Listening Assignments 2.16.10

It’s better to be late than dead and gone…

1. My Luminaries – A Little Declaration – Heaviness. Lightness. Guitars. Footstomping. Power. Pop. Chorus. Late ’90s nostalgia. Stuck. Happy. [from Order from the Chaos|buy]
2. the Script – Breakeven – John Mayer tweeted about this track a few weeks ago and prompted me to scour my music collection in order to refresh my memory. This song should have been huge in 2008. Still could be in 2010. Tell someone. [from The Script|buy]
3. Fyfe Dangerfield – When You Walk Into the Room – When this precocious gentleman took a break from singing for Brit blog-faves Guillemots to write and record his first solo album, no one expected it to immediately top the band’s last effort.  But with the first gleeful kick-and-piano-filled 20 seconds, Fyfe Dangerfield the solo artist was born fully formed. [from Fly Yellow Moon|buy]
4. Yamon Yamon – Alonso – Press play. Bask in the warmth. Quick, guess where Yamon Yamon are from? … Take your time… Who guessed Sweden? Somehow, this fearsome foursome has spun together a lush and beautiful album with strands of thread performers like Elliott Smith, Vampire Weekend, and Illinois-area indies like American Football left by the wayside. Unexpected, to say the least. [from This Wilderlessness|buy]

Darwin’s Re-Evolution

The first post of 2010 deserved to be a good one. It could have easily been about Vampire Weekend making the “sophomore slump” seem like something that only happens to everyone else. Or Spoon going back to the drawing board and crafting another flawless spectacle out of tinfoil and toothpicks. It’d be too obvious and tell you absolutely nothing you don’t already know.

Instead, my first post of 2010 is about someone you’ve (probably) never heard of. It’s a guy who, at first glance, looks like such a hipster that I gagged. And then I pressed play. Three seconds into “Constellations”, I was sold. Next song, boom. Next song, bam. It’s so on.

He goes by the name of Darwin Deez and his sound is certainly evolutionary. This gentleman plays a 4-string guitar of his own secret tuning and makes me beg the question “why do we need the other two again?” Someone either hilarious or genius (or both) has named him the Michael Jackson of indie rock. All I really care about is that this combo of endless melodies, jagged plucky guitars, summer-soaked drums and handclaps are nothing short of infectious. Astouding, even. I’m giddy.

Listen:
The City
Bad Day
[from Darwin Deez|buy]

R.I.P Vic Chesnutt

R.I.P Vic Chesnutt, dead of a drug overdose @ 45 Christmas Day after spending 2 days in a coma. This song is amazing and it’s really hard to believe how prophetic it is. And I almost posted it last week. Would have been weird…

“I am a man
I am self-aware
And everywhere I go
You’re always right there with me

I’ve flirted with you all my life
Even kissed you once or twice
And to this day I swear it was nice
But clearly I was not ready

When you touched a friend of mine
I thought I would lose my mind
But I found out with time that
really I was was not ready, no no

Oh, Death
Oh, Death
Oh, Death
Really, I’m not ready

Oh, Death you hector me
Decimate those dear to me
Tease me with your sweet release
You are cruel and you are constant

When my mom was cancer sick
She fought but then succumb to it
But you made her beg for it
Lord Jesus, please I’m ready.

Oh, Death
Oh, Death
Oh, Death
Really, I’m not ready”

Vic Chesnutt – Flirted With You All My Life
[from At the Cut|buy]