Thus far, May is taking the cake for 2010 when it comes to music releases. Plenty of great releases this week from both new and veteran acts, including the fantastic Josh Ritter album, that is available for purchase on Amie Street for only $5. Yet even with all these excellent releases, my top two most anticipated releases of the year are yet to come.
We finally got official notice that the great Christopher Nolan will be giving us another edition to his brilliantly revamped Batman franchise. No word yet on who the villian will be. It’s gonna be hard to top the the previous two performances by Cillian Murphy and Heath Ledger.
Apparently Letterman has decided to get into the music business. His new record label is launching this summer with the release of their first signed band, Runner Runner. I’m curious to see what kind of impact this might have on Late Night and the music featured on the show.
On a more unfortunate note, it was announced just the other day that the recent acquisition of Lala by Apple, will result in the shutting down of the music streaming site. I’m pretty bummed, but hopefully it will lead to iTunes giving us more than a 30 second preview. Here is a site worth checking out as a possible replacement, My Friends and Music.
So after listening to Brady’s Autumn Shuffle last week, I was inspired to create a seasonal playlist of my own. I didn’t put quite as much thought into my list as Brady, rather I simply chose to create a list of songs and albums that I feel both musically and lyrically fit the mood of the season. Let me know if you have any songs or albums that you really fall for this time of year. I hope that this playlist makes your ears bleed til winter comes.
matt pond PA
I really love this group a lot and in fact I find that almost their entire catalog fits that autumnal season very well, especially Several Arrows Later. But instead of choosing a track from that album I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and include this excellent cover of another band that fits the fall season very well, Neutral Milk Hotel.
matt pond PA – In An Aeroplane Over the Sea (Neutral Milk Hotel)
Iron & Wine
Here is a guy I am sure you are all familiar with by now. Someone who like Nick Drake also got his first big exposure through the “Garden State” soundtrack. Well I find his contemplative lo-fi folk music to be great company on a sunny fall afternoon. One of my favorite things to do is to go for a drive in the fall while the leaves are in transition and this song I chose for you here is one of my favorite companions along the way.
Iron & Wine – The Trapeze Swinger
M83′s Saturdays = Youth
Saturdays was an album that I heard last year and it went in one ear and out the other without making much of an impact. But this fall it has penetrated down to my very core and has become one of my favorite records. And I attribute a lot of that to the season in which it was heard, both physically and in my personal life.
M83 – Graveyard Girl
Explosions in the Sky’s The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
One of the best experimental quartets around. They were the first instrumental band that I was able to really get into and I find myself consistently going back to this album each fall. You might recognize them from their work for the soundtrack to “Friday Night Lights,” the television show.
Explosions In the Sky – Your Hand In Mine
The Radio Dept.
Here is another group that I would say has an autumn feel to their entire catalog. Something about their music just takes me back. It just puts me in this very retrospective mood. It’s not uncommon for music from my past to take me back to the time when it first captured me. But I just discovered this band about a year ago. I don’t know how they do it.
The Radio Dept. – Pulling Our Weight
Here are a few more tracks to help round out the playlist.
Okay, enough with that schtick. I thought about writing an entire post in slow motion, but I hardly made it through one sentence without wanting to punch myself in the face. I can only imagine how painful, and confusing, that would have been to read.
And wanting to punch myself is often the response I have when watching a music video in slow motion. I am not sure why, but there seems to be a large influx of directors using this technique in their music videos. Heck, even I am guilty of it (more on that later). I can only guess the reason for the rise in this technique is because digital video cameras are becoming much more sophisticated and can mimic films ability to “overcrank” the footage. I would try and explain what that means, but as is the case with most of the things I want to say, wikipedia does a much better job (read this article if you give a crap).
Anyhow, this video, brought to you by Left Eye Blind does a fantastic job of utilizing “overcrank” and “time-remapping” techniques. Also, do yourself a favor and click the icon in the upper right hand corner to turn the “HD on”. It is well worth the extra couple of seconds of streaming time.
And here is my far less refined video demonstrating the “overcrank” method. The danceble little track accompanying the video is “Hotel” by Broken Social Scene.
And finally, there are some exciting changes coming to the Music Video of the Week section. I’ll just say that starting next week things are going to start getting more “visual”. Until then, I hope your ears (and eyes) bleed.
Here is a great live performance from Feist and her boy toy Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene. This song was recorded live last year on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. This song is completely unreleased as far as I know. These two sound great together, which I’m sure you will agree. It’s great little tune, with very sweet lyrics. Hope you enjoy it.
ED-Correction: This song has in fact been released. It can be found on Drew’s soloish album, Spirit IF…. I add the “ish” because a good majority of BSS were involved in the project, and the actual album cover reads: “Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew”.
