Alone Again…

I think I messed that up. I only hope that things can be fixed, given time. I really, really do.

Blues Run the Game (Jackson C. Frank) – Colin Meloy
Come Around - Rhett Miller
Crying. Waiting. Hoping- Buddy Holly
Fall Apart Again - Brandi Carlile
Hand On Your Heart (Kiley Minogue) - José González
Happiness - Alison Kruass & Union Station
Hello - Schuyler Fisk
I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You - Colin Hay
In The Sun - Joseph Arthur
Last of Days - A Fine Frenzy
Life Less Ordinary - Carbon Leaf
The Long Goodbye - A Girl Called Eddy
Low Millions - Low Millions
Photographs of You - Jon Regen
Please Forgive Me - David Gray
Re: Stacks - Bon Iver
So Sorry - Feist
Stay or Leave - Dave Matthews

Hype – Buy

New A Fine Frenzy Video

One of my favorites, A Fine Frenzy, has just released a new video from her fantastic album One Cell in the Sea, this time for the song Come On, Come Out. Here it is, enjoy!

High Resolution (480×375)

Low Resolution (320×255)

Come On, Come Out (Audio Stream) – A Fine Frenzy

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Best of March

This is over a week late, but I’ve been pretty busy with work and school. That being said, there’s been some really good bands that’ve released some really good songs in March. Here’s the best of them:

I Will Follow You Into the Dark (Death Cab for Cutie) – A Fine Frenzy
- I saw this one performed life at the Iron Horse recently – one of the best covers that I’ve seen of this song.

Snakes and Ladders – Basia Bulat
In The Night - Basia Bulat
- I came across Bulat via NPR’s all songs considered, and really like her energy and sound – it’s got a lot of spirit.

Going On - Gnarls Barkley
- The other track after Run that I really got into from Gnarl Barkley’s latest release, the Odd Couple.

Buffalo - Kathleen Edwards
Goodnight California – Kathleen Edwards
- Edwards was just in Vermont, and I wasn’t able to make it out to see her, something that I was a bit bummed out about. These two tracks are the best off of her latest release, Asking for Flowers.

Punch Bowl - Punch Brothers
- One of the guys from Nickel Creek and some friends with their latest project. Their first album is fantastic, and this is a fun song.

Living Well is the Best Revenge - R.E.M.
- R.E.M.’s latest song is really catchy – I haven’t really listened to REM extensively, but I think that I’m going to – their latest album sounds really good.

New Soul - Tristan Prettyman
- Lastly, that song that has been on the iPod commercial has already been covered – by Tristan Prettyman, who does a fantastic rendition of the song.

Hype - Buy

New Video from A Fine Frenzy

In keeping with the concert report earlier this morning, here’s a new video from A Fine Frenzy, of the remixed version of Almost Lover:

I’m not sure which version I like better – both are really good.

Almost Lover – A Fine Frenzy

Hype – Buy – Look

Concert Report: Ferras, Chris Stills and A Fine Frenzy

On Saturday night, I drove down to Northhampton Mass for a three band concert, part of A Fine Frenzy’s first headlining tour. I missed most of Ferras’s set, and from the sounds of what I heard from him, I didn’t really miss too much. I thought that I had a ticket waiting for me there, but that wasn’t the case, so I paid my way in and found a spot. The venue was the Iron Horse, a place I’d heard a lot about, and found that it was certainly popular – there was standing room only towards the back, which was interesting, and why none of my pictures came out.
From what I heard of Ferras, I wasn’t terribly impressed. Seemed like a typical indie singer. His recorded works don’t sound bad, but he struck me as whiny, and I suspect that he’s just starting out, and there’ll be improvement as time goes on.

Ferras Set (Missed the first part)
Hollywood’s Not America
Somebody Left Me Alone

I was very impressed with Chris Stills. He had a short set of some really good songs, and for an artist that I haven’t listened to as much, I was convinced to give him a better listen soon – I’ll probably pick up his album soon. He started off strong, and his group had a good, solid beat and a really good sound. The one song of his that I do have, When The Pain Dies Down, is one of my current favorites, and I was happy to hear that one live. He also moved around with tone and speed. Several songs were much faster, with a lot of energy, which is nice to hear – some artists just stick to one speed. He’s also the first artist that I’ve seen to sing in two languages – one of his songs, Kitty-Catty, was in French, and I felt it added a bit of depth to his musical skills. The girl next to me said that he reminded her of Jeff Buckey, which I can hear, but I think he reminds me the most of Cary Brothers.
When he was done with his set, he walked past me and we talked for a couple minutes (if you’re reading, thank you! I enjoyed the night!) which is always fun to do. I hope he comes to Vermont or back to New England sometime.

Chris Stills Set
- Story of a Dying Man
- Landslide
- When The Pain Dies Down
- Kitty-Catty
- Fool For Love
- Last Goodbye

The last act of the night, and the one that I’d been waiting for, was A Fine Frenzy. I’d seen her before, when she toured with Brandi Carlile (and what a fantastic show it was), and I was looking forwards to seeing her again. She picked out a wonderful set list, with some of her strongest songs on her first record, One Cell in the Sea, and a couple that I hadn’t listened to as closely as before. Like the first concert, she had a wonderful and strong sound. A couple songs, such as Hope for the Hopeless, seemed a bit re-worked, which sounded fantastic.
Also, because she was doing a longer set, a couple of covers were thrown in – Across the Universe, by the Beatles and I Will Follow You Into the Dark, both of which were absolutely amazing – I was thrilled to hear both of them, and applaud Allison for not going the usual route of covering the Postal Service’s Such Great Heights, which is what I thought that she was going to do when she said Ben Gibbard. Her last song of the evening was a new song, What I Wouldn’t Do, which also sounded absolutely wonderful – according to some of her band mates, they’re starting work on another album, so hopefully we’ll get some more new music down the road. The songs have already made it onto Youtube, so I’ll link those through at some point.
I got to speak with her drummer and bassist after the show, along with two girls who knew them – great to meet you all – Katelyn, feel free to e-mail me if you want any further recommendations. And the other person I was talking to vanished quickly – Jodi, nice to meet you as well, drop me an e-mail sometime. I missed out meeting Allison herself, but hopefully next time. The two hour drive home wasn’t terribly fun – I don’t do well at 2 am. Oh well.

A Fine Frenzy Set
- Come On, Come Out
- You Picked Me
- Last of Days
- Think of You
- Ashes & Wine
- Borrowed Time
- I Will Follow You Into the Dark (Death Cab for Cutie)
- Instrumental Piece
- Liar Liar
- Minnow and the Trout
- Hope for the Hopeless
- Almost Lover
- Rangers
Encore
- Across The Universe (The Beatles)
- Whisper
- Near to You
- What I Wouldn’t Do (New)

Unfortunately, none of my pictures came out – I was too far away from the stage and there were really too many people in the way – they all came out pretty blurry.

Near to You – A Fine Frenzy
When the Pain Dies Down – Chris Stills

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House : Carry You Away Soundtrack

I’m a huge fan of the TV show House, MD. It’s got good stories, even better characters and a fantastic taste in music for it. Last fall, FOX released a soundtrack of some of the songs that made it onto the show. It’s a very fun soundtrack, with some really good, and some rare songs onto it.
Beyond that album, there’s a bunch of other songs that have made it onto the show that didn’t make it onto that soundtrack (and a couple that did, but are still really good.)
The main point in looking at this cross section of music from the show is it’s tone and how that relates to the show itself, particularly when it comes to the character of house. All of the below songs are fairly moody ones – mostly dealing with loss or are otherwise not really ‘up’ songs. Overall, they form a really good feel for the show and House himself, who is a fairly depressed character all things considered. The comedy in the show aside, there’s usually a couple of moments where we really see House as himself – alone and depressed. These songs fit perfectly.

Are You Alright? – Lucinda Williams
Beautiful - Elvis Costello
Colors - Amos Lee
Good Man - Josh Ritter
Grey Room – Damien Rice
Hope for the Hopeless – A Fine Frenzy
Human - Civil Twilight
In The Deep - Bird York
Orange Sky - Alexi Murdoch
See The World - Gomez
Some Devil - Dave Matthews
Walter Reed - Michael Penn

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Carry You Away’s Best Songs of 2007

It was difficult to narrow down just ten songs out of everything that I’ve heard this year. But, here are the songs that I feel are the best that I’ve heard or enjoyed.

10 – Rangers, A Fine Frenzy

From A Fine Fenzy’s debut album One Cell in the Sea, this song has a really good sound to it, with a pace and energy that really matches her tone. The chorus is a really good one, followed up with some fantastic lyrics. Everything really comes together nicely here for this tune. This song really turned me onto A Fine Frenzy, and will keep me listening for years to come.

9 – Heart Made of Sound, The Softlightes

The video for this song really got me hooked here, and brought me back time and time again for listen after listen. This song gives me the same feeling that I had on my best summers here in Vermont – sounds weird, but for some reason, I connect this song to walking around Burlington Vermont on a sunny summer afternoon. The sound here is bright, energetic and just fantastic. Even when I’m in a horrible mood, I’ll listen to this and it’ll bring me right back up.

8 – Seed of Wonder, Jesca Hoop

This song sounds really different, with some absolutely fantastic guitar work and vocals from Hoop. It’s unconventional, with influences from Hip-Hop and alternative rock. It’s got a lazy beat that’s incredibly catchy.

7 – Hard Sun, Eddie Vedder and Everybody Knows, Ryan Adams (Tie)

This is a tie for me, because both songs remind me of the other. Hard Sun is a good, solid rock song, one that reminds me of driving on a highway, while Everybody Knows brings out the same feeling – both have a good beat behind it backed by lyrics and a sound that just works, really well.

6 – Vermont Avenue, Ferraby Lionheart

I didn’t take to this song at first, but it grew on me quite a bit as time went on. Lionheart’s voice is like gold here, lazy and seductive, with lyrics that match that. The guitar and drum work is wonderful, and I like this song more and more as time goes on.

5 – In the Mausoleum, Beirut

Beruit’s back with more of a fantastic Balkan sound. This song starts off with a fantastic beat and sinks in with some fantastic vocals and lyrics. What’s really catchy is the use of other instruments, such as their distinctive use of a trumpet and stringed instruments. This song floats along wonderfully through the entire three minutes.

4 – Time Is A Runaway, The Alternate Routes and Who You Are, Cary Brothers (Tie)

This was another tie for me, between Time is a Runaway and Who You Are. Neither song really stands out on a technical level, but both songs really grabbed me for their sound and lyrics. Who You Are has a wonderful LA sound to it with a fantastic beat and energy, while Time is a Runaway has some fantastic lyrics coupled with their vocals and background instrumentation. Both are songs to relax to.

3 – Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!, Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans

Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albanians come forth with this fantastic ballad-like song that exhols the wonders of mounted cavelry, looking at their use through history. As a history person, this is just a wonderful song to pull apart line by line, and it’s got such a fantastic song to go along with it.

2 – Ah, Mary, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

I knew that my #2 song would be a Grace Potter song, but it took me a little while to figure out which one. I went with the first one that I heard, Ah Mary, a sort of protest song that pulls you in nicely with Grace’s fantastic voice before cranking it up a notch exactly a minute in as it turns to something you’d expect from some of their idols, like Neil Young. Their studio version seems to be a little subdued – go see this live for the full effect.

1 – Boy With A Coin, Iron & Wine

And my number one song of the year – Iron & Wine’s Boy With A Coin. Like Grace Potter’s album, there were a bunch here that could take the #1 spot, but there’s something here. Maybe because this song stands out so much from Sam Beam’s other songs and typical sound, or maybe because it falls into a fantastic beat and rhythm, this song just completely blew me away when I first heard it.

There you have it, the top 10… er… 12 songs of the year. Here are the ones that didn’t quite make it:

Dreamworld, Rilo Kiley
Sea Legs, The Shins
Down The Line, Jose Gonzalez
Rumors, Josh Ritter
The Pretender, Foo Fighters
Dashboard, Modest Mouse
Keep The Car Running, Arcade Fire
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
Love Song, Sara Bareilles
Pressure Suit, Aqualung
Sci-Fi Kid, Blitzen Trapper
Eh Hee, Dave Matthews

There were others, but overall, fantastic year for music. Let’s see what’s next.

Hype – Buy

The Top Ten Albums of 2007

The following list was at times very, very hard to come up with, while at other times was very easy. Early on, I knew what my top album of the year was from when I heard the first song on it, as was the second and third picks. The rest required quite a bit of deliberation.
There was a lot of good music this year. I added 2257 new songs to my music library this year, 6.3 days and 12.63 gigabites. That’s a lot of music. I found a lot of new albums that I’d never heard, rediscovered some old music and generally immersed myself in everything. Along the way, I came across a lot of good music, and some bad music.

Here’s ten albums that I really liked, but they just didn’t crack the top ten:

20 – Say No To Being Cool, Yes To Being Happy, The Softlightes
- I loved these guys sound all the way through, great first album.

19 – The Flying Cup Club, Beirut
- They’ve followed up their first with more Balkan-flavored sounds.

18 – The Reminder, Feist
-1,2,3,4 was stuck in my head for much of the summer and fall. There are plenty of worse songs out there, so I’m fortunate for that.

17 – In Our Nature, Jose Gonzalez
-Jose Gonzales followed up his fantastic first album with a fantastic second album – another cool cover and more acoustic rock goodness.

16 – Good and Reckless and True, The Alternate Routes
- Ryan Adams fans might like this one. It’s an all around solid rock album.

15 – Kismet,Jesca Hoop
- Hoop brought a fanastic, unique sound that really was pretty cool.

14 – Dylan, Bob Dylan
- This compilation of Dylan’s music pulled together a fantastic set of his entire career. A must.

13 – Neon Bible, Arcade Fire
- These guys had some really good cuts off of this album – it’s tight, together and really well done all around. Canadians were on fire this year.

12 – Little Voice, Sara Bareilles
- This first album really impressed me from her first song Love Song, but overall, the entire thing did really well, and was really solid.

11 – Who You Are, Cary Brothers
- Cary Brother’s first album was a long anticipated one from me – I don’t think that there was a track on here that I didn’t like. From the fantastic Who You Are to Blue Eyes, this is another guy who’s going to have a good career ahead of him.

Here are the albums that I loved:

This was an earlier album in the year that’s come up and down on my list before settling here at number ten. I’ve been a fan of The Shins for a while now (Yes, I found them when the rest of the world did with Garden State), but I loved both of their earlier albums. This one didn’t disappoint, with the fantastic Phantom Limb, Sea Legs, Australia and Girl Sailor. They brought along their fantastic sound and even better songwriting skills for a third fantastic time.

This album showed me that not all country is bad, and more importantly, reinforced that country songs are really storytelling songs, and that they can be really good at it. Here is a fantastic concept album of the use of horses in warfare throughout history. The title track blew me away, and as a historian, really impressed me with some of the songs.

Spoon was a band that took a bit of time to grow on me, but I was incredibly impressed with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, their latest independent album, which is at best described as minimalist, with some fantastic new songs from them, such as Underdog, Don’t Make Me A Target, and Rhythm and Soul. It’s a great addition to their already really good repertoire.

Brandi Carlile’s follow up to her first album really surprised me this time around – my first impressions of her was lukewarm, but right from the start, this album really impressed me, and after seeing her live in concert, her energy and sound completely blew me away.

One In the Sea impressed me from the start A Fine Frenzy’s voice. It’s delicate and powerful at the same time, and coupled with her songwriting, was an incredible first effort. Her songs are both light and somber, especially with Ashes & Wine, Rangers, Hope For The Hopeless and most of the others on there. Seeing her perform with Brandi Carlile this year was a big highlight here.

This was apparently one of the most anticipated albums of the year, and for good reason. Rilo Kiley pulled out a fantastic effort here, bringing a sound that reminded me a bit of Fleetwood Mac, but with an angry indie-rock singer edge to it.

Dreamworld – Rilo Kiley

I caught Josh Ritter opening for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals earlier this summer, and really had a fun time – their latest album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter is a marvel of storytelling and a nice bridge of country-folk and rock music. There’s some really cool stuff here musically, and their song writing skills are certainly sharp from some of the songs here.

Rumors – Josh Ritter

I first was introduced to Ferraby Lionheart with Vermont Avenue, which sort of lurked at the back of my head for a couple of months while I heard more and more from him over the summer. Quickly, his unique sound won me over with some really great songs from this album. Like A Fine Frenzy, this is a fantastic debut album from a newcomer that I’ll be looking forward to hearing more about.

Before We’re Dead – Ferraby Lionheart

This was almost #1. It’s really, really close, because I love Sam Beam’s sound, and to hear this album compared to his other ones is a huge jump. The sound became rich, with lots of peripheral instruments, while not loosing one bit of the fantastic sound and style that he employed for his first two albums. He’s no longer a guy playing acoustic guitar in a closet, he’s out there and brought a wonderful album with him. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Innocent Bones – Iron & Wine

This is Somewhere was easily my most anticipated album of 2007, from the beginning of the year when I first learned that the Nocturnals were putting out their first studio album. I loved it from the beginning, and not because they’re from Vermont. It’s because they’ve got an incredible sound, and have moved to a somewhat more mainstream rock sounds that really works with Grace’s vocals and the band’s talents. Their first two albums were fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but this album just plain rocked. And in person, these guys were like nothing else I’ve really seen, with an incredible amount of energy. Easily my favorite album of the year.

Mastermind - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

Tomorrow, the best songs of 2007.

Weekend Mix: Goodbye.

So I got a call last night from my girlfriend: “We need to talk…” I’m betting that you can guess how that went.

Almost Lover – A Fine Frenzy
Apologies – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Brand New Day – Sting
Breakin’ Up – Rilo Kiley
Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac
Gone Away From Me – Ray LaMontagne
Gone - Matt Nathanson
Happiness - Alison Krauss
Honestly - Cary Brothers
In The Sun – Michael Stipe & Coldplay
Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well - Mike Doughty
Low Millions – Low Millions
Oh No - Colin Meloy
Other Side of the World - KT Tunstall
Out To Sea - Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers
The Long Goodbye – A Girl Called Eddy
Turpentine - Brandi Carlile
What You Want - John Butler Trio

One Hit Wonders

I was going through my music library for a couple of albums, and noticed that there’s a couple of bands that I really, really like. The only problem with them is that thus far, they’ve only released one album. Either they’re a newer band and haven’t written anything else yet, they just seem to have vanished from the face of the Earth, or they’ve broken up after only one album. Here’s my favorites with only a single album:

Existing Bands Dragging Their Heels

Ex-Girlfriends – Low Millions

Low Millions came out with a hit single in 2004, called Eleanor, closely followed by a couple of other singles, Statue and Low Millions. The band has a very cool and relaxed sound, and the theme of the album is pretty overt – breaking up and ex-girl friends. I’ve been listening to it a lot more than I usually do. There’s nothing especially different about this band – they’ve got a fairly mainstream sound, but they maintain a solid beat and some pretty good vocal work here. I really liked this album, save for a couple of tracks, and I had hoped that they would get going on a followup sometime in the near future. I believe that the band is made up of a bunch of members from other bands, which might be part of the reason for no activity on their part. According to a myspace blog entry, they were starting on some new material in 2006. Hopefully, we’ll see some more from them.

Mockingbird - Low Millions

Give Up – The Postal Service


This is one of the Indie super groups, made up of members of Death Cab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley and a couple of others, under the indie favorite Subpop records. They’re the ones responsible for the fantastic song Such Great Heights, as well as We Will Be Sillouettes and a couple of others. Give Up has a fantastic sound and a nice blend of electronic and rock there. Unfortunently, they have also not come up with a followup album, although it seems that one has been in the works for a little while now, with most, if not all of the original members coming back for the album. This’ll be a good one to wait for.

Natural Anthem – The Postal Service

A Girl Called Eddy – A Girl Called Eddy

I came across A Girl Called Eddy through Amazon.com when they had a list of free MP3 songs – I downloaded and fell completely in love with Under The Warm Sun, Golden and The Long Goodbye, and went out to get more of her music. She’s got a great voice and sound, smokey with some really good guitarwork. Her debut, self titled album followed her first EP, Tears All Over Town. Unfortunently, that seems to be it for now – her webpage has vanished, in place of a myspace account, and while I think that I’ve read that she’s coming up with a followup, I haven’t seen or heard anything recently. I hope that she’ll be recording again, because her music is fantastic.

The Long Goodbye – A Girl Called Eddy

Bands Gone the Way of the Dinosaur

Buring in the Sun – Blue Merle

Blue Merle is another band that released a single that had some radio play – the title track, Burning In The Sun. The band has a pretty unique sound, with some very good guitar work, as well as employing some cool insturments on various tracks. I just saw one of the former members of the band, Luke, when he played with Brett Dennen’s band and with Guster the other night. (I didn’t realise that until after the concert). The band sounds something like a mix between Carbon Leaf, Dave Matthew’s Band and Coldplay, with some good lyrics and what I thought was a nice, rich sound. Unfortunently, the band didn’t really like the direction and sound, and split up a couple of years ago. The band members are now all doing their own thing.

Bittersweet Memory – Blue Merle

New and Upcoming Bands

Good and Reckless and True – The Alternate Routes

I found these guys this summer, and they’re a pretty new band, out of Connecticut. I’ve seen them twice, and they’ve really good a good sound, a solid rock album, with a good amount of media exposure thus far. Their live shows were a lot of fun to watch, and their first album, Good and Reckless and True was a really good one to listen to. I talked with one of the band members, and he said that after their current tour, they’ll be back in the studio.

Ordinary – The Alternate Routes

One Cell in the Sea – A Fine Frenzy

One Cell in the Sea is the first album by A Fine Frenzy, which was released earlier this summer. This is a fantastic first effort from a very promising musician. This has a number of fantastic songs on it, and because it’s a first album that’s recently been released, I’m confident that we’ll see her soon again.

Rangers – A Fine Frenzy

Say No To Being Cool Say Yes To Being Happy – The Softlightes

This is another first album from a cool sounding band, the Softlightes. Fans of Death Cab for Cutie will like these guys, as they’ve got a similar sound. Heart Made of Sound is the best track on the album, and it’s got a really cool video as well. I’m relatively certain that we will be seeing more of these guys in the near future, and I’m sure that it will be worth waiting for.

Heart Made of Sound – Softlightes

Time Without Consequence – Alexi Murdoch

Alexi Murdoch came out last year with his first full length album, Time Without Consquence. Murdoch has a sound akin to that of Nick Drake, abit a little more modern and a little more experimental. This is a fantastic first effort from Murdoch, one that has brought out a number of fantastic songs. This is a guy that I desperately want to hear more from, and soon.

Blue Mind – Alexi Murdoch

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