Posts published during June, 2009
here we are at the conclusion of our first theme week. its the best theme week weve ever had, but also the worst. im glad that i can go back to picking any old song instead of trying to think of songs that have some common link between them. ive got some other ideas for some theme weeks though that will be a little easier because they will be more about the artists and not so much the individual songs. i like things that are easier.
to close out climax week, youll be hearing “from the hips” by cursive, out of omaha, nebraska. this song is perfect to close out the week for a variety of reasons. first, the obvious buildup in the song itself. second, the song is called “from the hips” and is basically about a couple that has great sexy time (“were at our best when its from our hips”) and how they shoulda just left it that way cuz they suck at talking and having a normal relationship (“were at our worst when its from our lips”). and the album is called “mama im swollen”. so you can make any other connections there that you think are appropriate to this weeks theme.
to be honest i dont know much about these guys (like so many other bands i post about), but i never claimed to be knowledgeable about music, i only promised to bring you songs that i liked, which ive done quite well. no consensus yet on the album as a whole but i do want to give it some more listens so thats a good sign. i feel like the chord changes are really interesting (especially in “mama im satan”), and i think we all know how much i love fast drum beats. and supposedly this is one of their less creative albums musically. i think id heard a song by them before (was it called dorothy after 40?) that i didnt much care for, but ill have to check out some older works.
i hope youve all enjoyed climax week as much as humanly possible, and tomorrow we will return to our regularly scheduled programming, sorta.
cursive – from the hips
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the besnard lakes. is it the besnard lakes? or just besnard lakes? the name alone on a hot day like today conjures up thoughts of cold cold swimming and happiness. lets talk some more facts about this band. 1. another group created by a husband and wife. in this case, jace lasek and olga goreas (mmmm olga bread). i originally thought my wife just had to like the same music as me and as much as me, but now im thinking she has to want to start a band as well. preeeettttty sure this is why im single. 2. they are from montreal. tons of good bands are from montreal. this makes me want to go to montreal, which ive always wanted to do anyway. i drove past it once en route to vermont, and the downtown area from a distance with the mountains in the background looked pretty effing sweet and like a piece of the old world in the new world. no wonder the quebecois dont want to share it with the rest of canada. vive la resistance!
i listened to this album a bunch when i first got it but have since somewhat forgotten about it until today, and listening to it as i post this, im most happy that it has resurfaced. while its a little echo-ey at times, theres something very familiar and comforting about this batch of songs. the opening track “disaster” immediately brings to mind brian wilson and the beach boys and the remaining tracks build upon that and add more of a rock vibe, with a lot less falsetto and by the end you have no idea why you ever made that connection to begin with.
the fact that i chose “for agent 13″ as todays track as part of climax week is pretty much just because that track happened to be top of mind. the beauty of this album is that just about any track would have fallen into that category, a huge reason id love to see this group live. many of the songs start out unassumingly and quietly enough and build into huge rock ballads completely with squealing guitar solos without you even noticing. listening to this album after so long as i write this, its even better than i remember. dont know if this came out in 2007 or 2008 but it makes my top ten albums of the year for whichever of those years it was released.
besnard lakes – for agent 13
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well, its officially summer here in michigan. a quick check of the weather tells me that its 90 degrees and feels like 108. kind of sad that i havent been swimming yet at all this summer since my sisters house with a pool is less than a mile away. this also means no wakeboarding yet either. i was hoping to land my double back flip this year but it doesnt seem to be in the cards unless i get some serious training in soon. you could say this is sort of the climax of the summer heat though, it really doesnt get much worse than this in michigan, so even the weather is staying on theme. well, i guess its worse when its this hot and 100% humidity. which reminds me of my favorite thing about the west. when you go to vegas, and its 110 degrees, and everyone from vegas reminds you, “yes, but its a dry heat!” people — dry or not, 110 degrees is effing hot any way you slice it.
i chose todays song because bon iver reminds me of summer. im not sure why, since im pretty sure the album was written in the dead of winter in wisconsin or minnesota or one of those cold-as-the-dickens-in-the winter states just west of glorious lake michigan. plus the usual summer songs for me are the ones that are ultra high energy with lots of electronic synthesized components. perhaps its the relaxing and carefree tone of the whole album (at least musically, lyrically is another story). perhaps its the fact that ive seen bon iver live twice (a full band on tour), both at hot and sticky music festivals, in which the non-danceable but enthralling performances were a welcome break to my tired feet and sweat glands alike. while i wouldnt say that theyre loud rockers in concert, the live show is definitely more than you would think it would be. plus there was a guy in his band who looked like he was 15 last summer. im sure hes older than he looked, but i was still jealous of someone really young living the rock star dream.
the track is the wolves (act I and II) and it follows the pattern weve been establishing the last few days. the beginning is actually ultra quiet, so you have to have the volume up a good amount just to hear it, and thats why the loud is even louder, even though its just for a few seconds near the end of the tune. in fact when i first got this album many moons ago i remember listening to it at work and always being kind of surprised at how loud i had the volume turned up. you can definitely anticipate musically that something is coming, whether its the slightly louder guitar playing at shorter intervals, or the fireworks exploding in the background.
bon iver – the wolves(act I and II)
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so let me start out this post by repeating what i said earlier in the week. im pretty sure most of you have heard most of these songs. but this isnt really about the hottest new music out there. while i want to bring you the hottest new music all the time, i just cant, so i bring the hottest new music whenever i can, and when i cant, i bring you a song thats been around that i like. maybe youve never heard it. maybe you forgot about it. maybe youve heard it a thousand times and hate it. either way, thats the story. on that note, todays song was really the inspiration for climax week.
its by portland-via-albuquerque band the shins and its the opening track of their last release “wincing the night away” and its a total speeding down the highway, middle of summer, windows down, music on full blast track. and by speeding, i mean going the speed limit, which is still pretty fast on the freeway. we here at dailybeatz are not about breaking the law, that would just be irresponsible of us. this is the best kind of buildup track, the kind where you can hear another piece of the puzzle joining in with every new phrase, where you know something big is coming, but you dont know what.
ive never lived in the city, but i picture this song as sort of representative of a morning subway ride from just outside of the center of town. the sun is just beginning to rise in your quiet neighborhood as you walk down the subway steps and the music begins. youre still waking up from your nights sleep as you get on the train. with every stop, more people enter the train and it gets a little louder and more chaotic. youre starting to wake up when you hit your stop and exit the train and then suddenly you walk up the steps as the song reaches the 2:27 mark (if only your morning commute only took 2:27) and BAM! sunshine, traffic, people, noise, commotion, life. everything you love about living in the city right in front of you. while im sure this description is a little too hollywood compared to actual city life, it still goes pretty well with the song. city folks, whats your opinion?
the shins – sleeping lessons
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we interrupt your regularly scheduled program so i can acknowledge the king of pop. alls im gonna do is mention how awesomely 70s the “dont stop til you get enough” video is, and how i still really really want to learn the thriller dance.
back to the task at hand….it just wouldnt be climax week without the new pornographers. get it?! i am hilarious. but seriously folks, im not. anyway id heard about the new pornographers for quite a while way back when before id ever heard them. they seemed to be yet another one of these canadian supergroups, except there are some americans too. but the group features tons of other people that have their own projects. there’s the unofficial leader of the group, ac newman, his partner in crime dan bejar of destroyer fame, the ever classy alt-country crooner neko case, and kathryn calder (who i believe is also a niece of someone in the band) of immaculate machine. and those are the ones i know off the top of my head, so im sure there are other side projects by these and the other members of the group. because of this, you never really know who will show up on stage when they tour. i was lucky enough to catch them last spring at my favorite new venue the crofoot and while dan bejar wasnt there, i was happy to see that neko case was.
regardless, id been hearing about their super poppy sound but never really gave it a shot until i heard this track, the bleeding heart show. i think it was featured in some sort of commercial a while back for a college or something but cant remember which one. luckily for me, i picked up a copy of “twin cinema” and then explored the rest of their catalog and am stronger and wiser because of it. is there really anyone who hasnt heard “use it” and loved it instantly? place a few of these catchy as F songs next to some neko case ballads (like “these are the fables”) and youve just got a great, well-rounded album thats loved by both young and old. it even ends with another climactic track, “stacked crooked”, which is also a favorite of mine. while this is definitely my favorite album of theirs, the ones that came before or after are nothing to bawk at, which i thought was a real saying, but spell check is telling me otherwise.
whats so great about this song? the change from start to finish. if you listen to the song, you will know exactly what im talking about. this song has a nicely defined beginning, middle and end, each section a little louder, a little bolder, a little happier than the last, until you arrive at the final theme in all of its major chorded, harmonized glory. cap it off with some excellent drum fills and the one-of-a-kind voice of neko case and you can thank me later.
the new pornographers – the bleeding heart show
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so what did everyone think of day 1 of climax week with dailybeatz? was it as good as you thought it would be, or even better? i sure hope so. if it wasnt, just tell me what i can do to make it better next time. im watching an hour long recap of bonnaroo on the fuse channel right now. why did nobody tell me about the fuse channel before? i think its basically what mtv was before it became 24/7 reality television, but much better. looks like they show tons of live shows, interviews, and exclusive performances. i will probably watch it at least a few more times in my day.
todays track, while still climactic, is much more understated than yesterdays. its from everyones favorite canadian indie rockers arcade fire. im pretty sure that the butler brothers are not actually from canada, but now we are really getting down to the nitty gritty. one thing i like about arcade fire is that they utilize the medieval looking hurdy gurdy. i never knew what a hurdy gurdy was, but its this weird instrument that looked sort of like the body of a guitar with sort of accordian keys and a crank. i was kind of waiting for the jack in the box to pop out halfway through the song. not to mention the name of the instrument sounds like something a 5 year old made up. but no, thats the official name.
if youve never seen a hurdy gurdy, please see the above picture. whats even cooler than the hurdy gurdy is that todays post features a photograph taken by none other than myself from when karen and i saw them at judson church in nyc a few years back. we didnt think we would get tickets, but we did, so we went there just for that and were right up front. that shirt is blinding in photographs. on to the song. the original plan was “in the backseat”, the closing track from “funeral”. but then i remembered “my body is a cage”, which is way way way more of a climax. it, too, closes out an album, this time “neon bible”. i like this song quite a bit. especially “just because youve forgotten doesnt mean youre forgiven”. i thought the lyrics were “just because youre forgotten”, but i think they both express the same point. just sit back, relax and let me take care of the rest.
arcade fire – my body is a cage
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after much waiting, here we are at our first theme week. why am i starting a theme week on a wednesday in the middle of the week you ask? mainly because i can. im hoping to do theme weeks from time to time so figured might as well start now. the next theme week i have planned is requests, but i still need a few more to complete the whole week (hint hint). but back to the week at hand. this weeks theme is…wait for it….the climax. this week will feature songs that start out quiet and innocent but build up into something much bigger. it will also probably gratuitous sexual innuendo. you probably have heard most of the songs that will be featured this week, but i dont really care, cuz i like them anyway.
the first entry for climax week is glosoli by sigur ros from their stellar album “takk”. there are a few random accent marks in the song title, but i dont really feel like figuring out how to make them, and i clearly hate proper grammar anyway, so i guess its not a big deal. i think many of you are probably familiar with sigur ros, but in case you arent, they are a crazy good icelandic group, perhaps the second most famous icelandic musicians right after my girl bjork. what i like most about them is their wall of sound. i think it was phil spektor that created the concept of the wall of sound back in the day. but sigur ros really does a great job with it. its one of the great things about seeing them live, its kind of sensory overload at times in a really good way. if youve never heard them before, just go into it with an open mind and accept that the lyrics are in a language you most likely dont understand.
the first time i saw sigur ros live, they opened with this track and it was the start of something great. they played the whole track behind the sort of curtain thats in the picture above, with all kinds of crazy visuals being displayed in front of their shadowy silhouettes. maybe the concert was so great for me because i left work that day, went straight to the show, and left the following morning for 4 days in vegas, so i was in a pretty good mood. but, i saw them again last fall and it was just as good. their lights/visuals are pretty outstanding too, and they usually have a nice little string section accompanying them. the fascinating thing about sigur ros is i have no idea what any of the songs are about, but the music is captivating enough that it doesnt matter. of all the songs im planning on sharing with you in the next week, this one probably best exemplifies building up into something huge from almost nothing. pretty good climax, right?
ps. you should all check out the sigur ros documentary entitled “heima”. it will pretty much for sure make you want to go to iceland with a very expensive camera.
sigur ros -glosoli
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happy tuesday everyone. no really, i mean it. who doesnt love tuesdays? i mean, theyre only slightly more awful than mondays, which kinda blows. tuesdays are the equivalent of turning 20 years old. its the only year between 16 and 21 where you gain absolutely no benefit. likewise, theres nothing to look forward to on tuesday. too far from the previous weekend to still be in a good mood thinking about it, and too far to be excited about the upcoming weekend. the only good thing about tuesdays was that the biggest loser was on tuesday nights, but that became 2 hours and a tiny bit too much of a commitment, and its over for the summer anyway. so now we must look to the little things to brighten our spirits, like todays song, paris by english pop/dance/funk rockers friendly fires.
this song is dedicated to my little sis whos going to paris today (hi car!). its also relevant because her dream is to have an international boyfriend, as discussed in the song. you may remember them from the wii fit commercials which feature their song “on board”. all of their songs are super upbeat and make you want to see them live in concert at lollapalooza this summer, for example. the good news is that i have no other show conflicts with their scheduled time. the bad news is that they go on at something like 1230, and last year i never made it to the festival before 3. i blame it on that all you can eat breakfast buffet though. i still dont know how i walked back to the apartment that day.
i heard about this band the same time i heard about passion pit, also fun and high-energy, so i guess in my head i always associate the two bands. this song imparticular is great because of the tension and release between the verses and chorus. the verses are slightly harsh and punctuated, while the chorus is smooth and flowing. i also love when a beat is established, then the drums kick in and it takes you a second to figure out what the true beat is, just like the beginning of this song. if you like this song even a tiny bit, you should check out the rest of this album, because youll probably think its great. other favorite tracks include strobe and white diamonds and lovesick.
friendly fires – paris
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