Catch the trade winds in your sails

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

I’m on a short trip out to a conference in Utah this week and the weekend – I really can’t wait to get back on a plane again, see somewhere new. Here’s some songs that I’ve been listening to recently:

Come Fly With Me – Frank Sinatra
Falling or Flying – Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
Freeway – Removed by Request - Aimee Mann
International Airport – Carbon Leaf
It’s My Turn To Fly – The Urge
Leaving on a Jet Plane - John Denver
Minutes to Memories (John Mellenkamp) - Carbon Leaf
Out of Town - Zero 7
See The World - Gomez
Venture Highway - America
Where Are You Going? - Dave Matthew’s Band

Hype – Buy

V-Day

So it’s Valentine’s Day.

When it’s good:

Destiny – Zero 7
Heartbeats – Jose Gonzalez
Dreaming – Sara Wheeler
Hold You In My Arms – Ray LaMontagne
Such Great Heights – The Postal Service
This Is Us – Mark Knofler and Emmylou Harris
Love Love Love – Tristan Prettyman
Songbird - Willie Nelson
I’m A Believer – The Monkees
Come Fly With Me – Frank Sinatra
Falling Slowly – Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova

When it’s not:
Out To Sea – Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers
Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well – Mike Doughty
Apologies - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Let It Die – Foo Fighters
Ashes and Wine – A Fine Frenzy
When The Pain Dies Down – Chris Stills
Learn To Fly - Carbon Leaf
Turpentine - Brandi Carlile

Hype – Buy

Weekend Mix

Nothing really planned today, so here’s a random list of things to listen to for this weekend:

I Know the Reason – Carbon Leaf, Echo Echo
Is There A Ghost – Band of Horses, Cease to Begin
Manifest Destiny – Guster, Ganging Up On the Sun
Mean Mad Margaret – Spoon, Get Nice!
Ooh La La – Goldfrapp, His and Hers
Raindrops – Regina Spektor, Soviet Kitsch
Seen It All Before – Amos Lee, Amos Lee
Simple Twist of Fate (Bob Dylan Cover) – Jeff Tweedy, I’m Not There Soundtrack
Speed Dial No. 2 – Zero 7, When It Falls
We’re Going To Be Friends – The White Stripes, White Blood Cells
You Don’t Like Me Anyway – Joe Purdy, Sessions from Motor Ave.

Have a good weekend!

Hype – Buy

Evolution of… Zero 7

Zero 7 has been a favorite of mine ever since I first discovered their work through a free download via Amazon.com with their song Destiny and later through the use of their song In the Waiting Line in the movie Garden State. Zero 7 is the name for two musicians, Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker, although they frequently collaborate with a number of other musicians for their work. Their first song was a remix of Radiohead’s Climbing Up the Walls, which was a b-side for Karma Police. This led to several collaborations and soon, an EP called EP1, when they first used the name Zero 7, in 1999.

Climbing Up the Walls (Zero 7 Remix) – Radiohead

Two years later, the duo released their first album, Simple Things, a down-tempo album that would eventually become a gold record. On the album, they collaborated with Mozez, Sia Furler, and Sophie Barker. Simple Things brought the band out into the limelight, with a number of critical praises. The album is probably my favorite of the group, with it’s low-key sound and number of outstanding songs.

End Theme – Zero 7

2004 marked the band’s second album, called When It Falls, where the duo collaborated once again with Mozez, Sia Furler, and Sophie Barker, with Tina Dico joining the ensamble. While the album retained a similar feel to Simple Things, I never got the same feel that I did with their first album.

Speed Dial No. 2 – Zero 7

The Garden, the band’s third album, was released last year, with only Sia returning for the album, but with Swedish singer José González joining her for several songs. Henry Binns also contributed vocals to the album. This album was a little more upbeat than the prior two, with a slightly different sound and tone to the whole thing. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007.

Throw It All Away – Zero 7

Over the past couple of years, Zero 7 has had their music used in a number of television and movie projects, ranging from the Garden State soundtrack to CSI, Veronica Mars, House MD and a couple others. I’m hoping that we’ll be seeing more from these guys within the next couple of years, because I can’t get enough of their music. The band is currently working on a Ingrid Eto, an insturmental project.

Hype – Buy – Look

Is There A Doctor in the House?

Earlier last week, the soundtrack for the fantastic show, House, MD was released, featuring a good lineup of songs that were featured in the show, just in time for the arrival of Season 4, which starts this next Tuesday. House, for those who haven’t heard about it, is a brilliant show about Dr. Gregory House, a brilliant, bitter and sarcastic doctor who’s generally always right and tends to drive most people away from him from his attitude. He’s loosely based off of Sherlock Holmes.
The soundtrack, which I just picked up, features some music that’s commonly available, but some other songs that haven’t made it onto albums in the US, such as Elvis Costello’s cover of Beautiful.

Here’s a couple of songs that didn’t make the lineup:

Orange Sky - Alexi Murdoch
In The Deep – Bird York
Some Devil – Dave Matthews
In The Waiting Line – Zero 7

Hype – Buy – Look

Day Off

So, my office has an office holiday tomorrow. Thus, three day weekend for me, work for everyone else. I can live with that. I won’t be able to update tomorrow, because internet where I live sucks, so here’s something for the next couple days.

Hot Fun in the Summer Time – Zero 7

Hot Fun in the Summer Time – Sly Stone

We Used to Vacation – Cold War Kids

Saturday In The Park – Chicago

Hype – Buy