. I was talking on the phone and picked up the guitar. While talking a started playing this chord progression. It sort of just came out which is strange for me. Within an hour I had it written and tracked and another hour later it was mixed. Not so sure about the lyrics yet…but this song is all mood. Pretty proud with how it all came together so quickly.
So without further ado… the first mix of Cost of Things.
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_mike/CostofThings_v1.mp3]
Once again, here’s a short piece about The Sea And Cake’s song “Crossing Line,” from its new album Everybody, for NPR’s Song of the Day. Read the essay and listen to the song here.
Continue reading NPR Song Of The Day: The Sea And Cake, ‘Crossing Line’
Here is I am the King of Sad Retorts version three.
Okay…I finally penned some lyrics and tracked a really rough melody and harmony for this song last night. I think the song will be okay once I refine the words and make the melody clearer, not mumbled and not cracking. But the basic shell I think is there. I really wish I had a female singer to duet with this…but maybe I’m just defaulting into the Tweedy\Gibbard mode that I was trying to get away from on this song. Thoughts?
To hear past version of this song and\or discussion and lyrics go here.
For five days last week the Arcade Fire played to sold out, yet intimate audiences in New York City’s Judson Memorial Church. Though I didn’t go, I certainly have been scouring the web and listening to the various songs they played from their new album, Neon Bible.
A few resources to catch up on the action:
Listen to a stream of Saturday night’s show as webcast by NPR’s All Songs Considered …or download the full show. You can also listen to Bob Boilen’s interview with the band, fan interviews before the show and a watch a slide show gallery with some great photos.
Stereogum’s review
The Onion AV Club blog review
Download a quality audience recording of Friday’s show
It seems the highlight for many people was the acoustic (kinda) performance of “Wake Up” that was performed in the crowd.
[youtube]Kbjf7OcpCio[/youtube]
After listening to a majority of the Friday and Saturday night’s shows, I have to say this band is on the cusp of peaking. These gigs at the church could very well be the last intimate experiences audiences will get with this band for some time. But the music here is more solid and revelatory than ever. Hearing the new songs in the live context mixed with the old, made me love the new album even more.
What once was a scrappy energetic performing band falling short in imitating the greatness of their album, is now a band who accentuates and even surpasses that greatness.
Aryn saw them at the genesis of their career right around the time the first LP came out in 2004. I cannot wait to try to see what they bring when they hit D.C. in a few months.