Rapidfire Songs

I love these sorts of songs - there's so much in the lyrics that you have to really listen or find them written down to understand just what they're trying to convey. Here's a couple of good ongs.

Life Is A Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me) - Reunion

We Didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel

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Concert Review: Myra Flynn @ The Flynn Space

On Saturday night, local Vermont artist Myra Flynn released her debut album, Crooked Measures to a packed house at the Flynn Theater's Flynn Space in Burlington Vermont.

Julia Brown opened the program, followed by Justin Levinson, before Myra took the stage. Brown was a fantastic opener out of New York, while Levinson is another Vermont musican with a country-folk feel.

I reviewed Crooked Measures in May and found it to be a fantastic first effort of a musican. Myra's journey to this point is hardly an easy one. Laid off from her newspaper job in Burlington, she began to turn her attention towards shifting her part-time music job to a full time career in music.

This made the concert here particularly special to her, I think. Rather than a mere concert haralding in the latest offerings in their career, this felt like more of a celebration of finally reaching the point that many artists fail to reach. As a result, the entire concert had a certain vibe and energy that you don't usually hear and see, and that made the entire night special for everyone there.

For those who missed the evening, Myra will be doing a second release party on June 27th in Montpelier's Black Door, and has a slew of upcoming concerts here in Vermont, which can be seen here.

Set List:

Sunshine
Long Fall Down
Just Because
So It Goes
Bones
Hold It Up
What Am I
Freedom
Small Talk
Where Do You Go
Fragile
Encore: Miss Independence

Sunshine - Myra Flynn

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Carry Away the Summer

Here at Carry You Away, we like mixes. Now that I have a car with a CD player, I really like putting together a collection of songs to fit a particular driving style or mood that I find myself in, and go from there. Recently, I got to thinking about movie soundtracks and how a lot of the hipster, indie films often have this sort of attitude - a mix-tape is generally just as good when it comes to a film.

I guess that works, although I have to say that the only really good film soundtrack collection that I've come across recently seems to have been a model for a lot of the other films - Garden State. For me, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Juno (and an upcoming one called Adam) can't hold a candle to this album, which still holds up nicely for me. I'm not entirely sure why the other two have really not held up beyond a single listen for me - I think that the artists are too new, the collection is just too pretentious to really gain any sort of mainstream following that the GS soundtrack has. Garden State was a fun film, and I suspect that there will be those who will label it as a defining film of our generation, along with the sountrack.

With artists like Simon and Garfunkle to the Shins, I think what really made the soundtrack work well is its variety of songs that are on it. There are several genres represented, from indie to acoustic to oldie, with a couple of artists that were just well known enough to a couple that were just obscure enough, but with enough material out there (in most cases) to keep people interested. I'd argue that the movie was a big success for people like The Shins, Cary Brothers, Zero 7, Iron & Wine and helped to get Nick Drake back on the radar. The album doesn't come off as pretentious, but honest, and it worked extremely well with the movie. Not having seen Juno or Infinite Playlist, I'm not sure how well those tracks meshed with the film, but it's not something that I'm losing sleep over.

While thinking about this, I think I found the formula that really made Garden State shine, and to put it to the test, I've put together a summer-ish sort of mix based on the criteria:

European/UK Band, Alt-Rock, Male

Indie Band, fairly obscure, complex lyrics

Electronica, easy listening, female vocals

Indie Band, same as #2

Acoutic Folk, Male, Soft

Alt-Folk/Rock, Male

Alf-Folk/Rock, Male

Acoustic Folk

Indian Electronica, no vocals

Oldie, Folkish, Male, duet

Folk-Cover of Techno/Electronica song, Male

Electronica/Female Vocals, Soft

Female Acoustic, Folk/Rock

Bonus: Alt-Rock (Used for Commercial)

Let's compare this to Garden State's Soundtrack:

Don't Panic - Coldplay

Caring is Creepy - The Shins

In the Waiting Line - Zero 7

New Slang - The Shins

I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You - Colin Hay

Blue Eyes - Cary Brothers

Fair - Remy Zero

One Of These Things First - Nick Drake

Lebanese Blonde - Thievery Corporation

The Only Living Boy in New York - Simon & Garfunkel

Such Great Heights (The Postal Service) - Iron & Wine

Let Go - Frou Frou

Winding Road - Bonnie Sumerville

Writing to Reach You - Travis (Commercial/Trailer)

And now, applying the same sort of formula , and this is what I've come up with, Carry You Away's Summer mix. How does it line up?

Bad Skin Day - Bell X1

Interior Of A Dutch House - Beirut

Hayling - FC/Kahuna

Postcards From Italy - Beirut

Re: Stacks - Bon Iver

Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie

When The Pain Dies Down - Chris Stills

At Your Door - Alexi Murdoch

The Khaleegi Stomp - Transglobal Underground

A Summer Song - Chad & Jeremy

Heartbeats (The Knife) - José González

What's Wrong With Me (Nouvelle Vague Remix) - Skye

Dreaming - Sara Wheeler

5:19 - Matt Wertz

Full

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Funny The Way It Is

The Dave Matthews Band released a new video earlier today, to their first single off of the GrooGrux King, and it's not exactly what I'd expected.

Part of the reason is because it's almost identical to another video that they did, Eh Hee, the very strange single that Dave released almost a year ago. Here's the video - take a look at both for comparison, and it's pretty clear that this new one has been inspired heavily from Eh Hee.



I have to say, I like the new one better, although it's a little weird that Dave's singing, but his lips aren't matching up with Funny the Way It Is.

Thoughts?

Funny the Way It Is - Dave Matthew's Band

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New Zero 7 - Yeah Ghost

Zero 7 is returning for their fourth studio album, Yeah Ghost, on September 8th, after a three year break between their last album, The Garden. Zero 7 has consistantly released good music and has collaborated with absolutely fantastic singers such as Sia, Tina Dico and Jose Gonzalez, among others. Their inclusion in the Garden State Soundtrack a couple years ago certainly helped spread their sound to new ears, and I'm very thankful for that. While my favorite album that they have released is Simple Things, their first, When It Falls and The Garden have been fantastic listens, with their downbeat and engaging sound.

With the announcement of their new album, the group has provided one of the tracks, Everything Up (Zizou), for free, and it features, for the first time, Henry Binns (one of the two members of Zero 7) on Vocals, and vocalist Eska Mtungwazi. The first single, Medicine Man, will be available later in the summer. It's a little different, faster than what they've put out before, but I really like it.

Everything Is Up (Zizou) - Zero 7

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Cover and Original: Train Song

Vashti Bunyan is an artist that I came across a while ago that I've really enjoyed, and have been happy to hear that her songs have been getting a little more attention. First, there was the useage of Diamond Day in a mobile phone commercial over in the UK that was quite catchy, and now, Ben Gibbard and Feist have picked up on her song, Train Song, which has been one of my favorites.

Recently, Feist invited one of my absolute favorite artists, Bon Iver, on stage to sing the song with her, and I think that it's an almost perfect fit. Feist's voice is fairly similar, and while Bon Iver excells at the high falsetto, he doesn't go that route here. Together, they really make a good pair.

Train Song (Vashti Bunyan) - Feist and Bon Iver

Train Song - Vashti Bunyan

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