April 29, 2005

I've got the best of interventions

MP3 - Sufjan Stevens - Come on! Feel the Illinoise!

TTIKTDA is back, and posted a song that I almost instantly fell in love with. Grab it now because I'm not sure how much longer it will be up. I can't quite put my finger on what it sounds like exactly, it's like a folk orchestra with some beautiful voices, and very refreshing. The song will appear on Sufjan Stevens's upcoming album Illinois which boasts one of the most insane track listings I've ever seen.

Posted by dts at 8:18 PM | Comments (0)

April 23, 2005

Slowly the edge gets closer to you

MP3 - Ozma - Restart

Anyone who has spend more than 15 minutes with me at some point in their lives has probably been persuaded to listen to some Ozma, voluntarily or not. Ozma is so catchy, so melodic, so witty and hard rocking that I'm surprised if and when people don't fall instantly in love with them as I did 4 years ago. Mostly, people either enjoy them or are kind enough to humor me and change the subject.

I still maintain that though they were only around long enough to put out four full length albums, Ozma did more than enough in their short existence to solidify themselves as my second favorite band of all time. (The Beatles are quite the difficult act to top.) In most respects, their sound isn't very unique. There are a lot of people who do they same thing as Ozma do - it's just that nobody does it better. The songwriting combination of Ryen Slegr and Daniel Brummel is a powerful one-two punch that has created some of the funnest lyrics I've ever seen written. Brummel's voice often steals the spotlight, Jose Galvez breathes life into every song with his energy, and Star Wick's keyboard will stick in your head for weeks.

It's inevitable that I'll be posting a lot of Ozma tracks on here, mainly because there's never a bad time for them. But if I'm going to start somewhere it'll have to be with "Restart." "Restart" is a song that has creeped its way into several of my friend's and relative's personal playlists, and I get a lot of satisfaction from that. Maybe I'm not so far off base. It took a short time for it to become a personal favorite, and I suspect that's because it's their best work - even though it lacks the standard Ozma elements (a casio hook, a smile on your face, and a whole lot of rockin'). But there's plenty of time for that later.

MP3 - Jeff Buckely - Eternal Life

And while we're on personal favorites, it's only fair to yet again point out Jeff Buckley's masterpiece "Eternal Life". For as long as I've found it necessary to reccomend music to people, I've pulled this song out. It's a beautiful rock song. And if you're in to deep philosophical meaning in your songs, it's got some of that too. Buckley had a wonderful career ahead of him go to waste when he drowned in 1997 at the age of 30. His only album Grace is still a favorite of music critics and his untimely death is still tragic and confusing. The song is made memorable by Buckley's voice and gifted songwriting.

LINKS:
Buy Spending Time On The Borderline here.
Buy Grace here.
View the lyrics for "Restart" here.
View the lyrics for "Eternal Life" here.

Posted by dts at 5:00 AM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2005

My walls are closing in

WMV - Mark Osborne - More - (7.6 MB)
MOV - Mark Osborne - More - (23 MB)

I was first introduced to Mark Osborne's short animated film "MORE" many months ago. I can't remember exactly why I watched it, my best guess is I was expecting something funny. So obviously, after viewing, I was a little surprised. Still, the Academy Award nominated short is powerful if it fits your tastes. The animation is extremely well done and the story is told well.

ASX - Kenna - Hell Bent
MP3 - Kenna - Hell Bent

If you've seen the film, you know that it relies heavily on its soundtrack. Though the music in the original fits well in context, but the film was also used as the music video for Kenna's "Hell Bent", and upon a second viewing, I've found that it works much better.

The two combine into one of the better music videos I've seen in my limited music video viewing career. My favorite music videos are just like this... a story and a song that could work perfectly on their own but are powerfully impacted by one another. Enjoy one or the other, or both.

LINKS:
Buy the DVD of "More" here.
Buy Kenna's album New Sacred Cow here.
View the lyrics for "Hell Bent" here.

Posted by dts at 4:22 AM | Comments (2)

April 20, 2005

5, 6 - 5, 6, 7, 8!

It's been far too long between posts, but I've finally found some down time. I'll try to make amends by featuring one of the coolest sounding artists I've heard over the past year or so.

MP3 - The Go! Team - Huddle Formation

The Go! Team are loud, lo-fi, energetic, and simply amazing. It's hard for me to imagine that this band ever sleeps. If children with ADHD had music constantly blaring through their heads, it would be from this band, and we would all be envious of them. So grab yourself some kind of caffinated beverage and a couple bags of sugar because you'll need to keep pace.

MP3 - The Go! Team - Bottle Rocket

The Go! Team lace each of their songs with bright sounding horns, driving guitars, crashing percussion, and a persistingm relentless beat. There are no conventional vocals, but instead they become part of the background, like another instrument in a giant symphony. It's as if they took the best aspects of rock, hip-hop, electronic, dance, and big brass music and shoved all of it into a blender.

MP3 - The Go! Team - Junior Kickstart

The Brighton, UK outfit has become an "it" band of the internet, and the admiration is well deserved. If you haven't already given their debut album Thunder, Lightning, Strike a listen, there's no better time than now.

LINKS:
Visit the official site of The Go! Team here.
Buy Thunder, Lightning, Strike here.

Posted by dts at 8:15 PM | Comments (2)

April 15, 2005

You took a wild orchid and turned it blue

MP3 - The White Stripes - Blue Orchid

Head on over to Scenestars, who have posted the new White Stripes single. I'm feeling it.
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Posted by dts at 7:37 PM | Comments (4)

April 14, 2005

Give me the loving, give me the feeling, give me the touch

MP3 - Apollo Sunshine - I Was On The Moon

It was sometime last year, perhaps during Christmas break, when I got a call from my cousin Matt. When Matt calls me, he does so with a purpose. I checked the clock and saw that it was much later than usual for him to be calling my phone. When I answered he seemed awestruck. I ran outside, in the middle of winter mind you, to give my phone a fighting chance at sustaining service through the entire conversation. He wanted to know if I had ever heard of a band named Apollo Sunshine, I couldn't say that I had. He was disappointed, but happy to report that their live show was one of the best he has seen in recent memory, and coming from a man who knows his music, I was determined to find out if he was right. Apollo Sunshine have that perfect sound for fostering good vibrations. They make use of a wide variety of instruments and noises, and it all blends together in a bright tapestry that is great to listen to. "I Was On The Moon" appears on their latest album, Katonah.

MP3 - Lasse Lindh - The Stuff

God. This song is so simple and so very, very addictive. Lasse Lindh is a Swedish heart throb, and apparently, heart throbs in Sweden are required to actually be fairly good at their trade. I played this song about a dozen times the first week I had it. It just has this magical head nodding flow to it. It's as cool as it gets. If this is emo, someone should give the American kids a heads up. Kudos, Sweden. I'll never doubt you again. This song appears on Lindh's album You Wake Up At Sea Tac.

LINKS:
Visit Apollo Sunshine's official site here.
Hear more Apollo Sunshine songs at their MySpace page.
Watch the video for "I Was On The Moon" here
View the lyrics for "I Was On The Moon" here
Buy Katonah here.
Visit Lasse Lindh's official site here.
View the lyrics for "The Stuff" here.
Buy You Wake Up At Sea Tac here.

Posted by dts at 1:17 PM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2005

And all at once back doors blow open

MP3 - The Wrens - She Sends Kisses

It's not enough to listen to this one once. Oh, I don't mean it's one of those "you have to let it grow on you!" songs. I found something I liked in this instantly, and ithink a lot of people will. The lyrics are brilliant. The pace is methodical and well calculated. If I was to teach a class on the importance of building emotion properly and emphasizing dynamics in music, this would be the required text. It's a love song that slowly but inevitable derails the way that a lot of angst filled broken hearted folks keep reminding me. I don't like throwing 3 song who could all be interpreted as downers in a row. I was mulling over some peppy tracks to go with what has been a high spirited enjoyabble night/weekend, but man, I just got stuck on this. Everything else takes a back seat.

This is off The Wrens' latest album, The Meadowlands, released in 2003, and if the other 12 tracks are in the same ballpark it's well worth the money.

LINKS:
View the lyrics for this song here
Buy some of The Wrens' stuff here

Posted by dts at 5:02 AM | Comments (0)

April 9, 2005

It's too late tonight

It's nearly 6 AM, and I've been through a long night of partying and recovery from partying. After most everyone else had gone off to sleep for a couple of hours I went into my usual routine of web surfing and music shuffling.

I don't allow myself to sleep until I've heard the right song, a song that sends me off to bed with a nice, mellow, contemplative feeling. I can't go to sleep after some loud punk song, I'm all riled up. I can't sleep well after a great dance song because i fidget in my bed. If the song is too catchy I'll just hum it for an hour and that gets me nowhere either.

MP3 - Sigur Ros - Avalon

A few nights ago I slid into bed after listening to "Avalon" by Sigur Ros. Sigur Ros is a wonderful band to listen to any time of day. It's great study/reading/paper writing music. This song is a great one, but completely out of place when preparing for a night of sleep. It left me with such a weird feeling that I was up an extra hour. I suppose that's an accomplishemnt, if it can get inside your head, that's the mark of a great song. It was just such an inopportune time to be feeling separated from the rest of the world. When it came up in the shuffle tonight, I looked at the clock and skipped it.

MP3 - Matthew Good Band - Running For Home

"Running For Home" by Matthew good is different. It's not a happy song, but I don't necessarily need to be bubbling when I'm about to sleep. You want that right mixture of serene hope that puts the past 24 hours to rest and leaves the door open for the next 24. In that sense, this song is perfect. It won't put a smile on your face, it will slow you down and allow you to call it a night and move on.

LINKS:
Buy Agaetis Byrjun here
Buy Beautiful Midnight here
Visit the official site of Sigur Ros
Visit the official site of Matthew Good
View the lyrics for "Running For Home" here

Posted by dts at 6:03 AM | Comments (0)

April 7, 2005

Take her to dinner, use her boyfriend's money

MP3 - Belle & Sebastian - Your Cover's Blown

I was turned on to this song and subsequently this band by The Big Ticket's end of the year mix. It was one of those typical songs that you may download, cast aside, almost forget about, and then a week or two later you're walking to class humming the opening bar over and over again, thinking "what the hell is that!?" This song has the kind of bass line that just sounds like it would be fun to play over and over again. I'm not crazy about the way they bring the entire song to a screeching halt halfway through, but it does build a great appreciation for the last couple of minutes. All in all, it's a good way to spend six minutes of your life.

If you enjoy this then why deprive youself of the rest of the album? Find a copy of "Push Barman to Open Wounds".

LINKS:
Visit Belle & Sebastian's official site.
Find this song's lyrics here.

Posted by dts at 1:11 AM | Comments (0)

April 6, 2005

Inaugural Post

aimee.jpg
MP3 - Aimee Mann - That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart

Aimee Mann has been in and around the business of writing great songs for about two decades now, but she really caught my attention with her contributions to the soundtrack of Magnolia. "Save Me" and "Wise Up" are sob-tastic and work perfectly in the film.

Her new album, "The Forgotten Arm" is a concept album that has a great sound. This track revisits the dramatic and melancholy feel and works perfectly.

MP3 - Of Montreal - So Begins Our Alabee

On the other side of the emotional spectrum is Of Montreal. The band, a project of frontman Kevin Barnes out of Athens, Georgia, is quite adept and producing songs that can single handedly pull you out of a bad mood and shoot you back to 1967. This track features a driving bass line, fantastic harmonies, and bright guitars. Don't be afraid to break into a freak-out dance, it's natural. Of Montreal releases their new album "The Sunlandic Twins" on April 12th. Please, listen to both tracks back to back and allow yourself to be juggled between depression and euphoria, I dare you.

LINKS:
Listen to more from "The Forgotten Arm" here.
Listen to more from "The Sunlandic Twins" here and here.

Posted by dts at 2:36 AM | Comments (2)

April 5, 2005

Welcome

Well hello,

Recent research has indicated that 84% of the world currently owns and operates their own MP3 blog. My personal objective in this endeavor is to get that number closer to 84.001%

This little corner of the web will rarely touch on new ground, at least not for people in the know. But I like to think that somewhere in the world at every second of the day there is someone sitting in front of a computer screen thinking "i wish i had something new to listen to". Maybe, in your years of musical discovery and countless hours of experimentation, you've missed something! Maybe your favorite personal song in the entire world is a song you've yet to experience first hand! Maybe it's time to try some of that rock and roll music that the kids seem to like.

Most sites that feature songs do so in order to showcase new and exciting artists or under the radar acts. I can't plan on sticking to that formula. I'm not that creative. Consider familiar tracks that I mention here as friendly reminders, and consider unfamiliar names as worthy of a listen or 2.

On this page you'll see a lot of old favorites, a lot of new releases, a lot of covers, a lot of different sounds, a lot of tried and true sounds, a lot of sad music, a lot of happy music, a lot of good music, and a little bit of bad music. You'll see a lot of songs you've heard, and a lot of songs you should hear. As well, I'll do my best to point you in the right direction for other, better, more experienced, much more groundbreaking MP3 sites that you should be paying attention to.

Posted by dts at 9:29 PM | Comments (0)