Songs of the Week//Whatta Week

I Love You, Sleepy Head//Lanterns on the Lake

Someones Missing//MGMT

Something Good Can Work (RAC Remix)//Two Door Cinema Club

 

Zebra//Beach House

Only Ones Who Know//The Arctic Monkeys

whatta week, hope you made it through

A

WHATEVERLAND//The Washboard Abs

 WHATEVERLAND is an album of heartbreak and love (but mostly heartbreak) that's expressed through an acoustic bedroom-pop sound. With quiet repetitions and rhymes they capture the muddled feeling of confusion one feels when being left behind, and the lost restlessness of being recently out of  a relationship. My favorite track is constant, which is the only one off this record that has to do with falling in love/envisioning a future with someone. Its drenched in worn seaside nostalgia, shown in lyrics such as "in so much more than memory//I feel you standing next to me" and "and in this city by the sea//I've found a life that I can lead". Despite how depressed the songs meanings are they can also come off as gently upbeat positive songs, which I think is really nicely shown when they sing "that there are tangerine skies//awaiting our failing eyes". This Alaskan/Coloradan band is definitely worth the listen, and while not on Spotify their music is up for free download on Bandcamp!

Genre: acoustic pop, bedroom pop
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Songs of the Week//13-02-2015//Oops

I haven't written in a while which is stupid and I'm sorry, and this post is just a songs of the week so it's not even the best thing, but I promise I'll have more reviews soonish.

Be My Baby//The Ronettes

I watched Dirty Dancing for the first time this week, so this was an obvious choice. Watching it added to this summer feeling I've been craving which is weird because I used to always think fall/winter was my thing but now it just seems to be all about summer?

Invisible//Dandelion Hands

Dandelion Hands is the perfect depressing teenager band, who unfortunately just broke up and took their music off Spotify spurring the break of my heart. My favorite song by them is "if the sun has the strength to rise every morning why can't i get out of bed". 

Every Little Step//Bobby Brown

We watched this video in history to satisfy my teachers nostalgic needs and then it get stuck in my head and now its my go to feel good song. 

Put Your Number in my Phone//Ariel Pink

Nostalgic-seeming pop about succesfully? getting someones phone number 

Jessica//Adam Green

"Jessica Simpson, where has your love gone, it's not in your music" - a clear classic

Talk Soon!

A 

Songs of the Week//4-1-2015//Quiet

 Hey!

Here's the songs that have been helping me ring in the new year - they're mostly quiet and calm songs because that's what this break has been for me.

 Werewolf//Fiona Apple

 A song about love, so not really relatable for me, but Fiona Apples voice is so ugh.

She's Losing It//Belle and Sebastian

I wouldn't say this song has been stuck in my head, but I find myself singing the verses at weird times: right when I wake up, when I'm walking in the woods etc. The whole acceptance that she's going insane thing is actually a really soothing concept. 

Sea, Swallow Me//Cocteau Twins

This song has been on a few of my playlists ever since I watched Palo Alto (along with the Soccer Field theme by Devonte Hynes), and it gives me a huge rush of something. 

Hanging on the Telephone//Flowers Forever

I finally watched Electrick Children and I really loved it and this song is a constant throughout it and it fits so perfectly. 

Snaggletooth//Vance Joy

A cheesy, obvious choice, but I really love his voice, and the fact that Riptide plays on the radio now has gotten his voice stuck in my head.

Hope your first weekend of the 2015 is going well!

-A

The Edge of Hell//John Crodian

While The Edge of Hell was released in 2012, and it doesn't look like John Crodian has put out any music since, I liked it so much I couldn't not put something on here about it.

Almost all the songs are acoustic, and the majority of the time it's only the guitar supporting the voice. But there are a few punk/rock songs (Neapolitan, Launchpad) where the guitar and bass are electric, and are accompanied by the drums. 

 What I really enjoy, what made me want to write this review, was the lyrics. They are the perfect suburban anthems for the college kid coming back home for break or the typical high school student. Here are a few of my favorite:

Great Jazz at an Affordable Price 

When you ascend to higher plains of existence
Will you come visit me at state in the fall?  

(this works so well in my mind because everybody seems to go to our state college (or other small colleges in the state) and very few seem to actually get out of the suburbs, and so the line of "when you ascend to higher plains of existence" is so idyllic to me because, in a way, that's my long term goal)

We Won't be the Youth of Today Tomorrow 

Will you cry "youth is just a footnote, besides I swear I held my breath
And crossed my fingers in the corner while you all screamed 'true til death'"
But you'll remember how those words hit in the hardest ways, 

(I think when we have a sucky adolescence we all want to believe that its not that important, but I think that it is important because these are some of the only years of our lives (at least until we retire) where we have a surplus of time to reflect on stuff, and so maybe youth isn't just a footnote like we all want to believe when it sucks)(the final line of this is so perfectly worded though because that's what words do they hit you and make you feel immobilized and awful)

See, we could have been in New York in '88, but where would that put us now?
40 something in a nowhere town  

(Lines like this make me feel all heck yeah but then at the same time I'm like, what so whats going to keep me from being 40 something in a nowhere town after New York in 2017?)

The End of Rock Piano

And I'm ashamed of the effort I put in
To look like every other dope in this coffee shop  

(This is just so true it hurts a little)

Launchpad

I'm gonna need a launch pad to get closer to you

(Sometimes people just seem so amazing yet so far away (mentally))

 This was different that what I normally do but really cathartic to write so I hope it was somewhat okay for you,

A

Songs of the Week//12-14-2014//Surfer Guy

This weeks songs makes me think of all the people I see in the hallway and invent stories about. Like Surfer Guy. His hair is pretty great.

Miss Rebellion des Hormones//Stereo Total

Teenage angst? Cheesy French background music? count me in

There Is a Light That Never Goes Out//The Smiths

So cheesy I know, part of me is embarrassed, the other part of me can only keep replaying that scene from 500 Days of Summer in my mind? 

"To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die"

The Medic//Foxing

Because I saw them live this week and they sounded so great live. Especially the trumpet parts. 

Walking Around at Night//The Vivian Girls

The Vivian Girls are forever my favorite and sometimes I dream about them getting back together and playing a show in Philly. 

Sorry this weeks songs are up later than normal but I'm an unorganized mess right now with lots of work I need to catch up on!

Hope you're having a good day,

A

Modern Baseball Show!!!

 

 This past Thursday I got to go to the Modern Baseball concert here in Philly, and it was so great. The only complaint I have is that they didn't play How Do You Tell a Girl You Want to Kiss Her which is just a fabulous song and I probably could have shouted it out, but I didn't, because I wasn't thinking anything through because I was on that euphoric concert rush (really bad run-on, I know)

 

There was four bands that played before Modern Baseball and it was around 10pm when Modern Baseball finally came on (which normally I wouldn't care about but I had school the next day). The two that really stuck out to me were Crying and Foxing. Crying (pictured above - awful quality I'M SORRY) stuck out because the way the lead singer holds the microphone is really different - she grasps it with both hands and then leans over it, singing with her wavering high pitched voice. I had a really hard time hearing her voice though because the guitar/drums were really amplified and drowned it out for the most part. I enjoyed their set but I don't think they're the kind of band I'd listen to.  

 

Foxing was another band that played and I really enjoyed their show/music. The lead singers voice captures so much emotion (a more painful, frusterated emotion) and when he dances around the stage he kind of portrays someone that just went through a really bad break up and is trying to get it all out. ALSO he would pull out his trumpet randomly and play along with the band and it was so great and perfect I couldn't stop smiling.

 

 In between sets they were playing music on the speakers, and for the most part it was just mumbly punk music that you couldn't really make out, but at one point they played Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" and everybody went crazy and people pulled out their lighters and other people were crowd surfing (really not that safe now that I think about that combination), and this one guy standing near us jumped into his friends arms and started shouting "I'm flying Jack! I'm flying!". I wish they had played more recognizable music between bands because then I think it would have made the wait seem shorter.

Finally Modern Baseball came on and I was so excited and my friend was so excited cause it was actually happening! When they came on I think they felt the restlessness of the audience and so they didn't talk much but said something along the lines of "We're going to play as many songs as we can, loud and fast" and then they just broke into song. My favorite song that they played was probably Tears Over Beers and it almost felt like I was listening to the song for the first time because the performance felt so charged and powerful. 

I'm so happy I got to go, and going made me realise how I need to get out to more concerts because they make you feel that adrenaline rush that compares to nothing else. 

I'm sorry if this post is scrambled or confusing but there was just so much that writing this I feel a bit frazzled trying to figure out what I should include. 

Have a great week!

A

(oh at one point my glasses got kicked off by a crowd surfer and I just immediately dropped to the ground and started moving my hands around looking for them. Right as a grabbed them someone stepped on my hand which freaked me out because had I been two seconds late my glasses would have been crushed and the rest of the concert would've sucked because I would've been completely blind. But hey they didn't get crushed so yay! )