New Music Tuesday - March 3rd, 2009

March 3rd, 2009
Tuesday Afternoon, 1:21 PM

It's been a busy week so far (including this past weekend) so New Music Monday has become New Music Tuesday for the time being. What can I say, it's evolving. As I type out my most recent music post, I am listening to the latest U2 album, hoping and wishing and praying to Saint Bono that it will be a grower. Sorry Rolling Stone, the jury is still out in my book, I don't hear five stars here. I would recommend to fellow U2 fans to listen to NLOTH in the intended album song cycle format; it plays much better that way.

I have some new material that I will be sharing with you over the next couple of days (i.e. Kindle 2.0 review, A Day At the Museum, etc.) as I get some peace and quite on the airplane tomorrow, so stay tuned faithful readers.

Each week I start with the most recent song downloaded to my iPod. This week that honor goes to...(click on the highlighted track to find blogs to download the song from)

Tinted Windows - "Kind of a Girl" from Tinted Windows
Ah, Power-Pop, oh how my untrained ear is so instantly smitten for thee. Be it The Raspberries, Badfinger, Big Star, The Knack, The Buzzcocks, Jellyfish, The La's, Matthew Sweet, or Ok Go, your big fat hooks, harmonies and three minutes of teenage love & lust, always grab me. This time around, in the form of the Tainted Windows, we have what the indie blogger community is calling a "Power-Pop Super Group". I call it my number one musical "guilty pleasure". This latest "super-group" features the singer of Hanson (ummm), the bassist and lead songwriter from Fountains of Wayne (yeah!), the drummer from Cheap Trick (awesomeness) and the guitarist from The Smashing Pumpkins (the other guy). How's the song? Not half bad. To my minds ear, has it as basically a Fountains of Wayne song sans the witty banter and pithy story telling. Still, it's Power-Pop and it clocks in at 3:13 and its about a girl and it takes me back to 1981. Good times.

The Office - "Enter Me, Exit You" from Mecca
While we are on the topic, here is another Power-Pop group that I have grown fond of over the past couple of years, The Office. As Spin described this past year, they have mastered the fine art of "handclaps and sunny harmonies". On this highlighted track they even throw in the sleigh bells for good measure proving that they are evolving in the studio. I hear some mid-90 Manic Street Preachers "Why So Sad" in this track. The Office has caught the free download bug and are offering the tracks on Sendspace. Click on the link for a listen to this song and all 10 tracks.



A.C. Newman - "Take on Me" from Sweetheart: Our Favourite Artists Sing Their Favourite Long Songs
Many of you might know A.C. as the leader of the Canadian band The New Pornographers. Back in 2004 he started to perform solo, finding an outlet between TNP releases. Four years later he has two solo albums under his belt, including this years infectious Get Guilty. This track is a cover of a-ha's classic 80s keyboard and MTV hit which mysteriously arrived via a Saint Valentine offering from Starbucks. A.C. replaces the famous keyboard chords with an acoustic guitar and slows the track down to ballad territory. The result is as fresh and inspiring as my daily Grande Vanilla Non-Fat Latte (which is a compliment, I love me some Latte).

Animal Collective - "Summertime Clothes" from Merriweather Post Pavilion
The music world's Conventional Wisdom has already handed Animal Collective the album of the year. I have read reviews that calls Merriweather Post Pavilion the Pet Sounds of the 21 Century and as Uncut dubbed it "one of the landmark American albums albums of the century so far". Big praise, big praise indeed. While time will tell if these critics are inline, I will have to agree that MPP is memorable, atmospheric and inventive; in other words, an analog wet dream. MPP takes me back to the first time I listened to YAZ's "Upstairs at Eric's" and Radiohead's "OK Computer" and reminds me how quickly you can get lost in a great album. I also recommend getting lost in the single "My Girls" on the iPod.


Christopher O'Riley - "Everything In Its Right Place" from True Love Waits - Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead
Speaking of Radiohead and music that you can lose yourself in, I offer classical pianist Chris O'Riley as meditation and with admiration. This isn't new per se, it has not been released in the past year, it was released in 2003, but I found myself listening to it at my local vinyl record store recently and was truly mesmerized by it. Hearing Radiohead stripped down to the basics of a classical piano forces you to appreciate the music, melodies and the sheer originality of the band. O'Riley, who can be heard weekly on his NPR radio show, also has paid homage to Nick Drake and the late/great Elliott Smith most recently. Rumors persist that he has a Nirvana album in the works.

Okay have to run and get back to my day job. I am going to keep the post to 5 tracks this week and might include another one of the U2 tracks after I have had a chance to digest the new material. Enjoy and be on the look out for more activity then usual on the IMNALY blog this week.

New Music Monday - February 23, 2009

February 23rd, 2009
Monday Evening, 6:34 PM

One way to work through writers block is to just push through it and force the process. Another way is to create structure and events which encourage you to write something new every week. I will be starting the latter today.

As I have written about before, one of my passions is music. All shapes and sizes of music. I keep a pretty current ear to the latest and greatest out in the market. I am not the type of music fan that can listen to the same 120 songs classic rock songs over and over again. I need diversity. I guess you can say I have been the type that is constantly looking for the next great sound, song, or band, regardless of what industry or masses dictate. If I hear something or an artist that I connect with, I generally consume everything the artist has put out to date, becoming a loyal activist and pass the sounds along to family and friends.

In that vain, I plan on offering weekly Monday post about songs or artist that I am currently listening to that you might find of interest. One of the frustrating things with the Blogger format that I currently use for posting is that they do not support MP3's to be posted by its users. My goal in the not so distant future is to move IMNALY to WordPress which allows such formatting. I am targeting a March move for this option. In the meantime, I will post six songs each week, with links (click on the song) to other blogs or sites that you can go and download for your listening pleasure. Enjoy.

Each week I will start with the most recent song I downloaded on to my iPod. This week that honor goes to...

U2 - "Breathe" from No Line On The Horizon
I have heard about 5 of the tracks off of the new U2 album which is due out on March 3rd. So far my first impressions have me a bit anxious. "Get On Your Boots" is a serviceable track, in dire need of a chorus to go along with those "Pump It Up" verses. This track "Breathe" has an Unforgettable Fire vibe working for it, but it really never goes anywhere or transcends like most of the best U2 song tend to. Seek out "Magnificent" for the sweeping Bono and Edge magic as it is the best track from NLOTH that I have heard to date. Fingers crossed and order already in for the album.

Gomez - "Airstream Driver" from A New Tide
This one is what I would label as a grower. At first listen, it did not connect with me as instantly as most of the track from their 2006 underrated gem How We Operate (check out the title track & See The World for a little catching up). Since I downloaded it I can't get the title portion of the song out of my head. "Airstream Driver" is a solid start for one of my most anticipated albums of the spring. Gomez will be staring a US leg of their tour in mid-March, with stops in Philly at the TLA on the 28th and NYC at the Bowery on the 31st. It looks like I will be catching the Philly show since the NYC show is already sold out.


The Airborne Toxic Event - "Sometime Around Midnight" from The Airborne Toxic Event
This 2008 release has been the most played song on my iPod since the New Year. In the vein of U2 and those sweeping, transcending songs that I described, I offer this superbly crafted, heart-thumping/breaker from a L.A. based band. Basically the song is a story about a guy that heads to a bar with friends, sees a woman he used to know (very well) from across the room, he gets loaded and she leaves with another man. About the time the protagonist ends that portion of the story, the song goes into the next gear and it sweeps you up as you follow him though his night of dread. "Sometime Around Midnight" is a classic post-modern break-up song.



Rufus Wainwright - "Wonderful / Song For Children" from War Child Heroes
For me this is a Orch-Pop master pairing. One of my favorite singer-songwriters from the past decade (Rufus) covering one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriter, Brian Wilson, from one of my all-time favorite albums, SMiLE. Recorded for a recently release charity album, Rufus does Mr. Wilson proud by adding his own subtle touches to Brian's pocket symphony. Rumor has it that Wilson and his collaborator Van Dyke Parks (who has also collaborated with Rufus) famously wrote "Wonderful" in a sandbox placed in his living room some 40 years ago.


Lonely, Dear - "Summers" from Dear John
Dear John is the second album from the Swedish electronic rock band Lonely, Dear. Emil Svanängen leads the band and creates these lush electronic and organic themes in each of the expressions. "Summers" is my favorite off the album thus far as it incorporates a breezy warm weather vibe over a gentle, breathy lyric. Lonely, Dear recently joined Andrew Bird on tour in the States.



Andrew Bird - "Oh No" from Nobel Beast
This is by far the catchiest whistle-as-the-hook song since Peter Bjorn & John's "Young Folks". This is also by far the catchiest song to ever include the lyrics "calcium mines buried deep in your chest". Please don't let those type of lyrics scare you off. This is a first-rate indie-rock charmer. "Oh No" is currently my most played release from 2009 (according to my iPod). You won't be able to get that whistle out of you head for days, and that's a good thing.

Hope you enjoy the current selection and I look forward to having another six-pack of tracks prepared for your listening pleasure for next week.