We’re Sorry!

I’m sure you were very scared for us, thinking that maybe the man finally took us down, or that maybe one of the staff died, but I assure you that things are very much okay with at least 75% of the staff (I haven’t really been in contact with Brady lately… sure hope he’s doing okay). So what gives then? Well, IHYEB is a fun project rather than a pay project for 1000% of all the staff here (infact we’ve only lost money on this site because hosting costs some serious green).

But I wanted to make a formal apology, as most of us are adapting to our new summer schedules.

In other very-related news….

My pride and joy, the Remix Wednesday column is now officially ONE YEAR OLD! To celebrate this momentous minor achievement, I’m going to start calling it the Remix of the Week, but will still be shortening it RW.

And just because it wouldn’t be IHYEB if I didn’t have some music in this, and it’s techiniquely still thursday, I give you:

My Three Favorite Remix Wednesday Remixes

1. Santigold – I’m a Lady (Diplo mix ft. Amanda Blank)

I could elaborate for ages on how much this song just always gets me. I always feel weird declaring this song (the original included) to be my favorite Santigold song, because…. I’m not a lady.

2. David Bowie – Rebel Rebel (Soulwax Re-Edit)

“I am a dj, I am what I play.” What a brilliant tag to put at the beginning of a remix. Soulwax proves their worth in gold with this solid track. BTW, that tag is snatched from a ’79 Bowie album…. and it’s in much better company inside that song than in D.J.’s music video.

3. The Presets – This Boy’s in Love (Lifelike Remix)

Perfection audialized? I love this remix so much, and it’s play count in my iTunes library proves it. Just listen to it and see if you don’t fall in love, much like the protagonist in the song.

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OKAY! I think we’re square now. I’ll be back next week for another remix, and I hope I’ve given you enough homework to make your ears bleed. Ω

New Order – Love Vigilantes

The Low Anthem reigns from Rhode Island and consists of Ben Miller on vocals and guitar, Jocie Adams on clarinet, and Jeffrey Prystowsky on bass.  But each of them play an array of other instruments on the album and during their live shows.  They have garnered a lot of praise  from the indie music critics.  Paste Magazine called them “time-honored and astonishingly innovative.”  And they have gotten many comparisons to both Bob Dylan and Tom Waits.  That is in part due to the rough singing on some of the latter tracks on the album, or the Waits song that they cover on the new album.  But I think it’s mostly due to the sincerity found in their songwriting.  So listen to this great song and add The Low Anthem to your list of bands to see at Austin City Limits this fall.

The Low Anthem – Charlie Darwin

If you need more convincing you can stream their first album here.

1) Kings of Leon – Manhatten

I thought I had listened to all of the latest Kings of Leon album, Only By the Night.  But apparently I hadn’t, cause I don’t know how I could’ve heard this song and not been completely entranced right away. For that is what happened when I heard this track a couple of weeks ago while listening to an end of the year podcast on NPR’s All Songs Considered.  I don’t care who you are, I think everyone can groove to this tune.  The drum beat and little guitar riff that proceeds throughout just make you wanna just chill and dance at the same time, if that were possible.  And there is a passion in Caleb’s voice like never before.

2) Of Montreal – An Eluardian Instance

I’ve really been into pop tunes that you can dance to lately, and this one has found its way to the top of my playlists again and again this past month.  I am in love with the horn intro.  It is just a fun and danceable.   And as always, Kevin Barnes knows how to use his words to reach your heart.  Again I have no idea how I overlooked this gem of a song.

3) The Killers – I Can’t Stay

Now this song I did not accidentally overlook.   I just ignored it.  In fact I hated this track when I first listened to Day & Age.  But it came up again when I was listening to my library on shuffle a couple weeks ago, and something in the chorus just struck me.  I think it is just an absolutely lovely melody and I have not been able to stop listening to it.

1. Snow Patrol – You Could Be Happy

Smallville Season 6 – “Promise”

I thought this was a great way to open such a pivotal and emotional episode.  The lyrics of this song fit so well and helped move the audience quickly into the emotional state of distress that Clark is going through on the day of Lana and Lex’s wedding. I seriously loved this episode and it wouldn’t have been half as good without this fantastic opening track.

2. Colin Hay – Overkill (Acoustic)

Scrubs Season 2 – “My Overkill”

Scrubs continues to be one of the funniest shows on television.  Even in their eighth season and with a network change  they can hardly create an episode that doesn’t make me laugh.   But the reason I own every season on dvd, is not so that I can watch Dr. Dorian dance in a patient room filled with 99 Red Balloons to the Nena song of the same title (although I can’t help but laugh out loud everytime I watch that scene).  Rather it is because they are not afraid to tackle some of the more serious and less fun aspects of being in a relationship and working in a hospital.  While it is still worth a few laughs, this great opening to the second season is a great example of that.

3. Led Zeppelin – Babe I’m Gonna Leave You

One  Tree Hill  Season 3 – “The Show Must Go On”

I was really disappointed that I was unable to find a video for this one.  I thought it was pretty incredible the way they wrapped up their entire season with this six and half minute song playing in the background.  It doesn’t distract from, but rather adds to the dramatic effect of this cliff-hanging closer.

1. “PDA” – Interpol

Interpol’s albums have grown exponentially worse with each new release, but this song is from their moody masterpiece of a debut, Turn On The Bright Lights. The song chugs along mechanically, led by throbbing bass drum hits and stabbing, dissonant guitars, returning to a confounding chorus about sleeping on “200 couches.” But then the song pauses, brightens. The chugging returns more excited than before, carrying a fragile organ coo on its shoulders, and the sounds zigzag and crash into silence.

2. “I Know There’s An Answer” – The Beach Boys

This wonderful Pet Sounds track is buried awkwardly in the third quarter of the album, which is perhaps why it is so criminally ignored. All the components of the song’s final 37 seconds are singularly present throughout the entire song: the bizarre circus piano, the merry banjo, and that tambourine. But it’s not until the song’s wordless coda that the threads are played together, and it is the blending of these elements that create true magic. It’s Christmas morning, it’s your first kiss, it’s absolutely perfect.

3. “Stop Breathin’” – Pavement

The song seems to begin in the middle of a phrase, without introduction. Stephen Malkmus croaks, “Dad, they broke me,” over drunken arpeggios and repeats the line twice at the finish of the first chorus. But he sings it only once for the second chorus, so we know a change is coming. Suddenly all falls silent, save for the sluggish 6/8 heartbeats of the drums. A brooding finger picked guitar line enters and is soon joined by another, each of them rising, falling and intersecting. The noise builds to a fever pitch, narrows to one single note of feedback, and then erupts again, roaring into a second coda.

Saturday is V-Day.

I’m going to be frank here, I don’t like the day. And if you feel like joining me, well here are some songs to help with the misery of things.

She Wants Revenge – I Don’t Want To Fall In Love

This song couldn’t be more clear with it’s message.I adore the way it says “better run cause…”, is there really any wiser advice for avoiding love?

Art Brut – People In Love

Spoken word euro-rockers Art Brut just start trashing people in love. The way they explain love, who would want to be in it?

Fiction Family – Please Don’t Call it Love

This song sounds like a case of “I thought maybe we were more than just friends” if I ever heard one. Classic overstepping of boundaries, and now the singer just doesn’t know how to classify things with this person, but he is adamant in that he does not want it to be called love. I love how the sound of Fiction Family is so far gone from both Switchfoot and Nickel Creek, as well as even the solo works of Jon Foreman.

When Saturday approaches and the clock won’t fly by, these songs should keep you occupied for a good, ten minutes. May I recommend burning old depressing pictures, and snapping old mix cd’s in half. If it doesn’t make the emotional pain go away, at least you have something physical to show for you frustrations.

But as for me, I’ll be enjoying Valentine’s Day with my girlfriend.

anyways…

I hope you ears don’t get their feelings hurt, and spend the rest of the valentines dance crying in a corner where nobody can see you, except for the 7th grade history teacher who awkwardly approaches you to calm you down and help, but instead calls attention to your sad pathetic self.

Oh wait, that only happens to me . Ω